Another dope new interview for you to check here
DJ Revolution's King of the Decks is available at September 16, 2008 at Amalgam Digital.
Archive for August, 2008
New Interview with DJ Revolution
Friday, August 29th, 2008
More Heltah Skeltah
Friday, August 29th, 2008
Art Of Disrespekinazation, off "D.I.R.T."
Definately gotta support Ruck & Rock especially after the interview earlier this week
D.I.R.T. Sept 30 Cop it here.
King of the Decks
Friday, August 29th, 2008 |
King of the Decks Artist: DJ Revolution Interviewer: ENIG MUE |
King of the Decks
DJ Revolution Interviewed by ENIG MUE 8-29-08
Amalgam Digital.com: How did you get your start? How long have you been DJing?
DJ Revolution: I didn’t start, actively, till I was 14. I mean before that I was messing with turntables, and dealing with electronics, but I didn’t really start until I was 14.
My 1st gig actually was my uncle’s wedding at like12, but that wasn’t hip-hop, that was more like electronic, pop n locking, but I’ve been in front of turntables since 12.
Amalgam Digital.com: What techniques are you most known for?
DJ Revolution: Everyone knows me for different things. I think I’m most known for my timing, but I hate labeling my stuff. I’m known for my timing, like a metronome, I got real precision… funky timing.
Amalgam Digital.com: What is your favorite break?
DJ Revolution: Bob James – Nautilus. Because that, to me, is one of the most beautiful compositions ever. You put the headphones on and just listen to everything that’s going on, the instruments, the emotion, how could you not be wrapped up into it?
Amalgam Digital.com: What made you start your ‘Class of 85’ mixes, what did you hope to accomplish with it?
DJ Revolution: Well a lot of people do old-school tapes, it’s cool, but people need to really pay tribute to these cats, nobody puts it down with the proper artwork and really pays homage.
I will take the absolute best 40 tracks from every year, and put them together in a nice mix. I put them out there just so everybody can appreciate the skill.
Amalgam Digital.com: Is King of the Decks complete and what made you roll with Duck Down Records?
DJ Revolution: It’s 100% complete; I’ve known them for a long time, Buckshot, Dru; almost 10 years. I’ve seen them evolve into a lasting entity in the game. Plus they were trying to get at me when they heard I was doing a project, they were actually interested. The rest of the labels didn’t understand my history, didn’t get what I was doing, I didn’t feel like they would be behind it. I think Duck Down would know how to push it properly with our longstanding relationship and their success as an indie machine.
Amalgam Digital.com: What artists are you working with on this release?
DJ Revolution: Man, I got all these artists, 5 tracks that didn’t make the record. I wish I had more space to fit everyone.
Now KRS-One was great, he was a career highlight. I’ve gotten a chance to be on projects with him over the years, but to actually work with him in the studio was an incredible unique experience. I enjoyed working with Bumpy Knucks, Jazzy Jeff, I got to work with Premo, twice. I got production by Marco Polo too.
I enjoyed working with the newer artists like Joell Ortiz and Termanology. KB and Stylistic Jones, them two are OG’s and the most talented artists I’ve ever come across. I got everything from legends to new guys on my project.
Amalgam Digital.com: I know you look up DJ Jazzy Jeff and you got him on your new album, did you ever try to impress him or battle him?
DJ Revolution: Naw, when I first met Jeff, I was headed to Philly, and I found HE wanted to meet ME. They brought me to his studio; I was kicking it, in his studio, hanging! I’ve known him for years now, I’ve talked to him on the phone and he told me he was a fan of me! I was like a kid in heaven.
So I’m going to his house, I got in his car, he picked me up, and when I got in, MY CD was playing, the real CD. He was telling me how incredible it is, I was riding around with him telling me he liked my music, I was shocked.
Now we’ve been friends for 6-7 years, I still feel like having that relationship is a blessing. So I wouldn’t wanna battle him cause he’s my idol.
Amalgam Digital.com: What artist did you have most fun working with?
DJ Revolution: I had a great time working with Q-Bert. I flew up to his spot in Cali and was making a record and we hung out. He took me around San Francisco, we ate some sushi, hes a sushi fanatic; ordering shit that ain’t on the menu, asking for special stuff. Also, we were at the gym, I’m into fitness and training, he was asking me questions about training, how to get ripped abs and all that. It was fun, we hung out, it wasn’t stiff.
