"Against the Current" or "Outta Water", 2na thrives.

in

Getting to talk to Chali 2na was and remains one of the high-points in my interviewing "career." This is one of the brothers who got me into Hip-Hop music through his work with Jurassic 5. I've seen him live many times and he never fails to come through. Still one of the bright lights in Hip-Hop, In the midst of his Against the Current​ project and the beginning of a J5 reunion run at Coachella last weekend, this seems like a good a time as any to get this conversation out into the world. Much love and respect to one of the masters, Chali 2na!​

Read More

Kid Rock gives me yet another reason to like him.

in

In a recent interview with Rolling Stone adopted Southerner and noted (surprise) non-meth user Kid Rock announced that 90% of the tickets for upcoming tour are priced at a mere $20. This comes at a time when ticket prices for high-profile tours like Prince Jay-Z & Justin Timberlake have routinely topped the $250. For an artist with the ability to sell-out arenas this is a drastically fan friendly step and one that other artists will hopefully embrace.

Read More

Who's your daddy? Hiram Biram's your daddy! (I talk to Scott H. Biram and he's as cool as I expected.)

in

I'd like to think I'm a good music fan. ​When I see a band I don't know opening a show I'm attending I try to familiarize myself with said band. Sometimes it's just another band, but in the case of G.Love & Special Sauce's show in Vancouver in March of 2012 the opener was Scott H. Biram. It was love at first hear. His music is genre-blending madness, crushing boundary lines all over the place. it was with furious energy that I started to devour his catalogue and in late 2012 I tracked him down somewhere outside of Phoenix for a chat about being a one-man band, religious imagery and his general bad-assery for one of my weekly columns. Finally the whole thing sees the light of day. I hope you enjoy it and find it as interesting as I did. Welcome to the First Church of the Ultimate Fantacism!

Read More

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis break a record and I hope it's a sign of a changing landscape.

in

The good people at allhiphop.com report that talented guys and generally cool dudes Macklemore & Ryan Lewis have set a record for being at #1 on the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop (aka Billboard's Black Attack Chart) for 12 consecutive weeks with the insanely catchy "Thrift Shop".

Read More

Lip$ha - I am aroused by aggressive weirdness.

in

​Yesterday, in the now ubiquitous format of a reddit AMA, Flaming Lips frontman and noted eccentric Wayne Coyne released information about an upcoming full-length album with trash-pop queen Ke$ha, entitled Lip$ha. This comes as exciting news for me as one of last years great "guilty pleasures" (A term that I kind of loathe) was Ke$ha's "Warrior". That record wormed its way into my brain with it's brash, gleeful rowdiness.

Read More