Maurice Garland: World-Renown, Locally-Respected Writer, Photographer. Tastemaker and Lifestylist: June 2010

Shoutout to the homie Andrew and his new hostess Laura Mitchell of FakeShoreDrive. They sat down with Big Boi while he was up in Chicago previewing the Sir Luscious Leftfoot: The Son of Chico Dusty album. They sat down and talked about a few things in the interview and they even discussed my Creative Loafing piece on him for a second. That was nice...made me and the piece sound like it was got damn....important. It always a shock to hear people quote and or reference my work. Honestly, sometimes I think the only folks that be reading my stuff be my mama, my friends and publicists making sure their client looks good. Cool to know that folks use my work for reference and discussion.

UPDATE: Sir Luscious Leftfoot is streaming on Myspace right now, so you can listen to it before you buy it on July 6th.

LISTEN HERE

Big Boi is on the cover of Ozone Magazine just in time for the release of his new album Sir Luscious Leftoot: The Son of Chico Dusty. The story is written by some guy and its titled "Outkasted." talks about why he left Jive Records, working with alot of big named artists and some of the humbling experiences Big has had over the last few years going at it alone. Shoutout to Diwang Valdez on the photos.

READ: OutKasted-Big Boi Ozone Cover Story

The homie Rodney Charmichael penned a piece in Creative Loafing's Music Issue that I wish I could've wrote and been a part of. They tracked down all (or most) of the musicians that played a part in the making of Outkast's Aquemini album. Very interesting stuff that you may have known or never known gets exposed in this piece. Here are some excerpts:

On making "Rosa Parks"

Andre 3000: I actually submitted that beat to [Diddy’s old group] Total — ’cause I was going with Keisha from Total around that time — but they couldn’t use it, so we ended up using it.

On making "Skew It On the Bar-B"

Raekwon: I was in Atlanta ’cause I had a nice place out there in Buckhead, and I met Big Boi in Lenox Square Mall. He seemed like a cool, genuine dude, and we both were fans of each other's work. We both were like, “Yo, let's get up and do something.” Two or three days later I went to the Dungeon house and we started running through some beats.

On making "Liberation"

Kawan Prather: Yeah, that [song featured] Erykah, Big Rube, Cee-Lo — again random occurrences. Dre’s baby mama was Erykah Badu. I mean, damn, why wouldn’t you put your baby mama on the record if she’s Erykah Badu? It’s not like he came to the studio and said, ‘I want to put my girl on the song,’ and this bitch work at the Varsity. She’s Erykah Badu. Okay, do it.

This story is great, hats off to Rodney, Jacinta Howard and Phillip Mlynar for pulling this off. I pitched a similar idea to XXL about 5 years ago but was never quite able to pull all the pieces together. I wanted to see a 'Kast album get the same shine they gave Raekwon's Built 4 Cuban Linx and Jay-Z's Reasonable Doubt when they did their Classic Material column in long form.

Would've loved to have been a part of this piece, but I was pretty swamped with other stuff at the time. Anyways, check it out, I'm sure you'll enjoy. Luda is on the actual cover of the issue in case you wanted to know.

READ: "The Making of Aquemini" in Creative Loafing

Creative Loafing just posted these findings by the Atlanta Regional Committee. This "regional snapshot" is intended to show the correlation between income and obesity. The counties with black dots are poor, the counties that are red are obese. So, pretty much, it shows that poor people out here eating, especially in Mississippi.

"I got one request in this bitch, You can have the rest of this shit/If a nigga drop some shit and it's wack as hell and don't make no damn sense/Take it back, talk about it and tell your dog don't even buy that shit!"--Trick Daddy

I rarely ask questions like "what happened to...?" or "why aint so and so...?" Because nowadays, I pretty much know the answer. I know a couple reasons why we don't get treated to much [quality] Trick Daddy music, but I still kinda wonder, what happened? Sometimes it seems like he got DMX'ed out of the game. You know, refusing to conform or keep making music for or with people he probably genuinely does not f*ck with AT ALL. Anyways, this song popped up in my head. I know a couple people didn't like this song of video, but Trick was snappin to me on this. This shit is actually very poignant and at times political when you listen to it. But yeah, enjoy.

