Throwback Write-Up #14: KMD - Black Bastards - HipHop |
- Throwback Write-Up #14: KMD - Black Bastards
- Daily Discussion Thread 07/07/2020
- Did I just talk to Raekwon on the phone?
- Pusha T responds to Young Thug after the latter criticizes his verse on the removed song from Pop Smoke's posthumous album.
- Young Thug elaborates on issues with Pusha T on IG: “We kill for real”
- [FRESH ALBUM] SahBabii - Barnacles
- Kanye West Says He’s Done With Trump—Opens Up About White House Bid, Damaging Biden And Everything In Between
- Alt-right Florida Man Running for Congress disses Pusha T & Big Sean
- Young Thug says he doesn't respect Pusha T for bringing his beef with Drake into a song meant to be on Pop Smoke's posthumous album
- Former G.O.O.D. Music producer says Label Execs would ridicule Kanye West so bad he would cry
- City Morgue announce new mixtape titled "Toxic Boogaloo" dropping July 31st
- [FRESH] Nyck Caution - Famiglia (feat. Meechy Darko)
- [FRESH] Wiz Khalifa - Slim Peter
- Sandwitches - Tyler, the Creator & Hodgy Beats
- 3 6 Mafia - Break Da Law '95
- The Price of Tea In China Deluxe tracklist + cover (dropping friday)
- [FRESH] Blu & Exile - "The Feeling" feat. Jacinto Rhines
- [FRESH] Boldy James - Pots and Pans (feat. The Cool Kids & Shorty K)
- Kendrick Lamar and Chance The Rapper freestyling with Earth, Wind & Fire
- I've been secretly writing raps for the past year and today I've released my first music video!
- Yellowcard to Proceed With $15 Million Lawsuit Against Juice Wrld
- [FRESH ALBUM] Sahbabii - Barnacles
- DOOM - Gazzillion Ear (J Dilla)
- [FRESH VIDEO] Benny The Butcher - Deal Or No Deal (Official Video)
- [FRESH VIDEO] SahBabii - Tongue Demon
- City Morgue announce new project “Toxic Boogaloo” coming 7/31
- A Tribe Called Quest - God Lives Through (Busta Rhymes Remix)
| Throwback Write-Up #14: KMD - Black Bastards Posted: 07 Jul 2020 12:54 PM PDT Artist: KMD Album: Black Bastards Release Date: May 15, 2001 --- Listen: --- Formed in 1988 KMD (standing for Kausing Much Damage or a positive Kause in a Much Damaged society) was the hip hop trio formed around brothers Dingilizwe Dumille aka DJ Subroc and Daniel Dumile aka Zev Love X and later would don the villainous persona of MF DOOM. Dingilizwe and Daniel spent their child hood in and around New York City, spending much of their youth in Manhattan either attending school or skipping it. Daniel remembering his brother felt they were more like twins despite their two year age gap and that Dingilizwe had an old soul to him. They were originally completed by Rodan, all three of them Black Muslims from Long Beach New York, a city technically on Long Island but just outside the Queens burough line. The three were heavily active Nuwaubian Nation at the time. Along with hip hop the three original members were also heavily involved in graffiti art and break dancing and KMD originally started as a graffiti group, the letters chosen because it would look good in a tag with the actual meaning about them becoming an after thought. KMD's first moment of exposure came after a chance meeting with MC Serch of 3rd Bass, a native of nearby Far Rockway, caused him to invite Zev Love X to guest on a verse for the track "The Gas Face" for their upcoming album The Cactus Album. The verse caught the attention of A&R excutive Dante Ross then working with Elektra recrods, soon signing the trio to the label. Shortly Rodan left the group to focus on high school and was quickly replaced with Onyx the Birthstone Kid. Under Elektra the trio still in their teens wrote and produced Mr. Hood. Released in 1991 Mr. Hood was their well received and mildly successful debut album which combined conscious observations of slice of life scenarios and the black experience juxtaposed to found samples of old children's TV shows. Mr. Hood played out like a twisted segment of segment of Sesame Street, with the members of KMD talking to Bert (named Dr. Bert) and the titular Mr. Hood whose dialog was created from sampling voice lines from old instructional videos. It was a minor hit and with that came a change of pace and life style for the trio that would be reflected on their their follow up Black Bastards. By 1993 work had begun on Black Bastards but prior to the completion of the record DJ Subroc was killed in April of that year, struck by a car as he was trying to cross the Long Island Expressway. This left the completion of the album solely in the hands of Zev Love X as Onyx the Birthstone Kid had parted ways with the group. Further to the controversy was Elektra being very tepid on the album, the biggest reason being the album's cover art which featured a Sambo caricature hanging on a noose with the