Weekend At Diggedy's - Volume 49

Goooooooooood morning.. Good afternoon.. Goodnight.. Don't let the bed bugs bite.

What's up people.

This is Diggedy, broadcasting live from Midtown.

I'm eating some Cool Ranch Doritos, and washing it down with a Dr.Brown's Black Cherry soda.

I wanted you to know that.

Ok, I wrote all of that at about 2pm. Now it's 7:35 and I'm still at work. My mood is considerably darker now. But I want to get this in before I head home for the weekend.

So bon bons and all that good stuff. Here are the choice cuts for this Friday, February 29th.

LEAP MAF*CKAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jigmastas - "Hip Hop"
http://www.zshare.net/audio/8281504db59ab6/

This is your prototypical late 90's Stretch and Bobbito track. This song led off one of my classic pause tapes like Rickey Henderson in the 80's, and it's actually been a WHILE since I've listened to it. Was cleaning up my mp3's and saw I had it, and wanted to share it with you. Love me the DJ Spinna production on this. If you have it already, god bless. If you don't , DOWNLOAD IT!

Jamal - "Fades em All" (Pete Rock remix)
http://www.zshare.net/audio/8285619a5028e9/

You all remember Illegal. Peep a FRESH remix of one of his solo cuts. This track got played on underground radio pretty much 4x an hour when it dropped. Download it!

Scales Empire - "Bright Lights, Big City"
http://www.zshare.net/audio/8285722847c685/


Come on people. Try something new with me. I download HELLA sh*t when I see it posted all over the internet. And sometimes, I don't even remember I have it. And when I'm cleaning up my comp months, or even years later, I unearth something I never heard that I dig. I just played this track for the first time, and really dig it. Don't know anything more about it. Ain't that what music is all about?

PS - I think he's Canadian. Prepare for RDJ to put together a thesis.

Download it!

And have a good weekend people.

thought bubble, please.

deephunk. what's he got on his mind in this moment? if you could put a thought bubble over his head... what would it say?

"how the hell did i NOT get VIP for this shit?!"

carry on.

wex.

Biggie Tribute Night - March 8

coming up on Saturday, March 8th is the 2nd annual Biggie Tribute night at Hip Hop Karaoke.

here's the deal:

we ENCOURAGE everybody to chose a Biggie song to perform. and to further encourage this, we are giving away a FREE DRINK to everyone that performs a Biggie track. (of course, you are free to perform anything else on our list too, but you won't be getting any free booze or tributing one of the best rappers of all time)

and...

at the end of the night, the best/most memorable/illest/OMG YES! performance of a Biggie song will get a Biggie Gift Pack, put together by the HHK team.

(if you're not around until the end of the night, we'll also announce the winner on the blog the following Monday)

note: we're adding "Who Shot Ya" and "Party & Bullshit" to the song list this week. those two songs are now in the mix.

holler with any questions...

wex.

slow news day

i like taking pictures on my phone when i'm out commuting somewhere. not just of ads, but of people (watch out now!), graf, etc.

and it might just turn into a regularly occuring post on this blog. shout out to charlie for giving me the inspiration.

today, it's this:

Weekend At Diggedy's - Volume 48

GeorgeWB is banned from the blog!

Kidding Chuck. We love your posts. They warm the cockles of our heart with their sincerity.

What's up people.

I know.. My WAD keeps coming later and later in the day (HIYO!) Long after people have left work. I'm sure you have a computer at home to check over the weekend, but how can I be positive? My computer at home is down. I can't check anything. Not redmen.com. Not egotastic.com. Not 48hoursgreatestduoever.com. Maybe you share my problem. Maybe your Commodore 64 is broken too!

So I get in the late post today, and then on Sunday, The Other Guy will post a youtube video of Paula Poundstone impersonating Andrew Dice Clay, and Weekend At Diggedy's will be forgotten news.

But the die hards out there. They'll scroll down.

This is for you.

