It would be impossible to attempt to top last week’s most glorious wedding post, so I’m not even gonna bother. This week I’m gonna coast a little and present to you about one miiiiilllion Bonus Jams that I’m feeling as of late. I want to first give a brief recap of last Thursday’s rare Hand Over Fist performance that went down at the Triple Rock. I hadn’t realized how long it had been since Mike and I had played a set consisting of just HOF songs (might have even been since the release show over two years ago). Crazy how time flies.
This event was put on by Rhymesayers and the IPR Music School. Rhymesayers (shouts to Kevin Beacham) teaches a class there dealing with the ins and outs of the independent music industry, and after every semester the students final project is to book and promote a show, then perform as the opening acts. That definitely beats my final project paper on Thomas Edison back in highschool. They booked us to headline the night, and headline we did. Below is a video of “Shux” and “Hand Over Fist” from the show (complete with P.O.S cameo), and underneath that is the two track Lava Banger set I did in the middle of the performance.
We had an awesome time. Extra huge shouts to the god body Mike Mictlan. He killed it dead. We gotta get up and do that more often my man.
OK, so now is the time for the one miiiiiilliion Bonus Jams. I’ve been listening to a lot more music these days, largely due to a newfound daily dog walking initiative I’ve taken on. Let’s start things off with the legendary Gap Band. I’ve been bumping their Best Of album for the last month pretty much non stop. I had always known a few of their songs and of course later in life Charlie Wilson went on to solo fame with the classic “Charlie, Last Name Wilson,” as well as tons of Snoop and Kanye guest spots. These old jams just slay so hard though, it’s almost as if they were custom built to be blared out of my Camry’s family sedan style speaker system. Check out a few favorites below. I’ve included “Charlie, Last Name Wilson” at the bottom simply because it is undeniable.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TS6ofwcsP2g
Next up is The Knife. A lot of folks have been telling me to listen to this Silent Shout record for years and I just never did it. This is the group that spawned the Fever Ray solo project (which is the best), and I have to say I was dead wrong for sleeping on this record. Sorry to Isaac especially. Two of my favorite tracks are below, plus a bonus Fever Ray “If I Had A Heart” video afterwards for good measure.
Now onto some rap music. Killer Mike just put out his new record, PL3DGE, and the first half of it is amazing. Second half not so much, but what can you do? There are some certified BANGERS on this thing, not to mention there a track named “Ric Flair” with ridiculous Nature Boy diatribes sprinkled throughout. Genius! I love this guy. So pumped about his forthcoming album which is supposedly produced entirely by El-P.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=af-G74o4WEU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9ZlGlqUzE8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_uhsZmXWJY
Can’t remember if I already put up some Frank Ocean jams in a previous post or not, but either way these two songs stay in constant rotation. I’m not really feeling the rest of the tape, but these two songs are untouchable. I know he’s already blowing up huge, so I’m really excited to see what the future has in store for him. Hopefully lots of money and good songs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwlyV76R-KM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vyw8LDjHjiE
OK, I’ll leave you with the new Nas single that just dropped yesterday. Nas has a long standing history of putting out an incredible single followed by a seriously god awful album (see “Made You Look”/God’s Son), so I do not have any hopes whatsoever that this is the return of that Nasty Nas Illmatic flow. It is a great single though, and Salaam Remi destroys on the beat per usual. That guy might be the most consistent producer in the game (over two decades of heaters!). Underneath that is the one song off the Nas/Damien Marley record that I loved. The video is amazing and Damien’s two verses ether almost every rap verse that came out last year (then Nas comes in and kinda ruins everything). When Damien is on, he is one of my favorites out there. Plus live he has the best flag waver in the game as a hype man. So awesome.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spXbPtsDwdQ
OK, there you have it. This concludes the ultra extended Bonus Jam post. I’ll try to come up with some new riveting content for next week I promise. Hope you have a great week. See you next Tuesday for sure!
— Beak