Month: May 2008

Watch them here.

It’s your Detroit boy D Weez’e from the West 7 Mile area who will take you by surprise with his explosive, hardcore musical backgrounds. He is full of that raw energy, keeping up the grind in the darkness of the zone.
Getting Money is built on a noisy background. Although the theme is quite recurrent in hip hop, D Weez’e ‘s gritty voice and determined spirit manage to offer the listener some new perpectives on the cadenced musical background.
Risk Hold 18 takes you deeper into the Detroit slums; its dark musical environment makes you feel the numerous, surrounding dangers. Follow D Weeze’e into his crazy ride. The repetitive musical background emerges from a cloudy chaos that creates mental dizziness. Here comes the trouble: be prepared for it. D Weez’e handles the track with the mind of a ghetto fighter.
Ice N A Watch will allow the listener to fully appreciate D Weeze’s lyrical style. His stormy flow delivery totally matches with his musical inventivity.
If you like real life stories, the typical 7 Mile wickedness, D Weeze’e s music will be delight to your ears.
Listen to the Iced Out Entertainment artist here.
Copyright by Isabelle Esling
All Rights Reserved

Read the original article here.
Beer & Boom Bap: Mention Detroit hip-hop, and Eminem, Slum Village, D12 and Guilty Simpson come to mind. But on Friday, several other artists will show that there’s a lot of lesser-known talent in the D.
“You can consider me true school,” says Tasherre D’Enajetic, one of the acts taking the stage at Tailgators in Dearborn Heights. “It’s not the crap you hear on the radio. I try to make stuff that people can actually relate to.”
The Detroit-born 33-year-old says he’s been rapping since he was 8 years old and makes what he calls “true school hip-hop.”
Other artists brought on by Boombox Entertainment include Ajax, Old Dave, Da Bash Brotherz, RTKUL8, DJ Gruv on the 1s and 2s and Rising Sunz.
“It’s a lot of up-and-coming metro Detroit artists,” says Robert Dunn, aka Robb, of Boombox Entertainment. “This is our first time trying Tailgators. We heard some good things about the place and wanted to try it out. If it goes well, it’ll be an annual event.”
D’Enajetic says events like this mean a lot because “there’s plenty of cats here that are doing really good music, but it gets drowned out” by both the really bad acts and the really successful artists like Guilty Simpson and Eminem.
“I’m a real fan and supporter of Michigan hip-hop, and this is definitely an event to see some real good Michigan hip-hop,” D’Enajetic says.
9:30 p.m. Friday, Tailgators, 25380 Van Born, Dearborn Heights. 313-299-7767. $6. 21 and older.
So long Shaun: Shaun Rogers has left the Detroit Lions for the Cleveland Browns, but the 6-foot-4 defensive tackle is going out with style Friday with a farewell party at the Rhino.
“The event is going to be really classy,” says TaNesha Ahmed of promotions group Ladny Angels. “It’s a black carpet event. We have two really hot DJs spinning that night, go-go dancers, a massage therapist, a sushi girl and a tattoo artist.”
DJs Blaze and Mark will keep the sounds coming. Expected guests include Tatum Bell, Travis Fisher and Devale Ellis of the Lions and Clifton Ryan of the St. Louis Rams.
“Shaun visits the Rhino from time to time,” Ahmed says. “He’s very excited about this event. He is very thankful for his time in Detroit, and he’s celebrating with his family, friends and fans at his farewell party.”
Wayne, a tattoo artist from Detroit’s Body Candy Tattoo Studio who has worked on some of the Lions, the Detroit Shock and the Pistons as well as several Detroit rappers, will be slinging ink. Ladies get in free before 10 p.m.
9 p.m. Friday, the Rhino, 1407 Randolph St., Detroit. 313-963-6244. $20.
Beats at Bleu: Tribal, techno, house, electronica and progressive — or, simply put, party music. With Yos and Dabura opening Saturday at Bleu for Matthew Dekay, the beats are sure to keep you pulsating from dusk to dawn.
“My sound is all about groove,” says Dekay, who lives in Amsterdam, which is known for its classical music and opera. The 30-year-old, who began playing piano when he was old enough to tie his own shoes, later broke free of the traditional music mold and began exploring the world of beats.
“Don’t expect to hear defected vocal house, but deeper kind of sounds,” Dekay says. “I’ve been inspired by the early ’90s house music that was about to explode in Amsterdam. I like to keep the dance floor (energized).”
Sip $3 wells and domestics while you enjoy Dekay’s sounds, which can likely be found in the bags of Deep Dish, Danny Tenaglia, John Digweed, Sasha, Danny Howells, Tiesto, Armin van Buuren and Carl Cox.
“If people are up for a good night of grooves combined with some magical anthem moments, they should come and dance with me,” Dekay says. “I always try to connect with the crowd, and my vision is creating the vibe of a night together.”
10 p.m. Saturday, Bleu, 1540 Woodward, Detroit. 313-222-1900. $5. 18 and older.