The choice cuts for this Friday, February 22nd :

Pete Rock feat Lords of the Underground - "The Best Secret"
http://www.zshare.net/audio/797782940d9bc8/

This one is weird. When I saw this song existed - off of Pete's upcoming album NY's Finest - I got excited. Love Pete Rock, love the Lords. I listened to it once, and was like "eh". But the "repeat" option was clicked on the WinAmp5000 Supreme. So the second run through I was saying "you know, it's not that bad". Now, I've played it like 20 times. It's fresh. Glad to see these two link up again. I'm pretty sure I posted the "Flow On" remix many WAD's ago. You know the drill. Download it!

Blu and Exile - "My World Is..."
http://www.zshare.net/audio/7978518d6f1069/

Crazy, crazy, CRAZY shout out to the homie Dee Phunk for putting me on to this cat. The album - Below The Heavens - is bananas. I can't remember the last time I said that. And if you really know me, you know I haven't touted some new sh*t in HELLA long. So get your f*cking mouse out, click on the link, turn the speakers up, and take it home with you for the low, low, price of free. There's more where it came from. This is the type of sh*t that's so potent it gets the Spears kids pregnant. Do it. DOWNLOAD IT!

Natural Resource - "Negro League Baseball"
http://www.zshare.net/audio/7978851958b9d3/

This is Jean Grae's first group, when she called herself "What?What?". Very fresh track. They had a few of them. Much like the other Natural's - Elements - they kind of just disappeared without much fanfare. If someone has the "Dynamic(rmx)", please post that sh*t in the comments. That track was bonkers, and I only have it on cassette. Natural Re kills that one.

Alright kids.

Diggedy's out.

Have a good weekend.

thoughts?

i can't be the only person that feels that you can't ride the subway these days without being bombarded with this ad:

and i don't know why, but even though i find them to be pretty annoying, i can't help but always stare at the ad. maybe it's the money (who doesn't like money?). or maybe i'm trying to figure out why those dudes are doing the "home alone" faces (or is it the whole speak no evil, hear no evil thing?). regardless, i'm thinking about dumping everything i own into buying some hhk ads to replace them. maybe just do the same ad but with me and diggedy.

i promise, i haven't been drinking.

have a nice night.

wex.

Weekend at Diggedy's - Volume 47

Yeah, I'm late today.. But as long as I get it in under the gun, it still counts as a Weekend At Diggedy's.

Right?

Right.

What's up people. You have off on Monday? Good. You smell a "Small Wonder" marathon? Yep. What up Vicki. Watch out for Harriet. Girl is crazy.

You have a good Valentine's Day? I surprised Miss Diggedy by taking her to Eddie Izzard. Yeah that's right. I'm down with British comedians. Check me out at the WaMu, watching Ricky Gervais in July. DIGGEDY! (that last sentence should be read like a Rza line)

And with that, the choice cuts for this Friday, February 15th.

Ras Kass - "Soul On Ice" (Diamond D remix)
http://www.zshare.net/audio/764285657268c2/

Do you own the album Soul On Ice? If you don't, you should. It's very fresh. I still bump it on cassette. Everyone always says that Ras Kass is a great lyricist who has never gotten the right production. I'm not going to disagree with that, but I thought the production on this album was a lot better than people give it credit for. Anyway, this track actually was NOT on the album. The great remixes never are. It's fresh. It's Diamond. And afterparty's are kept swirving. What are you waiting for??? DOWNLOAD IT!

All Natural - "Hip Hop Is Back"
http://www.zshare.net/audio/76448647f6d1f7/

This is just dope. No story. Just download it.

Cunninlynguists feat Masta Ace - "Seasons (remix)"
http://www.zshare.net/audio/7647732ba63d6c/

Love this remix. I rarely use this word, but it's appropriate here. The song is "beautiful." Wex got me into Cunnin a few years ago. I dig em. You need to check 'em out too. So when you put a crew I like together with Masta Ace? Forget about it. It's a Diggedy wrap with mozarella. Throw on some oil and vinegar and download it!

Short, and sweet.

Just like Rachel Bilson.

Have a good weekend peoples.

what it's all about.

check out a really great blog entry about HHK here:

http://humankindmedia.typepad.com/my_weblog/peace-hip-hop-fans.html

from my point of view, it's really nice to come to work this morning and get to read something like that to start the day. and really nice to see someone really "get" why we do this HHK thing and get what's it really about.

props to liz.

really.

wex.

