Slum Village – #DKLPHOTOS

January 15, 2015January 26, 2015 by dklee13 Categories: Concerts, ReviewsTags: "She Bangs The Drums", A$AP Ferg, Afrika Bambaataa, alabama shakes, Alice Smith, Allah-Las, allen stone, Aloe Blacc, Alphabetics, Alune George, Audio Push, Babies On Acid, BABY BABY, Bad Religion, Banks, Banoffee, Beat Connection, beck, Ben Folds, Biffy Clyro, Black Uhuru, Blood Orange, boston, Broken Bells, Bush, Cat Stevens, chance the rapper, charles bradley, Chet Faker, Chris Robinson Brotherhood, Chvrches, City and Colour, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Cloud Control, Cloud Nothings, Cocorosie, Cody Chesnutt, Cold War Kids, concert photos, concert review, concert video, Crosses †††, Cults, De Lux, Dead Dawn, dead sara, denitia and sene, Doe Eye, Doja Cat, Dr. Madd Vibe, Dreamland, Drowners, Dum Dum Girls, Ed Sheeran, Elle Varner, Elvis Costello, Empire of the Sun, eric hutchinson, Escape The Fate, Faith Evans, Fall Out Boy, Falling In Reverse, Fartbarf, Fascinator, FEA, Fear, Feathers, Fire In the Hamptons, Fishbone, Forest Swords, Fractures, Future Islands, Gaslamp Killer, Gateway Drugs, Gavin Turek, geographer, girl talk, Glass Battles, Glen Hansard, Goapele, GOAT, GoldLink, Gossling, gramps morgan, Green Gerry, Grouplove, HAIM, Heartless Bastards, Holy Child, Hopeless Jack and the Handsome Devil, Hopeless Jack and The Handsome Devil (1st Performance), Hopeless Jack and the Handsome Devil (2nd Performance), Houndmouth, how to dress well, illumination road, Incubus, iron & wine, Jackson Browne, Jagwar Ma, James Supercave, Jamestown Revival, Jhene AIko, Jill Scott, Joe Fletcher, Joe Pug, Jonathan McReynolds, Josiah Bell, Julian Casablancas, Kevin Lyttle, Kid Cudi, king, King James & The Special Men, Ky-Mani Marley, Lake Street Dive, Lana Del Rey, Laura Mvula, Lecrae, Lenny Goldsmith, Leslie Stevens, Level & Tyson, Linda Perhacs, Linkin Park, Little Dragon, Little Hurricane, Little Wings, LiV Warfield, Lo-Fang, Local Natives, Lorde, Lucinda Williams, Machine, Matt Kivel, Matthewdavid, Maxwell, MØ, Merle Haggard, Metronomy, Midi Matilda, Miniature Tigers, Mod Sun, Morning Parade, Moses Sumney, motorhead, Mr. Little Jeans, Myron & E, Mystery Skulls, Mystic Braves, Nathaniel Rateliff, New Politics, Nick Waterhouse, Nikki Lane, nina diaz, Nina Persson, Ok Go, omar souleyman, Outkast, owenstone, Pastilla, Peanut Butter Wolf, Pet Shop Boys, Pete Molinari, Phantogram, Pharrell Williams, Phebe Starr, Phosphorescent, PINS, pixies, Quantic, Queens of the Stone Age, Rachel Goodrich, Rachel Goodrich & The Grrrls, Ray Campi, Reignwolf, Riff Raff, Rise Against, Rival Sons, robert glasper, Roman GianArthur, Rose Quartz, Rudimental, Run The Jewels, Scars on 45, setlist, Sex Stains, Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings, Shelby Lynne, shy girls, Silver Hands, Slum Village, snarky puppy, snoop dogg, Solander, SPEAK, Speedy Ortiz, Stacy Barthe, Strangers You Know, Sturgill Simpson, System of a Down, Takeoffs & Landings, Talib Kweli, Tank, Tashaki Miyaki, Terrace Martin, the 1975, The Afghan Whigs, The Barr Brothers, The Briefs, The Damned, The Dandy Warhols, The Electric Sons, The Far West, The Filthy Souls, The Futures League, The Grizzled Mighty, The Head and the Heart, The Internet, The Killing Lights, The Kills, The Kokoro, The Lone Bellow, The Men, The Mercy Beat, The Naked and Famous, the national, The Pharcyde, The Preatures, The Record Company, The Replacements, The Scandals, The Slightlys, The Stepkids, The Strypes, The Tontons, The War On Drugs, The Warlocks, the weeks, The Wild Reeds, The Zombies, Thruster!, THURZ, Tiara Thomas, Tkay Maidza, together PANGEA, Tokyo Police Club, Tom Odell, Torches, Valerie June, Walk The Moon, Wanda Jackson, We Met Tomorrow, White Lies, Woodkid, Woods, Wynonna Judd, YG, Young the Giant, Yuna, Yusuf Islam Leave a comment

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

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.

May 21, 2014May 23, 2014 by dklee13 Categories: ConcertsTags: Baatin, Conant Gardens, concert, Concert Photo, Concert Photographer, Concert Photography, concert photos, concert pic, concert review, concert video, Detroit Michigan, Fall in Love, Frank Nitt, Get Dis Money, hip hop, Hip Hop Music, J Dilla's younger brother, James Dewitt Yancey, JDilla, Jon Doe, Live Music, Players, Ralph Rice Jr., rest in peace, Review, set list, setlist, Slum Village, T3, Tainted, video clips, Welcome To Dillaville, Young RJ Leave a comment

BINKBEATS Performs and Recreates J. Dilla Beats Solo. Dope. (VIDEO)

I’ve been a big fan of J Dilla’s since Slum Village released “Fantastic Vol. 2“, so whenever someone posts some new J Dilla material, or music inspired by J Dilla, I take the time to check it out.

The video clip above released on Youtube back on December 20, 2013, but I just stumbled upon it. I’d never heard of BINKBEATS until now, but I’ll have to say that he’s impressed me with this 7 minute video. Performing all of the instruments himself, he’s able to recreate some of J Dilla’s unique sounds live to create a wonderful “live” video that mixes in four of J Dilla’s beats: “Make’em NV”, “E=MC”, “Wont’ Do” and “Fall in Love”. I’ve found videos of the foregoing tracks that you can check out, and compare, below.

Well done BINKBEATS. I’m sure J Dilla would be happy.

March 21, 2014March 24, 2014 by dklee13 Categories: UncategorizedTags: BINKBEATS, E=MC, Fall in Love, hip hop, hip hop beats, Hip Hop Music, J Dilla, James Yancey, Jay Dee, live, Live Covers, Make'em NV, neo soul, neo soul music, performance, Slum Village, video, Wont’ Do Leave a comment

In Memoriam | J Dilla | 1974-2006 | “We reminisce over you”

A lot of people don’t know this, but before I went to law school, I worked at a small boutique entertainment law firm in Santa Monica, CA. One of our clients was the production company that had signed Slum Village as an artist. One of the first albums I got my entertainment law hands dirty with was “Fantastic, Vol. 2”. I took great pride while working on the project because I knew there was something special with the talent in that group, particularly the talent of the producer J Dilla, who produced the ENTIRE album, which is amazing.

When I entered my second year at law school, I decided to work part-time, splitting my time hustling in the class room, and hustling in the office. Though J Dilla decided to move on from Slum Village, he produced a couple tracks off of Slum Village’s next album, “Trinity (Past, Present and Future)”.

James Dewitt Yancey, pka J Dilla, born February 7, 1974, passed away February 10, 2006 from a blood disease, and I remember feeling a great sense of loss. He was part of my professional evolution and maturation, and is a reason why I love this business so much. To work, albeit somewhat remotely, with talent makes it all worthwhile.

His instrumental album “Donuts” and his first solo album “The Shining” are 4 and 5 star albums based on my own personal rankings. NPR, in their obituary, stated that J Dilla “was one of the music industry’s most influential hip-hop artists, working for big-name acts like A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, Busta Rhymes, The Pharcyde and Common.”

This is a terrific four part interview of J Dilla from back in 2003. You want and in-depth take of his come up and the way he produced, and what inspired, his music? You need to set aside 40 minutes of your day and listen to this interview.