May 19, 2008 – 6:26 pm | Written by Wes Flexner
MP3: Oh My My My by Envelope
Columbus’ number 1 son, Envelope, is finally dropping the follow-up to his local classic, Insignificant Anthems. The new album Sharkbolt comes out July 8th. Lope will have a release party July 11th at Skullys here in Columbus..
I don’t want to give too much at this point.,,, But I can say it is produced entirely by Blueprint, and Shark Bolt is much darker than his previous album. Dood also got a little cynical. Shit a lot happened in the past couple years.
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May 9, 2008 – 8:43 pm | Written by Wes Flexner
MP3: Ill Poetic Presents Mood Music Third-Joe Buddens Remixed with Portishead
Cincy rapper/producer Ill Poetic has taken Joe Buddens critically acclaimed mixtape Mood Music Three, and remixed with it Portishead. Its a pretty good idea because Buddens had a lot of things to say on MM. And Portishead always provides a lot textured emotion.
Of course the drawback is that Portishead it is literally mood music. Buddens is dope. But is anyone trying to fuck to some dood rapping about his hard feelings towards the Big Homie, Jay-z?
Then again on Budden’s 2003 hit, “Pump it Up” dood did prove himself as a regular Henry Miller over here, by saying, “Ma wanna fall in love like I’m cupid. Telling me she don’t give brain like I’m stupid .You can do anything if you put your mind to it.”
All jokes aside, Ill Poetic is a refined producer so this project works really well. If you saw Ill Poetic at the Dilla tribute at So What Wednesdays a couple months ago, then you definatly can tell dood has spent time in the lab. So Mood Music Third works. Be on the look out for Ill Poetic in general. He produced Illogic’s next album Diabolical Fun, due out on Weightless in the fall.
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April 29, 2008 – 10:05 am | Written by Wes Flexner
MP3: Blueprint vs. Funkadelic EP
Blueprint is giving away his new EP, Blueprint vs. Funkadelic, for free on this and a selected few sites. The cd is a limited run of 500. It can be purchased on Weightless.net and a couple stores around the country. I chopped it up with Print a couple nights ago as he prepared for his Wednesday release party at Cafe Bourbon Street in Columbus. We talked P-Funk, Aliens, the future of Weightless, and the Sean Bell Verdict.
I used to hate on the West Coast for using so much Funkadelic in the Early 90’s. Its kinda died down now. What made you gravitate towards devoting a whole project to it?
I felt it was kind of played as well, but what I think the difference is that a lot of what they sampled was actually Parliament, and not Funkadelic. Granted, they’re both groups that George Clinton started and lead, but the Funkadelic catalog wasn’t pillaged as much as the Parliament catalog because Parliament was more successful than Funkadelic.
Until recently I personally didn’t really know the difference because people always referred to them as P-Funk as if they were the same, but as I started to listen to Funkadelic’s catalog i realized it’s a lot different than Parliament’s catalog, and it also sounds different. Truthfully, I didn’t even put much thought into the creation of it. One day I was listening to an album of theirs and I heard all types of good breaks that hadn’t been used. That by itself changed my opinion about Funkadelic and made me really see how different the two groups were.
Whats the difference between Blueprint vs. Funkadelic and a Mash-up?
Well i think the standard “mash-up” is basically about taking vocals or lyrics that aren’t really new, and are fairly popular mixed with instrumentals that are already sort of popular and bringing the two worlds together. The stuff I’ve done with the Greenhouse vs Radiohead and now with the Blueprint vs Funkadelic project is more from a fan and producer’s perspective. I sit around listening to these records and I do them as a fan first. I just start making beats out of everything that i think is usable then i start putting rhymes to it. Sometimes the rhymes are songs that I’ve had lying around for a while, and other times they’re things i write to the beats. Sometimes there may be something that I start on a record like this and eventually flesh out and take a little bit further on another project I’m working on. It’s something that only takes me about a week or so to do because I try to really be in the moment with it, but sometimes the looseness of it is what really helps it comes together. I don’t want it to sound like i really thought it out. I want it to sound really fun and as lo-fi as possible. The only thing that prevented this project from coming out sooner was that I couldn’t find any audio interviews of the members of the bad talking for a while, but after I found that it really helped bring it together.
