Lets take a walk to The Pharcyde

The Pharcyde - Labcabincalifornia

1. Bullshit
2. Pharcyde
3. Groupie Therapy
4. Runnin'
5. She Said
6. Splattitorium
7. Somethin' That Means Somethin'
8. All Live
9. Drop
10. Hey You
11. Y?
12. It's All Good!
13. Moment In Time
14. The Hustle
15. Little D
16. Devil Music
17. The E.N.D.

Ever since their Rock The Bells performance I've been mesmerized by their music. These four cats are considered to be the pioneers of west coast Hip Hop, and I believe that. Their style is crazy, and very satisfying to longing ears. This is their second album; the album I started out with. I just recently downloaded their first album Bizzare Ride II The Pharcyde. You may remember the single Runnin' from back in the day. If you don't already have this album, download it right now. Add it to you library! It's definitely going into the Best Of Section...it's a classic.

Get It!

Password: crosti_10

Rock The Bells: Miami 8/2/08 Pt. 2

Alright guys, so here's the second part of my Rock The Bells review...

After Dead Prez, that's when it started to get good. Now don't get me wrong, I love De La Soul as much as the next man, but I didn't expect them to rock the show the way they did. They started out slowly, getting into songs like a CD on random. Then, without warning, they brought out Drez of The Black Sheep! They did a few songs together such as "Stakes Are High" and "Super Emcees", and then there was a long pause to build suspension, and that's when the beat for "The Choice Is Yours" dropped. At first the crowd didn't really know what was going on, Drez kept crouching and reciting a certain verse, and Maseo ended up rewinding the track back 3 times. Drez showed us what to do, so the whole audience got down, the beat dropped, and we all recited that famous verse: "Engine Engine number 9, on the New York transit line, if my train goes off the track, pick it up, pick it up, pick it up!" And the whole crowded jumped up and went wild! Hands down De La was one of the best acts in the show.

It must have been hard to go on after the De La Soul set, but Raekwon and Ghostface had no choice. They took a little while to come on, but when they did they came with some heat. They performed off Raekwons album Only Built 4 Cuban Linx. To tell you the truth their set didn't really impress me too much (although it did make me want to listen to the album when I got home), it must have been because of the De La performance, but they did alright.

Up next was the one and only Mos Def! Did he rock the crowd as expected? Mos Definitely not. I was kind of dissapointed with his set, but I still love his music! Though, he did get a positive reaction out of the crowd when "Definition" and "Respiration" dropped. Blackstar is one of the best duo's in Hip-Hop ever. I guess the whole controversy with his ex-wife had taken a toll on his performance, but I'm not going to lie, It wasn't very great (sorry Mos). They should have brought Talib on tour with them to perform as Blackstar. He ended it pretty well though, with his hit "Traveling Man".

The Pharcyde picked up the show after Mos Def's set. Now this is the first time in years that all the members of The Pharcyde have come together on one stage. Performing off their classic albums Bizzare Ride II The Pharcyde and Labcabincalifornia they rocked the crowd. They made their enterance with their number one track Runnin, and one by one, recited hits such as Drop, Ya Mama, Oh Shit, and Pack The Pipe. Man everyone went insane when Runnin' came on, and I personally went nuts when Drop came on (my favorite song from them). I'm glad I got to see who some call the pioneers of west coast hip hop live. As a matter of fact I've been listening to their albums non stop since then.

Stay tuned for the next post...

Keep rockin fresh,

Optimus

Murs 4 President

Murs 4 President is about to drop really soon, here's a leaked Mp3 off the album. Check it!

Murs - Can It Be

Ah how I enjoy Immortal Technique and his angry rantings.

Immortal Technique at RTB Miami 8/2/08

Courtesy of The Morning Tilts

Lollapalooza!

I'm still dissapointed that I didn't get to see them live on Saturday.

Do you love hip hop? Yes I do!

Supernat, "off the top of the dome" at Rock The Bells, with the beatbox stylings of DJ Scratch (of The Roots) at the Miami edition of Rock The Bells 2008.

Compliments of The Morning Tilts.

Rock The Bells: Miami 8/2/08 Pt. 1

So as you all know yesterday I went to the annual Rock The Bells Hip Hop festival here in Miami. This year the festival featured artists such as Murs, De La Soul, Immortal Technique, The Cool Kids, Wale, Jay Electronica, Dead Prez, The Pharcyde, Mos Def, Method Man & Redman, Nas, and A Tribe Called Quest. It was held in Bayfront Park Ampitheater in downtown Miami, right by the ocean. First I'd like to start by apologizing that I wasn't able to get any shout outs, or interviews. Although that may be so, I still got a lot of good pictures, videos, and reviews to share with you guys. (some pictures and all videos courtesy of Jay Santos)

