“Ok very long story short. I was at this “jam” next to this track. YEEhaw here comes a train. They stop dude gets out checks sumthing out and walks to fence everyone is behind. He starts talkin my friends shoot the shit with em automatically assumes he hates graff. He says he sees good graff often BLAHBLAH. Kids start yellin let us paint your train .Im like this isnt gonna happen.

Him and his boy grinnin ear to ear say “let us ease it up and ya can have at it.”

THIS MOTHERFUKER scooted the train up as far as possible andyelled out the window 5 minutes.hahahahahahahaaaaaaa

There were like 30 kids who just bought their first montana going nuts! I was so shocked I almost forgot to take pix!!! My brothers camera(actually a video recorder):” - Dirty Messican http://www.12ozprophet.com/forum/showthread.php?t=128238

“Its even better unblurred. Hahahaha the conductors face is priceless. (No I wont post.)”

We just dug up some great footage from last year’s massive Kings of New York battle in Brooklyn.  No word on whether this is going down again in 2008 — but last year was dope.  Let us know, fellas.

Winners BKC against United Outkast in the final round

In other Kings News… the warm weather is coming, which means this is the perfect time to pick up that New York Kings hat you’ve been fiending for from the FDL!  Keep the sun out your eyes, and look doing it.

According to recent research by Irving Biederman, a neuroscientist at the University of Southern Cali, our relationship to using the internet – and specific sites we like — can best be described as addiction.

Chemical addiction.

See, when we encounter new and “richly interpretable” information, our brain rewards us by stimulating pleasure-enhancing neurotransmitters, called opioids.  And yeah, “opioids” is meant to sound like “opiate” — they function on our brains in a way similar to drugs. That isn’t to say we get high on info, but the sensation is strong enough that the brain sends us looking for more immediately… we get hooked.  Our subconscious is an opioid junky. 

Apparently it all stems from the lack of available information in prehistoric times;  we needed incentive to go hunting out more.  Now that we can overdose on info, using the ‘net, our psychological response hasn’t caught up. 

So admit it — you’re a junky too.

Adam Lough

So, after we posted our interview with Dizzee Rascal, where we briefly discussed his Dirtee Stank imprint, people have been asking us a lot of questions about the label… most often, “Where does that name come from?” 

Well, we’ve got the answer for you.  On the label’s Myspace, Dizzee explains: “I had Dirtee Stank before I had my record deal… The name came from one of the first lyrics I had: ‘going on dirty/going on stank’ … so I thought, ‘Yeah, fuck it, Dirtee Stank.’ The logo was some shit with flies around it, because it was the dirtiest, gulliest thing I could think of.”  

Those lyrics are from “Bounce,” one of Dizzee’s early tracks with Roll Deep Crew.   

Check the lyrics in context:

“That Dizzee boy, lyrical tank
Box an MC like my name was Frank
Going on dirty
Going on stank
Rob an MC like Barclays bank”

After Dizzee left, Wiley & friends kept the crew alive and kickin’ — in case you don’t know, they’re responsible for some of the past few years’ best grime tracks. 

Still, the days when the full crew was Rolling Deep together are hard to beat… if you want proof, give a listen to this session with Dizzee, Wiley, God’s Gift and DJ Slimzee on RinseFM (back when Rinse was still a pirate station).  Or try Dizzee & Wiley’s legendary slaughter of So Solid Crew’s Asher D on ChoiceFM, after So Solid claimed they invented grime (which is about as accurate as Diddy claiming he invented the remix).  This shit’s all circa 2003.  Note the lyrics Dizzee hits Asher with – most of those popped up later in Boy in da Corner… just like he said.

Rising up from Baltimore and Pittsburgh’s bullet-riddled streets like a prophetic junkie, Murdaland is a blood-soaked blessing for anyone who loves crime stories as much as Frank151 does.    

Recently named Best Literary Journal 2007 by Baltimore’s City Paper, the mag collects some of the best hardcore crime fiction around, from both undiscovered talent and highly respected authors; the second issue also featured a first hand nonfiction narrative, from an anonymous US military official currently stationed in Iraq.  

Frank’s been digging the first two books pretty hard – we loaned our copy of the first out so much, the cover’s probably fallen off by now.   Needless to say, we jumped at the chance when Murdaland Editor-in-Chief Michael Langnas took time out to sit down with Frank151 and talk shop… which apparently meant talking about beer commercials, Ernest Hemingway and “festering lust” in an Olive Garden.  Enjoy.      (more…)

We love ya, P — see you in the streets soon

Paid Dues 2008 was off the hook last Saturday in San Bernardino, CA… The music was tight, the artists were hype and the crowd was feeling every beat. Check out the classic shots below — featuring special appearances from MURS’ hair and DJ Rhettmatic’s beard. Much thanks to Guerilla Union for letting us be a part, and repping the F right.

(thanks Ill Studio)

Time for another edition of our CUT by CUT feature — a conversation with the notorious Chop Shop barbers about the tunes they’ve been clippin’ to lately.  Always unique, always insightful.  [Click here to read the last edition.] 

FRANK151: What have you guys been playing the last couple weeks?

MR. BEE: Well, everybody loves Santogold right now.  We’ve been playing a lot of Santogold.  We got this really new compilation, An England Story — it’s 25 years of the history of MC’s in England.

FRANK151: Is it the one from Heatwave?  We posted that mixtape, plus videos for a lot of the tracks, like a month ago.

MR. BEE: Oh, no way!  That got by me.  I just saw the cover in a record store, and I thought, “That’s me.”

FRANK151: It’s from The Heatwave, this amazing dancehall, dub and grime site in the UK.  They do podcasts and stuff too.  It’s a great site.

MR. BEE: My favorite track on there is London Posse’s “Money Mad”.  Basically, Big Audio Dynamite — you know, Mick Jones [of the Clash] and Don Letts — were hanging out in some club in London and saw these kids rapping [including UK legend Rodney P].  So they’re like, “Yo, come on tour with us.  We’re Big Audio Dynamite.”  And these kids didn’t even have a group.  They were just kids, just kind of spitting, doing their reggae/hip hop thing.  So they called it a group, real quick.  Next thing you know, they were on tour with Big Audio Dynamite.  They were about 14 years old, and they got this track, “Money Mad“…  You know, Mad Lion was known in  New York City as the Jamaican hip-hop guy, but these guys were doing it way before him.  They’re sort of the foundation to that reggae/hip hop fusion.  So that’s my track, man.  I love that one.

(more…)