Well here’s the first studio release of the drum n bass odyssey I’m now wandering. Oddly enough, it was the latest song I recorded. Kitech and Dylan have been working with myself and the usual suspects (Curly Castro and Elucid) on some boneyard break downs; some joints are straight up drum n bass like “Embryo”, others are dubstep, newer ones are hip hop in the vein of The Clipse’s “Mr. Me Too” on mescaline.
I’ve been speaking about these tracks the past few months on Twitter, so I’m really excited for you to hear a snippet of what to expect. Head over to Dubplate Digest for Kitech’s Summer Mix. If you’d like to skip the foreplay, I pop up 14 minutes into the mix on the track “Embryo” produced by Kitech aka Declan McManus, International Art Thief.
And here’s the lyrics to “Embryo” as a special treat, like Taco Night or finding a half empty bottle of Absinthe behind the canned goods in your cupboard.
He ain’t even lying
The leather holster tightened
Missing posters heightened
Hiding from the sirens
Shark tank fangs, money sank
Phife Dawg off the Muddy Ranks
Buddy buddy guns all up in your face
Leave the ratchets in the case
The have nots and the barely haves
Cook it up, I’m Breaking Bad
I’m Henry Hill, taking half
Quiet money’s made to last
Mr Freeze put your wife’s face behind glass
Embryonic solid, cubes are very polished
Palookas with my name in their mouths getting nauseous
I don’t blame ‘em, I lambast and baste them
Nothing comes your way when you chase it
I’m living where the bass hits, rattle off my glass walls
Bum a couple gaspers from fat chicks at last call
I hired highbinders to find you in Ft. Myers
File orphan papers tonight, you gon’ retire
Flip a coin, really. I’m about to start a separate wing in the Verse of the Year section on this blog just for Elzhi. Already had him for “Motown 25″ and Slum’s “In Da Night”. And Royce was a previous nominee for his “Royal Flush” freestyle off Bar Exam 2. In reality, Detroit should run away with this honor every year.
Today I’m formally announcing that I’ve joined World Around Records. I feel like apprentice Kanye West in the “Through the Wire” video when he was being knighted by Sir Damon Dash of Kimsborough live on stage declaring his allegiance to the Roc-a-Fella monolithic empire that once reached the Balkan peninsula (now controlled by Amalgam Digital).
I’ve been a disciple of Justin Boland’s Audible Hype blog for several months now and lucked out by discovering he and his partner, Dr. Quandry, not only house several strange and eclectic hip hop groups from around the globe, but they make no bones about what they are: a hybrid label of sorts where music is priority, artwork is valued, and new ideas and radical notions of releasing hip hop music in this decade are welcomed.
I’ve been putting out records since 2006 and these are the first guys to share my train of thought about how to promote, appease diehard and casual listeners, carve out a niche in a depressingly saturated market, and how to present it all in a fashion that’s exciting. It’s quite a thrill to speak the same language, albeit with a guy who has released music under the alias Humpasarus Jones, but then again I’ve recorded an unreleased EP under the guise El Mingo Johnsson, so we’re one in the same.
The Weak Stomach EP will also have a brand new posse cut from all three of us emcees called “We Got Fangs This Year”, with lyrics referencing Christna Hendricks (my next ex-wife), Hoop Dreams, Desperado,Breaking Bad, Linda Fiorentino, The Hold Steady, Bram Stoker, and more. It’s some hip hop shit. Small Pro is laboring on the remix now while he moves into Schooly D’s old crib and Egon Brainparts of “Dead Queens 2″ fame will construct a vastly different flip of “Weak Stomach” with vintage keyboards and mariachi records stuffed behind his washer/dryer.
I’ll also be releasing my long awaited solo project Fall Back Friday, last mentioned in ’08 on the Bring Me the Head of Zilla Rocca mixtape. The album has been finished, oh say, a good 29 times since 2007, but you can’t rush perfection, and Degree is really PH balanced for women. Thus far, it’s sounding like a lost case file from the Shadowboxer detective agency — similar paperwork but the in-ceiling Bose speakers are playing dub and Spanish pop and Just Blaze-esque bangers produced by myself and a gang of homies, new and old.
