On Tuesday, ’90s alt-rock heroes Pavement released their greatest hits compilation Quarantine the Past, a rich double disc that’s 23 tracks deep with hits and fan favorites spanning the the band’s 10-year history. Devoted fans will surely have all the songs spread out among albums and re-issues, but the compilation works just as well as a highlight reel as it does a Pavement starter kit. And for those not as familiar with the Stockton, CA natives as they’d like to be, it couldn’t have come at a better time.
The band, who has not performed together since 1999, lit up music blogs across the web back in September when they announced they’d be reuniting for a handful of shows in NYC’s Central Park later this year. The shows reportedly sold out within minutes, prompting the group to expand the reunion to a full-on tour. While the anticipation for their NYC shows builds, we put together a beginner’s guide to the 7 Pavement songs you need to know…
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Lately, the rumor mills have been going on about the return of a famed British auto marquee to our shores. No, not MG—TVR. Never heard of ‘em? Well, don’t feel too bad, not many people know about the Blackpool, England based sports car maker. The one who’s switched owners more times Death Row Records and had a penchant for building cars that looked like absolutely nothing else on the road. They didn’t have the same… panache as other supercars—most didn’t have anti-lock brakes or airbags or sound deadening, but they were dope. So before you start hearing Drake or Weezy name dropping them in the future, get familiar with the all but forgotten sports car maker.
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Twenty years ago today (March 5, 1990), the legendary West Coast hip-hop group Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E. released their debut album New Funky Nation. The group of Samoan brothers from Carson City, California is a truly one-of-a-kind act, transitioning from a breakdancing crew in the late ’80s to a hip-hop collective known for mixing live instrumentation with gritty gangsta rap reality.
Going on to release eight albums and work with the likes of Kid Frost, Eminem and Ice Cube, the crew had long cemented their street and musical legacies by the time Jim Jones asked them to appear in his “Certified Gangstas” video to, well, certify his gangsta. The “Too Rough International Boo-Yaa Empire” went from active Bloods to a crew of dancers to hip-hop legends over the course of their career. To help educate music fans on their important anniversary, we’ve compiled the 7 Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E. songs you should know…
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Photo by Tom Bland
Just this month, a cataclysmic video for electro veterans Massive Attack’s “Splitting The Atom” dropped, prompting a bunch of speculation over its message and more directly, what kind of monster that is at the end. The video’s dark sprawl however, is a vision of French director Edouard Salier. A visual arts renaissance man, Salier has created acclaimed projects in film, photography, graphic design, commercial ads and pretty much everything else that can come from a mind that Pratt students will probably be studying one day.
With a unified focus in landscapes and illusion, Salier’s work is far from repetitive and having drummed up clips for artists as diverse as Raphael Saadiq and Air, the director melds music and imagination to build visuals transcending each. Though he’s as yet underutilized stateside, here are 5 videos you should know directed by Edouard Salier…
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Long gone are the days when a previously-untapped region in the South would spark a record label bidding war, a phenomenon that pushed local talent from Houston, Miami, and New Orleans squarely into the mainstream. But America, we’re here to tell you that you missed out on one state who has been producing seriously dope records for the last decade. Welcome to Alabama.
It seems like a bunch of artists from the ’Bama have been blowing up lately, so we decided to compile a beginner’s guide to Alabama rap for all you kids who only know about Rich Boy. Read on below to see the 7 essential songs you need to know, including classics from pioneers like Dirty and The Last Mr. Bigg alongside bangers from stars-in-the-making like Yelawolf and Jackie Chain…
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I’m Black, Ya’ll!
Black History Month is here! Now would be a good time to press “pause” on the Waka Flocka mixtape and inject a little consciousness into your playlist. There have been millions of songs made about the African-American experience, so where to start? The obvious place would be with the revolutionary rhetoric of pro-black artists like Public Enemy or dead prez. And even today, James Brown’s 1968 classic “Say It Loud (I’m Black And I’m Proud)” is often remembered as the definitive anthem about black pride. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. We dug in the crates for some less-obvious celebrations of blackness and came out with a diverse set of bangers. Check out our 5 favorite slept-on Black Power Anthems below…
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If you’ve revived one of the biggest and best-known fashion houses in the world by evoking a lost sexiness and revamping their advertising image, then went onto create your own successful fashion line while taking time out to guest edit big name glossies like Vanity Fair, what else would there be for you to do? How about take over Hollywood? That’s exactly what Tom Ford, the wunderkind designer who brought Gucci back from the dead is attempting to do. Sort of.
His directorial debut is not a blockbuster, but rather a small art house film that’s been doing well on the festival circuit. That movie, A Single Man, which stars Julianne Moore and Colin Firth, opens today, so before a friend of yours tries to tell you how dope it is and how much of a genius the director is, read our primer on Tom Ford and act like you’ve known about him for years…
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In the wonderful world of sneakerheads, DJ Clark Kent is a household name. The Brooklyn native has carved out a new niche for himself as one of the industry’s leading experts, which is why we asked him to break down his Top 50 Air Force 1’s Of All Time in our recent feature (click here if you missed it). But while we were putting the feature together, one thing occurred to us: do you guys actually know who Clark Kent is?
See, before he was known to Nike fiends across the globe, the DJ produced some seriously classic hip-hop records from artists like Jay-Z, Rakim, CNN, and Biggie. To help bring you up to speed, we put together a compilation of our 10 favorite records produced by DJ Clark Kent…
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Before there was Terry Richardson, there was John Rankin Waddell, known to the fashion and art world as “Rankin”. The dude was born 1966 in Glasgow, UK, and is a British portrait and fashion photographer. Rankin takes some of the sexiest photos ever, of the hottest models and most beautiful people in the world. A lot of them are naked as well, which we’re sure you’ll enjoy if you Google, “Rankin sexy hot Kate Moss naked”.
Today, a 25-year retrospective of his work (600 images) opens at the Old Truman Brewery, Brick Lane, in London. Since that is London, and we’re in New York, we’re not there. Instead, we’ve composed a brief history of what this guy does to help you on the way to learning who he is (so you sound cultured) and what he does (so you have a little inspiration on what to wish for/new T-shirt graphic ideas). Read on below for an abridged history of Rankin’s work and then go get your Google on. The man is a beast…
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