LBGraff
01-10-2006, 10:52 AM
The AirGraFx Shop / www.HiphopPhilosophy.com Weekly Newsletter/Journal…
THE STATE OF THE FRESH BRAND-NEW FUNK/SOUL/HIPHOP MOVEMENT
Sunday, January 08, 2006: An open letter to DITC; We listen to every record we can get our ears on. The Real DJ’s. Especially if it has a name on it that we know will give us something worth our time and money, from experience in buying their records before. We listen to records with names we know for making classic funk, and we want to tell you what we think. But first we want to remind you who is giving you this feedback. We hope you remember us. The weekend of Big L's passing, you came to LA, and we met you at that show he was supposed to do. We told you that Goodfellas was one of our all-time favorite LP's and also one of the most slept-on LP's ever, too. We chopped it up for a minute. Since then, we have continued doing what we have always done (hardcore since the 70’s), and now it has evolved into our own website/internet service, record store in Long Beach, radio station, 16 mixtape/CD's, and clothing line. We are huge DITC fans from the start. Your whole crew's contribution is on the level of the Gang Starr and BDP legacies. But just like we (The Real DJ’s, original genuine fans of all the legendary classic Hiphop/soul/fresh-brand-new-funk record makers) always wonder about what happened to the BDP (five classic + Boom Bap = 6) sound and it's authors, and just like we wonder if Gang Starr will be able to continue the legacy they built from No More Mr. Nice Guy to Moment of Truth (because it's pretty universally agreed on by their OG fans that The Ownerz was not on the level of fresh brand new funk that the rest of their legacy is so great for), we all want to know why the DITC sound has appeared to follow the trendy 'NEW' sound of the bubble-gum pop rap and/or Hollywood 'soundtrack'-sounding instruments/drums/beats, INSTEAD of sticking with the roots and foundation: THE BLUES BUTTER AND JAZZ BISCUITS????? Where are the grooves, the FUNK? The basslines and reverb, that warmth, that boom bump thump, and the bap and crack, WE DON'T LIKE THAT BOOM CLAP SHIT (It is not Hiphop if your use of the clap is not original, innovative, creative, and/or FRESH, compared to any use of the clap sound, in a Hiphop song, between the years of 1980, when Hiphop became a pop culture, and now!!! Anything else is just some sucker/biter TRYING to do Hiphop. Hiphop, the arts, is not an effort. You either have 'it', or you don't. You can try, but call it rap culture, and don't try to sell it as Hiphop)… Knaw'mean? Hope you do, because we used to be able to see your names on a record and buy it because we knew we were getting something worth my time and money, but now, because we have wasted money on the last several records we bought with your names (except Lord Finesse), we must be able to listen to before we buy. And most the time, we don't buy now, because the drums, beats and/or music have lost the funk. This is all out of respect and eternal love for what you contributed to what we know of as Hiphop, not the industry-imitation bubble-gum pop rap music, which it sounds like you are trying to keep up with. That sound is not Hiphop. It is pop, has no soul. To us, Hiphop = soul music, pop = rap. To us, Hiphop is the funk, rap = imitation funk. Hiphop = the art of staying fresh. Rap = the art of biting (familiar catchy sounds). We kept up with the funk since 1981, and when our elders predicted it (what they thought was Hiphop) would die, we predicted that artists like you would come along, like you did, and continue the evolution of the brand new funk. And after you, came People Under The Stairs, Jedi Mind Tricks, (MF Doom still does it), Time Machine, NineFifteen, Insight (and the whole Electric Co.), Edan, (Percee P still has it), Lil Sci aka John Robinson, etc... Double K of People Under The Stairs is a great friend of ours in the Hiphop community in LA, and in our opinion, the funkiest dude in LA... We hooked Double K and King Tee together so that he may try to help continue the great King Tee legacy of making brand new funk, or, good new Hiphop records. We would love to help you the same way... Hope you are not offended by our honest feedback. This is what it's all about…; Gang Starr: Five classic albums + Jeru 's first 2 + Group Home + Jazzmatazz I = 9. Boogie Down Productions: Criminal Minded thru Sex & Violence = 5 + Return Of The Boom Bap + Mad Lion's The Real Ting + Heather B's Takin Mine (prod. by Kenny Parker) = 8. Dr.Dre: Straight Outta Compton + Niggaz4life + Eazy Duz It + DOC's No One Can Do It Better + Above The Law's Livin Like Hustlers + Michelle's R&B album is a classic + The Chronic = 8 (if you count Snoop's first, which is borderline, because he recycled the same sound as the Chronic, which may be excusable because they created it together during the same time... = 9). There's several other entities that fall into this category, like the Wu legend, although not as