This blog is free of direct and accidental damage caused by missiles, falling objects, fire, theft, explosion, earthquake, windstorm, hail, water, flood, malicious mischief or vandalism, riot or civil commotion, breakage of glass, lightning, smoke or smudge, stranding, sinking, burning, collision, derailment or breakdown. Certain words appear in bold or italics.
Saturday, March 11, 2006
Some Off Topic Videos & The "I'm A" Video From The Product
This first video has nothing to do with Bay Area hip hop, but sometimes I gotta post some other shit. This video has been floating around the internerds for a while and everytime I watch it I can't stop laughing so fuck it, even though I'm late with posting this I'm gonna do it anyway. I looked at the YouTube stats for this thing and it's at almost 1,000,000 views or some shit and that's well deserved since the shit is good. I do have to say though that the first half or so is absolutely fuckin' hilarious, but at about the halfway mark the funny lines kinda drop off.
"Comb yo' beard. I don't wanna hear that shit."
This second video has nothing to do with Bay Area hip hop either other than the fact that a lot of rappers were influenced by the film that it came from. Turn your speakers down if you're at work for this one.
And finally...
This one has to do with Bay Area hip hop. It's the debut video from The Product, a new group consisting of Scarface, Young Malice and the Bay Area's own Willie Hen. The track is called "I'm A" and it's from their new album called One Hunid on Koch Records. I admit that I have yet to hear the album, but every word I've gotten about it is that it is SOLID. Here's a recent interview with the three from allhiphop.
Here's that MTV piece about the Bay Area hip hop scene that I mentioned the other day. I don't have the HTML skills to embed the Windows Media version in my post so here's the YouTube version below (it looks like YouTube decided to take a shit right before I posted this so check back later and the video should be here) and if you wanna sit through a long ass download for a much better quality Windows Media version you can click here. Or just watch the repeats on MTV2 and MTV. Also here's a nice article from MTV to accompany the piece.
It's pretty decent although I feel some of the artist profiles were too short (San Quinn for one) and a lot of people who really should have been involved were left out (The Jacka for one). But I can't really complain because:
A) At least MTV did something about the Bay.
and
B) I'm sure they didn't purposely say "We don't want such and such person." I imagine it was just a matter of how much time they had alloted and whether or not certain people could make it or not.
Whatever. Like I said at least they did a positive piece about the Bay Area. What's with those chicks at the beginning and their totally scripted conversation though? That was a strange intro.
"3 Freaks" Video - DJ Shadow, Keak Da Sneak, Turf Talk + Some Other Random Shit
So the video for "3 Freaks" is finally done and it looks great as you will see when you watch it below. Shadow has a big push behind him so there's no cheapo shit here. The company behind the video is Half-White Productions based out of Southern California and they also did the "Super Hyphy" video. I was just contacted by them and was told that they will have the "3 Freaks" video up at their site shortly in much better quality than what you get with YouTube The vid is up at their site. You can also watch the "Super Hyphy" video at their site. "3 Freaks" is gonna be on DJ Shadow's still untitled upcoming album which is sure to be a classic. So far I've found out that album will also have features from Q-Tip, David Banner and Little Brother. You can also see some behind the scenes photos from the "3 Freaks" shoot at DJ Shadow's site.
The Ambassador made the cover of last week's San Francisco Bay Guardian. The article is very good save for a few minor mistakes. If you can't find a print copy you can check it out here.
Also, check out this remix of "Tell Me When To Go" done by Trackademicks. Dude is making big moves and working with a lot of people including Mistah FAB, Balance, J. Stalin, Casual and Lyrics Born. He e-mailed me a bit ago so look for an interview/profile sometime soon.
Europe loves the Bay! This mixtape comes to us by way of France I believe. I was hipped to this by Kreme(click that link and then click the banner at the top to go to the homepage for the mix). 31 tracks (some old, some new) of some of the Bay's best. It's nice to see that Bay Area music is appreciated like that overseas. Here's the cover and tracklist:
1. TooHard4TheFuckinRadioIntro 2. I Gotcha - The New Bay & Richie Rich 3. Pills And Weed - Turf Talk, Doonie Baby & Stress 4. So International - B-Legit & Too $hort 5. That's What's Up - Messy Marv 6. Timin' - E-40, San Quinn, B-Legit & Richie Rich 7. Whatugonedo? - Celly Cel 8. Thizzle Dance - Mac Dre 9. Rubber Burner - Too $hort 10. Slumper - Turf Talk & E-40 11. Step Ya Game Up - Ya Boy 12. We Ain't Listenin' - The Factors 13. Go Dumb - The Federation 14. Don't Let The Glasses Fool Ya - B-Slimm & Droop-E 15. Rock That - The Team 16. Do The Robot - Turf Talk, Young Mugzi & Kaveo 17. Sex, Drugs & Rap Money - Smigg Dirtee, CG & Steezo 18. Drop It Like It's Hot - Laroo, Lil Ric & Lil Cudi 19. Workout - Frontline 20. Makin' Moves (Lankizzle Remix) - Dynamic Duo 21. We Do It Movin' - Laroo, Turf Talk & Goldie Gold 22. Hoes In Here - The Federation 23. Town Shit - Keak Da Sneak 24. 707 - D-Shot & E-40 25. Fuck Wit Us - Killa Tay, Guce, Laroo & Luni Coleone 26. Tykoonin' - Laroo, Doonie Baby & Keak Da Sneak 27. Mask Cracked - San Quinn 28. We Roll 'Em - B-Legit & Dru Down 29. Super Sic Wid It - Mistah F.A.B., Turf Talk & E-40 30. Oooh Ahh - E-A-Ski, Yukmouth & B-Legit 31. Dollalalala Lotsa Paypa - Mac Dre, KC Bobcat & Sauce
I forgot I was supposed to like, post things here and stuff. Life is hectic so I've just been dealin' with that, but I figured I'd drop a few things for ya' real quick.
The Bay Area hip hop scene will be getting some much deserved attention in March on both MTV and MTV2. The "My Block: The Bay" piece that MTV was filming all around the Bay a few weeks ago will be debuting on MTV2's "Sucker Free Sunday" on March 5th. E-40 is hosting for the day as well. If you don't have MTV2, don't worry because the piece will also be shown on regular ass MTV at some point in March as well. For whatever reason the internet is goin' nuts with dates for the MTV showings so I have no idea what day it will actually be on. Call MTV I guess.
As for what will be included in the piece?
Here's what "Dave" at Rap News Network says. I have no idea who Dave is, but fuck it... it sounds like a damn good show to me. I think I'm most excited to see San Quinn get the exposure out of all this. If you miss it I'm sure someone will YouTube it and I'll post that up when they do.
The single, "Tell Me When To Go," has apparently been getting crazy radio play lately so I hope that translates to big sales for the album dropping on March 14th. The closer we get to the album release the more excited I am to see what direction 40 is going with the rest of the songs. I'm also really curious about what the second single is going to sound like. Supposedly, it's going to be the song with T-Pain called "U And Dat." With T-Pain on it I'm guessing it'll it be a smoother, slower track to pull the ladies in. Time will tell.
Word around the campfire is that Keak Da Sneak has signed a deal with a certain big label. Unconfirmed as of yet, but stay tuned.
Finally, my good buddy T-K.A.S.H. is set to drop his new album on March 21st. It's titled Turf War Syndrome and is coming out on Paris' label, Guerrilla Funk Recordings. Pick this shit up! Not everything has to be hyphy in the Bay. People can come with some other shit as well and T does just that. You can read more about T-K.A.S.H., the album and check out a couple songs from it right here and read his interview at AllHipHop right here.
This little iPod thingamajig is my new favorite toy. I'll pretty much always have 10 tracks in rotation on it so be sure to click the ">>" button to scroll through all of them. I'll have some classics on there as well as some rare treats for ya.
The STRIVIN' blog first started out as an exclusively Bay Area hip hop blog, but I decideded that there's so much more out there that I want to talk about so I've expanded my focus to cover music from all over the place. My mind is open and I hope the minds of my readers are open as well. Plus I've decided to post about other shit whenever the hell I want. That includes beer, movies, food, bitches, my drinking escapades, random thoughts, biased opinions, more beer and some other shit. Have no fear though, I do still love Bay Area hip hop so it'll always have a place at STRIVIN'.
Click HERE for a brief history lesson about Doxx and the original STRIVIN' print magazine.
Any music posted at STRIVIN' is for promotional purposes only and is intended to give visitors a taste of what the artist has to offer. Any artist/record label who objects to their music being posted can contact Doxx and the music in question will be removed.