Don't rain on my parade

See the smile on that man's face? That's what it's all about, people. We had a nice little contigent of support for the Dilla Walk that seemed to grow larger as the walk went on despite the threat of rain. The umbrella event Saturday was the annual Lupus walk at Piedmont Park in midtown. The principle behind it is that participants may walk for a specific person or group of people that are inflicted or have passed from the disease. All the proceeds go towards fighting Lupus. Today I walked for my Cousin Carol and my favorite producer of all time behind Quincy Jones, J-Dilla aka Dilla Dawg aka Jay Dee. If you are not aware of his impact on the industry proudcing hits for Common, De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, The Pharcyde, Busta Rhymes, Janet Jackson, Slum Village and many more, then...well, I'd have to wonder how you found this blog.
Nearly every artist mentioned here is influenced by Dilla. Even the Rock artists, yes. His engineering skills changed mixing forever. Pharrell from the fusion/rock band NERD cites J Dilla as his favorite producer of all time. Anyway, we had a great time. There was alot of networking, some freestyling and just general Dilla/ Hip Hop love ATL style. What's more beautiful than that? For more information on how you can get involved in supporting Dilla's family and friends fight the disease go to jdilla.org

Before I leave let me say congrats to Young Trimm from Battery 5 for winning the BMI showcase Thursday night. To be doing as much as that crew is doing in both the underground and the Top 40 scenes they remain some of the most accessible, laid back cats in the city. As I mentioned before 3 out of the 4 finalist were ATL acts. The scene here is popping. Talk to y'all later, peace.

Fun was had by all.

Well, you'd think that in a day where Americans seem to be worked into a frothed frenzy over the injustices in Darfur, Sudan and the Chinese are being held under a microscope because of their hand in Darfur as well as their politics in the Tibet region that a Darfur benefit concert would be packed. The fact that Anthony David, Janelle Monae, Novel and Spree Wilson were also performing for FREE could have also been a motivating factor to come out and see a FREE screening of a celebrated documentary and concert. Didn't happen. The pews were nearly bare for the better part of the evening @ Emory, but the show was magnificent. I'm not saying this because Spree Wilson is my friend, or because my wife would cut off my supply of turkey bacon for dissing Janelle Monae, no. I'm saying this because the artists assembled put on one HECK of a show. If you've never seen Janelle Monae live, there is no way to describe it justly. The woman is a dynamo fluttering in a purposeful dance across the stage like a droplet of water on a hot skillet, but in tune- on key. Don't let her theatrics fool you; it's only the peacock packaging to a satisfying meal of a display. She's got the goods. She's at once beautiful, charming, stylish, endearing, talented, and she can blow the roof off the Georgia Dome with her voice. Who knew so much could come in such a small package? The thing of it is that we expect this from Janelle.
The unknown quantities for some, anyway were Novel, Anthony David and Spree Wilson. Few really know much about Novel and Spree,certainly. Anthony has been a hometown favorite for quite some time among neo-soul lovers,though and he put it down. Recognizing that the crowd MIGHT not be familiar with some of his past work, and respecting that he was in a church, David played some clean and classic 80's songs that had the crowd singing and clapping along with him. The acoustic set was magical, really. It had the ability to draw the listener in- an unexpected consequence of the sound issues of the structure. Every guitar strum was nearly a whisper, and to take in the sweet melodies playing off of the Harmony of David's rythym guitar it was necessary to listen keenly.
We caught the tail end of Novel's set, which made me sad, but it was a long evening of venue hopping. I couldn't be everywhere at once. I knew I was going to miss Hollyweerd @ Aiko and a friend Black Bill Gates @ Underground Friday night. There was just no way around that reality. When we walked in the door Novel and Spree Wilson were closing "Dream World", one of my favorite songs off Novel's Green Lantern Mixtape (I see you, Kid Kaos!). Novel did his thing and Spree was beginning his truncated set. He wasn't even on the bill for the night, but his set wowed the audience.
First off, Spree can rap his arse off. Secondly, he can play some mean guitar and lastly he has Alien 1 aka Ali. I mean, that dude can play some drums. If you ever want to see a spectacle of instrumentation, come see Ali live. The man climbs over the drums, tosses his sticks in the air (with no backup sticks, mind you) if he drops a stick he just plays along with one stick without missing a beat. If that isn't enough he's also known to twirl in a 360 will standing and playing. I honestly don't see how his drums put up with him. He's put them through more grief and pain than an alimony check can wash away. He played the BMI showcase on Thursday, and I know those poor drums had to still be in agony. Spree did his thing, though. Their chemistry is tactile, it grabs you by your imagination and pulls you in.

When you witness an unknown artist win over an audience like that it's an amazing thing to watch and it wasn't the first time I'd seen that Friday night. I saw an earlier example of the same energy at Cenci that night. I went to Cenci to see my friends Dillon Maurer, Smnalleyez and Lmarr perform at ATL MC Quanstar's album release party. I was also eager to see Quanstar perform as well because I've liked what I've heard of his work. I ended up missing Dillon's set as we were late and had to leave for the Darfur benefit before Quanstar or Dillon got to perform which is ashame because they both have dope acts, and Quanstar brought a live band. Before we left LMarr and Smalleyez played to the early crowd. Even with a smaller audience, they gave a lot of energy. The set was dope. Anyways, I'm not exactly tired, but if I'm going to get up for this Dilla walk, I need to catch some Z's. I'll talk to ya'll tomorrow, God willing.

I'ma just say this one time.

If I run across any more fake-arse Dilla Fans in the city that aren't at the Dilla Walk the Lupus Walk Saturday, April 26th (that's tomorrow, people!) at Piedmont Park at 4pm to help raise funds for the Dilla Foundation and research into Lupus, it's going to be consequences and situations. First I'm going to quiz you on the spot about Dilla and his music. If you pass the test, I'm just going to curse you out. If you don't, I'm taking the shirt. Right there on the spot, yes. While we're on the subject of Dilla fans, I might as well note that Atlanta MC Dillon Maurer- a good friend of Dilla's Uncle Herm and a nasty MC and producer in his own right has his own Video Blog counting down to the release of Southern Scramble.


Dillon is a fool... Don't forget to catch fine as wine ATL-Based singer and songwriter Tori Alamaze & Hollyweerd tommorow as well over at Verve. I'm beginning to hate the fact that I work Saturday Nights. :o(
Oh yeah, if you aren't in the mood for that sort of scene you could just walk about 10 feet over to the party next door at Django and check out Legendary Stone's Throw DJ Peanut Butter Wolf who's in town from Cali and Bugz in the Attic Member Daz-i- Que. That is CERTAINLY going to be off the chain. You can't lose Saturday. You start of the day with a nice brisk walk for a good cause and end it at great ATL party of your choice. Life is good, right?

It would seem that there are like 7 or 9 layers to it.

By "it" I mean the ATL 'Urban' (whatever that is) music scene. You have the Acts that originate from the AUC- people that either went to Morris Brown, Clark, Morehouse and Spelman or just hung out and performed in that area. This would inlcude artists from Janelle Monae and DJ Drama to Polow tha Don, Qualm Scott, Brian Michael Cox, Wale Oyejide and Akon. There is a defined north metro scene, an Emory scene which helped birth past groups like LOA, A Transplant scene downtown, A south metro scene, Decatur, A Bohemian scene centered in the Old Ying-Yang, Sugarhill, Apache and the Afrikan Djeli as well and many, many others. In this stylistic scrum of sounds, influences, content and imagery we have Atlanta music. It's the reason why we can dominate popular, underground, heatseaking, hipster and college radio charts with groups from Collective Efforts to Rocko and Usher. It's amazing, really. When you think about the cross-pollination bearing fruit like Gnarls Barkley (both Danger Mouse and Ceelo hail from Atlanta, although DM got NO love at all while he lived here and made music at UGA) or even unsung acts like Heavy Mojo, SunToucher, Jaspects or Atlas Sound, it's inspiring. What is even more inspiring at times are artists that noone has even heard of that continue to grind. Some sell out, yes, however it could be argued that the instant you treat your art as a product, you've sold out. Others just continue to do what they do best in hopes of securing a deal like Mike Wright or in this case feared Westside Atlanta underground Battle Rapper Reggie P otherwise known as Black Boy. Maybe he's destined to forever be a battle rapper. Writing songs is a different animal from the battle/freestyle scene, but there is no doubt he has talent.

Support a good cause and hear new ATL acts...

Not only are these new acts, but they are acts with a defined direction. We talk a great deal on this blog about slept on and unsigned talent. This Darfur showcase features Bad Boy/Wondaland artist Janelle Monae, Rowdy/Capitol recording Artist Novel and recently signed Universal Republic (thing Amy Winehouse and ATL's Inida.Arie) Artist Anthony David. I am capitalizing the (A) in artist for a reason. These acts put their artistry first. It's evident in their performance, in their content, in there comportment. Not only are these great individual acts performing together for free (with a suggested donation) but these are certain to be acts you won't be able to afford seeing live together in the future if these gas prices continue. And that's another reason to donate- Sudan is an oil exporter that can't get it's act together partially because of the Darfur situation. Come out and listen to some great music and support an even better cause.

Hey, don't let me forget. After the Darfur jawn, head on over to Aiko in Buckhead and attend Hollyweerd's SECOND EP release party, a follow up to an earlier EP release at Sloppy Seconds! With any luck, we'll hear some good news about last night's performance at the BMI showcase. I just woke up like 30 minutes ago so it's entirely possible they already announced it, but I still got sleep in my eye. I wouldn't know. For people clamouring for an EP, here's your chance. Word on the street is these cats are working on cranking ALOT of music. Stay tuned.

Life is great.

