Long Crisp White Tee's

Thursday, June 21, 2007

Old School Banger of the Week

" I got you stuck off the realness..."

What up kids, and welcome back to the second edition of LCWT's "Old School Banger of the Week". This week we're going way back in the day to 95' to hit you with a classic grimy 90s East Coast Video. Before Prodigy got old and locked himself in his room to do drugs and stare at candles he was a young 20-year-old up and coming MC from Queensbridge who formed one half of Mobb Deep. While he and Havoc were never really able to match the popularity of their breakthrough album The Infamous with their later releases, this classic record helped define the 90s East Coast sound.

I'm bringin' y'all the video "Shook Ones Pt. II" this week; perhaps one of my favorite songs of all time. The video is classic gully QB style, something they could have actually shot in an alley behind their crib. My personal favorite part of the video is the matching, and seemingly homemade, "Hennesey" jerseys that Prodigy and Havoc are rocking. No disrespect to Havoc, but Prodigy absolutely slays his verse in this song, and steals the show. Enjoy the ride back to 95'.

We apologize for not updating with links to the last couple shows. Our radio website has been giving us some bullshit, but we're working on getting the past couple shows up. Stay locked.

One Hunned.

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Old School Banger of the Week

As I sat at my desk bored out my mind, I began to reminisce about the good old days when Dr. Dre and Ed Lover would brighten my week with the latest hip-hop videos and musical guests on "Yo! MTV Raps". Considering the plight of unoriginality that plagues the current hip-hop video scene, ya boy DDB took it upon himself to create Long Crisp White Tee's Old School Banger of the Week. Every week I'll update with a new throwback video to bob ya head to. So throw on your black hoodie, baggy jeans, and Timbos and enjoy a taste of the grimy 90s.

This week I'm bringin' you a Warren G classic to remind you that before "Celebrity Fit Club" this dude had the ill laid back West Coast flow. Featuring the Human Hook aka Nate Dogg:

Warren G - "Regulate".

Mount Up!!

Friday, June 1, 2007

Boston Hip-Hop Unity Fest

On Wednesday, May 30th, the staff of Long Crispies went to the Paradise Rock Club on Comm. Ave to support the first annual Boston Hip-Hop Unity Fest, presented by 4Peace. If you weren’t aware, 4Peace is a group that Edo G. started to use hip-hop to promote peace and an end to violence in Boston. The lineup at the show was a who’s who of Boston hip-hop, from newcomers Dre Robinson, Termanology, and Slaine to longtime heavyweights like Mr. Lif, Akrobatik, and Edo himself. We arrived around 10 and unfortunately missed out on 7L & Esoteric, Jake the Snake, and a few other acts. We did have the chance to see Krumbsnatcha, Triple Threat, Dre Robinson, Termanology, Frankie Wainwright, Special Teamz, 4Peace, and Lif & Ak. Before I get into the acts, I’d like to drop some random thoughts and observations I had during the show:

1) Acts should not be allowed to have more active microphones than people in the group. As a corollary, no more than one extra person should be allowed on the stage with any group. There were far too many hype men and hangers on filling up the stage for some of the earlier acts. Lif and Akrobatik, in stark contrast, were the only two on stage (other than the DJ) during their set. Having your crew on stage might be fun, but it just looks amateurish, and hype men have their place and time, but finishing every single one of your lines is not it (especially when there is more than one person doing it). Please grow up.
2) Termanology is 5’7”. Tops.
3) Host and local producer D-Tension is a very large, rotund man resembling a bowling ball.
4) Mzarecta got a gangster photo pulling off B-Boy stances with Lif.
5) The biggest fans of corny white rappers from the suburbs (sorry Esoteric) are corny white kids from the suburbs (and no, I don't include myself in that group).
6) I hate sounding like an old man, but you can tell immediately when you walk into an 18+ show, and not in a good way.
7) The two most common sports jerseys at any Boston hip-hop event are Tom Brady and Larry Bird. Let the irony sink in. I did see one kid rocking a Paul Pierce Inglewood High jersey.
8) Boston hip-hop fans generally fall into two categories – and those categories correlate far too often with race. The unity fest brought them together, but I still saw allot of white kids leaving after 7L and Eso’s set, and I’m assuming more would have bounced if they weren’t waiting for Lif and Ak.
9) It’s strange to buy 12 oz. cans of PBR at a bar. It’s even stranger when they cost the same price as the tallboys that they were all out of ($3).
10) I have no idea who the other members of 4Peace are. All I know is that they’re old hip-hop heads from Boston.
11) On a related note, I had no idea how many of the 15 people on stage were actually members of Triple Threat.
12) Krumbsnatcha is a large, scary man. He also doesn’t get enough props around these parts. Dude is nice.
13) We collected a nice set of free CD’s at the show, including a new Smoke Bulga mixtape. If I can get my act together, I might get them uploaded here in the near future.
14) We saw our boy Jud at the show, followed by Hikes and his girl, and Neezy and Q of the Usual Suspeckts were posted up outside.
15) We got some new WMFO drops from Akrobatik, Slaine, Edo G., Dre Robinson, Esoteric, and Frankie Wainwright.
16) On a completely unrelated note, the new Pharoahe Monch album – Desire – is straight crack cocaine.

