WYDU Has Merged With Bloggerhouse.net Two Blogging Powerhouses Combined Please Bookmark our new site Http://bloggerhouse.net Please Update the Links On Your Websites -The WYDU Team
1. Numerology 2. Little Bits (Expedyte, Radar, & Phakt) 3. Dollar Bills (Radar & Wordburglar) 4. True Love (Expedyte, Mischif, Nokes, & Spesh K) 5. Millipede (Spesh K & Jay Mayne) 6. Christmas Rain 7. Must Have Been (Sampson) 8. Oatmeal Lumps (Milla Thyme, Sampson, Lee Fitz, Shiest, Arlo Maverick, Markit, Jesse Dangerously, Johnny Hardcore & Radar) 9. Perfect Formula (Sean One & Monark)
East Coast Music Award-winning producer Hotbox has returned with a new 9-song EP “Number Theory”, a title suiting for this daytime high school math teacher. Known for his choppy soul sound, Hotbox has spent the past few years producing for numerous eastern Canadian hip-hop artists while holding down his day job in Moncton, NB.
One such recording that garnered recognition last year was Spesh K”s “The Main Event” from Spesh’s album of the same name. Spesh K and producer Hotbox both took home the 2009 ECMA for Hip Hop Recording of the Year. On his latest release, Hotbox is joined by some east coast Canadian heavyweights such as Spesh K, Phakt, Expedyte, Wordburglar, and Sheist.
Number Theory is not Hotbox’s first solo project. In 2008, he released the critically-acclaimed Boxploitation” EP online and last year he put out the 7” vinyl single “Knowledge Is Wealth”, which is currently nominated for Hip-Hop Recording Of The Year at this year’s ECMA’s. In 2007, he released the full-length “Frostbite” which featured Sean Price and MC Lyte.
Hotbox will stay busy in the lab this year. In addition to promoting the Number Theory EP, he has collaborative projects in the works with Fritz the Cat (OK Cobra), Spesh K and Sheist.
Trav's Take: Hotbox has long been a WYDU favorite. Y'all should remember him from his late 2008 Artist Spotlight. 'Box has the hot ish this time around and is evident from the get go. "Numerology," is instrumental that is laced with funky horns and a G-funk sounding wail. All the beats are top notch. Some of the emcees work better than others, but all in all this is a great listen. I'm going to have to talk to Hotbox about doing an instrumental album.
1. Not Your Average Intro 01:10 2. Every Man 02:40 3. Bubblegum Tuna 03:31 4. Cali My Way feat. (Diz Gibran) 02:27 5. Im Gone 03:44 6. Trunk Rattle Remix feat. (Naledge, Freddie Gibbs & Mistah FAB) 05:11 7. Playing With Me 02:59 8. Pardon Me 03:46 9. From This Day feat. (Carlitta Durand) 03:57 10. Think About It feat. (Evidence) 03:14 11. $ Dont Make Me 04:30 12. Stoopid Dope Moves 03:29 13. Robert Downey Jr. 04:09 14. Catch Up (Bonus Track) 04:41
Trav's Take: I've always liked Joe Scudda even though he's got a bad knock by a few. I'm just getting through this right now and everything is straight, well worth the free look. Thoughts and prayers go out Joe, Big Dho, Big Pooh, Chaundon, Jozeemo after their near death miss with a semi-trailer after their tour van lost control on a Vermont freeway. From the twitter updates, everyone is okay, although Pooh was still in the hospital the last I heard.
The Audible Doctor is down with the whole Brown Bag Allstars movement, which I can never argue with the quality of their music. Audible Doctor is one of two producers (I believe, the other being J57) This mostly an instrumental jammy, and while I haven't gotten all the way through it yet (listening while I work on this), so far so good. I always check out anything one of these BBA put something. Well worth checking out.
1. Dollars Make Change Introduction 2. Catching the Strange ft. C-Rayz Walz 3. King of the Jungle Remix ft. Blaq Poet, Jaysaun (Special Teamz), Termanology 4. Too Many Mc’s ft. El Da Sensei, Pacewon, Exposition 5. No Gentleman ft. Alex Minor 6. Al Bundy Remix ft. Intuition 7. Tape on Drugs Remix ft. Reason (Poorly Drawn People) 8. Hit That Shit Remix ft. thekeenone (Audio Hustlaz), B-Real (Cypress Hill), Reg Riddem, Ill Bill (La Coka Nostra) 9. Shallow and Hollow ft. Reef the Lost Cauze, Blak Madeen 10. Juice Barz Freestyle ft. Amadeus the Stampede 11. Hall of Game ft. C-Rayz Walz 12. Umbrella’s and Mac 10’s ft Dirty Hank 13. The Crush (Original) ft. Vast Aire (Cannibal Ox) 14. Designer Kids ft. Reason, Storm Davis (Poorly Drawn People) 15. Headlines ft. Reks 16. Say Your Prayers ft. Good Brother, Amadeus the Stampede 17. Educated Suicide ft. Rite Hook, C-Chan (Slow Suicide Stimulus) 18. What Rap Don’t Say ft. Stu Cat 19. Too Much ft. Slaine (La Coka Nostra/Special Teamz), Amadeus the Stampede
Falside’s latest free mixtape, “Dollars Make Change” is now available. The providence beatsmith has compiled an extensive display of his different varieties of production for the mixtape, including his recent collaborations with such wordsmiths as Reef the Lost Cauze, C-Rayz Walz, El Da Sensei, Pacewon, Reks, Poorly Drawn People, Vast Aire, Slaine (La Coka Nostra / Special Teamz), Intuition, C-Chan (Slow Suicide Stimulus) and more.This is 19 tracks worth of dope that can be appreciated by leaders of the new school and boom bap veterans alike. (This mixtape is presented by Poorly Drawn Recordings (Providence RI) and Leedz Edutainment (Boston MA). Enjoy. falside.com
Falside is that dude as it is, and then to tie in some of the dopest emcees doing it currently AND including my favorite slept on group, Poorly Drawn People (at least Reason and Storm Davis). Speaking of PDP, Falside just signed with the Poorly Drawn label, so expect bigger things in the future for this young beatsmith.
Here's Sunday's RIOC show as well as last week's show (2/14) with DJ Premier on the wheels. You can catch Preem every Friday on his "Live From HeadQCourterz" show and me every Sunday on "Rap Is Outta Control" both on Hip Hop Nation Sirius XM from 10pm-12am.
Also, we are just over a week away from "The Halftime Show" 12th Anniversary (Wednesday, March 3rd). 3 producers, 1 DJ crew and a whole lotta emcees! Line up to be announced soon. You can listen live on Wednesday, March 3rd from 10:30pm-1:00am on 89.1FM in NYC or online at www.wnyu.org or iTunes>radio>college/university>wnyu.
"Rap Is Outta Control" 2/14/10 Playlist (w/DJ Premier)
1. Krs-One, Redman & MIMS–How To Be An Emcee 2. Nick Javas–Not A Game 3. Statik Selektah (f. Smif N Wessun)–Follow We 4. Ol’ Dirty Bastard (f. Free Murder, RZA, Shacrone)–Fort Green Projects 5. Joell Ortiz–Project Boy 6. Young Maylay–Mic It 7. Kid Capri–I Turn It Out 8. O.C. & A.G.–Young With Style 9. Khaleel (f. Panchi of NYGz)–Rappin’ Exercise 10. Obie Trice–Stories 11. Reks(f. Freddie Gibbs)–God Damn 12. Freeway & Jake One–One Thing 13. Strong Arm Steady(f. Montage One, Evidence, Oh No, Roc C)–True Champs 14. Dogg Pound (f. Soopafly)–They Dont Want It 15. Bumpy Knuckles–The Truth (Remix) 16. DJ Skizz (f. Killa Sha, ZU)–Queens Kats 17. Sha Stimuli (f. Torae)–What’s Wrong 18. Actual Proof–Genius 19. Marv Won–Rite Back 20. Bekay (f. R.A. the Rugged Man)–Pipe Dreams 21. Statik Selektah (f. Lil Fame, Havoc, Kool G. Rap)–Do It To Death
-- DJ Eclipse (La Coka Nostra • Uncle Howie • Fat Beats • Rock Steady Crew)
"The Halftime Show" • 89.1 FM WNYU • Wednesday Nights • 10:30 PM - 1:00 AM
"Rap Is Outta Control" • Sirius XM Radio • Hip Hop Nation Channel • Sunday Nights • 10:00 PM - 12:00 AM
Soundset 2009 was held on May 30th, and I've wanted to do a recap for quite some time. Since, I see they've announced Soundset 2010, I thought this would be a good time to let you know what it's all about. You can check out the official site here: http://www.soundsetfestival.com/
First of all, I'd like to recommend that if you are in the Midwest, or can get here, and you remotely like hip-hop, get your ass to the Twin Cities Memorial Day Weekend.
Parking/Traffic - Traffic sucked heading out to Canterbury, so plan accordingly. There's plenty of parking once you get there, but leaving, well, as I so eloquently stated before, sucks.
The Lineup/Cost – The lineup was sick. It doesn’t get too much better than this:
Atmosphere The Pharcyde Brother Ali DOOM Cunninlynguists P.O.S. Freeway Blueprint Immortal Technique Eyedea and Abilities Haiku d’etat Blue Scholars One.Be.Lo
Among others.
Tickets cost about 30 bucks, unless you get them through Ticketmaster, where you pay convenience fees, taxes and 2 more bucks for just being assholes (so, about 40 bucks).
The Setup – In 2008, the show was in Minneapolis in the Metrodome parking lot. The beer situation was a joke, as they had 2 lines for beer and the servers were extremely slow. I was convinced that it was some sort of conspiracy to keep people from drinking. It was a hip-hop show, we might start shooting the place up, right? Anyway, this year it was in the ‘burbs at Canterbury Park and they had a much better set up.
There were 2 stages with staggered start times, so if you want to see Blue Scholars and Brother Ali, you can at least catch part of both acts. All starting times were listed once you got in the venue. The B-boy/DJ tent was stationed in the middle of the action and it featured some top notch DJ’s, such as Prince Paul and DJ Nu-Mark. I actually spent a good half hour in the tent just watching Prince Paul, and I may have missed some stuff on the stage, but I was cool with watching a hip-hop icon do his thing.
The sound on these is crap, because it's from my phone, but here are a couple videos of Prince Paul rocking the DJ/B-boy tent:
The interaction with the artists is one of the big pluses at Soundset. From the artist meet and greets to the merch booths, you have the opportunity to interact with some of your favorite MC’s and DJ’s. Generally, Atmosphere does an early meet and greet to entice fans to come early and catch a lot of the acts that people would normally skip to just come and see some of the headliners. Various other artists have meet and greets throughout the course of the day as well.
If I had to guess, I would say there were at least 50 different merch booths for fans to peruse. There were also merch booths for artists that weren’t even scheduled to perform. It’s a huge promotional tool for unknown artists, or artists that have new material coming out. A couple examples are the booths I saw for Keelay and Zaire and The Grouch and Eligh. Both duos had new music out, or on the horizon, but neither were actually performing. I can’t claim to know a lot about Keelay and Zaire, but I saw The Grouch at his respective merch booth, so it wasn’t like they sent some schmuck to peddle their wares, they were actually there. If you are someone that likes to speak with artists and shoot the breeze, then this is your place to do it. Myself, I’m unable to force conversation with anyone even remotely famous, so I watch from afar.
CunninLynguists performing "Lynguistics" on the second stage (crap sound again):
There were also a couple other attractions featuring skaters and pimped out cars. So, there are a couple alternative entertainment options, should you choose to do so. I checked out some of the skating stuff, which was cool to check out for a little while, but I’m not much of a car guy, so I didn’t really look at that stuff.
The only major con involves the food and drink booths. First of all, they use tickets, so you have to buy tickets for a dollar a piece and then you use your tickets to pay for food and drinks. You always end up with extra tickets, and they only let you buy tickets in increments of $10, so it never works out. I understand the concept of using tickets instead of paying cash and giving change, etc., but you should be able to buy any damn combination of tickets you want. I don’t care if it’s a pain in the ass for you to rip 1 ticket off. Or, if you want, let me cash in my tickets in on the way out.