Rittz-"Rattle Back"

New music from Rittz. The hook samples Yelawolf's old song "Kickin." Set to appear on he and DJ Burn One's upcoming mixtape, White Jesus. Buddy be snappin...

Here is the first part of a pretty lengthy interview I did with Cee-Lo about a week ago. We did it at his Radiculture Records office. We talked about quite a bit, and even more off the record. I'll let the videos do the talking as I post them.

The last two weeks of The Boondocks have more than made up for the snooze fest they've been on since they came back. I interviewed one of the producers of the show back when I did that Freaknik: The Musical episode. When I tried to get him to give me some details about the upcoming Boondocks season, all he told me was "we have a Tyler Perry episode." I understood what he was saying without him saying much.

Now, I always had me opinions about Tyler Perry movies. I peeped early how dark-skinned dudes were always the bad guy and the fairer-skinned dude was always the hero. Hell, even the one time a dark-skinned dude was the "good guy" he was living in the hood with three kids, making a woman "lower her standards" to be with him. My brother always had a problem with him spreading the gospel as a cross-dresser, which is some in and of itself.

But yeah, this episode is spot on. I'm sorry. Now, I'm not one of those all out Tyler Perry haters, but man. There isn't much in this episode that ain't the truth or too far from it.

I wonder how Aaron McGruder feels about Cube have a show on TBS right along side Tyler Perry's shows now.

For the last two weeks I've been listening to two CDs in the car. One is Cee-Lo's Stray Bullets, and the other is L.E.$.'s Settle 4 Le$.

Now, I can't lie. I didn't start listening to L.E.$. until sometime a couple weeks ago. I remembered getting a couple emails about him but man, I was so turned off by his mixtape title. Settle 4 L.E.$.??? Hell no! Why would I want to do that? Settle for less? With a dollar sign in it too? Hell no. Then on top of that, I saw that his producer was Mr. Rogers.

Now, I'm not trying to hate on Mr. Rogers, but, that guy is responsible for alot of the music that's coming out of Dallas right now. You know...all that "Mr. Hit Dat Hoe"..."Do The Flex"...dance shit they've been doing out there for the last couple of years. Then on top of that, his production unit is called "The Shit Factory" and their tag is the sound of a toilet bowl flushing.

I interviewed Mr. Rogers a couple months ago and he told me that he was much more than that. He said he also produced for Z-Ro, Slim Thug and Trae...most notably Trae's classic "Swang." So, I kinda looked at him in a better light after hearing that. But I still couldn't get that other shit out of my mind.

But then, I started seeing some of L.E.$ music pop up on other sites that I respect. The stuff I heard was jammin' so I figured I'd go back and peep some of it out. I started with the Settle 4 Le$ and haven't been able to stop listening yet. Here are a couple of my favorite songs from the project:

"Make A Lot of Money"

"Les Ridin"

"What's Goin Down"

He has a laid back sound with some slow-rolling, sample-heavy production. As far as his flow and content, think Paul Wall but with less talk about his grills and cars and more about everyday living. He's the newest member of Slim Thug's Boss Hogg Outlawz, but hopefully he'll continue to do his own thing and not get out shadowed. Everybody I've put up on it is messing with it. Shit jammin, ya'll check him out when you get a chance.

Rittz-"After Morning"

Shouts out to DJ Burn One for liberating the MP3 of this joint. Rittz is the dude who came through snappin' on Yelawolf's "My Box Chevy pt. 3". I remember when Wolf and KP invited me to the studio to hear the track shortly after they made it, there was this longer haired white dude just posted up in the corner not saying anything to anybody. Wasn't necessarily alarmed by his presence, but, you still kinda gotta keep an eye on a long haired white dude just ducked off in the corner not saying anything to anybody. When the second verse of the "My Box Chevy" came on I was like "gawt dayum! who is this?!?!" Everybody just pointed to buddy in the corner...he nodded, chucked a duece and fell back off in the corner. When he told me his name was Rittz, I made a note of it and made sure I looked him up on myspace next time I got to a computer. When I looked him up, the first song that came on was "After Morning" and I've been looking out for more music ever since. I mean, its pretty difficult to not do your thing over this sample, but dude really rode this beat.

Burn One said he's making a mixtape with him and will start leaking songs from it pretty soon. I heard one of them already, and its pretty dope. Buddy be snappin.

Clear your calendar for Tuesday, June 29th to celebrate the release of Freddie Gibbs next project Str8 Killa, No Filla. Jackie Chain, A.Leon Craft, Paper Route Gangstaz, Bobby Creekwater, Rittz and few others will be on the bill as well. If you missed Gibbs last show here you missed something special, so don't miss it this time.

This show is going to be hosted by some dude and DJ Burn One will be on the turntables and he might be bringing a surprise or two along with him.

Tickets are $10 and can be bought HERE

Keep coming around these parts for more news and info on this event.

This is more like it. I don't know what was up with that AK-47 shit. Be on the lookout for my video interview with him later this week. He told me some of the secrets behind the mixtape and what else to expect from it. But I'm letting you know now, rapping ain't a big part of it shawty. Its going to be here and on Ozonemag.com.

Previously: 360: Cee-Lo Green's Stray Bullet mixtape

Ya'll must really love some Reflection Eternal, the giveaway I did yesterday lasted all of 45 seconds. Shouts out to JR who answered the trivia question correctly:

Reflection Eternal's first album Train of Thought featured a certain comedian impersonating Nelson Mandela and Rick James on a couple skits. Who was the comedian?

Answer: Dave Chappelle. He impersonated Nelson Mandela on the albums intro "Experience Dedication" and he did Rick James on "Touch You."

Again, you're supposed to leave the answer in the comments section with either your twitter name or email so I can contact you and get you set. Plenty of ya'll texted, BBMed, emailed and tweeted me the answer, but you're supposed to leave it in the comments section.

That said, I'm giving out another pair. Here is today's question:

Producer Hi-Tek was affiliated with and produced for another Cincinnatti-based group before he went on to produce for Black Star and form Reflection Eternal with Talib Kweli. What was the name of the group?

First person to leave the correct answer in the comments section gets the tickets. In the comment section, not text me, email me or BBM me. Not even tell me if you sitting next to me right now. First person to leave the correct answer in the comments section gets the tickets. Make sure you leave either your twitter name or email so I can get in contact with you and get you right. Thanks for visiting and participating.

Ciara feat. Andre 3000 and Bei Major-"Ride"(remix)

Guess at this point any Dre appearance is an event, which is why I'm posting this song. Sounds like we might finally have something for the summertime. Still think its some BS how BET banned the video for the original talking about its too sexy. Whatever...if you can show all of Trey Songz videos with him hunching and licking on chicks I don't see why you can't show a video of a chick showing how well she can work her hips...guess she'd have to be in the submissive position instead of the in-control one if she wanted to have her video on BET.

Oh yeah, seems like ever since I made that "where's the new Dungeon music" post a few days ago we've been getting more of it. Guess I should write posts like that more often.

Got some more free stuff for ya'll. The wonderful folks at Center Stage gave me three pairs of tickets to next Monday's Reflection Eternal show at The Loft. Kidz In The Hall and the homie Senor Kaos are also on the bill. You know how we do over here, so lets get into some trivia.

Reflection Eternal's first album Train of Thought featured a certain comedian impersonating Nelson Mandela and Rick James on a couple skits. Who was the comedian?

First person to leave the correct answer along with their email or twitter (for communication purposes, whichever you feel most comfortable giving out) in the comments gets the tickets. I'm going to be giving some more away tomorrow so if you don't win today, you still have a chance.

New video from warrenJae. This video actually has a backstory. warren is actually infatuated with a chick named Jasmine and wrote the song about her. The girl, the real Jasmine actually heard the song and liked it. warren and his team decided to make a video and Jasmine, who is actually a model, agreed to be in the video. So yeah, warren is actually rapping to and about the actual person in the video, no fiction.

Oh yeah, if you're into the gossip blogs, this is the same chick who had the internet going nuts recently after being spotted with Chris Brown. Yeah, actually.

Shoutout to RE as always.

Yeah...time for another random column. Gonna start doing cool little posts about how songs and people borrow from each other and stuff...

Mr. Greg Street sent me this Cee-Lo "mixtape" a few nights ago before it got unleashed onto the internet. But I wasn't near a computer at the time so yeah...

