Gig #10: Steevee presents … Underground Hip-Hop Day

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Big K.R.I.T.: ‘Mississippi’s Big K.R.I.T. is a sort of Southern Rap traditionalist. Where his colleague and buddy Jay Electronica looks to Nas, Rakim and other New York formalists, Big K.R.I.T. revives the seminal 1990s Southern hip-hop of Pimp C and 8Ball, casually intricate rappers more invested in mood than density. Where these throwback styles thrive is on the Internet, where dedicated if modest fan bases can champion all sorts of outsiders, even traditionalists. He’s unconflicted about his heritage. “Mississippi, what? He don’t sound Southern,” he rapped at the end of “Children of the World,” parroting what others have said to dismiss him. But that’s not true: he’s unmistakably of the region, legato with the syllables, clipped in tone and with an intoxicating melancholy streak.’ — Jon Caramancia

“Children of the World (Live)”:

“Return of 4Eva/R4 Theme Song (live)”:

“R4 Theme Song”:

“Hometown Hero”:

Hail Mary Mallon: ‘After years of performing live together and appearing on each other’s solo albums, critically acclaimed mc’s/producers Aesop Rock and Rob Sonic, along with DJ Big Wiz, come together as Hail Mary Mallon. The name is inspired by Mary Mallon aka Typhoid Mary, the first person in the U.S. identified as a healthy carrier of the pathogen associated with typhoid fever. Mary Mallon was presumed to have infected 53 people, three of whom died, over the course of her career as a cook. She spent three years in quarantine, which is where she died.’ — Rhymesayers

Hail Mary Mallon-“D-Up”:

Lil B: ‘Is Lil B, as the New York Times claims, “a folk hero of the rap counterculture”? Is he, as Vice Magazine put it, “the most revolutionary MC of the last 15 years”? Or is he, as one YouTube commentator reckons, “a grotesque testament not only to the current state of rap music but also to the steady, inevitable decline of western society”? If splitting an audience can be a by-product of creative risk-taking, Lil B is out there on the edge. Born Brandon McCartney, he debuted as part of teenage San Franciscan crew The Pack, who scored a 2006 US hit with their sneaker anthem “Vans”. But it’s as a solo artist that McCartney found his niche. Over the past 18 months, he’s marked himself out as an inexhaustible online presence, releasing a never-ending stream of songs and homemade videos, collaborating with ringtone rap merchant Soulja Boy and comedian Andy Milonakis, all the while extolling his hippyish, think-positive “Based” philosophy.’ — Basedworld

“Justin Bieber” video (this says official but looks fan-made):

“Wonton Soup” video:

“Base For Your Face” (just audio, but it might be his single best song, out of the sample I’ve heard):

“Pretty Boy” video:

G-Side: ‘G-Side, the rap duo of Yung Clova and ST 2 Lettaz, come from Huntsville, Alabama, a mid-sized city that has produced more than its share of great and buzzed-about rappers lately, including Paper Route Gangstaz, Jackie Chain, 6 Tre G, and Kristmas. The Block Beataz production crew has given the city’s rap scene its own sound: a woozy, synth-based, bottom-heavy crawl that treats big-room trance the way OutKast and UGK records used to treat 70s soul. G-Side might be the perfect complement to Block Beataz’ glimmering funk. Both ST and Clova are warm, conversational rappers who talk about drug-dealing histories and future ambitions with grace and perspective.’ — Pitchfork

“Money In The Sky” video:

“Run Things” video:

“Inner Circle” video:

Das Racist: ‘Das Racist, based in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, is composed of Queens-born Himanshu Suri (aka Heems), and San Francisco-born Victor Vazquez (aka Kool A.D.), joined by hype man Ashok Kondabolu, known as Dap, for live performances and in music videos. Das Racist’s unique style has a strong polarizing tendency; their set at the Pop Montreal festival was described as “the most divisive show seen at the festival.” They describe their approach to music as “‘deconstructionalist’: sawing the legs out from under hip-hop as they celebrate it.” The New York Times wrote “Das Racist’s lack of piety has become an aesthetic of its own, with songs that are as much commentary on hip-hop as rigorous practice of it.” The Root said Das Racist could speak for both “the ‘hood or the nearest gated community.” Playboy called the duo “equal parts hip-hop and Cheech & Chong.”‘ — Wiki

“Who’s That? Brooown” video:

live in Amsterdam:

“chicken and Meat” video:

“Rainbow in the Dark” video:

Angel Haze: ‘There’s a self-described Native American bi-sexual girl called Angel Haze in California. She’s got a massive crush on both Tupac and Andrea Gibson and she’s already the master of not giving a fuck and telling her gospel. Talking about broken love on her YouTube channel, she advises that if it’s not working out with your lover and you are feeling burned by them you should probably just feel set free and take some pride in that. If we didn’t say so, she’s also a pretty sick rapper, has two mixtapes (one is Twilight themed!) of practice behind her.’ — The Fader

Angel Haze’s “The Show Goes On” (She’s posted a bunch of freestyles, recorded over other artists’ instrumentals, on YouTube, illustrated by stills – as far as I can tell, she’s never made an actual video. I think this is actually a big improvement over Lupe Fiasco’s original.):

Odd Future: ‘A rap group made up of ten or so skateboard rats from L.A., ages 16 through 19(ish). “Odd Future” is short for “Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All,” which usually gets abbreviated as “OFWGKTA.” The leader of the group is a 19 year-old named Tyler, or Tyler The Creator. The second-most prominent of the group is a rapper named Hodgy Beats. The rest of the group splinter off into sub-groups. The youngest member is Earl Sweatshirt, who was recently sent away to boarding school by his parents. Imagine the most belligerent, psychotic, damaged, and mischievous teenagers you’ve never wanted to meet. Pair them with ounces of charisma, an SAT-ready vocabulary, and rap records. You end up with their mixtapes, which have involved raps about drugs, sex, rape, anarchy, Freudian damage, epic self-consciousness, and a purview of the world mostly involving nihilism, anarchy, and obscenities as vocally nutritious content.’ — Esquire

Mellow Hype-“64”:

The concept version of Tyler the Creator featuring Frank Ocean-“She”:

Here’s a live clip of Odd Future performing “Sandwiches” in New York, with somewhat distorted sound:

Here’s a TV clip of Mellow Hype (featuring Bass Drum of Death) performing “64”:

A fan-made video for Mellow Hype’s “Loco”:

Tyler the Creator’s “Yonkers”:

And the infamous drug smoothie clip for Earl Sweatshirt’s “Earl”:

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p.s. Hey. The honorable writer, filmmaker, and d.l. Steevee mans this latest of the blog’s gigs, parsing and selecting high points from a genre too rarely tracked and celebrated around here, and, not surprisingly, there’s a wealth of great stuff up there, so imbibe and get your feedback back to your host du jour, please. Thanks, and supercharged thanks to you, Steve. So, this afternoon I’m setting off to the Loire Valley for a mini-vacation with the intention of trespassing on and in as many chateaux and castles as time allows. I’ll be re-hooked to the internet — and the blog will go live again — on Saturday, and, in the meantime, you’ll be getting golden, not-that-oldie posts every day, some requested by d.l.s and some cherry picked by me, and I’ll catch up with any comments you leave today, tomorrow, Thursday, and Friday when Saturday rolls around, so don’t go anywhere, etc. ** Todd Colby, Greetings, sir! Always a great pleasure and honor to have you here, maestro! ** Jax, You’re back from Alaska! The bears and Republicans didn’t get you! Dude, jetlag, hugs. Yeah, it’s definitely good to do those things, right? And awesome about the London agent possibility. Toes crossed. And you closing in on the closing of the Lord Rigby saga sets my anticipation a’flutter. Nice! Pompidou festival should be something, budget bosses allowing. You should come over for it. Other than that and the fanzine? Mm, I’m trying to finally get the expanded mss. of ‘The Weaklings’ finished. Getting back to work on this graphic novel kind of thing that Oscar B. and I are collaborating on. Making notes re: the big Gisele maze piece. Starting to do some press re: ‘TMS’. That’s enough, I guess. Great to see you, Jack! Let me know about the agent and about how the final chapters are treating you. ** David, You’re live. Well, you’re always live, but DS is. Everyone, remember how I told you, uh, yesterday about the imminent dawning of d.l. David’s new site/blog Dirty Story? Well, it has dawned with a short piece on Hal Hartley’s film ‘Henry’s Fool’ and go read/welcome it, yes? Here. ** Bollo, Hi, Jonathan! I’m good, packing my backpack. Excellent about the show acceptance! Really heartening to think that the Five Years show might have made a difference. Oh, Limerick pix, cool. Everyone, the awesome artist Jonathan Mayhew sometimes known as Bollo had some of his work in a show in Limerick, Ireland, and since the bulk of us aren’t in Ireland, as much as we would wish to be, please join me in seeing said work/show in the only way we are allowed, i.e. by clicking this. Only had a quick glance so far, but the work looks terrific. Love that ghost. ** David Ehrenstein, Acid in graveyards was my cup of tea. Those were good times, those were bad times. ** MANCY, Hey. I slipped over and watched your new video once. I’ll view it more thoroughly asap. Really like it. Really charismatic. Great rhythm. The ‘bang, bang, … ‘ thing is great. Yeah, beautiful. If you don’t mind, I’m going to embed it at the bottom of the p.s. as a way of encouraging people here to check it out. Everyone, artist Steven Purtill aka d.l. MANCY has made a terrific, spooky new video collage work. He’d love your thoughts and feedback. It’s on one of his blogs, but I’m also going to embed it down below to make access to it even easier. Thanks! ** Oscar B, ‘Twas indeed! See you before I go, right? ** Paul Curran, Tricks are … not half-bad. Yours? ** Kiddiepunk, No, thank you! All I did was clear the table. ** Pisycaca, Let’s just say the weather will feel … very familiar. Thanks for the trip well wishes. I’m hoping that, what with the focus being castles and the like, I’ll end up with a heck of a blog slideshow for you guys, but we will see. Lots of love from me. ** Thomas Moronic, Ah, the man. I now have my own personal copy of ‘GRAVES’, and it’s my designated train fare for this afternoon. Excited! Really happy to see all the love and purchases from the gang. Super nice about the NYC trip! It should be starting to cool down around then, if NYC still has the summers that it used to when I was imbedded there. And nice for your bro too. Yeah, great, T! ** Steevee, Hey. Really, thanks so much for curating and assembling the gig. I love it. It taught me stuff. I’ve bought some of it. Really liking your idea for the film, needless to say. The hung jury seems like a pretty good solution to that problem, and I can’t recall a film that has ended on that exact note. So, will you get started on the screenplay right away? ** Chilly Jay Chill, Hi, Jeff. The weekend sounds perfect. Yeah, a post-reading Skype chat sounds really great. Being able to talk about it would be much better than just jotting down my thoughts. Yeah, let’s do that. I’ll try to read it asap. Enjoy the mountains if I don’t check in with you before you leave. ** Jheorgge, Hey, man! Really good to see you! And I’m really happy to hear about your breakthrough on the writing front. ‘A living, breathing text that despises the reader’: fascinating. I’d love to hear how you’re doing that and about the process and stuff when you’re surer about how it’s going and comfortable with revealing stuff. Yes, I saw the ghost tattoo on … Facebook? Must have been. Super trippy to see my handiwork on you. It’s an honor, man, for sure. It also looks really cool, I must admit. If we’re talking about the same new Prurient album, and I guess we must be, yeah, I’m really loving it too. I just downloaded it a couple of days ago. I’m good, busy, you know. It’s awfully nice to see the excitement in your voice, G. Can’t wait to see the things you’re up to! ** Stephen Tully Dierks, Thank you, Stephen. As a fan of yours, it’s really nice to make your acquaintance. Big respect to you! ** Chris Cochrane, Hi, C. Oh, Bastille Day? Mm, big parade, partly military, down the Champs Elysee to Concorde where it ends/passes by a grandtand full of dignitaries who, I guess, wave at it and nod approvingly