For those tuned into what’s happening with THE GREEN ALBUM , I remixed Woo Haa last night and it’s dope!  I’m definitely happy with it as a new addition to the album and it will almost definitely make it to the “official” album… opposed to being released some time after the album for people wanting more.

I also started remixing Mobb Deep’s “Shook Ones.”  I’ve been wanting to work that track in, but couldn’t find a beat that did it justice.  I decided to replace the Quasimoto “Broad Factor” remix over that beat with “Shook Ones.”  It’s gonna be dope and may make the official album as well.

Haircut get’s back from Michigan today, so I’m gonna get him all these .aif files for mixing and mastering.

Oh yeah.. If this is your first time hearing about THE GREEN ALBUM , please check that link and let me know which album cover I should use.  I believe Bill is redesigning them now, so I should have some newer versions to share soon

Stay tuned!

I’ve always been a big fan of IPATH shoes.  They’ve definitely been slipping a bit since their early days, but these Fred Gall’s are pretty fresh.

Harold was a legend and a super fun dude.  We got to party with him once when Zoo York came through town for a demo.  There was a lot of drinking, skating, and blood if I remember right.

R.I.P. Harold Hunter

via DOMESTICS CLOTHING.

The last Foreign Exchange album “Connected” was superb.  I liked it more than any Little Brother album.  Nicolay laced the beats and Phonte & Big Pooh come with some smooth personal raps that I felt were really refreshing at the time.

Check the whole interview with Nicolay at Nicolay: The New Foreign Exchange Album is Almost Done.

Here are my two favorite tracks from “Connected.”  You’ll see what I mean about the beat, lyrics, etc.

This is a great video part.  Super fun and easy going, but some killer skating in it.  I think they could have cut it down for it to pack more of a punch, but it’s a good view.

Click here for Nick Paolucci’s part in the SEC II DVD.

via Mostly Skateboarding.

This is a dope track.  I’ve been a Shabamm Saadeeq fan for a long time.  Supastition as well.  This beat, the lyrics (message), hook, and everything is dope.  

Another gem from Kevin|Nottingham.

Brand new track from K-Hill, called “Keep Comin”!

This is off of K-Hill’s new mixtape, The Return of Monroe Hutchins due out sometime in June. The track features Shabamm Sahdeeq, Supastition, Torae, Tiffany Paige, and DJ Flash… whew!

Download Now

K-Hill’s MySpace Page
Shabamm Sahdeeq’s MySpace Page
Supastition’s MySpace Page
Torae’s MySpace Page
Tiffany Paige’s MySpace Page

I’ve said it before, but there are just some sources I don’t really question.  Hopefully, I’ve become one of those for you.  Kevin|Nottingham is one of those sources along with some others.  If he says this mix is fire, I’m gonna post it and download it without thinking twice.

1. Big Pooh Intro
2. “A Change Gon’ Come”
3. “Pushers”
4. “You Can’t Hide”
5. “High Wednesday” Feat. Primeridian
6. “Heart Beat (Freestyle)”
7. “Back to Business” Feat. Melatone of Chapter 13 (Prod. By J-Dilla)
8. “What is it” Feat. Astonish & Jay Vega
9. “Fresh” Feat. Visual
10. “Explode” (Prod. By Analogic)
11. “Dreams (Interlude)”
12. “Dreams” Feat. Little Brother
13. “Feels Good” (Prod. By Dj PHD)
14. “When We Rock” Feat. Abstract Mindstate & Iomos Marad
15. “We Roll (Freestyle)”
16. “Watchin’ My Moves”
17. “Standing for Something” Feat. Thaione Davis (Prod. By Madlib)
18. “Duck, Duck, Duck’ Feat. Young Valentine
19. “You Never Know” Feat. Furlee of The Landlords
20. “Getting’ It In” Feat. Donwill of Tanya Morgan
21. “Black Sunday” Feat. Augustine & KING
22. “Fallin” Feat. Abstract Mindstate & O-Type Star
23. “Surrender”
24. “Surrender (Brand New Remix)” Feat. Rita J.
25. “Focused” Feat. F.O.O.D. (Decay & Selfish)
26. “Flyin’ High” Feat. Abstract Mindstate
27. “Oxygen” Feat. Pugs Atomz (Prod. By Pete Rock)
28. “All Day” Feat. Skinny Kenny
29. “Glam, Glitter” Feat. Cap D of All Natural
30. “How Long” Feat. KING
31. Outro
32. “My Life Story”

Download A Change Gon’ Come

What a beautiful day!  Talk about goodness!  Just wait for the next few posts.  This one will get you warmed up.

