Hot on the heels of the Isle of Wight and Glasto the festival season is officially in full swing, and here at the J.E.M towers we are donning our Hunters, denim cut offs, super cool shades and festival gear as we get our fest on!
Kicking off our festival coverage for 2011 we will be bringing you highlights, backstage goss and interviews from this summer’s hottest festivals at home and abroad. This weekend we are heading down to Wireless, Hyde Park where we will be getting fly like a G6, courtesy of the Far East Movement.
Headlining the three day event are The Black Eyed Peas (Friday 1 July), The Chemical Brothers (Saturday 2 July) and Pulp (Sunday 3 July), with the likes of Plan B, David Guetta, Chase & Status and Grace Jones on the epic line up. It is set to be a three day scorcher of sensational music, let’s hope that the weather also follows suit.
The 90s are often hailed as the golden era of Hip Hop, and certainly late ‘93 into ‘94 was a vintage year. It was as if a collective creativity emerged from all corners of America with their own distinct take on the rap game but producing without a doubt a series of seminal debut albums.
The West Coast and Death Row Record gave us Snoop Dogg’s Doggystyle, whilst the East Coast came up with Ready to Die, formally introducing us to the tour de force that was Biggie and from the dirty South emerged Southernplayalisticadillacmuzikand with that came André 3000 and Big Boi aka Out Kast. The rest as they say, is platinum and multi Grammy Award winning history.
When Big Boi took the stage at Heaven, London on 23 June, following an opening video montage, also a favourite intro of the likes of Snoop, his Southern and Out Kast roots were undeniable with several classics and a nod to his former partner-in-rhyme with tracks such as, So Fresh, So Clean (2000) and Ms. Jackson (2002). It was then time for some ‘new s***’ taken from ‘Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty’. The title of course referring to his Alter ego, with songs such as ‘Tangerine’, inviting a bevy of young beauties from the audience to the stage to join him, ‘Fo Yo Sorrows’ (which features George Clinton), Purple Ribbon’s ‘Kryptonite and the as anticipated, it simply went off when ‘Shutterbugg’ dropped. UK support on the night came in the form on two ladies who have made waves on the wheels of steel in recent years Yasmine and DJ Emily Rawson. Hot on the heels of Glasto, Big Boi is in full on festival mode with his next top the Hove Festival in Arendal, Norway tomorrow. http://bigboi.com/
Back in the early 1970s, the U.S. Army sponsored a talent contest for servicemen stationed overseas in Germany, the "Original Magnificent Special Services Entertainment Showband Contest."
The winner and runner-up during the first year, in 1971, ended up recording an album in Frankfurt, using some exceptionally good studio equipment since this album has surprisingly great fidelity (the reissue was mastered off of vinyl, not master tapes). Then it promptly vanished from popular consciousness for the next three or so decades until Dante Carfagna dug up a copy and made its existence known in high-end collector circles. I'm not exactly sure how many copies of this are "known" to exist at this point (at least a few) but it's the type of LP whose obscurity explains why it commands so high a price.
JEM is proud to present this short documentary film on that very U.S. Army band, East of Underground.
Produced by Wax Poetics and Scion. Directed by David Hollander.
To celebrate the 28th June release of the 10th Anniversary Edition of Alicia Keys debut Songs In A Minor, JEM's hitting you up with the re-issue album in full, streamed c/o America OnLine.
The Essence cover girl will take her fans back to 2001 with a two-disc Deluxe Edition set or a two-disc + DVD Collector’s Edition. The DVD’s will include the new Songs In A Minor documentary as well as edited music videos. The CD’s consist of all 16 original tracks in addition to unreleased songs (e.g. “Typewriter”, “If I Was Your Woman”), demos, and remixes (e.g. “Woman’s Worth” remix featuring Nas). Stream the entire 10th anniversary album exclusively on AOL below:
Grammy Award winning rapper, producer, actor and hip hop superstar Q-Tip is to return for two UK dates at the end of August 2011. Following the road block at London’s YoYo, Notting Hill Arts club for The Abstract’s recent DJ set, he is due to return to the capital for a one off live show at London’s IndigO2 on Friday 26 August 2011.
Hot on the heels of “Q-Tip & Friends” – a celebration of Hip-Hop through the lens of an iconoclast at the 7th Annual Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival (BHF) in July, t
he New York native, and founding member of A Tribe Called Quest (ATCQ), Q-Tip, AKA Kamaal the Abstract, is back in the UK for a series of one off live shows at Manchester Academy and London’s IndigO2.
Described by the Guardian as ‘A man who tours even less frequently than he records’, these one off shows are a ‘must’ for all true lovers of hip hop in its purest form!
MANCHESTER:
Tuesday 23rd AUGUST
Manchester Academy UMSU, Oxford RoadManchesterM13 9PR
Amy Winehouse on stage in Belgrade. Photograph: Rex Features
Amy Winehouse is seemingly drowning in her own personality and insecurity. Can anyone reach out to rescue her?
Let’s not all get too opinionated and sanctimonious about the recent Amy-gate performance scandal in Belgrade, shall we. Addiction is a disease and fame is generally vacuous and shallow. Those in possession of a broader opinion might be better suited to question why the girl’s team continue to let her perform like this; the label and management team will doubtless survive and continue to strive but she, on this current self assassination course probably won’t.
