As mentioned earlier, Damage Control did a tribute to Pimp C last night, hosted by Matt Sonzala, DJ Chill and Bun B, and they’ve made the whole three-hour show available for download. Get it here:

Damage Control – Pimp C Tribute Show on KPFT 90.1FM Houston

You can read more about it on the Austin Surreal blog. In Matt’s words:

Today marks the day, the one year anniversary of the death of Pimp C. It saddens me, as I am sure it saddens you to know that our man is gone, but you know, we are still here and we have to keep this mans name alive. He was a pioneer, an innovator, a man who kept the south on his shoulders and brought us to where we are today. He and Bun B are two of the most important hip-hop (countryraptune) artists of all time.

They also posted a Pimp C tribute mix by UGK’s DJ Dolby D. You can download the mp3 of that here:

Dolby D – Pimp C Tribute Mix 2008

Propers to Damage Control and Austin Surreal for doing all this.

Chad Butler. 1973-2007.

I can’t believe it’s been a year. I got home too late last night to tune in to the Damage Control Pimp C tribute show, but I expect Matt will have the recording online soon.

Not much to say right now and not much time to say it, but I’m keeping Pimp C in my thoughts today, and best believe I’ll be bumping UGK all day.

Tell me something good …

I used to be a player, now I’m gettin’ pimped …

It’s supposed to bubble …

 
The Almighty Kracker Nuttz | A Decade Strong Anniversary
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Club Next (2020 McKinney, Houston, TX)
Admission: $10/$7 with a canned good
Doors: 10 p.m. – 2 a.m.; 18+ ladies, 21+ fellas

When the city’s most recognized on-air DJs get together to celebrate, it’s always a party. But give them a special reason to reunite and reflect on a 10 years of solidarity, then it’s really goin’ down! KBXX The Boxx’s Almighty Kracker Nuttz are going “A Decade Strong” and gathering folks up the night before Thanksgiving, Wednesday, November 26, at Club Next (2020 McKinney) for what should be absolutely memorable.

Founded by in 1998 by brothers who shared a vision of integrating culture into their music and entertainment, DJ KleanCutt and Baby Jae established the Kracker Nuttz in the city of Houston. Their passion for turntables and good music soon became a strong bond that resonated with friends, family, and the community.

 In no time the KNuttz organization grew with the addition of long-time friend and radio veteran DJ Ron EG. Also added to the group were DJs Akshun Kid, Kosuri, Cipher, Eddie, Milo, Rodney, Nino, Debbie, and finally Roy. Soon after the KNuttz became a staple in Houston’s nightlife and on the airwaves. They landed a coveted spot on Houston’s widely acclaimed hip hop and R&B station, “97.9 the BOX.” The KNuttz had hit the Houston scene in full force, incorporating their turntables, tricks, and scratches into all of their live radio mixes.

 The KNuttz make regular guest appearances at shows, special events and some of the South’s top music venues–proof that the music industry has taken a notice of their crazy antics. Most notably, the KNuttz entertained events such as the premiere party for film X-Men (2000) in New York City, the Import Expo Show (2000, 2001) hosted by M&N Entertainment, R Kelly’s “Best Of Both Worlds” after party, and opened for legendary rap groups De La Soul, Common, and the Pharcyde, just to name a few.

Entertainment is covered when you call on The Kracker Nuttz: everything from radio to the club, competing in DJ Battles, hosting parties, producing and remixing, and to hands-on, face-to-face street promotions. They continue to leave a lasting impression, because the Kracker Nuttz stay “ALL UP IN YOUR MOUTH!”

 A Decade Strong features a solid lineup of local cats alongside the KNuttz DJ roster. The Main Room offers up Dayta, Squincy Jones, Klean Cutt, Kosuri, Akshun Kid, Baby Jae and Cipher; in the Smoking Section is Ace Booncoon, Gonz, Klinch, El Roy Boogie and Brotha Jibril. Early arrival is strongly suggested.

 Please contact Fahrenheit Media to set up interviews with those involved with the Kracker Nuttz event or to arrange for press/photo passes for the night. For more info, visit www.myspace.com/krackernuttz_promotions or www.fahrenheit-media.com.

