Well...

There's no cool way to say it so we're just going to say it. This is our final post on theblagg in its current form. A huge thank YOU to everyone who read the posts over the years and was infuriated or enthralled or enticed or in distress so much that they couldn't leave a comment. Ha! Thank you for reading right now. We're going to leave you with fratpack's What Do They Know - which gives Zaki Ibrahim's The Kids Are Talking a fratpackular twist - because we want you to download the frwednesday mixtape HERE if you haven't already and because we love you.


Peace
Dude & The Ordinary Girl

Pop Models

Back when we could still call ourselves young, Solomon of BIG FKN GUN was just a kid sorta making music on the side and trying to think up adverts as his nine to five. I used to pick on him all the time. Now, Bra Sol (as you may know him) is a grown ass kid who is making the music you guys jam to and thinking up award-winning adverts as part of his career. And I still pick on him plenty. So it’s pretty cool to be able to present theblaggers and blaggettes with BIG FKN GUN’s highly anticipated EP, Pop Models. Now, don’t get us wrong, BFG is not just Solomon. As you’ll hear on Pop Models, the crew is made into what you love (or about to get hip to) by production alchemist, Soulfaktor and So&So. You can buy the offering over HERE. Yeah, you can’t stutter in writing so you read that correctly: buy. Peep the tracklist below:

Calibre Justice

By now, you all know that hip hop group, fratpack, recently dropped a newish offering called frwednesday Mixtape. If you don't and you're keen on hearing it then download it HERE. Now, back to today's post. It brings The Ordinary Girl great pleasure to give you a first look at the Calibre Justice video. Over a Justice beat, Mr Calibre goes in about his vices (Coca Cola) and his pet-peeves (pretty boys rappers, teehee) and more. The joint is taken off frwednesday Mixtape and the video was shot a hop and skip away from where Mr Calibre and his crew hang out and skate on Funisu boards by me.

As someone who has known the brothers, me and Mr Calibre, since the days when the latter used to insist people say his whole alias (Mr Mr Calibre The Boy With Infinite Skill), I must say it's been quite something to watch him grow and come into his own like this. And as a rap fan, I'd have to say it's even nicer to hear him spitting about, amongst other things, not caring whether you know any of the names he mentions in the verse. The point is, you don't have to worry about that - you'll know in due time and inspite of your resistance. The visuals are brought to life by the producing and rapping half of fratpack, me. No, Dude, I'm not getting you a director's chair just yet. Doesn't it look like it was fun at this sausage party? I'm kidding, I'm kidding, fratpack loves the ladies. Peep the Calibre Justice video below:

The Core

I'm not sure if you guys are familiar with Core Wreckah. You may have seen his government name on many a byline of music articles but he finds a lot of joy in rapping too. Originally from Maseru in Lesotho (Hey! We went skiing in Lesotho once, but I digress), Core Wreckah is half of Corporate Nemesis. A month ago he released a new joint. It's called Get Clear, produced by Cymtom and featuring Earl Scratch. Your thoughts?

Read This

My friend's are the illest. For my birthday this year, the Nut to my Raisin and a Fig by definition (inside reference, sorry) bought me Martha Cooper's The Hip Hop Files: Photographs 1979-1984. As you may be aware if you are a regular reader of theblagg and/or share our interests, Martha Cooper is a force to be reckoned with.

Not only has she and her camera been at the forefront of documenting graffiti and other elements of the culture while they were in their infancy but she's also published quite a few books that are the result of her access to the New York scene and beyond. This lady's images have provided plenty a screensaver (back when people had those) for Dude and now she's in South Africa.

Following the I ART WOODSTOCK (in Cape Town) and I ART Soweto initiatives that hooked South African artists up with a platform to paint large scale murals comes I ART JOBURG. This go-around, six artists from various parts of the world - including our very own graff guru, Falko and fine artist, Cameron Platter - will get to paint on buildings in the Maboneng Precinct before the end of September.

Who better than Martha Cooper to document the whole process? These photographic finds will culminate in an exhibition of I ART JOBURG, by Cooper, that will be shown in Joburg in October before it travels to Cape Town. Those of you who are attending STR.CRD (which will be in the same vicinity) can enjoy the free I ART JOBURG Talks at the street culture event. In the meantime, definitely read this:

First Night Blues

As far as real life goes, theblagg have been fam with The Intellex for a long time. Benson N Hedges - who is a third of the hip hop group (alongside Eternal Rhymes and KE Squared) - and The Ordinary Girl go back to high school. And even back then he was never one to shy away from self expression, whether giddy or gaudy. This week, Benson released First Night Blues featuring the very talented Dismental thee Axemple of One-2. The joint is frank and hella funny and will obviously remind those of you who are old enough of Monica's First Night song. I used to like that video. And for the longest time, I was convinced that the American r&b singer was saying "Usher made a move but I won't." Ha! Engrish. Anyway, you can download the song HERE or listen below:

Something Borrowed/Something New

The Red Bull Soundclash was one of the radest music events to happen to Joburg. How many of you can say you've seen Tumi Molekane with his shirt off? Exactly. It was that kind of night. This week, the Tumi and the Volume frontman released a new joint called Candle (which you can download HERE) that is his own take and rejig of an Abdullah Ibrahim song. To paraphrase a friend's remarks upon hearing the song: jazz and hip hop don't always (have to) mix. But you be the judge. In the meantime, here's a throwback from the Red Bull Soundclash. Here, Tumi and The Volume cover The Spice Girls' Wanna Be (sorry about the audio issues but shout out to fabkash5 for even uploading it):

