The Beat

Monday, September 14, 2009

VMA's post mortem: Kanye = World's Biggest Hater; Beyonce & Taylor Swift = American Heroes

I guess I'll be calling this "Swift/WestGate" until someone comes up with a better name.

Last night's MTV Video Music Awards was a coup for MTV and, in the long run, for Taylor Swift. Sure, she shrank to about the size of of a dust bunny when Kanye rushed the stage and morphed into Dr. Evil, but she recovered and probably gained about 500,000 or so extra fans as a result. Expect her album sales to get a bump in the coming weeks.

Much has been made of Beyonce's class in surrendering the stage to Swift, but really B had no choice. It was either let Swift take a bow or run the risk of being sucked into the pit. I anticipate Beyonce's album sales will get a little spike as well, but that's typical of top VMA award winners, so it may be hard to tell if it's a direct result of her good will.

So basically, Kanye set up both Swift and Knowles for their big moment, while setting himself up for a huge backlash.

It will be interesting to see what kind of reception West gets on the Jay Leno Show when it premiers tonight. He's scheduled to perform with Jay-Z and Rihanna. The plot thickens.

Overall, this was probably the best edition of the VMA's in the past decade or so. Plenty of drama to talk about and not just centered around Swift/WestGate either (really, someone help me come up with a better name).

I walked into the newsroom this morning in the middle of a full-blown discussion of Lady Gaga's wardrobe selections. When she won her award, I was wondering if she could even see through that mask/veil she was wearing.

Highlights for me were Pink's performance which sparked a mini-debate with my girl and me. She insisted she was singing live, I argued she had to be lip syncing. Either way she killed it.

The Em/Tracy Morgan sketches were great. Em needs to get back on his acting game. He's nice.

And of course, Hov's performance was momentous. But what was up with Lil Mama? Her and Kanye need to split the meds in half from now on.

Kanye's Wikipedia page gets nasty post-"Swift/West-Gate"

Click on the above image to get a full view of what it says. Wow!

Pitchfork staffer Tom Breihan posted this screen shot on his Twitter page. This was apparently taken immediately following Kanye's hater-moment at the VMA's.

Pretty much says it all, I think.

Rest of post here

Sunday, September 13, 2009

SMH Why Kanye?

Peace to MC Lars for posting this on FB. Kanye has become quite the monumental hater.
Rest of post here

Friday, September 11, 2009

Kylie Battlin performs “Danger” @ The Rubber Chicken Poetry Slam, 9.9.9

Pacific Grove High School grad Kylie Battlin recited Amir Sulamain's poem “Danger” this past Wednesday @ The Rubber Chicken Poetry Slam.

Battlin came in a close second in the state wide Poetry Out Loud competition. “Danger” was one of the poems she recited in the competition. Glad she's still around doing her thing.

Wednesday, September 09, 2009

Pretty good Jay-Z article in Village Voice

Former VV blogger Tom Breihan Tweeted on this article, and I gotta admit, this article gets it right. I'm pretty unapologetic in my Stan-ism of Hov, so this piece gives a nice perspective. Link here

Rest of post here

iTunes 9 is here

Apple held some big media event at its Cupertino headquarters today, where they launched a new line of iPods (the new Nano's look pretty tight) as well as the spanking new iTunes 9. I'm getting ready to write up a brief review of the new software, but in the meantime I figure I should ask folks what they think about this latest iteration. More after the jump.

Personally, iTunes is my primary music library resource. My digital collection is up to 33 GB now, I carry my 4 GB 3G Nano with me as my primary mobile library (it bumps nice in the Civic) and since I can sync my Palm Pre with iTunes (I'll have to use a third party app now with the iTunes update), iTunes is an essential tool in my day-to-day activities. How about for the rest of you? Just curious.

DJ Kazzeo Video Blog - 8.29.09

Kazzeo. That SC B.S., he on it. He goes in a little bit on the city of Philadelphia and gets candid on DJ AM's passing.
Rest of post here

Tuesday, September 08, 2009

MC Lars 5-year video retrospective

Pebble Beach's most famous rapper, MC Lars, posted up a five-year retrospective of his video work (Geez, has it really been five years?). Above is his latest video, a collaboration with K Flay called "Single and Famous." You can view the entire retrospective @ MCLars.com. The entire retrospective can be viewed after the jump.

Video: Sledge Grits cover "The Climb"

Salinas' cutest sibling rock band, The Sledge Grits Band, gives Miley Cyrus a real run for her money on this cover of "The Climb." This is also some sort of trailer for their new web site, http://gritsworld.com.
You can also subscribe to their YouTube page @ http://www.youtube.com/user/bluewendybear. Lots of fun videos and stuff there.These girls just don't quit.

Friday, September 04, 2009

The Beat Video Blog w/ Tech N9ne

Semi-late pass here. This was shot Aug. 9 @ the Rock The Bells festival stop at Shoreline Ampitheater in Mountain View. KC's finest Tech N9ne on The Beat video blog. You can view it in the media player to the right.
Tech is a really cool, down to earth cat and professional as all get out. I had a great time meeting with him and chatting with him in person. So great to be in the presence of an MC with such a humble disposition. Props to Tech N9ne, Kazz Kaliko, and the entire Strange Records Crew.

Kenny Neely - "Heartless" Live @ the Rubber Chicken Poetry Slam

The handsome, blonde-locked gentleman Kenny Neely gave a scorching rendition of of Kanye West's "Heartless" this past Wednesday @ The Rubber Chicken Poetry Slam. Video is to the right in the media player.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

The Beat Video Blog w/ Reflection Eternal

Yes, indeed. We had the privilege of interviewing Hi-Tek and Talib Kweli during Rock The Bells '09. Enjoy!
Special thanks to camera girl G for handling the Flip Cam. This was by far the most exciting and fun video I've put together. Share your thoughts, por favor.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Rock The Bells '09 mini-recap

Team Beat & Reflection Eternal (Talib Kweli & Hi Tek) together at last. Oh Fa Sho' (more after the jump).
So RTB '09 is a wrap. I took Monday off to recover, so give me a late pass for posting this a full day after the fact.
Truth is we didn't get to experience a whole lot of the festival because we were busy chasing down interviews. So a good portion of the day was spent back stage waiting for Reflection Eternal (pictured above) and Tech N9ne (pictured below).
So I can't give a full-fledged festival review, other than to say that the few acts I did see (Slick Rick, Reflection Eternal, The Roots, Busta Rhymes) and a few I caught glimpses of (Raekwon, Evidence & Alchemist, KRS-One) were pretty good bordering excellent.
Sound at Shoreline Ampitheater was excellent a couple of weeks ago for No Doubt, but for a hip-hop setting, the bass was so muddy and loud you couldn't get a full appreciation for the musicians on the main stage. Over on the Paid Dues second stage, sound quality was a lot better, and honestly this type of festival is better suited for a smaller second stage, where fans and performers have a better chance for interaction. That's what makes for a better hip-hop show.
As for my interviews, I have nothing but good words. Kweli and Hi-Tek were great for the brief meeting we shared. Both have this understated presence about them that is ultra-cool. They were really cool about letting me video tape my interview (when I asked if I could use my Flip Camera, Kweli said non-chalantly "I fucks with the Flip Cam." Very cool.
Tech N9ne was a great interview overall. I've interviewed him before, so it was nice to have that mini-history to draw upon. He's a really cool, but serious cat. His interview was the most in depth and personable.
Oh, and in case you didn't notice, that's my future wife in the pic above. I had to put that out there so Kwe and Tek and N9ne and their crew weren't trying to put the moves on her or anything. I'm just saying tho.

Friday, August 07, 2009

The National Poetry Slam championships 10 years later

Ten years ago, I was 22 years old and competing in the National Poetry Slam Championship.
Just writing that sentence is proof of how old I am, but also proof that at one time in my life, poetry was really the only thing I truly cared about.
This week marks the 20th anniversary of the National Poetry Slam, taking place in West Palm Beach, Florida. More than 60 poetry slam teams from across the nation competed.

For the uninitiated, a poetry slam is competitive poetry match where judges, picked at random, give numeric scores to poets based on performance and content. It was invented by Chicago poet Marc Smith as a means of promoting poetry in the community beyond the academic set.
I discovered in 1998, at the urging of a friend. I was writing a lot of rap lyrics at the time, not doing much with them. My journalism career was already well underway, but I still had a strong desire to do something creative.
My friend would pick me up at random to go out of town and hit up open mics, wherever we could find them. Sometimes, we'd travel as far as San Francisco and Oakland just to get our creative fix.
One night in Santa Cruz, we stumbled upon a poetry slam, signed up, and proceeded to earn a majority of 9 and 10 scores for our two poems. From that point, I was hooked.
That lead me on a path to the 10th annual National Slam Poetry Championships in Chicago, where I competed as a member of the first and only Santa Cruz/Salinas national slam team.
Competing in the National Poetry Slam is like being in the freak olympics. There were cross-dressing poets. And cowboy poets. And hip-hop poets. And Guatamalan/Iranian/Muslim/Catholic poet.
To fit in, I died my hair green. It just felt right.
Over the course of five days, I experienced a flash flood of culture and talent that would carry over for a decade. I still slam on occasion, nowhere near the number of times from those early days.
I've been in a bit of a creative rut of late, and I know at some point I'm going to have to get over it. But thinking back to those early slam years, and marking more than 10 years as a slam poet, I'm reminded of how awesome an experience it is.
So props to the folks out in West Palm Beach duking it out right now to be slam champions of the world. Hopefully one of these days, I'll be able to get back there myself.

Wednesday, August 05, 2009

Set Times for RTB '09 @ Shoreline Ampitheater

The folks @ Guerilla Union just posted up the set times for the Shoreline Ampitheater
stop of the 2009 Rock The Bell festival. Full sked after the jump.

On the main stage, I'm curious to see who fills the TBD slot before Reflection Eternal is set to perform. My guess is Common, since A) he's scheduled to perform according to the festival's Web site and B) him and Kweli could potentially support each other's sets.

Also, I'm kinda bummed that Slaughterhouse is performing the second stage. To catch them, I will have to miss most of Busta's set, which is not a good look. Also, to catch Buckshot and M.O.P., I'll have to miss what I presume will be Common's set and RE. Decisions, decisions.

MAIN STAGE
ROCK THE BELLS FESTIVAL 2009

NAS & DAMIAN MARLEY 9:05 - 10:20 PM
BUSTA RHYMES 8:15 - 8:45 PM
BIG BOI 7:30 - 8:05 PM
THE ROOTS 6:40 - 7:20 PM
REFLECTION ETERNAL 5:50 - 6:20 PM
TBD 5:00 - 5:40 PM
HOUSE OF PAIN & LCN 4:10 - 4:40 PM
RAEKWON 3:30 - 4:00 PM
TECH N9NE 2:50 - 3:20 PM
CHALI 2NA 2:20 - 2:40 PM
THE KNUX 1:50 - 2:10 PM

OPENING DJ 1:00 PM - 1:50 PM
DOORS 1:00 PM
PETE ROCK (Host)
SUPERNATURAL (Host)
KRS-ONE (Host)

PAID DUES STAGE
ROCK THE BELLS FESTIVAL 2009

RZA 8:40 - 9:10 PM
SLAUGHTERHOUSE 8:00 - 8:30 PM
SLUM VILLAGE 7:20 - 7:50 PM
SAGE FRANCIS & B. DOLAN 6:40 - 7:10 PM
M.O.P 6:00 - 6:30 PM
BUCKSHOT 5:30 - 5:50 PM
EVIDENCE & ALCHEMIST 5:00 - 5:20 PM
NECRO 4:30 - 4:50 PM
PSYCHO REALM 4:00 - 4:20 PM
EYEDEA & ABILITIES 3:30 - 3:50 PM
MYSTIK JOURNEYMEN 3:00 - 3:20 PM
SHORT DAWG 2:30 - 2:50 PM
MICKEY FACTZ 2:00 - 2:20 PM
TABI BONNEY 1:30 - 1:50 PM

Tuesday, August 04, 2009

Black Francis coming to Henry Miller Library Aug. 14

Big, bald, chubby, Matt Pinfield-looking Frank Black aka Black Francis is coming to Big Sur for a special show @ The Henry Miller Library. If y'all are like me and got a late start on the Pixies, no sweat. The band has been pretty much in non-stop reunion grind mode the past few years, and they are set to go on tour to support the 20th anniversary of their seminal release “Doolittle,” which features the song that helped me discover the band to begin with, “There Goes Your Man" (now a romantic comedy staple).

In preparation for that tour, Black Francis (Franky baby's solo project) will hit Henry Miller Library @ 7:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 14, with support acts TBA.

In the meantime, you can check out this blog post from the Seattle Times, featuring a few homebrew videos from his Seattle show.

Rock The Bells Lineup @ Shoreline Ampitheater

There has been no official time slot list released for this Sunday's RTB Festival at Shoreline Ampitheater. But combing through the official festival Web site, I have been able to acquire the line-up based on scheduled appearance dates for each artist. Lineup after the bump.

According to the Web site, these artists are scheduled to appear at the Aug. 9 festival date:

Nas & Damian Marley
The Roots
Common
Busta Rhymes
Big Boi
KRS-ONE (Host)
House of Pain w/La Coka Nostra
Reflection Eternal
Tech N9ne
RZA
Raekwon
Sage Francis
M.O.P.
Slaughterhouse
Eyedea & Abilities
Necro
Slum Village
Chali 2na
Evidence & Alchemist
The Knux
Psycho Realm
Buckshot
Mystyk Journeymen
Mickey Factz
B. Dolan
Tabi Donney
Supernatural (Host)
MURS (Host)
Pete Rock (Host)

It's Rock The Bells Week!

Hard to believe this will be my fourth year attending Rock The Bells.I know, time flies, right? But it's been an annual highlight and thanks to the power of archiving, I can give a quick re-cap of my previous RTB experiences (more after the jump).

For a recap of the the 2008 RTB, click here and here.

For some reason, I didn't chronicle the 2007 festival on my blog, but to get a wrap-up of the 2006 festival, click here.

Monday, August 03, 2009

R.I.P. Baatin of Slum Village

Signing in a bit late with this one, but gotta give final props to Baatin, one of the original members of Slum Village. He passed away earlier today. AP swipe after the jump Detroit rapper Baatin dies of unknown causes at 35
Associated Press
3:36 PM CDT, August 3, 2009
DETROIT - Authorities say Detroit rapper Baatin, who co-founded the group Slum Village, has died in his hometown. He was 35.

The rapper, whose real name was Titus Glover, was found dead Saturday. The Wayne County medical examiner's office hasn't yet determined the cause of death, but county spokeswoman Vanessa Denha said Monday there were no obvious signs of trauma or foul play.

Baatin founded Slum Village in the late 1990s with high school classmate James (J. Dilla) Yancey, who died in 2006. The group won critical acclaim in 2000 with its national debut, "Fantastic Vol. 2," followed in 2002 by its highest-profile commercial release, "Trinity." Baatin left the group that year.

The Detroit Free Press says Baatin rejoined Slum Village for its upcoming album, "Villa Manifesto," due Sept. 22.

DJ Kazzeo Blog - 07.30.09

DJ Kazzeo at it again.

Man, this guy is too much. Calling out Gen. Steele of Smif n Wessun and Michael Vick. Guns blazin'.

Sure glad this guy is on my side, because I would hate to incur his his video blog wrath. Big up Kazz!

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