Anyway, it was a hell of a show and you get good bang for your buck. I would suggest a little sunscreen and a crap load of water and not just pizza and beer, because you'll get a tad dehydrated. Which may have happened to me.
Here's a sample from the Soundset site from the stage that gives you an idea of the amount of people at the show:
Here are some clips from my phone from within the crowd. You can really see the amount of people.
Hip Hop is a funny animal. It's the chameleon of the music world, changing it's colors frequently. There is every kind of hip hop, I'm just waiting for someone come with a hip hop with a polka feel to it. Any more, I want to deal with "real" hip hop. Meaning music I can relate to. I don't bang, I don't have a fancy whip, and experienced a drive by in at least three weeks. So something with the daily crap throws at you, something about the numerous girl problems, and of course tossing back some cold ones. Intuition has all that in his music as well as more regular guy type of stuff.
He dropped an album in 2006, and while I don't recall listening to it, his buzz caught me with the video for the track "Al Bundy," a comical portrayal of a "morning after". Since then I've been checking regularly for his music. When the album "Girls Like Me" dropped, it quickly become a regular in my rotation. It was only natural that we got him on the site for a conversation
WYDU: First off, you have to be the first hip hop artist to make it out of North Pole Alaska, the only other person I ever knew from there is the Green Bay Packers and former Boise St alum, Daryn Colledge. Being from a small ass town myself, I understand how it happens, but explain how a kid from the North Pole get into hip hop?
Intuition: Well I haven't made it yet, but hopefully one day. But wow...holy shit, I had no idea that Daryn made it to the NFL. I used to play baseball with him. He was on my American Legion team. His mom is my mom's insurance agent. That's crazy. I don't really keep up with sports or with too many folks back home so I either had no idea, or maybe I heard that before and forgot.
I got into hip hop as a kid just by watching TV and whatnot. I'm part of that very first generation that was born into a world where rap music was already THERE you know. It wasn't like I just had some magic moment where I "discovered" it. I remember trying to learn to breakdance when i was five you know? By the time I was in 4th grade I had the words to multiple rap songs memorized, when I was in 7th grade I recorded my first song for a contest (it was a "Who can write the best anti-smoking rap" and I won two free meals at Wendy's for the song under the guise EZ-Lee).
Due to the large presence of the military in Alaska, it's actually a lot more diverse than most think, and we had kids from all over the country moving up there all the time, and there were definitely times during my youth where I was confused with my racial identity haha...there's definitely something fishy about a 5th grader dressed from head to toe in African color schemes rocking Cross Colours, but it was the hot shit back then.
W: Let's talk about moving from Alaska to LA, how much of a culture shock was that? How difficult was it getting your name out there? Did you ever have to get any waiter jobs or do the tour guide thing? haha
I: I've been living in SoCal for a while now (10 years), but I was bouncing around before I ended up in LA. Initially moving to California was just my means to escape Alaska, it was always just too small for me. I've been in LA almost 3 years now, but before that I was in Santa Barbara going to college and working, and when I FIRST moved to Cali I was living in Pomona going to school there. That's where it really dawned on me like "Hey, being a white rapper is not so weird down here in California, and I could probably actually do this." That was in like 2000. So moving to LA was not that big of a deal for me being that SB is only about an hour and a half away, and for the six years I was living there, I was playing shows in LA every other weekend for 3 of them.
I don't really know how I got my name out, I'm just a very tenacious person, I hate hearing "no" for an answer, but at the same time, I'm generally a good dude and I'm good at making friends. I was never a nerdy dude, which I secretly think a lot of rappers are. I think a lot of dudes start rapping to try and earn respect, and try to get laid, and try to look cooler, but I just started taking rap seriously because I was really good at it. I already knew how to get laid and be cool, and that in turn helped me earn respect from other folks and get my name out I guess. I just learned early to never approach someone else on some "fanboy" shit, because you will never get taken seriously by that person. And basically, the respect I worked long and hard to earn helped me get shows, and shows helped introduce me to more people, and press and yadda yadda. In short, I've just been paying dues a really long time.
W: On the new album, "Girls Like Me", you have a song titled, "I Love California", I take you've settled in nicely...When did you start to think that you were going to make it in SoCal doing hip hop? Meaning, when was "The Coming" of Intuition in Cali and hip hop in general...
I: Well, like I said, I've been here doing this for a long time. I knew from the time I was 11 I was going to live in California because I used to visit my grandmother here and I loved it back then. I think I've been a "California" rapper since the moment I started taking it seriously. You know, up in AK I toyed around with it, changing words of rap songs around to be about me and my friends and stuff like that, but I moved to Cali when i was still a very young adult and it definitely molded me. I've been hoping I was going to make it since the first time I recorded a song, but I don't know if I've really had my moment yet. Every time I put out a record I just hope that it will be the moment. I think, like most artists probably, I'm never satisfied, it never feels like you've done enough. I mean, I don't even pay my rent with rap money yet, so I still think my "Coming" is coming.
W: How about the Hip Hop scene in LA, it seems like it's getting better, but for awhile there, it seemed kinda cutthroat.....
I: I think it's still very cut throat. Just in the recent months it's started becoming a bit more united, but it's still very cut throat. That's simply because there's such a large pool of people here, I would say "pool of talent" but there's a lot of non-talent too. You gotta do what you can to try and rise to the top, and most people will even step on their homeys toes to do that, or forget about their homeys all together. I think the only way to make it in a business like this is to be cut throat though, now my friends and I have just decided to start being cut throat for each other as well.
W: You're first album was "Stories About Nothing", how did the album do compared to your expectations?
I: Well it was my baby at the time. I met Equalibrum (my main producer), and DJ Murj (the DJ i perform with) in 2003 and we all basically really learned to master our crafts together. I completely relearned recording with EQ, completely relearned a stage presence with Murj, and they both took it to the next level with me as well. We put a TON of work into that record, probably too much in hindsight, too nitpicky about details and such. I had this high concept of making a record where I never mentioned hip hop on it, no braggadocio, nothing like that. When we dropped it we thought it would be huge, but dropping a record is always anti-climactic and it never lives up to expectations. I will be honest, unlike most rappers, and say that that record only sold like 130 physical copies online. I mean it didn't do SHIT. I moved the remainder of 1,000 hand to hand, but really, that record didn't do anything for us monetarily, but in some small circles people love it, so it helped establish us as a team and helped get the name out as we discussed earlier.
