Kool DJ E Sef

Wait for the album to drop: Saeso & Kool Dj E Sef.

King James MVP!!

This guy has so much class. 24 years old?? Some people go their whole lives minus the greatness and never achieve this kind of humility. Now THAT's an athlete who IS a role model. He deserves it!

A MURS verse...

...was listening to this album today and felt inspired by some of his lyrics (from one of the best to ever make that transition to the overground)


All these rappers want to talk about is guns and dope
don’t they realize we all at the end of our rope
the future all depends on the power of our quotes
the power of a pen, the power of a vote
the power of your words, the power of your voice
the power of America is the freedom of choice
we choose to do nothing - we're losing, we're suffering

Can it be that its that time to do something?
its not socialism its not Communism
its lovin each other - realize there’s no difference
its positive movement, gradual improvement
when no one else does/believe you can do it
My heart is a speaker I bleed this music
the beats in my blood/I must transfuse it
if it wasn’t for this then I just might lose it damn

-From the track "Can It Be" from last year's Murs for President (one of my favorite albums of '08)


A little somethin' to get YOU to check for him...

Taste these with your eyes...

Here are some dope hip hop videos. Sometimes the video makes the music and sometimes music is so ill that it needs to be accompanied by visual goodies. These videos are both enjoyable to hear and view. Check'em, see which you like best. Enjoy.








This Zion I track also happens to be one of my son's favorite songs.

Nobody Beats the Biz...

My son LOVES beatboxing and who better to teach him than the Biz?


"Just suck your teeth" hahahaha. Love the hat.


Biz is a damn fool! I remember seeing him DJ and he threw his belly on the record and started cutting it up like that. hahaha.

movies, music and more...

Sometimes you just gotta stay indoors and keep yourself occupied with some quality entertainment. Especially if you have the winds we've been having. I highly recommend sitting down and enjoying the following documentary:

Peep the trailer for "This is the Life: How the West Was One"

This is like the story behind the story of some of my all time favorite artists (Aceyalone, Abstract Rude, 2Mex (Of Mexican Decent), Pigeon John...WHAT?? This is a must-see for fans of Project Blowed, Freestyle Fellowship, West Coast hip hop or just Dope Hip Hop in general. Check it.

...And have you checked out the new Electric Company??? It's not the "Hey You Guuuyyyysss!" that I remember. It's kinda ill. They have stepped it up for "the hip hop generation" Are they pirating culture? Maybe. But it's better than Mickey's Clubhouse or whatever. Check the the dope characters.

I like when he kicks kids down with the "br" sounds. He's a savvy little brotha. They get some big names to drop by too. Follow me after the text for a video from the show with Wyclef. I saw Marc Echo on there the other day too. The only disappointment is that it only comes on Friday afternoons.


My son loves it and it's better than anything else educational on TV right now. Have you seen Hip Hop Harry??? No thanks.

Want to kick back to a good album? This one came out a couple of years ago but I'm still enjoying it:


How about a good full length feature film? Here's one from last year that I enjoyed. I was mostly pulled in by the soundtrack (which happened to be the soundtrack to my life at that time). It's comical, hip and yet kinda deep too.

Eat - Don't Sleep.

Been a little lazy with the blog as of late but today I want to speak on something very near and dear to my stomach...FOOD.

"It's good to be around my folks, eatin' food, tellin' jokes."
I LOVE good food. LOVE IT. I appreciate it. I don't take good food for granted. I don't take folks who know how to cook good food for granted. It's an art and it's nothing more than a transferring of energy. Don't eat much flesh so here's what I mean - Sun to plant, plant to picker, picker to cook, cook to to dish, dish to mouth, mouth to calorie, calorie as energy. Now you can put good energy into your body or bad energy. Food snob line of the year, "Fast food is bad energy." I LOVE slow food. I'm talking about that home cooked goodness prepared over positive conversation and loving energy (i.e. laughing and connecting). Nothing tastes better and nothing is better for you. I am BLESSED to have people around me that cook good and put their soul into their cooking (read WIFEY). But, I'm not above going out to eat either. If you can eat a meal and think back on that meal weeks later and it brings a smile to your face...you were either eating a good energy feast or something with hella MSG in it. Well, I've been thinking about food that I had weeks ago and I doubt it had MSG in it but I know I want more. Every time I go to San Diego I have to hit this joint up and if you're in the area you GOTTA hit it up to (Plus the owner's the homie of the homie).
One of my favorite restaurants EVER in any city that I've been to (and I've been to a lot) is KAFE YEN. http://www.kafeyen.com/ They come correct with the Thai cuisine. My non-meat eaters will love it, my carnivorous peeps will love it, my "I need some SPICE in my life" people with love it, and my I-need-something-different folks will love it too. The atmosphere is dope. Everything from traditional Thai wall hangings to VIVA DILLA pieces adorn the walls. The beats they play are on point (I took my wife out to some "Thai" spot in PHX and the jokers in there were playing some Kenny G crap - how am I supposed to eat with that going on?) Plus the owner/manager dood is good peoples. He has his own art work and art work from Pete B. of the CUF hanging up in the place. Even the bathrooms are proper!
I might also be a little biased cuz homeboy who owns it put out one of my favorite Hip Hop albums on his label. Don't sleep on this album - Deep Fried Funk Brothers "Out of the Frying Pan Into the Fire" The Cuf are one of my favorite Hip Hop groups and they come with it on this album. Here's what the good people at Access Hip Hop say, "Out of the Frying Pan Into the Fire is the new album from the group still better known as THE CUF! Mad G, Pete and N8 the GR8 continue to bang out nothing but that bay flavored slump with some help from their friends! Grouch, Moonrocks, Murs, Kirby Dominant, Casual and more stop by to drop some verses." The album came out on old dood's label Catz Go Round Records. Check the site at http://www.myspace.com/catzgoroundrecords Check the video for a track off the album and look out for Pete B's new album too.

Eat well friends. Let me just leave you with a recipe from one of the dopest ever - Abstract Rude.

Ghetto Tales.

This is funny! Is this for real??? HAHA.

He busted a cap in her weave!!! Hahahahahahaha.

Commander-In-Chief Can Ball!

Finally someone in charge that I can relate to. He's not a rancher, he's a regular guy that loves pick-up games. That's so cool. And it's nice that this is being broken down by some of the games greatest (past and present).
He got game.


Keepin' on with the basketball tip, here's a little vid where Danny Granger of the Indiana Pacers discusses being selected to be an All-Star. I love stories like these. I watched an interview earlier this week where John Thompson interviewed Danny and his pops. In the interview he talks about how if you told him in high school that he would be an NBA All-Star (or even in the NBA) he would have laughed at you. He's one of the more intelligent athletes that you'll find nowadays. This dood's got a head on his shoulders unlike so many of these ballers with the big the big endorsements. He really got my attention this year when he buried the Suns with a trey in the closing seconds of regulation. He's quickly becoming one of my favorite players to watch.



Some more feel good B-Ball stuff: A 5'8" guy beats a near-7 footer!!

Don't Sleep Vol. 3

Alright, I've got 3 albums that tie for Don't Sleep Albums of the Week. So, in no particular order, they are: 1. Saafir - "Boxcar Sessions" 2. Various Blends - "Levitude" 3. Konceptual Dominance - "Savage Intelligence"

Let's start with Saafir, since on his album "Boxcar Sessions" he has a track "Light Sleeper" which somewhat deals with the idea of sleeping on something dope.

This album dropped in '94 and so did so many jaws when it was first heard. This dood has flow! You also might remember him from his part in Menace II Society (Harold who gets killed in the carjacking).

This album is SUPER nice. I like everything that he's dropped but this was my introduction to the skillz. If you don't know, he debuted on Casual's "Fear Itself" and soon after dropped tracks with Shock G and Digital Underground. He was Tupac's roommate when they were both dancers for D.U. You could take the lyrics on Boxcar Sessions and put'em up against anything coming out today. His skills are undeniable. My favorite track is probably "Just Riden'".

