Here’s another artist journal wrap-up of SXSW for those of us who couldn’t make it down this year. This time El Prez is up to bat as he gives us a day-by-day breakdown and some hysterical Best/Worst’s of the events. If you aren’t up on Prezzo already, now is the time. He just released a heavy-hitting tape with Dale Danja called Perfect Strangers that made quite a fine splash in the blogosphere. You can also catch Prez featured on a slew of dope projects out now and soon to be released! Props to Datubo MacHarry on the pictures.

Prez also provided us with some music to read to from the L.A.U.S.D. project that he was features on with Bad Lucc.
Download: El Prez & Bad Lucc – Today’s My Day off L.A.U.S.D.’s Curly Tops & Nautica Jackets

Here is a preview, hit the skip for the full feature and some exclusive pics…

SXSW: Day 1
SXSW or Bust! wzup world, Its yours truly, El Prez, and thanks to Potholes in my Blog, I get a chance to fill you in on this lil thing that happens in Austin, TX every year called SXSW (aka Rapper Spring Break). From the Highs to the Lows, from the rise to the falls (literally), and thanks to all the free liquor, I somehow managed to remember most of it lol…So if you like to hear it, here it goes…

We set out from Sunny South Central LA round 3pm in a rental w/ me, Noni Spitz, Dae One, and Marleik. Once we hit the highway I rolled up some of that Cali goodness and zoned out to Noni and Dae One’s New project “NoOne” banging in the speakers knowing it was gonna be a loooooooooong trek ahead of us.

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Hello everyone, today Trek Life gives us another episode of The Homie Trek Says… with a special European twist. Check it out as he breaks down what went on over in Europe this past week as he toured with fellow artist, Oddisee to promote their joint record New Money, and Oddisee’s new solo album, Mental Liberation, coming to stores soon!

www.myspace.com/treklife
www.twitter.com/TrekLife
trek-life.net coming soon

Here is a preview, hit the skip for the full entry from Trek…

What up folks,

I’ve officially been back from tour for a few days.  It always takes some time to for me to relax and reflect on tours and what I’ve learned from them.  I guess what always comes to mind first is how lucky a lot of us are that we are able to travel to places we’d otherwise never have been able to see because of this music.  People place a lot of negative mess on hip-hop these days, but to me it’s been nothing but a blessing (well, some folks have pissed me off, so not all blessings, but close enough lol).  It’s been a passport, an introduction, and tool for the opportunity to learn.  Whenever I catch a flight to somewhere I never even knew was on the map, I have to be thankful that Kool Herc played breaks to a crowd of young people to spark this shit.  I’m amazed at what it has become when “me” of all people is rockin’ in front of 1000-plus people in Mayrhofen, Austria with snow outside and a skate ramp in the back.  “No one believed I would ever be here.”  Runs through my head in amazement.  Hell, there were times that I didn’t.

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Since the Potholes crew was unable to attend the coveted SXSW this year, we decided to bring you the action from the eyes of the artist. TAIS brings us our first wrap-up journal of the festival with a day-by-day breakdown and some exclusive pictures. Check it out and also be on the lookout for TAIS to make quite a splash in the music scene in 2009 on Potholes In My Blog!

Check out the preview and hit the skip for the full piece from TAIS…

First off, my main objective in going to SXSW was to sit back and see what people find so intriguing about the place. Honestly, I didn’t have any huge showcases to rock, or any press ops to sit through. But, one thing I did have out there was FAMILY. And with family around you, everything else falls in place. The Park (one of the DOPEST bands in America) told me all I had to do is come out, and they would take care of the rest. They are on tour right now backing up “The Brits” aka Miss Alice Russell (If you don’t know about her, smack yourself now) as well as doing two live sets with Keelay, Zaire, and the MYX Music Label family. All together, The Park had 7 shows at SXSW, and invited me to tag along. Below lie SOME of the far from normal adventures I embarked on at the South By Southwest Music Conference.

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Brand new entry from 6th Sense, transmitting live from sunny California. Check out what is going on with 6 in his journey to the west coast and much more!

What’s going on out there world?  I’m borrowing a laptop to write this entry live from sunny California.  It’s 7PM.  I been here a couple days and it’s been great.  I’ve barely had any time to shower, yuck, I know.  But it’s straight grind mode. Gotta keep the hit parade going in the hit factory.

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Potholes In My Blog is proud to welcome Trek Life to the artist column roster! Today he talks a little about the hip-hop game and a few things that rappers should know. Some funny and serious stuff going on right here, be sure to check it out and stay tuned every month for another installment of The Homie Trek Says here on Potholes In My Blog.

What up folks,

For my first installment here at PHIMB I’ll attempt to throw some things out there for up and coming rappers to know.  Some of these things apply all around and are fairly simple.

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Here is another exciting episode of The Quincy Cohen Diaries. Here 6 talks about whats going on in his busy life as an artist and much more!

