Beats, Rhymes & Life

While everyone is excited about 50’s return to the hard core with his new album. (Cant front. The joint is MEAN. You NEED that), I’m excited about the goodies that go with it. Included with Before I Self Destruct are two movies. 50’s directorial debut, Before I Self Destruct, and a documentary about the legendary DJ of RUN DMC, Jam Master Jay.

50 has made crafted a media persona around the fact that he gives a raw uncut opinion about everything. So in the spirit of the movie’s star, I have to say that I fully expected that this movie was going to be the worst. When I saw that the rapper was not just taking on a movie role with Before I Self Destruct but becoming a film auteur by writing, starring and directing I was prepared for whole new level of bad.

But what I got was a surprisingly entertaining effort. Before I Self Destruct tells the story of Clarence (50 Cent), a high school dropout who becomes a ruthless street enforcer. Shot in HD BISD is a hood film to the next level. Like 50’s music there is a certain gallows humor that runs through the film which makes it entertaining. Not necessarily Oscar worthy but definitely a hood favorite in the making.

The second film is one that is a passion project in the truest sense. Boston born Filmmaker Stephon “Phonz” Watford started working with his cousin Jam Master Jay before he left high school. Being friends with his brother and in the music scene in Boston, I used to see him before his treks in and out of town. He used to come back from tour with JMJ with nuff stories to tell and new music. In fact my introduction to Onyx and 50 Cent’s music was through Phonz. He was a part of the legend’s inner circle. It wasnt just a job for Phonz. That was his family. So as you can imagine that the still unsolved murder touched him deeply. And once the pain subsided, he wanted answers.

He took that pain and turned it into the passion that created this film. He was relentless with this. This is a deeply personal documentary that traces the life and death of a Hip Hop legend. Because he worked so closely with Jay he was afforded a level of access to the key players like Rev Run and Russell Simmons that no journalist could ever have. Thats what separates this film from the average doc. The intensely personal approach as he searches for answers has you rooting for him on his quest.

You may get the new 50 for the music but the visuals that go with it make it a truly worthy purchase.

Review

This is another new voice that’s starting to bubble out of the south. Remi makes it a little more radio friendly this time. This dude has some real tough joints. Definitely a cat I will be keeping an eye on. Shout out to Jim Nice and Blast Music Concepts

Remi -Do our Thang

Heaters

In support of her debut album Let The Truth Be Told, soul singer Laura Izibor hit the stage at Wednesday November 4 at Foxboro’s Showcase Live. The Irish born Izibor used her hour set to display real musicianship and soulful vocals in a stunning fashion. With a 4 piece band and herself on keys, she brought a smooth energy that made Showcase Live feel more like Wally’s Café. Less a belter than a Mary J Blige, Laura’s absolutely beautiful voice has a rich 60’s soul vibe to it. But don’t let the throwback feel of songs like “Shine” or “Mmm” fool you. She is very much a child of her generation. Coming from behind her keyboard she transformed her “From My Heart To Yours” into Mary’s “Real Love” seamlessly. The near sold out crowd in this intimate setting should count themselves as lucky. With performances and material like this it won’t be long before she is playing much bigger venues.

Review

We are just trying to do our part for the cause. Got a chance to be at the latest Noisemakers. For those of you that dont know its kinda like Inside The Actor Studio for Hip Hop. Hot 97’s Peter Rosenberg and his team put this on and have yet to disappoint. With cats like this on stage how can they? This time Talib Kweli and Rosenberg chop it up about Rawkus, Jay-Z, and what it means to grow up Brooklyn. Shout out to Nick Rosenberg.

Talib Kweli and Peter Rosenberg discuss working with Mos Def and all that working with him entails…

Talib Kweli and Peter Rosenberg discuss Family

Event, Interview

Around here we believe in Boston.

This town has some real talent and we’re committed to telling you a little story about where we come from. That said here’s something from my mans and them, Capital J of the City Slickers. A little lyrical exercise before the new mix tape Hurry Up & Wait. Yeah we know they are down with us. We also believe in nepotism. (But hey at least we tell you.)

