After a great show in May at the HMV Forum, Snoop was back in the Big Smoke in occasion of Lovebox 2011 in Victoria Park…and what a return it was! The area was packed of fans waiting for the Doggfather to perform his first album Doggystyle live alongside Tha Dogg Pound, Lady of Rage, RBX and Warren G.
After a nice warm-up by the evergreen De La Soul (I’ll post some of the vids soon…) it was time for the show we were all waiting for to get started! Doggystyle cover hanging in the background, live band set up and ready to G-Funk it up, videos of Snoop’s recent hits playing on the screens…the DJ ( can’t remember his name for ish at the moment…) then starts amping up the crowd and a video of ‘Bathtub’ starts playing! That was definitely a surprise, I wasn’t expecting videos to be played of most of the album’s interludes – ‘Bathtub, W Balls,’ ‘House Party’ and ‘Betta Ask Somebody’ – in-between songs!
Without running through each song, the show was real good and the crowd loved every minute of it (the unexpected spot of good weather and beer definitely helped!). The highlights for me were ‘Gin and Juice’ (always!), ‘Murder Was The Case’ (nice rendition, first time I heard it played live by a band…), ‘Gz and Hustlas’, and ‘Regulate’ where Snoop joined Warren G on stage and repped Nate Dogg to the fullest!
Overall Snoop did his thing and rocked the show, but I personally preferred the show in May as the energy at the Forum was of a different intensity! Also, performing ‘Wet’ and ‘I Wanna F*ck You’ on the night wasn’t really needed as we were all there to see Doggystyle live and not to hear commercial songs he had already performed in May and will perform again in October no doubt.
That aside, it was a great show once again by Snoop Dizzle so big up to Lovebox for bringing him over with the rest of the DPG crew (even RBX!). Here’s a few vids from the night, apologies for the ‘bouncing’ effect but it’s hard to stay still when Snoop’s performing his Doggystyle classics!!Enjoy!
Malice from The Clipse has disclosed plans to release a solo mixtape during a brief appearance on V-103 Atlanta as part of the 'Wretched, Pitiful, Poor, Blind, and Naked' promotional tour - if you don't know what that is, well you need to check it out now right here - a must read if you really wanna know what Malice is all about while waiting for his forthcoming mixtape to drop!
By the way, I love this track and I seriously hope both Pusha T's and Malice's upcoming releases have the depth tracks like Freedom and Life Change have.
According to this July 8th article on the LA Times, a new Outkast album may well be on its way by the end of 2011. The last release by the group (or should I say just Andre3000) was 'Da Art of Storytelling Part 4' back in 2007 featured on a DJ Drama mixtape. Since then the waters have been very quiet but the word on the industry street (by a rock-solid source apparently...) is that both artists are working on solo projects as we speak as well as a group album to be released before 2012. If it's true then that sounds great news but in the meantime we can only reminisce on their classic ish and hope that all the rumours of tension between the two are nothing but BS...
That raw 90s hip hop sound is back! Common and Nas recently released 'Ghetto Dreams' and as far as we're concerned it's one of the best releases of Q2! No ID, producer of the beat, brings back that mid 90's New York flava and with Common and Nas penning sick verses that we don't really hear from them too often these days, it's a real breath of fresh air!
Hip Hop is definitely in need of these kind of hip hop beats and if emcees of the calibre of Nas and Common bless them with hard-hitting rhymes, then only something special can be the outcome! While we wait for Common's and especially Nas' new album (which he promises will have a 90s feel to it), this track will keep blaring out of our speakers for months to come!
Check out the vids below, and let us know what you think of the track!
MTV published news that a listening session was held at the Mercer Hotel in New York for the highly ancicipated 'Watch The Throne' album, tentatively dropping on August 2nd. According to the article, the full length release will consist of around a dozen tracks, a couple featuring Frank Ocean (from Odd Future) and, unsurprisingly, a collaboration with Beyoncé on the song 'Lift Off'.
