Janelle Monae and her Wondaland roster just released a track that demands action and commands emotion over the loooooooooooooooooong history of White supremacy and police brutality against Black people specifically. To the name even.
Can’t remember the last time a song made me mad and damn near cry at the same time. The way they used African and American war drum patterns here is powerful beyond words, which made the words on top of them even more powerful. Raw emotion captured in a bottle.
Atlanta’s Patchwerk Studios is currently celebrating their 20th Anniversary and I was invited to share some of my earliest and most recent memories of this place. I actually heard of Patchwerk back when it was a record label with guys like Ras Kass and Meen Green. Years later I went on to conduct alot of my interviews and photoshoots here as well. I even studied under the homie Kevin “Mr. Soul” Harp who has been the long time in-house graphic designer there some years ago. Check out this clip and be sure to look at the dozen other videos featuring Rico Wade, Jazze Pha, David Banner and others over at Patchwerk’s Youtube page.
Also, I wrote a feature story on Patchwerk’s 20 years in the game for RESPECT Magazine. It’s in the current issue with Future and Mike Will Made It on the cover, which hit newsstands today.
David Banner made a return visit to Day 1 Radio this week to talk about his new album #TheGodBox, his last memory of his mentor Pimp C and of course, all of the crazy ish that going on in the news right now.
My favorite rapper sat down with the man who I’ve modeled much what I do after. Enlightening as expected. Second part of this two part interview after the jump. Continue reading
Sean kept it real Detroit on this one and borrowed from the greatest TV show in the 90s for this one, Martin. Dope way of bridging generations with this one. Reminds me of when Snoop Doggy Dogg made the “Doggy Dogg World” video with all of the actors from the 70s. There’s probably some parents out there right now going down memory lane watching this video with their child right now.
2nd Annual Raur Fest is tomorrow.
Can’t say I’m the biggest fan of Young Dolph’s music. Not because I hate it or anything like that. But because most of what I’ve heard just isn’t for me and because from a distance, it seems to be the same ol’ same ol’ dopeboy rhetoric. But hey, drugs aren’t going to stop selling anytime soon, so, that style of music will always exist.
However, this video he just released for his song “Cold World” got me thinking about a few things. Continue reading
According to the AJC, these are the new Atlanta Hawks jerseys that will be revealed tomorrow. What do you think? I am not a fan of the bright lime yellow/volt looking color though. I’m assuming this is supposed to be nod to the “Pistol Pete” days. Or maybe they wanted to go back to the red/yellow/white days but with a more modern shade. They aren’t as bad as I thought they were after seeing the mock ups that leaked a few weeks ago.
Red, Black and (kinda) Green. I guess they really are trying to connect with the African-Americans? The colors and the patters seem to (borrowing from former GM Danny Ferry’s infamous words) “have a little African in them.” At least they went left with them. By far one of the more eye-catching jerseys in the league. I would’ve preferred a more classic look, but hey, at least it isn’t bland and is void of the color blue which the NBA seemed to be forcing teams to use as of late.
They also stayed with the ATLANTA branding. In case you didn’t notice, none of the jerseys actually said HAWKS on the chest last year.
“Operating Under The Krooked American System Too long
OutKast, pronounced out-cast
Adjective meaning homeless, or unaccepted in society
But let’s look deeper than that
Are you an OutKast?”
–Big Rube, “True Dat”
“I think about all the homeless folk, when it rains…”
–Khujo Goodie, “Is That You God?”
In November 2014, Atlanta-based artist (and one of my personal favorites) Fabian “Occasional Superstar” Williams erected his highly-anticipated Dungeon Family Pyramid along the Atlanta Beltline towards the back corner of Piedmont Park. He spent nearly six months painting and building the 8-foot tall, 12-foot wide structure. The announcement of the project came on the heels of Outkast’s 20th Anniversary reunion tour and the city of Atlanta’s excitement of seeing their prodigal sons and the rest of the DF resurfacing to national visibility, together for the most part. Continue reading
Sometimes we all need to hear some words like these. Jack Preston just dropped a video for “It’s Ok” and it is directed by William Feagins,Jr. of Divided Time fame.