If you’d like to get some real insight about the Detroit hip hop scene, you better trust Omar’s judgment!
Check out his highly interesting blog.

As Summer holidays are approaching, I’d like to share some original and interesting walks through the French Capital with you. You might be keen on choosing Paris as your touristic destination.
I’ve always loved Paris. When I get the chance to travel there, I have a few areas of preference (not everybody might agree with my choice, but well…)
I once had a quite stressful day in Paris and really needed to break from any negative thought…so I followed my intuition, took the Metro and descended at Sentier.
Sentier is located in the 2nd area of Paris. It is an interesting luxury shopping area. However, the most interesting oasis of peace I found here is a hidden street, that resembles quite a little paradise. It is called rue Montorgueil. There you will find beautiful fruit and vegetables, many traditional bakers, cheese, fish, all excellent quality produce.

I could also mention a wide range of Cafes, but my favorite of all is certainly Planet Sushi, a very modern Japanese styled Cafe, with a soul-jazz musical atmosphere and very friendly waiters/ waitresses.

Rue Montorgueil is truly a haven of peace and if you’re lucky, you might find some musicians playing the guitar or saxophone in the middle of the street.
Although some people might priviledge some more comfortable Parisian areas, I’m also very fond of the popular ones like Barbes. (18th area)
“Besbar” like many of its inhabitants affectionate to call it, is a very interesting shopping area, if you’re looking for cheap mobi phones or cheap clothes. There you will also find the notorious Tati shop.
But what I like most is the mixity of population. Another interesting area, very close to Barbes is Chateau Rouge (18th area). Chateau Rouge is a black ghetto in the middle of the Capital. In this very lively and animated area, you will find loads of African products and an African market too.
If you like long boulevard walks, you definitely gotta visit Montparnasse (14th area). This very pleasant area also has some nice parks that are worth your visit.
I could mention a lot of other places, but the ones I mentioned above are definitely my favorites. Check them out when you get the chance!
Copyright by Isabelle Esling
All Rights Reserved

Read the original article here.
Groovevolt.com has learned exclusively that Eminem’s Shady clothing line will likely soon be a thing of the past. After a series of financial and creative ups and downs, and a prolonged sales slump, the Shady clothing line may soon be closing its doors.
Recent firings of key brand executives have done nothing to squelch the rumors that the brand will soon be a memory. Groovevolt’s sources, who asked to remain unnamed due to their proximity to the situation, say that the remaining honchos in the company are staging early-level talks to throw in the towel on the brand.
The Shady camp has refused to comment despite repeated requests, but industry insiders told Groovevolt.com that this talk is unsurprising, since there has been an attempt to phase out the brand for some time. “The company has been in talks with many investors but no one seems interested, including Eminem,” a source said.
The line, which was launched in 2003 by Nesi Fashion Brands – the same firm that created Rocawear – has had numerous problems over the past two years. A 2007 joint venture with Jay-Z and Rocawear (produced by Iconix Brand) did not meet expectations, and, as a result, the Shady brand made an unsuccessful transition from high-end retailers like Macy’s to lower-end concerns like Burlington Coat Factory and Kohls.
According to the same insiders, all attempts to bring the brand back to its “perceived” former glory have been unsuccessful and the brand is now in the process of shutting its doors. “This just adds to the list of successful musicians with unsuccessful clothing lines,” an industry insider said.
Groovevolt will update this story as more information becomes available.
–Ambre Nicholson, Contributing Editor

