Sunday, December 27, 2009
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
BLU on Graffic Audio
The makers of Rookie TV give you Graffic Audio. A plethora of interviews, music videos, and live performances by some of your favorite underground hip hop artists. Graffic Audio interviewed West Coast hip hop artist BLU as he talks about music, love, and Cali. In the words of BLU, don't be boo boo :)
Blu & Exile post-show interview in Fresno, CA
Blu & Exile goofin' off in this post-show interview with FresnoBeehive.com after their show at Starline on April 16, 2008.
Blu & Exile "Blu Collar Workers"
From Blu & Exile's "Below the Heavens," LP - 2007
Directed by: Aaron Rosenbloom
50 Cent x Beanie Sigel Interview with the Hot Boys in Philadelphia PT 2
PART 2
Beanie Sigel showed up in the middle of 50 Cent's radio interview with the Hot Boys
50 Cent x Beanie Sigel Interview with the Hot Boys in Philadelphia PT 1
Beanie Sigel showed up in the middle of 50 Cent's radio interview with the Hot Boys
Addresses Jay-Z's recent comments + more
http://www.Thisis50.com
Monday, November 30, 2009
Da Bush Babees - Remember We
This is the Bush Babees music
video for Remember We. This is
actually the remix made by Salaam Remi
and is not featured on their debut album. Oh well, I just uploaded this because the Bush Babees video seem to disappearing and we can't let this sh*t slide anymore. Their videos are disappearing like the good quality of hip hop. Coincidence, Nah i say hip hop conspiracy #65.
So, peace to the nation, the people that represent, and those cats that never bug out to th extreme
Yo, If word is bond
then Q is gone
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
RAS KASS interview (radio)
1. Learn a Lesson with RAS KASS
I had a beautiful interview with the West Coast rapper Ras Kass and guess what? It was fucking hot
Dude is truly humble and talented and this is a must hear series today Ras speaks about the rapper The Game he also speaks about advise he got from Dr Dre and he tells us all about his time being incarcerated. Check out his website www.raskass-central.com to hear his latest material.
2.
Part 2 of a 6 part series. Today Ras speaks with Jacky about the value of the internet and he also speaks about the use of auto-tune and guess what? He doesnt have a problem with it
He also talks about the new dress code Skinny jeans and Ras is not down with the new fashion some choose to wear at all in other words he thinks its totally uncalled for Especially when grown ass men are following todays childish trends this is a good interview and I encourage all my readers to take a listen you might just learn something
Todays episode Grown Men Need To Check Themselves
3. WHAT HAS HIPHOP BECOME
In the third part of HSKs exclusive conversation with rapper Ras Kass, the lyricist uncovers the secrets behind the making of what he refers to as real albums. He also covers a spectrum of topics ranging from todays Hip Hop fashion trends (indirectly targeting Kanye West, and how fellow rappers are following Kanye by not creating their own lane), to what he thinks are the pros and the cons of the Internet.
Ras gives it up, straight-up that hed rather be identified as one of the players and hustlers, than to be called out as being a fag. This is a must listen, so I advise all my readers to pay close attention. Know why? Because you might just learn something.
Todays episode What Has Hip/Hop Become? Take a listen
4. Whats Rass Listening To?
Ras tells you what current music hes listening to and its a wide range of music. I know you will find it very interesting
He also talks about MTV, the Grammys and Rock n Roll.
5. RAS KASS MAKES A COMEBACK
Today Ras Kass speaks about him dropping a record a week and his new video. This OG is a hard working man, hes dropped a single a week for 10 weeks now
This playa dont fuck around Ras is one of the hardest working men in the rap game and hes giving all his music away take a listen and you can hear where you can get it for free. We also spoke about his time in prison and who was there for him when the chips were down
6. RAS KASS TELLS JACKY, HE AINT NO HATER
In this final segment of my candid conversations with Ras Kass, the westcoast OG shares his thoughts on the tremendous growing trend of Hip Hip music, and how it has hit international audiences.
Ras also speaks about the music industry as a whole, as well as individual artists including, Drake and Jay Z.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Chamillionaire Disses Michael Jordan Hard!!
Mr. Exclusive! reports "Cham says his childhood hero Michael Jordan was very rude and told him "Aw hell naw I ain't taking pictures with no niggas" + wanted 15k to take a picture with him. Cham didnt want to believe rumors that Michael Jordan "be smokin weed and cursing all day".