But its been out for a couple days now, I haven't seen or heard an overwhelming reaction to it though. I just got around to listening to it last night, not every song on there blew me away, but the are each cool in their own little way. The title and cover of the "mixtape" are very misleading though. I guess Stray Bullets is supposed to be a play on words since Cee-Lo's upcoming album is called Lady Killer? Judging from the songs on here, it should actually be called Loose Feathers or something.

But yeah, I was just sharing the project with you in case you hadn't gotten your hands on it yet. I also felt like posting this song "ChamPain."

The song is basically about drinking, sex and escapism. The cold-hearted gentleman player vibe he's been on since '06 works well on it. Plus he does it over one of my favorite tracks from Esthero's Breath From Another album, "Flipher Overture" (flip her over...overture...flip the tape over...get it? get it?)

I remember we used to smoke and actually try to freestyle over this shit. This and that instrumental from Triple Six's The End album.

A gossip girl told me after Cee-Lo and Esthero worked together when Goodie Mob did a remix to "The World I Know" they started seeing each other off and on, which led to them eventually recording "Gone" together. If you never heard that song, know that its probably one of the most heart-wrenching break up songs EVER. Years later, it sounds like they we're probably talking to each other on that shit. But I don't know...I actually caught Esthero at the Loft a few years back and she performed the song. Since Cee-Lo was there in attendance, he went on ahead and joined her on stage and did his part. It didn't look planned, but hey, ya' never know.

But yeah, the Cee-Lo project is cool. Other songs to look out for are "Is It," "I'll Kill Her" and "Super Woman Theme Song."

DOWNLOAD: Greg Street presents Cee-Lo Green: Stray Bullets

Donnis feat. Yelawolf and Pill-"Country Cool" (remix)

Donnis just dropped a new mixtape with DJ Infamous and DJ Holiday called The Invitation. I heard they was about to make this song when I was at the Animul House "Pig Roast" party this past Sunday, glad they knocked it out.

Here's some footage of Prynce performing at the Stankonia show I hosted a couple weeks ago. Did any of ya'll make it out there? What did you think?

Big Boi feat. Andre 3000 and Sleepy Brown-"Lookin 4 Ya"

KRS-ONE, A Tribe Called Quest, UGK, Clipse and now Outkast all have something in common...fuggery from Jive Records.

As you know by now, when Big Boi began working on his solo album, he was signed to Jive as a member of Outkast. Due to creative differences, he wound up leaving and taking the album to Def Jam. "Lookin 4 Ya" was supposed to be one of the highlights of the album because it was one of the only ones with Dre rapping on it. But now Jive is blocking the song from appearing on Big Boi's solo album. Luckily for us its magically appeared on the internet. Enjoy. Sir Lucious Leftfoot in stores July 6th.

The internets are saying Drake's producer Boi 1da made the beat...but the day Big let me hear it he said Erick Sermon produced it...at least that's what I heard him say...might've been the Henny.

Big Boi will be on the cover of Creative Loafing this week. The story is already online and you can read it here. The story is written by some guy and it asks the question if Big Boi is an Outkast in his own city, the city that he helped put on the music map.

READ: Is Big Boi An Outkast In His Own City?

While you're here, the tracklisting for Sir Lucious Leftfoot was released today as well.

Feel Me (Intro)
Daddy Fat Sax
Turns Me On feat. Sleepy Brown & Joi
Follow Us feat. Vonnegutt
Shutterbugg feat. Cutty
General Patton
Tangerine feat. T.I. & Khujo Goodie
You Ain’t No DJ feat. Yelawolf
Hustle Blood feat. Jamie Foxx
Be Still feat. Janelle Monáe
Fo Yo Sorrows feat. George Clinton, Too Short & Sam Chris
Night Night feat. B.o.B & Joi
Shine Blockas feat. Gucci Mane
The Train Pt. 2 (Sir Lucious Left Foot Saves The Day) feat. Sam Chris
Back Up Plan

You probably notice that "Lookin For Ya" feat. Andre 3000 is missing from the tracklisting. According to Big, Jive is blocking Dre from being on the album. Man...no words for that one.

