HOLY FRICKIN’ HOLIDAZE I can’t believe 2009 is almost gone. This time last year, I wasn’t even considering moving to LA. And yet here I am now, smack in the middle of the most creative and exciting underground electronic scene in the world!

December is always party season, and this year is no exception. I keep this post updated and added to throughout the month and you can find it by looking in the right-hand column on my main page under “Shilo’s Event Calendar.”

• Dec 2: Low End Theory Family Reunion w/Gaslamp Killer, Daddy Kev, Nobody, Nocando + special guests TBA
• Dec 3: The Do Lab presents Solvent, Michna & Kether at King King
• Dec 3: Respect presents Genr8 & Kuru
• Dec 4: Culprit & Throne of Blood presents DJ Kaos, Soul Clap, TK Disko & Droog @ TS2
• Dec 4: BWOMP presents Dubstep.FM Invades LA w/Dopelabs, HD4000, EMU & SURPRISE GUEST @ TBA
• Dec 4: Nosaj Thing & Low Limit of Lazer Sword @ The Changing Same (San Jose)
• Dec 4: CONTROL @ Avalon w/AC Slater & DJ Craze
• Dec 5: Mark Farina @ Vanguard
• Dec 5: KRS-One @ The Roxy
• Dec 5: Winter Fresh Festival w/Datsik, The Toxic Avenger & much more @ the Pico Rivera Sports Arena

• Dec 9: Low End Theory with Busdriver, Oscar McClure, Bossasaurus, Asura & residents
• Dec 10: I AM A LASER with Ana Sia and Deru @ Club Nokia Mezzanine Lounge
• Dec 10: Made to Play with Jesse Rose, Riva Starr, Zombie Disco Squad & more @ the Roxy
• Dec 11: CONTROL @ Avalon w/Etienne de Crecy
• Dec 11: Ewan Pearson & Droog at TS2
• Dec 12: Gaslamp Killer @ The Echoplex
• Dec 12: Hear 008 1-Year Anniversary w/Mark Henning, Drumcell, Jeremy P. Caulfield @ TBA
• Dec 12: Love Fix w/Mark E Quark, Xavier de Enciso, Alex Villalobos, Victor Carrillo & more @ TBA
• Dec 13: BRAINFEEDER Sessions @ the Downtown Independent
• Dec 13: Eskmo @ TBA

• Dec 16: Low End Theory w/Sole & the Skyrider Band, residents
• Dec 18: BLVD, Souleye, AdamandEvil, Mid City West @ The Stronghold Building (Venice)
• Dec 18: Out of Asia w/Reid Speed, Gridlock, HD4000 & more @ TBA
• Dec 18: CONTROL @ Avalon w/Armand van Helden
• Dec 19: LA Record Christmas Party with Daedelus, Daddy Kev, Nobody, Take, MatthewDavid & LOTS more @ Bedrock, FREE w/TOY & RSVP here.
• Dec 19: Infected Mushroom @ Avalon. Read my interview with Infected Mushroom

• Dec 23: Low End Theory w/Ras G, SamIYam, Lorn, Teebs & residents
• Dec 26: Pure Filth w/Flying Lotus, Daedelus, Daddy Kev, 6Blocc, The Professionals, Magi, Remo, Metaphase, Kemst & MC1

• Dec 30: Low End Theory w/Tokimonsta, 6Blocc, Mr. Fantastic & residents
• Dec 31: Sea of Dreams in SF w/Glitch Mob, Ozomatli, Bassnectar, Ghostland Observatory, Yard Dogs Road Show, EOTO, Lynx & Janover, Random Rab, Marty Party, Ana Sia, an-ten-nae, David Starfire & more
• Dec 31: Gaslamp Killer, Chromeo & Peanut Butter Wolf @ Club Nokia
• Dec 31: New Year’s Eve 2010 Together As One w/David Guetta, John Digweed, Dubfire, Sander Kleinenberg & more @ Los Angeles Sport Arena
• Dec 31: HARD New Year’s Eve w/Boys Noize, A-Trak, DJ Mehdi, Destructo & more @ The Palladium

Aí sim. Dois monstros do Hip Hop se uniram e o resultado foi o álbum Survival Skills. Há uns meses atrás, antes do álbum sair, eles lançaram o clipe da música Robot. O segundo clipe do álbum é da faixa que dá nome ao álbum, Survival Skills.