To start the review, I'd like to say that this was the first concert I've ever been too, and to add to that I had the time of my life (so far). We (my brother, my boy Jay, and I) got there around 11:30, and the doors didn't open until maybe 12:30 or 12:15. To kick off the concert B.o.B did his thing, but to tell you the truth I wasn't really feeling it, so I didn't take any pictures. I took this time to check out the venue, and the merchandise, which was pretty damn expensive (a single shirt was $30!). After B.o.B finished his set, the was a pretty long break, where Supernatural freestyled a bit (I'm glad I got to see him in person). Around this time I was extra excited because the schedule said that The Cool Kids were up next, and after that Jay Elec was supposed to perform. Those two acts were two of the main acts that I was anticipating the most, but it turns out that they didn't even show. That dissapointed me quite a bit. So instead they skipped ahead and had Murs come out and perform his set. Now, I never really thought much of Murs until yesterday when he rocked the crowd. His charisma, and hilarity lightened up the crowd after that horrible B.o.B set (haha no offense to those who like him). In fact after his show, I made a mental note to check out some of his stuff. He also insulted Soulja Boy which gave him some credibility in my book.

Anyway, after Murs, Immortal Technique came out, and screamed some angry political speeches over the mic. But don't get me wrong he still did good, he rocked it with Obnoxious, Peruvian Cocaine, and Harlem Streets. Jay recorded some of his speeches, I'll try and get a few of those up for you. He was signing stuff for fans after his set but I didn't wanna miss Wale. When Wale came on, I was probably one of the few people who knew who he was. I was also one of the few who knew the words to the W.A.L.E.D.A.N.C.E and Nike Boots. His performance left people wondering who he was, and I'm sure in the future he'll be one of the leading artists. Dead Prez had next, and did pretty well. They performed a couple new songs off their next release. When the beat for their most famous single Hip Hop dropped, the crowd went crazy, heads and hands bobbing until they looked like they were going to fall off.

Since the festival is too much to cover in one post, I'm going to stop here for now. I'll be doing this in parts, so I'll fill you in on a couple more performances later on. Check back soon, and stay posted!

Keep rockin fresh,

Optimus

Camp Lowaaa

Camp Lo @ Pepsi DJ Event (dj enuff x missinfo.tv) from Mikey Fresh on Vimeo.

Technical Difficulties

So, I just found out that my blog wasn't able to be viewed on Internet Explorer, due to some unknown error. I found the error and took it off so this site should be IE accessible. It was the sitemeter at the bottom of the page that was preventing you from checking the page, sorry about that guys, I had no idea. I just took it off for those of you who use IE. No wonder we weren't getting as many views as usual...

Optimus.

Rocking The Bells...

Alright guys, tomorrow I'm gunna to be at Rock The Bells the whole day, here in Miami. I really can't wait, It's gunna be amazing! I'll be sure to fill you guys in, and review the concert when I get back. I'm so excited right now, my boy Jay got a press pass so hopefully he can get me backstage with him too. I'll try to get a couple shoutouts for the site, hopefully from Jay Electronica, or The Cool Kids. Just letting you know before hand, that if I don't post anything until Sunday, it's because of RTB.

Keep rockin fresh,

Optimus

"My tank top said flight so I took off"

Cool Kids TV, haha peruse though all the shows if you haven't already seen them. They're pretty funny.

Take a ride in The Cool Kab

So found this little vid over at The Morning Tilts. The Cool Kids spit a couple of bars in The Black Cab. Mikey kills the beat Chuck drops for him, using the cab and his own beatbox!

Just a little funny for your day.

Balled Out!


Owned.

Theres a full moon tonight kids...

Black Moon - War Zone

1. Intro
2. The Onslaught
3. War Zone
4. That Is What It Sounds Like (Worldwind)
5. Freestyle
6. Five (Interlude)
7. For All Ya'll
8. Come Get Some
9. Weight Of The World
10. Evil Dee Is On The Mix
11. Showdown
12. One-Two
13. Frame
14. Buckshot (Interlude)
15. Two Turntables & A Mic
16. Annihilation
17. Duress
18. Throw Your Hands In The Air
19. Outro

Alright guys, no more playtime, Black Moon is some serious stuff. Some of you may know them, they consist of DJ Evil Dee, 5th, and the infamous Buckshot (the 5 foot 4 raw little nightmare). This is some hardcore Hip Hop, very similar to Bravehearts, and Mobb Deep. They've been active since 1992 and they're a part of Duckdown Records, where artists such as Heltah Skeltah, and Smif-n-Wessun reside. Black Moon actually stands for Brothers who Lyrically Act and Combine Kickin Music Out On Nations. These beats hit hard so if your speakers are up, turn them down, you might blow something.

Get It!

Hip Rock

New Lupe! Unreleased stuff right here, some hip hop mixed with some rock, have fun with it kids!

Lupe Fiasco - Rock