Ethnomusicology Meets King Tubby Inna Barnes&Nobles

Been working on a review of ethnomusicologist Michael Veal’s recently published book on dub (it’s called Dub [BUY!]), which I will share with y’all before too long; meantime, as I jot down some excerpts, I thought I’d share some of my favorite passages — insightful thoughts and neat narratives and such. To wit, a nice […]

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Beat Research – Oct 07

As usual, DJ Flack & i&i & special guests will be conducting some weekly Beat Research over at the Enormous Room. Here’s our schedule for the month of October — Oct 1 :: Brian Coleman For anyone interested in hip-hop history Brian Coleman needs no introduction, he is the author of Check the Technique: Liner […]

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Prodigal Guns and Hip-hop Cops

Mobb Deep’s Prodigy alleges he was set up by the “hip-hop cops.” Listen >>> … Pull quotes — The hip-hop cops, they all over us, son. … When they locked me up, they tried to get me to set up 50 Cent. … They told me to plant stuff in his car and they’d let […]

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Jumping Bean !

Boston will be bouncing tonight — & not just b/c the Sox have convincingly emerged from the 20th century “Curse of the Bambino” triumphant and dominant, but also b/c we’re gonna be gettin down at BR with two of Boston’s best DJs: virtuoso rekkid blenda, dj rndm, and Boston Bounce originator and Beat Research founder, […]

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Global Ghettotech vs. Indie Rock: The Contempo Cartography of Hip

“Hipster hedonism takes many forms,” wrote Ned Polsky in reply to Norman Mailer’s hipster manifesto of 1957. “Some hipster groups,” Polsky continued, “have everything to do with motorcycles, whereas others have nothing to do with them.” Similarly, but more in the abstract, in his genealogy of the hipster, “Hip and the Long Front of Color” […]

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Superficial Reflections

“To swing with the rhythms of another is to enrich oneself — the conception of the learning process as dug by Hip is that one cannot really learn until one contains within oneself the implicit rhythm of the subject or the person.” “(And yet crazy is also the self-protective irony of the hipster.” “the nihilism […]

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The War On Error

TSA dude: Yes it is! me: No, technically, it’s not. TSA dude: She deserved everything she got. me: I’d expect you to say that. … (t-shirt deets here)

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Maga Maga Maga! Bo Bo Bo!

It’s a Sooty month at Beat Research. Last week we had the pleasure of hosting Filastine, and tonight we’ve got the mighty Maga Bo! Readers of this here blog surely need no introduction to Mr.Bo. He’s been making waves for a while now with his world-whirling, genre-busting mixes — not to mention his excellent series, […]

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Simon Says: I’m a Hipster?

Dang. I think Simon just referred to my blog as “hipster chatter.” Them’s fightin words, Reynolds. I mean, I’m sayin, I only own one belt and maybe 3 pairs of sneakers, tops. For serious tho, I’m very curious to know what constitutes hipsterism — for Simon and for others — at this moment in time. […]

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Illadelph Dispatch: More w/r/t “Whiteness”

Been enjoying the ASA conference in Philly for the last few days. Our panel on Thursday went pretty well, I think. We actually seemed to have some coherence across our papers and although we had a rather compromised a/v situation (holding a Shure 58 to laptop speakers don’t really cut it in a ballroom), I […]

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Sonidos Aburridos Bastardos!

If I thought something was poppin in the state of Denmark, I have no idea que pasa en Argentina. The ol’ blogosphere radar has been registering lots of blips from that southmost outpost in South America. I mentioned the Frikstailers a little while back, for instance. And of course, there’s the whole cumbia rebajada movimiento, […]

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Filastine Shine

Tonight at Beat Research: none other than the globetrottin, no-stoppin, power-to-the-people’s-party-rockin radical, Filastine! Don’t sleep. Check the profile in last week’s Phoenix for more deets, if you don’t already know —

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iReggaeton?

Next week (Thursday, Oct 11, from 12:00pm – 1:45pm to be exact) I’ll be presenting at the annual meeting of the American Studies Association, being held this year in Philadelphia (at the Marriott, natch, which is offering a lovely “conference rate” of $200/night). I’m not so excited about the hotel deal, but I’m excited about […]

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Let No One Forget About the Hard Part

Thing about hip-hop, it’s laaaaarge. Too often the focus falls on the most ubiquitous figures, images, and myths. But hip-hop contains multitudes. Don’t let MTVH1 and Diet Fiddy colonize yr horizons, kids. I try to keep this in mind when someone who knows very little about hip-hop asks me my opinion of “it,” and it’s […]

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