I seen this on illRoots and I had to post this up. Here's 20 classic hip hop album covers redone with Lego's. An ATLiens cover would've been dope. In the full story, you'll peep my favorites and a link to all the rest.
The Game - Doctor's Advocate
Ghostface Killah - Big Doe Rehab
De La Soul - Three Feet High and Rising
Common - Be
Dr. Dre - The Chronic
OutKast - Stankonia
Nas - Stillmatic
Showing posts with label A Tribe Called Quest. Show all posts
Showing posts with label A Tribe Called Quest. Show all posts
Thursday, December 11, 2008
20 Classic Hip Hop Album Covers Redone Via Lego
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Album Review: Q-Tip - The Renaissance
A Tribe Called Quest front man Q-Tip, is back with his second solo LP The Renaissance. In the 90's, the hip hop audience loved Tribe's jazzy style of rap music. While hip hop continues to change musically, will Q-Tip be able to revive the art with The Renaissance?
4/5
It's been almost 20 years since Q-Tip has been an active MC starting out with the legendary A Tribe Called Quest. After five albums over the course of eight years, Tip leftPhife and Ali Shaheed Muhammad to drop his debut album Amplified. With "Vivrant Thing" and "Breathe and Stop" serving as lead singles for the album, it made Q-tip the most successful solo artist of A Tribe Called Quest. After the release of Amplified, Q-Tip stayed out the limelight appearing on various underground projects.
Q-Tip returns with his breakthrough LP The Renaissance. While Tip's first solo album had a huge commercial single, The Renaissance took a different approach. The albums lead single "Gettin' Up" is a smooth, piano sampled track sounding opposite of Q-Tip's older singles.
Another difference from Q-Tip's previous album is that it features only one J Dilla track while the last was produced almost thoroughly by the late great producer. The Renaissance's soulful funky production was handled by Q-Tip himself. The one Dilla contribution "Move", is the albums most commerical track. Tip kicks off his verse with "I'm just a brother man, descendant of the motherland; I fuck with blackberries, dymes and butter tans" as he raps over a funky Dilla instrumental, which samples "Dancing Machine" by the Jackson 5.
During the middle of the album Q-Tip addresses troubled relationships. On "You" rhymes about confrontational women and how the end result is typically their fault. Similar to "You", "Fight/Love" discusses conflict in relationships, and features a hook by the soulful RaphaelSaadiq. The mellow beat, Q-tip's relaxed flow, and Saadiq singing on the hook compliment the track extremely well, making "Fight/Love" one of the best tracks off the album. As most rap veterans do, Q-Tip has track addressing the current state of hip hop. "Dance on Glass" starts off as anacapella track, but the beat comes in with a DJ Premier-esque type sound.
Overall The Renaissance has a soulful vibe. Based off the features alone you can perceive the type of feel the album will have. The album features no rap appearances, but features RaphaelSaadiq, Norah Jones, Amanda Diva, and D'Angelo who appears on the motivational "Believe". "Believe" contributes to the albums great closure, but the final track "Shaka" tops it off. "Shaka" is an ode to Q-Tip's younger bro, where Tip spits "My brother Shaka would've wanted me to do it like this...so raise your glasses for the loved ones in your life"; over a beat with production style similar to A Tribe Called Quest's "God Lives Through".
My closing statement is that Q-Tip proves his relevance thus having almost 20 years in the game. While some artists fail to stay relevant after longevity, Q-Tip delivers with an outstanding album. Aside from the lyricism and flow, the production off The Renaissance is reminiscent to the signature A Tribe Called Quest sound, and at some points you find yourself anticipating a verse from Phife. This album will definitely be enjoyed by ATCQ fans like myself, and will also appeal to new listeners.
To Sum It Up In One Word: Funkdafied
Monday, August 11, 2008
Rock The Bells 2008 Recap
The Rock the Bells concert took place on August 9th in San Bernardino, CA at the Glen Helen Pavilion. Despite the heat, it was an amazing show and definitely worth it. Peep the full story to get a breakdown of the acts.