Wyclef on The Fugees
Wyclef stops by the Morning After w/ Angela Yee and talk about the Fugees reunion album.
Diddy on Last Train to Paris vs. 808s & Heartbreak
Diddy stopped my The Morning After w/ Angela Yee and talked about his upcoming album, Last Train to Paris. Be sure to check out parts 2 & 3 on www.teamyee.tv
Do the New Boyz have beef with Soulja Boy?
The New Boyz stopped by the Morning After w/ Angela Yee to promote their hot new single You're a Jerk. They talked about meeting Soulja Boy, skinny jeans, microphones, and how they are trying to be the new Kid & Play.
Soulja Boy talks Nas, Hip Hop Being Dead, Beef, & Disappointing Album Sales on KIIS w/ DJ Skee
Soulja Boy discusses the beef he has gotten into with Nas, Ice-T, hip hop being dead, his disappointment at his album sales, his new single, how fans can get in contact with him, and more with DJ Skee on the 102.7 KIIS FM New Music show.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Prodigy HNIC 2-speaks on arrest, Nas and why Jay-Z is a liar
TheUrbanDaily.com speaks to Prodigy of Mobb Deep about his album H.N.I.C. 2, his arrest, why they tried to get him to frame 50 Cent, why NAS ain't poppin' and why Jay-Z is a liar
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Jay Z responds to T-Pain Diss!! OH BOY!!!
Jay Z responds to the T-Pain diss by stating what he stated before. He was not talking to T-Pain in that song. So T-Pain has no reason to take offense.
The Game Apologizes to 50 Cent
The Game says he wants to say sorry for what he has done to the G-Unit, and hopes they can get back together to make good music
Jay-Z freestyle Hot 97 diss to game and cassidy B4 Dear summer
R.I.P Jayceon Terrell Taylor
FOR ALL THE NIGGAS SAYING ...WHEN DOES HE DISS GAME.....PEEP THE NUMBER OF TIMES THIS NIGGAS SAYS GAME.....ANYBODY EVER HEARD OF SUBLIMINAL DISSES?..JAY IS ON ANOTHER LEVEL WITH WORD PLAY
...ONLY A FEW ARE IN THE SAME BOAT.......GAME DEF AINT ONE OF THEM
JAY-Z TALKS ABOUT T-PAIN DISSING HIM ON THE CIPHA SOUNDS & ROSENBERG MORNING SHOW (PT.3)
JAY-Z ON THE HOT 97 CIPHA SOUNDS & ROSENBERG MORNING SHOW. HE TALKS ABOUT T-PAIN DISSING HIM.
ANGIE MARTINEZ INTERVIEWS JAY-Z (BLUE PRINT 3 - PART.1)
JAY-Z STOPS BY THE ANGIE MARTINEZ SHOW. IN PART.1 OF THE INTERVIEW, JAY-Z TALKS ABOUT BEING ON DAVID LETTERMAN AND T-PAIN BEEF.
Mos Def on Angie Martinez
Topics include a rap supergroup Battle for New Orleans soundclash that includes Mos Def with Black Thought, DOOM, NAS, Jay Electronica vs. Jay Z & whoeva for $10 million, half to charity, half to the winners. Interesting. He also speaks on Dave Chappelle, will.i.am who played keys on Umi Says & the politics behind why you might not know that, and the concept of claiming the title The Greatest. Good listen.
MOS DEF - a fan of MF DOOM
The Culture Capture Champs catch Mos Def during a break in the studio while recording "The Ecstatic" . Hear how he dissects some of his favorite MF DOOM lyrics & talks a bit about his influences. Mos Def's new album in stores June 9th on Downtown Records. DOOM's album out now on Lex Records.
MOS DEF - a fan of DOOM v.2
Mos Def goes to the source for a lyric check.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Ras Kass - Hush Little Baby (The Game diss)
How A 6’4 Manwhore gone take me to war?
You gotta marshmellow core Ima make me a smores
Couldn’t knock me out! Gave me Tupac clout
Hit me from behind with a bottle, couldn’t knock me out?!
Ima 5’8 gameboy Icey watch, REUP still hanging form my chain boy
White sweater no blood stains boy
Game over
I rolled dolo outside went up to ya rangerover
Told ya “I got ya” undercover cops came over
LA love me plus my spit flame nova
Got that wrinkled ass forehead so Ima maime Yoda
Dog my aim colder
When we get at you…
You are truly got butterfly eye bet his Asshole got that Rainbow tattoo
Crotch filled wit cock this the dick in ya mouth
And this aint the first time you been on my young jock
Remember you was tryin to rap for me on the ‘Shaw
Now you lyin on the net claim you broke my jaw fool!
