HAHAHAHAHAHAHA that's all I'm sayin'...
Classic ish!
Blog - The Movement Fam, Independent Hip Hop Record Label - Toronto + Montréal
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HAHAHAHAHAHAHA that's all I'm sayin'...
Classic ish!
Internal beefs among rap crews have gotten so cliché that you can pretty much pencil them in right after the 3:00 viral video upload. Money, affairs of the heart and inflated egos have caused many of us to think about our favorite group and echo the sentiments of Chris Rock’s character in Boomerang, saying, “First the Fat Boys break up, now this shit?” Having seen D-12’s rift with Royce Da 5’9”, and David Ruffin’s with The Temptations before them, if you want to take the historical approach, break ups are nothing new to Slum Village. While they never officially broke up, the death of J Dilla and Baatin’s bout with schizophrenia prevented the group from making an album with all four members of what is arguably Motown’s longest tenured Hip Hop outfit. But, even after a hiatus of over three years, each member will tell you that the mutual love and respect is still there. T3 has witnessed the ups and downs from day one. During a conversation with HipHopDX covering the many peaks and valleys of Slum Village, he explains how his crew has turned tragedy into a catalyst for creating what may be their best work yet. HipHopDX: How far along is the album, and is there a release date? One of the things we talk about it what’s going on in the economy. We had to address that even though we took our own approach. We’re really addressing what goes on in our everyday lives and what we’ve been doing in the last three-and-a-half years. People are wondering, “What y’all doing? Where y’all been?” They might have seen me doing something and Baatin and Elzhi doing something else, so we talk about that on the album. We also had a little bit of fun, ‘cause ‘Tin brought that fun factor back. DX: So the rumor is that you guys worked with Focus and Marsha Ambrosius from Aftermath on the single? DX: Were you planning on that, or was it another collaboration spawned by CalTroit? DX: The industry is in a completely different space now, and the recession doesn’t help. What platform will this be released on? Majors are falling apart as we speak. There’s probably another 300 job layoff happening somewhere right now. We’ve got a strong enough fan base to push the music, so people can just be ready for whatever platform it comes out on. DX: From an artistic standpoint, things are also going digital with a lot of Electronica and Auto-Tune being incorporated… At the end of the day, I feel Slum Village always made good, lady-pleasing records. That means we know how to make a good single. We’ve got the kind of music that can touch a lot of folks, and it’s time for us to come back to the forefront. DX: In line with that, do you think people will finally figure out what the Slum Village lane is? You guys talk about some grimy stuff sometimes, but you’re always lumped in with more “conscious” groups. DX: T3 and Baatin went to school together, and Elzhi and T3 allegedly hooked up a management agreement over a slice of pizza. Do you think meeting in that organic sort of fashion plays a part in your longevity? DX: In regards to your Voltron analogy, did pursuing solo projects change your approach to working together? And just bringing ‘Tin back is what really excites me about this new Slum Village album. Having Baatin back brings that rambunctious energy and that character that Slum had been missing. That’s really changed our perspective on how we did this album. DX: I wanted to get in to that, because there were obviously some things said back and forth on the two albums he wasn’t on… DX: True, but even families have their fights from time to time. Was there ever a point where you had to sit down together and address everything that happened? DX: Not too harp on the subject of Baatin’s hiatus, but there’s a stigma in the Hip Hop community as far as dealing with mental and physical issues. Having been through Baatin's schizophrenia and Dilla's death, does that change your personal outlook? DX: You brought up lyricism earlier, and there are two schools of thought about how you guys spit. Your detractors label you inferior lyricists, while fans call it a different style that uses the voice more as an instrument with different cadences. At any point did you feel compelled to step up the lyrics? When you think of emcees, you just think of rapping in front of a mic, and I’m more of a producer myself. I like to put the picture together, and Baatin is more of a character. He’ll give you different pieces with the way he does voices and adds visuals. A lot of people don’t understand that, or maybe they don’t even care about it, but it all forms together. I just think people need to quit judging things thinking, “This is how an emcee is supposed to rap,” or “This is what a rapper is supposed to do.” I guess that’s the nature of the game, so we’re just gonna keep doing what we’re doing. There’s always gonna be somebody with something to say, so we ain’t really trippin’. DX: So with these