yeah i know...
i like the unusual like the next cat. but a rap group named after a chick (and one that gave me their first works on cassette? ---ok...that trick won me over)

this crew kinda formed being inside of the endless social realm that is my "antfarm" www.okayplayer.com

Donwill, Von Pea, and Ilyas

2 of the members are from the O and one resides in NYC.

their first jawn (im from philly) was entitled Moonlighting (never told you i liked the Al flip on "Pretty" Von...--hope you still aint mad about the pass up on the comp...it literally was a coin toss in the office)

and much like the other okp spawned crew Foregin Exchange (a must have record btw http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connected_%28rap_album%29)....they created this record via IMn each other the tracks and vocals. (let's hear it for the internet folks!)

anywho i need yall to go to this lizzzank

http://www.myspace.com/XM

and vote for the almighty Tanya Morgan!!!!! (i do everyday)

they really really really need this look.

i aint even begging for kudos aint this aint even a hard task.

you are already on myspace.

go to the link.

click.

then be out.


and buy tanya morgan.

and foreign exchange.

and little brothers new get back!!!! (when it comes out)

and kweli

and.....

yeah i know...
i like the unusual like the next cat. but a rap group named after a chick (and one that gave me their first works on cassette? ---ok...that trick won me over)

this crew kinda formed being inside of the endless social realm that is my "antfarm" www.okayplayer.com

Donwill, Von Pea, and Ilyas

2 of the members are from the O and one resides in NYC.

their first jawn (im from philly) was entitled Moonlighting (never told you i liked the Al flip on "Pretty" Von...--hope you still aint mad about the pass up on the comp...it literally was a coin toss in the office)

and much like the other okp spawned crew Foregin Exchange (a must have record btw http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connected_%28rap_album%29)....they created this record via IMn each other the tracks and vocals. (let's hear it for the internet folks!)

anywho i need yall to go to this lizzzank

http://www.myspace.com/XM

and vote for the almighty Tanya Morgan!!!!! (i do everyday)

they really really really need this look.

i aint even begging for kudos aint this aint even a hard task.

you are already on myspace.

go to the link.

click.

then be out.


and buy tanya morgan.

and foreign exchange.

and little brothers new get back!!!! (when it comes out)

and kweli

and.....

im dj'n tonight!!!!!!!! (sunday the 26th)

LAST MINUTE SURPRISE DJ APPEARANCE BY QUESTLOVE TONIGHT IN CHICAGO!!!

The hardest workingest man in the biz will drop the drumsticks in Milwaukee tonight and whip over to Chi-Town to hit the decks.

Sunday August 26
Funky Buddha Lounge
728 W Grand Ave 1
Chicago, IL 60610

10pm-1:30am

be there.

im dj'n tonight!!!!!!!! (sunday the 26th)

LAST MINUTE SURPRISE DJ APPEARANCE BY QUESTLOVE TONIGHT IN CHICAGO!!!

The hardest workingest man in the biz will drop the drumsticks in Milwaukee tonight and whip over to Chi-Town to hit the decks.

Sunday August 26
Funky Buddha Lounge
728 W Grand Ave 1
Chicago, IL 60610

10pm-1:30am

be there.

Common should be enjoying the fruits of his labor with his newest release Finding Forever. i think this will be his first number one pop album. its been a long time coming from him.

i decided to focus on an album that reflected a dark time for him.....

Electirc Circus

the newest issue of XXL magazine states that perhaps the publication was a lil too hasty in awarding Common's Be a "classic" rating. Not that i agree with a "classic rating" or not (i personally prefer that "close but no cigar" almost perfect and a 1/2 rating, that way your work wont be scrutinized in a jealous manner by your peers, but it still indicates that it is indeed a cut above the rest)....being as though that was the first review in many reviews ive read on post Electric Circus Common---i pretty much knew what i was in for: because the expectations were so low for him at the time, the fact that he managed to make an album that wouldn't alienate his contemporaries was seen a a damn miracle. not to mention the fact that the stupid notion that his then girlfriend Erykah was run/ruining his life through his music was damn near a laughable riot for if ANY runs Common's world....its Common.

a very shrewd smart businessman when it comes to decisions and the direction of where his career is going to go this week. don't get it twisted.

i came to his hometown in chicago for the weekend (lollipolooza) and a friend of mine slid me some long forgotten outtakes from the much dreaded/praised Electric Circus period.

besides Dangelo's Voodoo, i'll say that my second favorite project from the 1996-2003 Electric Lady Studio period was the Electric Circus album. i decided to share 4 of the outtakes with you.