When we showed up 7L & Esoteric had just finished their set and Boston veteran and Gangstarr Foundation member Krumbsnatcha was taking the stage. I’m not going to lie, I haven’t listened to much of Krumb’s shit in a long time, and I’m not too familiar with his catalog in general, but he put it down pretty hard. And as I mentioned above, he is a large man (nh). Next up, they decided to bring Triple Threat to the stage. They weren’t on the bill or on the schedule, so I’m assuming they just showed up and asked if they could get on to perform their one song that gets spins on JAMN (“Gots to Get it”). They did a few more than that, although it was always hard to tell who was in the group – the stage was damn near full. Dre Robinson didn’t have quite as many weed carriers on stage with him, but still fell into the god-awfully annoying trap of letting his hype man finish every line. Dre, we know you know the words to your own song. We also know your hype man does. I’m guessing that I speak for everyone when I say that we’d rather have you rap them. There’s a reason he’s just a hype man.

Up next up-and-coming mixtape artist Termanology came through with his boys (?) S.T. the Squad. I was excited to see Term perform live and when he was doing his material, it was pretty on point. However, with his crew swarming all over the stage and his relative lack of height (see above), it was sometimes hard to see where he was on stage. He then made the mistake of letting some of his boys do their own material. I would say there was one dude that was okay, the other two were straight refuse (I heard their names, but after the incident I actively forgot them so I wouldn’t have to think about their performances ever again). We then had to sit through one more act that consisted of one rapper and 12 hype men in Frankie Wainwright, but at least his weed carriers were wearing Frankie Wainwright T-Shirts. It was a nice touch. When it comes to Frankie, Dre Robinson, and Triple Threat, their music isn’t necessarily my style (a little on the jiggy side for my taste), but I’m sure it sounds better on wax. Their live shows, however, leave a lot to be desired. They show great energy, but you have to realize that when 90% of the crowd doesn’t know any of your lyrics, they might want to be able to hear them, instead of having six different people yelling the punchline in every verse.

Once Frankie was off, we finally got to the main acts. First up, Boston supergroup Special Teamz, consisting of Southie’s own Slaine (who stole my role in the upcoming film Gone Baby Gone, starring Casey Affleck, Ed Harris, and Morgan Freeman), Jaysaun of the Kreators, and Edo G. They did a few songs, including “Main Event,” produced by Primo. The one thing that stuck out was that they didn’t look like a group at all on stage. It looked more like three separate artists, sticking to their own parts of the stage. There wasn’t a whole lot of interaction. It didn’t really take much away from the performance, but I found it interesting. Edo then brought out the three other old dudes that make up 4Peace. They did some uplifting songs about starting the peace in Boston, including an R&B jam, and were generally pretty tight. One of the members – the guy that wore a suit and tie – announced that he was going to be sitting down with Governor Deval Patrick on Thursday to discuss what role hip-hop can play in curbing violence in the Commonwealth. I’m assuming Deval isn’t a huge hip-hop fan (I imagine his iPod is filled mainly with Aretha Franklin, Neil Diamond, and Kenny G), but it’s nice to see support coming from the top.

Last, but certainly not least, Mr. Lif and Akrobatik, a/k/a the Perceptionists, provided the grand finale. At this point I was about 8 or 9 PBR’s deep (on top of the 40 of 8Ball I downed before the show – don’t worry, we took cabs), so I can’t remember all the tracks they did. I do remember that the final track after club employees shut down the show, was Lif’s Boston Flow. Classic.

