The God is Back

The Big Hurt is back in the building, bitch!

Yes, the God of DH’s is back in the Oakland Area. Frank Thomas, first ballot hall-of-famer, and one of the best players of my era to ever have played, just re-signed with the A’s today, and I’m happy as a clam.

Big Frank absolutely carried the offense during the A’s 2006 season, the one were they made it to the ALCS. It’s true that he’s about a year and a half older since then, and some speculate that he’s lost his swing while in Toronto. However, he’s a welcome edition to the team. He’s still got power, he still gets on base, and he’s cheap. He fits in well with the line-up, giving them the potential power right-handed hitter that they’ve always lacked, except the last time he was on the team. While Mike Sweeney still seems capable of hitting for average, his productive days for hitting jacks seem like they’re in the past. And Thomas’ presence hopefully prophesizes the end of Jack Cust’s association with the team, at least on the major league level. I’ve got no complaints here.

It caps off a weird couple of days for the days, where the team also signed Rajai Davis, who, despite going 3 for 5 today, will probably serve mostly as a pinch-runner. So we’re putting together a weird team, that despite having three DHs on the roster, also sports pinch-runners, pinch-hitters, defensive substitutions, and whatever. Hell, the A’s even stole a base and ran a hit and run last night. This season continues to be interesting.

I’m going to refrain from making wild predictions that may result from this move. This is still a team that could hit a wall in a lot of areas as the spring turns to summer. But I feel like with this $300,000 move, the A’s at least have decided that they’re not going to flee from a successful season if it comes their way.

The Diplomats: Harlem Classics

Grade: B/B+

Yesterday, I took a looked at the somewhat brief history of the Dipset/Diplomats crew. In attempts to keep the crew alive, or maybe just make a little more money out of the crew’s music, Duke Da God, the former A&R/Director of Marketting of Diplomats record, has released the Harlem Classics compilation. The 74-minute album is a collection of 22 songs by various members of the crew that never saw a proper release. Most of these tracks could only be heard on mixtapes by New York-based DJs like Kay Slay or Clue, usually ruined by the self-important pair screaming “Exclusive!” or “New Shit!” all over them. Without the DJ noise, Harlem Classics is an interesting look at what could have been.

Just looking at the CD packaging points to legal problems with who can use the Dipset and Diplomats name and logo. The name “Dipset” or “Diplomats” appears no where on the CD’s packaging. The liner notes make allusions the songs on the album are from “the hottest group out of Harlem,” without ever mentioning their name. And this album is being put out by the guy who runs their website. It’s also pretty clear that Duke Da God is probably on the outs with Cam’Ron, because despite Cam appearing on the vast majority of the songs on the CD, his name also appears nowhere on the CD’s packaging. The cover boasts that Harlem Classics features Juelz Santana, Jim Jones, JR Writer, Hell Rell, SAS and “many more.” Yeah, like Cam’Ron, the guy with four gold records to his name and actually started the crew. He might be a selling point.

The actual music is pretty darn good. Throughout Harlem Classics, Dipset members flex the swagger, witty wordplay, and rhyme patterns that earned them their appeal. Cam and Santana, the most talented members of the crew (Zoolander and the Zoo Keeper, respectively, in Cam’s words), shine the brightest on the album, displaying their lyrical dexterity on tracks like “What’s Really Good,” “You’re Gonna Love Me,” “Your Way,” and “The Answer.” JR Wrtier have his moments too, shining on tracks like “Magic” and “Don’t Fool With the Dips.” On the later he drops a ruthless verse over a warped electric guitar and DJ scratches; unfortunately B-teamers like Hell Rell and 40 Cal add nothing to the song. Jim Jones is pretty uniformly awful throughout the album; he should have stuck to doing ad-libs.

Truth be told, it’s better that this album was released independently: many of the songs on Harlem Classics would have been ruined by a major label. Most would never the light of day on a major label release day to sample clearance issues alone. Tracks sample Pilot (“Magic”), the Jackson 5 (“Did You Miss Me?”), Prince (“The Slaughter”), the Coming to America soundtrack (“What’s Really Good”), and ESPN theme music (“Halftime Show”). The best song on the album, “From Bottom to Top” by Juelz Santana, featuring Styles of Beyond, Celph Titled, and Fort Minor (none are in Dipset), samples the guitar intro to Guns ‘N’ Roses’ “Sweet Child O’ Mine”; No way anyone hears this song on anything except a mixtape.

Maybe it was the best thing for the Dipset to remain a slight about street level crew, dropping heaters to be heard by those who were really dedicated. It’s better than where they are now, a few years removed from “Where are they now?” status.

Keep it Moving: a look back at Dipset aka The Diplomats

The Diplomats aka Dipset are one of the more intriguing hip-hop crews of the rather young 21st century. The Harlem-based crew is a product of Uptown New York gang/drug dealing culture, and started making noise as a collective sometime around 2002 or 2003. Featuring MCing talents from the likes of Cam’Ron, Jim Jones, and Juelz Santana, the group had strong ties to Dame Dash, one of the founders (along with Jay-Z-) of Roc-A-Fella Records and was best known for it’s irreverent attitude and swagger. Cam’Ron and Jim Jones are both record industry vets. Cam was in the Children of the Corn crew in the early ’90s, and had three gold records to his name before Dipset was on the map. The legend is that if Biggie Smalls hadn’t have been killed in 1996, we would formed a “super-group” called “The Commission” with Cam’Ron, Jay-Z, and Charlie Baltimore.

Tracks by the Diplomats were heavy on witty rhymes, sped-up soul samples, and shit-talking. Oh, and there was always an abundance of talk about “moving the movement.” The Dipset movement that is. There’s apparently some difference between the Diplomats crew and the Dipset movement, but it’s too convoluted for me to explain or understand. Regardless, the Diplomats/Dipset put out a string of well-received mixtapes in the last five years, most notably Diplomatic Immunity and Diplomatic Immunity 2. The group earned a strong online following, with listeners from around the world embracing their witty rhymes back-to-basics approach to music.

Listening to most Dipset tracks, it’s obvious the guys were always having fun in the studio. Sure, they did corny stuff like rhyme over “They Built This City on Rock and Roll” by Starship, but their slang, swagger, ad-libs, background vocals, and general shit-talking were the stuff of legend. Aside from Cam and Juelz, none of them were really that good rappers, but they were always entertaining as Hell. The Diplomats were also notorious through rap beefs with artists like Mase and Nas, and their four-minute plus rants against them on their mixtapes of the stuff of magic. At the height of their popularity, Dipset affiliates started pooping up in Canada and England, and they even started their own skating crew. Cam’Ron’s Purple Haze album went gold and the NY Football Giants adopted Jim Jones’ “We Fly High” as its unofficial theme song during the 2006-07 season.

It’s rap beef that ultimately sunk the crew. Around 2005, as Jay-Z was named president of Def Jam records while still enjoying his “retirement,” Cam’Ron signed to Asylum Records and began to start promoting his new album, Killa Season. He simultaneously began promoting a direct-to-DVD film of the same name, which he starred in and directed. The latter wasn’t that much of a stretch: Cam’Ron had actually earned a lil’ critical acclaim with a supporting role in the film Paid in Full. So in hopes of gaining a little more publicity for the album and movie, Cam’Ron started playing up a rift between him and Jay-Z, claiming that Shawn Carter has left the hood behind from the board room and wasn’t a “real” representative of the streets. Dame Dash basically took Cam’s side, claiming Jigga had left him behind as he climbed the ladder to further success. Cam’Ron started recording dis tracks aimed at Jay-Z, started bragging that he was basically stalking Beyonce via text message, insulting Jigga for wearing sandals in public, and called him a “camel” whenever possible. The whole thing seemed orchestrated to elicit an angry response from Jay-Z, which would ultimately boost Cam’Ron’s record sales. Hey, it worked for 50 Cent. It was clear that Cam saw all this dissing as Dipset’s ticket the Big Boys Table.

The problem was, throughout all the antics, Jay-Z publicly ignored Cam’Ron. And in the end, none of Cam’Ron’s blustering connected at all with his audience. No one cared, because most of his core audience liked Jay-Z’s music, and why do they want to hear him rail against one of their favorite rappers, “retired” or not. The proof was in the sales: Killa Season sold over 110,000 units in the first week, and then completely disappeared from the public consciousness. The DVD, as expected, was an embarrassment. Jim Jones, Cam’Ron’s “capo,” made some noise with “We Fly High,” but once Jay-Z un-retired and released Kingdom Come in late 2006, (complete a few pointed disses towards Cam’Ron, without actually mentioning him by name), and it sold 680,000 units in the first week, it was pretty clear who the people had chosen.

Things went completely off the rails for Dipset during 2007. Cam’Ron apparently didn’t learn from his failed Jay-Z beef, and decided to go after 50 Cent, someone who sold just about as many records and was (at the time) just as respected on the “streets.” Unlike Jay-Z, 50 Cent was happy to oblige Cam’Ron in a rap battle; after all, similar beefs are what made 50 Cent who he is today. After a few lame rounds of battle tracks by each of them, Cam’Ron proclaimed it was going to be “a long hot summer” or 50, and then promptly disappeared from the public eye. He’s yet to resurface from seclusion; he’s apparently in Columbus, Ohio, though he released the Public Enemy #1 mixtape in late 2007/early 2008.

Now, for all intents and purposes, the Diplomats are no longer a functioning group. Jim Jones hasn’t recorded much music of note since “Ballin’,” his next album went completely un-noticed. This is likely because besides being very charismatic while talking shit, he’s actually a terrible rapper. Jones popped up in late 2007 to claim that he, not Jay-Z, should have been the one to record the unofficial “American Gangster” soundtrack, due to his Harlem roots. He recently aligned himself with 50 Cent. Juelz Santana, once signed to Def Jam Records and one of the more lyrically talented members of the group, has been quiet since his solo debut, What the Game is Missing. Diplomat b-teamers like JR Writer, Hell Rell and 40 Cal, have all released albums that few besides hardcore Dipset fans have noticed.

Mostly, the crew has been beefing with each other. There are rumors of money mismanagement, court battles over who between Cam’Ron and Jim Jones owns the Diplomats’ name and logo, and general ill will. During Cam’Ron/50 beef in 2007, Jim Jones told a New York radio personality that to say he hadn’t spoken to Cam’Ron in a year, but held him no ill will. Cam’Ron later responded that he wished Jim Jones the best, but was a little surprised that he chose to run with 50 Cent.

Personally, I’m not sure if Dipset ever could have been as big and successful commercially as, say, G-Unit, but they definitely had more talented, made better music, and were more entertaining than many of what pass hip-hop “super-crews” these days. For my next entry, I’ll take a quick look at one of their newest releases, which is actually filled with material from their salad days.

Le Bien, Le Mal

It’s a bittersweet day for me as a Bay Area sports fan. The bitter is quite bitter, as the Golden State Warriors were officially eliminated from making the play-offs yesterday, despite being on track to win 49 games. We’re going to miss the play-offs despite winning 49 games. I can’t imagine a universe for the NBA where that makes any sense. Add to the facts that this team was better in damn near every way than last year’s team, which made the second round of the play-offs. While we might not have been able to do it again this year, we’d have been a tough play-off challenge for the Lakers or the Hornets or whoever ends up in first place of the conference. Mostly, the whole situation makes me want to say FUCK DAVID STERN for suspending S. Jax for the first six games of the season. I hate playing the “if” game, but if he been playing, I imagine we’d over been able to win three, two, or even one of those games, and we’d have made the play-offs.

As for the sweet, THE A’S HAVE THE BEST RECORD IN THE A.L.!!!! 9-5!!!! FIRST PLACE IN THE DVISION!!! YEAH BITCH!!!!

This is all the more bizarre when you consider the circumstances: Two-thirds of the top- of-the-rotation are on the DL, we're unable to hit a long-ball, our team’s power-hitter isn’t hitting half his weight, and our third-baseman still hasn't played a game. And yet, the Red Sox and Cliff Fucking Lee account for our only losses so far. Go figure.

Sadly, I suspect my happiness will be fleeting. This is nice and surprising team and all, but I’m not going to fool myself into thinking this team is any sort of contender to make the play-offs or seriously make things interesting down the stretch. The young pitching looks pretty damn good right now, but these guys can expect some trouble as the season goes on, the throw more innings than they ever have before, and the hitters start to figure them out. Besides, we aren’t going anywhere if Harden stays injured all year, and yeah, I’ve seen this movie before. The A’s will start to swoon in June and July, and then we’ll get into trade the veterans mode. I’ll adjust my predictions from 72 wins to say we may flirt with a 0.500 record. Beyond that, I expect my fan experience is likely to continue to be fraught with frustration and disappointment.

Rapping Dinosaurs are cool!

Baby Loves Hip-Hop: Dino 5
Grade: Not really applicable.



Rapping Dinosaurs are cool!

Baby Loves Hip-Hop: Dino 5
Grade: Not really applicable.

When I was five years old, my favorite record was called “Dinosaurs.” It had a fairly simple premise: it featured five or six songs about different dinosaurs and their distinguishing characteristics, each song recorded in a different musical style. Traditional stuff mostly, nothing with any sort of edge to it. The b-side of the record even had instrumentals, presumably for kids to sing along too. Not that I ever did much singing: I mostly danced around my parent’s living room while listening to the record. I tended to do that a lot.

Dinosaur-based entertainment has long to been a sure-fire way to entertain and even educate kids. It can be cute, or overly cloying and obnoxious. But the kids always love it. So up steps semi-famous Baby Loves Music label, with their first foray into rap: baby Loves Hip-Hop: Dino 5. The project was created and written by a guy named Adam Hurwitz, and produced by Prince Paul, one of the five best hip-hop producers of all time. The album tells the tale of five friendly dino-kids who form a band to perform in their elementary school’s talent show. I feel a little weird reviewing a kid’s CD, but I was compelled to cop this sucker due to the involvement of Prince Paul. And I can’t say I was disappointed, despite the fact I’m 28 years too old for this album.

Prince Paul was really on top of things when he put this CD together. It’s easily digestable pre-school/kindergarten hip-hop. And while there’s no wacky Mickey Mouse or Johnny Cash samples, but Baby Loves Hip-Hop: Dino 5 sure in the heck SOUNDS like a Prince Paul record. On all of the concept albums/compilations Prince Paul has ever done, he’s always done a great job at plugging in the right MCs into the right “parts.” This album is no exception: Jurassic 5’s Chali 2nua is perfectly “cast” as MC T-Rex, while the other dino-friends are voiced by Wordsworth (who worked with Paul on his last kiddie-rap endeavor: a song on the Spongbob Squarepants Movie Soundtrack), Ladybug Mecca (formerly of the Digable Planets) and Scratch (human beat-box for the Roots). Dave and Posdnuos of De La Soul show up on a song. All of their vocal talents are all perfectly suited for a kids record; Chali has always sounded like a gentle T-Rex to me. Musically, it’s simple enough for a wee-one to follow, and gives the basics for the boom and the bap.

It’s been a very long time since I’ve listened to a kids’ record, and if course I can’t listen for four-year-old ears anymore, but content-wise, Baby Loves Hip-Hop: Dino 5 is cute and pretty innocuous. It preaches the basic lessons that parents want to teach four or five-year-olds: 1) don’t judge a book by its cover, 2) it’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game, 3) wash your hands after using the bathroom. “That’s Funny” is a questionable inclusion, a pre-school ode to snapping; I’m not sure you want to teach a child that insulting people is a great source of humor. That comes along in the third grade or so. Regardless, with this Baby Loves Hip-Hop album, Hurwitz and Prince Paul have created a perfectly entertaining album that introduces hip-hop to children. If, God forbid, I ever sire any offspring, I’d play them this album.

The Grouch: a Simple Man speaks

For those who don’t know, I try to work and hustle as a freelance writer. Here’s a little story of mine that was published in SF Weekly about a week ago; it’s an artist profile/record review on The Grouch, a Bay Area-born, Cali-based MC/producer. Grouch and I have known each for a while now, as I’d least heard about him through friends when I was in high school. We met and chopped it up quite a few times while he was working his way through the Bay Area underground, and are on pretty friendly terms. He’s a real cool dude who gives a real interview. Best of luck to him with his new album, Show You the World.

