DOUG E FRESH AND WILL SMITH TAKE IT BACK, AT GABRIELLE UNION’S BIRTHDAY PARTY

Love this video of Will Smith and Doug E Fresh showing the younguns how shizzle is done at actress Gabrielle Union’s 40th birthday party, over the weekend!

Doug E, who is the originator of ‘the Dougie’ dance, in case you didn’t know, clearly hasn’t lost a inch of his swagger since the 80s, as he gets down to show all imitators of the moves why no on can do it quite like he can. All this alongside spitting some lyrics. Will Smith also shows he is still super cool, rapping on the mic along to some of his old hits, as well as the Fresh Prince of Bel- Air theme tune… *Ed has a moment*. Once again people, this.is.why. I miss the old school!!!!!!!!!!

You can see Doug E getting his ‘Dougie’ on in the below video for his Guess who/Keep Rising To The Top video…

WELCOME BACK… PATRICK EWING ATHLETICS

We spotted this recent interview with legendary baller Patrick Ewing over at Jay-Z’s lifeandtimes.com. The 7-foot  former star of the New York Knicks, speaks on the 80s and 90s fashion phenomenon which was his Patrick Ewing sneaker line, how it came about and this year’s relaunch – the  European launch of all four colours of the 33 HI (pictured above) will be November 9 2012…

Ewing Athletics took the world by storm the first time round, with everybody and their mama wanting to get themselves a pair, even in places where US basketball wasn’t exactly a mainstream sport, such as here in the UK!

I wasn’t lucky enough to have a pair myself, as coming from a working class family with three other siblings meant I couldn’t always jump on every fashion trend going (as much as I cried tried), but plenty of my mates at school had them, so I guess I lived vicariously through them! Haha! I recently found out Massachusetts-born Patrick, who played for the Knicks from 1985-2000 (he also played for the Seattle Supersonics and Orlando Magic), was the first professional basketball star to have his own shoe company, which is a major deal! Read the lifeandtimes.com interview below…

Continue reading “WELCOME BACK… PATRICK EWING ATHLETICS” »

BRANDY REVISTS ‘I WANNA BE DOWN’ DANCE

I spotted this over at Necolebitchie.com last week and it made me smile. Brandy who is on the promo trail for her new single Put It Down (featuring Chris Brown)  took it back proper old school stylee! I was a big fan of Brandy’s I Wanna Be Down video when it first came out back in 1994 and it was funny to see her revisiting that dance from the video. Also, seeing her rapping along to the remix of that song, made me a little sad that she has retired her rap alter-ego Brand-Nu, before she even really got started with it, as she can spit! Continue reading “BRANDY REVISTS ‘I WANNA BE DOWN’ DANCE” »

LOVE & HIP HOP’S STEVIE J – 90S HIT MACHINE!

If like me you have been glued to the car crash reality TV mess which is Love and Hip Hop Atlanta, then you will be well aware of a certain Stevie J, an Atlanta-based producer/songwriter and the show’s resident bad boy. Pitched in the show as someone who has female artists literally fighting each other to work with him, in this instance former stripper and his side chick Joseline and trouble maker Karlee Redd, who are both portrayed as showing extreme thirstiness to get studio time with the music maker. In the case of Joseline, it’s to the point where Stevie, or ‘Steebie’, as she calls him in her thick Puerto Rican accent, can literally treat her like he owns her, even getting her to abort their baby, coz her being pregnant didn’t fit in with his plans.

Watching this show, it is hard to remember sometimes that Stevie J, who used to date rapper Eve, was once one of the hottest producers in the game, working with Diddy’s famed 90s production team the Hitmen and played a huge part in creating some of the biggest hit songs of the 90s. Website madamenoire did a recent post to remind us of his talents (outside of juggling women), and even though he hasn’t has a major hit in a long time you can’t deny his back catalogue is pretty impressive!

Continue reading “LOVE & HIP HOP’S STEVIE J – 90S HIT MACHINE!” »

SOMETHING FROM NOTHING – THE ART OF RAP

I’ve been meaning to write this since the beginning of the week, but better late than never, right? Rather than pen a overall review, I thought I’d list my favourite things about the very insightful documentary, The Art of Rap, directed and presented, by Ice T. Hope you enjoy!

1)   The stories and anecdotes.