Anyway, it’s been a transitional year and I’m jumping like a Mexican termite with all this great music on the way to you and yours. Thanks for sticking it out with me. Here’s a treat from Mexicans with Guns aka the Best Music Video of 2010:
It’s hard to claim exclusivity these days when the streets are SOOOO thirsty, they have already posted the long-awaited video from 5 O’Clock Shadowboxers f/ Has-Lo, Elucid, and Nico the Beast here, here, and yes here.
Bastards. But by catching the video here, you get the exclusive “Director’s Commentary” and precious “Making Of” anecdotes that I share with any major release upon it’s deliverance to the outside world.
Quick backstory on the making of “No Resolution 2″:
Elucid was the key to this entire creation which you now see and hear. I remember Haj of Dumhi and Small Pro talking up Elucid 2 years ago when he put out Smash & Grab. I put it on my list of Things To Download and Catch Up On, but as I’m prone to do, I totally forgot about it. Fast forward to last year during the promo run for The Slow Twilight. An Australian blog Straight Outta Kingston did a niece piece on the album, then went back and grabbed my mixtape Bring Me the Head of Zilla Rocca and posted it up alongside….Elucid’s Smash & Grab. The sound Aussie, Nick, who did the piece, he and I got chummy. He said Elucid and I were the only rappers he was listening to and that I should do a song with the mystery man of Lessondary. Well now I had simply no excuse not to familiarize myself with the man.
After downloading Smash and Grab and loving it, I reached out to Elucid, sent him the track, and he responded by totally nailing the essence of the original. His voice was so gripping and fierce, I thought it would be cool to have my homie Has-Lo jump on with his calm, nihilistic tone to balance out the track. He was a big fan of the LP and wanted to get on something Shadowbox-y. After a few weeks, he stopped by the studio and laid down his verse, paying homage to Tyler Durden and Fight Club. My verse was already done at this point, a dystopian flip of Nas’ rhyme on “Get Down” (peep the flow structure). At that point (this is probably August-September ’09) I figured the track was done in the order of emcees as it is on the song. Then one day, I realized if “No Resolution 2″ was going to be a full-on posse cut that could upend the original, which was alot of people’s favorite off the LP, then I had to get Nico the Beast to round it out. He was the only guest on The Slow Twilight. I told him I wanted him to take it back to 2006-2007 when we were writing the Clean Guns mixtape Living in Harmony, just super lyrical, crazy underground energy, tons of words, etc. I asked him to deliver a personal and violent verse with wordplay like he did on “Hell’s Winter Freestyle” from that mixtape, not a tall order since it was probably not even a month removed from the tragic death of son Domenic Jr. And man oh man, did he bring the goods. Even though we’ve since parted ways, I still get this particular verse of his stuck in my head for days every now and then. In my mind, this is the best verse he’s ever written and I was lucky enough to capture it for this song.
The following month was October, and Elucid and Shadowboxers were booked to play the Khyber (RIP) in Philadelphia. We all got a chance to do this song live to close out my set — the energy on-stage for that performance was astounding. The audience was enthralled. It was that night that Curly Castro ran up to me, wildly enthusiastic, saying he knew what the video for the song would be: a take-off on 12 Angry Men, one of his favorite movies, where each of us would assume a character from the film. I ended up reaching out to Lyle Horowitz of 5846 Films after seeing his work with CapricornOne (Elucid x El Carnicero) and their remix of “Skullcrusher”. Again, Elucid was the key in getting Lyle and myself together.
So here we are, almost a full year since the song was recorded, with the first video from Broken Clocks EP. I love it when a plan comes together in a completely random and long stretching fashion all centered around the gulliest cat to ever hang with Tanya Morgan.
*****
Here’s the Bandcamp player which leads to our page for the free DL of “No Resolution 2″ off Broken Clocks EP:
Sitting on stacks of music is something I struggle with, especially when it’s rhyming over one of my favorite beats in the overlooked Def Jux catalogue. Then again, with El-P dropping his new album today, we figured what better time than the present to unleash this track over one of his most subterranean primal beats.