Here’s the link to the version published in SF Weekly:
http://music.sfweekly.com/2008-04-02/music/the-grouch-personifies-the-hip-hop-hustle/

And here’s my “extended” version, which has a little extra info that didn’t make the cut due to space constraints:


There are no free rides for hip-hop heroes who achieve worldwide acclaim. The Grouch, founding member of the internationally-known Living Legends crew, can attest that even when you sell records, pack your shows, and maintain control of your music, the headaches remain.

“I know my records aren’t in enough stores,” Grouch says. “You gotta play a bunch of games, and a lot of times I wonder if it’s all worth it. I used to put my CDs only in mom and pop stores. Now, I’m in chain-stores, and I sell more copies, but it doesn’t seem like I make any more money.”

Grouch, along with the Living Legends, built a fanbase and rep on the DIY hip-hop ethic of the mid-1990s, back when selling tapes in front of local record stores was a novel idea. Through a decade of recording and touring, Grouch has built a respectable career and carved out a comfortable existence. The Oakland native owns of home in the San Fernando Valley, where lives with his wife and 2-year-old daughter. He’s released six solo albums, two with Living Legends partner Eligh (as part of G&E), three with Living Legends, and one with Bay Area compatriot Zion I. On April 8, he’ll drop his seventh solo album, Show You the World, through the Legendary Music imprint, which he helps operate.
On Show You the World, Grouch continues his meat & potatoes approach to music. For the first time in his solo career, he hands the production reigns over to others, with Grouch behind the board on just six of the album’s 15 tracks. However, the Show You the World still maintains a cohesive feel. Some highlights include “Bay to L.A.” Grouch and Legends-homie MURS celebrate the similarities between both regions and “Pop and Mom Killer” where he laments the increasing homogenization of consumer culture. Another high-point is “Artsy,” where, over a soul flute sample and banging drums, Grouch playfully skewers people who “shop at Whole Foods in open-toed shoes” to be cool or avant-garde. “I know people are saying, ‘You’re dissing your whole fanbase with that song,’ but it’s all in good fun,” he jokes.

Hustling for his music is still an everyday part of Grouch’s existence, though. Gone are the days where all eight members of the Legends crew had to pony up $25 to rent a tour van; they’ve now set up a bank account for such expenses. But Grouch still deals with many of the indie record stores personally, while also wrangling with Best Buy to get Show You the World in their stores. He’s well aware that being unsigned and independent doesn’t carry the same currency that it used to. Being visible and readily available online is important as anything these days. “There’s so many people doing the independent thing now,” Grouch adds. “When [Living Legends] were at SXSW, there’s like 800 acts vying for people’s attention… It’s easier to get stuff on iTunes and MySpace, but it’s much harder to get noticed.”

To help promote his album, Grouch is also relying on his and every other indie artist’s bread and butter: the tour. He’s in the process of booking 10 to 15 spot dates along the West Coast during mid to late April. He’s taken steps to alleviate some of the grind that comes with touring. During the last two Living Legends mini-tours, he’s driven behind the group’s bus in his own vegetable oil-fueled truck with his wife and daughter. The second tour he brought along his wife’s cousin, who would watch their daughter sometimes to give them some time to hang out together. He said he likes the idea of taking his daughter around the country, and spend his down-time visiting a national park.

“It’s better than just sitting in the hotel room, which I’ve done many times,” Grouch says. “[Traveling with family] can make things harder, and I don’t plan on doing it every time I go on tour. But it’s good for shorter tour. I couldn’t do it on a 50 city tour.”

Grouch says he’d eventually like to spend more time as a producer; he envisions working as a production team with Eligh, selling beats to other artists outside of the immediate camp. However, he’s resigned to putting those plans on hold.

“If I’m going to focus on being a producer, I’m going to have to slow down in other areas of my life,” Grouch says. “And I feel like I should work on others things first right now.”

As Grouch knows, if you’re going to stay in control of your music and career, there’s never a shortage of work.