Guest Blogger: Kev

I was recently doing some organizing of my itunes, trying to keep my ipod from playing the skits from De La's 3 Feet High when it's shuffling and I got caught up listening to them as well as the ones Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde, and many others. So with that, today's Kev's Wednesday is dedicated to comedies, parodies and skits on albums...so what are your favorite comical songs or skits. Here are some of mine as they come to me.

1. Bitties in the BK Lounge, De La Soul is Dead
"Speaking of fat, would you like a diet soda?/Cause less fat on you would spare us all the odor"

2. Madd Rapper Interlude, Harlem World
"What you mean they be doing they thing? ...Milli Vanilli did they thing, New Kids on the Block, RuPaul, everybody did they thing, but you ain't give em any tracks!!! How you gonna give em my tracks?!"

3. Cheatin', Minstrel Show
Phonte's impression of R. Kelly/Ron Isley can not be any better. "You was cheatin', caught you creepin'/To the window, to the wall, skeet-skeetin'"

4. Oh Sh*t, Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde
"I got a funny feeling like something was real wrong/Looked at her shoes and her feets was real long/Then it hit me oh please God no..."

5. L.A.S.M., A Wolf In Sheep's Clothing
"Ho is short for honey..."

- Kev

Luchini.

there will be more of these to come (distorted bass and all!)... but here's a look at Doni D performing "Luchini" at the HHK Championship:

Good Times

Thanks to Deephunk and Rare Form for a tremendous night Friday....

Some HHK folk were in the building.

Shout out to Kev with just a couple of the flicks..

To quote Kev, "D & D"



An additional D & D..



Group photo.. Is that the top half of The Other Guy's face??? Who is Chef winking at?? What is Doni dreaming about??? Who drew on Kev's face????



Late appearance.. You can't tell it, but he was really hype...



I'm sure he'll change his pose and smile for the group photo, right?



Oh well.

As long as he's smiling on the inside.

Great night for a great cause.

Weekend at Diggedy's - Volume 46

It's been forever since you've gotten a WAD.

The wait is over ladies and gentlemen.

What are you doing tonight? Really? I didn't even know Family Matters was still on the air. It's not? You have it on DVD? Oh. Are you really going to watch that all night? What? No, I don't remember Step By Step. Coadie? Wait, isn't he the dude who lived in the backyard? Didn't he get arrested for hitting his wife? Well, I'm glad to see you're recreating TGIF on ABC in your home.

If you're NOT doing that tonight, our boy - and one half of the seminal group 48 Hours - Dee Phunk (Rare Form) will be throwing a party celebrating the life of J Dilla aka Jay Dee.

Here's the info :

Rare Form presents : DONUTS ARE FOREVER 2
TONIGHT - Friday, February 8th, 2008 @ Southpaw 125 5th Avenue (btw Sterling & St. John's) Brooklyn, NY http://www.spsounds.com/ Doors open 10pm, 21+ w/ ID please $5 minimum donation (more is encouraged)

Your boy Diggedy will be in the building. Come through.

And on that note, on to the choice cuts for this Friday, February 8th.

Jaylib - "The Red"
http://www.zshare.net/audio/7319167963b9ab/

This might be my favorite Dilla beat. I feel like it needs to be used in a movie. I'm picturing two rivals. Let's call them Johnny and Tucker. Johnny gets home to his house and finds it's been completely ransacked, and his prized cd collection is missing. Oh, and Tucker kidnapped his girl too. Johnny's really pissed off about the CD's. The girl is just an afterthought. He hops in his ride to go track Tucker down. The foot hits the gas pedal, and "The Red" comes on. Think about it. And while you're thinking about it, DOWNLOAD IT!

Slum Village - "Raise It Up"
http://www.zshare.net/audio/7319641beae309/

Might be my favorite Slum Village track. I'll be the first one to say that I wasn't a monster, die hard SV or Jay Dee fan. I either loved a track (see "I Don't Know"), or was indifferent about it. Nothing wrong with that. There's a difference between something sucking, or something that's just not up your alley. But "Raise It Up" was funky fresh. So take your finger, raise it up, and click to DOWNLOAD IT!

