|
 
|
|
|
|
Davey D's FNV Newsletter
Send comments, questions and concerns to Davey D ============================================
The Hip Hop community lost another one of its soldiers the other night when 28 year old Robert E Davis aka DJ Screw passed away in his sleep the other night. For many, especially those in his native Texas and Southern part of the country, DJ Screw was bigger than life. He was the undisputed king of the mixtapes and was on par with legendary DJs like Funkmaster Flex, Kid Capri and others. In fact earlier this year he was honored by Hot 97 and Funkmaster Flex for his efforts. DJ Screw was best known for his unique style of mixing where he slowed down the music and would 'chopped and screw' it. It was known as 'screw' music. Many would flock to his two record stores in Houston and Beaumont to get his music.  Props to Bay Area rappers like B-Legit, Richie Rich and numerous others for stepping up and doing something good for this upcoming Holiday Season. They will be participating in KMEL's Hip Hop For Hunger this Saturday November 18th at Bay Fair Mall which is just outside of Oakland. The day long event is a food drive which will feature Bay Area local artists, KMEL radio personalities and a live broadcast which will last from 11am-5pm. Several thousand people are expected to swing through and drop off canned food, turkeys and donations which will be turned over to Bay Area food banks. It will definitely be a good Thanksgiving for quite a few families thanks to the efforts of the Bay Area's Hip Hop community..-----------------------------  It looks like Mr Brad Jordan, CEO of Def Jam South is mad as hell and ain't gonna take it no more. Mr Jordan who is better known as Scarface to his legion of fans is headed back into the recording studios so he can give the DEA [Drug Enforcement Agency] a piece of his mind.. As you may recall, Scarface came under fire shortly after he released his album 'The Last of a Dying Breed'. On there was a song called 'Look Me In My Eyes' in which Scarface A takes the DEA to task for years of unwarranted drug investigations against him and his record label Rap-A-Lot. The harassment got so bad that Congresswoman Maxine Waters had to step in and help put a halt to it. One of the lead investigators Jack Schumacher was called out in the song. He was eventually re-assigned and given a desk duty job. The ensuing criticism hand drama surrounding Scarface and his last album has left him stirred up. Hence he has headed back into the studio to record a new album called 'The Black Album'. On there he promises to really bring some heat. What's so ironic about all this, is the fact that a bout a year ago Scarface had announced that he was going to record one last album, not grant any interviews and take some time off to reflect and 'find himself'. He left us with the impression that he was going to be low key. I guess the DEA didn't want that to happen, so now they must face the wrath of Scarface. -----------------------------  Cypress Hill's nasal toned front man B-Real has publicly expressed an interest replacing Zack de La Rocha who retired from Rage Against The Machine. In a recent interview, B-Real noted that he and the band members have along standing friendship. Also B-real has long supported the groups political stances. B-Real taking lead for the band would not be far fetched, especially when you look at the direction Cypress Hill has been taking over the past couple of years. On their last album, almost half the tracks were guitar based rock songs. When I saw the group in concert this summer, they did nothing but rock songs with their live band. There was no word as to what would happen to Cypress Hill should B-real take a hiatus and hook up with Rage. I say the two groups should combine forces and call themselves Rage Against The Hill-------------------------------  There are some albums coming down the pipe over the next couple of months that folks may wanna be on the look out for. First up is the First Lady of the Ruff Ryder's camp Eve. She's been hard at work finishing up her new album called 'Scorpion' which is due out on January 30th. She recently told the folks over at Hookt.com that her album will be taking a more mature direction as it will feature production from Nokio of Dru Hill, Rockwilder, Swizz Beats and her man Stevie J. It'll be interesting to see what she means when she says 'more mature'. Does that mean she's going to touch upon deeper more reflective topics? Is she going to come out sounding more commercial with an R&B feel? Will Swizz Beats stop using the same keyboard riffs in all the songs he songs he produces. Who knows maybe she'll start singing..What do you think a 'more mature sounding Also on the horizon is another posthumous album from the late Big Pun. It will be called 'Endangered Species' and it will feature some of Pun's greatest hits as well as some unreleased material. Pun's former