The original “Life’s Ill” by Cannibal Ox featuring Breeze Brewin was released on the daft maxi-single for The F Word, which featured RJD2′s landmark remix for the song where Vast Aire got the hand from an sweet lil’ honey dip in Harlem. “Life’s Ill” never popped up anywhere else — it was a song recorded supposedly after Vordul Mega got jumped and beaten up badly by an overzealous fan who had loose ties with members of the Demigodz. Throw in Juggaknot anchor and Weathermen affiliate Breeze Brewin and you have the makings of a stand out b-side. Def Jux was absolutely on fire when this originally dropped in 2001, and Cannibal Ox was cementing a one-album legacy with The Cold Vein. This song has been so forgotten that when I googled searched “Life’s Ill” all I got was results for Red Cafe’s “I’m Ill”. Atoms Fam is not amused.
Curly Castro and I decided to blow the dust off my old maxi-single CD and go to work on this instrumental. Plus Castro is one of 39 confirmed diehard fans of Vordul Mega on the eastern seaboard. And I wanted to add another “freestyle” track to the docket under the Shadowboxers name since we covered J Dilla’s “King”. I know Douglas Martin co-signs any song paying homage to the guys who wrote “Straight off the D.I.C.”
“The only thing worse than writing is not writing”–Richard Price
It’s a different world out there.
I apologize for the severe lack of activity here at the blog. Some contributing factors to the cobwebs collecting in the chimney:
-Many of my favorite blogs are no longer around. It’s hard to want to contribute to the daily online dialogue when your heroes and homies have closed up shop. Much respect to my buddies at The Passion of the Weiss, Bloggerhouse, Straight Bangin, 33jones.com and a select few others – I’d be lost like Snoop Dogg during his No Limit run if those guys weren’t banging out hits like Rod Carew.
-Twitter has changed our lives– fully formed ideas are rarely marinated anymore, instead just coughed up instantly like Pez candy in tiny tablets. I’m guilty of this myself. Plus, this site has never had a ton of comments, so it’s fun to exchange in instant dialogue with folks new and old with the stroke of an “@” about LeBron, comic books, new records, and other minutiae.
-I’ve started and ended some important relationships. It’s hard to write about Breaking Bad and buying used CD’s on here when plates are shifting and quaking all around you.
-Pushing myself out of hip hop comfort zone, I’m collaborating now with cats in dubstep, drum n’ bass, live funk and whatever else passes the dutchie pon the left hand side. It’s taxing to say the least. I take extreme care when writing lyrics, and going from 90bpm to 179bpm in a different genre all together splits my skull at times. The challenge is amazing though — I think you will all be intrigued and hopefully enjoy the output whenever these records drop. I’ve always treated listeners like my favorite writers, artists, and directors have treated me: with respect to my intelligence and a trust that no matter how weird or layered things appear at first glance, there is always a payoff coming. I’ve played it straight for too long. It’s time to stir things up.
-I’ve discovered Tumblr. In case you haven’t glanced at it, the Shadowboxers Tumblr page is my new toy. I’ve always been into imagery, from comic books to Matthew Barney mindfucks, and sometimes it’s easier to channel my daily impulses via through a still of the Sandman. Also, like Twitter, Tumblr is a new toy that I haven’t burned out yet like that year my parents got me a Talkboy for Christmas, but it’ll run its course eventually. That’s what all this stuff is: new collectables for our online desires. Myspace, Facebook, WordPress, Tumblr, Twitter, Soundcloud, Bandcamp. We are hooked at first, then a newer version comes along with an adjustable kung fu grip and we leave the old toys behind. Isn’t it weird when you get random inbox reminders from MySpace? Tha Kid Yung $antana has posted a comment on your wall. It’s like a reminder to get a VHS head cleaner. Who gives a good goddman?
