Ali Vegas – Strugglin’ Artist

I see a consistent theme emerging here with Southside Jamaica, Queens own Ali Vegas, who I’ve been championing for a minute … it’s called thematic beats by Chop Desel, movie-like lyrics and generally … good music A&R’d by the dude that I would have A&R my album … Mike Brinkley.

J7 – Love Lost

Not sure if this qualifies as new music, since this appears on “The Equation” mixtape from Simi Valley, Calif.-based producer Big Zik. He produced for Stack Bundles, RIP.

For what it’s worth, this is one my favorite songs. It definitely falls into the mysterious “urban folk” genre, which, of course, does not yet exist. And, this is definitely dedicated to the ex that I’ll be seeing in court on Friday.

Oh, and if you want to, reach out to J7 and Big Zik on Twitter. Just tell them I sent ya. @j7the818 and @bigzik

J7 – Love Lost
J7 – Love Lost (Instrumental)

HipHopOfficial’s Nas BMI Panel Coverage

Alas, finally there’s video footage of this epic event. And it comes courtesy of my folkers Daylan Williams and Co. over at HipHopOfficial, spotted at NahRight. Well done.

As far as what Nas was saying, here’s the most salient part for my literati breadgen out there.

It didn’t matter if my bills were going to get paid … I didn’t care if I was fuckin’ up the English language … Now I’ve got kids, they like Gucci Mane and they like Common. So they’re now watching me and watching what I say. I don’t want to get trapped in that, because I want to stay, but today, I’m kind of like, thinking about it a lot more.

UCLA Hip-Hop Appreciation Month

Memo to Universal Motown

Get it together over there, Ms. Sylvia Rhone.

Pressing hands with Mr. Doug Morris to congratulate him on the well-deserved star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was great, and everything else was cool too, but I do have a bone to pick with the music at your party on Sunday night.

See, it’s like this: Toronto’s Drake might be hot right now, but when you have a post-Grammy party at The W in Westwood, your best act Pac Div comes through, and the deejay still fails to play one of their songs – in their COUNTY – the writer who was up on the Pac boys in 2006 gets a little incensed.

Quite frankly. You don’t want to drop the ball like that.

Besides, Mibbs was dunkin’ at 15 and chances are, he’d dunk in a pick-up game with President Obama.

Now back to your regularly scheduled blogging.

Sincerely,

Sk.

BMI Panel Illustrated

The BMI gang

Common and Salaam

BMI writer Nasir Jones

Photos courtesy of BMI Inc.

BMI’s How I Wrote That Song Panel

This Grammy weekend, I attended what will likely be my favorite event ever. And I say that as a hip-hop head, journalist and simple ol’ fan of good music.

On Saturday, Jan. 30, performing rights organization BMI (Broadcast Music International) held a panel at the House of Blues Sunset Strip featuring some of its top signed writers. Although I don’t have any photos or video, I do have a post to share. The panel was like this, right to left: Zac Brown, Common, Colbie Caillat, Nas, Salaam Remi and Sebastian Krys.

Before the panel – which was open to the public, by the way – I had a chance to spend some time in posh room upstairs, eating and drinking good on BMI’s dime (the event was co-sponsored by Brand X, an L.A. Times publication, so it was Los Angeles Times money that was subsidizing your boy as well).

Anywho, while us journalists jostled for position to get an interview in with this guy and that girl and that group (new Interscope signees The Squares are just that), I just sort of posted up, taking it all in. Turns out that the tall, Nefertiti-looking woman walking around that I assumed was an artist was actually Catherine Brewton, a BMI vice president. She moderated the panel along with the esteemed Ann Powers, pop critic of the L.A. Times (I briefly joked with Ann about her moving to Alabama, that’s a piece of news that had been on LAObserved.com). I told Ann I liked her Grammy Nomination Special review in the LAT, but also pointed out that LL Cool J’s rapping to introduce the nominees was swacked (hip-hop blog slang for “stolen”) from Guerilla Union’s Rock the Bells press conferences, where emcee Supernatural does the very same thing. She reacted with a little suspicion, but hey, I had already made my point over at theLoop21.com.

So here we go. I was without any digital gadgetry, just a pen and a pad in my hand. Still, I got to chop it up with Common. As usual, everything he said made it sense, just like he did when we talked on the red carpet at his Hollywood Paladium benefit. I asked him two questions and I’m hoping the video of that is out there on the web somewhere soon. One was, “did you watch President Obama’s State of the Union speech,” to which Com quickly responded that he hasn’t. He asked me later what I thought of it, and I told him, “Barack had the house frozen, you should have seen the faces.” I then tapped Com on the elbow and said, “you should read the text of the speech.”

The second question I asked Com was about that time last fall I saw him at the Palladium in Hollywood and wrote up a news story for XXLMag.com. He brought Nas out and Nasir went right into “NY State of Mind,” but Nas appeared to flub his lyrics – or so I thought. I asked Com about that and he said that him and Nas actually kinda planned to do this. Com knew the lyrics to the Illmatic jam and just went in.

It was incredible to watch, I told him.

And a few minutes later, Mr. Jones stepped in the building.

Like Sean “The Pen” Garrett earlier, he was rocking a G-Star jacket, an African medallion, jeans and Timbs – and a fresh haircut. Nas posed for pictures with the BMI team and his fellow panelists. He did a couple of interviews. I snuck in a quick “Habari gani?” and a dap and pretty much kept it moving (There was a little more but you all will have to wait to find out what).

The panel itself was awesome.

To be able to say that I watched Nas vibing to Zac Brown’s guitar, or Common do an impromptu freestyle while Brown played the instrument, was … made … me speechless. It was something to take in, even for an experienced journalist. It all made sense, of course, why these artists were there and able to do all this. And no, I’m not talking in “industry”-specific terms, unless you do take in account that BMI’s checks are what keeps food on the table for cats like Zac Brown, Nas and Com.

As I mentioned before, Saturday’s event was the absolute highlight of my experience as a journalist, a hip-hop head and a fan of music. The intersection of music, writing, publishing and business created a perfect setting to meet two of my favorite critical writers who just happen to do music.

With that out the way, and closing of this post quickly approaching, I do want to point out a little irony. Back in 2001, I caught Nas at this same venue, House of Blues Sunset Strip. It was for the Stillmatic Tour and it was one of the few shows that I went to with my college ex. I ended up writing a less-than-favorable review for the the Daily Sundial at Cal State Northridge. The show was lackluster, what with Wizard and Jungle as hypemen and Nasir’s difficulties controlling his voice.

That’s long in the past as far as I am concerned. He has more than redeemed himself and continues to do so, just like the rest of us in the music industry and beyond.

The Cool Relief: A Haiti Benefit Concert – Medley

Shout out to Kevin Robinson of Uncovered 3rd PR for the assist on this.

Below is the video that I premiered over here in conjunction with the base of operations.

No love for the haters, whether they are in journalism, in the streets or anywhere in-between.

Let them eat Haitian dirt.

It’s the same dirt they got in Eritrea.

VID: Mr. Silky Slim and G.Malone – “Green Light”

Just a little something to get your appetites wet for my interview with Slim later this week at the homestead. This here goes as hard as that Distant Relatives jibber-jabber I’ve been yappin’ about in earlier posts. And you know how that goes.  Major shout to DJ Nik Bean for the assist on this.

One Love Remix

It’s only fitting since Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is letting up to 25,000 inmates in CA out.

Read more about it in the LA Watts Times in print or online this Thursday.

One. Love.

Sk.