manger and partner and rhyme promises the album will prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that Pun was the most lyrical rapper to ever touch the mic...Look for the album to drop on February 7th.. Like mother like son.. Or actually we should say like son like mother. Eminem's mom is keeping true to her word and coming to the plate with her own album..She along with two partners one who sings and other raps have formed a group called ID-X. Their first single comes out next week and is called 'Set The Record Straight' . There is also a spoken word track called 'Dear Marshall'.. I wonder if she curses as much as her son.. --------------------------------------  Snoop is back in the news again..This time he's in negotiations with John Singleton to be featured in a movie called 'Baby Boy'. It's a coming of age film which focuses on a young man who has fathered a child and still lives at home with his moms. He refuses to to accept the responsibilities of adulthood while two timing on his baby's momma. Sounds like a Ricky Lake show to me? The movie will star Tyrese who will be making his acting debut in the role of Jody, the irresponsible young man. It will introduce us to Omar Gooding who is the younger brother of Cuba Gooding Jr. Snoop is slated to play the role of Rodney who is the ex boyfriend of Jody's girlfriend. Award winning actor Ving Rhames will also be starring in the film.. ----------------------------- Speaking of films, Has anyone seen Da Hip Hop Witch? I rented this flick the other night and fell asleep about half way through. Its about 5 white kids who have to go through the housing projects looking for a witch. They all sorts of cameos from cats like Ras Kass, Lord Jamar, Mobb Deep, Pras, Vitamin C and Eminem to name a few. I didn't get a chance to peep the entire thing cause I fell asleep. It had this 15 minute intro where everyone kept looking into the camera and referring to the witch as a 'the bitch'.. It was kinda cheesy.. But what really caught my eyes was the preview for another movie with Redman called 'The Color of Rage. This flick from what I gathered is about interracial dating. Redman and his crew are upset with this sister for crossing over so they form a militant group kinda of similar to the Mau Maus in Spike Lee's Bamboozle. The movie also stars Lord Tariq and Peter Gunz, Cheryl 'Pepsi' Riley, Diezzle Don and Queen Pen to name a few. It looked interesting so I thought I'd give cats a heads up.. unfortunately ========================== STRAIGHT FROM THE UNDERGROUND... Here's another installment of Straight from the Underground..Peep out these new joints that are floating around the internet.. Hit me up at mailto:kingdave@sirius.com or my man S Bashir with your musical leads leads mailto:sb@houseofboxing.com Paragon http://www.rapstation.com/artists/artist.php3?artist_id=4658 A group of tight emcees from the UK with some nice beats to match. Tonedeff http://www.rapstation.com/artists/artist.php3?artist_id=76 A solo emcee professing the smoother side of lyricism. b.r.e.a.d http://www.rapstation.com/artists/artist.php3?artist_id=1210 An innovative underground collective on Digable Records. The Calvary http://www.mp3.com/hotshit A group of individually tight emcees from Mt. Laurel, NJ. Kashal Tee http://hiphopinfinity.com/Underground/KashalTee.htm A solo emcee from Sweden with some tight one-liners over sharp beats. Bonus cut .. Mc Lyte... http://63.205.159.115/tango2000/mclyte/music.taf?_lay=album&album_id=107 Called Angel Dust an unreleased track done with Milk.. =================================== ZULU NATION ANNIVERSARY REVIEW. Peace!  One of the most positive celebrations of authentic hip hop culture came and went this past weekend. The fact that the Universal Zulu Nation is the first, the most respected, and the longest lasting hip hop organization in the world is a magazine feature in itself, if not a book. Therefore I had to question the very sparse media presence at any of the Zulu events on Friday, Saturday or Sunday. I will not take personal blame for any lacking in my own publicity services which helped to pull BET and MTV in for features at last year's anniversary. So why, when Zulu is throwing the perfect jam with big names, so few writers or publications are interested in covering the event? Well, since the rap industry can more relate itself with the porn industry these days, maybe the all age thang was unappetizing. Or was it my mention in the press release about the acts being asked to use little or no profanity? Or was it the fact that most of the young writers and magazine editors think that Run DMC is as old school as you can get? Maybe Bambaataa should have had an open bar or let ladies in for free? Where was the so-called "hip hop" (read "rap") press? The Source magazine was the ONLY major Hip Hop magazine covering the 27th Annual Zulu Nation Anniversary- both Friday and Saturday night for their