From Around The Way 4-25-14

Legendary graphic designer and creator of the Brooklyn Brewer identity, Milton Glaser breaks down craft beer labels. By Spencer Bailey [New York Times]
Portland, Oregon artist AJ Frosik did a show in Tokyo called, “Beast From a Foreign Land Artwork.” Peep the flicks from the opening. [Hellion Gallery]
Annie Leibovitz sells her art book for $2,500 and The Wu-Tang Clan is asking five million dollars for their encased album The Wu – Once Upon A Time In Shaolin. By Jillian Steinhauer [Hyperallergic]
“The Oral History of Rawkus Records” is look back what started a lot of careers and what produced a lot of classic hip-hop in the late 90’s, early 2000’s. Rawkus inspired the founding of El-P’s Definitive Jux. Mos Def was just getting known with his debut Black On Both Sides. Pharoahe Monch put out his debut solo joint Internal Affairs and mad other cats came out the wood work on this label. By Phillip Mlynar [Myspace]
“How RZA and Quentin Tarantino Made ’Kill Bill’’s Killer Soundtracks” Given The Wu-Tang’s public fued over recording their next album, this shed’s some light, My first score was Ghost Dog. But it was right at the time where I was having musical conflict with the Wu-Tang Clan, because all they wanted was two-bar loop[s] and I’m making 16-bar phrases,” said RZA. He gets specific on scoring the film and how the context freed him from certain expectations. By Rebecca Haithcoat [Myspace]
Anything written by Ta-Nehisi Coates is pretty much an automatic read. His latest, “Cliven Bundy and the Tyranny All Around Us” and “Cliven Bundy Wants to Tell You All About ‘the Negro.'”
Chairman Mao’s A Mixed Bag Mix For Dust & Grooves has been on constant rotation since Ego Trip posted it. By “Chairman Jeff(erson) Mao [Egotripland.com]
Since this is the 20th anniversary of Nas’ Illmatic (in case you didn’t know, were offline or living life like a normal person, which isn’t so normal anymore), homies been on mad media outlets talking about the past, but on NPR’s “Microphone Check” with A Tribe Called Quest’s Al Shaheed Muhammad and Frannie Kelley, he talks about MC Serch, getting all-star producers through Large Professor and hearing himself on the radio for the first time. [NPR, Microphone Check]
“The New Diggers (1992-1994)” essay talks about the history of sampling in hip-hop and how it changed discovering music. [Dart Adams]
The new “Fargo” TV series is dope. Its based on the Coen Brothers’ 1996 classic film, but the story is different. Like True Detective there’s a new story line each season. Two episodes in and Billy Bob Thornton is looking like the devil and Tom Hanks’ son Colin Hanks got shook. Here’s a good review and description. By Sam Wollaston [The Guardian]
U.S. President Barrack Obama & First Lady Michelle Obama wrote a letter of condolence and tribute to the legacy of Frankie Knuckles, DJ, music producer, and Godfather of House music who passed away on March 31st, 2014. [Facebook] Frankie Knuckles’ memorial service was on April 22nd, 2014. [Chicago Reader]