Hip Hop Blog Update

So as you are probably all aware if you keep up with the NZ Hip Hop blogs, the Tour of Dirty has made it's way around NZ, and that's pretty much all the talk has been on the blogs. Well there have been a few gems posted up lately that everyone should take a look at.

First up, over on Slick Talk, Slick-Van XL (a.k.a. PNC) has a great post up about his song Just Roll. He's got a mix up that takes all the lines he references from 80s and 90s songs and puts them actual song. See if you can get them all :D He also explains about how he got the sample for the song, and it's quite an interesting story.

Next, over on Full Disclosure, P-Money's got a post about the NZ music industry, and how one might go about selling beats. The disclaimer at the start mentions it's not an indepth explanation, but even this on-the-surface look at the NZ music industry is fascinating, and worth the read.

Over on MTC, they've got a few vids of their artists up. The two I found most interesting are of Young Sid. One is a behind the scenes clip of the making of Sid's latest video for his single "My Letter", and the other is a preview of said video. The video looks like it's set to be pretty good from what I can see on the behind the scenes clip, although the preview looks quite... self-indulgent. So I won't make any decisions or anything till the whole thing comes out. I'm a fan of Sid, being from South Aucks and all, so yeah.

David Dallas is still pumping out the content like nobody's business. You'd think he'd want to relax after being on tour, I suppose that's why his manager upped the latest mix. 41 has just remixed one of my favourite songs off of Magic City, Get Back, which features none other than Dave and PNC. If I'd never heard the original beat for this, I think this could have been a great choice, but the original can't be surpassed on this occasion. So go check it out, and if you haven't heard the original, watch this after the 1.59 mark:



One more MTC post, this time from veteran DJ Sir-Vere. Dude put up a post hyping Smashproof's new stuff hard, and I've got to say it's got me excited. He makes a great point concerning Tyree, and people not feeling his flow or lyrical ability, and I have to say I was one of them. I know the guy has musical talent (I was in his music class in High School, the dude is hella talented), so it's great to here Sir-Vere say he's a lot better than he was. So yeah, I'm looking forward to hearing some new Smashproof.

Finally, we end our journey with Straight From The Horse's Mouth, Mareko's blog. Dude posted up some massive news about one of his Deceptikonz brothers, Savage, making it all the way to #16 on the iTunes US Top 100 Hip Hop charts. I think that's seriously the highest a New Zealand hip hop artist has ever gotten in any US chart... unless you count OMC as hip hop. But even then I can't remember how far they got. I may not like Savage's music, style or lyrics, but I got to give him credit for doing that, man. That's almost unbelievable.

That's all for now.

Peace

South Auckland Twisters!

Photo courtesy of TV3 and Michelle

I first heard about these from my mum, but I thought she was just kidding. Then I just had a look over on Stuff and they've got a little stab on them as well. TV3 even reported on it! I talked to my mum a bit more about them, and it turned out she actually saw them as she was coming back from her course. Well, the one in Manukau anyway. Craziness. We've had some mini-tornadoes before around here. One was actually just a few streets away and took off someone's roof. These ones apparently didn't do any damage, and it's possible they might not have actually touched down.

Don't Die... Or Else!

I love the Oddly Enough section over at Reuters. This story is a doozy. A mayor of a village in southwest France has told his people not to die because the cemetery is full. I think this is a fantastic strategy. A fantastic strategy for zombies!

Say you're dead, you're buried, but you want to help out by giving someone else a turn at being dead. Well, all you have to do is get that satellite that the U.S. shot down (which supposedly had plutonium in it), give it a bit of a shake over your grave, and bam! You're now a flesh eating zombie! And, you're now able to rent out your grave to those who have recently departed, giving you a shot of income! And seeing as how in that area "eternal properties" are in such high demand, you could make quite a pretty penny!

You could also have the option of simply not dying and instead becoming undead, again easing congestion. You could probably qualify for the sickness benefit as well, seeing as most employers are quite anti-zombie these days. It's so horrible to witness such lifism.

John Campbell Going to Jail?

I first saw this story on Stuff.co.nz. Apparently Campbell's interview with the medal thief has landed the TV3 news team and Campbell in a bit of hot water. The police questioned them over the identity of the guy, but being professional journalists, they said they won't reveal their sources.

Now, I've been fairly critical of TV3 news and John Campbell in the past, especially John Campbell... the guy just irks me, but I have to say I'm proud of them for sticking to their guns. They struck a deal with the guy to get the story and they stuck to it. I'm actually really surprised at how they did it, because it's fairly ingenious. They taped the interview with the real guy, transcribed it, destroyed the original tape, and then got an actor to read the guy's answers.

This does kind of conflict with my personal sense of morality, because I'm dead-set against thievery/burglary, and I do have a sense of patriotism, so stealing war medals that were awarded to soldiers who fought for our country does sting. Hell, it more than stings. But this is about TV3's choice not to give up a source, and I think that is more important in this case. Now if this guy had committed a violent crime, then I definitely think TV3 would have contacted the police.

So, I know TV3 won't read this, but this is just to show a bit of support. On ya TV3! Now, if you could just fire Campbell and Dobbo, I'd have no qualms with you.