consistent. De La, with three or four classic LP's. ATCQ, JB'z, PE, EPMD, MC Lyte, Ultamagnetic, etc. There are a few groups who stopped at two or three ultra-classic, timeless legendary albums. Leaders of The New School, Audio Two, X Clan, Showbiz&AG, etc... We always wish them the best, and we will always try to help anyway we can, the old(er) and the new(er). New(er) artists/groups like People Under The Stairs, Time Machine, Count Bass D, Dooley O, etc. We try to help old(er) artists keep up with the evolution of the funk, as opposed to the 'Hiphop' industry. Like Percee P, Doom, Brother J, etc. (some of them still have 'it')... Newer artists like Insight, Edan, Blake9(NineFifteen, Count Bass D (not that new), John Robinson, etc. Goodfellas was exactly the kind of artistic growth, positive evolution and change that made Show&AG legendary. The newer records have not had that brand new funk/Hiphop/soul groove we used to count on from the whole DITC crew. They want to be on top, but the top of what? The top of the pop music industry, or the funk/soul/Hiphop music art form...? They had a perfect start at the funk/soul/Hiphop, but it appears that some artists like them have given up on your potential as a great soul/funk/Hiphop recording artists for another mountain to climb. We miss the funk. That's all. Always will love you for that, just like KRS-One, from 86-to-96... BDP was fresh for every year, and kids (who were Hiphoppers) who were hungry, who needed and wanted some new fresh funk, real ghetto music, could always count on them, till after Boom Bap. We (Hiphoppers) still need and want some fresh brand new funk, so we turn to the people making good new records. Forget those kids who won't listen to the message unless the beat is bubblegum. They are not looking for or wanting what is fresh, they want something catchy. Anyway, if your reaction, to what you call my approach, is defensive, this is not our intention. We never want to do anything but respect and help... if possible. This is our purpose in writing to you. Our radio station is actions that speak louder than our words. It is brand new, but when we are not live, we air mixtapes and classic albums. We are live almost daily from noon to 8 p.m. PST. We think you will see what we are saying better if you hear the station and its format. We will never give up on the funk, it saves lives. It is a divine force. No one person, no one talent, nobody is larger than the funk. Finesse just got back from Europe not long ago, and ‘sees’ exactly what we are sayin. We are sure you can too… The Greatest Hiphop Record Makers Ever… Gang Starr: Five classic (No More Mr. Nice Guy) + Jeru’s first 2 + Group Home + Jazzmatazz I = 9. Boogie Down Productions: Criminal Minded thru Sex & Violence = 5 + Return Of The Boom Bap + Mad Lion's The Real Ting + Heather B's Takin Mine (prod. by Kenny Parker) = 8... Dr.Dre: Straight Outta Compton + Niggaz4life + Eazy Duz It + DOC's No One Can Do It Better + Above The Law's Livin Like Hustlers + Michelle's R&B album is a classic + The Chronic = 8 (if you count Snoop's first, which is borderline, because he recycled the same sound as the Chronic, which may be excusable because they created it together during the same time era... = 9). Original Funk evolved into the fresh brand new funk, one in the same. It's the evolution of soul music... and once they lose it, it's lost, it ain't comin back. LL, Cube and Busta Rhymes all taught us that... Overstand is an adjective manifested thru the evolution of Hiphop slang, which refers to the ability to not ONLY learn something. BUT TO ALSO use what you have learned. Learning something and learning to use/apply what you have learned are two completely different things. To understand is to learn something; overstanding is the application of that knowledge... Hiphop has a science and un-written law... such as, not biting... There is a lot to it... it is not something anybody can do simply... You either have 'it' or you don't... and if you don't overstand YOU SHOULD NOT BE TRYING TO SELL IT, and/or acting like you know it... Words to live by... Word is life... Words become reality, if practiced and applied... Yo!!!!! The new Dooley O album – I Gotcha, on vinyl and CD, is finally here at The AirGraFx Shop. It is without question one of the two best albums from 2005 (released in early December), along with Edan’s Beauty and the Beat, both on Lewis Recordings. A label to watch, for sure… HiphopPhilosophy.com is proud to announce that this Wednesday, January 11 (and every other Wednesday, at least), we will air LIVE the first Official Legendary Lethal Rhyme Inspector Percee P Radio Show, from about 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. And on Thursday, January 12, we HiphopPhilosophy.com presents the first Official Aceyalone-Project Blowed Radio Show boardcasting live from The Chaos Network in Leimert Park. Many more additional shows to be added very soon, so keep up with the funk… myspace.com/theprogramdirector ..