But a song that has got us hyped up here atThe Rap Buzz is 'Living so Italian' which apparently got the thumbs up from the few critics present at the session - as we're originally Italian, this song title is very interesting and we hope Hov and 'Ye rep it right and it sounds as monumental as the Coliseum!
On a final note, in theory the tracklisting will be finalised by Sunday night but as often happens, the final cut as the release date may well get pushed back...as always, we'll keep our ears to the street and keep you posted!
If you want to read more about this, go to MTV News
UPDATE:
The final tracklisting has found its way onto the Web, and as much as we're excited to hear the album, it seems 'Living So Italian' hasn't made the final cut...
2011 has blessed London with some of the best live concerts we have seen for a while. The RapBuzz.com was of course there for all of them, starting off with the massive Rakim, De La Soul and Rakim concert in May...followed shortly by Snoop himself and then Rakim going at it again solo.
See below for a taster that we have lovingly put together for y'all...
Rakim - Guess Who's Back
De La Soul - The Grind Date
Black Star with surprise Jay Electronica appearance
Interruption to the regular TheRapBuzz.com programming to say that...it took a long time, but we finally got there - the new version of LaCantinaProductions.com has finally been launched in beta! Ye-Yeah...
Man we've been busy. About a year ago, during a hot summer night in Rome, we decided that we needed professional web design help to take us to the next level - because as much as we'd love to, none of us can properly code XHTML, CSS, PHP and all of those other amazing things.
Also, our logo (lovingly put together 7 years ago in between the UK and Holland) needed a refresh for 2011. We needed something that would better represent the professional production team that we'd put together, yet have that real hip hop edge that has defined us since day 1. You can imagine our joy when we managed to actually accomplish this task ourselves and create what you see at the top of this blog post (who would've thought...).
So, proudly armed with a new logo off we go and hire a web agency based in the small, quiet town of Chichester (UK) and get the web ball rolling. Below is an incredible rare image of the new website wireframe plus the notebook where the first ideas were laid out...(!)
But back to the facts...after various bits of back and forth feedback around making our new logo fit with the redesign, the guys delivered. Now it was up to us to go through the herculean task of transferring everything over from the old site...
Delighted to announce, that today we finally got there. It's all still in beta, so no shouting and telling the whole world yet...but it's out there for all to enjoy (with 15 new beats). Now give us another couple of weeks and we'll be ready with the final final thing and a global launch that will be heard far and wide. Bam.
Yes, there was a long build up to this event, as we booked our tickets three months before the man in the mask arrived to London town. And it seems we weren't the only ones, as the queues outside Brixton Academy were far bigger than what we imagined...an eccentric mix of bboys, bgirls, honeyz and indie/emo dudes. But that's Doom, he's a character who knows how to create anticipation and intrigue around what he does, his following goes beyond hip hop and of course, he can spit abstract concepts in rhyme like no one else.
The set kicked off with The Herbaliser as the opening act. The guys are talented musicians and they gave a great performance - and that's not easy when you're opening for someone like Doom. But, sound quality was not the best, bit too bassy...but we just thought it was the nature of Herbaliser's music and kept sipping our beers waiting for the big moment.
Eventually a timer appeared on the screen behind the stage with 57:19 on it...we initially thought it had a 'deeper' meaning, but as soon as the mask appeared it became evident that it was a timer for the performance, as it started counting down.
The show was good. Doom was accompanied by a Fat Man Scoop sound a like who worked hard to hype up the crowd at every possible opportunity. The crowd responded, this was a big event afterall and tracks from Madvillain, Operation Doomsday, King Geedorah and Dangerdoom were all present.
However, the bassy problems continued and showed no sign of improvement after Herbaliser. Bit of a shame, as Doom's lyrics are what set him apart, and completely missing them because of a badly tuned sound system defeats the purpose of a live show. Also, the show was cool, but after reading about the impostor from the last gig in London, and this being Doom, we were expecting some sort of stunt or surprise...but nothing unfortunately. The timer reached zero, Doom walked out, Fat Man Scoop clone did his hyping up thing again, crowd shouted, Doom came back, did one more track, and that was that. Not a major criticism, but you come to expect something out of the norm from an emcee that is definitely out of the norm...