Q Tip - "Wait Up"
http://www.zshare.net/audio/73199684849c46/

No, I was not a fan of Amplified. I'm sorry for that. Maybe I'll go home and throw out the cover that features a topless Q Tip in a mink so that's not the first thing I see the next time I pull the CD out. Then, one day in the future, I'll pick the CD up, and who knows? Maybe I'll find something that I wasn't ready for back in college. All that being said, "Wait Up" is a DOPE (yeah, that's right, I said "dope") track. DOWNLOAD IT!

Hopefully I'll see you tonight.

Have a great weekend.

Kid Capri: 1996: Hot 97

courtesy of DJ Soul... check it out:

http://djsoulnyc.blogspot.com/2008/02/more-kid-capri.html

tune up.

thanks to our friend and website designer Ev-Rock, the HHK blog has a bit more functionality to it now.

over on the right, you'll see that we have the entire blog archived by month. so you can do things like checking out the awkward first blog entries in 2005.

also, you'll see that you can click the title of each post, which brings up the post on it's very own page. handy.

and also, you'll see a new email icon below each post. which, I THINK, allows you to email a direct link to the post of your choice to whomever you'd like.

the HHK blog is steppin into the '04... watch out now.

wex.

Recap.

HHK Host and Hypeman, Diggedy, and I, DJ Wex, decided to give everybody a look into our heads on the night of big HHK Championship. i know, scary, right?

if you're interested, here's our recap:

Wex: 4 months. Jay, Digs, and I spent over 4 months working on the championship. Countless hours of work all put into one night. Needless to say, in the days leading up to the event, we were nervous. but when 9pm came around on Friday, January 25th, we were ready. More than ready. We were AMPED. I was so friggin' ready to finally stop TALKING about the Championship and actually SHOW everybody how amazing these 12 people were. So when doors opened, i hopped on the turntables like Josh would hop on a free pair of 50 yard line Super Bowl tickets. You didn't have to tell me twice.

Diggedy: It's true. I heart Giants Super Bowl tickets. I was in the dressing room when Wex dropped the first record. The first thought that came into my head was "Holy sh*t they opened doors." It was a sight to see backstage. In this small ass room the size of a closet you had 12 HHK vets, 4 trays of food, boxes of Guinness and Heinekens, Dres, Prince Paul, a drum, and the upper half of a dress mannequin. It had pretty much everything except forks and a bottle opener. The thing I remember most, is sitting in a chair next to Chef, and the SECOND Wex drops a record, we're spitting along to the track. It's 30 minutes 'til we're all about to get on stage in front of a packed house, and everyone is rapping along to the Juice Crew and breaking down their favorite Masta Ace album like they're in the cafeteria before homeroom. Hip Hop junkies with no hope for a cure, and the biggest fix of our lives just a moment away.

Wex: So about 10:30pm, the Highline Ballroom was full, and it was time to get it started. To properly start things off, I threw on a loop from that scene at the end of the movie "Juice" where Q was walking around looking for Bishop (Diggedy's idea). It was pretty fresh, if I do say so myself. The lights went dark on stage, that music was playing, and I gave Diggedy one last dap right before we walked on-stage to open the show with our intro. It came off really well, i think. Especially the moment where the crowd did the "Juicy" sing-a-long (again, Diggedy idea) - that was really amazing. From there, we introduced the judges one by one, they sat down, and we brought out Camille to start the show. "This is a public service announcement sponsored by...."