A pre-school in Millford, PA built a mini ramp INSIDE the pre-school.  They are in the process of building an  mock-up of the FDR Skatepark.  FDR is a beast!  That’s were many of you have seen footage of Bam killing it.  This kid’s mom owns the pre-school, which has a ton of space.  The park is free to ALL.  You need a key code to skate the mini…but the dude is real cool and let’s cats skate it all day!

SAY WORD!

How fresh is this!!!  I hope every city roof top has one of these.

“In Issue 010 we mentioned The Science Barge, a sustainable urban farm floating on the Hudson River in New York City. Powered by solar panels, wind energy, and biofuels, the Science Barge grows tomatoes, cucumbers, melons and lettuce with “zero net carbon emissions, zero chemical pesticides, and zero runoff.” The engineers behind the barge preach the power of hydroponics: growing plants in a liquid solution rather than soil makes for sustainable agriculture that uses less land and water and can happen anywhere. They hope these efficient urban farms will take root on New York’s rooftops. Last Saturday we invited our friends and readers to visit the barge with us. Here’s a virtual tour.” - Good Magazine

Wooooooooooooo!!!!  Straight FIRE!!!

This track is ridiculous!  Vaughan T. from the Lab Tech’s blessed the beat and Buff destroyed it!

Unfortunately, I was in Mexico when this was filmed, so I missed out on that, but I had the privilege of watching the video a couple weeks ago.  I was REAL honest about how I felt about the first half of the video.  It was SOFT.  The song is called “Beat The Speakers Up” and it hits harder Kimbo, but the video wasn’t doing it justice.  I’m extremely thankful that the fam took my constructive criticism along with others who felt the same and made Dave who produced the video, go back to the lab.

NOW IT BANGS!

Beat The Speakers Up is the first single from Buff’s new album “There Is Only One.”  Keep an eye out for it!

Check what my well-respected blog brotha SweeneyKovar wrote…

“my favorite rapper who fucks with a punk rock outfit.

Quelle - Cookie

its been awhile since i heard someone flip Al Green.” 

I think he’ll be pleasantly surprised with THE GREEN ALBUM.

Wowww!  This is hot shit.  ”Royce Da 5′9″ recently sat down with HipHopGame and confirmed that he and Slum Village member Elzhi will be doing an album together.” - ArtofRhyme.com 

That’s gonna be bananas.  They are both lyrically superior emcees and I’m sure will put out some serious heat!  No joke.  This album will almost definitely be fire.  The production alone right now coming from the D is ridiculous.  There’s nothing out there that’s nearly as hard and still has that swagger.  Really, that’s the kind of canvas that emcees like El and Royce need to do them justice.  I can’t wait for this.

If you wanna take a sneak peak at what this album might sound like check out Elzhi ft. Royce The 5′9 - Motown 25 (Prod. by Black Milk) from Elzhi’s Euro Pass in the New Joints section.  You might as well check Elzhi - “That’s The One”  as well.

Royce is gonna have to bring his A game, cuz he’s got what it takes and Elzhi doesn’t have a B game..haha.

Word.  My man SweeneyKovar  blessed us with some new Detroit goodshhh.  This is the first I’ve heard of Danny Brown, but i he’s f*ckin’ with  Nick Speed, Quelle and House Shoes, I am sure we’ll be hearing a lot more good music from him soon.

Danny Brown - Set

Another dope Common freestyle.  Gotta love this man when he’s in the moment.  Also peep Common and Kareem Riggins perform Thelonious (Dilla tribute).

via Nah Right.

1. “Mother Nature” by Albert Jones
   • Sampled in “Be Intro”
   • Produced by Kanye West
2. “What It Is” by The Temptations
   • Sampled in “The Corner”
   • Produced by Kanye West
3. “You Make The Sun Shine” by The Temprees
   • Sampled in “The Corner”
   • Produced by Kanye West
4. “Old Smokey” by Linda Lewis
   • Sampled in “Go!”
   • Produced by Kanye West
5. “Faithful To The End” by DJ Rogers
   • Sampled in “Faithful”
   • Produced by Kanye West
6. “Innocent Til Proven Guilty” by Honey Cone
   • Sampled in “Testify”
   • Produced by Kanye West
7. “God Is Love” by Marvin Gaye
   • Sampled in “Love Is…”
   • Produced by J Dilla
8. “Since I Found My Baby” by Cornelius Jones & Sister Rose
   • Sampled in “Chi-City”
   • Produced by Kanye West
9. “Never Had It So Good” by The Chi-Lites
   • Sampled in “The Food
   • Produced by Kanye West
10. “Nothing Can Change This Love” by Sam Cooke
    • Sampled in “The Food”
    • Produced by Kanye West
11. “Sweet Children” by Caesar Frazier
    • Sampled in “Real People” & “Be Intro”
    • Produced by Kanye West
12. “Ghetto Child” by Ahmad Jamal
    • Sampled in “They Say”
    • Produced by Kanye West
13. “Share What You Got, Keep What You Need” by The Modulations
    • Sampled in “It’s Your World”
    • Produced by J Dilla

Download Be: Original Samples

via Kevin|Nottingham.

