Benz and a Backpack

No words for this one…

I wasn’t sure I would ever tell anyone this story, but I feel like it needs to be heard, because muthafukas need to really understand the power of music. I might even be posting it in the wrong forum, but I don’t give a fuck.

It starts over a year ago, on Feb 10th, 2006. I was in Fribourg, Switzerland w/ SV & we were eating pre-show dinner in the back of the venue. The European tour mgrs phone rings. Nobody pays too much attention, we just keep eatin’ & talkin’ shit. Howi (the EU tm) gives T3 the phone, & says “It’s Tim” (SV’s mgr). T3 listens for a minute, then gets a totally blank look on his face. Totally absent of any type of emotion. He hands the phone back to Howi & looks @ all of us (me, El, & Dez) w/ a blank expression, not saying a word, his mouth forming a small “O”. Finally I spoke. “What, nigguh? Who the fuck got killed THIS time?” He turned around to look @ me. & said, “Dilla just died”. Nobody said a fucking word for a few seconds. Then Dez said, “Man, I gotta smoke.” T3 went in the back to use the computer, Elzhi sat @ the table looking numb, & I went in the back to check on T3. Mind you, this is approximately 30-45 minutes before the FIRST date on this EU tour, I think it was about 12-15 dates. Howi asked me did we still want to do the show-no brainer-”YES”. There’s no way Dilla’s death was going to silence his music in any way, shape, form, or fashion.

The show must go on.
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T3′s Stamp of Approval

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Late last week, rumors were confirmed via Twitter that the lyrical monster eLZhi would no longer be a part of the legendary hip hop group Slum Village. The rumors had been circulating for a couple weeks, but their affirmation made real something SlumVill fans everywhere could only hope wasn’t true. The group endured two particularly harrowing tragedies, losing two of their three founding members (master-producer J Dilla in 2006, then spiritually-gifted emcee Baatin last year). The lone founding member of the group, T3, seems just to be just that: alone. Accusations emerged from several different camps that T3 had handled the business around the most recent Slum Village album, Villa Manifesto, in a shady fashion.

These managerial mishaps are nothing new for SV. In 2003, just a year into eLZhi’s tenure with the group, Baatin stepped away to handle a mental health issue and lapsed briefly into a coma. Upon waking up he found out he’d been completely terminated from the group. Allegations of misdoing in that case were leveled mostly at Barak Records (SV’s home), but in 2010 they’re aimed squarely at the surviving third of the original Slum Village triumvir: T3. Elzhi’s claims that he personally was cut out of much of Villa Manifesto (and the subsequent video) aren’t even the most extreme. Detroit emcee Phat Kat, a longtime collaborator with Dilla, SV and many of Detroit’s best hip hop artists, called T3 during his interview on the Motor City’s 98WJLB and declared that T3 “single-handedly dismantled the whole group.” We got a chance to catch up with the homie T3, and in addition to touching all the musical topics we could conjure, he delved into the politics of his relationship with eLZhi and the future (or lack thereof) of Slum Village.

Dizzy: How do you feel about Elzhi right now? You guys have your differences, is he fam in that same way?

T3: You know what, I support Elzhi. What happens is this: he had issues with the label. Okay, I get that El, I’m not mad at that. And I’m still not mad at El, because you gotta handle your business. But my situation with the label is different, because you know I was signed before him. We have different situations. It is what it is, I just don’t like anybody discrediting the legacy of Slum Village. I’m not saying that El was doing that, what I’m saying is that’s when I have to say something. But as far as me supporting El, I support all of his stuff. I don’t get into the drama, and that’s why you don’t see me responding to El. You know El this and that, nah I’m not getting into that. Because at the end of the day, me and El could end up doing something else down the line. And not only that, I feel like El paid his dues with Slum Village, he was there for 8 years, and he paid his dues. He is always gonna be a part of Slum Village. There is no Slum Village without Elzhi. It is what it is, I just think there are too many people around both circles. And that just happens in business, I just don’t like the fact that it’s out in the open. It’s cool to have beef, or have situations you need to rectify, but I don’t put my business out in the open, I don’t think it’s necessary.

Dizzy: That’s a very last resort for me. If it can’t be resolved in a discreet way, then you might just have to air it out, just to you know… it’s like the President going public; he can’t get shit done with Congress so he goes directly to the people.

Hit the skip for the audio and full transcript.

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In preparation for our forthcoming Slum Village interview, the official visuals for “Tainted” off SV’s 2002 album Trinity (Past, Present, and Future). Trinity marked SlumVill’s first album with Elzhi on their official roster and Dilla off it (although he did handle production on three cuts). “Tainted” juxtaposes the different styles contained within the then new-look Slum Village: T3′s consonant-heavy rhythmic flow, Baatin’s high-pitched incisiveness (R.I.P.), and Elzhi’s quick-witted smoothness– AND it’s got Dwele on the hook. The track was a musical blessing from other-worldly drummer and sometimes-hip-hop-producer Karriem Riggins, a close friend of Dilla who has also done work with Erykah Badu, Madlib, KanYe, Common, and more.

Karriem Riggins with J Dilla and Common

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The visuals for this dropped a while back, but given everything that’s been going down with SlumVill recently this is more topical than ever. Amidst Twitter beef (foreal?), it has come out that Elzhi is OUT of Slum Village, leaving T3 and Illa J on the roster. Notice how few verses EL has on Villa Manifesto? Notice that he’s not in the “Reunion Pt. 2″ video at all? All of these bizarre goings-on will be explained in our upcoming interview with Slum Village. Keep your eyes peeled!

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The homie Doss The Artist just dropped his newest mixtape called Computer Blue, a collection of intelligent tracks drenched in warmth and resonance as well skilled production and very thoughtful lyricism. Featuring guest spots by Dom Sirius, Anomaly, Haz Bey, LO5, PJayD, a Dilla beat and a Flying Lotus remix, the album thrives on the strength of Doss and Hir-O, the producer behind the majority of its tracks and the project as a whole. Detroit natives, they are both dexterous and poignant in their own rights, and the combination is even more holistic. In other words, the mixtape is bananas, and there is nothing else out now that sounds like it. Start with these tracks, then listen all the way through:

Doss The Artist ft. LO5 – gOing gOing gOne [prod. Hir-O)
"Nah it's not Chicago/no I ain't from Cleveland/I am from the city in the midwest where the sky is always evening"

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Doss The Artist - Lois Lane [prod. Hir-O]
The shaker and under-snare make for a syncopated pocket, perfect to display Doss’ versatility on the microphone as a vocalist. “Don’t hate me for flying/like you can’t blame Superman/for playing Clark Kent sometimes/I bet it drives the homie stupid/how you gonna be an ubermane/when you still have to save Lois Lane/how you gonna be Christ figure when ya/can’t let the green ice near ya”

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Doss The Artist – Princess Peach [prod. ACB]
The bass-heavy (as opposed to treble-heavy) beat puts Doss on his fantastical flow; he’ll be your freakin’ prince (blat!).

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Download: Doss The Artist – Computer Blue
OR
Download via Hir-O’s Bandcamp: Doss The Artist – Computer Blue

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On a recent Sunday after Midnight Madness, Clutch and I were with the team clicking through songs on WhoSampled.com– a site dedicated to unearthing and presenting samples used in famous songs– to see which producers sampled what to create some of our favorites. The first noteworthy connection was between Eminem and singer/songwriter Paul Simon. Em’s “Murder, Murder” (1997) sampled Simon’s “50 Ways To Leave Your Lover”- with producer DJ Roc slowing the drum pattern down and expanding the stereo field by adding a tremolo and slight distortion to the four bar guitar progression, as well as a handful of other noises and samples in the background- and Tupac’s “Outlaw,” recontextualizing the ‘Murder Murder’ phrase to inform Em’s introspective verses. From there, we moved chronologically through songs starting in ’94 and ending in 2000 with Jay-Z & UGK’s “Big Pimpin.”

The super-producer behind ‘Big Pimpin’ was Timbaland, who got four of the production credits on HOV’s Volume 3…Life and Times of S. Carter. He used the introduction from Egyptian musician Hossam Ramzy’s version of “Khusara Khusara” and added some ill drums (a mechanical, syncopated hi-hat, a handful of percussive sounds: cowbell, warps, pitched hand drums) to create one of the most memorable songs in rap history. Having done a good deal of sampling, the method behind the creation of “Big Pimpin” seemed to contradict my understanding of sampling etiquette. More than just taking one or several small slices of a song or songs and flipping them on their head, Timbaland took the entire introduction verbatum (as it were).

Then again, an introduction is technically just one small part of an entire song, so it’s understandable that Timbaland would feel comfortable using Ramzy’s for his own purposes. The real question is: how much is too much? Did DJ Roc manipulate his samples enough to escape criticism, or does using Simon’s drum pattern exactly constitute plagiarism? Better yet, should Timbaland owe compensation, at the very least in the form of royalties, to Hossam Ramzy, and Em to Paul Simon?

This may not be news to some, but since Big Pimpin’ Timbaland has used much more than just the introduction of an obscure non-copywritten song to make his own beats.

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In the classic Jaylib song “The Mission,” Jay Dee spits: “Come see the Dilla lay with the fifth / Maybe you can write an article about how Jay play with them whips / And who said producers ain’t supposed to rap? / They don’t want the Ruger to bang well close your traps.” A lot of artists now learn the trades of rhyming and beat-making simultaneously, giving them an unprecedented versatility (see: J. Cole, Evidence, Blu, B.o.B., et cetera).

Then there’s the other group of artists who are primarily producers, or who made names for themselves as producers first, but then began dabbling in the art of spitting as a means to fill out their careers, and their corners in the industry. Most recently, North Carolina native 9th Wonder of the J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League ventured into the realm of rapping under the moniker 9thmatic, dropping a couple tracks (one produced by DJ Premier) featuring his skills on the mic:

9thmatic (9th Wonder) & Khrysis – It’s On [prod. DJ Premier]

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Big Remo ft. 9thmatic – Go

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It’s only natural for producers to feel the urge to spit, seeing as they’re constantly surrounded by emcees and surely have beats on deck that nobody could spit on correctly but themselves. Who are the best producers-turned-rappers? Hit the skip for the Top 5, then vote for your favorite.

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I’ve mentioned Native Tongues Posse and I’ve definitely discussed ATCQ’s ability to put me on a natural high, but I have yet to dedicate a Thursday to the man who is arguably one of these groups’ most illustrious members.

“If you can’t hear it, then get the wax utensils”

Jonathan Davis aka Kamaal Ibn John Fareed aka The Abstract claims he got the name Q-tip during his youth because he was skinny and had bad hair. He made his first on-record appearance on The Jungle Brother’s first LP, ‘Straight Out The Jungle’, in 1988. Super talented as a rapper, producer, singer, actor… (His role in Spike Lee’s “She Hate Me” just made him that much more appealing in real life… Just completely sweet and naive and adorable… Def makes you say “aww”.) Always good-natured, positive, light-hearted, and virtuous, but never self-righteous. I’m totally swooning now, but he’s just fuckin’ dreamy. And for real, who doesn’t love him? This man is a 10. Why can’t more boys be more like Q-Tip?

This Thursday’s throwbacks are a selection of some of my favorite Q-Tip appearances on non-Native Tongues tracks.

The Roots feat. Q-Tip: Ital (The Universal Side) (1996)

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Organized Konfusion feat. Q-Tip & O.C.: Let’s Organize (1994)

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Slum Village feat. Q-Tip: Hold Tight (2000)
“It’s The Ummah shit for real”…

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Pete Rock & InI feat. Q-Tip & Large Professor: To Each His Own (1995)

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Mad Skillz feat. Q-Tip & Large Professor: Extra Abstract Skillz (1996)

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But wait! There’s more.. Read the rest of this entry →

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Oohwee! I don’t even want to spoil this one for you. But here goes: about a week ago Phillip Mlynar wrote an article for Unkut.com (check it here) called ‘Five Zealously Overrated (And Often Dead) Hip Hop Artists’ which sparked– in addition to a 145-comment-long thread beneath it– a ‘rebuttal‘ from the homie Justin over at KevinNottingham.com. In short, Mlynar’s list is comprised of (in order): 5. Freddie Gibbs 4. Bun B and Pimp C [as solo artists] 3. Madlib 2. Jay Electronica 1. J Dilla.
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Stussy – J Dilla Documentary Prt3 (of 3) from Stussy on Vimeo.

The third and final installment of Stussy’s documentary about Dilla dog. The first two segments focus on Dilla’s path, first in Detroit, then from Detroit to Los Angeles. This one is testament to dude’s skill, his incredible ear, the variety of his music selection and production. For those of ya’ll who love Donuts, check House Shoes at 7:48.

“That shit is like saying goodbye.”

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