It seems like Slum Village, one of the most influential rap groups of the past decade, is marked by tragedy. Titus “Baatin” Glover passed away on Saturday, August 1 from mysterious causes. He was 35 years old. (A medical autopsy is pending.) His death comes three years after the demise of co-founder James “J Dilla” Yancey.
With his trademark turban, piercingly ruddy voice and sinewy demeanor, Baatin exemplified Slum Village’s contradictions more than any other member. On their classic Fantastic Vol. 2, he espoused spirituality and a holistic lifestyle, yet celebrated urban hedonism on record, predating subsequent Muslim thug rappers like Freeway and the Jacka.
After J Dilla left amicably for a solo career, T3 and Baatin added Elzhi to the group and landed a hit single, “Tainted,” from Trinity (Past, Present and Future). Shortly after that, Baatin went AWOL as he suffered from crack addiction and mental illness. (He would be diagnosed with schizophrenia.) Slum Village, now just Elzhi & T3, distanced themselves from Baatin — “Reunion,” the final track on SV’s 2004 album Detroit Deli (A Taste of Detroit), was considered a “wake up call” to him.
In recent years, Baatin cleaned himself up, and he rejoined T3 and Elzhi for their Rock the Bells dates this year. The trio was set to issue a new album, Villa Manifesto, in September on Barak Records. Sadly, it will now commemorate two fallen soldiers in the SV family instead of just one.
The apparent collapse of Vibe Media Group, and the end of Vibe magazine, is something less than a surprise. Rumors have circulated for months that Vibe may fold at any moment. The same rumors shadow every major newspaper and magazine, from Paste and Spin to the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times, like crows waiting to pick at their carcasses. At one point, Vibe was the best-selling urban music magazine in the country and second only to Rolling Stone in circulation; now it’s the biggest casualty of a rapidly deteriorating media climate and, to an extent, a hobbled and broken music industry.
The announcement on June 30 that Vibe is suspending publication was met with mixed reaction, from sadness (mostly on the part of journalists and industry folk) to snickers (often from musicians and music fans). (Vibe Media has changed hands many times since Quincy Jones co-founded the magazine with Time Inc. executive Robert L. Miller in 1992. It is currently owned by the Wicks Group.)
“Vibe Mag goes under.–thank you for many years of little to no coverage and bad reviews. You will be missed,” read a Twitter post from Evidence.
“What will we do when there’s no one to hate our music in print?” wrote Mr. Len.
“Wow, Vibe is gone…can they PLUUEAZE take BET with em???” wrote James Poyser.
It’s an all-too-familiar response to a decaying urban entertainment megalopolis that everyone loves to hate but no one seems (financially or creatively) capable of changing.
Peanut Butter Wolf posted three videos from his June 25 Michael Jackson tribute set at the Echoplex on the Stones Throw website. The second and third parts are really good, so I’m reposting them here. Check part two for some surprise remixes/edits of M.J. tracks — I’ll let you guess who the producer(s) are.
Last night, 2Mex sent out a MySpace message announcing the end of Visionaries. This may not come as a surprise to those who haven’t followed the group in a while (like myself); its last album, We Are The Ones (We Have Been Waiting For), dropped in 2006. Still, it’s unwelcome news.
Yesterday, Brooklyn’s Hangar 18 announced that it is breaking up.
Hangar 18 was formed by rappers Alaska and Windnbreeze and producer paWL. The trio’s prior association with New York freestyle stalwart Atomz Family made it a perfect fit for Definitive Jux. However, their two albums, 2004’s The Multiplatinum Debut Album and 2007’s Sweep the Leg, hewed closer to party rap, an indie hip hop microtrend (Mac Lethal, Junk Science) that hasn’t really taken off. Artistically, Hangar 18’s best single may have been “Beatslope,” an early single that streamlined and updated Atomz Family’s lyrical machinations.
On Monday, November 3, during a performance at Lenny’s Bar in Atlanta, Atlanta rapper/producer Chris “Jax” Thurston collapsed from cardiac arrest on stage. He was rushed to the hospital, where he was subsequently pronounced dead. He was 32 years old.
Jax was one third of Atlanta’s Binkis Recs (BINKIS: Before Ignorant Niggas Killed Intelligent Songs). For years Binkis was a stronghold in Atlanta’s underground rap scene, even aiding in launching the career of DJ Drama pre-Gangsta Grillz. Really, more than just the “rap scene,” Hip Hop period. If you were a lover of music, supporter of the culture and resident of Atlanta you’d surely seen these dudes perform and walked away remembering what you saw.
