Kid Robot & Lacoste collabo

Kidrobot and Lacoste have created a small collaborative collection of sneakers. They are limited to 500 pairs and each come with a matching toy, created by eBoy and Kidrobot. Kidrobot added their own flavor to the sneakers and instead of just choosing colors, they added some of their most popular patterns from their clothing line to the shoes. I don't know how I feel about the actual shoes. I love the design elements and Kid Robot is un-fuk-witable on the colors and patterns. But the shoe itself has gotta be wearable and I'm still not sure if that is the case with these. My favorite is the purple and black one with the blue sole. Besides the toys, the shoes also come with custom inner soles and 3M reflective material, something Lacoste has not tried on their sneakers until now.

Pics Via Sneaker Freaker.

The sneakers will hit all Kidrobot stores (including the new one coming to Miami this fall) some time in November.

Willie The Kid & La The Darkman "Invisible Rules"

50 Cent In Paris!?!

I don't know where Nah Right got the MTV VMA pictures from so fast but this shit is really funny!!

First he gives her the cash...

Then she gives him the...

Prostitution is legal in Las Vegas but I guess what happens in Vegas doesn't STAY in Vegas anymore. hahahaha!

ENTER SHIKARI (or - The English do Screamo?!)

Enter Shikari (MySpace), a London-based quartet that Tony Wilson hailed as "the most exciting band I've seen since the early Sex Pistols gigs back in '76/'77."

Wow.

The tracks are engrossing because you can hear these really disparate influences in the music that are just totally unexpected in, for instance, an American Screamo outfit. Weird old school rave melodic lines, Van Halen synths from the "1984," album (especially "Jump")and other odd bits abound to make this really interesting, and genre defying, stuff. I don't know why but I hear Coheed and Cambria in the vocals just a very little bit (especially in"Sorry You're Not Winner"). Plus it's kinda funny to hear the gut screaming and sudden crooning mixed together with an English accent!

Wu-Tang Clan "8 Diagrams" New Album Drops Nov. 13

Status Ain't Hood blog has a review of the 8 tracks that Rza has released for media review thus far. I don't think anybody believed that a new Wu album would be coming out, so this is an exciting event. How great is it to hear all the Wu on a track!?!! The re-instituted SRC/Loud is gonna come off lookin' like a genius label if this album breaks through.

Download "Watch Your Mouth"

Pick up this album on Nov. 13th on SRC/Loud

Buck 65 on Piracy

I saw this at Grand Good (a great blog that everybody should check out) and was really struck by Buck 65's comments.
Here’s a really great interview with Buck 65 over at Analogue Magazine.

Among other things, he speaks very candidly about bootlegging and how it affects him as an artist as well as on a personal level. I’ve never heard an artist comment about music piracy in the context of his/her relationship with the fans before. I wonder if Buck’s sentiments are common among those in the same predicament.

Link to Analogue Mag article.
and a Link to an article about Canadian music downloading at PimpWiz

"…on my last tour, I tried to help out my own cause. At a certain point, what becomes the focus for me is trying to make a living, and I don’t really have a fall back plan, so I have to figure out ways within this one thing I know how to do, to try to get my rent paid. So on my last tour, I put together a whole bunch of bootleg titles, and I was selling them, and about half way through the tour, I started to see the sales go way way down, and you know it didn’t take a genius to figure out it only took that number of weeks for it to spread all over the internet. But I was coming face to face with people who were walking up to the merch table, looking at everything that I had available there, and saying, ‘I’ve downloaded all this stuff, there’s nothing here for me’, and then just walking away. It’s kind of like, it’s one thing just to know that it’s happening out there, and it’s invisible. But to be confronted with it, face to face, to have a person walk right up to your face, and to say ‘I’ve stolen all your art, and I don’t give a shit, fuck you, you have nothing for me,’ and then just walking away, it’s weird, it’s really weird. Then later that night, you’re on stage, and you’re looking at all these people, and you’re performing for them, and you’re there to provide a service for them, and at the same time trying to remember all the things that are valuable and good about what you’re doing in the first place, i.e.: ‘I love this, I love music and that’s why I’m here’. But sometimes you have to fight off the feeling that your audience is also your enemy in a weird way. They’re the people preventing you from putting food in your mouth. At the end of the day they don’t give a shit about you. They will rob money right out of your pocket if they have the opportunity to do so. You have to try really hard to not think about that, but the reality of it is, essentially that’s what’s going on, and it’s gotten to the point, where people don’t mind telling you right to your face, ‘I don’t know who you are as a person, you may or may not be nice, but as far as what you can do for me, you know, it’s just a matter of what I can take from you, and if you can make some sort of separation, and separate out the human part of you, and really think about it in terms of, I don’t know what, cause it’s not business, stealing doesn’t really fit into a definition of business in a way that really makes sense..."

