Tiara Thomas| BET Experience: Music Matters | 6/29/14 [Instagram Videos]

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE OTHER PERFORMANCES THAT I CAUGHT DURING THE BET EXPERIENCE AT L.A. LIVE

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Similar to Centric TV’s “Centric Certified” initiative, the flagship BET channel “Music Matters” spotlight also aims to  highlight the next BET superstars through music, bios, music videos, photos and intimate interviews where the artists explain who they are and what music means to them.

Each artist performed a short set of around 4-5 songs. It was a great opportunity to discover (or rediscover) a number of both up-and-coming and established recording artists do their thing within an afternoon.

Being up close to the artist while they performed gave me the opportunity to take some really good pictures. Please follow me so you can get notified when they get posted.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE OTHER PERFORMANCES/EVENTS THAT I CAUGHT DURING THE BET EXPERIENCE AT L.A. LIVE

Talib Kweli | BET Experience: Acoustically Speaking | 6/28/14 [Instagram Videos]

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE OTHER PERFORMANCES/EVENTS THAT I CAUGHT DURING THE BET EXPERIENCE AT L.A. LIVE

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One of the BET Experience Fan Fest events that I was given permission to cover was the Acoustically Speaking series. I had absolutely no problem with that. Scheduled from 2pm – 6:30, various artists performed a short set of songs “unplugged” followed by an interview with the host, Big Tigger. It was a taped event, so I’m sure that these episodes will be edited for broadcast. Based on who I saw perform, I can affirmatively say that each artist is worth tuning in for.

Being up close to the artist while they performed gave me the opportunity to take some really good pictures. Please follow me so you can get notified when they get posted.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE OTHER PERFORMANCES/EVENTS THAT I CAUGHT DURING THE BET EXPERIENCE AT L.A. LIVE

Your Weekly Weekend Music Mix | 7/4/14 [MUSIC NEWS]

MUSIC INSTA-BABE: Christina Milian

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Christina Milian is an R&B/hip-hop/pop artist who released her first album in 2001. A multitalented performer, she not only sings, but also has starred in various feature films like “Love Don’t Cost a Thing” and “Be Cool”. Though there are rumors that she may be dating Lil Wayne, as far as I’m concerned, until she says so, she’s single (wishful thinking, I know). Follow her on instagram: @christinamilian

KILLER COVER: Iron Horse Bluegrass covers Metallica

A bluegrass band covering Metallica? I never though it could have been possible … until now. Covering Metallica’s “Enter Sandman”, Iron Horse Bluegrass proves that virtually any well written song, can cross genres. Such a terrifically fun cover.

If You Haven’t Seen It Already

Music journalist Zane Lowe had a rare opportunity to interview Rick Rubin, and it is a terrific interview that any music enthusiast should take the time and watch. The interview runs just short of an hour, but trust me … the hour is well worth your time.

Music In Movies

Any motion picture worth its salt needs to have have killer soundtrack. The soundtrack for “Reality Bites” (a motion pictures that every young adult related to during the mid-90s) has one of the best. Perhaps it’s most iconic scene is the one where (most of) the main characters bust out in dance to the Knack’s “My Sharona”. You’re welcome.

Speaking of Music In Movies ….

The official trailer for the new Jimi Hendrix biopic “Jimi: All is By My Side” starring Outkast’s Andre 3000 was released this week. I must say, Andre 3000’s portrayal of Jimi Hendrix is amazingly good. Definitely a movie that I plan on catching when it hits the theaters. Check it out.

MUSIC NEWS/STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT

Afrika Bambaataa and The Universal Zulu nation calls out World Star Hip Hop as being not hip-hop at all. In an open letter, he sets forth the negative impact the globally popular website has had on the hip-hop community at large. I’ve always felt the same way. I’m glad someone is speaking out about it now.

Are you fan of punk or heavy metal? Do you venture into the mosh pit at shows? Do you have “Mosh Pit Etiquette”. The Village Voice wrote a great article. You should check it out. Speaking of heavy metal, does anybody else find it interesting that countries where heavy metal is popular are more wealthy and content with life?

You hear about Google buying Songza? Though Songza isn’t as popular as Pandora, iHeartRadio, iTunes Radio … basically every other streaming services, Google bought Songza because of their technology. Trust me … Google can pick up music catalogues down the road. They are doing the smart thing.

In a Facebook post to their fans, Death Grips have apparently called it quits (a copy of their handwritten note is below). I’ve had the chance to see them two times … and I ended up not going to see them perform. D’Oh! Add that to my list of things to regret.

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The 28th Annual JazzReggae Festival | UCLA | May 25th & 26th [PHOTOS]

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Every Memorial Day weekend for the past 28 years, UCLA has hosted a music festival called the JazzReggae Festival. Originally, the first day was devoted to Jazz and the second day was devoted Reggae. Though the first day has morphed to a “Jam” day, the festival has always been able to pull in outstanding talent for the price of admission. If you are ever in Los Angeles during the Memorial Day weekend, and looking to enjoy a music festival at an extremely reasonable price, I suggest that you check out the lineup to see if any artists you like are on the bill.

Armed with a photo pass for the event, I was able to take pictures of the artists listed below. Click on the link to check them out!

May 25th, 2014:

  1. The Internet
  2. Aloe Blacc
  3. Snoop Dogg

May 26th, 2014

  1. Kevin Lyttle
  2. Gramps Morgan
  3. Black Uhuru
  4. Ky-Mani Marley

Snoop Dogg | UCLA Jazz Reggae Fest | 5/25/14

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Working for Snoop, I’ve gone to my fare share of his concerts. One would think that after going to more shows than I can count on my fingers and toes, I’d be bored or indifferent to watching him perform. This is far from the truth.

Snoop’s passion for his art always impresses me. His live show, which features a live band, is always entertaining and is simply superior to those acts who rap over series of pre-recorded beats. Though this performance may have been lacking in some familiar faces (R.I.P. Uncle June Bugg), it was filled with all of his hits spanning his over two decades of hit-making.

Though it was Jazz Day, and not Reggae Day, he opened his set with one of my favorite tracks off his reggae album “Reincarnated”, “Here Comes The King”.  He paid tribute to Nate Dogg with his performance of the 213 songs “So Fly”. He performed his verses from 50 Cent duet of “P.I.M.P.” He performed “Lodi Dodi,” “Gin & Juice,”Drop It Like It’s Hot,” “Who Am I (What’s My Name)” and on and on and on. He even dropped his verse from Katy Perry’s single, “California Gurls” in the middle of his set.

Snoop, dressed in a custom made, all-black, UCLA jersey with the number 19, stitched on, played to the crowd and used his charming stage-manner to his have the crowd vibing off of him throughout the entire set. It was either that, or the copious amounts of weed that was being lit up while he was performing. As an aside, UCLA has a campus-wide no-cigarrette smoking policy. In fact, I was forced to toss my cigarettes into a trash can before entering the festival grounds, and even noticed security actively enforcing the policy all throughout the day. But weed smoking? Naw. That’s all good. LOL.

When Snoop closed his set with “Young, Wild & Free,” he had the entire crowd singing along. He finally took his sunglasses off to address the crowd to keep singing along. When the music ended, and he hustled off stage to head off to his DJ gig in Las Vegas that evening, the crowd was still buzzing, perhaps still high from the weed that was smoked during the set, but more likely high from the hit filled set that they had just listened too.

I couldn’t find a complete setlist for Snoop’s performance at this event online, so if anybody happens to know what it was, please post it in the comments so that I can add it into this post. Thanks!

CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT OTHER ARTISTS I WAS ABLE TO SNAP PICTURES OF AT THE FESTIVAL!

Aloe Blacc | UCLA Jazz Reggae Fest | 5/25/14

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I was a fan of Aloe Blacc before he was … Aloe Blacc. Being a fan of the underground, L.A., hip-hop scene back in the mid 90s, I was listening to Aloe Blacc’s music before he broke-out, commerically, with “I Need A Dollar” in 2010.

