As a bit of a publicist/ journalistic hype-man myself , “the jazziest constellation in Swedish hip-hop” caught my mind's eye this morning as I read the bio for Swedish hip-hop collective Supersci. Formed in 1996, the crew consisting of emcee/producer Arka, emcee Noun, “jazz cat” Erik L, turntablist DJ Observe, and female vocalist Remedeeh truly exploded onto the scene a full decade after its conception. After 10 years of singles and EPs, 2006 saw Supersci's debut album Pinetrees on the Pavement . Here's the first single On The Grind featuring Chords– a track that reached the number one spot on Sweden's college radio list and will absolutely be featured on the next CD that I burn for the car:
The second single from Supersci's debut album also became the group's first video. Check out: Get!
Post- Pinetrees , Supersci has been– well– “On The Grind.” In 2007, the group released a mixtape ( Cutting Down Trees ) that featured 30 new songs; in December of '07, the production team Flyphonic (Akra and Erik L of Supersci) also released an album; finally, Fall 2008 will bring the release of Supersci's second LP. The only info I have on that new album is via that same bio on their own website– the rest of the web yields few results– but I'm staying optimistic for the time being. When the album drops, we'll amend this post and hopefully feature some new stuff. Until then, stay sweet fam… we've got two more parting goodies:
If you didn't know, the UK seems to be teaming with world class producers, least of which is Corin Douieb, aka The Last Skeptik.
TLS has been working for a number of years behind the scenes in the UK hip hop industry. Besides a producer, he's a radio show host (DustyCratesRadio show) and a journalist for UK mags like Hip Hop Connection and Undercover. He's done label work for the legendary Low Life Records, all the while perfecting his production skills.
He's worked with many of the top UK artists like Sway, Jehst, Dubbledge, Conspicuous, Stig of the Dump, Diversion Tactics, Kashmere, Manage and American MF Grimm. In 2007, he teamed with emcee Verb T for one of my favorite international hip hop albums of the year, Broken Window . Skeptik's groovy and moody soundscapes blended perfectly with message-driven lyricist Verb T.
Skeptik gave me some information on his background, process and upcoming projects.
Old School G: Tell me about how you got into hip hop. What people inspired you?
The Last Skeptik: I must have started listening to hip hop music when I was around 11 or so, but I had always heard it from my brothers room. He was older than me, so I use to hear Pharcyde, 2pac and Tribe from him. I got hooked and started building my collection and checking for every single West Coast rapper that existed. I mean I repped for the West to the point where I was never a massive Biggie fan, and still aren't to this day. But inspiration wise, there were so many people in my life that personally guided me musically, from Sway to Jehst to Jazz T to Verb T, but listening wise, definitely Premier, Pete Rock, and 88 Keys.
OSG: Give us a bit of biography/background of your music.
TLS: I first started producing in the school music rooms with Sway, piecing together crappy beats in Logic. I built on it until I picked up an MPC2000XL with all my savings, and literally hibernated ‘til I made half decent beats, which took a hell of a long time. I had a few mixtape things out, but it all culminated when Kam from Mr. Bongo asked to put my first record out, which had a dude called Squared on the A, and Sway on the B. I that – my first 12″ – when I was 18, had the second one out a year later with emcee Conflix. All the while, built with Verb T ‘til the point where we had an album worth of thoughtful, grown man music and Silent Soundz put it out and 3 years after we did it. In between I've worked with MF Grimm, Edo G, and the cream of the UK scene.
OSG: How did you decide to be a producer?
TLS: My love for music grew, and knowing I was creative it seemed natural that I would make beats and channel it through that. Plus i hated the kids that played instruments at my school. They were all pretentious wankers, so I wanted to do my own thing.
OSG: What music outside of hip hop do you draw on for producing?
TLS: Everything. Literally there is no music genre that I can listen to and not take something from. Artists like Emiliana Torrini, Damon Albarn, Chopin and Mark Mothersburgh inspire me.
OSG: You had a brilliant album last year with Verb T, Broken Window . Tell us how you two met and what it was like working together on that album.
TLS: We met when I was working at Low Life records, helping Brains [Braintax] out with the label around the time of Skinny's album (Skinnyman Council Estate of Mind , 2004) . I handed him some beats, and he called me that week to say that he hadn't had beats from a producer for a long time that not only did he like every one, but he felt the vibe, and saw my creative vision. Working with him was great, he is a good friend of mine now and hopefully there's gonna be talk of a follow up at some point soon.
OSG: Describe your process for producing a track.
