BLOGS

I have to admit I'm a little late in learning about the world of blogs, and only scratching the surface at that.  But there's no escaping the significance of blogs, and the fan bases they can create, take Perez Hilton for example.  The guy just bitches about high profile celebrities and has managed to make a career out of it.  Also, they can be a good way of creating a buzz or hype around musicians.

And now there's the concept of micro-blogging.  Through sites like Twitter people have a way of providing 140-character updates on their lives and thoughts.  I've not spent much time on twitter, but it's much like the facebook status updates, which are something i do have experience of.

I've recently come through the other side of an addiction to reading people's facebook status updates.  I'd be on there every morning checking them like a soap opera.  And I've noticed that there are different types of status update.  Some of them are:

The Pretentious - ....is, ....does
The Happy-go-lucky - ....is gonna av it 2nite
The Attention seeking - ....wonders if its worth it any more
The Braggers - ....is having a quiet night in with my special man
The Dirty launderer - ....knows she can't trust him anymore :(
The Threatener - ....is going to kick the f**k out of him when i see him

In addition to the above, there's a sub-category known as the repeat offender.  These are people who are more violently addicted to updating their status.  I notice these and wonder if anyone cares about these unimportant and insignificant 3-hourly updates on peoples lives.  And i also wonder what the motivation is for the frequency of updates.  Does it help people get things off their chests?  Does it help people feel important?  In all honesty I'd say I used to have a problem, in trying to think of the best status updates, trying to be funny, or do things that people would comment on and the like, but then I realised no-one really gives a damn.  And another thing to consider is that in the case of people you haven't seen for years, or in some circumstances don't know at all, this is how you represent yourself.  And in the case of the repeat-offending bragger, there is a huge danger of coming off as some insecure bunny-boiler if you're not careful.

So my advice to you is, think before you micro-blog.

Wax’s World 02

The Arctic Monkeys did it.  Lily Allen did it.  Sean Kingston did it.  And millions of others are trying to do it.  
 
But what is 'it' you may ask?  Well, 'it' is achieving musical fame and success through the medium of myspace.  It's something I've yet to achieve, but I get endless 'friend' requests from people trying to make it big in the rap game, so I've been able to do my homework and create a failsafe guide to how to make it (or rather, how NOT) in the rap game via myspace.
 
1:  Originality is over-rated.  The best thing to do forget being original, and just copy what's selling at the time. Surely everyone wants the next big thing in rap to be a clone of Kanye or Lil Wayne!
 
2:  When you create your myspace page, don't forget to create another page for your fabricated 'company'.   It is important to name it something with entertainment on the end, like Thug Dog Entertainment.  And have this as your top friend on your top friends.  This will show people that you are successful already, and you really mean business.  (I know Thug Dog Entertainment isn't the best example, but the other ones I thought of already existed)
 
3:  For the rest of your top friends list, make sure this is occupied by big rappers such as Jay Z and Eminem.  And don't worry about whether you know them in real life or not.  The fact that they're on there will reinforce to people that you mean business.
 
4:  Be sure to leave gigantic, badly knocked together picture comments on everyone's pages.  As soon as they see them taking up the majority of their page, they'll most likely delete them, but some people might forget to do this.

5:  Make sure you use some (illegal) software to add as many myspace friends as possible.  Everyone knows that the number of myspace friends you have is a 100% accurate reflection on how famous you are.  I definitely noticed myself become twice as famous when I went from 50 to 100 myspace ‘friends’

6:  Make sure you’re wearing some bling or some ice in every picture of you.  This will reaffirm your status as a baller or player to any onlooker.
 
7:  Don't worry about the quality of the music.  If instructions 1-6 are followed, you'll be fine.

Now then Leeds, I’m DJ Wax On AKA Waxtradamus, bringing you some knowledge and insight into the world of DJing and funky beats.  For the new year, there’s a new title, but more of the same old bulls**t.  Today I’m assuming the role of the David Ike, and Look at my predictions for 2009:

The Beatles blitz the charts
Following the huge problems with getting The Beatles’ back catalogue on the digital market, it looks like EMI and itunes may be able to finally agree on this some time in the year, and from what I’ve read it would seem their discography was all remastered a couple of years ago.  So I could imagine, if it’s all released, that the Beatles could end up owning the top 10 singles chart for a week.

Soulja Boy pisses off more and more people
Soulja Boy’s most recent hip hop faux pas was to accuse veteran rapper (and writer of one of the best hip hop albums ever)Nas of killing hip hop.  In a video posted online, Soulja Boy claims that Nas killed hip hop by penning the song/phrase ”Hip Hop is Dead”, his logic being that people heard it and therefore believed it.  He also reasons that Lil Wayne is the best rapper in the world, because he went round saying he was.  Come on!  Anyway, I’d put money on Soulja delivering far more of these pearls of wisdom in the near future.

Rap Music gets turned into a tribute to late 90’s Cher
First T. Pain. Well, not exactly first.  Then Lil Wayne.  Then Kanye.  Now P Diddy.  It seems like there’s a real shift towards using hard autotune techniques (a la Cher – Believe), and given the big names who have been picking up on this and running with it, it’s only a matter of time until a huge amount of people ranging from the top dogs, to the muppet wannnabe’s who fabricate entertainment companies and spend too much time adding myspace friends and not enough making decent music, will be using this on nearly every tune they carelessly knock out.  

X Factor takes over my life again
I know it’s all bollocks, and it’s totally sellout, blah blah blah, but X Factor got me bad this year.  For some reason, and I don’t exactly know why.  Maybe it’s the fact that other people I know crept out from the woodwork and admitted they’re into it, maybe it’s the fact that some of the people on it were actually talented.  Maybe I’m just weak.  But whatever the reason, I was hooked.  And I envisage the same thing happening in 2009.

If you want to get in touch with any disagreement or abuse due to my over opinionated prose, visit www.djwaxon.com or www.myspace.com/djwaxon

Now then Leeds, I’m DJ Wax On AKA Wax Bygraves, bringing you some knowledge and insight into the world of DJing and funky beats.   Today I’m assuming the role of the Jonathan Ross, and dishing out awards for 2008 achievements.  I present to you, “The Waxies”

Best Rap Album: Q-Tip – The Renaissance
A Tribe Called Quest’s shining light once again delivers on this album, bringing a sound which has Golden Era hip hop sensibilities, but with a distinctly current and soulful sound.

Best Song: Estelle ft. Kanye West – American Boy
I really like this song, but I’m possibly the worst person to name the best song of the year, as it’s probably one of the only songs from this year that I’ve actually heard.

Best X-Factor Audition: Ant & Seb – Mysterious Girl
For anyone who’s been on the X Factor journey like I have this year, it’s been special, and it’s got me thinking about the start of it.  And anyone who describes themselves as a mixture of Usher and Rick Astley has GOT to be worth a laugh.  Check it on youtube whilst you can.

Ridiculous Beef Of The Year: Soulja Boy vs Ice-T
Really.  Seriously.  What on Earth brought this on?  Why did Ice-T feel the need to go at a guy who’s having a good time making pop music which is bringing in some good cash?  Ridiculous.

Ridiculous Statement Of The Year: Soulja Boy
Yes, he wins 2!!! And how, may you ask, do you win 2 Waxies?  The answer is “by giving a shout out to Slavery”.  At the BET hip hop awards, he said “Without them we'd still be in Africa. We wouldn't be here to get this ice and tattoos”.  Well done Soulja.

Best Music Documentary: Wu: The Story Of The Wu Tang Clan
Finally, a good opportunity to learn more about where Staten Island’s legendary crew came from, and what happened when they arrived.

Best Name For An Album: Bob The Builder – Never Mind The Breeze Blocks
Yes, he’s back once again, and whoever named his album is a bona fide genius. Good Work.

Most Over-Hyped Film: The Dark Knight
It’s a good film, but recently this has been hero-worshipped in online polls, and is 4th best film on IMDB, and in similar positions on other popular film websites.  Are you telling me that it’s better than Pulp Fiction or Goodfellas for example?  Personally I’d take Demolition Man over it!

