Benz and a Backpack

“You never thought that hip-hop would take it this far,” and I imagine nobody in the first thirty years of hip-hop did. Radio play? Yup. Magazines? Okay. Grammys? Probably. But fellowships at Harvard?

If anyone deserves a fellowship at an elite institution it’s 9th Wonder, who is one of the premier educators and practitioners of hip-hop. 9th has been teaching a soul sampling course at Duke University, and over the course of his career he has approached his music with an unparalleled level of intelligence and devotion. That devotion will be on display in The Harvard Fellowship, a film directed by Kenneth Price (who collaborated with 9th on The Wonder Years) that will document 9th’s year at Harvard, and hopefully dispel with the idea that “hip-hop” and “entertainment” are synonymous.

“The Harvard Fellow follows one of hip-hop’s most dynamic artists, 9th Wonder through a year of lecturing and research at Harvard University. While at Harvard, 9th will have an office on campus, teach a class on the history of hip-hop, complete a research project and further explore hip-hop’s history and culture in an academic setting.”

The research component to the project is especially interesting. 9th will spend the year unearthing and cataloguing the samples that make up his 10 favorite albums. For more information on The Harvard Fellow, visit the project’s website, and be sure to make even a nominal donation to The Harvard Fellow’s Kickstarter, because after all, money only grows on trees after you get a degree from Harvard.

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 ”What went unacknowledged at the time was that hip-hop’s pop explosion, and the lavish imagery associated with it, was largely attributable to a speculative economic bubble (fueled by the Internet) that had Wall Street CEOs flaunting fleets of yachts and poppin’ bottles in strip clubs (sound familiar?). By extension, the arrival of mo-money-mo-problems largesse allowed underground rap to flourish. The dynamic even created its own superstar: Kanye West. As the “first nigga with a Benz and a backpack,” Kanye brought fun and splashy hooks into the college-kid-appealing underground and some sensitivity and moral seriousness to glossy, megapopular rap, collapsing the codified norms of both.”

Brandon Soderberg’s thoughtful piece on the changing face of underground hip-hop (really music in general) and the burgeoning DIY movement. Exciting indeed.

Read the entire piece here.

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It’s hard to get excited for award shows nowadays. They are usually long and boring affairs that allow musicians, actors and creatives alike to fill their shelves with trophies like a little league baseball player and further validate what they charge for their time. While my friends and I weren’t exactly “hyped” to catch the VMA’s last night, we we left our friends cozy Murray Hill apartment surprised and satisfied.

Between making trashy yet engaging reality TV shows and some music-related content on the side, MTV’s greatest talent is the creation of cultural moments, and the VMA’s have become the prized asset in their production. Their pinnacle award show has broken new artists, appropriately tributed legends and showcased the best in made-for-TV performances. The archives are full of personal favorites, but in case you missed the show last night, here are some of the moments we will celebrate for weeks, months and possibly years from now:

The Performances:

Jay-Z and Kanye West perform “Otis” with a live performance inspired by Spike Jonze’s direction for the video.

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Blessed with the lucky burden of being the home to Jay-Z and Kanye’s video premiere of “Otis,” MTV is capitalizing on the latest buzz in luxury rap with Watch the Throne Week, a collection of insights and reactions from insiders and fans alike. In the top-most video, MTV News catches fans outside the appropriately placed Watch the Throne pop-up in store in Soho, who overall seem most excited to have just witnessed the stripped down Maybach used in the “Otis” video in person. Below, super bloggers and internet personalities just barely get into a deeper discussion regarding Spike Jonze’s work, but what can six people hash out in a few minutes anyway?
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WTT available in physical form tomorrow. No matter what you say, they must have had fun making this video (also, I spy a comedian @ 1:29).
Update: Toure’s line-by-line breakdown of the song.

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If you’ve been under a rock (or if you were sleeping and had work today), grab Jay-Z and KanYe’s Watch The Throne as soon as physically possible. Not only is it an engaging album musically (I cosign this), it’ll be the thee topic of conversation among music lovers for a long time (or more accurately, for about two weeks). Rumor has it that the album went platinum on pre-orders alone, which would be absolutely wild if it’s true. What I know for a fact is that Ye and Jay gave all the producers and engineers who worked on the album an engraved Rolex (see the picture above) as incentive not to leak any tracks. Genius.

