What's the Secret? Let's Reveal...

J-Live - Reveal The Secret EP
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Well dang, it's been a HOT minute since someone updated the good old ATF. You know how we in Hip Hop do; come in with a flurry and make a stand while delivering the best of any and all thangs funky and then bounce to reset priorities only to come back stronger and more refined. Well that's us. What have we been up to?

Let's reveal:

1. New Jobs
2. New places of residence
3. New chil'rens (some expected soon)
4. New names
5. New adventures

You get the idea. We've added some new representatives to the roll as well as we are now all coastal. And trust me when I say this, I'd put our collective Hip Hop knowledge up against anyone in the biz. It's amazing.

So we'll get back to posting some of the funkiest and true schoolest tracks, LPs, EPs, videos, books, and ideas you can hope to find on the net. Stay tuned. Bookmark it. RSS that. Netvibe it. Write it down, take a picture...I don't give a....etc.

_____

So as long as I can recall (and these days, the old school memories are getting harder and harder to recall fully) I've been a big fan of J-Live. From Braggin' Writes on, I have admired and respected the man's music. He pretty much is True Skool hip hop embodied, like NWA with gangsta rap, etc. You know his story (if not, peep) and you respect that. You respect the fact that he has resisted the allure of the mainstream radio rap and keeps delivering top notch NEW music while still giving the listeners reminders of his past. You wish that all artists approached their music with the same care and detailed organization.

I must admit that his last LP, The Hear After, wasn't as good as the previous work, or after hearing the above linkage, his current offerings. Something about it was off. Maybe it was the beats, maybe it was the anticipation of another version of the work he did with 7Heads. Maybe it was just where I was at the time. Who knows. I haven't listened to it in its entirety since 2005 so maybe I'll give it a listen again. Hell, you can judge for yourself.

The new material, found on the recently release Reveal The Secret EP is more like you would expect from DJ J-Live. Smooth jazzy beats and an unrivaled lyrical presence. He is one of the best emcees, nay artists, who can go from concept to delivery repeatedly without making you feel like you just got some old rerun verses. The music makes you want to bob your head, be it in your car on 495 or 40/85 during that rush hour commute home to the kids or sip on a drink of choice at a bar/lounge/house party cold chillin' with some fine females. It simply universal good music.

At 6 tracks, the Reveal The Secret is just enough new material to wet the palate but short enough to make the listener want for more. Here is the track listing:

1. The Incredible
2. Once Upon A Mic
3. Practice (Magnificent Mix) *check the Allen Iverson sample. Classic!
4. Feel Like Spittin
5. Red Light Green Light
6. Practice (Spaghetti Blender Mix)

Do yourself and your ears a favor and download the EP and give it a good listen. I think you'll be happy with one man's effort to get Hip Hop where it should be.

And as always, if you like the music we provide, please support the artist by purchasing their stuff. There are enough ways to buy stuff nowadays so quit being a cheeba hawk...suckas!!!!

_____

We'll be back with some new insight, tracks, and other goodies soon. In the meantime, keep the faith, keep the peace, and keep on funkin'.

BrotherB

We will be here Forever

"We will be here forever, do you understand? FOREVER!! Forever and ever! And ever and ever! We will be here forever, do you understand that? Get what I'm saying. forever!!"

- KRS-One (1993 intro of Return of the Boom Bap)

I really love that quote. The balance, creativity and art form of hip hop is alive and well. It's still intelligent/thought provoking and there are many outlets that still support ALL facets of hip hop, unlike the greedy cowards at Radio One and Clear Channel. I know it might seem a bit contradictory considering my last rant on Ox Rant: Now it's Hip Hop's turn to die, but it's the death of hip hop as we knew it in the mainstream back in the day. So now the variety of hip hop has gone underground and has been for about 10 years. You now have to take it to the Diamond D "diggin in the crates" style and find a jewel on the net.

In the interview below KRS talks about the Real Hip Hop Network (RHN) that should be coming to cable subscribers in the new future. Don't get it twisted, this is supposed to compete against the CNN's of the world.
The goal of this network is create a generation of folks that are the most informed along political, social, musical and economic levels from the young kat chilling on the corner to the likes of phd carrying heavyweights in the game. It's not just hip hop, but as you know hip hop bleeds into so many areas of the culture.

