It’s been a somber day of memorials celebrating the life of Adam “MCA” Yauch, who lost his 3-year battle with cancer earlier today. However, this video – posted in tribute to MCA by UK hip-hop broadcasting giant Tim Westwood – is guaranteed to make you smile. It’s rare footage of Def Jam’s then young upstarts, the Beastie Boys and LL Cool J, performing live in London on the “Raising Hell” tour in 1986. As the vid description summarizes, “… crowd surfing, fighting, bottles thrown & crazy live performances in front of a hostile crowd!” A few key moments to watch for: a young, tracksuit-ed Lyor Cohen doing The Wop, LL and Russell Simmons rapping along to “Slow and Low” at the top of their lungs, and MCA’s wild, head-first leap into the crowd. Brilliantly captures the chaos, excitement and contagious energy of those early Def Jam/RUSH years. RIP, Adam Yauch. Watch with wonderment, after the jump…
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DJ Shortkut, renowned turntable wizard of the Invisible Skratch Piklz, recently wrote this very simple message on his Vimeo page in reference to the “90s Hip-Hop Video Mixtape”: “i kept this on the under for too long…but sharing is caring….ENJOY!” You will. It’s 48 minutes of classic tracks and music videos from the era of Carhartt and Timbs expertly orchestrated into one big audio-visual bonanza. We’ll even forgive the fact that it’s billed as all-’90s but starts with a song from the ’80s (Slick Rick’s “Hey Young World”) as it features the likes of East Flatbush Project’s “Tried By 12,” Group Home’s “Supa Star,” and Smif-N-Wessun’s “Sound Bwoy Burriel.” Such a simple concept, but executed so well. Peep it, after the jump…
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Hold up, did we recently write something in a post about a self-imposed no-trailers rule around here? Okay, we might have to re-appraise our stance given the recent El-P C4C “Drone” teaser clip, and what Quelle Chris just slipped under our virtual door. This is how you do trailers, people. Tight! With energy! And classic public access style colors n’ FX! Quelle Chris’ beat tape Jock Sin Six drops tomorrow, and even if we weren’t already big fans of the guy, we’d be suitably intrigued by what he’s concocted merely based on these brief Jacksons-themed visuals. Peep the Six-ness, after the jump…
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Watch the “Drone” – specifically, this Timothy Saccenti-directed trailer teaser for El-P’s Cancer 4 Cure solo endeavor, which officially drops in a few weeks, on May 22nd via Fat Possum. Even though we’ve lately self-imposed a no-trailers policy around here, we couldn’t resist the charms of its provocative computer animation and birds preying on Wall-E-like machines (as opposed to Wale-like machines). Peep the tricknology, after the jump…
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Are you one of those folks for whom images of thousands upon thousands of unsorted records just sitting in the back room of a used record store induces involuntary drooling? (Or as Da Beatminerz used to call it, “wetmouth.”) If so, then you’ll probably enjoy this. The “Record Store Showcase” web series presents a video tour of Breakdown Records in Queens, NY – a shop at which everything is apparently for sale for $2. As you can see, there’s a few records up in there. J-Zone knows this spot, so don’t go there looking for any Kool & the Gang or Tim Dog rarities or you’ll be disappointed. The rest of you, have fun looking. Peep the video, after the jump…
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86-year-old multi-instrumentalist Kelan Philip Cohran played with Sun Ra’s Arkestra of the early ’60s, and was a key figure on the Chicago jazz scene for decades (mentoring members of Earth, Wind & Fire early on). Cohran’s most prized pupils, though, were his own children, eight of whom form the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble – a group as renowned for reinventing b-boy classics like “Shaft In Africa” as brilliantly covering OutKast or performing with Mos Def. Father and sons collaborate for their first album together, Kelan Philip Cohran & the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, out May 21st via Honest Jon’s Records. Our friends at the label have put together a short video to get you acquainted with this remarkable musical fam, and we’re proud to premiere it here at egotripland. Peep it, after the jump…
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In the latest episode of the great “Bling 47 Breaks Dilla Edition” series, Waajeed interviews DJ Spinna about one the most sophisticated J Dilla productions the late maestro ever put together – Black Star’s “Little Brother.” Using the track’s original Roy Ayers Ubiquity sample (“Ain’t Got Time”) Spinna discusses re-creating the beat in order to study the craft of Dilla’s production. And with good reason, as “Little Brother” is amongst Spinna’s all-time favorite sample flips. For more exclusives and goodies don’t forget to head over to bling47.com and sign up for the mailing list. Watch the video… after the jump…
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Dr. Dre promised to resurrect 2Pac via hologram at Coachella, and last night the good doctor kept his word. See for yourself as the ghostly visage of Pac performs “Hail Mary,” and then duets with Snoop on “2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted.” What more can we say than, whoa! Dre may never get around to releasing that Detox album, but don’t ever doubt the man when it comes to this hologram game. Watch the full performance, after the jump…
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Just like the title says, this is Big Daddy Kane performing one of the greatest rap tunes of all time on a giant turntable at the 1989 DMC Championships held at the Royal Albert Hall in London, England. The excellent dance moves at the end really captivate the whole crowd majority of 6,000 fans and we expect they will impress you, too.
PEEP BDK TEARIN’ SH*T UP AFTER THE SPIN…
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Cut Chemist recently took his Sound of the Police project on the road through Australia and Asia, spreading the gospel of vintage African military band funk as channeled via stacks of vinyl, a single turntable, and a loop pedal. This video – shot and edited by Cut, and set to the sounds of a group whose name translates to “The Big Beats” – documents some of the places and spaces he visited, from gigs to record hovels to radio stations and beaches. Anthony Bourdain got nothin’ on dude. Watch the video… after the jump…
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