HHK Tomorrow!

It's a weekend night. You know the drill.

Hip Hop Karaoke
Your Chance to Rhyme

Friday, June 1
Sign-up at 10; Show at 11

Knitting Factory
74 Leonard St. between Church St. and Broadway
New York City

Free to come in. Free to sign up.

In addition to our regular monthly, Hip Hop Karaoke has proudly teamed up with Rare Form and Brooklyn Bodega to bring you the official Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival After-Party at Southpaw on Saturday, June 23. Yep, hours of HHK plus music by the legendary DJ Spinna.

Check the flyer and spread the word here

For more on the festival, check out: http://www.brooklynbodega.com

trust tree.

i'll be honest. work & vacation has been kickin my ass lately.

no time for anything.

luckily, a good friend of ours (and loyal hhk'er), van, has stepped up and been so nice as to help me out with todays wex wednesdays. what's that, van? i'm talking too much? ok, fine, go ahead then....

What's crack-a-lackin'? It's Van the Man doing a fill-in spot for DJ Weezy on Wex's Wednesdays. I feel like I'm on stage with Run DMC getting to post on the HHK blog! Here's my topic, now let's see who will step up and list something.

So I'm walking home from work the other night, listening to my iPod and what should happen to pop up in the shuffle mix but "Rollin'" by Limp Bizkit. (Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about!) And that got me thinking, wouldn't that make a great Wex's Wednesdays topic, or a funny one at least? List some jams on your iPod that might be considered wack, cheesy, horrible, etc. by the general population, but ones you might kind of dig even though no one else does.

It's all right to admit to the guilty pleasures. We're all family here! Aside from the Limp Bizkit joint, here's a couple of mine:

1) "Automatic" by the Pointer Sisters: This is the ultimate '80s non-rap, breakdancing-friendly track to me. It takes me back to Sunshine skating rink in Mobile with my crew, the Floormasters. Ahhh, memories!

2) "That's That Shit", Snoop and R. Kelly: I usually hate rap/R&B collabos, but this is definitely my favorite.

3) "Funky Beat", Whodini: My dream is to do this song at HHK!

Who will take the challenge?

Weekend At Diggedy's - Volume 16

I know I know I know..

Nothing on Friday.. I was out of the country.. My apologies..

I come back and can't even find the Yankees in the standings.. WTF? Actually, I was able to catch some of the games against the Red Sox in the Bahamas on ESPN... I managed to eat dinner at the one bar that had a die hard native Bahamian Red Sox fan working my table.. Dude was relentless.. There is no escape when you're a Yanks fan...

Well, it's Sunday, and it's still the weekend, so I'm going to put this up anyway..

Without further adieu, here are the sunburned Memorial Day weekend tracks for this Sunday, May 27th :

Mos Def - "Very Well Rokness"
http://www.zshare.net/audio/204673911bc010/

Chances are you know more about this song than I do... I'm guessing based on the name drop that it's produced by 88 Keys, but wtf do I know... My favorite Mos song was always "Universal Magnetic" and this song is right up that smooth alley... I downloaded this off of Napster many moons ago... If you're a fan of Mos from before his boogie man days, you'll dig... I've given up on him making music like this anymore, but such is life...I'll just have to hold my breath and count off the days until Italian Job 2 drops... I actually had some fun with Mos at a Strokes show a few years ago... Right before the show, he was entering the row right behind me signing a couple of autographs.. I don't know what possessed me to do this, but I turned around and said "Hey aren't you from that group..." - this is where he expects me to say Blackstar, but come on now, this is Diggedy we're talking about.. "Aren't you from that group Urban Thermal Dynamics???".. Mind you, this is before it was just re-issued on CD.. UTD was his first rap group in the early 90's with his brother from Medina Green.. He wasn't paying me any mind 'til I said this, then he just stares at me and says "yes".. With a completely deadpan face, I followed up with "Have you done anything since?".. He had a look that describing in words won't do justice.. Half of him was stunned, and the other half was the face of a man about to go into an explanation of his albums, movies, etc. Before he could open his mouth, I started laughing, told him I was kidding, and turned around... I'm a herb.

