Well man, today was one of those great great days. Didn't have too much to do but wait for Elena to drop into this world so I went and picked up my man Dave Stelfox (in town from London doing a piece for ID Magazine among other things) and took him to meet Bun B and the good folks at Studio 7303.
Bun B talks to writer Dave Stelfox at Studio 7303
Got to hear a good piece of Bun's forthcoming solo debut Trill, which truly lives up to its name, and got to talk a bit with KLC and Craig B. of the Medicine Men, who are contributing a bit to said album.
KLC and Craig B. of the Medicine Men
Bun B and KLC listen to tracks from Bun's upcoming album Trill
Lump came through with Bobby Dash, Damon Dash's brother (send me some gear mayne I missed the ODB ProKed Sneaker give-a-way!).
Lump, Bobby Dash, DJ Chill
And the Twins were there from American Idol.
Twins, from Dallas, you seen 'em on American Idol
The skies opened up into a hellstorm of rain and thunder and lightning, all the usual things that come with a summer in the tropics, and for that I am happy to be alive. After the driest June in Houston history, these little residuals from the Hurricanes and Tropical Storms and what have you floating around in the Gulf of Mexico are quite welcome. Welcome like a British journalist here to spread the word of my fair city to the other side of the world. When's me, Bun, Chill and Ric gonna get a night at Fabric? We ready.
Bun B being filmed by DVD entrepreneur, REL, the man behind the Soldiers United 4 Cash Documentary. Dude does great work. Can't remember what he was filming for today though. Smash maybe? I don't know.
Anyway, I'm a little spaced out tonight. The impending arrival of daughter #2 has my head a swimmin', so I'm just going to leave you with some MP3 jams, and a reminder about the best show this summer... Read on and I hope to see you Thursday night. We'll see how the little bugger is getting about. Pictures soon.
MP3's
KB - "U Wired Up"
This particular jam, "U Wired Up" has the whole underground in Houston and beyond going crazy. If the commercial radio powers that be aren't too scared of something local not coming from a huge bankroll, you'll start hearing more of this soon. People been emailing me about this, one lady even said she had to get up from her desk and dance when it came on. Diplo heard this shit while he was on a plane flying over Japan last week and was straight trippin'. It's uh, a Damage Control Exclusive Banger. Please leave yer feedback in the comments section.
Lil Flip - Warrior
Well, this I guess is from his upcoming album originally due out this month called "I Need Mine." You make the call. Of the three tracks on the disc, I liked this best. This song was labelled "street anthem," while song one was "club anthem" and song three was "strip club anthem." I hear Salih Williams is doing some stuff for this album as well, definitely wanting to hear that.
Big Mike - Fly and Brand New
That's right new music from your boy from New Orleans, but um pretty much an honorary Houstonian, Big Mike. You heard him way back in the Convicts, he was a Geto Boy for a hot minute, released a couple solo classics and then got locked up for a while. He came down to Damage Control right after he got out last year and played a real banger, that I can't remember the name of. Anyway he's one of my favorites, and this is a pretty good jam I think you're gonna um, jam to. So dl it and leave feedback on all these in the comments section please.
Bavu Blakes - Who Knows
This is my straight up favorite song right now. I mean seriously, Bavu Blakes is really coming with it this summer. His "Too Selfish" album is shaping up to be a classic, and this, the first sort of unofficial single off it (is it?) is just beautiful. It's gonna be released later this summer on one of my very favorite labels, Nataural High, as a bonus cut after the first jam, "Nobody Leavin'." I think I posted that one up here some time ago. Anyway Bavu is a lyricist and one hell of a live showman, but on this track he pulls out even more tricks from his long, baggy sleeve.
It's Produced by S-1, Symbolyc One of Soul Kontrollaz Productions in Dallas (Strange Fruit fans know the deal) and features Bavu's main man D-Madness on Bass AND Violin, with DJ Nick Nack on the cuts and Ciamar on the chrous. It's quite the epic production that I'm sure you will enjoy. Topical, jammin', musical, harmonious, sweeping, lithe, banging, slow enough for you dope fiends, and maybe even perfect. Thank you Bavu. Dude is like the hardest working man in Texas hip hop in so many ways.
And look, this one will only be up for a limited amount of time because while I want to spread it around to y'all, I want Bavu, his players, and the good folks at Nataural High to make some money. Go buy this 12" when it comes out, or um any number of 12"s Bavu has coming in the coming months. List to follow.
D-Madness rules. Catch him with Bavu Blakes and more this Thursday night at the Rhythm Room. Peep the flyers here:
Blazing Saddles Showcase
Thursday, July 14th
Rhythm Room, 1815 Washington Ave.
Houston, TX; 9 p.m. - 2 a.m.
$7 Cover, Ladies Free 'til 11 p.m.
Bavu Blakes & D-Madness (Austin/full band)
Element7D (Austin)
Deloach (Monroe, La.) & DJ Cozmos (Houston)
-with special appearance by K-Otix? That's what I hear anyway.
DJ Chill in between sets (Damage Control)
Special Guest -- Steve Austin (Dallas)
And for a sample of what yer gonna hear click BAVU WITH LIVE BAND to hear the realness.
Funny story about DJ Cozmos. He was in a group called Seeds of Soul way back in the early 90's to the mid 90's and they were fucking dope. Anyway, I wanted to sign them when I worked for a label in Austin back in 1995. I was way too young and doped up to be signing anybody back then. I fell way into the slacker mode in my early 20's and enjoyed drugs and alcohol way more than work. Anyway, I gave Cozmos his first hit of acid back in 1995 (along with the rest of the group I think, at least Kwam and Spaceghost) anyway we sat up all night jamming to Jesus Lizard and Sonic Youth and some years later I had the pleasure of hearing Coz sing some Lee Ranaldo joint word for word, on another trip. Anyway, we used to hang a lot tougher back in those days and I haven't seen dude in a while. Looking forward to this one. Pretty sure he jams way more classic soul and early 90's hip hop than Sonic Youth these days. He's a hellafied turntablist and producer who has a lot of tracks on the new K-Otix record. This is show of the summer for sure. You miss it, you're dumbo. Or locked in the house with a 2 day old baby girl, like me. I'ma try to come out though. Its in my hood.
This is a fun article to read. Enjoy and see you Thursday if all goes well in this neck of the woods. Say a lil prayer for the baby Elena.
Upcoming releases From/ Featuring Bavu Blakes:
[aug/sept 2005]
10.deloach
labor of luv feat. bavu blakes, fetus
+ s1 remix, oneself remix
counterflow
9.hydroponic soundsystem
choice cuts vol 2
+ 50k, live from b-boy city
swedish brandy (hydro "mixtape mentality" album coming soon
8.bavu blakes
nobody leavin
+ who knows, play the role liquid soul, play the role statewide
nataural high
__
[summer 05]
7.symbolyc one & illmind
art of one mind double vinyl
bbe
6.hydroponic sound system
choice cuts vol 1
swedish brandy
__
[03]
5.hydro
hydro soundclash
alternate take
4.hydro
delrium/disconnect 7"
alternate take
__
[02]
3.hydro
synthesis ep
bomb hip hop
__
[01]
2.nicknack
reconstruction
crowd control
__
[00]
1.soundscape
listeners
crowd control
_________________
create & hustle
too selfish
inner prize
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