different elements you all bring to the table, how does it work when it’s time to hit the lab and make tracks? DX: Let’s dig into some of the old stories behind Slum Village. Did the group’s name come from Phife Dawg’s verse on “Butter” ? DX: Oh yeah, the leather, African medallions with the patch inside… DX: True. Moving on to another album, in past interviews, you guys have said that Trinity almost didn’t get made. Considering all the obstacles you had to overcome to put that out, do you think it made you stronger as a group? DX: Yeah, I think a lot of people were pleasantly surprised with “Tainted” and both versions of “One.” DX: That’s good to know. Unless you’re grabbing it off of the Internet, that’s been hard to find. On a totally unrelated note, what are the chances of getting a big Detroit compilation together with Slum, Black Milk, Royce, Guilty and everyone else? It’s just getting people to split that deal. Doing the songs isn’t a problem, but the tour times don’t always match up with everybody on the road. And then, somebody has to take that cut. And in this economy—I don’t know. [Laughs] That’s the only thing slowing that up, so I don’t know about that just yet. Let’s get a couple more dollars, then we can all do it. DX: Good point. Keeping with our tradition of random, Rap nerd trivia, can you explain the different cameos in the “Climax” video? DX: Between Gary Coleman, Simeon Rice and Saafir, y’all raised a lot of eyebrows. DX: Word, you guys were up on that Boxcar Sessions album too? Some old, but classic Villa with 'Climax'
T3: There is a tentative due date for about June or May. The album is done for the most part. The music is a lot bigger and the lyrics are a lot better. It was mixed like that, and everything has that big sound. It’s still got some soul to it. It’s called Village Manifesto, and what we’re really trying to say is…I don’t know. We really talk about a lot. I really feel niggas stepped up their lyrical game.
T3: Yeah that’s true, and it came out lovely.
T3: You know, that Cali and Detroit connection has been going on for a minute. You can go back to “Forth and Back,” where Dilla was at the forefront of that. We’ve just been keeping it going since then.
T3: If I had to guess, I would say mostly digital. But I don’t have no set details. We’ll let the label work out what they work out, and then go from there. It ain’t really about putting records in stores no more. That’s kinda old school, and most of the stuff is online anyway. I know I buy my stuff online unless I’m digging for old, old vinyl.
T3: Yeah, but we always had a digital sound. Coming from Detroit, we always had that Techno vibe. So we always put a little bit in there, but we didn’t do a 180 and go strictly digital. We still try to keep it Soul, because I feel there’s a lane open to do what we do.
T3: Yeah, but most of our boys are on that conscious tip…I guess you could say that. The music sounds like that, but lyrically we’ve always had a street edge to our music. We’re kind of the black sheep of that group. I don’t ever remember Slum Village doing a political song. But as long as you’re digging the music, I don’t care.
T3: I think it does. Through the years, our chemistry together…we’ve been building this thing for a minute. We’ve been adding pieces to our Voltron for quite some time now. I feel like it’s getting stronger. The Detroit movement is getting stronger, and we’re just making great music. There’s a lot of cats doing their thing, and I feel like we started that. We’re at the forefront of that, and it’s something we’re just gonna keep pushing in the name of Dilla and Proof.
T3: Yeah, it’s much different from when you’re doing your own thing. We’ve just been grinding, and it’s been a long time since we’ve come out with a record. It’s had to have been at least three-and-a-half years now. When I go off and do my Night Gallery project, which is still not out yet, that just enhances our skills for when we come back. When Elzhi goes off and does Witness My Growth or The Preface, it’s the same thing. When we come back, it allows us to bring more to the table when we combine as a unit.
T3: I can never get mad at ‘Tin! Baatin was dealing with some issues, but you’ll never hear me lashing back at him on any interview. And you never heard El lash out at him on any interview either. That’s just ‘Tin, and he’ll always be a part of the group. Even when he ain’t a part of the group, he’s a part. That’s just history, man. He’s always gonna be a part of what Slum Village stands for. I mean…
T3: Yeah, but it wasn’t even like that. It was more like, “‘Tin ain’t been doing nothing. I really want to see this brother come out and do his thing.” He worked on a couple projects here and there. But I felt like I wouldn’t have wanted us to do this album without Baatin. We talked about doing an album with me, ‘Tin, Dilla and El, but it never came about. So when Dilla passed, it was like, “Well, we gotta have ‘Tin as a part of the next Slum record.” And now we’re even incorporating Illa J as a part of this album too. I think we’re all family, and we’ve all come together to make great music.
