Shad teams up with Skratch Bastid and Saukrates(!) to continue dominating Canadian Hip-Hop.

The joy I get knowing that Shad, the most consistently awesome rapper working in Canada today, has teamed up with hella cool dude Skratch Bastid cannot be overstated. Though I'm a fan of awesome beats, no doubt, I don't know shit about the art of DJing but the moment I heard the Bastid split the difference between Black Sabbath's "Iron Man" and Dead Prez' "Hip-Hop" I knew he was a pretty fucking stellar DJ. I don't remember much about the rest of that night (Except that K'naan destroyed and played the still-good version of "Wavin' Flag") but that moment always stood with me. So when he and Shad teamed up for The Spring Up EP I thought it was a one-time thing. Boy am I glad I was wrong.

"Stylin'," the first single from Shad's upcoming joint, Flying Colours, is another damned fine slice of intelligent, graceful Hip-Hop. The duo even got Canada's reigning musical Swiss Army Knife, Saukrates, for some chill vocals on the hook. If this is any indication of what's to come Flying Colours  is set to be another winner. As if there was any doubt. Check the fresh new video out and see for yourself. Don't worry, if the smile on your face gets so big it starts to hurt or your head bobs so hard you think it's going to fall off, just hit the 'pause' button and take a couple deep breaths...

Ghana's own, Blitz the Ambassador drops a new track and, obviously, I dig it.

Hey kids. One of my main inspirations these days has been Blitz the Ambassador. Both his albums, Stereotype and Native Sun , have been in the regular rotation for over a year. His rhythms and beats are inventive and, importantly, organic, as Blitz commands an actual band of musicians to give him his grooves. His rhymes are intelligent, important, and endlessly agile. If you haven't listened to Blitz before, you need to.

Blitz's new track "African in New York" more than lives up to the winning formula he's already established. Bold storytelling with Recognize those samples in there? You should. And if you don't, get learned. Seriously. (Your hints: Eddie Murphy and Hova)

Keep an eye out for Blitz's upcoming The Warm Up EP , which is apparently due out next month. Also, props to Okayafrica for keeping me up to date on this one! Respect.

 (Addendum to this post: I've been trying to get an interview with Blitz for over a year now. We've come so close twice, but haven't been able to pull it off. Hopefully I can make it happen one day. I really do love this brother's music.)

www.twitter.com/blitzambassador www.facebook.com/blitzambassador 'African In New York' chronicles the colorful immigrant life in NYC from an African perspective. From the Bootleggers on Canal street to the Dollar cab drivers to the Restaurants Uptown, everybody gets a shout out over this banging Blitz production complete with live guitars and signature horns.

Blitz blowing the lid off of the Victoria Ska Fest. Photo by me! 

I come out of a long slumber.

Hey friends.  It's been too long since I've been posting all my real talk and dope-ass interviews here. But really, I've been quite busy. So this is just a quick little update to let you know what I've been up to.

Last weekend was the Phillip's Backyard Weekender here in Victoria and I was there doing coverage for Exclaim!. If you weren't there you should read up on the shows there, highlighted by De La Soul completely destroying. But I shouldn't be surprised, it's how they do.

Night 1 with Cat Empire, the Dirty Heads and the Expendables. 

Night 2 with De La Soul, Buck 65 and SonReal 

The week before that was the Victoria Ska Festival  , which remains, hands down, the best week of music here in Victoria each year. It's just a ton of fun, which is always great because I don't really like ska music. Well, ska revival music. But the lineup is always diverse and lots of fun. The organizers are also great people who just love music. Sure, there's money involved, but it's a whole lot more love. I've worked pretty closely with the Ska Society over the last couple of years doing interviews in the run-up to the festival and reviews during the festival. This year was no different. Here is a roundup of ALL my Ska Fest-related pieces that have kept me away from you lovely people.

Interview piece with Logan Bell from Katchafire. 

Interview piece with Dub FX. 

Interview piece with Kris Wood of Blackberry Wood. 

My Ska-Fest listening primer. 

Days 1 and 2 of Ska Fest with Sierra Leone Refugee All-Stars, Blackberry Wood and the Revivers. 

Days 2 and 3 of Ska Fest with Blitz the Ambassador, Tanya Stephens, Dope Soda and David Hillyard's Rocksteady 7.

Much respect to Yasiin Bey. Headliner at the 14th annual Victoria Ska Fest. Photo by me.

The final day of Ska Fest with Yasiin Bey (Formerly Mos Def) and Dub FX. Also, why I love Ska Fest so much.

And just a couple of weeks before that was the Victoria Jazz Fest, always a stellar time. I only did one interview leading up to it, but it was a real doozy. I also did media coverage for my home publication, the Martlet.

Interview piece with soulman Lee Fields. 

Review of Five Alarm Funk's set at Centennial Square. 

Review of Vieux Farka Touré at Sugar Nightclub. 

Review of David Gray Infinity Quartet feat. Macy Gray.  

I've also done up a couple of reviews for LyfStyl Music. Big ups to them for giving me another place to talk music. There's never enough space.

My review of Kanye West's Yeezus .  (In retrospect I would like to re-rate this record at like a 6.5 or maybe 7.)

Review of the Uncluded's Hokey Fright .

Same props and respect for the Coastal Spectator. The place I got my first paid article published. I've been doing some reviews around town for them as well. Much respect, Andrea and Lynne. 

 Review of Eddie Spaghetti's sweet new record, The Value of Nothing .

 Review of Victoria all-girl rock band White Hot Jet's debut performance.

Review of Blackberry Wood at Logan's Pub.  

So there it is. When it's all laid out in front of me it's actually kind of amazing how much I've been doing lately. But it's not enough. I love writing and I love being forced to do it.  There's more on the way, as always, so stay tuned. And as always, if you know of some awesome music that needs my attention, please leave a comment or drop me a line.  

Much respect,

Rags

Lee Fields at Victoria Jazz Fest. Taken by Kim Jay with my camera.  

Eddie Murphy Rastas the fuck out with Snoop Lion. (And, shockingly, I sort of like it.)

So I'm getting ready to go see Ziggy Marley last night, poking around on the internet while my ladyfriend was getting freshed up, and I see little story from the good folks over at LargeUp.com about Eddie Murphy, younger brother of comedy legend Charlie Murphy, teaming up with the ever-endearing Snoop Lion for a reggae track. More astonishingly, the song, "RedLight," is not just a mere one-off, but a track from an upcoming full-length record.

In even more baffling news, the song isn't half-bad. Actually, it's probably like 65/35 (Good/bad). It would probably be higher if it wasn't Eddie Murphy - a man who has thrown away most of his banked credibility, by seemingly unanimous decision, in a series of baffling, awful movie choices.  

Anyway, the song is pretty sweet. And though this is the first I've ever heard of Eddie Murphy being a socially conscious dude (There may be documents of this, but I know not of these), it's an admirable sentiment.

It's still hard to believe the song is by the same guy who sang this.

Uploaded by 3gfilmsinc on 2013-06-25.