I aint sounding like Kanye West
Bitch ni*** I rep Cali this that Bombai best
Walked the mainline, you walked the soul train line
Yeast infection his khaki thong is on too tight
And something aint right-fuck 300 bars
I’d already locked behind 300 bars
And still might be
For murking this fake ass B L double O D
Lancaster aint close to Compton mayn
& Caz from 6 0 want to know why you scared to catch that fade
You already dead so now I gotta disturb you
And the truth is the whole coast want me to serve you
V2
Hey ya”ll Game on publicity stunt
Cuz Doc (Dre) don’t fuck with him, city call him a punk
And he don’t go out without paying street taxes
So he got a few real niggas he bribed to be active
This the same JT from “change of heart”
Your bitch said you cried a lot and you played the part
Then your bitch went on a date had a “change of heart”
Ima put something in your chest bitch and change your heart
You gonna need a transplant, really have a change of heart
From a stripper so you end the same way you start
“Doejer”
No tats JT, just buttoned down hawaiin shirts and kool-aid smiles
Streets of LA can’t believe you now
Even your own brother say you aint reputable
And word on the street you gonna end up a vegetable
You past tense Ima make your bobble head collectable
Pathological liar, said I mentioned your son by name
See fame shows the world who lame
And I still don’t know your son’s name but I do know this
It’s a shame that his father’s a bitch
You thought you was going to pin-the-tail on the donkey
But Ima Asshole, ni*** you shook your ass like a monkey
G A M E, we gonna drop the M E
Just like you tried to drop me
Now it’s just G A, and we gone add the letter Y
And lets play, the game is officially just GAY
Ras Kass - Nature Of The Threat
Let freedom ring with a buckshot, but not just yet
First we need to truly understand the nature of the threat
And a pale man walks in the threshold of darkness
Roughly 20,000 years ago the first humans evolved
with the phenotypical trait, genetic recessive
Blue eyes, blonde hair and white skin
Albinism apparently was a sin to the original man, Africans
So the mutants traveled North of the equator
Called Europeans later, the first race haters
So here's the Devil's alpha to the beta
Cause history's best qualified to teach one
Quoting German philosopher Schopenhauer
Every white man is a faded or a bleached one
Migration created further mutation
Genetic drifts, evolution through recombination
Adaptation to the climate
As the Caucus Mountain man reverted to that of a primate
Savage Neanderthals, until the late Paleolithic age
That's when the Black Grimaldi man came
With the symbol of the dragon, fire and art
Check cave paintings in France and Spain to the Venus of Willendorf
Around 2000 B.C. Southern Russians migrate in small units
Those who travel West populated Europe
Those who went East settled in Iran, known as Aryans
1500 B.C. some crossed the Khyber Pass into India and
created Hinduism, the first caste system, the origins of racism
A white dot on the forehead meant elite
The black dot - defeat; untrustable, untouchables
They wrote the holy Vedas in Sanskrit
That's the language that created Greek, German, Latin and English
Now the Minoans around 2000 B.C.
Starts on the island of Crete, in the Agean Sea
The Greek culture begins Western Civilization
But Western Civilization means White Domination
Myceneans learned from Kemet, called Egypt in Greek
It existed since at least 3000 B.C.
Creatin geometry and astronomy
This knowledge influenced Plato, Socrates and Hippocrates
Cause Imhotep, the real real father of medicine
Was worshiped in Greece and Rome in the form of a Black African
The word Africa comes from the Greek Aphrike
meaning without cold; the word philosophy means love of knowledge
Stole from first man, Greek power expands
The first Greek fraternities band
The word gymnasium is Greek for naked
This was the place where adolescent boys were educated, and molested
This was accepted because Greek culture was homosexual
For example, Sappho trained girls on the island of Lesbos
Hence, the word lesbian (Ay let these dumb motherfuckers know)
December 25th, the birth of Saturn
A homosexual god, now check the historical pattern
December 25, now thought the birth of Christ
Was Saturnalia, when men got drunk,
fucked each other then beat their wife
Fact is, it was still practiced, til they called it Christmas
So put a gerbil on your Christmas list
The Hellenistic Era, Alexander the Great
Conquers all the way to India leavin four successor states
By the Fifth century B.C., R.O.M.E.
succeeds to be the conqueror of Egypt and Greece
But had the threat of the Black Phoenicians in Sicily
The Punic Wars began 264 B.C.
