Herbie Hancock Blows Kids’ Minds

This is not the first time Sesame Street has made our jaw drop (you can hear samples from their 70’s animations littered throughout Gasoline Monk‘s early beat tapes), but this video of Herbie Hancock demoing a Fairlight to a bunch of elementary schoolers is new to us. The same sound wizard who made “Rain Dance” shows his skills in a way anybody can understand – and despite the clip’s lightheartedness, most synth kids are jealous right now.

While we’re on the Herbie Hancock demonstration vibe, check out this one of him demoing a Fender Rhodes when they were still new to most people. You might also recognize this from Monk’s early tapes…

Crate Diggers: Peanut Butter Wolf

“Crate Diggers” is a dope video series put out by Fuse.  This shit is like the “Cribs” of hip hop’s record collectors.  Take a look at Peanut Butter Wolf’s personal collection.

 

To see other episodes of “Crate Diggers”, click here.

Doze Green’s Mural for Chilli Beans

 

Back in July, Chilli Beans, a Brazilian Fashion Label, invited Doze Green to paint a massive mural for them. Here’s a video of the process along with some Doze Green wisdom, including how his intuitive flow style of painting relates to music, and one of our new favorite quotes: “If you’re not straight with yourself and the universe, you ain’t got shit.”

Boston’s Own: Snotti – “Ms. O’Neal”

Snotti and Gasoline Monk hooked up for a weekend of beats and rhymes – here’s the first taste of the results. A tribute to Snotti’s late mother, Bonita O’Neal. Monk & Snotti got more music in the works with Stick ‘Em Up, K. Smith & Yak – stay tuned.4

Madlib talks studio, gear, beatmaking, and more…

 

A glimpse into the world of one of hip hop’s best producers.  Madlib covers all the bases; what more needs to be said?  Here are a few excerpts.

 

What does an artist need to work with you?

Just be dope. And have some money (laughs). Be dope. That’s all: just be dope. Have an open, creative mind.

Is it always you who chose the artists that you work with?

Uhm, yeah, or like: When we were doing Madvillain, we were supposed to do one song. It turned into a whole album, cause he liked the music so much. We were just trying to work on, see if we can do a song together and it turned into a whole album.

…

Can you name the essential elements of a Madlib track?

Ahm, just some dirty ass loops, some dirty loops. Any type of sound. But you have to have like a certain drum pattern, I guess. But it all stems from records. It’s always different. I just say the essential thing to have is your records and the equipment. And ideas. The ideas that I have in my head. Everybody’s on their own special thing, you know what I’m sayin’? I’m just trying to make good music, whether it’s Hip-Hop, Reggae, Soul or whatever. That’s what people have to understand: I’m not just Hip-Hop, I’m just good music.

Can you explain how you trained your ears for producing music?

I think my parents and my grandparents trained my ears, ’cause they showed me different types of music. They showed me like Jazz, Soul, Classical, my mother showed me Rock and…

On purpose?

‘Cause they liked every type of music. They are musicians also. My mother wrote my fathers music, my uncle was a jazz musician and this and that, so… They just showed me all these different things, so I knew all these other types of music before Hip-Hop.

…

How did you come up with the idea of changing into Quasimoto?

I was on drugs and I just wanted to do something different. I was in the studio by myself with a gang of beats and I wanted to try something different, with a different voice. I look at my voice as too low, you know what I’m sayin’? People understand it more when I do the Quasimoto stuff. I just did it for myself first and then he [points at PB Wolf] heard it and then shit came out. I just did it for myself, I didn’t think people would understand it. But that was one of my best selling records. (laughs)

It’s a lot about the sound of the voice, right?

Just being free, yeah. Say whatever I wanna say, crazy shit, and like crazy beats, you know. Short songs, just like, I look at them as scenes, from a movie or something. Different scenes. So you don’t get bored. Makes you wanna hear it again. Go back.

 

You can check out the full interview here

3 Upcoming Releases We’re Stoked About

Dunno about you, but sometimes being old souls makes it hard to balance what’s coming out or just came out now with the dusty vinyls on the bookshelf. Which is why it’s exciting when things jolt you out of the past into the blisteringly fresh present. In this case, three albums struck us at once as being worth counting down the days for.

[Oct. 2, Warp Records] Flying Lotus started a movement with Los Angeles and, if you ask us, by the time he got to Cosmogramma and already left a lot of that sound behind. (Kids are still imitating Los Angeles today.) From the excerpts included in the short film below, he seems to have (unsurprisingly) evolved again. His collaboration with Erykah Badu, “See Thru To U“, is already floating around the internet, and the album includes tracks with FlyLo’s old friends Thom Yorke and Thundercat.

