Showing posts with label DJ Damion Yancy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DJ Damion Yancy. Show all posts

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Hip-Hip Is Cool Again

The close proximity of G-Eazy's show at Throwback, Kid Cudi's talk of retirement, Kanye's daily life, and Hollywood Holts upcoming performance at Streetwear Sundays on April 5th, has made me think about the best MCs of our time.

Who's your favorite MC?

Someone 'BIG'
Jay-Z, Lil Wayne ect.

Someone
'different'
Kanye, Pharrell, Lupe, Andre 3000 ect.

Someone from Cali
Mac Dre, Dr. Dre, Murs ect.

Someone who is 'oldschool'
Tupac, Biggie, KRS-One ect.

Someone
local
Hollywood Holt, Chill Ill Ali, G-Eazy, Jay Greedy, Dave Coresh, Benny Nice, Cypher or Lu Smith of Team Robot. ect.

Someone who is up-and-coming
Kid Cudi, Wale, Drake, Mickey Factz, Theophilus London, Bobby Ray ect.

Someone non-traditional
Mickey Avalon, Rye Rye, MF Doom ect.

Someone conscious
Mos Def, Common, Nas, Lauryn Hill, Saul Williams, Jay Electronica ect.

Someone from a hip-hop group
Travis McCoy, Mickey Rocks, Method Man, Q-Tip, Naledge, Rev Mcfly ect.

All of the above are talented, but what makes them speak to you?


Throwback at the Republic was like something I have never seen before. I got there around 10pm aka recession buster hour and I heard what I consider, some of the best music that was ever played in a club. Which basically means my itunes library was played by DJ Damion Yancy.

Here is a list of some artists played to prove my point:
Rye Rye
Hollywood Holt
N.A.S.A.
Kings of Leon
Kid Sister
MGMT
Lu Smith
Black Kids
The Ting Tings
AND MORE HEAD BANGING MUSIC

And that was just the warm up for the main event of the night. G-Eazy and Trombone Shorty performed and they tore the roof of the building. I was amazed to see such professionalism from G-Eazy, who is a sophomore at Loyola. But I guess age doesn't matter if your dedicated and have been in the business as long as he has. He started writing music at the age fourteen, he made 10 ALBUMS before coming to New Orleans and he has completed 3 (ALMOST 4) videos with Tyler Yee since he has been in New Orleans. Itunes even has Genius Recommendations for the dude. For his show, G-Eazy flew in from the Bay, his friend PL from Tha Slap Doctorz. I could tell that G believed a song featuring people must be preformed with the people featured in the song. This is something that is simply said, but is rarely done (i.e. the excitement over 'Swagger Like Us' at this years Grammys). G-Eazy preformed his single 'Nobody' with Riva, his single 'FRESH' with Riva, his single 'Apple of My Eye' with Erika Flowers, his single 'Candy Girl' with Greg Banks, and his very new single 'Freshaholic' with Cypher. I personally believe 'Freshaholic' was the best performance of the night, because it reminded me of N.E.R.D. when they preformed 'Spazz' in Chicago during the Glow In The Dark Tour. G-Eazy was jumping, Cypher was jumping, Blair was jumping, Lu from Team Robot was jumping and Trombone Shorty added an element by backing him with a full band. Artists like Trombone Shorty, Michael Franco, Adam Gertner, Sean Gary-Julian, Keenan McRae, Leland Baker and what I affectionately call, the rest of the band, took G-Eazy's hip-hop to another level. It was as if Ludacris and Sum 41's remix of 'Get Back', Lupe Fiasco's live shows and a classic New Orleans second line were placed together in a magic music blender and put on turbo.





Then when the retro music came in, DJ Yancy didn't forget to incorporate new hits of different genres. I was especially excited when he played Kid Cudi's 'Day n Night', which set a whole crew on the stage ablaze and when he played a great remix of Hollywood Holt's 'Hollywood'. I also could tell he was testing Bmore club music on his audience because I heard more of the 8/4 beats than in the past few weeks. Lastly, there was a strong presence of dressing up with the theme this week. It seemed like everyone wanted to be Will Smith, because hat bills were flipped high and neon colors definitely shined bright at the Republic. Throwback was definitely a success this and it was apparent from the large crowd.