Best Podcast: Cipha Sounds & Peter Rosenberg – The Juan Epstein Show
This has been one of my favourite things to listen to this year, it’s a mix of hip hop, djing and shit-talking with two of Hot97’s funniest Djs.


If you want to get in touch with any disagreement or abuse due to my over opinionated prose, visit www.djwaxon.com or www.myspace.com/djwaxon

GEARED UP 11

Now then Leeds, I'm DJ Wax On AKA WaxMan, bringing you some knowledge and insight into the world of DJing and funky beats. Today I'm assuming the role of the Roger Cook, and looking at an album which revolutionised hip hop production and created a whole new sound.

Sampling has always been at the heart of hip hop, back since the days of Sugar Hill Gang rapping for 14 minutes over one 4-bar loop. Along the way, sampling was turned up a notch by producers like Bomb Squad(PE's It Takes a Nation of Millions) and Dust Brothers (Beastie Boys' Paul's Boutique), and then on 3 Feet High & Rising by De La Soul, Prince Paul set the bar with overlaying multiple samples from different sources to craft a fuller hip hop sound with more detail for the listener to pick up on. And some time later, in 1996, after some years of dominance by the jazzy and sometimes dark East Coast rap, something happened to bring some attention back to the West Coast. That something was Endtroducing…..

DJ Shadow was a product of the 80's Bay Area/Northern California mobile DJ scene, which spawned crews such as Triple Threat DJs, The Beat Junkies and the Invisibl Skratch Piklz. DJing since the mid 80's, his natural curiosity led him to learn about breaks, samples, and the art of digging for those rare records.

This, coupled with his introduction to the Akai MPC 60, shaped the sound of Endtroducing. This is credited as being the first album constructed entirely from samples, and was the record which defined instrumental hip hop, paving the way for artists such as Madlib, RJD2, J Dilla and many others.

The key way, above all else that this album defines the sound is through sample sourcing. In hip hop, samples have always come from a variation of places, but certain things such as Blue Note & CTI jazz records, James Brown, library music and certain funk and soul drum breaks had dominated hip hop's soundscape. But Shadow manages to fuse the most obscure and rare heavy metal, prog rock, jazz, fusion, soul, funk and more, with intricately scratched in vocal snippets, to create a music which has a mood all of it's own. This album goes from sinister, to dark, to forlorn, to angry, to blissed out in a seamlessly woven soundscape, with a consistent momentum and almost obsessive attention to detail. The standout tracks are Midnight In A Perfect World, Number Song, Organ Donor and What Does Your Soul Look Like.

So in summary, if you haven't heard this album, get it. If you have heard it but you don't own it, get it.


If you want to get in touch with any disagreement or abuse due to my over opinionated prose, visit www.djwaxon.com or www.myspace.com/djwaxon

GEARED UP 10

Now then Leeds, I'm DJ Wax On AKA the Wakefield Wonder, bringing you some knowledge and insight into the world of DJing and funky beats. Today I'm assuming the role of the Richard Keyes, and looking at a classic album of hip hop's "Golden Era"

Question: What's the worst thing Queensbridge veteran MC Nas has done in his career?
Answer: Debuted with an album like Illmatic.

At the tender age of 18, Nas was already well aquainted with MC Serch of 3rd Bass and legendary Queens hip hop producer Large Professor, and had recorded a verse for Live at the Barbeque on Main Source (Large Pro's group) album Breaking Atoms. He had also released his debut single Halftime for MC Serch's Zebrahead film soundtrack. At this early time in his career, Serch saw the talent he possessed and laboured vigorously to get him a record deal, and so Illmatic was born…

Released in 1994, Illmatic was near the end of hip hop's Golden Era, where New York had successfully fought back against the dominance of the West Coast G-Funk and Gangsta Rap, with a number of successful albums from acts like A Tribe Called Quest, Gang Starr and Wu-Tang Clan to name a few. And Serch's role as executive producer helped spread the word of Nas to heavyweight producers such as DJ Premier, Q-tip, and Pete Rock, who all wanted in.

The main thing about this album which sets it apart from any other hip hop album produced by multiple producers is the fluency and continuity of the sound. It's often apparent when an album has tracks by a variety of producers, and how ever good the tracks, it tends to be a collection of good songs rather than a good album. But Illmatic flows like any other good album you'll hear.

The superb word play and flow create images of life hustling on the streets of New York, but told by someone with a wisdom and hindsight far beyond that of his meagre 18 years. The storytelling equals, if not surpasses that of legends such as Kool G Rap, and when combined with the production, creates songs with the coldness of an arctic winter, and others with the warmth of a summer park jam.

And so to expand on my original question and answer, I can't think of many hip hop albums which could challenge this as the best ever, and it would be up with the best albums I've heard irrespective of genre. Unfortunately for Nas, it's never going to be easy to do anything as good as this for the rest of your career, no matter how hard you try.


If you want to get in touch with any disagreement or abuse due to my over opinionated prose, visit www.djwaxon.com or www.myspace.com/djwaxon

GEARED UP 12

Now then Leeds, I'm DJ Wax On AKA Wax Bygraves, bringing you some knowledge and insight into the world of DJing and funky beats. Today I'm assuming the role of the Alan Whicker, and looking at an album which looks on the bright side of life.

At the start of the 90's, West Coast hip hop the dominant force in rap music, namely through the Dr Dre-pioneered G-Funk sound. Be it Warren G, Snoop Doggy Dogg, NWA or others, the heavy P-Funk (Parliament/George Clinton/Funkadelic) samples, mixed with drum machines and high pitched synthesizers couldn't be stopped. It would take a brave West Coast hip hop act to go out and try to get noticed with a different sound at this time. And that's exactly what The Pharcyde did.

Bizarre Ride has a sound which is strongly dominated by samples from 60's and 70's jazz, much like New York acts such as A Tribe Called Quest had been using for the past couple of years, but with the more funky drum loops used by West Coast artists such as NWA, and they fused this with live instrumentation.

Lyrically, the music couldn't be any different from the dominant G-Funk, which was very much either about the "gangster" lifestyle, or socio-political commentaries on the situations of the day. Pharcyde brought the fun back to West Coast rap, in the way that acts like De La Soul had done on the other side of the country. On "Oh Shit", the topics are drunken endeavours and sexual situations, whilst "Yo Momma", unsurprisingly, is a four minute lesson on how to insult a friend's mother in style. In contrast to this, " Passing Me By" is a smooth, summer sounding affair about the woman that got away, whilst Otha "Fish" gives advice on how to get over her.

This album, along with Freestyle Fellowship's "To Whom It May Concern" amongst others, paved the way for alternative hip hop artists such as Blackalicious, Jurassic 5, People Under The Stairs and others, so if you're a fan of any of these artists, make sure to check this album out.




If you want to get in touch with any disagreement or abuse due to my over opinionated prose, visit www.djwaxon.com or www.myspace.com/djwaxon

Now then Leeds, I'm DJ Wax On AKA the Wakefield Wonder, bringing you some knowledge and insight into the world of DJing and funky beats. Today I'm assuming the role of the Gary Bushell of the turntables, and looking at a classic album of hip hop's "Golden Era"

There are a few different ways that an album can become a classic, one way being through the impact that it had at the time, and Enter the 36 Chambers by Wu-Tang Clan is a concrete example of this.

Wu-Tang's beginnings lie with founding members RZA and GZA having had failed attempts at solo careers due to the political climate and money driven side of hip hop(i.e. the record labels). Due to these problems, the two rappers, alongside their cousin Ol' Dirty Bastard (AKA ODB), decided to form a group and go out on their own. So with recruits Method Man, Ghostface Killah, Raekwon, Inspectah Deck, Masta Killa and U-God, Wu-Tang Clan was born.

Shortly following the single "Protect Ya Neck", Wu-Tang signed with Loud Records. This signalled the first hip hop deal which enabled all the solo artists to negotiate their own contracts with other record labels, which is one way in which they changed the mould.