I saw Aloe Blacc first perform at The Beach Ball Festival: Soul Revue September of 2013. As much as I liked his hip-hop leaning music from back in the day, I absolutely love his soulful leaning music that he’s focusing on today, so not hearing his jams like “Blind World” or “Close To Me” was something I could easily accept … although, I wouldn’t mind him sprinkling in a song or two in future sets.

Dressed in a classy fitted suit, topped with a sharp fedora, he took the sun drenched stage and dazzled the audience with his bright personality and hit singles.  From “I Need A Dollar” to “Wake Me Up” to “The Man”, the audience was treated to songs that have been permeating the radio airwaves for the past several years. He even performed a slowed-down cover of Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” that really had the audience eating out of his hands.

I wasn’t able to find a set lit of the of the songs that Aloe Blacc performed at UCLA’s Jazz Reggae Fest, so if you happen to know which songs were performed, please leave them in the comments below and I will add them to this post.

CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT OTHER ARTISTS I WAS ABLE TO SNAP PICTURES OF AT THE FESTIVAL!

The Internet | UCLA Jazz Reggae Fest | 5/25/14

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I saw a lot of bands at Coachella this year (2014), but there was one band that was on my list, that I regret missing: The Internet.

The Internet is a neo-soul band consisting of Odd Future members Syd the Kyd and Matt Martians as well as Tay Walker, Patrick Paige and Christopher A. Smith. They debuted in 2011, and released their debut album, “Purple Naked Ladies” that same year. They released their sophomore album, “Feel Good” in 2013, and have been touring in support of it since its release. When I found out they were performing at UCLA Jazz Reggae Festival, I knew I had to make it in time to see their afternoon set.

The Internet’s performance at Jazz Reggae Fest was, in truth, my first real introduction to the band. Sure, I was familiar with some of the Odd Future music by Tyler, The Creator, Frank Ocean and Earl Sweatshirt’s music, but I really didn’t know too much about The Internet other than the video clips I was able to find on Youtube. Watching them live, I was impressed with what I saw and heard.

Their take on late ’90s neo-soul/R&B was something that really hit the spot for me. Syd and the band played a set that really was perfect for the mid-afternoon. Syd’s smooth and understated voice and the band’s clean groove, together with their improvisational playing and singing abilities really demonstrated to me  how capable they were as musicians and how smart they were as performers.

The catalog of music is relatively small having only released two albums, but they covered one of my favorite GAP band songs (“Outstanding”) and I was especially impressed with their cover of Jamiroquai’s “We’re Too Young To Die” (one of my favorited cuts off of “Emergency on Planet Earth”, an album that really pushed the boundaries of British funk/acid jazz to new limits). That cover alone would have been enough to convert me as a fan. It’s an extremely tough song to sing. A clip of that performance is in the video below. Maybe it will make you a fan as well.

I couldn’t find the band’s setlist online, so if you were there and know what songs they performed, let me know in the comments below and I’ll add it to the post.

CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT OTHER ARTISTS I WAS ABLE TO SNAP PICTURES OF AT THE FESTIVAL!

Bizarre Ride Live | Welcome to Dillaville | El Rey Theatre | 5/12/14

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Following Slum Village’s tribute set to J Dilla, FatLip and SlimKid3 (two of the original members of the essential hip-hop group The Pharcyde), J-Swift and K-Natural performed cuts from Pharcyde’s seminal album, “Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde.” I had already seen Bizarre Ride Live (what the band calls the performance) last year; in fact it was one of the first topics I blogged about when I started writing this blog, but I was still geeked to be seeing “Ya Mama”, “Oh, Shit”, “Otha Fish, “Soulflower”, and my personal favorite, “Passin’ Me By” (clips of some of the tracks are in the video below) performed live again.

Pharcyde’s relationship to Dilla runs deep. At one point, Dilla was even the group’s DJ. Dilla helmed the majority of production duties for The Pharcyde’s sophomore album, “Labcabincalifornia”, producing the hit single “Runnin’,” which peaked at #55 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Though I wished that all of the original members were performing the hip-hop tracks I listened to all throughout high school, there was absolutely no reason to complain. Each of J-Swift and K-Natural admirably performed the verses originally recorded by Imani and Bootie Brown. Fittingly, they concluded their set with a performance of “Runnin'”.

I don’t have a setlist to the songs that were performed that evening, but all you you have to do is listen to the album, and that’s all you need to know.

Slum Village | Welcome to Dillaville | El Rey Theatre | 5/12/14

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There’s a special place in my heart for James Dewitt Yancey, pka J Dilla. I’ve already written about the impact his music has had on my life, so I won’t rehash it here, but let’s just say his music has meant a lot to me. When I heard that Slum Village and Bizarre Ride Live (The Pharcyde’s Fatlip and SlimKid3 backed by Bizarre Ride producers J-Sw!ft and LA Jay) were paying homage to J Dilla with a  concert aptly titled “Welcome To Dillaville”, I made some calls to make sure that I could attend the event.

Slum Village is a hip hop group from Conant Gardens, Detroit Michigan that has gone through a lot of changes since it’s inception. Originally consisting of J Dilla, Baatin, and T3, only T3 remains as an original member, with both J Dilla and Baatin passing on way before their time (rest in peace). Currently the group is on record as featuring T3, Young RJ and Illa J (J Dilla’s younger brother), but for this show it seemed that only T3 and Young RJ handled MC duties.

With the ever sublime instrumentals produced by J Dilla, Young RJ and T3 faithfully spit verses from some of my favorite Slum Village tracks: “Fall In Love”, “Get Dis Money”, “Players” and, my personal favorite, “Tainted” (clips of which are all below). They had a couple of surprises appearances from specials guests, including Frank Nitt (a frequent J Dilla collaborator) and one other rapper that I didn’t know (but whose picture is below).

Before Slum dove into their set, Young RJ and T3 gave the audience a little presentation about their beloved, lost member. They gave a slideshow presentation of never seen before letters, track sheets, personal affirmations, and photos, telling stories that only they would know, and it was truly a pleasure to watch them reflect so fondly on their lost comrade.

I couldn’t find a setlist online anywhere, but if anyone has it, please let me know, and I’ll update this post accordingly.

 

 

Chance The Rapper | Coachella | 4/13/14 (PHOTOS)

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There were a lot of acts that I was interested in catching at Coachella, and Chance the Rapper was definitely one of them. As he was forced to cancel is weekend two performance due to the flu and tonsillitis, I was grateful I got to catch him perform the first weekend.

I have a twitter account (@methodman13) and I hand picked accounts to follow for music news. Sometime in 2013, I noticed that Complex Magazine’s twitter handle had changed its avatar to the cover of a mix-tape by a rapper I had never heard of. Complex was pushing the mixtape hard, and after a couple of weeks of ignoring the various tweets they shot out with links to the free mix tape, I finally caved and downloaded it. It was “Acid Rap” by Chance the Rapper, and I was glad I set aside my music snobbery to download it because it was an amazingly well put together mixtape and is definitely one of my favorite hip-hop albums of 2013 .

Call it Psychedelic Hip-Hop/Alternative Rap/Underground Rap … call it whatever you want, it’s melodic music that tells stories as eloquently as they come. Sure, the album relies on a lot of samples and interpolations (as is the trend for mix-tapes), but it doesn’t take away from what Chance adds to those familiar melodies and rhythms.

The surprise of the set, though I was already ushered out of the photo pit by the time, was Justin Bieber’s cameo for hist duet with Chance called “Confident”. I wasn’t as excited as some others about the guest appearance, and truthfully, I don’t think that the audience was all to into it if the luke warm (to say the least) reception was any indication, but it did have the internet buzzing with gossip.

I’m a fan of Chance The Rapper’s current output and musical style. If he does, indeed, intend to give his music away for free and only charge his fans to watch him perform, I’ll be one of the first in line to purchase a ticket to his next show in Los Angeles.

I wasn’t able to find a setlist online, so if any of you Chance the Rapper fans know what songs were performed the first weekend of Coachella, I’d love to know so I can add it to this entry.

CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT BLOG ENTRIES OF OTHER BANDS I SAW AT COACHELLA!