Greg Banks and G-Eazy
Greg Banks and G-Eazy
G-Eazy
G-Eazy and Riva
Blair Taylor
Cypher and Lu catching air
Cypher and Michael Franco
G-Eazy upclose

Trombone Shorty
G-Eazy and Lu
Cypher
Tyler Yee
G-Eazy
G-Eazy and Erika Flowers
Blair Taylor
G-Eazy
G-Eazy
G-Eazy
PL of Slap Doctors
G-Eazy

I randomly befriended a crew of guys, who hapened to be in some of my favorite hardcore/metal bands, Emmure & Winds of Plague. They came to Throwback at The Republic after their show at The High Ground. Hopefully, next time Nick and Frankie will be able to stay on the stage. lol
Yes I like hardcore too. When I say I like EVERYTHING and I like rock, I REALLY mean it.
Nick from Winds of Plague had a boss Biggie tat
My bud Chinyelu on stage as usual
The stage was WILD
The floor was too
crowd participation
My fresh prince gear

fresh prince lookin girl
Yuri
G-Eazy mixtape
you suckas got served
G-Eazy's Death Wish Supras
Seeing G-Eazy's Supras, reminded me of the cool Death Wish decks

A few hours after G-Eazy's performance at Throwback, he began recording his album at Dockside Studios
He recorded live all day
When i say all day
I mean ALL DAY
From about 6am - 12am
yep EARLY Saturday to the end of the day

After listening to him lay down a few tracks, I would say everyone should get excited for:
maybe something trombone shorty-ish stuff
maybe something rock-ish stuff (but better than lil wayne)
maybe something acoustic-ish stuff
maybe something so cool that I can't express it in words
check for updates HERE ON HIS USTREAM PAGE


IF I WASN'T IN NEW ORLEANS, I WOULD BE IN MIAMI FOR:
THE FOOL'S GOLD MEGASHOWCASE AT WMC
Performances by: A-Trak, DJ Mehdi, Annie Mac, Treasure Fingers, Jokers of The Scene, nacho Lovers, Sammy Bananas, Nick Catchdubs and Lil Jon


&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

THE IHEARTCOMIX/MAD DECENT/TURNTABLELAB/TROUBLE & BASS PARTY AT WMC
Performances by: Diplo, Switch, Spark Rock, Drop The Lime, Designer Drugs, Franki Chan, Oceot, Acid Girls, The Captain, Star Eyes, Mobroder, Da Hardy Boysm Roctakon, DJ Eli Escobar, Blu Jemz, Unemployed Lloyd, sTERRYo, Sega, Rusko, South Rakkas Crew, Party Squad, Toy Selectah

Melanie

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Captain Planet, he's our hero gonna take pollution down to zero

If you DIDN'T see Nas last night,
you should have went to?

THROWBACK
THROWBACK
THROWBACK



If you looked for me last night, you would have found me at Republic for the best Friday party in New Orleans. Its started off with a concert/eco-friendly fashion show. IN Exchange ran the Ethical Fashion Show, and Soul Capital and Dee-1 (both who performed the previous night at Tulane's Lupe concert) brought in a hip-hop vibe while Tulane and Loyola students modeled their fair-trade clothing. Then the bluesy rock group, The Revivalists performed their own songs and covers. I was really vibing with the distinctive voice of Dave Shaw, who was wearing one of my favorite American Apparel shirts so that was a plus. The proceeds went to IN Exchange's work in the Tibetan Settlements in India. Also, Defend New Orleans sold their cool clothing and episodes of Captain Planet played in the background. After the fashion show was over, the stage quickly detached. From that point on there was nothing to be heard but but great 80's and 90's new wave, pop, rock, hip-hop, and new indie, electro and hip-hop over DJ Damion Yancy's danceable beats and record scratches. As a self proclaimed music enthusiast, I was really pleased to hear Justice's 'D.A.N.C.E.', Justice & Simian's 'We Are Your Friends', Kings of Leon's 'Sex On Fire', Kid Cudi's 'Day n Night' and electro bangers from Rye Rye, Daft Punk and M.I.A. Throwback is unquestionably the only place (I know of) in New Orleans that plays my favorite hip-hop, indie and electro music. Last night DJ Jive (one half of the the DJ duo Force Feed Radio) also touched a little vinyl and some of the Team Robot crew came out. I even made a request to hear a song by Uffie, which created a smirk on DJ Jive's face... I guess he was surprised to hear a request for an artist on the Ed Banger record label. I'm glad I'm part of New Orleans' music scene, i don't even care about how dirty my shoes got.
The Revivalists (Thanks for the pic Chinyelu)

Dj Damion Yancy
DJ Jive

Earlier my crew and I strolled down to Handsome Willy's for the Friday Funk n CRAWFISH Crunk Super Jam. Everyone seemed like they were in grad school, but it was fun. They had free hotdogs and crawfish for $3. DJs Scoob and Justin Thomas played fun music and air smelled liked hot dogs, crawfish and Abita, which means it is offically springtime NOLA.


