A free hip hop jam featuring emcees, DJs, bboys/bgirls, and live graffiti art. This year’s lineup is: Fountaine, Smyth + Brax, Candid Ramblings, RxN, and the UO Hip Hop Ensemble. We will also have Flock Rock the Duck Street Dance Club. Live art by Tasko! There will also be an open mic MC cypher at 9:30pm. This event is FREE, all ages, and open to the community. Check this out Thursday December 5th, 6:30-10pm in Global Scholars Hall #123 on the University of Oregon campus.
Just picked up this new book, The History of Gangster Rap: From Schooly D to Kendrick, which prominently features the stories behind mostly West Coast gangster rappers. Admittedly, this is not my favorite subgenre of hip hop music, but god damn as a kid I loved this shit (as most young, white, suburban males did in the 80s/90s, and still today). In later years, I’ve found the subgenre interesting in its manufacture, sale, and exploitation of violence and misogyny, but am looking forward to learning more about the making of a lot of this music. We tend to get the Dr. Dre/Ice Cube narrative pretty heavy, but NEED to hear from the other people. Here is a great interview with the author, and a way to cop it.
Here is a great, lo-fi video where Ski Beatz talks about how he made Jay-Z’s classic from his debut album, Reasonable Doubt, “Dead Presidents.” He speaks on the technology that he used (like many producers of that time: an Akai S-950 for the melody slaved to the SP-1200 for drums and triggering the 950), bassline filtering, etc. A must watch!
Well, Netflix spent a TON of coin on The Get Down, a musical love story set in the Bronx in 1977 that incorporates youth music cultures of the time (hip hop, disco, and punk…well, punk was supposed to be in the next 6 episodes). The first 6 episodes aired this summer; the next 6 episodes won’t be made (or finished, or whatever).
Turns out the show tanked. Baz Luhrman, director of many flashy and over-produced films, made a semi-authentic show that used hip hop culture as its crux. This pissed off a lot of old hip hop heads, probably the only group of people who care about minor details. Remember, this show was entertainment and not historical (it was a period piece…here is more about that).
With all the inaccuracies aside, I enjoyed the show. It was, umm, cute and I took it for what it was. I didn’t like how Grandmaster Flash was treated as this god/guru type, but hey, Flash was pretty hands-on in its production. I recommend you give it a shot. In my opinion the show was made for young people, and I thought it could give them some concept of hip hop’s history, as well as the social conditions (brought on by political corruption) that gave birth to hip hop.
This is a GREAT documentary on De La Soul. One of the greatest rap groups of ALL TIME! Why? First, the music. Second, their new album, Anonymous Nobody, an album funded through Kickstarter and a true DIY project, landed in at #1 in the Rap Albums chart earlier this fall. They have had important and high-selling albums in the 80s, 90s, 2000s, and now the 2010s (or whatever you call it now) and their sound has changed and developed. Check out the film and the new album.
Hip Hop Music: History, Aesthetics, Culture 