TLS: There use to be one: dig for a record, find a sample, make a drum pattern, chop the sample, done. But now I'm moving away from samples, so I'll start with the drums, make it an ill pattern then fuck with a bassline and try a million different synths 'til I get the nastiest sound that makes me want to throw up in my shoes, then i know its ready.
OSG: Hip hop in the UK seems to be remaining underground for the most part, it other music styles siphon off of it like Grime and Garage. Do you think UK hip hop is at a healthy stage now and where do you see it going?
TLS: I honestly don't know where its going. Music in general is struggling to find direction, but hip hop in the UK is, to me, incredible, blossoming, adapting and is building on an already solid art form in this country. Because it is the most hated on, dissed genre here, everyone keeps stepping their game up. I'm positive that the quality of the music is going through the roof, but whether that will result in sales, who knows!
OSG : What projects do you have coming up soon?
TLS: I have an all instrumental album called “Escape From Badger Mountain” coming soon, that I am building as part of something a bit bigger that I'm keeping quiet at the moment. It's pretty weird, and probably will make people frown and spit their porridge in to their mum's faces. But I don't care anymore, it's just about making beautiful music, whatever genre it goes under. I'm also working on a project with Australian emcee Brad Strut, and working on some tracks with Sir Smurf Lil, Eslam Jawaad, Verb T, SonnyJim Skandal, Jehst, Stiggy and a bunch of people. Tons to watch out for!
For even more information about The Last Skeptik catch him on his web site and MySpace .
哈爾鈣離子於卡利 = HalCali– simple. The female duo exploded onto the Japanese scene in 2003, with the single “Tandem” which entered the Oricon Charts (think Japanese Billboard) at #19. 2008年，5年後，HalCali使他們的美國首演音樂會 ...大約一周半前。 While neither Halca nor Yucali is old enough to drink a beer in the States, the two decided to sit down (read: email via a translator) with Flight 808 and talk about their music, fashion endeavors, and future.
湯米：你剛才你的第一個演唱了幾天回來。如何在美國演出不同於表演在日本？ Did you enjoy it? Were you at all uneasy?
Yucali: I've performed in France before. 總體而言，海外觀眾的反應非常快。所以，我很喜歡出國。而不是感到不安，我感到興奮。
湯米：你來過這裡？如果沒有，那麼我們的文化已經引起你措手不及到目前為止？
Halca: Nothing.
Yucali：我去過夏威夷的樂趣。
湯米：你倆開始了在音樂產業很早，早在十多歲的你。 As you've gone through such a formative time, how has your sound and style changed? How is Halcali in 2008 different from Halcali in 2003?
Halca：有6年以來我們首次亮相，所以必須有一些變化發生。 However, it's not easy to express with words. It should be natural that we changed our musical tastes during those years. However, our policy is to create enjoyable music, so we feel the same as ever.
Yucali: When we debuted, we're 15 years old and knew nothing. So, I felt our adult staff created and produced us like a toy. 目前，我們正在HALCALI享受。 Music style is same as ever and doing music activity freely based on HIP HOP. Our motto is 'HALCALI and producers create happy music”.
張宇：你的音樂錄影帶，絕對令人難以置信，尤其是對像我這樣的觀眾是誰最熟悉的美國音樂影片。 They look supremely fun to make. 什麼是最愉快或難忘的經驗，你有過在拍攝視頻？
Halca: Shooting video clip is one of the most favorite sessions, so I'm very happy to hear that you liked them. 我覺得最令人印象深刻的視頻拍攝的“草莓芯片”。這是令人難以忘記，因為我幾乎是一氣呵成，與原始鞭奶油。此外，我覺得有趣的聖誕節一樣的服裝。
Yucali: We're doing choreography by ourselves, so video clip means a lot to us in showing our songs. 編舞是創建基於意義的歌詞，所以我們很高興，如果你看到他們。這是非常困難的選擇最喜歡的片段，但'串聯'和'步操三月'是我的最愛。
張宇：在您的歌詞，您所提到的阿姆，斯利克瑞克和公敵，僅舉幾例。誰是你最喜歡的美國嘻哈藝術家？
Halca：米西埃利奧特，野獸男孩等
Yucali：肯伊威斯特，製作人法洛威廉斯，米西艾略特等
Tommy: Who are your biggest musical influences in Japan?
Halca：屎爛幫
Yucali：屎爛幫，Schadara帕爾
Tommy: Recently, you have been featured in fashion magazines. 你有打算繼續追求時尚或任何其他企業除了從你的音樂嗎？
Yucali：這是非常愉快穿不同類型的衣服，並拍攝時尚/文化雜誌，所以我們要繼續這樣做。
Halca: We really enjoy it, so if we have opportunities in the future, we would like to do it.
