American Life: The Bay to NYC

On April 19th, I participated in an pretty much art festival in NYC. Basically Neighborhood Public Radio headed by Lee Montgomery from the Mission District in SF was asked to be a part of the Whitney Biennial. The Whitney Museum rented out a shop two doors down from the museum so that people could setup their particular art. In this particular case, Lee setup his radio broadcast equipment.

Basically on this particular day, we were paying homage to art in partly of the hip hop sense and other things. Some of the artists who came through were Jim and Karla Murray, authors of the book “Burning New York”, Toofly, Michael A. Gonzales, Danny Barry, and many others I didn’t meet because I was pretty much DJing throughout the whole broadcast.

A perfect example of some of the art that was displayed is partly shown in the picture of me scratching. The pirate that you see is from the cover of one of Hip Hop Slam’s videos called “Pirate Fuckin Video” which was designed by Dawgisht of Alameda, CA.

What was cool was that there were just average everyday New Yorkers just stopping by looking in and taking in the art that was displayed and heard. At one point two people asked me to show them to scratch and explain to them the concept of the turntable on how it is used as an instrument.

Also another highlight of the evening was little Danny Barry (forgot his age) playing a few selections and then later freestyled with me while I was scratching and playing beats of my loop machine. Danny mentioned to that his teacher just taught him and others about improvising. I must say he did very well. He also became interested in scratching. So I took a little bit of time and showed him some basics.

Michael A. Gonzales, who is shown in the picture with Billy Jam is a writer of The Village Voice, who did a little spoken word on NPR as well.

I must say overall that I had a great time and with the turnout of the amount of people that came through, I truly believe and I quote my OkiZoo friend Dunn-D, “A Hip Hop renaissance is coming!” All photos were taken by Rachel Naber. LaterZzzz!

J-Rocc throws it down honoring the late J-Dilla

About a week ago I received another great mix by “The Funky President”, J-Rocc. “Thank You Jay Dee, Act 2″ was a podcast put out through Stones Throw a while ago. Now the podcast along with Act 1 is available on CD.

I must say that J-Rocc in making these mixes did an outstanding job in saying farewell to a dope ass producer. Once again while I was listening to this mix, I was in awe of J-Rocc’s skills. There were a few times where he brings that Beat Junkie Style of mixing and whatnot. I’ve been a long time fan of J-Rocc after I discovered his “Sex Machine Today” CD back in 2000 while I was in the Air Force stationed in Las Vegas, NV. I had the opportunity to see him play live once while I was in Vegas.

Overall, the CD is pretty damn decent. One of my favorite parts in the mix, is the transition from “Fall in Love” to “Running.” I was laughing at that part honestly because J-Rocc made a statement with both songs. If you know the lyrics to the songs, you may be able to figure out what he may have done without listening to it.

On that note, I ask all of you to continue to support these artists so they can continue to bring you lovely tunes. They have to hustle tremendously to continue to do what they love.

LaterZzzz!
ALF

WFMU….I thought you knew!

WFMU have been my favorite radio station for roughly three years. On February 29th, I had the honor to DJ on Billy Jam’s weekly show titled “Put The Needle On The Record” during WFMU’s 2008 Marathon. The station is a freeform radio station which is a listener supported radio station. The station has an annual marathon to raise funds to basically keep the lights on, pay the mortgage, pay the RIAA it’s ridiculous fees it asks the radio stations to give up, and tons of other things. The DJ’s at the station play voluntarily. They get no royalties whatsoever from the money made during the marathon. The station’s goal is to raise 1 million dollars in two weeks time. I have visited the station about 4 times and I have called it home. The staff and atmosphere is very cool and calm. One of the biggest reasons I love this particular radio station because the DJ’s aren’t puppets being controlled by someone above them. Of course the FCC has the say all in content played over the airwaves, but in terms DJ selection, he or she can do whatever. Almost any genre you can think of, you will find one of the DJ’s at the station who has knowledge of it. I happened to find out about WFMU when former KALX DJ, Billy Jam of Hip Hop Slam started his spot on the station back during the fall of 2005. Speaking of Billy Jam, I will be conducting an interview with him for The Peach very soon. Be on the lookout for that. In the meantime, check out the broadcast from the 29th of February which included Billy Jam, Ken Freedman(station manager), and myself by clicking on the link below.

Put The Needle On The Record - 29 Feb 08 broadcast

Low End Theory-NYC 01 Mar 08

What’s up everybody?! I apologize for not posting for roughly two months now. Sorry! Anyway, I took some time off from my busy schedule to catch the Low End Theory show this past saturday in New York City. Myself and Billy Jam of Hip Hop Slam attended the event. We arrived there around 1230 and caught the last part of DJ Nobody’s set. We were able to catch Daddy Kev, D-Styles, and part of Flying Lotus’s set. Gaslamp Killer was there as well. I had to leave the show early because I had to drive all the way back to Maryland. Oh, I forgot to mention that the show was from 11pm to 4am. I ended driving home in the wee hours of the morning stopping two times at rest stops to take cat naps.

