You won’t find him on wikipedia, but his work is woven into the music of Madonna, New Order, The Police and countless others. @beachboyz2men shares more about how Dan got his start, from creating telephone hold music to ending up working with Dr. Dre, helping to shape the sound of early hip-hop, and beyond…
how you livin biggie smalls?
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Late Tuesday night, on the way back from watching The Sixth Sense with friends and a stop at a karaoke bar on Sunset Boulevard, he was driving down Santa Monica Boulevard and saw a flock of twentyish white men and women in suits and classy dresses lounging on a corner, seeming to have nowhere to go. He stopped the Escalade in front of them, rolled down the passenger window and, in mock seriousness, yelled out, “Yo! Is this the heroin spot?”
We’re dropping a different kind of track: a new ice cream truck jingle. Sound UP to hear why I collabed with @GoodHumor. Check out the full track here: http://goodhumor.com/jingle #GoodHumorPartner
Brands hold immense sway over both consumers and the American legal system. Few know this as well as Dapper Dan, who went from street hustler to fashion impresario and has spent time on both sides of American trademark law.
Women, and especially Black women's sexual desires have always been policed by society; those working in hip-hop are no exception. Men often view women who detail their sex lives through witty bars, enticing dance moves and revealing clothing as lesser than their male counterparts, who rap about the same things and either exhibit the same behaviors themselves or use other, typically unnamed women as props for the same purpose. (Women succumbing to internalized misogyny or subscribing to respectability politics pass judgment, too.)
But women unapologetically rapping about how they split, flip and spit is an aspect of hip-hop culture that should never die. Whether a song details experience with sex work or celebrates a risqué rendezvous, every bar matters. Women who choose to rhyme explicitly endure being cast as lazy stereotypes, but the choice to reclaim their identity as both human and sexual, not deviant or barbaric, is a powerful one. Using artistic expression, these artists also empower a fan base that is routinely objectified and dehumanized for their very existence.
There's a halo of reverence around J Dilla, a producer and beatmaker from Detroit who made some of the most fascinating and influential beats in hip hop history. Before his early death in 2006, J Dilla worked with countless artists and producers - from Erykah Badu and Janet Jackson to Busta Rhymes and Madlib - and developed an off-kilter style of rhythm and sampling that transcended the machine he used to create music, the Akai Midi Production Center, otherwise known as the MPC. Spotify Playlist created by Okayplayer: https://open.spotify.com/user/okaypla... Brian "Raydar" Ellis' music: https://soundcloud.com/raydarellis Further reading: Compiled list of Dilla samples: https://dilladata.wordpress.com/ Redbull Music Academy: http://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/le... Don't Cry breakdown: https://tinysubversions.com/essays/do... Why J Dilla May Be Jazz's Latest Great Innovator via NPR: https://www.npr.org/sections/ablogsup... Waajeed breaks down Dilla samples: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpig... History of the MPC: https://reverb.com/news/a-brief-histo...
Charting the rise of hip hop's favorite condiment.
