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Props to Kanye West. I was just listening to "Slow Jamz", and you know what? Kanye has managed to become much-loved from the underground to the mainstream, from the Air Max 95-wearing hipster nerds to the gulliest thugs. All while bringing it heavy on Def Poetry Jam, admitting to spending far too much money on clothes, getting in a near-fatal car accident, telling all who'll listen that Mase is his favourite rapper (seriously), and failing to hide is enormous ego in interviews. And that's real: he's a walking contradiction just like many talented people I meet every day. I appreciate an artist whose image hasn't been sculpted to within an inch of its life.

Here's a nice short interview with RJD2 - I'm loving his beats on the Diverse album right about now. Best part is the 3-step primer on making a rap tune.

Highly recommended if you're a music fan: Red Bull Music Academy's 2003 reports from Cape Town, South Africa. It's the latest in an annual series where Red Bull flies in a gang of cutting edge producers and musicians and puts them in a seminar setting. They post video clips that are in-depth both in length (around 20 minutes long) and subject matter. Learn about Seiji's early flirtations with the cello!

So far I've checked the Seiji and Prince Paul (right now there's a link on the home page) sessions. Both were intimate, fascinating, and a helluva lot more insightful than any magazine article I've ever read. Here's the full list of clips from the past five years. . .

Thanks to Aloke for the heads up.

The 4hero remix album is finally coming out: one disc of their remixes, another disc of remixes of them. One of those rare must-buys, for real - I'm amped to hear the mix of Scarface!

Cham and I will be guest-hosting for Pete Parsons on Sonic Root this week. It's 8-10pm EST on CKCU 93.1 FM, and we'll be putting our own spin on the vintage to future jazz/funk/soul thing that Trevor Walker and Pete have done in the timeslot for years. Check the site for live streaming if you're not within range.

We're gonna take advantage of the radio environment this week, just play some good tunes to warm your cockles on this cold winter's night. . .

Here's the inside dope on the new N*E*R*D album. Sounds to me like there'll be a few classic gems and the rest'll be pretty forgettable, Timbaland-album style.

Here's something I've been meaning to post up here too: the Ranjahz feat. Cee-lo "Inspiration". Premier-produced street soul with a true funny-ass video as well (how rare is that these days??). Cee-lo is just killin it right now, his new Timbo-produced "I'll Be Around" is one of the best things out now. Dude can SANG too, he's proving that. . .

I'm mostly definitely looking forward to hanging out with Calkuta and Vektrx tomorrow, we're doing one in a month of hip hop Sundays at Cafe Dekcuf (see the event bar at left for details).

Worth checking for sure is www.discontinued.cx, for archives of the best radio show around right now. Look under "All mixes" for archives of every Benji B show (you know I had to mention Benji, right).

Listen to Building Block freak the Ohio Players "Ecstasy" on this Jay-Z & Biggie "B-R-O-O-K-L-Y-N" remix (MP3). I listened to a few of the rest, they're pretty hit-and-miss, but that particular one is hitting the rotation hard. A bucktown anthem for real, I hope it gets picked up.

I don't know how to get in touch with dude, but he's buildingblock on okayplayer.com.

So whattup? Uprising was sick on the 22nd, thanks to all for coming out and enjoying the Bugz along with us. I'm just about fully recovered and back into writing up on here.

A few interesting things: a terrific Jay Dee megamix is up on Milk Audio. Beautiful melodies and dome cracking drums, it's great to listen to the variety of stuff that Dilla had dropped over the years. Big up Gani 'n'Milk for doing something for the world out of T-dot.

On to other Jays. . . this Okayplayer post on Jay-Z's final NY show at Madison Square Garden is a must-read. It kicks off with a nice review of the evening (sounds like a pretty classic show), but the amazing part is ?uestlove's (Roots) inside dope on the entire show, from rehearsals to inside jokes to James Poyser seeing some Foxy Brown titty.