What’s going on out there world?  It’s 4:25 AM now.  I really need to go to bed.

I did a song with Mickey Factz today.  Me on the beat.  Him on the rhymes.  And someone else on the hook.  Stay tuned.

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Here is the 3rd installment of 6th Sense: The Quiny Cohen Diaries… Talks about his experience at the Outasight shot and more. Enjoy!

What’s going on out there world?  It’s 3:30 AM and I just got in from rockin Blender Theater with my dude Outasight.  When we pulled up to the venue and saw his name on the marquis we were taken aback a little bit, but it was joyous.  Loj, Fresh Daily and the AOK crew, and Oddisee all killed it as well.  Shouts to everyone that came out.  I was on stage holding down all the music.  I had my MPC up there, and I had the Motif up there as well, keeping things fresh.  We had my homegirls Meli and Iris singing backup so lovely.  Overall, it was a great set.  It wasn’t hard for me whatsoever to take a backseat to Outasight’s performance because I had a great time supplying the music and it was an awesome show.  The best part was when the fire alarm went off and cut the power off!  I thought I was back in high school when cats would pull the fire alarm to get out of class early!

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Dilla Week comes to a close today and I have one or two tributes left to throw your way. Here is a quick breakdown of Top 10 Dilla beats from 2008 Scribble Jam Producer Battle Champion, Optiks.

Here is a preview, hit the skip for the full list…

10. Mood – “Secrets of the Sand (Jay Dee remix)”
A slept on joint by one of my favorite slept-on crews of all time. Dilla took a solid album cut produced by Hi-Tek and made it the perfect soundtrack for a late night cruise through Cincinnati.

9. “Reckless Driving”
One of the livest, most dense productions that I can recall in Dilla’s career, “Reckless Driving,” features a mash-up of atmospheric synth keys, and a thumping drum pattern that backs some of the best rhymes he had as an MC. My dude, MidaZ, did a dope mixtape joint over this beat as well. I chose this over “Fuck the Police,” because this beat had a very original feel from the rest of his catalog at that time.

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Detroit producer Zo! sent me an old blog he wrote just after Dilla’s passing. It may seem a bit cliche now, but J Dilla really did touch so many lives. What Zo shares right here with us all is a very touching and deep story about the first time he met Dilla, and when he received the news that he had passed away.

Zo also sent us a very special tribute track for your downloading pleasure. Many thanks to Zo on this one. Go support his new album with Asylum 7, Overdue Process.

Download: Zo! – 4 Dilla

Here is a preview, hit the skip for the full entry from Zo!…

“I can remember distinctively the first time that I heard Jay Dee…and actually KNEW who I was listening to (I owned a some of his music at the time but never put two and two together).  It was The Pharcyde’s “Runnin’ (Remix) back in late ‘95/early ’96…I was a senior in high school.  One of my classmates, my boy Dwight hit me up one day and was telling me about his most recent trip to the record store that day.  Included in the store run was the maxi-single for “Runnin’”.  So he told me to check for the remix done by a kat named Jay Dee whom he had heard was from Detroit which was a big deal…there wasn’t a lot of national exposure coming from the D around 95/96.  So I was like, Bet! I’ma start keeping an eye on him for that reason alone.  Things looked good from the break as I opened up my “Labcabincalifornia” CD jacket, checked the credits and under all of my favorite joints I saw “Produced by Jay Dee” or “J. Yancey”.  The next thing I know, here come the “Woo Haa” remixes…the “Stakes Is High” song and remix, The Ummah.  Damn man…this kat was starting to sound real consistent.  So continued to keep my eyes and ears open for him.  “Beats Rhymes & Life” came out about a month before I went away to school in ’96 (“Word Play”, “1nce Again”, etc, etc)…
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Today marks three years since the passing of James Dewitt Yancey, otherwise known as Jay Dee or most notably, J Dilla. The Detroit producer/emcee/singer is no longer with us, but his character and music is timeless. The bumping bass, drums and impeccable sampling resonate throughout hip-hop, as his music touched so many artists and fans alike. I am not one to elaborate on the man’s impact on music, but the artists that we have gathered today can vouch for these statements on the utmost level.

Here are brief statements from Amanda Diva, Black Milk, Ilyas & Donwill of Tanya Morgan, Count Bass D, Zo!, Finale, Trek Life, 8thW1, 6th Sense, Keelay & Zaire, IMAKEMADBEATS, Rob Vikum and D/Will on how J Dilla changed their lives.

Continue to join us for the rest of the week as we celebrate J Dilla’s life with more tributes and features including DJ YNOT’s exclusive mix tonight!

Check out what these fantastic artists have to say about J Dilla and let us know how J Dilla changed your life in the comments section after the skip…

James Dewitt Yancey (February 7, 1974 – February 10, 2006)

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