yes
highlights galore....

jada scaring the shit outta all of us.
jamie singing "frontin" like his life depended on it
teedra's badass singing "yearning for your love"
the whole wire cast acting a fool
mos doing his thing.
can i bus cutting off my drums like he ALWAYS does
musiq and glenn going back and forward.


but damn! damn! damn!

my best feat of the night?

me and jon (brion) tag teaming fionna to please please please please please do something.


and cot damnit.


(she did!)

hot DAMN son!


i got fio to perform!!!!

>me and jon (brion) tag teaming fionna

....you'd be able to finance ditching geffen in no time flat

>....you'd be able to finance ditching geffen in no time flat

eggs-act-lee

congrats with getting to work with fiona. i couldnt be more of a fan

cannibus really needed a hug...he fucked up the vibe with that wack ass freestlye
it started out okay, but then went off the deep end

that voltron figure...i thought dude was finna spit some cold verses comin' out lookin' like that

aka 45's....but they played at 33 speed
dope

it really was appreciated...we almost felt like vips...lol

And maybe it was because I had a bit too drink and I was cold, was the chick with the purses and the dude with the toys. I was trying to pay attention and look for some meaning, but it was lost on me. And Teedra Moses, while the lady can sing, someone in her camp should tell the woman that the dress was cute, but not for wearing on stage when the legs are open and all sorts of bits can be seen from every which way. Besides that, everything was fabulous, as per the norm.

while he was spitting, with the look of awe and utter confusion on their faces. the canibus invasion of the stage was like a loud crazy man walking onto your crowded subway train preaching in your ear about the end of the world.

bt did a graceful job of locking him out of another verse though.

-@-@-@-@-@-@-
Don't walk towards me with a chip on your shoulder -- you'll walk away with your shoulder chipped! (c) Elzhi

my nigga taz was rockin four gucci belts, a crown, and fuckin wings. he's off the deep end no doubt.

then the girl holdin gucci and vuitton luggage...plus ole boy with the runner's outfit. where they come up with this?

sa-ra's still the shit doe...

comedy...

I wanna hang out with Jon Brion and Fiona Apple.

No fair.

http://www.fatbeats.com
The Lowest Prices for Hip Hop on the Web!

>can i bus cutting off my drums like he ALWAYS does

put this guy on the next roots record. that is all.

and the dude who played the acoustic guitar? Anthony Davis?

Toronto's own Grapg Nobel & Doc.
Thanks to Rich & Okayplayers for having us, the night was simply amazing!

good shit

i started singin' GOD- faatheeeer
of house music
my old school chitown househeads know what'sup with that break

who was the singer who sounded dead on gwen stefani? her song was dope...

-@-@-@-@-@-@-
Don't walk towards me with a chip on your shoulder -- you'll walk away with your shoulder chipped! (c) Elzhi

dope.

http://blackcorners.com/graph.html

~
buckle up

.
, , , , .

•••

lol I thought she sounded like bjork

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1496907/20050213/roots.jhtml?headlines=true

WEST HOLLYWOOD, California — On Saturday night at the Key Club, the Roots held their annual Grammy all-star jam session. And while in previous years a plethora of well-known performers like Common and Erykah Badu got down with the group, this time around the Illy Philly funksters had the star in attendance — Tom Cruise.

Hollywood's Top Gun didn't get onstage, but he did take in the sounds of hip-hop's top band and of his friend Jada Pinkett-Smith.

Smith, dressed in a Baltimore thug-style black hoodie and jeans that surely made Tupac look down from heaven and crack a smile, started the night off early by leading her band, Wicked Wisdom, in a rowdy punk-rock-flavored set.

Either Jada really loves rocking the mic, or she had her acting skills working for her, because she bobbed her head and flailed her arms like a seasoned rock star. After her show, the petite performer chilled with Tommy C.

When the Roots took the stage, they kept the night moving with a medley of covers of old-school jams and their own ditties, like "Star."

