Tuesday, August 10, 2004
Rick James, 1948-2004
Image courtesy: Soulwalking.co.uk
It's still not clear what lead to his untimely death but Rick James, RIP (MTV News):
- Pop (all love)'s Aaron has a summary of the Rick James blog coverage.
- Allhiphop.com's has an execellent recent interview with James.
- Mp3 snippets of a recent track (and by recent I mean in the last 10 years) called "Hard To Get (Revisited)" by James and OG Bay Area gangsta rapper Richie Rich from the How to be a Player soundtrack album that shows he still had that real funk. (Real | Win)
I didn't get my ish together this past weekend but look for "Super Freak," "Mary Jane," "All Night Long" and "Square Biz" to get dropped in the mix this weekend at Fuelray.
Speaking of DJ-ing, I know Hashim and Metalface have been trying to get their DJ on, maybe they need to look into this? (The New York Times)
You can thank me now for making it happen: the Maroon 5 12" is now out 'cos I copped one on Sat. afternoon at Beat Street in Brooklyn (I couldn't wait to hit up my peoples at J records for promos this week). I dropped it twice that night while spinning to great effect. Only negative: no Kanye remix on the wax.
Speaking of remixes though, can we get a moratorium on any more new versions of "Lean Back" now? The Em/Mase and Tego Spanish remix joints were fine but now there's another half-assed sounding remix with Big Pun and an R&B remake by some chick named Paula Campbell going around too. C'mon when they have a whole shelf just for versions of one song (at Music Factory, what is this: dancehall?), it's done and time to get ready for a new single.
Swindle magazine: very cool-looking, but do people wanna pay $14.95 for an art house take on hip hop and pop culture in a hardcover book format?
But, if the music is good, I wouldn't mind paying a premium for the new Prince Po album The Slickness because the artwork is ridiculous. It folds out into an actual picture frame (both the CD and vinyl album version), that ish is bananas.
And can LA Reid save Def Jam? As much as I respect him for what he's achieved as an executive in the past at Arista and LaFace, as a betting man I wouldn't put my money on it. Him and Def Jam are literally oil and water. Interscope/Shady/G-Unit/Aftertmath is the new Yankees of hip hop (maybe). More discussion over at J Smooth's. (Newsweek)