De La Soul - "What Yo Life Can Truly Be"
http://www.zshare.net/audio/204687090e8a3b/

The "Saturdays" remix featuring the Native Tongue crew... Ahhh I miss roller skating at Laces.. I think I had about 3 parties there, and went to about 40.. I can't even begin to count how many of those fluoroscent green glow sticks I had piled up in my room.. Sigh.. The Native Tongues..De La, Tribe, J Beez, and Black Sheep.. Somebody should have warned us... It won't always be like this.. I read somewhere that there was a version of "Scenario" recorded with everyone, but they had to edit it to just LONS and Tribe... I'd give my future first born up for that mp3...

MOP - "Rugged Neva Smoove" (DJ Premier remix)
http://www.zshare.net/audio/2046902d437dd3/

God I love this song.. I haven't listened to this in a hot minute.. Just putting it on right now I want to go to a bar, find some dudes walking around with their collars up, and just punch them til the intials on my pinky ring are engraved on their forehead.. I'm not even a violent person.. But that's what this track brings out of me.. For a couple of years, the only version I had of this was the clean one that I dubbed off of Stretch & Bob.. I didn't realize it, though, and thought that the chorus was "M *scratching* O *scratching* P *scratching".. Finally I tracked down and heard the proper version with the "M fucking O fucking P".. The fact that MOP is not a household name is criminal...

Alright people.. Have a great Monday off.. Until Friday...

your guess is as good as mine.

is DIGGEDY still going to do his weekly "Weekend at Diggedys" blog posting from the Caribbean???







wex.

wheels.

*man, i always wanted one of these.*

for lots of reasons, really (like dj spinna, like wex wednesdays at angels & kings, like the movie juice, like the wonderful shine of technics 1200s, etc)... today wex wednesdays is going to talk about my favorite deejays of all-time.

i could talk about deejay's forever. on and on. to me, they're the one of the most important pieces of modern music history. when done right, a great live deejay can bring a crowds collective emotions full circle. and that's what it's really about anyway. music. it's about making you feel something.

i'll stop my trip there. just to save everybody from a conversation they'll probably have with me in person anyway.

even though they are numbered, these are in no particular order, i love all these guys. and if you ever see their name on a flyer, go pay the fifteen bucks or whatever to see them. you won't regret it.

1. MixMasterMike - he's the total package. scratchin, mixing, party rockin, show deejay, etc.
2. Afrika Bambaataa - i've heard crazy things about his crates.
3. Jazzy Jeff - amazing personality.
4. Biz Markie - yup, amazing collection of records. knows what's dope.
5. Peanut Butter Wolf - trades 45's with the above.
6. Babu - probably the best "show" deejay working today.
7. Cash Money - one of the founding fathers.
8. Grand Master Flash - pioneer.
9. Grand Wizard Theodore - brought the idea of scratching records to the mainstream.
10. Z-Trip - just plain fun to see live. he popularized the now bastardized art of the mash-up.

have a good day.

dj wex.

IT'S COMING

it's not wednesday, but...

... it will be on June 13th.

and on the 13th, we'll kick off the first annual wex wednesdays "hip hop how it used to be" deejay extravagenza.

basically, diggedy and i have been looking for a way to be able to go out, have some cheap beers, listen to the music we love, and not pay to get in. plus it creates an opportunity for us to chill with all of you, while not having to worry about being on-stage and doing the hhk show and all that.

so we hope you'll all be there - and of course will be reminding you of it.

teaser.

SATURDAY, JUNE 23, 2007
Brooklyn Bodega, Hip Hop Karaoke and Rare Form present the
OFFICIAL BROOKLYN HIP HOP FESTIVAL (W)RAP PARTY

Get your rhyme on and then dance your asses off...

Southpaw
125 5th Avenue
(btw Sterling Pl & St Johns Pl)
Park Slope, Brooklyn
www.spsounds.com

9pm - 10pm
Hip Hop Karaoke sign-up
(arrive early, limited spots!)

10pm - 12am
Hip Hop Karaoke LIVE on stage

12am - closing
DJ CONFIRMED! ANNOUNCEMENT NEXT WEEK!

www.brooklynbodega.com
www.hiphopkaraokenyc.com
www.rareformnyc.com

Weekend At Diggedy's Volume 15

Party people in the place to be...

It is I.. The D - I to the double G.

Hope everyone had a van glorious week.