If you’re looking for the city of which I talk
It’s about four hours northeast of New York
And if it’s our sports history you observe
You’ll find legends such as Bobby Orr and Larry Bird

For more on the show, check out this article from the Boston Globe. Or this one from XXL.com.

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

White Castle Fries Only Come in One Size...

mmmm... White Castle. Okay, honestly, the only reason for the picture above is to distract you from the fact that it's been almost 3 weeks since our last post. I personally apologize, but as a school teacher, it's getting toward that time of year, my seniors are finishing up, getting in their final projects, and getting ready for prom (If anyone is looking for Big Rils on Thursday night, I will be in the hotel bar of the Hyatt in Cambridge, MA - the locus of said prom).

Anyway, we totally missed the ball on putting up show #117, but here's #118 just in time (and I promise to get tonight's show - 119 - up in the next day or two).

LCWTS_5_22_07 (.mp3 format)

As a way of making amends for our long absence, here's a list of some upcoming concerts in the Boston area and albums to look out for:

Shows

- Skyzoo & Reks @ Great Scott Allston (Tues, 5/29/07)
- First Annual Boston Hip Hop Unity Fest @ The Paradise - Featuring: 4Peace, Mr Lif, Akrobatik, 7L & Eso, Dre Robinson, Termanology, Big Shug, Krumbsnatcha, SpecialTeamz, Jake da Snake & Greater Good (Wed, 5/30/07)
- Slum Village & Phat Kat @ the Middle East Downstairs (Thurs, 5/31/07)
- Peanut Butter Wolf @ The Goodlife Downtown (Thurs, 6/21/07)
- 2007 Boston Hip-Hop Fest feat. Slaine @ the Middle East Downstairs (Sat, 7/14/07)
- Rock the Bells @ Randall's Island, NY - www.rockthebells.net (7/28/07 & 7/29/07)

Albums

Royce Da 5'9" - The Bar Exam (6/5/07)
Blue Scholars - Bayani (6/12/07)
Fabolous - From Nothin' to Somethin' (6/12/07)
Jaylib (Jay Dee aka J. Dilla + Madlib) - Champion Sound (Deluxe Edition) (6/19/07)
Raheem Jamal (of Project Move) - Boombox (6/19/07)
Pharoahe Monch - Desire (6/26/07) Common - Finding Forever (7/10/07)
Beastie Boys - The Mix-Up (instrumental) (7/10/07)
Talib Kweli - Ear Drum (7/24/07)
Oh No - Dr. No's Oxperiment (instrumental) (7/31/07)
Joe Budden - Mood Muzik 3 (t.b.a.)
Lil Wayne & Juelz Santana - I Can't Feel My Face (t.b.a.)
Dr. Dre - Detox (t.b.a.)
Lil Wayne - Tha Carter III (pushed back to the end of the year)

Wednesday, May 9, 2007

Show #116

If you didn't hear on the show last night, your favorite rapper's favorite radio show - Long Crisp White Tee's - will be back in the Tuesday 10pm - 12am time slot starting next week. Here's our last installment of the one hour show. We played some tracks, ran down the Brother Ali show and upped an upcoming show featuring ReCaaLL, K-the-I and US' own Shivaa, next Tuesday at the Bulfinch Yacht Club BAR down by TD Banknorth. For more info go here, or here.

Show #116 (.mp3 format)

Also, be sure to check out Usual Suspeckts' Myspace (http://www.myspace.com/usualsuspektz). They've got a couple new tracks up there including "Green" which is straight fire. Unfortunately, there has been a rift in the U.S. crew as Nacious has gone his own way. We here at LCWTs aren't trying to take sides and just hope that they can work things out. Anyway, Nacious has some new tracks on his myspace (http://www.myspace.com/ndibassi) as well (be sure to peep "Backhand").

Tuesday, May 8, 2007

Show #115 and Brother Ali

Sorry for sleeping folks. This past week was a pretty busy one, and Big Rils was unavailable over the weekend due to his participation in the 48 Hour Film Project. Here's our show from last Tuesday if you still haven't heard it. Just a reminder, we're only a few weeks away from returning to OUR time slot - TUESDAY 10pm - 12am.