The Black general Hannibal and Carthaginian Peace
In 146 B.C. Carthage fell after a six-month siege
Rome sold every citizen to slavery
The first genocide of history
And more bisexuality in sight; Julius Caesar was known as
every woman's husband and every man's wife (BEOTCH!)
Spartacus Revolt, a slave rebellion that lost
Where 6,000 slaves was nailed on a cross
Cross? Aw, shit! Jesus Christ! Time for some-act-right
Christians get your facts right
Cause Christ was not his name
That's Greek for One who is anointed
Yoshua Ben Yosef was his name, do Christians know this?
So who do you praise, do you know his name?
Or do you do this in vain?
Accepting the religion they gave slaves to behave
Peep the description of historian Josephus
Short, dark, with an underdeveloped beard was Jesus
He had the Romans fearing revolution
The solution was to take him to court and falsely accuse him
After being murdered by Pilate how can it be
these same white Romans established Christianity
Constantine would later see the cross in a dream
In his vision, it read En Hawk Signo Wonka:
In this sign we conquer - Manifest Destiny
In 325 he convened the Nicean Creed
And separated god into three
Decided Jesus was born on December 25th
and raised then on the third day is a myth
Plus to deceive us
Commissioned Michelangelo to paint white pictures of Jesus
He used his aunt, uncle, and nephew
Subconsciously that affects you
It makes you put white people closer to God
(Yo, 'The Man' got game like a motherfucker!)
True indeed, fuck it, Jihad
In the eight century Muslims conquered
Spain, Portugal and France and controlled it for 700 years
They never mention this in history class
cause o'fays are threatened when you get the real lesson
Moors from Baghdad, Turkey threatened European Christians
Meaning, the white way of life; hence the Crusades for Christ
On November 25th, 1491
Santiago defeats the last Muslim stronghold, Grenada
King Ferdinand gave thanks to God for victory
And the Pope of Rome and declared this date to forever be
A day of Thanksgiving for all European Christians
.. Now listen, when you celebrate Thanksgiving
What you are actually celebratin
is the proclamation of the Pope of Rome
Who later, in league with Queen Isabella
sent Cardinal Ximenos to Spain
to murder any blacks that resisted Christianity
These Moors, these black men and women
were from Baghdad, Turkey
And today, you eat the turkey, for your Thanksgiving day
as the European Powers destroyed the Turkeys
Who were the forefathers of your mothers and fathers
Now fight the power, you bitch-ass niggaz!
Now around this time, Whites started callings us Negroes
That's Spanish for black object meaning we're not really people
but profit, and the triangle trade begins - they seize us
Queen Elizabeth sends the first slaves on a ship named Jesus
Stealin land from the indigenous natives
Gave them alcohol to keep the Red Man intoxicated
Whites claim they had to civilize these pagan animals
But up until 1848 there's documented cases
of whites bein the savage cannibals, eatin Indians
In 1992, it's Jeffery Dahmer
They slaughtered a whole race with guns
Drugs, priests and nuns
1763, the first demonic tactic of biological warfare
As tokens of peace, Sir Jeffery Amherst
passed out clothin and blankets to the Indian community
Infested with small pox, knowin they had no immunity
Today it's AIDS, you best believe it's man made
Cause ain't a damn thing changed.. let me explain
Now since people of color are genetically dominant
and Caucasoids are genetically recessive
and Whites expect to be predominant, meaning survive as a race then
they simply must, take precautions
That's why they're worried about their future now
Cuz by 2050, almost all the Earth's population
will be brown, then black, so understandin that, whites counterreact
(I'm sayin.. man.. them fools
ain't nothin but a teaspoon of milk in the world color majority)
So they created a system
to force blacks into an unnatural position
That re-enforces the position of natural inferiority
In addition, created guns and developed the ethnocentric view
that God justifies every fuckin thing they do
Condition people to perceive whites' culture as civilized
and every other culture considered primitive - not true!
Racism is the system of racial subjugation against nonwhites
in every areas of human relation
Entertainment, education, labor, politics
Law, religion, sex, war and economics
See blacks were 3/5ths of a man with tax purposes intended
You think you're Afro-American?