If you haven’t been able to catch the Low End Theory show in L.A. or NYC, don’t sleep! Apparently, along with the weekly shows in L.A., they are going to do a monthly in NYC. That’s pretty damn cool! The fellas who I got to see in NYC got my head bobbing with all the different electronica, hip hop, beats, flanges, delays, etc. I happened to catch D-Styles and Daddy Kev and AWOL One during their “You Know Verse” tour back in February 2006, so I knew what to expect from both D and Daddy Kev. However, they both performed flawlessly with some additives compared to what I saw of them two years ago. The highlight in my opinion during D’s set was that he used a 7″ record to scratch the samples to Razorblade Alcohol Slide. Daddy Kev seemed like he added more to his arsenal compared to the “You Know Verse” tour by incorporating Serato with his sampler/effects interface with his laptop. I may be wrong about his setup, but his set sounded tight as shit! Overall, the show was pretty dope! Please support these hardworking artists! Attend the shows! Buy their music! BUY IT!!!

LaterZzz!
ALF

Looking Way Back

Hey what’s up there everybody?!  Happy holidays and all that jazz!  For about roughly a month now, I’ve been looking and listening to old material.  Whether it’s old family albums, 80’s and 90’s Hip Hop cassettes, my mother’s old 45’s, etc. I’ve been amazed how things have evolved over the decades.  Just recently, I was looking at the future movie releases on Fandango.com and saw that Tron 2 will be coming out I think 2009.  Technology has evolved tremendously since Tron was released in the early 80’s.  Imagine what the sequel will turn out to be. Recently I have been listening to both Black Sugar albums which were originally released in the 70’s.  With that said, I first became aware of Black Sugar simply by seeing and purchasing the Listen shirt displaying the album cover of their first release.  I like watching and listening to old hip hop stuff because I like to see what stuff I did in fact miss during a certain time period and share it with others.  I honestly haven’t bought Serato or any other digital djing software because I don’t really need it for what I do.  I still buy wax.  Anyway, some of the archived historical DVD’s I think in my opinion people must definitely at least watch are Wild Style and Style Wars.  I don’t know if the Peach have any of those available at the moment.  If they don’t, send them an e-mail to see if they can get some more in. While I was in the Bay Area during 2006, I was exposed to an old hip hop show called “Hip Hop Slam” on the cable station Soul Beat owned by the late Chuck Johnson.  This show was like the top Bay Area video hip hop video show during it’s twelve episode reign in 1993.  It was like what Distortion 2 Static is today.  It’s funny to watch those episodes from 93′ to see artists such as KRS-1, Erick Sermon, DJ Apollo, Too Short, just to name a few, were doing back in those days.  Now most of those artists from those episodes are doing well today in the industry.  The Peach have those videos for sale in the Videos section of the site.  With that being said, I hope you all have a happy holiday season and perhaps spend some time with your family, friends, girlfriends, boyfriends, dogs, cats, parrot….etc and watch, listen, to some old hip hop! LaterZzz!           

Be silent and just LISTEN

Hey there everybody?! I hope your Fall season wherever you are is going well. I came back from Hawaii a couple of weeks ago and I didn’t want to come back. It felt like I was in Okinawa, Japan again. Anyhow, this blog is going to touch on one of my favorite clothing companies; LISTEN. If you rearrange the word “silent”, you have the word “listen”. The two words in life go hand in hand of course. The company was founded in August 2001 by two vinyl collectors known as The Revelli Brothers. You can learn more about the history of LISTEN by clicking on the link to their MySpace page. What turned me on to the company was during the time when almost ever turntablist was wearing the product with the simple logo of the company displayed on the front of the tee. My curiosity found me to do a search on the company and see what they were about.While looking at the variety of shirts they offered, I actually had fun trying to figure out what artists and/or important figure they displayed. I’ve actually got turned on to a lot of artists like “Black Sugar” because of simply viewing the shirt. LISTEN also had a branch in Japan. I don’t know what happened to the website they had for Japan, but it was cool. I had the opportunity to grab some Listen hoodies and shirts from Japan while I was stationed in Okinawa a few years ago. I wish they would make them available to peeps in States. Oh well! Don’t get me wrong things work the other way around for the people in Japan who wish they could get stuff from the States. Well, I hope LISTEN continues to make fresh gear and accessories for a long time. You can purchase LISTEN t-shirts and hoodies from The Giant Peach. If there is a clothing line you would like to share, reply to this post with your comment. Thanks for taking the time to read my post! Oh, one last thing. What artist is featured on the t-shirt I’m wearing in the picture on the right? LaterZzzzz! ALF

Blog In The Fog

Hey what’s up everybody?! I’m currently sitting at the airport about to head to Hawaii while I’m typing this. I almost always sit near the window and look out at the tarmac whenever I go to the airport. It’s kinda foggy outside right now. Anyway, thanks for taking the time to read my first blog. First of all I would to send a big shout out to all the folks past, present, and future who have helped The Giant Peach grow to what it has become today. I have been pleased and amazed about all the artists who have simply created amazing music, clothes, artwork, etc. over the many years I have been involved in the industry. For example, the new DVD, “Brasilintime”, produced by the in my opinion, AMAZING, B+. Honestly, I have been waiting a long time for that DVD to be released, and I must say that it was worth the wait. It opened my eyes wider to Samba and the Brazilian culture overall. The video not only shows footage of the performance, but it takes you along with the artists on the streets of San Paulo, in their apartments chit chatting, practicing at some locations, and much more. Being a DJ, I loved seeing Madlib, J. Rocc, Babu, and Cut Chemist record digging at the local record stores down there. I mean I would have probably not made it back to States if I were down there in their shoes, because I would go broke. I also checked out most of the special features on Disc 2, which in my opinion are worth checking out. Overall, I think you won’t be disappointed if you get this video. The video is available from The Giant Peach.Well, I’m about to board the plane soon. I will write more when I get back. Thanks for reading and keep supporting the Hip Hop culture!LaterZzz!ALF