Fatbeats closing up shop is a stab in the heart to Hip-Hop!

On August 18th, they announced that Fatbeats would be closing their two remaining stores in the U.S. Hip-Hop supporters, artists and fans were devastated by the news that Fatbeats LA and Fatbeats NY would no longer be around and open for business, although their online store and distribution will continue to run. Fatbeats has been a staple for many not just in those cities but those from other countries who come visit the store to connect with the hip-hop world and discover good music and artists that is beyond the mainstream world. As many will tell you fatbeats is a part of history and our music culture, it is definitely not your typical record shop, from the selection of music, to the in-store performances and appearances to the copious amounts of hip-hop history taped on the walls and ceiling of autographed pictures and posters. It is definitely an amazing place and I am more than sad to see it go.

As a farewell Tribute to the store they are having in-store performances and appearances all week everyone from DJ Premier and Pete Rock to the Brown Bag AllStars, Sadat X, AG, Breez Evahflowin, Rob Swift, J-Live, Cold Heat, DJ Scratch, Masta Ace and a slew of Duckdown artists as well as many more. It's never too late to support Hip-Hop. Check out the Schedule below and come visit the store before the week is up.

Fatbeats New York is located at 406 6th ave between 8th and 9th st on the 2nd floor.

100 Proof of Hip-Hop At Statik Selektah Album Release!

 If you think New York and Boston are in a lifetime brawl over baseball then music is definitely the mediator. Boston Bred DJ and producer Statik Selektah celebrated the release of his album 100 Proof (The Hangover) last wednesday at SOB's in New York City. The lineup of emcees was truly incredible that you almost had to wonder if it was too good to be true for the price of entrance into SOB's. Google the name Statik Selektah and you will find a slew of Hip-Hop heavyweights linked with his name and work, not even having to rely on anyone's co-signs, statik's work speaks for itself. Jon Hope made the drive from Rhode Island just to rock the show. It was nice to officially meet him after seeing him perform a few months back at public assembly. He ended his set with one of my favorite tracks "Most Important Song Of My Life" from his debut album, Somekind of Wonderful. My only pet peeve was why did the DJ starting cutting up the ending to that soulful song? I turned to my homie Liz from EMAPhotography and Nobodybeatstheliz like nah you don't do that, not to that song! Donny Goines was next on deck to perform. We chatted for awhile before the show and i even managed to snatch his hat for a quick second...my habit of hat grabbing has adopted liz into the grab and snap a pic behavior and has evolved into a crusade that I like to call Hip-Hop Hat Snatchers...a video coming soon. In no way do we mean it out of disrespect nor would we do it to someone we don't know..our faces are too pretty to get punched. The beginning of the night I managed to get Donny Goines, it wasnt the first time I've taken his hat but I never had documentation...yup we take a quick picture and it is safely returned to you...we don't play for keeps. We made our way over to E Holla from the Brown Bag Allstars as well as DJ for Torae who was performing that night, Liz kept giving me the ok my camera is ready snatch the hat now look... it was only till later that night that i informed holla how close he was to becoming a hat snatch victim that night..yup I just could not go through with it. Holla is like family to me and as we stood there talking to him i kept feeling more and more guilty about snatching it, I just could not go through with it...at least not at that moment so he was pardoned for the night. We went on to snatch Packfm's hat who unsuspectingly did not know it was going to happen, but was a good sport about it. It was after the fact that he realized why I asked him if he would ever get mad at me for anything to which he replied "nah of course not...well maybe if you kicked me in my shin on purpose i'd be upset for a minute". He's always been such a nice guy that I truly felt guilty so it went down like this...."I'm really sorry Pack *snatch...picture snap...hat returned...and i'm sorry again". Emilio Rojas was my last victim of the night who was utterly clueless having arrived to the show towards the end of the night and not seeing the previous hat shenanigans that occurred.