You're a 14th amendment and a good nigga
Jews don't salute the fuckin swastika
but niggaz pledge allegiance to the flag that accosted ya
They never teach about the break of islands like Jamaica
But before slaves came here whites would take a
pregnant women, hang her from a tree by her toes
Slice her stomach with a knife
and let the unborn baby fall to the flo'
And stop an unborn child in front of all the slaves
to inbreed fear, so they'd be scared and behave
and not rebel more
Understand all whites must be perceived as potential predators
I paraphrase historian Ishakamusa Barashango
Understand that regardless of the lofty ideas ingraved on paper
in such documents as the Constitution or Declaration
the basic nature.. of the European American white man
remains virtually unchanged.. so check
This is the nature of the threat
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Jaz-O speaks about Jay and Wayne
The Originator Jaz-O calls in to Street Disciplez Radio to speak on his new project the beef between him and Jay-Z ...Lil Wayne being garbage and m
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Lauryn Hill - MTV Unplugged No. 2.0
1. Intro
2. Mr. Intentional
3. Adam Lives in Theory
4. Interlude 1
5. Oh Jerusalem
6. Interlude 2
7. War In The Mind or Freedom Time
8. Interlude 3
9. I Find It Hard to Say (Rebel)
10. Just Like Water
11. Interlude 4
12. Just Want You Around
13. I Gotta Find Peace of Mind
14. Interlude 5
15. Mystery of Iniquity
16. Interlude 6
17. I Get Out
18. Interlude 7
19. I Remember
20. So Much Things to Say
21. The Conquering Lion
22. Outro
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Jay-Z's "D.O.A (Death of Auto-Tune)" Video!
Song Lyrics | D.O.A. (DEATH OF AUTOTUNE) lyrics Jay-z
“Only rapper to rewrite history without a pen,
No ID on the track let the story begin, begin, begin” (chorus)
This is anti autotune, death of the ringtone, this ain’t for itunes, this ain’t for sing alongs,
this is Sinatra at the opera, bring a blonde, preferably with a fat ass who can sing a song, wrong,
this aint politcally correct, this might offend my political connects,
my raps don’t have melodies, this should make jackers wanna go and commit felonies, ahh
get your chain tooken, I may do it myself - I’m so Brooklyn.
I know we facing a recession, but the music y’all making going make it the great depression.
All y’all lack aggression put your skirt back down, grow a set man.
Yeah this just violent, this is the death of autotune, moment of silence.
(Chorus)
This ain’t a number one record, this is practically assault with a deadly weapon,
I made it just for flex and Mister CEE I want people to feel threatened
stop your bloodclot crying, the kid, the dog everybody dying, no lying,
you boys jeans too tight, you colors too bright, your voice too light
I might wear black for a year straight, I might bring back Versace shades
this ain’t for z100, Ye told me to kill y’all to keep it 1 hundred,
this is for hot 97, for Khalid we the best’n,
yeah this is just violent, this is death of autotune, moment of silence.
(Chorus)
This might need a verse from Jeezy, I might send this to the mixtape weezy,
get somebody from BMF to talk on this, give this to a blood let a crip walk on it,
50 thou to style on this, I just don’t need nobody to smile on this,
you rappers singing too much, get back to rap you t-paining too much.
I’m a multi-millionaire so how is it I’m still the hardest here,
I don’t be in the project hallway talking about how I be in the project all day
that sound stupid to me, if you a gangsta this is how you prove it to me.
Yeah just get violent, this is death of auto-tune moment of silence.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Del the funky homosapien-the 11th hour
Kick it with Del as he talks about what he likes to eat.
Del explains music theory and reflects on his own career and concepts for his new album the 11th hour
Del The Funky Homosapien - Interview (At The Middle East - Cambridge, MA - 10/19/07)
2
3
VanStylez sits down with Del The Funky Homosapien in our 3 Part interview with the cali hip hop icon. In part 1, Del talks about the 99 problems he had with ONE broad! From driving a camper into his house, to chasing him with a butcher knife and everything in between. Part 1 is for the heads who know that some bitches just cannot be tamed.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Akon - Right Now ( Na Na Na ) ft Bow Wow & Plies - Remix ( Video ) NEW for NOV 2008
READ THIS PLZ.I'v heard that this song will only get radio play if it gets big youtube views so if u love this song plz try and make it as big as pos by tellin every1 about it so it gets to where it should be. This is to good of a song to only be on an album or downloaded as mp3.it's worth more than that so show ur love and lets get dis song big. Thank you for your time. God bless..... This is the Tuff Jamma Remix & in no way i'm getting payed for any of the remix's i do so i hope i dont offend any1 in anyway with my remix's or my video's which i take from any artist which relates 2 the songs i do.i hope u enjoy and dont forget to rate & comment to tell me what you think of this song.if u have any idear's of a remix then i'll be happy to hear what you want me to do.THANK YOU P.S. The real Tuff Jamma is back and who ever spamed my last account needs to get a life and grow up. If you dont like it then dont watch it. Its as easy as that. DOWNLOAD LINK for this SONG = http://www.zshare.net/audio/205006788... THANK YOU for your Support. PEACE
Naturally 7 performing "Wall of Sound" on The Ellen Show
Naturally 7 on The Ellen Show March 13th. Performing "Wall Of Sound" live for the first time.
This was their National TV debut in the US.
Thanks Ellen!
Lucky Number: Naturally 7 and the return of the beatbox
From the Paris subway to London's annual celebration of middle-of-the-road family entertainment, the Royal Variety Performance, NATURALLY 7 took hip hop's fifth element - beatboxing - to more places last year than the mouth-made-music had reached in the previous 20. As the New York-based group finally embark on a major label career, STEVE YATES asks them about defying industry trends, winning over unlikely crowds, and standing in the shadows of Doug E, Biz and Rahzel.
Two different routes to stardom:
Embark on a worldwide tour with a supper-club jazz singer, crash through the planet’s breakfast TV shows and receive the ultimate accolade of mainstream acceptability - an appearance on the UK’s Royal Variety Performance in front of HRH Prince Charles. Or, hit the underground armed only with your voices and a video camera, record a song that leaves rush hour commuters awestruck, upload the resulting video and watch it become a worldwide internet phenomenon.
One is a vision of pop hell; the other couldn’t be more hip hop if you strapped lino to its back and spray cans to its hands; especially since the song with which you stormed the Paris Metro was a reworking of In the Air Tonight by perennial hip hop fave Phil Collins (no hating at the back there) featuring beatboxing, rapping and a lyric about a street murder.
But a vocal group from New York have travelled both roads. Naturally 7, the church-reared septet who’ve spent the last year-and-a-bit warming up Michael Bublé’s audience, aren’t quite your textbook definition of keeping it real, with their a cappella singing and omni-instrumental beatboxing. But, at their core, they’re still hip hop, connecting the doo wop street culture of the ‘50s with its modern equivalent. Ask them about their influences and Biz Markie and Doug E Fresh are writ as large as The Drifters or Frankie Lymon.
"Those two things [hip hop and doo wop] are very close to us," says N'glish, aka Roger Thomas, the group’s founder, the day before their RVP slot. "That a cappella way of guys getting together and singing, that’s very close to hip hop because in every classroom there’d be kids banging on a table, someone rapping over it and kids trying to figure out how to do different sounds on top of that."
While N'glish is every bit the spokesman, there’s little sense of rivalry in the group. They dress and talk in the manner you’d expect of seven hip hop-loving New York men, but for two noticeable omissions - they don’t swear, and they don’t talk over each other (a consequence, presumably, of their church upbringing), at least until rehearsal time when all is a whirr of ideas and conflicting opinions. Originally designed as a singing group, Naturally 7 evolved into something unique when Roger realised his brother Warren’s beatboxing skills could spice up the traditional vocal mix. Bit by bit they allocated other ‘instruments’ - ‘guitarist’ Jamal Reed, ‘bass player’ Marcus "Hops" Davis, a ‘brass section’, and not forgetting Rod Eldridge, the ‘DJ’ - until their style, which they call Vocal Play, was complete.
Naturally 7 make the music with their mouths and, at times, the result is extraordinary. Feel It (their Collins interpretation) blends gut-wrenching soul with a looped groove and a gospel theme that goes way beyond its source material. Wall of Sound has a jazz group’s flair for individual improvisation while staying collectively on-message. Touring the world with Bublé may have left them with a few too many crowd-pleasing covers in their repertoire (Broken Wings,Bridge Over Troubled Water), but they have enough quality originals to avoid the polite pigeonhole traditionally accorded a cappella acts.
