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Link: Noh of Hujan is 100% -_-

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JUICE September 2008: Last Word. Guilty as charged, Your Honor.

this month's issue of JUICE Magazine is its Hip Hop Issue. some of you already know this because some of you had to get photographed for the feature article. i approached the editorial team and asked if i could put in a few words, and they let me write a piece for their occasional Last Word opinion column. here's the text; you can go grab a copy of JUICE this month (please do; it's free) and read the rest, and enjoy the piccuhz, they iz velly nice.

props to Muna Noor, Managing Editor; writers Kevin Yeoh and Ili Farhana, graphic designer Euseng and the rest of the guys at Catcha. forward all hatemail to yours truly. bak bak bakdatang.



Last Word

… And That’s The Way It Is

Text WordsManifest

I refuse to give props to a Malaysian hip hop community that has not done enough to perpetuate its raison d’etre. As practitioners of the art form, be it by emceeing, or deejaying, or through breaking, graffiti, running record labels, gig organizing, merchandising, webmastering or what have you, hip hop culture in Malaysia is stagnant and in decline, straight up and down. We might say that we’re still here, that we’re still holding on, but survival alone does not warrant a JUICE issue dedicated to us and what we’re trying to do.

First off, hip hop in Malaysia is not new. The culture has been around since kids were breakdancing on checkered mats in Central Market in the 80s. Stop saying it is in interviews as a way of justifying why hip hop isn’t as prevalent as rock music. The rock scene has a definite sense of history; we don’t. As long as we maintain that hip hop is in perpetual infancy we’ll always be treating the community, such as it is, and the culture like a three-year old who doesn’t know any better. There’s been a lot of water under the bridge, and it’s up to the Malaysian hip hop community to accept it as part of its heritage, learn from it, and build on its foundations. You don’t know where you’re going until you know where you’re coming from. Get online and read something about hip hop, here and worldwide, if you really love it. Then act accordingly.

I’ve complained in private and publicly before that hip hop, here and abroad, suffered from being commoditized too soon after its jump-off point. I take it back. Punk, which originated at around the same time hip hop did, got launched into the world’s consciousness because Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood wanted to sell clothes and told the Sex Pistols to go on stage looking all pissed wearing their gear. Punk dealt with mainstream exposure, and although we’ll never run out of Good Charlottes, there will always be a strong undercurrent of substantial underground punk music and culture to balance things out. There will always be a fair amount of exploitation involved in the development of any popular subculture, and in light of hip hop’s materialistic, everyday-hustle self-image it especially applies to us, but here in Malaysia we’re in danger of believing our own hype. We don’t get driven around in Bentleys, we’re not cocaine-smuggling Nino Browns, we don’t own swank clubs, and we certainly don’t fill out arenas. Taking your rapper persona too seriously alienates people who could potentially be your biggest fans on the merits of your music and craft and just makes them think: he’s frontin’. There’s a fine line between letting yourself be exploited for monetary gain, and exploiting yourself for nothing. No one wants to see a minstrel show.

It sounds hilarious now, but hip hop really is an egalitarian culture: it lives and breathes as a mouthpiece for regular people. Hip hop is a fun, vibrantly cocky celebration of a life spent playing a good game with the chips we’ve been dealt with. We poke fun at life’s hardships and lay down commentary on it; we take a serious look at the stupid distractions everyone gets caught up in and we break it down. From Nas’ dissection of the n-word to Banksy’s scathing report on the British surveillance state to Too Phat’s stark look at imperfect repentance in ‘Alhamdulillah’, hip hop takes everyone’s everyday struggle and waxes lyrical about it. I’m glad that Malaysian hip hop culture now has access to so many commercial avenues, from merchandise to digital downloads to Billboard-charting acts touring in KL to Streething parties. When I started listening to rap music 20 years ago, none of that seemed possible in Malaysia. But hip hop is in danger of losing its link to the kid in the street looking for some way to convey his dissatisfaction with his surroundings and his joy for having what little he has. We’re too caught up in fake posturing and internal hate and country club clique mentalities to step back and see ourselves for what we were meant to be: storytellers who tell it like it is, not a group of people desperately clinging on to a set of fabricated lifestyle myths that sensationalise in the short term but disillusion an increasingly wised-up audience in the long run. In our desire to always be painfully fresh, we’ve become perishable goods. And once that kid in the street finds an art form that better reflects his current state in the world – and I’m guessing he already has – we’re off the shelf.

I love hip hop to the point people look at me like I’m a diehard Trekkie when I talk about it. Maybe because of that, I can’t allow myself to sugarcoat my opinions on where we’re headed with this adopted culture of ours. All the things I’ve said apply to me and my crew too, and I’m not trying to pretend like I have a solution to what’s ailing our community. I’m hoping to be proven wrong on all counts. But right now, from where I’m standing, it’s just like that. And that’s the way it is.

ROGUE SQUADRON @ JUICE

This month Juice ran an article about hip hop and crews in MY. And naturally, we were featured on it. Here it rrr (click for bigger view):


Other crews featured: Diplomats International, Flow Familia, JBC, Kartel, Stylustiks, and Voyeur.

So get to the nearest Club or Starbucks or whatever to get that JUICE and start diggin' some info on the who's who of Malaysian hip hop crews nowadays.

DJ Layzr and DJ Intake @ DMC Malaysia

I just got this news. DJ Layzr and DJ Intake were #2 and #3 respectively at the recent DMC Malaysia. DJ Ceza snatched the top spot. However DJ Layzr will be representing Malaysia in World DMC England as Ceza is not a native.

Nonetheless, congratulations to them!

Here are some pics from Cliq:

Jin Hackman hacking men

Here are some Jin Hackman freestyle videos just upped on youtube.

First is the cypher at Xfresh's X-Gig III (in which The Rebel Scum + SSK + Jin Hackman performed at) where he killt it:


Next I think a few days later is this freestyle battle organized by Vandal at Cloth & Clef. The turnout was only two emcees so Jin had to face this dude named Shawn J if not mistaken. Judge for yourselves homes:


Pwnge? hehe.




p/s: Sorry for the updateless streak. Me personally haven't been listening to any new hip hop at all. However just today I managed to get GZA's and Ice Cube's latest shit so I'll be checking those out first after having ignored new hip hop releases for a long fucking time.

Malaysian Hip Hop

Everybody must join this one!

Set up by Emceedavid who resides and alerts us of nearly everything that's up in MY hip hop @ the Malaysian Emcee blog.

I hope this will be the return of a community we used to have. I mean nowadays we only get to properly communicate during gigs and those don't come too often, we still need this shit to keep us united and as a platform to learn new things and help other dudes learn new things too nahmeen.

So click - MALAYSIAN HIP HOP - and join aight.

-_- MIXTAPZ DOWNLOAD LINK

After distributing it by hand for quite a long time and hoping someone would pirate it out to the internet not realizing WGAF about Rogue Squadron haha. I guess we have to net share it out ourselves.

Here it it:

Rogue Squadron -_- Mixtapz

Bakdatang Video!

Oh yes it is!

It's the long-awaited video for The Rebel Scum's "bakdatang", featuring Rogue bwoyz Saph and Nbe from SSK, and Spit from the most legendariest ever crew Naughtius Maximus and Ruffneck Clique.



If you haven't already watch it and I hope you enjoy it, if you do do comment, if you don't comment as well lah.

Rogue Squadron wins Favourite Overseas Act @ Hope Awards

Sorry late update ahh. erm, yeah! we won favourite overseas act at the Hope awards organized by dem dewds that bought us to singapore early this year 65 & hope.

This is our acceptance speech kinda:


We're basically grateful to everyone especially Fazli and 65 & Hope, our managuz Lady D and Ili FM, everyone everyone everyone, everyone who voted, everyone who supported us, you, you, and you. How nice to receive an award from dem lovable singaporeanz. We hope to see you dewds & dewdettes again soon cause yallz is the shiet fuhreel.

Buff Nuff!

I Haven't been writing for a long time, I just came across this video a few days ago, and I totally have to share it with you guys.
These days its not just the 'Ice' that you wear around ur neck, Its the whole fucking ICE CREAM TRUCK!
YOU BUFF NUFF!!!

ma ma ma MANUVAAA!!!

Rogue Squadron in Singapore on the 17th May @ Chamber, Arts House

Details're all there right. Rogue Squadron is gonna come down to Singapore, or SG, as we like to call 'em to perform for Family Affairs II.

If you're in SG at that day, forget everything else and come chill with us. We're gonna be performing some songs form the mixtapz, some songs we usually perform, and some singles, even those that we haven't performed anywhere else too.

Hopefully we might be selling some tees, and we're definitely gonna be giving away as much -_- mixtapz as possible.

So you know whatitiz. CUM CUM CUM!!

the legends, the legendary, and the magnificient

Living Legends - The Gathering EP (2008) [rar password: sprite]

1. THE GATHERING
   
2. SHE WANTS ME
   
3. PANTS ON FIRE
   
4. WAR & PEACE
   
5. LUVA CHANGER
   
6. SAMBA
   
7. AFTER HOURS (EXTENDED EURO MIX)

I haven't really put in enough listening hours for this one, plus Living Legends shiznites burn slow most of the times. But check it out anyway, it's been getting good reviews. And isn't that cover art just delightful? I'm just a sucka fahr sketch art.