"Introducin' the band you gotta see to believe," rapped Black Thought. "He got the mic in his hand, so keep the heat up your sleeve/ It's Black Thought, he rockin' sharp so the speakers'll bleed/ I run a triathlon, you wouldn't see me fatigued."

But the Roots' all-star jam isn't about them hogging the spotlight; they love to hand the reigns over. While they brought up a slew of local Los Angeles artists, they ended the night with the pro-fess-sho-nals. Mos Def came out to drop a few lyrical gems with the backing of R&B soul children Anthony Hamilton and Musiq. Not to be outdone, Canibus was out to prove he can never be lyrically busted on the mic. The rapper, who's returning to the music scene, came out by himself for a freestyle. As the jamming neared its end, Fiona Apple even popped up for some time under the spotlight (see "Whatever Happened To Fiona Apple? Online Campaign Tries To Find Out").

For the Roots' drummer/spokesperson, ?uestlove, rubbing shoulders isn't happening only on the stage this week. A bevy of artists out here for the ceremony have been hollering at him to produce their albums.

"Hey man," ?uest said on Friday, "that's my bread and butter. I network, I shake hands, I kiss babies. I'm a musical politician."

So far, he says, his dance card is filled with Common, Musiq and Mike Shinoda from Linkin Park, who's working on a solo album. With all his hobnobbing, the Grammys are the last thing on his mind.

"We got two nominations, that's cool," ?uestlove said on Friday, "but I'm more concerned with what I'm gonna wear to the Jill Scott concert on Valentine's Day. Nominations are the best things about the Grammys. Losing ain't fun. I do not envy Kanye West. You know how vocal he is about his work — if he loses, that's all we gonna hear for the next year. I don't even wanna go through that. If we win or lose on Sunday, it's cool."

MTV News' live coverage of the Grammys Awards continues through the evening. "MTV News: All Up in the Grammys" begins at 7 p.m. PT on MTV. The Grammy Awards show — which features an all-star performance from Bono, Velvet Revolver, Stevie Wonder, Norah Jones, Alicia Keys, Tim McGraw and Brian Wilson on the Beatles' "Across the Universe" to benefit ongoing tsunami-relief efforts — follows immediately after on CBS at 8 p.m. PT. And no matter where you are, stay with us online for updates, news, photos and more.

For a look at the nominees, Grammy fashion, past winners and much more, visit our Grammy hub.

— Shaheem Reid, with additional reporting by Joseph Patel

-@-@-@-@-@-@-
Don't walk towards me with a chip on your shoulder -- you'll walk away with your shoulder chipped! (c) Elzhi

> Mos Def came out to
>drop a few lyrical gems with the backing of R&B soul
>children Anthony Hamilton and Musiq.

actually it was better than Anthony Hamilton...it was Glenn Lewis...that was probably my favorite part, the two of them going back and forth...

Sa-Ra sucked...dude with the wings was getting all gangster about the bathroom, like we were busting into his personal office...some of us need to take a piss after hittin' up the open bar...shit, we give a fuck about about your Beavis-jawed, Burger King crown-wearing ass...just get the fuck out of the way of my stream of piss...

man I hate all these white boys at these industry events...punk-ass yuppies getting fucked up off free liquor while they boo the onstage acts for not being Jay-Z...these fuckers only come because they can...whether its "Rod Stewart's son" or whoever, they always piss me off...go back to the O.C., kid...

maybe I'm being too harsh...its not always white boys...there was this one "industry broad" outside that asked me if I was part of the Key Club security...when I told her no, I was here with Okayplayer, she apologized...and then came back and apologized again "because you're in the band, right? I already met you earlier didn't I??"...yeah, that's me, freezing out here instead of inside...

jesus christ who writes this shit? *shaking head*

tupac went to school with jada pinkett.

-@-@-@-@-@-@-
Don't walk towards me with a chip on your shoulder -- you'll walk away with your shoulder chipped! (c) Elzhi

.