News regarding RHN:
Real Hip-Hop Network (RHN) Announces Sponsorship of New York's 2007 HOT 97 Summer Jam Held on June 3, 2007 at Giants Stadium
http://newsblaze.com/story/2007051510174700005.mwir/topstory.html
http://www.hiphoppress.com/2006/05/rmd_entertainme_5.html

Below are some recent podcasts, audio links, clothing lines and cds that are worthy of your time and patronage. Enjoy:

Davey D Interviews KRS-One
Breakdown FM-KRS-One-Rough Rugged & Raw pt1, p2, pt3
http://odeo.com/audio/13229963/view
http://odeo.com/audio/13231013/view
http://odeo.com/audio/13231203/view

Breakdown FM: An Interview w/ Kevin Powell pt1, p2
http://odeo.com/audio/13211093/view
http://odeo.com/audio/13216063/view



Pharoahe Monch - We Must Be in Love

Pharoahe Monch - Desire



NOW SUPPORT AT WILL:

Lyrical Swords: Where hip hop and Politics meet.
http://www.lyricalswords.com/

Pharoahe Monch album drops on the July 3rd.
Amazon
Underground Hip Hop.com - Pharoahe Monch

Common's new album drops on July 10th
Underground Hip Hop.com - Common

Cilvaringz (Wu-tang) Already dropped.
Amazon - Cilvaringz

Re-release of Intelligent Hoodlum's classic and Saga of a Hoodlum...Remember Black and Proud? I own the vinyl of this album :-)
Amazon - Tragedy

Coup d'etat Clothing Line

- ox

Common - The Game (Video)

Pretty good ode to Rakim & DMX in the same video.

Peace.
B

More From Hip Hop Appreciation Week

In honor of this great and much needed week (which may need to be stretched out to a year for reals!), here is The Blastmaster's latest video from his LP with Marley Marl.

KRS 1 MARLEY HIP HOP LIVES

Add to My Profile | More Videos

Hip Hop Appreciation Week

Hip Hop Appreciation Week begins on May 14th 2007 and concludes on May 21st 2007. Hip Hop Appreciation Week began in 1998 as a time set aside every third week in May to acknowledge and appreciate the existence of Hip Hop itself. During this time (May 14th-21st 2007) the Hip Hop community refocuses itself through a collective review and update of its own history and core principles and elements. Principles- peace, love, unity and having fun. Elements- Breakin, Emceein, Graffiti Art, Deejayin, Beat Boxin, Street Fashion, Street Language, Street Knowledge and Street Entrepreneurialism. The idea is to celebrate Hip Hop itself.

During Hop Appreciation Week artists can be asked to give sound advice on what they've learned about life and living Hip Hop this year. Schools of all sorts are encouraged to discuss Hip Hop academically and critically amongst its students and teachers. Radio DJs can upgrade their play of "conscious" Rap music over the airwaves and parents can discuss the true meaning and history of Hip Hop with their children. During Hip Hop Appreciation Week the Hip Hop community is encouraged to:

Give the next person the right of way. Allow people to pass you. Do not block a person's forward movement.

Donate your skill or profession to someone who cannot afford it.

At the supermarket give your change to the person behind you in line.

Be quick to compliment and slow to criticize. Be ready to forgive and move on.

Tithe 10% of your salary this week to your child's teacher.

Ease a neighbor's pressure by donating your time toward the assistance of some duty they must undertake. Give of yourself this week.

Let us show our respect for Hip Hop with a sincere respect for one another. Men—support the women in your life. Women—comfort the men in your life. And let us all remain committed to the well-being of our children; they are the reason we do what we do. Love your children. Reserve a special love for them. Give them your time and your attention. Be patient with them. Touch them, hug them, play with them and be sure to teach them, advise them, protect them, discipline them, and most of all LISTEN to them. One of the best ways to teach our children that they are valuable is to value them. Often we must compliment them, point out their special qualities to them, fulfill their prayers, support their legitimate dreams and aspirations and let them know that we are interested in them. They are the future of Hip Hop! The preservation of our children IS the preservation of Hip Hop. HAPPY HIP HOP APPRECIATION WEEK! There it is.

KRS ONE

Dope Videos I Forgot

Quick visual post today. I was stuck in traffic this morning listening to Shut Em Down and I remembered how cool that video was, and that I had not seen it in a hot minute. So here is that video and a few more that I found on youtube for a Friday. Funkee Friday at that.









