Flashback Album: X Clan, To The East Blackwards

March 23rd, 2006

X ClanLet’s take a trip back in time to 1990. I was a senior in high school, with a high-top fade, a couple of African medallions, and a stopwatch. Yeah, we wore stopwatches in Oakland to put our Town Styles on Flava’s clock. Come to think of it, that dance he did in Eric B. and Rakim’s “I Ain’t No Joke” video was very hyphyish. Well during this period of pro-Black, Public Enemy inspired Hip Hop, a stellar crew emerged, X Clan.

While writing this, I am playing their album “To The East Blackwards” for the second time in a row. I pulled this album out the archives because Professor X was on my mind due to his recent passing. This album takes me back to many fond memories and astounds me that I can play it straight through and every song is a bonafide jam. No filler here. If Chuck D is the Hard Rhymer and Flava, the Joker, then Brother J is the Knowledgeable Rhymer and Professor X is the Ghetto Philosopher. Brother J spits some of the hardest rhymes EVER on many of the greatest Hip Hop samples of all-time to blend a mad fusion of knowledge, trunk rumbling tunes, dance ability and pure Hip Hop. Professor X’s constant refrains of “Vainglorious” and “This is protected by the Red, Black, and Green, Siissssy” were catch phrases of the day. This is easily one of the Top 10 Hip Hop albums ever and should be required listening of any self-respecting Hip Hopper that exists. Some of you might even like it a little more than Nelly. :~)

Sadly, due to all of the samples on their first album and the change in sampling policy, making it more difficult going forward, they were never able to recapture the magic of their initial release. They released other projects and remained active. But none were as good as their first output. Ironically, it was Professor X’s, not very good, solo album that made me decide to always listen to an album first before buying it just on name recognition. Sugar Shaft the DJ passed away back in 1995. In the words of Professor X:

“MALCOLM, MARTIN, HUEY, THERE’S A PARTY AT THE CROSSROAD!”

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See You at the Crossroad Professor X

March 18th, 2006

Repost From AllHipHip.com

Professor X of X-Clan Dies
By Houston Williams
Date: 3/17/2006 7:15 pm

Professor X of X-Clan has died in a New York-area hospital after a bout with meningitis, sources close to the situation told AllHipHop.com.

As a member of X-Clan, Professor X gained notoriety for his catch phrases “Vainglorious” and dissed fools by calling them “sissies.”

Additionally, Professor X, whose real name was Lumumba Carson, was the son of the late Civil Rights pioneer Sonny Carson, who produced The Education of Sonny Carson.

He also founded the grassroots organization BlackWatch.

Meningitis is a byproduct of bacterial or viral infections that overcome the body’s natural immune system.

The aggressive entities can be transmitted from other people through sneezing, coughing, kissing, infected blood, or contaminated water or food.

In August 2004, Professor X, auctioned off his time on eBay for a night on the town in New York City.

X-Clan released a pair of critically acclaimed albums, To the East, Blackwards (1990) and Xodus (1992), but soon after the Brooklyn-based collective disbanded.

In December 2005, X-Clan announced a comeback, but it was unclear if Professor X was party to the reunion. In 1995, X-Clan group member Sugar Shaft died from complications related to the AIDS virus.

Funeral arrangements haven’t been announced.

Posted in Hip Hop, Society | 2 Comments »