Francis.

“I can teach you everything I know in an hour. Everything. That’s how simple it is to make records. Nowadays, buddy, the technician is in control of the medium. They try to make out like its black magic, or flyin’ a spaceship. I can teach ANYbody on this planet how to fly the spaceship. If you look at the modern console, there’ll be thirty knobs – high frequency, low frequency, midfrequency, all notched in little tiny, tiny, TEENY tiny degrees – and its all bullshit. All this stuff doesn’t matter, and you can’t be intimidated. You just ignore it – ALL of it.

I walk into studios with the biggest console known to mankind, and I ask for the schematic and say, “Can you patch it from here to here and eliminate the ENTIRE board?” I just run it right into the tape machines. All the modern consoles, they’re all made by hacks, they’re not worth a shit, they sound terrible. None of it touches the old tube stuff – like the green board from Heider’s. It has TWO TONE CONTROLS – high end, low end and a pan knob – and that’s IT. I had great good fortune when I was a kid and started makin’ records. I made ’em at Wally Heider’s, Gold Star, so all the people that taught me were Frank Dimidio, Dave Gold, Stan Ross, Dean Jensen – these guys were the geniuses of the music business, still are.

They taught me more about sound and how sound is made and the principles of doing it, and it’s unshakably correct what they said to me: You get a great sound at the source. Put the correct mike in front of the source, get it to the tape THE SHORTEST POSSIBLE ROUTE – that’s how you get a great sound. That’s how you do it. All other ways are work. The biggest moment of my life – the one I haven’t been able to get past ever, really – is 1961, when I first got to LA. I got invited to Radio Recorders to see Ray Charles, and I walk in the studio, and Ray’s playin’ all the piano parts with his left hand, reading a braille score with his right hand, singing the vocals live while a full orchestra played behind him. So I sat there and I watched. And I went, “THIS is how records are made. Put everyone in the fuckin’ room and off we go.” In those days everybody knew they had to go in, get their dick hard at the same time and deliver. And three hours later they walked out the fuckin’ door with a record in their pocket, man.

Of course, in those days they didn’t have eight-, sixteen-, twenty-four-, forty-eight-, sixty-four-track recording, ad nauseum, to fuck people up, and that is what fucked up the recording business and the musicians of today, by the way – fucked ’em all up to where they’ll never be the same, in my opinion. People realised they could do their part…later. Play their part and FIX IT later. And with rock and roll, the more you think, the more you STINK.”
-David Briggs, producer extrordinaire.

the night was filled with moments of both dopeness and bizarreness...

dope:
-open bar, holla
-the intro - from web to thought at work to star with little jams in between, shit was on point. drop it like its hot
-sa-ra groovin, how bout some death of a star though
-jaime on the keys, kid was frontin!!
-black thought controlling the flow of performers. get em off stage, thought!
-musiq dueling glenn on top of a roots groove
-hearing the silent treatment beat somewhere in there
-fiona was sublime
-mos actually doin the universal magnetic intro with quest on the beat....i've actually always wondered if i'd ever see that happen. can i get some double trouble?!
-anthony hamilton throwing his chips in

bizarre:
-jada getting all metal
-sa-ra's aforementioned backup baggage handler slash toy carriers (btw doods wings were tiight)
-most of the local/new/upcoming acts. graph? the new family? i dont get it. there were others but i dont remember
-seriously hearing crickets when some crowd participation was attempted
-canibus shutting out quest, tryin to be an acapella thug. canibus in general really...dood was tryin to show off his new muscles on the punk rock fashion tip
-mos's style of the night...on some 95 baggy basement steez
-fiona looking terrified, then only doing one song.

too bad la shows have to end at 2, it looked like they were ready to go for at least another hour and a half. did everyone follow the 1 guest per invite rule? the pass itself said it was good for 2 guests, but i played it safe. although going alone was awkward at first, open bar helped me make some friends. i dont know wut u other okayplayers look like. i was rockin the grey blazer and green hat. it was also weird trying to keep cool in there amongst the industry cats. i was so tempted to get my fanboy on at multiple occasions. btw industry heads mostly suck at crowd participation.

all in all a memorable night. thanks again for the opportunity.

______________________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

life is beautiful. life is a struggle. life is a beautiful struggle.
- mos

there ain't a problem that i can't fix
cuz i can do it, in the mix

thurs 12am-2am
kscr.org
listen and love it
call: 213 740 KSCR
im: kscrlive

what was your problem with the new artist?

I thought the new artists were pretty good, especially Anthony David and Graph Nobel. I'm bout to grab the Anthony David album off Amazon, but does Graph have an album out or about to come out?

For those that went, how were invites sent out? Was there a list people signed up on? Did Okayplayer just know people and sent it out to them? Did they e-mail it to you or send it in the mail?

I'm real curious, so let me know if you have a minute.

Thanks.

They posted about the party on this board, people asked about going, so they gave directions later on in the same post about getting an invite with specific directions.

I got my invite from just having friends on the scene, if that makes any sense. I personally didn't go through okayplayer and i'm so not in the industry, but I do think the folks on here looked out for many okayplayers and that's preety cool. My invite was first over the internet, then later on I got an email to pick up the 45 inch record(invite) in person at a hotel in Beverly Hills.

Sorry I'm wrong I just read that first post and busted up laughing on some Beavis & Butthead shit.

I feel sorry for Canibus. I wish I was there to see it. Ironically enough, he had a song on his mixtape where he was at the grammy's sitting behind Mos Def and the Roots and shouted everybody from Okayplayer out on the song. Oh well. Props for inviting him though.

>I feel sorry for Canibus. I wish I was there to see it.
>Ironically enough, he had a song on his mixtape where he was
>at the grammy's sitting behind Mos Def and the Roots and
>shouted everybody from Okayplayer out on the song. Oh well.
> Props for inviting him though.

Well actually they didn't invite Canibus. I brought him down. My little sister (Meleni (meleni.com), a new rock/soul/pop artist on Columbia bout to come out that's also featured on the new Hitch soundtrack) opened up for Wyclef at the Vibe/Spin Party so i took my homegirl over there to check out my lil sis b4 coming to the jam session. After Mel performed I went backstage and i ran into the lyrical beast himself. I walked up on him and started tellin him how i thought he was truly one of my favorite lyricists of all time and how i could never figure out how they dropped the ball on him. Plus I went on to tell him that he definitely needs to be out there now and how i'd love to see him do well and would be honored to help him get to where he needs to be with my resources .....blah..blah...blah...

So he and I started hangin for the next bit of time shootin the shit and all. I introduced him to Meleni and my homegirl (Yaya) and some of our peoples and he introduced me to Clef and a few of his peoples. He's a funny, cool, interesting dude. We was clownin'!!

So we hung backstage for a bit and I told him I was leaving to go to the the Roots Jam Session joint and he asked about it. I told him it'd be the hottest shit and all the REAL hot MCs would probly be there and how it'd be a dope crowd of people and was tellin him how it'd actually be a real good look if he went. So then he wanted to go but he was like Wyclef MIGHT call him up on stage and he should probly be there if he does. So I told him we'd wait for a sec and see what's up. So Clef came on and and we watched a coupla songs and were ready to go so I went to Bus and was like "Yo we're leaving!" "Now?", he said. And I told him yeah. And he was like "FUK IT, I'M GOIN WITH YALL!" and bounced with us.