Peace.
B

Free Music is Good; Karl Rove and Duke, not so much

Any dude with a record wall like this has got to have some mixes worth downloading.

Before our crew gets to Karl Rove and Greg Paulus, a personal 'short story long,' with free mixes as a reward for suffering through it:

My Dad lives in the Pacific Northwest, and not Seattle or Portland, so for years now, whenever he visits, he asks me to hook him up with some new music. He's always liked those in-the-mix mixes off the radio, and being an old-school dude, he prefers the, shall we say, less-foul versions of our music. So a few years ago, in the midst of Dance-Hop week at All Thangs Funky, Brother B went overboard and hooked up a four-disc set of everything from Chuck Brown Go-Go to a Technotronic remix of Pump Up The Jam to Ralph Tresvant's Sensitivity. But B never made me a copy.

So my Dad visited last week and brought me those CDs to copy for my iPod, in case I ever have a sudden urge to hear C&C Music Factory or Twin Hype. In return, since he's recently joined the iPod generation himself, I promised I'd send him back west with some dope, and preferably curse-free, ish.

That reminded me of a page I recently discovered (here's the payoff). Brooklyn DJ Julian Bevan has an enviable wall of vinyl on his homepage, but more importantly gives away free mixes he's made for the past 10 years or so. Hip-Hop and Hip-Pop, Reggae, House and old Soul, dude's got it all. And they're pretty good mixtapes. Then as a bonus, he's got a Red Alert show, a Chuck Chillout and a Mr. Magic show you can download in a couple parts. Basically, he's converted his cassettes for all of us to enjoy. Good man!

I don't know much else about this cat (although I suppose I could read his blog) but I like the mixes I’ve heard so far (Smooth Grooves, The Dubtitled Mixtape)

And hopefully that'll inspire our in-house table-spinner, DJ Mentos, who told me he recently bought djmentos.com for a similar project, to convert Slender Regular and I Believe in Music into a downloadable format for mass consumption.

Bevan's style actually reminds me a lot of Mentos, to be truthful.

AND IF MIXES ARE YOUR THANG ...
Mentos (March 19)
OK, I have spring fever and immediately put this mp3 on. It's a nice dj mix by DJ Ferrari. I got this 2 summers ago and it's a really dope warm weather jump off. Some serious laid back lemonade on the porch type shit. Enjoy!
DJ Ferrari - Summer Soulstice

Brother B (April 2)
Retro Soul: A Basic Primer
From Soul-Sides.com (Aww shit, he's got the new J-Ro too. You know I love Tha Liks)

Tracklisting:
Amy Winehouse: He Can Only Hold Her (Live)
From a live recording from The Astoria, London (2/19/07)

Amy Winehouse: Rehab (Desert Eagle Remix)
From label (Universal Republic, 2007)

The Poets of Rhythm: It Came Over Me
From Practice What You Preach (Soulciety/Daptone, 1993/2006)

Sharon Jones: You Better Thing Twice
From 45 (Desco, 1998). Also available on Spike's Choice .

The Poets of Rhythm: Smilin'
From Discern/Define (Quannum, 2001)

Lee Fields feat. the Expressions: Honey Dove
From 7" (Truth and Soul, 2005). Also on Fallin' Off the Reels.

Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings: All Over Again
From Naturally (Daptone, 2005)

Alice Russell: High Up On the Hook
From My Favorite Letters (Tru Thoughts, 2005)

Breakestra: Hiding (QSO Remix)
From Stand Up EP (Ubiquity, 2006)

Nicole Willis and the Soul Investigators: A Perfect Kind of Love
From Keep Reachin' Up (Timmion, 2005)

Bonus: Nellie McKay: Won't U Please B Nice?
From Get Away From Me (Sony, 2004)

Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings: What Have You Done For Me Lately?
From Dap Dippin' (Daptone, 2002)

Mentos: (The Poets of Rhythm) song is sick, it sounds like some seriously heavy 60's psych.

AROUND THE ROUNDTABLE
Here are some other things the ATF Hip-Hop e-mail Roundtable (someone tell me we didn't really name ourselves that) has been kicking around (handily combined in one place for those of you who read from work and download at home, like me!):

Black Milk Mixtape: Pressure
Rahul: Hey all. Sorry if this has been posted already, but I thought heads might be into the Black Milk mixtape Pressure. I don't know much about him, but evidently this guy came up under Dilla. The beats are straight fire. His album drops tomorrow on Fat Beats' imprint. Big ups on the video Eric (see last ATF post) a simple but original concept that was well executed and entertaining as hell to watch. Peace.