or something. Big fireworks display near/over the Eiffel Tower. Sometimes a giant free concert at the same locale. I saw Johnny Hallyday do one a few years back. Drinking, etc. Not so very different than the US thang really. No need for bugging ‘cos you’ll know as soon as I know. ** Postitbreakup, Howdy, J. Those are gorgeous photos. Thanks! Everyone, courtesy of Postitbreakup, here are some cool, eerie photos of the New Orleans Six Flags theme park post-Katrina. You’ll like them. ** Jesse Hudson, Hi, Jesse! It really was an excellent set of questions you posed to Mr. M there. You good? I’m good except for the obvious current deprivation. ** Frank Jaffe, Hey, Frank! Sight for sore eyes, you are. I’m glad you’re feeling better. Jeez, about that apartment key snafu. Wait, can’t his roommate just make you a copy of the key? It’s probably not that simple, right? Nice about the food, home, and parental love. And meeting Mr. Hannum! I have yet to have that honor. Tell him hi for me, if it’s easy. Pride Student Union is a non-profit agency? Well, I guess that makes sense. I’m a total know-nothing when it comes to anything business-related or money making. I hope they pick you, obviously. Do you get a fancy office with a sexy, sassy secretary? I had me some yummo Hard Rock Nachos last week, and I’m almost ready for another round. ** Oliver, Hey. Some publishers require agent intervention? I never realized that. I suppose it’s just a hassle-relieving move, but it seems awfully elitist. Is getting an agent an unlikely prospect? It’s sadly true about the novella problem, I think. In some cases, at least. There’s always the idea of combining it with some short fiction pieces as a way to thicken the mss. Or, yeah, trying to expand the novella, but, obviously, only if you find a way that isn’t just adding padding. Maybe keep trying with the novella as is for at least a while and see what happens. You might well find a publisher that’s completely cool with short books or that likes the novella enough to suggest that it be lengthened or combined with other works. Let me know what happens, and, yeah, I’m at your disposal. ** Misanthrope, Bushy tails inside, okay, but bushy tails outside? Uh-uh. ** Inthemostpeculiarway, Hey. You may know this, but Rupert Grint’s stated dream is to act in a David Lynch film. I can imagine Lynch thinking that was an okay idea. And, if that happened, Grint could be the new Jack Nance, which isn’t a bad fate except for the getting beaten to death in a donut shop part. We’ll get to the Loire Valley at, like, 7:30 pm or something, so I think we’ll just eat, crash, and start touring tomorrow morning. Your dream sounds scarily paranormal. You’re a good friend to leave the house without showering first. I find that really hard to do. Your friend was nice to treat you to In ‘n’ Out. Yeah, I was reading about In ‘n’ Out opening in Texas and how wildly popular it is there. I haven’t eaten an In ‘n’ Out burger since I went vegetarian at 16, but I do remember that their burgers were about as good as burgers get. Watching fireworks while sitting on a car hood sounds so nice, sigh. I’m going to try that on Bastille Day. Marti Noxon wrote the ‘Fright Night’ remake? Wow, now I actually want to see it. The song of the day was nice. It didn’t sound scary like I thought it would. It sounds like it would play over the end credits maybe? My day: First, I worked on the chapbook/zine until I thought, okay, this is finished, but I decided to let it sit for a few hours to be sure. During that time, I ran a few errands, and then d.l. Bill Hsu arrived for his happy 3 1/2 week stay at the Recollets! We did the hugs hello and stuff, and then we went to the cafe here and had coffees — or I did; he had a Perrier — and caught up and talked about Paris stuff that we want to do together. Kiddiepunk and Oscar happened by. Kp had an armload of copies of freshly ordered ‘GRAVES’ and was headed to the post office to send them to their buyers. Also, his visiting brother from Australia was there, so I met him. Then the cafe thing continued until K&O; returned and joined us for a communal blab fest. Then I walked Bill around the ‘hood a little bit to show him where the supermarket and health food store and newsstand and farmers market are, and then he went back to his room to settle in, and I came back here. I opened the doc of the chapbook text, went through it, did a last fiddle and polish then sent it off to Kiddiepunk hoping he will like it enough to turn it into one of his beautiful zines. I’m awaiting his decision. I ate, made a list of things I need to early today to be ready for the trip, watched a bit of the old TV, blah blah, and hit the sack. So, now you have … what is it … four days, I guess, to live to the fullest and then report on, and so do I. Let’s make the best of our respective times and promise to remember the best parts to hand over to each other in text form come Saturday. You down for that? I’ll take your inability to answer my question as a yes! Have a great most of the week! ** Schlix, Hi, Uli. Yes, I’ve heard of Karlsruhe, and I think because of that very reason you mention. Well, I’m hoping you’re okay with the move. You seem like you might be. Yeah, I’m going to go overdose on French castles for a couple of days. Could be worse, right? ** Tender prey, Hi, Marc! How are you? When do you guys arrive in Paris again? ** Right, so hang out with Steevee and crew today and please watch and say something about MANCY’s video (see: below). Tomorrow and the following two days, you’ll get blog post reruns with quick hellos and intros from me, and then I will be your greeter and fresh content provider again on Saturday. Stay gold, and see you then.

New video work/collage by the artist Steven Purtill aka d.l. MANCY. Please watch and share your thoughts with him in the comments arena. Thanks!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFhsFqS5OUI]
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