Tag: DJ Premier

Video by William Ruben Helms

Video Review: MC Eiht and DJ Premier Team Up on Some Inspired and Gritty Street Hip-Hop

Aaron Tyler is an Augusta, GA-born, Compton, CA-based emcee, best known as MC Eiht, a name which he has publicly claimed was partially inspired by KRS-One and its link to the hood culture of his hometown — in particular Olde English 800 (sometimes referred to as 8 Ball) and to .38 caliber firearms. And although he’s known as the de facto frontman of Compton’s Most Wanted, which featured Boom Bam, Tha Chill, DJ Mike T, DJ Slip and Ant Capone, he’s arguably much better known as a solo artist and actor, who starred in 1993’s Menace II Society and contributed “Streiht Up Menace” to its soundtrack, a single that’s the Compton-based emcee’s most commercially successful and best known.  Now, i have to admit as a hip-hop head I’ve had periods where I’ve been primarily NYC and East Coast-ceneterd and sadly, I kind of forgot about MC Eiht; however, to his credit, he’s been extraordinarily prolific over the course of a nearly 25 year solo career, releasing 12 full-length albums, with his 13th full length effort Which Way Iz West slated for release some this year. 

As it turns out, Which Way Iz West’s latest single “Compton Zoo” is both what we should expect from the Compton-based emcee, a song focusing on Eiht’s life and times growing up in Compton with a gritty “I’ve done real shit and seen real shit out there and survived it all” honesty, over a DJ Premier production consisting of a swaggering yet soulful production featuring twinkling keys, looped horns and boom-bap beats. And while being something of an older statesman of hip-hop Eiht, who turned 50 late last month sounds driven and inspired in a way that would be a lot of younger emcees to shame. 

Directed by Jae Smyth, the recently released video employs a relatively simple concept — it follows Eiht and crew as they stroll around their hometown, with frequent footage of them on a rooftop with the city stretching out beneath them; but it also shows a gritty town full of tough people, who are surviving as best as they could. And of course, there’s footage of the great DJ Premier rocking the turntables, too. 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

David Nord is a jazz-trained composer and guitarist, who’s passion and interest in hip-hop and electronic music brought about a major evolution of his work, leading him to mesh the two styles in a way that allowed him to explore the possibilities of an alternate musical vocabulary and a new creative outlet, his solo recording project spoony bard, a project that derives it’s name from the final bit of dialogue in Final Fantasy IV — and it’s beloved by gamers because it’s both a goofy and terrible translation. In any case, as Nord explains in press notes, “Just playing jazz wasn’t cutting it anymore. I started hearing the L.A. beat scene stuff that was coming out and got inspired to really dive deeper into synthesizers, sampling, music software, etc., while also continuing to hone the harmonic and melodic approach that I had developed as a jazz musician. And as you’ll hear on the swaggering “vibe/void” off his spoony bard debut, Dweeb, Nord’s sound clearly draws from Flying Lotus, Dalek, DJ Premier, Aphex Twin, Head Hunters-era Herbie Hancock, old school drum ‘n’ bass electronica, and others, thanks to layers of glitchy synths squiggling and undulating electronics, sinuous bass and tweeter and woofer rocking 808 beats — all diced and chopped up, but paired with self-deprecating yet deeply introspective and honest lyrics delivered in a flow reminiscent of Atmosphere’s Slug. Interestingly, with “vibe/void,” the song’s narrator talks about a familiar experience to most creative types, who are forced to work a day job to survive — the feeling as though they’re leaving their creativity and individuality behind forever, for a pay check and a humdrum, office drone life. And throughout the song, the song’s narrator is desperate to escape, to get his life together and do everything within his power to live the life he’s long dreamed of. Shit, maybe some of us should take his advice, huh?

 

New Audio by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Zack de la Rocha Teams Up with El-P for a Fiery, Tweeter and Woofer Rocking Track

As rumored by countless sources, the album would feature production by some of the original collaborators — including El-P, Questlove, Trent Reznor and DJ Premier. So coming across both a friend’s Facebook post and a press email that read “Zach de la Rocha releases ‘Digging for Windows’ from Forthcoming Solo Album” was a moment of stunned disbelief. Naturally, that was followed by a moment in which I thought “Finally! Righteously furious, revolutionary music for these frighteningly uncertain, fucked up times.”

The yet unnamed album is slated for release sometime next year, and its stomping and rampaging first single “Digging for Windows” pairs an ambient and somewhat abrasive, industrial-leaning production consisting of enormous, stomp tweeter and woofer rocker beats, slashing synths, electronic bleeps, distorted vocal samples with de la Rocha’s imitable and furious vocals rhyming from the perspective of the disenfranchised, the downtrodden and fucked with, the victims of abuse, injustice and greed with profound empathy, understanding and hatred of the powerful and unchecked forces behind it. And although he may not ever be in your list of Top 10, Top 20 or hell, even Top 50 emcees, he’s absolutely necessary — now more than ever.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Follow a Wild Day in the Life in the New Video for J57 and Koncept’s “The Excitement” feat. Andrew Thomas Reid

J57 and Koncept released their latest collaboration The Fuel EP last month to critical acclaim across the blogosphere, and it shouldn’t be terribly be surprising if you’ve been frequenting this site for some time as the duo, along with their […]

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Long Island-born, Brooklyn-based DJ/producer/emcee J57 is probably best known among hip-hop heads as a member of the Brown Bag All-Stars, one of the more prolific and underrated crews in contemporary hip-hop. And over the last couple of years in particular, J57 has received attention and critical praise for a production style that channels the sound of hip-hop’s golden age — i.e., big, boom bap beats, heavy synth-based orchestration paired with ridiculously tight, catchy hooks. As a result of being mentored by the legendary DJ Premier, the Brooklyn-based producer, DJ and emcee has assisted Premier on production work with the likes of Nas, Ed Sheeran and Sam Smith. And naturally, those contributions have directly led to collaborations with Joey Bada$$, Action Bronson, Method Man, Raekwon, Mack Wilds, The Roots and others; in fact, if you’ve been frequenting JOVM over the past few months, you’d likely remember that J57 produced “The Purple Tape” off Method Man’s recently released The Meth Lab.

Also, if you’ve been frequenting JOVM over the past couple of years you’d also be familiar with local emcee Koncept, who like the aforementioned J57 is a member of Brown Bag All-Stars. Over the past few years, there have been few emcees who have been as productive, prolific and consistent as Koncept, who has released a number of impressive singles and albums. Of course because of their connection in Brown Bag All-Stars, it shouldn’t be surprising that J57 and Koncept have been frequent collaborators, including for Koncept’s forthcoming EP The Fuel, slated for a November 20 release.

EP title track “The Fuel” featuring guest vocals by Akie Bermiss features Koncept dexterously rhyming about having the desire and determination to succeed in even the most difficult of situations, including desperate, hand-to-mouth poverty, working soul-crushing jobs with you dignity and sense of self intact. And he does so over a soulful production that features soaring organ chords, Akie Bermiss’s earnest vocals, and boom-bap drums. It’s conscious and thoughtful hip-hop based around deeply personal experiences and hard-fought wisdom — and it clearly draws from hip-hop’s glory days, when a song like “The Fuel” would dominate even mainstream radio. But no worry, real hip-hop featuring emcees actually saying something important over dope production is still alive and well; sadly, we all have to make more of a concerted effort to find it and support it.