VIDEO: B-Real - The Making of 'Don't Ya Dare Laugh'

VIMBY - B Real

NEWS: Duck Down Signs B-Real

Ah Cypress Hill, one of my top favorite groups from back in the day.

In a continuing effort to expand their talented roster of artists, Duck Down Records has just announced a new album deal with B-Real, of Cypress Hill for his first solo album debut, 'Smoke N Mirrors' in stores January 27th, 2009.

The album will feature Snoop Dogg, Damian Marley, Buckshot, Sean Price, Sen Dog and production by DJ Quik, Fredwreck, Scoop Deville, and others.


B-Real @ Rock The Bells 2007. More photos here.

LISTEN: DJ Muggs & Planet Asia - That's What It Is

DOWNLOAD DJ Muggs & Planet Asia - That's What It Is (MP3)

Off of Pain Language.

PHOTOS: SitDownStandUp.com's 2007 In Pictures

I brought my camera to a few really great Hip Hop concerts in 2007 including Clipse @ Columbia University, Rock The Bells featuring Cypress Hill, Wu-Tang Clan, Redman, The Roots and more, Boost Mobile Rock Corps @ Radio City Music Hall featuring Swizz Beatz, Just Blaze, Jadakiss, Fabolous, Hurricane Chris, Yung Joc, Keyshia Cole and more, EPMD, Nas, Jeru Da Damaja @ Roseland Ballroom and more. Click on the shows above specifically for relevant photos. Below there's a slideshow of photos from all of those. More non-Hip Hop photos can be found here. Move your mouse over the top of the picture below to go to the next photo, and move it over the bottom for thumbnails.


Full size photos available @ my flickr page.

Rock The Bells (Day 1) Pt Deux

The People
Where to start? The Wu Tang Clan were amazing, even with a missing GZA for the first part. RZA had to cover for him on 'Shadowboxing', but GZA made it to stage halfway through his set and showed the crowd where he may be the premier lyricist of the group.

Mos Def was somehow a little uninspiring and self-involved it seemed. Such a great talent, but I think we, the people, will always be rooting for him to come back to his Black Star/Black On Both Sides days. His focus was so much stronger. His partner in crime Talib Kweli has actually only been getting better. He used to awkwardly not be able to ride a beat during a live performance but he's really stepped his game up and outshone Mos for most of the set.

Seeing Cypress Hill was a childhood dream come through, ever since listening to my Cypress cassette tapes and learning all the words. And wow, they were amazing. My personal favorite performance of the day. The music still resonates so strongly and the DJ Muggs beats are still so good. Vintage yet relevant.

Rage Against The Machine was obviously amazing. I hadn't seen them since 1994 when during their performance at Pinkpop the crowd jumping up and down actually officially registered a small earthquake (1.1 Richter Scale).

The Roots were solid as always and put on an amazing JBs-like jam that grooved so hard. Who knew Black Thought could sing that well?

The New York Times wrote up Rock The Bells, and pointed out one of the more interesting moments.

...Public Enemy, which endures despite some evident personal friction. “I was in the middle of something, Chuck,” said Flavor Flav, when Chuck D tried to start a song too soon. Did Chuck D wince in response?

It definitely was a bit of a toe cringing moment as Flavor Flav refused to cut his standard self-congratulatory bit of the show short, which in all reasonableness really shouldn't have been a problem with the time constraints of a 45 minute set. I've seen him do the same exact bit before, and it's a little sad, a little touching, and a little bit long as he thanks the audience for watching his VH 1 Shows, introduces his kids (always different ones it seems), and gives us a 2 minute version of his trademark phrase "Yea Boyyyyyyyy". But Chuck took it in grace and saved the show.


Redman and Flavor Flav Embrace

For more go to BrooklynVegan.

Rock The Bells (Day 1)

Wow. More writing later. Still recovering.

Tons of pictures of Cypress Hill, The Roots, Wu Tang Clan, Redman, and more HERE.
A few quick samples below.