Tag Archives: Def Jux

Tonight In Columbus:Camu Tao’s King Of Hearts Release Party @ Skullys

Posted on August 16, 2010 by | Comments Off on Tonight In Columbus:Camu Tao’s King Of Hearts Release Party @ Skullys

Welp. I’d link to think anyone who claims to like music is aware of this. But we all have our own lives to lead. HOWEVER, All Eyes in the underground hip hop galaxy focus on our city as we being the home of some of the greatest talent ever celebrate the release of Camu Tao’s King of Hearts album on Def Jux/Fat Possum Records.
El-P is flying in to present our city the album, and enjoy the city that Camu loved.
ooohh so a national release in Columbus…say word..
but wait..lets not get too cool.
All the proceeds from the door benefit the James Cancer Center.
So..hopefully you will come and join us.
I feel like this is one of the musical moments that someone with pyrotechnics at the Schott could’nt trump.
5 dollar suggested donation.
DJ Pos 2, DJ Detox, DJ Carol, DJ True Skillz, and DJ Drastic on the tables
Hoster by El-Producto.
Album plays at midnight.
the packaging will make you cry.
In the Short North. At Skullys. On High Street. In Columbus Ohio.

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RJD2 Interview About Columbus Graffiti, Howard Zinn, The Colossus & Mad Men

Posted on February 3, 2010 by | 9 comments


All Photos by Dan McMahon except the Holy Roller.

As we have said repeatedly on this website. RJD2 is headlining our 7-Year Anniversary at Skullys this Friday Feb 5th. Ticket info and line-up here

RJ is an old friend of mine, so in this informal interview we chopped it up about his brief graffiti career,walking the tracks near the Ohio State Fairgrounds, the passing of Howard Zinn, RJ’s new album The Colossus and his theme song for TV’s Mad Men.

I remember when I first heard your name in Hip Hop discussions around town, graff writers were like…thats RJD2 blah blah he is down with A-Team? A-Team had pieces at the convention center and CAP that hit you up… This question is more for the graffiti dorks but…?

so i moved to the bay area after dropping out of college. i had my records and turntables and stuff, and one of the dudes who i stayed with shortly was down with the a-team guys, this dude cliff. he was the only guy i knew in the city at a point, and then he left too. so the only people i knew in SF were cram, esa, this kid beaver who i cant remember what he wrote, but he would do these “god is love” pieces all over the city, and a few other guys. so they sorta inducted me in as the unofficial a-team dj or whatever. those were the only kids i knew in the city, really. so i’d hang with them, maybe go out a little here and there with em while they painted, but not too much. i later found out that esa had a columbus connection. and then cram moved to philly after i’d been here a while. small world, basically. and my friend cliff lived near and was friends with mike giant, and looked up to him-in 95 SF graff world, he was a really big deal, up there with twist and amaze and the like upper echelon of bay writers, so i met mike thru him. esa later moved to LA, and i think she was doing fine art or something. cram actually was doing public murals for a living for a long time. i guess mike giant got involved in tattoos, but i havent spoken to him in a loooooong time. but in short, all the a-team guys were just cool people, no ego shit, just real friendly folks.

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Posted in Columbus, Graffiti, Interviews, Wes Flexner

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El-P’s Official Statement on the Fate of Def Jux

Posted on February 3, 2010 by | 2 comments

Read El’s official statement on Def Jux’s Website

This year, a decade after starting DEF JUX and after overseeing the releases of some incredible albums including the forthcoming release of my dear late and great friend Camu Tao’s brilliant “KING OF HEARTS” LP, I’m stepping away from my duties as artistic director for the label to concentrate on what I love most: being a producer and an artist full time. This is something I’ve been contemplating for a few years now, and can’t think of a better time or, with the eventual release of Camu’s record, a more poetic way to transition into a new direction.

This means change for JUX. Of course we’ll still have our website, we will still sell our catalog, merch and more as well as bring you news and updates on all our projects and artists. We will be releasing “KING OF HEARTS”, a DEF JUX remix compilation, a 10 year anniversary retrospective and some other goodies. But then as a traditional record label DEF JUX will effectively be put on hiatus. We are not closing, but we are changing. The process is already underway, and the last several months (for those wondering what the hell we’ve been up to) have been spent dealing with the technical aspects of wrapping up the label in it’s current form and re-imagining our collective and individual futures.

If you watched the Vast Aire vs Def Jux beef that brewed from May to Mid August this year then you prolly knew change was in the air.

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I Know Some of Y’all Hate Fun..

Posted on November 20, 2007 by | Comments Off on I Know Some of Y’all Hate Fun..

Blueprint masked up for Halloween @ So What Wednesdays.

But I am like fuck it. I came across a Flickr account post by Bridget Eshbaugh that had lots of shots of people enjoying themselves at various recent events in Columbus

Monotronix



After the jump, photos from the Daymon Day Parade, Hangar 18, Saturday’s Chateau Awesome House Party, Get Right, Monotronix, and Party With the Universe

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El-P and Jared Leto aren’t feeling Spankrock.

Posted on November 14, 2007 by | Comments Off on El-P and Jared Leto aren’t feeling Spankrock.

I saw this over @ www.low-bee.com and thought it was kinda funny:

Funcrusher El-P thinks Spankrock is bullshit—>here. And I guess Jared Leto and Spankrock aren’t feeling each other according Stereogum.–>here. In a more localized response, as I am typing this with the Spankrock website window open, an annoyed ex-graffiti writer turned Chef , Nerd 1 is asking me what is this crap that I am listening to right now. And keeps telling me it sounds like Fergie

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Posted in Music, Wes Flexner

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Aesop Rock: None Shall Pass

Posted on August 29, 2007 by | 6 comments

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MP3: None Shall Pass

Similar to Atmosphere finding pop-punk fans, Aesop Rock‘s buddying up with suburbanites most favored pastimes (video games, cartoons) without much edge were prolly big points in indie-raps ability to make fiscal ends meet, but also allowed most critics to convince themselves that Paul Wall, and Cam’ron were more avant-garde than those had been championed as the Bukowskis and Shoepenhaurs of their genre.

