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Category Archives: Greatest Hits
The ten most popular indie-rap artists…
So who are the ten most popular indie-rap artists right now? I decided to find out using Rhapsody’s internal reports. The music service generates a weekly spreadsheet that ranks artists according to the amount of “plays,” or the number of … Continue reading
Posted in Greatest Hits, News, Superlists
Tagged indie rap labels, industry apocalypse, major-indies, population control, Rhapsody
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Midnight marauder: TOKiMONSTA
Jennifer Lee, who goes by the name TOKiMONSTA (“toki†is Korean for rabbit) has managed to surf above a deluge of L.A. beat music. As she’s the first to admit, she doesn’t have a particularly unique “sound signature,†certainly nothing … Continue reading
Posted in Greatest Hits, Interviews
Tagged beat scene, Brainfeeder, L.A. underground, this is not trip-hop, Tokimonsta
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A beautiful mine: Flying Lotus
I find it hard to embrace the new Flying Lotus album, Cosmogramma. It’s not as if it’s a bad album — it’s great, in fact. But the secret is out about FlyLo. He’s not mine anymore. I wasn’t one of … Continue reading
Posted in Greatest Hits, News
Tagged Adult Swim, beat scene, critocracy, Flying Lotus, future soul, L.A. underground, music journalism, Pitchfork, popapocalypse, Sa-Ra
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VH1 Soul is dead, long live Centric
Today, the lovely folks at MTV/Viacom removed VH1 Soul from Comcast’s programming slate in my area. Instead, there is a new Viacom channel called Centric. What is Centric? “What we’re creating is a brand-new network targeted to adult, upscale, sophisticated … Continue reading
Posted in Greatest Hits, News
Tagged BET, blog angst, Centric, Emmis Communications, MTV, reality wasteland, VH1 Soul, Viacom
22 Comments
Enter: The Plug One 2000s
This is an introduction to a failed project that will, over the next few months, provide a measure of redemption. The Plug One 2000s was originally conceived to document some of the changes that took place in hip hop culture … Continue reading
Posted in Greatest Hits, Plug One 2000s, Plug One 50, Reviews, Superlists
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Mary Anne Hobbs’ “100 percent positive topspin”
“A term like ‘wonky,’ I mean it’s just hideous, disgusting and it’s really dumbing down what people do as producers,†says Mary Anne Hobbs during a phone interview in late August. Yes, even the queen of bass hates “wonky,†“funky†… Continue reading
Vibe’s demise
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, … Continue reading
Nosaj Thing, new romantic
Jason “Nosaj Thing†Chung is the latest to emerge from the Low End Theory beat camp, a weekly club night that has given name to a wave of talented Los Angeles producers – Flying Lotus, Daedelus, the Glitch Mob, Daddy … Continue reading
The Plug One Q&A: Flying Lotus
Steven “Flying Lotus†Ellison represents a new wave of beat production. His style encompasses the French electro-house of Ed Banger Records, classic IDM-techno such as Autchre, the techno hip-hop of Prefuse 73, and the visionary funk of J Dilla. But … Continue reading
The Plug One Q&A: Andrew Lojero’s “From L.A. with Love”
Andrew Lojero, a promoter of funk, hip-hop, and soul happenings in Los Angeles, talks to Plug One about the fomenting underground scene and his new compilation, From L.A. with Love. Continue reading
Remembering James Yancey, one year later
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. … Continue reading