Toney P. Sigel: Barrel Brothers

Not the:

• Kansas L7’s
• Movie
• MySpace nor
  
• Root Beer

+Toney P. Sigel:

• Toney: Toney Starks AKA Ghostface Killah
• P.: Styles P AKA Ghost and
• Sigel: Beanie Sigel

+Funky Tongue: Street Rhymes nd the Roots of Rap: Rochester City Newspaper

Pimp C Dead In Los Angeles

Terence Blanchard: Earl’s Death
Malcolm X OST (Sony, 1992)
Sharebee

AHH with language changes by yours truly:

UGK group member Chad “Pimp C” Butler, legendary rapper/producer of Houston-based rap duo UGK, was found dead in a hotel room this morning, according to reports.
Firefighters responded to a 911 call placed from the Mondrian Hotel on the Sunset Strip in Hollywood, California.
The the 'Big Pimpin'' lyricist was found dead in his bed in a sixth floor hotel room. Details are still emerging.

Story broken by TMZ.

My deepest condolences go out to Bun B and the family.

+Miss Info:

• Rest In Peace: Pimp C
• The Pimp C Highlight Reel … Chock Full of Pee-Ump Goodness

Update:

• Preliminary news from the LA coroner’s office: TMZ
• Details Emerge: AHH

+UGK

Put Your Weight On It

Disco reeducation...

+Dolemite:

• "Man move over and let me pass 'fore they have to be pulling these hush puppies out your motherfu**er!"
• "You rat soup eating honky motherfu**er!"
  

A New Day Is Not Dawning

Baltimore, MD:

Crime is up.
The drug trade still rules the corners.
The next election consumes every politician.
And McNulty is drinking again.

The places and faces change, but the game remains the same.
The fifth and final season: 9 pm Sunday, January 6, 2008

+Spiders on Drugs: Youtube

The Wire: Felicia 'Snoop' Pearson Interview

I was a late watcher of The Wire. As my pen name (Holden Caulfield) suggests my unnumbered retorts open with the sincere: “Eff that!!!”. The more ubiquitous the sell (claim) the more driven my rejection, thusly I wasn’t initially sold.
My man 2 Liter kept telling me about Omar Little, played by Michael Kenneth Williams, a homosexual stick-up-kid so thorough he once primped satin PJs in the street whistling his leitmotif as a forewarning. My attraction to the show was not me drawn to Omar’s sexual prejudices; conversely, I found his character dynamic and thought then that if one character was so compellingly humanized then what would a series worth of characters offer. My answer came in form of me watching the series as I am a dedicated fan of the show. I now get advance seasons and am slated to have the entire season five by New Years.

In other unrelated news:

Rolling Stone : The Prophet of Climate Change: James Lovelock, one of the most eminent scientists of our time says that global warming is irreversible — and that more than 6 billion people will perish by the end of the century written by Jeff Goodell and posted: Oct 17, 2007 2:20 PM:
RS I Playahata

Sensual Seduction

The 2000's are the new 1980's.

Needed Calming

Needed this video: A Piece of the Action, ending credits, to calm me through laughter as it helped me keep my hands to myself while at the plantation this morning as I really wanted to share my pugnacious bellicosity. Effing supervisors…

+Video: First spotted at 4 Brothers Beat

Jay-Z: Like an Easter Egg Hunt

Jay-Z’s coded references meet double-entendres in a gray area such that they vacillate in qualifying as such. Yet he talks a length with MTV: Nov 27 2007 3:14 PM EST in an article by Jayson Rodriguez and titled: Jay-Z, Behind The Rhymes: Hidden Britney Spears Reference Is Just One Trick Of Hov's Trade - in part two of our four-part series, Jay talks about his love for lyrics that reveal their meaning over time, 'like an Easter egg hunt' in the aforementioned regard. He ends his interview as follows:

"My voice, is less than 10. Let's just say that. I never thought I had a great pitch. ... What I do is overcompensate with words and flow."

