THE PYRAMIDS THAT HIEROGLYPHICS BUILT

Tajai Massey heads up not one but two renown record labels/independent distributors, Hiero Imperium and Clear Label Records. Part-owner of Hiero Imperium with the other members of Hieroglyphics, the crew, he is the maker and owner of Clear Label Records, home to Beeda Weeda, Baby Jaymes, and a host of burgeoning talent spanning all genres. He’s also Tajai of the mighty Souls of Mischief (A-Plus, Phesto Dee, Opio and Tajai), the greatest Hip Hop quartet of all time.

He’s on the cover of the SF Bay Guardian this week, check the cover story The House That Hiero Built, that’s big for The Town, mayne.

There’s way too much crackin at Clear Label and Hiero Imperium (and Def Jux where Del’s LP ‘The 11th Hour’ is putting Def Jux back on the map.) So for the next week I’ll be featuring the Hiero OG’s and the Clear Label young stunnaz. Town bidness!

PHAROAHS IN PENITENTIARIES – John ‘Ras Kass’ Austin

I’m severely behind in my prison correspondence. Pardon self that the letters are slow on the rebound, Brothers, but now besides friends and family I’m juggling kites to my comrades, clients and colleagues doing time. Khadafi, Joker the Bailbondsman, DJ K-Pook, Jon Forte, Don Diego….I owe you all a letter. Ras, 7 pages are on the way.

Write to Ras Kass, he welcomes letters from fans and friends. He will most likely be released at the end of 2008.

Mr. John Austin
#T99907
W S P
P.O. Box 4400
Wasco, CA 93280

PYRAMID PLATTERS – “BLIND ALLEY” by THE EMOTIONS

Today’s solid gold oldie is ‘Blind Alley’ from The Emotions. The break was sampled by Marley Marl on Big Daddy Kane’s classic ‘Ain’t No Half Steppin’.

But I don’t love it just for the break. It’s basically a soulful diss record directed toward some nameless, clueless cat of the 70s.

Have yourself a listen here.
“Hey Boy/You got a good conversation/You got a real smooth line/But you’re not penetrating/Somebody else has got my time/You’re running up a blind alley”

Futuristic – ONE BLOCK RADIUS

I first met Z-Man in NY at a press lunch for Little Brother when I was editing Complex. We had a lot of Bay fam in common – Hiero, Trunks, True Justice, etc – but I wasn’t too up on his music at the time.

As soon as we sat down to eat I got that vibe from Z. I knew I was dining with a rockstar.

Fast forward all these years later, he’s finally getting some light as a member of One Block Radius alongside Marty James and MDA. Word is spreading that they’ve signed with Island Def Jam. The sound is universal, there’s something very pop about this underground sensation.

Check the tunes at their myspace page, preview a video/photo montage for ‘You Got Me’ here on youtube, or go to their artist page on MTV.com.

HIP HOP POPS & RHYMESAYERS

This is actually touching, see P.O.S and Brother Ali with their children and read the full article here

Also a piece I wrote in ‘05 on BlogCritics.org on Hip Hop & Fatherhood, here.

N*E*R*D … Outing My Guiltiest Pleasures

Oh Pharrell, why can’t you have a sex tape instead of Ray-J or that nasty R-Kelly?

SO…N*E*R*D’s first single/video from Seeing Sounds, Everyone Nose is, like, a cocaine anthem. Not since Laid Back and Melle Mel brought us White Horse and White Lines, respectively, have we had a song so virulently coked-out. While hardly a precautionary tale, Everyone Nose is deflnite social commentary on the socialite-nightclub-drug scene.

Sniff blow? Hell no. But I’m mainlining this song.

Okay, if you’re not up on it yet it’s kind of ghettocore electronicated technoish go-go funk rock…and that’s just the beat. The mean, infectious chorus/hook/refrain thing starts up “ALL THE GIRLS STANDIN IN THE LINE FOR THE BATHROOM” X100. Everybody nose what it is. Lindsaybritneyparis Fergilicious Kardashilton-Richie III. If she’s not going to POWDER HER NOSE, she’s going to powder her nose.

And that’s just the album cut. <a href=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3y9mKjyFPc”>The remix for me is like chinawhite to the chicks who’re skeee’d. Lupe, Pusha T, Kanye, oh my!

‘Hey Pharrell, I don’t mean to kill your mood…but I can do the Startrak sign! See?’

“Killer, dude.”

You’ve created a new subgenre of Prep Hop…COKEWHOREROCK.

p.s. Clutch your pearls and gasp @ Pharrell’s Manpurse. Pharrell if you’re into guys this is an inconsolable, immeasurable loss to the female community.

n.b. Looks like someone else is singing about cocaine.

HELL RAZAH AND SHABAZZ PRESENT T.H.U.G. ANGELZ – WELCOME TO RED HOOK HOUSES

T.H.U.G. ANGELZ

In chemistry class, the periodic table of elements is the foundation. In Hip Hop, for most 30- and 20-somethings, Wu-Tang is the foundation. For the uninitiated, Hell Razah and Shabazz the Disciple are ‘Wu Fam’, somehow derivative of the 9 (10? 11?) core members.

True Hip Hop fans, and those with a deeper knowledge of Razah and Shabazz tested out of chemistry class a while back. In Alchemy, the most pure substance is drawn up through melanosis and osmosis to form Gold (european lessons) or Black (Egyptian/Chinese lessons). Alchemically speaking, the T.H.U.G. Angelz Movement is what’s cookin’ in Brooklyn, Red Hook Houses to be exact..

The first installment , WELCOME TO RED HOOK HOUSES coming from Babygrande Records can be pre-ordered from Amazon anytime before the July 8 street date. Or support an indie and pre-order from UGHH
T.H.U.G. Angelz (Hell Razah of Sunz Of Man + Shabazz The Disciple) – Welcome To Red Hook Houses

Click here on YouTube to catch up on your lessons before class is in session , the official myspace and crackspace, respectively.

Wingz up.

Miz Rap Supreme … BX (Yo, I Love That Slum)

Say what you will about EgoTrip/VH1’s Ms. Rap Supreme… Too much like a game show? Less Serch, Much More YoYo? Not REAL enough for ya?

Well guess what, bitches? Get on your Hip Hop herstory while you’re shutting the fuck up. EgoTrip™ is a brand decades-old in the grand tradition of that old boom-bap…all about the braggadocio with a healthy serving of tongue-in-cheek, double-entendre laden hilarity to cut the rawness of the uncut real.

As much as I love my QB family, Hip Hop was conceived, born AND raised in Pelan, b.k.a. the Boogie-Down Bronx. Some of the first B-Girls were from the BX, and definitely the original Femcees. Rece Steele is carrying on a tradition, literally, the daughter of a female MC.

As far as her cursing too much, that’s like ‘Nas to Nigga to Nigger’ – taking it back and embracing it beats letting it break your back and erasing ya.

Byata does HER thing, but there’s something to be said for not letting the Russian girl win just because she’s white.

And let’s keep it real, Rece Steele won with her skill with the mic steel. She didn’t have to kneel, or suck, to get a deal. She’s a big-body girl just like me. So that means a young Queen who saw her win on TV can follow her dream even though she’s a size 18. Nahmean?

p.s. If her A&R is on point we’ll get a Rece Steele/C-Rayz Walz collabo.

n.b. If you know anything about my decade-plus documenting women in Hip Hop culture, you know like I know Rece is no Jean Grae nor Invincible nor Mystic…but she was willing to expose herself to the joys of ‘celebreality’. It’s what she does with her newfound celebrity that will define her caliber as an MC.