New Mixtape: DJ Nef You pres. Berg Beaugé (aka Iceberg Slim) – Miami Dreaming

New mixtape by local MC, Berg Beaugé hosted by other local MC on the rise, Blake Carrington and featuring Rich Kidd and Junia T of Smash Brovas. Solid!

Download: DJ Nef You pres. Berg Beaugé – Miami Dreaming [mediafire link]

[Video] VH1 rockDocs pres. Planet Rock: The Story Of Hip Hop And The Crack Generation (FULL Film)

This came out last Fall but I just spotted it on producer, Easy Mo Bee‘s Facebook page this morning. Narrated by Ice-T and featuring RZA, Raekwon the Chef, Snoop Dogg, Questlove, B-Real, Chuck D, Too $hort and Freeway Ricky Ross, the Johnny Appleseed of the crack era, this documentary is amazing. The story about George H.W. Bush’s crack cocaine television address (starts at 47:24) is (sadly) hilarious. Mo Bee breaks it down as a whole:

It’s been established that music is almost always indicative of the impact that it’s social surrounding provides. So when you fast forward from 1977 to almost 10 years ahead in a slightly more mature period of ’86 in Hip Hop music, we get a firsthand lyrical account (and even glorification at times) of all the damage and destruction that crack’s toll took on the surface of an average family or individual and their choice to get “paid in full” or not. On the even more losing end of this product is the customer or “victim”, so to speak. Also at this point (circa1986), Hip Hop is mightily influenced by the flash of materialism, better living and even powerful drug films like Scarface, New Jack City & Menace ll Society, etc. Could the plague of crack have all been a setup or did a lot of us just make some bad choices in our lives? Was Hip Hop ever used a pawn in the game to help spread the epidemic. So many questions, so many different answers. From the drug riddled hot summers of the mid-Eighties to present day, have we learned anything from the entire period of the past? Or is it just the case of one generations imitating another? The music has always said it all. “And you don’t stop” is right. “It goes on and on and on and on, the beat don’t stop til the break o’ dawn”. Some things never change. They remain the same. True dat. Just look around.

CLICK HERE to learn more.

Related:

How Hip-Hop Lost the War on Drugs by Touré [note: this is the original title of the article as seen on the mobile version, it has subsequently been retitled, ‘How America and hip-hop failed each other’]

[Event] TODAY in Toronto: The Other Side of Hip-Hop with Famed Hip-Hop Photograher, Ernie Paniccioli

If I wasn’t working I’d take a run out the east end to check this….

On Tuesday July 3rd from 2PM to 4PM, Ernie Pannicioli, who has photographed everyone from the late Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G. to Eminem and Lauryn Hill will be presenting his works to Scarborough youth at the Scarborough Civic Centre inside the City’s council chambers. During this one of a kind presentation Ernie will be showing a slideshow of the iconic, eye-catching photography he has done over the years, as well as showing The Other Side Of Hip-Hop, a documentary of the life, politics and photography of Paniccioli. Following the exhibition, there will be a moderated Q&A period which will allow audience members to hear from Ernie, who is also a motivational speaker and ask him questions about his journey and career highlights.

Who: Ernie Pannicioli, Premiere Hip-Hop Photographer in America
What: Presenting exhibit of work, showing of The Other Side Of Hip-Hop Documentary & Speaking Engagement for Scarborough Youth (presented by East Metro Youth Services and Manifesto)
When: Tuesday, July 3, 2012 @ 2 to 4 p.m.
Where: Scarborough Civic Centre

About Ernie Pannicioli
Regarded by most to be the premier “Hip-Hop photographer in America”, Paniccioli first made his foray into the culture in 1973 when he began capturing the ever-present graffiti art dominating New York City. Armed with a 35-millimeter camera, Paniccioli has recorded the entire evolution of Hip Hop. From Grandmaster Flash at the Roxy (a popular Manhattan nightclub of the late 70’s and early 1980s), to the athletic moves of the legendary Rock Steady Crew, to the fresh faces of Queen Latifah, Tupac Shakur, The Notorious B.I.G., Eminem, and Lauryn Hill.

CLICK HERE to learn more via the Facebook event page

[Music Video] Tre Mission – Hilroy

I posted a video of this kid killin’ it on Tim Westwood on my tumblr a little while back. He’s from Scarborough in Toronto’s East End (aka where I used to dwell until I made the jump downtown) but he spits like a UK MC and is in fact apparently the only non-UK (non-London??) MC accepted in the grime scene. He’s already been on tour with Wiley and just finished an opening slot for Rae & Ghost’s headlining NXNE show last Sunday. This is the first video from his forthcoming mixtape album, a track featuring him going in over Jamie XX‘s steel drum-powered, ethereal-sounding “Far Nearer” track. An ode to lyricists everywhere with their pens and notebooks (Canadians know)?

A Look at the Polaris Long List: 17. Drake – Take Care

I was still living in NY when Drake first began to break. In fact it was a former co-worker (shout to Nickel D.!) who first put me up on the music which I promptly posted on the earlier incarnation of this blog (no bandwagon jumping here, son!).

That being said, as he’s evolved into a legit global hip hop superstar, I have to concede I don’t actually love his music that much personally in full length-sized bites. I acknowledge that he’s extremely thoughtful about how he puts his projects together, they’re not just a couple radio singles packaged up with some filler tacks to make an album, but I’ve found all his albums tough to get through in a single sitting. The beats lack real hip-hop ‘knock’ and feel like aural wallpaper and not in a good way either. Drake has some clever lyrics (still think “the square root of 69 is ate-something…” from “What’s My Name” with Rihanna is actually f-cking genius!) and some interesting song ideas, but his flow gets monotonous and his singing is… passable at best to put it politely. I also don’t get the argument people often make that he changed the game or moved the needle as far as hip-hop music when I find his sound to be warmed over 808s and Heartbreak. I’m happy that Drake has become a hip-hop A-lister who still reps for Canada at all times without shame but on purely musical merits, I find myself deeply, deeply conflicted about Drake still.

I don’t think anyone who reads this site needs a stream of this album ‘cos they haven’t heard it yet (do they??) but here goes anyway: