Fashion - "step up"

Hobbies and interests as clothes, some days feel like movie days, some music, others books, others still writing. Or, is a trap there lying? Where does over-compartmentalization begin and extra shelf space end? A budding sports and lifestyle podcaster once said, "I don't really look at movies, I make 'em." Really was the operative word there, I'd venture. 

As this video from 20!8 illustrates, Simon Vailes is a fashion icon, Fashion is a Simon Vailes icon, and Fashion Stay Trending. Today, Simon Vailes is also a Quarter Finalist in the Elton John AIDS Foundation's Style Icon competition. Hence, she's in the running for a Flaunt Magazine appearance, $20,000, and a trip to the Versace show at Milan Fashion Week. Voting resumes November 17. 

Imagine the original recording of INI's "Step Up" floundering in the studio master obscurity of legal label limbo. I bet you can't. You know it couldn't.

Fashion - "New York Talk"

Not to be confused with the Beatnut aka Al' Tariq, Freeport's Fashion struts onto the scene accompanied by Westworld drone hosts in Yankees fitted caps. A hip-house thumper produced by none other than Studdah Man, also of Port Knox, rumbles the catwalk. Yes, that's the Studdah Man, the Bomb Squad’s munitions crew’s jack of all trades whose credits include turntables on Gary G-Wiz's remix to Rakim's "Heat It Up" as well as co-production across Public Enemy's Muse Sick-N-Hour Mess Age and on Hyenas of the Desert's "Other Side of Midnight" (most recently featured on LIRR Halloween mix, The Shit Mobile). So, what's the science behind the pairing? "I selected the song 'New York Talk' [produced by Studdah Man] because we live in a chaotic time, and people need a daily escape from their mundane lives," Fashion says. "His sound resonated with my personality—fun, vibrant, with a touch of grungy New York. That’s what my sound aims to bring—colour to the function with a sense of style." 

Anamorphic - I Should Be Dead

What happens to collaborations deferred? Do ideas have ghosts and if so, can one summon them or do they simply occur? What if the idea's a ghost story to begin? If haunts are homes away from home, whose haunt/house is a haunted house? Do recurring nightmares recapture magic? See jas0n, like Friday the 13th on USA. Remember, the person who said, "Bad luck isn't brought by broken mirrors, but by broken minds," was a figment of someone's imagination. Regret and resolve both speak in a still small voice.

Half Pint & MC Glamorous - 2 Queens and a Mic

From Glam to Islam to SpitSLAM, and from the Son of Bazerk to the mother of all ladies of Long Island rap team-ups, it's themmmmmmmmmm, as in the royal they. Read that with an echo chamber and hear this through gender affirming circuitry. The least expected five-song EP of the summer just might also be the most refreshing, like a 70-degree day in August while the ocean "still holds the heat" as per my neighbor. Call it community organizing rap, the cement in public service announcement.

AZOMALI - Music for Solo Camping Vol. 1

Trim all the fat. Cut past the meat to bone itself and arrive at the question around which all civilizations live and let die. 

Would you rather fight a bear or a shark? 

This is not a test. It's the test, fool! Well, what's it going to be? Who's the apex predator now? Music For Solo Camping Vol. 1 proffers the kind of headspace one needs to contemplate such central queries and crucial conflicts. It's a place of roaming epiphany, like the realization that "Hay" has essentially the same beat as "Millie Pulled a Pistol on Santa." Only here may one truly and completely consider the implications thereof. 

Keeping it 100, I'm no camper. I'm a beach cat not a mountain lion. In other words, I'm team shark. For one, you can just hit the shark in the nose. Like Cam's coach said, he might be pussy. Second, whereas Jaws was fiction, Grizzly Man was a goddamn documentary. You must never listen to this. You must feel it between your toes like morning dew-coated blades of grass.

If everyone is an island, and here we are—you, me, us—then living unhoused equals solo camping. 

AZOMALI & Blu - "Bodega"

"Egg" means two eggs scrambled unless it means two fried. "Cheese" means melted American. A Kaiser roll is the default. If they ask how you want your eggs cooked, it's not going to be good. If they ask what kind of bread or cheese you want, it's not going to be good. If it costs more than $5, it's going to be fucking awful. If you get one egg, call the cops. The hot lunch should look insane. Azomali's right to recommend the fried plantain. The rice and beans also knock. Do the ribs look gooey? Is the person behind the glass cutting them with a knife that looks almost machete like? Does its every chop echo in your bones? If so, you can't go wrong.

Fire Arson - "His Apartment" ft. Kiko

How destructive rages Fire Arson? Not even the DATPIFF Hip-Hop Mixtapes Archive could salvage her releases. Instead, the lasting embers of her discography flicker about long-dormant Soundcloud and YouTube playlists titled FireHouse Classics and firearson, respectively. Yet this jewel survives neither. "His Apartment" sprays resource-guarding affirmations in the vein of "Territorial Pissings." Hell, as it happens, one of her mixtapes is called Nirvana. The Godmother reigns silent. The ocean is on fire.

Lonny Love - Hoechella 2

Sometimes sexy is such an understatement it's a misnomer. In the deft care of Lonny Love, sexy drill is endearing, romantic, precious ... in a word, lovely. Even at his most detached, his lyrics retain a degree of tender worshipfulness. He's not just palming a cheek, he's slipping a digit. He's doing the most. Hoechella 2 is a collection of bordello balladry. An ambitious enough listener might adapt any rap album for cabaret theatre, but it's a different story when every song on the project actively lends itself to the task. The sample stabs on Hoechella 2 might as well be headboard squeaks, the bass bumps mattress thumps. In moments of instrumental dropout, it's like the beat's biting a pillow. Several mattresses had to be put out to the curb in the making of this album. "Shake your ass, you made it. I'm proud of you, girl."

Harri-O & Steevie Weevie - "Beatitude/Paranoimia"

For many, college offers a kind of political awakening. It's not just that you're old enough to vote now. You've been living with mom and dad for 17-plus years, largely focused on being a kid and less so on the non-governmental politics that (in)effectively govern society as we know it. That is, if you're socially and/or economically privileged enough to need not recognize and navigate such concerns earlier on in life. The rest of us have been political.

So, it'd probably be at least gross oversimplification, if not outright fantasy, to imagine some Adelphi University-inspired political awakening influenced the members of Spectrum City to remobilize as Public Enemy, the Bomb Squad, and the Security of the First World (S1Ws). But it was at Adelphi that Chuck D designed the Public Enemy logo. And it was there that he and another student by the name of Harry Allen first crossed paths. Public Enemy would later dub Allen the Media Assassin, even naming him as their director of enemy relations at one point. But before Public Enemy debuted on the national stage, when Harry Allen was introduced to the Spectrum crew, he went by or was given another name, Harri-O. 

Now, "Don't Believe the Hype" is generally regarded as Harry Allen's recording debut. If you've read this far, you know his appearance in the song so I won't draw this transition out any further. But what you might not know about is the time in February of 1985 or '86 when Harri-O went on Adelphi's WBAU to read an essay about apartheid in South Africa. One listener all the way up in Nyack, New York, was so moved he called the station and was connected with Harri-O himself. And so began the correspondence that forms the crux of today's post. Allen would go on to send this listener, a kid named Steve, a recording of the essay along with a trio of pause-tape beats he'd created.

Upon receiving this parcel, Steve would remix the recorded essay to Art of Noise's "Paranoimia," possibly drawing inspiration from the WBAU mainstay, Chuckie D and MC DJ Flavor's "We're Down with the DJs," which used Art of Noise's "Close (To The Edit)" as a backbeat. Steve then sent this remix, dubbed "Beatitude/Paranoimia," back to Allen. Decades later, Steve, now a self-proclaimed "archivist overlord" would upload the (unremixed) recording of the essay along with those three Harri-O beats to his Pause Button Remix site. In sharing these tracks, he referred to his remix as "dreadful, not worth publishing here." 

But back then, at least on paper, Harri-O would have disagreed. He told Steve he loved the remix and offered up some suggestions. But he didn't stop there. After all, this was the 1980s. Ambitions abounded. And so Allen wrote Steve, "Let's start an indy + begin it with a release of our own stuff. Mine thus far ... and whatever rappers, suckers or criminals we decide need to be heard," a noble ambition, to be sure. The postcard continued, "I have an idea for a group (rap-punk) that would be a Just-Ice / Dead Kennedys / Fishbone cross, and of which I would be lead MC. Write back soon concerning this idea ... or just send another tape." 

The correspondence would also yield a typed copy of the "Beatitude" essay "slightly revised" by Allen. Notably, its last page states that the essay was "originally presented Saturday, September 7, 1985 at the hempstead seventh-day adventist church, hempstead, ny." 

Perhaps it goes without saying that the rap-punk group Harri-O envisioned never materialized. (Unless, maybe this idea evolved into Son of Bazerk? Sheer conjecture on my part.) However, as alluded to earlier, Steve did hold onto "Beatitude/Paranoimia." And I asked him for it. And here it is, definitely well worth publishing and not at all dreadful. 

Which brings us back to politics. Assuming "Beatitude" was written in 1985, delivered on air in '86 and revised in 1987, it is cotemporaneous with the beginnings of Public Enemy. The group formed and recorded their first song in 1985, signed to Def Jam in 1986, and released their debut album in '87. Allen may not have been an official member of the Public Enemy/Bomb Squad/S1W collective at that point. However, he definitely shared their politics. He shared them at church and on the radio. 

But then again, to call these statements political essentially misses the point. What are the politics of basic human rights? Politics of survival? The more one considers that less than 40 years ago racial segregation was the law of the land in South Africa, and that then U.S. President Ronald Reagan attempted to block legislation imposing sanctions on South Africa over apartheid, the easier it is to see political ignorance for what it truly is, a bastion of first-world privilege. "I know ... the company I work for has a branch there."

Glamorous, the first lady of Long Island hip-hop?

How's pioneer for a loaded term? Hear it now and think innovator. But the word has bodies and battle scars. Merriam-Webster traces its origins from the Middle-French pionnier, a "worker employed on field fortifications who accompanies an army," from Old French peonier, a "foot soldier, laborer tasked with excavation," to peon, a "foot soldier." Pawn also comes from this word. Insert sinister cynic-critic sexploitation plotlines. I for one am more drawn to the Juice Crew's having three Long Island rappers (Biz, Glam, and I.U.), and (speaking of foot soliders) this one with personal ties to Public Enemy's Professor Griff. 

Mike Street - Rubba Clip / Matt X

Take a month off, and the authorities might fuck around and find a LISK, burner profiles and all. If I ever followed you on Instagram, I apologize. I must've assumed you were a Long Island rapper, or else my finger slipped. "I'm freaking out bae smh," read the Unknown Sender's text. Down in the basement, there's a page of original art from Rick Veitch's Unknown Soldier #21 (Vertigo, 2010), purchased direct from the artist, the email about "I Gave You Power" unanswered, the seller's silence a clear admission that yes, he and Joshua Dysert knew damn well they bit off of Nas' shit. Me thinks Ebay may be in the cards, or at least a spot at the record fair in September.

MeccaGodZilla - "Tread" ft. thekeenone & Eric Bobo

MeccaGodZilla was a flagship producer for billy woods' Backwoodz Studioz, Eric Bobo was a percussionist on Ill Communication, and thekeenone was the first person to express to me the value of streaming platforms for sharing one's music. This was in the days of divshare, which still exists somehow—wild. All of these artists are also much more than these minor credits. And in 2008 they coalesced for a Bobo song soon to appear on MeccaGodZilla's compilation, Hidden Jewels of Mecca.

Thekeenone obliterates everything here, on some BFG-9000 clear the room, take no prisoners shit. 

Azomali - A MANGO A DAY!

Imagine complete civil unrest, as in every person in every city taking to the streets. At first, of course, it's met with the weapons of the state: police brutality, human rights abuses ... you know the drill. And as the cities burn with revolution, the rainforests burn for industry. Now imagine all that coming to its only logical conclusion. At the end of the day, even military oppression is a Band-Aid. Or, like my father always says, you can only put down a people so long until they pull you from your fucking home. When the revolution ends, then the hope, at least, is that the rainforest and its people can both breathe again. Obviously, there's more to it than that. Revolution, by its very nature, is unending. Rainforests regenerate except when they can't. 

A MANGO A DAY! (Keeps the Colonizer Away), Azomali's first multi-song release since 2019's Guyaba Mixtape, feeds on the nuance undergirding all these generalities. If you've been following his Instagram over the past few years, then between some of most impressive off-the-head freestyles ever recorded, you've witnessed a number of scenes not unlike those generalized above. But seeing is one thing and feeling another. As opposed to social media, AMAD! has a deprogramming effect. It bumps in the corazón, jump-starting empathy. Impressively, it accomplishes this in under 20 minutes with just six songs and five field recorded interludes. For my part, it certainly didn't hurt that one of those six featured Johnny Storm and Azomali together on a track for the first time since they were known respectively as Sky Walker and Kaotik Ellement. But I digress.

Azomali's music ranges from transportive to outright transcendent. The scary thing is that it's only getting better. This naturally should tempt you to wonder what's next. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. For now, I suggest simply taking as prescribed...

Chow Lee & Friends

The shiny suit era peeked some 25 years ago. Conceivably then, today former-would-be-shiny-suit rapper grands trade remember-back-in-the-days over sips of Cristal. Meanwhile, drill. Chow Lee and Cash Cobain's 2 Slizzy 2 Sexy landed an honorable mention in The New York Times' Best Albums of 2022. Lee and friends have a show coming up at Baby's All Right March 22 and a sticky new label compilation called Welcome To The Dollhouse out now. Being an 80-year-old man (see last post), I came up on Chow Lee via PDF-form EPK. More to come from that in the weeks and months ahead.

Johnny Storm - 80's Porno Flick

Peeking through oak leaves, a shooting star streaks the sky. I take out my dentures, unfasten her garter. The log in the stove smolders to a cackle, one more explosion of a night filled with them.

4DHxH & Azomali - "2:22 A.M."

I love a wild moniker. Case in point: the Outer Galactic Marauder Faction. This [landing] site's interdimensional observers might recall the name from a series of visual communiques Blaq Kush launched several years back, called Kushan Sundaze. The second installment of that series featured Kush along with his fellow Faction founders, including one by the name of 4DHxH, a relatively innocuous handle, that is, until one comes to find it stands for Fourth Dimensional HitchHiker! 

Time-warp to December 12, 2022, whence 4D has teamed with the elusive 1492 auteur Azomali for a one-off called "2:22 A.M." Speaking to the titular subject, the artist formerly known as Kaotik Ellement raps, "Overlook the Earth from the distance before the shine within / I do not understand Father Time so why would I align with him?" This, of course, could also be heard as a response to any and all Azomali acolytes asking how long it'll be until his next album drops, which is to say, probably a while and also it's already here, as it's always been.

COMA-CHI - Spiritual Bitch

It's dope to me to think that at the turn of the 21st century there were a bunch of really talented rappers who were so into kaiju that they adopted their names, and moreover, that one of said rappers so loved the culture that gave the world kaiju that he up and moved across said world to the home of said culture. MeccaGodzilla wasn't playing. He lived and worked in Tokyo for several years. While there, he crossed paths with a Japanese rapper/singer by the name of COMA-CHI. That was in 2010. Ten years later, amid the pandemic, they reconnected. The result of that collaboration: Spiritual Bitch.

"COMA-CHI reminds me of like a Japanese blend of MC Lyte, Queen Latifah, and Lauryn Hill but she’s a pioneer in her own right that has encouraged countless other women to rap and sing in Japan," MeccaGodzilla states. "I couldn’t wait to work with her and as I grew more spiritually and saw her music evolve more spiritually over the years, it was a no-brainer to reach out to her through a good friend to see if we can make some magic happen. Thankfully for me, COMA-CHI was 100% with it and working with her was the most fun I’ve had working with any artist to date – she’s super talented and amazing to work with.”

Peace to MeccaGodzilla, COMA-CHI, and everyone else around the world for whom the terms love and passion are synonymous.

R.I.P. Spiga: Celebrating His Music and Its Legacy

Long Island rapper Spiga tragically passed away one month ago after a bike accident. Before scrolling any further, you can and should help out his family via this GoFundMe page and read more about him in this blog post by fellow M.I.C. member and Freeporter Ravage the MeccaGodzilla.

Having never released a solo album, Spiga is best known for his work as a member of two underground hip-hop supergroups — MF DOOM's Monsta Island Czars and billy woods' Reavers. In revisiting his catalog, it occurred to me that Spiga was one of a handful of rhymers who bridged the MF DOOM and billy woods eras of independent rap. The others would be Spiga's cousin, Kong, and early Backwoodz Studioz artists Megalon aka Tommy Gunn and Ravage the MeccaGodzilla. 

They connected styles and scenes not only through their rhymes, performances, and affiliations, but their collective energy and its conveyance. Their shared cyphers' crater-impacts have fossilized remnants in some of today's sharpest posse cuts. And yet, even among daikaiju raiders, Spiga stands out. I could try to write why, but I'd much prefer you listen for yourself. 

Below are three playlists including many of the released songs on which Spiga appears. He is featured on the first by himself, on the second alongside Kong, and the third among contemporaries. R.I.P. Traver "Spiga" Brown.

RAVAGE the MeccaGodZilla Blacking Out for Over 3 Minutes on a 2007 Chong Wizard Posse Cut

Chong Wizard is today an indie rap household name for his masterfully curated label, which issues all types of ill music I can ill afford, but that's OK because much of it sells out before I have a chance to succumb to temptation. Anyway, he's been DJing and producing much longer and recently Bandcamp-messaged out a sci-fi-themed mixtape he did in collaboration with X-Clan's Brother J in 2007, which is every bit the fire it sounds like it'd be. 

There's a ton to love about They Robot III: Robots of Dawn and you should definitely check it out, but for our purposes today, what I really want to draw your attention to is track 3, "Robots of Dawn Theme," a 10-minute posse cut featuring (in order of appearance, I think) Rack Lo, Azeem, Lil' Sci aka John Robinson, AKIR, Bashir, Phoenix Jones and R(estore) A(rtistic) V(ision) A(nd) G(rowth) E(verywhere) aka RAVAGE aka Ryu Black aka ADUM⁷ then aka MeccaGodZilla of the Monsta Island Czars, who appear elsewhere on the project. 

See how I dedicated about 1/3 of that paragraph simply to RAVAGE's attribution? That's about how long his appearance on this posse cut is in relation to the full song. That he was allotted 3-plus minutes, virtually an entire song unto itself, on an already well stacked track, whereas everyone else more or less contributes a verse or two, speaks to how completely he annihilates the whole affair. Even crazier, it sounds like they probably cut off some of his starting rhymes! 

Johnny Storm - Lunafreya

Around the 1-minute mark of "Pneuma," the penultimate song on Lunafreya, when the saxophone comes in, that's the sound of the fucking sky opening up, of the sun's heavenly rays parting clouds like Moses did the Red Sea, of all New York going quiet for a quick second as if to ask, "Oh damn, who's that?" That, my friends, is Johnny Storm, and he's about to channel some shit so slick it could've only come direct from that ethereal plane: "My weakness is kept secret, they might use it against me / So I sent it to a realm where the timing is endless / I tell the waiter add some extra truffle on that spaghetti / Yo fuck juice, all we sip is warm water with lemon let's get it." Lunafreya is Johnny Storm's third album since last October and all three have been among his best to date, but this one is truly special. Rosenburg knows.