TWO. Various Blends - "Levitude". This one came out in '99. I didn't get it until a few years after it dropped (sleepin??). It's good, blunted, raw, underground, bay area hip hop. Look at the featured artists and you'll know it's official - Del the funkee homosapien, mystik journeymen, and saafir. From what I understand, Rasco of Cali Agents was an original member of this crew. I can't even imagine what that would've sounded like (damn.). This is a gooood album.


THREE. Konceptual Dominance - "Savage Intelligence" This is a really good, deep, solid-all-the-way-through album. I think Kirby Dominant (one half of the crew) is a really talented MC but I usually can't get down with his albums because he is soooo misogynistic with his rhymes. I'm not trying to hear that kind of disrespect toward women. But, you won't find that on this album. This is a very conscious album. The video below...not great - funny, but not reflective of the true mood of the album. The album seems much more serious and not lighthearted like the video. See what you think.

Don't sleep. Go find copies of these album. You might have to dig but it will be worth it.

Runner's up for the week:
1. Casual "Fear Itself". Classic. That's all I'm sayin. Another '94 album. This was one of my favorite TAPES. It's a jazzy album and the flows seem almost freestyled. The following was the video that whet my pallet before the album actually dropped.

2. Boogiemonsters "Riders of the Storm". Aside for the video for "Recognized Thresholds of Negative Stress", I don't remember this album getting that much attention. Of course, this was back in '94 so my memory's a bit dodgy. It's got a nice vibe to it. I still throw it on like it came out this year! Don't Sleep.

tripping b/w "TIME"

I'm looking at my son today. I'm really looking at him and I'm thinking about his age and rate of growth. As I'm watching, I connect with a look directly at his face and into his eyes at the same time. I kind of mentally take a snapshot. I find myself aware of the fact that I'm purposefully taking an imaginary picture of what I'm seeing. Why? Because I know that our cells in our body regenerate every 5-9 years (debatable, most agree with a number closer to 7). So the face that I was looking at is the face of the child that I know today but not the same face that I'll be looking at 5-9 years from now. Even though it'll be the same child. What?? I know, I'm tripping. But check it out, I look at him everyday and my eyes send the image of him into my brain and my mind says, "That's my kid. That's who I love. That's my purpose." But once those cells complete their cycle of regeneration he will, in essence, be a completely new person. So, I will never look at him again like I saw him today. Because every time I see him and take mental stills of him my mind is telling me, "THAT's my son." That mental photo gallery now becomes 'That was him when...' because the image I see today - THAT's my purpose. What a trip. So, I guess what I mean is...I need to remember to always live in the now and prepare him for the future. Because I can get lost remembering him like he was. I guess that's what cameras are for? It's all about time and time is a trip. Here's a poem about time that I wrote about 2 years before my son came to us:

TIME

Time...it's a curious thing
I mean, when I wanna watch
I can look it in the face
even though it shows no emotion.
It continues coastin'
Hands spread wide,
but never hinting at open arms-charms
that we'd like to see
Because IT IS stubborn
and at times,
even time alarms my sense of now
like how
hours mother minutes
and minutes make seconds
at alarming rates
Just Can't Wait!
So in this day and age,
we've broken them down to nano
all of a sudden our old analog friend has gone
digital,
atomic,
And our time is more minimal.
Whimsical years
continue to flow
like the physical tears
of history's most pivotal periods
"Remember the time?"
remember the time that's there,
and reminds us that we're late.
reminds us that we're early.
reminds us that we're due to
have children
9 months from the time it took to spend some time
together.
but even though time is always with us
never leaving,
coming,
or going...
my time for that hasn't come yet
and since my time hasn't expired -
I'm not done yet.
Once upon a time.
Once upon a time,
a great epoch gave way to a ceremonious century
and this century gave way to a decent decade
but father time wasn't having anything less than that
So a wise man spoke up and said
"The time is now"
He said,
"There's only one moment in time...
and that time is now"
huh.
Funny.
Time is a curious thing.

Don't Sleep Vol. 2

OK, I'm gonna help you out on this one. I'm not going to give you the opportunity to sleep. And if you still do after this...it's on you and that's the WORST kind of sleeping. So, this album just dropped this week and I really hope you won't sleep on it. Pick up SUNSPOT JONZ's "Fight. Destroy. Rock." It is DOPE! (note: it's not going to be the studio mastering that you get from a T.I. album BUT the Q-U-A-L-I-T-Y is there. it was made in the same vein as all of the UHB albums [for those that know] and is meant to sound raw, made-in-my-room and true to El-P's "Independent as F@#%!"). You can tell he put in work on this one.

Here's the info on the album (plus the studio album that he released on the same day, "Dark Side Ov Heaven") from the man himself:
Sunspot Jonz - Vlog: DARKSIDE OV HEAVEN & FIGHT DESTROY ROCK V.1


And here's a vid from G4 where he was featured. Check the freestyle skills.



Runner Up Slept-On-Album for today:

If you are a Legends fan you know that their catalog is extensive. Each member has at least 5 solo albums, there are side crews (CMA, 3MG, G&E, etc.) plus compilations (UHB). SO much heat that it's easy for an album to slide through the cracks. My personal favorite Sunspot album is "Child Ov the Storm". Don't sleep!! Guest spots include G&E, Del, Rasco, plus a posse cut banger (Will Not Be Destroyed). Show some love and do yourself a favor - go find a copy. "Every word is a taste of my ambition, every breath is a reflection of the raging turmoil within my soul, as the storm grows near, this is all I know, this is all I am..Lord, please forgive me." - Sunspot from "Child Ov the Storm" liner notes. Legends Baby! Don't sleep! Don't sleep!

Don't Sleep Vol.1

I was listening to some albums this weekend and it really got me thinking about how much DOPE music is out there that is being heavily slept on like memory foam. And not just you, me too. I've been sleepin on sooo much good stuff. Partly because there's just so much stuff out there that it's hard to keep up but more so because I can be hella-snobbish about what I grace my listening space with.
Alright. It's like this. If I ask any Heads, "Hey, have you heard Dr. Octagon?" They'd look at me screw face like "Yes!" and "Yeah, and I was over it like 10 years ago". But I'm talking about that stuff that I can stump heads on...I mean STUMP some SERIOUS heads on. Or stuff that's been out for years and I'm barely hearing it our being introduced to it. Or the worst - when you know the artist/group, you're familiar with their music and you STILL sleep! Yikes.
This weekend I just copped a Shock-G album "Fear of a Mixed Planet". This album came out in '04. Oh Four! Shock-G. Shock Jesus. Humpty Hump! What?!? I knew when this album was coming out. I should have been checkin for it. A solo album from the bringer-of-the-Funk and I'm not on missions trying to get a copy?? Anyway, years later I get a hold of a copy and I'm listening to it like, "Damn, how come everyone's not sweating this shit like they're sweatin Mickey Factz or whatever Johnny-Come-Lately shit that's coming out?" This is the dude that gave Tupac his style and cadence (if you don't believe me, REALLY listent to a D.U. album or better yet - go cop "Fear of a Mixed Planet" - you can hear Pac in there). Anyway, I'm listening and I'm thinking - "Yo, shame on me. I hope I'm the only one that's been sleeping." So, I ask other ear-to-the-under brothers. And...nope. Nobody's heard the album. Nobody's HEARD it. I'm not saying it's the greatest ever, up there with the classics of our generation. But. It's a Damn good album and what you would expect from a pioneer like Shock. Don't Sleep. Grab a copy. Listen and Learn.


I'm gonna start a Volume of Slept on Gems.
Here are some runners up for this week.
1. Collective Efforts "Medicine"
Nobody has heard this. It's gooood. Nice vibe. You'll like it. Just look out for it.

2. Anotha Level "On Anotha Level"
If I remember right, I got this one back in '94. This one's got Pharcyde and Ice Cube on it! Cube's freestyling (terrible!) and everything. These guys were bringing that Souls of Mischief quick flow with 16 bars of the same ending rhyme patterns. It was Super Nice when I first heard it (still its). Check it.