So, overall great venue, good performances, but nothing memorable for us to take away with us. We're waiting for the next one...
By Chriiis
So what really is the deal with Jay Electronica...? I mean, you get Nas, Just Blaze and Erykah Badu raving about him in the US media yet all we know about him's from his myspace page. He's risen to fame for spitting true, appealing to the as yet untapped stereotypical internet-user hip hop demographic while still delivering gangsta enough for a lot of the hardcore heads to keep boppin' to him. What’s more is he comes from the south yet sounds like he's straight out of NYC! Sefton "Big Pappa" Blake and Ruwan DMC went to Cargo in east London's Brick Lane to find out if he really is as sick as an increasing number of unsuspecting people are saying he is or if he should only ever be known and remembered for as the dude that had a chance with Erykah...
We got the word via Ruwan DMC's man on the inside at Cargo that things would be kicking off at 10pm sharpish which was cool as it meant that we had extra long for the standard pre-show rituals. We were literally a couple of seconds walk from Cargo, that close I swear I could throw a cricket ball from the flat lounge and land it in Cargo's beer garden. We rolled in fashionably late to find DJ Semtex on the pots and pans and a few peeps jumping up on stage spitting free's and writtens. All pretty mediocre shizzle until Semtex challenged Loudmouth, present amongst us for the show, to jump up on stage to do likewise. No one really thought he would as he seemed pretty stern in his reluctance despite numerous pleas and crowd shouts. "C'mon Loudmouth, get up here, I been bumpin' your records for time", said Semtex, "Yeah, not recently though!", came the reply. Eventually he bowed to our collective pressure and stepped up with a pretty sick 64 odd bars.
Jay Electronica finally hit the stage at about 10.15pm and dropped one of only two officially released tracks "Exhibit A". This went down proper well with the crowd despite stopping half way through yelling to DJ TJ to stop the track, "I gotta make sure y'all here this, so I'ma drop it acapella". Sincere, heartfelt and deep - the crowd was pumped!
It was wicked standing at the back of the room watching that first track unfold in front of us. It's an awesome venue, a couple of different areas and rooms, serving cans of San Miguel and Red Stripe and a wicked beer garden outside selling jerk chicken amongst other delicacies. Inside, the main room was pretty full at 200-300 people, with the bar and stage at opposite ends and a big projector pull down screen 'ting behind the decks covering part of the exposed red brick work that you can see on all the other walls. The big steel air vent tunnels run the length of the room on either side giving the place a real classic east london industrial warehouse feel whilst simultaneously providing us with some much needed air conditioning (Editor's Note: Welcome to the architectural buzz big pappa).
The second track to drop was "Dimethyltryptamine" off the Star Wars EP which again we were all proper feeling and once again he halted midway through and dropped the second part without music. Next up was "Renaissance Man" which he again stopped half way through and then "Dear Moleskine" which he didnt even start with music. We were swiftly getting treated to all his tracks and given that his discography is about the length of a midget's neck I thought I was going to be disappointed at having to pay the steep £25 ticket price for 6 or 7 tracks (with no music!). To fill the time Jay E started on a Fuck Sonar rant which has become de rigeur at all hip hop shows lately and the subject of many t-shit prints - Jay Electronica himself rocking a "FUCK SONAR" top for the occasion.
The guy then spat the Nas lyrics to "The World is Yours" - wtf dude!?!?!? I swear this boy must've confused Tuesday at Cargo for hip hop karaoke at The Social on Oxford Street the first Thursday of every month! I was fast thinking what a rip off and wishing I was back at Ruwan DMC's place with that cricket ball in my hand taking aim at the dude's head!
Anyway, after another rant, this time about September 11th, he did "The Pledge" but just before doing so he called the crowd up on stage, "I want you to feel what i'm feeling right now, fuck it, get up here!", everybody darted on the stage jostling for position and this was a unique way to check what sorts of people were in attendance. We know that due to his conscious lyrics and mysteriously cunning predominantly internet based marketing techniques he is appealing to a new audience, but that also due to his group of peers past and present (J-Dilla, Nas, Just Blaze) and his NY sound, he makes even seasoned stereotypical hip hop heads bop and indeed there were all these types up there on stage in full view. Each and every one of them I must add spitting effortlessly and intently along with him. This was crowd interaction at its very highest standard. The lone bouncer at the front of the stage didn't know what the to do...
