Results tagged “hiphop”

While we patiently wait for Lupe Fiasco to release his next album -- mid-December, we hope, we hope! -- at least we're getting a semi-regular dose of him playing live around town! He continues the trend of not forgetting his home base with a concert at the Congress Theater on October 29.

             

Usually we avoid corporate sponsored music events since they tend to be stacked with B-list acts, but when we heard Hennessy was bringing Common to a small South Loop club, and The Roots would be his backing band, we couldn't resist showing up. (Side story: We ran into ?uestlove in the alley pre-show and made sure to let him know that, in our opinion, he's the Twitter master. The dude's tweets alone make Late Night with Jimmy Fallon worth watching.) Opening act Elevator Fight warmed the crowd up with some middle of the road rock sung by Zoë Kravitz, the daughter of Lisa Bonet and Lenny Kravitz. It was the kind of act that usually causes us to avoid these events, but once The Roots hit the stage for a solo set the dull tghrob that preceded them washed away in a burst of bliss. And once Common hit the stage to join them for his own set? It was all over. The room erupted and the assembled coterie of musicians onstage took that energy and threw it right back out to the people. We were on such a high we even found ourselves singing along to Heavy D when he suddenly appeared onstage and we hated his tunes back in the day! It was just a big ol' party, with ace talent packed into a small room giving it their all.

On thing we love most about Peter Bjorn & John is their unpredictability. They careen from glistening pop to coldly strange world rhythms to shoegaze to frenetic garage workouts. You honestly don't know where they're heading next! And now, in advance of yet another bout of touring (do these guys ever stop?) they've "leaked" a complete rethink of their last album, Living Thing, in the form of a hip-hop remix album. Re-Living Thing is filled with cameos both large and small, including a vocal turn by Chicago's own Rhymefest on The Kickdrums' remix of "Nothing To Worry About." The best part about the whole thing? Peter Bjorn & John are just giving it away for free. So check it out!

Yeah, we admit it. We're pretty stoked Lupe's playing Grant Park for free. And here's the tune that made us first fall in love with the brainy and verbally brawny rapper.

Next door to this year's Taste of Chicago the Nike 6.0 BMX Open will be underway from June 26 - 27 in Grant Park. While the image of BMX bikers butting heads with stout suburbanites wielding oversized turkey legs is enough to set our phasers on "gleeful irony" we've learned a little piece of news that makes the event all the more awesome.

It's time for the internal rhyme. At midnight. That's right, Metro has announced a special midnight show this Saturday featuring the legendary Rakim, with support from Chicago outfits Primeridian, Que B.I.L.L.A.H., and DJ Intel.

Gregg Gillis owes Steinski his career. Hell, most producers owe Steinski an awful lot for the aural aesthetic he and partner Double Dee helped cement when it came to cutting and splicing source tracks to create new murals of sound.

At last week's Life During Wartime dance party at Hideout we made a shocking discovery: HIPSTERS DO NOT KNOW THEY ARE HIPSTERS! Seriously. Which we admit frightens us a bit, because we don't think we're hipsters but now ... well, how can we know?!

Though musician Keith Harris’ roots are firmly planted in Chicago, he’s literally all over the map. He brings home the bacon touring as the drummer with the Black Eyed Peas and moonlights as a hip-hop producer, remixer, songwriter and even talent scout. But don’t mistake this for career A.D.D., though. Having a hand in every aspect of the biz has made him a prolific music man, well-versed in classic theory and practice with an urban edge that’s given him an incredibly versatile skill set. The music he works to create is a fusion of different genres, vibes and styles, much like the man himself. The 2008 hit “American Boy,” which he co-wrote, is a prime example of this blurring of the lines with it’s hip hop-py lyrical flow overtop a laid-back, breezy, roller-skating on a sunny day musical feel. And people seem to like it, considering it’s up for "Song of the Year" at this Sunday’s Grammy Awards. We chatted with Keith just before he jetted off to L.A. to wait for his name to be read from the envelope, and we found even with his recent success, he’s still down to earth. But he’s nowhere near settled.

Looks like we're not the only one growing impatient for Kid Sister's constantly delayed debut Dream Date. Cream Team has jumped into the act with a particularly right on analog blog about the release date that keeps retreating into the horizon.

A spicy-scented potpourri pie of events to keep away the winter doldrums...

Green Revolution, Museum of Science and Industry, 5700 S. Lake Shore Drive, January 15 - March 1

We know we recently told you the looooong awaited debut from Kid Sister, Dream Date, was pushed back to a January release ... but we've just learned that it's actually been pushed further back to March as she works on some additional tracks for the album. On the bright side, we had been grousing around the office that a winter release might dampen the album's summer hopes, but at this rate it may just be the summer jam of '09!

We've been listening to new Kanye West album, 808s & Heartbreak all morning, and are loving the nuanced monochrome with brief bursts of string filled color. We'll have a full review next week, but until then check out this rather unique New jack remix crafted by Chicago's own TREW sent to us by Uberjam.

Russell Simmons and Green Lantern have put together the "Yes We Can" mixtape. Outtasite! Download it here. [donewaiting]

Say what you will about Kanye West, but dude knows how to keep himself on top of the news cycle in order to draw attention to a new album. In an effort to out-Radiohead Radiohead, he wants fans to remix his lead single "Love Lockdown" and -- unlike a certain British band who charges for their stems on iTunes -- is offering all of the essential elements of the song for free to do with as you please. We may just have to dig out our old CD of Acid 1.0 to have a go at this ourselves.

We liked the song, but agree with Kanye's decision to re-record it since the new version is far superior. Especially when it "overloads." Nice touch. [Kanye's Blog]

"Love Lockdown," the jammy Kanye performed at the VMAs Sunday -- in our opinion the highlight of a show that was otherwise pretty dreadful -- is streaming on his blog. Listen up.

Well, it's something like that. Check out his new video for "Champion."

                   

Ah, the rain. In previous years we've always half jokingly call the Pitchfork Music Festival "Sweatfork" due to the usually oppressive heat, but this year the afternoon storms brought about "Mudfork" and the attendant rise of the mud people. Saturday is usually the most crowded day of the festival and this year was no different, although we must admit we're seeing less and less of the ironic gym suited American Apparel crowd and more and more of, well, normal folks.

Another week, another Kanye controversy. Last week, Bill Zwecker reported Mr. West would be attending anger management classes to reassure several corporations who were interested yet hesitant to extend to him endorsement deals. The trouble stemmed from Kanye's recent blog outburst regarding the criticism he faced for his much-maligned Bonnaroo show.

We understand your needs. Coming into work after a three-day weekend sucks. Even way up here in the Chicagoist offices, our usually rambunctious and festive staff is a tad subdued. Our bellies are still slightly swollen from overcooked burgers and sweaty cans of beer.

Sigh. As one of the few Kanye apologists remaining, we're finding it harder and harder to defend some of Mr. West's antics these days. First, there was the infamous Sunrise Show at Bonnaroo, followed by a bevy of bad feedback from festival-goers. Now, almost two weeks later, Kanye has taken to his blog to defend himself. To wit:

I am sick of negative people who just sit around trying 2 plot my downfall... Why???? I understand if people don't like me because I like me or if people think tight clothes look gay or people say I run my mouth to much, But this Bonnaroo thing is the worst insult I've ever had in my life. This is the most offended I've ever been... this is the maddest I ever will be. I'm typing so fucking hard I might break my fucking Mac book Air!!!!!!!! Call me any name you want....arrogant, conceited, narcissistic, racist, metro, fag whatever you can think of.... BUT NEVER SAY I DIDN'T GIVE MY ALL! NEVER SAY I DIDN'T GIVE MY ALL! THIS SHOWS NO MATTER HOW HARD YOU TRY TO BE GOOD AT SOMETHING THERE WILL BE PEOPLE THERE TO LIE ABOUT YOU AND BRING YOU DOWN!

Hip-hop pioneer Grandmaster Flash is in town tonight, but not to lay down beats. Rather, the artist formerly known as Joseph Saddler will be at the University of Chicago's International House to sign and promote his new autobiography, The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash: My Life, My Beats. During the appearance, Flash will also discuss his life and the memoir with WGCI's DJ Timbuk2.

How appropriate, the day that Chicago's supreme mash-up duo has a record release party is the same day Gregg Gillis decided to drop the new Girl Talk album, Feed The Animals. For free. (Or pay what you can.) It's largely the same set of tunes he used to whip the crowd into a frenzy at last year's Pitchfork Music Festival, so there are no real surprises, but it is a supremely solid piece of work. Our personal favorite "what the heck?!" sample moment occurs early on when Aphex Twin pops up in "Shut The Club Down."

Erykah Badu's New Amerykah Part One (4th World War) is just completely and utterly fantastic, and believe us when we say that judgment is based on an objective level. Badu has long been a cypher of sorts -- is she an Earth mother? a revolutionary? an unbalanced eccentric? -- but New Amerykah draws together all the disparate threads of her personality and weaves them into a piece of work that stands as her strongest statement yet.

You've seen Ramon Norwood around town, trust us. He's kind of a hard guy to miss since his tall figure is easily spotted bobbing to the beats at shows around town, but you would never guess he's the sort of guy to hole up in a studio to create a hip-hop concept disc based around the neighborhoods he frequents around town.

Rock The Bells, a "world-class hip hop platform" that kicks off its 2008 tour right here in Chicago on July 19th, announced their main lineup yesterday, which includes local acts The Cool Kids, Kid Sister, and Kidz in the Hall. Ironically, The Cool Kids and Kid Sister (both playing Coachella this weekend) aren't listed on the Chicago itinerary, though they are listed for subsequent shows. We don't know if it's an oversight or not, but here's hoping they're added for the hometown gig. (Ed. note: They might be excluded due to the blackout around the Lollapalooza dates.) Even without the local acts, the lineup is pretty solid already, with hip-hop legends A Tribe Called Quest, Nas, and De La Soul (returning a year after their triumphant Pitchfork set) leading the charge along with one of our personal favorites, Mos Def, and a few Wu Tang members thrown in for good measure. Additional acts will be announced in the near future.

The Interview Show, a monthly opportunity for host Mark Bazer to rub elbows with Chicago celebs, returns tonight to the Hideout. Here’s a few queries we’d like to see answered: