While New York heads moan about a lack of solid indie-rap fare this year, West Coast acts such as Blackalicious’s Gift of Gab and the Shapeshifters continue to bang out hits for anyone who’ll listen. Next in line is Libretto, a member of Portland, Oregon’s Misfit Massive; his debut, Il-oet,…
Mos Def’s sophomore album, The New Danger, is remarkably different from his 1999 bow, Black on Both Sides. That memorable debut possessed literate rhymes delivered with razor sharp timing; The New Danger relies on smart scat rap leisurely doled out. Black on Both Sides offered late-Nineties boom bap and neo-soul;…
After using Miami as its bitch for one long, hellish week in August, MTV is throwing another infernal show, the MTV Latin America Video Music Awards, at the Jackie Gleason Theater on October 21. Guess where I won’t be on Thursday night? No disrespect, MTV, but I’m sick of all…
Special Gunpowder is the first original recording from DJ /rupture, a producer who initially caused a stir with his 2001 mixtape, Minesweeper Suite. On that disc, he deftly blended everything from disco classics to hardcore techno and dub reggae tracks, earning widespread acclaim as one of the top DJs of…
It is happening again. Eight years ago, commercial hip-hop music issued a final gasp of unbridled creativity. The Fugees’s cutesy, occasionally compelling The Score went quintuple platinum, and OutKast issued their first breakthrough, ATLiens. Nas tried to walk the thin divide between hardcore and street consciousness with It Was Written,…
Among the motley conglomeration of personalities that has descended upon the American Airlines Arena for a massive press conference with radio broadcasters a day before the MTV Video Music Awards, a diverse assortment that includes celebrity freaks (Victoria Gotti and her sons), flavor-of-the-month teeny poppers (Hilary Duff), rock and roll…
Negroni’s Trio is the product of Jose Negroni, a Puerto Rican pianist who has accompanied several leading Latin pop stars, including Chayanne and Jose Luis Rodriguez, and has served as creative manager for Sony Music Latin. On his trio’s major label debut, Piano/Bass/Drums, he plays melodies in a contemporary style,…
Sundays, crobar DJ Entice is a relative newcomer to the Miami club scene, but he’s coming up quickly. In the past two months alone, the precocious 22-year-old was named the official DJ for the Miami Dolphins during its home games, and has secured a residency at crobar alongside mixtape legend…
Irreverently campy and surprisingly accomplished, the Olympia, Washington, duo known as IQU should prove a perfect fit for Miami. Kento Olwa and Michiko Swiggs’s music is a party-hearty mix of electronica, rock, talkbox vocals, and tongue-in-cheek lyrics — one track on their new album, Sun Q, is tellingly titled “The…
Talib Kweli often serves as a lightning rod for critics disenchanted by the unfulfilled promise of the late-Nineties indie hip-hop movement. Much of The Beautiful Struggle probably won’t satisfy them, thanks to fluffy cuts such as “Around My Way,” where guest John Legend sings over a smooth jazz interpolation of…
Midnight Movies aren’t your stereotypical rock act. They don’t bang out tortured, obsessive love songs about past paramours and current flames. And, although they’ll be hitting Miami this weekend for a Swing the State concert with neo-New Wave band Metric, they aren’t exactly agit-popsters eager to demonstrate a tenuous grasp…
Why is the Alley still open? Just this past August 27, the Allapattah all-ages nightclub posted a desperate Website message announcing it was closing its doors. “The Alley has officially been closed until further notice,” the message read. “We are trying to raise money so we can reopen but we…
In a city that often feels that life is but a joke, Seven Star’s serious, studied commitment to hip-hop culture stands out. You can hear the weight of this burden in his sober, workmanlike My Mother and Father Were Astronauts, which doesn’t sound like most rap music you hear on…
Three Degrees (www.3degreesglobal.com) is an online community that consists of house heads and other conoisseurs of “real” music. Far more exclusive than Cooljunkie or Clubplanet, you have to apply to join, and its membership currently stands at a relatively small, intimate 4000 members. Now, the Chicago website is expanding its…
It’s been almost a year since Julieta Venegas released her hit album Sí, and the Mexican singer-songwriter-accordionist is still earning accolades for it, including an award for Best Rock Vocal Solo Album at the 2004 Latin Grammys. Now, she’s returning to Miami for a performance that will undoubtedly include breakout,…
Few tours live up to their billing as “show of the year,” so Usher’s concert raises considerable expectations. As the number one artist of the year, Mr. Raymond will be expected to deliver all of the flash, special effects, and dance routines typical of big-time stadium shows. Lots of fun,…
Hip-hop fans who can’t wait for Little Brother’s major-label debut on Atlantic next year should pick up Foreign Exchange’s Connected. The result of a collaboration, initiated by telephone, between Dutch producer Nicolay and Little Brother rapper/vocalist Phonte, it finds the latter riffing with various MC friends on real-talk issues over…
It is a little over a month before the November 2 national election, and I’ve been slammed by a hurricane of pop culture protest. As I write this column, my email system is clogged with announcements of tours, rallies, voter registration campaigns, and protest records. Every few days, I get…
Wordsworth says he doesn’t like politics. Much of the Brooklyn MC’s career has been devoted to noncommercial hip-hop culture through his recordings with partner Punchline; memorable moments on A Tribe Called Quest’s The Love Movement and Mos Def and Talib Kweli’s Black Star album; and his involvement in creating the…
Fridays, Amika, Wednesdays, Cafeteria As Amika soars through the promotional skills of Tony Guerra, resident DJ Shawn Rudnick’s reputation as a top mixmaster grows in the local club scene. Rudnick spins a fun blend of deep French house that is both appealing and resonant, making him one of the few…
Contrary to popular belief, the Nineties rave movement birthed more than glowsticks, copious ecstasy use, and bad trance instrumentals; it also served as a meeting point for naturalists and hippies bored from following jam band dinosaurs around the country and subsequently attracted to the dance community’s peace-and-love ethos. It was…
For the past several months, the electro consortium behind the Speakeasy Soundsessions has been bringing some of the best electro DJs in the region and the world to Miami. This week sees Chris Roman driving down from the Tampa area to make an appearance for Speakeasy’s occasional blowout, Electro Base…
