This track has been out a while, but wow, look at Ciara. I love the rawness of My Goodies, however this is channeling a more J Lo and Beyonce sound plus Gaga styled pants. The more I listen to it the more I kind of like it - talking about love sex and magic is way more fun than being a poker face.

Latest craze in London town. I hate the sound of the genre 'funky' house but this track has got mine and others attention.

More intelligent than the Venga Boys but just as playful. Humming this in the studio - I suppose toddlers/young girls are more sophisticated these days. ma mum ma ma (?)

My favourite song and collaboration of 2008. Due to lack of good films on television over the holiday break, I watched music videos on The Box and various MTV channels. Flicking past the MTV dance channel I began to notice the current trend in euro-dance videos of 'empowered' females dancing in their underwear whilst tormenting an 'idiot' male - usually tied up or in some kind of dilemma. Similarly in the Guru Josh Project video Infinity (2008) the female protagonist hits a brick wall with a sledge hammer - in her underwear of course. I find this depiction of women unsettling and unnecessary. I also am dubious of the Kid Cudi's Vs Crookers video of Day 'n' Night.

Cudi said the following on his website on Dec 5th:

'SEE, THIS IS ONE OF THE REASONS I HATE THIS INDUSTRY….MUTHAFUCKAS GET CONTROL OVER YA MUSIC AND YA IMAGE AND DO WUTEVER THE FUCK THEY WANT TO DO WIT IT….THIS CROOKERS VIDEO WAS NOT APPROVED BY ANYONE ON MY TEAM….WE JUS EXPRESSED TO THE PEOPLE WHO SHOT THE VIDEO AND TOL THEM WE DIDNT LIKE IT AND WANTED TO TRY SUTTIN DIFF, NEXT THING U KNO WITHIN HOURS ITS ALLLLLLL OVER THE FUCKIN INTERNET….NOW, SUTTIN SEEMS FISHY HERE…..ID B WRONG TO START PUNCHIN MUTHAFUCKAS IN THE JAW BONE (AND IM REALLLLY NOT A VIOLENT PERSON, I HATE VIOLENCE ACTUALLY) BUT DATS HONESTLY HOW I FEEL RITE NOW….PEOPLE R TAKIN SUTTIN I CREATED, SUTTIN DATS SPECIAL TO ME AND PUTTIN IT OUT CUZ THEY WANT TO…'

and on Dec 30th Cudi said this:

'I WASNT SAYIN I DIDNT LIKE THE CROOKERS REMIX OF MY SONG (I LOVE DAT SHIT ACTUALLY), I WAS ONLY MAKIN REFERENCE TO THE MUSIC VIDEO…

AND ALSO, AFTER SEEIN PEOPLE EMBRACE THE VIDEO IM NOT MAD ANYMORE…JUS A LIL DISAPPOINTED THAT SHIT WAS HANDLED WITOUT MY CONSENT….BUT WATER UNDER THE BRIDGE I GUESS'...

CUDI - HOLD MY JAR - I'M GONNA DANCE WIV DIZZEE.

I love how Little Boots integrates the stylophone into her track Meddle. She also does a great version of Wiley's 'Wearing My Rolex' - see video below. A star is born.

KID Cudi's music is described on his official website as 'the next level of music in our generation and for generations to come'. Cudi (originally from Cleveland, Ohio) fuses alternative rock, hip hop and occasionally R & B, to form feel good and emotionally honest records. He is signed to Fools Gold (A-trak's label) who also work with Chromeo, Jokers of the Scene, Kid Sister and Nacho Lovers, to name just a few. I think Kid Cudi is about to explode in popularity, his music is great, he looks hot and seems really likeable especially when compared with musical predecessors such as Tricky. Below is an Kid Cudi interview with the wonderfully named Gak City and click here for a link to his mixtape.

Here is the new Nic James mix-tape recorded for his Saturday night residency at POGO. Download it here (YSI) it's cool.

Tittsworth feat Kid Sister and Pase Rock – WTF

Fully Fitted/xxxchange – 100 million

Wiley – Wearing My Rolex

Santogold – Shove It (Switch mix)

Steve Angelo & Laidback Luke - be (dj Sega remix)

Evil nine – All the cash (Mumdance Remix)

A-Trak – Say Woah

South Rakkas Crew – Get Mad Again (dj Sega remix)

Elephant Man – We Ketch Dem

Fambo – Pon Di Pole

Mr. Evil – She Waaah

Sean Paul – Don’ tease me

Thunderheist – Jerk it

Say Wut – Go Part 2

Top Billin – Starlyte

Treasure Fingers – Cross the Dancefloor

Treasure Fingers – Cross the Dancefloor (Curses remix)

The Count and Sinden – Beeper (Fake Blood Mix)

The Count and Sinden – Beeper (A-Track Mix)

Sunship feat Warrior Queen – Quits (Sinden mix)

Lil’ Wayne – A Milli (Scottie B)

Skream – Midnight Request Line

Benga & Coki – Night

Dizzee Rascal feat Bun B & Pimp C – Where’s da G’s

Dude & Nem feat Twista– Watch My Feet (remix)

Jay-Z feat Bun B & Pimp C – Big Pimpin

Coco Tea – Barak Obahma

Anthony B – God Above Eveything

MIA feat Bun B & Rich Boy – Paper Planes (remix) 

Trellick Tower, West London. Designed by Erno Goldfinger
Photo by A.M. (aug 2008)

Ghislain Poirier released Cosmopolitan Bass (Zshare) here on September 9th. I was reminded of this mix from my previous post Brooklyn/Crumlin. The mix brings back, fond memories of Carnival (and more) as it has an eclectic mix of hip-hop/ragga/bass and more from all over the world : Montréal, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Jamaïca, Sweden, France, Burkina Faso, South Africa, Haïti, Barbados, Trinidad, UK, Senegal etc. (ra ra)

I was over at Suck My Art and [dave]'s post Buff Nuff, with a chuckle-out-loud video of Roots Manuva's new single Buff Nuff, reminded me of one of my favourite tracks of late - Waxmaster's rework of Soft Tigers' Ice Cream. The original version of Mr. Ice Cream and it's video, whilst containing an element of nostalgia and humour similar to Buff Nuff does not have the same impact as the Waxmaster's rework. Have a listen and watch here:

My absence on this blog has been due to a number of elements - some meets, contemplative moods, a 16mm film course, live music and social behavior. This was a necessity as there are only so many clips one can watch on You Tube for inspiration.

Inspired by a long conversation about misogyny in hip-hop with the artist Declan Clarke, I decided to make this mix. It combines what is fresh in hip-hop and other genres such as funky/niche and baltimore club. Boys and girls discuss widely differing topics, from beating with a branch the girl that slept with your boyfriend, through to immigration difficulties, but many of the songs contain what could be construed as misogynous lyrics (even if they are delivered by women).

The Guardian has an influx of letters regarding Jay-Z headlining at Glastonbury - one journalist is delighted to have the chance to sing along to Jay-Z hits in the rain, and believes the criticism of Jay Z's headline slot reflects an underlying racism from the critics of the festival line up, whilst a reader suggests that the journalist must have no problems with misogyny as the song contains the pithy couplet: "If you having girl problems I feel bad for you son, I got 99 problems but a bitch ain't one". Im not a fan of Jay-Z but I am a fan of Dr. Dre's Chronic 2001 which does contain misogynous lyrics. What is that saying about me? Am I a bad woman?

MissOgnUs Mega Mix (mixed by A.M.)

Vampire Weekend - Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa (Black Dominoes Remix)
Rye Rye - Shake It To The Ground (Air Jahed Remix)
Spank Rock - Loose (DJ Ayres Remix)
Afrikan Boy - Lidl
Spank Rock - Bootay
Wiley - Wearing My Rolex
Dizee Rascal - Pussyole (DJ Beware Remix)
M.I.A. - Big Branch
Fannypack - Theme from Fannypack
Pase Rock - Lindsey Lohan's Revenge
Ciara featuring M.I.A. - My Goodies (Richard X Remix)
The Gossip - Yr Mangled Heart (Tiga's Congobreak)
Team Shadetek - Brooklyn Anthem (Ghislain Porier Remix)
Ghostface Killah - Charlie Brown (DJ Mehdi Remix feat. Mapei)

In the past few weeks I have noticed a revival of the Funkadelic/Parliament vision of the futuristic. The DFA remix of M.I.A.'s Paper Planes, while more reminiscent of an updated clash than p-funk, has laser beam shooting effects instead of the gun shots that you hear in the original. I watched a random episode of The Mighty Boosh and the character Old Gregg had a Funkadelic funk. Old Gregg's story of how he got this funk was portrayed by an animation akin to the illustrations that are seen on the album covers of funkadelic records. The video below is Snoop Dogg having a great old funkadelic time. Hardcore fans think he is selling out by using a vocoder but I think it's genius.

Snoop Dogg 'Sexual Eruption/Sexual Seduction' (2007/2008)


Funkadelic 'I Got A Thing, You Got A Thing, Everybody's Got A Thing' 1970