I did a post on Sabotage Party’s Holding the Crown video with the Akira visuals a while ago, and we all remember Kanye’s attempt. But now Mark from Eyetape, who you might remember from this site the last time I posted on them, has just dropped a very unofficial, very bootleg but actually pretty cool Akira “trailer”.

So aside from the fact that this thing is extremely well done, especially considering the budget – there is some actual rappidy rap in here. Seeda, who you might remember from my quick breakdown of Dear Japan I did forever ago – appears (without his explicit permisson) with the first part of “Lost Heaven”. If you’ve never heard the track you might miss this, but the editing is actually pretty smart at the beginning – those sound effects from the CD changer weren’t added in postproduction – that’s part of the actual song.

This is sort of an interesting project – an absolutely unauthorized – both in terms of soundtrack and film (I’m assuming that “90% guerilla” means “90% of this stuff wasn’t cleared with city authorities”) trailer of a Japanese film made by a kid raised in the States. Using a soundtrack spotlighting a Japanese artist using a quote un quote “American” artform.

For those of us born in the mid 80s and later, on both sides of the river, these “boundaries” are really starting to take on new meanings. I’m not saying they’re going away, but stuff’s starting to get interesting. I mean, look at the Golden Cartridge series (vol 1, vol 2) or the original Nintendo mixtape, man. We’ve got a generation of American kids influenced by Japanese machines, and a generation of Japanese kids influenced by recordings of American kids yelling into a box. Of course, there’s the negative side, which we’ve discussed here before in part, but still.

But forget that, watch the video. The set work in this video is also pretty dope – the bar actually looks like the original place from the film. I think I’m going to have to go rent this movie again.

In the meantime, holler at Eyetape.

But more importantly than that, I found something I kinda like that I want to share.

So maybe like a couple weeks ago this dude posts two vimeo links on my facebook. This is generally a no-no, particularly if the music is not good, but in this case I make a very large exception because both of these jawns are pretty dope.

Sabotage Party – HOLDIN THE CROWN – AKIRA montage from Jet Setter

Probably the first thing non-UK people will notice here is that the two gentlemen on this song are speaking a variety of English that is absolutely incomprehensible. I think I understood maybe 20% of what they’re talking about, but it doesn’t matter because a) it sounds good and b) the instro is bananas.

Bonus points for splitting “compliment” into four syllables.

Sabotage Party – Real Girls (T1 montage) from Jet Setter on Vimeo.

And then Real Girls. This is sort of a confusing song because it’s clearly about women, but it’s not actually, you know, degrading or insulting. I had to listen to it a few times to make sure I knew what was going on.

Jokes aside, I might even like this one better than the other track. Contentwise it’s quite good, and I don’t think I ever watched Terminator I, but the edit work on this to make it into a completely different cohesive semi-storyline on this is pretty brilliant (also dig the Tekken screen, and for that matter the subject synchronization (audio “smack to the jaw” + visual wrench to the jaw) in Holdin The Crown).

Anyway, this is bar raising material, ladies and gentlemen, particularly on the visual front.

I know next to nothing about these dudes, but I think this is their myspace: myspace.com/sabotage_party

podcasts soon.

claim-my-podcast-in-podbean{scid-bWl4dGFwZXNob3c=-ecid}

Del – Funk Stimulus Package

Seriously, to appreciate this you have to look at the deeper meaning. This dude takes almost a full two minutes to say something that could have been summarized in three seconds: “hey guys download my cd”.

I love Del, partially because he’s crazy. Seriously, after about the one minute mark, none of what he is saying actually makes sense – until you listen with your heart.

Also, bonus points for him using bandcamp instead of rapishare links.

Anyway, this is a good opportunity for me to do something which I’ve been meaning to do forever, which is take a sidebar from the aural for a second and get into the visuals.

So for those of you who have been waiting for more Suhburb, first joint up is a kinda trippy time-lapse joint from Mark from Eye Tape, with a Suhburb soundtrack.

Warning: if you are viewing this in an environment where it might not be okay to look at a video of a picture of someone not wearing clothes, you might wanna save this for home.

Synesthesia from Eye Tape on Vimeo.

Videowise, it’s sort of a weird experience. Like I almost feel guilty for going through in six minutes what took dude 13 hours to do. Also, the final product is sorta skurry. If you’re not paying attention though, you’ll miss a lot of subtle syncing and shifts in the visuals – full screen recommended.

On the audio tip, I’m not sure what the first cut is, the first jawn is There Is Only Room for Two Eddies (thanks Mark), the second and third are Tusk and Vagabundo, at least according to the titles in the mp3s I got from Suhburb (can we get an ID, fam?). And as far as I know, these haven’t really been put out anywhere (not even on this show). Eye Tape Exclusive?!?

Also, Mark was kind enough to put the show name up in the credits, but I should say in advance that I seriously didn’t do anything noteworthy, other than handing dude some mp3s and say “hey man check these out”.

So yeah, if you see Mark/Eyetape on the internets, tell em I said what’s up.

Can anybody from LA confirm if this is actually getting any airplay back home? Even on the college circuit? It wasn’t getting any love at all before I left. Thanks to Karthi for putting me up on the video – I’m actually a little embarrassed at how late I was.
(for the original, curse-laden version, check Episode 99 – The Primaries)

And bonus video:

Yes, the video from one of the stronger joints on last week’s episode. Thanks for Spencer for getting that to me. (If you’re looking for relevance, look at his shirt).

No matter what a person’s stance is on Obama or music or whatever, I pretty much defy anyone to deny hip-hop culture’s importance in this campaign. Like it or not, this culture is going to play a big part in the next four (or more) years.

That said, if somebody can get the man himself to dance to the Obama rap song, I will personally donate a large sum of money to his campaign.

New episode soon.

Jay Electronica and Erykah on a photo shoot for URB. Watch:

I should preface this by saying I was sorta tipped off to this thing coming out. My good friend Jolie, who was recently promoted to Chief Coffee-Getter and Blogger of Shiny Things at URB, mentioned to me during a Girl Talk (most hilarious white guy ever, 5 stars) show that the 11th March cover of URB was going to be Jay Electrackalack. Apparently URB was preparing for the photo shoot, and lo and behold – Erykah just sort of shows up.

Not that I’m complaining, of course. Brilliant musicians, the both of them.

I’ll give a free secret present to anyone that can guess my favorite quote from this video. Like I’ll write you into the next show.

This is a Dilla joint, featuring one John Yancey playing the part of Jay Dee in “Won’t Do” off of the recent release The Shining.

I know a lot of people felt a little let down by this release, and it probably says a lot that I actually own this record and don’t really remember this song (it’s the last track), but I am definitely feeling it now – the video especially on a style angle. I’m not up on this Mazik Saevitz cat, but he does some good work.

Look for cameos from Common, Frank-n-Dank, Talib, and guest starring Will.I.Am wearing a pink space suit and doing his best impression of that dude on Chapelle’s Show that does the robot in every episode.

And hey, the women managed to keep most of their clothes on.

What do you all think of this one?

You all don’t mind if I actually start, you know, blogging on this thing, do you? Just asking, because I’m considering it.

In the meantime, check out this new Pharoahe Monch video. I know I rarely post videos on here, but this is one of the first videos in a long time that I actually bothered watching the whole way through. It takes like 2 minutes to get to the actual joint itself, but when it does, it’s pretty hot. Check Pharoahe’s appearance in the first scene – that shit he does with his eyes when the gun goes off the first time damn near made my heart jump.

Pharoahe Monch – Gun Draws

What do you all think of this one?