So why go through all of this? Well, the truth is I value every single person who visits Clap Cowards every day, whether you came aboard after my Beat Generation columns at Passion of the Weiss or you searched “Eva Mendas Ass” and bookmarked me by accident (you wouldn’t believe how generous my review of The Spirit has been to the hit count of this site via Google searches from horny boys). I know what’s it like to keep visiting a blog that doesn’t update itself at least 2-3 times a week…what GIVES man? I don’t want to give the impression that my blog is becoming an abandoned mini-mall like so many others. I have to figure out what is worth writing about now because frankly there’s too many outlets with people writing and sharing things much better than I can. I’m open to any suggestions in the comment box. It’s fun to riff on the awesomeness of Raekwon or the glory that was NHL ’96 for Sega Genesis and I hope to get the bug to bang out more posts like that, because that’s what this blog was all about — writing about whatever the hell tickled my conciousness. So maybe this will morph into something brand new when all the social networking/arthouse apps clear out and we’re back to the business of wiping out print media again.
Either way, I applaud you as always for giving me your time. Here’s my thanks to you because yesterday I realized line for line, bar for bar, style upon style, this is the greatest rap posse cut of all time in terms of being an actual “song”, not remix nor “breakout moment for Rapper X”:
After the good vibes I collected from Fade to Blonde, I thought it would only be righteous to compile another mix of actual music that soundtracked our last party here on South Street in Philadelphia. The latest party was for 4th of July. To celebrate the day of penultimate patriotism, we brought the essentials: burgers, fresh cherries, lite beer that tastes like lime, tiny fire crackers, absinthe, and of course….wrongful arrests. Realize it’s all real (c) Pitch Black
Naturally, selections from the Team America World Police soundtrack had to be included, as was J Dilla’s funky takedown of Detroit’s finest boys in blue. There all here, from Hudson Mohawke to The Kills to a spry LL Cool J lusting for bouncing earrings, chilling on the front deck, stuffing their faces with hot dogs, and doing the Dame Dash dance to “Throw Some D’s On It”. Hope you enjoy it!
Tracklisting:
1. America (F*** Yeah) – Team America World Police
2. Party is Goin’ On Over Here – Busta Rhymes
3. Let Me Ride – Dr. Dre
4. Things Are Getting Better – N.E.R.D.
5. Jingling Baby (Remix) – LL Cool J
6. My Doorbell – The White Stripes
7. Encore (Dangermouse Remix) – Jay-Z & The Beatles
8. Take Me I’m Yours – Squeeze
9. Save Their Souls (DJ Spinna Mix) – Bohannon
10. How to Roll a Blunt – Redman
11. Kryptonite – Purple Ribbon All-Stars
12. Fuse – Hudson Mohawke
13. F*** the Police – J Dilla
14. Getting Down – The Kills
15. Floozy – The Knux
16. Mary Jane (DJ Spinna Mix) – Rick James
17. Soul to Squeeze – Red Hot Chili Peppers
18. America (F*** Yeah) Reprise – Team America World Police
A quick 3 minutes of off-the-head dexterity over a cut from Tobacco’s new unmercifully funky release Maniac Meat. Live from the Mar Bar on June 19th. Adjust your speakers accordingly–this joint is bass HEAVY.
We’ll be bringing the pain this Sunday at the M Room for the all ages event GENTRIFEST alongside punk bands, Suicide Girls, and the homies Dumhi and Random. Poster for the show will be up tomorrow, gumshoes.
Originally titled "Half Baked 2: Shelved Because of Todd Bridges"
After the worldwide acclaim on guys named Guy (or “gees” named “Gee” for our Canadian friends) via the massiva NHL Sega Genesis opus spawned by Doc Zeus and I a few months ago, I wanted to work with more of the best writers on the internet today in a way that was loose and fun like an’ old jamband getting busy in the garage on a Sunday afternoon or like Superhead after a wine cooler.
Today’s kickoff is who should the Bulls/Knicks/Clippers/Heat/Nets/Knicks persue alongside LeBron James if they are serious about winning a championship?