湯米：什麼是下一個HalCali？另一相冊嗎？ A tour?
Yucali：我們希望我們能在法國演出，推出新專輯在今年年底或明年ealry在最新的。因此，我們目前正在錄音。 Please look forward to it!
I have decided the world officially works in strange ways. When I sat down to write this article I was in a miserable mood. Having just gotten caught in the rain on my way home from work I was soaked, cold and cursing out my lack of an umbrella. I popped in Transitions , the first full-length album from Dutch producer Arts the Beatdoctor to get my mind on to other things. As the rain continued to pour outside my window, I cracked a smile and couldn’t help but realize I had found the perfect rainy day nocturnal hip-hop.
Arts the Beatdoctor is a bit of an enigma, to say the least. Scouring the Internet for any factual information I could find about the Beatdoctor’s true identity gave me meager results. What I did find was a jokester who revels in his enigmatic alter-persona. His website proclaims that “there is a new kind of medical ‘expert’ called a Beatdoctor who goes about the hospital, indiscriminately prescribing unhealthy doses of cinematic, dark and melancholic hip-hop beats to unsuspecting patients.†He then continues to describe his dosage and how the medicine feels. Now not to go after the obvious pun here, but I’m pretty confident to say that this music is by no means unhealthy, and possibly just what the doctor ordered.
In 2003 Arts made his official debut producing a track for the Lord Cyrus “Diamonds R 4Ever†compilation alongside MF Grimm. He later went on to create an EP entitled Fragments that was released on Unexpected Records. When discussing his breakthrough into the music industry, Arts mentions Dutch rappers Pete Philly and Perquisite, two artists I’m proud to say were previously covered in Flight 808. Arts says, “I have to thank Pete Philly a lot. He picked up one of my demo CD’s when I was still in my ‘indescribable abstract music’ phase. I guess he heard the potential, because we talked a bit and decided to make some music together.†Arts has since contributed with Pete Philly on albums and on a joint tour in 2007. Transitions was released in 2007 on Amsterdam-based record label Unexpected Records.
As a producer’s producer, Arts has created an album that sounds like the work of a small jazz band, not a one man-show, and definitely not the work of a one-man producer. Featuring keyboard, drum and bass sounds as well as guest appearance from Dutch rappers Pete Philly, Sense and The Proov the songs seamlessly transition from jazz to ethereal piano to trip-hop beats. Each song has a laid-back, cinematic feel that creates a specific ambiance, that of smoky bars, late-night conversations, and the wee hours before dawn when the world is eerily quiet yet also amazingly alive.
One of the best tracks on the album is the title track, Transitions . Capturing a late night ride home on the subway, the track is laced over a repetitive piano line and a saxophone sample. With sounds of the subway screeching in the background Proov rhymes, “Clearing out the mind/ peering out the window/watching the world pass by me so quickly/reflects who I am but also contradicts me/Rattling ringtones from babbling bimbos/Toilet decay, too many delays/Fuck it, its all part of the norm/Finally, last stop, station, last platform.â€
on you tube (no video, just audio)
Also check out The Anthem featuring Pete Philly. Definitely the most up-beat track on the album, the track bounces along over a sexy bass line with a chorus that chants “Arts the Beatdoctor, just give me a beat and I’ll spit something proper.†About halfway through the song, the instruments cut out, and an endearing a capella stylized with doo-wop harmonies harks back to barbershop tunes.
There are also a ton of tracks floating around on the Internet that are not his album.
Check out the Hide Remix featuring Senna, a soul singer from the Netherlands. The song blends Res-like melodic lines over a chill trip hip-hop beat. On that note, if you haven’t, please check out the American hip-hop/soul singer Res. She was featured on Talib Kweli’s Reflection Eternal as well as on her solo album How I Do . (shameless plug for music I love that I think you should love to)
音頻剪輯：Adobe Flash Player的（版本9或以上）必須發揮這一音頻剪輯。Download the latest version here .您還需要啟用JavaScript您的瀏覽器。
After getting my Arts the Beatdoctor fix, I have to say I now know exactly what kind of music to put on the next time it rains all day and honestly I hope it rains again tomorrow.
Although b-boying and hip hop dancing has become the dominant form of hip hop in Southeast Asia, every locale has a few crew trying to hold it down for real hip hop music. In Taiwan, the TriPoets (pronounced Zam-P in Chinese) are one of a few underground hip hop crew grinding away for years to master their musical craft and gain respect and a bit of notoriety along the way.
