Wednesday, November 14, 2012

It's Been A Long Time...(continued)




It’s been quite a while since I’ve done this but I’ve decided to post magazine issues again when I have some free time.  The past couple of years have been very hectic with school, family, and work completely monopolizing my time.  My 3 year old daughter and 8 year old son are two of the greatest joys of my life but I missed blogging as a stress outlet.  See, adults need time to do what they want, too.  It’s amazing how much I relate to songs like “Parents Just Don’t Understand” nowadays.  I never thought that would happen.  Getting older changes your whole life and perspective and you appreciate the little things more and more.   And the big 4-0 is just around the corner for me.

Questions/comments for you:



Do you have any children?  If so, what hip-hop music do you allow them to listen to in your presence?  Or to put it another way, if you’re playing hip-hop in the car with your children, what is allowed?  Wu Tang? Tribe Called Quest?  D.I.T.C.?  I’ve been experimenting with this for a while now.  I don’t play anything with profanity while my children are in the car but I hate edited versions of albums.  So I usually play 80’s hip-hop and my son now loves “He’s the DJ, I’m the Rapper” by DJ Jazzy Jeff and Fresh Prince (especially the video game song).  I try to sneak in a little BDP/KRS-One, MC Lyte, Public Enemy, L.O.N.S., Gangstarr, Run-DMC, Tribe, Main Source, Rakim, EPMD, De La Soul, Common, etc. from time to time, too.


What new music do you like these days?  I have to say, I like a few songs on the Lil Fame and Termanology album "Fizzyology" EXCEPT that I can’t stand Termanology on the album.  Can someone please find me an edited version of the album with his vocals completely removed?  “Crazy”, essentially an M.O.P. song with Termanology almost screwing it up, is hands down my favorite track.  More Billy Danze and less Termanology would have made a better overall album.  Other than that, I miss the “feeling” hip-hop music used to have in it.  It pops up here and there but rarely for an entire album.  I mean, if I were to play Gangstarr’s “Hard to Earn”, Tribe’s “Low End Theory”,  or Redman’s “Whut?” albums right now, there is something special about them that I can’t quite put my finger on.  But it is sorely missing in the mainstream today.  It reminds me of The Roots’ “Illadelph Halflife” intro track where someone discusses hip-hop music becoming a disposable art form. 

  

Since the November air is getting colder, it’s that time of the year when I constantly listen to GZA’s “Liquid Swords”, Black Moon’s “Enta Da Stage”, The D.O.C.’s “No One Can Do It Better”, Above The Law’s “Livin Like Hustlers”, O.C.’s “Word…Life”, EPMD's "Business as Usual", The Roots’ “Do You Want More?!!!??!”, and a few others.  I have no idea why I listen to certain albums more during particular seasons but it works for me.


Last, I have a newfound respect for the hip-hop heads in Europe and all other parts of the world.  They really know their hip-hop history and appreciate the essence of it all.  Since my hiatus, I have received hundreds of requests/props via email from people living in countries like the U.K., Germany, France, Poland, Russia, Netherlands, Brazil, Denmark, Spain, Italy, Sweden, Japan, Canada, Australia, and on and on.  I was very humbled and it’s one of the few reasons I wanted to get back into this.  I’m assuming The Source had limited worldwide distribution in its heyday so there are hip-hop heads around the world that never got the chance to read them.

That’s all for now.  Check back soon for a magazine re-up.

~Vincent~

7 comments:

  1. Thank you for coming back. I need that Source fix!

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  2. Best album of the year so far is Nas' Life is Good.

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  3. glad u are back son, u know i been there since day 1.
    i love how the Source magazine used to b when i was coming up. it had everything u needed plus when albums coming out and new tracks to check out.
    it had a great format.
    so thats my goal to try to own all the issues from '88-'98 (all the ones i think were good from those years).

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  4. Good to see you man and see that you are doing well. I know how it is about finding time for blogging, I haven't done a whole lot of it myself the past couple years, but been getting that itch again as late. Be good!

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  5. Finally back, Victor! You brougt so much to the table from 2007 - 2010. Just found out about your blog last year and spent days digging in your archives. So much great stuff, all the Source editions alone! Thanks for all your great work, not letting hip hop history left forgotten.

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  6. Oh, sorry, VINCENT! Sorry for Victor.
    Thanks for the the props to European heads. Since I'm from Germany and a have a son of 5, who doesn't speak English yet, I can play him any American rap, even 2 Live Crew :) - nah, just kidding about 2 Live Crew. But of course he likes uptempo stuff more than slow boom bap.
    But for some reason he really likes Jay-Z's Who You Wit - prob. because of the bouncy piano beat. Can't be the lyrics!
    My favorite Winter time album is AZ's Doe r Die. Liquid Swords is No. 2. All in all, Liquid Swords is def. the better album, of course, but the mood of the tracks on the AZ album is a little more diverse (the ice cold Uncut Raw just sounds like Winter to me; the strings on Gimme Yours sound like a sunny day above a landscape covered in snow; Ho Happy Jackie sounds like a Christmas song (even though it's not, LOL, lyrically it is not).
    Oh, and Hell on Earth is another great winter time album.
    And no, there's no music like that in 2012. I'm finding myself strictly listening to older music these days.

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  7. For me the album Celph Titled - Nineteen Ninety Now is a great album that really sounds like the '90's. And lately I have bought everything Apollo Brown, his productions are amazing!

    Good to see you back Vincent, greetings from the Netherlands.

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