A few months back, in the midst of all the daily poutine we have to deal with, I asked kinda randomly my ex-roomie and good friend Crystelle to see if she could come up with something, graphic-wise, with a concept for a card, a signature if I may say, for my DJing engagements, for me to have something to give people who ask for info for me to play music for them. She stayed quiet about it for a short while. This one day she asked if I had an old vynil I could let go of so she could work something out of it… Little did I know she was going to have the wonderful idea of carving a business card, so-to speak, out of it… This is just the beginning but Boy was I overwhelmed when I first saw this piece… Thank you for your sublety Crystelle, a surprise is always welcomed.

Talk about first impressions now…!

You can witness her work here.

The images of that video are so figurative, it’s almost hard to believe they actually shot all of that…!!! Love the rawness… Peace out Geto Boys.

As I prepare to hit the road for an excursions through NYC, I came across that joint from the Bay area female crew The Conscisous Daughters (TCD) who happened to hit it up straight with that joint back in ’94. Don’t get fooled by the matching of the lyrics with their lips… It ain’t gonna happen! That to me however is a definite Golden Era classic.

While Stones Throw is promoting this lovely gem of a track by Mayer Hawthorne, Maybe So, Maybe no, it just so happens that he’s visiting Montreal this weekend with the head of his label Peanut Butter Wolf, James Pants and electro-funk extraordinaire Däm Funk. You now know where to find me saturday night.

According to XXL Magazine and as reported on Okayplayer, The Roots will release their 9th studio album by the time summer’s upon us. Just over a year after Rising Down dropped, it’ll be interesting to see who Black Thought and ?uestlove will have as guest appearances on their gospel inspired titled opus. Serving as house band for NBC’s Late Night Show with Jimmy Fallon for the past 6 months, will it make for an easier welcoming by the mainstream media…?
Nah… who cares. It’s The Roots we’re talking about here.

My digital DJ system of preference, Traktor Scratch from Native Instruments, just got a new facelift for the hiphop/scratch DJs out there. A lot of what had been done to improve the practicallity of it so far really concerned the electronic-scene DJs i thought, but this new package sounds awfully sweet. As hard as it is to keep up with technology in general, when it concerns one’s passion, it’s that much more challenging… for the spirit… and the wallet!!

Scratchworx Review

My man DJ Lexis over at MIMS really puts out amazing podcasts just about every month. We’ve been friends for close to a decade (so long to our football years at Concordia University… yeah we’re jocks too), and ever since i got into Djing, he’s been a big time influence on the direction i’ve taken and how I approach things. If you happen to live or swing by (!) Montreal on a Friday night, you can catch him over at Blizzarts on St-Laurent St. for his weekly gig titled The Bridge. He, his usual partner in crime, SevDee and his various guests (Bliss, Moonstarr, Christian Pronovost, Ghislain Poirier and so on) vary the menu quite nicely for the usually very openminded crowd of this bar/art exibit/lounge. I could obviously tell you more about our Jameson tales and whatnot but i’ll let this interview do the rest for me.

Focusedmag interview

Not that Apple needs my contribution to sell their stuff but I think the new iPod Shuffle is pretty innovative and slick. Still brilliantly small, the new iPod can now hold up to 4GB of your fave tunes.
VoiceOver is the remarkable new feature that now gives this gadget a voice. It tells you what song is playing and who’s performing it. It can even tell you the names of your playlists. I’m hitting my Apple store on Ste-Catherine St. right after work. Later Nodders.

If HipHop was a shoe what else would it be??? Thanks to Jam Master Jay (RIP) and Run DMC for making such a strong statement. In honor of its longevity and due to an aggravated personal addiction to the shelltoe, UK’s own DJ Chris Read produced this meaningful tidbit of a track.

Tribute to the Adidas Shelltoe

By the end of the month the wait will be over. K-os’ new gem, Yes!, will be out gracieusete of Virgin (US) and EMI (Canada). Obviously the many teases that have leaked out kinda overshadow the actual release, but still, the quality of Mr. Brereton’s material still makes the decision to buy his record a no-brainer. Although it was originally set to be in stores in ’08, my anticipation didn’t budge. I cannot wait to have him perform again in Montreal. Geee, I’m calling Greenland now.

The Avenue