Blue Scholars have emerged out of the erupting Northwest hip-hop scene with soulful beats, poetic yet political rhymes and a reputation for dynamic live performances. With two full length albums and 3 EPs, the group has become one of the top West Coast independent hip hop acts, known for their energetic and always entertaining live shows and a world view that blends the personal and the political, but unafraid to party in the process.

One of the problems with a lot of underground acts I come across is that they may have rhyming talent but have terrible beats. Or vice versa. This is not the case with Blue Scholars. Their beats are some of the best that I’ve heard in a while. Geologic’s flow matches perfectly with the fantastic sounds orchestrated by Sabzi. It’s a shame that there aren’t more acts like Blue Scholars hitting the mainstream. This is what hip hop on the radio needs to be. It’s also a shame that these guys have been around for a while and I’m just now hearing about them. I hope that I will see and hear much more from them in the future.

Two of my favorite songs come from their Oof! EP. Make sure you go buy their albums. You can buy then from their website or download them from Amazon or iTunes.

Blue Scholars – New People
[See post to listen to audio]

Blue Scholars – Cruz
[See post to listen to audio]

You can also catch their video for HI-808 from the Oof! EP

Blue Scholars – HI-808 (Official Music Video) from Blue Scholars on Vimeo.

The first two songs are by Brett Dennen. He is described as a folk/pop singer-songwriter from Oakdale, California. He has been compared to Bob Dylan, Tracy Chapman, Jack Johnson, James Taylor, and Wynonna Judd.

Ain’t Gonna Lose You
[See post to listen to audio]

Make You Crazy (Featuring Femi Kuti)
[See post to listen to audio]

The last song is by Sean Hayes. Sean Hayes’ musical sensibilities defy easy categorization. He’s considered a masterful songwriter and fingerpicker, playing everything from guitar to banjo to mandolin.

Hip Kids
[See post to listen to audio]

Deltron 3030 – Deltron 3030

Deltron 3030 was a hip hop supergroup composed of Del the Funkee Homosapien, Dan the Automator, and DJ Kid Koala. The album takes place in a dystopian future, the year 3030 to be exact. The story follows Deltron Zero, the hero, fighting against an oppressive government and gigantic corporations that control everything. The production by Dan the Automator is operatic, while still maintaining the rhythm that makes hip hop great. Del’s rhyming over the eerie, futuristic beats flows like water. Rumors have long circulated of a sequel to this album with updates coming every so often, but it has yet to surface. [Buy Now]

CunninLynguists – A Piece of Strange

A Piece of Strange is the third release from one of my favorite hip hop groups, CunninLynguists. They get a lot of flack for having a juvenile sounding name but make no mistake, these are talented individuals whose lyrics go deeper than their name would imply. This album follows the story of a man and those closest to him in their struggles with right and wrong, love and hate, faith and sin. The album features a lot of symbolism, from the album cover to the lyrics of each song. Biblical references abound throughout the 16 tracks. The album’s producer, Kno, sets the tone of the album early on with soulful beats that quicken as the main character falls from grace and finds himself facing eternal damnation before finally returning to the light. The many theories that surrounded this album and its meaning were cataloged on a companion site I made asking what is A Piece of Strange? [Buy Now]

Tech N9ne – Anghellic

Tech N9ne’s Anghellic is similar to A Piece of Strange in the fact that it has a character traveling through hell, to purgatory, and winding up in heaven.  Instead diving into deep symbolism with a cast of characters, Anghellic focuses on Tech N9ne and his own personal struggles. Obviously he doesn’t actually travel through hell and back, but the stories he tells are about his own personal hell, purgatory, and heaven. On his way through purgatory he confesses to murder, but not the normal gangster rapper murder. No, his tale is of abortions. The track Suicide Letters is exactly what the name implies: suicide letters to his friends, family, and fans. While much more dark than A Piece of Strange, it was Tech’s most personal album to date. If you want an even darker look into Tech’s life, his album K.O.D (King of Darkness) takes you on a darker journey. [Buy Now]

Masta Ace – A Long Hot Summer

Masta Ace actually has a couple concept albums. The first one was his 2001 album Disposable Arts. At the beginning of that album we find Masta Ace’s character leaving prison, his return home, and his life at “The Institute of Disposable Arts”, a school in which Ace enrolls after realizing how bad the situation in Brooklyn is. Listening to that album, you might wonder why Masta Ace’s character was in prison to begin with. His 2004 album tells that story.  The album opens with Masta Ace sitting on his Brooklyn stoop writing. That’s when neighborhood gangster Fats Belvedere comes along and convinces Ace to let him go on tour with him as his unofficial manager. Ace agrees and the album takes you through various interactions with people on tour and with skits involving the Joe Pesci sounding Belvedere ending with them both getting arrested because of Belvedere’s illegal activities,unbeknownst to Ace, the real reason he wanted to go on tour. [Buy Now]

