Little Dragon Nov. 4th @ The Independent in SF

Unabashedly declaring Little Dragon as my favorite group out right now.

I haven’t really had a favorite group or a band or an artist for that matter that I have felt this much in a loooong while so it is a really big deal for me.

The homies and I went to the Little Dragon show this past Wednesday at The Independent over in Frisco and damn if it wasn’t the most spiritual experience I’ve had in a long while. It’s Friday now and I’m still on a high from the show.

Yukimi Nagano’s voice is so powerful and her stage presence and energy on the stage transforms you from spectator into participant. She jumped into the crowd and starting giggin in the middle of the audience space & got the docile folks in the middle more into it. From then it was on! At one point towards the very end of the show she damn near went horizontal in mid-air and landed face first onto the stage…and kept going! Yukimi was definitely a performer possesed on Wednesday night. I can’t say enough about the band of Erik, Frederick, and Hakan who provide a backdrop that never actually plays the background. Yukimi’s voice & all of their instrumentation together blend into an atmospheric evironment that completely envelopes the entire venue. I’m sorry, i’m not going to go back and edit, I’m just going to let myself ramble like a starstruck fan because honestly I can’t remember a time that I’ve been this excited about music or musicians, and for that I will allow myself to come across like a blabbering screaming TRL fan standing outside with a sign. I was extra juiced when somebody at the same show posted some videos of it on youtube, and that’s the reason for this post. My first post since August if anyone besides me is counting.

And the CROWD was dope as fuck as well! Easily twice as many people than the show in May. I think the band was definitely appreciative of the exuberant folks clapping, screaming, yelling, dancing, and smiling. I damn near drove down to Santa Cruz to see them at The Rio where they’re playing tonight.

Little Dragon GOES!

Test @ The Independent 11/4/09 -

After the Rain @ The Independent 11/4/09 -

Her screams hurt me soul so beautifully, ugh.

Jockin’ Hella Too Tough & Very Okay With That,

GMitch.

PS- Do people still write reviews of shows? Because this one definitely deserved a fuckin well thought out write up! Come on Colinrespose!…no pressure tho.

PPS- Shout out to komodoTV for posting these videos on youtube!

PPPS- Shout out to Adriel Luis for putting up Colin on this group who then put me up on them. Ugh, gotta love word of mouth.

Dewey Cox – Beautiful Ride

I woke up with this song in my head, and this is the best I’ve felt waking up in forever so I’m posting this. The last song in one of my favorite movies (Top 5 comedies 4 me). [Skip the first 20 secs of vid, OR go ahead and watch the techno intro if you'd like]:

As I stand on the precipice of death
My perspective is enormous,

G.

PS – Just for the fuck of it -

Let’s Duet ft. Kristen Wiig

Hella Mad I missed the ‘Cox Around America Tour’ lol.

Kristen Wiig & John C. Reilly GO!

EZ.

Jadakiss – I Tried ft. Avery Storm

[Again man, try gettin the song for real, cuz youtube makes the shit sound not as good, and i aint computer saavy nor patient enough how to put on the song another way.]

I always wait for those songs where Jada can get on a beat and display his lyrical profenciency as “i” believe it was meant to be shown off (who am i of course, simply a fan of his skill). Not only does Jada rip this shit to shreds he just uplifted me for the day as i “keep tryin” to do my thang and stay motivated and inspired in life.

It’s funny, i feel like hella people think Avery Storm is a corny half talented hook singer, but i seem to keep hella feelin the hooks he lays down, so maybe (probly) i’m hella corny too or else people are just hatin’ and trippin’ a little too hard, which ain’t that unusual in this day and age. Too little time to hate is what i say.

Jada’s new album was originally titled “Kiss My Ass,” but the extra BEEZY ass record execs (“suspects”)  made him rename it. Ass can even be said on t.v. now & an artist can’t use that word in an album title…bullshita. So, “The Last Kiss,” it is. This is not titled because this is Jada’s last album, but rather because as he tells it, the “Kiss” theme of all his previous solo album titles has run its course. I feel that. Good idea, time to start fresh doggie.

I like a bunch of the songs on the album, but there ARE some irkish ass tracks on that shit. Most obvious to me is (of couse) the track contributed by Swiss (cot-damn) Beatz, “Who’s Real.” Swizzy, who constantly gives people trash beats and even more terrible hooks keeps on going on this track. UGH. The Mary J. track sounded like the J.V. version of Nas & Keri Hilson “Hero.” But where those tracks and a few others slack off, songs like “Smoking Gun” with Jazmine Sullivan and “Cartel Gathering” with Ghostface & Raekwon are real dope. I hella like the “Rocking With The Best” with Pharrell song, but like i said before i sometimes fall hard for the cornball sounding ish. Jada still aint reached his peak, as he’ll tell you himself, but it’s another album that’s worth listening to. Alright let me stop frontin like i’ve actually reviewed an album before.

Let’s Get It!

Al-Queda Jada

Aiight,

G.

Favorite Song Right Now

The-Dream ft. Kanye West – Walkin On The Moon

Track #3 off The-Dream’s new album, Love Vs. Money (shit just dropped on the 10th)

Disclaimer: The youtube version don’t hit as hard as the version i got on my itunes, but til i learn how to put up music on this blog this will have to do. Damn it, just get a taste, then cop the album then slap it in the whip while driving on the freeway! Holler!

Ugghhhh. That damn breakdown for the hook hits me so cold everytime i hear it. Kanye’s verse is cool (“and uhhh”). But GOT-DAMN that “I’ll pull down a cloud for you…” whole part ugggh. Yeah man, i fucks wit The-Dream (word to Stacy)!

Uggghh,

G.Mitch.

“Oh My GOD!”

This is a tribute / dream feature post. This is one of my favortie youtube clips of all time. To me, it’s the shit like this that gets captured that makes youtube one of the tightest things ever. Enjoy!

Damn sun. I replay this shit constantly.

G-Mitch.

Invincible at Oakland Unity High School

Invincible gracing the cover of Metro Times (Detroit’s weekly alternative for news, arts, culture, music, film, food, fashion and more).

I can’t claim to know a lot about Oakland Unity High School or Invincible, but I did come across this video on youtube while I was trying to find songs from Invincible.

Invincible at Oakland Unity High School:

Invincible is a rapper from DETROIT, Michigan and like so many other incredible emcees that come outta the city made famous by their automotive factories, Eminem and J Dilla (whom I share a birthday with Feb. 7, holla), she puts words together in an incredibly beastly way. She’s also ’bout something, as she couples her emceeing with her activism. Listing, “Audre Lorde, Nina Simone, MC Lyte, Gil Scott-Heron, James Baldwin, Paulo Freire and the Detroit Summer Yoot” as some of her influences on her Myspace music page. It’s pretty inspirational to see aritists of her caliber putting their time and energy doing good work, like coming all the way out here to Oakland and leading workshops in schools, where she is also spittin’ fire about the Prison Industrial Complex as an incredibly destructive, corrupt, and inhumane institution and how it fucks up individuals as well as communities. I’ll let you decide what you think, I just wanna hear her album hella bad now.  Here’s a video that displays how ridiculous she rips it.

Invincible: “Sledgehammer!” Official Video:

That shit’s DOPE.

Here’s to Hip Hop & Activism & 2008 bringing some Cold-Hearted Hot Stueyness,

G. Mitch

P.S. Shout to Paula for waking me up from napping (cuz i aint never sleepin) on Invincible!

P.S. Coming Soon… Senbei & Slavename Present: The Mitchell Report…dun dun dun…

Dream Feature #1: Sir Mix-a-Lot

Sir Mix-a-Lot

I ain’t posted in an extended amount of time, but on the bright side I got a B in statistics at Berkeley City College and so that means that I am almost through with this bachelor’s degree in American Studies from UCSC so I’m pretty damn juiced.

Anywho, I figured the next post I would do would actually have NOTHING to do with statistics and everything to do with posting my first segment of “Dream Features.” Sir Mix-a-Lot is the first to receive this illustrious honor of musicians whom, if I was able to ask politely for anyone to be on a song with, I would definitely have to pick them.

Sir Mix-a-Lot is a multi-platinum recording artist who was most prominent in the late 80s and early 90s. Everyone knows Mix-a-Lot from the classic “Baby Got Back” cut that dropped way back in 1992 off his album Mack Daddy. An ode to the female posterior, “Baby Got Back” is still spun in clubs around the country. It’s one of those songs that got picked up by pop culture and they kind of just beat it into the ground with redundancy to the point of making it kind of a joke and a song that frat boys nationwide I’m sure get a kick out of. In all seriousness though the video was pretty damn funny with the mountain booties and all that ish. The song itself while certainly rooted in misogyny and patriarchy actually did address certain pressing issues within mass media, hip hop and rap vs. rock & roll, such as voyeurism (“Oh my god! Becky look at her butt. It is soooo big!”/ “Even white boys got to shout!”), and standards of beauty (“So Cosmo says your fat/Well I ain’t down wit that!”).

Sir Mix-a-Lot though I think deserves an incredible amount of respect. For one, he was able to establish himself as a platinum artist in the late 1980s and early 1990s while being from the relatively obscure hip hop region (at the time) of Seattle, Washington. Those were the times when if you were a rapper on the West Coast then you HAD to be from either Los Angeles or The Yay. AND, 4 years previous to the international ubiquity of “Baby Got Back,” his dropped his classic slumper, “Posse On Broadway” on his album Swass (what a dope album title). Posse On Broadway has to be one of the most famous (at least within a hip hop historian frame of mind) songs in the history of hip hop. It’s pioneering sounds was part of the revolutionary impact of the 808 drum machine and the west coast influence on hip hop culture and rap music.

The slappin’ ass 808!

Mr. Mix-a-Lot was RAW as fuck, and going back and listening to them joints like Posse on Broadway make me wish that it was hella easy to just call a person up and ask them to hop on a song. If that was at all possible I would with the swiftness for sure be hollerin’ at Sir Mix-a-Lot. He brought to his music an INCREDIBLE amount of energy, swagg, intellect, understanding of music, lyrics, and honesty. He is definitely an All-Star Legend in my book, and if there was a rap video game he would definitely be one of those secret legendary characters you unlock and can play as once you beat the game!

(Sidenote: Me and Chris were just talking the other day and this brilliant question came up, “Why doesn’t Hip Hop have a hall of fame???” Jay-Z, Russell Simmons, Diddy, and some other people need to get their acts together and front the necessary funds to make that shit happen!).

But like Colin says, “Like Snoop says…” Back to the lecture at hand…

**Sir Mix-a-Lot if you by chance come across this post my email address is getatmefolks@gmail.com and my name is Greg!!!

When you take your next shot of whatever you’re taking a shot of make sure you cheers at least one of those shots to SIR MIX-A-LOT!

“Shake that healthy butt!!”

(Record Scratch) Aw, Aw, Aw yeah,

g.