title Black Bastards spelled out but missing letters like a game of hang man. Elektra decided to cut ties with KMD offering Daniel Dumile twenty thousand dollars and the master tapes for Black Bastards. Dante Ross remembered the day Daniel picked up the check stating "man, I should get dropped more often, the is the most money I have ever made in the music game." Despite all the tragedies Daniel had that year Ross felt his demeanour was almost zen like in their last meeting. After that Daniel Dumile would disappear from the music industry only to return in 1998 under his MF Doom persona and that characters first album Operation Doomsday. --- Review We often mythologize music, giving weight, drama and gravitas to moments and people who otherwise probably just lived out their lives and dreams. Like many things in life it's easy to create a narrative when you're looking outside the moment, possibly decades away from when they happened. Yet when you look at the events that lead to the eventual creation of the now legendary and enigmatic rapper MF Doom it's hard not to do that. Doom, when he first appeared with nothing more than his deep drawl, b movie samples and menacing flow, was a mystery daring to be figured out. Where the hell does a guy in a metal mask come from? Is this to be taken seriously? Theatrics and hip hop go hand in hand and yet here it was taken to at least for the time its extreme, the thematic idea of a rapping "villain" permeating his debut Operation Doomsday. It's impossible not to try to put the dots together once you learn about who MF Doom was prior to the creation of the villainous villain. Formerly Zev Love X of the rap trio KMD Doom (real name Daniel Dumile) seemed a world away from what he would become in the early 90's. KMD had some of the future MF Doom DNA, most notably in sampling old TV shows of a certain era but the group, whose sound could be best described as De La Soul meets Brand Nubian, had a youthful exuberance that went along with a bright sound and tongue in cheek humour. This was best exemplified by their sole proper release Mr. Hood, a sort of inner city homage to Sesame Street. Still it's quite the leap, how did the teenager with the spunky vocals turn into the laconic Doom? Even prior to the release of Operation Doomsday the missing piece, the one that bridges the two worlds together, was a known commodity. Black Bastards was at the time something akin to the hip hop Smile Sessions for those who followed KMD and the rap scene that was just bubbling under the corporate mainstream closely. The project, doomed due to its controversial cover art and the death of the heart of KMD and Daniel Dumile's younger brother DJ Subroc, was quietly shelved by the group's label Elektra. In the ensuing years and ramping up after MF Doom released his debut the album merely existed as wisps of phantom boot legs of traded tapes and crappy mp3s that littered a pre broadband internet. In his recounts of the last days of Black Bastards Zev Love X mentioned that he scrambled to get the album completed but to no avail. KMD were dropped by their label, Daniel had lost his brother, the man would go into exile. Outside of the events that occurred surrounding Black Bastards though there's a lot, both musically and thematically, that links the two wildly different personas of Daniel Dumille. There is of course that striking album art, the sort of punch you in the face imagery that would fit more in line with the sinister Doom than previously with Zev Love X. And while DJ Subroc handled most of the production of Mr. Hood and did some of the work on Black Bastards it was Zev who had to finish the album and as such thrust him into the role of rapper/producer that would be a staple for the majority of MF Doom releases. Coming into KMD as a Doom fan gives some benefit of hindsight, album opener "Garbage Day #3" must've sound foreign to those who bootlegged the album on cassette, with its copious use of old movie samples of people using the n word but with now it sounds like a precursor to a similar track "One Smart N*****" off Take Me To Your Leader. Both are stirring indictments against racism without a word uttered by Dumile himself as he doesn't rap on either track. While Black Bastards contains the similar production styling of Mr. Hood, predominantly jazz influenced over big beats indicative of early 90's hip hop, the percussion is heavier and weightier and the subject matter much more personal and introspective than the broad culture clashes waded through on their debut. There's also an anger and menace, not as upfront as on future Doom albums but simmering underneath a smile. "Get U Now" has Zev Love X exposing on his need