After months of going back and forth and tons of speculation, Lauryn Hill took the stage at Rock the Bells 2010 with confidence and poise. More grown than we have ever seen her in the past, L-Boogie came out rockin’ with a 10 minute rendition of her instantaneous classic, Lost Ones, eventually leading into a few other songs from the album that moved her from ‘female emcee’ to ‘hip hop icon,’ The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.
While I would love to say that her performance blew me away, I just can’t bring myself to do it. Hill went hoarse after the second song, consistently taking breaks and reverted to singing the low parts to all of her songs. Half way through her set, she deviated from the originally scheduled program [classic acts doing their classic albums in their entirety] but no one seemed to mind. This was after all, the infamous, Lauryn Hill.
I have had algoriddim’s djay for twenty minutes, and have already created a master mix of Janelle Monae and Daft Punk. I am so bossy.
If you aren’t familiar with this minimalistically-fabulous software, algoriddim hails out of Germany, and their DIY djay software is a major mixing tool. It allows even the most techie challenged person to turn their iTunes dashboard into a mix, scratch and blending machine. What sets djay apart from the rest? It allows you to use your own iTunes library instead of the generic noises and sounds in traditional programs.
Review
Now, I am no DJ, but I am a music lover…so I am familiar with tempo and what sounds good together [and of course, what doesn't]. I opened up djay on my desktop and grabbed two tracks that I felt semi-confident about mixing and went to work.
After the small learning curve that comes with learning how to DJ in 30 minutes, I was on my way to magic. The cool thing about algoriddim’s program is that once you know what all the little bells and whistles do, it’s pretty easy to navigate. You drag and drop your tracks from a sidebar that pops up, containing all of the tracks in your iTunes library. If your tracks are legit, artwork will even pop up on the records.
After about an hour, I realized that DJ’ing wasn’t a natural born gift of mine…but you know what was? using the Automix button. OMG, this thing was a Godsend, and incredibly fun. All you do is select a playlist, or your entire collection if you like, and push the AUTOMIX button; djay does all the work for you.
To make life even cooler with djay, it has a complimentary app for the iPhone that takes your djay experience on the go. With full access to all of the desktop features, you can work the two turntables individually, scratch and cue music in real-time and control high quality effects, looping, skipping and cue points. The best part is anything you create on your iPhone automatically appears in the iTunes library, and vice versa.
Since seeing Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland my kids have been obsessed with the Futterwacken. I must admit, after watching Johnny Depp groovin’, I tried it out myself. I even took to the net to find a tutorial [I know...officially nerdlike]. To my surprise, someone bought the domain name and there is actually a site dedicated to the dance.Read the full story
With all of the back and forth surrounding Ms. Hill’s now confirmed performance at Rock the Bells this summer, we almost missed this vid that has taken to the interwebs. Check out Lauryn Hill, who recently rocked it at the Harmony Festival in Santa Rosa. Try and ignore the fact that she is in a rayon track suit with a half down blow out…it’s about the music, right?
This post will be updated over the next 24 hours. Keep checking back!
Last night, we were invited to attend the Press Conference and Launch of this years Rock the Bells Tour. Hitting four cities, this year the festival will be taking it to another level, with some of the most acclaimed acts doing their iconic albums in their entirety. Supernatural was there, hosting the show through freestyle [as always]; check out the way he delivered the bill:
After Supernatural did his thing, the press had an opportunity to ask questions regarding the festival. Included on the panel were Boots Riley, RZA, Chang Weisberg, GZA and DJ Muggs. Check out the vid to find out what the deal is with the Lauryn Hill and Run DMC rumors, as well as what we can expect to see in the next couple of years.
Tickets for the Festival will be on sale in the next few weeks. It will stop at four major North American markets this summer, kicking off on August 21 at the NOS Events Center in San Bernardino, CA. The tour will continue on to Shoreline Amphitheater in San Francisco on August 22, Governer’s Island in New York on August 28, and will wrap up at Merriweather Pavilion in Washington D.C. on August 29. Read the full story
Allow us to introduce you to a musical quartet currently making some noise on the Houston scene, The Niceguys. The group consists of an emcee (Yves Saint), 2 Producers (Free & Christolph) and a DJ (DJ Candlestick). Read the full story
What is your favorite 80s song?
“Just Be Good To Me” – SOS Band has been one of my favorite groups from the 80s for the longest time. I remember the day I first heard “Just Be Good To Me”, it was summer of ‘93.
I was riding in the back seat of my mom’s ‘84 Honda Accord when it came on the radio. I got so hype I took my seat belt off and was jumping around in the car. I didn’t know what the hell the song was about, but it was such a refreshing record complimenting the summer vibe. Even now, that record keeps me high spirited during the summer.
Describe the last dream you had.
I was longboarding in 6 inch Timberland boots. How or why? It’s beyond my imagination, lol.
Favorite book?
The Bible. The Book of Revelations, to be precise. I can’t necessarily choose a verse because the entire piece is powerful. Examining God’s creation of the “perfect world”.
The gadget you can’t live without is
Blackberry Tour. If I’m not working from my Macbook, it’s definitely my phone. From daily emails, BBM and enjoying the daily Twitter it truly is my “road dawg.”
It’s funny because I carry my charger everywhere I go, and people constantly ask me why. I simply reply because i’m on it all the time. DUH!
N.E.R.D’s own, Pharrell, takes to the design world again, this time in the form of jewelry. He has created a line of necklaces using a Mario Kart aesthetic, but far more posh. Seeing him wear these makes me want to sing, ‘ooooooh, I think I love you….’. via high Snob
QuestLove has more than 1 million followers, and today, all of us were treated to an inside peek at NBC’s homage to Black History Month. It seems that the network’s cafeteria prepared a special treat, serving the items listed in the photo below.
Later, QuestLove tweeted that he would be taking a small break from Twitter, as it seems NBC wasn’t too ecstatic about his twitpic LOL. What do you think, offensive or comical?
In an interview with True/Slant, RZU of the Wu admits that he is a nerd. In fact, most hip-hop heads are nerds. Most hip-hopers definitely embrace technology and use it to help further their craft.
As a hip-hoper myself, I can confess that this is very true. Artists these days are forced into learning the diital world in order to get their music out to the masses. That is what this blog here is all about. connecting the two worlds. I must say it is good to hear it comes from his mouth. In a way, I feel like it validates what the staff here at Nerdlike have been working so hard to accomplish. Check out the video:
Black Girls Rock! started out as a t-shirt line by DJ Bev Bond in response to the one-sided hypersexualized image of black women. But she immediately knew it was bigger than that and started a nonprofit mentoring organization with a mission to encourage girl power through the arts.
On Saturday, the group holds its fourth annual BGR awards in NYC to honor positive role models in the community like Janelle Monae, Raven Simone, Mary J and to raise money for the program (Tix are $350). Beyond that, the organization holds a variety of programs for at risk teen girls like a DJ academy, poetry workshop, music summer camp, culinary exploration and college campus tours.
Hopefully the organization will start to expand across the nation. But for now you can help the cause by donating or buying one of the shirts at Black Girls Rock!