I'm glad I'm in New Orleans, but if I wasn't here I would be in
AUSTIN
AUSTIN
AUSTIN

If you are not aware SXSW (South by Southwest) is currently going on in Austin, Texas. It is a music and film festival that takes place every year at this time. This year it will be from March 13th to March 22nd. Music of all genres will be performed on several stages and 108 films will be shown. Without a doubt I think this the only place where the best of djs, hip-hop, electro, rock and everything else comes together, but hey it's the live music capital of the world.
Here's a list of some of my favorite artists that will be performing at this years SXSW: Alesana, Steve Aoki, A Skylit Drive, Backseat Goodbye, Amanda Blank, Blaqstarr, Blu, B.o.B., Boys Noize, Bring Me The Horizon, Calvin Harris, Camera Obscura, Camp Lo, Cobra Krames, Cold War Kids, Cursive, Dance Gavin Dance, Datarock, Deadmau5, Dead Prez, The Death Set, Designer Drugs, The Devil Wears Prada, DEVO, Amanda Diva, Enter Shikari, Mickey Factz, Felix Cartal, Flosstradamus, Fool's Gold, Freeway, Gallows, Gravey Train!!!, HEALTH, HEARTSREVOLUTION, Hollywood Holt, Japanther, J*DaVeY, Willy Joy, Kid Cudi, Kid Sister, Kidz In The Hall, Klever, K'nann, The Knux, Lady Hawke, Lady Sovereign, Late Of The Pier, Manchester Orchestra, Matt & Kim, MC Lars, MSTRKRFT, N.A.S.A., Ninjasonik, No Kids, Okkervil River, Craig Owens, Pacific Division, Peter Bjorn and John, P.O.S., Radioclit, Razorlight, Asher Roth, Rye Rye, Shiny Toy Guns, Shwayze, Steed Lord, 3oh!3, Tittsworth, U-N-I, The Used, The Van Pelt.

Song of the Day: Freshaholic-G-Eazy feat. Cypher

Picture of the Day: I don't see enough well dressed black men these days a.k.a. guys in skinny jeans and leather jackets.
lookbook.nu

Videos of the day:
Forget about Gym Class Heroes....Travis McCoy is sooooo sick. He is hip-hop.


and I'm so excited for the release of The Cool Kids' album 'When Fish Ride Bicycles'. Here's a newly released video they made featuring Chuck Inglish, Mikey Rocks, Rich Parry, AB, Tennille, and JP.



WHATS GOING ON THIS WEEKEND:
Soundclash- Saturday March 14 @ Blue Nile (Upstairs) 9pm

DJ Damion Yancy- Saturday March 14 @ Republic 11pm

Poetry Slam- Sunday March 14 @ Dragon's Den (Downstairs) 10 pm

Jana Fleet's 20th Birthday-Sunday March 14

Upcoming Shows:

(New Orleans shows)

Alternative Media Expo 2009-Saturday March 21 @ Contemporary Arts Center $5 12-6pm

Throwback (w/G-EAZY)- Friday March 27 @ Republic 10pm

Ratatat--Thursday April 9 @ House of Blues New Orleans

Raw Dizzy, Dee-1, Kourtney Heart, Soul Capital, Team Robot (Wally & Cypher), Dappa-April 17 @ Tipitina's $8 GA/$5 with college ID

Death Cab For Cutie--Saturday May 2 @ Contemporary Arts Center exactly $51.40

Coldplay-June 9th @ New Orleans Arena (Tickets on sale 3/21 at 10 am)

(Chicago shows)
Diplo-May 9 @ Smartbar

Kills, Horrors- May 9 @ Metro

No Doubt & Paramore- July 11 @ First Midwest Bank Amphitheater

Melknee