Misc.

So I’m sitting here listening to Radiohead and doing a crossword puzzle — yeah, I’m cool like that — and a friend hit me up on Facebook chat about seeing my name in the Providence Phoenix. The Phoenix, if you don’t know, is a huge weekly alternative paper that pretty much kicks all sorts of ass in Providence, Boston, and Portland. Anyway, I thought my buddy was referring to the great article they had on the Ocean State Sampler back in December. But, apparently, they featured us in their Best Of ’10 list as the Best Link to the Underground. Mind = blown. I cannot thank you enough, Phoenix writers and editors. Much love and respect. Read the full article here.

Rest in Peace, Guru. One of the best and most influential voices of our time.

Joey Beats has been one of my favorite producers ever since I first heard his music many moons ago. Like many other local acts, I hit him up to take part in the Ocean State Sampler, which he obviously agreed to do. And lately he’s been hard at work with Blak, also known as Blak Lungz, on a follow-up to their debut EP, Strategery, which dropped in June 2007. Hell, they even shot a video for one of the tracks you can preview here, “I Want Free”, that features a cameo from yours truly. Yeah, yeah, I’m shameless. Anyway, be sure to check out these three streaming cuts from this duo’s upcoming full-length that should (hopefully) drop this year. *crosses fingers*. Looks like you can stream parts of the whole damn record at the Joey Beats and Blak site. YES.

The Grammy nominations were announced earlier this week. The regulars like Beyonce, Kanye West, Jay-Z and U2 were all nominated in their respective categories.  Among the R&B nominees this year is The Foreign Exchange in the Best Urban/Alternative Performance category for their song “Daykeeper”. I’m usually pessimistic about award shows in general because rarely do the deserving artists win or even get nominated for that matter. However, to see Phonte, Nicolay – independent artists with very little urban radio support get nominated is pretty amazing. Whether they win or not remains to be seen. But if this nomination brings some exposure to the the great music they’ve been making and continue to make, that is still a success.

Congratulations to Phonte, Nicolay and the entire Foreign Exchange collective on their nomination. The Grammy Awards will be announced January 31st, 2010. We wish them the best of luck and we’ll continue to support them on our blog.

Support! The Foreign Exchange – Leave It All Behind

Every year the Brooklyn Bodega puts together a splendid event called the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival. Not only is it a fine showcase of hip-hop but it serves as a lovely weekend outing for hardcore fans as well as easy-going families alike. So if you are around for June 20th, be sure to give your $10 donation and check out the event. The line-up for the festival is looking very strong as Pharoahe Monch headlines as well as a list of more legends. I listed the full line-up after the skip…

Show and Prove
I would also like to point the attention to the Show and Prove event that is going on tonight, Thursday May 21st. This is the semi-finals of a showcase that gives one lucky artist an opportunity to perform at the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival. You can catch that at the Public Assembly at 9 PM featuring our homies 8thW1 and Brokn.English. Definitely hope to see those guys advance to the finals! You can hit the skip to check out the flyer for that event…

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