Enjoy

CITY SLICKERS - Nobody Does It Better

Boston!!!, Heaters

City Slickers (Mr. Moses, Capitol J, Tommy Tony) team up with Dre on the Clipse jawn and beat it up real quick. This is from their upcoming Hurry Up & Wait mixtape. Guess my Pollymore family decided to get back to their mic abusing ways. NIIICE!

CITY SLCIKERS feat. Dre Robinson - Kinda Like A Big Deal

Boston!!!

“Back to show you how we do my town/Pick your Adogs up time to put the Nikes down”

New joint from the brother Dre Robinson featuring Amandi on the hook. He keeps it real Boston on this one with shout outs to local scene staples like DJ Chubby Chub & Termanology. Kinda tough! Actually real TOUGH. Production duties by The Nyce Guys. Dre told me that he has a couple of mixtapes in the clip so this is a little appetizer for the Fall/Winter. Enjoy.

Dre Robinson feat. Amandi - Let\'s Go (Clean)

Boston!!!

“Somebody in here is going to get some tonight.” That’s really the only conclusion you can get after experiencing R&B maestro Maxwell’s hour long set of bedroom ready music at the House Of Blues in Boston. The mostly female audience was getting in the mood and since they all cant go home with the singer/producer, somebody else might get lucky. Touring in support of his first new album in 8 years, Blacksummers’night, Maxwell quickly demonstrated that he hadn’t lost a step when it came to his stage show. Part of Samsung’s Summer Krush tour and being taped for broadcast of ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel show, tonight’s concert was more a spiritual experience then an R&B show for more than a few in the crowd. Good music can have that effect. In fact it’s supposed to.

Great artists build and cultivate their relationship with the audience. One couldn’t blame the fans if they were dealing with abandonment issues when it comes to Maxwell. This guy is the musical equivalent to a husband who went out for a pack of cigarettes and didn’t come back. But he has been working on getting back in the house. A brand new album with him, an incredible set at the Essence Music Festival (where he was also over an hour late) and a BET sponsored warm up tour last year served as roses and candy. And the people went for it. The break had not drastically changed things between him and the audience. And that audience tonight was by a non scientific estimate was 80% women, proof that his sex symbol status was firmly in place. Maxwell knows how to work that persona to the hilt. In fact he seems to revel in it, exchanging smiles and glances with the crowd to create an intimacy. (As intimate as you can be with 1900 people). From the offers of foot rubs to the pledges to waking his woman up in the morning mid coitus, he is all about playing on his sex symbol status to take his performance over the top.

It works. Tearing a page from the same playbook as Prince and Marvin Gaye he led the crowd on a journey. Its his performance that separates him from many of today’s R&B artists. He melds music with a flair for the theatrical with great results. He has always plied the soul man/ sex god tradition of R&B and tonight was no exception. Only a few cats in R&B can demand that some panties are on stage as he did before he started “Till The Cops” and they come flying from all sections of the room.

Backed by a tight 9 piece band, Maxwell’s show should be a required class for all modern R&B singers. But all the smooth moves in the world wouldn’t mean a thing if the music wasn’t powerful. What has always separated Maxwell is the fact that he makes classic soul music without ever feeling dated. He effortlessly moved through the highlights of his 5 album discography. “Ascension: Don’t Ever Wonder”, “Bad Habits”, “Pretty Wings” and “Fortunate” (the best R. Kelly record that R. Kelly never did) were all present, accounted for and lovingly sung along to. His version of Kate Bush’s “This Woman’s Work” sounded lush in his able hands. Still one of the most courageous covers of all time, “This Woman’s Work” was one of the stand outs of the night.

His music does what its supposed to…connect. Half way through the show I look across the room and see what has to be the most beautiful woman ever. Standing under one of the few lights in the crowd seemed to give her a halo. The angel effect was even greater when she smiled. In her face you could see the joy that comes from good music. What was making her smile? One of the better R&B/Soul performances that Boston has seen in a while. After an 8 year break from recording Maxwell hasn’t lost a step. Now he just need to work on time management and he can get his keys to the crib back.

Uncategorized

BP3 = Leaking ship. This is the aborted first single from Jay & Drizzy produced by Timbo leaked last night. The internets hate it. I think it cool. It will grow on you. Especially after a couple of shots from the top shelf. Heard that another new one is floating around. Soon as we got that, you got that.

Jay Z feat Drake - Off That

Music

K’naan is no stranger to gracing a big stage. We’re talking about a guy who brought down the house when he performed his spoken word infused Hip Hop to talk about the plight of refugees at the 2001 50th anniversary of the UN Commission for Refugee’s. But for the spoken word artist/MC sharing the stage with some of Hip hop’s greats on the Rock The Bells Festival’s stage is still an honor. “It’s amazing, man. There’s something about it. A couple of the people that are on the bill are people that I came up listening to. So to be playing with them is a beautiful thing.”

K’naan’s journey to Hip Hop’s largest festival stage was an interesting one to say the least. Coming from an artistic family (his aunt was one of Somalia’s most famous singers and his grandfather was a highly respected poet) its easy to see how he became involved in music. Before he could fully understand and speak English, he was memorizing the rhymes of MC’s like Rakim & Nas (whom he shares the stage with at Rock The Bells) in his homeland of Somalia. As one of the last to leave the country in the midst of civil war, he first made his home in NYC before moving to Toronto, Canada, where he became a part of the music scene. A few albums later (his latest troubadour features Mos Def and Adam Levine from Maroon 5) and he is on tour with some of Hip Hop’s legends. We caught up with him to talk about Hip Hop as second language, rocking the crowd and how you can have fun and still be seen as political.

G. Valentino Ball: Since some much of importance is placed on lyrics in Hip Hop, how did you get drawn in since English is not your first language? What was it about that made you enjoy it?

K’naan: The energy. The rhythmic energy. There’s something about music in general. Its not a 100 hundred percent necessity for you to know the details of someone’s lyrics and what they mean (to get drawn in). A lot of times music means what we want it to mean. And Hip Hop is no exception, although its more heavy on lyrics and lyrics based. But what really was drew me in was the rhythmic patterns and the energy of it. It had such a youthful energy to it that I connected to.

G. Valentino Ball: When you did start to understand the music did it coincide with what you had imagined the meaning to be?

K’naan: Sometimes it did. Sometimes it was just funny. (laughs). Other times lyrics you thought were powerful and world changing were kinda not talking about not much. And you’re like, “Wow”. But to be honest it was never one way. There were lyrics that you unraveled and find out had great depth and meaning.

G. Valentino Ball: Do you think you get pegged as being political because of the content of what you say or because nobody else is saying anything?

K’naan: (Laughs) I think it’s the later to be honest, man. I think it’s so easy to pick me out as the artist who is being political mainly because a lot of music is devoid of anything to say at all. There’s not a story to follow. There’s nothing that they actually are telling, even if it’s just a love song. There’s nothing for me to get out of it. When I do songs there are precise about something. The only time they know that that happens in the genres that I’m in usually it’s political so they tag me the same.

G. Valentino Ball: Do you feel like carrying that tag is kinda like a burden? People seem to have a higher expectation of you so because of that you can’t just go out and having fun.

K’naan: Actually the truth of the matter is that its not so much a burden than that its just not true. We do have fun. That’s why I can write a record like “Bang, Bang”, which is a fun pop record. I do have those sides to me. I’m not always serious. Its always an activist type of tag that I get as well. If you say. “I saw the rain today.” They are like, “Oh my God. He called it like it is. He must be conscious. He must be political.” No. I just can see shit. (Laughs) And maybe know why. Maybe that is the extra element. Maybe I have some clue as to why.

G. Valentino Ball: What is a K’naan show like?

K’naan: My show has always been different and a little bit of a stand out. It’s a honest and direct approach to music that whenever we play every night feels like a new show. Even if we play as we have in the past over 500 shows in the last two years.

Rock the Bells 2009
featuring Nas, Damian, Marley and The Roots
Saturday
07/18/09, 2:00 PM
Comcast Center
885 South Main Street
MANSFIELD, MA 02048
$34.75-$120.00, (508) 339-2333
www.livenation.com

Rock the Bells 2009
featuring Nas, Damian Marley and The Roots
Sunday
07/19/09, 12:00 PM
Nikon at Jones Beach Theater
1000 Ocean Parkway
WANTAGH, NY 11793
$40.50-$120.50,
(516) 221-1000
www.livenation.com

Event, Uncut Raw