Catch-up…

Dillagence

Mick Boogie + Busta Rhymes + J Dilla
Dillagence
Collector’s Edition

via Mick Boogie's November 21st, 2007 post: Mick + Busta + Dilla = 11/27/07:

“The homie Busta Rhymes called me the other day following up on an idea I gave him months and months ago. So long ago that I actually forgot about it. He called me with four very specific words: “Check your inbox, son!” When I opened it, I found song after song of unreleased craziness from Busta and the late, legendary J Dilla. So after a week of figuring out our strategy, it’s done. Mick Boogie + Busta + Dilla = Dillagence. The album of the year…and it’s not even an album!”

+AHH: Busta Rhymes, Mick Boogie Team For J. Dilla Tribute 'Dillagence'

RZA Proffers his Version of Conflict with Raekwon

courtesy of Westwood TV.
via Nah Right.

+Proffer: M-W
+MTV: Wu-Tang Clan's RZA Insists Infighting 'Evaporates' When Crew Is Together
+Village Voice: 8 Diagrams: RZA's Drug-Rap Masterwork

American Gangster: Samples

Jay-Z: American Gangster: Samples
From ? (?,?)
Sharebee

The redundancy deity will revel in this act, a precious humble duplicity, as Shake of 2DopeBoyz posted the following first on November 15^th:

Tracklist:

01 Hank Marvin: New Earth (Pray)
02 Marvin Gaye: Soon I'll Be Loving You Again (American Dreamin)
03 Beastie Boys: Hello Brooklyn (Hello Brooklyn 2.0)
04 Barry White: Love Seranade (No Hook)
05 The Menahan Street Band: Make the Road By Walkin (Roc Boys)
06 Rudy Love & The Family: Does Your Mama Know (Sweet)
07 Little Beaver: Get Into The Party Life (Party Life)
08 The Isley Brothers: Between The Sheets (Ignorant Shit)
09 Tom Brock: The Love We Share Is The Greatest Of Them All (say hello)
10 Larry Ellis & The Black Hammer: Funky Thing, Pt.1 (Success)
11 The Dramatics: Fell For You (Fallin)
12 En Vogue: Hold On (Blue Magic)
13 Curtis Mayfield: Short Eyes (American Gangster)

+ Shake of 2DopeBoyz also posted: Kayne West: Graduation Sample : HipHopDX l 2DopeBoyz
+Carrot eyes: 2DopeBoyz post discovered by 2 Liter

SP-1200 Vapors

See the Village Voice for: The Dirty Heartbeat of the Golden Age article written by Ben Detrick on November 13th, 2007 4:44 PM; where Detrick interviews: The Cast:Hank Shocklee Part of the Bomb Squad and producer for Public Enemy, Ice Cube, and Slick Rick

• Lord Finesse Producer for the Notorious B.I.G., Dr. Dre, and Big L
• Pete Rock Recording artist with CL Smooth and producer for Heavy D, Nas, Das EFX, and House of Pain and
  
• Ski Producer for Jay-Z, Camp Lo, and Sporty Thievz.

In the summer of 1987, E-mu Systems released the SP-1200, a drum machine and sampler designed for dance-music producers. An update of a previous model known as the SP-12, the souped-up edition allowed for the recording and manipulation of a 10.07-second sample with gritty 12-bit sound quality—now you could craft a complete instrumental on one portable machine.
Just as the Stradivarius or the Fender Stratocaster were standard-bearers by which other instruments were judged, the SP-1200 quickly became the tool of choice for East Coast beat-makers during rap's so-called "Golden Age," a period during the late '80s and early '90s, when sampling laws were still being meted out in courtrooms.