W: There is quite the voice change from "Stories About Nothing" to "Girls Like Me", why the drastic change?
I: Yeah I finished "Stories" like early '06, but us learning all the right steps to getting a record out, and other assorted drama led to us not getting it out until '07. About three months after I put it out, I was having a lot of tonsil problems. They used to almost touch in the back of my throat, so I got them removed. My voice changed big time. I listen to SAN now and cringe. Sounds like I recorded the whole thing with something stuck in my throat...pause. My voice is a lot more resonant now, and it affected the way that I rap to an extent as well. I feel like the voice change really helped me become the rapper I already thought I was.
W: You gained a little buzz on the net prior to the release of "Girls Like Me", how important is the net these days for marketing and gaining new fans?
I: Well, I released an EP fittingly called "BUZZ" with the homey VerBS, over the summer. It happened really serendipitously, but at the same time I knew we were onto something, so I put my record writing process on hold for like 3 months while we did that, and that EP caught on way crazier than we expected. That really helped a lot with building up the buzz, and led to the blogs catching on to the solo project. I just happened to be the first of the two of us to put out a new solo record, but when VerBS drops the joint he's working on now I'm sure it will get the same level of hype.
Internet marketing is damn near everything in gaining new fans nowadays. It's the time of the 24 second news cycle. So if you're not up on the net somewhere every day keeping people interested, you're not going to make it. I'm trying to be better at being an early adopter with internet stuff, but in all honesty, I wish I had more help at it. The team I had helping me with this blog push was absolutely amazing though and i can't thank them enough. Hopefully we just keep building from here.
W: Let's talk about the new album then, "Girls Like Me", what makes this album different from the run of the mill hip hop album out there these days?
I: Well....it's really good. That's the main thing. I am the first person to admit that I don't think I am the BEST rapper. All my friends are better at freestyling than me, I don't sit around trying to write the "hardest bars," I don't give a shit about how many "styles" someone has...I just like writing really good songs with really good hooks. And that's what this album is.
In a way it's a throwback album because it really is PURE rap musically...we're not trying to make some crazy avante-garde record, we were just trying to make a really good rap record. And we didn't try to pander to what labels and radio want as far as stacking all the good songs at the front of the record for listeners with short attention spans and Itunes shoppers. We made a record that makes sense from a song sequencing standpoint and if you put it on in your car or in your headphones, we don't think you'll skip a single song.
W: After seeing the first video, "Al Bundy", I was expecting a lot more goofiness, but you've gotten a pretty good balance of seriousness, humor, and introspect. How difficult is it to balance all those things in an album?
I: I mean, I think that I have a good sense of humor about myself, and I'm a real smartass in person, I think my visuals will probably always represent that to an extent. But yeah, the Al bundy video just kind of fell into place, and we did what we could with a $0 budget. When I hear the song I don't think it's a very humorous song, but the video is definitely meant to have that sort of smartass appeal.
As far as balancing all the elements, I think that's what makes a good record. Just because I'm a class clown in public doesn't mean I don't think about things, or have interesting outlooks on serious subjects. So I wanted to bring a little bit of that to the table again, without being as serious as I was on SAN the whole time. I think good rap records are well rounded and can touch on multiple aspects of personality. Look at someone like Ghostface...he can write the most emo song and the most thugged out song and the most hilarious song all on one record.
W: Are you worried about getting the dreaded "emo rap" tag?
I: I used to be really scared of that honestly, but it doesn't worry me at all. If you actually listen to my records you will see they are not emo records. If you call them that you ain't listening. There are plenty of far more generic white-guy-that-shop-at-zumies rappers to tag that name on to. Most people that accuse me of being emo I could probably beat up.
W: The album is released on NoCanDo's new label Hellfyre Club, how did you hook that up?
I: Well, I didn't really hook that up. Nocan has been one of my best friends for a while now. We met in '03 so I've just known him for a long time. He will be mad at me for saying this but, when he first told me about Hellfyre Club I wanted nothing to do with it because I've seen friends start labels dozens of times and then just fizzle away after one release, and it's under the Alpha Pup umbrella and I wasn't sure if they would really be into pushing a purely rap record. But he called me every day for like two weeks when the record was finished just listing reasons why I should sign, and eventually he convinced me.
We're really hoping to turn this label into something. The old blueprint of how to make a successful indie rap label is obsolete, but we've paid enough attention over the years that we think we've learned from what they did right and learned from their missteps.
W: I've read in more than one place you have quite the live show, how important is a good stage show?
I: I think it's very important. I think that whenever I'm in front of a crowd, whether I'm the headliner or the opening opening opening opener, you can tell that I know what I'm doing, and because of that you want to pay attention. How many wack groups have you seen perform? Because I've seen more than I can count, and I don't remember any of their names. I just want to make sure that any time someone who doesn't know me sees me onstage, they will remember my name. Thankfully I have a great DJ behind me in DJ Murj, we are close friends as well so we really concentrate on making our sets flow like a damn mixtape. We get onstage and we don't really stop for a half hour...it's just boom boom boom boom. That attitude really crossed over into the stage sets VerBS and I would do together as well...when you get TWO solid rap performers on stage together healthily competing with eachother....it's trouble.
W: What's on the horizon for Intuition?
I: Next up I have a side project dropping called "I Ruined These Songs For You." It's a collection of about 12 songs that I love that I decided to do "unauthorized collaborations" on. Each song regardless of the genre (indie rock, soul, RnB, blues, etc etc) has these natural loops in them that are just asking to be rapped over, and I did my best to change the songs as little as possible and just touch each one with a verse that is relevant to the song, so it sounds like i was in the studio collabing with them at the time. It's basically like back in the day when you would make a mixtape of songs you like for a girl you liked, but then going "Oh by the way I rapped on all of them for you too."
After that I think VerBS and I are going to do a follow up to the BUZZ EP sometime this year, and Equalibrum and I will begin working on the next Intuition album, but I haven't even gotten an idea for that one yet, so we'll see what happens.
Also touring this year. West coast tour in April/May, headed to SXSW in march, and really working to try and hop on as a supporting act for a bigger artist.