to defend himself with a gun, rapping about the firearms he has while his neighborhood slowly becomes more dangerous than before. "What A N**** Know?" sounds like the party jams that peppered Mr. Hood but presents serious looks into the loves of black youth of the time. Subroc joins Zev Love X talking about how they're drifting along, tempted at every corner due to their new found minor celebrity status. This sudden uptick in notoriety seems to be the permeating theme of the album. While Zev Love X and Subrock wore their muslim faith on their sleeves Black Bastards has a number of songs that deal with the temptation they've faced since their debut. "Plumskinnz" has Zev Love X going on about the type of women he likes, "Gimmie" has Subroc in a rare solo effort demanding everything a young man demands, a reflection of the signs of success being the material goods one can attain. Still it's the songs about drugs and alcohol that feel like a complete 180 of what KMD use to rap about. "Sweet Premium Wine" with its bouncy beat sounds like both an endorsement and an indictment for binge drinking. "Who said I drink? / I don't drink, I guzzle till I'm distorted" raps Subroc showing their new found love but dangerous relationship with alcohol. A common subject matter for most Doom albums songs about weed show up on Black Bastards and while "Smokin' That Shit" is a fun group track "Contact Blitz" just might be the most important song link between Zev Love X and Doom. The sole track that Zev gets sole production credits on Zev keeps his register but spits in that stream on concious constant flow that would become a signature of Doom. The track has a jazzy beat, but it has a roughness and raw edge that maybe because Elektra pulled the plug on the album but it's a similar rawness heard in future MF Doom tracks. Much of the ink written about Black Bastards has more to do with its place in one artists history rather than the album itself. While Black Bastards is an imperfect album it is an album that exists easily as itself. It shows a snapshot of young men trying to figure out what their values even are after their beliefs seemingly clash with what they were thrust into. While an amazing listen on its own it's also a curio of what could've been, KMD slowly switching gears from upbeat party songs to something more serious as the racial tension of the 90's would've most certainly reflected in their music. It was all ripped away by a series of tragic events only to have something otherworldly emerge from it. Black Bastards will always be an amazing album to disseminate and analyze in the history books, but we can't forget that a lot of what allows us to do that is the fact that at the end of the day it's a damn good hip hop album, one that probably couldn't have been produced any other era of the genre. --- Talking Points - Did you check out KMD when they first came out or did you go back to them after listening to MF Doom? - What direction do you think the group would've went had Subroc lived and the group remained on Elektra? - Are there any other legendary "lost albums" you can think of that are still unreleased? [link] [comments]  |
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| Did I just talk to Raekwon on the phone? Posted: 07 Jul 2020 05:53 PM PDT Here are the screenshots of our conversation. So I was on Facebook and I scrolled to a post that said Raekwon changed his phone number. I thought it was for booking or whatever, but I was bored so I called the number. I didn't get an answer, but he texted asking who I was. Me, who probably should've just said that I'm a fan, said that I'm Kanye West. So he was pretty much like "no you're not. You know what? I'm just going to call you." So I frantically installed a call recorder app to catch the conversation that lasted under 30 seconds. He was nice as all hell considering I kind of adopted a jerky tone due to nervousness (?) and I was wasting his time. I have a hunch that since his Facebook page was recently hacked, Facebook made him give his number as some sort of a verification, but he accidentally made it public. Because like ten minutes after the call, I noticed that the number was taken down. I'm not going to attempt to call him back or whatever and I'm not giving the number up, because he probably feels annoyed already. Edit due to typo [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 07 Jul 2020 07:21 AM PDT Aye @youngthug couple things: 1. Don't feel bad, NOBODY knew what the verse was abt. The label heads that stopped it didn't even know. They ONLY ASSUME because HE TOLD them! The same way HE TOLD abt the Ross "Maybach 6" verse. And if HE'LL tell record executives abt rap verses, God only knows what else HE'LL TELL! I don't deal in Police Work, Police Rappers or Police N*ggas!!! 2. @youngthug you were the last verse added to the song and that's ONLY because I requested YOU!! 3. And most important @youngthug , just so we are clear... I WOULD NEVER look or need YOUR respect for what is it I bring to this rap game!! @stevenvictor I demand you take me off the deluxe @realpopsmoke album to avoid any confusion that may take away from This amazing body of work! From rappers crying to record execs to blatant label censorship, I don't ride with none of it...but love every bit of it!! Now y'all run along and be gangsters, but u leave the devil alone! [link] [comments]  |
| Young Thug elaborates on issues with Pusha T on IG: “We kill for real” Posted: 07 Jul 2020 07:06 PM PDT |
| [FRESH ALBUM] SahBabii - Barnacles Posted: 07 Jul 2020 08:59 PM PDT Tracklist:
[link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 07 Jul 2020 10:40 PM PDT |
| Alt-right Florida Man Running for Congress disses Pusha T & Big Sean Posted: 07 Jul 2020 11:16 AM PDT https://twitter.com/KwCongressional/status/1280547774887575555 "Pusha T should not be revered as an icon. He is a crack cocaine dealer who comes up with nursery rhymes and puts them to music. Stop holding these people up as role models." https://twitter.com/KwCongressional/status/1280549044515934210 "Btw, Pusha T arguably had the second best verse on "Mercy" and that is not a testament to him - it's just a testament to how pitiful Big Sean is as an emcee." https://twitter.com/KwCongressional/status/1280563188187181056 "Kanye must have been doing charity by allowing Sean a contract. Detroit doesn't claim him. Arguably a female Dej Loaf, but at least Dej has melody. In any case, none of it matters. They are all Deep State like Patti LaBelle. Donate to my campaign:" [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 07 Jul 2020 12:47 AM PDT Young thug: "I don't respect the pusha t verse on the song with me and Gunna, cause I don't have nun to do with ya'll beef not does Gunna, and if I knew that was about him, I would've made changes on our behalf" He unnecessarily adds some homophobic shit at the end lol. [link] [comments]  |
| Former G.O.O.D. Music producer says Label Execs would ridicule Kanye West so bad he would cry Posted: 07 Jul 2020 07:53 AM PDT |
| City Morgue announce new mixtape titled "Toxic Boogaloo" dropping July 31st Posted: 07 Jul 2020 12:32 PM PDT The tape will be 13 tracks, no features, from Sosmula's Instagram story [link] [comments]  |
| [FRESH] Nyck Caution - Famiglia (feat. Meechy Darko) Posted: 07 Jul 2020 09:01 PM PDT |
| [FRESH] Wiz Khalifa - Slim Peter Posted: 07 Jul 2020 07:36 PM PDT |
| Sandwitches - Tyler, the Creator & Hodgy Beats Posted: 07 Jul 2020 06:44 PM PDT |
| Posted: 07 Jul 2020 12:40 PM PDT |
| The Price of Tea In China Deluxe tracklist + cover (dropping friday) Posted: 07 Jul 2020 07:42 AM PDT 13.Pots & Pans (feat. Cool Kids & Shorty K) 14.Belvedere 15.Bernadines 16.Don Flamenco (feat. Elcamino) [link] [comments]  |
| [FRESH] Blu & Exile - "The Feeling" feat. Jacinto Rhines Posted: 07 Jul 2020 09:21 PM PDT |
| [FRESH] Boldy James - Pots and Pans (feat. The Cool Kids & Shorty K) Posted: 07 Jul 2020 09:08 PM PDT |
| Kendrick Lamar and Chance The Rapper freestyling with Earth, Wind & Fire Posted: 07 Jul 2020 06:26 AM PDT |
| I've been secretly writing raps for the past year and today I've released my first music video! Posted: 07 Jul 2020 10:49 AM PDT Hey guys, I go by Javique. I am a filmmaker by trade but I've been working on music for the past little while and today I'm releasing the music video I made for myself during quarantine. The entire process has been informed by feelings of existential dread I've had for a while. I figured that if I'm going to scream into the void, it might as well be to a beat. Anyway, here it is: Javique - Videogames: https://youtu.be/lEjkNu7l9jo [link] [comments]  |
| Yellowcard to Proceed With $15 Million Lawsuit Against Juice Wrld Posted: 07 Jul 2020 12:59 PM PDT |
| [FRESH ALBUM] Sahbabii - Barnacles Posted: 07 Jul 2020 05:44 PM PDT |
| DOOM - Gazzillion Ear (J Dilla) Posted: 07 Jul 2020 09:48 PM PDT |
| [FRESH VIDEO] Benny The Butcher - Deal Or No Deal (Official Video) Posted: 07 Jul 2020 09:11 AM PDT |
| [FRESH VIDEO] SahBabii - Tongue Demon Posted: 07 Jul 2020 09:02 PM PDT |
| City Morgue announce new project “Toxic Boogaloo” coming 7/31 Posted: 07 Jul 2020 01:16 PM PDT 13 tracks with no features according to Sosmula/Zillakami's IG stories. [link] [comments]  |
| A Tribe Called Quest - God Lives Through (Busta Rhymes Remix) Posted: 07 Jul 2020 07:16 PM PDT |
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