“Young bloods can’t spell but they can rock you in PlayStation”

Being the fact that it’s tax time I thought I’d bring this joint out the shoebox. Primo on the track… so you know it’s going to be a thumper… But Mos Def kills! I’ve always been a fan of word play and hard topic driven tracks and Mos, who I’ve always dug and been a fan of, comes clever and with knowledge. Social, Political and what ever else he felt like tossing in the stew.

“Like I got, sixteen to thirty-two bars to rock it
but only 15% of profits, ever see my pockets like
sixty-nine billion in the last twenty years
spent on national defense but folks still live in fear”

If you haven’t heard it before, now you have… if you have, check it out again.

Pink: Mos Def – Mathematics (don lowed)

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

I won’t even begin to argue over the lyrics on this track, there are websites and blogs that go on & on over this one. All I will say is that, hate driven or not, historically accurate or not… which many times it’s not… it still carries merit. It’s a very strong, deep point of view, put together in the form of a Hip-Hop song… I don’t know about you, but I respect the hell out of that. If nothing else, it can be a talking point. As Ras Kass spans both history and the globe… there are a lot of talking points and debatable ideals to choose from.

“Let freedom ring with a buckshot, but not just yet
First we need to truly understand the nature of the threat”

Pink: Ras Kass – Nature of the Threat (don lowed)

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

KRS-1 is a grab bag of knowledge based tracks… And I was told that I couldn’t leave him out and nor should he be. So I picked 1, could have been a different 1, could have been 3 or 4 from the same album. But I’ve always like the BDP “Live Hardcore Worldwide” album, which includes stops in Paris, London & New York. A live album is hard enough to pull off, but a live Hip-Hop album? “knowledge reigns supreme over nearly everyone”, done as only the “Blast Master” can.

Stink: BDP – Why is That (Live) (don lowed)

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

BDP – Why is That (don lowed)

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Love, Peace & Synapse Grease
Zito aka Bananza IronClad

You’ll never leave where you are until you decide where you would rather be…

Boomclick (myspace) are in their own words, are machines and emotions, and that suits me just fine today. If you’re feeling this sound, be cool and check out their music on amazon (here).

Slumber Party: Boomclick – High Tide (don lowed)

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Happy Easter everyone. Enjoy your days.

“”We’re all handicapped people, ain’t we?””

Staff Benda Bilili are like nothing you have ever seen or heard before. A group of paraplegic street musicians who live in and around the grounds of the zoo in Kinshasa, Congo, they make music of astonishing power and beauty. The band’s mesmerising rumba-rooted grooves, overlaid with vibrant vocals, remind you at times of Cuban nonchalance, at other times of the Godfather of Soul himself. You can hear echoes of old-school rhythm and blues, then reggae, then no-holds barred funk. Four senior singer/guitarists sitting on spectacularly customized tricycles, occasionally dancing on the floor of the stage, arms raised in joyful supplication, are the core of the band, backed by a younger, all-acoustic, rhythm section pounding out tight beats. Over the top of this are weird, infectious guitar-like solos performed by young Roger Landu, (an ex-street kid the band took under their wing), who plays a one-string electric lute he designed and built himself out of a tin can. – more on their myspace page

I had to put this up. I think you will agree Staff Benda Bilili (myspace) is amazing and their album Tres Tres Fort (amazon) worthy of an actual purchase.

Don’t Sleep: Staff Benda Bilili – Poliomyelite (don lowed)

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Read an article from the san Fran Bayview profiling Staff Benda Bilili.

–