watch: "THE FIRE" MUSIC MOVIE - THE ROOTS FEATURING JOHN LEGEND

The return of the conceptual music video has got my mind doing back flips and irish jigs of insurmountable joy. While this was not my favorite track off of HOW I GOT OVER (which is a hip-hop masterpiece of all glorious and eargasmic shades that should be bought by whomever is reading if not already) they really brought out the big guns with the direction, concept, treatment, and overall quality of this visual. I love music videos like these because it gives a more in depth look into the meaning of the song. "The Fire" addresses the desire within us that gives us the strength to keep pushing forward to what we feel is our destiny, our dream. That little voice within us that keeps us from giving in when running that 3 miles in the morning. Rather than removing the reason for why you should watch the video, i'll just let it do its job. Figure it out, love it, jam to it, and be in utter shock by it. It is shocking, but it is moving and refreshing as is everything that reaches this side of the webcoast.

throwback: BILL EVANS - NARDIS (1969)

Today's throwback is EXTRA, EXTRA SPECIAL because while I stumbled upon this BILL EVANS tune I was also taken aback because it sounded so familiar. I kept rewinding back to 1:11 and playing saying to myself "I know who sampled this.... I KNOW WHO SAMPLED THIS" and being the sample nerd I am I was able to search through the nooks and cranny's of my mind, went to my iTunes and VOI-MOTHERFREAKING-LAH I found the sample. 

So not only do you guys get to enjoy a jazz high quality visual (something that will frequent this blog plenty) from the late great BILL EVANS but you also get to go crazy trying to find out who sampled it. If you want to cheat because you can't figure it out then i'll bless you with a snapshot of the comment I left on the video JUST NOW that gives it away and a link to the song that sampled it that did some pretty nice crate digging if you ask me. Not so surprising because this particular artist always finds some solid samples that nobody really knows of unless their taste is as broad as his (hehe). I will admit I got really lucky but I guess it was fate! Everytime I find a sample by accident that a producers uses I begin to understand how they feel when they find a really good one; it's addicting! To whomever figured it out: MAJOR props to you fellow sample nerdite!

FOR THE CHEATERS:

1) CHEAT LINK ONE

2) CHEAT LINK TWO

throwback: BIG PUN FEATURING TONY SUNSHINE - 100% (2000)

There is absolutely NO way you can go to the puerto rican day parade in NEW YORK CITY and NOT hear this song. I love BIG PUN to pieces and this song, along with many he has done, are part of my favorites. He unfortunately couldn't make an appearance in this number because he died before it was made; rest in peace Pun! This song just makes me want to get up and salsa in a neon colored bikini with BIG PUN bejeweled across the butt, waving a random south american country that I am most certainly not even a little bit native from.

throwback: SUGAR RAY - SOMEDAY (1999)

What's a summer without the background music of all of your proceedings consisting of Sugar Ray? Not a good summer if I may say so myself. After it being about 11 years (maybe even more) since the first time I heard this tune, it still brings back the old feelings and vibes I once had. This is such a classic, road tripping, screaming the lyrics in a drunken tizzy with your best friends song that should be heard at least once a day during the summer. Whether you're cruising in your car, basking in the sun, or doing some type of outdoor activity, Sugar Ray will always be the right group for the mood. Sadly I wish they were still around making this type of music but it's a classic for a reason.

throwback: ESTHERO - THAT GIRL (1998)

Absolutely love ESTHERO and her red hair. This entire album was a huge sleeper and very under the radar. I tell people about her and I get the strangest looks imaginable which is strange because I can't believe NO ONE could possibly have lived through the 90's and not heard of one song from her. Her other albums were disappointing compared to BREATH FROM ANOTHER but she was unfortunately ahead of her time, much like other artists that came and went in the 90's. But anyway, enjoy this lovely throwback.

throwback: THE ROOTS & ERYKAH BADU - YOU GOT ME (1999)

            Excuse me, but I am in a Roots kind of mood because I just recently bought their latest album "HOW I GOT OVER" and am floored by how so much magic can be stuffed in a plastic encasing. But anyways, this throwback is courtesy of THE ROOTS and the bellowing, smooth voice that is ERYKAH BADU. A love song that you can vibe too, and isn't ridiculously corny. I'll posting a later post of a mild review of HIGO which if you have not gotten, i'm not sure why. Support good music, not garbage!

Side note: Erykah looks absolutely gorgeous in this video. That is all.
"I deal with the real, so if it's artificial let it be"

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: TUPAC AMARU SHAKUR

"I wanna thank the Lord for the life of Tupac Shakur." - Dom Kennedy

       Yesterday, JUNE 16TH was the birthday of the arguably greatest, sold over 75 million albums worldwide, most influential, controversial, inspiring and groundbreaking MC of all time. Now I would love to use this as a platform to debate on how he is better than Biggie, hiding somewhere comfortably in a hut on a beach out in Cuba, how articulate and versatile he was, how I hated Bishop so much thus proving his convincing and promising acting skills, etc. But he was bigger than words, hip-hop and the title of a rapper; Tupac was an artist. So it is only fair that we celebrate Cali style with my favorite work* by Makaveli himself in all of its goodness. Happy birthday!* While Pac was in jail during the time the video for the single 'Temptations' (down below) was produced, his friends helped him out to shoot the video while he was gone. Subsequently, while Pac was in jail, Me Against the World went #1. Now tell me that doesn't make him the greatest? 

watch: ROMAIN-GAVRAS directs M.I.A, JUSTICE (Music Movies)

This morning I went searching for the latest M.I.A music video for her new single BORN FREE, because as any M.I.A fan would know, her videos for her songs are always magnificent and fitting. Little did I know that the man (ROMAIN-GAVRAS) behind the lense and the treatment of this video was a complete genius. I love watching video's with such a great plot that the music is simply a soundtrack or background music. You get lost in the story and the message which is how I felt when I watched the 'Born Free' video and the 'Stress' video he directed for Justice:

M.I.A, Born Free from ROMAIN-GAVRAS on Vimeo.

This music video is basically an analogy (not to be taken so literally because I'm sure Mr. Romain does not believe in death to all red heads) of how all backgrounds of people can be and are at times persecuted for being different, which is ultimately the message of the song. Like the movie District 9, we have seen many examples of intense discrimination in our history against race or religious groups and now today, homosexuals. We are all essentially "Born Free" and should not result to persecuting one another, whether it be by tormenting someone physically or emotionally because we cannot put them in a box or generalization. This video is in your face and powerful, something we are lacking in culture. *Steps off soap box and moves along to next video...*


Jus†ice, Stress from ROMAIN-GAVRAS on Vimeo.

Now this video reminded me so much of the movies MAN BITES DOG and THE CLOCKWORK ORANGE (my favorite movies) because of how it showed this ongoing cycle of senseless violence that we do to one another. The selfishness, and disregard for human life is a sick and psychological issue that we dismiss early and it begins with kids. How they turned the action on the camera was a really neat twist to the whole music video.


TO WATCH MORE OF ROMAIN-GAVRAS' WORK, CHECK OUT HIS VIMEO CHANNEL here! 

throwback: ADAM & THE ANTS - KINGS OF THE WILD FRONTIER (1979)

Disco was dead, and the punk era was alive! ADAM & THE ANTS were too beyond their time from his tribal face paint, revolutionary music, and dope (as much as I hate that word) clothes. Music has not been like this in ages where people did not care to fit any image or be accepted but to just be. Something I always loved about the punk era and "free love" era was how they did not care about what anyone thought of them as long as they were happy and giving out their message regardless of how you felt about it. While a lot of the people who disagreed with punk music and their so called "unruly" lifestyle, they did not ignore it and it did not go unnoticed! Oh, and this song is amazing and a testament to not needing millions of dollars and scantily clad women to for a music video to show how great your music is; all you need is a basement and a 70's video camera from the thrift store!

throwback: ATCQ - FIND A WAY (1998)

THE LOVE MOVEMENT was there most slept on album ever! J DILLA + A TRIBE CALLED QUEST was the most important production collaboration other than SLUM VILLAGE + J DILLA of the hip-hop history books. Plus, this song is the best one on the album thanks to him and the rhyme genius of PHIFE and Q-TIP!

"Now you caught my heart for the evening"

throwback: CAMP LO - COOLIE HIGH (1997)

"It's rainin' alize i'm floating through the Holland Tunnel swervin'"


I had no idea there was a video for this song but CAMP LO was the truth and UPTOWN SATURDAY NIGHT is such a legendary album. COOLIE HIGH hands down was my favorite song from their album other than the infamous LUCHINI because how smooth, relaxed the production was but it would still bang at a party if it were played, plus that opening line makes me feel like a pimp every time I say it. I miss when songs weren't trying so hard to prove themselves outside of their music, because even though they might have taken a bit far with the "raining alize" reference, their flow was impeccable, unique and never fell short on any song. The boogie down Bronx natives were too ill in their hayday "Camp Lo-Uh." I will make sure that next time I drive through the long and trecherous beast that is the HOLLAND TUNNEL I will have a bottle of alize and this song blasting.

watch: METRONOMY - ON THE MOTORWAY DIRECTED BY JUL & MAT

Metronomy - On The Motorway - by JUL & MAT from JUL & MAT on Vimeo.


There's just something so mesmerizing about kaleidoscope inspired music videos that I cannot get enough of. I love METRONOMY, and when I did my daily rummage of videos on vimeo and youtube I came across this gem! JUL & MAT did a remarkable job with the visuals, and the magnetic colors matched with the electric tunes of METRONOMY. Check it out!