These albums, by far, are the most creative in hip hop. The artists were not afraid to take risks in order to tell great stories. Not everything in hip hop is bling, violence, and women. These albums show how true that is. If you’re looking for more great hip hop, I suggest you look to the entire QN5 roster. These guys are the most talented artists in hip hop today. Some more artists you should definitely check out: Binary Star, Chali 2na, Jurassic 5, Common, Talib Kweli, Mos Def, JR&PH7 and K-OS.

[See post to listen to audio]

Fast forward to this morning. I wanted to listen to my newly purchased album on the way to work. Normally I listen to hip hop or 90’s alt-rock on my way to work in the morning, and usually at a fairly high volume. Since I decided to go with Bat for Lashes, a relatively chill band, the volume was not up too high. This is what saved my life. I was driving down highway 94, like I do every morning, and I come to the intersection at Harvester and 94. Shortly before I reach the intersection I notice the car in the left lane was not moving. Normally I would have thought the driver was having car troubles and kept on through the intersection. Normally I would have been listening to the music loud enough that I would not have heard the St. Charles County Sheriff’s sirens going off as he comes speeding through the intersection. But I was listening to Bat for Lashes. So I did hear the sirens, I did stop in time, and I did avoid running directly into a Sheriff’s car at 55 mph. My life was saved because of what was playing in my car this morning.

While I didn’t collide head-on with another car, I did almost get hit from behind. The person behind me was not as observant as I was and almost plowed right into the back of me at 55 mph. Luckily he was able to slow and swerve and avoid hitting me. It was scary seeing him miss me by inches and wind up along side of me. Two catastrophes were avoided this morning and Bat for Lashes saved my life. Nothing like a near-death experience to wake you up in the morning.

Viral marketing has made it’s way to independent hip hop label QN5. They are employing the technique for their release Chico and the Man, a duo composed of emcee Tonedeff and producer Kno (of CunninLynguists fame). What’s interesting is that an independent label would go the viral route first, and not a major label with unlimited supply of resources. This goes to show you the power of the internet and social media sites.

So what do we know about this album? There’s not much. Everything that has been found has been by the dedicated fan base working hard at finding any sort of possible information, making guesses, and taking leaps. Only a few clues have been released, but let’s take a look at the clues that were given, how they were given, and the resulting news. All the clues have appeared on the Chico and the Man Twitter account.

Before we look at the clues given, I should point out that the Twitter account background is a clue in itself. If you look at the background file name you see that it’s called fulgenciobatista01011959. Fulgencio Batista was a Cuban dictator, and 0101959 = January 1st, 1959. On that date, Batista was forced out of the country by Castro’s revolution. Could the History of Cuba be one of the topics. There is also the line catm: work for it. twitter is the key. commented out in the code.

Clue number 1: waiting to breathe
No one is sure what this means quite yet. It may be the title of the album or a title of the track off the album.

Clue number 2: love keeps the stars in the firmament and imposes rhythm on the ocean tides – maya angelou
The rest of the poem is as follows:

“Love builds up the broken wall
and straightens the crooked path.
Love keeps the stars in the firmament
and imposes rhythm on the ocean tides,
each of us is created of it
and I suspect
each of us was created for it!”

It seems that the ocean is a major theme for this album, but what does it all mean?

Clue number 3:_fanned by a _pale mist the heart _flutters
There is a lot of speculation on what this one means, what the underscore means, etc. Far too much for me to reprint here, but read what fans have to say.

Clue number 4:18/5/1/3/8/ 23/8/9/20/5 13/1/18/9/16/15/19/1
This turns out to be code for Reach White Mariposa. What does this mean? Well, fans have found White Mariposa. Again, there’s a lot of clues here. Could the tagline “Su Amigo Para más de 45 Años.” mean anything for the album? What about the image titles. The logo is punto4. Point 4. Also, if you call the number, it is for this fake business described on the page, but the message is in Spanish. So if you want to translate an audio message that would help the fans out a great deal.

Your’s truly found the next bit of information. Commented out in the code is cada punto confirma el último. Translated that means “each point confirms the last.” That takes us to…

Clue number 5: cada punto confirma el último
It seems we are on the right track.

There is a lot of information that I have not posted, from meaning of butterflies to speculation on the initials HCK. It is all very fascinating. If you want to play along and love riddles, someone has made a thread to catch everyone up with what we know so far.

I’m excited about this use of marketing. This is definitely innovative. QN5, like one of their slogans says, is always 5 steps ahead of the game.

My favorite member of the group has always been Chali 2na. I love his deep voice and his spectacular flow. I’ve always wished he would put out a solo album and have been waiting for one to drop ever since J5 broke up. In the meantime, I purchased his less-than-stellar mixtape, listened to all the Ozomotli songs that 2na was part of. Finally, and without my knowing, Chali 2na came out with a solo album. The album is called Fish Outta Water and, while not the best album in the world, it is still a solid album on par with all the Jurassic 5 albums. It is definitely a breath of fresh air in a summer of stale music.

Check out a couple of my favorite tracks from his album and make sure you purchase Fish Outta Water today. (It is $5 at the Amazon MP3 store right now)

Chali 2na ft Anthony Hamilton – Don’t Stop
[See post to listen to audio]

Chali 2na – Comin’ Thru
[See post to listen to audio]

Today marks the releases of another QN5 gem. I’m talking of Mr. SOS’s How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb album.

From QN5.com, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (named after the Stanley Kubrick film) is an amalgam of every bit of darkness and light in the life of SOS and how he is influenced by the world. The album, released by independent powerhouse label QN5 will feature production by Tonedeff, the UK’s Quincey Tones, The BeatChefs, as well as Mr. SOS himself, continuing the progression of cleverly mixing traditional backbeats with abstract production and pensive content. When asked why he chose the title, he simply states, “because the movie is about the end of the world and so is my album.”

I’ve had this album for a week now and it is fantastic.  QN5’s ability to put out great hip hop, release after release, never ceases to amaze me.  Their albums are always killer with no filler.  Please support the artists who make true hip hop.  Please pick up this album today!

BUY DIGITAL @ [iTUNES] | [AMAZON]

BUY PHYSICAL @ [FAT BEATS] | [UGHH] | [SANDBOXAUTOMATIC]

Listen to Bionic (produced by Tonedeff) below.

I’ve been looking forward to this album for a long time. It’s a reminder of a time when rappers could actually flow and have word play. While some of the lyrics on this album are a bit dated (references to the movies Old School and Tango and Cash), it is one the adults can definitely love while the youngins are listening to the shitty sounds Soulja Boy and Flo Rida.

Don’t get me wrong, this album isn’t amazing or groundbreaking, it’s just more of that Meth and Red that we have all come to love.  Hearing them trade verses again after a 10 year silence is literally music to my ears.  This album has several radio friendly hits, such as A-yo and Mrs. International. It is definitely something you will be able to bump in your car all summer long.  I was excited for this album to drop and I have not been disappointed.  If you are a fan of real hip hop, make sure you buy this album from Amazon or iTunes.

The career of DJ Grandmaster Flash began in the Bronx with neighborhood block parties that essentially were the start of hip-hop—the dawn of a musical genre. He was the first DJ to physically lay his hands on the vinyl and manipulate it in a backward, forward or counterclockwise motion, when most DJs simply handled the record by the edges, put down the tone arm, and let it play. Those DJs let the tone arm guide their music, but Flash marked up the body of the vinyl with crayon, fluorescent pen, and grease pencil—and those markings became his compass.

The Bridge: Concept of a Culture

He invented the Quick Mix Theory, which included techniques such as the double-back, back-door, back-spin, and phasing. This allowed a DJ to make music by touching the record and gauging its revolutions to make his own beat and his own music. Flash’s template grew to include cuttin’, which, in turn, spawned scratching, transforming, the Clock Theory and the like. He laid the groundwork for everything a hip hop DJ can do with a record today, other than just letting it play. What we call a DJ today is a role that Flash invented.

By the end of the 70s, Flash had started another trend that became a hallmark of hip-hop: emcees asked to rap over his beats. Before long, he started his own group, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. Their reputation grew up around the way the group traded off and blended their lyrics with Flash’s unrivaled skills as a DJ and his acrobatic performances—spinning and cutting vinyl with his fingers, toes, elbows, and any object at hand.

Flash, now 51, is still making music. He recently released the album The Bridge – Concept of a Culture featuring artists from all around the world. He is still a grandmaster when it comes to production. Even with all the new technology and style changes in hip hop, the man still has it. If you love hip hop, respect your elders and buy this album.

Anyway, back to the song at hand. Yesterday is a song where Slug raps about thinking he saw someone yesterday. Really listen to the lyrics and you’ll understand why this is such a great song. He is at his best on this song. His flow is outstanding and Ant came through with a great beat. This is probably in my top 10 of all hip hop songs. You can visit Atmosphere’s MySpace page or their record label, Rhymesayers Entertainment.

[See post to listen to audio]

Chris Cornell has a unique voice. There is no other singer that sounds like him and he sounded great with both Soundgarden and Audioslave. I did wonder about the sound of the music that him and Timbaland would come up with. I was scared that it would be a rock-hop fusion that we heard so often in the late 90’s and early 2000’s. But it’s not rock. It’s not hip hop. The tracks on the album are funky and electric with a hint of pop. It’s something completely different from what Cornell and Timbaland usually do. Cornell’s voice over Timbaland’s production fits a lot better than anyone would have thought. This simple fact shows how great singer Cornell is and how talented of a producer Timbaland is. If you are looking for something unique, with great production and the unmistakable soulful voice of Chris Cornell, I suggest you purchase his album Scream.

In 1984, Simmons candidly told Gary Harris, a former Def Jam executive, “I’m sick of making people rich. I want to own my own shit, my own record label, my own movie company.” ¹ It was this mentality that drove Simmons to find Rick Rubin. When Simmons found Rubin, he was surprised to find a white kid, but then “realized that Rick Rubin and I had a lot in common.” ² Simmons decided to ask Rubin to co-produce an album by RUN-D.M.C., a group that Simmons was working with that also included his brother, Joseph Simmons. RUN-D.M.C. were probably the most popular and successful hip hop act of the time, but that did not mean they garnered much chart success. It wasn’t until Rick Rubin convinced the boys of RUN-D.M.C. to collaborate on a song with Aerosmith. The result was “Walk this Way,” which became the first rap record to appear in heavy rotation on MTV. By this time, Simmons knew he did the right thing in pairing up with Rubin, even though Simmons had been working with the group prior to meeting Rubin, and the group was never signed to Def Jam. His mind was made up, and with visions of success in his eyes, he went to create Def Jam Records with Rubin, using the signature name and logo that Rubin had come up with for the T. La Rock & Jazzy J record.

Simmons and Rubin each put up four-thousand dollars for the formation of Def Jam Records. Simmons immediately started using his contacts from his promotion and management business, Rush Management, to gain the attention of Billboard magazine. Def Jam was officially founded in the summer of 1984. Simmons stated that, “The purpose of this company is to educate people as to the value of real street music by putting out records that nobody in the business world would distribute but us.” ³ Surprisingly, it was their work with people not on the label that gave them their initial notoriety. It was working on the album King of Rock by Run-D.M.C. that gained Rubin and Simmons recognition from major labels interested in what Rubin and Simmons were doing with the new phenomenon called hip hop. Not only was Simmons having huge success as a concert promoter, manager of such acts as Kurtis Blow and Run-D.M.C., but he also orchestrated one of the first hip hop clothing partnerships.

Simmons and Lyer Cohan, who worked for Simmons’ Rush Management and would become head of Def Jam Records, set up a deal with German shoe manufacturer, Adidas. While playing at New York’s Madison Square Garden, Run-D.M.C. played thousands of fans, and the two Adidas representatives, the group played their song “My Adidas,” a song about the preferred shoes of the group. When the song came on, the thousands of fans in the Garden took off their Adidas and held them in the air. This was quite impressive to Adidas, impressive enough to offer a deal to the group. The Run-D.M.C. Adidas were shipped in a black box with no laces, the style that was set by the group. If not for Simmons, hip hop’s first sponsorship deal might not have been made.

About the same time that Rubin and Simmons started meeting with major labels for distribution, a young MC from New York came to the attention of the pair. He was LL Cool J, real name, James Todd. Rubin started working with the sixteen year old when Todd refused to quit calling Rubin to see if he had listened to his demo, a demo that had been sitting un-opened in a pile in his NYU dorm room. Rubin finally gave it a chance and saw Todd becoming the next big thing. After recording some tracks, Rubin and Simmons saw Todd as the future and decided to take the song “I Need a Beat” to Los Angeles for a meeting with associates from Warner Brothers Records. According to Simmons, when they put on LL Cool J’s “I Need a Beat,” “the whole room just sat there- some of them stared at the speakers, some of them just sat looking at their hands. It was like they were hearing music from another planet.” They left the building that day without a distribution deal with Warner Brothers. But before they left LA, they were playing “I Need a Beat” twelve times a day on KDAY, which had recently become an all-rap format station. ⁴ This success with an un-established artist later helped pave the way for negotiations with CBS Records. “I Need a Beat” was just the first of seven singles released that first year by Def Jam. After meeting with CBS, they settled at a six hundred thousand dollar promotion and distribution deal. ⁵ Todd’s next single, “Rock the Bells” went on to sell over nine hundred thousand copies, his biggest single to date. ⁶

Coming up Next: Movin’ on Up. Def Jam Moves Out of the Dorm and into the Corporate World.

I have some great news for fans who love great music. One of the best (if not THE best) hip hop groups has a new release dropping soon. You can now pre-order Strange Journey Volume One by CunninLynguists now. From the QN5 Blog:

We are now taking pre-orders for CunninLyngists’ Strange Journey Volume One.

Featuring guest appearances from Killer Mike, Khujo (of Goodie Mob), Skinny Deville & Fishscales (of Nappy Roots), Slug (of Atmosphere), Tonedeff, Substantial, PackFM, Mac Lethal, Mr. SOS, Looptroop Rockers, Hilltop Hoods and more! Once again, all production duties are handled beautifully by the incomparable Kno.

Respectively entitled Strange Journey – Volume One and Strange Journey – Volume Two, both full-length discs will be interconnected efforts dropped within months of each other and built around the concept of touring and travel. Both releases feature completely original, new material.

Strange Journey Volume Two will be released 09.08.09 and features appearances by Sean Price, Poison Pen, J-Zone, Blue Sky Black Death, Bronze Nazareth and more!

Pre-Order Volume One now and receive your ADVANCED autographed copy with bonus sticker and instrumentals a full 4-6 weeks before it’s available in stores!

Russell Simmons was brought up in Hollis, Queens. His father, Daniel, was supervisor of attendance in Queens School District 29. Russell Simmons studied sociology at the Harlem branch of City College. It was there that he teamed up with fellow student Curtis Walker to throw parties in Harlem and Queens at which the first generation of rappers competed. He went on to manage Walker, who as Kurtis Blow became the first big solo rap star in 1979. Simmons worked with Blow in the completion of “Christmas Rappin.’” He also managed other successful acts such as Run-D.M.C., Will Smith, as DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, as well as legendaries DJ Hollywood and DJ Kool Herc.

“Christmas Rappin’” was Simmons’ first time of his illustrious career, that he entered the studio. When the song was completed, Simmons began shopping it around to various labels for release. As Simmons said in Life and Def: Sex, Drugs, Money + God, “There was interest, but no one was biting. The industry’s attitude was that “Rapper’s Delight,” despite its US sales and international appeal, was an unrepeatable fluke. ¹

While it was a fluke for the artists that recorded the song, the genre was by no means a fluke. “Christmas Rappin’” gained moderate success on radio. In places around the South, the single was still being played in late July. Simmons, who needed distribution for the record, approached PolyGram to distribute it. PolyGram wasn’t interested in investing in a hip hop record, but Simmons decided to show them the power of hip hop. He decided to go around to the various stores that expressed interest in the record and told them to order the record from PolyGram. When PolyGram started receiving orders from stores, they saw this as an immediate opportunity to cash in on hip hop. Kurtis Blow signed a record deal with Mercury Records, a label under the PolyGram umbrella. This marked the first time a hip hop act was signed to a major label. ²

Sugar Hill Records did find some more success on their roster. The legendary Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five signed to Sugar Hill Records and made its mark in hip hop in 1980. The group released the record “Freedom” which hit the top 20 on the R&B charts. 1981’s “The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel” was the first record to feature complex cuts and scratches, and introduced the name Grandmaster Flash as their originator. But it was 1982’s “The Message” which became the first hip-hop social commentary on ghetto life, and which became a critical crossover hit for Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. ³ Meanwhile, Simmons was out on tour with Blow promoting the “Christmas Rappin’” single. Though Blow had two Gold singles (sales of five-hundred thousand each), hip hop was still far from the minds of the major labels in the industry. They still didn’t see it as a marketable form of music. Simmons thought differently and would soon form a partnership that would change the fate of the entire music industry.

In 1984 two very different people with very different backgrounds met and would come to create one of the most successful musical ventures in the industry’s history. Not only was it that successful, but it was successful with a music the major labels didn’t see as becoming successful. The first guy was Rick Rubin, a former punk musician who loved the rebelliousness of this new form of music. The other was Russell Simmons, the concert promoter in New York who was booking the hottest MCs and DJs of the time at small venues, parties, and other small gatherings. These two met when Simmons saw a little logo on an album by T. La Rock & Jazzy J. This logo read “Def Jam.” The record was nothing like Simmons had ever heard. He immediately began searching for the producer of this record. He tracked Rubin down and found out he attended New York University. It was in a NYU dorm room that he met Rick Rubin and formed a partnership that would change music history.

Stay tuned for the next segment in my series on hip hop history, Building the Empire.