Returning to the performances from that night, Donny Goines hit the stage with "No Apologies", the single off his upcoming album 20X. I really have a lot of respect and support for Donny not only as a friend but as an artist. He's known as a rapper that blogs love, but it is not something that has ever gone to his head, he appreciates the support and recognition but everything he does is really for his fans and works hard with his music. Donny Goines doesn't say he's giving 100%, he just does it and always commits to his word not wanting to disappoint anyone. I have seen him perform with his voice strained because he ran through his entire set during soundcheck because he wanted things to be perfect, I've seen him perform when his set was pushed back hours into the early morning running on little sleep and yet still delivering an energy filled performance, he will even perform sick and you would barely know it. With the zombie crowd at SOB's that night Goines Jumped into the crowd and starting performing his song to wake people up by interacting with them. This is my disappointment with Hip-Hop shows at times, people come to the show and it is almost like they don't want to be there which makes you wonder why are they even there? Throughout the night it was one amazing performance after another and even though SOB's was solidly filled with a lot of people you would'nt really know so unless you turned around to see who was back there. I have been to shows where legends were performing and people were golf-clapping, this is not a movie you are watching its a live show, enjoy the experience and live the moment. Just as Jeru The Damaja always says "when I say make some noise you make some muthaf**ken noise!".

The night got extra interesting when the stage was invaded by Minosaur who started going off about decepticons...transformers? I was a youngen in the early 90s so I was quite clueless about the rant this guy was going on. I had learned later on that decepticon was a gang in the late 80s in New York City consisting of kids from 15-22 year olds. After reading this old New York Times about decepticons I could somewhat understand what he was talking about on stage, "tuck in your chains and put away your pinky ring in respect because tonight is about real lyrics". Boogie Blind and Shucky Ducky attempted to get him off the stage after he went on talking and freestyling? for about 10 minutes. I had recorded footage of his stage ambush but am still in limbo whether to actually upload it. It was someone who had too much to drink,a lot on his mind and seemed pretty harmless especially when he saw shucky ducky come on stage to take the mic, his eyes lit up like a little kid... I say he seemed harmless but apparently later in the night downstairs he continued his rant and pulled out either 2 screwdrivers or ice picks as props or weapons? Not many people knows what happened or what was said that led to an altercation between the decepticon guy and Freddie Foxx a.k.a. Bumpy Knuckles...a nickname fitted for the night. There was video being shown after the show from someone who caught the fight downstairs, but the whole incident can be summed up as unfortunate and should not overshadow the performances from that evening.

Although I enjoy going to shows for specific artists I always appreciate the introduction of music and artists that I'm not familiar with or have only heard some of their work, but never seen them perform live. Such was the case with Truck North, Reks, Kali, consequence, and El Da Sensei who also brought out Tiye Phoenix, to name a few from that evening. Although it may be hard to reach out to an audience that primarily want to see the headliners, more people really need to be open minded and give all artists a chance despite where on the show lineup they are placed. Bahamadia came out and really held it down not for the women in hip-hop but for all artists in general. She brought out invincible onto the stage and together  they shattered any doubt people may have that female emcees don't exist aside from a select few. It was my first time catching Termanology perform and now I fully understand what people mean when they reference him, because his flow is smooth and definitely knows how to work a crowd. Joe Scudda came out and I couldn't help but remember mistaking him for my brother, Donovan Kasp at Santos Party House during CMJ week. In all fairness at the time my brother was rocking a thick reddish beard and Joe Scudda was at the bar, usually the first place I look when I try to find my brother.

Styles P. who just rocked Highline Ballroom two nights before for his album release "The Green Ghost Project" busted through the crowd and took the stage performing Come Thru, Shadows and Good Times as well as an acapella. As lackluster as the crowd was that night people really get hyped for Styles P. Statik Selektah went insane with the lineup and special guests, he truly did not hold back one bit. Lil Fame of M.O.P. came out and of course did Ante Up. I never got into Freeway's music, I'm not sure why it just kind of happened that way, but when he took the stage I was encouraged to try to make his upcoming show at Highline Ballroom later this month because I really liked what I saw that night. 