The reasoning behind the albums experimental nature was simple: most saw the inhabitants of the Electric Lady period (Voodoo, Things Fall Apart, Mama's Gun, First Born Second, Black On Both Sides, REflection Eternal, Quality, Phrenology, Like Water For Chocolate, Worldwide Underground, Everybody's Got Their Something, Aijuswannasing, and many many others were created, nurtured, born, recorded, mixed, edited here during the 96-03 season) as the leaders of the left to center world. it took a good 4 years for the world to take notice, but once they took notice it was like "what are we going to do with it?"--the turning point started after the 2000 release of Dangleo's Voodoo and its encore album LWFC from our subject matter. The atmosphere was "we are going to try and push each other". all 3 studios had some sorta vibe to it: Dangleo/Common/Erykah took the master bedroom of studio A ;Com (for vocals)/Mos/and one time Soulquarian production cats would take studio B (Nikka, Bilal, Musiq); and Kweli and Mos loved the C room upstairs.

If Fela was the spirit over Like Water For Chocolate....then i would say Shuggie Otis' Inspiration Information was the spirit over Electric Circus---despite the rock overtones.

The 4 SONGS on my front Page

number one (working title: The Selma Hyjak)

ill say the main players for the entire album are James Poyser (keys and synths), J Dilla (drums, keys, synth, programming, bass), Pino Pallidino (bass, guitar) and Me on drums and percussion occasionally jeff lee johnson would come and bless us with his guitar playing.

James Poyser (a diehard Thrust and Sunlight student---go brush up on your Herbie 70s material youngins) was DYING for a reason to break out his dust filled Vocoder. i remember the day we did this we also had just cut EC's "Between You And Me And Liberation", and "Heaven Somewhere". i think a magazine was lying around cause all James was saying in his microphone was "hey dont you wanna? hey salma heyek?"---we were all cracking up while recording this one. Dilla was on Sleigh Bells, and Pino was on bass. i remember Com telling me we needed some fast energetic shit that would make him jump around onstage. So the "Selma" song was born.


number two (working title: The Dark)

this was called "the Dark" for obvious reasons: we were trying to find the happy medium of a single and experimentation (this was months before we threw our hands in the air and asked the neptunes for assistance) the rhythm machine you hear on this track was a 70s staple in the work of Sly Stone, Norman Whitfield, and Shuggie Otis. I believe its owner was my engineer (then the assistant engineer) Crazy Steve. Dilla had sampled its nosies and programmed this rhythm. I drummed along to this afterwards and then James and Pino added their instruments. i remember Com frowning on the use of the piano for he felt it didn't feel "cutting edge" enough. Our good friend, Director Nzingah Stewert would dub Com "the king of "NO!!!!!!" for he would shoot an idea down way before you got to develop it.---the same way i shot down "The Light" before i heard the entire song some 2 years back. at least now he'd give us a half hour of effing around before he barked "go to something else". i think in my head i was going for Primo---i tuned my drums low and the piano line took me to the piano demos Primo did for LWFC's "6th Sense"---we almost had Com hooked for we processed and filtered and even strummed the open piano strings like a guitar (strrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrum!!!!!!") but alas he dismissed it as "too normal"

number three (working title: Show For Ro (Step Into The Ro)

