This dude Kutiman is one talented mofo.  One of the kids I work with put me on to his videos a few months ago, where he takes different Youtube clips of people playing or singing music and mashes them together to create these amazing songs with the videos to match.  It’s really incredible.  Think sampling but with videos!!!  Kutiman is from Israel, and is a professional musician with one full length album under his belt, which has gotten a lot of press and is supposedly really dope ( it’s titled Kutiman and I can’t wait to check it out).  But his ThruYOU project is what’s really getting him a ton of exposure across the world right now.  I need a bit of a late pass for this, because it popped off earlier in the year.  Still, it’s so timeless that it doesn’t even matter.  I think “Wait For Me” is my favorite one (below), but there’s seven in all, so check the link underneath to watch the whole project.  Propps Kidd!!!!!!!

WATCH ALL THRUYOU VIDEOS

When you go to the link above, you should click the CREDITS box on the right side under the video playlist to get links to all the original clips used in each of Kutiman’s creations.  For example, here’s the original clips of the drummer and the guy singing on the talkbox from “Wait For Me” so you can get a feel for how he gets his mash on.

Also, make sure to watch the ABOUT video in the link above for behind the scenes footage of how he does what he does.  Peace…

I bought Radiohead’s The Best Of  album off the strength of one song.  “Jigsaw Falling Into Place”.  My boy Gippamaldi sent the mp3 to me around the time their album In Rainbows came out and I fell in love with it.  I didn’t own any Radiohead albums, and I was curious to see if they had any more songs as good as this one right here since people always tell me how amazing they are.  I figured this would be a good way to start.  I’ll let you know if I find any other gems that I’ve been napping on.  For now, check out their video for “Jigsaw Falling Into Place” (love the bike helmets), and also a clip of them performing the Scotch Mist version (not sure what that means haha) of the same song.  Yeah, it’s not a new track, but I just saw these videos for the first time and I wanted to share them.  It’s my blog and I’ll post if I want to!!!!!!  

What’s your favorite Radiohead song?  Favorite album?  Let me know.  And don’t say “Creep”.  I’m not that mushy.

*Bonus*

I always liked the video for the Kanye/Lupe/Pharrell collabo “Us Placers”, which samples Radiohead’s lead singer Thom Yorke’s solo cut “The Eraser”.  The kids are cool in this….

Check ya later!

I never knew much about Fashawn, other than that he’s a west coast rapper who’s cool with The Alchemist (one of my favorite producers).  Well I gave his latest mixtape a listen and I really liked it.  The Antidote, a warm up of sorts for his debut album coming out next month (titled Boy Meets World), is put together entirely by The Alchemist, and has some great moments.  Many of the songs are made up of re-worked samples that you may recognize from classic 90’s hip hop records.  And there’s even Bob Marley vocal interludes (of him talking), which I found to be a nice touch.  Standout tracks include “Got It Sewn”, the short but sweet title track “The Antidote”, and the even shorter but sweeter “FYI”. Props to The Alchemist for his excellent production, and of course to Fashawn as well for showcasing a refreshing style of laidback floetry.  His voice and accent kinda remind me of a young Ras Kass (probably because they’re both from California but have more traditional east coast styles of rapping).  In fact, here’s a song from the mixtape called “Play It Cool” that you can preview, where Fashawn calls himself the only west coast rapper that “could’ve been in the Wu”.  Give it a spin, and then download the whole project below…

DOWNLOAD FASHAWN THE ANTIDOTE PRODUCED BY THE ALCHEMIST

*Bonus*

Remember this?  One of my favorite releases in the 21st Century.  Prodigy and The Alchemist is one of the all time most potent combinations in rap music.  Haters like to give Prodigy a hard time, but the real geez know that he’s dope as hell on the mic.  Check the classic lead video from Return Of The Mac, “Mac 10 Handle”.  Free Pee!!!!

P.S.  Raekwon’s “Surgical Gloves” on Only Built 4 Cuban Linx II, produced by The Alchemist, IS THE TOUGHEST SONG OUT RIGHT NOW.  I bang this in my whip every morning…

Hold up.  Did Rae just say “bulletproof brothels with the Jew bitches” on that song??!?!?!?!  That’s awesome.  One.

Yeah boooooyyyyyy!  I’m back with my second volume of 90’s Grab Bag.  I’m really loving this series because it gives me an excuse to watch old videos.  I totally heart 90’s hip hop.  It’s hard to pick just five, but that’s my format and I’m sticking to it.  I threw a Jay-Z and a Wu video in the mix in honor of their recent releases (Ghostface has a new disc coming out at the end of the month and of course Raekwon’s just dropped).  It’s cool to see guys from this era still making classic albums.  And I had to sneak in some west coast representation too (like I did last Grab Bag with The Nonce “Mix Tapes”), and of course some straight NYC street bangers.  Peep the crazy cameos in the Fat Joe video at the bottom (Nas, Big L, Raekwon, etc.)…enjoy.

