Saturday 27 February 2010

Maintain & Ultrapeez !! Is Hip Hop Dead????

Monday, November 27, 2006

Is Hip Hop Dead????
Current mood: confused
Category: Music
Well is it?

To be honest I don't know, is it wrong of me to judge today's standards by the by the Hip Hop I grew up on the likes of Tribe called quest, Dela soul, Masta Ase, Gangstarr, Wu tang clan, EPMD, Redman, Ice Cube, Public Enemy, Brand Nubian, Jeru the Damaja, Nas.

Am I being unfair? When I listened to Hip-Hop people didn't really give it recognition as an art form nor music, but after all that's said and done Hip-Hop is still here, so it was inevitable with Hip-Hop's longevity success would come hand and hand with the money and the strategic marketing, find out what sells re-package it and do it over and over again. Which in turn has affected the overall quality but its nice to see artists get paid and set up there own labels and companies and not be left out to dry when they don't sell enough albums/singles.

I long for the old skool creativity and I love the new school recognition guess I'm just going to have to take the rough with the smooth while I wait for the new Nas album………ONE!!


Yes maintain, you said what i been thinking for the past 6 years or more.......I agree, Hip Hop is dead (with a few emcees ressusuatating it from time to time) . I still look forward to hearing artists like: Talib Kweli, Common, Q Tip, Kanye, Nas, Little Brother, Slum Village, Foreign Exchange....so there is hope for us Hip Hop heads yet. but you know me, im old school, and my expectations of Hip Hop is high so I doubt if any new school emcee could take me to that place when I first heard ..."They Reminisce over you.." or "Rebel without a pause" or "Times up" or "So whatcha saying....." lol im getting carried away here. But hey maybe im asking too much??

Posted by ULTRAPEEZ on Saturday, December 16, 2006 - 11:20 PM

My Space Blog 2!

More Relevance ;)

Saturday, May 19, 2007

Hip Hop and Me.
Current mood: calm
Category: Music

Earliest memory of me falling in love with hip hop was running to Woolworth's on Harlesden high street to buy the 7 inch vinyl of Doug E Fresh and Slick Ricks The Show, with La Di Dodi on the b side. Love that record! I remember hearing it on Westwood's show with my little radio that only got reception in my dining room and going crazy.

My brother had a big record collection and I remember playing his Public Enemy albums, but the artists which really made me stand up and take notice at an early age were Masta Ase and Dela Soul, Take a look around and 3 feet high and rising were owned by my brother in law. I copied Masta Ase on to a D90 tape but Dela's wouldn't fit (very upset)

Gangstars Step in to the arena was the first album I bought with my own money and walked around with it proud like a badge of honour, I couldn't wait to get the Patrick Ewing trainers Guru & Primo wore in the "just to get a rep" video.

Primo's numerous breaks on that album were pause tape looped and free-styled over, with my cousin Otis (Psykoe) and good friend from school Ikem (Stryfe) and before long we started a group. We worked on lyrics, not really putting any songs together just scribbling away.

Once my passion for rapping died down, and when hip hop production moved from hardware to software I started messing around with different packages, experimenting and trying to learn the software. The first few beats didn't sound like the hip-hop I liked to listen to and I found that frustrating, as time went on I got better. And when I found the samples and drums that suited me and my ear for music got better it was on, the jump in quality even surprised me.

I could now hear choruses, and breakdowns and verses in the sample and I would chop it creatively, rather than looping up the whole thing and making it somewhat repetitive. I try to stay as true to the music as possible and make it
Original.

It's funny I've had Cd's for a year that now don't work, or are not read properly in others drives.

But when I whack my Gangstar Step in the Arena Vinyl down it still plays on any make of turntable, unless your needles really shit … but you get my point!

Influences:
Ice Cube, Cypress Hill, Beatnuts, Brand Nubian, 3rd Base, Main Source, Nas, Diamond D, Organized Confusion, O.C., Souls of Mischief, Alkaholiks, Redman, Epmd, Das Efx, Keith Murray, Ultramagnetic Mc's, RUN DMC, N.W.A. Snoop Dogg, Dogg Pound, Mc Lyte, Queen Latifah, Kid N Play
Notorious BIG, 3rd Eye, Pete Rock & CL Smooth, EricB & Rakim, Cool G Rap, KrS1, Pharcyde, BlackMoon, Jeru, Artifacts, Gangstarr, Cella Dwellas, Lords of the Underground, Group Home Showbiz n AG, Big Pun, Public Enemy, Jazzy Jeff, Slum Village, Little Brother, Common, Outkast, Goodie Mob, A Tribe Called Quest, Foreign Exchange, Saukretes, Lupe Fiasco, Neptunes, Roy Ayers, Curtis Mayfield, Marvin Gaye, James Brown, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Artic Monkeys, Prince, Raphael Saadiq, Karizma, Tony Rotten, MCD, Caveman, London Posse, Kano, Big Daddy Kane, Wu Tang Clan, Capleton, Dirtsman, Skinnyman, Onyx. I'm sure there's more and feel free to add, but that's the style of hip-hop I love………………….

