The Ecstatic Tour - Mos Def/Jay Electronica Review Pt.2 – The Tabernacle, Atlanta, GA

(continued from pt.1)
After the tone was set, a flurry of beats, breaks, and samples followed, provided by DJ Preservation with his brother/deejay Abdul Rahman (aka Gold Medal Man) mostly holding down the instrumentals. The chemistry between Mos and his two deejays gave the performance a well rehearsed, but fresh feel to it, with the dopest interludes: a call and response/improvisational drum vs. deejay set, classic soul, blues, and a reggae set that transformed the dancefloor into an ocean of bodies swaying back and forth..all interspersed between each classic track after the next. Highlight tracks for me were The Auditorium and Ghetto Rock where I was literally on the verge of jumping on someone’s back - my apologies again to the folks whose feet I stepped on lol. Honorable mentions: Quiet Dog, Umi Says, Miss Fat Booty, and of course Casa Bey.

Another noteworthy part of the show was Mos’ paying homage to some of our ancestors/pioneers in music, James Brown, Michael Jackson, and Fela Kuti, to name a few. Showmanship, respect for the fans, and an overall love for the music was written all over his face throughout his entire set.

After the show Jay came and chatted with the Birmingham crew and even shared a photo of his and Erykah Badu’s beautiful baby daughter. You could see this brother’s face light up like the proud father that he is.
Big up to Sharrif for introducing us to Mos, who was cool enough to meet with us after the amount of energy he had already given us in his performance. What was even cooler was that he had his family on board with him for the tour: Moms, Dad, brother, and relatives all in tow.

Overall, the show was well worth the price, time, and travel to Atlanta. It’s always refreshing to see (in person) that real hip hop is pushing forward on a local, national and international level.

Big up to the Malcolm's Reading Room crew and the rest of the Birmingham crew who came out to the show!

Photo Courtesy of Simone Snelling

DJ Muro - The Vibe Obsession

CD-1
1. Roy Ayers Ubiquity - "2ooo Black" 2. Roy Ayers - "Red, Black & Green"
3. Roy Ayers - "Rhythms Of Butter" 4. Ramp - "The American Promise"
5. Roy Ayers - "List Is Just A Moment" 6. Roy Ayers - "The Black Five"
7. Roy Ayers - "The Third Eye" 8. Roy Ayers - "Gotta Find A Lover"
9. Roy Ayers - "Vibrations" 10. Sylvia Striplin - "You Can't Turn Me Away"
11. Ubiquity - "Simple & Sweet" 12. Ladies Of The 80's - "He Is Mine Forever"
13. Roy Ayers - "Searchin'" (live @ Ronnie Scotts club)
14. Rick Holmes - "Remember To Remember"
15. Roy Ayers & Wayne Henderson - "Step In To Our Life"
16. Roy Ayers - "The Boogie Back" 17. Eighties Ladies - "Turned On To You"
18. Ethel Beatty - "It's Your Love" 19. Roy Ayers - "Mystery Of Love"20.
G Keith Alexander - "A Mothers Blues" 21. Roy Ayers - "Land Of Fruit & Honey"
22. Roy Ayers - "Chicago" 23. Roy Ayers - "Take Me Out To The Ball Game"
24. Roy Ayers - "Brother Green" 25. Roy Ayers - "Love"
26. Roy Ayers - "Hey Uh What You Say Come On" 27. Roy Ayers - "Can You Dig It"
28. Roy Ayers - "Coffy Is The Color" 29. Roy Ayers - "Our Time Is Coming"
30. Roy Ayers - "Get On Up, Get On Down" 31. Roy Ayers - "Sweet Tears"

CD-2
1. Roy Ayers - "We Live In Brooklyn Baby" (Muros edit) 2. Mos Def - "Brooklyn"
3. Talib Kweli - "In The Mood" (feat Kanye West & Roy Ayers)
4. ATCQ - "Keep It Rollin" (feat Large Pro) 5. Lord Finesse - "Soul Plan" (feat Roy Ayers)
6. Junior MAFIA - "Get Money"
7. The Pharcyde - "Passin' Me By" (Summa Madness 93 remixes)
8. Brand Nubian - "Wake Up" 9. Trends Of Culture - "Valley Of The Skinz"
10. Erule - "Listen Up" 11. The Quiet Boys - "Every Body Loves Sunshine" (feat Camelle Hinds)12. Roy Ayers - "Searching" (feat Erykah Badu) 13. Mary J Blige - "Searching"
14. Pete Rock & CL Smooth - "Searching" 15. OC - "Point O Views"
16. Roy Ayers, Hypocrite & OC - "Sensitive" 17. Smif N Wessun - "Home Sweet Home"
18. Roy Ayers, Get Funky & The Beatnuts - "Painted Desert" 19. Kurious - "Up Town Hit"
20. Legion - "Legion Groove" (instrumental) 21. Erykah Badu - "American Promise"
22. Armand Van Helden - "Full moon" (feat Common) 23. Roy Ayers - "Baby Doll"
24. Roy Ayers - "Sugar" (Joey Negro club mix)
25. Scott Grooves - "Expansions" (feat Roy Ayers)


DJ Muro - The Vibe Obsession Disc 2 Snippet

Masta Ace & EDO. G's (A&E) - Little Young

Track listing and Credits for Masta Ace & EDO. G’s Arts & Entertainment:

1.) Hands High (produced by M-Phazes)
2.) A’s &E’s f/Marsha Ambrosious (produced by Baby Dooks)
3.) Fans f/Large professor produced by (DJ Supreme One)
4.) Little Young produced by (M-Phazes)
5.) Ei8ht Is Enough (produced by Frank Dukes)
6.) Good Music f/Posdnus of De La Soul (produced by DJ Spinna)
7.) Pass The Mic f/KRS-One (Produced by Double-O)
8.) Reminds Me (produced by DJ Supreme One)
9.) Rounds And Round f/DOITALL of Lords Of The Underground (Produced by DJ Supreme One)
10.) Over There (produced by M-Phazes)1
1.) Here I Go f/Jamelle Bundy (produced by Rain)
12.) Dancing Like A W.G. f/Chester French & Pav Bundy (produced by Pav Bundy)


Masta Ace & EDO. G's (A&E) - Little Young (produced by M-Phazes)

Dillanthology Three 10.13.2009

Tracklist:
1. J Dilla- WorkinOnIt
2. Jay Dee- Pause
3. Jaylib- Raw Shit
4. J Dilla- Nothing Like This
5. J Dilla- Anti-American Graffiti
6. J Dilla- Glamour Sho75 (09)
7. J Dilla- Won't Do
8. J Dilla- Baby feat. Madlib & Guilty Simpson
9. Jaylib- The Red (INST)
10. Jay Dee- It's Like That
11. Jay Dee- Off Ya Chest
12. J Dilla- Crushin' (Yeeeaah!)
13. J Dilla- Reality Check feat. Black Thought
14. Jay Dee- Featuring Phat Kat
15. J Dilla- So Far To Go feat. Common & D'Angelo


J Dilla- Crushin' (Yeeeaah!)

Birmingham Hip Hop Scene

One of the factors that limits the strength of the "hip hop" scene in our city is money. Many people are not willing to pay to be entertained by hip hop artists and many artists are tried of having "good exposure opportunities" with no monetary compensation. Another factor is much of "rap music" today is looked upon by "the powers that be" and many others as a 2nd class, 2nd rate form of music. I once performed at The Civil Rights Institute a cappella and was well received. After my performance I engaged in a conversation with two older gentlemen and was asked "what else did I do?" I told them that I was a rapper and the entire tone of the conversation changed. One of them told me, "I hate rap. They can throw it all in the ocean." He then proceeded to walk off. He had just told me how much he enjoyed my work but when he found out I was a "rapper", he instantly didn't like my music.

Yet another limiting factor is technology. Ironic because it would seem that with the explosion of social networking, it would be a unifying force, right? Well, it's so easily accessessable now, everybody is doing it. Rappers & Producers are a dime a dozen & everybody's got an agenda. It's hard and time consuming to murk through everybody that's got a CD out to find the stuff you might like. When artists had to make more of an investment in their art by purchasing studio time and what knot, fewer artists could get their product out and so, it was easier for the public to get familiar with the limited local talent that had product to offer.

Radio doesn't help either. There was a point in the not so distant past when the people at your local radio station pretty much played what they wanted to play. Now, it's more limited as to what DJ's can get on the air. Radios play what people know because that's what keeps people from changing to another station and finding a familiar tune.

Politics also is limiting the current Birmingham Hip Hop scene. Everything is political. "If you didn't come to my last show, then I'm not coming to your next show and vice versa. If you don't have me on your "top friends" on myspace, or write back under my status on facebook or chime in on what I'm doing on Twitter, you're pretty much dead to me." Many artists produce and promote their own shows, other artists come out to the shows to show "support". This "support" is really an unspoken "quid pro quo". Most artists, if they're being honest, are hoping that when it's their own show that's being promoted, if nothing else, all of the artists they've supported will come out and show up to support them. The truth is that "we" (the artists) should be able to bring enough people that we don't know out to a show so that it really doesn't matter either way if other artists come or not. This leads me to the last "limiting factor" I'll write about in this entry.

The people of Birmingham are not avid "hip hoppers". Just because their listening to 107.7 on Saturday mornings don't mean their coming out to see live hip hop music when it's available in the city. I'm not exactly sure why this is but I do know that it is. I've gone to show, after show, after show and see 20 or 30 people in a spot that should be filled with at least a hundred or more. And not just "ATL-auto-tuned-snap" type rap but real hip hop shows with Emmy Nominated Artists, a real scratching DJ, a Beat Boxer, Live instrumentation and back up singers for FREE! In Birmingham, it's very hard to get people to come out to enjoy this form of music live.

So, what's the Hip Hop scene in Birmingham like? It's alive but it does need watering. So, if you're reading this, do us all a favor and find out how you can help "water the good seeds" of hip hop when you can.
~Thed Weller

*by less privileged I don't necessarily mean poor or uneducated just people that can tell you how life for them ain't been no crystal stair.