Jeru The Damaja “D. Original”

Ghostface Killah featuring Raekwon and Cappadonna “Camay”

Jay-Z “Where I’m From”

Dr. Dre “Let Me Ride”

Fat Joe “Success”

If you missed it, here’s 90’s Grab Bag Volume One.  See you next month with my next installment.  Dirty Jax where you at son?!?!?!?!?

This dude is hilarious.  Zach Galifianakis.  I watched The Hangover for the second time on the plane back from San Francisco and enjoyed it even more, mostly because of him.  Now he has a major role in the new HBO series Bored To Death with Jason Schwartzman and Ted Danson.  I’m excited for this.  Here’s the trailer…

I went and did some research on my new favorite bearded (and chubby) funny man, and turns out he’s been around for a while, and he’s got a remarkable comedy steez.  I really like this talk show he hosts called Between Two Ferns.  Here’s two episodes that I thought were his best.  First is his interview with Michael Cera (Superbad, Juno) and second is with Jon Hamm from Mad Men, which is a show I really want to start watching because lots of people that I know and respect tells me it’s excellent.  Anyway, check these out.  LOL!

Between Two Ferns with guest Michael Cera

Between Two Ferns with guest Jon Hamm

Finally, watch this clip of a younger and unbearded Zach Galifianakis doing stand up comedy for a group of pre-school kids.  Fun!

There’s many more Zach Galifianakis videos on Funny Or Die.  To watch, just click HERE!!!!!!

The latest release from Brooklyn based soul music label Daptone Records comes from Naomi Shelton and the Gospel Queens.  It’s called “What Have You Done” off the album What Have You Done, My Brother.  I first heard about Naomi Shelton from a family friend back in the spring, who told me she was famous for doing these amazing live shows in some church basement in Manhattan.  Shelton’s kinda old, but she’s got soul, man.  She looks like she could be labelmate Sharon Jones‘ auntie, and sounds like that too.  I just copped their new album, and look forward to giving it some serious burn.  Above is the Naomi Shelton and the Gospel Queens video for “What Have You Done”, and below is an EPK Daptone Records put together so you can get a feel for their deal…

*Bonus*

This is the latest video from Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings for their song “Tell Me”…

Check out Daptone Records website for their other releases if you’re into this type of soul music.  They have a solid artist roster…

Daptone Records Website

I missed Adventureland when it was in the theaters, but I watched it twice on DVD in the past week and I’m giving it the official Westcheddar TWO THUMBS UP.  I really enjoyed it.  Great cast, great story, and it’s beautifully shot.  Lots of funny and romantically heartwarming moments.  Check the trailer below and then go rent or buy or Netflix (that’s a verb) the DVD asap…

Big props to the stars of the movie (pictured below), Jesse Eisenberg (that’s how people always spell MY last name wrong hahahaha) and Kristen Stewart (best known for her role in Twilight).  These are two young actors to watch for in the future.

Watch this interview with them at Sundance Film Festival, where they talk a little more in depth about their characters….

That’s all for now folks.  Peace out.

Is there a better tag team tandem in rap music than Raekwon and Ghostface?  I don’t think so.  And the recent leak of Only Built 4 Cuban Linx II certainly will help my argument.  Holy cow.  I was nervous about this project because I’ve always felt strongly that Wu albums should be produced entirely by Rza (who came through and definitely did his thing on “New Wu” and the groovy “Black Mozart”).  But there’s a bunch of incredible beats on there by other seasoned beatmakers (Pete Rock, Alchemist, Scram Jones, Marley Marl, Erick Sermon), and even some by up and coming producers that I don’t know much about.  And the raps are so tough man.  Wow.  Raekwon shines the brightest on epic solos like “Sonny’s Missing”, “Surgical Gloves”, and “Canal Street”.  Of course Ghostface is on a handful of songs and comes correct with all his bars (as does Rae’s other Wu family members), and I love Beanie Sigel’s verse on “Have Mercy” and Jada’s on “Broken Safety”.  Lots more crack on there too, and I think very quickly this will be considered a classic album as a whole.  It’s very strong, though towards the end I kinda wish Rae cut it short (the Dr. Dre production in my opinion is kind of wack).  A few too many tracks, that’s my only critique.  Less is more. 