Gracie Chavez Cardenas
www.fahrenheit-media.com

Last Monday, a good friend of mine and one of the most compassionate, soulful and talented people I know, DJ Melodic, had a cardiac arrest and fell into a coma. He has since come out of the coma (thank goodness), but is still in the intensive care unit at St. Luke’s Hospital in Houston. Every person I know who has met or worked with Melodic in any capacity vouches for how good a dude he is. His passion for music and DJing has been an inspiration to me in all the years that I’ve known him.

Melodic is a gentle, hard-working and young dude. The fact that this happened to Melodic, a vegan who is determined to keep all things toxic out of his system, has really shocked a lot of people. Life is precious, and even the most careful among us can fall ill.

We continue to monitor the developments with his condition. Friends in Houston are organizing a benefit on his behalf to help him cover the medical costs of his recovery. I’ve included all that info below.

Even for those not able to attend or contribute to the benefit, Melodic and his family are accepting donations online at the link below:

djmelodic.chipin.com

Any contribution, no matter how small, would be a great help, especially in these tough times. Even if it’s just a few dollars. EVERY LITTLE BIT COUNTS.

Check out the benefit info below, and please keep Melodic in your thoughts and prayers.

Thanks.

————————

“A genuine good guy”

“A truly positive dude”

These and many other quotes like those are what people who have been touched by Paco aka Ben Jennings IV aka DJ Melodic express when they think of the person, the dj, friend. His gentle and positive spirit has touched many. His humility is unmatched.

On November 2nd Paco suffered cardiac arrest. He is currently at St. Luke’s Hospital in critical condition.

Paco’s close friends are organizing a raffle and musical benefit event to offset medical expenses and support his family during this difficult time. We need your support to make it a success.

ABOUT PACO

Paco came to Soular Grooves and entered the Houston DJ community with the same genuine positive spirit and humility that so many describe about him. He learned as much as he could about dj-ing from as many as he could and applied those characteristics to his vast knowledge of music, to become one of the most respected, well-liked, and precision-like djs in Houston. His aesthetic is unique and contributes to creating an uncompromising signature of sounds that have no match. To listen to Paco, DJ Melodic, as he deejays, is to be taken on a course of great music that blends together seamlessly and continuously. All his selections, he intuitively knows, belong together. It is a truly joyful experience to listen to him and watch him perform.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

1) MARK YOUR CALENDAR AND PLAN TO ATTEND THE DJ MELODIC BENEFIT – A MUSICAL TRIBUTE & VERY COOL RAFFLE

Soular Grooves and Paco’s friends and family invite you to join us for a beautiful Sunday afternoon benefit filled with music, family and fun prizes. Paco’s closest friends DJ Sun, DJ Chicken George and Nick Cooper will perform a musical tribute.

Plus, you can purchase raffle tickets and win some of the coolest things from shops like Barney’s Co-op, Sloan/Hall, Peel Gallery, Melodrama, Betsey Johnson + gift certs from restaurants and bars including Boheme, AvantGarden, Dolce Vita and much more!

Light bites will be provided by La Strada and Stir-It-Up Coffee House.

November, 16, 2008
1-4PM
@ Block 21
2420 Washington Ave.
Houston, TX 77246

Event Tickets are $10, available at the door only
Raffle Tickets are $5 each or 5 for $20.

Thank you to Ziggy at Block 21 for generously offering to donate a portion of the event proceeds to support the cause.

2) MAKE A CASH DONATION

We have set up a ChipIn account for anyone wishing to make a donation. Please consider making a contribution of any amount you can. Every bit helps!

djmelodic.chipin.com

3) CONSIDER CONTRIBUTING AN ITEM FOR OUR RAFFLE

Raffle items are specialty services, memberships, or gifts, gift certificates, art works,
event tickets, food items, music, apparel, electronics, holiday items, etc.

Businesses who have already donated include: MFAH, CAMH, Aerosol Warfare Gallery, Diverseworks, Barney’s Co-op, Starbucks, Dolce Vita, Boheme Cafe & Wine Bar, La Strada, AvantGarden, YogaOne just to name a few.