Binkis Recs (Jax, Killa Kalm, and Flux da Wondabat) emerged during Atlanta’s indie-rap renaissance of the late 90s alongside MassInfluence, Mars Ill and transplanted New Yorkers such as Scienz of Life and MF Doom. They also helped launch DJ Drama’s career. Before Drama got famous as the creator of Gangsta Grillz and the Aphilliates, Drama was the Binkis crew’s DJ. (DJ Mafioso is Binkis’ current DJ.)
Binkis built its reputation through local and regional shows and by issuing CDs through its imprint, Binkis Records. The closest the group came to national exposure was when their track “Beat You In the Head” appeared on Farewell Fondle ‘Em, a memorial to the classic indie imprint issued by Definitive Jux in 2001. In the liner notes, Bobbito pointed out that Binkis never actually recorded for Fondle ‘Em:
“Beat You In The Head” is the only song on this compilation that actually was never released on Fondle ‘Em, but I really felt that the song captured the spirit of the label and I had always wanted them to be a part of the label’s history.
Binkis went on to drop two 12-inch singles on Bobbito’s next label venture, Fruitmeat Records: “Bullitt” b/w “Eyearm” and “Marquee” b/w “That’s What I’m Talking About.” In 2002 the group released its only nationally-distributed album, The Reign Begins, on MF Grimm’s label Day By Day Entertainment.
Camu Tao, the Columbus, OH producer and MC known for his work with Cage and various artists on the Definitive Jux label, passed away on May 25 after a long battle with lung cancer. He was 30 years old.
Before he was diagnosed with cancer, Camu Tao was working on a solo album for Definitive Jux. (Judging from a cached page on Definitive Jux’s website, it may have been tentatively called Death, Where Have You Been All My Life?) His beats and rhymes can be found on several popular albums, including RJD2’s Deadringer, Cage’s Hell’s Winter and El-P’s Fantastic Damage and I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead. He may be the most underrated member of the Definitive Jux movement.
Today, at around 2pm, our dear friend, family member and musical collaborator Tero “CAMU TAO” Smith passed away in his home town of Columbus, Ohio. Tero had been quietly fighting for his life for the last year and a half after being diagnosed with lung cancer.
To those who knew Tero, he was an almost uncategorizable force of nature. Wild, hilarious, proud, loving, tough, outspoken, spontaneous and brilliant. He wore his heart on his sleeve and he dripped
creativity, leaving inspiration and awe in the hearts and minds of anyone who was fortunate enough to see him work.
We, his friends and family, have truly had our collective hearts broken by his passing. Not only because of the loss of our friend, but because of the loss of his contribution to those who never knew what we knew about his talent and his potential. He was the secret that no one wanted to keep and we always knew that one day his vision and his heart could change music forever the way he changed all of our lives.
His departure from us all 1 month away from his 31st birthday is nothing less than a tragedy… nothing less than a crime. he was a gift to us all and he is irreplaceable. Rest in peace, Mu. We will love you
forever. May god bless you and your family.
R.I.P.
Tero “CAMU TAO” Smith
born 6/26/77, passed 5/25/08
wm/cc
sincerely,
jaime “el-p” meline (on behalf of many, many wonderful and broken hearted friends)
Tony Silver, the director behind the seminal independent film Style Wars, passed away on February 1.
Originally shown at the 1984 Sundance Film Festival (where it won a Grand Prize for documentary films) and on PBS-TV, Style Wars was the first documentary to investigate the hidden world of graffiti in New York. Silver collaborated on the film with Henry Chalfant, the photographer whose books (Subway Art and its follow-up, Spraycan Art) comprise the definitive chronicle of early aerosol art. Style Wars features many now-legendary characters from that era, from Skeme 2 and Dondi to future mixtape king Kayslay (then known as Dez). Snippets from the film’s soundtrack have popped up on numerous hip-hop recordings, including Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s Return to the 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version and Mos Def & Talib Kweli are Black Star.
On his MySpace blog, El-P posted an item titled “The Death of a Legend.” As a member of Company Flow, El-P may have authored the best musical fusion of graffiti-minded lyrics and hip-hop beats with the classic Funcrusher Plus.