W: Any last words?
I: Sorry I'm so long winded...thank you for the interview, shoutout to all my Hellfyre Club affiliates: Nocando, Open Mike Eagle, Kail, and of course Equalibrum and DJ Murj. Go buy "Girls Like Me" (as in "they appreciate my company," not "they are similar to") on Itunes and help us build a really great record label.
SPOTLIGHT ON BLOGGERHOUSE: DJ ROB A(Great interview that covers three decades)
I've always had a rather serious admiration for the whole turntablist movement and traditional mixtape DJs. It's something I have very little understanding of, but the way certain dudes can turn a turntable and a wax disc into an instrument is nothing short of amazing to me. Throw in a DJ that can make a traditional style hip hop mixtape with scratching and mixing and I'm won over. That's exactly what John Doe of the world famous 1200 Hobos is all about.
Together with Mr. Dibbs and DJ Skip, John Doe has been a radio DJ, a battle DJ, and his latest inception as a mixtape DJ. My introduction to the 1200 Hobos was a rather memorable one. There used to be a little DJ/Mixtape place in Salt Lake City called The Hip Hop Shop. I used to go there and pick up Tony Touch tapes and the such. What started my mini fascination with turntablist like DJ Q-Bert, The X-Men (before they were forced to to changed their names to the X-Ecutioners) was a particular visit when I picked up DJ Q-Bert's "Hot Sauce In Your Dickhole" (which I still have somewhere) and the 1200 Hobos "Evolution" (which I lost over time). I played both tapes a ton on my little Sony boombox sitting in my room. At one time I could play the "air turntable" (closely related to the air guitar) almost on cue with the scratches. Therefore, I've always watched what the Hobos would do. Of course Dibbs keeps in the limelight, being a road DJ for Atmosphere for awhile and making his own mixtapes, but the one that I hadn't heard from in awhile was John Doe. That was until the cat it me up about doing some kind of post on his latest release, "The Last Amateur (One Hour Photo)". After listening to the project, I knew putting a turntablist up on a Spotlight was a MUST. So of course, here we are.....
Read Spotlight After Jump
John Doe -The Last of the First (Download Link) FROM:The Last Amateur (One Hour Photo)
WYDU: What's good man, how about a quick introduction of who you are and who/what you are representing'?
John Doe: My name is John Doe and I represent the 1200 HobosDJ crew out of Cincinnati, Ohio. Third member of the crew after Mr. Dibbs and DJ Skip.
W: You are definitely no new comer, as the 1200 Hobos have been around since the mid 90's. I remember a DJ buddy of mine introduced me to the crew as I picked up and Q-Bert's "Evolution" "Hot Sauce In Your Dickhole" from a hip hop shop in Salt Lake City of all places. Can you drop a brief history of how you came into the Hobos with Dibbs and Skip?
JD: I already knew the basics of just scratching before I met Dibbs through a mutual friend named Rubox. The first time he saw me scratch, he was pretty impressed, I guess. He made me a Hobo after that. Dibbs and I DJ'ed together on the B-Boys Underground radio show in Cincinnati for about 2 or 3 years.
W: Originally, you were known more as a battle DJ, competing in showcases and the such. Why the progression from battle DJ to more of a mixtape DJ?
JD: As time went on, I had less and less time to practice for battles and not a whole lot of opportunities to battle. But I always had ideas. So what I ended up doing was taking those ideas, extrapolating them and using them as the basis for my mixtapes.
Also, I was extremely disappointed with a majority of mixtapes that I heard around that time. A lot of them weren't worth listening to again. I would listen to other DJs' mixtapes and think to myself, 'If this was my tape, I would have cut this instead,' or 'I would have totally scratched this instead of that.' As the saying goes, "If you want something done right, do it yourself." So I did.
W: The term "mixtape" has obviously changed over the past 5-10 years. How do you view the traditional mixtape (with scratching, songs, and the good stuff) scene these days. How has it changed in your view?
JD: I don't know how many DJs are doing traditional mixtapes nowadays. What people call "mixtapes" today are either compilations or "street albums." My work doesn't really fall into either of those categories. They're totally different things from what I do, so it doesn’t really affect how I put my mixtapes together.
W: On your mixtapes, you still keep the DJ essence alive with plenty of "trickery" and to quote yourself, "vinyl manipulation". When listening to your latest project "The Last Amateur," it's a real listening experience, the whole thing just flows for a good 60 minutes. To you, what makes a good mixtape project?
JD: Whatever format (CD, mp3, etc) it is, a good mixtape should flow just like a cassette tape. It also needs to be more than just a collection of songs. A good mixtape should showcase your skills as well as what you're really about. That being said, there should also be a concept behind it to help bring everything together so it makes sense.
W: Explain the whole concept of "The Last Amateur". What can listeners come to expect from it?
JD: The main levels to the concept:
1) The packaging. For something amateurish, you would probably expect a CD-R with the title written in a Sharpie in a slim case. “The Last Amateur” is in a standard clear/clear CD case with a full color 4 panel insert and a pressed CD.
2) Method of recording. I used all vinyl for the beats and scratches, and recorded everything on a Tascam 688, a cassette 8-track. I didn’t use any kind of digital DJing program or software to record because I don’t own them. I don’t even have a computer in my studio.
3) Me. I’m technically an amateur DJ, since environmental chemistry is my profession.
What can listeners expect? A lot of breaks, samples, 90s hip-hop cut up, and tons of scratching. Expect to hear an hour's worth of songs reconstructed and/or deconstructed into its sample elements. There's also a lot of turntable wordplay and actual mixing! There are no less than 90 songs used in the 60 minutes, so it's packed pretty densely.
W: How much time did it take to make "The Last Amateur"? I'm assuming it probably wasn't a one take thing that you did in the afternoon. Do you have to do "practice runs"?
JD: It took about a total of a year's time to compose and record everything. There was a lot of planning and mapping out involved. Composition books, legal pads, and Post-It notes were all over the studio!
W: How do you choose what songs to cut up and manipulate? Are these personal favorites, or do you go with the general hip hop consensus of the classics? How important is it to pick the right song for the mood/feel you are looking for?
