LISTEN: Fes Taylor - The Recipe ft Hue Hefna & Lot-A Nerv

DOWNLOAD Fes Taylor - The Recipe ft Hue Hefna & Lot-A Nerv (MP3)

Inspectah Deck protege and SDSU regular Fes Taylor is back with a great track featuring Hue Hefna (worst rap name eva) and Lot-A Nerv (close contender for worst rap name eva). Fes Taylor's official debut album is coming soon through Chambermusik/Koch Records. It will be titled Inspectah Deck Presents Fes Taylor: Co-Starring Mr. President - T-2-Fly The Album (not that great of an album title, I see a trend here).

LISTEN: RZA - You Can't Stop Me (ft. Inspectah Deck)

DOWNLOAD RZA - You Can't Stop Me (ft. Inspectah Deck) (MP3)

First single off of RZA's upcoming Digi Snax album which is set to be released this summer. Around 4.50min you'll be able to vaguely here ODB's vocal presence.

RZA @ Rock The Bells. More pics here.

LISTEN: Fes Taylor - Tearz f/ Inspektah Deck & Lota Nerve

DOWNLOAD Fes Taylor - Tearz f/ Inspektah Deck & Lota Nerve (MP3)

I hadn't ever heard of Fes Taylor before, but he's got a bonafide Wu-Tang Clan banger here featuring Inspektah Deck and Lota Nerve.

NEWS: Previewing 8 Songs Off Wu-Tang Clan's 8 Diagrams

I sat down with Masta Killa and listened to 8 tracks off of the Wu-Tang Clan's upcoming new album 8 Diagrams. Some quick thoughts. I heard sword sounds, dark cinematic sounds and driven MCs.


Rae and RZA @ Rock The Bells, NYC Full Set here.
Weak Spot - A track that has Raekwon burn right through the minimalist yet big sounding beat produced by RZA. Not as gritty as we're used to from Mr. Diggs, almost somewhat cinematic.

Take It Back - Produced by Easy Mo Bee with co-production by RZA. A great mid-90's beat that sounds like it would've been great for an early Jay-Z or Biggie to rhyme over. Again a cleaner sounding track that what we're used to. Great bass scratches accent the beat as Ghostface rides it with his trademark flow.

Thug World - Produced by RZA and LA's radio DJ King Tech with starring roles for Inspektah Deck and RZA on the lyrics. Great dark beat with lots of atmosphere. Semi-sensical and conscious lyrics from RZA.

Watch Your Mouth - My least favorite, you can hear it here for yourselves. Produced by DJ Scratch and co-produced by RZA.

They Want To Stick Me For My Riches - Clearly Morrissey and/or Sufjan Stevens inspired in its titling. Produced by Mathematics and co-produced by RZA. Features a lot of singing, in an almost R. Kelly gospel-soul kind of way, which was offputting at first, but grew on me. Method Man shines. Mathematics wrote the lyrics for the parts sung and the singer is Gerald Alston of the legendary Manhattans.

Wolves - Produced by RZA, dirty beat. Very Wu Tang Forever with U-God going hard and taking the spotlight.

Life Changes - Produced by RZA, dedicated to ODB with emotional verses and great lyrics. Takes a sample from the Freda Payne song 'The Road We didn't Take'.

My People Gently Weep - Produced by RZA and George Drakoulis. Samples George Harrison's 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps' and features Harrison's son Dhani and John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers on guitar. Ghostface sounds insane and amazing and the whole thing is a cluster fuck of sounds and ideas that ends up working very well.

My high hopes for the album were tested and got higher after hearing these tracks.

VIDEO: New Raekwon & Inspectah Deck

Alright, alright. The subject line should've said new Ice Water video featuring Raekwon & Inspectah Deck, but really who cares much for this badly named group of Rae weedcariers? Off the upcoming album Raekwon Presents...Icewater, "Polluted Water" (August 28th, Babygrand).

deleted because it was annoying how it would start all by itself everytime you visit the page

Wu Tang Clan Documentary

DOWNLOAD Raekwon - Wu-Gambino's (Hidden Chamber Remix) ft Method Man (MP3) via MissingThumbs

With their Rock The Bells performance still fresh on my mind I watched this fantastic 21 minute behind-the-scenes video of the Wu Tang Clan in the studio speaking on the new album 8 Diagrams, Ol' Dirty Bastard, working together, and much more.


Via Nahright

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.