Guru loads up some of his favorite MPC3000 sounds into the MPC Renaissance. MPC Renaissance reads all sound files and allows you to load them quickly and easily. Narrow your search to load projects, sequences, programs, samples or no filter, which allows you to see everything on your drive. Watch as he takes you through how to sequence a beat.
Conceived and directed by Calvan Fowler of Daydream Filmworks, the same mind and lens that directed Dean’s previous video “Forever feat. Large Professor” this clip is a trip down the rabbit hole complete with mad hatters, giant rabbits and sadistic doctors. David Banner sounds energized as he plays off Deans’ smooth guitar sample in a two-verse tale about a woman done wrong. The two Mississippi natives show great chemistry in the clip, no surprise since the two go back years—their first work together was more than 10 years ago when Banner was in the heralded group, Crooked Lettaz.
Uptown XO (of Diamond District) is preparing to drop his latest mixtape The Color Grey October 1st. In anticipation Secret Society & MMG have the new video for the standout track “Good Vibes”. The song sounds exactly like the title: AB The Pro builds the beat around a soothing vibe chord change that XO compliments with unorthodox flow. Mirroring the musical mood, the video’s director Blackie T takes us to a late summer barbecue in full effect: savory chicken and hot dogs grillin’, homies chllin’ and playing cards.
Lyrically, XO makes clear that though skies may be grey at times, good vibes reign supreme. Lines like “The US Government played us like R&B, we were here before the colonies“ point to the underlying conviction that fuels XO’s tenacious but honest street style.
On his return from New York in spring, having met some of his long time heroes, namely the legendary Kool DJ Herc (the father of Hip Hop), Grandmaster Caz (one of the writers of Hip Hop’s first “hit” “Rapper’s Delight” by The Sugarhill Gang), Crazy Legs (pioneering Bboy & president of world renowned Rock Steady Crew), DJ Premier (Gang Starr) and DJ Tony Touch… Fdot1 hit the studio and put this gritty banger together to “hold his fans down” until the release of his next single “Let Me Hear Ya/Hip Hop Be Bop” which is a collaboration with another of his heroes, Man Parrish.
Skyzoo describes the video and the song in his own words. “The video, directed by Anthony Sylvester, was shot throughout Bed Stuy, Brooklyn NY. The theme was to show the parallels between me as a 9-year old aspiring emcee and me now as an accomplished emcee and artist, and how the things around me that groomed me haven’t changed. The song is a 3-minute auto-bio of me as a kid in Brooklyn. The ending is a clip from Video Music Box, the legendary NYC video show run by DJ Ralph McDaniels. This episode in particular was the debut of Chi-Ali’s ‘Age Ain’t Nothin But A Number’. Seeing that video that day on this episode of VMB made me start rhyming. This clip was literally the moment that changed my life. And the Chi-Ali tee shirt is pretty amazing. They’ll be on sale soon. Enjoy…”