Thats how I took “Fast Cars, Daggers, and Knives”, Aesop’s last ep, and to a lesser extent “Bazooka Tooth”. He became a middle class guy whose most interesting thing about him was that he could be a cynical dick and he prolly owned the Japanese version of the Playstation 5 and a Sex Pistols album.

Now in the past, Aesop had been a paranoid post-modern, fatalist/scratched idealist, who had realized the high standards of work ethic and existential willpower can have some fatal crashes.
Like how he went from “Labor Days” Daylight’s proclamation, “Life isn’t a bitch, Life is a beautiful women. You are just mad cause your just an asshole that can’t sweet-talk the princess.” to “Maybe your just to asshole. Maybe I am just asshole” of Nightlife.

What a difference 9-11 and the ending of a serious relationship meant to ones concept of what was possible.

So after the Nihilism from heavy trauma came the video games, Nike and prolly a cartoon channel. He prolly got happy because he was getting money. Can’t fault a guy for getting happy, and healthy. But in my opinion he became a parody of himself, and possessing a complete lack of urgency.

Well, “None Shall Pass” bucks this trend.

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Going Away Party For Juan Davis Tonight

Posted on June 27, 2007 by | Comments Off on Going Away Party For Juan Davis Tonight

Envelope will be performing tonight at Cafe Bourbon Street as part of a going away party for Weightless souljah Juan Davis. Here is a video of Juan doing his thug thizzle at Comfest.

Juan is moving to Cali to enlist in the hyphy movement. The war on Iraq and hyphy movement have very similar failures: popular in small regions but only resonating with white suburbanites nationally. So Juan is going to attempt to remedy that. Joking. Juan is moving to Cali to be warm and live with his girlfriend.

Juan is an intergal part of Hip Hop scene in Columbus. When I first met him, he had just been featured in the Dispatch as a spoken word poet. I think that was like 2000. He had a stint at the Alive. I remember him reviewing the famous Aesoprock/Weightless/MHZ/Atom’s show at DIY venue Thieve’s World. I was just a vandal then, and was stoked that writers got mentioned in the paper for their help in the event. Juan went on to being a crucial behind the scenes person in Bustown Rap, assisting Blueprint, Illogic, and anyone close to Weightless Camp for like 7 years. Hell. I ran into him at Barnes and Noble today, and he gave me a ride home.
He will be missed.

He posted his merch learnings here on Donewaiting.

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Posted in Columbus, Wes Flexner

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DJ PRZM MP3’s

Posted on June 12, 2007 by | 1 comment

Someone on a RIP PRZM thread that Blueprint started on Philaflava.com posted some PRZM MP3’s.
I thought it was a decent showing of some of PRZM’s work.

MP3: 1) Camu Tao – “Hold the Floor”
From “Definitive Jux Presents II” (2002)

MP3: 2) Illogic – “Off the Clock”
From “Off the Clock EP” (2004)

MP3: 3) Copywrite – “(O.H.) Ten Times” (12″ Mix)
Original appeared on “Cruise Control Mixtape” (2004)

MP3: 4) SA Smash f/ Cage – “Smash TV”
From “Smashy Trashy” (2003)

MP3: 5) Illogic – “Don’t Go”
From “Off the Clock EP” (2004)

There is also talk about Przm on The UGHH Forums and on Hip Hop Site’s News On the DL Section. On Hip Hop Site they accidently posted Daymon Dodson’s picture.
Here in Columbus,Ohio–> Omnimix, and Weightless.net have been centers for people to gather and discuss the deceased local icon.

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EL-P in Columbus Recap

Posted on May 7, 2007 by | 3 comments

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Photo by Johnny Cashola

Later this week, I intend on giving a brief history of the late 90’s Hip Hop indie rap boom, EL-P’s place in it, and how all of those things relate to Columbus Hip Hop (ie RJD2, Blueprint, Camu Tao etc) in a really simplified manner.

With that said, EL-P aka Jamie Meline appearing in Columbus last Saturday was way over due. Early that afternoon, EL did an instore at Mags. It rained heavily so the turn-out wasn’t amazing. As the Hip Hop buyer at Magnolia, it is always embarrassing when an instore doesn’t work out. You always feel like you are gonna bruise the artists ego. He took it in stride. I had interviewed EL for the Alive, so his opinion that artists need to connect with fans and all people in between out of shear fact that people like music was in practice.

Watching a notoriously cynical New Yorker sincerely be nice to people once again proved to me the EL-P really gets it. The juxtiposition of nihilism that anyone living in this world should possess and a respect of the fact that anyone gives a fuck about his music was something that other malcontents could learn from.

Like… Photo-op’s are retarded, wanting someone’s autograph is silly, the whole fishbowl process of an instore is awkward. But he would take the photos and sign the cd’s. He would talk to anyone that had anything to say. This might sound basic, but a lot of artists don’t get this.

I have had notable indie rappers in the store that treated their fans like idiot followers which caused people to stop buying the artists records.

You don’t have to pander. No need to be a prick.
Just as you aren’t a moron, your fans aren’t either.

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Well maybe I am a moron sometimes. But usually I don’t smile for the camera either.
Photo by Danielle Kline
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