What they didn’t have, until recently, was an American record deal. Despite doing some 250 shows back home, they were initially signed to a German label. "We were quite disappointed that our fellow Americans - I’m talking about the label executives - didn’t get it so fast," admits Roger (who, with his brother, was born in Manchester, England but raised from his pre-teens in New York), "because the kids got it right away. It’s taken everyone else a little while to catch up."
"It was so different," explains Rod. "If it hasn’t been tried and proven a lot of execs are too scared to touch it. What is it? How do we market it? That’s why our first CD was called What Is It? The German label said, ‘Wow, you make hip-pop cool.’"
"Now you speak to a record executive, he asks, ‘who’s your audience?’" N'glish adds. "The kids - I mean real kids - love it because you’re doing sounds and that’s exciting to them. The silverheads, people who are over 55, love it because you’re bringing back harmonies from the doo wop era. And the people in the middle love it because they’re looking for something a bit different. So you’re pretty much saying your music is for everybody - and that is a no-no," he laughs.
While they fell foul of the US industry’s rigid niche-mongering, they also eluded the trap set for most hip hop artists who don’t practise one of the only two elements the music marketplace recognises, rapping and DJ-ing. Just as graf painters or breakdancers are rarely more than a sideshow to the main event, so beatboxers have struggled to transcend the esoteric nature of their art and turn talent into box office. Scratch and Rahzel delivered fine records for limited returns, while the likes of Kenny Muhammad and Kid Beyond (who Naturally 7 cite as dazzling beatboxers) generally give recording studios a wide berth. So why would anyone sign an act that needs to be seen in the flesh to really be appreciated?
"The record company guy is changing," says N'glish. "He’s a little different from five years ago. That guy is now going, ‘We really need real artists, we need live shows, something we can put our hands into on that side.’ That’s why we think our time has come. People who are true performers will rise again, you can betcha bottom pound."
Naturally 7’s harmonising opens the way to an audience closed off to orthodox beatboxers, but it also represents something genuinely fresh: a multi-faceted option for an art form that’s always previously been about one man and his trick box. Rahzel’s ability to sing and beatbox simultaneously takes the viewer’s breath away (if not his), but its musicality is necessarily restricted. As N'glish says, "What most people in the hip hop community ask us is why is there no one else out there doing a group. It’s easy to be that solo artist like Rahzel doing a bunch of these things - Rod’s pretty much in that category, he’s doing the beats and stuff - but you take it to the next level as soon as you add a second person. This is why we don’t worry about other people doing what we’re doing: it’s really hard."
That it is. While HIPHOP.COM watches, they work on an interlude to the rhythm of Special Ed’s I Got It Made; the 20-second end product is arrived at only afrter several minutes of frantic rehearsal, and you need only marvel at the layers of a track like Wall of Sound to realise the depths of their mastery. The group may have their roots in street corner improvisation, but the deliberation and professionalism put into it is from somewhere else entirely. The Paris Metro video works precisely because the meticulous delivery is in such stark contrast to the setting, a collision of everyday experience and perfect production values. The guerrilla gig idea wasn’t met with unanimous enthusiasm, but despite fears about not being heard above the noise of the train and being pelted with tomatoes (Hops) or being sworn at by irate Parisians (Jamal: "I’m from New York and New Yorkers are somewhat angry. I thought with Paris being another big city..."), the performance concluded with an instant fan base and a YouTube hit-in-waiting.
N'glish recalls, "When we first came to England, the YouTube video worked for us - ‘Those are the seven guys from the train’ - it went everywhere before us." And in return, Naturally 7 are now taking the fine art of beatboxing to places it can only have dreamt of reaching.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
D-Nice Presents True Hip-Hop Stories: Sadat X of Brand Nubian
In this edition of True Hip-Hop Stories, Sadat X discusses the making of the classic Brand Nubian recording Punks Jump Up To Get Beat Down. He also reflects on the state of hip-hop today and how his stint on Rikers Island changed his life.
D- Nice Presents True Hip-Hop Stories: Kwame
In this edition of True Hip-Hop Stories, Kwame discusses the making of his hit recording The Rhythm.
Monday, January 19, 2009
OTA Live: OTA Talk w/Q-TIP (A Tribe Called Quest)
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OTA Talk with Q-Tip from A Tribe Called Quest: April 3rd 2008!
Q-Tip: Renaissance Album, Why he's still relevant & his top 3 mc's
AllThatsFab's Ian & Martine interview Q-Tip: Why he's still relevant?, His top 3 rappers, What he likes to do in New York & Why music is more important than swagger and business acumen.
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