February 2001 issue feature story. Even the New York Times printed a review of the event in Nov. 13th's Metro section! Mass Appeal's DJ Elf saved the day on Friday but I'll tell you about that later. Where was the "Hip Hop on a Higher Level" magazine, XXL? Where was Rap Pages? Where were the underground magazines who always want their logo on all the flyers but never cover the actual event? Where were the so called "hip hop authorities" and "aficionados": certain free lance celebrity journalists, who always tell us what they are doing "for the culture", who have established "hip hop foundations", who teach in the colleges and universities or who fly around giving so called "hip hop lectures"? Oh yeah- where were the so called hip hop Internet companies? It's also all right without them, they'd probably get the facts all messed up anyhow since there are so few fact checkers giving anyone a call these days. A lot of people say that when you decide that you know it all, you become the most ignorant. So I strive to never stop learning about the culture and am always meeting people from hip hop's formative years who have history to share that I've never heard or read before. What I am asking is, can these so called hip hop authorities afford to miss reunions like the Zulu Anniversary? It was only $10 with a flyer to get in so it can't be the money issue.... The 27th Anniversary of the Universal Zulu Nation was a huge success despite all of the obstacles threatening impending doom for the much awaited gathering. The initial organizer of the event dropped out for personal reasons leaving Zulu staff to scramble to book a venue on short notice and get flyers to all 5 boroughs. I was personally happy to see the nightly events go down at the Skate Key, a huge roller rink in the Mott Haven section of the Bronx. The Key has a nice atmosphere and I've never had a bad time there. There were the typical problems with the sound system, lighting, etc. that eventually got ironed out but as an organizer, will leave you holding your breath praying that it will all get worked out in time for your itinerary to be realized. I was honored that Afrika Bambaataa asked me to help with the organizing of the events. I elected to do publicity, schedule the acts, and stage manage. Lucky Strike, Jay Sanchez, and several others pulled in the acts and supervised the planning of each day's events. All of the acts performed for free in full support of and respect for Afrika Bambaataa and the Universal Zulu Nation. It is a pleasure to work with so many good people who believe in the essence and spirit of what hip hop is supposed to be. Believe me, these events were as opposite a jiggy rap concert as you could get. 1. Security was tight- held down by the Skate Key and Shaka Zulu security. 2. Unlike rap shows today, the performers were not allowed to perform with DATs, tapes, or CDs. They had to bring a DJ or at least a record with their instrumental so another DJ could spin it for them. And this is ideal but there were several emcees who made a strong attempt to use a CD or DAT and should be ashamed of themselves with so many DJs in the house! 3. It was all ages. 4. There were no fights. 5. The crowd was multi-cultural. When Bam addressed the crowd he shouted out each and every and even undiscovered colors of people. I've been to too many events and panels where comments were made on the exclusivity of one color in relation to the ownership of hip hop and I really felt unwelcome despite my being active in the culture. I like Zulu because my color doesn't have to come into consideration everytime I'm asked to work with them. 6. People were allowed to break, which is usually discouraged at jiggy clubs and concerts as it takes up too much floor space. 7. No one was playing the latest hits, except when Bam was flipping the Thong song or the No Scrubs anthem! Bambaataa, a true DJ, can make even those songs sound cool. FNV November 6th 2000 FNV October 26 2000 FNV October 24 2000 FNV October 18 2000 FNV October 16 2000 FNV October 2 2000
| Meet The DJ'S | Programming | Listen Live | Music Vote | | Playlist | Mixers | The Vault - ( live Interviews ) | Contests & Events | | Weekly (Street Team) Events | Club Connection | Movie Reviews | | KMEL Photo Album | Free e-mail & Chat | Cool Stuff | | Job Opportunity Center I Give Us A Shout | Home | | TOP OF PAGE |
|
While folks down South are dealing with Screw's passing, folks in Oakland are reeling from the tragic shooting of Oakland rapper E-Klipz. He was one half of a duo known as Cydal who folks may recall for their hit song Hollywood which borrowed from Malcolm McClaren's 'Buffalo Scratch'. They also put out the album Cydalwayz. The causes leading up to the shooting are still unclear.. We'll let you know as we find out, but it is indeed another sad scenario to deal with E-Klipz death. His passing marks the 10th Bay Area rapper to pass away in the past 5 years..