Mets-Yankees this weekend. CHOOSE YOUR WEAPON AT THE GATE UPON ENTERING. My Yankees are 9 1/2 games out of first. AFTER this series at Shea, they come home to face Boston. If the Yankees get knocked out the box, and lose both series, Joe Torre will be fired by the All Star Game. Being double-digit games behind the Bo Sox is not good business for Georgie. And if the Mets are sitting pretty in first, buongiorno Joe. I don't agree with it. I think Cashman has put together the greatest line-up of individuals, and the shittiest "team" I have ever seen. I'm not a Cashman fan either. But that's another story for another W.A.D.

Alright people.. Diggedy's busy.. So today is a very, very, very special IPOD SHUFFLE edition of W.A.D. The first 3 songs that come up are what I post. Whether they be hot fire or hot ass.

First up... I believe that's ....................................

Keith Murray - "My Style Is Incredible"
DOWNLOAD HERE

Listen to the song for 15 seconds and tell me if you can't figure out who the producer is. If you still can't figure out, what are you doing on this site? If you still don't know after listening to the song, then you don't listen to lyrics. Anyway, the song is a banger. And it's new. Yes, I like a song made after the mid 90's. Go figure.

Maestro Fresh Wes feat Showbiz- "Fine Tune Da Mic"
DOWNLOAD HERE

WTF???? How did RDJ get into my IPOD???? Yes, I have Canadian Hip Hop in the iTunes. This track is a banger produced by and featuring Showbiz. TWO WORLDS COLLIDED. AND THEY WILL NEVER TEAR US APART!!!

Wow I am in a f*cking wild mood today. By the way, I'm wearing my Diggedy warm-up jacket as I type this. That's how into character I get with this blog.

Onyx - "Ah, And We Do It Like This"
DOWNLOAD HERE

Juvenile Hell is to Mobb Deep, what "Ah And We Do It Like This" is to Onyx. This is their original single from 1990. No Sticky Fingaz. Just Fredro, Sonee, and Big DS (R.I.P). The contrast is pretty wild, but it's a dope track.

Check it out.. Have a good weekend...

I will be out of the country all of next week, but will somehow someway try to get you your W.A.D. fix for May 25th.

And I'm out like a trout.

new stuff to check out...

Kanye's new jawn - Download Here (mp3)

KRS & Marley Marl join forces - "I Was There" - Download Here (mp3) Watch Video HERE

Raekwon coming off the top over the the classic ESG "UFO" break - Download Here (mp3)

Pharaohe's new video - watch HERE

chachachacheckitout.

deeeeeeeeejaywex.

PS- ya'll know that Ghostface Killah & more are playing for FREE at this year's Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival, right? and you know that we're doing the afterparty at Southpaw, right?

the intanets.

today, wex wednesday's is going a little light-hearted. and nerdy. light hearted and nerdy.

basically, something to make you stankin fools smile.

the intanets.

1. bored at work.
2. down in the dumps and need a laugh.

those are two of the main reasons the intanets exist (at a 9-5, anyway).

a third reason is to look at pictures of cats (or other pets) with funny intanet-like captions. today, wex wednesday's gives you, http://icanhascheezburger.com

here, you'll find things like...





















































































PS - this is definitely inspired by teh decision for me and my girl to get a cat. i want a dog. but a cat it is. so i'm getting on-board. on-bored.

look at yourself.

the photos from thursday are up. big ups to mc ricky p for taking such incredible shots. this is our biggest gallery we've ever posted (75 shots) - so they MUST be dope. if you see anything that you want a real copy of, check the new link at the bottom of the gallery, as rick has the photo prints up for sale.

so, a little story: i was looking thru the photos for the first time this morning... and i come across this one particular photo... that i thought was possibly the greatest thing i had ever seen:


BUT THEN.... the next one in the series blew my mind EVEN FURTHER!!! WHICH I DIDN'T THINK WAS EVEN HUMANLY POSSIBLE:


dj "wow, thank you, good night, that is all" wex.

PS - i also love these two. you guys are hilarious, seriously.

Weekend at Diggedy's - Volume 14

Welcome to the "I feel like I've been hit by a truck" edition of Weekend at Diggedy's.

Last night was bonkers.

Remember in Dead Poets Society when Robin Williams leaves the school, and everyone is crying and standing on their desk saying "Oh captain my captain"? This was the exact opposite.

Too many highlights to name. I saw some of Rick's pics on his camera and they were crazy.

I mean. Dude dressed up like Humpty. Head to toe.

What more can I say?

Without further adieu, here are the choice cuts for this splitting headache Friday, May 11th :

Fab 5 - "Blah"
Download Here

Love this song. I remember seeing the video on Video Music Box, laughing my ass off every time Ruck ran into the back of the van (http://youtube.com/watch?v=7QA0lOwbTiI 53 second mark). To my knowledge, the Fab 5 basically dropped 3 tracks as a group. "Leflaur Leflauh", I think there was a sequel to that, and "Blah". Each song was crazy. I was more of a Heltah Skeltah fan than an OGC fan (Starang Wonder is nasty though), but together, everyone bounced off each other well. There were rumors way back then that they'd be putting out an album together. I think it was mentioned on www.thekrib.com. Anyone remember that site? Had all these Hip Hop release dates that I would check religiously until I realized that none of these albums came to fruition. SEPTEMBER 14 - KANE & RAKIM - THE MC (DEF JAM) W/SPECIAL GUESTS KOOL G RAP, KRS 1, AND LL COOL J. I don't even know what I'm talking about at this point. Where the f*ck was I? Oh yeah. "Blah". You'll like it. Download it.

Grap Luva - "Every Man 4 Himself"
Download Here

This is basically the perfect song to slowly bring you out of a hangover. So silky smooth. Grap is Pete Rock's little brother, and Pete tickles the ivories lovely on the sample. I've got no stories for this one. How do you like them apples? No need for background either. You click on the link, download it, and decide whether it makes its way into your ipod. It should. Unless you hate rap music. Shame on you.

Diamond feat Cru- "The Hiatus" (remix)
Download Here

Lalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.

Have a good weekend people.

Hip Hop Karaoke Tonight!

In case you haven't seen the main page, Hip Hop Karaoke is going down tonight in New York City at the Knitting Factory. (74 Leonard St. between Church St. and Broadway; Subway: 1,9 to Chambers St.) Free to enter; free to sign-up. Sign-up is first-come, first-serve so get there early to ensure a spot on stage.
See ya there.

sign-up/doors @ 9pm
show @ 10pm
Diggedy & Wex asking for Heineken's @ 11:30pm

they reminisce.

today we're going to take a stroll down memory lane (no nas).

wex wednesday's is going to look at some of my favorite HHK moments thus far.

were you in attendance for any of these?

1. Tara performing Brooklyn Zoo. this was back at the old spot (Rothko). there was definitely something magical about those red walls. this was right when HHK started to catch on and we started seeing capacity crowds. and it feels like Tara hit the stage right at that moment. carrying only a mic and a backpack, she bumrushed the crowd spewing the Dirty classic like it was her last moment on Earth. goosebumps.
2. Me & Tanya performing I Got A Man. honestly, i never really even liked that song. i MAY have had the cassingle. but that doesn't mean i liked it. or does it? but when she approached me to do that song with her, it felt like it could be a lot of fun to do. and i was right. to those of you that dont know, i'm TERRIBLE at memorizing lyrics. it's just one of those things. it takes me listening to a song 900 million times. so yes, i listened to "i got a man" 900 million times. there i said it.
3. Me & Diggedy doing the "but some reason they're not picked" show intro in March 2006. as you can see, my favorite HHK moments just involve me. ha. that intro was real fun though. and i liked that we got creative and tried to pull together songs nobody ever did. has anyone done any of those still??
4. Gerber doing Big Pimpin. i mentioned him on my other reminisce post "where are they now?". but if you were one of the lucky few on-hand for that... well, you know you saw something special. dude was just out of control. had the girls grindin him, was garblin the words, and just didnt give a fuck (no shady). he was the one example of a really bad performance being really good (no run dmc).
5. Big Daddy Kane performing Big Daddy Kane. watch the video of it again. the footage of Diggedy flalling around like a maniac says it all. to have our hero on stage with us was second to none. the other special guest moments are all up there too... but that was the pinnacle to me. unless we got the entire wu-tang clan up there to do triumph... not much is beating Kane.
6. for the last ones, i'm just going to let the pictures to do the talking:

this is one of my fav HHK photos. was deephunk on some bob barket shit or what? i also spy a very young robert downey, jr.















was this the first dude to do the bushwick impression?? if so, kudos to you good sir.













robert downey doing woo-hoo for the first time. absolutely classic. look at him, he's crazed.

there's more... especially recently. the superfriendz scenario is top 10.

dj wex.

Weekend At Diggedy's - Volume 13

Friday the 13th, I'ma play Diggedy..........

Well it's not actually Friday the 13th. But it is Friday, and it is the 13th installment of Weekend At Diggedy's.

Break out your mouse pads people!

Cause DJ Album Cuts is about to take you on a hip hop ride (copyright Da Youngsta's).

Xzibit featuring Mobb Deep - "Eyes May Shine" (remix)
http://www.zshare.net/audio/05-xzibit-eyes_may_shine_remix_feat_mobb_deep-swb_int-mp3.html

Did you guys know that the guy who hosts Pimp My Ride used to rap??? Yep, it's true. Not only that, he used to be GOOD. Xzibit's first album has always been certifiably DOPE to me. Freshness to the highest power, infinite degree, and "all of that shit." A lot of people liked his second album, but I found it highly forgettable save for a couple of tracks. After that, that was all she wrote for me. But I'll always have At The Speed Of Life. This is a nice little Queens meets west remix off of that album. Very, very dope.

House Of Pain featuring Diamond D - "Word Is Bond" (remix)
http://www.zshare.net/audio/house-of-pain-diamond-d-word-is-bond-remix-mp3.html

I never really was a House Of Pain "fan" per se, but they always managed to have a few joints where I had to say "alright.. Everlast really isn't that dope, but this track is banging". I didn't really think that the original "Word Is Bond" could be topped off Same As It Ever Was. The singing sample in the background on that joint was unreal. You know what? F*ck it. SPECIAL WEEKEND AT DIGGEDY'S BONUS CUT. HERE IS THE ORIGINAL. THESE PRICES ARE INSANE!
http://www.zshare.net/audio/house-of-pain-word-is-bond-2-mp3.html
Anyway, I heard the remix, and Diamond done did it again. Very dope track. I never knew if my friends were f*cking with me or not, but they said that Bobbito would play both versions and cut out Everlast's verses. True or not, it made me laugh. Anyway, DOWNLOAD IT! Or should I say, THEM!

Black Sheep - "On The Wall"
http://www.zshare.net/audio/09-black_sheep-on_the_wall-cms-mp3.html

One of my favorite Black Sheep tracks ever. This was off the Trespass soundtrack. Pretty straight forward. Dres being Dres, Lawnge being Lawnge. Let the fun begin! Love when the hook comes in. Just want to start punching people. COME ON! GET UP! Trespass had a pretty decent soundtrack. Couple of dope tracks from Lord Finesse and Gangstarr. Oh man, "Gotta Get Over" was my SHIT when it dropped. My home skillet Drew Boogie and I would walk around with a boom box playing that 24/7. That was our "walking music." Ahhh, the good ol' days.

Alright people.

Diggedy signing off.

Have a good weekend.

bad words.

today, wex wednesday's presents some bad rhymes. more specifically, lyrical faux pas. shit that just doesn't make sense. feel free to add on...

1. Greg Nice on "Funky For You" - "Ay yo, Dizzy Gillespie plays the sax". quite possibly the most famous one of all-time.
2. Lil' Fame on "Half and Half" - "First family will gradually lift that ass up like gravity".
3. Foxy Brown on "Affirmitive Action" - "Thirty-two grams raw, chop it in half, get sixteen, double it times three/we got forty-eight, which mean a whole lot of cream/divide the profit by four, subtract it by eight, we back to sixteen...". hands down award winner for worst math ever on a song.
4. Common & Canibus on "Makin A Name for Ourselves" - "i'm your worst nightmare squared/that's times two for those who aren't mathematically aware". runner-up for worst math ever on a song.
5. Rev Run on "King of Rock" - "there's three of us, but we're not the Beatles".
6. Keith Murray on "Full Cooperation" - "I'm gonna get you sucker like Damon Wayans"

and i didn't even touch the spelling errors...

big ups to newmie for the suggestion on the topic...

deejaywex.