Forgive me for being so slack on the blog as of late. My home computer has some sort of a virus that killed my Malwarebytes program and won't even let me open any websites that have to do with removing spyware and malware. I have my AVG running all the time and it still got me. No idea where it came from but yeah I am about to have to wipe the whole thing. And I am not the organized type that keeps Program discs around. UGH, yeah anyway that's not what you came here to read.
Last week I went up ta New York City for the 29th Annual CMJ Music Marathon and what a whirlwind week it was! SXSW hosted a party, I was on a panel, Invincible did 2 1/2 shows, I saw a lot of bands, drank a decent number of these:
And stayed with our good friends Josh and Liz
in Crown Heights. And yeah they took me to a Beer Garden in Brooklyn to start things off.
Anyway here's some pics and a slight run down.
Senor Kaos from Atlanta was the first artist I saw upon arrival in NY. This is my homey and I didn't even know he was on this show. Was real nice to see the man!
Homeboy Sandman joined him on stage.
As did Von Pea of Tanya Morgan
Homeboy Sandman, Senor Kaos, Von Pea
Cool thing about this show, was it was at Public Assembly in Brooklyn, which is a double venue. So while Invincible, Senor Kaos, DJ Spinna and more rocked in one room, a whole cadre of dope female MC's and DJ's were in the other room. I don't know everyone's names but what I saw was pretty dope.
Zarinah, from Philly, done killed it for real!
But I mean my highlight of course was seeing Invincible on stage with Waajeed of Platinum Pied Pipers, MAYNE HOLD UP! I couldn't ask for much more.
And they rocked the hell out of this show, as evidenced by
this piece in the Village Voice Online.
Anyway yeah it was dope.
This woman - Kalae Guevara - and her band were off the chain.
Live painting and such...
So yeah it really went down.
Saw this en route to the next spot on a garage door!
Anyway, I shoulda taken more pics I know, I know. But this is a good one.
DJ CROP DIGGIE ON A ROOF!
And Puja Patel aka Senari as well.
Wednesday night SXSW hosted a mixer of sorts for our industry friends and it was really nice. Great folks all around. We are also hosting mixers in Los Angeles on Tuesday Nov. 3rd and in Chicago on Tuesday Nov. 10th. I'd love to see you there. Holler at me if you wanna come thru!
Crystal Lee with my man Patrick and the band Francis from Sweden!
Hugh Forrest Director of SXSW Interactive!
Brent Grulke, Jill Bostur (right) and friends
Joshua Asen, director of I Love Hip-Hop In Morrocco, Luann Willams
My boy Leroy, Crystal Lee and friend.
Andy Flynn and Friend
Lynda Pyle with MC Frontalot and Euclides Pereyra
Tierney Stout
Puja Patel, Friend, Melanie Turner
Then we hit up Peter Rosenberg's Noisemakers event with Talib Kweli and J. Period. Could we possibly see a special Noisemakers event at SXSW 2010?
Peter Rosenberg, Talib Kweli
This band played during the intermission, was killer.
And my man Daru Jones rocking the fresh N. Brown Clothing T-Shirt. (That I just so happened to be wearing as well that night!)
Then we headed over to another spot to see Bilal and Shafiq Husein. Shafiq's En Af Reka is my favorite album of the moment, I can't stop jamming it, butthis particular show, I don't know. Sound was really bad. Like I saw backing vocalists singing and did not hear a word they sang! Was way off, but I mean, whatever, the album is killer and I know they will get it together.
The women responsible for
my favorite song and video of this year - Invincible and Tiombe Lockhart!
So nice to finally meet Tiombe! WHAT A VOICE!
THEN I was on a panel pertaining to International Hip-Hop thanks to Fiona Bloom! I hope to get the audio from this soon. Was really dope, lots of insights and such. Thanks Fiona and nice to meet you MC Melodee, Dalton Higgins and Magee McIlvaine!
I took this one so no I am not in it, yeah but it went down.
THEN! Hit up the Spectre/Foundation DJ Mixer at Von and man, yeah, saw all my good folks!
From all over the place.
DJ 11, Jessica Weber, Kunal Merchant. If you haven't heard Kunal's remix of Jay Z's American Gangster -
HINDUSTANI GANGSTER - click here to DL now cuz it is amazing. Rattles the trunk and such. So dope!
Our panel manager Angela came with us to the party, seen here with my girl Quinn from Montreal/Brazil!
Me and DJ Crop Diggie used to live in Brooklyn together, this was in 1994. Spent more time with him this past week than we have in the past year. Real cool man!
Edan played mostly psych rock, which I didn't mind.
Me and JERN EYE!
Jessica, Me and my wife Melissa
Protege and friend
Then after that we went by the crib of the legendary DANTE ROSS. Y'all need to be familiar with this man. he had his hands on a lot of the best hip-hop from the 90's and beyond. Dude has worked with everyone and is a big man on the scene for real. He laced me with the new Bobitto Pro Keds even. And we had dinner at Lil Frankies, work to J Dirrt thats my SPOT!
Saturday was the DJ Hero event. Rain couldn't stop it man, shit was throwed.
J. Period killed it but I missed Z-Trip
Fab 5 Freddy in the spot!
As well as DJ Vlad
My man Paul Stewart with DJ Smiles Davis and Tamir Brown.
Then walked in the rain to see this band from Sweden, Francis, who were pretty killer. Look out for the m in 2010 for sure.
Then later that evening we went to my friend Astra's apartment and were joined by DJ ayres and his lovely wife Veronika and the wonderful baby NINA! So glad to finally meet you Nina.
Camera battery died at this point. Phone died way before that. So we sat in Astra's apt and listened to Funkmaster Flex on Hot 97. I have to say that it was the most disappointing radio show I have ever heard in my life. Here it was Saturday night in the Big Apple and the ONLY New York rapper, in fact only east coast rapper I heard on the radio was Jay Z. The rest was ALL Gucci Man, OJ da Juiceman, Lil Jon, Lil Wayne, I mean seriously, it was ALL Atlanta/SE raps. I don't mind any of those artists, but man, I was in New York, it was Saturday night, I was listening to Funkmaster Flex on Hot 97 and I heard nothing but this shit? Are you fuckin' kidding me? People kept telling me that NY fell off musically, and I never believed them...
And I still don't. New York is still a dynamic city, but like every other city in the world, they have allowed their radio waves to be destroyed by corporate fools who are only out to destroy us.
O.K. I'll stop before I spazz out and write something that I regret or that could put my career in jeopardy. Seriously, tho, I am extremely mad about this shit. I thought AT LEAST New York could hold itself down, but alas, no.
Rappers, think about that shit next time you complain about your local radio station not playing any local/independent artists. They don't even do that shit in New York and its a fucking travesty.