A música é foda, mas o clipe é só legalzinho. Os clipes do KRS-One andam saindo sempre nesse mesmo estilo de sempre, acaba enjoando. Mas vale a pena conferir, KRS-One & Buckshot:

Although I don’t cover a lot of hip hop on this site (shit bores me nowadays), I still give props to real hip hop artists and music. KRS-One and buckshot fall into that category. Here’s their new video, Survival Skills, where if you pay attention, you might learn a thing or two.

Dope new video for Survival Skills from two of the most respected Mc’s in the game, Krs One & Buckshot.  Produced by Illmind with DJ Revolution on the cuts.

Survival Skills – KRS One & Buckshot

KRS-ONE

With Thanksgiving fast approaching, I was trying to think of some songs that related to Thanksgiving.  But then I realized most of those songs would end up being really corny, so that idea was scraped.  Still wanting to blog about music and the Thanksgiving theme, philanthropic ideas came to mind.  I stumbled across some news that Hip-Hop pioneer KRS-One is preparing to feed the homeless at New York’s Bowery Mission center on Thanksgiving night.  Lawrence Parker (his real name) was once homeless himself as a teenager, and sought the services that Bowery Mission provided.  He feels it is his way of giving back to a place that once provided him with food and shelter.  Now that’s what I call the real meaning of Thanksgiving.  I just hope that more individuals from the music industry (particularly Hip Hop) can follow in KRS-One’s direction.

In case you missed it, ZIF gave the two thumbs up to this album. I recommend copping it, if you’re into that sort of thing, if not Google that bitch and listen for “free” (your soul pays later). Some call KRS-One a legend, and Buckshot an indie equivalent. But really, they’re just a couple of benchmarks, namely ones mind you. I respect this album greatly, but that whole KRS is a God and Buckshot is unsung shit has been tired for a decade. By the way Kris, I’m no longer vegetarian, I wasn’t raised one like you, that’s cheating.

Nieuwe clip van KRS-One en Buckshot – Survival Skills!

“Frenemies” is a term usually reserved for shit like the The Hills (and a song on Jim Jones’ last album), but the rap game has its own collection of drama queens volatile, flip-floppy stars. Cases in point: the phony-friendship roller coaster that Jay-Z and 50 Cent have been riding over the last decade. No “Takeover” or “Ether” yet, but these two heavyweights still qualify as top-notch frenemies.

As regulars atop Forbes Hip-Hop list, you’d figure Jigga and 50 have enough in common to be buddies, but rap is a competitive sport and there’s pretty much only room for one at the top. While they’ve never all-out beefed, they’re not on that vegan steez neither—hence, frenemies. Check out our list of the friend and enemy moments between the two and a KRS-One video with his thoughts on a possible battle between 50 and Jay-Z…

More —> Here

New clip from KRS & Buck, off the Survival Skills album…available now. Video directed by Todd Angkasuwan.

Duck Down Records are currently in a rich vein of form with the signings they have added to their roster plus the volume of dope material actually reaching the eardrums of those outside the usual Duck Down/Boot Camp fanbase is nearly reminiscent of the Rawkus Records Era.

On my long hiatus from the blog world I posted up Skyzoo’s most recent offering Popularity and am happy to be continuing the Duck Down theme with the title track from KRS and Buckshot’s LP produced by IllMind with cuts by DJ Revolution a Todd Angkasuwan video that feels very much like a continuation of what we witnessed in Robot.

Check for the educational points on the wall!!

Rick Ross affiliates Triple C’s have taken aim at legend KRS-One and the New Boyz in response to what they deem are hypocritical critiques of their style of Hip-Hop.

In a recent interview for rollingout.com, the 3 man group resurrected the 3 year old debate Nas coined with his 2006 Hip-Hop Is Dead LP, and launched criticism at KRS-One in spite of the Bronx veteran dropping an album in early 2007 entitled Hip-Hop Lives.

For them, Hip-Hop’s health is based on the fact there is still money being made, and not the stance of some fans and critics that the genre has seen a downward spiral due to the lack of creativity from certain artists.