Another exceptional birthday to be celebrating.

Part 1 of Stevie Wonder’s Birthday Celebration LIVE at Wembley Arena in London 1989. Introduction, rehearsals & interviews. 

Part 2 Interview with Stevie plus “I’m a Man”.

An amazing performance by Stevie Wonder and Diana Ross.  I think this video aired between 1969 and 1970.

Stevie Wonder in the studio 1973 [Superstition]

Signed, Sealed, Delivered is an incredible album as a whole!

I Was Made To Love Her

It has been quite a while since I’ve shared some Marketing thoughts.  I found this graph on Seth’s Blog.  Many of my marketing related posts are inspired by his, but I like to make them relevant to our world.

The chart above shows two bell curves.  The first (Passion) is a reflection of influencers/tastemakers/enthusiasts’ acceptance with something (in our case, music, skateboarding, fashion, art, products, brands, etc.)  These people dig for records at used record stores, search blogs for information, shop at boutiques, drive to skate spots or drive around to discover new ones.

The second curve is a reflection of the masses’ acceptance.  These people listen to the radio, get their information from the news on TV, shop at The Gap or even Pacific Sunwear, they skate mostly skateparks, etc.

For each group there is a sweet spot.  For passion that sweet spot could be Dilla, The Pharcyde, or A Tribe Called Quest in music.  It could be Okayplayer for information, Supreme skate shop, or Love Park (in its better days).  

For Pop, it’s 50 Cent, Kanye, MTV, Nordstroms, etc.

Each of those entities above on both sides have decided what market they are targeting and they are successful because of it.

BUT, millions every day get stuck in the middle.  You have to mind the gap!  That’s where you get lost!  

I like to think that I (this blog) is somewhere over the “O” in obsessed moving right only because my appeal is growing into the sweet spot of the passion curve, but it will NEVER go to the right of that sweet spot because I will NEVER choose to target “Pop” culture with this blog.  I see numbers grow and yesterday believe it or not I had 1996 views!  People who see their numbers grow do 1 of 2 things.  MOST, feel they now need to appeal to a wider audience in order to continue growing those numbers.  In our life time we’ve see countless musicians do this by changing their music to cross over.  The rest of us, TIGHTEN UP!  I post less stuff about Kanye, Jay-Z, the Game and even other more mainstream news like Notorious B.I.G’s documentary.  I see my growing audience as an opportunity to become even more relevant and selective.  

When I first started the blog in Jan. or Feb., I was getting 20 views a day and felt compelled to post stuff that more people would check for.  Now, I ONLY post what I think is dope, entertaining, and relevant.

I made my choice.  I strongly suggest you make yours because the future is not promising for those in the middle.

This is outrageous!  The video below raises awareness of a law that’s about to be passed in Chicago that will make it virtually impossible for event promoters, including bands themselves to throw shows due to financial requirements and more!  

To view the ordinance and/or post a comment, click HERE.  I just finished leaving my comment which fell just short of the 5,000th one on there.  I strongly encourage you to do the same, because if they pass this in Chicago, it sets a precedent for every other city in the US.

The details:

The “Event Promoters” ordinance requires any event promoter to have a license from the city of Chicago and liability insurance of $300,000, but that’s just the start:

• The definition of “event promoter” is so loosely defined it could apply to a band that books its own shows or a theater company that’s in town for a one-week run.
• “Event Promoter” must be licensed and will pay $500 - $2000 depending on expected audience size.
• To get the license, applicant must be over 21, get fingerprinted, submit to a background check, and jump over several other hurdles.
• This ordinance seems targeted towards smaller venues, since those with 500+ permanent seats are exempt.
• Police must be notified at least 7 days in advance of event.

For the complete ordinance, check out Jim DeRogatis’ blog on the Chicago Sun-Times.

This is pretty cool.  You kinda get the gist of it within the first minute, but it’s not worthless by any means to watch the whole thing.  Blus imagination in this is pretty awesome. 

Made in Buenos Aires and in Baden (fantoche)

http://www.blublu.org/
http://www.blublu.org/sito/video/muto…

music by Andrea Martignoni
produced by Mercurio Film
assistant: Sibe

found on Mare 139.

This should be amazing.  Rich Medina is one of my favorite DJs and Bobbito is just classic!

via Frolab who I actually met in person at Rhettmatic’s Bday party at Nightlife