So I just got back from SXSW, the most intense/incredible of music festivals. I saw 56 shows in 4 days (and photographed 45 of them!) and had my mind blown over and over again. I haven't really processed what happened last week in Austin. Suffice it to say that it was formative, and that I will be back next year. I will elaborate on the bands I saw and the things I heard in the coming week or two - starting with the oldest/most established group I checked out, Bone Thugs 'n Harmony.
Yes, that's right. Bone Thugs played at SXSW and I was there to see it. It was amazing, in the weirdest way possible. Never thought I would find myself watching Bone Thugs in concert.
They played a lot of old hits (after all, it's pretty much the only thing they've got), saying things like "Let's take it back to '95!" and "Let's go even further back to '89!" They dedicated their hit "Crossroads" to Michael Mother Fucking Jackson, and they sprinkled in a couple covers of Biggie and Tupac tracks, which was really cool. The fact that their rendition of "Notorious Thugz," the track they recorded with Biggie, got the biggest response of the evening is a testament to B.I.G.'s tunes. It was a sight to see, and a really fun concert for sure.
Coincidentally, I stumbled upon a pretty sick video today of Biggie, rapping on the street in Brooklyn at the age of 17 (SEVENTEEN!!). It's a scene that's reprised in the movie Notorious, but I'd never seen the real video until today. It's out of control, check it out.
Man, unbelievable.
It got me thinking, though, do we have anyone like Biggie today? I don't think we do. Unfortunate.
I was going to post the first single from the upcoming Bone Thugs-n-Harmony album (yes, there's an upcoming album) but it's terrible. So instead, here's a track of Bone Thugs rapping over Jay Z's "D.O.A.", and a Biggie/Jay-Z remix for good measure.
Bone Thugs-n-Harmony - D.O.A. (YSI) (drop.io)
Big Z - Blue Magic (Jay Z + Notorious B.I.G.) (YSI) (drop.io)
9 comments:
What single are you talking about? If its Meet Me In The Sky, make sure you're listening to the single and not the video, which has no beat whatsoever. If you're talking about See Me Shine or Rebirth, well, you're free to form your own opinions I guess, but I think they're both kickin'
BIGZREMIXES are fuckin incredible man
You should check out this blog Melophobe and the awesome videos they post:
http://www.melophobe.com/videos/biggie-smalls-freestyle-video/
@Anonymous #1: Talking about "Rebirth." Starts out nice enough, but just ends up grating on me. And 7+ minutes is wayyy too long for that beat, in my book.
@J. Holt: Please stop spamming me with your self-promotion. If I weren't too busy writing my Melophobe SXSW wrap-ups, I would write you a strongly worded e-mail.
Good stuff, thanks for the tracks and the video. Biggie just killed that guy!
I'm a little jealous! I'm moving to Houston in the next month or so, so I will be there next year for SXSW! (I guess I'll have to re-title by blog HumbledInHouston?)
I'm pretty sure that this video is from "The Art of 16 Bars", the doc about emceeing.
where can i get other big z songs? that remix is sick
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=143985636297&ref=ts
download the whole bigz album here or search him on youtube
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