In other news courtesy of AHH:
Juice Crew Story Coming To Theaters In 'The Vapors' as reported by Mike Winslow on Sunday, November 18, 2007 12:24 PM:
The story of legendary Hip-Hop collective The Juice Crew is coming to the big screen in a new movie titled The Vapors.
The Vapors will be directed by Furqaan Clover, who also recently shot Queen of Media, which tells the story of radio personality Wendy Williams.
The character driven story is inspired by the true life events of DJ Marley Marl, Biz Markie, Big Daddy Kane and Roxanne Shante and chronicles the group’s rise to fame during Hip-Hop’s golden age.
The legendary collective was headed up by Marley Marl and featured legendary rappers like MC Shan, Big Daddy, Kane, Craig G., Biz Markie, Kool G. Rap and DJ Polo, Roxanne Shante, Masta Ace, TJ Swan, Cool V and Tragedy.
Juice crew members Roxanne Shante and Biz Markie released seminal records on the Philadelphia-based Hip-Hop label Pop Art in 1984, before entering into rap history when Juice Crew member MC Shan released the classic single "The Bridge" in 1986.
The single sparked "The Bridge Wars" between MC Shan and the Juice crew and Bronx rapper KRS-One and his Boogie Down Productions, one of the most legendary feuds in Hip-Hop history.
The Vapors is scheduled to start filming in January of 2008.

+AHH: The AllHipHop Top 20 Dopest Verses Ever!

Bad Santa

Badd Santa Contest:
Win your ass an iPod Touch with the Stones Throw catalog pre-loaded and some Urban Outfitters dough ($)
Details: Mail a copy of your Badd Santa CD Receipt and you will automatically be entered to win an iPod Touch engraved with Stones Throw and fully loaded with the Stones Throw Catalog + $500 Gift Certificate from Urban Outfitters.
Contest ends Monday Dec 24th (5pm EST).
Please include your full name, email address, mailing address, & phone number. 1 grand prize winner will be randomly selected.

CMNG SN
Keep your eyes open for Peanut Butter Wolf's mix for the ladies:

Badd Santa | Contest | Video | Exclusive at Urban Outfitters

Found in the Brain

Willie Hutch: Since I Found You Everything's Alright
From: Ode To My Lady (Motown, 1975)
Sharebee

Per NewScientist Source of ‘Optimism’ Found in the Brain as reported by Roxanne Khamsi on October 24, 2007 - 18:00:
Two regions of the brain linked to optimism have been discovered by researchers. The identification of the sites that signal positive thinking could shed light on the causes of depression, they say.

Per NYT: In Hollywood Hives, the Males Rule written by Natalie Angier:
In Hollywood’s animated family fare about animals, the overwhelming majority of characters are male, despite nature’s preferred sex ratio of roughly 50-50.

PE No. 1: Cam'set

To my sister's abhorrence: Harlem's Public Enemy #1 misogynist... Cam'set!!!

+Cam'ron: MySpace

Big Doe Rehab

Ghostface (Killah): The Big Doe Rehab (cover)
(Island/ Def Jam, Dec. 4, 2007): ASIN: B000XK7P6Y

The Wu-Tang Clan's most recognizable personalities returns with his 7th solo album.
Ghostface has maintained visibility in the marketplace by touring the country on his own headlining tour, the Wu-Tang Reunion Tour, and many music festivals. He continues that visibility with the Adult Swim College Tour in October and The Hip Hop Live Tour featuring Rakim in November. Though touring, Ghostface has made time to give his fans another dose of the raw hyperbolic lyricism.
This December, The Big Doe Rehab is sure to have fans and "smart-dumb-ni&&ers" satisfied with their next fix of Ghostface.

+Book: The World According to Pretty Toney (MTV Press, Nov. 1, 2007): Amazon l Dusty Groove
+Top 20 Verses: Ghostface Killah Ft. Cappadonna: Winter Warz: AHH
+The Ghostface Killah: Doll

Drinks on the House

AHH: Rapper Jay-Z Takes On Elvis For Most #1 Albums, published Tuesday, November 6, 2007: 9:44 AM by Houston Williams:
If all goes Jay-Z's way, the rap mogul will tie rock legend Elvis for the most number one albums in history, a feat that depends on the success of the rapper's American Gangster album.
If Jay-Z's American Gangster sells well, only The Beatles would have offered the music world more number one albums, with an incredible 19.