Amalgam Digital.com: Worldwide, who has the best crowds?
DJ Revolution: Europe, I would say Europe because their level of music appreciation is higher. Over here in the states we’ve had it readily accessible, were spoiled. Our media has really driven it into a state where people don’t really care anymore. You got BET and MTV that spoon feed that until they are spoiled. Over there they search for the stuff on the internet and support it, they find a new artist and they’ll find their music and support it. It’s a lot more organic over there, they got a commercial scene too but there is more variety.
Amalgam Digital.com: Any last remarks?
DJ Revolution: I just wanna say that this album is going to reestablish the connection between the MC and the DJ. This is the outcome when a DJ is heavily involved from the beginning to end, from A to Z, this is what happens.
Shout out to everyone who supported me over the years, supported my last record. Hopefully they will be ready, and the world will be ready for this. This isn’t a DJ album, this is a real album, I am not scratching all over the place for 90 minutes, this is for the world.
DJ Revolution’s King of the Decks is out September 16, 2008 on Duck Down Records.
More on Budden & Game Ending Beef
Thursday, August 28th, 2008
From MTV.com:
"I was asleep the other day, and I woke up to a text message saying,
'Big Joe, what up? This is Game,' " Budden said Wednesday (August 27).
"I was like, 'Oh, somebody is playing on my phone again.' I hit him
back with a bunch of question marks, and he hit me back with 'This is
Game.' Still, I wasn't convinced yet. Then I started checking my
messages, and apparently he was on [a New York radio] morning show and
asking if anybody had my phone number and [said] he was trying to reach
out to me. So I eventually called him. We had a great conversation,
talked about a lot of things. He invited me to come to his show, come
kick it. I took him up on it."
Joey Jump-Off jumped onstage with Game on Tuesday night during the Compton slugger's concert at New York's Irving Plaza.
Budden and Game were embroiled in a back-and-forth on the
mixtape circuit in the mid-2000s, but that was never quite settled — at
least, not in the public's eyes.
"Me and Game never really had an issue," Budden said. "It was more so a Joe Budden vs. G-Unit
thing — which, at the time, [Game] happened to be a part of. So, I
mean, it wasn't anything personal between myself and him. And it was so
many years ago, and I think we both grown and gotten past all of that
verbal bashing. I thought [Tuesday night's show] was great for
hip-hop."[more]
Budden and Game even appeared in a photo together during the height of the lyrical tension, but continued to dis each other.
"The picture was more so to say, 'We'll dead the beef, but we
don't necessarily need to care for one another.' The situation last
night was totally different. He showed me a whole lot of love. Him and
his people. It was altogether a great experience. I was standing there
[during the show] like a fan. Dude brought out Dana Dane, Kool Herc,
Maino, who is like family to me. Rae and Ghost. I think all these
people, who I am all cool with, were shocked to see me. But the energy
in the building was great."
Joe performed "Pump It Up" and part of a record that had the
whole Internet talking: "Who." In the song, he gives the fans evidence
and suspects in search of the people responsible for the death of
hip-hop. The record — close to 16 minutes in total — was broken down in
three parts upon its initial release. Some have called it the hip-hop
record of the year.
"I think so," Budden said, unabashed. "I think it's great."
Despite the track's length, the Jersey native said the song didn't take particularly long to write.
"Not too long," he divulged. "When you're writing something
you're passionate about it, it doesn't take long," he said. "Three
hours total. That was just the writing process. No, I'm lying. It might
have been just four to five hours. The recording process was a whole
separate issue."
"Who" was inspired by people asking Joe his opinion on the
state of hip-hop, and he takes us through several eras in rap,
name-dropping events like Game and Young Buck
getting kicked out of the G-Unit, Lupe Fiasco forgetting lyrics during his A Tribe Called Quest tribute at the 2007
Hip-Hop Honors, Jay-Z becoming Def Jam president and KRS-One and Nelly's old beef.
"The funny thing is, my memory is normally horrible," he
laughed. "I have a hard time remembering anything. But I wanted to make
a timeline where certain events in hip-hop would act as photographs.
Even when I said, 'Master P
and them ugly-ass album covers,' it wasn't to say anything negative
about that. But I think everybody in hip-hop remembers when, every
other week, Master P was putting out an album with those funny-looking
covers. I wanted to bring people back to a certain place and jog my
memory as much as I could without going overboard. Remaining unbiased."
Budden's next album, Padded Room, comes out on Amalgam
Digital on October 28. He'll be releasing at least one mixtape prior
and says that collaborating with Game on a song or freestyle is a
strong possibility.
"It's likely," he said. "You can never say."
Bazooka Joe Joins the AD Blog Fam
Wednesday, August 27th, 2008
Greetings
to the Amalgam Fam. I am a new blogger here, and just to give a little
background on who I am, I have been DJing for over 20 years, started the Truck
Jewls mixtape series in 1998, and am currently the tour DJ for Dres of Black
Sheep.
I have been collecting Hip-Hop records since the mid-80's starting with UTFO's
Roxanne Roxanne, Just-Ice "Latoya" and Fearless Four "Rockin
It" to name a few.
I grew up in the Bronx and really witnessed
the birth of Hip-Hop in the early 80's and it is great to still be heavily
involved in this culture that has been such a big part of my life. I am
not sure if I will have a set concept for the blog yet or just freestyle it for
a little while, I have tons of rare music I could upload, but that's too
predictable, maybe I could blog about my episodes on the road with Dres and
give people some insight what it's like to back an MC of his stature, or
I could review Amalgam Digital releases like the new Tame One, which is in
heavy ipod rotation right now. I'm not sure, we'll see what happens
between now and my next post, in the meantime you can catch my online radio
show @ www.hiphopphilosophy.com every
Thursday Night starting @ 9PM (EST). I also blessed the good people at
Amalgam with the Jay-Z/RJD2 remix album I did a few years back to post in the
Free Download Section…enjoy. You can also download my old Truck Jewls
mixtapes and CD's directly from www.truckjewls.blogspot.com.
One last thing…for anyone in the Chicago
area, I will be out there on Monday (Labor Day) for a Black Sheep show @ the
African Arts Festival. Brand Nubian and Rhymefest will also be
performing, showtime is 5PM…come through!
Joe Budden & The Game End Beef
Wednesday, August 27th, 2008
Joe Budden joined The Game on stage last night in NYC officially ending their beef.
New interview with Heltah Skeltah!
Tuesday, August 26th, 2008
D.I.R.T. is available at Amalgam Digital September 30. In the meantime, check out our new interview with Ruck & rock here
40 Glocc’s Greatest Hits
Tuesday, August 26th, 2008Some other classics after the jump. [more]
Blankman and Blackman
Tuesday, August 26th, 2008 |
Blankman and Blackman Artist: Heltah Skeltah Interviewer: ENIG MUE |
Blankman and Blackman
Heltah Skeltah Interviewed by ENIG MUE 08-26-08
AmalgamDigital.com: The album (D.I.R.T.) is coming out September 30th, what made you finally go in and create this album?
Sean Price: Time, nawmean. We did two albums, I did two solos. We solidified off of that. We didn’t wanna do Monkey Bars and Jesus Price Superstar again, I did my solos, Rock did Shell Shock. Some people do one because they’re partner is in jail or what ever, but we’re solidified now, it’s time.
AmalgamDigital.com: What is the process for making music, how do you stay inspired and creative?
Sean Price: You know, we go through beats, listen to everything, I hear ‘em. Maybe I like one and Rock don’t like it, or Rock like one and I don’t like it. We have to agree and get busy to them, nawmean?
AmalgamDigital.com: How have y’all progressed from the Nocturnal to Magnum Force now to D.I.R.T.?
Sean Price: How have we progressed? People are cornier now, that’s how. It ain’t no… I’ve seen rappers progressively get wacker which helps us get better.
AmalgamDigital.com: What’s the affiliation with the Loudmouf Choir? Is that them on the ‘Everything is Heltah Skeltah’ single?
Sean Price: Definitely. I am a member of the Loudmouf Choir, it was started by Tommy Tee u know. Tommy Tee said he had this group, with Phil, Opeg, Pops and them. I heard some, and he asked me do you wanna do a joint? I said ‘Do I wanna do a joint?! I wanna be down!’