“You notice it’s the people that always say ‘Hip-Hop is dead,’ they ain’t got no money,” argued Torch. “And to top it all off, it’s like Hip-Hop is dead but when they had their run, the same people that say these things, they be in pictures with AK’s, they forgot all that now. You need to do your track record, do your homework and the record that people are pointing their fingers, you gotta realize, every time you point your finger, the other four are pointing right back at you. You gotta understand what’s going on. So at the end of the day, I ain’t with the finger pointing and the other four pointing back at you, but at the end of the day, music is music. You stay in your genre of music whether its backpack, dancing, and let us stay in ours. We make real music.”

To accentuate Torch’s point, rapper Gunplay dismissively shouted out Boogie Down Productions’ landmark debut Criminal Minded while a picture of BDP’s politically charged and Malcolm X-inspired cover for By All Means Necessary flashed on screen.

Triple C’s then turned their attention to teen group the New Boyz, implying the duo were gay due to their choice of clothing.

“We don’t knock nobody’s hustle because we don’t want anyone to knock ours, because we might knock your head off,” stated Breed. “If your jeans tighter than my b***h’s, hey, we’re not knocking your alternative lifestyle. It’s on you if you want to wear sparkling beat chains. But don’t [criticize] when we talk about our sticks, bricks, when we’re doing our thing because we’re going to feed the streets regardless. We talk about what we know.”

Triple C’s debut album Custom Cars & Cycles was released on October 27.

Since Nas dropped Hip Hop Is Dead back in 2006, many of the 90s era of rap has tossed in their two cents echoing the sentiment that today’s age of Hip Hop has become too saturated with imitators and not enough innovation.

KRS-One recently made remarks towards the Def Jam label around the time of the Hip Hop Honors which was celebrating Def Jam’s 25^th anniversary.  Although he stated that the brand has helped to revolutionize rap, it has also been the catalyst in destroying the genre.

“Def Jam is the dopest label in Hip Hop, in the culture of Hip Hop.  There really would be no Hip Hop as we know it today if it wasn’t for Def Jam, but you don’t get that respect without also being the label that single-handledly destroyed Hip Hop.”

After such a statement, there seemed to be nobody to counter that statement, not even one rap artist on Def Jam.  Their silence seemed to only solidify what he stated.

Members of Triple Cs, however, have not sat well with the words with the Hip Hop legend and have even found sparks of him being a hypocrite.  Speaking with Rollingout.com, Torch touched on the older generation calling the game dead, but not keeping in mind the way they initially came in the game.

“To top it all off, it’s like Hip Hop is dead, but when they had their run, the same people that say these things, they be in pictures with AKs.  They forget all that now.  You need your track record, do your homework and the same record that people are pointing their fingers, you gotta realize, every time you point finger, the other four are point right back at you.”

The picture in question references the album cover to 1987s Criminal Minded with the rapper draped in bullets and holding a firearm, as well as, the 1988 album By All Means Necessary..

He also added that the campaign against new Hip Hop is being lead by those that can’t adapt to the time and are suffering with their own musical projects.

“You notice it’s the people that always say ‘Hip Hop is dead,’ they ain’t got no money.”

The covers in question were actually politically driven and inspired by Malcolm X, but I guess no one really cares about history these days.  The time then is similar, but nothing to the time now and people must find a way to realize that.

“The two people that should be battling are Jay-Z and 50 Cent…I think it would be great for Hip-Hop.”

-KRS-One

You love to hear the story again and again about how KRS-One burst on the scene in the 80’s after being initially scorched by the Juice Crew’s leaders the late Mr. Magic and DJ Marley Marl. After that, he set it off on the crew with Boogie Down Productions in what would be one of the most storied battled ever.

But fast forward to the present day. 50 Cent has been calling out Jay-Z in a number of songs and interviews in an attempted to lure his fellow Hip-Hop mogul into a lyrical championship bout.

Video after the jump

On Beanie Sigel’s “I Go Off,” 50 Cent says, “Yeah, you changed, man. You let the money change you, Jay. You used to be from Marcy, [Brooklyn] n***a. Now you a pass the Grey Poupon a** n***a. You don’t want the shooter? I’ll take him. [laughs] N*gga, feed the wolves or else the wolves feed off you. Eat your a** alive! I live by a combat’s creed. Strategy. Your move, n***a.”

Jay-Z has yet to respond, but AllHipHop.com had to solicit the opinion of KRS-One, a man whose insights seem to know no bounds. So, the Blast Master comments on the beef, but also how it should go down, should Jay-Z and 50 lock in. Furthermore, KRS theorizes how it all could make dollars and sense for the two moguls.