Founded in the summer of 2002, TriPoets consists Teacher Lin, Ill Mo and Shortee. They purposefully pattern themselves after their American Golden Age idols such as Black Moon, Common and A Tribe Called Quest. Subsequently, their music is often jazz-sample based. They rhyme in Mandarin, a language so difficult to rhyme in that it has taken years to find a way to make it sound natural. TriPoets released a mixtape in 2004, “Listen & Speak†and have done performed in Taiwan with such acts as Ice-T, Public Enemy, Supernatural, Toni Blackman and Kero One (San Fran).
Ill Mo took a minute away from finishing his Master’s Thesis (an analysis of Spike Lee’s film “Bamboozled†relative to post-modern black identity issues) to spread some knowledge of Taiwanese hip hop and the essence of TriPoets.
Can you tell us about how hip hop first came into Taiwan?
Mo: It came to Taiwan in many ways. Around late 80′s, influenced by the movies “Flashdance”,”Wild Style” and “Beat Street”, young kids start to b-boy. And big companies such as Coca-Cola started to host big dance competitions. As time went on, the competitions started to generate attention from the record companies and TV shows, so they decided to create pop groups who incorporate a hip hop image and dance moves to attract the young audience.
After that, the most popular group called LA Boyz was born, consisted with 3 members born in the US, with strong image looking like Kris Kross, they were very successful, who also started a trend for street dance. And then there was Ju Tou Pi, he was a musician who incorporates the technique of sampling and rapping to reflect the political and social issues in Taiwan.
However, none of the above had a clear image of an “MC.” Until the year 2000, MC Hotdog released his first single with the style similar to Eminem, criticizing the pop-music scene in Taiwan, the idea of a rapper became more clear. However, with the strong influence from the early days, the dance aspect of hip hop is still the strongest in Taiwan.
TriPoets – Anaconda (feat MC Hotdog):
I know MC Hotdog was a big deal in hip hop there. Were there any other like him doing their thing in hip hop?
MO: Yes, there are, shout out to my man Dog G. He played an important role to MC Hotdog's success, also accompany him on a lot of his early works. Dog G released his independent album in mostly Taiwanese, the native language in Taiwan. He is known for his political stand and had been interviewed by many foreign media such as CNN and Time magazine, for that he is strongly supportive of the independence of Taiwan. He is also one of the most influential figures in the hip hop community, especially in the southern Taiwan, in his hometown Tainan City.
Is hip hop in Taiwan mainly represented by music (MCs and producers) or do the other elements also shine (graffiti writing, b-boying, DJing)?
Mo: As we mentioned above, the b-boys and street dance is still the dominant element of hip hop in Taiwan. They can be seen behind pop stars doing dances. It doesn't matter mainstream or underground, the b-boys are very active in Taiwan. As for DJs, they can be seen in clubs spinning, and graf writers can apply their skills to modern art and designing. Sadly, there are not too many “true” hip hop acts here in Taiwan as far as music is concerned. And that is exactly why we are still doing our thing.
What is the hip hop scene like in Taiwan right now?
Mo: Commericialized. And there are less and less shows and gigs for true hip hop supporters. There are die hard fans for it, but most of the times they are just not enough for the people working hard, fighting to make good music.
How did you first get into hip hop?
Shortee: When I was in junior high school, I first heard of Kris Kross. It caught my attention immediately. And for the events, I first went to the party held by Def Soul (the first organization to promote hip hop parties in Taiwan). Around year 1999, DJ Chicano was spinning, and he is still spinning till now, he is a strong influence in my early days.
Mo: My first hip hop CDs were Biggie's “Ready to Die”, Snoop and Warren G's first albums. It was also around my junior high school days. And I also went to Doobiest (the Tribal Streetwear Clothing shop founded by DJ Chicano and his friends), it was the hip hop information center back then with dancers and DJs. And I also went to some of the Def Soul parties as well.
How did TriPoets get together?
Mo: We first met in 1999, when one of our member Teacher Lin received a head position in Hip Hop Culture club in his university. Based on our passion for music and similar taste, we started to write rhymes and perform together. By 2002, the TriPoets was officially formed, after we had accumulate enough works, we released our first underground mixtape, which was also the first underground hip hop/rap music release in Taiwan. From then on we worked even harder to reach better quality, and finally we are putting out our official release in 2008 June through True Color, and the name of the album will be called “The Beginning of Rhymes.” It is our heart and soul in the album, hope the audience can feel our passion for the music.