So Many Styles 3/15/06 Chart

March 15th, 2006

So Many Styles

View the complete So Many Styles Top 40 Chart

THE TOP 20

1. Tell Me When To Go – E-40 / Keek Da Sneak – Sick Wid It
2. Hell Yeah – San Quinn / E-A-Ski / Allen Anthony – Done Deal
3. Blow The Whistle – Too Short – Jive
4. Touch It Remix – Busta Rhymes and Everbody Else – Interscope
5. Gotta Get It – Balance – Ayinde
6. Lean Wit, Rock Wit It – Dem Frachize Boyz – So So Def
7. Grillz – Nelly / Paul Wall / Ali / Gipp – Universal
8. Ms. New Booty – Bubba Sparxx / Ying Yang Twins – Virgin
9. Stupid Dumb Hyphy – Scweez / Mistah F.A.B. – Stack Up Entertainment
10. Yo (Excuse Me Miss) – Chris Brown – Jive
11. Move Around – B.G. / Mannie Fresh – Chopper City
12. Wanna Love You Girl – Robin Thicke / Pharrel – Star Trak
13. Out The Ghetto – Baby / Choppa – Cash Money
14. Camera Phone – Da Muzicianz – TVT Records
15. Go Dumb – J. Valentine / Bailey – City Boyz Music
16. Super Sic Wit It – Mistah F.A.B. / E-40 / Turf Talk – Thizz Entertainment
17. Pump It – Black Eyed Peas – A&M
18. S.O.S. – Rhianna – Def Jam
19. Be Without You – Mary J. Blige – Geffen
20. Get Ya Grown Man On – Hood Starz – Paradise Recordings

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Top 10 Things You Shouldn’t Say To a DJ

March 14th, 2006

This is something that I found circulating around Myspace and it hit the nail on the head for me. Enjoy.

Furious Styles

ATTENTION DJs: REPOST

Before requesting songs, making comments, or asking questions to the DJ please…CHECK BELOW FOR YOUR REQUEST:

1. PLAY SOMETHING GOOD…SOMETHING WE CAN DANCE TO!
The D.J. has to play for more than one person…so, what you may hate may be another’s favorite song and EVERYTHING played here can be danced to one way or another.

2. WOULD YOU PLAY SOMETHING WITH A BEAT?
BE SERIOUS! We know of NO songs played in a club that don’t have some sort of a beat!

3. I DON’T KNOW WHO SINGS IT AND I DON’T KNOW THE NAME OF THE SONG, BUT IT GOES LIKE THIS…
Please don’t sing for the D.J.! They have to put up with smoke-filled rooms and dangerous decibel levels all night. Do them a favor and DON’T give them a rendition of your favorite song!

4. EVERYBODY WANTS TO HEAR IT!
Oh sure, you polled EVERYONE in the club and, as their spokesperson, you are requesting the song.

5. I CAN GET LAID IF YOU PLAY IT!
If you are GOOD ENOUGH, you can get laid to anything!! (also been known as “buy the album and get laid for a month!”). If you need ME to play you a song so that YOU can get laid, you’ve got problems. Besides, point your girl out to the DJ and I will play it for her after you get wasted and pass out. ;)

6. I WANT TO HEAR IT NEXT!
The only people who can get away with that statement write the DJ’s paycheck! Plus more often than not, the DJ has the next song already cued up and ready to go, and does not have time to find your song, get it on the decks, and get it cued up in time to be next.

7. I DON’T KNOW WHAT I WANNA HEAR…WHAT DO YOU HAVE?
It’s a lot easier for you to go have another beer and figure out what you want to hear than it is for the D.J. to recite the name of EVERY record in the booth! Also don’t ask for a songlist! I don’t know of any club DJ’s that actually keep a printed list with them! We keep it in our heads or sometimes in a database!

8. HEY YO, NOBODY CAN DANCE TO THIS!
It is not advisable to say this when the dance floor is packed (but, some people do anyway)! However, even if there is only ONE person on the floor, it STILL contradicts the statement. You’re just being rude. Have an open mind about music

9. EVERYBODY WILL DANCE TO IT IF YOU PLAY IT!
Half the time I hear this, no-one goes to the dancefloor except for the person that asked for it, and when they realize they’re the only one that wanted to dance to it, they bail. If you ask the DJ for a dance song and don’t dance to it, expect the DJ to ignore your requests the rest of the night. However, if we play your song and you dance and have a good time, even if no-one else does, we’ll still take your next request seriously. We like to please, even if it’s one person at a time.

10. MOST IMPORTANTLY!!!! If you’re at a club or event that doesn’t play any Hiphop, don’t ask if “you got any hiphop”? Just go outside to your car and turn on the radio or go home and watch MTV!!

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What’s on the mind of Furious Styles?

March 13th, 2006

There has been so much news over the past few weeks that I have barely had time to keep up with it. I just want to take a moment here to point out a few things that I think are notable.

First I would like to congratulate my black brother, Shani Davis, on becoming the FIRST African American to take home the gold in an individual sport at the Winter Olympics. Shani seemed to stir up some controversy, as many of our black athletes do, by not wanting to participate in the team race he was invited on shortly before. As the only black person, I’m sure Mr. Davis has experienced many hurdles and stumbling blocks in his way and as many African Americans know, at the end of the day we’re all just there to get our gold and you can save all your team rah-rah for later.

The next thing I wanted to comment on was the permanent Hip Hop exhibit that was just opened in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. Hip Hop went big-time making it into America’s archive. I went to the Smithsonian during a school field trip to Washington D.C. with Close-Up back when I was in high school. The Museum is vast and covers a lot of American History in what I thought at the time was an unbiased manner. Hip Hop’s story started in the Bronx and is now worldwide and it’s a culture that I have been in since the beginning and grew with it. It’s good to see Hip Hop maturing and getting its props. But it leaves me to wonder if Hip Hop has become old news, an artifact, an exhibit like the Wright Bros. airplane and old sharecropper’s tools I saw on display when I visited the Smithsonian.

And finally I want to pay my respects to Kirby Puckett and Gordon Parks who both passed recently. Read the rest of this entry »

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So Many Styles Pick 2 Click

March 13th, 2006

Too Short – Blow The Whistle – Jive

Too ShortI was in Jr. High School in 1986 when I first heard Too Short‚s “Girl, That’s Your Life” slamming in the trunk of every tricked out Mustang 5.0 that drove by, as I walked back and forth to school everday. One of his early albums was titled, “Don’t Stop Rappin’” and 20 years later he looks he has taken that to heart.

Too Short and Lil Jon have a great chemistry as they team up to further this Hyphy Movement. Truth be told, Lil Jon’s crunk beats have had the Yay Area going Hyphy since “B.I., B.I.” but now Lil Jon is teaming with the Bay’s best, like Too Short and E-40 to keep kids out here shaking their dreads. This song is a surefire No. 1 out here in the Bay and should be felt throughout the rest of the country.

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Singles Spotlight

March 13th, 2006

Da Backwudz – I Don’t Like The Look Of It – Rowdy

These dirty south cats are ill flipping the Oompa Loompas from Willie Wonka singing “I Don’t Like The Look Of It.” The beat is real tight, reminiscent of how Ludacris flipped that Quincy Jones/ Austin Powers beat. This track should have people bouncing all over.

Pussycat Dolls / Will.I.Am – Beep – A&M

This song is not that surprising. The artists who brought us 2 of hottest dance jams last year, “Don’t Cha” and “My Humps” team up to bring us this song. It’s catchy and should keep people dancing into the Spring.

Heather Park – The Life – Stush Music

Heather Park is a lady who’s out make her name in the crowded female R&B scene. I prefer the Ron Browz remix on this single which samples the “Busta, What It Is Right Now” drums. She deals with a little mature here than the average Ciara, Keyshia Cole jams out right now. With the Busta beat it can work in the clubs.

Topkat – Got Lyrics / Here To Stay
The hills of Vallejo are still spring new MC’s. This time it’s an MC named Topkat taking up the mantle for the V.J.O. “Here To Stay” is a really good song with an oldschool, soulful flavor with a brother crooning the hook about the Bay is “Here To Stay!” On “Got Lyrics?” he became a bit ambitious in his quest for MC supremacy.

Mike Watts / Paul Wall / Jiz Nickelz – Grind Winters Out – Watts Records

Sometimes when I hear “Crack Music” that glorifies dope dealers, grinding, and trapping, I really like it. Such is the case here. This song is a manifesto for those on the grind on how to “play the summer away and grind the winters out.” The beat is a midtempo, mesmerizing concoction. I like this song and think we might be hearing more from Mike Watts.

Black Eyed Peas – Pump It – A&M

The Peas deliver a fast-paced frenzied dance jam on this single. It features a really dope horn with a nonstop drum track. This song has been featured in commercials already so it should be familiar to everyone. This song should do well with Black Eyed Peas core fans.

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KRS One Teaches Stanford What Keep it Real Hip Hop Is

March 7th, 2006

“KRS One is just the 1 to lead a crew right up to your face and diss you!”

The TeachaKRS-OneBusy B, DJ Styles, KRS One, Joseph

I had never seen KRS One, The Teacha, live in person, performing or speaking ever. I was looking forward to seeing him on a roundtable discussion, Know-The-Ledge: Hiphop Scholarship Meets Hiphop Media which took place Saturday, March 4th, 2006 at Stanford University. KRS was featured on an afternoon panel titled “I am Hiphop,” a reference to the bold pronouncement he made about himself over a decade ago. I was troubled when he first made that statement because as a Left Coaster he was making me feel excluded. I have since worked through that issue and decided that “I am Hip Hop” even though I’ve never set foot down in the Boogie Down Bronx. I have lived Hip Hop’s story and all who have lived it are Hip Hop. I always envision a setting like the end of Spike Lee’s biopic, “X” where all the kids stand up and exclaim “I am Malcolm X” instead they will be shouting “I am Hip Hop” in my scene.

KRS One commanded the building when he stood up, with his statuesque, big body frame. He grasped the mic and affirmed that he IS “still” Hip Hop, he is the Leader of Hip Hop, at some point he seemed to state that Hip Hop started in the Bronx, a duly noted fact, and that if you weren’t there, you are not Hip Hop. He offended those that weren’t from the Bronx and made the Bronx natives staunchly defend themselves. He then waffled on whether those who go to college were Hip Hop or not. I know I was listening to BDP’s “You Must Learn” in high school as I prepared for college. He was joined by Busy B, an oldschool Hiphopper who had a great battle over 20 years ago. Together they sounded like George Gervin and Bernard King complaining that they didn’t get their shine on like Kobe and T-Mac do today. Different times, eras, and places, get over it. LIFE AIN’T FAIR!

But the Blastmaster saved his best barbs for Adisa Banjoko, The Bishop of Hip Hop. The two men seem to have had a personal disagreement or misunderstanding and KRS decided to air it right there, in public, at Stanford University. He called Adisa a FBI agent, spy, an enemy of Hip Hop, agent provecutor, terrosist, and threatened to jump across the table and kick his ass. In true male bravado and Hip Hop fashion, Adisa, an avid Martial Artist implored Mr. Stop The Violence to “Bring it on!” That’s keep it real Hip Hop right there. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Hip Hop, Tell Me When To Go | 1 Comment »

Stanford Dedicates The Hip Hop Archives

March 7th, 2006

Know-The-LedgeOn Saturday March 4th, 2006, I attended a roundtable discussion “Know-the Ledge: Hiphop Scholarship Meets Hiphop Media.” It was attended by an illustrious panel of Hip Hop journalists, artists, scholars, and multimedia specialists. Among the panelists were Davey D, Adisa Banjoko, Eric K. Arnold, Robert ‘biko’ Baker, Boots Riley, KRS-One, oldschool Busy B, Sticcman of dead prez, Giuseppe Pipitone, James Spady, Cathy Cohen, Michael Eric Dyson and many others. I was pleased to meet Ladybug Mecca from the Digable Planets who laced me with her new solo CD, “Trip the Light Fantastic” which is hot and I will be reviewing soon. Tommie Shelby, philosopher, political theorist, and Harvard professor blessed me with his book he collaborated on with Derrick Darby, “Hip-hop And Philosophy, Rhyme 2 Reason.” I look forward to reading this book in addition to Lyrical Swords Vol II: Westside Rebellion which I picked up from Adisa Banjoko.

The panels were followed by the dedication of Stanford’s Hip Hop Archive. I must admit it is a nice archive. I hate giving Stanford any props because I’m a Cal Bear and my sister who is a senior at Stanford loves to pop her collar from time to time about Stanford. The Archive has a library of dozens of Hip Hop themed movies, scores of magazines, interviews, and periodicals throughout the years, dozens of classic framed 12″ covers, and memorabilia like RUN DMC dolls. Overall, they have yet something else that I as a Cal graduate am envious of. The Hip Hop Archive was established and organized by one of my sister’s professors, Dr. Marcyliena Morgan. I know that whatever Dr. Morgan is doing, she keeps it very real because my sister has called me up asking me for the etymology of Bay slang words like “bootsy” while doing research for her papers.

As far as the conference, I arrived towards the end of the 2nd of 5 panels. The panel was billed “Get In Where You Fit In: Organizing Space, Place, Race, and the Digital World” and it centered on Hip Hop as a source of activism and social change and how it facilitates political organizing. Many of those involved blamed record labels and the powers that be for squelching political Hip Hop and contended that Hip Hop is and will continue to be a vehicle for political expression. I disagree. When I’m out DJing, my crowds request (demand) that I play the latest Hyphy jam, Juelz Santana, Ying Yang, Paul Wall, etc. There’s not much room for Public Enemy, KRS One, or even a recent positive song like Styles P’s “I’m Black” which was allegedly banned on UnClear Channel.

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Posted in Hip Hop, Politics | 4 Comments »

It’s Easy at the Oscars for a Pimp!

March 6th, 2006

Oscar StatueHip Hop, You Don’t Stop! 3-6 Mafia made history becoming the 1st Hip Hop group to perform at the Academy Awards and then joining Eminem as the second Hip Hop act to take home the coveted Oscar. Host Jon Stewart joked “You know what… I think it just got a little easier out here for a pimp,” and later added, “For anyone keeping record, Martin Scorsese, zero Oscars. For Three 6 Mafia, one.”

Who woulda thunk that the guys who brought us “Ridin’ Spinners” and rapped “It’s Hard Out Here For A Pimp,” would join the illustrious likes of Sidney Portier, Denzel Washington, Al Pacino, Meryl Streep, Jack Nicholson, Marlon Brando, Sir Laurence Olivier, Elizabeth Taylor, Tom Hanks, Dustin Hoffman, Robert De Niro, and Jodie Foster. It reminds me of that old Willie D song, “Who gives a f*ck about a G-damn Grammy?” Well I thank the guys for pushing Hip Hop culture further. I just have one question, will they be flossin there Gold Men in videos now instead of their Pimp Cups?

Adding to the Hip Hop theme of the night the movie, Crash with an all-star ensemble cast which includes Ludacris, Larenz Tate, Don Cheadle, Brendan Frasier, Sandra Bullock, Terance Howard and many more took home the Oscar for Best Picture. I saw this movie and was moved by it. It is a very realistic look at the intricacies of race, class, and status and how we all interact and deal with it daily in America. This is must-see watching if you haven’t seen it.

Since Eminem and 3-6 Mafia are the only Hip Hop acts to ever win an Oscar, it made me think of the great Hip Hop songs from movies that should be honored. So with no further ado here’s my list:

  • Beat Street Breakdown, Melle Melle – Beat Street (I saw Beat Street at the drive-in originally. You can’t buy that!)
  • Colors, Ice T – Colors (The world’s introduction to LA’s gang-bang culture.)
  • Fight The Power, Public Enemy – Do The Right Thing (Who was ready to riot after Radio Rahiem was murdered by the police? I still ask businesses in the Black community, Why it ain’t no brothas on the wall?”)
  • 911 Is a Joke, Flava Flav – House Party (This song is stuck in my head with John Witherspoon hollering out the window “Public Enema!”)
  • Same Song, Digital Underground / Tupac – Valkenvania (Tupac’s lyrical debut to the nation as he let us “He klowns around when he hangs around with the Underground.” This was tucked away on this Chevy Chase B-movie. Did anyone see it besides me?)
  • How To Survive In South Central, Ice Cube – Boyz In The Hood (Ice Cube’s acting debut and the beginning of his descent down the slopes of menaingful rhyming.)
  • Deep Cover, Dr. Dre and Snoop – Deep Cover (The introduction of Snoop Dogg’s and Laurence Fishburne playing one of his hardest roles ever.)
  • Juice Know The Ledge, Eric B. and Rakim – Juice (Tupac’s big-screen, acting debut. A very prophetic portrayal.)
  • Men In Black, Will Smith – Men In Black (Don’t hate, Will’s a hero of mine and I got his back!. He’s a very positive brotha, and he rose from quirky teen rapper to Top 5 Leading Man in Hollywood. The Hip Hop American Dream!)
  • Kill Bill Score, The Rza – Kill Bill (The movie was dope and Rza killed it with some out the box, ode to the classics ish.)

Please add your comments, songs, and movies that should be added to the list.

Posted in Hip Hop, Movies, Society | 4 Comments »

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