I've never been the biggest Jeezy fan, but the videos the homie Decatur Dan are making me like his music more. They shot this downtown at Walter's and then went up and down Candler Road. Dan said he gonna start trying to shoot all of his videos in Decatur exclusively, hope he keeps this up. He even got Jeezy to pull out the old Snowman chain for this one.

Adult Swim followed Mike around for his birthday not to long ago and went everywhere from Miss Ann's to the club. I wonder how long it took for them to get their burger though?

Spotted at TSS

A new visual from DMV representer Phil Ade. This is the first look from his upcoming mixtape The Letter, hosted by Don Cannon.

Crazy. As soon as I post something asking where the new Dungeon Family music at...a new Cee-Lo song pops up. Song is pretty cool. Cee-lo ain't rapping though. He singing that Gospel he's known for.

I read that he'd been in the studio with Salaam Remi for an extended amount of time, and this does sound Amy Whinehouse'ish, so I'm assuming he produced this. Its set to appear on Cee-Lo's new album Lady Killer.

This song might just get him mentioned in the same breath as Ray Charles and Gladys Knight.

Oh yeah, its for sale on Amazon. So you gonna have to do like I did and buy it if "you want it that bad."

"Sending Black folks in White coats to infiltrate our congregation..."-Scarface

Ok so...

I'm on the treadmill this morning, trying to sweat out all of these toxins I've been indulging in over the last nine days. Unfortunately, the treadmill had a TV on it, which allowed me to partake of yet another toxin in the form of this interview.

Thomas Chatterton Williams is the author of a book called "Losing My Cool." Its a book about how he...eh, let me let his synopsis explain:

Like many young men in America, Thomas Chatterton Williams grew up in awe of Tupac Shakur, Biggie Smalls, and the parade of bling-bedecked rap stars he saw on Black Entertainment Television. Williams emulated their lifestyle - sporting chains and expensive designer clothes purchased for him by his girlfriends, who were themselves little more than accessories to Williams. He and his friends roamed the streets, maintaining their status by intimidating passersby. In public, Williams lived the thug life exalted in his favorite rap anthems, yet at the end of the day, unlike many of his peers, Williams went home to a haven of learning and intellectualism--a safe, enriching environment filled with literature provided by Williams' father, known as "Pappy".

In LOSING MY COOL: How a Father's Love and 15,000 Books Beat Hip-Hop Culture (The Penguin Press; May 2010; $24.95), Williams describes how he managed to juggle these two disparate lifestyles--"keeping it real" in his friends' eyes and studying for the SATs under his father's strict tutelage. Pappy grew up in the segregated South and hid in closets so he could read Aesop and Plato. He envisioned for his son a lot in life greater than his own, and encouraged Williams to read and educate himself, and to embrace the opportunities that had not been available to Pappy's generation. As college approached and the stakes of the thug lifestyle escalated, the disparity between Williams' street life and home life threatened to undo him. Ultimately, Williams would have to decide between hip-hop and his future.

Williams is the first of his generation to measure the seductive power of hip-hop against its restrictive worldview, which ultimately leaves those who live it isolated and powerless. LOSING MY COOL portrays the allure and the danger of hip-hop culture like no book has before.

Whatever.

Of course the news is going to want to interview guys like this because it supports the narrow view that they already have of "Hip Hop Culture." They think that its all gold chains, Timbalands, blunts and 40s...when its actually wood necklaces, expensive sneakers, joints and champagne now (I keed, I keed). But still, its obvious that Sir Chatterton's exposure to "Hip Hop" was a limited one and he hasn't bothered listening to paying attention to the last ten years. Dude must have watched BET and MTV, not the actual music videos, but rather the exposes and documentaries they did on "Gangsta Rap" ever so often.

And this shit about him emulating rappers, having women and intimidating passers by? You know what that sounds like to me? It sounds like in the midst of reading his 15,000 books, dude turned the TV on, saw a rap video...took his allowance and bought some Willie Esco and Phat Farm...went downtown...tried calling a woman a bitch to get her attention...got cussed out...ran home and got back into his books.

Now, do I agree that certain elements of Hip Hop can be luring and misleading. Yes, I do. But that doesn't mean that I think that the entire culture is just one thing. That's where common sense and the home-taught, not school-taught analytical skills come into play (Sir Chatterton holds degrees in philosophy and Cultural Reporting and Criticism.