ahhh women. without em there would be no muse. there is nothing like a beautiful woman in a studio to show off your gifts. the greatest story ive ever heard was Marvin Gaye freestyling his political anthem "(Come On People) Let's Get It On" into the version we now know and love (about sex) once he laid eyes on his then 17 year old future wife Jan (legend has it that after struggling with the vocals for days he was about to give up when producer Ed Townsend's lady friend and her daughter (jan) came by to visit Ed....Marv was so taken aback by Jan's beauty he started showing off --much to the shock and chagrin of Ed who was seconds away from "the hell are you doing?" button stopping--but of course all the struggle Marv had with the political version of "Lets Get It On" went out the window once he had inspiration to sing to....and the very version we know now is said to be a one take freestyle.---well sometimes this method could work and or backfire---dangleo would freeze up the music if a girl came by the studio, for him the final product was a better presentation than "the getting there" part. it takes a confident person to let you see all the flaws the recording process takes. Com on the other hand thrived on female energy to get our juices flowing. So it was often encouraged for me to always invite my friends down to hang just to get some new energy. one said friend at the time was rosario dawson. she was at the screening and afterparty for her josie and the pussycats project and i told her to come by since she was already in the area. this of course was visual comedy for everyone involved---suddenly mofos are tucking in shirts, and throwing away 10 day old food on the counter, cleaning dirty fingernails (jokes)---but most importantly we were playing.

of all the songs in our arsenal....this is the jam that can describe a great day at the lady. just the swirl intro of the keys as the music creeps in was the soundtrack to our going home after a long night of work: usually we'd leave round 7am ---sun is out, and this is what is playing on the car stereo.

of course the king of "no!!" was singing me (in a quiet manner as to not embarrass us in front of mz dawson) my own creation from the roots "things fall apart" ("step into the realm you bound to get caught....." which was basically his nice guy way of saying "no sloppy seconds mofo....gimme my own shit!"---i still love this song.


song 4 (working title: The Electric Circus

prince took a liking to common in mid 2000, and let com use his studio while he was away on tour. he also agreeed to play some music as well. we took this opportunity to fulfill a lifetime fantasy: recording at paisley park. by this point P had pretty much shipped all his vintage gear from his classic period to the basement.---the same gear i begged engineer femi jiya to dust off and let me have a go at. we made this song shortly before "star 69" on EC--but because it sounded too much like a prince song....we thought it would deter him from contributing to the album so we passed.---but come interlude time i couldn't hold back and still put it on the album.


so there it is. 4 cuts from a long long time ago. im still holding my breath in which someone will properly place the EC project in the light it deserves. of course a hip hop publication run by middle class blacks (which is suspect enough) will scoff at such a notion as an art record---for the myth of "the streets" (when is the last time "the streets" brought shit?) would prove to be too risky in cosigning an album in which said mc confronts his homophobia, drug use, and marriage in less than an hour. not to mention mca going belly up 3 months after the album release halted all promotion on the project. which provides a very good alley oops shot for future common projects.

of course as executive producer of both Chocolate and Circus im too close to these projects and anyone's half ass dismissal of this work gets my ire---but more than that i want people to see the entire scope from where we were coming from in 2001:

a bunch of cats looking to push the limits of music as we saw it fit.

enjoy.


bring them kudos back.....aint like i be blogging for my health and shit.....

if your groove starts acting up....
then you start a jam.

yes you heard correct, i was a part of the power trio that was john paul jones (led zeppelin), ben harper, and ?uestlove this past weekend at bonneroo.

that weekend will be the CRAZIEST weekend for me EVER:

100 degrees and the Roots do near 2 hours for 40,000 people (so i was told)

then i ran Skraight to the Holiday Inn to do a low key rehearsal with my two croonies jpj/and bh.

we took a break for about 90 mins (i took a nap) and pretty much went from 0-90 in 2 secs.

i got about 5 spasms that night.

not to mention 24 hours later i reunited with my jazz band The Philadelphia Experiment at 2am for a crazy 90 min show (even Showgirl's Gina Gershon sat in--yes as in played with us...)

but i have rehearsal footage of the mighty mighty jam

enjoy!

and 2 kudos please.

rehearsal in the inn



and a few hours later in front of thousands

well--this is the final video for the pharrell project (was hard to work like a dog and document at the same time)--pretty much yall got a taste of everyone expect crazy steve.

steve was the assistant engineer for the dangleo Voodoo album at Electric Lady studios. so pretty much ive worked and recorded with him for about 10 years now.

he and i are so cool cause we are both music snobs. we plan on bringing our snobbery to a webshow one of these days.

a typical day of recording is sitting in the middle of james and steve constant chiding of each other.

steve refuses to argue back....he simply responds with a variety of keychains that talk (i collected them from this spot in nawlins across the skreet from the house of blues)---i had a classic moment when it was james' triumph the insult dog vs ray nagin the mayor of nawlins.---i think here is a mr t moment.