Show #115 (.mp3 format)

As you may have heard last week, Rhymesayers Entertainment's Minneapolis-based albino rapper, Brother Ali, was in town at the Middle East last wednesday night. Due to increased demand for tickets, the concert was moved from the upstairs to the more spacious downstairs. Long Crisp White Tee's staff arrived just before the second opening act, female Chicago native Psalm One. While we missed One Be Lo (aka Onemanarmy of Binary Star), we were assured he ripped the mic as well. Now, as you may or may not know, I'm not a huge fan of female MCs, but Psalm One put it down pretty hard, with a Steve Nash-like assist from hypeman and fellow Chicagoan Longshot. I may even be prompted to go out and download a few of her songs. The highlight of her set was when the Bro ran out in between songs with a towel to wipe down her face and the mic and give her a quick kiss on the cheek.

Due to the last-minute switch to the downstairs, the show didn't quite sell out, but was more than half-full with a crowd that was amped up to see their favorite albino rapper. When the energy was finally to his satisfaction, Ali came out and started throwing it down. He opened up with "Lookin' At Me Sideways," and then ran through a collection of new stuff - including "Uncle Sam Goddamn," "Truth Is," and "Faheem" - and his classics - "Rain Water," "Room With a View," "Champion," and "Dorian."

He also stopped in the middle to ensure the crowd that he had called ahead to get permission from Mr. Lif to spit in his town. All in all, the show was dope and Ali made the venue feel like a bumping house party that we were all chilling at as much as a concert. He's still on tour, so if he hasn't come to your city yet, make sure to get tickets. Otherwise, get the CD.

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Damn, it's been a while... Show #114 and Nas Show Run-down

What's up folks. I apologize for the two-week hiatus, but as a school teacher, I had to take full advantage of April Vacation - the week off that schools provide to allow teachers to quell their many urges to strangle high school students. The first order of business is to announce that in two weeks or so, WE WILL BE RETURNING TO A TWO-HOUR TIME SLOT. Most likely Tuesday, 10pm-12am. Stay tuned.

After that, we've got this week's show - #114. I know we didn't get last week's up, but let's not dwell in the past. Here's the playlist.

Finally, if you have listened to the last two shows, you may have heard us talk about the Nas concert we attended on Sunday, the 15th, in Providence, RI. While I'm not going to get into the pre or post-concert festivities, I thought I'd do a quick run-down of the show itself. It was at Lupo's, probably the best place to see big-name acts in New England. So far in my life, I've seen Atmosphere, Ghostface, Redman, Raekwon, Lupe Fiasco, Mr. Lif, El-P, and now Nas there. The place is pretty big, but they really packed them in for the Nas show, to the point where they were out of Bud Light bottles by the time we showed up a little after 9pm. I guess Nas is big enough that he doesn't need anyone opening for him, other than some DJ's blasting a nice mix of mid-90's hip-hop to get everyone's heads nodding.

When Nas finally came on, he jumped right into some Hip-Hop is Dead material. The crowd was pretty live, and although Nas didn't have a lazer show or anything, there was a huge HHID banner at the back of the stage with some sort of coffin prop in front of it, and the lighting followed the motif. As a huge fan of Nas' early material, and an admirer of his new album, I was pretty happy with the way he setup his show. After ripping through five tracks off HHID, including "Money Over Bullshit," "Hip-Hop is Dead," and "Black Republicans," the Little Homey took it all the way back to the beginning with some joints off Illmatic. He ran through another five joints before jumping into his next best album, It Was Written.

The rest of the show included some jumping back and forth from newer to older material, along with some lesser known tracks, including a Crispy Favorite, "Silent Murder." In all, he performed about three-quarters of Illmatic, but unfortunately, failed to play my favorite track, "Halftime." I can't complain, however, as he played just about every other one of his bangers. No matter which Nas people came to see, they got a taste of every major period of his career. The only thing I found odd was his decision to end his set with his verse of Kanye's "We Major." Below, I've posted what I can remember of his setlist. The question marks represent times where I either forgot to write something down, couldn't read what I wrote the next day (it was dark, I was drunk, and I was using my beer bottle to write on), or - in rare occurrances - didn't know the song. Towards the end of the show I ran out of paper and energy, so I definitely missed a few more, but it's a pretty good representation of what went down.

As for after the show, I can't really go into it, but I would like to give some official LCWT shout outs to: The Sportsman's Inn, Richard Cummings (no homo), Gemini, Club Balloons, Wednesday, and Dreamweaver.

Nas partial setlist, 4/15/07 - Providence, RI: