I sat down with the youngest slinger of rhymed verse a few days back for the latest Madbury feature, "Ready for the World". Give it a glance, give it a read, good business all around. Diggy is a smart kid, capitalizing on all of the madness surrounding his name right now. He's most definitely no longer that kid from Run's House, I'm not saying you have to love his music, but I will say that for a kid with his reach and position at the moment, he is incredible level headed, down to Earth and personable. Good people all around.
It's been one of those weeks folks. I think we've spent more time driving up and down the various state highways than sleeping over the past five days. Tradeshows, listening parties, backstage interviews, photo shoots and the day to day antics that only seem to come about during these brief summer months. I'm going to indulge in a quick dumping of photographs from the past week to half way catch everyone up on what's been going on. The best moments go completely missed by camera but I think that's a good thing, some things should remain as memories only. Hopefully your summer, wherever you might be, has been as productive and more importantly enjoyable as ours has. Read this and then go outside, it's too nice to be on the computer.
Lower East Side movements.
Ellington has been putting in massive hours on Madbury over the past few months but like everyone else is just having a good time first and foremost.
Hawaii Mike looks on as one half of the brother duo behind denim line Naked & Famous explains to us why exactly they decided to make the world's heaviest pair of jeans. That pair of jeans standing there clock in at 32 ounces. The jeans you're wearing right now are probably somewhere around 9-12oz. So imagine wearing three pairs of jeans at once and you're beginning to get the idea. Why would you ever want to do that to yourself you ask? Well niether I, nor the guys behind Naked & Famous have an answer but sometimes that lighthearted approach and a willingness to not take everything too seriously is the key to good business. That and the fact that those jeans are standing up on their own. That's sort of cool as well.
I guess I have to explain this. Demetri and Juice haven't stopped watching old Dragon Ball DVD's. So whenever both of them end up in a photograph together, they either do the "suck it" pose from D-Generation X or they begin doing a Fusion Dance to combine their Super Sayian abilities on the streets of New York. Funniest thing I've seen in a long time.
You'll see the results of this turn up on Madbury sooner than later.
As dubbed by Quentin, this is my "bad 80's director" shirt. I think it gives me an appearance that suggests serious class and sophistication. Regardless, be sure to enjoy these days folks. We've run into some people this summer who are completely missing the point. Killing yourself working is no good if you're not enjoying the fruits of your labor. Work isn't work if you love what you're doing. Work hard and play harder, and if you're blessed what you considering playing will be your work.
Every once and a while, someone says something to me that somehow convinces me that they're sleeping on Big Boi. That baffles me. I understand that one of the greatest MC's alive is his partner in crime. But how could you possibly listen to an Outkast album and walk away not realizing the absolute genius of the far too often neglected Outkast rhyme slinger? So today I remind everyone out there that Big Boi has been rapping the socks off your favorite rapper since '94. "And you may go to hell."
That would be Boi Boi on the front end of the classic and also often forgotten ATL-anthem featured at the very, very end of Outkast's first album. They tucked this gem in there all the way at the end for those of you who listen to albums in full sittings. Yes that is a not so subliminal shot to those of you who are just buying singles from iTunes. More importantly is the flow here. Goodness gracious hold onto you purple polka dot suspenders and adjust your way of thinking. Big Boi absolutely massacres instrumentals and I will attempt in my most succinct fashion, to explain why.
The best rappers don't just have verses. And they don't just have lyrics. The best rappers become instruments overtop of an instrumental. Go back and check. Jay-Z on "Feelin' It." Nas on "Nas It Like." More recently? Check out Eminem destroying every other MC in the game with that last verse on "Forever." I could go on and on, but you should be able to understand from those few examples. These MC's are not rapping over top of a beat, they are rapping inside, on top, underneath and in every nook and cranny of the music. They're an instrument that forms seamlessly with the beat and that's what seperates the best from the greats.
I'll say it again and again that Big Boi has some of the most slept on classic verses of all time. Forget rapping over beats, Big Boi infests musical compositions and if this article and song don't open your ears then just keep them shut, "some of you niggaz can't cope with it."
"Uh, well you know we gettin blizzard cuz we got that chicken gizzard
In the dungeon and scope but some of you niggaz can't cope with it
So, Opie, hip hop, to the front, to the back and it don't stop
From the streets of ATL to the slums of College Park
so god almighty no, it's Outkast for the 94 era
You heard the player's call, we takin it to another level
So 'lujah, Halle, let me get a swallow of that Martel
And you may go to hell"
Dom Kennedy serves up some visuals to accompany this Summer's Left Coast soundtrack. "1997" to me was the stand out track from Dom's last tape, From The Westside With Love, so it's only proper that it gets the full video treatment. Big ups to the good folks at Top Shelf on the production end of this piece.
Oh yeah, before you click Read More to enjoy, if I don't start seeing this on MTVU at the very least, I say riots are in order.
I've said it many times before in my writing and I will continue to make sure that it is said. Dom Kennedy has next where the West Coast is concerned. If these record label folks don't see it, then they continue to prove again and again that they're blind and out of touch with the industry. Never mind a rushed and oblivious XXL review, Kennedy spits raps that seem to come as natural as wearing flip-flop's and socks in his first major print appearance.
Not to mention the fact that Kennedy seems determined to make sure the only thing that leaves his camp are quality, completed projects. You don't see random leaks and throw away tracks on off days. If there's a method to this industry madness, they have the recipe.
The video is a continuation of Kennedy's laid back approach. Simple but dramatic, the video is an entrance to a larger national stage, a statement of purpose. Hard work be payin' off but only if you can manage to just be cool along the way. I speak for the rest of the Club and myself when I say that we'll be supporting on the journey.
Despite neglecting my duties on this here particular forum like the soccer god's neglect America's right to compete past the quarterfinals in the World Cup, I haven't been sitting on my hands or partaking in absolute nonsense. It's been a long and involved road, and for some strange reason, I thought that after launching Madbury I would somehow magically become less busy. Of course the complete opposite of that has occurred and I now have three times as much work to complete at any given hour of the day. But honestly, that's how I like it, and I feel that's how it should be. Work night and day while we're young so that we can sleep and play with no thought of work in a few years time. Best of your today's worst of your tomorrows sort of thing, excuse the easy Jay-Z quote exit on that phrasing. A quick catch up on what I've had my hands in...
We've been stringing together some pretty funky street style spreads which we're calling VOLUMES. I never realized how many people myself and my closest friends knew who took such high stock in their clothing. Especially because I've been increasingly wearing only what is given to me free of charge, the few pairs of Van's Authentics I have laying around the house, and which ever clean pair of socks I can get my hands on. Luckily for all of you, I'm not in any of the recent street style spreads. Take a glance at this madness.
Although I'm not sure I could ever bring myself to wear these, Dre managed to make them work in a serious way in the spread. Big ups to the Serengetti sort of bad mon ting.
Jason is always in a world of his own, just the way it should be. Not worried about the fact that there are no polo grounds in sight and he feels the need to wear riding boots. Killing it on his own accord.
Though the Friday Film Fest spreads are probably appreciated less than any of the other content we throw up on the site, they're by far the most time consuming and work intensive. That's alright with me, part of me continues to throw up the Friday Film Fest posts for myself and the few people whom I know will read and debate the movies with me. Hopefully you're one of those few people. We're doing something completely different from the typical movie review, sit down with a cup of coffee and your iPad is more of the direction.
We set the whole series off with Clockwork, hard to go wrong with Kubrick.
A page from The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, more informally known as the film Heath Ledger died while making. Check out the spread, proud of the breakdown and commentary on this one via Madbury Club contributor Elish.
There's a bunch more tomfoolery, including a pretty incredible look at some of the world's finest cars, and a summer kick off done proper courtesy of the LTD Mag family. Lots of things to digest over there, give it a look and let me know what you think. I'll take it back to the normal postings shortly. You know, monotone British rappers, senseless debates of hip-hop mastery and day to day antics. All to come. Take it easy out there.
Caught in between the pulls of sub-culture movements and real life's demands, a college student based in the illustrious state of New Jersey spends what free time he has neglecting his studies, obsessing over comics and old films, and running a small streetwear line when he sees fit. Thoroughly dedicated to having a good time whenever possible, Phil is just as likely to be found at the top of a mountain as on a downtown Manhattan street corner. At this point in the bio, I stop writing in the third person and proceed to keep it funky. Somewhere along the line, I managed to convince Kevin to give me a blog. It could prove to be tragic, or by some slim margin it could work out to be entertaining. Hopefully you check back and decide for yourself.
