There are tracks that sound like a stunned body in perpetual fight or flight mode. Its skull reverberates from voices shouting, “get up… get out.” The neighborhood is a kill box and the “Only one way out/of course is man made/looking down the tunnel, endless/don’t see a damn thing,” Curly Castro raps on “Night Terra Fabulous,” off his sophomore project Tosh. He’s the son of Barbadian immigrants who raised him on planet Brooklyn but for years Philadelphia has been his …
Tag: Hip Hop
In October of last year, DJ and producer Marlon Williams, better known as Marley Marl, was here in Tokyo spinning at Speakeasy, a locally known mobile dance party that’s featured numerous pioneering DJ’s. Partygoers had him signing their vinyl copies of his classic singles like “Biz Is Goin’ Off” (1987). He was kicking it with loving fans, taking flicks, and the party’s promoter, Brooklyn Terry, brought him a sparkling cake to which the crowd sung him happy birthday. Marl was …
A tar-painted female figure shines forks for a halo. Her arms have eyes. She’s holding a pair of old brown work boots as an offering. A second figure holds a banjo. She’s skating on top of an alligator that’s lying flat on a skateboard. A third wears electrical outlets for a dress. She’s about to explode. Her chicken legs and tiny feet are seemingly too fragile to support her swollen body. The lips of their cowrie shell mouths curl inward, …
This big bearded gregarious laughing mass of a man could give a flying 747 fuck about what you think of him. If he controlled the weather it’d be King Kong conducting an orchestra. By some accounts he shouldn’t be here, here as in alive. His art could be what a potent drug induced rampage looks like, or a ballerina freezing in first position on a feather sailing through the wind. For those that know him (including this article’s author), artist John Felix Arnold …
Erykah Badu. “Ghost Notes: Music of the Unplayed,” B+ 
Lauryn Hill, Biggie Smalls. “Ghost Notes: Music of the Unplayed,” B+ 
“Ghost Notes: Music of the Unplayed,” B+ 
Ras Kass. “Ghost Notes: Music of the Unplayed,” B+ 
Blowfly, one of the first to ever rap. “Ghost Notes: Music of the Unplayed,” B+ 
Bill Withers. “Ghost Notes: Music of the Unplayed” by B+ 
Jay Electronica. “Ghost Notes: Music of the Unplayed” by B+ 
Jay Elect, Nas, The Roots. “Ghost Notes: Music of the Unplayed,” B+ 
Eazy E and Bone Thugs N’ Harmony. “Ghost Notes: Music of the Unplayed,” B+ 
John Felix Arnold III 
John Felix Arnold III 
John Felix Arnold III 
John Felix Arnold III 
John Felix Arnold III 
John Felix Arnold III 
John Felix Arnold III 
John Felix Arnold III 
John Felix Arnold III
Today, I kicked it with Mega of The Mega Late Show. We went to peep photographer and director, B+ (Brian Cross)’s Ghost Notes: Music of the Unplayed at 16(sixteen). B+ has been clicking rappers and artists for a minute: Biggie Smalls, Lauryn Hill, David Axelrod, Damian Marley, J Dilla and on and on…. His photo exhibit is up through January 14th. I also found my boy John Felix Arnold III‘s recent mural in 109 Shibuya’s Magnet building. He just flew over from Cali, …
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