--oh the song...

"Baby" was our head nod to all the great prince imitators of the 80s (not prince...but the cats that sounded like him: think Ready For The World---they had the same instruments but the mix was totally different)

this pretty much sums the james poyser/steve wars. enjoy the clip




this is a short blog but you know i still expect them 2 kudos.






ps..."staring" (not starring) is an inside joke before el gravito comes here like the okayplayer spell corrector she is.

well...
you regulars should know the drill
this is our take on "Take It Off" from the Out Of My Mind sessions

on bass is Adam Blackstone. you should know Adam from the Fade To Black and the Chapelle movie as well. He is Jill Scott's MD and he just produced her brand new single called "Hate On Me" (shit is fire!...go to www.okayplayer.com for gander)

on keys is my longtime ace boom coon and production partner James Poyser. James is so bad, he can catch 3 Chu'ch dinner fliers (including my beloved Belluh Bapist Rib Off contest---yes a church sponsored a Rib cooking and eating contest) from my wall of shame (too bad i didn't catch the phillip michael thomas cover falling down on the next take) and STILL play the chords right.

this was the night before --well i think this was 2am--Pharrell's "surprise" arrival.

"Take It Off" really didn't have an obvious reference point as some of the other songs on the album. and of course it woulda been hella easy to channel in Prince cause of the sexual nature of the song---but there was something in the intro of the original that screamed SWITCH!! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switch_%28band%29)--most will say "Earth Wind And Fire" cause of the bossa nova feel of the rhythm section--but it was more Switch (a band who basically did the best song EWF never did in 78 called "There'll Never Be"---and with guru/producer Charles Stepney 6 feet under and David Fosters soft FM sound controlling the new sound of EWF--black fans pretty much championed "There'll Never Be" as the new ghetto classic)

The EWF element we championed was the uncanny "minor church" note choices bassist Verdine White would make on the pre That's The Way Of The World albums. So i had to coach Adam on "playing the wrong notes".---being as though he is a 80s baby (born in 85) his references are still being realized. i can tell James --"Do A Nina...or a Billy" and already he knows what im talking about.

but because Adam's bass references are Gospel bass players and the New Soul crop (Pino Pallidino is the lord jesus christ to his set because most of them were 14,15 when Dangelo's Voodoo first came out....so that is their reference point: a bass player who took the small parts of his references and perfected them for 2000)---so in my head i wanna say "Play like Verdine on Last Days In Time" but that is not in his reference. so i have to say "play all the wrong notes you wouldn't play"---


because to REALLY channel in a soul musician from the 70's? you have to be in their mind frame:

those cats weren't "monster session musician sophisticated" like the cats Quincy used (he used the BEST there was) those cats played a lil bit in church, and played a lil bit in a juke joint night club atmosphere. but they weren't the A list and B list Cream Of The Crop that always got used in LA and New York...

but they HAD feeling.


and FEELING is something you aint getting now.

this is why i fucks with Rell....even in his program shit and cats telling me

"it sounds like a 3 year old programed it.....you don't hear the chorus rushing on beyonce's "Green Light"?!

that IS the point!

that is what made prince the shit:

embracing electronics but STILL maintaining a HUMAN feel.

all them flaws Pharrell got in programming and chords and whatnot is the VERY thing i like about working with him.

so pretty much it was a task asking a 20 year old perfectionist to "mess up a lil" while everyone else does a stellar job. (He got it once we told him "remember that!!!!! in the clip)

before i met Dilla i too felt out of place cause all the drummers from these parts of town were as perfect as one could get. and here i go tryna approximate some part time drummer from the backwoods of TN who probably played on a trash can drum kit all off beat---but that is what made my personality.

FEELING!

anywho...i gotta go make the donuts.

gimme my two kudos.

gimme my 2 NOW!

ahhh....
a milestone.
somehow the "devil's workshop" (my engineer crazy steve calls this place that) has managed to get about 100 stories from me.--

i can say for myself that 60 are real good and maybe 20 shoulda been saved for a book. but methinks that overall? if it wern't for these blogs i all these adventures i go on would just get lost in the sauce and gone forever.

so this is a two-fer...

a re-cap of my 10 favorite blogs--no order-- (is there such a thing as a directors commentary for something written? lol)


10. #4-The Worst Band In The World 12/9/2005

16 Kudos


recap: the roots put on their first performance for their brand new label, Def Jam. What should have been a no brainer (the roots and karaoke normally go hand in hand) turned out to be the worst performance in the band's 20 year history. The task was to present a Jay Z tribute with kweli and jaguar wright. everyone sans kweli forgot their lines. everything was a blur. matter of fact the only highlight of that performance was executing a dare backstage with guest pianist robert glasper (blue note) on if he could sneak in cartoon songs in his orchestral interpretation of jay's stuff. (he snuck in "the smurfs" theme on PSA and no one was the wiser....including the camera man who swore kamal was playing it).

since then: we now overdo Hov lyrics in our show just to overcompensate. actually we are past that and now we just make contests out of the fun part: his loud ass declarations at the top of his songs (i am the champ of these quotes) and who can cram em all into a 16 bar time frame. We are still on the label.

this was the first major detailed blog i did and set a standard for which i am now regretting i set lol....stories of failed attempts, showing my blood and cuts, and getting wiser at the same time.
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9. #37 It's So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday 2/15/06

342 kudos

recap: all the death i had to deal with was expected death. like my grandparents dying at 85 years old after a fruitful life. this marks the first time someone close to me was taken in a premature manner. In his short 30+ years James "JDilla" Yancey managed to singlehandedly transform my entire life and effect the way i listen to music. from who and what i listen to to HOW i listen to it. All the praise bestowed on all the work i do in my life is based on the lessons he taught me. and now we all have to say goodbye.

since then: well....this is truly the first time i think the left of center has ever been rocked by a death like this. dilla is now a ubiq figure, with cats preaching the dilla gospel everywhere (he IS the best beatmaker of all time). his beat cd's have become staple lessons in hip hop folklore. and i can't do a concert without 5 cats showing me yet another dilla shirt. his truth marches on.

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8. #37 "You Are Not Niggers" (C) Larry Fish from School Daze

151 kudos

recap: if there is one country that i have constant conflict with everytime i visit? its italy. the point of these blogs are to give you a peak and what my world is into. not to start an unintentional lynch mob. i shared what occurred on my trip there (lots of tension between "eh bob marley!"---lol did he even have a fro? and the natives

since then: i lost a handfull of fans from this country i got responses like these:

http://www.myspace.com/serpico138

this cat tried to kick knowledge

yo douche, I hate to break it to you but the invaders of italy from africa were not from the sub saharan region which is where your slave ancestors are from. The invaders of Italy were of arab and eastern asian decent and of lighter skin, very similar to, hey what do ya know, the color of southern italians! You can draw similarities between the two. Southern Italians can easily be mistaken for iranian or syrian persons. Why you are experiencing is what us in reality call afrocentrification. Yes Africans have done some great things, but most occured in northern africa, where you draw none of your relation from. African Americans try to take credit for everything they possibly can. Ok, ok, African Americans are awesome, but your ancestors in southern Africa probably didn't do much for modern society. Egypt, Carthage, etc. Arab decent, you can honestly stake your claim with them, besides Rome conquered them both. The slave trade came from the still primitive southern africa. Either way, good music, I'm not gonna hate on your people cause I all humans are scumbags in my book.

http://www.myspace.com/29elementz

this cat thought i should turn the blind eye to the Bob Marley comments---as if they were complimenting me

so...
when i red this post, the first thing that i thougth is "oh my god!, it's unbeliavable", then i tryied to understand..
Many posts says something like "10 people don't express the thougth of a nation", or "For a single experience of ?love, he can't be tell that all italian are stupid, otherwise we cuold think that every american is supid-based like Bush", can we think this? is it rigth?
I love this coulture and his music, and the first thing that i've learned from american hip hop is to abstract some terms or expression...i've never translated nigga as black..but as man..am i wrong?
So, before get angry, i think that u got to know deeper italy and italian...
When people calls u "Bob Marley", i think that were no reasons to insult you..it's like a "strange welcome committee"...if yahmeen wasn't black, they will call him "Moira Orfei" (the boss of the biggest italian circus)...is this better? is this wronger?
About Vatican and other thing behind the Churc...watvh em like monuments..see "Il colonnato di Bernini", not the house of the Pope, take a look on the painting, architecture and so on..think that the vatican was empty..
Can I suggest u something?
Search on google images for Moira Orfei, watch it, and i hope u laugh on this episode...

