Discarded and Almost Forgotten

Same week I get my first check from google tube for old Wavelength  clips, I find this at the Goodwill outlet. It's an air check from the UPN incarnation of the show, which aired the closing years of the twentieth century. I was surprised to be reunited with this aritfact, complete with my handwriting. I passed these out to businesses in a vain attempt to get them to advertise with us. To answer your question, yes I bought it.

Rapper Klelph Dollaz dies

Richmond-based rapper, Kleph Dollaz, 41, was found dead today from an apparent cardiac arrest. Dollaz was former member of the 1990s hip hop group Ill Biskits and later produced music for Sean Price, Sadat X, Talib Kweli and others. Last year he released an album, "Square in the Circle," via his bandcamp page. Kleph's music took a spiritual turn in recent years, as evidenced by the above clip for "Speak the Name," directed by Marcus Holland.

Hit Squad Takes Out Richmond

Last night, at the Return of the Hit Squad show in Richmond, it was like hip hop never died. The boom-bap the echoed in the cavernous hall of the former department store now known as the Showplace apparently can raise the dead, just look at this blog today. The emcees that make of the hip-hop collective that left its imprint on hip hop charts in the 1990s all made it to the show, overcoming delayed flights, thunderstorms, snarled traffic caused by a presidential visit and a last minute change in venue. Even the Knuckleheadz, a group whose chance at success was derailed by the squad's violent and unfortunate break-up in 1992, were present, opening squad's set with a spirited and confident presentation.

EPMD, followed, which surprised some of the crowd, who didn't expect to see the headliners so soon. Back in the day, a change in the anticipated line up usually means somebody didn't show up. But they were joined by K-Solo for their second song,"Knick Knack Patty Wack," which was anything but. The rapper has been MIA from the rap scene for years and was probably the performer most people were curious to see. K-Solo yielded the stage to Keith Murray, who had more luck stage diving in Richmond than he did back in 1994, when hit the floor at the Flood Zone. Murray stage persona is barely-managed chaos, yet he never seemed to run out of breath or energy.

Das Efx followed, and the former Virginia State University students haven't lost a step, even if one of them has ditched his locks. The rest of the night continued this way, with members of squad performing a couple of songs, walking off and coming back a few moments later. It was an ingenious way to maintain the energy level of a concert featuring aging b-boys who can still get down, just for not as long.

"This is the Hit Squad," Erick Sermon repeated for the young fans in the audience. "He is a DJ," he said pointing to rap veteran DJ Scratch. "I'm not with the fast boom-bap," the rapper said in brief speech about the current state of hip-hop that reminded the audience of his last name. "And I'm not a hater either, 'cause I got money. But that shit is ignorant!"

RIP MCA

Cassidy Says Recent Arrest Not for Murder

Cassidy Clears up Murder Charge Rumors from ALLFLAMERZ.COM

Cassidy said he isn't facing any new murder charges and he was pulled off the street from violating his probation.

Does the world need more Skillz?

Skillz "Celebrate Life" (Live) from on <">Vimeo.

It's the end of the year and there's new Skillz material. But it's not the annual list of celebirty slip-ups set to music that he's known for. Instead, it's a full fledged album, "The World Needs More Skillz"

The footage above is from the record release party in Norfolk, Va.

Black Eyed Baptist

Years ago, a young man came to the campus newspaper I edited in Richmond, Va. and pretended to be a journalist. I had my suspicions about his motives, but I needed help so bad I couldn't afford to picky. Besides, how dangerous could a guy wearing sandals and wishing everyone "peace and blessings" be? He would later admit he posed as music journalist to meet other musicians, a ruse that eventually paid off.

While waiting around for an Outkast interview, the artist now known as Jean Baptiste struck up conversation with Will.I.Am and they stayed in touch over the years. After the Roots-style hip hop band he led disbanded, Baptiste headed to he left coast and went to work with Will, doing music production. The above clip features Jean on vocals along with Kelis, whose new album features his work. The clip underneath is the stuff he used to do while trying to make a name for himself in Richmond and Philadelphia.

