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The best of the week's links 1/12/2007 · by Rafi Kam
Floodwatch does an “Autopsy” of my favorite Killah Priest song. Ben, we could always use some more line for lines here… holla!
Unkut continues its streak of excellence into 2007 with an enlightening interview of Joe Fatal. Check in our archives, Fatal is one of our favorite subjects.
Even though I’m not up on The Wire, I found this “If Hip-Hop was The Wire” feature at Palms Out Sound pretty amusing. Some year-end stuff at the end.
Our own belated year-end recap is coming over this weekend. But more 2006 reviews dropped elsewhere this past week:
Passion of the Weiss did his 25 best songs of 2006
Noz posted his 40 favorites
Unkut’s year-end awards recognized the Wu-diorama and more.
Meanwhile Superrappin went against the grain by doing a best of 1996 instead.
Rizoh posted a list of 2006 lists.
Not to mention Rollie’s annual top 100 list/mp3 cornucopia. He claims to be retiring from blogging after these posts. Get them while you can: 1 2 3 4. 5 is apparently on the way.
Speaking of retiring, did you know that the remarkable Rebel To America blog, having completed its mission, closed after a very busy December which saw Hip-Hop’s death. Good luck in your future endeavors Fletch.
Making diamonds in the microwave.
Spliff Huxtable represents lovely with an instrumental version of Black Moon’s Enta da Stage album! And follows up with some more Beatminerz shit.
Status Ain’t Hood is bullish on Brother Ali.
Sean Price tells the Smoking Section that he only wants to rhyme with you if you’re as good as him or better. Better?
Wake Your Daughter Up takes us to the Bridge, with a write-up on MC Poet.
Dallas takes a dump and then gets all inspirational on us. Whether moving the soul or moving the bowels, Dallas Penn can do no wrong!
Line of the week Bol in his write-up of the Pack who are most famous for their ode to their Vans sneakers tells us that rappers have always been shouting out their beloved brands. Then, as an aside to “any musicologists reading this: Would that be considered a trait of hip-hop that’s distinctly African, like polyrhythm, or was that something that was inserted during the middle passage?”
Some white rapper I never heard of is providing in-depth coverage of Ego Trip’s White Rapper Show on VH1. The series preview and episode 1 recap were ok but my favorite post of his is this tangent where he does research on would-be reality show contestant and MySpace “entity” Jah Jah and learns that in another part of her life she was a well-educated (Cooper Union? Daaaamn.) art scholar.
His investigation of Jah Jah gets headier than anything we’ve seen so far on the VH1 show:
I have two possible theories on all of this. Here’s the one I wish were true: the whole Jah Jah persona is a long-term piece of ironic performance art. A ruse designed to perform the hyper-sexualization of the female body in hip-hop culture. An experiment to test the extent to which hype and sex can sell even the worst of products. And, when its all done, Gordon will write a provocative essay about the entire experiment.
But something tells me that’s not what’s going on here. Something tells me that Gordon dove head first into what she perceived to be hip-hop culture. Like a kid who gets it into his head that he’s Batman, and will only wear Batman clothes, and jumps off the couch thinking he really can fly, Gordon is an artist who was intrigued by hip-hop culture, and put on the costume she thought typified the culture, and is jumping off couches and flying into all kinds of awful walls in the process.
Dangerous Weather “In NYC, where it’s supposed to be cold and snowy all day every day this time of year, the forecast high is 71. It hasn’t snowed in NY yet this winter. On the TV they’re grinning and laughing, the idiots. This weather is not cute, it’s political, and dangerous.”
The Rise of the Internet Video Networks
Bob Lefsetz states his serious gripe with the Long Tail’s analysis of the music business. “If you think Top Forty is mainstream, then you’re just not listening.”
And finally… iPhone iPhone iPhone
Comments for "The best of the week's links 1/12/2007"
And… the cat’s out the bag.
— Bol Jan 12, 05:16 PM
That ‘Diamonds in the Microwave’ thing is…beyond hilarious.
— dronkmunk Jan 12, 08:35 PM
Thats also my favorite Killa Priest song, just copped Ghost Dog from the excellent discount rack at Virgin, I had forgotten but Jarmusch uses it in the first 10 mins of the movie
— Abe Beame Jan 12, 11:41 PM
How you find time to read all of this stuff, keep Ohword running, work a paying job and have a fam is beyond me. I can’t shoot a movie and write rap articles at the same time without flipping out.
— Sach Jan 13, 12:25 AM
I think the iPhone might just be the key to all of Rafi’s productivity – he got one in advance of the rest of us and never said so. Either that or he’s on crank. ;)
— DJ Flash Jan 14, 03:57 AM
Pssssh. Rafi is sooooo behind the times on mobile technology it’s not even funny. well it is a little.
— R.H.S. Jan 14, 09:21 AM
Funny quote from Sean P, considering how he has a habit of showing up on the pet albums of shitty rap hobbyists. You gotta wonder how little he charges for a verse.
— DC Jan 14, 10:28 PM
DC,
That question gets answered at the end of this interview with XXL
— rafi Jan 14, 11:19 PM
Tip o’ the headphones to you for the love, OhWord.
I also cosign what DC said, Sean P would probably give you two 16’s for a Sandwich and a hook for a half-drunk Fanta.
— biz Jan 17, 10:31 PM
rafi,
Thanks for the link.
I wondered after seeing incredibly embarrassing posts like this at other sites. smh @ dumb rich kids who spend thousands and thousands of dollars to get outshined on their own shit when they can’t even find a label to put it out:
“OK, so my new album just might be going down in history as a classical work of art… lol
This album is fucking crazy and I can’t wait to get it out… I still haven’t got a concrete street date for it, and I’m not even ready to disclose who’s putting it out… but my goodness… it is something special!
Is it normal to be THIS excited about one’s own album? Am i really this gassed? I suppose the answer is YES. lol
Pete Rock (LEGEND!), Lord Finesse (LEGEND!), DJ Spinna (LEGEND!), Illmind (part of my crew, Wax Reform… also producer for Pharoah Monch, 50 Cent, Little Brother and more…), Moss (producer for Ghostface, Slum Village, Black Moon and more…), Geology (producer for De La Soul, Jay Dilla, Vinia Mojica and more…), Grap Luva (producer for J-Live, Pete Rock & CL Smooth, INI, and more…), D-Smooth (producer for Kool G Rap, Schoolz of Thought and more…) and myself on production? it really doesn’t get any better than that… but wait, it also features appearances from AG of D.I.T.C. (LEGEND!), Sean Price of Boot Camp (LEGEND!), Denosh (MTV’s “Making the Band”), haha… wow!
Sorry for the rant. Honestly, I might be the only one reading this so… yeah… big props to me!
“Status Symbol” is coming soon!
( In the meantime, if you wanna hear some music, check out: http://www.myspace.com/status_symbol )”
— DC Jan 17, 11:33 PM
That MC Jah Jah is a retarded wanna be street ho that told me I was going to be killed on you tube…ha ha
— J Jan 28, 02:02 AM
That white female rapper Jah Jah sounds like a pre pubescent teenege boy.. Her lyrics suck, her voice sucks.. When I hear her music, I feel like a cat whos fur has been brushed backwards.. Just icky.
— Jasa Jan 12, 11:13 PM