In an era that’s seen so many artists’ albums compromised due to leaks, Jay and Ye figured out how to run an extremely tight ship (albeit at a high price). Musically, the album is as eclectic as Alexander McQueen’s collection. There is a healthy balance (peep all the samples on WTT here) of soul, afro-rock, glam-rock and a little dubstep as well as a group of musically diverse producers, all unified behind the pointed vision of Mr. West. Lyrically KanYe experiments both in terms of rhyme schemes and lyricism, while HOV lines his proverbial ducks up and knocks them down in one swift movement. Start with these tracks, then go grab the album and prepare yourself for an enjoyable listen.

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Though this mini-documentary about Watch The Throne is mostly promotional fluff, there is some very cool footage of young KanYe, as well as footage of HOV and KanYe working on the album in Australia. The benefits of making this album are certainly mutual, but Watch The Throne is the pinnacle for Ye; a dream come true. Watch The Throne is expected to drop digitally on August 1st. [Via]

Buy: Jay-Z & Kanye West – Otis (Single)
Pre-Order: Jay-Z & Kanye West – Watch The Throne (Album)

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With the epic success of Odd Future, it was only a matter of time before more hip-hop skating, do-it-yourself collectives started appearing in the music world. Perrion and his brother, Microphone Preview, have been building up their own posse, High Off Music Entertainment (or HOME), based out of NYC and Atlanta. The most recent release from their group is Perrion’s Le Bourgeon mixtape. With creative production and solid lyrics covering a range of topics, Le Bourgeon is an enjoyable summer listen. Hit the skip for the full text of our interview with the young jedi.

Fantastic: For those who don’t know, who is Perrion?

Perrion: 20 year old rapper/producer from Washington Heights, NYC.

Fantastic: On your first track you mention you were signed by a record label for a brief period when you were 14; how long have you been making music and what went on with the label?

Perrion: Well I was signed to Universal Records with my brother. We were signed by this dude named Kedar and [then] Sylvia Rhome came and took over and pretty much dropped all of Kedar’s artists. I’ve been making music since around the age 9 or 10.

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It gets wilder every year. When Q-Tip dropped the intro to “Dark Fantasy,” Clutch thought KanYe might be on his way out. Lo and behold, he was, and he and Tip set it off. Here’s some lo-fi footage courtesy of the homie A Ruff and his trusty iPhone hi-fi footage courtesy of AsSeenByScene and SpotCoffee.

Q-Tip & Kanye West – Dark Fantasy/Can’t Tell Me Nothin/All Of The Lights

Q-Tip & Kanye West – Award Tour

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“Public Eye” is a remake of the classic Brand Nubian track “All For One.” The video, directed by Jack Cearnal, places Cons literally in front of a giant 35mm camera, and while Cons performs his sizzling verse the lens displays images of what he’s rapping about. The deal-sealer for me was Cons’ ill reference to Rajon Rondo’s tough performance in this year’s NBA playoffs: “For me BS-ing is clearly not option/so I’m a keep ballin like I’m Rondo’s other elbow socket.” No movement on Movies On Demand 3, although “Public Eye” is definitely on it. Whatever the hold up is, this must be a poignant time for Cons given his recent beef with Q-Tip (and in light of the release of Michael Rapaport’s Beats, Rhymes and Life ATCQ documentary), as well as his issues with KanYe.

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“On My Own” was recorded over a year ago and was initially slated to appear on Consequence’s Cons TV project. A snippet of the track was released a while ago, and it generated quite a buzz, so as a thank you to his fans for their continued support Consequence offers up “On My Own” today for free. Keep an eye out for Movies On Demand 3 dropping in the near future!

Download: Consequence ft. Kid Cudi – On My Own [prod. Kanye West]
Previously: Consequence – Comic Book Flow [prod. Ed Roc]

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Today’s a big day. To celebrate the release of Monumental (Duck Down Records), Pete Rock & Smif N Wessun leaked another single off the album, “(I’m A) Stand Up Guy,” featuring none other than Black Rob. Stream the song below, read the KevNott review of Monumental here, and order the album now! Hit the skip for more on Curren$y’s Weekend At Burnie’s, Big Sean’s Finally Famous, and Wu Tang’s Legendary Weapons.

Pete Rock and Smif N Wessun “(I’m a) Stand Up Guy” feat. Black Rob by duckdown

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