Thursday night started out with the Producer's Swap Meet at Apache Cafe Hosted by Big T, Fort Knox, & Hotep. It was more than I expected, to be honest. What I mean by that is there was more than one school of hip hop on hand. There was hip hop with a pronounced southern inflection, there was retro-flavored hip hop and also standard boom-bap offered up. In the house Thursday night were Producers with production deals with Atlantic Records scouting talent for upcoming projects, A Producer known by the name of Drugz (I could be spelling that totally wrong, btw) who is working with Atlanta MC Ludacris, Atlanta transplants that have worked with former #1 Billboard artists from out of town like Teddy Riley, and hungry new acts looking for footing in the scramble of the Atlanta Music scene.
There was a nice crowd out and it was easy to almost forget that BMI was having a showcase of their own just down the street aways over at the Luckie Lounge scheduled to be headlined by Lil' Wayne. Hopefully local acts like Hollyweerd secured a record deal after their performance. With a single like "weirdow" and a team led by former Young Jeezy manager Coach K, the sky is the limit for them. Two other Atlanta artists made the final four as well: MC Jarren Benton & Young Trimm. Word is that Atlanta singer Keri Hilson was also on hand doing a performance. Any time ATL acts can share the stage with Lil Wayne is a good look.
My experience was mostly about Life The Great Thursday. I was invited out by his management and we had a good time talking about the industry and about Life. The man can perform. I won't lie to you. He had great presence, breath control. He coaxed the crowd into being involved as well. If you haven't heard the first installment of his 4 part project, check him out at his myspace page for the FREE download.

After the Life's set I had to rush from Midtown over to East Atlanta to meet some friends to talk about some business. Cenci is a great spot to chill late nights. The atmosphere is laid back, the food is good and the bartenders are friendly. After checking in with Rock Most and DJ Fudge on the wheels of steel downstairs, I bellied up to the bar to talk about Atlanta Hip Hop History with Amdex of ATL Hip Hop Group Clan Destined, DJ Injection who spins an old school set @ Cenci on Tuesday nights and a friend from my Georgia Southern days, B-price from the Uxnoun Ceeds crew. We had a great time. Dj Sky popped through to say hi, we spoke with ATL MC Mojo Swagger and we ended up talking for hours.

We began talking about ATL Hip Hop going back to the late 80's and exploring the relationships, the lineage of crews to the present day. It really is amazing how much common ground that mainstream artists from Akon, DJ Drama and D4L to Toomp and Jermaine Dupri share with Outkast, Binkis Recs, The Unxnoun Ceeds, Killer Mike and present day underground ATL acts. It truly is amazing. We'll get more into that in the upcoming weeks. As for right now? It's like 6am. Granted, I got in at like 4am, but I'm still tired. I'll talk to y'all later.

Lol.

The Roots release another video

Am I crazy or have the Roots already dropped more videos for Rising Down than they have for the past couple of albums? Not that I'm complaining or anything, though.

What kind of fan would I be if I didn't post the leak?

Killer Mike - 2 sides

"Saying that you're from here, you don't ever come here", huh Mike? Talk about it. Lots of that going around the city now-a-days. If Atlanta turns into the tourist joke NYC has slowly morphed into, I'm not sure I'll be able to stay here.

I'd preface this upcoming essay with "and now for something completely different" but it isn't, really. David Sedaris has an essay that I felt summed up much of my misgivings of our fledgling phoenix of a city's dilemma about NYC before he fled for the pragmatism of France.

In an effort to live more "Green", we've been walking more

Yeah, that's right. My big arse been walking and/or taking transit on a regular. What I've realized is that while I love rocking sandals and loafers in the summer time, yeah I'm THAT dude, they aren't practical when walking long distances. Sure, they feel great at first in the spring and summertime but after any considerable distance your dogs WILL be barking. I am not able to ascertain why I'm into loafers as much as I am. Maybe I lived in Roswell too long. As for sandals? Yeah, I'm Jamaican. Mesh shirts (no, I don't rock those) and sandals come right out the womb with Jamaican babies. I remember my little brother hated seeing people's feet when were were little so in protest he'd wear his winter boots instead of sandals because that's pretty much the only option he had. Anyway, I'm gettin away from the point of this post which is to say I've just bought a few pairs of sneakers recently. About two weeks ago I got some nice black on black Chuck Taylors and a pair of air prestiges to replace my dying pumas and Steve Maddens of the same colors. Then I came across these jawns from Lacoste. You can't tell me these kicks ain't clean. I wonder if my wife will notice if I snuck these into the house? Not that'd I'd do that, of course. TRUST is the cornerstone of ANY solid relationship, right baby? *shes reads this blog religiously, btw* Hey sweetie!

Don't mind me, I'm just "Getting My Grown Man On"





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Now playing: Talib Kweli - Getting My Grown Man On (Feat. Little Brother)
via FoxyTunes

Chicago doesn't stop driving the culture

Kanye, Lupe, Common, The cool Kids, Kid Sister and of course these Kidz...They are pushing the envelope.

A new take on an old command....

All we need is a little bit o' sunshine.

Just a tiny bit of sunshine and it's cause for holiday in Atlanta. Saturday I took in the sights and sounds of Candler Park on the Eastside of Atlanta. Sunday I decided to stay a bit closer to home on the westside. Again, I could have sat on my couch at home watching B-Ball games but I instead elected to go on a Downtown walkabout with a good friend. This is what we saw. The visage of blatant, proud blackness inspired my boy to channel Outkast by saying "ALL the playas, All the hustlers, I'm talking about a Black man's heaven here." F.orever I. L.ove A.tlanta