It was about time witty people like Saul Williams raised their voices to combat a commercial, capitalistic hip hop that is only motivated by the greed of money.
Like the brilliant emcee dared to point it out, while many others would have remained silent on the subject, because of their own commercial interest, hip hop’s state of mind is first and foremost a rebellious state of mind.
Should we remind folks that hip hop was born to support black people’s fight against racial discrimination in the late 60’s, mainly because the US government’s mad housing policy had left loads of people homeless? In its essence, hip hop has never ever been advocating capitalism.
It has never praised big cars, nor did it take pride in dumb artist gold diggers with zero knowledge of what this musical genre is all about.
The truth is that the hip hop industry is run by a bunch of corrupt clowns whose one and only goal is to make “big chips”. Some of them would even walk on the dead for the same purpose.
When Nas claimed that hip hop was dead, he reached a certain amount of disapprobation from commercial hip hop listeners, who didn’t mind to tell the rapping genius to “get lost”, implying that he did is time and was too old to understand the current age of hip hop.
The music industry is corrupt, many artists in the business are all rotten.
A bunch of suburban morons are trying to imitate a culture they have no idea about. A bunch of spoilt suburban girls are supporting commercial labels, thinking they are “hip hop” just because they dress hip hop and listen to some commercial driven (c)rap.
Violence is breaking out everywhere. Not so long ago a rapping battle in Detroit turned into a bloody crime area. People are blaming it on hip hop culture, as usual.
Each time the word hip hop is mentioned, loads of misundertandings occur.
So who is going to save hip hop culture?
Only the pure, the brave-hearted, the dedicated underground emcees, those who don’t deny hip hop’s African roots.
Take it how you wanna, but those words are inked from a hip hop dedicated rebel’s pen!
Copyright by Isabelle Esling
All Rights Reserved

I am dead serious. If you’re a commercial hip hop driven listener, please skip this.
Saul Williams made some insightful comments about the current state of hip hop. Listen to what the brilliant emcee and poet has to say.
Feel free to comment, but ALWAYS in a respectful way. You are entitled to your opinion, but please remember than any insulting comment towards the artist or myself will be promptly removed.
Thank you.
Isabelle

I once made a quite complete Eminem family tree from both sides, that totally recalled the artist’s Scottish roots…but this is the most accurate info I ever found.
Credit to William Addams Reitwiesner for his precise and complete work:)
Have a look. Feel free to comment.
N.B: any obsessive comment will be promptly removed…this is in NO WAy an invitation to stalk the artist nor any of his family members!

Our contemporary world seems to be lost into a desperate quest for happiness. Yet it seems the more desperate we are to pursue and catch a glimpse of happiness, the more it is actually vanishing from our all day reality.
French poet Paul Fort seems to summarize it very well in his short poem entitled Le Bonheur (Happiness) in which it clearly appears that the more you run after it, the more likely it is to escape.
Many people confuse material wealth, a concept of comfort, stardom, glory, glitter, admiration from other people with happiness.
Let me tell you: if you are seaking happiness within material possessions, you are very likely to be disappointed for good. Aren’t spoilt kids the unhappiest human beings on earth? In appearance, they have nothing to complain about, but the truth is, that the more you have, the more you will want.
Jesus, in his simplicity, told people that there are more blessings into the act of giving than to receive. Which is actually true: there is no such pleasure for somebody to please others around you. A glance of joy in somebody’s eye can illuminate our whole day.
Western countries are often being told that they are happier than Third World Countries. Don’t be so sure of it. Without denying great difficulties and the misery developing countries are often facing, I’ve seen more smiles from African folks on live TV reports and on magazines then the ones I actually acknowledge from passants in the streets of the cloudy City of London, for instance.
Happiness has nothing to do with our wealth, nor is it linked with external cicumstances. Happiness is a state of mind.
I am not telling you that it is easy to be happy, nor am I trying to say that you can be permanently happy. But you can merely try to be content with what you have.
Stop contemplating the half empty glass is a great step forward.
My own secret of “happiness” relies in the very simple pleasures life has to offer, like sitting at a Café’s terrace after a hard day’s work. I then like to watch the sun going down while smelling the taste of a good quality Columbian coffee.
Writing is another of my secrets of “happiness”. Writing in itself makes me feel unique. The feeling of freedom that overwhelms me then is close to the concept of happiness. Also, there is no such pleasure than helping and pleasing readers through my articles. When I manage to do it, I feel accomplished.
The very truth is that there is no recipe for happiness. There will always be rainy days followed by the shiny ones. All we can do is trying to get close to the concept by a positive attitude towards life.
Don’t look for happiness. Simply live your life to the fullest…do what you can and try to be happy!
Copyright by Isabelle Esling
All Rights Reserved