Behind The Physical

Here's another old poem that I wrote in '04 when I was helping some High School kids get into writing and expressing themselves poetically. It was hella dope getting together and working with those homies and trying to inspire them and get them hyped on telling their stories. I'm not in contact with them any more but I hope they're still bumping the beats I hooked them up with and checking out the poets that I introduced them to. Here's to you fellas...

Behind the Physical

I've learned to mirage this physical facade
with hieroglyphic body language,
esoteric facial expressions,
and an almost too real
artificially sweetened, lo-carb "Hey, how ya doin'?",
brewin' coffee I WON'T drink demeanor.
I mean, being that I speak the jargon,
water reflect that aspect of "Yo Man, the man got that ass in check!"
-with your docker wearin,
textbook definition of a tool lookin',
pleated, pressed,
best dressed,
behind the desk,
pencil pushin',
stencil of a pin cushion in a button up lookin'
cookie cut out Yes Man...
I do look like a Yes Man
And yes, man. I do habla "yes sir, no ma'am"
But damn if I haven't penciled in the schematic for you to understand
Damn if I haven't blue-printed this Waterloo - You know how we do - stand
so you too can be
Walkin'
Talkin'
Hip Hoppin' Contraband
Cuz see...
What you see...
What you see is the Trojan Horse side of me.
I'm above what you're on
Still on some old break-a-dawn bullshit
I've crossed MY Rubicon
and Ciscero'd that school shit
and gotten stupid on academic language,
taken their think tank for a test drive.
Now...not even Bradley's or Humvees can Fuck with me.
Luckily, my subtleties are utterly unrecognizable
to the naked - I like what you've added to the puppet man's dance,
very creative to pause in my MTV B-Boy stance.
- But look Money,
despite the formalities I'm frontin'...
I'm still forming 4 letter fornications
feelin' free behind the guise of futility's 4 star for-ever-ness
for now...
feed me some forgiveness and understanding
and "Don't Front, You Know I've Got You Open"
to new ideas.
And now who's soundin' stupid like flame retardant.
Ears ready to listen now that the Last Dragon's
lookin more like Tyler Durton.
Puttin a hurtin' on the establishment cuz
"I Came to Bring the Pain - HARDCORE"
But what's more...
is that there's more
behind this physical.

Some Downloads...

Here's some music to get you through the weekend, into next week and out of January. The first is a link to a Z-Trip mix that he put together to celebrate "Obama Day". He put one out before the election as well. It was pretty good but I preferred DJ Green Lantern's (it had interviews with Obama and he had some good things to say about Hip Hop as well as the fact that he's got Jay-Z and Nas on his ipod - that's our president!). I haven't heard this one yet but see what you think... http://www.djztrip.com/obama/victorylap/

Next is a link to download a Last Emperor Mixtape. If you enjoy just listening to good, thought provoking lyrics, you should enjoy this one. You may remember Last Emp from his verse on Lyricist Lounge on the track "C.I.A" with KRS and Zack from RATM. That's where I first heard him and I was like,"Damn, who is this dood? He's gonna BLOW UP!" After that he dropped some dope singles but didn't come out with a full album until like 03 or 04. That album was alright but a bit of a let down. The following is a mix that came out in o6. There were only 1,000 copies printed so you can pretty much only get a bootleg unless you got time and money to spend on ebay. If you don't know about the Philly-bred MC this is a good primer.

http://rapidshare.com/files/140371179/the_last_emperor-hidden_treasures-2005.zip

Here's the DIY video that someone put together for Last Emperor's "Secret Wars" track.
Comic book heads should feel this one. This came out like 10 yrs. ago.


...and here's an excerpt from an old AND1 mixtape that he was on. I had this when it first came out (back then you could only get AND1 mixtapes at, I think it was footlocker, and they were dope back then - raw, dope artists, underground feel. But now...forget it.) and I loved that track so much that I dubbed it off the VCR and put it on mixtapes. "I USED TO SELL MIXTAPES BUT NOW..." haha. Check it. (I think it's on the mix to download too)

Damn, now THAT'S Hip Hop!

Can it be? Somebody more Hip Hop than ME??? Haha. Check it.

Ridiculous, right?

Do YOU remember?