JD: Songs with a lot of samples in them are fun to work with, and if there are great lines in there, that's a plus. I'll start with one thing and kind of run with it. I try to stay away from the classics, but sometimes, those are great to take apart and put back together, especially if they're based on great samples - then you can go either this way or that way with it.
As far as going for a particular mood or feel, I just go with what makes sense to me. I don't know if it's my scientific background that makes me do that, but the flow of "The Last Amateur" is completely linear. There's nothing random. Every beat, every scratch, every insert is in there for a reason.
W: What else do you got on the burners for the upcoming future?
JD: There are plans for another CD in the vein of "The Last Amateur," but in the meantime, I will be dropping some short turntable-based tracks here and there. The tracks will be posted on myspace.com/johndoe1200hobos and/or johndoe1200hobos.blogspot.com.
W: Who are some classic "traditional" DJs in your opinion, who do you view as some of the best in the biz? What makes a good DJ?
JD: Good DJs are the ones that inspired me: Mr. Mixx (2 Live Crew), DJ Man, Mike Fresh & DJ Toomp, Mix Master Ice (UTFO), Cash Money, DJ Premier, Pete Rock, QBert, Mr. Dibbs, DJ Noize, Cut Chemist, and Kid Koala.
W: Any last words for the loyal readers/listeners/followers?
JD: I'd like to give a big thank you to all the people who have checked out my material, appreciated it, and understood it.
BLOGGERHOUSE SPOTLIGHT: Duval resident, the infamous Tough Junkie
Hip hop is the direct descendant of the Bronx, a sound that was developed in the '70's. Since then, it has went not only nationwide, but worldwide. Each region has added it's own flavor and style to the basic building blocks of the hip hop sound. It's evolved, for the lack of a simpler word. It's difficult enough to master one region's sound, but to be able to conquer multiple regions, that takes something, even though I know cat's won't admit to it. One of the best to cover the soulful sounds of the north and the ass shakin' sounds of the dirty south is South Carolina's MIDIMarc. I actually become aware of MIDI's talents before we started the blog, as he was a regular on the Justus League's message board, The Lawn. MIDI's soulful chops and sounds drew me in as he provided beats to some of the local emcee's on the board. It wasn't until much later when we had some conversations via email that he showed me his secret identity. MIDIMarc was just as comfortable makin' the southern fried funk as he was throwing down an Al Green sample. I'm by far an expert on the southern sounds, but MIDI provided the energy and "nastiness" that I would expect from the dirty dirty.
This spotlight has long been in the making, as MIDI has been a strong supporter to WYDU, something that I've always appreciated. This should have happened two years ago, but good things come to those that wait, so here it is.....
We want to thank everyone for the feedback on "Da Shape Of Ya" and to all that expressed interest in the the release of the project. We both stand behind our creation 200 percent and hope that the music not only earns a spot in your iPod, Hard Drive, Thumb Drive, CD Player, Tape Player(If you're still dubbing tapes). If you find the music to you liking the best thing you can do is recommend the music to a friend. There is no greater compliment than word of mouth. No matter where we go in our careers nothing is ever going to sound like "InDAIpendent"...it is now officially the sound of L'Daialogue and MIDIMarc. -MIDIMarc
InDAIpendent TRACKLISTING:
01. Cane's InDAIpendent Intro 02. Don't Get It Misconstrued (I'm From The Hood Like You) 03. Da Shape Of Ya 04. Departure Zonin' 05. Dreamschemes 06. InDAIpendent
WYDU: What's good man? For those that aren't familiar with you, while don't give them a little introduction and where you come from?
MIDIMarc: I'm MIDIMarc and I'm a champion producer from Hopkins, SC.
WYDU: I've known about you and your music even before starting the blog, first hearing you on The Lawn back in the day. Exactly how long have you been honing your craft? How did you get your start?
MIDI: I've been making beats since 1997. I had people in my hometown that brought about a great deal of inspiration (DJ Prince Ice, and StreetSide Records) but the straw that broke the camels back was when I herd Wu-Tang Forever. That album made me want to see what I could do as far as making music.
W: Let's talk about your sound. It's really hard to pin down, because I've heard beats of yours that sounds as soulful as the best but I've heard you put down some southern "crunk" type beats that could get nasty with the best of them. What's your secret for being able to cross into what is essentially to different strains of hip hop?
MIDI: Versatility is the key. When I say I love Hip Hop music I mean ALL of it. The beats that you hear from me are a reflection of what I grew up listening to. Being raised in South Carolina I was exposed to the greatest music from every part of the country and it all played a large part in my sound today (which is still growing by the way)
W: You and I have talked about this before in limited conversations, but what is your take on the whole North/South thing? A lot of cats that are into the more "traditional" sound reject any forms of southern music that isn't Outkast...
MIDI: It can be very discouraging when you do something with all your heart and soul and there are people that say that it "isn't real". I made the decision to not let it bother me and make what my spirit tells me to make.
W: Is there any one thing that you would say is "ruining" hip hop, at least the way we know and love it? How do you change that?
MIDI: I don't think anything is ruining hip hop right now...I think its still growing, and its still a new genre of music when you compare it to other forms of music. Folks who are whatever age have the way they remember it and the new generation has the way that they view it now. As long as kids are getting the same feeling I got when I saw the emcee battle between Kid n Play on "House Party", or the feeling I got when I saw Omar Epps on the turntables in "Juice", or the feeling I got when I saw the "We're All In The Same Gang" video..I say let them eat cake
W: Where do you think hip hop goes from here? Is going to fizzle out from over saturation, or do you think this online thing takes it even further into the future?
MIDI: Like I said..its still growing, so I'm gonna sit back and enjoy the ride. You have to do way more than over-saturate to make this culture fizzle out. The only prediction that I feel comfortable about making is that there will be a huge increase in successful independent artist.
W: On to my questions I ask every producer, simply because I'm always curious. What are your weapons of choice when it comes to production?
MIDI: Right now i'm on FL Studio and the Novation Xio25. Who knows what I'll add to the setup though.
W: Let's talk about the whole "Hardware Vs. Software" debate, what is your take on the whole thing?
MIDI: Why choose when you can have both..haha..seriously.
W: Who are some of the MCs you'd most like to work with?
MIDI: Nas, Rakim, Project Pat, Bun B are some names that came to mind right now. Honestly there's no person I wouldn't work with though.