To donate a raffle item, download this form (.pdf).

and send it to Tina Zulu by Wednesday, November 12th at tinazulu at zulucreative.com

4) SPREAD THE WORD!

Houston, my hometown, has gotten a lot of long overdue press over the years for it’s deeply talented rap scene. Most of that publicity has reached only a few aspects of Houston’s diverse sound. Now, our good friends Damien (D.) of the Legendary K.O. aka the K-Otix and FWMJ and his Rappers I Know juggernaut blog are putting some needed shine back on my city. Here’s what D. has to say:

There’s a movement going on at the bottom of the map. If you haven’t paid attention, then you’ve been missing a modern renaissance taking place in Houston, Texas. If you take a look back over the last few years, most of us have been involved in or connected to some of the most inspiring, influential creations to come across your iPods and computer screens.

Remember these names: Kay, The ARE, K-OTIX, Chris “Daddy” Dave, D. Rose, The Foundation, J “8 Months” Lewis, Neon Collars, H.I.S.D., The Niyat, DJ Cozmos, and Flow Factory. …

Peep the video below, with a cameo on the hook by none other than Devin the Dude. Houston, Stand Up!

Rappers I Know “New Flava” Video from FWMJ on Vimeo.

Caribbean People Time. We’re still recovering from Halloween and Day of the Dead activities, and we’re a little distracted by this whole election thing creeping up on us, so excuse the tardiness once again. Better late than never. Btw, today’s handout gladly features the inaugural 5ives contribution from JD, and JD always got heat, so that’s a good thing.

dj lil tiger | blake gideon hurt my feelings …

Kanye “Love Lockdown (Nu Era mix)”
Would this be considered a bruk mash? Not sure who is ultimately responsible for this one, but I dig it on a weird level. Kanye over a spacy, techy broken track by Nu Era, aka Marc Mac of 4hero

Busy Signal “I Fucked Your Girl”
Yeah, you know, for giggles and shits and what not.

Donae’o “African Warrior”
Damn Brits, always making me feel the wrath of the latte pass. Not new, but recently exposed to me. This UK Funky shit is my shit. Donae’o was a fave of mine back when I first started getting into UKG, so I dig that he’s on this scene.

H-Town All-Stars “Obama ’08”
Bun, Chamilli, Paul Wall, Cory Mo, Trae. Oh, and some verbiage from our next president. Can’t go wrong. Bump this on the way to the polls, if you haven’t already gotten your early vote on. HOUSTON STAND THE FUCK UP.

Lauryn Hill “Want You Around (Probe DMS remix)”
From the vaults. Probe is one of NY’s best kept secrets. If you get a chance to catch him spin, you won’t be disappointed. And he got the chops on the production side. Believe it.

download: Hold that.

———

jd | Come get it like you know you want it ®

O.C. Smith – “Sounds of Goodbye”
My vinyl rip and dedication to Bush.   See ya later!

Markus Enochson – “What About Us”
A stellar Brandy rework.   This is an oldie but a goodie.

Beck – “Dirty Dirty”
Also quite old, but never leaves the crates.  This is off of the remix and b-sides disc.

Archie Bell & The Drells – “Tighten Up” (Bobby LaBeat Re-work)
You can pretty much catch me never playing anything resembling bmore club, but this song is significant for a few reasons.  The first being that it is just a beast of a song, the remix kept the essence of the original and of course, Archie and his Drells are from Texas.

Bjork – “Who Is It” (Vitalic Mix)
I just really like this remix.    So jamming.

download: Take that, take that.

———-

empanadamn | For the club | Serato ready

Aidonia “Flyin’ Dagger”
Aidonia’s voice kinda reminds me of Vybz Kartel with less gumption. Still, he posses a flow that can ride a range of sounds. This track, on the Sky Daggering riddim, is on the uptempo tip for your faster sets.

Beyoncé “Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)”
One for the ladies, this one picks up where “Get Me Bodied” left off. It’s produced by Darkchild, but sounds like a Swizzy joint with its chunkyness and jump. The clencher for me was watching the video. BOING!

Cory Gunz “Get Right Tonight” (Feat. Ryan Leslie)
I like this song because dude’s name is “Cory Gunz” and he’s from the Bronx. What’s more is that Ryan Leslie’s on the beat. Some midtempo filler.

Jazzanova “I Can See” (Feat. Ben Westbeech)
Germany’s Jazzanova returns with their 2nd full length studio album “Of All The Things”. With each release they seem to do something different, which I can appreciate. One of my favorite cuts, “I Can See” features Ben Westbeech, a soulful British bloke sangs, with ze Germans rock the new-old soul sound filled with strings, horns and xylophone.

T-Pain “Freeze” (Feat. Chris Brown)
A poppy joint for the club with a good balance of drum knock & synth. It has a couple of beatbox breakdowns and lacks catchy hook which kinda kills its momentum for a major tune.

download: Choose or Lose

Six years. Damn. Our good friend Pushermat, founder of Houston’s legendary Damage Control radio show and an inspiration to me for many years, reminded me with a tweet earlier today that it’s been six years since Hip-Hop legend and pioneering DJ Jam Master Jay was killed. In remembering that sad day, Matt linked to an article he wrote shortly after Jay’s death:

Jay was an artist, a family man and an inspiration. We can’t be so naive as to believe that only sick thugs kill or get killed. But I would like to think that such a shining star in what can be such a dark business would have been exempt from the bullshit of this culture that sometimes seems as rife with murder and mayhem as it is with creativity and spirit.

Jam Master Jay left behind a wife, three children and a billion rap fanatics like myself who can only say goddamn, that DJ made my day.

It’s already past midnight here in NY, so this is officially one day after the anniversary of Jay’s death. But the remembering never stops. Y’all should peep the rest of what Matt had to say, and put a little Run DMC in your rotation in memory of a legend who touched the lives of so many people.

I had a few words about it back then as well:

I went up to KPFT last night to hang out with Matt Sonzala and Zin and to see what people were saying about Jam Master Jay. He was murdered in Queens last night while working in his studio. Some unidentified guy came in and shot him in the head, shot another man in the leg, and then disappeared. Motive is yet unknown.

I actually got a call shortly after it happened from Brent, who was at a show in New York when he heard the news. Unbelievable. Jam Master Jay was a pioneer. An inspiration for many of us who are fond of playing with records. It’s so bizarre. Dude was a family man. Had a wife, three kids. Ran a studio in his community where he would often let neighborhood emcees come in and record for free. If you’ve ever seen how much studio folks charge for studio time in the music world, you know that’s showing some real love. And that’s from Jam Master Jay, one third of Run DMC, the crew responsible for making Hip-Hop global. So you know his shit was hooked up real nice. I got homeboys that have apartment studios where they record vocals in a dirty bathroom and run sound through their living room. Most of them dudes won’t even let their best friends record for free on shit equipment.

Never met JMJ. But you always heard good things about him. I always regretted never seeing Run DMC live. Their shows are the stuff of legends.

I did talk to Darryl McDaniels, aka the DMC in Run DMC, a few years ago for an article I was writing for the Texan. The story was supposed to be about the group, but much of the conversation was about Jam Master Jay, and how their music, and that of the entire culture of Hip-Hop is centered around the DJ. He referred to Jay as the foundation. How true.

KPFT was an interesting mix as usual. There must have been 20 people up there for the Damage Control show. It’s one of the things I love about this city. You just can’t get that kind of mix of culture and talent in too many places around the state. Not like they do it here.

Everybody was talking about Jay. Hood folks and suburban folks. Self-proclaimed gangsters and thugs and squirmy backpackers. Dude affected the whole lot of them. It’s just ill thinking about how much influence Jam Master Jay had. Ill.

Jay, we miss you, man, and we’ll never forget. In parting, here’s one of my all-time favs, Jay laying down the law on that Big Beat:

And of course, the turntables might wobble but they don’t fall down!