T3: Yeah, sadly that’s something that happens sometimes. People go through things, and most people don’t talk about it. We put it out there, especially El when he did “Reunion.” We just tell people the situations we’re dealing with, and we didn’t want people to be in the dark. I would never kick Baatin out of the group or anything like that. He was dealing with some issues, and he’s better now, so let’s make music. That’s all it boils down to.
T3: [Laughs.] No. I feel like people as a whole…we stepped the lyrics because that’s what we felt like. But I don’t ever want to pigeonhole Slum Village like, “Oh we gotta be the lyrical kings!” Nah, that’s not really what we’re about. We’re just about making great songs. If you want to go lyrical, we know Elzhi can just about eat up anybody by himself. He was that addition we decided to bring to Slum Village. But I don’t need that same judgment for Baatin or me, because you may not understand the creative stuff that we do. Baatin also sings, and I make beats and write a lot of the hooks.
T3: Most of the time, me and Young RJ put down the foundation. Young RJ has always been a part of our movement since Fan-Tas-Tic Vol. 2, because he grew up with us as a lad. [Laughs] It could be us two, or Kareem Riggins or whichever producer is handling it. But 85% of the time, I’m the one who starts it off. There’s times when El or ‘Tin has concepts or titles for the album and we usually add those. So I’ll set it off a majority of the time, and ‘Tin will come in and give it that flavor. Then El usually comes in to seal the deal.
T3: No, that was some dictionary stuff. Me, Wajeed and Dilla were looking for names. We put it together, and it was funny how Phife said it too, but we really didn’t get it from there. It was the first thing we sampled on Fan-Tas-Tic, so we really wasn’t mad about it. Originally we were the Slum Brothers, ‘cause this was when everybody was on the whole peaceful vibe with the African pendants. You remember the necklaces and stuff?
T3: [Laughs] Yeah, but after that died out, we changed it to Slum Village. So that’s how that started out. But I feel like we are connected with Tribe, because Q-Tip was the first person to put us out there and go on record as endorsing Slum Village. So we’re definitely connected.
T3: Hmmm…at the end of the day, I think so. But, if it was up to me, it never would’ve happened. I guess it was meant to happen, because that pressure made me become the leader of Slum Village when I didn’t want to be. It worked for us, and we did three albums after that which were mostly successful. Sometimes you don’t know what God has in store for you, and you just gotta roll with the punches. With that, I just had to man up and Trinity happened. There are a lot of things I hear on Trinity that I loved, and there are other things that have me going, “Ooh, that mix...” I really want to go back and redo Trinity. We can use the same music, but just redo the whole album over. It might happen one day. Believe it or not, that was our most commercially successful album; it sold the most records. It outsold [Fan-Tas-Tic] Vol. 1 and 2, which most people consider classics, so you never know.
T3: Oh yeah, we had the Dirty District joint. That was me and RJ in the lab making beats again. We did a lot of joints on that Dirty District album. We’re re-releasing that too.
T3: Yeah, I think so man. We’re always on each others' albums, but we haven’t put it all together. Now that everybody is getting their recognition, it’s time for that. We have talked about it. It’s not official yet, but it’s definitely something we’ve thought and talked about. Everybody’s doing their thing and everybody’s got records coming out this year. Since we’re all on the road, we might as well seal the deal on all of that.
T3: [Laughs] You know what? Everybody was excited about the album, and they wanted to be in the video. So we figured, “Well we know it’s a girl song, but we’re gonna put you in the video anyway.” That’s what we did, and that’s how we got ?uestlove and everybody else in there. ?uest was like, “Nah man, I don’t wanna get in trouble!” but we got him in there. I don’t know why they didn’t bring everybody into “Raise It Up,” because we shot those right after each other. Since everybody was family, we figured, “Okay let’s do it.”
T3: Simeon Rice is kin to the label, he’s literally family. And Saafir? We were big fans of his back in the day.
T3: Yes, yes, yes. That was like one of my favorite, obscure west coast rappers; he’s definitely one of our favorites. His style was just so different from everybody else’s.
Author: Omar Burgess
D-R-A-K-E, thats... Him!
As seen on our dude DJ Hyphen's blog, "The Audacity of Dope" www.theaudacityofdope.com, I had to share this 'coz the peoples need to know!!
Watch as T. Dot representative, "Drizzy" Drake don't even sing the hook/s to his mixtape joint smash hit, “Best I Ever Had” in this short clip.. like he has to!! The ladies are goin' bananas and screaming the lyrics throughout, and after Drake's trip to New York City last week, it seems as though he's going to blow the hell up sooner than later for the mainstream world of music. Damn.. lets hope he stays as dope, PLEASE!!
But wait! There's more....
I cannot wait for his album, gon' be super fresh.
Enjoy!
Aiiight, well my dude Skyzoo kicks it off wit a live performance @ Fat Beats... wish I could'a been there, what can I say? He kills it! WOW. Peep:
Skyzoo Live @ Fat Beats NY w/ Big Zoo - Record Store Day '09 from THEUNDERGROUNDCOMEUP.COM on Vimeo.
Who can forget the brilliant concept track 'Stray Bullet' featured on Organized Konfusion's second album; ' Stress: The Extinction Agenda, released in 94'. Nas may have created his own more polished 'I Gave You The Power' concept a couple years later, however i always felt there was something decidedly more disturbing and sinister about OK's verses.... "I'm coming for you little girl"
Verse One: Pharoahe Monche Let the trigger finger put the pressure to the mechanismWhich gives a response, for the automatic *bang*Clip to release projectiles in singlefile forcing me to ignite then travelthrough the barrel, headed for the lightAt the end of a tunnel, with no specific target in sightSlow the flow like H2O waterVisualize, the scene of a homicide, a slaughterNo remorse for the course I take when you pull itThe result's a stray bulletNiggaz who knew hit the ground runnin and stay downExcept for the kids who played on the playgroundCause for some little girl she'll never seemore than six years of life, trif-le-ingWhen she fell from the seesawBut umm wait, my course isn't overFled out of the other side of her head towardsa red, Range, Rover, then I ricochetFast past a brother's ass, oh damn, what that nigga say'Aww f**k it', next target's Margaret's face *bang*and I struck itNow it's a flood of blood in circumfrence to her faceand an abundance of brains all over the streetShame how we had to meet *bang*Dashin, buckin, greet by f**kin familyThey follow behind me in a orderly fashionBashin through flesh I'm wildCrashin through the doors of projects hallwaysto deflect off of the tileI'm coming for you little girlOnce inside I shatter your worldSwirl, no more dreams no hopes when I sprayYou better pray, to the Pope or the VaticanBefore I go rat-tat-a-tat againI'm mad again brother somebody's mother will be sad againbut, whose blue skies will turn greyfrom the attack, of the Mac-11, I'm a stray, bullet Verse Two: Prince Poetry Gun balls of fire, I'm travelling at higher speedsto proceed to penetrate flesh, hitting the splintafter splitting the chest of a Queens fiendAge of pagers shredded to pieces from the Glock 9and it's hollow tips, it releases the policesin back of the ambulanceBlood loss as I shift across your chestArrest, rupture, I mess up ya, slashershall I bust ya liver, faster, blood pours *bang*Now it's up to the master, boom, as I crash open the doorsThank me for spraying the operating roomThe body still consumes me, doc had to remove meMmm lord, why do they use me? *bang*I'm takin individual for keeps Hobbesso peep the cops, in the ghetto bustin shots for propsAnd when I hit, sh*t *bang bang bang bang*Soon you forgets-me-notCops tried to explain to his pops what I doneI flip up the hollow tipper and I'm not the oneAnd as a human I'm the surprising onePrince Po I flow the ripper, either wayyou never, ever know how I'm comingMetamorphasizing, rising in turbulenceCondensed into a bullet, pull it, now I'm making movesWith no sympathizing, uhh, so take a hit nigga, sprint *bang*Onto the scenario, I'm at a party with OA lot of honies parlay and the DJ's playin the Fudge Pudge flowFive niggaz come up in the club for a rub[Yo O peep it, oh sh*t O duck (oh shit!, oh shit!)*pop pop pop pop pop* *woman screams*]Another hit, another struckHere comes Mr. Stray BulletFive, the tip, getting my jollies from the screams of the rippedin your chest, then I flipNip your liver, blood flowin like a riverMoney starts to shiver then I give a delivery of burnsBruises fake shoes is your renaissanceNo response your moms is out coldFigure I'm bigger takin your heart nigga at twenty years oldStray Bullet
OK, Nate Kane AKA Nathan Mathers, brother of Hip Hop star EMINEM has been busted for a DUI (Driving Under the Influence). Now, either this is Nate just being Nate or he's trying to pump up his bad boy image in order to further his fledgling career, you know, appeal to those in his target market or pretend audience.