If u come back in italy, call me..i'll let u see another side of the italy...the ones i prefer...


http://www.myspace.com/mightymacallan

some cats bitched out with alias profiles to speak from a soap box--all the while still being white at the end of the day

People staring at you...wow...a brother looking like a grizzly bear wearing Diana Ross' wig...that must be racism...I really feel you...shit's heavy...

hahah nah seriosuly did you feel it only here? I mean, I know you've been to japan a few times...wasnt' people staring at you there? I mean...I'm an average looking italian man and I had the whole crowd turning their head whwnever I entered a shop or came across some old men while walking...and you didn't feel observed?

I reckon that some people tend to look down on different looking or speaking persons and that sucks...however....racism is not an hotel maid staring at a black mountain with a 'fro...come on be serious...being on a mixed relationship I'm fighting against prejudice and racism every day, and yes, I do see that in shops, on the streets, I can see people behaving differently with different races...but that does not happen frequently and I'm kind of surprised that you collected so many episodes in less than a week...

My ultimate thought is that you went way too far with the bitching, all these compalints are kind of metrosexual...I mean come on!

That beat on Star is still damn dope but you didn't showcase great knowledge with this post...

and more denial pours in

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=58251351&Mytoken=C308AE1F-532B-4F4C-94F5EEE5B833A78081404257

TOO BAD POST AHMIR!
JUST THINKIN, IF YOU ONLY LOOKED AT PEOPLE IN THE EYES ONCE IN A WHILE, I'M SURE THEY'D BE MUCH MORE FRIENDY TO YOU. IF YOU SPOKE TO THEM DIRECTLY AND NOT THROUGH DAWN, WELL, THAT WOULD MAKE A DIFFERENCE, BELIEVE ME. WHETHER YOU BLACK OR WHITE, GREEN OR YELLOW, NOBODY WILL EVER SHOW AFFECTION UNLESS YOU THROW THEM A SMILE ONCE IN A WHILE. NEITHER IN EUROPE NOR IN AMERICA.
TOO BAD.
HAVE FUN NARCISSUS (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissism)

one cat came so sideways with his response i couldn't tell if he was pro or anti me

http://www.myspace.com/rovat

hi.... i'm fabio from Rome ITALY

just yesterday I was watching fade to black... and I was admiring you for your style and the way in which sounds. i'm a fan of the Roots from many time.... aaahhh sincerely u have successful one to lose that magical aura that you carried yourself behind with least words.... sometimes a word is most important of whichever other gesture. it is true that Italian for the majority are bigoted and closed people mentally, this depends also on one adverse geographic position and too much marked a Christian education. but they do not exist only that kind of persons in Italy! there is also people to which not import nothing of yours fucking niggers hair or of your way to make a bullshit.... there is people who are happy of being able to ear to you to play. but you this, from good American people u are do not succeed it to understand... "an Italian has laughed of my hairs" goes them to bomb all... you are the true racist indeed worse... a nazi! as your people... u are more than white of me...! with this I close. sorry for my bad English... but you know... we are ignorant people!

bless

Fabio Fioravanti


well i guess the lesson learned here is sweep it under the rug and take it. why should i make the world uncomfortable by reminding them why i am so uncomfortable?

this was probably the most venomous blog out of the 100. cats STILL comment on this shit daily.

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7. #48 Doh!!!!!!!!!!

212 Kudos

recap: rushing to the afterspot at a DC show i ran into a club, set my serato up. and was about to start my record when suddenly....the club manager tells me i am at the wrong club.---add in "night at the roxbury"/"what is love" long island-esque atmosphere and a abbot and costello "whose on first" confusion. and you pretty much get a funny blog and a typical night in my life.

since then: i get the address info for myself....NOT from yahmean anymore. lol

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6. #49 And Another One......


203 Kudos.


recap-the first night i met proof was one of my favorite nights ever in detroit. he was there for many a fun historic moment providing commentary in the way that only HE can do it. the funniest of all was NYE of 1998 (the night Tariq made "New Years At Jay Dee's on The Roots Come Alive) when Me, Dilla, Frank (of Frank and Dank) and Proof were looking for shelter from the bulleted blue sky of east detroit.--

since then-well?...since then...im certain proof and dilla done made some crazy shit way up there.

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5. #63 720 Degrees To Whitney.....aka the Lupe Fiasco review from two pop culture nerds.

recap: me and one of my favorite okayplayers Brainchild (we got similar taste in music--well sometimes) were about to speak on Lupe's brand new album but we got distracted and went off on a whitney IM tangent. this blog cracks me up.

since then: whit is getting her life together which is unfortunate cause there was waaaaaaaaaay more faux pas i coulda added to list.


4. #75 Award Touries day 9: CotamsterDAMN!

recap: for all of you that wanted to know but were afraid to ask about amsterdamn. this is all you need.

since then?-never again........will i rock orange on orange.

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3. #77 One Monkey Don't Stop No Blog/Amy Winehouse Is The Shit

186 Kudos

recap: everyone from my okayplayers to my ex wants to chastise me for "late bandwagoning Amy". but the deal is i been up on Amy since me and the roots did Giles Peterson's Worldwide BBC show and he gave me a copy of Frank. i thought it was "aight". i still stand by my statement that she found her true calling on the music i grew up on: Doo Wop. and i wanted the world to know about it. i sent this album to 25 journalists i love and respect. i blogged til the cows came home. i dont own a label and i can't do much about your demo.....but damn if i know the coolhunters and tastemakers of the earth still listen to what i gotta say. and i was placing all my eggs in this basket. i championed this album because i GENUINELY like this music. (you shoulda seen the email and voice mail insults i got from ESTABLISHED cats like "how come you dont go crazy of my product like that????")

since then: i have to say that out of all of my rookie endorsements (jill, erykah, d, bilal, amel, little brother, PPP, and anyone else i gave a quote to on the first bat out) i am amazed that the one artist i SWORE they wouldn't get absolutely blew up. if i believe the heads of Universal correct....they borderline told me i saved them millions in marketing with this blog and my giving the album to the right critics. i also see evidence on other boards and general people everyday telling me "if it wasn't for you i wouldn't have even given her the light of day" comments.

see all you "anti bandwagoners" (they are the ones who are on the "i been down since Frank" ---dont mind them....they dont wanna share toys....personally i want everyone to take this toy and give it away again and again)----i endorsed this girl cause she needs it.

i will also take this moment to say that Universal also went too far in their mission to break her wide open by misquoting me

all in these ads and billboards it says

"this is the album Lauryn Hill wanted to make"

--now agreed....this is the album she woulda killed for (ghead close your eyes....you can hear her sing "more than just friends" cant cha?)

but i wouldn't have said that.

now meanwhile......the real quote was Christina Agulara. because its true. she told me she was going to make a throwback record of doo wop flavor. well....she did second best which was a disc of stuff she liked (early 90s flavored hip hop) and a second disc of stuff im sure Ron Fair wanted her to get insurance on.

regardless.....the way the fonts look on that add makes it look mean spirited, and Uni can't see that this can only lead to a backlash.---we dont want that.

there is room for all!

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2. #82 I Feel Like Bustin Loose

recap: ?uesto and Biggie go at it.


since then: a GAZZZZZZILION mofos gave me more hate mail than the italy blog.
not because of the corny jokes....but because they never got a questo doll.

folks

it was a hard decision:

i had 50 dolls and i know a GAZILLION people.

so in true Santa Quest style i made a list and i checked it twice and you know the rest---(i shoulda checked it three times cause a certain recently engaged supermodel stole one from under my nose......and you WILL return it Clepto Smurf ; (.....)

and noone ever called me of doing Big voiceovers.

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1. #99 Never Scared

recap: The organizers of a virginia concert failed to tell us our token quota appearance was for the 400th anniversary of a town that legalized slavery. its like asking jerry seinfield to host the 100th anniversary of Hitlers bday.--

since then: i got the support of the people!

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and now to leave you with a treat.....this is how i spent my memorial day kids!

here is to another 200 blogs from el ?uesto!