Sunday’s Rock The Bells show at Merriweather is looking to be a defining moment in the future of the hip-hop tour. In the contracting entertainment market, the economy of scale may be the solution to present this many quality underground hip-hop acts on one stage. It also signals a new era where classic performers join up-and-comers for a true festival setting and culture celebration. And with today’s hip-hoppers being such a critical bunch, and its a nod to the state of the movement that a tour of this caliber and selling out dates and hitting so many cities.

There’s a definite buzz around many of the acts on this tour. Make sure you’re up to date on the latest before you pull up to Merriweather on Sunday:

Rakim - is the new album finally on its way?

A Tribe Called Quest - Rock The Bells rehearsal video

Q-Tip - a few things to say about the blogs and a new album (which he will be performing from with Phife Dawg, Jarobi and Ali Shaheed Muhammed)

Phife-Dawg - responsible for Lil Wayne’s A-Milli?

Nas - Hitting the block for ColorOfChange.org and MoveOn.org… Not to mention a number one record!

MF-Doom - hope he actually shows up, who knows maybe we can hear some of this new Dilla material

Mos Def - did he make the book?

You know what gave The Pharcyde the idea of getting back together? Tribe getting back together. That’s whats up.

New Raekwon!

MURS for President. Get that hat! Cop the new 9th wonder produced collabo!

Dead Prez - M1 weighs in on the presidential election. First time voter??? and did a Real World alumni try to crash their set in Chicago??

Chance of rain???

See y’all sunday. Gates at 11!

My homey’s got a party bus leaving from in front the diner at 9:45… Holla if you need a seat!

X.O. is an MC from uptown D.C. off Georgia Ave. He’s been tearing up the D.C. hip-hop scene since he was a high schooler, straight murking sessions at the legendary Tru Skool cipher at Capitol City Records. A self described “De La Wu/Tupac Pun” he’s a witty, innovative lyricist who puts the D.C. street life in a unique perspective that has rarely been captured in hip-hop prose. The authenticity of his flow stands out in an era where every local MySpace rapper claims to be the repping the DMV to the fullest. When he shouts out shoot-outs, it strikes you as “all facts on tracks..check the resume, my number you can call that.” This is the work of a rising star putting his street experiences into a transformative experience, which also happens to be a free download mixtape. Featuring Wale, and beats by Oddisee, Judah, The Unknown, YU. Cop that, it’s big on the internets.

The Tru Skool Beat Grinder producer battle is back tonight at Liv and will have some of the area’s finest hip-hop producers engaged in head-to-head battle for local bragging rights. The event is known to bring out the real beat junkies and has become quite an institution in the regional hip-hop scene.

Ten contestants will step up with their hottest tracks, even doing battle using identical samples to see who’s really doing their work on the boards. The three-round event will be hosted by Grap Luva and will feature performances by locals Kokayi and Oddisee. Damu and Underdog will be holding down the turntables all night long—so expect to hear the finest in deep cuts, rare grooves, and vintage hip-hop.

Liv is located at 11th and U Street NW. Doors open at 9 p.m.; $7.

I recently had the opportunity to catch a sneak-preview rehearsal of Godisheus, a new band on the D.C. scene. Formed by veteran D.C. hip-hop artist Head-Roc and the MVP Band, an all-star lineup of some of the heaviest hitters on the go-go scene— Dwane ‘Kiggo’ Wellman on drums (Chuck Brown, 3LG), Dwayne ‘Super Bad III’ Lee on guitar (Suttle Thoughts, Familiar Faces, 3LG), and Keith “Blizzard the Bass Lizard” Snowden (Backyard Band)—Godisheus is working hard to define a new live sound rooted in the funk.

Head-Roc, who has taken on the stage name O.M.V. for this project, is no stranger to working with a live band. During the mid ’90s, he, Kiggo, and Superbadd III were part of Three Levels of Genius (3LG), a live hip-hop band that proved influential in the region. O.M.V. is is quick to point out that Godisheus is not a hip-hop band but rather “the return of funk music for the people.”

As we all know, funk beget go-go and hip-hop in ways dear to the District. Don’t get it twisted: Godisheus is no cover band doing their best Parliament rendition, they are that raw D.C. funk sound with a message of empowerment for the people delivered by one of D.C.’s mic champions.

Over tight arrangements that are equal parts funk, rock and soul, O.M.V. brings the lyrical heat, speaking truth to power with every line, something that has earned him the respect of hip-hop kids, punk rockers, indie rockers, the anti-war movement, and progressive audiences all over. Powered by Kiggo’s impeccable drumming (he is the third generation of his family to have worked for Chuck Brown) Super Bad III’s six-string magic and the low end work of Blizzard the Bass Lizard, the Godisheus International Funk Train (The GIFT) will be stopping in Silver Spring this Saturday for the Crafty Bastards Arts & Crafts Fair. Their performance starts at 2 p.m.

I just got word that Immortal Technique will be making an in-store appearance at DJ Hut on Saturday June 28th and 2 PM. Tech is in town supporting his latest release, The 3rd World, featuring DJ Green Lantern, Pharoahe Monch, and local favorite AKIR.

Over the past decade, Immortal Technique has solidified his position as one of the leading voices of the hip-hop movement for social change. Recently he has branched out and undertaken new projects including an essay contest for high school teens and a Project Green Light, a partnership effort to build an orphanage/clinic in Afghanistan. Stay up to date with latest from Immortal Technique at his MySpace page, and make sure to check him out at the upcoming Rock the Bells show at Merriweather Post Pavillion next month!

The 3rd World is available in stores and online from Viper Records/Koch Entertainment.

DJ Hut is located at 2010 P St NW, Washington DC.