Still, I’m very impressed by the production slash rhymes, and happy to have something on the other side of the New York street rap spectrum to balance out Jay-Z’s brilliant but more commercial Blueprint 3.  And any reunification of Raekwon and Ghostface on a record is instantly ill.  They still sound as fresh as they did on the first Only Built 4 Cuban Linx (peep the pics above from their younger days).  Here’s one of my favorite cuts (I’d post more songs but there are too many heaters on there), featuring Rae and Ghost going back and forth about being in jail, appropriately titled “Penitentiary”…

*Bonus*

From the first Wu Tang Clan album, check out the video for Rae and Ghost’s duet “Can It Be All So Simple”, directed by Hype Williams…

GO COP THAT ALBUM SON!!!!!  IT DROPS TUESDAY!!!

For a Westcheddar look back at the original Purple Tape click HERE and HERE to read Wax Poetics interview with Raekwon….peace god.

Ok, again I have to apologize for another Jay-Z post, but Blueprint 3 leaked today, and it’s exciting!  There’s something about getting my hands on exclusive music that gives me a nostalgic feeling, like when DJ Clue tapes used to come out back in high school and there would be a new Biggie song to start off Side A.  I remember stopping to see Black at his tape spot on Fordham Rd. back in ’99 and he gave us In My Lifetime Vol. 3 on CD like a month before it dropped.  That was crazy.  And I had Blueprint (the first one) dumb early too.  Today it’s different.  Anyone can get something early, if you know the right spots to go on the internet.  You don’t have to go to the hood, the hood comes to you!  I’ll let you find it on your own, but you can sample my two favorites below, that is of the ones I hadn’t heard before today.  “Thank You” is really dope.  Like, REALLY DOPE.  And “Hate” is some next shit, featuring Kanye West, which I’m digging too.  They kinda go back and forth on it in a fly way.  Both songs are produced by Kanye West (“Thank You” is co-produced by No I.D.) and hit me the hardest during my first listening session.  Enjoy, and of course, check out the Rhapsody sponsored commercial above for Blueprint 3 where Hov changes clothes to recreate each of his album covers.  It’s very well done.  Cheah!

“Thank You”

“Hate”

Shout out to my boy J. Tunas, one of the biggest Jay-Z fans I know, and my boy Kareem down in Maryland, who is the other biggest Jay-Z fan I know.  To the rest of you, I promise the next post won’t have anything to do with Jay-Z.  Maybe.

 

If you look at Jay-Z’s track list for his upcoming album Blueprint 3 (above), you will recognize many of the names of the guest artists he has lined up (there’s alot of them).  He’s got everyone big, from Kanye West to Alicia Keys to Swizz Beats to Rihanna to Pharrell to Young Jeezy.  And he’s got the new guys on there too that you’ve definitely heard of by now due to their heavy radio spins, Drake and Kid Cudi (who’s got his own debut coming out next month too).  But he’s also got a couple guests that you may not be up on just yet.  Well let me introduce them to you if that’s the case.  

Above is a dope video from J. Cole, a rapper from North Carolina signed to Jay-Z’s Roc Nation who is making a ton of noise in the music industry right now and is featured on the album.  The song is called “Grown Simba”, my personal favorite of all the stuff he has out.  And below is a video from Empire of the Sun (their lead singer Luke Steele is featured on the leadoff track) for their song “Standing on the Shore”.  Supposedly Hov discovered them when he heard their music on a recent episode of Entourage.  Funny, because I’ve discovered a bunch of great songs that way too, and from other HBO shows as well.  This video is bananas.  It has dancing shark girls in it!!!!  

Here’s another.  It’s from G.O.O.D. Music’s Mr. Hudson, who you may know from his work with labelmate Kanye West on 808’s and Heartbreak (*inside fam joke* he’s the UK Matty B hahahaha).  His song is called “There Will Be Tears”, which I kind of like, and as you can see above, he appears on the final track on Blueprint 3.  Pretty eclectic mix Mr. Carter!!!!!

Since Jay-Z’s album is basically neck and neck right now with Raekwon’s sequel to Only Built 4 Cuban Linx in terms of causing hip hop fans anxiety while they wait for their respective release dates, I’ve got to post Rae’s new video for “House Of Flying Daggers”, which features supreme Wu veterans Ghostface Killah, Gza/Genius, Inspector Deck, and Method Man.  Now those are some good old fashioned guest artists!  The video is straight animated graphics (and graphically violent too)…

Which album are you more excited for?  Yeah I know I’ve put up back to back Blueprint 3 related posts, but I’m equally pumped to hear Only Built 4 Cuban Linx 2.  I’m hoping for two classic albums.  We’ll see…

Raekwon supposedly has Jadakiss, Styles P, Busta Rhymes, Beanie Sigel, Slick Rick, and the rest of the Wu Tang Clan on his album too.  Wow.