It’s the middle of the month, and with the economy still in the shitter and getting shittier by the day, it’s time for another handout from the generous souls here at buhbOmp HQ. And like all good bureaucracies charged with overseeing the well-being of its needy constituents, we’re a day late and a DJ short. While Cashless is in Japón brokering peace between the Jamaicans and Japanese, Empanadamn and Lil Tiger got the goods to hold you over ’til the first rolls back around. Try not to spend it all in one place:

empanadamn | Halloween treats

Bernard Herrmann “Opening Credits” of Psycho
Herrmann is a big dude in film scoring, serving up sounds of the scary, sinister, and suspense. From the classic Psycho, DJ Scratch used this composition in Busta Rhymes’ “Gimme Some More”

Castlevania “Stage One”
The first level ditty to one of my most favoritest video games ever in the whole wide world. Simon Belmont got whip appeal.

Mike Oldfield “Tubular Bells”
Virgin Records first official release that topped the charts for some time in the UK. The album, mostly instrumental, implemented a lot of sounds never recorded on such a successful release. The title track was also popularized by the film The Exorcist.

Mötley Crüe “Shout At The Devil”
As a child, this song kinda scared the shit out of me, being about yellin’ at the devil and all. But my brother was jammin this, so I guess it was OK. Out of all the Crüe, I liked Mick Mars because he looked like a short Alice Cooper. Factoid: Vince Neil is part Mexican. Thanks to Guitar Hero, people everywhere now rejoice in Satan and don’t even realize it, so nothing out of the ordinary.

RJD2 “The Horror”
I’m not a big fan of the dude, but RJD2’s got a couple of bangers. This is one makes me envision a montage for 70s slasher flick for a diabolical doctor dude who’s really not a doctor, but a school nurse assistant who’s not quite right.

*Bonus bOmp*
DJ Qbert “Alcohol Razorblade Slide”
My favorite track and scene from “Wave Twisters”. The line, “he separated the skull and masturbated in front of it,” is a sound-bite referencing Jeffrey Dahmer (I think)

download: Candy with a razorblade in it. Shhh.

dj lil tiger | get a job, grouch!

H.I.S.D “Break of Dawn”
On of my favorite tunes from the talented Hueston Independent Spit District crew making moves in my hometown. Off their dope Summer Sessions album.

Solange f. Q-Tip “Sandcastle Disco (Remix)”
Because I never tire with showing Houston love, here’s another Space City product with some strong drums and a feel-good vibe. Solange showing she can hold her own.

Monareta “Me Voy Pal Mar”
I’m loving the dub/electronic flare and the nice edits in this tune from this Bogotá duo. Colombia holding it down.

Aretha Franklin “Jump To It (Prince Klassen Young Professional Re-Edit)”
Killer rework straight out the heart of Texas. Austin’s Prince Klassen def keeping the parties movin’.

Jermaine Jackson “Erucu”
Since we’re taking it back a bit, here’s a raw disco classic that should bring out the beast in you.

download: This ain’t no government cheese

Lately my thoughts have been focused on the upcoming presidential elections and outside of my family, I haven’t been able to think of little else. While the buhbOmp crew’s focus is primarily music and entertainment, the seriousness of the election has somewhat redirected that, at least for me. This has been reflected upon heavily in some of my more recent posts. While I’d like to get back to what makes us who we are, critics and appreciators of music and other artforms, I can’t stop myself from projecting a bit of concern for the future of this country onto this blog. You’ll probably see more in the future as this have been by far the most gut-wrenching election seasons of all time.

More thoughts later.

***UPDATE***

Houston, you suck!!! Houston ranked DEAD LAST in VP debate viewership amongst 55 US TV markets. We were outclassed by places like Buffalo, Tulsa and Providence, RI. In fact, the viewership percentage was so low that it failed to even register.

Link to the Nielsen breakdown (pdf)

Squincy Jones, fellow music nerd & co-organizer of the Thursday night weekly SPEAKERBOXX, was recognized as “Houston’s Best DJ 2008” by the Houston Press. I think it has a lot to do with the art direction of his promotions game ;)

Next time you see your boy, show him some luvs, or give him a huggie.

Houston Press Best Of 2008