If you're not familiar with them they're an independent collective comprised of emcees and djs from all over, westside u.s.a., europe, even Japan. And they pretty much have a big reputation in the underground scene.



The Roots - Rising Down (2008)
The Roots fever hit KL earlier this year after Sunburst and I'm pretty sure everyone has been checking for this one. Honestly and personally I'm not feeling most of the beats except maybe 'rising up' feat. Chrisette Michelle and Wale (real good shit). But emcee-wise, Black Thought is at his best, and the guest lineup is a fucking dream for hip hop and The Legendary Roots Crew lovers. Here's a tracklist, figure it out yourself:

1. The Pow Wow
   
2. Rising Down Ft. Mos Def & Styles P
   
3. Get Busy Ft. Dice Raw & Peedi Peedi
   
4. @ 15
   
5. 75 Bars (Black's Reconstruction)
   
6. Becoming Unwritten
   
7. Criminal Ft. Truck North & Saigon
   
8. I Will Not Apologize Ft. Porn & Dice Raw
   
9. I Can't Help It Ft. Malik B., Porn, Mercedes Martinez & Dice Raw
   
10. Singing Man Ft. Porn, Truck North & Dice Raw
    
11. Unwritten Ft. Mercedes Martinez
    
12. Lost Desire Ft. Malik B. & Talib Kweli
    
13. The Show Ft. Common & Dice Raw
    
14. Rising Up Ft. Wale & Chrisette Michele

Jazzy Jeff - The Return of the Magnificient (part 1 | part 2) [rar password: Lismine]

1. Hip Hop (ft. Twone Gabz)
   
2. Let Me Hear U Clap (ft. Pos)
   
3. Run That Back (ft. Eshon Burgundy & Black Ice)
   
4. The Definition (ft. Kel Spencer)
   
5. Touch Me Wit Ur Handz (ft. Chinah Blac)
   
6. Jeff N Fess (ft. Rhymefest)
   
7. Practice (ft. J Live)
   
8. Supa Jean (ft. Jean Grae)
   
9. The Garden (ft. Big Daddy Kane)
   
10. She Was So Flyy (ft. Kardinal Offishall)
    
11. Hold It Down (ft. Method Man)
    
12. All I Know (ft. CL Smooth)
    
13. Go See The Doctor 2K7 (ft. Twone Gabz)
    
14. My Soul Aint For Sale (ft. Raheem DeVaughn)
    
15. Come On (ft. Dave Ghetto)
    
16. Brand New Funk 2K7 (ft. Peedi Peedi)

Actually released last year. I kinda overlooked it, but I'm making amends right now. Cause this shit is sick. Truthfully, as I'm writing this I'm only 3/4 through the album but loving it so far. As has been the case with most compilation releases by legendary producers (or just hip hop producers period), the emcee lineup department is a crack cocaina warehouse. Method Man? Big Daddy Kane? Jean Grae? J Live? My Panties Wet? Fahr Sho'.

The production is predictably jazzy. Not something to get hyped up to, or throw chairs to. More towards midnight drive material. Really groovy. I'm telling you jazz is groovy by nature, but not just any producer can make it work for hip hop the way a legendary beat conductah like this 'former member of a grammy award winning duo who did not take the high profile path like his partner' could and did. The same goes for samples generally, really.

Plus in this very album there are more than one or two instances of classic hip hop samples reinterpretations/revisit, done justice by the Jazzy (phissshhhhhhhhhhh). Nuff said, I'm feeling this shit, if it kinda went over your head when it came out as it did with me you gotta load this ish down.

That's it for now from pimp papa hooligan. I'm outtie outtie outtie like Almunia from Arsenal.

The Rebel Scum. Manusia. Sunday.

Produced by Tripdisz. His House is in the building.

You heard the foetus. You can't defeat us. Listen and vote. Thanks in advance.

Pete Rock vs Premo @ Crash Mansion, LA

got this off of Nah Right. Props, eskay.

EFIL4ZAGGIN!

Goddamn, Nas.

I'm not too crazy about the beat (and homie Enemyze doesn't like the hook) but on the lyrical tip, as always Nasty ain't playin. First song off N*GGER just got leaked, and Son shouts out not only to the regular type n*ggers, but k*ke n*ggers, sp*c n*ggers, g*tty n*ggers, and ch*nk n*ggers too.

Don't you wanna be a n*gger too? Sheesh

Nas - Be A N*gger Too

the great (soul) train robbery

save us DC. save us from ourselves.

I'm not a fan of all these awards shows, but damn, doggie. Nona Ili Roguy upped me last night on the 22nd Annual Soul Train Awards getting its revered ass cancelled. Apparently last year's ceremony was so poorly attended that the people running shit wanted to avoid embarrassing themselves again and just threw the whole show under the bus. Goddamn. Don Cornelius, where you at man? Up these fools on the real.

And what's this I hear about a major record label (I mean big time TI-ridden #4080 major) getting shut down all across Asia next month? A sign of chickens finally coming home to roost, or a major setback for local and regional artists, hip hop or not?

Interesting times, brethren. Interesting times.

#4080!!!

the flip: disposable arts

"Now I don't usually do this, but ..." - R Kelly. Irony is good for your bones, son.

It's been a minute. So anyway: I was going through my own little shortlist of hip hop blogs, and came across a lengthy, well-thought out treatise on how the modern aspiring rapper can up hisself on the game by Achmed Rauff. First off, it's not a game. My bad for coming out swinging, but I need to. Well-thought out as it was, I would have to say that the article was at the very least naive and at worst, disingenuous. I'm not trying to front on dude, but I need to say what I need to say. Okay no more apologies until the very end of this post.

Being savvy on issues pertaining to product placement as a prerequisite to being a successful rapper? That would depend on your definition of success (word to Dubya). It's all good to be aware and update yourself on things that will capture the attention of potential sponsors and investors, but to say that a rapper anywhere, including here in Malaysia, needs that to be where he needs to be is a little over the top. You say in the same article that the popular perception of hip hop culture has been hijacked by MTV and then subscribe to that same symptom by also saying the main motivation of any hip hop artist is to end up sitting on fat stacks of green (I mean cash, not the yesca, holmes). It's not a dream that motivates many in our local hip hop culture. If it was, you wouldn't see a lot of the heads you know these days on their grind. They'd have given that shit up a long time ago.

I would love to get into a lengthy discussion on how to make full use of the local hip hop market to maximize profits and get those aforementioned fat stacks (of notes, not weed) but there are other far more urgent matters to deal with first. For instance, what market? I don't say this as a member of a hip hop crew and collective whose heads are so far up their underground asses that no one knows who they are, but as a genuine lover of rap music and hip hop culture who has seen the local community hide behind the excuse that it's "still in its infancy". I've been hearing that since 1998. I started listening to rap music in 1988. Hip hop's been here for a very long time, and we're still saying that we're new as an excuse for our lack of market penetration. If you want to talk business, how about this: it's not market penetration we should be worried about, it's market creation, maintenance and expansion.

I may differ philosophically from the people I'm about to mention, but Poetic Ammo, Too Phat, the Teh Tarik Crew, Phlowtron, etc have all made contributions to broadening awareness on hip hop culture in Malaysia. But it's a fragile thing to not build on their efforts, and to not let creativity and diversity dictate a scene's growth instead of what it'll take to snag that Hotlink deal. Kids - aspiring rappers or no - need to be involved in an organic community, not subscribe to brand names rappers on the radio name-drop. Kids are not stupid; they never have been and they never will be. They'd rather listen to Hujan or Onani and give those bands their support because first and foremost, these guys are in it for the music, and make it a point to appear that way. If you put yourself up on too high a pedestal, your target audience will lose their bond with you.

To artists, new and old: make music. Make some noise. Do a lot of good, entertaining shows. Be in as many places as you can be online and in person. It's great that you see Joe Flizzow and Pop Shuvit doing well and want to be like them one day, but pay your dues first. As an aspiring emcee (and that's the first time I'm using that word here) write from what you know, and also try to write about things other people know as well. Reading up on trends is cool, but not having an opinion about them would make that information useless. Don't just be informed, be knowledgeable. Be a businessman if that's what strikes your fancy, but never lose sight of your responsibilities to the art you're presenting to the world. People can spot a fake ass knucklehead from a mile away, and they'll drop you over a cliff in a heartbeat. And going out like that is no way to aspire to anything.

Oh. And just as an afterthought: XXL Magazine and The Source were headed by Eliot Wilson and Dave Mays respectively. They both thought the same way: hip hop is all about the cash. In the last 12 months, both of them were thrown the fuck out by fans, readers, listeners and hip hop artists who were fed up of their egotistical materialistic posturing. Even in the States, people are calling for this pimped-out lifestyle overkill to stop. How long will it take for us to catch up to the true school renaissance?

My bad if you're upset. Get at me. I love to talk shop.

listen: Masta Ace - No Regrets

Moar -_- Mixtapz Updatz: Reviewz

We've gotten a few reviewz already now. Two to be specific.

One from Achmed Rauff. And another from Vicjamm who runs the Malaysian Hip Hop blog.

Thanks for listening guys, and taking the time to review it too. We appreciate it very much. And we appreciate anyone who wants to review this shit, don't matter if it's positive or negative or posinegative, we'll accept it all with open hearts (open ak-47s and c4s if you diss me tho lolwootup). Give us a buzz if you've reviewed it or anything. Aight.

Young Buck out of G-Unit?

Apparently he is out of the crew, but not the recording company. Read here.

What does this have to do with me, a Dipset fanboy?

I just think Young Buck is a dope rapper. Now that both him and The Game (years earlier) are out, G-Unit is almost a total non-issue to me, or hip hop, even.

Anyway here is a Young Buck song that's been getting some hype - hip hop can't save my life. I think he did it on the Lupe instrumental. It's pretty dope, as I've said, I dig his rapping. His swag, voice and accent (I hate the dirty south accents but some rappers sound good with it) is mad dope. Can I has Young Buck join Dipset? Huhu.

-_- Mixtapz Updatz

We managed to pass around 20 or so mixtapz during KL Undercover 2 (read mah short review of the gig here). If I'm not mistaken the next gig we're looking forward to would be DJ Fuzz's Mixology 2 Launch (24th April). So see you there if you haven't got this good shiet yet aight. Inform us if there's any other hip hop gig though.

DASH UNDERSCORE DASH

Hahu. This is the Rogue Squadron -_- Mixtapz! We're giving it away for FREE at the Unity Concert @ Hokkien Hall Klang tomorrow (well today really) evening. And maybe at other hip hop gigs to come like KL Undercover 2 for instance. We might net-lease it sometime soon too.

It features some remixes, some singles from upcoming releases, some unreleased singles, and some just fuck around in a mixtape songs. It's dope, I've listened to it thousands of times d lolwut. WATCH OUW! WATCH OUW!

Pacewon is back?!

Pacewon, one of my fav emcees many years ago after I heard his 'i declare war' song on a pirated rap compilation audio cd (bless you lanuns). His big breakout however was actually on the Fugees song 'cowboys' along with Tha Outsidaz (Jersey crew) homie and homiezette Young Zee and Rah Digga. He's dope, you know, his swagger is untouchable, his voice and flow too.

I read around that he's back and has formed an Eric B Rakim Gangstarr influenced duo with DJ - Mr. Green.

Check out a video of their song 'hip hop' on youtube. Pacewon is still fucking sick as fuck.

Pacewon and Mr. Green - hip hop


And let's backtrack on two of his dopest hits from yesteryears:

Pacewon - i declare war


Outsidaz - the rah rah



Bonus brand nooh track: Outkast feat. Raekwon - royal flush (this is fiyyahh)

Nicolay & Kay - Time:Line

Is one of the latest highly rated independent releases. Nicolay is widely known as the dutch producer behind The Foreign Exchange (with Phonte of Little Brother as the collaborating emcee). No idea who Kay is but apparently he has been Nicolay's friend and musical comrade for quite some time.

This album is pretty dope. Production sounds fresh despite a lotta classic hip hop influences. Kay is not bad at all, too. There is some kind of concept runnin' which might sound a bit pretentious and complex but it's not really, this shit is simply good beats and good rhymes. Forget about it. Get it.

And if you're too lazy to check out a whole album. Here's my favourite track from this album.

Rogue Radio Sessions 2.5 Da Takeova

ROGUE RADIO SESSIONS 2.5. It's DA TAKEOVA! It's a glitch in the rogue radio system. hqa and roguestahz Jin hackman, Familyboy, NBE held WordsManifest hostage, finished his Pringles, plain water supply, and chilled in the Archetype Lab while occasionally talking to the mic, playing songs and breaking a world record - for the newest installation in this heavenly series of podcasts.

Tracks played this time around include new shits from Pete Rock, Jim Jones, Kool G Rap, Johnson&Jonson, Jazz Liberatorz and more, a buncha regional tracks by dope groups from MY (Triniti, Familyboy, SSK, and a rare track from a local scene legend), SG (Xscapists), and INDO (Madrotter, Morgue Vanguard, D'army, Kryptik, Fish), and some old school throwbacks including hip hop before hip hop was even born. Wuzzat? download that shit then innit.

Some new shit, homie - Rakim, Del, Atmosphere, Blu, Pete Rock, and Nujabes

Rakim - it's nothing (leak)
Off the upcoming album The Archive: Live, Lost & Found. God emcee is still god emcee. But honestly this beat is a little annoying. Check it out anyhow just cause it's fucken Rakim.

Updated: Got a link on this shit forgot it's already out. Here it is.

Del - bubble pop
Off his upcoming shit with Def Jux - Eleventh Hour. It's pretty dissapointing though. Del sounds unenthused, where's his excitement and rhythm? I've heard the same comments about some other songs which leaked. I would love to grunt 'Def Jux please don't fuck it up', but it seems more like 'Del you still on that crizzack?', the beat wasn't too bad. I don't know doggs. Let's just hold the judgement off until shit drops, hoping the album as a whole won't be as dull as two or three tracks. We all miss fucking Deltron.

Atmosphere - Strictly Leakage
Album for the fans before the propah album When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold. Can't front I was an Atmosphere fan. Was. This one's for tha still-fans, aight.

C.R.A.C, Knuckles (Blu and Taraach) - love don't (leak)
I just posted up Blu's presumably latest project Johnson&Jonson a while ago and he's already got newer shit coming. Dude is on a roll. He's deffo capitalizing on all the underground hype he's gettin'. For this project he partners up with Taraach. I don't know much bout the other dude, but I know he rhymed in the 'juice n' dranks' song on Blu's shit with Exile. That's prolly the first taste of C.R.A.C. Knuckles we got. Listening to this 'love don't' track, it ain't too bad, we'll see how it goes. Shit drops april.

Pete Rock - NY's Finest
You might notice producer-based albums featuring various emcees being the hip hop trend right now seeing as it's hard for individual emcees/groups to get some play with all the pop shit ruling the charts. But Pete Rock's been doing it for a while now. Here's his latest offering. It's still Soul Brotha like no otha banging. The Jim Jones track is ballin! Jim Jones should do more songs on hip hop beats.

Nujabes - Hydeout Productions 2nd Collection
Now this ain't too brand new. But just for those who haven't checked it out yet. Nujabes, beat conductah who was involved in most of the instrumentals for anime series Samurai Champloo which is how I got to know of him. I was watching that shit and dem intros and outros and background music were sweet as fuck. Especially the shits he did with dancehall Jap singer Minmi, one was the junglish ending credits music, another shit was from the ost album, real dope. This shit is his latest proj released around november last year. I'm still listening to it, I've already checked out the song with CL Smooth when it came out. It's dope and all, got the right vibe runnin' for The Mecca Don, but it seems Nujabes still has the same problem he had with most of his albums, beat too loud overpowering the vocals. Wouldn't be much of a nuisance if it was MF Doom rhymin' on everything. Well whatever.

For an idea of his shit, here's the Samurai Champloo ending credits. And after that Minmi's live performance of it, pretty prettty nice.

Nujabes feat. Minmi - shiki no uta (song of seasons)


Minmi - shiki no uta (song of seasons) (live)

Voices From Beneath II

Our brevrens from SG are back with the second installment of the Voices From Beneath Mixtape.

As you see there's a buncha Rogue bwois up in this - Schizzow, SSK, and Familyboy.

I was supposed to be in this myself but apologies to Ijal I couldn't come up with something. It's aight tho I've already gotten into the first one.

If you're not familiar with this mixtape, it's a Singapore-based project initiated by Ijal and his friends mainly from Resurgence Zine/TMA. It features their local acts and ours as well. Mostly from the deep underground.

So if you're up for it download it here aight.

hqa's 5 FAVOURITE 2007 RELEASES

These are 5 of my favourite 2007 releases:

Blu & Exile - Below The Heavens
Exciting new artist for sho. In an era where it's extremely difficult for me to accept new blood these dudes seem to impress me, a lot. Exile is a dope producer. Really. There's been a lot of producers trying the nu-soul or soul-hop or whatever-you-call-it sound but not many have impressed me. But Exile managed to capture the early and Slum Village-era J Dilla spirit. Applying infectious basslines and clever cutting of samples. And with Blu rhymin' on his shit, it's hard to go wrong. While this duo is from the west coast, Blu might have more east coast emcees on his influences list flow-wise, even accent-wise at times. In this album most of his lyrics are very personal but won't alienate the listener, instead we might find ourselves relating our own experiences to most of his endeavours.

Public Enemy - How You Sell Soul To A Soulless People Who Sold Their Soul
Yeh. Trust the old hip hop warriors to show us how to do things. This album is super banging. Chuck D is still as powerful as ever with his delivery, and Flava Flav hasn't aged. Their production team might've disintegrated at one point and are not the same old Bomb Squad, but there's still a lot of boom in them. While the old school hip hop fans will definitely appreciate this, I'm pretty sure it will get them new fans as well. After all, I haven't been the most fanatic Public Enemy fan, but somehow this record has sealed my faith. Only bummer is it is highly underrated especially since PE is independent and the last few recent releases weren't as enticing as this one.

Ghostface Killah - Big Doe Rehab
This is Primo's pick for best album of 2007. Not so hard to understand why, Tony Starks continued his trademark of rapidfire spittage on banging beats. It might be more compact compared to the intricate Fishscale but it's still good. There were mixed reviews though, some compared it to Pretty Toney, assuming most people didn't like it, but I did like that one. Honestly there might be a few throwaway tracks but most of the tracks were just a simple combination of good beats and good emcees. I'm impressed by the fact that while a lot of golden age emcees lost their dynamic styles (cough*Raekwon*cough), Ghostface seems to add more passion and fire to his.

DJ Deckstream - Soundtracks
Trust the Japs to keep good and forgotten American pop cultures alive. The nu-jazz & nu-soul sound in hip hop has been quite a trend over there. Deckstream makes it evident that it won't be just a fad. One word to describe his samples - sweet, one word to describe his method of sampling - very sweet. While his beats might be really catchy he retains the booming sound of the hip hop beat so as to make it very hard hitting and lively. No need to question his choice of guest emcees - Lupe Fiasco, Talib Kweli, Camp Lo, Pep Love, Zion I.. need I continue?

Cam'ron - Public Enemy #1 (mixtape)
Okay. This is highly personal. Hehe. While there's a lot of rubbish tracks mostly because of the plastic beats, there are a few gems. And these gems prove that while Cam'ron has been guilty of falling into the pop-rap stigma, he is still essentially a golden age emcee having originated from a 90's crew led by Big L. Because on old-school sounding beats, his voice and flow shine, and he still has that Harlem swagger. His decision to focus on featuring only the newer Dipset members in this mixtape is welcoming to me, since they sound more serious and have the potential to have some form of depth which when added to the swagger might create sick emcees. Whatever it is, Cam might not be as big as loathsome Fiddy, but he is still more cult, has way more character, and is way more interesting.. to me, at least. Hehe.

..


Now..

I could just link the albums but I decided against that since we all don't have that much attention span. Especially the non hip hoppers. So to make it more attractive, I decided to make a mixtape consisting of songs I really really liked from those releases. With the tracks ordered the way I wanna. You can burn this mixtape to make an audio cd too.

Aight?

hqa's 5 FAVOURITE 2007 RELEASES MIXTAPE

1. public enemy - black is back
   
2. public enemy - harder than you think
   
3. public enemy - col-leepin
   
4. cam'ron - no delaying
   
5. ghostface killah - toney sigel a.k.a. the barrel brothers feat. beanie sigel
   
6. dj deckstream - can you let me know feat. lupe fiasco, verbal and sarah green
   
7. dj deckstream - keep in the pocket feat. talib kweli
   
8. dj deckstream - 3.2.1. contact feat. surreal
   
9. dj deckstream - touch of mink feat. camp lo
   
10. cam'ron - i'm a hustler barry
    
11. dj deckstream - play on feat. pep love
    
12. public enemy - escapism
    
13. ghostface killah - yolandas house feat. raekwon and method man
    
14. ghostface killah - i'll die for you
    
15. blu & exile - good life (show me) feat. joseph and aloe blacc
    
16. blu & exile - blu colla workers
    
17. blu & exile - party of two
    
18. ghostface killah - killa lipstick feat. method man and masta killa
    
19. ghostface killah - slow down feat. chrisette michele
    
20. cam'ron - bad day feat. tom gist
    
21. blu & exile - soul amazin (steel blazin)
    
22. dj deckstream - five alarm feat. nikki jean

Johnson&Jonson - Powders&Oils (new shit)

Blu from last year's Blu & Exile fame is involved in this one with another producer instead, Mainframe. It took me quite some time to get used to this album but once I did it's pretty dope. It has a different feel compared to Blu's last one.

This might be merely a coincidence or just me but I thought while Exile had a slight early-J Dilla influence, Mainframe seems to have a slight Madlib influence. From the way he samples to the various samples he uses, to the live-sounding drums. The songs don't sound too similar with each other which could be why it took me quite a while to really dig it. The Exile joint was easier to digest as it was more hip hop and bass-heavy.

Blu is still Blu, he adapted to Mainframe really well, manouvering his flows combined with his lyricism which has transformed into a more not-so-personal rockin-the-beat one compared to the last release. For some reason sometimes he sounds like a marginally faster Common. Could be just me. Anyway, this is a really good record, give it a few listens and I'm pretty sure you'll like it.

Yes.

Also check out this video of one of the tracks 'bout it bout it' which actually has been out around late last year (first shit I heard of them). Playful video for a very catchy song.

The Resistance has moved

The Resistance, former TRS forum, has now moved to http://theresistanceforum.com. It is now a more general forum, meaning not so TRS-y. So get on it fuhreel.

Headshell Heroes

A DJ crew made out of four Malaysian DJs namely - Syed Effects, DJ Doughboy, Lazyarse, and DJ Take Out. They dug out to the surface from the center of the earth using only cut-half vinyls. Learnt human interaction slowly through the tutelage of Master Splinter and Wolverine. After realizing it was all bullshit they instead decided to form a DJ crew to manipulate sounds which will relay secret messages untraceable by evil CIA to other superheroes. If you are a superhero watch these now!

I made that all up but you still have to watch all these videos, or you suck ass dude.

Headshell Heroes Jam session 1 - part 1


Headshell Heroes Jam session 1 - part 2


Headshell Heroes Jam session 1 - part 3


Headshell Heroes Jam session 1 - part 4


Dope right. I like 2 and 4. And itu baru jamming jack. They'll come back with more shit latah stay tooned.

Sum nooh vids

Blu - just another day


Ghostface Killah - we celebrate


Missy Elliot - ching-a-ling & shake your pom pom 3d video

Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, and white boys

I haven't been listening to much hip hop lately except maybe YAHH TRICK YAHH. So right here just to post why not me post hip hop-influenced songs from unlikely groups. Like one is a punk band, the other is a new wave kinda band. One used to share the stage with Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five when they toured New York (Joe defended 'Flash when the 'tarded punk crowd was booing hip hop) and you can see a lotta 'Flash influence on their song. The other directly covered a 'Flash song.

The Clash - magnificient seven


Duran Duran - white lines





The real thing too of course.......


..broken glass everywhere. Chewah.

rebel to amerykah

Erykah Badu - Honey
Uploaded by sesame23

Erykah B for President, bitchessssssss! And lol @ her not so subtle jab at the "Hey Ya" video. At lest she still thinkin bout you, Dre. Leave a comment with as many album titles she appropriated for the video and I'll call you a smart ass by name on the next Rogue Radio Session.

New Amerykah is coming soon. Start wrapping yo damn heads.

Def Jux delivers the goods

Aes Riddock started it, if you ask me. None Shall Pass marked Definitive Jux's ascent to making accessibly intelligent rap music last year, and Jaime Meline and dem got the formula on lock, for the moment at least. Hangar 18 (yes, Hangar 18) has a new video out (probably from Sweep The Leg, but I'm on my way to lunch, so you run that on Wiki) and guess what? The song's not garbage:



Also from Camp Jukie, Del Tha Funkee Homosapien's leaked single off the impending The Eleventh Hour album: Bubble Pop! (It's gewd.)

i ain't been out a second ...

I have officially gotten too old for this shit.

Chubb Rock drops dem gems

Props to The Great Hip Hop Debate.

And as a reward for watching all that:

The.XS Collective and random video for t'day - XCALIBOUR!

This first half of this post is for mah brevrens from the south, the mad south south, the after longkang besar south, not JBC, fuck JBC, JBT fah lyfe fahk ya lyfe. Anyway, I'm talking about the mighty The.XS Collective. They were once known as As One, one of the longest mainstays of Lion City hip hop rejuvenated.

Recently they released a compilation album and me and WordsManifest were featured in it too. If you want some of that action you can get it at the lab, we still got a lotta copies there. We also shared the stage with them at the dope as dope Family Affair gig last year.

Now, recently one of the main groups in the crew, Xscapists, released on the net this song turn me down. It features two other emcees - Irfan and Young. So fricking head on to their fricking MYSPACE to listen to it. And yes I said MYSPACE, cause we can stream MYSPACE music now.. yo. For some reason.

Also check out their new year's performance video on YOUTUBE. It's pretty pretttty good with all the different angles and non stop track-by-track spitting, pity the organizers rushed them off the stage before finishing their anthem.

Now on the next shit.

This shit is raw as a mufuckah. Muh man Kryptik had told me about them some time ago. Xcalibour, they be a hip hop crew from Surabaya, Indonesia. Now they old video is somehow on youtube and good fucking heavens it's fucking ghetto as fuck, surreal. It's like back then you had Wu, and you had Onyx, this is both. Haha. Check it out aight. Fuck ya life guntha.

Xcalibour - dobrak (2002)

Rogue Radio Sessions #2

Oh you thought it was just a one-off? You wrong, son.

Rogue Radio Sessions #2 features more of that real hip hop loot we pride ourselves on, with burners by Public Enemy, Sarah Jones and the Dap Kings, Spank Rock, Jin Hackman, KLG Sqwad, Naughtius Maximus, and more. Plus, Skillz's annual Rap Up!

DOWNLOAD ROGUE RADIO SESSIONS #2

Happy Noo Gyeah, snitches!

... and because I'm so fucking nice: Skillz - 2007 Rap Up Video

This just in, and thanks to Nona Ili Roguy for the heads up. Just a little over 24 hours after Rogue Radio Sessions #2 got uploaded, it's clocked in over 210 downloads. That's a shitload. Thanks everybody who linked that shit on their blogs and messageboards (here, here, here, here, and godDAMN, here too), and major daps to all you heads who downloaded RRS#2 onto your harddrives!