Mark Ronson On Sampling

Clip recap:

Sampling isn't about "hijacking nostalgia wholesale," says Mark Ronson. It's about inserting yourself into the narrative of a song while also pushing that story forward. Watch the DJ scramble 15 TED Talks into an audio-visual omelette, and trace the evolution of "La Di Da Di," Doug E. Fresh and Slick Rick's 1984 hit that has been reimagined for every generation since.

NYC Radio Star Mr. Cee Un-Resigns After Acknowledging Sex With Trans Prostitute

Yesterday New York City hip-hop radio star Mr. Cee acknowledged having sex with a transgender sex worker in a tearful 30-minute interview on his own station, which then published a statement accepting his resignation and wishing him well. But almost immediately, there was another development.

On Thursday afternoon, following the urging of Mr. Darden during the morning interview, Mister Cee had seemingly un-resigned. He was back in his noon timeslot, playing defiant songs interspersed with grateful ones — Jadakiss’s “The Champ Is Here,” Maino’s “Hi Hater,” AZ’s “I’m Back.” “Let me just live my life/ Just leave me alone,” he rapped along with one Cam’ron song. In between songs, he barked out the details of the clubs he’d be spinning at in the coming days. “The truth will set you free,” he said. “I know it now.”

Near the end of his hour, he switched from hip-hop to classic soul. “If you’re down and out, if you’re struggling, if you think you can’t overcome something, maybe this record may lift you up like it lifted me up last night when I listened to it,” he said before playing Sly and the Family Stone’s “You Can Make It If You Try.” He followed that with the group’s exuberant anthem “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Again),” and Mister Cee’s message was clear. He had been supporting others for so long. Now, finally, he was the subject of his own tribute.

The New York Times evaluates:

Mister Cee’s confession comes in the middle of a stretch that has seen the gradual easing of hip-hop’s internalized homophobia. Over the last couple of years Frank Ocean, the soul singer and affiliate of the hip-hop crew Odd Future, openly discussed his love for a man; ASAP Rocky and Kanye West have loudly disavowed homophobia (though Rocky visibly struggled at the MTV Video Music Awards when put on stage next to the openly gay basketball player Jason Collins), and Jay Z voiced his support for marriage equality.

This reflects a generational shift in attitudes, a slight class shift in hip-hop’s mainstream, as well as a broadening of hip-hop’s fan base. Anti-gay sentiment has long played a part in hip-hop, but as hip-hop becomes more central to pop culture,its values are evolving. A decade ago this scenario would have probably been unthinkable. But there was Mr. Darden assuring Mister Cee, “There’s nothing wrong with being who you are,” and at one point encouraging him by exclaiming, “You’re free, Cee!”

Mister Cee has been arrested twice for sex with male prostitutes, most recently in May during an undercover sting conducted by the NYPD.

Gay-Friendly Hip-Hop Duo Tops Chart

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, the hip-hop duo who rocketed to national prominence via Same Love, their message of gay acceptance, today topped Billboard's Hot 100 singles chart with their follow-up single, Thrift Shop.  The track is also #1 on the magazine's R&B/Hip-Hop chart.  If, somehow, you have not yet heard the impossibly catchy Thrift Shop, here it is.

Jake Shears Vs Azealia Banks

 

 

Yesterday former Scissor Sisters frontman Jake Shears took on his one-time collaborator Azealia Banks over her "faggot" attack on Perez Hilton.  GLAAD also responded yesterday on their blog:

Our society knows that "fa**ot" is a derogatory word for gay men, and in this case it was used to attack someone in a very public altercation with hundreds of thousands of fans and young people following. It is an ugly, archaic word that was used to stigmatize a population of people who suffer high rates of violence both here in the U.S. and abroad. As far as we’ve come in this society, seeing it used by an artist many young people may look up to is painful, but even more so for those young fans, many of whom GLAAD has heard from. GLAAD has reached out to Banks’ representatives, and is working to compile stories of fans and teens who wanted to respond to the word and let others know what it feels like when they hear it.

Tweet Of The Day - Azealia Banks

The above tweet from hip-hop/dance artist Azealia Banks came after this:

US rapper Azealia Banks has defended calling the US entertainment blogger Perez Hilton a faggot during a Twitter argument. The argument began after Hilton posted a criticism of Banks’s feuds with other artists. She then called him “dickbreath” and told him to “gobble a dick”. Hilton told Banks, who last year said she was bisexual: “Some of your music is cute, but your attention-seeking ways are pathetic and hurtful. You drag while others choose to uplift!” Banks responded: “Whatever bitch, you tried to sign me to ur little bum ass label in ’11 with them bullsshit ass artists…” She later tweeted: “omg u should just kill yourself… Like for real… lol what a messy faggot you are.”

For those unaware, Banks is a relatively new artist who won general acclaim in the gay club world last year with her smash hit, 212, which has over 41 million views on YouTube.

UPDATE: Buzzfeed has more of the exchange between Banks and Hilton.

Frank Ocean On Coming Out

"The night I posted it, I cried like a fucking baby. It was like all the frequency just clicked to a change in my head. All the receptors were now receiving a different signal, and I was happy. I hadn't been happy in so long. I've been sad again since, but it's a totally different take on sad. There's just some magic in truth and honesty and openness. I had those fears. In black music, we’ve got so many leaps and bounds to make with acceptance and tolerance in regard to that issue. It reflects something just ingrained, you know. When I was growing up, there was nobody in my family—not even my mother—who I could look to and be like, 'I know you’ve never said anything homophobic.' So, you know, you worry about people in the business who you’ve heard talk that way." - Hip-hop star Frank Ocean, speaking to GQ.

Jay-Z - 99 Problems But Mitt Ain't One

From today's Obama rally. Wingnuts are already screaming.

TheFour: Jay-Z For Marriage

Details.

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis: Same Love

(Tipped by JMG reader Casey)

Mariah Carey - Triumphant

Carey's publicist says this might be "too urban for JMG" but assures me that there are "slamming club mixes" coming. Let's hope so because I couldn't make it halfway through this version. The publicist is right about Mariah's club mixes though, they usually turn me around on tracks I'd been "meh" on. Example.

Out Singer Frank Ocean Tops R&B Chart

Newly out R&B star Frank Ocean debuted at the pinnacle of Billboard's R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart this week. (I'm fairly sure this is the first time that an already out artist has achieved this.) In fact, Billboard's chart-watch column notes that Ocean's first week sales are more than three times what had been forecast before he came out. Ocean also debuted at #2 on the Top 200 Pop Albums chart.

HomoQuotable - Frank Ocean

"4 summers ago, I met somebody. I was 19 years old. He was too. We spent that summer, and the summer after, together. Every day almost. And on the days we were together, time would glide. By the time I realized I was in love, it was malignant. It was hopeless. There was no escaping, no negotiating with feeling. No choice. It was my first love. It changed my life." - Hip hop artist Frank Ocean, coming out on his personal blog.

Ocean is part of the collective Odd Future, whose leader Tyler The Creator has been criticized for virulently anti-gay lyrics. Tyler has issued a typically strange statement in support of Ocean's coming out. Hip hop mogul Russell Simmons reacted on his personal blog:

Today is a big day for hip-hop. It is a day that will define who we really are. How compassionate will we be? How loving can we be? How inclusive are we? I am profoundly moved by the courage and honesty of Frank Ocean. Your decision to go public about your sexual orientation gives hope and light to so many young people still living in fear. These types of secrets should not matter anymore, but we know they do, and because of that I decided to write this short statement of support for one of the greatest new artists we have. His gifts are undeniable. His talent, enormous. His bravery, incredible. His actions this morning will uplift our consciousness and allow us to become better people. Every single one of us is born with peace and tranquility in our heart. Frank just found his.

Nicki Minaj - Stupid Hoe

A commenter on Stereogum says: "Hip-Hop has come so far. It used to be that only men were allowed to make shitty misogynistic songs with obnoxious beats. This song is a true feminist victory." NSFW.

Rapper Spelling Bee

Straight from the Jay-Emm-Gee.

99 Problems But Royalties Ain't One

Hip-hop zillionaire Jay-Z is launching a new clothing line about the 99%. But the profits will remain with the 1%, Jay-Z.

Jay-Z is releasing a new line of T-shirts in support of the Occupy Wall Street movement Friday via his Rocawear clothing label, but he doesn't plan to share any of the profits with the protesters. The rapper was recently seen wearing one of the shirts, which tweaks the phrase "Occupy Wall Street" by crossing out the "W" and adding an "S" to make it read "Occupy All Streets."


He's got to make another million for his coming son, Jayonce'.

Rapper Heavy D Dies At Age 44

I accidentally met Heavy D at a 1993 Brand New Heavies concert at Manhattan's Marquee Ballroom when he turned to apologize for stepping on my foot. (It was a night of heavies.) TMZ reports that he was found dead at his home today from causes presently unknown.

Tweet Of The Day - Russell Simmons

Quote Of The Day - Wale

"One thing I stand for is hip hop music. And hip hop music knows no race, no color, no age, no gender, no sexual orientation -- none of that. So, the most important thing about it is the music, and if it makes the people feel happy, that's what we hear. I will say, sometimes in this business you get aligned with people that don't understand that, or don't necessarily have the same beliefs that you do. And I apologize for not, you know, having my best foot forward to understand the people I'm in business with. And I'm going to do better. As we all do. People we -- everyday we got to get better. So, I apologize on behalf of my team, for not being the way they're supposed to be." - Hip hop star Wale, speaking to the crowd at DC Black Pride. Wale's management had canceled his appearance, claiming they didn't know it was a gay event. Apparently Wale then overrode their decision and performed anyway.

J.R. - Will U Marry Me Boy?

Gay hip-hop/R&B from J.R., about whom I know nothing. But I think I recognize the boy he's chasing from the "movies."

80's Flashback

Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five, The Message, 1982. Gritty depictions of life in the ghetto were standard fare in the early days of hip hop (and continue less frequently today), but The Message, with its slowed beat and menacing Don't push me, cuz I'm close to the edge refrain, earned the group its 2007 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame, the first hip hop act so honored. Rolling Stone hails The Message as the best single of the 1980s and places it at #51 on its 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time list. The track reached #4 on Billboard's R&B chart, but received scant pop radio play, topping out at only #64, possibly due to the word "fag" appearing twice, once in reference to a man sent to prison where he was forced to become "an undercover fag," and later in the song when Grandmaster Melle Mel observes that a homeless woman, now reduced to eating out of garbage cans, "used to be a fag hag."