23 years after the first London show Erick Sermon and Parish Smith, AKA EPMD, return to the Big Smoke still making dollars and having fun, as Phillip Mylnar investigates.
With a funk-saturated sound formulated way out in Long Island, EPMD took their place up front as part of hip-hop’s fabled golden era back in 1987. Now nearly three decades deep in hip-hop history, rap innovators Erick Sermon and Parish Smith look back on the game-changing night they played London’s Brixton Academy, how the business of hip-hop taught them to break-up to make-up, and the lasting lesson the legendary Run-DMC taught them about always embracing rap’s new generation.
Project Thirty-Three is an archive of vintage album covers that share the fact that they convey their message with simple shapes (circle, rectangles, squares and triangles), bold typography and concise copy. A site that showcases a genuine love for music and a treasure trove of inspiration. Well worth a look.
When hip-hop’s beats became untethered from the vocals in 1996, few could have predicted the implications. It levelled the playing field for producers from all over the world to concentrate on sonic rather than geographical landscapes. Beats became dislocated from the semantics of words and formed a new language as producers from Tokyo to Leeds set about crafting beats on MPCs and SPs or using their parents’ computers. Nowadays, a neck-snapper is as likely to come from Singapore or Melbourne as it is from one of the five boroughs. Freeing the producer from beats that work for MCs has also let it incorporate more disparate influences and evolve more quickly. …Read More.
It’s been a while since I visited Ben Eine’s website so it was good to see he has given it a lick of paint.
Gone are the mischievous Care Bears and eye watering psychedelic colours and, in keeping with Eine’s upward trajectory in the art world, comes something altogether more slicker. Einesigns 2.0 boasts more refined navigation, greater content and promises to be updated more regularly.
The work on show looks to have gone up a notch as well, with the imagery from his show, The Greatest, at White Walls gallery, looking particularly tasty. Featuring one-off words using his trademark typefaces and vibrant colours, this is one wall I’d happily transport to my own living room.
If anyone is in the market for some Eine, check out No Walls Gallery who have some letter canvases in or why take a gamble on Bonafide issue 02 which has an indepth interview with the king of typo-graff.
I’ve been itching to listen find out more about MED’s Classic LP ever since it surfaced on Stones Throw and I caught sight of Eric Colman’s and Jeff Jank’s Blue Note riffing cover. As MED puts it when asked about the album’s moniker:
“I called the LP Classic because thats the approach I took: create music that has the potential to be played by every generation. This album deals with current issues, personal and within the community. Good-feeling music will always last and allow hip-hop to grow.”
With contributions from Aloe Blacc, Talib Kweli, Oh No and Kurupt, Madlib on production duties and beats by Oh No, Georgia Anne Muldrow and The Alchemist, it seems like it the LP may well live up to its name.
Having spotted a poster advertising her forthcoming gig at the Nation of Shopkeepers and been seduced by the kooky, nonchalant charm of the fresh-faced girl staring back at me I decided to do a quick bit of digging…which revealed that Lianne Le Havas is actually a cog in the Warner Brothers machine that’s been grafting to get her featured in the hottness section of any credible muso publication going, and have even roped in everyone’s favourite weird uncle Jools Holland to put her on Later…with Jools Holland. Whilst I’m unsurprised that everything isn’t quiet what it seems – it rarely is – there’s no mistaking that Ms Le Havas has a voice and presence that are getting people excited.
M.C. Mell’O’ Thoughts Released (Revelation 1) Original Dope
The recently established re-issue label Original Dope has a simple remit of preserving hip- hip and its legacy. A duty they’ve so far fulfilled to the nth degree – pumping out British rap classics and lost American standards that may have been missed by heads and heathens the first time round.
On the go since 2010 and curated by Andy Cowen, long-time editor of Hip-Hop Connection, Original Dope’s output is still in single figures but there’s not a dud among them.
These choice albums have been dredged from the record collections of music fiends who know their onions and the resulting re-issue (that ends up in your sweaty palm as a slick CD with heavy duty liner notes) has been polished up like the family silver. Not only do you get a dope album to be banged out of woofers, tweeters and whatever else you’ve got hooked up, but you get all the bells and whistles as well - bonus tracks and digitally re-fiddled goodness.
Following on from the Supreme news, here’s something about a skating team/label a bit closer to home. Drawing on a coterie of skaters and design talent Palace Skateboards have been an emergent presence in London for the past few years. They’ve plucked some of the finest talent about and combined it with a visual brand that gets noticed – riffing the likes of the Coco Chanel and Versace logos’ and psychology diagrams has made for some excellent tees. This video, commissioned by VICE and ASOS, profiles key man Lev Tanju who talks about the Palace philosophy, his love of VHS and future plans.
Ever since the now mythical Chains and Black Exhaust compilation piqued my interest at the turn of the millennium, I have been a habitual consumer of the output of Memphix, Now Again, Mochilla and the other connected labels and acts that specialise in this genre. Chains and Black Exhaust proved an elusive prize. Every so often I’d read a tit-bit about it on a forum or in a knowing review. It’d be on my radar, whetting my appetite but then would prove impossible to find and it’d disappear down the Wanted List and I’d forget about it. I finally nailed it a year or so ago and, with all it’s Hendrix-esque, un-fettered lushness, I was engrossed.
The point of these ramblings? That there is a whole other world of good stuff out there which aforementioned labels have an un-canny habit of unearthing, dusting down and preserving for future generations. And you, dear reader, should be making the most of this.
Following the Stussy thread and riding the wave of the surf, love this piece of advertising for Japanese clothing brand Beams. As befitting a brand that doffs a cap to Americana, this piece of artwork has a proper Pacific ocean vibe – clear skies and a clear blue ocean – and appropriates (rather than bites) American artist Ed Ruscha’s style very nicely (I’m presuming he wasn’t commissioned by the label to paint it himself).