Sha Stimuli widely known for his mixtapes, especially in 2008 when he mapped out a plan to release one mixtape each month for a year, each with a different theme. A few months back he released his debut album "My Soul To Keep", which consists of a lot of gems, definitely an album to have for the collection. Duck Down was definitely in the building. Torae and Skyzoo who you could easily be mistaken as brothers since they always seem like partners in crime constantly on the same bill and supporting eachother at shows and in-store events, performed back to back that night. I really have to give props to Duck Down and their artists, they really put out quality music and never half ass anything. I can easily go to their showcases and any of their artist's shows and not grow tired of hearing the music and seeing the performances. The first time I saw Smif-N-Wessun was a year ago at one of the first Forever Fresh events that at the time was being held at Public Assembly in Brooklyn. My brother had said he never saw me smile as much as I did at a show before. I remembered being slightly disappointed because my camera battery had died so I wasn't able to get that many pictures and videos, but their performance was beyond amazing, because they have such great stage presence. Since then I have seen Smif-N-Wessun almost everytime they have performed in New York City, whether it was at the Brooklyn Hip-hop Festival, Brower Park over the summer, an encore forever fresh at southpaw, etc...They are an incredible duo and I recall one night outside of southpaw General Steele told my brother about being surprised and thankful that fans don't get tired of them to which my brother replied if they performed next week then he'd see them again next week. In truth I am actually thankful that these amazing artists are still performing and continuing to make music, because when you are younger you may not fully realize or appreciate the impact of music and experiencing the live music from some of your favorite songs and artists. 

How do you close out a truly amazing night of performances? After Smif-N-Wessun took the stage, Buckshot came out and immediately went into "How Many Mc's"as well as a Freestyle and wasn't allowed to leave the stage till he performed "Who Got Da Props". Simply amazing! Congratulations to Statik Selektah on a successful show and album. DJ Premier even came out which must be an incredible honor for Statik having someone you respect since you were young to give praise for your work.

*Check out the Snaps Below and Videos will be up soon!


-NattyNiGhT =)

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DJ Premier To Start Off The New Year!

I began the New Year with the unofficial music scene resolution of doing more with less. I spend most of the week at shows, parties, in-store signings and events until odd hours of the night, sometimes even running around to several different things all before the sun rises. I feel fortunate for the opportunity to be able to experience such memorable moments that I will always be able to reflect back on. However, constantly snapping pictures, taking videos and actually enjoying all these music related events with friends and family, there leaves little time for editing all the footage, posting it and writing about it. I wanted to start this year taking it easy and really making time to get things done, rather than footage just resting on my computer. I figured the solution would be to go to less shows and really begin to pick and choose that way I am not stuck going to everything and not really being able to get much done. I quickly learned resolutions were meant to be broken because some things just weren't meant to be as my calendar for the month of January alone is already completely filled. I am still picking and choosing but it is more of a process of substituting rather than eliminating events. That is the life of Hip-Hop I guess.

I heard about the Nike Launch party downtown on January 7th, for the sneakers release of DJ AM Dunk Hi and DJ Premier's Air Force 1's in which Premo would be DJing for 2 hours and all proceeds that evening would go to the DJ AM Memorial Fund. People go to see DJ Premier just to literally watch him spin, because I think he is one of the fundamental reasons why hip-hop exists especially on the east coast. He has worked with so many artists and is so influential that at most hip-hop shows you will hear at least one emcee say "this is a premo beat" and instantly its time to pay respect.

I was attending a show later that night at the Bowery Poetry Club, The Coffee Grind showcase featuring Rebelmatic, Sleepwalkas, Black Rebel Indians, Sinnagi, Guerrilla Mutual and Alive. I figured its one or the other and I was going to keep my word on attending the showcase. My homie Telisa D. then came calling about the Nike event and wanted me to go with her, my impossible resolution was instantly  broken as I am a pushover to change my mind. As I walked over to the Nike store on Mercer street I could hear hip-hop music blasting from a block away, I knew right away that I was glad I went down there. The Nike store was packed with people, drinking, eating, talking, taking pictures and just watching Premo on the 1s and 2s. If you expected good music then that is exactly what you had gotten and even Ed Lover was walking around with his signature "C'mon Son" shirt. It was the start to what I expect to be a great year in Hip-Hop! I guess I won't be holding back on being on the scene.

-NattyNiGhT

*Shoutout to the creative Lex Lewter who had fun with my camera and snapped some of the pics that night.

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