Actually that's not fair, Nate actually has a few tracks out on his MySpace page, he's on Twitter and probably on Facebook too! His stuff is respectable, I mean he's having a go and good on him for trying..although his flow sounds somewhat similar to that of his famous bro, and I suspect their may be some ghost writing coming from big Em himself to add that authenticity. What I really want to hear is the HIP HOP NEPOTISM Unearthed Project, where by all the other non famous, cousins, hangers on and other wanna be Hip Hop stars that have a name to help them platform from..
I see Nate Kane at the top, what we really need is the Donny Wahlberg and Nate Kane remix album with guest spots on the album from Fonsworth Bentley and K Fed (yeah just when you thought it couldn't get any realer, Kendra from Girls At The Playboy Mansion spits a '16' on the bonus track with Joaquin Phoenix!).
That's all for now peeps, stay tuned for the next rant from MiLK!
Joaquin Pheonix, rap parody...
Nate Kane
Keeping things varied as always on The Movement Fam Blog, I stumbled upon this release from MC/Producer Blueprint recently on the web. Posing at first as short 27 minute EP of instrumental B-sides...It proved much more than that.
First a little background on Blueprint, he is the founder and owner of Weightless Recordings and is also signed to Rhymesayers Entertainment. He is one half of the group Soul Position with producer RJD2, and a member of the rap group Greenhouse Effect. He is also a skilled freestyler and came in second place in the Scribble Jam 2000 freestyle competition.
So now to Sign Language, where Blueprint melds some delightful downtempo drums coupled with eclectic jazz & soul samples, guitar riffs, classical piano keys, mexican horns, and everything else under the sun of vinyl!
Look out for his knack for picking a good vocal sample throughout this release. Best highlighted on track 2: 'Time Management Rebuild' where he lays down a beautiful Middle Eastern or possibly Asian female vocal to perfection.
If you appreciate the beauty of a well crafted instrumental with a little more to it than a 9th Wonder beat, or feeling like a bit of change up from the lack of quality new Hip Hop releases in 09 so far, then definitely download this.
You know I had to re-post this one.
Following from The Movement Fam remix competition, the homies Trav Williams and Kevin Nottingham got their Trav Williams/Illmatic remix joint crackin', something which Elzhi recently 'bit' lol. So it's all finished and ready for download, and it's a banger!
Peep the links and info after the jump.
"OK, so I caused a bit of a stir last week with that Trav Williams vs. Elzhi
post, but it's all good. IllTravis is officially ready for release.
Download Trav Williams - IllTravis
Check the original post on Kevin Nottingham.com
Over the course of 10 weeks, producers from all across the globe came
together to help create a vision... a vision to recreate a classic; to pay
homage to *Nas*' 1994 debut album *Illmatic*. *Trav Williams* came to me with this idea in the fall of 2008. I saw this as the perfect opportunity to hold a beat contest on the site and get everyone involved. As one of the five judges, I can say that picking the beats wasn't easy, but in the end I
think we all gave Trav some great material to work with. Trav quickly went into the studio and here you have... *IllTravis*.
From Trav:
Before anything and above all I got to thank all the winning producers for
thier hard work and effort and all the producers that submitted for even
trying, you are appreciated. G.C., S.2, DJ Qvali, Tokyo Cigar, JLH,
Digivillanous, EvolveAudio & Natown Legend, you are respected.
Now...let me say this; this project ain't about "blowing up" off *Illmatic*; this project ain't about who don't like it; this project ain't about controversy; this project, just like all my shit, ain't about money; this project is something that I been wanting to do since my *Illmatic* tape popped on the school bus on a hot ass day many Mays ago. Realistically, I got a bucket list and this was on it. So I did it and before I grow up too much I hope to check a few more things off the list.
Needless to say, I hope y'all dig it. But I make music for people that want
to hear what I want to hear, so if you don't dig it, then you ain't one of
them people. But if you dig it, dig it; good look.
Tracklist:
1. The Exodus
2. Meditation [prod by G.C.]
3. Life's The Shit (feat. Pee Duble) [prod by Tokyo Cigar]
4. Mechanics [prod by G.C.]
5. Quarterlife Crisis [prod by Digivillainous]
6. Claustrophobia [prod by JLH]
7. Light it Up [prod by EvolveAudio]
8. Dedicated [prod by DJ Qvali]
9. Bootleg Cable [prod by S.2]
10. Super Ill [prod by S.2]
11. BONUS - Walk Wit Me [prod by Skidmatik]
12. BONUS - Something New [prod by 20 Keys]
13. BONUS - Zoom [prod by Keenan]
14. BONUS - Victory Lap [prod by Keenan]
15. BONUS - Clockwork [prod by G.C.]
16. BONUS - You Gets Done (feat. Pee Duble)
17. BONUS - Nobody Knows Me (feat. K Hill) [prod by Keenan]
On Sunday in Brunswick St, I had the pleasure of running into and hanging with Hugo 1, a very talented and humble MC from the UK, who now resides in Melbourne. We seem to have a few mutual friends and we got talking, great guy. Checked out his MySpace, which has some of his recorded material (Hugo is a predominantly freestyle MC). Peep the videos below - these are all piss takers but they're hilarious, definitely worth a look. Big ups, Hugo!
Word on the street is, Planet Asia is set to drop an album later this year entitled "Planet Rock", entirely produced by Pete Rock. Dope!
Pete may even bless the mic a lil bit on this one too, but that's all we know at the moment... so keep an eye out.
Enjoy,
Nosh dog.
This is an oldie but a goodie. The homie Iyae did this little blend back in 2006, so it's a tad old and his skills done stepped up since then but it's still freshhhhhhhhh.
Oh and it's my birthday today so buy me stuff.
Nas x Damian Marley (Video) from 2dopeboyz.com on Vimeo.
First up, peep the video of Nas and Damian Marley performing at a recent press conference. My man Micnificent tells me that Nas and Damian have recorded an album together and are about to release it. Why the fuck didn't I know about this? I just did a little wee in excitement. More news as it comes to hand.
Wow. So Theory and myself were flicking through Canibus videos on YouTube and we stumbled upon this video of David Icke speaking on 'blueprint rap'. I was shocked and extremely surprised to find this candid and genuine take on modern Hip Hop from a white British man - generally, folks in David's demographic don't get Hip Hop in any shape or form but he understood it to the heart of the culture.
Also, I'll be seeing David Icke speak in Melbourne this coming Saturday so I'll blog my ass off about that over the weekend.
That was my initial reaction when my boy Ocka hit me with the link to the six videos below. Turns out Dante Ross is the behind-the-scenes dude responsible for signing some of Hip Hop's biggest artists ever, including De La Soul and Brand Nubian. He went from A&R at Tommy Boy to producing songs for artists such as Cypress Hill and Slick Rick.
Then he flipped his style in the mid-90's and was partly responsible for the 3x platinum Everlast album 'Whitey Ford Sings The Blues' and then... get this... the 20x platinum Santana album 'Put Your Lights Out' (scoring himself a couple Grammys in the process).
The videos below are part interview, part history lesson and part fucking around - but always entertaining.
T-Pain Dis Part 1
T-Pain Dis Part 2
T-Pain Dis Part 3
Lil Cease speaks his mind on Lil Kim.