She’ll not be the first or the last wasted talent.
Meanwhile, glass-house living, Daily Nazi readers will continue to line the pockets of the likes of Katie Price and Kerry Katona.
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Countless artistes have fallen fowl to the evils of drug and alcohol addiction. None more relevant than fellow Jazz singer, Billie Holliday.
Here’s the closing snippets from Billie Holliday’s biography:
On May 31, 1959, Holiday was taken to Metropolitan Hospital in New York suffering from liver and heart disease. Police officers were stationed at the door to her room. She was arrested for drug possession as she lay dying, and her hospital room was raided by authorities. Holiday remained under police guard at the hospital until she died from cirrhosis of the liver on July 17, 1959. In the final years of her life, she had been progressively swindled out of her earnings, and she died with $0.70 in the bank and $750 (a tabloid fee) on her person. Her funeral mass was held at St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church in New York City.
Gilbert Millstein of The New York Times, who had been the narrator at Billie Holiday's 1956 Carnegie Hall concerts and had partly written the sleeve notes for the album The Essential Billie Holiday (see above), described her death in these same 1961-dated sleeve notes:
Billie Holiday died in the Metropolitan Hospital, New York, on Friday, July 17, 1959, in the bed in which she had been arrested for illegal possession of narcotics a little more than a month before, as she lay mortally ill; in the room from which a police guard had been removed – by court order – only a few hours before her death, which, like her life, was disorderly and pitiful. She had been strikingly beautiful, but she was wasted physically to a small, grotesque caricature of herself. The worms of every kind of excess – drugs were only one – had eaten her ... The likelihood exists that among the last thoughts of this cynical, sentimental, profane, generous and greatly talented woman of 44 was the belief that she was to be arraigned the following morning. She would have been, eventually, although possibly not that quickly. In any case, she removed herself finally from the jurisdiction of any court here below.
Vibe Bar Live (Upstairs), 91 Brick Lane, Truman Brewery, London
For over eight years Hoochinoo has been showcasing, supporting and promoting new acts from the UK’s underground alternative hip hop and urban music scene. Friday 1st July sees the brave’s bring you the finest in hip hop and dubstep sounds, visuals and live performance at the Vibe Bar in London’s Brick Lane.
The night at Vibe Bar features live PAs from THE BOXETTES, LDZ (LondonZoo), GRAND CENTRAL, BASS PLANET and the amazing visuals from THE GRAFFITI LIFE COMPANY and DOODLISM. DJs AK-ONE, LA FOURS, BABYBLU and SNUFFTHE ABLIST will be in residency. The night is hosted by PEACHES.
JEM continues it’s free music series, offering fOnk legends Georgia Anne Muldrow & Dudley Perkins “SomeOthaShip“ album for free download all week!
This project is 13 tracks long featuring Black Milk, Prince Po, MED, Rapper Big Pooh, Kazi, LMNO, Kool G Rap and more. The production is equally stellar featuring work from Black Milk, Oddisee, Dudley Perkins, Georgia Muldrow, and Flying Lotus. Included in the download version is bonus material including an Oh No remix featuring Rapper Big Pooh & MED and an LD mix. This project was originally released in 2010 and represents some of MMG’s earliest work having been the 2nd project Mello embarked on. G&D are busy preparing another album which is due out in Fall on Dudley & Georgia’s label SomeOthaShip Connect
TCO is proud to present true legends of Rap, Ice Cube & Naughty By Nature in concert.
Pioneers and originators of West Coast & East Coast rap come together for two exclusive and unmissable dates in the UK.
Ice Cube is a rap legend of his own lifetime, and one of original members of seminal gangster West coast rap group N.W.A, alongside Dr Dre, Eazy-E and MC Ren. He is now just as famous as a Hollywood actor with leading roles in some classic hit movies such as, Barbershop, Boyz N the Hood, Friday and Three Kings etc.
Bringing the West Coast & East coast rap together on one stage will be Grammy Award winning Naughty By Nature. The rap trio consisting of Treach, Vin Rock, and the DJ Kay Gee, and originally mentored by fellow New Jersey native Queen Latifah, arrived on the hip hop scene in style in '91 dropping what hip hop bible The Source later named on of the top 100 greatest rap singles of all time, O.P.P.
Collectively, with hit joints spanning two decades, Ice Cube and Naughty By Nature will be bringing that old school block party flavour to the UK!
Here at J.E.M we have a pair of tickets up for grabs for the LONDON show, Tuesday 12 July 2011, at indigO2. To get your hands on these hot tickets, simply send the correct answer to our J.E.M HOT COMP question:
What is the name of the 1991 John Singleton classic that Ice Cube starred in as 'Doughboy' alongside Cuba Gooding Jr, Morris Chestnut and Laurence Fishburne?
Get the correct answer to us @: jemcomps@gmail.com by Monday 4th July 2011
2 rap legends together on one stage, ICE CUBE & NAUGHTY BY NATURE, unmissable!
Tuesday 12th July 2011
indigO2, Peninsular Square, O2 Arena, Greenwich, London
Tickets From £26.50
Wednesday 13th July 2011
Manchester Academy, Manchester University Students Union, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PR