myspace.com/lostsoundsproductions

My Space Blog!

I thought this was quite Relevant so I posted it =)

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Hip Hop is defo wifey but .....
Current mood: drained
Category: Music
I would say I'm a true Hip Hop fan; I was brought up on artists that had integrity, creativity, and most of all originality. But I don't feel that anymore Hip Hop is somewhat boring now I still listen to it but I don't vibe off it like I used to.

Then the Gore Hotel came into my social life asking me to play House

I don't know the first thing about house I thought, that's my brothers domain, he was always playing me masters at work, night crawlers, Joey Negro, and various other cuts so I knew a little but not a lot.

So I started to research, I was looking through the defected and subliminal websites and I started to get a feel for the music, I can mix with the best of them I grew up trying to copy Cash Money, Cutmaster Swift, Dj Scratch but it was taking my technical (Hip-Hop) abilities and trying to rock a house crowd which filled me with apprehension.

So I was there for a month feeling my way in not doing bad and not doing great either, and to make me even more nervous there's a bar man who worked at the gore by the name of Silver who was a real House fanatic he's lived in Chicago, Brazil Rio, and Miami (yeah why don't you live in every major house city why don't you) and could tell me every vocalist on all of my house tunes so I had to be on point which I wasn't not in his eyes and he was blatant enough to tell me so which helped.
When I got Silver moving and looking over in disbelief I knew I was getting there.
My pending holiday to Cyprus was coming up, and for me it was just a break in Ayia Napa with some friends I made over the years through football, I didn't expect the lesson I received while I was out there, before when I went in 2000 & 2001 it was at the height of the Garage scene which I followed quite loosely.
This time round in "06" Miss Moneypennys @ Bagleys and EZ at Ice were the highlights, electro and funky house pumping in the clubs really submersed me and there I fell in love with electro, soulful and funky house and with tunes in my head I knew I had to have in my box I was coming back a better student more knowledgeable. And ready for anyone even Silver.

So I'm back in London on the Thursday and I'm in the Gore on Friday and there's a visible improvement more and more familiar faces keep coming back for my sets management and staff are walking through more frequent to sample the vibe and Silver finally accepts me as one of his own but the progression doesn't stop there I'm due to go to, Birmingham to see Dj Karizma I know of him from the tracks I have of his, Mechouga and God made me funky remixes.

So I'm in red bar in Brum listening to some nice soulful house sets from the the days like this crew (Promoters of the night) and then Karizma arrives chills for a bit and then blends in his mix of days like this featuring Sean Escoffrey and the crowd go wild and from that moment on he has all of us in the palm of his hand he's transforming, cutting, scratching, using the cue button on the Pioneers like an instrument the guys truly amazing dropping Ame Rey with his SICK track Twist This and his track with Dennis Ferrer The Cube and then many sick blends and tracks after he ends his set with Bill Withers – Lovely day

His set showed me what's out there and what can be done, house is not as restrictive as I once thought you can really put yourself across in the your set whereas in hip hop I blatantly had a club bag I wouldn't pick up until I had a gig and my own personal taste stayed in my Vinyl cupboard that wouldn't see the light of day because MTV base has brainwashed the clubbing scene, I would love to drop sally's got a one track mind by diamond D but I think it might be wasted on today's crowd (Sadly).

KARIZMA YOU ARE A LEGEND – KEEP DOING WHAT YOU DO YOU'RE TRULY INSPIRING.

So I've got the Gore on lock, I've had offers to play in Dubai, UAE, and Holland (Amsterdam), Ireland (Dublin), Pangea, The Gore is good for networking, but most importantly Silvers now saying "What has happened to you, you wasn't mixing like this before, when you first came you were garbage, like what have you been doing practising in your every spare hour" funny guy.

So that's the story of me and House don't know where it's going to take me but I'm just gonna buckle up and enjoy the ride, I spoke to someone I haven't seen In a while who I I'm very close with and we were speaking about how my musical taste has changed and she said not to give up on Hip-Hop which she clearly thought I had, and she reminded me with artists like Slum Village, Foreign Exchange, Talib Kweli, Mos Def, Frank n Dank, Lupe Fiasco, Little Brother, Common, Immortal Technique, The Roots, Saukretes, Saigon, there's clearly hope I just have to search a little harder to satisfy my cravings cus when I read the artist's I've just mentioned I actually don't feel that bad about Hip Hop anymore!

ONE!!!

Thursday 25 February 2010

The Weetabix Theory

The Weetabix Theory!!!!!

The weetabix theory is something that came to me when I was making my daughter breakfast, I asked her what she wanted and she said
“Daddy I would like some Weetabix please”

As I was making it I was thinking of the Weetabix advert, and the strap line that went with it. From what I remember (don’t quote me), the strap line was something like

‘Three weetabix is good enough for you’

‘Three Weetabix will last you till lunch’ etc

As a child I ate four Weetabix one morning or maybe even an adult :) I’ll never forget how I felt I was amazed, my whole world came tumbling down (ok maybe a touch dramatic).
What I was told was enough for me obviously wasn’t so the Weetabix theory was born. The theory is a reminder to everyone not to settle for what is the norm or what you’re told is the norm, it’s to push boundaries create new things and raise bars like weightlifters. I’m making an album because I have amassed quite a few beats myspace.com/lostsoundsproductions and the Weetabix Theory just jumped out at me and sometimes you’ve got to follow the path that is shown to you.

When I started looking at the body of work I have and the artists that have blessed my beats for the love with no plan involved, they’ve heard the beat and instantly thought I’ve got to write to this. I’ve surprised my self with how much I have to work with so watch this space as I will be posting download links on my blog and hoping you feel inspired as I, by my theory and maybe even the music too.

One Love!

Maintain

Wednesday 17 February 2010

'I AM HIP HOP'

This is a conversation via e-mail between me and my brother, and I was wondering where my inspiration to start a blog came from and then almost instantly I remembered enjoy (I hope lol) …

From: Yard Kat
Sent: 04 November 2009 16:17
To: Maintain
Subject: RE: hiphopdx.com

I seen, but what do you think ?

I have formed my own opinion and it’s interesting.
I also heard Beanie on the radio and I can fully understand where he is coming from, as I have been there.

Funny enough the dj who broadcasted the interview has now been sacked.

Added to this is 50 cents angle on it. He comes from a very interesting point; strangely enough I can understand it.

Let me know what you think?

From: Maintain
Sent: 04 November 2009 16:25
To: Yard Kat
Subject: RE: hiphopdx.com

I think Siegel has no one to blame but himself, he has been (and for a long time) widely recognised as one of the strongest MC’s in the game.
I think he lacked work ethic and now he’s sour grapes, I’m not one of JayZ’s greatest fans but I cant help but notice the flak he’s taken since
He ran Def Jam etc.

The guy who interviewed him had that coming I remember when he interviewed Cassie and his behaviour toward her was disgusting.

And 50 ha ha ha ha that dude is struggling (music wise) so of course he’s going to have his cent’s worth ;)

From: Yard Kat
Sent: 04 November 2009 16:44
To: Maintain
Subject: RE: hiphopdx.com

I agree with you up to a point, but I think that what a lot of people see with Jay is the more sophisticated side. Jay has always been a bit of a Don King with his business practises.
Look at his past he has never taken people with him, when he progresses. A lot of these guys have this sense of loyalty and I think jay inspires them, but he also pimps his artist. Check out Kayne’s track. Big Brother. By the way he is one artist that jay is supportive of, maybe because of his work ethic also.

A lot of these artists come from the hood and to me the JayZ model is similar to Puff Daddy’s, there is no legacy. No one to follow, the king is dead… fight for what‘s left.

50 and Akon have a different model, 50 I think appealed more to his artist as it gave them a chance to shine. From my understanding his accountant informed him that he was the only one his label making money. When he called a team meeting only a few of the artist were promoting the merchandise. He immediately changed his approach and got the artist to do more work themselves. Helping them to develop there business understanding, nether less to say most failed.

The DJ was crass, but he was what his audience wanted. He had a different level of sensibility you know some people love to appeal to the lowest common, as that is where you have the largest audience.