Aesop Rock "None Shall Pass" video

Aesop Rock's "None Shall Pass" debuted at #50 on Billboard's Soundscan charts with less than 15,000 units moved.

This video for "None Shall Pass" is pretty tight!

Macka-Chin "LAST" Asian Hip Hop That Doesn't Suck

Yeah, I can't understand a thing these cats are saying but just to prove the universality of this music...I FEEL IT!!! I don't need a translator. This is hip hop!

Macka-Chin is a producer/emcee from Japan. His crew, Nitro Microphone Underground, were signed to Def Jam Japan! If you want, you can think of him as their version of The Rza (underground producer and emcee who got snapped up and put on by a major label) and Nitro Microphone Underground as Japan's Wu Tang. They were the first Japanese hip hop group to achieve national success without having to go Pop.

Fans of Massive Attack are gonna feel the layered beats and samples on "Last." The production is unabashedly left field but the drums bump really hard. Macka sometimes strays into electronica to mixed results. His strength lies in the darker, ambient, soundscapes, not the four-four thump of dance music.

Some of his best instrumental tracks are sadly, truncated, leaving the listener wishing that he would carry the songs out and develop the themes to some sort of conclusion. "Meet In The Shinto Shrine" stands shoulder to shoulder with any ambient track released by Irresistible Force but lasts less than a minute and a half. The dusty beat workout of "Universal Gravitation" is another track that begs for an extension.

Despite these minor complaints the best tracks on "Last" lift it up into a very pleasurable experience. "Firm Ground" and "Diver" are standout tracks. I'd love to hear more from this entire crew.

Pick up the album here.

Download "Firm Ground"
Download "Diver"
Download "Meet In The Shinto Shrine"
.

Xczircles "The Urge" E.P. on hiphopcore.net

Hip Hop is worldwide. I feel stupid and cliched just writing that. Nothing makes this fact more obvious than when some of the most interesting music is coming from places that your typical American would never expect. Why is it necessary for another country, another culture, to maintain and nurture the art form that was created here? The artists who live here? I don't know, but Soulja Boy isn't being released by an overseas label...

France; Jerry Lewis is funny, Air is a pop sensation, and they surrender a lot. Typical cliched assumptions right? Well how about aggressive, darkly claustrophobic, beats on a par with DJ Shadow, Dan The Automator, and RJD2?
That's what you get if you check out "The Urge E.P." from beatmaker Xczircles.
Now Xczircles is from California but he was approached by the French website hiphopcore.net to release "The Urge E.P." as an exclusive download release available for FREE at their site.
Click over there and check it out.
You won't be disappointed.
If only Allhiphop.com would pay attention to an artist like Xczircles...
.

Nike SB X Strummer before n after

Nike carries on with their rock pack concepts (Guns n Roses, U2 etc.) with an SB modeled after Joe Strummer's (of The Clash) '66 fender guitar. Apparently they have a couple versions. One is the brand new guitar and the other is the guitar after years of use by Strummer. No release date but I hope The Skate Park Of Tampa is gonna carry 'em.

Speaking of The Clash, Julien Temple has released a documentary on the life of Joe Strummer that will debut at 2007's Sundance Film Festival.

Pics via SneakersBR

Puma Clyde gum sole

I've never owned a pair of Pumas. For the most part I've never cared for the Clydes. I was sorta interested in the "Cheech Wizard" Clydes but they were so limited that I didn't really chase 'em. On the other hand I am a sucker for a gum sole! I can't help myself. These are simple color ways and the classic Clyde silhouette but with the gum sole added in. makes 'em kinda sweet. A winter release is expected.

check hypebeast for more info.

Onitsuka & Tokidoki join forces

Legendary Japanese athletic company, Onitsuka Tiger is now joining forces with another Japanese heavyweight… Tokidoki, which is mostly noted for their vibrant artistic take on Japanese culture. Since art and fashion are so closely related, it just makes sense to match Tiger’s history of quality products with Tokidoki’s keen eye for modern Japanese art. Beginning in May 2008, plan on seeing the brainchild of these two companies on a bi-annual basis.

via Hypebeast

Dudley Perkins & Georgia Anne Muldrow are G&D

Sometimes stars align. Sometimes kismet is irresistible. Fate. That which is meant to be. All these concepts apply to the collaboration between Dudley Perkins (aka declaime) and Georgia Anne Muldrow. G&D "The Message Uni Versa" on Look Records is the natural, and not unexpected, product of fate. These two star travelers HAD to come together. Both artists are loosely affiliated with Stone's Throw Records (Georgia released an album or two through S.T. and Dudley is immediate crew with Madlib who has produced a considerable amount of his work). Both are difficult to define; often wandering around the edges of hip hop but just as likely to attract fans of funk, soul, or the astral jazz explorations of Sun Ra. Both have shown a proclivity to run, not walk away, from convention.

I haven't been a great fan of Georgia up until now. All of her releases displayed a talent and artistic vision that impressed, but did not move me. Conversely, Declaime has always been one of my favorite artists. He's always been the black sheep in a crew filled with black sheep. It takes a lot to seem weird while working alongside Madlib. But Dudley has always danced to his own funky drummer. "The Message Uni Versa" seems to have combined the strengths of both artists and created something even greater.

The Funk has been making a re-appearance in the last few years. Plant Life sewed the seeds. Pharrel ("Angel" & "Beautiful" in particular) & Cee-Lo (initially with "Cee-Lo Green And His Perfect Imperfections" and most recently as Gnarls Barkley) dropped it on the mainstream world. Now indie hip hop is gonna get a chance to let the, "Fonk set 'em free!" Because make no mistake, just like Prince Paul and Bernie Worrell's Baby Elephant project, this is a funk album. It is one hell of a funky ride too. Georgia on production (an exciting proposition in and of itself to have a woman formulate the funk) and Dudley delivering the revolutionary funk-laimations spells nothing but good times.

The album drops Sept. 25th. Pick that thing up here!

Download "One"

Foxy Brown "We Will Not Surrender"

To the cops maybe!! :-)

How did foxy have time runnin from the cops and every litigious flower & jewelry sales person to record a track?? Well she did and here it is.

She was sentenced to 1 year in prison for violating her parole.

TMZ was in the courtroom when it all went down, and Judge Melissa Jackson slammed Foxy’s pleas for mercy, calling her a "great actress," and saying that if this were the first time she’d apologized, she might be believable, but not now. We’re told that Foxy was visibly distraught by the verdict.

Download "We Will Not Surrender"

At least they found her. Rap News last reported she was missing on July 10th.

Lupe Fiasco Leaks Single "Superstar"

Lupe Fiasco Live @ Myspace Secret Show


I know, I know. This coming week is gonna be an avalanche of 50 vs. Kanye stuff. But I wanna drop this new Lupe Fiasco on ya early cuz you're gonna be fiendin' for it in a month or so. This will be the next big hip hop release of 2007 and you can get the hot shit right now. Don't ever say I never did nothin' for ya.

I like this track a little more than "Dumb it Down" (and I really liked "Dumb It Down"). This one is on the emotional tip while "d.i.d." was more of an ironic club banger.


Lupe Fiasco feat. Mathew Santos - "Superstar" - Atlantic Records

You're gonna wanna pick up the album "THE COOL" when it drops Nov. 20th

Download "Superstar"

DJ KRUSH in St. Pete!! Oct. 17th

This is pretty major! Dj Krush drops down in the dirty burg for a show alongside St. Pete representers Positive Response...

And It's All FREE!!!
Show at 10 PM
Bishop Tavern Downtown St. Pete


DJ Krush visuals

Fool's Gold Label Announces Tour

Too bad they're skipping Florida... :-(

After a non-stop summer of boombox detonations and stadium invasions, the entire Fool’s Gold roster gets extra-shiny for their Fall tour of the US and Canada. It’s everything you’d want from a night at the club: new-school rap princess Kid Sister, tag team DJ sets from the world-renowned A-Trak and his brother from another DJ Mehdi (Ed Banger), electro madness from Daft Punk’s favorite DJ, Kavinsky, the Cool Kids’ back-to-the-future boom, and brand-new jams from Nick Catchdubs, along with surprise guest appearances along the way.

DJs A-Trak and Nick Catchdubs founded Fool’s Gold earlier this year, bringing together the hip-hop and electronic music they play in their sets through official releases like Kid Sister’s debut single “Control” and A-Trak’s Dirty South Dance remixes (in stores now). “This DJ scene that we're a part of in North America has influenced music scenes across the world, but ironically there aren't enough labels that represent it,” says A-Trak. “That's where Fool's Gold comes in.”

Dim Mak Collection will be producing limited-edition tees for the tour, featuring original artwork by Fool’s Gold in-house graphic designer Dust La Rock. The label will use their tour momentum to launch a slew of releases for the rest of the year, including new singles from Cool Kids, Kid Sister, Kavinsky and new signing Kid Cudi, an EP of ‘90s dance re-edits by Sammy Bananas called High Top Fades, international bass rattlers from Jokers of the Scene (Ottawa) and Bag Raiders (Sydney), and more.

Following these North American dates, A-Trak and Mehdi embark on a two-week European jaunt that the bass bros have dubbed “The DJ Mehdi & A-Trak Spectacular Review.” A-Trak’s also been shaking dancefloors on his own, with thumping official remixes for Digitalism (Kitsune), Bumblebeez (Modular), Architecture in Helsinki (Polyvinyl) and Roc-A-Fella’s own Kanye West.

OCTOBER 2007 FOOL’S GOLD TOUR DATES (NORTH AMERICA)
10/4 – Montreal (Club Soda - Pop Montreal)
10/17 – New York (Hiro Ballroom – CMJ Showcase)
10/18 – Vancouver (Celebrities)
10/19 – Los Angeles (Roxy)
10/20 – San Francisco (Mezzanine)
10/21 – Chicago (Empty Bottle)
10/22 – Toronto (Revival)

DJ MEHDI & A-TRAK SPECTACULAR REVIEW TOUR DATES (EUROPE)
10/25 – Glasgow (Sub Club)
10/26 – Cabaret Voltaire (Edinburgh)
10/27 – Clockwork (Bristol - with Kavinsky)
10/31 – Venue TBA (Paris)
11/2 – Chibuku (Liverpool)
11/3 – Venue TBA (Moscow)

Nike Alphabet Pack

Sneaker Freaker strikes again with some cool pics of a new Nike release. The Air Max gets the treatment on this one but of the three different versions I'm really only feelin' the more reserved brown Air max 90. Go over to Sneaker Freaker and check out the detailed pics of all three. No release date yet but they also come with a backpack! Crazy!

