MIXTAPE SHOW 69 – THE ROCK EPISODE

Yo. Welcome back to the program. I’ve actually got an interview/feature in the works (I’ll give you two guesses as to what the topic is), but in the meantime, here’s another concept episode.

This time, it’s all about rock-influenced tracks. Now I obviously could have gone with mashups (thanks for the tip on that Modest Mouse+Weezy track, Robin), but that would be cheating. Check the tracklist, and if you need more information on the DVD giveaway, check the post below.

Hevi Medal – 730 [dex ADHD edit]. The video for this cut is wild on some serious skurry insanity shit. If you want the full version of the song, check out their myspace page. myspace.com/mophevimedal.

Deaf In The Family – Southern Man feat Bavu Blakes. Apparently the original sample was what inspired the penning of Sweet Home Alabama, but fuck that song. Mr. Bavu, who I think dropped the “Blakes” thing, breaks down some race/class knowledge on some college-educated shit. You can listen to the whole album on the site, deafinthefamily.com.

Lil’ Flip – Rockstar. This song is pretty ridiculous. But don’t act like it isn’t catchy. This is why I love mixtapes – you always get these ridiculous-ass joints in the end of the CD that are better than half the rest of the tape. myspace.com/lilflip.

RJD2 – Exotic Talk. Please, Def Jux, don’t sue me. I have been fucking with RJD2‘s shit for a very long time now. I liked The Horror and alla that, but really Since We Last Spoke was the one that spent the most time in my Volvo, including that weepy-ass “Making Days Longer”. I hear he has a new album out, which I unfortunately haven’t heard, but I’m hearing positive things about it. He’s actually on tour now, so some of you herbs might want to catch him live. myspace.com/rjd2.

Deaf In The Family – Mr Blue Sky feat Scavone. I never thought someone would have the balls to flip this one, but these dudes actually did a pretty fucking bang-up job on this one. After you finish listening to the show, and entering the contest, get thee to a record store and cop the original ELO version. 7 minutes of overwrought, multithematic, hairsprayed rock godditude. Can I get a amen. deafinthefamily.com.

DCNY - Skye Blues. See that? Mr Blue Sky, Sky Blues. I am really, really clever, ouxu. Really clever. This is another group I used to rock back on my college show, and for some reason when I was mixing this show down the CD just jumped out at me. Recommended for the boom-bap fans. myspace.com/tresmons.

Outro I – Black Sabbath
Outro II – Calamine – Sealab 2021 Theme.

Swimmers – The Unofficial Swimmers Bootleg feat Lil Jon, E-40 and Keak da Sneak. Actually I don’t have a title for this. The Swimmers are not responsible for this soundclash. Thank you, nxt. myspace.com/swimmersband.

And that’s all for this one. What did you think?

With that then, I present the following: Stay the fuck out of my business, HITACHI.

So I was cruising some nerd site or other one day, and I see this link that says something about hard drives being the “new bling”. Even though I had recently listened to that Paul Wall song that talks about trying to pimp out honeys on blackplanet, this made zero sense to me. So I’m directed to this site, which is where the agony begins.

One of the first things that I notice is the title, “Hard Drive Bling”. Okay, Hard Drive Bling. I’m thinking that maybe TV Jewelry is selling iced out Seagates or something. Nah. This is far, far worse, which I realize as soon as I run across this helpful definition of the word “bling”:

“Bling” typically refers to flashy jewelry worn as the ultimate fashion accessory.

Wow, thank you so much, Hitachi. Even though you have to have been living in Qatar for the past 17 years to not know what “bling” means, I am glad that you spelled it out for me in clear, American English. Now I don’t have to feel bad anymore because even Paris Hilton knows what that means.

But just as I’m about to close the page and do something else, I notice that there is a video. Now, I’m not one to let my broadband connection go to waste, so yeah, I click on it. I mean, how bad can it be?

Answer: Pretty fucking awful. In case you’re unwilling to watch the video yourself, though, allow me to take you on a brief yet painful walkthrough:

We are first greeted by this very “urban” and “street” loading screen. How do we know that it is “urban” and “street”? Well, for one, it is written in a typeface that looks like the absent-minded scrawlings of a paint thinner-sniffing four year old, because all “urban” and “street” people have exactly the same mindsets as absent-minded, paint thinner-sniffing four year olds. Great, now that they’re speaking my language, I’m all ready to go.

So now we’re greeted with the heroine of the short film: Kayla. Since the marketing people at Hitachi are trying to be all “urban” and shit, I’m suprised that they called her Kayla. Why didn’t they go all out and call her Boniquaniqanishayahayla?

I mean, if you’re going to do something, do it right, you know? This is sort of like Juelz kinda sorta alluding to the fact that Barbara Bush accidentally left her pointy white hood at home when she was talking about the Katrina evacuees. Whatever.

