(Werner Necro'd) All Day Outsidaz: The Interview part 2

...continued from part 1.

So what's up with Musical Meltdown now? Is that never coming out?

Young Zee: It's, like, you know. Out with the old, in with the new.

Pace Won: BUT, we might put out the bootleg version.

Slang Ton: Word up.

'Cause I know a lot of people were waitin' for that album... It got reviewed and all that, then it never came out.

Young Zee: We do so much joints, it don't really matter. I did my album in like, what? Two months?

Pace Won: Word up.

Young Zee: Pace did his album in like, what? Two months?

Pace Won: Three months.

Young Zee: It's too easy. There's a million of us. There's like competition in between us. This what we do everyday.

Pace Won: This our 9 to 5; this is what we do. We rap. That's is our career. We take it seriously.

Young Zee: I don't wanna give no other magazine props, but you heard about the battle, like...?

Blaze. Yeah.

Young Zee: We do that everyday.

Pace Won: Schoolin' MC's.

Young Zee: See, you gotta understand, we got a studio in Newark. So that means that everybody in Newark, or around Irvington, East Orange, whatever... All the MC's from Red all the way down come through our studio. And they always tryin' to show they ass. See if they can be fresher than us or whatever. But... It don't never happen. But it always prepare us for when somebody else come. It be like friendly battles in Newark. If you ain't from Newark, it ain't really a friendly battle. But it's all g. ...We got Rah Digga, take all the females. All the Outz is like warriors, when we trying to go out for battle, we out for blood.

Dee You: Plus, the freshest white boy on the planet.

Pace Won: What?

Gino: have you heard of him?

Yeah, I heard the Slim Shady EP & Infinite...

Gino: You liked it?

Yeah, it was ill. Definitely.

Pace Won: The EP's HOT.

Gino: You heard the Bizarre EP?

Nah, I haven't heard that.

Gino: Bizarre's got an EP, too.

Dee You: Somebody stole my Bizarre EP!

Pace Won: Yo, we on it. A song called, "Get the Dick." Bizarre's our solo artist from Detroit.

What'd he put that out on? His own label, or?

Pace Won: Yeah, Web Entertainment. They tryin' to make it hot. The same people that put out the Slim Shady EP.

And are y'all gonna be on Eminem's album, too, on Aftermath? 'Cause that's a prety big deal right there.

Dee You: Yes, sir. Well, I recorded a couple joints for him. Whether Dr. Dre pick 'em or not is something different. But, yeah, we have songs with Emzy. We have mad songs. He's on our first real single. It's called, "Mama, I Said." He on there. Me, Slang, Eminem, and Zee.

And when's that comin' out? What's up with that?

Dee You: Well, that's comin' out after we get our deal. But our first single is "Brick City"/ "Murderah" or something along those lines.

So how did Rah Digga hook up with Flipmode?

Pace Won: Well, Zee, once again... He was on Perspective. He did a remix for one of his singles, "Get High" with Q-Tip. And Tip met Digga and liked her, ya know I'm sayin'. But you Tip was doin' some other stuff with some other rapper... What's his name? Consequence. So he was goin' through all that. So, Busta was getting' ready to do his album, and he was like, "Yo, let me get Diggy," and she went over and did it. She got with them.

Young Zee: So, what's the flava? ...What's up with The Source? When y'all comin' out with the compilation album?

What do you mean? The Source puts out collective hits like, Source album, Source Pioneers... You mean like new material?

Pace Won: That was supposed to have BEEN come out, The Unsigned Hype album, right?

Slang Ton: They used to write it, like, way back. When you win this, they gonna put you in the compilation... They were always talkin' about ten months, and that shit never came out.

Pace Won: Source be frontin'... Source be frontin'.

Dee You: Write us as Unsigned Hype.

Pace Won: Why not? Here go our demo, I mean, here go our bio. There's our demo. Un...signed... Hype...for the month... of... Oc...tober.

But, you're about to be signed.

Pace Won: Sign us before we get the deal, ok? Sign us before we get the deal. Unsigned Hype.

Young Zee: Who hyper than us right now?

Slang Ton: Tell 'em Fugees, "Cowboys." People were lovin' it.

Pace Won: Debuted number 7, BET's Rap City. Thank you.

And, yeah, you also had a single out with Lauryn Hill, right?

Young Zee: Yeah.

Kobie: That was on the album. That was never a single.

Who would y'all say are your favorite rappers?

Pace Won: LL! ...Biggie, Jay-Z, & Nas! (laughs)

Young Zee: Right now, who's tearin' it down? Big Pun. I like Big Pun.

Slang Ton: It depends on my mind state... 'Cause when I feel like tearin' somebody's skull off, I like some DMX.

Pace Won: It's gotta be like, some... maybe Busta, you know what I'm sayin'? KRS, Red, Nas, Biggie, and Meth...

Young Zee: I'm talkin' about who's lyrically killin' it right now.

Pace Won: The niggas I just named!

Slang Ton: I said DMX.

And have y'all got any shows comin' up?

Dee You: Yeah, we're gonna be at the Coliseum on the 15th, then we'll be at the Paramount on the 23rd...

Slang Ton: The Meadowlands!

Pace Won: We're at Union Square on the 18th...

(Everybody laughs)

Pace Won: Nah, right now, we've just been talkin'.

Kobie: Just negotiations. That's stressful.

So Zee, have you got any plans to do another solo project, or are you holdin' off on that right now?

Young Zee: I'm negotiatin' that now... Right now, they've got a contingent upon the Outsida project. So, you know, just tryin' to smooth out all the edges. Then we gonna sign that damn thing, get this money, do this album. You know what I'm sayin'? We're gonna go away to do the album.

DJ Muhammed: Who's your favorite rap performer?

Performer?

Muhammed: Yeah.

(Everybody laughs.)

Dee You: Fuck you think this is? MTV?

DJ Muhammed: Come on. Y'all keep laughin', he's not gonna answer the question.

I don't know... Just before you came, I was watching a video of The X-Men...

DJ Muhammed: The X-Men?

Yeah, the DJ's...

Young Zee: Ay-ight.

DJ Muhammed: The Outz is one of the top performers. A lot of rappers can make songs, but they can't perform. But the Outz got stage presence.

Y'all do a lot of live DJ'ing and shit? 'Cause lately...

Young Zee: That's our live DJ!

Slang Ton: We got like 4 DJ's... DJ Muhammed, 3rd Rail...

And what's this Kid Capri you're coming out on?

Pace Won: I did a song with John Forte, Nature, and Rock from So-So Def, it's called, "Columbians."

That's gonna be on The Soundtrack to the Streets album?

Pace Won: That's gonna be on the b-side to the single.

To be continued immediately...

Tags: Outsidaz, Pace Won, Young Zee, Eminem, Rah Digga, Slang Ton, Dee You, Azzizz, DJ Muhammad

(Werner Necro'd) All Day Outsidaz: The Interview part 1

I just got Pace Won's new CD in the mail today (more on that next post), so in honor of that, I'm necro'ing my Outsidaz interview from the late 90's. Around this time, Eminem's Slim Shady EP exploded and word had just got out that he was signing with Dr. Dre, Pace Won was coming out on Roc-A-Blok Records, Rah Digga had become a member of Busta Rhymes' Flipmode Squad; and they were all setting to come with their debut family album.

What's up with the Outsidaz right now? What've you got coming out? The last I heard was "Rain or Shine"...

Pace Won: Yup. Our next white label, we've been discussing it.... So far it looks like it's either gonna be "Brick City" or a song called "Murderah," y'know I'm sayin'? Keepin' it hot. Pace Won, Young Zee, Slang Ton, Dee You, Gino from Family Affair Management, Kobie from Proceed Entertainment, and we all in here just... doin' nothin'.

Young Zee: Outsidaz is just, right now we underground, you know. We always been underground. We tryin' to take it over the level, though. We just gotta wait 'till it's our time. Pace Won comin', Zee's comin', Digga's comin', Eminem's comin'. We all comin'. But right now it's just Pace, Digga, & Eminem with their name on the line. We got a couple offers on the line, but you know...

Slang Ton: We still negotiatin'.

Young Zee: We don't like to talk to much until it's happened, though, really. Once we come, then we can start runnin' our mouth.

Pace Won: Our last white label was called, "Rain or Shine." It's on Outhouse/ Proceed. That's the white label we got. Featuring Yah Lova, Axe, Pace Won, and Young Zee.

So, is "Outhouse" your label?

Pace Won: Yup. So far, it's our production company, tryin' to make it become a label, you know what I mean?

Where are y'all producing out of?

Pace Won: We got a little studio, it's called the Outhouse. It's off 20th Street & Springfield Avenue in Irvington. Our management group's down there, too. It's called Family Affairs; one floor below our studio.

Cool; yeah... so if y'all just wanna go down the line with... like, I know Young Zee had that album out on Perspective... Rah Digga...

Young Zee: Actually, I ain't have no album on Perspective. It was only, uh... they put a couple singles out, but they ain't do it the right way, anyway.

Pace Won: He was supposed to have a LP...

Music Meltdown, right?

Young Zee: I recorded it, but they ain't never release it.

Pace Won: Ok, Outsidaz: Young Zee, Pace Won, Yah Lova, Rah Digga, Denzy, Azzizz, Dee You, Loon One, Slang Ton, you know I mean? That's our members. In the Outsidaz we got the No Brain Class. That's Young Zee, his brother Yah Lova, and his DJ, Mudd. I'm a soloist, Pace Won. Rah Digga a soloist. We got another group called The Doepliss: Loon One and Slang Ton, Azzizz - he's a soloist, Slim Shady - he's a soloist on Aftermath: Dr. Dre's label; you know that's hot, We got Dee You, Denzy - Denzy's the youngest, you know, he's upcoming. And we got another group of Outsidaz in Detroit, you know I'm sayin'? Big up Proof, Bizarre, you know I'm sayin'? And Denyne.

So are they recording separately from you guys? Like, out there in Detroit, they have their own studio? That kinda thing?

Pace Won: Yup, yup. But we stay in touch.

Dee You: We send vocals on dats to 'em.

Young Zee: We go out there and record in their studio, too, and then they come over in the Outhouse studio, so it's all g.

Pace Won: And we use mail, and phone... alla that. Keep it tight. (Holds up a photo) This is Rah Digga, she's in Flipmode. She's representing the Outsidaz and Flipmode. And she's on Elektra... On Flipmode/ Elektra, that's Busta's label.

And that album's coming out in September, right?

Pace Won: Yup, yup. We all do something on it. She's currently on the Smokin' Grooves Tour, ya know I mean? She's out there making it HOT for us, hot...

Young Zee: Pace Won album about to come, you know... his white label about to come. Everybody pay attention for that. It's called, "Step Up," and the other joint's called, uhm... What's the joint called?

Pace Won: "I Declare War."

Young Zee: Yeah, "I Declare War." They be changing the white label all the time, you know, but that's the one that's comin' so be prepared.

Pace Won: It's comin' at the end of the month.

Young Zee: Yeah.

Pace Won: Late September...

And that's with Roc-A-Blok, right?

Young Zee: Right.

Pace Won: Uh-huh, yup.

Young Zee: Check me and Pace out when we do shows... we be whylin'. And me an' Digga... And all the Outsidaz, you know I'm sayin'? It's all g. Newark!

So how'd everybody here hook up with the Outsidaz? How'd y'all get together, all that?

Pace Won: Well, at first it was just me and Dee You. We used to rap together, you know I'm sayin'... We wasn't called the Outsidaz yet. We was called PNS - that's Prepared, Never Scared, you know I mean? Then we got Slang and Loon...

Young Zee: No y'all didn't!

Pace Won: In PNS we did.

Young Zee: Ohh...

Pace Won: And then we went out...

Young Zee: There wasn't no Outsidaz before me!

Pace Won: And then, when we went out, we met Zee. And we formed the Outsidaz. After that, Zee brought in Rah Digga. I went out to Detroit and got with Eminem, you know I'm sayin'? We made it tight. We just became a family. Azzizz got down from... He Yah Lova's friend. He was around us, he was real fresh on the rap tip.

Young Zee: Basically, when I came along, you know I'm sayin'... (Laughs)

Slang Ton: (holds up magazine) Yo, there goes Digga right here; she in The Source.

Young Zee: Yeah, Digga up in there... she up in there with the, uhm... Flipmode Tour, and the, uhm, Smokin' Grooves Tour, too.

Pace Won: That's the new one?

Slang Ton: Yeah.

They've got a review of the album in the back, too.

Pace Won: The Flipmode? Their album is hot, though.

Slang Ton: Yeah, word up.

Dee You: That'll be good when the album's out...

Pace Won: My labelmates, The Sporty Thievez just got 3 1/2 in the last Source, you know... They're out there, makin' it hot right now. Roc-A-Blok, ya know I mean? All my peoples is hot. Big up Redman, Roz Noble, The Govna... He was reviewed in Independants Day last month.

Right. Y'all were just on that...

Pace Won: Right. Redman, Roz, Runt Dog, Tame One from the Artifacts, ya know I mean? tryin' to make it hot.

Young Zee: Most definitely... So, you know, Outsidaz comin' with they album, and then we got a spin-off of a whole bunch of solo artists, you know I'm sayin'? Such as myself, we got Slang Ton, Dee You, Azzizz... We got the artists that's out there, now, and then we got some new ones coming. So just be prepared that when we got our feet all the way in, we ain't never stopping. It's coming.

So that collective Outsidaz album; is that gonna be like a white label, or are y'all waitin' to get signed?

Young Zee: Nah. We gonna do that on the label. We not gonna do...

Slang Ton: With a budget.

Pace Won: Big budget. Big, big, big budget.

Young Zee: We're negotiating some joints now, but you know... If anything else come along, we're gonna entertain that, too.

So what've you got... Like, I know I heard a song called "Hard Act to Follow"...

Young Zee: Yeah. That's with me, Slang, Yah, Digga, Eminem, and Azzizz... So, that's hot. Eminem's got his joint comin' out called, "Hi, My Name Is."

Kobie: Eminem's single is "Brain Damage" and "Just Don't Give a Fuck." His lawyer called and said that's the one that Interscope is servin'.

Young Zee: I got a tape for you, too. You know what I mean? Some hot Outsidaz stuff... Joints you can listen to, check it out. There's a joint on there called "Brick City," you might wanna throw that on the internet.

Pace Won: That's probably our next white label... that slash "Murderah!" If I ain't already plug it, let me plug it, again.

Do you have a date on for The Pace Won Effect?

Pace Won: Uhmm... early 9-9. January 9-9. 'Cause I got two singles comin' right now. That's "I Declare War"/ "Step Up" then I'll be doing something else... I did a song with Wyclef; that's gonna be next.

You've already worked with the Fugees before, right?

Pace Won: Me, Young Zee, and Rah. Called "Cowboys."

Young Zee: We did a song with Kurupt off Pace album, too.

Pace Won: And John Forte. ...And my group the Outsidaz.

Young Zee: Nowadays, MC's think, in order to win, they gotta have a whole bunch of famous MC's that's already on, on their album. It's not about expressing yourself no more. We got close personal friends in the industry like Busta, Keith... a couple people... Red. If we have a couple people like that on the album... You know, it's gonna be crazy. 'Cause madd people got a million people on the album. And we really wanna just do us and let a couple of our friends come rap.

Pace Won: The lyrical ones, ya know I'm sayin'?

Young Zee: Don't look for a million MC's that's already out to be on our joint.

It's like that with the Outsidaz, anyway, 'cause people already know half your members...

Young Zee: Yeah, you know I'm sayin'... And all our solo joints, too. You're gonna hear a lot of solos.

Dee You: A lot of solo mc's. You know how they do compilation albums, they wanna make sure they sell records now. It becomes like routine.

Pace Won: I got with 'Clef and Kurupt and, uhm, John Forte 'cause I like them. I'm a fan of theirs. So, of course, hookin' up with them was like natural.

Young Zee: We're gonna come with mad shit. You gonna see. Everybody's gonna see. On their solo joints, niggas gonna excel. And then the Outsidaz joint's just gonna take it above the rim.

What's the science behind the title: The Pace Won Effect?

Pace Won: Pace Won, my name, is like the cause. Pace Won represents hip-hop. When you hear my name, i want you to think, like, good hip-hop. And every cause got an effect, so it's The Pace Won Effect. My life, what I witnessed, how I rap, how it is in my hood. Just basic stuff, ya know I mean? With some creamy beats! Like Ski, Govna, Wyclef, Eyewitness, Young Zee, the Outhouse. And I'm gonna try to take it over. Thank you.

Young Zee: Pace Won's joint opened up a lot of doors for everybody. Everybody got a chance.

Pace Won: So did Young Zee's album. I met Ski through Zee, when he was Perspective. You know, Ski did "Problems," "you don't want no problems." After that, Ski was like, "I'm messin' with y'all."

Young Zee: Our only problem is, with signing, with the labels we're negotiating with, is we need to make sure our label can keep up with us, you know I'm saying?

Pace Won: Make sure the label's tryin' to win, you know I'm sayin'? Some labels just be throwing acts out, see what they can do. My label's Columbia. They're winners. So I got complete confidence in them. And we're trying to get the Outsidaz on a label like that. That's really trying to win.

To be continued immediately...

Tags: Outsidaz, Pace Won, Young Zee, Eminem, Rah Digga, Slang Ton, Dee You, Azzizz, DJ Muhammad

InstaRapFlix 5: Hip-Hop Laws of Success

Hip-Hop Laws of Success (Netflix rating: 2 stars) is the kind of unwanted birthday present kids get when their aunts and uncles find out they like rap music. It plays like an infomercial, with Russell Simmons (according to the opening credits, it's part of his "Higher Self Series") and a a generic hostess seated opposite him, asking him set-up softball questions. Every once in a while, they cut to a 20-something in the audience nodding along to the wisdom or smiling at the anecdote.

And that's the body of the film: this one short interview between the two of them. But they intersperse it with clips of Simmons' Rap Summit footage, which is where all those famous rappers whose names are on the box enter into it (I also suspect it means none of them had to be paid). And there's also interview clips with one or two industry types (Lyor Cohen, some people from Violator management, and somebody from Cash Money Records).

Now, from the title, you might expect this is the equivalent to those "how to make money at real estate" infomercials, with Simmons and the guys sharing their secrets of how they became successful in the hip-hop industry. But really this is the equivalent of those "power of positive thinking" infomercials, full of bland and clichéd inspirational messages that you could just as easily write yourself. "Believe in yourself," "have faith in God" (a lot of this is very religious, which will surely put some people off), "help others" and "work hard." That's everything; but they make that last for the length of the film by repeating the same notions over and over.

On the plus side, it's another short one (why are all these hip-hop films so short?) - well under an hour, including the credits. Also its heart is in the right place... meant to inspire kids to be self-empowered and go out and get rich (and spiritual). It's not that the message is bad; it's just so painfully trite.

Interestingly, the closing credits list an "estimated net worth" for each of the celebrities featured in the film, sometimes also naming their companies and endorsements. Example (actually, the only one that doesn't specify "estimated net worth"):

"Ice Cube
Director, actor, writer, producer and composer
Feature films: 'Boyz 'n The Hood', 'Friday' franchise, 'Barbershop' franchise and 'Are We There Yet?'
Estimated $170 million in gross film revenues
Estimated 30 million albums sold"

According to Netflix, this came out in 2006, but it must be older than that because Master P, Wyclef Jean and the Cash Money Millionaires are presented as being the pinnacles of the industry. I have a feeling this DVD is marketed more towards high schools to show to their students rather than private consumers, but it's available... even as a Netflix instant view.

Tags: Hip-Hop Laws of Success

Nice & Smooth Road Test part 4

...continued from part 3.

The exciting conclusion!


^Part A (of part 4)

^Part B (of part 4)

Tags: Nice 'N' Smooth

Nice & Smooth Road Test part 3

...continued from part 2.


^Part A (of part 3)

^Part B (of part 3)

Tags: Nice 'N' Smooth

Nice & Smooth Road Test part 2

In addition to this new post, I just added a pretty substantial update to my Mhisani/Goldy post from a few days ago, so be sure and check that out (new material's at the bottom).

...continued from part 1; Ain't a Damn Thing Changed (it didn't really occur to me that focus would shift as it got dark and I'd have to adjust, so part 2 gets a little blurry haha):

^Part A (of part 2)

^Part B (of part 2)

Tags: Nice 'N' Smooth

Nice & Smooth Road Test part 1

This is a maybe kinda long series of videos (4 parts split into 2 videos each)... Hopefully they're enjoyable, but if they're "TL;DW" - sorry. I didn't realize I was making such an epic when I started. LOL

Props if you can find the embarrassing mistake I make in these vids before I realize it and tell everyone what it is.

^Part A (of part 1)


^Part B (of part 1)

Tags: Nice 'N' Smooth

InstaRapFlix 4: Jin: The Making of a Rap Star

Ok. As you know from the premise of this post series, I don't own any of these DVDs. But I think these posts really need an image to liven them up. So I'm jacking the cover images from Amazon... I even went back and put them in the three previous entries. But since they're not my scans, sometimes the quality may not be so great. So my apologies for that. But it does help, no?

Today's experiment, Joel, is a little biodoc called Jin: The Making of a Rap Star (Netflix rating: 2 stars - that's right, folks; according to Netflix, this should be twice as good as the last three films I looked at). I actually had forgotten that Jin existed. He was a late-joining member of the Ruff Ryders crew and had a record called "Learn Chinese."

"This is not a marketing thing, me being out here in Chinatown. You don't have the cameras on? I'm standing out here everyday; this is where I am," he says. So, what we learned from this movie is that Jin stands out in front of an upscale Chinese restaurant every day of his life.

We meet his family, which is nice. We hear him perform a couple songs live, spit a few freestyles, and even do a little battle. We watch him show up late and miss a show in Washington. We see a lot (like, I've never seen so many!) of blurred logos on Jin's clothing and snack food. We see him in the studio with Waah (a CEO of the Ruff Ryders who looks bored) claiming that nobody had told the Asian story before and how he's creating a new category. It's always nice when a newjack debuts on a major label and slights those who came before him, right? We don't see DMX, though, or Eve or any of the big-time Ruff Ryders showing up to endorse their new protege.

And of course, it all ends with a hard sales pitch of his upcoming album.

This is an interesting film to compare to yesterday's. The documentary is much better put together than M.O.P.'s (by the way, it's also about the same length, clocking in at 52 minutes including the credits): no stretching or padding, no confused celebrity host (though a few segments, like when his car gets a flat tire, are excessive)... It's a better put together film, no doubt. But M.O.P. are M.O.P., and Jin is just some random record label experiment who came and went. So ultimately M.O.P.'s movie wins by a mile, even though, ironically, there's is worse.

Tags: Jin: The Making of a Rap Star

InstaRapFlix 3: M.O.P.: Straight from the Projects

Tonight's movie was M.O.P.: Straight from the Projects - Rappers That Live the Lyrics (Netflix rating: 1 star. Don't worry, folks; they're not all 1 star flicks... just a lot of 'em haha). I picked this one, frankly, 'cause it was short. And by short, I mean less than an hour long And you know what? This was way too long.

Basically, the premise is that M.O.P. takes us on a tour through their project for a day. It's hosted by B Real; and there's your first problem right there. Dude is reading cue cards like he has no idea what he's talking about. He talks about what "we" saw that day, but he clearly wasn't there. And he's shot from two different camera angles, with both cameras constantly zooming in and out, and it cuts between cameras every single second. It'll drive you batty to watch it.

So, the host segments, which are frequent, suck and never contribute one iota - there's really no reason for him to be involved with this project. It's already so completely obvious what's happening in the film. Basically, it goes like this:

First scene) B-Real says, "and then we went to the high school they attended."
Second scene) M.O.P. says, "now we're going to the the high school we attended."
Third scene) M.O.P. points and says, "this is the high school we attended."
Fourth scene) back to B-Real for a new segment.

And that's the other problem with this film - there's basically no content. It's under an hour, it's padded with about ten minutes of useless B-Real footage... and almost all of the rest of the footage is padding to. Each new segment begins and ends (and has some in the middle) with footage slowed down, sped up, etc set to M.O.P. music. And every once in a while we cut to clips of one of their music videos - too short to be like, "oh, ok; we're watching their video now" but long enough for you to be like, "can we get back to the movie now?"

This film is all padding! And it's super short!

At it's core, there is about 10-15 minutes of inconsequential but fun footage of M.O.P. in their old hometown, reminiscing and kind of showing us the "real them." Which is, you know, not a great documentary; but nice if you're a fan. But no matter how much of a fan you love M.O.P., this film definitely draaaaggggssss.

I've never seen an episode of MTV Cribs (or any show on MTV, really, since the final episode of Yo!); but in my imagination, it's exactly like this, except with better pacing and lots of commercials. That's one thing this DVD has going for it - no commercials! ...Except, you know, in the sense that this is one long commercial for their then (2002) upcoming CD, which they do directly pitch to the viewer. Except for that.

In the end, M.O.P. are likable guys, but I think this film ultimately illustrates how unlikely it is that you'll be able to shoot a worthwhile documentary film in a single day.

Tags: M.O.P.: Straight from the Projects - Rappers That Live the Lyrics

InstaRapFlix 2: Bling: A Planet Rock

Today I watched Bling: A Planet Rock (Netflix rating: 1 star) a surprisingly effective look at how the "bling culture" of contemporary hip-hop relates to the gruesome civil war over "blood diamonds" in in Sierra Leone (Africa). I picked this one because Big Daddy Kane got high billing, but he and Kanye West (who also gets high billing) are actually only in this for a few seconds in the introduction. Essentially, this film revolves around Raekwon, Paul Wall (appropriate, because he also owns a diamond dealership), some reggae artist named Tego Calderon, and former child soldier turned author, Ishmael Beah. They take a trip to Africa and visit places like amputee camps and womens' shelters to see the origins of the diamonds they wear.

Occasionally, it plays like another junk reality TV show - clips of Rae and Paul Wall talking to the camera at the airport feel like they've been ripped straight off the E! channel. And in general this film would have been better if it spent a little more time examining the situation in Africa and gave a little less camera time to the rappers... but in general, it actually works pretty well.

The people and places they visit are genuinely affecting. The hip-hop angle may at times seem a little forced, but when former soldiers tell Raekwon how his music and videos directly inspired them to kill their fellows for diamonds, the film shows it actually has a point and makes it. Probably the strongest aspect is that the film lets the people they visit - the diggers, victims, soldiers, etc - tell their story without interference.

The film climaxes early when they finally visit the diamond mine and the people who own it. They're allowed their say, Raekwon gets in an argument with one of them, and then... they visit a couple more places that are kind of redundant and less compelling than places they visited earlier in the film. It finally ends with a party, where the people of Sierra Leone are seen in a less downtrodden light then they had been for the rest of the film, and Raekwon performs.

It's not a perfect film by any stretch, but it was compelling for the most part - deeper reaching than you'd expect. You are left wondering afterward, though, what was the point, really... The rappers come off just as dopey and shallow at the end of the film as they do in the beginning; and except for a few moments, they really don't feel like they have any place in a documentary on such a serious issue ("ok, let's cut away from the man who had his hands cut off by rebels so we can see a Paul Wall dicking around with his seatbelt on the bus").

Ultimately, what it comes down to is that the rappers only merit a small part in the film, but are given the lead roles because they're celebrities.

A final point of interest: besides the fact that the filmmakers must like really bad, contrived puns, I think the subtitle A Planet Rock is used because this is a sequel of sorts to a short film with Chuck D called Bling: Consequences and Repercussions. It's described on the IMDB as, "tackl[ing] the issues behind Hip Hop's obsession with diamonds and the continued illegal diamond trade in Africa. Bling looks to further educate the Hip Hop generation about the murder and carnage caused by the world's greed for diamonds." ...Although, looking at the credits for both, none of the filmmakers or producers are the same. Maybe it's just a total rip-off?

Tags: Bling, Bling: A Planet Rock

Kick a Hole In the Speaker, Pull the Plug, Then I

Jet released his fairly obscure debut EP, Life Afta Darkness, in 1992 on Righteous Records... that's the label owned by Paris (of "Bush Killa" infamy). He's had some struggles getting his music out there (more on that later), but you recognize Jet from a number of guest appearances, including Pooh-Man's diss track at his former Dangerous Music Family, "Judgement Day" (this is the song that made me say, "hey, I know this guy!" and buy his EP when I saw it in the store way back when) and a couple songs on Paris's Unleashed album.

The title track "Life Afta Darkness" uses the same basic instrumental samples as Grand Daddy IU's "Sugar Free" (and Compton's Most Wanted used that same year on "It's a Compton Thang"), but adds some new live instrumentation on top of it. The liner notes read, "bass keyboards, flutes, strings, bass synth and all otha O.G. shit played by: Gina Blacknell." Flutes? What flutes? Well, anyway... the live instrumentation awkwardly walks the tightrope between really adding something new to the song, making an old sample fresh and original and just layering a bunch of crap on top of a song that doesn't fit. Most of the time it's pretty good, but... a little less would have been better.

The song itself is your typical gangsta bravado rap, flipped into a cool little narrative of how he spends his nights (dealing drugs, winning at dice, etc). He's no great wordsmith (Kool G. Rap won't be threatened by any verse Jet ever kicks), but he's capable enough to hold your attention and keep you interested in everything he's saying.

"How'm I gonna make ends meet?
A nigga steady tryin' ta brush me to tha concrete.
I'm just a young, black male in society;
I only smoke coward niggas when they try me.
I'm a well known fugitive.
Positive ain't Jet, 'cause I'm negative..
But for real, though, life is precious;
Seventeen years of livin', and all of 'em wreckless.
'Cause funk? Man, it attracts to me;
But in the end, I leave punks smokin' like a factory."

Now, the 12" is just a single, featuring the street, radio and instrumental versions of the title track, but the cassette version features two other songs as well.

"Dank Head" uses the obvious "Mary Jane" sample (to match it's equally obvious subject matter), but takes a particularly lively portion, even looping thevocals behind Jet's lyrics (which sometimes obscures his lyrics, but that's ok). And then it regularly breaks down into the "Yo Kit, What's the Scoop?" break before kicking back in. ...I suppose this must be where the flute credit comes into the liner notes... they must've replayed the original loop as opposed to sampling it. It does sound maybe a little tinny, now that I'm questioning it. In that case, I'm even more impressed.

I don't recognize the backing to the last song, "Salt Shaker" - a song about those who would claim to be your friend, but behind your back, tell your business to everyone including the police - but it's similar in tone... even a little more 70's funkish. On all three tracks the instrumentals overrun the lyrics, but Jet's flow is definitely up to the task of keeping your head nodding with each song.

I should point out: the radio and instrumental versions of "Life Afta Darkness" are featured on the cassette release as well. The radio release is pretty cool, because he re-records all of his vocals and replaces the curses with new lyrics. And does a good job of it - it doesn't sound like, "this clearly isn't the version I should be listening to" like most radio lyrics.

So, yeah. Jet did some guest spots after this but his career has been a struggle... after leaving Righteous, he signed with Snake Pit Records. He wound up leaving them, though, before putting anything out. He then moved to Strickly Platnum Records, changed his name to J.E.T., and recorded his second album (or first, depending how strict you are about EPs counting as albums), American Dream in 1999. It got a pretty limited release and reception, so his next album was shelved (and indeed the entire label went under). Finally, in 2005, he changed his name to Jet Black and formed his own label, Hard Earned Records. He put out an album, also called Hard Earned, which you can still order from CDBaby. And, yup, he has a myspace. He promises a new album, called Intentional Grindin, in 2008.

Tags: Jet, J.E.T., Jet Black