THE STATE OF THE FRESH BRAND-NEW FUNK/SOUL/HIPHOP MOVEMENT
Sunday, January 08, 2006: An open letter to DITC; We listen to every record we can get our ears on. The Real DJ’s. Especially if it has a name on it that we know will give us something worth our time and money, from experience in buying their records before. We listen to records with names we know for making classic funk, and we want to tell you what we think. But first we want to remind you who is giving you this feedback. We hope you remember us. The weekend of Big L's passing, you came to LA, and we met you at that show he was supposed to do. We told you that Goodfellas was one of our all-time favorite LP's and also one of the most slept-on LP's ever, too. We chopped it up for a minute. Since then, we have continued doing what we have always done (hardcore since the 70’s), and now it has evolved into our own website/internet service, record store in Long Beach, radio station, 16 mixtape/CD's, and clothing line. We are huge DITC fans from the start. Your whole crew's contribution is on the level of the Gang Starr and BDP legacies. But just like we (The Real DJ’s, original genuine fans of all the legendary classic Hiphop/soul/fresh-brand-new-funk record makers) always wonder about what happened to the BDP (five classic + Boom Bap = 6) sound and it's authors, and just like we wonder if Gang Starr will be able to continue the legacy they built from No More Mr. Nice Guy to Moment of Truth (because it's pretty universally agreed on by their OG fans that The Ownerz was not on the level of fresh brand new funk that the rest of their legacy is so great for), we all want to know why the DITC sound has appeared to follow the trendy 'NEW' sound of the bubble-gum pop rap and/or Hollywood 'soundtrack'-sounding instruments/drums/beats, INSTEAD of sticking with the roots and foundation: THE BLUES BUTTER AND JAZZ BISCUITS????? Where are the grooves, the FUNK? The basslines and reverb, that warmth, that boom bump thump, and the bap and crack, WE DON'T LIKE THAT BOOM CLAP SHIT (It is not Hiphop if your use of the clap is not original, innovative, creative, and/or FRESH, compared to any use of the clap sound, in a Hiphop song, between the years of 1980, when Hiphop became a pop culture, and now!!! Anything else is just some sucker/biter TRYING to do Hiphop. Hiphop, the arts, is not an effort. You either have 'it', or you don't. You can try, but call it rap culture, and don't try to sell it as Hiphop)… Knaw'mean? Hope you do, because we used to be able to see your names on a record and buy it because we knew we were getting something worth my time and money, but now, because we have wasted money on the last several records we bought with your names (except Lord Finesse), we must be able to listen to before we buy. And most the time, we don't buy now, because the drums, beats and/or music have lost the funk. This is all out of respect and eternal love for what you contributed to what we know of as Hiphop, not the industry-imitation bubble-gum pop rap music, which it sounds like you are trying to keep up with. That sound is not Hiphop. It is pop, has no soul. To us, Hiphop = soul music, pop = rap. To us, Hiphop is the funk, rap = imitation funk. Hiphop = the art of staying fresh. Rap = the art of biting (familiar catchy sounds). We kept up with the funk since 1981, and when our elders predicted it (what they thought was Hiphop) would die, we predicted that artists like you would come along, like you did, and continue the evolution of the brand new funk. And after you, came People Under The Stairs, Jedi Mind Tricks, (MF Doom still does it), Time Machine, NineFifteen, Insight (and the whole Electric Co.), Edan, (Percee P still has it), Lil Sci aka John Robinson, etc... Double K of People Under The Stairs is a great friend of ours in the Hiphop community in LA, and in our opinion, the funkiest dude in LA... We hooked Double K and King Tee together so that he may try to help continue the great King Tee legacy of making brand new funk, or, good new Hiphop records. We would love to help you the same way... Hope you are not offended by our honest feedback. This is what it's all about…; Gang Starr: Five classic albums + Jeru 's first 2 + Group Home + Jazzmatazz I = 9. Boogie Down Productions: Criminal Minded thru Sex & Violence = 5 + Return Of The Boom Bap + Mad Lion's The Real Ting + Heather B's Takin Mine (prod. by Kenny Parker) = 8. Dr.Dre: Straight Outta Compton + Niggaz4life + Eazy Duz It + DOC's No One Can Do It Better + Above The Law's Livin Like Hustlers + Michelle's R&B album is a classic + The Chronic = 8 (if you count Snoop's first, which is borderline, because he recycled the same sound as the Chronic, which may be excusable because they created it together during the same time... = 9). There's several other entities that fall into this category, like the Wu legend, although not as consistent. De La, with three or four classic