In related news, Jay-Z announced that the American Gangster album will not be available on iTunes.
"As movies are not sold scene by scene, this collection will not be sold as individual singles," Jay-Z said, noting that the album could be purchased online at Rocafella, Amazon and Rhapsody.
In addition to debuting a video for "Roc Boys" this week, Jay-Z will be featured on VH1's Storytellers series, which airs on November 8.

No Standing

Jay-Z: American Gangster (entire album)
From: American Gangster (Roc-A-Fella, Nov. 6, 2007)

Read: It Is What It Is by Elliott Wilson (YN) from his On and On: The Jigga Opinion relative S Dot’s take on:

• First week album sales predictions
• Curtis, Marshall and Andre
• The best MC’s today (present company excluded)
• Ann Jones’ baby boy
• Foxy Brown
• The rocks thrown at his Presidential throne
• Failing to acquire the rights to rename the NJ Nets arena
• The real Frank Lucas.

Also note It Is What It Is by Elliott Wilson (YN) from his The Making Of…: “Roc Boys” produced by: Sean “Puffy” Combs and The Hitmen (LV, Sean C, D-Dot, and Mario Winans) and the Uncontrollable Hustler’s Ambition entry.

+Rolling Stone: Jay-Z Returns to His Roots For “American Gangster” - Inspired New Album

Stray Bullets

Talib Kweli interviews Madlib on BET's Rap City, which aired this past Monday.

Stones Throw Video Podcast 25
Stray Bullets

Detroit's Guilty Simpson conjoins with the World Famous Beat Junkies: Rhettmatic.
+ Subscribe free on iTunes
+ Subscribe free on Stones Throw

+DJ Rhettmatic: FatBeats l MySpace l Stylus
+Guilty Simpson: Discogs l MySpace l Stones Throw
+Talib Kweli: MySpace l Official Site l OkayPlayer l Rolling Stone l VH1

Lords of Dopetown

Below find excerpts from: Lords of Dopetown written by Mark Jacobson and published October 25, 2007 by the New York Magazine in their Dirty Money current issue:

During the Harlem heroin plague of the seventies, few dealers were bigger than Frank Lucas and Leroy “Nicky” Barnes. Both made millions selling dope, lived the wide-brimmed-hat high life, enabled the addiction of whole neighborhoods, and, eventually, got caught. Both were locked up and later cooperated with authorities—some might call it snitching. Now, with Lucas confined to a wheelchair and Barnes in some Witness Protection Program locale, each is the subject of a current film. Barnes reports on his life and times in the flava-full documentary Mr. Untouchable. Lucas hit the ultimate Hollywood jackpot, getting Denzel Washington, no less, to play him in American Gangster (reviewed this week in “The Culture Pages”).
And so, three decades after their heyday, these former street titans are still generating commerce. This makes sense, as both insist they were businessmen, first and foremost. The trick for an ambitious black man in the seventies dope game was to minimize the sway of the Italian distributors who had controlled the Harlem scene for decades. Using sheer volume as an edge, Barnes cut increasingly favorable deals with his Mafia partners. He had the biggest clientele—hundreds of thousands of repeat (and repeat) buyers. It was a captive market, and he was their low-cost retailer. Lucas, more of a boutique operator, managed to bypass the Italians altogether by establishing the grisly but exceedingly lucrative “cadaver connection”—a direct line from Asia’s “Golden Triangle” poppy growers straight to 116th Street, smuggling heroin inside the coffins of American soldiers killed in the Vietnam War.
When the possibility emerged that these two old-school street rivals might be willing to engage in what could only be called a historic conversation—they haven’t spoken in 30 years—it was easy to envision yelling, phone slamming, and maybe even a death threat or two.

My two cents:
I was made privy to copy of American Gangster this past Saturday. Although I am a fan, Denzel’s pageantry of signature facial expressions and standardized cavalier bravado have been mundane since Ricochet yet for AG they’re chock full (no-homo). Though casting was “best in years” for a Hollywood A-movie the action was shiftless and the idleness molded boredom save for the shooting scenes which best explicated the destruction of a bullet.
Get in gear to ready yourself for Dame Dash's (producer) Mr. Untouchable.

+Mr. Untouchable trailer: YouTube
+Hi-Tek & Dame Dash: Mr. Untouchable Mixtape
+No I.D. (formerly known as Immenslope & Kanye's mentor) produces Jay-Z's Success featuring Nas for American Gangster: XXL

Racing Race Intelligence & SBX Star Wars

James Watson, a Nobel Prize winner for his part in discovering the structure of DNA, has provoked outrage with his comments, made ahead of his arrival in Britain October 17, 2007. Watson one of the world’s most respected scientists is embroiled in an extraordinary row after claiming that black people are less intelligent than white people. In flaccid PR whitewashing he has issued an apology: “There is no scientific basis for such a belief.”

Furthermore, though unrelated:
The Shield Star Wars began as a Regan-era fantasy. Under Bush, it is now the most expensive weapons system in the history of man. it has never been successfully tested. It will never be finished. And it is completely unnecessary:
Rolling Stone l Playahata:

Mickboogie's Mixboogies

Mick Boogie, Terry Urban and 9th Wonder The Graduate w/ Kanye West Download Mick Boogie and Young Chris Politically Incorrect Download Mick Boogie & Terry Urban Unbelievable Download Mick Boogie & Little Brother And Justus For All Download

+ Mickboogie: Official Site

Talk Box

Stevie Wonder playing the talk box: YouTube

A talk box is a device that produces the classic "talking guitar sound". With it, the musician is able to produce vowel-like sounds, as well as consonants, words and/or phrases. It is not a vocorder (a unit that electronically blends speech with a musical instrument synthesizer), but achieves a similar effect via a much simpler and direct method.
The talk box works on the principle of reproducing sound from an amplifier and directing it into the mouth of the performer. The performer's lips and vocal cavities (mouth, throat, and larynx) further modulate and shape the sound. The resulting "talking guitar" output is then fed through a microphone and from there is amplified through the PA system or sent to the recording console of the studio.
Instead of a speaker, the talk box uses a compression driver. These drivers are actually designed to be used with PA systems to reproduce high frequency sound. A length of vinyl tubing is inserted into the open end of the driver. The other end of the tubing is placed in the performer's mouth to modulate the sound.
The talk box is connected to the speaker output of the guitar amp. If a single amp is used, the output from the talk box is plugged into the speaker cabinet. A switch on the talk box sends the guitar amp output to either the internal horn driver of the talk box, or direct to the speaker cabinet.
Note that a microphone is an integral part of the talk box effect, since without it, the effect cannot be heard over the din of the average band.

+Talk box: Blamepro l National Talk Box Association
+Stevie Wonder: History of Rock l IMDB l Official Site l Motown
+YouTube: Video find goes to my man 2Liter
+Toothpaste for Dinner

Success of Voodoo

A pair of Haitians in the Bronx, Stony Browder Jr. and his brother Thomas (who renamed himself August Darnell), formed Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band in 1974 with singer Cory Daye as the centerpiece.
The band's name was chosen as a tribute to the group's first manager, Dr. Buzzard, who was from the south and told the young musicians stories about his own band days in the 1940's in places like Savannah. "This is the craziest group I've ever seen," said Andy Hernandez. "When I auditioned to join the group, they didn't even ask me to play any music. They gave me a questionnaire to fill out instead." The questionnaire asked for information like: What is your political affiliation? What type of women do you go out with? Would you be willing not to wear tight pants? Do you consider yourself straight or a brat? Andy scored 48 out of a possible 100 points - onhigher than dozens of others that applied and he was invited to join the group. The group consisted of lead singer, and the only female, Cory Daye (as previously noted in the latter), guitarist/pianist Stony Browder Jr. bass player August Darnell and drummer Mickey Sevilla.
The origins of the group date back to the early 1970's when Stony and August began playing together in a South Bronx band called The Strangers. The pair cut a very forgettable record for Roulette Records. In 1972 Cory joined forces with August & Stony after launching her own career at age 17 at a Halloween party "after a life of crime proved unrewarding." Her voice was light and limber, given to tripping scat rather than roars and moans, and the group's music was an effortless blend of big-band swing, jump blues, show tunes, and Caribbean boogie. Mickey, a former teacher at The Manhattan School of Music, joined in 1974 and Andy gave up social work in 1975 to round out the group as its vibe player.

Though I’m not certain whence this comes I presuppose that one of the members of Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band furnished the following adducer:
"We have to attribute much of our success to voodoo...There's something very powerful about drums and rhythm. We use drums very upfront in our music, and it seems to pull people in. It's voodoo!"

+Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band: Discogs l Disco Museum l Salon

Music Dumping

Truth & Soul proffers a new podcast from DJ Akalepse & Gil Parker entitled: The Dump. The Dump is a mix betwixt (M-W: Word of the Day) choice hip-hop, funk & soul.
iTunes subscription is free.

+gyTruth & Soul: Official Site l MySpace

Diff-Rent Patter-Ends: Rhymes Galore

Freeway - 16 Bars Freestyle
Uploaded by Wonderful-Life

Freeway, the best beard in rap, commented to MTV: “Everybody knows I’m Muslim. I made my pilgrimage, I traveled to Mecca. Me being Muslim, I’m not even supposed to be doing music. It takes away from the remembrance of God. For me and for the other (Muslims) in the world, the time they are listening to my music, they could be reading, studying the Koran. The time I’m doing music, I could be studying the Koran. Me knowing that’s the right thing to do and I’m doing something wrong, I had to buckle down and get myself together. ‘Do I really wanna do this? Do I really wanna go against my God like that?’ I came up with the conclusion, and here we go.”
“I got that love for it and the passion. I’m doing so good, it keeps coming. And I gotta keep feeding my family. So, like song What We Do Is Wrong, that’s how I look at it. We all are sinners, but I repent and ask God to forgive for the things I do.

My two cents:

Philly and Detroit MCs crest at the parabola of good music. Free has been preeminently par excellence since featuring on the The Dynasty. Free’s lost to callow Cassidy has no bearing as Cass offers ineffectual support to both axial and radial loads (bad joke).
Free personifies “dumbnice” – let such a talent welcome your long weekend. Free at last...

+Freeway: Discogs l Roc-A-Fella l Rolling Stone l VH1 l The Village Voice
+Purchase: J&R

It's Electric

Jack McDuff:The Electric Surfboard
From: Gin and Orange (Cadet, 1969)

Download: Sharebee

Jack McDuff: Electric Surf Board
From: Sophisticated Funk (Chess, 1976)

Download: Sharebee

White man Ric Silver threatens to sue instructional videos of the electric slide dance courtesy of his copyright which charges the arrangement consist of 22 steps and not the 18 habitually flitted convention:

EURWeb l Playahata

Mos Def and company preeminent the National Student Walk-Out today at 12:00 noon (Central time) armed with student leaders from over 100 campuses in support of the Jena 6 as advertised on The Malcolm X Grassroots Movement:

AHH l Playahata

+Jack McDuff: Jazz House l Soul Walking
+Mos Def: MTV l Rolling Stone
+It’s Electic

I See Zombie War

Supreme Team (Madlib & Karriem Riggins): See (Prod. by Madlib)
From: B-Ball Zombie War

Download:Sharebee

Free Stones Throw podcast #24: The Zombie Playoffs: tracks from B-Ball Zombie War, mixed by PB Wolf. This podcast brought to you by good folks at VTech.


+This YouTube also brought a simpering beam to my face much as it did for Ian of Notes of A Different Kitchen.

+Karriem Riggins: All About Jazz l Discogs l MySpace l Offical Site
+Madlib: Blue Note l Boom Kat l Djouls l Pitchfork l Remix