Dub-Stuy Launch Video Recap // Brooklyn Sound System Culture from Dub-Stuy Records on Vimeo.

Now that Hurricane Sandy has passed (and I have exhausted the very last of my excuses), it’s time to play a bit of catch up on the blog. For those who aren’t yet aware, the homie Q Mastah spent the better part of the last year building, from scratch, this magnificent sonic beauty of a sound system he calls the Tower of Sound. Last month, I got to play music through this thing during it’s public test run at the Greene Hill Food Co-Op, and I’m still feeling all tingly from the experience. It’s really the most sublime sound system I’ve ever had the pleasure of spinning on.

About a week later, while I was cavorting about in Neder-Neder-land, Q and my peoples at the Sound Liberation Front hosted their official public debut of the sound system in Brooklyn at the launch party of their new record label, Dub-Stuy Records. You can check out how that went down, and get a sneak peak at the Tower of Sound in the video above.

And just in case you’re wondering, it sounds (and looks) a million times better in person. The next time you get a chance to attend an event where this bad boy is present, I encourage you not to miss it.

You can read more about Q‘s journey to bring the Tower of Sound into existence in this nice little feature over at Vice.

As for what they’ve got cooking up at the record label, here’s a taste of a track with the legend MC Brother Culture.

Stay tuned for much more from Sound Liberation Front, Dub-Stuy Records, and the Tower of Sound.

From Gizmodo.com

Despite the rumors, I never fully believed the Apple tablet was real, until I heard these words over my phone: “Hey, it’s [redacted]. I may or may not have sat in some Apple meetings for the tablet.”

I was driving, and swerved a little bit, even though both hands were on the wheel. Someone honked at me.

“What was that?”

They repeated themselves.

I switched on Bluetooth and pulled over to the side of the road to hear the story. You see, earlier in the day I’d given my phone number out to someone who sent me a cryptic email wanting to talk Apple. This must have been them. (Later on I verified to a high level of certainty that they were in the position to have access to the information and after talking to them for over an hour, I believe them to the same level of certainty.)

“The device, which I’ve held mock ups of, is going to have a 10 inch screen, and when I saw it looked just like a giant iPhone, with a black back— although that design could change at any time” they said, “with the same black resin back, and the familiar home button.” That’s obvious.

“But it will come in two editions, one with a webcam and one for educational use.”

Educational use?

They continued to explain the device as something that would sit between an iPod/iPhone and a Macbook, and would cost $700 to $900—”More than twice as much as a netbook,” he said.

To make up for that cost and make the device more than just a big iPod there was, this person claimed, there was talk of making the device act as a secondary screen/touchpad for iMacs and MacBooks, much like a few of the USB screens that have come out in recent months from Chinese companies. Very interesting.

They went on to say that although the project has been going on under various names between four and six years, the first prototype was built around the end of 2008. Adding, “The time to market from first prototype is generally 6-9 months.” That would place the device’s release date in this holiday season. They then said, “There was a question of what OS the device would run, too.” (Other people I’ve talked to have implied this remains a huge secret.)

My call dropped on some windy road off skyline drive. Fucking AT&T.

Later, I asked, was there a code name for the project?

“Yes…[redacted].”

I thought about it for a second, googled the term, and it all made sense.

“Don’t publish that name, please, ” they requested.

Don’t worry, I won’t.

Given the position of Gizmodo in the world of gadget blogs, I’m trusting that both the story and the source of information on the tablet are genuine. However, Apple has been known to make several internal fake mock ups and projects so that actual specs and tech will remain relatively unknown until the product’s actual release.

As far as the actual tech of the tablet, for me, the sole excitement is based upon it acting as a secondary touchscreen/external monitor for iMacs and MacBooks. We’ll see how this develops.

http://www.inbflat.net/

This is better experienced than written about. So stop wasting time and click the above link.

In Bb 2.0 is a collaborative music and spoken word project conceived by Darren Solomon from Science for Girls, and developed with contributions from users.

The videos can be played simultaneously — the soundtracks will work together, and the mix can be adjusted with the individual volume sliders.

This made me laugh. Also, I’m old.

[audio:http://www.shotthen.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/remix-medley-1.mp3|artists=8-bit Hip-Hop Medley]
[ download available here (right-click and save as) ]

Jay-Z — Dirt Off Your Shoulders
T.I — What You Know
Chamillionaire — Ridin’
Ludacris — What’s Ya Fantasy
Bonecrusher — Neva Scared
Twista & Kanye — Overnight Celebrity
Ludacris — Move Bitch
Lil’ Jon — Get Low
Kanye — Gold Digger

This must be the Alpha to Roger Riley and Teddy Troutman’s Omega

Courtesy of Dayta.

Got this one from Neil Armstrong.

We have a massive travel budget here @ buhbomp, so the powers that be sent their only legal/political correspondent (me) to the National Mall to peep President Obama take the oath.

Barry, (we go way back…I put him onto Common but can he return a phone call?), was in rare form representing the Chi. (who we have mad love for).

What was it like to be chilling with 1.5-2 Million people on the worst kept lawn in America?

1 word – Cold. It was cold as all get out.

Them boys from B-town got this pic of me and my peeps,

holla at us if you was there.

And more from Guru and Benzino’s peeps.

From The Rap Up Blog

Twitter, the microblogging platform that allows people to share their thoughts with the world in 140 characters or less, is everyone’s latest web obsession. Contrary to what your grandma said, though, Twitter is more than just a chatterbox of lunch updates. It’s a chatterbox of breakfast, lunch, and dinner updates. Jokes aside, Twitter is a fun way to connect with friends, family, ex-lovers, and online stalkers. And did I mention that it’s the only site where you’ll find Erykah Badu and Amanda Diva debating sexy pics or Count Bass D wondering why no one ever toasts bagel on the outside?

In NO particular order, here are 100 hip-hop people to follow on Twitter:

39. Don Cannon – Only slightly less influential than Jimmy Iovine
40. Cashless – Deadly on the 1’s & 2’s
41. Jean Grae – Better than your favorite female rapper

That’s right, just below Don Cannon… cannon.. cannon… and right above Jean “No Whut Whut” Grae, there’s lil ole’ me. Although the list is strongly emphasized as being in NO PARTICULAR ORDER, I’d like that somehow I below amongst the names named for a reason. Needless to say, I’m honored and I appreciate the big ups in the description. Either way, follow me like Tupac on the adlibs of Hail Mary.

You can see more of the one Rizoh’s musing at his blog, The Rap Up.

A few versions back the all knowing engineers over at Serato removed the ability to export your playlist from the “Review” option. You can have that functionality again with the help of Mixlist (OSX only).

I’ve used it only twice so far and I’m highly satisfied with the results. Peep game.

MixList is a small “plug-in” application to intelligently record and export your playlist from Scratch Live.

Export your playlists
MixList can export your playlist as either a CSV or XML file for quick and easy sharing between applications.

Intelligent playlisting
An intelligent algorithm lists only the tracks that you’ve played and not those which you have only previewed.

Transparent interface
MixList’s interface can be transparent and can float over other application windows so you can easily monitor them.

I love me some easter eggs.