LP's. ATCQ, JB'z, PE, EPMD, MC Lyte, Ultamagnetic, etc. There are a few groups who stopped at two or three ultra-classic, timeless legendary albums. Leaders of The New School, Audio Two, X Clan, Showbiz&AG, etc... We always wish them the best, and we will always try to help anyway we can, the old(er) and the new(er). New(er) artists/groups like People Under The Stairs, Time Machine, Count Bass D, Dooley O, etc. We try to help old(er) artists keep up with the evolution of the funk, as opposed to the 'Hiphop' industry. Like Percee P, Doom, Brother J, etc. (some of them still have 'it')... Newer artists like Insight, Edan, Blake9(NineFifteen, Count Bass D (not that new), John Robinson, etc. Goodfellas was exactly the kind of artistic growth, positive evolution and change that made Show&AG legendary. The newer records have not had that brand new funk/Hiphop/soul groove we used to count on from the whole DITC crew. They want to be on top, but the top of what? The top of the pop music industry, or the funk/soul/Hiphop music art form...? They had a perfect start at the funk/soul/Hiphop, but it appears that some artists like them have given up on your potential as a great soul/funk/Hiphop recording artists for another mountain to climb. We miss the funk. That's all. Always will love you for that, just like KRS-One, from 86-to-96... BDP was fresh for every year, and kids (who were Hiphoppers) who were hungry, who needed and wanted some new fresh funk, real ghetto music, could always count on them, till after Boom Bap. We (Hiphoppers) still need and want some fresh brand new funk, so we turn to the people making good new records. Forget those kids who won't listen to the message unless the beat is bubblegum. They are not looking for or wanting what is fresh, they want something catchy. Anyway, if your reaction, to what you call my approach, is defensive, this is not our intention. We never want to do anything but respect and help... if possible. This is our purpose in writing to you. Our radio station is actions that speak louder than our words. It is brand new, but when we are not live, we air mixtapes and classic albums. We are live almost daily from noon to 8 p.m. PST. We think you will see what we are saying better if you hear the station and its format. We will never give up on the funk, it saves lives. It is a divine force. No one person, no one talent, nobody is larger than the funk. Finesse just got back from Europe not long ago, and ‘sees’ exactly what we are sayin. We are sure you can too… The Greatest Hiphop Record Makers Ever… Gang Starr: Five classic (No More Mr. Nice Guy) + Jeru’s first 2 + Group Home + Jazzmatazz I = 9. Boogie Down Productions: Criminal Minded thru Sex & Violence = 5 + Return Of The Boom Bap + Mad Lion's The Real Ting + Heather B's Takin Mine (prod. by Kenny Parker) = 8... Dr.Dre: Straight Outta Compton + Niggaz4life + Eazy Duz It + DOC's No One Can Do It Better + Above The Law's Livin Like Hustlers + Michelle's R&B album is a classic + The Chronic = 8 (if you count Snoop's first, which is borderline, because he recycled the same sound as the Chronic, which may be excusable because they created it together during the same time era... = 9). Original Funk evolved into the fresh brand new funk, one in the same. It's the evolution of soul music... and once they lose it, it's lost, it ain't comin back. LL, Cube and Busta Rhymes all taught us that... Overstand is an adjective manifested thru the evolution of Hiphop slang, which refers to the ability to not ONLY learn something. BUT TO ALSO use what you have learned. Learning something and learning to use/apply what you have learned are two completely different things. To understand is to learn something; overstanding is the application of that knowledge... Hiphop has a science and un-written law... such as, not biting... There is a lot to it... it is not something anybody can do simply... You either have 'it' or you don't... and if you don't overstand YOU SHOULD NOT BE TRYING TO SELL IT, and/or acting like you know it... Words to live by... Word is life... Words become reality, if practiced and applied... Yo!!!!! The new Dooley O album – I Gotcha, on vinyl and CD, is finally here at The AirGraFx Shop. It is without question one of the two best albums from 2005 (released in early December), along with Edan’s Beauty and the Beat, both on Lewis Recordings. A label to watch, for sure… HiphopPhilosophy.com is proud to announce that this Wednesday, January 11 (and every other Wednesday, at least), we will air LIVE the first Official Legendary Lethal Rhyme Inspector Percee P Radio Show, from about 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. And on Thursday, January 12, we HiphopPhilosophy.com presents the first Official Aceyalone-Project Blowed Radio Show boardcasting live from The Chaos Network in Leimert Park. Many more additional shows to be added very soon, so keep up with the funk… myspace.com/theprogramdirector ..