Definitely don’t sleep on the short film by Kahlil Joseph. This shit is crazy beautiful, on top of the dope soundtrack.

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[Nov. 13, Mello Music Group] Apollo Brown & Guilty Simpson are two of the artists in the hip hop world reppin Detroit the hardest, so Dice Game is bound to be cream of the crop. You definitely know the latter from his work with J Dilla & Madlib, and Apollo has established himself to be one of the 2000’s freshest producers. His 2011 release Clouds is the epitome of neo-Detroit swag and soulful melody.

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[Late 2012, Brain Kave Music] Ultimate Ultra & Great Majesty have been buildin up a lot of hype on their upcoming EP, Rise. Although he doesn’t appear on the upcoming Magnificent Wind album, Ultra represents Powerplant, and Brain Kave Music represents a lot of dope New York underground talent. Peep the leadoff single from the album, “Go Hard Or Go Home”, below. Also check out the EP Ultra released with Brain Kave over the summer, Ultra Beast, which is a collection of joints he recorded from 2002-2005. Rise will be his first “proper” EP.

K. Smith Beatboxing Live at the Cormega Show

 

Cormega killed it at the Middle East Upstairs this past Saturday.  Tragedy Khadafi, J-Love, and DJ Slipwax also performed.  In this clip, our own K. Smith jumps on stage with Cormega and Tragedy Khadafi for some old school beatboxing.

Debut Track from New DMSS Artists, Metronome Thumbprints

We’re goin somewhere else with this one. Our hip hop-based, surrealist aesthetic is way more deeply rooted in the kind of stuff that was happening in 30’s Harlem than most people would give credit to… which is, in some sense, what Metronome Thumbprints represents. This is timeless music – and it’s reflected in it that, ultimately, we are kids who grew up on hip hop, but have bookshelves filled with records from the 70s, 60s, 50s, backwards and forwards etc.

So this is a cover of the old jazz standard, done in 2012, by artists who listen to anything from Dr. Octagon to Weather Report to J Dilla to Herbie Hancock to Biggie Smalls to the Allman Brothers. The lineup includes:

TED ARMSTRONG – Fender Rhodes
GAMEBOY BEIDERBECKE – Drums
GASOLINE MONK – Synths & Samples

Iconic Hip Hop Photographer: Mike Miller

Some of Hip Hop’s most iconic photographs – including this one – were taken by photographer Michael Miller.  He is widely regarded as the premier photographer of 90’s west coast hip hop.  Miller has worked with artists such as Eazy-E, Tupac, Snoop Dogg, NWA, and Ice Cube, just to name a few.  His new book,West Coast Hip-Hop: A History in Pictures, showcases his arsenal of well-known, iconic images.  Along with the release of the book, he presented some of these images at Known Gallery in Hollywood, CA this past February.  Here is a taste of his work.

And an interview with Juxtapoz…

For more information on Michael Miller, visit http://www.mikemillerphoto.com/

Next Level Album Art

Hip Hop album art these days seems to be hit or miss. A good cover is something that should be able to stand on its own on the wall of a gallery. While some artists don’t grasp the power of visual presentation, here are a few that take the cake:

Artist: Shape of Broad Minds

Album:  Craft of the Lost Art

Album Art: EH Questionmark

One of the best hip hop album covers we’ve come across so far. A surreal brain/squid thing, beautifully drawn. The composition evokes a mandala vibe. What else is there to say, really? If you weren’t aware, EH Questionmark also did the art for another album we’re all familiar with:

Unfortunately EH Questionmark’s official website is under construction at the moment, but you’ll eventually be able to see more of his work here: EHquestionmark.com

Artist: Curren$y

Album: Pilot Talk

Album Art: David Barnett

Futuristic, next level stuff. Not only is the cover impressive, the artwork for this whole album is customized down to the last detail:

All of David Barnett’s illustrations seem to be as intricate and perfected as this one, view them on his website: Dbarnett.net

Artist: Rakaa Iriscience

Album: Crown of Thorns

Album Art: Doze Green

If you like this, then you should go view more of Doze Green’s work right now. If you’ve never seen his mind-blowing paintings, he will likely become one of your favorite artists. Here’s an example of his work:

View more of his work, and be sure to read his bio, here: Dozegreen.com