Tuba Gooding, Jr. Frank Knuckles. Owen Biddle. Captain Kirk. Kamal. Black Thought. Questlove. Four-time Grammy Award winners. Hardest working music outfit in all of music, not just hip hop. The Legendary. An appropriate moniker for a band I hold near and dear to my 41 year-old heart. Giving us true notes since 1987. I have been a faithful listener, fan, and extended family member of The Roots from the beginning, taking it back to the days of The Square Roots and Organix, their first actual release that fetches a pretty penny from collectors and music lovers alike. I am very proud to own EVERY album released by The Roots: Organix, Do You Want More?!!!??!, Illadelph Halflife, my personal favorite Things Fall Apart, Phrenology, The Tipping Point, Game Theory, Rising Down, How I Got Over, and the John Legend collaborative album that garnered three Grammy Awards Wake Up! I am so very proud of this Illadelph collective, not only for being EXTREMELY dope, but for adding a touch of class and decorum to the hip hop landscape. Without The Roots, the genre we know as hip hop would be an even sadder state of affairs. With that bold statement in mind, take a look at this Okayplayer TV jawn (that's Philly speak for joint, if you didn't know) known as "The Legendary: A Film About The Roots". Cam Be was director and editor for this glimpse into the sometimes hectic touring schedule of The Roots. Jeff Baraka served as interviewer and co-producer for this project. I've been fortunate enough to have seen this dynamic hip hop group more times than I have fingers, so I know the energy and showmanship they bring to the table. This film touches on that, but of course doesn't replace the live and in-person element. What you do have is a mini-documentary that will pique the interests of fans and non-fans alike, I'm sure. Thanks again to Okayplayer TV, Vimeo, The Roots, Jeff Baraka, and Cam Be for allowing this slice of hip hop to be shared by the masses. Enjoy this "Legendary" teaser!
Courtesy of MTV2 and my Okayplayer family is the new video from Talib Kweli, "Cold Rain". This is a nice precursor to the full-length release of Gutter Rainbows for tomorrow, January 25. Too bad I won't be using WorldStarHipHop for video clips any time soon! We'll discuss that issue a little later...
As a token of appreciation from The Foreign Exchange collective, a short film has been made entitled "Thank You For Listening: A Short Film About The Foreign Exchange". Shot and directed by Sandrine Orabona, the videographer for Michael Jackson's "This Is It", and Anke Thommen, this short film gives insight into the entity we call The Foreign Exchange. This is a good companion piece with the newly released album Authenticity. The short is in three parts, so enjoy each of these Youtube clips. One love to Phonte, aka Taygravy, and the fine folks at Okayplayer!
COURTESY OF OKAYPLAYER, HERE IS A VIDEO LINK FOR FEMALE EMCEE EXTRAORDINAIRE RAPSODY. THE VIDEO IS FOR A NEW CUT CALLED "EVERY", AND WAS POSTED BY NC PRODUCER 9TH WONDER UNDER HIS JAMLA LABEL. ENJOY!!!
On April 3rd, 2010, a group of like-minded writers, bloggers, poets, emcees, producers, and hip hop heads participated in an exciting and vibrant summit, "If I Ruled The Blogosphere". This dope collection of artists and viewers were able to share their views on hip hop culture and how the blogosphere is being utilized to the advantage of the Hip Hop Community. This gathering was sponsered by Words Beats and Life, a Washington, DC-based hip hop organization designed to bring unity and a voice to the world of hip hop, especially the impressionable youth of the inner city. I am very proud to be a new member of this budding organization, and I was definitely looking forward to having my 40 year-old voice heard, not only from a writing standpoint, but from the vantage point of a person that has seen hip hop grow and mature into the driving musical and cultural force it is today, be it positive and negative. Unfortunately, circumstances that I will not discuss at this moment prevented me from experiencing this important event from a birds-eye view. One thing I can safely say about myself as a man is that I take VERY seriously the preservation and advancement of a culture and movement I can proudly say molded me into the person and man I am today. I was highly disappointed in missing the panel discussion and networking opportunity afforded by "If I Ruled The Blogosphere", a clever play on words conceptualized by Kurtis Blow and advanced by Nas.
The panel for the April 3rd event consisted of a cross-section of individuals contributing to hip hop culture by various means. Diverse personalities such as Oddisee, an underground emcee and producer from the DC region, Dallas Penn, part of the Internets Celebrities collective, FMWJ, originator of http://www.rappersiknow.com/, and Meka from 2Dopeboyz. These individuals shared their thoughts, opinions, views, and voices pertaining to using the internet as a tool to network, market, and advertise. Because hip hop has been a driving force in my existence for the better part of three decades (I know, I'm dating myself), I found, and find, this type of forum to be educational and vital to continued growth within the culture. I say this because without dialogue and discourse inside the sometimes volatile hip hop world, the music and ideas will become stale and stagnant. One of the true principals of hip hop, in my honest opinion, is to innovate and move forward, while still maintaining a connection to the past. Blogs and internet presence are some keys to moving in a positive direction, because the current nature of the music industry is dictating change. You can see it by the dwindling album sales, for the most part, on Billboard and Soundscan. Not to say that music sales are the end all to the be all, but it is quite evident that artists need to look at other tools to advance their collective crafts.
Thanks to Words Beats and Life and the many individuals responsible for putting together a beautiful and informative summit. Busboys and Poets, a popular District meeting place for poets, musicians, and progressive individuals, was the location for "If I Ruled The Blogosphere". More examples of this type of communication and dialogue are needed in order to lay a solid groundwork for the future of documenting and advancing the culture. Below you will find video links to the panel discussion. Anyone interested in sharing their views and opinions, feel free to hit me back. I will definitely respond and open the lanes of discussion about hip hop, poetry, politics, sex, relationships, whatever it may be. KRS-One has often been quoted as saying that "HE IS HIP HOP", and I don't disagree one iota. I feel the same way, because hip hop is not just music, beats, swagger, bravado, but a melting pot of everything that makes me the person that I am. I welcome the opportunity to discuss, because at some point that discussion will be food for thought that will later become writing material. Shout out to Vimeo for having this summit posted.