Soulz on Ice

Not many rappers have been able to escape the gravitational pull of Richmond's local music scene. A decade after his debut on Atlantic/Big Beat, Skillz is still the only rap artist from the city to drop more than one record on a major label.

Two duos came close to establishing themselves; Shadez of Lingo, who dropped a album on Capitol in 1994, and Dirty Soulz, a group backed by Richmond's favorite musical son, D'angelo. The latter group never released any music, despite being signed to East/West and appearing in The Source magazine. Their label lost interest in them for some reason and let them go. The music they created never saw the light of day and allegedly lives in a closet somewhere at Micheal Archer's house.

Enjoy one of the few songs from Dirty Soulz that you'll probably ever hear, an ode to masturbation set to a popular Christopher Wallace tune.

They're Here: Bazerk Single Drops

It's finally here. The new Son of Bazerk single "I Swear on a Stack of Old Hits." is available at slamjamz.

Richmond Rappers "Get" Locked Up

When today's Richmond Times-Dispatch announced that a group of local rappers had been arrested, I was skeptical. Did the cops find a CD-R with the name of a gang written on it in and assume that they had busted the next G-Unit? Well, not this time. "Get Money Green Brothers," sentenced yesterday, were certified aspiring artists, with myspace page, videos and a profile at garageband.com.

According to the Times-Dispatch report, the three members, "Big Get It,"P Get It" and "Little Get It" were allegedly "getting large quantities of cocaine, redistributing it in the Richmond area, and using the proceeds to support their music venture." Their conviction was the result of a four-year investigation, the article states. Some of their songs include, "I See U Looking,"Where Dey At," and "Disco Ballin'."

Here's some video from their myspace page. This is the clip for "Disco Ballin'"


Let's go shopping with the crew.


Here's what our local media had to say.

Bazerk is Back

That summer tour may not have materialized, but the Son of Bazerk, the cutting edge rap group that released one album in 1991, has reunited. Tony Allen aka Son of Bazerk, is in the studio with longtime Public Enemy DJ Johnny Juice and the original members of SOB. No work on a release date or distribution plans yet.

For those who slept or forgot:

Nas talks to Nardwuar

It's not easy to get a rap artist to expand beyond their stock answers and prepared comments. This guy finds a way, but at what cost?

The Day Has Come, I Guess

Like murder, there is no statute of limitations on sampling. That's why Lonnie Lynn can be sued today for using the music of songwriters Andrew Andrew Marks and London McDaniels, on his debut album, nearly 20 years ago. I guess the recession has songwriters in a pinch, too.

The song, "Take it EZ," was the top single from "Can I Borrow A Dollar," one of two albums the Chicago rapper did under his original name, before a legal claim from a reggae band forced him to drop "Sense."

The original song, by a group called Rasa, follows.

Dolla's Family Speaks Out

The family of slain rapper Dolla released this statement today:

“First and foremost we, the Burton family would like to thank everyone for all their kind thoughts and prayers during these trying times,” the statement reads. “Most recently, the Burton family was made aware that there have been numerous false claims of information floating around the ‘net and also reported in reputable media outlets. Part of this was due to someone who was not authorized to speak on the family’s behalf and who claimed to be the publicist of record decided to disseminate false information on her own and without the consent of the family to several media outlets.

“Due to the circumstances of the situation no other information will be released at this time. We are grateful for your continued support in these trying times. We now ask everyone to allow us to mourn the loss of our beloved Roderick Anthony Burton.”

The Coup on the Boulevard

It was a rare to have a national rap act as a studio guest for Wavelength, the failed video show that inspired this blog. A convergence of events had to happen; the rapper had to be on a promo tour or in town for a concert, they had to be in Richmond on a Wednesday, they had to be available between 5:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., and they had to decipher my perplexing directions to the studio.

After getting stuck in an endless loop of toll booths, The Coup finally made it to the studio for a brief interview. There were supposed to perform, but we didn't have the tables at the 918 N. Boulevard studio that day. I'm sure we missed a treat if Pam is as half as good as she says she is. We came up short in other ways that day, too. We could have used another 2 to 3 feet of our painted canvas backdrop, another microphone and somebody, anybody to work the cameras. That was public access television, you go with what you got. Or don't got.

Boots Riley, the lead rapper of the The Coup, now a duo, was in Virginia last year where was charged with using profanity in public after leaving the stage of a Norfolk concert. Defunct Hampton Roads news magazine Portfolio Weekly covered the story. The charges were eventually dropped and the city council rescinded the ant-profanity ordinance after realizing it was a bunch of bullshit.

The B.I.G. One That Got Away

"Nobody Is Invincible" scene from "Notorious"

As the release of "Notorious," nears I've been reflecting upon that era. I had a chance to interview Biggie when he visited our home base, the Phono Booth, in 1994. Unfortunately, I was sick and couldn't will myself to come to the record store. My partner, Dre, shot some footage of the rapper as he signed some autographs. I attempted to sell that tape to Nick Broomfield for his "Biggie and Tupac," documentary, but he passed.

When Biggie came to Richmond again, (Dec. 26, 1994) I missed out on another chance to to record him. The rapper was performing at a local nightclub (The Flood Zone) and there was a guy from Bad Boy running through the audience putting his hand over video cameras and making threats. I knew I couldn't get way with filming the show as my camera was about three times the size of what most people were using. Somebody else was able to shoot the whole show, however and I've been trying to get that tape for minute. 

I do have clear memories of that night. Keith Murray opened with an energetic performance which climaxed with an unfortunate decision to stage dive. The crowd of Richmonders parted and Murray landed hard and came up swinging. He didn't miss a line of "The Most Beautifullest Thing," but he was relieved of his pager, which was an expensive communications device back then. 

Biggie came out with Puff Daddy and members of the Junior Mafia. The rotund rapper's performance was understated, which complimented Puff's dancing and continuous ad-libs. Busta Rhymes came out for the "Flava In Ya Ear" remix, which nearly tore the packed club in half. 

Later on during the show, someone from the crowd climbed onstage and made a few steps in Big Poppa's direction, and was thrown off the side of the stage by a member of Big's crew.  He might be the only one has bad memories from that show. 

A Notoriously B.I.G. Movie

Newsweak published some shoddy articles on hip hop back in the day, as did many mainstream publications, and they've had to work hard to earn my trust. I stumbled across the first review I've seen of "Notorious,' the bio pic on the late Notorious B.I.G, at the doctor's office and since I had already perused last month's Family Circle, I dove in.

The write-up, written by veteran journalist Allison Samuels, is generally positive, which was a relief as I have been bracing myself for an exploitative take on the last years of hip-hop's golden era. Samuels didn't see it that way: "NOTORIOUS... managed to stun, unsettle and move me. It's been 11 years since the still-unsolved murder of the hip-hop icon, and the film does a wonderful job of revisiting that dangerous yet creatively rich time in music history. For a hip-hop fiend like me, it's a bittersweet journey to the days when the Cristal was overflowing, the bling was blinding and the performers burned brightly — but briefly."

You can read the whole thing here.

New Year's Evestyle

Before Skillz became a globetrotting entertainer and ghostwriter, he suffered the often-poor entertainment options of Richmond, Va. along with the rest of us. One night in the late nineties, he was among the unfortunate few who came to the Richmond Centre to see Black Moon and the rest of the Boot Camp Clique. None of the groups ever took the stage to perform and somebody lost quite a bit of money that night.

The only performance came from Skillz, who freestyled about an recent altercation with a security guard at the event, with some help from Jazzy Joyce.

Have a Merry One

Some last minute Christmas wrappin'.

Pieces of Weight

I dug legos as a kid. But I never considered building anything like the images above.  What is it about these little yellow men people find so compelling?