Freak The Technique

A little while back, I was addicted to Immortal Technique. He's a next generation Chuck D, only a lot more inflammatory and hella pissed off. He even goes as far as to put a graphic of a White House massacre inside his CD jacket. I took a look at his fantastic sophomore set, Revolutionary Vol. 2 for the Baltimore City Paper. Don't sleep on Technique. I still think he can blow up.

Johnny Paycheck

Thank you counselor! The Attorney General of the State of Maryland just sent me my share of the CD MAP Antitrust Litigation Settlement. As one of over three million pissed plaintiffs, I got a check for $13.86 for copping overpriced CDs through the years. Does this mean P. Diddy's royalty notes will be minimized to compensate for all these payouts?

No Mas. Please.

Is it me, or is Usher's #1 tune "Yeah!" produced by Lil' Jon an eerily similar re-tread of Jon's own "Get Low." Did I actually hear Usher saying his work with Lil' Jon was going to change music in a TV interview? Yikes...

In a related thought, is Ludacris the new king of cameos or what? Sorry Busta.

Kanye Kan

Now that you've heard it from everyone else, here's my take on Kanye West's debut LP. Worthy of all the hype? Yes.

Is it the classic, revolutionary joint that will change music Kanye thinks he's created? Probably not. But one hell of a record nonetheless. My prediction is the speedy samples will be passe' in a year or so, though i do dig 'em.

News at 11

One of the more memorable few hours i've spent in a months was dragging my tired ass out to Bladensburg, MD to see an Elephant Man gig at a crammed nightclub. For those who think covering concerts is a glamorous biz, here's how it went down. After being temporarily slowed by gridlocked cars honking at each other and 5-0 with sirens blaring, I headed for the club. (I thankfully parked a few blocks away in front of what looked like some kind of junkyard.)

I promptly got into a massive line that must have had over 100 people in it at approximately 11:15pm. There was another line that looked five times as long (no joke), so I stayed where I was. I got through security only to find that there was no guest list. What a suprise. If any of you reading this have arranged to get into a show through a publicity firm or (gasp!) a record label, you know what I'm talking about. Nobody had a list until one security guard said f*ck it and seriously helped me out. I think he felt sorry for me because I was out there so long that folks were asking me where to go like I worked there. When I finally accepted my short lived role of "working" there, I gave one guy directions to get in. Turned out I was wrong and he reprimanded me. Got in after 45 mins of being out in the cold and feeling pissed. Oh yeah, excellent show. Maybe i'll dye my hair day-glo orange. Naah.

Lil' Bro, Big Show

Went to the Little Brother show the other night.

A heck of a good time. These cats have fun on stage like no other rap act out there. Thanks to Mark at MN8 for producing this dope gig. Little Brother is about to be signed to Atlantic, so look out for a major label release late this year.