So me, Mel, Yaya, and Canibus hop in the rental and roll over to the joint. They were on some serious NOBODY's getting in bullshit and for those of yall that know me yall know i know the game like the back of my hand so I start to analize the situation and try to figure out how to get us in. So I know a few of the PR heads behind the ropes but they on some, Forrest I can't do nothin but u know i would if I could shit (cuz you never wanna be the one to shade a promoter who MIGHT have some shit u tryna get into real soon). But they tell me who I gotta talk to. GAME TIME!! I tell the lady I'm one of the promoters for the event and I got Yaya from America's Next Top Model AND Canibus with me and we need to get in and blah blah. She gives me the REAL NICE, sorry but we can't let ANYONE else in game and i'm like YO It's FUKIN CANIBUS!! She's like I know who he is and he's great but we had to turn JAY Z AWAY (definitely a LIE cuz it's almost ILLEGAL to turn Jay away ANYWHERE in the US). I see Tina (Roots road manager or something) and she shades me HARD (granted she doesnt REALLY know who i am, but I was salty cuz she gave me the "I won't even walk over there and speak to you, talk to the hand sign)! WOW! Whatever though. I DO THIS so I understand and I'm cool with it. I get the other lady's attn again and convince her that I spoke to Thought earlier in the day and told him I had Canibus with me and how he BEGGED me to bring him down (all lies) and she eventually lets us in.

Now I feel like I'm Canibus' manager or something at this point since I've CONVINCED him to leave Clef's show and roll to this joint- so now i have to see to it that he DEFINITELY ROCKS. We both immediately run into Thought and he nonchalantly tells him that he'll be able to get on later. A few of the bands are rockin and then they FINALLY start puttin on the All Stars so I take Bus back stage. Glenn rocks, Musiq rocks, Anthony rocks, Mos Rocks, Woods rocks and now time is winding down (wack ass 2 o'clock LA). It's like 1:55 and Quest is getting off the drums and i'm like OH SHIT!! Fiona gets on and starts doin her thing and i start tryna get Thought's attention to remind him that the big lil man HIMSELF was in the building and hadnt rocked yet. Someone mentions it to him first and at the same time someone is in his other ear saying how it's 2AM and they HAVE to cut shit off. But i can see that Thought is gonna give him at least a LIL shine and as soon as Fiona's done I tell Bus to get a mic and go toward the front of the stage....

Now I remember a while b4 Bus got on he was in my ear sayin shit like "yo fuk all these instruments and shit, that shit is too loud. I just wanna rock acapella" and I'd be like well nah keep the music, but just have them drop shit out a lil bit and when it's appropriate YOU be the MD and when you got some ill shit to say have Quest let you rock acapella. But do it musically, ya know (cuz i didnt want him to be a BUZKILL like how India Arie was at the Black Eyed Peas Tsunami benefit joint a few nights earlier).

I guess i shoulda known he wasnt really listening cuz he was real anxious and shit when he got out there and was ready for Quest to dead the beat immediately. It was kinda funny. I felt kinda bad cuz on the real, Canibus kills almos ALL of your favorite MCs- HANDS DOWN. If he had guidance and direction and good management and good beats he could make a 5 mic album- EASILY! But i was dissapointed cuz although he was still ill, he didn't spit his tightest of verses (especially not tight enuf to be demanding Questlove get OFF the drums I mean come on) and he really didnt recognize his audience and rhyme accordingly. I was thinkin, dude, you got Mos Def and Black Thought sittin behind you listening so you gotta spit some profound shit instead of the run of the mill battle rhyme shit. Whatever. What topped it off is he then asked Quest to come back on (which he did) and continued a lil bit till Mos and Thought jumped in and cut him off.

Whatever. Ya live and you learn....i hope....he's still an ILL ASS MC and I think he still has the potential to be a star.

Just a lil funny background story on Canibus' addition to the show. Thought yall might like it.....

damn. helluva story. i still love canibus. with the faults and all.

She's like I know who he is
>and he's great but we had to turn JAY Z AWAY (definitely a
>LIE cuz it's almost ILLEGAL to turn Jay away ANYWHERE in the
>US).


....rumor has it that they really DID turn Jay Z away at the door. how unncaccptable is that??? He'da been a GREAT addition to the night!!!