I got a bit of "throwback fever" from my last blog and found this interesting little interview. D-Nice, who many heads should know, has done a series of mini-docs with other old school artists or participants in early hip hop ("D-Nice Presents True Hip Hop..."). This is an interview with Masta Ace on the making of The Symphony (classic). Juice Crew paved the way for soooo many people. Respect due.

Here's the cheezy video that they came out with for this one. I remember watching it as a young pup. I remember being able to put a face to the name when this video dropped. Everyone gets introduced in this one (well, everyone that was in this video, other members didn't participate on this record).

...And here's another classic joint circa '95.

The video is terrible (except for the fact that he's from NY and he's reppin' the Westcoast and the peeps) but the song is good. And if you didn't know, I hope you will find out. Masta Ace is still puttin' it down, too. Check for the super group, EMC - he's still holdin it down! Alright. Well, I'm gonna go throw on some more classic bangers. Do your homework, kiddies.

Thinking of a Masterplan!

I was just thinking about the history that will be made in the morning. This song came to mind. Old school heads will remember this one. 'Shad where you at?!?

"TIME FOR A CHANGE and I mean a revolution
open your eyes, a black president's the solution"
I wonder what he's thinking now?
Here's a sorta "where are they now" with YZ...

Lessons and Learning

This is something I wrote back in '04. I originally wrote it with the intent of reading it at a Borderland Education Conference but instead wound up reading it at a Rally for Worker's Rights at New Mexico State University. Check it.

Learn to Unlearn.
Unlearn to re-learn.
I'm lookin at it like re-learn or be burned
at the stake.
Cuz stakes is high
Stakes is high like using to escape
Not used to being able to relate.
See, we wait.
But for what?
And for who's sake?
For the sake of not makin' mistakes most of us stay quiet
For fear of being rubber bullet stoppers in riots.
Or the eyes burning as circulating smoke is turning
Learning a lesson - cuz lessons hurt louder than words
...At the same time, NOT learning your lesson IS a lesson
not addressed in question and answer sessions
under bright lights & the choke of overpriced but cheap cigarette smoke
blown in grimacing faces
See, I'm the poster child for which Chicano studies embraces -
Brown & Proud, but not TOO loud,
and not tall enough to stand out in a crowd.
But I do understand,
Understand that I stand under no man
But I do stand for something,
And isn't that something?
...Isn't it ?
I mean, I envision it - Bliss n' shit
On a mission lit by the flame that was sparked by dark eyed revolutionaries
Carried on the wingspan of a time that flies,
But keeps fixed eyes on my ancestral hour glass.
See, in a minute I could make an hour pass -
if I'm at all entertaining...
just give me a second.
Second chance, Second helping, a Second Coming
A Second Chance at not being elected but leading -
JUST... ONE... SECOND
Second to none, but still just one
And I'm 2 to 3
times
the force of 10 of you
4 instance;
1 half of what I say the greater sum of you won't get
Some will
& some kill
& still some feel that the math I speak of doesn't calculate
in a binary world of black and white,
yin & yang,
wrong & right,
loose & tight
Lucy Liu & Condaleeza Rice - just names,
not representations of ANYTHING
In fact, anything but the representations of any being
or any race
at any rate, I can't go any place
without being stereotyped or compare to any face
that looks like mine.
The way I look at it
Humanity is all going to climax at the same time
We'll all leave early and not have the decency to call the next day
10 seconds left and here's the play by play:
Bush shoots
He scores
We all lose
THE END.



Obviously, there was a lot of frustration from the looming elections of 'o4 when I wrote this. I'll have to post something more uplifting for the new found sense of hope that Obama has countered with in this new administration that will be stepping in on Tuesday!! I'm hopeful but still critical - "It's bigger than Obama" and it's not gonna save my wife from losing her job. But hold tight cuz change gon' come! peace.

This is the change I'm lookin for!

"It's right in front of us
each and every one of us
Freedom or death
yes the two are antonymous
Symphonic jus hearin good news
I keep my ears open and stare to the moon
I know theres more than hope when I put out the feelers
We all want the same things when we’re bein our realist
Collective consciousness
let's form a village
Then spread good feelings till there aint no more killers" -The Grouch