Yo they got an album about to drop, I’m on like 4 to 5 songs. I’m the Loudmouf Lifter! Everybody got an L name, I’m the Loudmouf Lifter. I fucks with them ‘cause they talented and got that berserkness, I like that.
AmalgamDigital.com: What is the album cover a homage to? It looks like an old Blowfly cover.
Sean Price: What? Blowfly?! Naw. That’s Blankman and Blackman – That’s us, we are DIRT. Those are our characters that represent the dirt. Redman did it with Dare Iz A Darkside with his head out the dirt and shit. But we didn’t just want to do that so we thought of this. This is Da Incredible Rap Team! We Super Heroes, naw, we Super Villians!
AmalgamDigital.com: Brownsville is known for having the most thoro cats living; from y’all to Mike Tyson to Masta Ace to M.O.P. Why do you think Brownsville seems to breed that, and do you see that in the younger generations?
Sean Price: Brownsville is a tough neighborhood, a tough area. No place else like it, there’s like twenty something projects in the area and we got legends going back to Muhammad (Ali Shaheed) to Zab (Judah). Um, them niggas who did the Inspectah Gadget song, they from here… Masta Ace, M.O.P., Smooth Da Hustla and Trigga The Gambler, Papoose. Papoose from Bed-Stuy, but he be in Brownsville all the time, we just breed that talent… AND I get along with all of them niggas! Me and Rock.
Rock: Why we so thoro? ‘Cause when you go outside, soon as you step outside you gotta fight a nigga. When you taking out the garbage or what ever, it’s like jail. It’s like jail, your parents are like your warden, they tell you when to eat, when to shit, when to shower, playtime…
From the time you’re alive to the time you can cross the street on your own you got your parents on you. Then you gotta deal with mothafuka’s that it’s rec time for them! You got no elbow space, no breathing room, so of course your gonna be fighting all the time trying to get room.
AmalgamDigital.com: Sean, I heard about the Party Bus listening party for Jesus Price Superstar, what did you do for the DIRT LP?
Sean Price: Naw, none of that shit, we just gonna chill, I don’t think we doing that again. We did it, invited them, gave them a copy (of the album). They leaked that shit anyway! Now, you gotta come and listen to it, no more copies, we ain’t giving out no more copies, we don’t trust nobody.
AmalgamDigital.com: Rock where did that infamous scar on your face come from?
Rock: Damn the first question for me you asking a nigga all that?! Well. (I was) 16, in a fight, whoopin’ on some old ass man, over whatever. You know the old heads like to teach kids a lesson, they ain’t just gonna let you go. Some where along the line I got cut, I don’t even know, you know? I didn’t know I was hit until I was fixing a flat tire, saw I was hit.
I was young, I said “Fuck Stitches!” I let it heal. Wasn’t no big deal, besides the bitches love it.
AmalgamDigital.com: Rock any update on that attempted murder charge, how are they panning out? You gonna stay free?
Rock: The case is still pending, I’m out there maintaining my innocence, going back and forth to court, but it is looking favorable, I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
Long story short, we got it under control, if they do they job that they’re supposed to do, they will find that I’m innocent. Unless they throw a conspiracy at me, but we got it under control, I’m innocent.
AmalgamDigital.com: What’s next for Da Incredible Rap Team?
Rock: You can look forward to more Heltah Skeltah and more solo joints. We got Monster Music and Mic Tyson, yeah. I got my Shell Shock DVD coming, that’s my next project. Sean P is currently working on Random Axe, that’s next.
Sean Price: And also the joint with Bill, The Pill with iLL Bill,
AmalgamDigital.com: So you gonna be working with O.G.C. or Da Beatminerz?
Rock: Yeah, with O.G.C. and Da Beatminerz. I just spoke with Starang, those my niggas, we work. I call them, they show up, nawmean? There ain’t gonna be no Fab 5 album or anything, but we working together, on Boot Camp albums, we work.
AmalgamDigital.com: Any last words?
Rock: Get Them Albums!
Catch a bad one
Tuesday, August 26th, 2008
Sorry Berg!!!!