W: At the end of your life, you are given a chance to remix one hip hop song before your last breath, which one do you take and why?
MIDI: Pete Rock and CL Smooth - T.R.O.Y. it would be great to get that remix out before my last breath cause I wouldn't be able to hear any of the negative feedback from touching a classic..haha
W: Speaking of remixes, which is harder, crafting a remix or starting from scratch for a new beat?
MIDI: I'm the type of producer that can't force out a beat. As long as I'm inspired or at least have a tune in my head I can knock either one out.
W: Your latest project was with L’Daialogue, what can listeners expect from that EP?
MIDI: You can expect dope beats and dope lyrics. You can also expect me to post a download link right now also (Download Here)
W: What else do you have in the chambers that you are working and what else can we expect this year from MIDIMarc?
MIDI: More beats, more singles, and more EP's produced entirely by me.
W: Any last words to the groupies and the followers?
MIDI: To the groupies, please have a copy of your shot records and recent HIV/STD test results. To my followers...keep on following..cause I'm a keep on creating.
What's good. Another short one, real short this time.. Bay Area's Meko Mcafee sent thru another song, off of his upcoming Ep Justifiable Means. I'm really looking forward to hearing more from this young gentleman. Meko Mcafee - Now Or Never (prod: Philty) (2010)
Oh, you'll notice he used to spell his name Meko Makafi, he has now somewhy changed it to Meko Mcafee.
And another bouns, his 2007 free mixtape, Fresh ta Death Vol.1 hosted by super producer Traxamillion. It's not too often you hear a mixtape or an album that is a mix of both classic style Traxamillion blip blap beats and soulfull songs that reminds you of something J. Dilla might have produced. The Message is a R.I.P. J Dilla song even, it might even be a genuin J Dilla beat, it sort of sounds like it. Either way, enjoy.
1. Traxamillion intro 2. You dont know 3. Fibz 4. Bay Whomp Ft Bryce & Turf Talk 5. The Grind 6. Its The Only Way 7. So fly Ft Preast 8. Fresh Ta death 9. Can You Hear Me Now? 10. Girbauds 11. And It Goes 12. Time 13. Call Me Makafizzle(prod. by Traxamillion) 14. Nose Bleed 15. The Message 16. Lovin You 17. i See You 18. Major mackin 19. You/Traxamillion outro
Growing up, Philadelphia was the home of some of my favorite hip hop. I've made no qualms about calling Schoolly D, 3xDope, Steady B, Cash Money & Marvelous, among other classic Philly acts as some of my favorite in the genre of hip hop. So the city has had soft spot in my heart and will always be a city that I keep close tabs on. The past couple years, the city has started stepping up again and producing some great musicians again. Over the past couple years, we here at WYDU have featured the likes of Has-Lo, Zilla Rocca, Nico the Beast, Small Pro, Fade Money, and Drumz & Llingo have all graced the site. Today's spotlight artist/producer isn't from Philly (Jersey), but reps the city now and carries that Philly torch and sound. Y? Arcka, the spry producer is part of the "new age" producer, that make music that can easily stand on it's on as well as provide some dramatic soundscapes for emcees. Just listening to his instrumental projects, you realize how deep his music is, and just how passionate he is about his music. This is a cat you must hear....
WYDU: What's good man, how about a little introduction and where you reppin?
Y?Arcka: Hey What's up, This is Y?Arcka (as in Why? + Arcka, derived from Young Architect. I'll explain later) reppin Philadelphia now but I was born and raised in New Jersey
W: Let's jump right into it, I know I don't know a lot about, how about a little background. How long have you been into the production game?
Y?: I’ve been producing for about 13 years. It started around the time when I saw the "Triumph" video by Wu. Immediately after seeing them come together again, I started rapping. My brother (Audio Rohn) was already rapping and making music but when he started bringing this beat machine (Boss Dr. Groove 202) over, I started trying my hand at production. At that stage, it was figuring out what went where (kicks, snares, and sounds in general) For 7 years, I was perfecting my craft, working with local heads in NJ. I went to college in Philly and never left. I originally was gonna major in Architecture but switched it to Communications to further my knowledge of the technical side of music. Now, I'm a sound engineer/producer.
W: How would you describe your sound to someone who has never heard of you before?
Y?: My sound I would say is constantly breaking traditional molding. I'm a person that doesn’t try to do what others do. I do what I do. My personality and music are one in the same. Granted, I am inspired by many but I don’t try to duplicate their works but try to add on to the creativity and individuality they presented.
W: Coming out of Philly, the scene seems to be quite busy, how would you say Philly ranks these days as far as hip hop? Who have you worked with out of Philly?
Y?: I feel Philly is in the top 5 and rising. I say rising because of the newer heads coming out of Philly are onto something.
I’m currently working with Drematic, Aquil, Has-Lo, Small Professor, Zilla Rocca, and Curly Castro.
W: You've been quoted as saying that the death of J Dilla changed how you produced and your sound in general. Can you elaborate on that a bit more?
Y?: When he died, it crushed me because he was onto something. It made me realize life is short and maybe I need to let people hear my music instead of just me and my friends. I made a Dilla Beat CD with 401 beats and listened to it for a year in a half straight in my car. In that year and half time period, the music I made was heavily influenced by him. I started trying new styles and techniques that I’ve never done before. Not his styles and techniques but my own based off of my own individuality. I was hearing music differently and paid more attention to everything sonically and tonally.
W: What are the weapons of choice as far as your production techniques go?
Y?: The easiest question yet. Akai MPC2000XL. All works heard so far have been done on that machine.
W: I always have to ask this to any producer I talk to, what is your take on the whole Software Vs. Hardware issue?
Y?: I will admit that I’m old school; I used to make ACTUAL beat tapes. I learned both sides of production, software and hardware throughout the years. I choose both because they both have something to offer. A good analogy is old school vs. new school. The old school still has a wide range of knowledge that the new school can learn from. And the new school has knowledge that the old school can learn from. I try not to be one sided until I hear each side out first. I apply these same principles in my approach to production.
W: Let's talk about some of your past works, I know of two, Un-Herd Vol. 1 and The Appreciation, is there any more than that?
Y?: Nah, Un-Herd Vol. 1 was my first official release. And on Christmas of that same year, I released The Appreciation SP on my own.
Unfortunately, in 2009, I didn’t release anything officially. But I’ve been putting works out pretty much every week. The project is called "Exhibits A-Z".
W: Neither one of the projects is what could be labeled as a beat tape. Instead they are musical compositions that stand on their own merits. Is this something that you aimed for? Is there a difference between making beats for someone to rhyme over and just making music for the sake of listening without having words over it?
Y?: YES!!! That was exactly what I was shooting for. I want all my projects to stand on there own and have their own sound.
I think there is a big difference because you have to leave room or space for a rapper/singer so they can do there thing. Listening to my 1st 2 projects, I left very little space because I wanted people to hear the music as a journey.
W: Starting off with The Appreciation SP, the more I listened to the project, the more...*ahem* appreciation I got for it. Can you jump into how that came about and what exactly it's about?
Y?:The Appreciation SP came about in a beat listening session with John Sport from D.C. Some of the beats I was playing were clearly not for rappers/singers. They had something about them that he said I should put these together and make it a project. As I was putting it together and thinking of what to name it, I wanted to list the artists that I sampled, instead of doing it on the sneak-tip and letting heads figure it out on there own. The name of the project came from the 1st track (Appreciation) done in 2005. It was the 1st track with that kind of theme to it. I continued doing beats like this unconsciously. I have a couple more like it that didn't make the cut.
W: Obviously with all the influences from The Appreciation SP, you are into the classics and then some. Are you into vinyl and the whole diggin' scene? If so, what do you look for when you are out and about and how do you choose a sample to work with in general?
Y?: I’m into everything, meaning I will sample anything. I have a bunch of vinyl, terabytes of music on my hard drives. Basically, anything that sounds good to my ears, no matter what the source is. I don’t see the need to limit myself to one source of samples because not everything is on vinyl. There was a time I was heavy into vinyl but I realized there is more music/sounds out there that I can't obtain on vinyl so I'll sample the next best thing.
W: The Un-Herd is more "traditional", in a sense, for the lack of a better word. How did it come about? How does it differ from previous works you've done?
Y?: Before Un-Herd, my works were just beat CDs spanning 8 plus years. The CDs consisted of my beats recorded in chronological order from when I made them. Un-Herd stemmed from a beat CD that I gave my friend, who at the time was the A&R at Rope-A-Dope Records. It was different from all my previous beat CDs because it had shorter tracks and no breaks or fade outs just beats for about 40 minutes. Essentially, it was my first Demo. He said I should do something similar and give it to him and he'll present it to Rope-A-Dope. I did and they liked it so I got a digital distribution deal out of it.
W: As you mentioned, you are working on another project, Exhibits A-Z (except it stops at X, it confuses me), which I'm downloading right now. The tracks on it seem a bit longer on it, can you give a run down on that.
Y?: Exhibits A-Z is a project that is on-going because I've been releasing a beat every week since August 2009. Each week corresponds to a letter in the alphabet. Currently, Z is the next and last Exhibit. Exhibit Z will be the end of the project. The music is mostly new, some from a Dilla Show I was in last Feb, and some from the Arckives. I just wanted to showcase all my abilities, various styles that I picked along the way. This is how my music sounds like before I chop it up. I know heads have short attention spans like me so I make them more concise when I’m doing projects like Un-Herd or Appreciation.
W: What does the future hold for Y?Arcka? What else do you have going that we need to check for?
Y?:The future holds a lot of collaborative works in 2010 all different on their own. In example:
1.) Emcee/Producer album: Drematic & Y?Arcka - Water (www.wethinkwater.com) 2.) Compilation album with artists from Philly, VA, NJ, DC, AZ: …Never Been Arcka-ed 3.) Producer Collaboration with Small Professor - ??? 4.) Songs with Various Artists including Aquil from Philly 5.) My beat projects have been put to the side for now
W: Any last words for the new fans you will have after reading this?
Y?: Look out for all my releases in 2010 and beyond. Support you local artists. And Open Your Minds to Advance Hip Hop, Advance Hop and/or Vance Hop. I'm trying to coin that as a new genre...lol
I posted a few maxi-singles a few months back and I was going to put these up, but I couldn’t find the Reunited CD. As I was cleaning, I found it and decided I might as well throw these up here.
Reunited Remixes
Based on the liner notes, it looks like the producers on this maxi-single are European, possibly all German. I found a little information on WestBam and funkstorung and they are German. The mixes are interesting, although the R&B gal singing “It’s Wu motherfuckers” sounds way out of place on anything other than the original song.
1) Reunited Mix by Hithunter – I like this remix. It’s pretty mellow and has some guitar with a bit of an orchestral feel.
2) Reunited Mix by WestBam – This is a quicker electronica type of mix. I don’t know if it’s my kind of thing, but it’s interesting to listen to and there are some cool aspects of the beat. This mix is crazy long at 7:26, a full 2 minutes longer than the original track.
3) Reunited Mix by Zulutronic – The most interesting thing about this mix is that it adds an echo to the vocals. The beat is more electronic than the previous song and not something I would listen to if it featured some generic artist.
4) Reunited by funkstorung – Man, this one is all over the place. It only features only ODB and Rza and Rza’s vocals are all sorts of jacked up. This mix is odd.
5) Reunited LP version – This is the LP version and probably my favorite song on the Wu’s second album.
Triumph Maxi-Single
From what I can tell, this is an import from England, or so says the sticker on the case. There isn’t as much on hear as the Reunited maxi I have, but there is one good reason to have this.
1) Truimph LP version – Triumph is probably #2 on my favorites from Wu-Tang Forever. This is just the LP version.
2) Wu-Gambinos (Hidden Chamber Remix) – This is really the only reason for having this in my collection looking back. When I bought this, I probably didn’t even pay attention to the tracks. It was Wu-Tang, so I had to buy it and probably dropped 10-15 on this at the time. The liner says it’s remixed by Rza and co-mixed by The Fourth Disciple. It’s a pretty cool mix and worth a listen.
3) Triumph Instrumental – Self explanatory right here.
4) Triumph Clean Version – See above. This proves that Wu-Tang really IS for the babies. RIP ODB.
Hotbox - Number Theory EP