Main Stage:
Wale - A good way to kick off Rock The Bells. Wale (pronounced Wah-Lay) is a newcomer from DC. He performed tracks off his Mixtape About Nothing, and his most known track W.A.L.E.D.A.N.C.E.
Dead Prez - Dead Prez hit the stage to perform joints off Revolutionary But Gangsta and also tracks off of their debut LP Let's Get Free including the classic "Hip Hop".
Murs - Rock The Bells was my first time hearing from Murs and he's kinda nice. Murs surprised the crowd by bringing out West Coast pioneer Dj Quik. Unfortunately Dj Quik only performed two songs, it was still a dope surprise appearance.
Immortal Technique - Immortal Technique brought out underground mc Chino XL onto stage as he preached to the crowd. Immortal Technique dropped dope, sophisticated rhymes filled with knowledge and aggression.
Rakim - I would hate to say this about the God MC, but his performance was a bit lethargic. The music was dope as always, but he could've hyped it up a bit.
De La Soul - Unfortunately I missed a majority of their performance trying to grab something to eat. I did catch it from "Oooh" and the classic "Buddy" by the Native Tongues, and a couple of others.
Raekwon & Ghostface Killah - Two of my favorite mc's in and outside of the Wu graced the stage at Rock The Bells to perform tracks from the classic Only Built For Cuban Linx, Supreme Clientele, 36 Chambers, and other albums from the Wu-Tang catalog. The highlight of the performance was "Triumph". Raekwon also announced that Only Built For Cuban Linx 2 will be out in February of 2009.
Method Man & Redman - Meth & Red had the crowd hyped from start to finish. The set started with Redman on a solo tip with Method Man making a late and exciting entrance. The set ended with "Da Rockwilder" and Meth & Red doing stage dives. They also announced they will be dropping the sequel to the Blackout album this year!
Surprise Guests - The surprise guest turned out to be the Black Eyed Peas minus Fergie. They were the only performers to use a live band to supply the music.
The Pharcyde - The Pharcyde had a nice set reuniting all four members. The Pharcyde started their performance off with "Runnin" and ended it on a nostalgic note with "Passin' Me By"
Mos Def - Mos Def put on a great show performing joints off Black on Both Sides, and True Magic.
Nas - Hands down the highlight of the show. Nas started off doing joints from his current album Untitled, and then took the crowd down memory lane through Nas' discography. From Illmatic to Stillmatic, to God's Son, Nas performed numerous tracks with high energy and charisma. Nas also said Fuck Bill O'Rielly and Fuck Fox News.
A Tribe Called Quest- The second best performance of Rock The Bells. The set started with Q-Tip performing tracks off his upcoming album and the slept-on Amplified album. He also had Mos Def with him to hype up the crowd. Later on, the rest of the members of A Tribe Called Quest to perform hits such as "Bonita Applebum", "Can I Kick It", "Electric Relaxation", "Award Tour", and many others.
Second stage:
The second stage had other acts such as The Cool Kids, Kidz in The Hall, The Pack, Tyga, MF Doom and others. The only two that I got a chance to see were Tyga and The Pack. I wish I could've seen the performance of an supposed imposter MF Doom that wrapped up the second stage, which led to angry fans throwing things and booing the impostor. Check the video below:
I heard a rumor that MF Doom is preparing a new album titled DOOMposter where the theme of the album is him addressing an MF Doom impostor who's been posing as MF Doom at shows like the video shown above. Hopefully he can redeem himself with that idea.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Takin' Em Back! - 07/21
Bonita Applebum...ya gotta put me on! Now this is classic rite here. Go see A Tribe Called Quest at Rock the Bells Aug. 9th!
Rock The Bells 2008!
The lineup has been out for a minute, but I'm posting this for those who missed it. This has gotta be the hottest show since the Glow In The Dark Tour brought to you by Kanye and co. Nas and A Tribe Called Quest alone is worth it, but when you throw in Ghost & Rae, Red & Meth, Rakim, and a slew of others, you got one hell of a show. Rock the Bells will take place August 9th at the Glen Helen Pavilion in San Bernadino (and yes, tickets are still on sale). I'll be there, where will you be?
Click here for more info!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