Who Flipped P-Funk The Best?
I’d say the D.O.C “Diggy Diggy Doc.
Your last solo album, 1988 sold like 15,000 copies. What did you decide to do a run of cd’s limited to 500 and give it away as a free download?
Truthfully it’s kind of an experiment. When I first started doing records i had this tendency to hold back for a special situation or time before I put things out, but I dont think that’s really necessary anymore because the model for getting music to people has changed so much.
Personally, I’m not into holding things back anymore. I love doing music too much. As an artist or label, you can determine the scope of a release much easier now than you could before and that’s kind of what I’m doing this for. It’s primarily for people who last heard me on 1988 and have been waiting on something new from me. Right now, I look at it as just one release of many that will start seeing the daylight. I want to see how people respond to this and hopefully people download it and share it with their friends if they like it. (more…)
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December 18, 2007 – 7:25 am | Written by Wes Flexner
Zero Star, who recently wrote a blog on Art of Rhyme about animals he thinks he could beat up, following up his genius tribute blogging about big girls earlobes, just dropped an illy mixtape. If you don’t know about Zero? Well he raps in technical patterns about how dope he is at rapping or sex. He also likes to tell humorous antidotes and reflect on issues facing black folks. Zero tends to rap over beats that are either raw as fuck or soulful. And for you Downwaiting friendlies the mixtape’s price is free99.
Take’em or Erase’em: the mp3 mixtape
Download: here or here
Tracklisting:
1. Intro: Take’em or Erase’em (Prod. Ree-Dic)
2. Sheeeesh (Prod. Blueprint)
3. The Real Thing (Prod. Ill Poetic)
4. Random Tales (Prod. K81)
5. You Wish (Prod. Przm)
6. Deeper ‘07 (Tribute to Bo$$)
7. Lookin 4 Me Remix (Feat. V-Hyphen [Prod. Przm)
8. Criminology 101 Freestyle
9. Forever’s Never (Prod. Ree-Dic)
10. Reality (Prod. Ree-Dic)
11. Wordperfect Remix pt. 2 (Prod. Przm..RIP)
12. We Gone Roll (Prod. Pete Rock)
13. Fast Shit (Prod. Blueprint)
14. BlueStar (Prod. Blueprint)
15. Lo Fi Funk Freestyle (Prod. Blueprint)
16. Another Time (Feat. Blueprint [Prod. Ree-Dic)
17. Follow Me (Prod. Grmm)
18. Shotgun Freestyle (Prod. J Dilla)
19. Flashing Lights Freefall (Prod. Kanye West)
20. Yaaaa… RIP Przm (Prod. Przm)
21. The Hole (Prod. K81)
22. Outro: Jazzyball Rideout (Prod. Ree-Dic)
Zerostar will rap at the Weightless N.Y.E. Show. More info here on the bored.
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November 20, 2007 – 4:58 am | Written by Wes Flexner
Print was going through some old music and posted this on Weightless.net today.
Greenhouse Effect “1997″ demos - this is before up to speed…the demos that ended up being up to speed but completely different beats…plus there’s like 4 or 5 solo songs i did that i completely forgot about like an original version of time management w different lyrics. This shit is wild to listen to. I sound like a cross between cl smooth and somebody from the pharcyde…but the rhymes are suprisingly not wack. inkwel sounds superlaid back, but dope. I had no idea i ever put this stuff on a cd. Its about an hrs worth of shit w/ random interludes on it.
Then he gave away a mp3 of an early Greenhouse Effect song. It’s pretty good. Kinda details why and how he started making music.
MP3:Greenhouse Effect-Too Busy Building
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October 31, 2007 – 12:24 pm | Written by Wes Flexner
Pos 2 of the Fonosluts opened up the vaults., and blessed the folks over at www.weightless.net with some rare recordings by Da Intalec, DJ Przm, Illogic, and Him & Me(Meta4ce+ Zero’s rap group).
Here is what Pos posted:
ok. so for the past year i have considered starting a blog but to do it right it seems it would be time consuming. time is something i don’t have very much of these days.so if i did have one it might go something like this(just to let you know, my writing skills suck…i just like the people to read the stories behind it)……
Tuesday, October 30th 2007!
The many projects……..
Copywrite calls me up this past weekend asking for some old songs he did years ago for a best of mixtape he’s about to drop. So while diggin thru my cd collection to find some tracks for him, I come across some Columbus goodies that have never seen the light of day. Some of these I have even forgot what they were and not sure how I even got my hands on them. Regardless, this is some shit I found on accident and would like to share with you….
This was given to me by Numeric about 3 years ago after he was going thru some of his old tapes and he had converted them to cd. This is from a show his group, Poets of Hersey, did with Intalec…THE MENTOR FOR THE CITY! …. at stache’s in ‘94 (formely lil brothers). Some of the earliest recordings in Columbus hiphop history right here that I have ever heard. I could go on for days about Intalec and what he stood for in Columbus hiphop in the early/mid 90’s but that’s another time. Enjoy…….
MP3: Intalec live @ stache’s
Illogic, Przm, and Him & Me jawns after the jump
(more…)
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October 24, 2007 – 12:44 am | Written by Wes Flexner
Blueprint has been on the road throughout the Summer and Fall. This has left Zerostar without a producer. So he has been working on a mixtape to hold himself over until he can get busy on his follow-up to his much slept on “Forever Is Never Really That Long”. He texted me about this joint right here, and was like, “I think this shit I’m writing to Kanye’s “Flashin Lights” might be your fav shit when I record it. I namedrop you and its vulgar as fuck”.
MP3: Zerostar: Flashing Lights
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June 27, 2007 – 5:40 pm | Written by Wes Flexner
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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May 23, 2007 – 1:39 pm | Written by Wes Flexner
Blueprint and Zero Star are performing at So What Wednesdays, which is located at Cafe Bourbon Street in Columbus, tonight.
Here is a quick interview I did with Printmatic.
Wes Flexner-What are a few Hip Hop Weeklies that stick out in your mind?
Blueprint-Ohio would be Bernies(Fonosluts) Columbus #1, and Topcats #2. They were the best hiphop nights I’ve ever been to for different reasons…Bernies was rowdy on some youth angst clash of cultures type shit, and the music was really diverse. Topcats was dope only because it was the only outlet in a city with no outlets, and because people used to get regulated on so quickly. A lot more beatdowns at Topcats, but a lot more classic hiphop moments at Bernies. Topcats also had that straight edge, grafitti writer, hip hop head, meets g rapper element to it. That was the last place I battled at with regularity because you could guarantee it would be against somebody who hadn’t heard of me.Bernies was a place you had to earn respect before you got the mic at, and Topcats wasn’t really.
WF-How long did Top Cats go on for? I know Bernies went on for like 6 years.
Blueprint-Top cats was about 5 years.
WF-Girls Girls Girls. Why do most Hip Hop nights struggle on the girl tip?
Blueprint-Because dudes who aren’t around enough women put hiphop nights together. Most dudes don’t even acknowledge the fun factor, and the fun factor runs hand in hand with the female factor. If the women come to your event then you’re doing something right. Not that it has to be girly music but its gotta be something normal people ie Women can relate to. Dudes just wanna rap and get glory. Girls just wanna have fun. You have to meet somewhere in the middle to get girls out.
After the jump, Print gives hip hop dorks lessons on meeting women. He discusses future music and touring plans, and tells me how Envelope earned the nickname “the white ODB”.
(more…)
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