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Dec
17
20/20: Young Money on Mo’Nique
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I’m sure you noticed the trending topics blowing up like crazy yesterday when Young Money stopped by Mo’Nique’s for an interview. For those that missed it please look no further, the good folks over at RapRadar have saved the day.
Exactly.
Dec
15
Gucci Mane just released his new album “The State vs. Radic Davis” and his 2010 year is shaping up to be a decent one now that he’s becoming more and more popular among the youth of today. Miss Info got the chance to sit down with Mr. Burr himself and gives a tell all interview that sheds light on why he’s in the position he’s in. It’s 5 parts…each about a few minutes, nothing major. I must say it’s kind of fascinating. Interesting interview
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Dec
15
Hop Mop Films out of NYC linked up with Homebase NYC to produce “Off The Wall Sessions” which are in depth interviews with artists from many different genres of music. They’ve done interviews with Exile, Outasight and Brittney Bosco. Although the interviews are about 10 minutes long and some of them are kinda boring this one is actually pretty entertaining. TiRon sat down with the Off The Wall crew and chopped it up about music and his influences as well as some other random stuff. Check it out.
TiRon’s follow up to Ketchup, “Mustard” is set to drop sometime in Feb.
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Nov
20
20/20: Wiz Khalifa Interview
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Wiz Khalifa is probably one of my favorite new artists that’s actually been on the scene for a minute. I first heard him back on his first single “Say Yeah” which was under Warner Bros Records but ever since he left that deal he’s just been getting better and better. Here’s an interview from the new rising superstar where he talks about promoting intelligence and experimenting with auto tune. Look out for that Deal Or No Deal dropping on Nov 24th under Rostrum Records.
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Oct
15
Sufjan Stevens is one of those artist I hold in the highest of regard. In my personal opinion, he’s one of a small group of super musically inclined individuals that despite their abilities, still create accessible music. In an industry as oversaturated as the music industry, its an admirable feat to be able to make the music you want and still garner success. For his new full-length, “The BQE“, Sufjan crafted a cinematic suite inspired by the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and the Hula-Hoop. Commissioned by Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), the BQE was originally performed in the Howard Gilman Opera House in celebration of the 25th anniversary Next Wave Festival in October of 2007. Vish Khanna has released an excerpt of his chat with Sufjan about the suite in full-length form, comments about his supposed retirement, why his music is so EPIC, and more. Below is an excerpt of that excerpt (lol), I’m sure the full interview will be online shortly:
I recently chatted with Sufjan Stevens about his new record The BQE, which will be released on October 20, 2009. Here’s an excerpt from our conversation:
For anyone, the BQE would be a lofty endeavour but, in some ways, you gravitate to this scale of artistic expression. What motivates you to take on such grand projects?
Well y’know, I don’t think I set out to make epic projects. I think the projects themselves become unmanageable in the process and I end up producing so much for a single project, that they end up taking over and becoming much bigger and grander than I’d anticipated. I never intended for this to be so drastic or extensive. In the case of the commission from [the Brooklyn Academy of Music], I was definitely working within a form. The piece itself had to exist in an opera house seating 2,000 people and fill the space visually, orally, and conceptually. So I knew I had to work within that scale and that’s why I wanted these three images, a miniature orchestra, and live hula hoopers, because I felt like that was what was required! I had the grant so I had the money to see things through. And then after the piece premiered and it came time to condense this into an album, I was really frustrated by the inability to reduce it to an LP. That’s when I started to develop more of the expository parts of the essay, and that’s when the comic book developed. So, the whole thing was unwarranted of course, but was heedlessly enraptured by this conceptual ideal or grand idea of just venturing beyond what was normal or rational to capture it, and satisfy my creative desire to have a set piece that would represent The BQE.
That speaks to The BQE but in general, you’re saying your ideas develop from basic structures ?
They’re really small. I really work on a very microscopic level. I really think in terms of the song or folk song, and I work within a very conservative frame of melody, accompaniment, and narrative. So really basic, simple forms, and they just end up becoming hybrids or amended or expanded to form greater, epic, set pieces.
Check out the rest of the interview HERE!
Here’s a favorite of mine from the new LP:
Sufjan Stevens - Movement III: Linear Tableau With Intersecting Surprise (CLICK TO LISTEN)
And to purchase your copy of Sufjan Stevens - The BQE.
Exactly
Oct
13
20/20: Distortion 2 Static Interviews cARTer
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While in San Francisco, DJ Haylow of Distortion 2 Static had a chance to sit down and briefly chop it up with cARTer. For those unfamiliar with the Houston to Los Angeles transplant, he recently dropped a mixtape called “Legal Trappin’” which you can download HERE! cARTer explains what motivated him to make the move to LA and what he brings to the table aside from emceeing. Also, the standout song on his mixtape “Houston Summer feat. Bun B” is arguably a classic and it’d be inappropriate of me if I didn’t provide a download link, peep below: Shouts to cARTer cARTier @ DJ Haylow!
cARTer feat. Bun B - Houston Summer (CLICK TO LISTEN)
Exactly
Oct
13
Some of you might’ve heard TiRon from our CLASSIC (if i do say so myself, ha!) project “Your New Favorite Mixtape“, others may have heard his critically acclaimed mixtape “Ketchup”, and many of you have never heard about him. Well, that’s what The Exactly is here for, making sure what we dig reaches you. While this Vapors feature doesn’t ask the most in depth questions, the short question/short answer style does yield an interesting read, albeit a quick one. Below you can check out some footage from a recent release party TiRon held for his new music video “Throwing My Money.” And for those that haven’t downloaded “Ketchup” yet, CLICK HERE! Here’s an excerpt from the Vapors Magazine feature:
The reason that you’re reading about me is…
I released a mixtape earlier this year called Ketchup mixed by DJ Low Key featuring Pac Div, Blu, Miguel, Ayomari and others. The mixtape has been buzzing around on the internet.Right now I’m working on…
The response to Ketchup called Mustard and various collabs with other musicians and emcees.But I’d rather be…
Doing nothing else…My most prized possessions are…
My penis and my 89 Astro Van.But I’d give it all away for…
Nothing.The first thing I do in the morning is…
Get up, check email, have conference calls and write songs.The last thing I do at night is…
Brush my teeth, write another rhyme and thank God I was able to do so.My momma always said…
Don’t quit. Hard work beats everything.
Read rest of Vapors feature HERE!
Exactly
Oct
12
This weekend, quite possibly the second highest anticipated movie of the year, Where The Wear Things Are finally releases nationwide. I can bet most of you are brimming with as much excitement as I am! Newsweek had a chance to sit down with the creators of the film, Spike Jonze, Dave Eggers & the man himself, Maurice Sendak. Naturally, they cover such topics as the creation process, walls they ran into during the making, and America’s perception of what is and isn’t appropriate for kids in the media world. One thing Spike said in reference to the studio bigwigs that really stuck out to me is, “The big disagreement is that they thought I was making a children’s film and I thought I was making a film about childhood…” Its important to acknowledge the distinction between the types of movies he mentioned. Children’s movies cater to an overly glamorized view of how “happy” & “fun” it is to be a kid. Inversely, a movie about childhood delves into the different dynamics of growing up; the feeling of uncertainty, joy, discovery, and rather importantly, fear. Its easy to overlook such things in a nation ran by Disney. Here’s an excerpt from the interview:
Jonze: I mean, I think it’s a film—I want children to see it, and it’s not like I made it not for children, and it’ll be on the video shelf under CHILDREN’S, but I didn’t come at it that way. I came at it from the inside out as opposed to the outside in. In the end, though, the studio let us make the movie we wanted to make.
Sendak: It’s really an American problem.
What do you mean?
Sendak: Europeans have done films about children, like The 400 Blows or My Life as a Dog, which is one of the most wonderful movies ever. It’s tough to watch his suffering when his mother is dying and he scoots under the bed. That’s the kind of way they have of dealing with children and they always have. We are squeamish. We are Disneyfied. We don’t want children to suffer. But what do we do about the fact that they do? The trick is to turn that into art. Not scare children, that’s never our intention.Do you think Disney is bad for children?
Sendak: I think it’s terrible.
Read the rest over @ Newsweek.com!
Exactly
Oct
5
20/20: Who Is Mayer Hawthorne?
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I’ve been up on Mayer Hawthorne for a cool minute but if you aren’t familiar with him then this will be a wake up call. The good folks over at Ruby Hornet got a chance to chop it up with one of the most talked about new artists of the year, Mayer Hawthorne. Also in this interview is 14KT and Buff1 of AML.
Do your research on this artist.
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Sep
14
20/20: Tupac Shakur: The Lost Footage pt.1
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For Tupac’s birthday, previously unreleased footage of an interview he did with VIBE has finally seen the light of day. Naturally, to maintain interests, VIBE has decided to break the interview up into parts that will be released sequentially. In this clip, the interviewer talks to Pac about the image he receives from the media and Hip Hop fans, unifying rappers, and where he’ll be in 2016. If you recall, during that time Pac’s image was a big issue. While the first part of this interview isn’t very long at all, its always good to hear Pac because he spoke with a passion you rarely hear in artists voice nowadays.
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