Mar
15

Mr. Fusion

Time is scarce. There are planes to Austin to catch. But since KRIT is focused on all things temporal, it’s an appropriate subject matter. Last year, I wrote a post comparing Justin Scott to Black Milk and my point still stands. Both are working well within circumscribed traditions — less interested in innovation than expansion.… Continue reading »

Mar
15

Versis – Life Story (prod. by Exile)

Okayplayer, meet your new poster boy. Beats from Exile and Dibia$e, flow of a pre-psychedelic Blu, plus premature nostalgia. Admittedly, this is slightly overly comfortable and boasts a mild case of backpackitis. But for his lane, Versis is the best in a minute. I will take him any day over mid-range Slauson rappers, Fashawn and… Continue reading »

Mar
15

The Bass and the Movement

Since Kanye discovered robot techno three years late, rap’s been on an Itchy and Scratchy Land-style collision course with electronic music. Of course, there’s the long history: “Planet Rock,” Juan Atkins, disco-rap, Whodini, Egyptian Lover, hip-house, “Bombs over Baghdad,” hoobity blah. But when Kanye sampled “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger,” it indirectly annexed a new realm… Continue reading »

Mar
14

Oh, I’m Still Alive: Game and Yelawolf’s “Rough’

First “Zombie Nation” now a Pearl Jam sample. Jayceon Taylor is going for that brodown Bonnaroo money come hell or hydraulics. “Rough” posted for posterity, but also because I am partial to “emo” Game. See also: “My Life,” all of “Doctor’s Advocate,” none of that stupid facial tatoo. Emotional > sensitive. Really rappers, stop bitching… Continue reading »

Mar
14

Paax Nicholas & The Nettey Family – Na Teef Know De Road of Teef

Hip-hop hiatus today. It’s all Afro-beat everything right now at Passion of the Weiss headquarters, where I’m celebrating the Ides of March a day early by listening to Pax Nicholas’ 1973 classic, Na Teef’s Know Road of Teef. After all, the themes are vaguely similar. Consider Na Teef, Nicholas’ act of rebellion against the Caesarean… Continue reading »

Mar
14

Low End Theory Podcast XIX – The Gaslamp Killer & Jon Hopkins

Do you really need to read another panegyric on the Low End Theory? No. What more needs to be said about a place that had surprise sets from Odd Future and Thom Yorke in consecutive weeks (my review of the latter is here for the interested). It’s been four months since the last podcast, a… Continue reading »

Mar
14

Douglas Martin’s Dirty Shoes: New Adventures in Hi-Fi

First the White Stripes break up, now every day Douglas Martin wakes up, somebody got something to say. As long as there’s been a “lo-fi” genre, there have been bands ditching their basements for studios the second a record exec utters the term “album budget”. But as we slowly move out of the era of… Continue reading »

Mar
12

Memory Man

Meth on Biggie and Pac from Gasface on Vimeo. This has already made the blog rounds, but bears re-posting. Method Man single-handedly disproving decades’ worth of work on marijuana impacting memory, providing almost eidetic recall of working with Big, 2Pac, and the East-West beef. On the wish list of interviews I have yet to do,… Continue reading »

Mar
11

Douglas Martin’s Dirty Shoes: The Washing and Drying of Melted Toys

Douglas Martin also liked the LL Cool J vehicle, “Toys.” Melted Toys don’t exactly sound like their name, but that does occasionally sound like what they recorded their debut EP with. Washed & Dried– courtesy of the ever-reliable indie-pop label Underwater Peoples– finds the San Francisco trio reveling in insularity, a rare look considering the… Continue reading »

Mar
11

Question in the Form of an Answer: Chuck D

Perhaps you’ve heard of this fellow. As the man who wrote “She Watch Channel Zero,” I have to ask what you think of the Charlie Sheen tomfoolery that’s been dominating the cable news networks as  the Middle East is simultaneously in the midst of a regional Revolution. The corporations have been extremely at successful at… Continue reading »

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