Jay came to my party this one time at Joe's Pub and it was SOOO crammed inside that Diallo (the doorman) made him wait outside for like 2 minutes. When Diallo told him that he had to wait a sec before he could let him in the crowd (who themselves had probably been waiting 30+ plus minutes themselves) hissed at him tellin JAY-Z that- as if that was an absolute no-no. True story.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
<-----Maseo does the robot...excellent!
RIP ODB :o(

as when fiona did her thing. i'd guess that it felt better than winning a grammy.

i gotta say, though, that i'm mad i didn't get to meet hulk hogan. didn't even see him there and i was steady roaming.

those cats from the wire are 10 kinds of crazy. peace to andre royo. that's a talented cat (go cop that gil scott-herron, man). and peace to victor williams. that's the homie.

>can i bus cutting off my drums like he ALWAYS does

when has canibus ever cut u off before ?

...even though the eagles lost

~~~Tron~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Current Avi: the holy grail of raw shit

The Legend of GZA:

"There's something about GZA, something about the way he talks that makes niggas tremble. One day me and a few of my brothers were pinned down inside an apartment building. Some guys from the projects had beef with us and we were trapped in there by maybe eight guys. GZA, he was the first one who had knowledge of himself but he also had this kind of naturally dominant vibe to him. So he puts on this Muslim crown-a kind of skullcap with a tassle-and puts on his star, and walks out there alone. He strides out and he says, "I'm Allah Justice, boy! From Brooklyn!"

And everybody submitted to him! They saw him, heard him, and they knew they didn't want problems with him. You didn't want problems with the gods back then. But GZA, he had this extra power in hs presence. This is back when niggas were using all kinds of big words and trying to rap fast and fill the space up with syllables. But GZA was taking it down to something else. You caught real drama off his rhymes and his style. He could make "cat" and "rat" sound threatening." -The RZA from his new book, "The Wu-Tang Manuel"

Albums In Rotation:

Gang Starr - "Full Clip"
Pete Rock & CL Smooth - "Mecca & The Soul Brother"
Geto Boys - "We Can't Be Stopped"
The Roots - "The Tipping Point"
Too $hort - "Born to Mack"
GZA - "Liquid Swords"
Raekwon - "Only Built 4 Cuban Linx"
Ghostface Killah - "Ironman"
RZA - "Bobby Digital"
Ol' Dirty Bastard - "Nigga Please!"
"The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou" - Soundtrack
Common Sense - "Resurrection"
Talib Kweli & Hi Tek - "Reflection Eternal"

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

to get invited to these things. damn.

i don't watch the wire, and people are saying tom cruise and hulk hogan, but i didn't see them. i'd like to see a list of who all was there.

anyway, excellent show. loved the horn section.

Mos Def

Canibus

Anthony Hamilton

Andre Royo from The Wire

Yaya from America's Next Top Model (www.missyaya.com coming soon)

Black Thought

Questlove

The rest of The Roots

Meleni Smith (new pop/rock/soul artist on Columbia coming out in Spring- also featured on new Hitch soundrack www.meleni.com)

Graph Nobel (HUUUGe in Canada, tryna break US-currently shelved on Columbia)

Hulk Hogan

Jada Pinkett-Smith

Tom Cruise

Glenn Lewis

Alia Marie (alternative soul singer now on tour w/ John Legend)

Wood Harris from The Wire (who I spent an hour thinking was The RZA)

Doc (Res, Esthero, Santi White, Graph Nobel mastermind)

Fiona Apple

Musiq Soulchild

SA-RA (ill producers just signed to Kanye's label as artists)

this is who I recognized but i'm from NYC and i got there late so there may be some early and/or LA faces that I didn't know or see...anyone care to add???

anyone see mike shinoda or am i the only one who saw him downstairs at the bar...that or some dude looks exactly like him

SBW

Okay what's up with Teedra??? Where is shorty doo-wop??? TVT ain't on their A Game with not promoting her.

My .02