Rah

MC KARL ROVE
Ox: This is worse than the Wendy's 'How to make a burger' hip hop instructional video.

Eric: This hurts my brain.

We need Will Ferrell to come back to SNL for a special appearance spoofing this shit.

Brother B: Hip hop isn't dead because of stagnant topics and overblown marketing gimmicks, it's dead because of that shit.

Stick a fork in it!

(Has moved the Vida Guerra diss video out of the top spot as Top Moments In My Life I'll Never Get Back.)

Me: Personally, I really and truly couldn't give a shit what Karl Rove or anyone like him thinks about hip-hop. They have no effect on whether or not it's dope right now, and they never will. I think they're playing themselves more than anything, and that goes back to the start of hip-hop. Remember Fred and Barney's rappin' Fruity Pebbles commercial? (If I can find that on YouTube, it's over! Oh snap, There's this, this and this blogging about it, but no sign of the Flintstonian footage.)

That Karl Rove joint is funny to me.

THIS IS WHY DUKE SUCKS
Mentos: I'm not a big college hoops fan, but this is pretty damn funny:

Me: Yeah, the tournament's over, but this should have some staying power. One of the best uses of YouTube ever.

I LIKE BIG BIBLES
Mentos: I like Big Bibles

Me: Apparently this is an old spoof of Sir Mix-a-lot's hit, but in the devotional Christian mode. My sister (who did attend a bible college for a while) said she'd already seen it. But it was new to me.

EL-P AND TRENT REZNOR
Mentos: From El-P's new album: Flyentology (CWL Remix)

Eric: Yes, that's the Cassettes Won't Listen remix.
I dig it.
CWL is actually a friend of mine.
His solo album stuff is pretty good too.
Plus, he's got a bunch of other remixes out there that are solid.

PHONTE TAKES ON A-HA
Brother B: Yes Folks ... Phonte takes on A-ha
From Zo! and Tiggalo Love The 80's!

MR. LIF REMIXES
Brother B: Mr. Lif remixes:
By Willie Evans Jr.

Peace,
B

DJ SOUL ASSORTED DONUTS
Brother B: DJ Soul Assorted Donuts

AROUND THE ROUNDTABLE
Brother B: Prolly shoulda heard of this cat:
Marco Polo Beats

Brother B: Marco Polo Mixtape
Marco Polo - Newport Authority mixed by Mick Boogie and featuring tracks from Masta Ace, Big Noyd, Large Professor, Rasco, Sadat X and Boot Camp Click, among others.

Peace,
B

And welcome Brian to the Hip Hop Roundtable.

TRACY MORGAN ... FUNNIER WHEN LIT
Mentos: must see:

Tracy Morgan (Live and lit on your hometown morning talk show)

NEW WU-BANGER ALERT
Mentos: Dwayne, this is ALL you.

(From Spine Magazine)

Cilvaringz's 'The Weeping Tiger' featuring The RZA, Raekwon and Ghostface, produced by The RZA. Taken from his forthcoming album/DVD 'I' (which also features tracks with Method Man, GZA, Masta Killa, Killarmy and more) available for pre-orders through Wu-Tang Corp:

FIVE WORST LYRICS IN GOOD SONGS / KICKIN' IT OLD SKOOL
And two more things I’ve found that hasn’t made the rounds yet. Really, we could probably do this better than Cracked Magazine (Mad Magazine's busted cousin is still around?), but since they got to it first:
Five Worst Lyrics Ever to Ruin Good Rap Songs

I probably shouldn't admit this, but I think I want to see Kickin' It Old School

Looks wack, but I'll check it out and save the rest of you a few bucks. Of course, I won't be doing that until it airs free on DirecTV.

OUTRO
That ain’t a complete list of what's been going back and forth (Ox, post the BET joint!), but if it won’t keep you busy, I don’t know what will.

Damn, with all this stuff going around, we could really use more heads posting more often. (insert other shit I always say here)

-- KMc. aka TiVo (and now you know why the Rotogods gave me that nickname. I record and recycle shit with the best of 'em)