The event was sponsored by the Red Bull Music academy. If you don’t know, the RBMA is some serious shit. They sponsor yearly conferences in exotic locales all over the world. This year it’s in Barcelona. It’s been in Sao Paulo, Seattle, Rome, and Cape Town among other world cultural capitals. These conferences bring together up and coming producers, DJs, and musicians for lectures, networking events, and, of course, studio time. Check out their podcasts on iTunes for past lectures and RBMA Radio for DJ sets and interviews with music luminaries.

Before things got underway, they had the honeys passing out the complimentary Red Bull, although I came totally expecting booze. Not even a Heineken? I can’t stand Red Bull. Two sips and I get a headache, but I appreciated the chance to gain some insight into one of my music heroes.

The panel was moderated by the hosts of XM’s The Rhyme and was broadcast live on satellite radio. Pete Rock and Talib shared some studio memories and of recoding in J Dilla’s basement studio. Pete shared how he was inspired by Dilla and how Dilla would call him in the midnight hours to let him listen to a beat he just made. Mrs. Yancey talked a bit about how Pete was one of Dilla’s icons growing up and how they came to be great friends over the years of friendly competition and collaboration. Talib told the audience about how anyone who worked with Dilla would have to come out the the Dirty D. Frank and Dank would be the tour guides and take guests on hours long drives of Detroit to give people the feel of the city before, finally, going to meet J Dilla himsel at his mom’s house.

Some of the cats in the audience tried to get deep with their questions asking Mrs. Yancey about health care for the urban poor. She shared some of her experiences dealing with her son’s battle with Lupus and how medication and treatment bills would get into the tens of thousands of dollars. Mrs. Yancey told us how she’s never felt greater love than she’s felt from fans towards J Dilla and his music. But it wasn’t always so. She wanted to send him to college to study engineering so that if his music career didn’t work out, he could have something to fall back on. Even as his work was getting recognized, she was worried that people were using him for selfish gains; how he was always content to be in the background, out of the spotlight, even as albums he’d worked on garnered Grammy nominations.

The night concluded with a live band recreating some of J Dilla’s most memorable beats. Led by Pete Rock’s younger brother, Grap Luva, they ripped through the creme de la creme of Jaylib, Slum Village, ATCQ, and Donuts. For a few key cuts, local MCs took the mic to spit their renditions of some of my favorite rap verses. Check the video:

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/y0w0h9j8RLg" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]
Local favorite Flex Matthew takes to the mic to rip F*ck the Police (via Upset the Setup).

All throughout the night, the energy in the room was to the roof. During the panel discussion, everyone was as riveted as I was listening to some their heroes talking about another one of the greats that left us too soon. As Mrs. Yancey mentioned, J Dilla was there that night in spirit. He definitely would have approved of such a fitting tribute.

Some more photos of the night:

Sorry for some of the blurry shots. I’m still getting used to the camera, although it makes for some cool effects in some cases. Some better pictures from the night can be found here.

What you’ve all been waiting for. A guided tour of the place I rest my head; in pictures of course. With the obvious exception of the bathroom, closet, and laundry room, which altogether comprise like 50 square feet. Plus I can sum it up in a few words: granite counter tops and a mess load of shoes (mine and m’julie’s).

Without further adieu, let’s start the show.

Last night the Stones Throw 2K Sports tour came through DC, stopping at the infamous Blackcat nightclub.

Despite its infamy, it’s not the usual hip hop venue. It most often plays host to up and coming or underground indie and punk rock bands. Nevertheless, I’ve seen plenty of shows there and I’m always happy with the intimacy of the place. The main stage, where last night’s show was held, is small enough with a high enough stage to make no view a bad one. Two bars flank the standing-room-only audience section ensuring a quick trip to the bar without missing any of the action.

The Bounce Tour brought label founder and president Peanut Butter Wolf and his stable of MCs, producers, and DJs together for a night of beats and rhymes. The night started with a no-name DJ, who may or may not have been part of Stones Throw, playing “name that song” with the audience. He was helping the audience “know about hip hop” because, apparently, we thought “we knew about hip hop” but “didn’t really know about hip hop”. Frankly, I’m tired of shit like this. This is what hip hop has become and I hate it. Just because some cat found some common $20 record with a well-known sample on it doesn’t mean he knows about hip hop or “digs in the crates”. What happened to being humble and doing it for the love. But I digress.

