An interview with “Dr. Dre, Mix Marathon Man“:
For Dre, a hit record starts with a hit sound, which sounds simple. But the search is what requires those long hours in the studio. The producer normally heads into the studio around 3 p.m. weekdays, the weekends being reserved for the family and for his hobbies, which include sports and photography. Because the studio in Sherman Oaks is like a second home, Dre likes the atmosphere to be as comfortable and relaxed as possible.
Design Can Change pulled together a simple, informative, Flash site about climate-related disasters.
Jay-Z’s “Blue Magic” is mad ill. Hov is back to the block.
Jay returns to the studio to reflect on his past after seeing Ridley Scott’s American Gangster:
The album, which his label plans to release in early November, came together over the past few weeks after Jay-Z was shown the film, directed by Ridley Scott, in which Denzel Washington portrays Frank Lucas, a early 1970s Harlem heroin kingpin.
Michael Eric Dyson discusses hip-hop:
Commercial pressures mean that in some ways, rap is a victim of its own success. And critics shouldn’t forget that jazz, in its early days, was considered as scurrilous as rap is now. Hip-hop culture in general, and rap in particular, comes with an intricate embedded politics — and at its best, Dyson says, “hip-hop is about the brilliance of pavement poetry.”
The reading of Know What I Mean? took place at the Politics & Prose Bookstore in Washington, D.C.
Photoshop’s new logo gets not even one positive comment. I guess folks aren’t seeing what’s possible.
I can’t get Hong Nhung’s “Tia Nang Cuoi Cung” out my head, thanks to little Eric!
NPR prolifes one of my favorite jazz pianists, Erroll Garner:
Perhaps best known as the composer of “Misty,” Erroll Garner was also one of the most original, intuitive and exciting pianists to emerge during the modern jazz era. Garner’s significance as a major jazz innovator easily rivals his status as a successful composer. His approach to melody, harmony, and especially rhythm were fresh and inventive.
Listen to the entire program here.