The Procussions — rapper/multi-instrumentalist/producer Stro and rapper/keyboardist/producer J. Medeiros — may be best remembered as one of the groups that anchored Rawkus Records’ comeback in 2006. It blended hot, percussive rhythms with deft MC’ing and a strong moral compass — “American Fado,” a track from their 2006 album 5 Sparrows for 2 Centsfeatured an appearance from Christian author Renee Altson.
Chad “Pimp C” Butler, who with Bun B formed the Southern rap pioneer Underground Kingz, passed away suddenly this morning at the age of 33. According to Allhiphop.com, one of the first outlets to report the story, he was found dead at the Mondrian Hotel at 9 a.m. Pacific Standard Time when his family called the hotel to report him missing. In response, a 911 call was placed, and paramedics from the Los Angeles Fire Department responded, finding Pimp C dead in his hotel room. No cause of death has yet been determined.
UGK is one of the first Southern rap groups to win the respect of hip-hop fans around the world, including New York fans who, at the time, often refused to accept any form of hip-hop that didn’t come from their region. UGK, Geto Boys, N.W.A. and the Posse (including the D.O.C.), Ice-T — these are the artists that made hip-hop a truly universal art form where, in the words of Rakim, “It ain’t where you from it’s where you at.”
As a onetime West Coast head, I’m not going to front like I’m a UGK expert. I first became aware of them back in 1993, when “Pocket Full of Stones,” a single from their debut album Too Hard to Swallow, was included on the soundtrack to the Hughes Brothers’ cult classic Menace II Society. Pimp C’s inimitable twang — “I’ve got a pocket full of stooones!” — stuck in my head for years.
Many expected that Scratch, the better known of the two here in the States, wouldn’t last long. Originally launched in 2004 by Harris Publications, it was a failed attempt to capitalize on a burgeoning interest in hip-hop production, studio musicians and crate-digging. In some respects, it was a mainstream version of the same culture that Wax Poetics (launched in 2002) had already successfully targeted. But while Wax Poetics focused on "classic" hip-hop, soul, jazz and deep funk artists such as Pete Rock, the late Weldon Irvine and Roy Ayers, Scratch – which was launched with the help of several Wax Poetics editors — spotlighted the modern-day rap industry.
Straight No Chaser was founded by several veteran UK journalists, including a former editor at The Wire. From the start, its mission was to highlight the acid jazz bubbling around the world. Taking its name from Thelonious Monk’s classic song, it became a standard bearer for underground, soul-influenced beat music. Its cover subjects ranged from Madlib to Bjork, and from Jeff Mills to Meshell Ndegeocello.
February 7 would have been James Yancey’s birthday. Instead, one of hip-hop’s great producers died three days after his 32nd year on Feb. 10, 2006 and then achieved a most bittersweet triumph with two posthumous albums: The Shining and Donuts.
Who knows if J-Dilla’s name would continue to be remembered if not for the new material that continues to spring forth, from the ever-reliable Stones Throw (a reissue of Ruff Draft packed with unreleased material that’s due next month) to his many friends (Phat Kat, among others, will issue J-Dilla tracks over the next several months)? Certainly hip-hop — and popular music in general — does a poor job of remembering its fallen idols. Even the dead are subject to the same trends, peaks and valleys in popularity as the living. That’s why we celebrate Tupac Shakur and not Big Pun; and Big L and not Cowboy.
J-Dilla remains in our thoughts because his music is more relevant than ever. The future soul locus that now occupies much of the black music underground, with its mixture of heartfelt neo-soul, tentative leaps into house music and broken beat, and occasional yet unapologetic thug-ism was anticipated by J-Dilla and his village of the slum. It is important, too, that we are celebrating his birthday. Unlike Tupac and Biggie, we aren’t celebrating his death-day with magazine covers and tributaries to the moment he was slain and burst forth into the mainstream public’s conscience. We’re hailing his life and music.
You can visit Stones Throw’s website and learn more about its activities, from tribute parties and a special podcast to the aforementioned Ruff Draft. This site’s efforts are much more modest, but no less heartfelt. Below you’ll find an essay I wrote on the day I learned J Dilla passed. RIP James “Jay Dee/J Dilla” Yancey.
Photo by Rafael Rashid from the book Behind the Beat. Taken from Stones Throw’s website.
Funkstörung has split up. Chris de Luca andMichael Fakesch announced the group’s end through a statement posted on their website last month. "Whatever the reasons were: musical differences, personal problems, the distance of 700 KM between Rosenheim and Chris’ new place in Berlin – who cares … fact is we both agreed it’s better to focus on solo projects from here on out," wrote the duo.
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