Diggedy: I had spent 3 months dreaming about the intro (I don't get out much). I always equate my feelings prior to taking the stage with a line from Evidence of Dilated Peoples : "I know my hunger's real I still get nauseous before my shows." I can't wait to experience what I'm about to do, yet at the same time, I can't wait for it to be over so that I can relax. Once I heard the bass for "I Got It Made", I morphed from Josh Dick to Josh Diggedy and before I knew it, I was saying "If you don't know, now you know." The crowd was beautiful. Once Camille came out, I exhaled, and for the first time in 3 years of hosting this event I actually got to be a fan. Just sit back, relax, and watch some of my favorite performers go to work. I mentioned this in a blog post, but I really thought everyone killed it in round 1. I'm sure everyone was paying attention to our dirty dozen, but if you looked carefully in the background, you saw me acting the fool in the background. It took all my will power to not jump in front of the stage and start, well, being a hype man. When the round was over, I actually had no idea who was advancing and who wasn't. I was yelling for Jay to bring me the list. Partially because I had nothing to say after 5 minutes (please tell me I didn't give a "real hip hop" speech. I did? F*ck), but mostly because I was dying to see who was advancing. Jay emerged, the 6 were announced, I got my diva on and had a wardrobe change, and then on to Round 2.

Wex: I always enjoy crafting an intro with Diggedy. He comes over my apartment, I play some loops on the trusty SP-505, he lights up over one, he writes 4 bars, we figure out the transitions, and BOOM, YOU HAVE A WORLD CLASS INTRO TO A HIP HOP KARAOKE SHOW. Back to the Championship. Round 2 was a highlight to me. Mostly because I felt that the nerves had left the building (for us AND for the 6 performers). That's when I was able to stop thinking about the logistics of the show, how many people were in the room, what the hell was my dad doing there (he surprised me and flew in from florida to be in the house), etc. That's also when I realized that being on a riser, although a great look, makes the turntable setup waaaaay too prone to vibration. Shout out to Axiom for knowing what internal mode is & for being cool when the 'Ante Up' beat got shook.

Diggedy: I don't want to get into breaking down any of the performances. I had so many highlights. However, I think there's no harm in saying what my personal favorite was for the evening. It took place in Round 2. When Doni D took the stage and dropped the immortal "I'm Greg Nice, and I am MC Smooth B, together we are Nice and Smooth...", and that bridged right into "Hey yo Dizzy Gillespie plays a sax", it was a wrap. It's not even about the impressions (even though Doni mimics Smooth like only Smooth can). There was something about that song, and that performance, at that time of the show, that I thought the roof was about to blow off the HighLine. Funky for you? Indeed.

Wex: Well, if Diggedy is allowed to site a personal highlight, then so am I! I really enjoyed the props, personally. K-Dot's walkie talkie was pretty damn fresh. So was everything that Ax did. And Elizabeth's shirts. And Doni's use of the mic stand. I'm a sucker for that stuff. All of it was truly entertaining. So yea, then came Round 3 with Scooter, Chef, and Doni. The show was just about over at this point, but I didn't want it to end. But at the same time, after working on something for 4 months, I was SO happy it was almost over. Long story short, Chef wins, I drop 'Roc Boys', and we have a great ending to a great night - including getting to fulfill the lifetime dream (of ALL of us, I'm sure) of performing 'Choice is Yours' with Dres. Shout out to Dres for being cool enough to do his classic song with a bunch fans! After that, the people cleared out, I packed up the DJ equipment, and hopped into a cab bound for Astoria with Newmie. Got home at 4:30am, slept a few hours, and prepared for the day of showin' my pops around New Yawk. Good times. Thank you to everybody who made it all possible.

Diggedy: I've watched the MSG NY clip, specifically the part where Wex drops "Roc Boys" and I go "and the winner is.... CHEF!" 1000 times. I just love the choice of music, the exact moment it dropped, and Chef's face. If you watched carefully, an impromptu HHK session broke out on stage as we all started singing Jay's first verse. Obviously having everyone up there for "Choice Is Yours" was classic. After the show ended, I went upstairs, had about 3 of those cold rice balls in the catering area, drank a water, sat down, and reflected. Shout out to Gusto for driving me back to my apt. J. New, Gusto and I sat around the Diggedy crib discussing the evening until almost 5am. I woke up the next afternoon, showered, and went to Medieval Times in New Jersey. Back to reality.

Before..



After..

URB.com Video Footage - HHK Championship

Enjoy.

HHK in Spin & Daily News!

The reviews continue to come in for the 1st Annual Hip Hop Karaoke Championship.

Spin was there.

As was the Daily News, who did this writeup and a cool video piece on the event. You can check it to the right of the article.