Whether or not that title is grammatically correct is irrelevant because you know exactly what I mean. After seeing the Adidas Originals House Party video, with cameos by, among others, David Beckham, Russell Simmons, Missy Elliot and DMC, I checked out the Adidas Originals website to take a look at the new kicks. I was pleasantly surprised to find a full ten new pages of shoes, the best of which (in my opinion) I have posted, after the jump HERE
I looked up this song after seeing this “bubble” Rhapsody Commercial twenty times, only to discover that while the song, “Squeeze Me,” by Netherlands funk-tronic duo Kraak & Smaak, was fairly uninteresting except for the 4 second burst (get it? bubble?) of music heard in the commercial, the video for the track was something else altogether. Directed by André Maat and Superelectric, the video features a new take on classic flip-book animation. Enjoy.
–Frosty
Jiggasaurus Rex reporting for duty.
Unfortunately I have no idea what I have been doing for the past few months, but one thing is clear, I have not been posting. Thus leaving my dear friend Mr. Fresh in charge, (the place looks nice by the way). Since the beginning of the school year, many, many absurd, and crazy things have happened to me, and one time this really awesome taxi driver, but that’s neither here nor there. Anyways, because of my generally unhealthy and ridiculous lifestyle, I do not have time to post daily like originally intended. Frosty however, is keeping you all up to date on, everything.
Therefore, I have made an “executive” decision to create a link to a separate RealFresh page devoted mainly to the ridiculous events, people, and things in general, that happen to me (mainly on weekends and Wednesdays). The page will be aptly named “Jigga”, I will try to post weekly, and no names will be dropped for the safety of my friends identities ( just nicknames). I also invite Frosty to post on this page as well, as it is mainly his blog. Although we created it together, in my absence he has taken the wheel. I expect him to post primarily on the main page, however if he has something really awesome, gross, etc. go right ahead.
I love you all deeply
Regards
~Jigga
Black Milk, the rising hip hop star from Detroit, brings it hard in this Dilla-esque single off his new album, “Tronic,” released October 28th. True to the detroit hip hop style, “Give the Drummer Sum” is laden with MPC sounding drums and horn samples. The off-kilter bass-snare beat pops and rolls behind Black Milk’s pitched up rapping as he alters between a flowing semi-conscious ramble and a broken up spitter style. The horns and keys on the downbeat make this a fun, jaunty tune that keeps you guessing. The minimalistic verse beat builds up to an instrumental organ filled bridge, and the track ends with, of all things, a sampled (or perhaps played) trumpet solo reminescent of a Mark Ronson beat. The video itself is a psychedelic kaleidescope of color and rhythmic camera work, which fits the beat perfectly, In my opinion. I just can’t get enough of this new-school stuff.
To listen to the full album, check out Black Milk’s MySpace.
There’s also a real nice interview with Black Milk over at h(y)r collective under the Features section of Issue 7.
–Brooks
This September marked the passing of one of my favorite poets, Hayden Carruth. Among many honors and awards, Carruth was the winner of the Pulitzer prize and the National Book Award for his collection of poems called “Scrambled Eggs and Whiskey.” He was also the poetry editor at Harpers. Carruth wrote with cultural awareness, criticized political matters, and also vividly depicted over his sixty years-worth of writings, the people and places in Northern Vermont, where he lived for many years. His style is infused with subtle rhythmes influenced by jazz and the blues. Some of his most celebrated works are written about lonliness, insanity and death. This poem, titled “Onondaga, Early December” is one of those.
Onondaga, Early December
lights in the twilight,
lights of Solvay over the expanse of frozen snow-covered
lake,
orange lights of the refineries,
yellow and green and red lights of the neon along the
strip,
lights as if undersea, the argon just coming to exist,
all lights in the cold moisture of the grounded wind
staggering across the lake at twilight
are blurred, are meaningless, they call, together,
with a sound unintelligible and of no interest;
but in the slate sky above the imagined horizon
like an old lantern left long ago on top of a heap of slag
the evening star alone is bright and clear
and alone responds to this knowledge of death too soon
that comes in the loneliness of twilight and dying wind,
the loneliness of decayed and useless and ragged fear
and the soundless cry for a thing that has no name. . . .
As the year begins to draw to a close, I can’t help but take comfort in the silence that the cold night brings.
Thanks to Joe Mezzanini for the photograph.
–Brooks
It’s not winter yet, even though the thermometer here in the midwest would lead you to believe otherwise. It’s Autumn, and as the leaves fall around campus and hopefully in your own neighborhood in a nice autumn-y way, I can’t help but think this is a time for change. Out with the old, in with the new. For me, it’s time to expand what this blog can be for you, and for me.
I was thinking the other day about how many interesting things flow through my mind each and every day, and the number can sometimes be astounding. I’m a creative individual, always trying to expand the boundaries of what interests me, and so when I want to express that variety, I should be able to.
Up until this point, Real Fresh hasn’t really let me do that. Early on, I started limiting myself to hip-hop culture based posts, and so if I wanted to talk about my own life, I couldn’t. I hate the idea of having more than one blog, especially when this one has so many good older posts. From now on, Real Fresh will be more than hip hop, even though I love writing about it. I need to branch out. Expect more frequent posts about a greater variety of things, including daily ruminations in my mind, the thoughts de jour, and so on so forth. I’m going to talk about older albums from many genres that you may have missed, explore different topics of academia perhaps that I am exposed to in my studies at school or in life. Basically, this is my blog, and it’s going to start looking that way a lot more in the weeks to come. I hope you still enjoy reading as much as I enjoy posting.
Yours,
Frosty Fresh
The busiest DJ in the world released his “Blow Your Head” EP today, the first solo project the Philadelphia-based DJ/Producer/Songwriter has released since…well, for a really long ass time. I haven’t got my hands on it yet, but you can bet by the end of the day I will. I encourage everyone to check this one out. For those of you not in the know, DJ Diplo is the mastermind behind M.I.A.’s club-dub Piracy Funds Terrorism mixtape released in 2004, and more recently the mix-master behind Top Ranking: A Diplo Dub (with Santogold), released earlier this summer. The EP is available, among other places, on Beatport, iTunes, Turntablelab, or for you real house junkies, you can wait for the vinyl to be released later this week.
Diplo-Blow Your Head (DJ Eli Remix)
–Frosty Fresh
The only thing that makes New York rapper Nas happier than saying “Hip Hop is Dead” is being one of the only artists trying to revive it. Known for his political commentary and all-encompassing flow, Nas’ new album Untitled brings the best of the persistent genre. Nas is one of the remaining emcees who talks about important issues-as he points out, “the last of a dying breed.” If you can get past the cockiness, and I suggest you try, there is a lot to enjoy on this album.
Never one for sloppy production, Nas brings it again on Untitled, with beatmakers and master loopers like Stargate, DJ Toomp, Mark Ronson, and of course Green Lantern who produced Nas’ pre-album mixtape using the previous, more controversial album title Nas planned on releasing. “Hero” is the most obvious single on the album, complete with a high-energy bombastic bassline and pulsating bell chimes. Charged with political angst, but with all of the production of a club banger, this is one of my personal favorites on the album. Who else but Escobar could “give ‘em somethin’ to believe in?” Another track that achieves this balance is the album closer, “Black President,” which sounds like a laidback Swizz beat but features a Tupac sample over the hook, saying “Although it seems heaven sent, we ain’t ready to have a black president.” Nas hits the nail on the head here, speaking of Barack Obama
in a positive light. “I think Obama provides Hope – and challenges minds/Of all races and colors to erase the hate/And try and love one another, so many political snakes/We in need of a break,” Nas raps.
Read the rest of the Article HERE
I think that’s a very fitting title for this post, seeing as it’s true. My style has been compared to that of a hipster too many times, but I just don’t see why. I would say I dress much more like Mikey Rocks from the Cool Kids, with a designer’s eye for jeans and old school sneaks.
Right now, for example, I’m wearing my black and white Campustown classic mid-tops Adidas, a brand new pair of slim-straight leg Levi 504s, and a long Tee shirt with bright colors. Note that I’m not smoking parliaments, sipping on PBR, or listening to MGMT (for now, anyway.)
I’m a huge Adidas freak though. My idea of a vintage tee has always been the classic B/W Trefoil design that kid wears in Dazed and Confused. Anyways I was crusin’ the Adidas Originals website the other day, and I found these. Top of my wish list. The first is the classic Trefoil, magenta on a bright blue background, and it’s hard to see, but stroked in neon green. The second is a hoodie that’s so loud, it would take over whatever I was wearing. If you paired it with anything other than plain white kicks, you’re gonna look like a fool.
–Frosty Fresh
A month ago, Producer turned Rapper turned household name pop-sensation Kanye West did a really stupid thing. On September 16, Kanye released Love Lockdown, the first single for his next album, 808s and Heartbreak. It was up on Kanye’s blog for two days, but quickly removed, and for good reason. The sound quality was terrible. The T-pain-style auto-tuned vocals that Kanye has taken a liking to couldn’t mask the artist’s poor singing. The oriental-sounding drums that pick up the bounce effect half way through the song were off the beat, and the whole song sounded amateur at best-definitely not the work of one of rap’s greatest producers in the game. Luckily, West covered his tracks and a second version of Love Lockdown was released the 18 of September. This single had promise. The vocals were remastered with a spacious echo modulation. The heartbeat bass line that backs the song was heavier and tighter. The previous drum samples were exchanged by cleaner sounding Japanese Taiko drums. Even an electro-esque midrange lead helped to give the song depth.
Read the Rest of the Article HERE