Mestizo "Dream State" Drops 9/18 On Galapagos4

Galapagos4 the home of Typical Cats, Qwel, Qwazaar, Maker, Offwhyte, Meaty Ogre, and more drops another album on us. West Coast MC Mestizo hasn't put out an album in a couple years so "Dream State" is ostensibly his re-introduction to listeners. The album is described as "Mestizo's interpretation of his native land of California, which is a dream world in itself, filled with eccentric beings entranced in a dream state."

The music (handled entirely by production duo Julian Code) is right in line with the album's title. Dreamy soundscapes, loopy samples, & dusty drums are all to be expected from a Galapagos4 release. However, one is left to wonder why Mestizo passes on the prodigious talents within his own label. Maker, Meaty Ogre, and Mike Gao are all oddly absent. That aside, Julian Code provides listeners with plenty of cool, 60's lounge-style, organ/keyboard samples and meandering guitar loops. It sends the listener into an era when the Rat Pack was jetting off to Vegas and making the original "Ocean's 11." Laid back. That's the record in a nutshell. Laid back. Nothing wrong with that, but I was left wishing that Mestizo would have pulled out a little something more aggressive and urgent on a track or two. "Tolerance," featuring Qwel, teases us with a simmering late 60's / early 70's funk that hints at what Mestizo and Julian Code can do. He is, without question, capable of delivering fiery lyrics, but seems to have opted for a slow burn rather than a 4 alarm fire on "Dream State."

You can pre-order or pick up the album at Galapagos4. It drops Sept. 18th.

Download "Tolerance"

J.J. Brown mixes Hall & Oates & Gym Class Heroes

J.J. Brown is makin' major moves! Following the mainstream attention he received for re-working Ludacris' most recent album using Jackson 5 songs as the template (you can download it here), J.J. has taken on the task of melding Gym Class Heroes "As Cruel As Schoolchildren" with Hall & Oates entire catalogue!!

"We've been making indie rap records since 1998, and Trav has always been a huge fan," Brown explained of the relationship, which began a few years ago when the Heroes opened up for Brown's crew. After the Luda album was released, McCoy called up and asked if Brown and his 5G Productions team could do the same with the Heroes' album.

"We asked him if he had any suggestions for catalogs — and he didn't know our camp were huge fans of Hall & Oates — and [McCoy] stuttered a bit and said, 'What about Daryl Hall and John Oates?' since [the Heroes' summer] tour was called 'Daryl Hall for President,' " Brown recalled. "The timing was crazy, because we almost did the Ludacris album with Hall & Oates, so we had the stack of records waiting for the next thing."

Not only did 5G not get a cease and desist from the Hall & Oates camp, Brown said, but in a remarkable coincidence, a company that bought the blue-eyed soul duo's catalog sent out an e-mail to the managers of several hot groups earlier this summer asking them if they had any ideas for new ways to market the tunes. That led to a meeting with the new owners of the H&O catalog, which Brown said went better than he could have imagined. "We got past song number two, and everyone is on their Blackberries!" he said. "Hall & Oates' managers are on the phone, the original producers of the tracks are on the phone. When I imagine in my fantasy world what might happen with a great idea, it was happening. We're New York hip-hop producers, and we're used to sampling things and hoping the artists don't catch us. Now we're doing it with their blessing and they're impressed with what we're doing."

How impressed? Two weeks ago, Brown and his partner were given the VIP treatment at a Hall & Oates show in New York, where the duo were as excited to meet Brown as he was to meet them. "I was trying not to be star-struck, but whenever I paid them a compliment, they hit us back with five more."

No release date has been set for the Heroes match-up album so far, but Brown said he's been told it might be part of a package the group is planning to release before the end of this year.

Download "7 weeks" Gym Class Heroes
Download "Re-Release Therapy" Ludacris & The Jackson5


interview via MTV.com