El Guante showcase

Big up the whole Tru Roots Cru and especially my man El Guante for looking me up and exposing me to their far-out sounds. I got the opportunity to both peep El's newest platter (a real gem) as well as check out his CD release show in Minneapolis a few weeks back. Here is the CP blog posting for a review of both:

http://blogs.citypages.com/ctg/2008/03/edutainment_jor_1.php

I'm happy to be a part of spreading the word on their movement, and you should too. Tell a friend, honkie.

City Pages update: March 18th-25th

Two a-listers this week. I tend to think my Flo Rida preview is hilariously flippant, but I probably wouldn't want to run into dude in a dark alley (he's a big dude i think!):

http://articles.citypages.com/2008-03-19/calendar/plies-and-flo-rida/

Also, local act Muja Messiah brought fire to his recent show:

http://articles.citypages.com/2008-03-19/calendar/muja-messiah-cd-release-show/

As a bonus, check out this "Crescent Moon is in Big Trouble" EP review, hot off the press. And then go and get the damn thing already:

http://articles.citypages.com/2008-03-26/music/big-trouble-featuring-crescent-moon/

Holla!

Prof, "Project Gampo" on rapreviews.com

Here's a piece I hooked up for local Southside representer Prof, of the group Prof and Rahzwell. I've been sitting on this album for about a month, cuz although I like it a lot, I'm a lazy asshole sometimes. But, it's done now and hopefully cats from outside of the Minnie will read it and check the kid out. Yep, move and grind pauw.

http://www.rapreviews.com/ (better link coming next week...)

Classic rapreviews.com platters, Vol.3: raptivisms and edutainment

Today's nostalgia trip features two jewelz (i see you O.C.!) from my early rapreviews.com output, when the kid was still pretty idealistic and wet behind these now sullied ears. Injecting plenty of my own brand of largely uninformed socioeconomic and political thought into my pieces was (and still is) a risky move, but I think I pulled it off alright (ya'll can b the judge an' jury on that count).

Dead Prez has been a shining light in the darkness since I caught that gorilla of a song "Hip Hop" back in 2000, but I was surprised at the Outlawz political awareness at the time (shouldn't have been though, considering their slain leaders nuanced stances):

http://www.rapreviews.com/archive/2006_07_dopeforever.html

This second disc flew right under the radar (I never saw a copy in stores or heard anything about it before or since my review), but its a great little sampler nonetheless. I do hope my review made a few heads look at some of these artists and their cause though:

http://www.rapreviews.com/archive/2006_07_restlessnatives.html

Respect due!!!

City Pages weekly update: March 5th

This week's edition finds me with two submitted A-lists featured prominently in the back of the music section. According to my editor (It would be easy to channel my anger at the decreased opportunities for publication at her if she wasn't in the same frustrating boat as me), the corporate takeover of the "alternative" weekly by wolf-in-sheep's-clothing conglomerate Village Voice Media Holdings has led to decreasing content space and increased ad space. Cutting corners to save a few bucks for the major shareholders has never been more fun, and the neat and tidy $60 CD review that was once my bread-and-butter is now largely a thing of the past. I guess no one buys CDs anymore anyway, but the whole thing's depressing nonetheless. Now I have a backlog of great indy hip hop I've been sent that will never get the exposure it merits. And my pockets continue to get flatter. But without further ado, here are two shows that will be worth checking out, especially the Big Trouble gig tomorrow:

Big Trouble
Bryant-Lake Bowl Theater
To celebrate the release of their cleverly titled EP, Crescent Moon Is in Big Trouble, the local all-star group of Twin Cities musical staples Big Trouble bowls through Bryant-Lake on Thursday, giving anyone who likes music a chance to satisfy her craving for it. Too broad for you? Sorry, but it's hard not to recommend Big Trouble to anyone at all, what with members deriving from TC staples such as Heiruspecs, Martin Devaney, and Joanna James, with enticing guests always a possibility, and with a musical vocabulary that runs the gamut of shit you're likely to hear on the Current (and that's mostly a compliment). As an extra tasty icing on this four-layer cake, MC Crescent Moon lends his formidable vocal presence to the release and show. Let's review then: a group of maestros with an eclectic and far-reaching repertoire? Check. A killer on the mic? Check. Smiles on the faces of everyone from hippie-dippies and hipsters to backpackers and knapsackers, all uniting in harmony under the banner of good music? Check please, I'm there. $9. 9:30 p.m. 810 W. Lake St.; Minneapolis; 612.825.3737. —Jordan Selbo

___________________________
Ying Yang Twins
Trocaderos
Don't front—if you really went to a rap show to hear intricate lyrics full of subtle metaphor and internal rhyme structures, you'd bring your headphones and crash in the corner. For the rest of us, dropping 25 duckets for the live version is a chance to reenact some sweaty bedroom gyrations and get funky in public (although it's usually dark in da club, mercifully); if you're real lucky, you might just get sardined against a dime piece with some class, or at least a decent bump. Swinging over to us from a stop in Wisconsin's frigid wasteland (devoid of all things hip-hoppy), the Ying Yang's "Spring Break Concert" is the ideal venue to work off all that cabin-fever dead-skin build-up. I suspect that in this classy venue, the Twins will be even more raucous than usual, leaving me to do the easy part—chant along to their stupid choruses, twerk to the booty beats, and ice grill every sucker who dares step on my 10-dollar sneakers. With J Kwon, Meech, and Mike Page. 18+. $25. 8 p.m. 107 Third Ave. N., Minneapolis; 612.465.0440. —Jordan Selbo

Goin' way way back: Mac Weekly archives

Peoples! Take that pillow from your head and put a book in it! In my exhaustive quest to archive every last shred of music writing I've gathered under my belt thus far, today inevitably takes me back to the start. Senior year of college, last semester. After 3.5 years of inactivity and non-participation (save for a semi-regular rap radio show that burned up the airwaves every weekend, at least within the 2 mile radius our signal reached), I inexplicably expressed a desire to wax poetic in our school's newspaper The Mac Weekly. Due to irresponsible arts editors I was given a free hand to review and comment on some of my favorite rappers-- De La, the Liks, OutKast and Ghostface, among others. And they even reimbursed me for CD purchases! And that brief stint as a spring freelancer launched the prolific career I presently enjoy. That summer, while idly wasting my days at the Mac library, I saw rapreviews.com had an opening...the rest is history, a history full of White Mikes, puny $50 monthly stipends, on to Rock the Bells and pimp status. So kiddies, peep game and learn how to respect the name:

http://www.themacweekly.com/home/index.cfm?q=Selbo&event=displaySearchResults&buttonPushed=1

(I apologize for the navigation and readability of these links, as Mac Weekly seems to have problems archiving...typical)

Classic rapreviews.com platters, Vol.2: "get ridda that devil real simple..."

The second installment of my superfun blast-from-da-past nostaliga trip (cuz tripping is the only thing i seem to be capable of these days, crumb crumblers) focuses on my loving and high-minded ode to, and equally passionate lamentation for, Ice Cube's brilliant early career and its subsequent demise. It's a little heavy-handed, a little pretentious, and a lot kick-ass. Read it and weep, despite the typos, how was I ever this articulate? Must've been before spliff number 1000 put me over the edge...

http://www.rapreviews.com/archive/BTTL_deathcertificate.html