What is the purpose of your music?
Shortee : To get paid and get laid (just kidding). Seriously, we aim to entertain and educate the audience through the music.
Mo: To incorporate our lives into rhymes, and to show that it is possible to overcome the obstacle of language and affect people with the rhymes. Basically, to make dope rhymes and dope music to touch people like how hip hop moved our hearts.
Tell us about your process of writing songs. Do you start with lyrics or beats? Is it hard to find recording studios there?
Shortee: It happens in both ways. There is no limit to it.
Mo: Thank God for Shortee. He has some equipment in his house where we can record the demos and he does production as well, and True Color has a official studio called Insert, which can provide quality booth and microphone and amp.
Describe your live stage show.
Mo: We tend to interact with the audience while getting our message across. It is very powerful and live. Also, we try to expand on the musical side by collaborating with bands and DJs as well.
What can we expect from your new album?
Shortee: The Golden Age type of hip hop, reminiscent of the good ol' days, true skills of Mandarin rap and the art of sampling.
Mo: It is doable for listeners, we created the album based on the blueprint of classic hip hop albums, also to pay homage to the forefathers who paved the way in the past, much respect to them.
TriPoets – Used to Love Her:
What plans do TriPoets have for the future?
Shortee: Keep focusing on Mandarin rap skills development, to show that with the Chinese language we can still create dope hip hop music. And just to create dope hip hop music in general for music is the universal language.
Mo: Just to make good hip hop music that can touch people's souls. And of course we'd like to step outside to Asia or different places of the world. We're down to collaborate with dope artists all around the world, perhaps we will be doing something with Kero One soon. Hope that we can spread our music around the world. Also, don't forget to check out “The Beginning of Rhymes” dropping in June 2008. Peace!
The more esoteric and remote the artist, the more exciting my job gets. This post began when I stumbled upon Grundig, a Russian underground legend- compared by fans on a message board to Tupac and Pushkin- who died at 25 to a heroin overdose. I then discovered that he was 1/2 of the duo which translates as “Slaves of the Lamp:” a reference to drug addiction. Grundig wrote all of the lyrics and composed most of the beats for Rabi Lampi. Last but not least, the discovery of the video “TV Shit” on YouTube put me over the edge. I had to do some deciphering, and by no means am I done yet.
Above is the original cassette cover art for their first and only release, 1998′s “This Is Not Painful.” Below is the artwork from a more recent reissue. Decidedly less gritty.
In 2001, after Grundig's death, the album was re-issued to feature the track “Dedication” – a song by the remaining Slave (“Jeep”) featuring the DOB Community and YG. Somehow, I navigated a website entirely in Russian and nabbed some mp3s from the album. Check them out, along with the “TV Shit” video:
My friends often ask me how I find the artists for Flight 808- how I find myself capable of judging non-English hip-hop. My answer is always a combination of production, flow, and what I read about their “message” from other websites. While I'm excited about the story of Rabi Lampi and specifically Grundig, I really haven't found anything about the content of their lyrics. Grundig also has a book out (I'm assuming it's poetry), so this info is waiting for me somewhere. Flight 808 will get to the core of this mysterious, short-lived duo… stay tuned for Slaves of the Lamp pt. 2!
EDIT: Shouts to Konstantin for ripping me a new one on numerous errors in my post. Hopefully, things look better now. Konstantin also informed us that while Grundig was only half of the group in terms of members, he wrote all of the lyrics and composed most of the beats. Thanks again Konstantin. Translations forthcoming!
I once made the statement that Nomadic Massive was single-act embodiment of international hip-hop, but Maga Bo just might make me eat my words. A DJ / Producer based in Rio de Janeiro, Maga Bo has recorded in Morocco, South Africa, India, and Senegal. In World Up's Mixtape , Maga Bo blends traditional and contemporary sounds from around the globe, providing a diverse soundscape for hip-hop giants Saul Williams, Gift of Gab, and K'Naan , to name a few of the English speakers that I could detect. The mix, almost 62 minutes long, can be heard in its entirety on the player below:
In other news, Flight 808 is growing every day! Whoddathunk it? That said, we're looking to add a few more writers before we get into all sorts of trouble this summer. Really, all sorts; it's going to be an exciting time. If you're interested, there are opportunities to do interviews, short pieces, long pieces, whatever. It'd probably be more professional to figure out if my @ flight808 email addy is working, but I'm just going to leave my personal email address up here for a few days so people can get at me: tommyabu @ gmail . 的COM
Think it over yo! More goodies coming up in a few days. Peace.