Back to Beanie he is hurt and frustrated, because he has defiantly got the skills as an artist, but was never really that marketable. I think the split was oblivious from the film State Property, which was rubbish. One part of the label was going more ghetto (stagnating) and the other side more creative.
Beanie needs to have that conversation, but as Jay said “he’s on to the next one…”
I still have clip of him beating down a reporter.

I have time for Jay, I have grown appreciate his development, as a man and an artist.

From: Maintain
Sent: 04 November 2009 16:52
To: Yard Kat
Subject: RE: hiphopdx.com

I know about JayZ and all his ills from ideas he’s ripped and made his own and the way he went behind Dame Dash’s back with Lyor Cohen (allegedly).
Imo I think Beanie Siegel has no one to blame but himself, Kanye is a perfect example everyone told him that lyrically he’s wack (which he is lol) and just focus
On giving us beats they even suggested him putting out an album and letting Cam’ron do the majority of the vocals.

But he never gave up and is now giving JayZ artistic direction, Jay’s even dressing like him now.

50 from what I’ve seen definitely trys to support his artists but form listening to Buck, Banks & Yayo they just haven’t got that lil extra like the Jadakiss dilemma he’s great but he cant make a song.

Beanie needs to man and make something of his talent.

From: Yard Kat
Sent: 04 November 2009 17:08
To: Maintain
Subject: RE: hiphopdx.com

Again, I agree, but Kayne was a man that just needed that break he has all the talent. As I say to Deon and Adrian he reminds me of them.
JayZ has the capacity and the vision.

There are other artists like Kayne, but who have not got that break and may never get it, I think the HipHop cartel is keeping them out.

I think Beanie has gone as far as he can. The label needed Jay more than he needed them. The music is a part of it, but only a small part of it.
HipHop has grown up and a lot of artist and fans just have not.

From: Maintain
Sent: 05 November 2009 09:57
To: Yard Kat
Subject: RE: hiphopdx.com

As a beat maker Kanye is one of the best I’ve heard as a rapper is still think there’s room for improvement.
You’ve got to commend him for sticking at it and believing because there are a lot of artists who would have taken the advice (if you can call it that) Dame & Jay were giving him.

There are a lot of artists out there, Black Milk being one of them who have everything in order but the consumers ears are so conditioned nowadays that you have to sound like weezy etc to sell

I partly blame Dj’s like my self because I conform, I want people in my club so I play music I’ll never listen to at home is that being business savvy? Or am I being fake?

I think Beanie should put his head down because there are a lot of artists that would still work with him, and put out some quality music nuff said.
Nas got at Jay in Ether with a line that touched a nerve because everyone knows of Beanie’s talent.

What you think, you getting girls now 'cause of your looks?
N3-gr0 please
You no mustache having, with whiskers like a rat
Compared to Beans you wack

I think business wise HIP HOP has grown up a lot and is at the forefront of music, but fans like me like what we like and will never settle for Souja boi but can understand it, there was the Humpty Dance which I loved :)

From: Yard Kat
Sent: 05 November 2009 10:41
To: Maintain
Subject: RE: hiphopdx.com

You need to blog some of this “ I AM HIP-HOP”

You have knowledge and overstanding …
Agree with all your comments and I would like to add, what leaders are doing now are being market savvy.

Kayne, WilliiAM and others are about your age and business smart. They know that HIP HOOP was always eclectic and took its beats from all music formats.
Like you they have evolved kayne is not the most gifted rapper, but he has great ideas, which he can package and sell in today’s market which is reliant on the internet for that immediate fix. Who else can get the president of the US to respond to your antics?

Black EYE Peas have travelled the world, got seriously influenced by the UK and repackaged this for the US and the rest of the world.

Black Milk, you got me into him, downloaded his music and he is good, but the Cartel have to keep artist like him out so they can feed.

As for Nas, reminds me of Beanie, one of the best, but …
Love Beanie, he needs this as his therapy and he has to move on. He seems to be making links with 50 who knows …
One of my favourites is immortal Technique, but …

The whole club, radio debate is one to have. DJ’s have to entertain, but the radio dj’s job was to educate and give new artist their break. That was the job of the underground dj.
Everyone is playing safe and wanting to go mainstream, hence the bland situation with music.
Playlist and more playlist, music exchanged, but none really owned.
Remember what it was like going to the record shop listening, buying the music and playing it at home.

I like listening to these new acts in particular from the UK… They are using technology, but …

Overall what I like about this whole incident is it creates discussion.

Also have you noticed how Puff has been really quiet since Shine was released …