The LA Weekly has a pretty stunning piece about the posthumous career of J Dilla. He died just as he was about to take off under the Stones Throw label. No one did a better job of keeping his work, name, aura alive more than Stones Throw. Last year, the label held a show at the Black Cat. I can’t tell you how many times there were shout-outs and tributes to Jay Dee. He died more than two years ago, but Dilla’s music and memory are still very much a constant in indie hip-hop.

Best known for his spacious, weird beats, and deeply personal productions—Donuts is sure to be a classic—he became a legend and touchstone after his death. To have a Dilla-produced track on your album conferred almost holy status. It meant you knew him. A Dilla-connection quickly became a point of promotion.

Now, the LA Weekly is reporting that people have started ripping off the deceased rapper’s beats and inventing phony foundations in his name. Meanwhile, the family he left behind is suffering:

The budding Dilla empire has foundered, thanks to astronomical health bills, which forced Dilla to go into hock with the government and die with high six-figure IRS debt and few tangible assets — save for a few hard drives of beats and a publishing deal with Universal Music. Ironically, as Dilla’s stock is at an all-time high, the executors of his estate have been bedeviled by a one-two punch: scrambling to pay his tab while fighting rampant Internet piracy of his material, both aimed at the ultimate goal of providing an inheritance for his two young daughters. “It’s frustrating,” says Arthur Erk, the estate’s executor and Dilla’s former business manager. “People have been cropping up left and right, trying to make money off Dilla’s name and likeness. There was something called the Dilla Foundation, which doesn’t even exist legally, yet it was trying to host charity events, claiming authorization from the estate. If there weren’t young children involved, we’d give up. No one needs this type of aggravation.”

Enforcing copyright in the Internet age is a Sisyphean task, and trying to protect one of the first big names to die young in the RapidShare world, Dilla’s estate has been beset with a dilemma that figures to plague families of all prematurely deceased musicians henceforth.

Explains Erk: “The problem is that Dilla was friendly with a lot of people — many of whom I know, many of whom I don’t ­— and there have been dozens of bootleg situations we’ve had to expend estate cash on to shut stuff down. If we don’t, it cheapens the value of his brand. We’re trying to protect his legacy and his heirs.

Very sad news.

Read the rest of this entry »

OK. Late last week, Slate published a piece on African-American rappers and musicians obsessed with Space. Author Jonah Weiner begins in the late ’20s and carries on to Sun Ra, P-Funk’s Mothership, Lil Wayne, and Kanye West. In other words, all the usual far-out notes were hit.

I’m wondering what are the great songs about space? Who would be considered the Neil Armstrong of the genre?

George Clinton gets my vote.

Get your calendar sync on—turns out the weekend of July 26-27 is going to be pretty packed with hip hop events in the DMV. Rock the Bells at Merriweather Post Pavilion on Sunday the 27th and The Capital Hip Hop Soul Fest on Saturday July 26 at Marvin Gaye Park in D.C. Hosted by Liberated Muse Productions, a Washington DC community-based arts event-planning group, the latter event seeks to help connect grown folks and their families the good music missing from the radio.

A local-heavy lineup featuring Mello D & the Rados, Substantial, Jamma Wun, Christylez, Afi Soul, Dee Stone, Rogiers, Mycah Chevalier, and Jua Howard will be rocking Marvin Gaye park in Northeast.

Liberated Muse Productions is the brainchild of Maceo Thomas and Khadijah Ali-Coleman. They’re working out a lil social network experiment over at LiberatedMuse.com—here’s to helping them organize a network for positive culture in the District.

Also: Today, Liberated Muse Productions, along with vocalists Mycah Chevalier and Dee Stone, will be interviewed by Keanna Faircloth on the Midday Jazz show @ 2 p.m. on WPFW 89.3.

I was really looking forward to this Saturday’s show at Club Five featuring Dilated Peoples, The Alchemist, Aceyalone, 88 Keys, TAMU, Flex Mathews and TEFLON. Needless to say, I was bummed when I saw this in my inbox:

From: Tamu
To: undisclosed-recipients
Sent: Mon Jun 09 12:07:24 2008
Subject: CLUB FIVE VIOLENCE CAUSES US ALL TO SUFFER

Good afternoon,

I regret to inform you because of wanna-be thugs the Dilated Peoples show at Club Five has been canceled until further notice. I am not sure of most of the details but from what I understand there was some violence that took place there last Tuesday night, and Thursday the venue was ordered to close for two weeks. I will bring you further details as they become available. My apologies to all who were anticipating this event as much as I was.

No word on a reschedule.

Update 3:36 p.m.: John Jackson, Chief of Enforcement at the Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration, confirms that Club Five’s licenses has been suspended until Wednesday, June 18th due to the recent incident of violence inside the club.

I was looking for info about an upcoming show at The State Theatre when this one particularly event listing jumped out at me:

Tuesday July 8 ODB’s Brooklyn Zu

A cover band, an ODB tribute? What could it be…?

Turns out ODB’s Brooklyn Zu is the the continuation of the late Dirty Bastard’s side project Brooklyn Zu which now features Buddha Monk and four of ODB’s younger brothers: 12 O’Clock, Shorty Shitstain, Murdoc, and The Zoo Keeper. A family affair indeed: The group’s debut record, Chapter #9, Verse 32, features Wu headliners The RZA, The Gza, Masta Killa, and Killa Priest.

Wu junior varsity squads have been hit or miss over the years, and even with a few RZA beats, I’m not sure what to expect from the Zu. Moreover, I wonder how this show—which features a rock/pop/alternative rocker named Topher Mohr and New Rochelle’s Nysis—a street/pop hip-hop MC—will go over with fans at the State Theatre. Am I missing something here? Or is there a booking agent I can call for an explanation…