Labor Day Special: End His Career!

The NYT published a long profile on Rick Rubin yesterday. It’s a innaresting piece and Rubin’s a helluva producer, executive producer, A&R man, and new-age exec — but he’s not gonna save the music industry. DJ Nate (via s/fj), on the other hand, provides a good glimpse at the new non music industry. On his […]

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I&I’m a African

Sorry for the silence here of late. It’s been crunchtime for fall semester, which I’m v excited about. What’s more, I thought I’d leave the “Diamonds from Sierra Leone” post up for a while in the hope of getting more feedback for me and Boima both. (Thanks to Lamin for sharing his thoughts & the […]

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Beat Research Bulletin #17422: Flack, Screw, Bounce

As per usual, I’ll be at the Enormous Room tonight pursuing a little low-end theory, aka Beat Research. My dear colleague, DJ Flack will not be there, however, as the good doctor is taking in some well-earned r&r on the heels of his trip to Australia — — indeed, a product of that there trip […]

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Outsourced Analysis #745639: Kwaito Resonance Reflex

On 8/2/07, Sonjah Stanley-Niaah, Dr wrote: And this one, check this out.. I am interested in your analysis of the dance and music… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKxhKhLhlb0 Sonjah Stanley Niaah, Ph.D. Lecturer, Cultural Studies University of the West Indies, Mona Campus Crossroads in Cultural Studies Conference 2008: www.crossroads2008.org Wadabagei: www.lexingtonbooks.com/Journals/wadabagei/Index.shtml To which I replied: This one’s (more) interesting […]

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Duppy or Funman

duppy art head nuh good certainly not when matched with twins of twins’ wckd funny loving acid caricatures (and this one above w/ a mad mad intro to boot ! ticket to my heart book) yellowman part priceless jawbone! heineken star time!! one word for wallace & gromit, california raisins — (via)

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No Te Veo, Pero Te Oigo

I’m rly enjoying (and learning from) all the reggaeton conversation happening here these days (e.g.). Thanks to all for contributing! And keeping it going… Toward further linkthink, here’s a quick analysis I put together in response to a question from Raquel (who’s got a great post up re: Mala Rodriguez and Calle 13), who thinks […]

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Poses, Panpipes, and Forbidden Dances

Thanks to Troels (who’s got some nice digi-reggae mixes up over here), who pointed out in a comment that the melody from Red Fox and Screechy Dan’s Drum Song-driven dancehall perennial, “Pose Off” — [audio:http://wayneandwax.com/wp/audio/PoseOff.mp3] — as heard as a background synthline in Wisin y Yandel’s “Pam Pam” (discussed by me here), can be connected […]

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Sgt. Sailor Moon Singin’ Sola on the Senny-Three

The other day I was taking the 73 from La Belle Mont to Harvard Square. When I got on, I couldn’t help noticing the chap flickrd above, what with his makeshift Sailor Moon police outfit, complete with blue fabric glued to shoulders and breast, metal plate thing on head, and badges to boot (not to […]

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“Jamaica Nice To Raatid!”

said my fren Marvy Marv as we cruised down a dark Kingston slope, post Port Royal escoveitch fishfry (what a welcome!), him commenting on a ‘Chinese’ couple who stunned onlookers recently by getting down onstage at Bembeh only to stun right again by showing up later that night at Asylum, in new outfits. I’m assuming […]

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Reggaeton’s Contempo Indexical Lexica

As I’ve argued before — and will be arguing next week in Mexico City — one can hear reggaeton’s embrace of tecno synths and “Latin” loops as an audible shift from (explicitly, sonically marking itself as) “música negra” to “reggaeton latino.” Such a change, I contend, corresponds to an attendant shift in the cultural politics […]

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It’s Time for the Blog U Later

Sorry for the silence. It’s that time of spring — all mango-con-chili in the park and classes to finish up and articles & anthologies to tie together and whatnot. More soon, tho, I promise. Meantime, for an early summer bubble fix, I meem you Cajmere‘s classic Chicago house, maximinimal, proto-juke joint, which was apparently a […]

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Follow Me Now: The Zigzagging Zunguzung Meme

The text below was written in spring 2007 and delivered at EMP and IASPM. Since its initial publication, I have learned of many additional instances of the “zunguzung” meme, often thanks to readers. I will continue to update the tally at the end of the post, and searching “zunguzung” on this site will lead to […]

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Wasp a Buss the Place

Gwaan Wasp!! w/ a nice video medley by Endless — a likkle background here >> & here are a couple tracks I recorded with Wasp and his bredrin Dami D back in ’03 — wayne&wax ft. Wasp & Dami D, “Highest Grade” [audio:http://www.wayneandwax.com/music/highest-grade.mp3] wayne&wax ft. Wasp & Dami D, “A It Dat” [audio:http://www.wayneandwax.com/music/a-it-dat.mp3] (fyi, that […]

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Mainly, To Amuse Itself

I know what you’re thinking — el fin de Delfin? No puede ser! But it’s been about a month and a half since the Chilean jokesters who made Delfin both a YouTubospheric laughingstock and legend — not to mention the undisputed king of tecno folklore — finally hung up their bloggy hats. As they write, […]

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Seeplist in Seattle

Off to Seattle tomorrow to participate in this. I’ll be following what I’ve been calling the “Zunguzung Meme” from Kingston to Brooklyn to San Juan and back (w/ several stops along the way). That ol’ Yellowman melody sure seeps into some interesting (and often seminal) performances, telling the intertwined stories of hip-hop and reggae (and […]

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El Arte de Blin-Blin Politricks

Pictured above is a shot of Filiberto Ojeda Uptowns / Machetero Air Force Ones by visual artist Miguel Luciano, as featured in a show opening this Sunday, April 15, at Bard College. I’ve been an admirer of Luciano’s arresting approach since Raquel Rivera (who brought this latest project to my attn) sent me a digital […]

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Houston So Surreal

best dj screw gif evar by 893 of course Mattsoreal posted a 5 part bizarre, comic, yet rather reverent&informed (&informative) documentary on Houston rap (c/o vbs.tv). It’s quite something. This’s Part 1 — audiyoga :: c/o w&w [audio:http://wayneandwax.com/music/ww-screw36-68.mp3] mo’ audiyoga :: c/o Christhecat (hear, esp, halfway thru) [audio:http://www.wordthecat.com/images/WordTheCat_April07.mp3] Incidentally/apropros! — if you’ve checked the “play” […]

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