Mr Dibbs, the innovative DJ and producer, the one who has given so much of himself and his heart through music, entertainment and now food, has come to a place in his life where he is in need of our help. Last month he was diagnosed with Cirrhosis which is the scarring of the liver and poor liver function. It is the final phase of chronic liver disease. He is no longer able to work being that he is in and out of the hospital too much. In just a month, having no insurance, his medical bills have reached over $485,000. Please, if you can spare it, any amount would help. You can make donations directly to Brad through the paypal account email Hellkitchen@netzero.com. Go to Paypal, click send money, in the TO address type in: Hellkitchen@netzero.com. You can follow Brad’s progress at www.twitter.com/mrdibbs. Thank you all.
Pay It Forward To Mr Dibbs (Facebook Page)
Gil Scott-Heron died Friday afternoon in New York, his book publisher reported. He was 62. The influential poet and musician is often credited with being one of the progenitors of hip-hop, and is best known for the spoken-word piece “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.” – NPR
It is hard to overestimate Gil Scott-Heron’s influence, but I think a lot of the headlines played up the hip-hop angle too much. There is no denying that his “talking over music” style bore some similarities to hip-hop (The Last Poets are also given the “proto-rap” label), that always struck me as a little tenuous. And as much as I love hip-hop, I think it is a disservice to Gil Scott-Heron to limit his memory to just being the “Godfather of Rap.”
To us, Gil Scott-Heron was a lot more than that, he was one of our favorite artists of any genre, and his relative obscurity (compared to, say, James Brown or Michael Jackson) makes his loss hurt a little worse; he was ours. He could make you laugh out loud, he could make you dance, he could make you cry, often all at once, and it was always a deeply personal experience.
I’m not going to go too deep into the music because Cosmo did a great job with that already (and told some personal stories) – go to his blog for that. Update: Chances With Wolves & Cosmo recorded a tribute show, two hours of music here. Chairman Mao put up a pretty great tribute mix, which you can get at the Ego Trip blog. Finally, here is a little secret weapon Gil Scott-Heron remix from our friends in Sweden:
DJ Asparagus vs Wipe The Needle – Ur Daddy Loves U
This month, The Rub welcomes the Ebony and Ivory of house music, Ed Banger Records’ Carte Blanche. The Afro-pean duo (Frenchman DJ Mehdi and Englishman Riton) discuss their mashed retro house project, the Roland TR-909, textbook chords and DJing “foot-naked.”
A few great stories about rap-related shit from Creative Loafing Atlanta, NPR and New York Times:
The Making of OutKast’s Aquemini
Biggie Smalls: The Voice That Influenced A Generation
New York Rappers Talk Their Worst Summer Jobs
Listen to our friend Matthew Africa’s Gangstarr mix, and read Cosmo’s thoughts about Guru and Gangstarr.
Matthew Africa – Got To Be The Sureshot
Rest In Power Keith “Guru” Elam (July 17th, 1966 – April 20th, 2010)
My morning regiment is pretty consistent day in and day out. I wake up, hit the bathroom, go into the kitchen and get the coffee started, and not so long afterwards that I’ll pick up my phone to see what messages I missed during the evening. Needless to say the news of Guru’s leaving this planet was one of the first pieces of news that I got this morning. Shocked, and saddened, I said to my wife “Jesus, Guru has died.” A few minutes later as we sat on the couch, she turned to me and, with tears in her eyes, said to me “This is so sad. It was ‘Step In The Arena’ that made me realize I was a real hip-hop ‘head’…”
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Canada, you would be a fool not to go see our boy Sammy Bananas on tour this month! And apparently he loves to smoke cigs, so you should probably lock him in the garage and force him to smoke a whole pack.
And be sure to grab his super fun Telephoned EP (with singer Maggie Horn) right here!