Would I like to see more children get put up on the writings of James Baldwin, Richard Wright and Ralph Ellison? Of course. But don't blame this younger generation lack of knowledge solely on "Hip Hop Culture." Hip Hop Culture isn't firing teachers and closing schools. Hip Hop Culture isn't letting schools deteriorate and become filthy. Hip Hop Culture isn't removing music and P.E. from the schools. Hip Hip Culture isn't making teachers molest students and threaten to give them a failing grade if they don't impregnate them.

The subtitle of his book bothers me as well. "How A Father's Love and 15,000 Books Beat Hip Hop Culture."...hell does that mean? My Dad loves me, taught me how to fight, taught me how to love, took me to basketball games, introduced me to different genres of music (including Hip Hop) and even got me into the church...but I wound up spending most of my adult life (so far) writing about Hip Hop. Did Hip Hop culture "defeat" us?

I'm trying to keep this post cool, because I would really like to holler at this cat at his book signing tonight, plus I just informally hit him on twitter. But I'm sorry, this shit is corny. Hopefully actually reading the book and getting to talk to dude himself can change my opinion or look at this differently, but I highly doubt it.

In the spirit of the homie Chuck Creekmur's words on Fox News once. I am one of Hip Hop's biggest supporters...and detractors. Yes, there are plenty of things in this (pop) culture we call Hip Hop that bothers me. But I also know that there are wonderful things about it that still exist.

Emulating what you see on TV for a few minutes and getting in trouble for it can not be blamed on Hip Hop. Though its obvious that certain images and music get spread through the mainstream more, you can't sit here and take a blind eyed approach to an entire culture. If you emulated what you see in a 'Pac and Biggie video, but chose to turn the TV off when The Fugees or Goodie Mob came on, that's on you player.

But yeah, Williams will be speaking at Decatur Library Auditorium (215 Sycamore Street, Decatur, GA 30030) tonight at 7:15. Its right across from the street from the Decatur MARTA Station. Fall through.

"No leaks...not even for you Mr. Garland"-Bear Loc-early 2009

Killer Mike aka Mike Bigga feat. T.I.-"Ready Set Go" (prod. by No I.D.)

The homie Bear Loc wasn't lying. This is the song I was sworn to secrecy about and not allowed to have last year. It recently appeared on T.I.'s F*ck A Mixtape. This is the tagless version. Ha...a year later and the Sunday Morning Massacre's still aren't back. Sorry ya'll.

Pledge 3 on the way though.

This time last year I was the envy of my professional peers, friends, family and even my girlfriend at the time as I got to kick it with the Dungeon Family fresh after their top secret photoshoot for Linda Hobbs' well-known VIBE feature.

There was alot of awkwardness around me posting the pics and video I had, because the VIBE feature was supposed to be a surprise. That has died down for the most part because hell, its a year later. But still, its kinda awkward going back and looking upon this because shied...there really hasn't been much music or action from the Mighty DF since then.

Don't get me wrong, there have been some absolutely wonderful moments to go down since then. Mainly Goodie Mob's Reunion Show at the Masquerade and the tour that followed. Big Boi's solo album is finally about to come out. Dre is rumored to be in the studio more and actually rapping (I heard one of the songs...whew, fie. Straight fie.) From what I know, Goodie was recording material for their new album up until about a couple months ago. Cee-Lo is back in the studio working on his solo stuff. Backbone is still working and soliciting his services via Twitter. I ran into Ray Murray on Friday at the Stankonia event I hosted and I think he may have mumbled something in my ear that sounded like an invite to hear some new stuff at the studio. Organized Noize will be getting honored at the VH1 Hip Hop Honors. But that's about all can remember going down since this time last year.

I know I'm not the only one anxiously awaiting for the DF to reclaim their thrones. Do you think things have shifted here like we were expecting since DF "reunited?" Or do you think things have remained the same.

If anything DF-related has been developing/going on that I don't know of, please feel free to share in the comments section.

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Monday, June 21, 2010

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Monday, June 14, 2010

Friday, June 11, 2010

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Monday, June 7, 2010

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Searchin...

advertise/contact me

Labels

Popular Posts

Followers

Blog Archive

Subscribe