Never before have we seen entire audiences getting invited up on stage, or actually have we ever seen them even allowed to get up there - so this was sick and every one up there was loving it big time - wicked shit to see. It got even more intimately interactive however when, leaving the masses on the stage behind him, he got right amongst it in the middle of the melee and dropped yet another acapella. It was phat seeing all these different types of people up on stage rhyming along to his lyrics - and I mean proper all-sorts - true looking heads, wannabe's, sexy ass hip hop honeyz, internet geeks with glasses thicker than the bottom of milk bottles - anyone and everyone!!!! With Jay Electronica right in the middle of the crowd was indeed how it finished and he stayed there amongst them for a good further half an hour just chatting with people, posing for photographs and signing the odd autograph.
So summing it up I think we have mixed reviews, I'm still not too sure what to make of it all. He was on stage for about 20-30 minutes tops which when you're paying £25 is cheeky. But the half an hour that he was on stage, I was feeling it, I have to say. Totally not what I expected, this is the only show I've ever been to where whoever we've been to see has done pretty much every track acapella and traded places with the audience. But I suppose we should have expected the unexpected, he is a completely different rapper and artist to all that have come before him in the genre.
Nevertheless, I was still a touch confused and bemused by it all, why drop every track acapella? This is a show, hype us up, get us pumped, I know it's a Tuesday but let's party! Walking home we were thinking - Is he simply so far up his own arse that it has become unrecognizable from his elbow or is he really that intent on getting his message across that he felt he just had to drop every track acapella...? Whatever way you choose to look at it, him spending more of the night amongst the fans than on the stage in front of them and with so many different types in attendance that were feeling him hard Jay Electronica has created a unique connection with his fans – and they have a extraordinary relationship with him.
"Police wanna pad me down, but I don't hang around,
bag a ounce, then I bounce,
back to the battle ground." Jehst - Freestyle
"I'm trapped in this pessimist mind state,
a frozen emotional ice age." Jehst - Die When You Die
The stream of sick shows is continuing to flow in the Big Smoke this year as it was off to the Vibe Bar in East London's Shoreditch for a Suspect Packages arranged event featuring surely one of the best hip hop artists the UK has ever produced – Jehst, his by no means mediocre counterpart Micall Parknsun and DJ Jazz T on the 1s. Sefton
It was just after 10pm before needle finally hit wax as the World Cup match between France and Uruguay was shown on the big screen outside before hand. Kicking things of was Micall Parknsun - Previously part of North West London’s crew 2Halves with R.A.M. Now solo he got the ball rolling with Beatz and Rhymez and Holding It Down off his latest musical offering “First Second Time Around”. Micall Parknsun seemed to arrive late on the UK scene as I can never remember really listening to him during the golden era. Nevertheless, the dude is pretty sick and in my opinion underrated - but only slightly. People were feeling these live versions especially Come Again with rawkus shouts of "London City, London City" in place of the chorus we're more familiar with off the CD version. I haven't peeped the whole album yet but was certainly encouraged to do so following this little cameo appearance. Hats off Mr. Parknsun - you played a blinder!
Parky’s album was released on the YNR label that Jehst set up while at university and the two feature on a lot of each other’s tracks which worked well with them both up on stage. The High Plains Drifter aka Billy Brimstone aka J-Star lept on stage for his verse on the track then the two of them launched into Who’s That off the Menghi Bus Mixtape. Jehst then went from the modern Menghi musings to Alcoholic Author – the classic track off The High Plains Drifter album and then onto the more melodic mash up joint People Under the Weather - that absolutely undeniable UK anthem that everyone can't help but sing along to!
"There's about 10 people in this room but we're gonna make it feel like 10,000!" screeched the man like the j-star and for the next 3 mins with everyone singing along with their hands in the air it actually did. This track was backed up by Nuke Proof Suit off the Falling Down album. Its a classic track, we love it and you should definitely check out the video on youtube - a blatant piss take out of 50 cents Bullet Proof Vest. Wicked how British sarcastic humour made its way into to a sickly constructed and colorfully worded couple of verses - nothing but dope! Why, for the love of god, did he not BLOW UP following that track?
Jehst is one of all time favourite rappers. Although many others from TheRapBuzz.com collective will beg to differ, there are very few other english language rappers out there who can touch him lyrically. Jehst has got that easy going, listenable voice, characteristic style and the most incredibly layered and intelligent wordplay that more often than not is beyond all comprehension with his verses all so carefully and thoroughly crafted in such an overwhelming artisanal fashion.
That's just the thing with Jehst - his voice, wordplay, content and delivery are all instantly recognisable. That being said, it is exactly this that is his downfall when it comes to live performances. TheRapBuzz.com has seen Jehst do shows in Bristol, Bath, Cardiff and several times in London both headlining as well as providing support for some of the more established names from the global scene e.g. Raekwon at Matter last year. Every time we see him on stage we can't help but feel disappointed. The thing is - his style just doesn't translate well live. The power and weight his rhymes carry come from the cleverness of his wordplay and the vivid pictures painted by his content. Stick him on a stage jumping around trying get people hyped doesn't enable him to properly give us what we expect from listening to him on CD though. Part of this has to be put down to the fact that in the UK, the majority of venues where this sort of music happens, the sound systems are always of pretty poor quality - or maybe it's just that we've been spoilt by seeing shows in France where live performances are always delivered thru’ systems with crystal clear audible clarity. Even where you'd expect the sound systems to be a little better (Jazz Cafe, Matter @ O2) we're still faced with the same problem - we can't hear what makes him good.
Not that it's much of a problem, every one of the 10 people present knew all the words just as well as he did. But this could be part of the reason why nothing more ever came from the talent that would/could/should have made him more of a household name perhaps not just in the UK. We were saying before the show how the only way for him to show off this very talent well enough live would be if we were chilling on someone's living room sofa with him stood right in front of us rapping. Funnily enough, this is exactly the set-up at the upstairs of the Vibe Bar, a lounge size room with a few sofas right in front of the slightly raised stage with just enough space in between for a few dozen people. Just a shame that only about 10 people turned up to fill it.
Jehst is a UK veteran and has appeared on practically all the best tracks ever to come out of the British Isles just take Cosmic Gypsies or Riviera Hustle as proof. Pure sickness, and this is why he has spawned a million soundalikes in Britain. His contribution to rap music in this country is undeniable - there are a $hit load of rappers out there who we never would have heard of, who never would have been able to express themselves musically to as many people as they do without Jehst. Though we are often left a bit bamboozled at some of the collaborations and the people he picks for his label, you can't deny that Jehst has intentionally, purposefully and almost single-handedly been responsible for an awful lot of output over the years; and it's fair to say that the scene in the UK probably wouldnt be where it is today without him.
Although popular in some other English-language territories like Australia - Jehst forms part of that elite group of UK rappers who people will always question - could they have made it Stateside (whether or not they'd want to/should do is a topic for another day). There are a few interviews on youtube with him openly saying that possibilities and offers from over the pond did come but that for whatever reasons nothing ever came from it. Did he get offers and turn them down...? If so, why...? Did he even get offers...? If not, why the hell not...? Perhaps one explanation is that he himself didnt want to, didnt think it was necessary to. Fair play to him if he did turn this down to concentrate on pushing rap in the UK. Maybe he should have taken the potential offer though, sold out and just done his best to make sure that somehow, someway UK rap could have benefited from it without being influenced or controlled by the more powerful Yank Machine. Ironically enough, in perhaps putting others ahead of his own personal aspirations, he may have inadvertently had a much wider negative effect on UK rap as a whole...
(For our non UK readers, check out Alcholic Author below, one of Jehst's dopest tracks and beats...and UK people, give us your thoughts, agree with Chrisss??)
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