My favourite of these stories being KRS1′s hilarious revelation that he became an emcee after being an innocent bystander in a rap battle. According to him, one of the emcees turned to the crowd, picked him out and started dissing him hardcore about his attire. Well, Chris wasn’t having that. He  defended himself, buried the guy and the rest is hip hop history.

2)   The greatest sounding voices in hip hop  didn’t come naturally… At first.

MC Lyte is one of the most respected females to ever touch the mic, and has arguably the most recognised and projecting voice of any female rapper ever. However, she didn’t start out this way! Lyte reveals in the doc that it was down to much coaching from Lucien George Sr (the father of the brothers from 90s hip hop crew Full Force), which helped her developed that big unique voice we now all know and love! There are similar interesting stories to do with voices included in the footage from Chuck D and Muggs from Cypress Hill, but I’ll let you watch the film for yourself for those.

3)  Rappers are fans too!

I loved hearing Redman gassing about Eminem, and then Eminem reminiscing that after hearing a verse from Naughty by Nature’s Treach (as an upcoming rapper), it depressed him and forced him to rethink his own approach. But it was all down to the love of how good he thought his rhyme was! Elsewhere, Dougie Fresh reciting lyrics from his heroes Melle Melle and Kool Moe Dee was a joy to watch – he was like any other fan, giddy with excitement!  In addition, I’m sure Snoop Dogg’s perfect rendition of Ice T’s Six In The Morning, was one of the reasons why the Dogg Father’s slot in the doc was one of the longest included!

4) Rappers and writers/journos – we got so much in common.

This comparison is nothing new,  but this film took me back to the reason why I started writing in the first place, and reignited my creative juices – thanks Ice T!  I started writing as soon as I was able to string sentences together, from stories at primary school, which my teacher regularly read out to the rest of the class to plays which I would perform with my friends in the playground! Like a rapper, I get off on story-telling and documenting my experiences through words! Hearing Rakim and Eminem get all technical about how they write their bars, made me lean over to my bestie as we watched this in the cinema, and before I has a chance to say anything he said: ‘You can so relate, can’t you?’

5) Dr Dre has only spent two weeks out of the studio in 27 freaking years!

Damn! That tells anyone with half a brain that success doesn’t come easy! Also, if you love what you do, you will never really work a day in your life – it is clear that Dre spends so much time in the studio because he simply loves being there!

6) Joe Budden’s rhyme

This was one of the standouts for me in the entire doc. And I didn’t see it coming. This is not because I don’t rate him… But I guess if someone  asked me (pre-watch) who I thought was going to leave a lasting impression on me after watching the doc, Joe Budden’s name wouldn’t have been in my top 50, put it that way – I just haven’t really considered him like that in years, if at all. Granted, I know Slaughterhouse are doing great things and his credibility as an emcee has had a resurgence due to that project, but this one verse made me want to go and check them out a bit more thoroughly. What I also took from that is that there are so many dope rappers out there, but because of politics, wanting to go mainstream, losing their way/hunger/mojo (we’ve all been there) and trying to hard to follow trends, they kind of let go of that original flavour they first came with! If every emcee out now rhymed with that fresh mentality and heart they first possessed when they entered the game, we may have less superstar rappers but we’d have a lot more modern-day classic material – just my humble opinion! The business of hip hop turned a lot of good emcees in to not great rappers! Personally I blame a lot of that on the fans – coz a lot of times the wider audience doesn’t support what’s actually GOOD, and emcees/rappers need to eat!

7) Don’t get it twisted about Ice T, AND this dude’s address book is crazy!

Anyone knocking Ice T’s credibility in the game, due to forays into project such as the reality TV show Ice Loves CoCo, which follows the relationship with the self-professed original gangster rapper and his Barbie-bodied wife, should know that a leopard rarely changes his spots! Ice T knows hip hop and the fact that a lot of credible people wanted to be a part of this project shows that Ice has that respect! What I said in my above post is true, but like Joe Budden, that original talent, swag or flavour is always there in someone, even though you may not see it, due to them moving in a total different direction, gaining more success or maturing. But hopefully once in a while you still get to see that come out! Snoop Dogg has almost become a bit of a caricature to the mainstream media, but when you see him doing what he does best, there is no doubt that the original Snoop Doggy Dogg is in the buildin’! Holla!

New York and L.A have some beautiful skylines. For Real!

The connecting shots for the doc largely consisted of beautifully shot footage of new York and L.A Skylines. Simply stunning!

10)  Not everybody’s got it like Biggie, so just ‘do you’!

Treach was spot on when he said something along the lines of : ‘so many rappers boast about not writing down their lyrics and it shows, coz their rhymes are whack!’  The truth of the matter is, who cares whether you write stuff down or not, if it sounds dope then I’m sure most fans don’t care either way. But those emcees/rappers who are trying to prove something to everybody by deliberately not jotting down your lyrics and coming up with whackness? In the words of Jeru Da Damaja, ‘You’re playing yourself!’

10. Grandmaster Caz

I’m not afraid to admit I wasn’t really familiar with this cat before watching this, but I’m glad this doc gave me a flavour of what he is all about. He is a beast lyrically and an all round funny dude! Just my type of man! Another artist I look forward  to digging deeper into.

A Lil Gripe…

As with everything, there are always going to be things that everyone thinks could have been better, my main gripe in this documentary is I wasn’t too hot on Raekwon, Ras Kass and Q-Tip’s inclusion, and not coz I don’t like them as artists, the opposite in fact. I just felt  the weight they have bought to hip hop, and the part they have played in terms of the art  thus far was not reflected in the best way. I totally understand the lack of time and trying to squeeze everyone in, but I still believe that if the right questions where asked, or the right edits included, this could have been achieved.  With something called the ‘Art of  Rap’, some of the best to do it should have been asked more directly about the actual art, their art – coz some of us students really want to know that stuff!

 

 

ALFONSO RIBEIRO

NOW
Alfonso Ribeiro (now 38) is best known for playing preppy rich kid Carlton Banks on the hit TV show The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, especially with audiences outside of the US. The show, fronted by rapper/actor Will Smith, ended back in 1996. Since then Alfonso has appeared in another TV sit-com fronted by a rapper, this time LL Cool J in In The House. Here he played a character very similar to Carlton (Maxwell Stanton) from 1995-1999. Continue reading “ALFONSO RIBEIRO” »

THE MYSTERIOUS CITIES OF GOLD

Here are my memories of The Mysterious Cities of Gold:

·    It seemed to run for about 629 episodes.

·    It had an excellent theme tune.

·    There was two boys and a girl who were trying to locate the Mysterious Cities of Gold – they were joined by a Han Solo-eqsue pirate, who was friendly enough but wanted to find the Cities of Gold for his own purposes.

·    There was a massive flying machine that looked like a Golden Eagle. Although it was in the opening sequence every week, it didn’t actually appear in the cartoon until about episode 483.

·    One of the boys had some sort of special amulet or medallion that could help locate the Cites of Gold.

For me, The Mysterious Cities of Gold, along with The MuskerHounds and Willy Fog, makes up the Holy Trinity of cartoon shows from my youth. It’s interesting to note that all three had long, ambitious story lines told over many episodes, and all had a kicking theme tune. If I close my eyes I can just make out a broom cupboard bound-Philip Schofield’s (pre-This Morning) face (and white George Clooney hair), encouraging viewers to write in to get a printed copy of the theme song lyrics. Or was it Andy Crane? Ed the Duck was definitely there. I have a clear memory of watching every week and wondering ‘But when are they going to find that massive Golden Eagle flying machine?!?’ And feeling very relieved when they did. Continue reading “THE MYSTERIOUS CITIES OF GOLD” »

SLUSH PUPPIES

Ask the Glee kids how it feels to receive a fresh cold Slushie to the face, and they’ll more than likely stop believing and lose hold of that non brain freeze feeling. Continue reading “SLUSH PUPPIES” »

LISA LISA & CULT JAM – I WONDER IF I TAKE U HOME

One of my favourite songs of all time period is Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam’s I Wonder If I Take You Home. Whenever I hear it, it instantly takes me back to my childhood. I still remember hearing it for the first time in 1985 while on a school trip at the final day disco! And it still remains a tune which gets rinsed in the clubs till this day. And is a staple tune, during summer barbecues!
Continue reading “LISA LISA & CULT JAM – I WONDER IF I TAKE U HOME” »

MISEDUCATION OF LAURYN HILL REVISITED

Who didn’t love this album???? *crickets* Even though Lauryn Hill has seems to have left this part of her behind long ago, like us she still likes to reminisce. Check out this Reebok Classics interview special on the classic album!

And before you duck out to go over to Youtube to reminisce further, we’ve saved you the trouble…

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