The show officially started with Medaphor taking the stage, followed by Guilty Simpson, Percee P, and finally Madlib. Peanut Butter Wolf, in his characteristic behind-the-scenes style stayed mostly off in the wings, emerging only to make a few plugs for upcoming releases. I gotta say, in my opinion, Stones Throw’s music has never really struck me as live club music. I’ve always seen it as better suited to headphones or a quiet room. The audience seemed largely to agree with me. Despite a few hands-in-the-air moments, the crowd was relatively staid and subdued. The intricacies of the beats got lost over the PA system, leaving them stripped to droning bass. Punchlines became muddled and incomprehensible helping to tamp down any energy the MCs may have temporarily created. But since most of the Stones Throw catalog doesn’t feature catchy lyrics, pop melodies, or infectious hooks the more live moments were only fleeting. One of the highlights of the night came when Guilty Simpson joined Percee P for a rendition of “Watch Yo Step”.

It didn’t seem like most people were up on the label’s current music either. Honestly, neither am I. Besides Guilty Simpson, whose stuff I’ve heard on the Stones Throw podcast and who put on the best show of the night, I don’t really follow Percee P, Medaphor or the vast and somtimes confusing array of Madlib’s aliases. The crowd seemed to get more into Madlib’s set, though, when he did some of his older Quasimoto and Lootpack stuff. But then again that’s the material with the most crossover appeal to the quasi-backpack hip-hop stoner-indie kids, who made up most of the crowd.

Which brings me to what I think is the key take-home point from last night. I don’t think I really like the direction Stones Throw has been going these days. Like I mentioned, I think Guilty Simpson is a good pickup for the label with his more thug-style raps and distinctive voice and rhyme delivery. I think he has great potential for growth and with practice he’ll be putting on great live shows. Guilty aside, it seems like untimely death of Detroit super-producer and MC J Dilla, aka Jaydee, has been both a blessing and a curse for Stones Throw.

On the one hand, it’s really given the label a lot of notoriety and drawn in fans who otherwise never would have heard of Stones Throw (although this has lead to a mainstream commercialization of both J Dilla and Stones Throw). But nearly three years after his death, he still carries the label singlehandedly. All the Stones Throw MCs are putting out new verses over old Jaydee beats. There have also been a steady stream of J Dilla re-releases, remixes, reissues, and box sets coming off the presses over the last few years. Trust me, you’ll be hard pressed to find a bigger fan of the man’s music. He did great things not for just hip hop, but music period; he was a true innovator and musician. But Stones Throw needs to move on. It seems like they’re not looking forward. They need to be building off of the foundation J Dilla laid for them, not just recycling the same old formula. Until I feel like Stones Throw has been able to do this, you can count me among the casual followers rather than a hardcore fan.

Overall show rating: 2.5/5

i was down in the g-town the other night on the way to dins with m’julie, going to hit up some indian food. i saw a new sneaker/streetwear store that had opened up (which is all the rage these days. i thought of opening a shop here years ago and now the market is saturated). this new shop was in the same space once occupied by a dc record/punk/also sold some limited nikes shop of note.

so the next day i walk in to check it out and feel out the scene. i start talking with some of the dudes working there and the guy behind the counter, who i later found out is a part owner, asked me if i did my nike id’s in the studio and then asked me who i had as my design consultant. as im responding i blank on exactly who i had but i remember that we were chilling out with jolie during our first round although i couldnt remember her name. so i said to the guy i can remember her name but it was this really fine-ass girl. both of the dudes just bust out laughing and the non-owner guy is like damn. jolie was the owner’s ex-girl. not meaning to put this dude on blast or anything i’m like she was mad cool though and knew her shit. so we start talking for a minute about how they met (he was working at sean john where jolie now works) and how he has stupid amounts of vip id’s and how the whole id thing gets lame after a while.
the whole thing was mildly comical and just goes to show how small the whole street wear community is even as it’s reaching critical commercial mass.

also copped these on sale + discount for 140.

biggup kickballers. check the interweb: www.kickballersdc.com.

Jumbo slice after a night out on the town.

Vilseck reunion.

Iron that shit. Iron it real good.

is schoolgirls down or is it just me? im feenin.

word life.

Hilarious stuff. I’ve never seen the guy myself, but clearly, if I ever do, I’ll know that he likes Blue Ribbon Pabst.

Blevis talks about his only vice… it has to do with Elvis and crack and it ain’t nothin nice.
Blevis even “shows off how he likes to cup women’s butts on the sly as he brushes past them” to the Post reporter.

Priceless.