That's the business side of it out of the way, now for the record: Enter the 36 Chambers is many things; Dark, Dirty, Smooth, Soulful, Upbeat, Tough, Funky, Funny and more. The album kicks off with one of the now trademark kung fu samples which are present on a high amount of Wu albums. The referencing of Kung Fu and Martial Arts in hip hop has been repeated by many people (including myself) in the past 15 years, and martial arts have become a part of hip hop culture to some degree.

In terms of the tracks on this album, there's no bad track. And something that really makes a good album as opposed to an album with good tracks, is the flow. And the flow of this album is up there with some of the best album ever for me. The skits manage to really glue the tracks together on this album, and manage to set the scene and provide a humerous narrative. Standout tracks on the album are "Shame on a N***a", which is an fun and funky party joint which keeps the darkness whilst moving a dancefloor. "Can It Be That It Was All So Simple", a soulful throwback to older times on which Ghostface and Raekwon show their storytelling abilities which dominate their future work. "Method Man", which starts with one of the best skits on any rap album ever, and lets Method Man shine, as he was earmarked to be the standout artist at the time of the album's inception. To be honest, there are more standout tracks than my 450-ish words will allow me to mention, but be sure that if you're a hip hop head, no track on this album should leave you disappointed.




And if that's not enough to go on, visit www.djwaxon.com or www.myspace.com/djwaxon to check out some of Wakefield's finest beats & mixtapes

Geared Up Vol 08

Wakefield's number one turntablist teaches you the tricks of the trade every fortnight

Now then Leeds, I'm DJ Wax On AKA the Wakefield Wonder, bringing you some knowledge and insight into the world of DJing and funky beats. Today I'm assuming the role of the Barry Norman of hip hop, by going through some films that drop knowledge on the 4 elements.

Scratch (Doug Prey), 2001
This is the documentary film that made me understand the culture of the DJ. It looks at scratching from its inception, through its mainstream exposure, to its present day state. It also looks at the birth of hip hop, and has interviews with MCs and DJs such as Kevvv Kev, Jurassic 5, Dilated Peoples, DJ Premier, J Rocc and DJ Shadow. A must for any DJ or music fan. And for anyone else, its worth it just to see Mixmaster Mike discussing alien communication via the medium of scratching.

Battlesounds (John Carluccio), 1997
Effectively a precursor to Scratch, this film focuses more on battle DJs, and their philosophies and mentalities. Where Scratch has more mainstream appeal, and whilst being very informative in a light hearted way, this is more of a watch for scratch/battle DJs and turntablists, and people familiar with the scene.

Style Wars (Tony Silver, Henry Chalfant), 1983
This is intrinsically a documentary on the graffiti scene in New York, but also to a slight extent covers break dancing and rapping. This is an absolute must for anyone who really wants to understand the cultural significance and evolution of graffiti, and the hip hop scene of the 80's.

Wild Style (Charlie Ahearn), 1982
This film, although fiction, is cited as possibly the best example of the hip hop scene in New York in the early 80's. Based around Zoro, a notorious New York graffiti writer living in hardship, and the hip hop scene in which he is immersed. This gives a good even share of exposure to the four elements of hip hop, with graffiti, breakdancing, a rap battle between Cold Crush Brothers and the Fantastic Freaks, and Grandmaster Flash rocking the turntables in the kitchen.

Breakin' (Joel Silberg), 1984
This is the fictional tale of two breakdancers, Ozone and Turbo, and an academic dance student called Kelly. In many ways cashing in on the popularity of breakdancing rather than celebrating the culture, the film see's Kelly absorbed into Ozone and Turbo's world or hip hop clubs, striving for acceptance with her unique fusion of street and contemporary dance. Without doubt the cheesiest film on the list, it's still worth a watch, and see if you can spot a young Jean Claude Van Damme, in one of his first film appearances.

Beat Street (Stan Lathan), 1984
Where Breakin' is based around brakdancing, Beat Street is almost its music/DJ equivalent. Based on an aspiring DJ with a younger brother who's in a breaking crew, he meets a composer and choreographer who inspires him work on his dream of being a New York club DJ. This has some of the strongest break dancing scenes out of any of the films mentioned.

If you want to get in touch with any questions or feedback, contact me through www.djwaxon.com or www.myspace.com/djwaxon