1. Dirk Nowitzki
He has an opt-out clause and hasn’t made up his mind on returning to Dallas. He’s the perfect #2 guy — over 30 years old, made a douzedorf full of cash, hasn’t won it all yet. I don’t think Bosh wants to play Robin just yet–he wants to maximize his exposure and get paid first. Boozer has already proven to be a dick and just want that cream. And I don’t know how well Amare would do realistically without Nash (see Marion, Shawn). Dirk needs a title to cement his legacy. He ain’t going out like this.
Trey Kerby:
I wish Dirk would be a Bull, but there’s no way he leaves Dallas. Cuban’s like his best friend. I’d love it, but no way. Amar’e Stoudemire played without Nash his first two years and went 20 and 10. With Stephon Marbury as his point guard, and that’s before he had a jump shot. Get this man a Bulls jersey ASAP.
2. Ray Allen
It would behoove Boston to re-sign him, but he really could be Reggie Miller 2.0 and play at a decent rate until he’s 38 years old. He’s one of the few guys who every time he lets the ball go, I believe with full certainty that it will hit the bottom of the net. Plus his defense has been upgraded. Even on the Bucks and Sonics, he never quit or backed down in the moment like Joe Johnson did this postseason, someone who is going to be handsomely paid for being a shook one in the playoffs but d-boy in the regular season.
Trey Kerby:
Another guy I’d love that I don’t see leaving. Ray is a better version of Dell Curry. He’ll play forever. Howevs, if you can’t get Ray, get JJ Redick. He’s a player now, and a free agent. I don’t see the Magic staying over the tax for him unless they win the title.
3. Udonis Haslem
I think he’s the most underrated big man in the game. Miami under utilizes him and become successful somehow. Horace Grant without the busted peepers.
Trey Kerby:
Agree whole-heartedly. Love Haslem. Miami would be stupid to not re-sign him.
4. Rasual Butler
‘Sul Went to my high school and I always got a kick out of my senior year english teach who always called his “Ras-you-al” like “casual”. Outstanding outside shooter who has playoff experiencein Miami and New Orleans. Will cost kibbles.
Trey Kerby:
Great bench piece, even if he does wear a shooting sleeve on both arms for some reason.
5. Larry Hughes
The good thing about Larry is that he’s played in almost every single city that is courting LeBron. He’s the best tourguide in the NBA since Jim Jackson. Plus you and I can Tweet jokes about him during all the national games when he’s shooting 2-14 but has great “athleticism” and “length” for a 6’6” back-up combo guard who has already made $84mill (!!!) playing professional basketball .
Trey Kerby:
Can’t see New York or Chicago re-acquiring him after having to suffer through him once before. Kill me now.
I decided to take a lil’ break from all the music related posts and just let my brain go. This is what happens when you get inspiration from Facebook and the Ghostface track “Child’s Play”. For all immediate Shadowboxers dope, check out the Tumblr page. In the meantime, enjoy this little story.
I always liked this girl, and by “like” I mean “unromantically tolerated”. She lived 2 blocks from me. Sometimes when I walked home from school, I’d walk by her front door and wonder if she beat me on the path, or if she was still behind at the corner store with her friends, buying candy and gabbing away about whatever it is we gabbed on about as 12 year olds in South Philly.
Because of where we lived in the diocese, our Catholic school had only 44 kids total in my graduating class, and only 17 were boys. By default, she was friends with every girl I liked. And yet the idea of ever liking her never crossed my mind. I doubt she ever had a crush on me. She and I were always just cool.
As we got older, we saw each other much less. I always remembered her calm and polite demeanor, an interesting trait considering she was an Italian girl in the throes of South Philadelphia, a faux-traditionalist sect where subtly is outlawed. She didn’t smile much, but she didn’t frown much either.
All images and likeness' were kept confidential because I am not a creeper
I bring her up because I just saw her photo on Facebook and realized it’s been fifteen years since we graduated grade school together. She went to the customary all-girls catholic high school in South Philly. I went to the highly respected, and somewhat controversial (being that it wasn’t in South Philly) all-boys catholic high school in the heart of Center City. We would bump into each other occasionally during high school on random blocks, maybe grabbing water ice or mailing envelopes, but it was just a “Hey, how’s it going? I just bumped into such-and-such”. Then we would bid adieu and totally forgot about each other’s existence.
She’s grown up now, but looks exactly the same. Thinner even. It’s weird when that happens. According to her Facebook likes and interests, she’s into all the pop culture and Philly-centric things I hate, like that hooker Snooki or Rudi’s Formal Wear, the mecca of South Philly prom dresses and tuxedoes. I question if she REALLY is committed to the cause of “Those Crunchy Chocolate Things Between the Layers of an Ice Cream Cake!”
I realized after all these years that she and I never knew anything about each other at all. We existed in this vacuum for quite some time together but made no lasting impact on each other in any way. Went to school everyday for 8 years straight. Were in spitting distance of each other’s front doors as well. Shared the same social circle, sports and romance included. No matter how successful I ever become musically, it will never occur to her, nor will she ever become a strident attendee of my future shows and tours because of parochial school ties.
It’s quite liberating to realize that our relationship is the same now as it was in 1995 and we’re both obviously comfortable with that.
I bring all this up because every time I drive by her house for the past 15 years, hers just one row home off of the corner property, some pottery/ceramic shindig that is amazingly still in business, I peek through the front windows, then the glass door, in hopes of spotting her. Every single time. For fifteen years. I have no idea why I do this. Sometimes I’d see her parents or her older sister, mutual ghosts all the same. But I would never see her, nor did I particularly care that I didn’t. But I looked anyway, every single time down that street, for fifteen years.
I wonder if she did the same thing while walking by my old house.
Fri April 9th. 5 O'Clock Shadowboxers + The Holloys+ Nocando + The Knux & more. Spaceland. Los Angeles, CA. 21+
Thurs April 22nd. 5 O'Clock Shadowboxers + Curly Castro live on Living Proof Radio with DJ Ambush. 10pm-2am. VoltaRadio.com
Sun April 25th. Slingluff Art Gallery Presents 5 O'Clock Shadowboxers + Curly Castro @ Era. Fairmount Art Festival. 28th and Poplar. Free! 2pm-6pm
Fri. May 21st. 5 O'Clock Shadowboxers featuring Curly Castro + One.Be.Lo + Al Mighty + DJ Ambush @ The Fire. Philly. 4th and Girard. 21+ $10 9pm-2am
Wed. June 16th. 5 O'Clock Shadowboxers featuring Curly Casto live on The REC Show. G-Town Radio. 8pm-10pm. GTownRadio.com
Sat June 19th. 5 O'Clock Shadowboxers featuring Curly Castro @ The Mar Bar. 40th and Walnut. Philadelphia. 9pm-2am. $10. DJ Jim Redz on the one's and two's
Sun July 11th. 5 O'Clock Shadowboxers featuring Curly Castro + Dumhi and more @ The M Room. Gentrifest 2010. Frankford and Girard. Philadelphia. 12pm-8pm. All ages.
Wed July 21st. Zilla Rocca co-hosting The REC Show aka "The Drinking Episode". G-Town Radio. 8pm-10pm. www.gtownradio.com
Sun Sept 26th. 5 O'Clock Shadowboxers featuring Curly Castro + Shlomo + Mount Kimbie + Low Limit + Strangeloop + more @ The Downtown Independent. 251 S. Main St. Los Angeles, CA. $12. 6pm-2am. 21+
Mixes
Zilla Rocca AMERICAN ABSINTHE: SUMMER MIX VOL. 2 (2010)
Zilla Rocca FADE TO BLONDE: A SUMMER MIX (2010)
Son Raw vs. 5 O'Clock Shadowboxers THE TWILIGHT SPOILER MIX (2010)
Releases
5 O'Clock Shadowboxers BROKEN CLOCKS EP (2010)
5 O'Clock Shadowboxers: THE SLOW TWILIGHT LP (2009)
Zilla Rocca & 33jones.com Presents: BRING ME THE REMIX OF ZILLA ROCCA! (2009)
Zilla Rocca: BRING ME THE HEAD OF ZILLA ROCCA! (2008)
