Dre Dog last week, Bootcamp this week, Little Man In Between

Dre Dog

When they said all ages they meant ALL AGES. I mean seriously it was all 15 and 16 year-olds. There was a kid there who had to be no more than 10 (rockin' the white tee). And thanks to the lineup of scrub after scrub had to get out of there before Nickatina graced the stage for his 15-minute set. Cellski was cool, but c'mon. Has anyone ever said, "I wanna be surrounded by 15 year olds watching bad rappers I've never heard of rappin over their vocal tracks because they're either too stupid or too lazy to make instrumentals?" I didn't think so. Did get the free CD from Dre Dog, "Khanthology": The best of the best of his cocaine raps. Like all great Bay Area rap moguls, when in doubt, repackage! It is a relatively dope comp though, especially because it tells you what year each song came out, so you can sorta map back your life in relation to one of your favorite rappers.

Bootcamp Clik

Playin at Slim's tonight. This is gonna be off the chain. Cannot wait for "Act Like U Want It".

Little Man

Checked it out last night at the old Metreon. So good. Exceeded all expectations. Yes I saw Little Man in the theater. Tracy Morgan plays a criminal named Percee P. Any movie that features a dude getting hit in the groin 3 consecutive times wins in my book. Hilarious. Midget Wayans did make me think of that Dre Dog show. Really, those kids were tiny. Anyways, see you at the show, if you're comin'

Beeda Weeda! Hiero gets hyphy

Yo, so Tajai of the legendary Hiero crew stumbled upon this kid Beeda Weeda...when I first heard of the signing I was like why does Hiero gotta jump onto the hyphy train, but the more I thought about it I thought, hell, whatever, let 'em branch out. But I expected musically it would be terrible. But Tajai has proven he can keep his ear to the streets. This kid can obviously rap. Don't get me wrong, a whole album of it will probably blend in with everything else...but there's some highlights. Maybe because of Hiero he could evolve into something bigger and better, tour internationally, etc. Or maybe he'll fall by the wayside like every wannabe hyphy rapper will...

By the way, as my boy Unagi pointed out, pretty much all the bay kingpins have been around for a minute well before the hyphy movement San Quinn/E-A Ski/E-40/Too Short are all runnin' this. Whatever.

Cop the free MP3's. What?

Turf's Up/We Ain't Listenin'-Single

Beeda Weeda
Hieroglyphics Imperium

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Grab it

Homework: The Mixtape - Staring Beeda Weeda

Beeda Weeda
Hieroglyphics Imperium

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Go Dumb With The Free Download

Go Dumb Wit It

DJ Shadow and The Hyphy Movement

More tracks continue to be released with DJ Shadow and various Bay Area Rappers as part of his hyphyest album yet...

I think it's a good thing, whatever, dude is talented, let him fool around...he's not selling out, he's been on Universal for years, and he wants to do something different than abstract instrumental joints. Fine. But all these whiny backpacker kids are cryin' about it and all the kids with the white tees don't know who the hell DJ Shadow is...don't think this is gonna sell much but yet the beats are ill. Again Shadow is a talented dude. Here's a new track with the God-awful Federation...man they are terrible. I like the beat though. Wow the Federation is bad. Damn. Really just garbage. But anyways, check it out, lemme know what you think: DJ Shadow feat. The Federation and Animaniaks "Turf Dancin"

The first joint was way better...but overall seems like the album might hit...

Melina Jones::The next Jean Grae?

Maybe slight exaggeration...maybe not though.

So I went to this TODO Magazine party on Wednesday, normally I wouldn't check out high class shindings sponsored by fancy vodka companies at the Bambuddha Lounge, if just for their bad karma juxtaposition of a bar/club with statues of a meditating Buddha. But Melina Jones was playing. This girl is sick. I mean really just fantastic. Born and raised in the SFC, she has finally embarked on her solo career after a laundry list of musical ventures and activities. Here's an mp3 with resident bay area sample junkie Unagi on the beat...some ill neo-soul stuff for real...She had the crowd movin. Also big ups to MusicDefender.com for letting me put this up there.

Melina Jones - Wrap You Up. Enjoy!

Unagi and DJ Animal Killin' It @ Amnesia This Friday!!

Come out to SF's Mission District this Friday for some bangin old skool and underground hip hop brought to you by yours truly and Unagi, the sample fiend. Hit me up on the email for more info or check out Amnesia's site. If you're there I'll hook up the mixtape for you.

$2 cover. 7/14/06.

Peace.

Keak, I Feel Sick

Why must you subject your fans to this?

Even worse is this picture. What's more disturbing? Scantily clad 14-year-old chick with braces? Or Keak enjoying it?

Listen to Contact Sport to help erase the memories. Or buy Retaliation if you really need to wash your brain of this incident.

Retaliation
Keak Da Sneak
Black Market Records

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eMusic

Ise Lyfe - Spread The Word

I don't have mp3's for this yet...but I had to get the word out. I never heard of this cat before the label dude handed me a promo...but now I'm lookin' forward to the album like I was lookin' forward to Super Mario Bros. 3. Serious.

Ise Lyfe is apparently a ridiculously talented rapper from Oakland who successfully blends streets and struggle (a la The Coup or Dead Prez). The beats are insane, completely varied, slow jazzy joints, upbeat party bangers, and everything in between. This is Oakland. For real. More info on Ise here. I'll drop the music for you when I have something besides the clean version...

Gay Christian Hip Hop: Why Kurtis Blow Why?

This is terrible. I mean really awful. Should we start calling him Kurtis Blow Job? Whatever. I hate this. I don't hate gays. Just hip hop shows that happen in churches with gay hip hop ministers. It's like I like pizza and ice cream and burritos but I don't want to mix it all together in a bowl. Nawmeen? Church is cool, hip hop is cool, and if you're gay that's cool...but this is kind of over the top.

Hopefully this movement doesn't reach the Bay.

Anyways, in other news, help yourself to a free track from up-and-coming Bay Area duo Mavrik (featuring DJ Platurn of the Oakland Faders). FYI this has nothing to do with the above commentary...just a new group that I like and I don't wanna split this up into 2 posts.