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Tomorrow night at Surface, the first Stamina (details here) is going down. Hip hop, breaks, drum'n'bass, and a b-boy/b-girl battle. I'm looking forward to hanging with the homeys T-Wreezy & TechTwelve and meeting Gordski of the Goods. Should be a foine evening.

Saw a strong play last night: Suburban Motel. It's made up of 2 unrelated stories set in the same seedy motel room. The first one was my favourite: a couple of very real characters had me saying "I know people like that, but I haven't seen someone tell their story before. . ." Recommended. Propers to Ruby Jane & Alex for the hook-up.

New dancehall riddim I'm feeling: Surprise (Mr. Easy on it here). No wonder dancehall is blowing up in the mainstream again. What other scene is producing tunes as out there as this that still move the dance?

Eff a Fader, how nice is Mass Appeal? Nas and Extra P alongside Sir Melenik alongside Kanye West alongside guns? This is my new hip hop mag on the slightly bougie tip. Ricky Powell is up in there too.

Here's an Okayplayer discussion of how the Fader has died. Got to admit, this is the issue when I gave up too. Saw this month's issue in the store last week and thought "naw, nothing here that I'm really into". Complex is mad tempting on the "urban style/music" tip, but I feel guilty buying that shit because half of it's a big catalogue.

First night of the weekly MASH thing (360 Elgin) was last night. Having a regular lounge gig is gonna be kinda nice: I love being able to drop zero dB alongside Radio 4 alongside Drumagick 'cause there's no dancefloor to keep going, and it's hoppin in there for most of the night. . .

Video just dropped for my favourite tune off The Roots' Phrenology: The Seed 2.0 (Realplayer lo hi, Windows Media lo hi) . Much better song and video than "Break You Off": Cody ChestnuTT's chorus and bridge make it the jam.

Looks like McDonald's reign of terror is over.. Maybe now we can get some real food on the go. What we're missing in Canada is UK-style curry houses to complement the Pho joints.

Gilbert Arenas is now on my cool peoples list. Arenas doesn't shoot for the first 3 quarters just to prove a point, then turns it on and the Warriors win the game. That takes some self-confidence. . . and gullyness. If he can pull it off though, his teammates won't hate. . .

All this other music is cool and frequently more forward-thinking than today's hip hop stuff. But my favourite shit to listen to will always be hip hop. They say the music that hits you hardest when you're 17 is what you live with, I guess that's true - I'll be 80 and still banging Midnight Marauders. Coming home after a long day, nothing beats some "there's gonna be a lot of slow singin, and flower bringin, when my burglar alarm starts ringin"-type shit. The Dirty District and the Jada/Luda remix of Made Ya Look are both sounding just about perfect right now. . .

Here's a Koop mix of Shaun Escoffery that's kinda nice.

Scroll to the bottom of this profile for a nas-tay mix from Seiji of Bugz in the Attic (warning: uselessly, it's a video, so you'll need high-speed). That's a nerdy-looking guy who can bring it, he's like the 2003 Kurt Rambis or something. . .

Here's a nice interview Evil Monito did with Saul Williams. Here's Saul's freestyle over the Made Ya Look beat. And here's the okayplayer discussion where I discovered the link.

I've got to side with most of the OKP heads: Saul is a phenomenal poet and presence, but that there's a weak flow.

Mark De Clive-Lowe's take on broken beat and music in general.

I've updated this, scroll down for the rest of the story. . .

Headed down to Akron, OH over the weekend with "the Kid" to watch Lebron James play basketball (if you don't know, better ask somebody). What's the verdict? Lebron James is straight sick. Duke got his team mates involved, rebounded, rained down threes, showed a ridonkulous fadeaway, and controlled the tempo. He also threw down a couple times (you've seen the baseline one on TV) and dropped 46 on Zanesville. Other highlights of the weekend included: being told that there were "no rooms left with jacuzzis" (uh, that's OK), wowing everyone with our exotic French-speaking abilities, and the finely brewed flavour of Colt 45 and Olde E. And I just picked up a digital camera, so you all are blessed with a little photo essay of the first (and only) Akron pilgrimmage. Don't think this will be the last 'Bron pilgrimmage though.


Ottawa to Akron is a 9 hour drive. This was prolly the biggest event on the way.


Approaching Akron, OH. Mid-westin' it to the fullest.


You can't dunk in warm-ups, but Bron pulled off some "oooooooh" lay-ins. Don't expect freakish Vince Carter type hops, but he can get up. He won't play point, so think "if Magic played the 2".


Lebron running the show.


That's Bron's legs sticking out the right-hand side of your screen, mid-way through a fadeaway. The ball is out of frame, but I think he'd just released it at this point. Dude created so much space when he pushed off that he ended up straight horizontal and slid out of bounds after this. If he can hit it consistently, this shot will be unblockable. Straight beauty on hardwood.


The Kid. Having fun.


The club we hit post-game was on some Murder Inc. megamix type shit, but then an unfamiliar hip hop beat came in. Then the vocal: "back. . . and to the left. . . up. . . and down. . . and shake it. . . and shake it. . . and move it all around!" To our amazement, the whole club started STEP-DANCING Billy Ray style. Picture hundreds of Akronians moving in unison while we stood dumbfounded, then cracked up uncontrollably. Only in Akron.


This was cool-ass Joanna, our cabbie who kept on popping up over the course of the night. She had a Lebron story of her own. By day, she's a meter maid. A few weeks back, she saw Lebron and his boys get out the Hummer without paying the meter. When she came by a while later, it was still there, so she gave him a ticket. I think he'll be be able to cover it.

The hype is a beast unto itself, but there's no question that Lebron James has the potential to be one of the greats. Everyone we talked to had only good things to say about him off the court too, but word is that his Mom is maybe not the best influence. Here's hoping that Lebron can steer clear of all the people who will want to take advantage of him, that he meets his potential as a player and a person.

So it's going down tonight. Stu Blunt's last gig in Ottawa before he hits Japan, and thus the last appearance of the Curry 2 for a while. Escape (222 Slater at Bank), Culture Thursday, $5, 10pm-2:30am, Alkaline and Selectah J then the Curry 2, funk to hip hop to drum'n'bass and everything in between. Get there early. Boom.

Also: No. . . Sleep. . . til. . . Akron! Easy. . .

What a night. I've seen everyone else perform before, so the standout for me was the guy I hadn't seen: Dwayne Morgan. Check for his Oral and E-male bits, both nice.

No opportunity for any of us to play some records for the people though. D-mass says it's because the poets are writing loooonger stuff these days ;-)

Here's the sound of the Loose Lips/Breathe and Stop bootleg. Q-Tip sounds a little chipmunk-y, but the novelty appeal is sick like Jason Richardson.

Here's my chart for Feb. 2003. It's on the Cleerance site too.

1. Vikter Duplaix - Looking for Love (Bugz In The Attic Rmx) (Hollywood)
2. Slum Village feat. Samiyyah - Tainted (Payback Rmx) (Barak/Capitol)
3. Snowboy and the Latin Section - Los Rumberos De La Habana Y Matanzas (Bobby Hughes Combination Remix) (Ubiquity)
4. Phat Kat feat. Dwele - Club Banger (Barak)
5. Mulatu Astatke featuring Fekade Amde Maskal - Ethio Jazz LP (L'Arome)
6. Common Sense - Star *69 (PS With Love) (MCA)
7. Genre - Won (Surplus)
8. Dillinja - Live or Die (Valve)
9. Radio 4 - Gotham LP (Gern Blandsten)
10. 50 Cent - Heat (Shady/Interscope)

If you can, check Vocal Project: An Urban Spoken Word and Film Showcase (full info) up at the Mercury Lounge in Ottawa tomorrow (8pm-10:30pm). Poets in the line-up are Dwayne Morgan, Eddy the Original 1, nth digri, Oni the Haitian Sensation, and Danjahras Dane. They'll also be showing films by Sharon Mareeka Lewis and Seth-Adrian Harris. Manchilde out of Butta Babees is hosting too, and he always brings it.

I'll be up in there dropping musical accompaniment alongside Lance & D-mass. Don't forget, the last big poetry jam up at the Eritrean community centre was a night to remember. . .haven't seen that kind of freshness and community since some of my first hip hop shows back in the day. And since it's Black History Month you know people will be bringing their best.

The Setbacks are the rock band people are talking about these days in Ottawa. But they're really using their indie rock musical career as a stepping-stone to advice column superstardom.

Name change to Phorilla.com because I want to keep things simple and clear as this page becomes a little busier.

Beats'n'Pieces at Babylon last night was one to remember. Haven't seen Babylon that full in a long time. . . nice the way people showed early to check for and bid on their friends' art, so the party got started early. Nice mix of acts as well - I think people are looking forward to the next one. OPIRG Ottawa gets props for putting the whole thing together.

The new Nike "Battle" ads are cuttin! (check Nikebasketball.com) Directed by Paul Hunter, an original soundtrack by the Neptunes, and representation by Jason Kidd, Tony Parker, Gary Payton, Steve Nash, and assorted street cats. Comments: Tony Parker is really fast, Nash will never be able to guard Payton, and the white guy dressed in black drops one of the sickest crossovers I've ever seen. If there's going to be a sequel, I hope they do shooting guards because you know Fin is gonna be in it.

This also leads me to this: celebrating the past is important, but I am SICK of the retro kicks/jerseys thing. I do not care how many different colourways you have your AF1's in. Once Nelly has written a song about anything, it's played. The new Air Zoom Ultraflights are the coldest new kicks I've seen in a long time, let's make new style history with these.

It's tight the way you can come up with a t-shirt concept, contract out the manufacturing, and set up an instant store type quick nowadays. Check Yaowear.com - the hottest one is this. . .

Check the newest BK affiliate from IG Culture's label. I'm kinda eager to hear it with vocals.