I forgot to mention. This is some sort of music video. Musically, it’s kind of like one of those coffee-house slam poetry sessions that you might expect to find fans of Common’s last disaster at, in the back, wearing something earthy and made of hemp. Except worse. Kayla is semi rapping, semi talking about how Hitachi’s new line of audio players keep her jiggy wit it, or something.

I think in this frame she’s showing us her new jiggy funky fresh gadgets, yo. Note the gold necklace, the dreads, and of course, the brown skin tone, all very obvious markers of authenticity in the hip-hop culture. Well done, Hitachi.

Here’s some other urban guy. I forgot his name, but for some reason he reminds me of Paul Wall. He has gold teeth, which is good, but he soon stumbles around a bit and collapses due to the weight of his funky fresh beatbox. Obviously he wasn’t funky fresh enough. But check out his hip funky fresh threads, complete with a collar popped up higher than Kanye’s.

This next part I really appreciated. See, our good homiette Kayla is trying to tell us how small and funky fresh the new Hitachi hard drive is. But this is where it gets tricky! Let’s take a trip across time and space to Hitachi HQ, where several diligent ad execs are hard at work trying to come up with a way to depict the size and funky freshness of their new hard drive to a young, hip audience.

Exec A: We need a comparison to show them just how small and funky fresh it is!

Exec B: Well, it’s not much bigger than an inch or so…wait. Do hip-hoppers know what an inch is?

Exec A: Not really.

Exec B: A centimeter?

Exec A: Nah.

Exec B: Shit.

Exec A: Oh, wait. I know. The new hard drive is about the size of a domino. Black people know how big a domino is.

ZING. Those Hitachi marketing geniuses are so fucking clever.

So yeah, you basically get the idea. Here we have yet another example of a company doing its damndest to connect with the pockets of the inner-city youth. But in stark contrast to say, Scion or Sprite or even fucking Boost Mobile, which might trick the less aware of us into actually believing their shit, Hitachi’s campaign is laughably inauthentic and was obviously run by a 50-year old soccer mom.

I mean, Jesus. Watch the video. Is there anyone out there that is actually impressed by this sort of shit? Come on, Hitachi. You can do better than this. If you need someone to handle your next half-assed effort at reaching with urban youth, holler at your boy. I’m a poster child for grimy. One.

MIXTAPE SHOW EPISODE 13 – Bavu Blakes interview

Yo, yo, what it is. Welcome to episode #13 of the best hip-hop podcast on the internets. Let’s go.

Now, if you’ve been in the whole glam-hop hip-hop event scene for more then ten minutes, then you’ll notice that Scion seems to be everywhere. It’s always “DJ No-name and MC NeverGonnaGettaDeal, sponsored by Scion OMFG.”

Which, of course, never bothered me too much. I always thought it was kinda funnystyle how Scion was backing all of these hip-hop events, but hey, if that lowered ticket prices for me, I was down.

I’m not sure if I feel that way anymore. Today’s guest is Bavu Blakes, whose song, Black Gold, was removed from the top 10 finalists in the Scion Nextup $50,000 songwriting contest because they felt that his lyrics were “too political”. The lyrics in question, bootlegged from Matt:

1. “Now Bush and bin Laden got so much they rotten”
2. “Texas home of the real death row”
3. “What’d we really go to Iraq fo?”

In reference to line #2, Bavu Blakes was asked if he was referring to the Los Angeles based company Death Row Records.

For rill, Scion? For rilly real?

Anyway, this is your standard (read: amazing) mixtape show hip-hop podcast interiew joint. Bavu gets on and tells us what’s up with Texas, what’s up with his journalism and hip-hop dual hustle scheme, what’s up with his past and upcoming projects, what’s up with the game, what’s up with Scion, and what’s up in general. That’s what’s up.

Also please note that I am not trying to put words in anyone’s mouth. Anything that is said is the opinion of that respective person, so if you don’t like something that I say, don’t pin that on Bavu.

My take on it – I think that if Scion and/or Inform Ventures, LLC can’t handle true hip-hop, they need to quit appropriating the culture. And if anyone from Inform Ventures wants to talk to me, feel free. I’ll put you on the show.

You can check out more info on Bavu Blakes on the following websites:

www.w4wmusic.com
www.myspace.com/bavu
www.myspace.com/blackbart
garlandglobetrotter.blogspot.com

And be sure to check out the myspace joint, as Bavu Blakes has a contest of his own going on – you can submit your own remix of Black Gold, and if he likes it, it just might end up on his next album, Too Selfish. More info available there.

Special thanks and shoutouts once again to Bavu for getting through all the technical difficulties and making this thing happen.

Yo, small update. I just got a phone call from the Red Cross (ehh..), and I am gonna be flying out to Montgomery, Alabama in about two hours to help with the hurricane relief effort. I’ll be gone until the 20th or so, so updates will be kinda few. Anyway, I’ve got some prepared posts that Cam will be putting up on specific days to keep you all from freaking out too badly. In the meantime, stay up…

Oh yes, and while we are talking about contests, do remember to check out the mixtape show Katrina track contest