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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Smoke DZA released the visuals for “Pow Pow” off his album Rolling Stoned. The video essentially re-creates the end of Jay-Z’s “Dead Presidents” video, an audacious statement by the Kushed God. It shows him, Dom Kenendy, Big K.R.I.T., Big Sant and a few others drinking Rosé and playing a game of Monopoly with real cash. While DZA is a major league weed-rapper, the scene is more suitable for Hov’s video; Notorious B.I.G., Jigga, and AZ are Hip-Hop icons and the board game epitomized there roles in the rap game. Smoke’s blunt-touting mellow rhymes are enjoyable, but Rolling Stoned is not moving units like the platinum selling Reasonable Doubt. It might also be interesting to note that Smoke’s and Jay-Z’s albums are the the only two that didn’t leak this year; the latter a result of rigorous security measures, the former presumably a consequence of sparse demand.

Hit the skip to watch the original Dead Presidents’ video. Read the rest of this entry →

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I don’t usually repost other people’s work, but the people at TheLoopDetroit hit this nail squarely on its head:

We all loved Elzhi‘s recreation of the classic Nas record Illmatic as Elmatic when it dropped a couple months ago, but dropping September 27th are the instrumentals from the album produced by Detroit’s Will Sessions. The band not only recreate each beat from the album but gave it its own modern spin to it. After the jump is a taste of the instrumentals with the download of “Memory Lane” along with a video of DJ Premier discussing his impression of the re-interpretations from Elmatic. The Elmatic Instrumentals will be released worldwide on September 27 on CD, 180g Vinyl, and digital formats.

Head over to TLD to see Preem’s response, pre-order the album and listen to “Memory Lane.”

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Of Common’s upcoming Warner Bros. debut The Dreamer, The Believer, produced by No I.D.

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Elzhi – Halftime Official video from GerardVictor.com on Vimeo.

Here go the visuals for Elzhi’s most recent single “Halftime,” off EL’s upcoming project ELmatic. The tape will be an homage to Nas’ classic album Illmatic, and it will be available for free download on May 10th via EL’s website. The video was produced by Gerard Victor and the track was produced by Will Sessions. Shouts to Matt!

Download: Elzhi – Halftime
Download: Elzhi – Detroit State Of Mind

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New York’s Finest. On “Mo Money, Mo Murder” AZ and Nas benefit from DR Period, one of the most talented and prolific producers in hip-hop history. DR flipped The O’Jays’ song “Cry No More” for the beat, but his sample selection is very diverse. For Public Enemy’s “He Got Game,” DR turned to the classic Buffalo Springfield song “For What It’s Worth.” The Divine Ruler’s variety spawned work with everyone from P.E. to M.O.P., Queen Latifah to Cormega, as well as soundtracks for several feature films. In other words, DR’s resume is crazy. Hit the skip for more on DR, and keep a look out for AZ’s DOD2 due out this year!

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If you’re a fan of J. Cole then you’re a fan of Elite, even if you don’t know it yet. This New York City-based producer has been with Cole since The Come Up (and the story of how Elite and Cole met is truly a testament to the technological wonders of our time). Between being an in-house at Ruff Ryders and working with Cole from the ground up, Elite has a wealth of experience and knowledge to draw upon. We caught up to chat about self-reflection, compression, and the value of making educated decisions. With stellar collaborations and his solo debut album in the works, Elite is poised to make waves big enough for his whole team to surf on. Hit the skip for the full interview. Shouts to Shawn!

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Elite: “I feel like you can tell somebody’s musical tastes just by listening to them. Artists that have good musical tastes are usually good. Well, it’s hard to say ‘good,’ because it’s all opinion, but I feel like if you’ve only listened to a small selection of artists in your life you don’t have as broad of a palette; you don’t have as many colors to draw with. The more you know and listen to, the better your music is going to be.”

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As the homie J Flo put it, moms are crucial figures in our lives. Not only do they offer unquestionable love and guidance, they also teach boys how to be around women at a very early age. Momma’s Boys (or guys with a bunch of sisters) are usually the most comfortable with women. On Mother’s Day last year Clutch gave a big shout out to moms in hip-hop, and the songs dedicated to them.

But this isn’t about moms. One of the most prominent dads in hip-hop is Olu Dara Jones, an accomplished multi-instrumentalist and father to hip-hop icon Nas. Fokis recently sat down with Olu Dara to discuss, among other things, growing up in Mississippi, going on tour at a very early age, and raising a rap star. Hit the skip for Fokis’ four-part interview with Olu Dara, as Nas & Olu Dara’s collaboration “Bridging The Gap.” Also under the cut is Nardwuar’s full-length interview with Nas, where The Human Serviette gives the Nasir a rare jazz record featuring his pops, and then proceeds to get so personal that Nas freaks out and ends the interview early!

Previously: TDK Chronicles – Nas Speaks On Mixtapes

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A couple weeks back, TDKHifi released the preview of their conversation with one of the founding members of The Firm. Here is the very well-edited full-length interview with Nas, where he speaks on how mixtapes were integral to the study of hip-hop back in the day, how his mother and father influenced his direction in the world, and the differences between growing up analog and growing up digital.

“The tape had a smell. It was wild. If it ever popped, you took the tape out and the material the tape was made out, you could stare at it, and one side of the tape was brown and the other end was black. You stare at it, and there’s sound on that. You could probably rub it on your finger, and you’re thinking, “Damn, this is science! This is serious!” But it was everything. The batteries; if they start dying, you put ‘em in the freezer. I don’t know if that worked to this day, but for some reason we thought if you put ‘em in the freezer you’d recharge them.”

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TDK is currently working on a very cool project about homemade mixtapes and the mythical qualities they used to possess. One of their first contributors is Nasir Jones, with full version of his portion of the project set for a late-January release. Other contributors include The Strokes and The Walkmen. Straight from their website:

“It wasn’t easy, it could take way too long and it really wasn’t cool to see all your hard work resting on the long-term health of some magnetically coated plastic tape. But that was the beauty of it; it was a labor of love. The mixtape was an art and everyone knows good art never comes easy.
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In case you haven’t been keeping up, here is the full compilation, with a track list and D/L after the jump. The artwork has all been from celebrated hip-hop photographer Mike Schreiber, who recently dropped a collection of his favorite hip-hop pictures called True Hip-Hop (available via Amazon.com). Each of his pictures captures some fundamental element of hip-hop: Biz’s playfulness, Nas’ cerebral disposition, Mos’ introverted artistry, Meth’s larger-than-life persona. The release of Mike’s anthology in 2010 is just one of the reasons it was such a wonderful year for hip-hop. Here’s to an even better 2011!

Previously: Dizzy’s Best Singles Of 2010 [Part 5]
Previously: Dizzy’s Best Singles Of 2010 [Part 4]
Previously: Dizzy’s Best Singles Of 2010 [Part 3]
Previously: Dizzy’s Best Singles Of 2010 [Part 2]
Previously: Dizzy’s Best Singles Of 2010 [Part 1]
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Juan Deuce #2 through Roc Marciano, with representatives from the DMV, Detroit, and T Dot. Includes R&B crooner Miguel, a re-established Lloyd Banks, plus Johnny Blaze, Tony Starks, and Lex Diamonds.

Previously: Dizzy’s Best Singles Of 2010 [Part 3]
Previously: Dizzy’s Best Singles Of 2010 [Part 2]
Previously: Dizzy’s Best Singles Of 2010 [Part 1]
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