Telling It Like It Is

Over at theblagg HQ (pretend we've got a head quarters, come on!), we are suckers for new music. Ra's Rayz, who is one half of hip hop group, Audiophiles, keeps threatening that he and Al Da 3rd are going to drop something new soon on Twitter. We're waiting Ra's! Hurry up. In the meantime, here's a reminder of who Audiophiles are:

The frwednesday Mixtape

Just a reminder that the frwednesday Mixtape by the brothers known as fratpack is now available for free download OVER HERE. How cool is that picture of Mr Calibre? About as cool as him beasting on Calibre Justice which is also off the frwednesday mixtape. The producer and rapper half of fratpack, me, actually took that shot. Mr Calibre and me dropped this musical offering to hold you hip hop lovers over until the Famlove EP drops. And when's that? When they decide to give it to you. Ha! For now, enjoy the frwednesdays Mixtape.

Read This

Joan Morgan is awesome. Many years ago, I bought this book simply because I knew Morgan's byline and well, because I figured I would relate. What I found between the pages of Joan Morgan's When Chickenheads Come Home To Roost: A Hip Hop Feminist Breaks It Down was sheer brilliance.

Sure, there were some aspects I could relate to like the conflict between being a black woman and down for the cause at it were but still cherishing a culture that in some aspects, doesn't seem to see women as human at all. But there was also a lot that I learned about other people's perspectives, about the very real role that love plays in bad decision-making and obviously, about American hip hop. Through personal anecdotes (she's truthful about flaws and really funny) and statistical research, Morgan - whom you may have also seen in the My Mic Sounds Nice documentary about women in hip hop - really does break it down. I guess Amazon's synopsis can give you a better idea:

In this fresh, funky, and ferociously honest book, award-winning journalist Joan Morgan bravely probes the complex issues facing African-American women in today's world: a world where feminists often have not-so-clandestine affairs with the most sexist of men; where women who treasure their independence often prefer men who pick up the tab; and where the deluge of babymothers and babyfathers reminds black women who long for marriage that traditional nuclear families are a reality for less than 40 percent of the African-American population.

Read this!

Extras

You know how theblagg feels about Zubz so to know there is a new album on the way makes us happy. It's called DragonLion_FullCircle. Hm. Yeah. You know how The Last Letta is about album titles. Quick, finish the title: Cochlea...
Get your dap from us when you see us if you answered Cochlea - One Last Letta. The first single off DragonLion_FullCircle is called Extras. There is no video quite yet but you can rap along to it through this lyrics video. What do you say? Are you feeling it?

Boombox Presents The Next Movement

Vaal Triangular, son, to be particular! Gotta love X-Rate for that line.

It always makes us super proud to hear or see people from our home, the V, do great things. And if those things are within hip hop then you know we absolutely have to share. This week sees the inaugural Boombox production and it is aptly titled The Next Movement.

In addition to watching live performances from the likes of Huge Impakt, Pho'Netiq and more, you can learn a thing or two on the visual arts side which is headed up by Mohlomi Kocha. There will also be a gaming experience side, you can peep or get tattoos by Ryza and check out some graffiti too. The all day event will take place at 555 Park in Zone 10 extension 1.

Mandisa Mditshwa of Boombox, Twisted Girl Entertainment let us in on how this whole idea came about. You guys know Mandisa used to crash my Visual Culture lectures at university? She probably doesn't want you to know that. Ha! Anyway, here's what she had to say:  

Boombox is what we would like to call a movement by and of a collective of minds that are trying to shape and shift the contemporary street art culture within and around the Vaal. The Collective comprises of 15 of some of the most influential event organizers, DJs and popular culture connoisseurs in the Vaal region. 

In our first offering, The Collective is mainly interested in taking the already developed yet for some reason "stunted" culture of Hip Hop to the next level. You could call us Vaal's very own Hip Hop evolutionaries..*chuckles* 

We are all about reaching out and giving back to the community via the culture. 

Most grown folk and even some young folk nowadays don't understand the culture and therefore tend to rebuke and shun all things Hip Hop because of their lack of knowledge. It is our duty to change that state of mind and spread the magical Hip Hop gospel, so we work closely with charity organizations such as the Lebohang Children's Centre for the mentally and physically challenged in Zone 10 and neighbouring schools. So all donated goods go to such establishments.

The cover charge for the event is R5 and donations that the Lebogang's Children Centre and more charities can use are most welcome. If you donate something, you don't have to pay the R5 but it would be nice if you did both to support Boombox and the kids.

FRWEDNESDAY MIXTAPE

Happy Hump Day! If you've been reading theblagg or following fratpack (@fratpackmusic) then you already know what frwednesday is all about. If not then do not pass go, do not collect 200 and get the heck off the internet. I'm just kidding. Come back, come back. Now, you all know the hip hop group called fratpack (one word, all lower case), right? For every Wednesday of the past couple of months, they would release a song for their fam. Called frwednesdays, the songs were mostly the two brothers rapping on beats that me far-outed. So it's only fitting that me and Mr Calibre drop a compilation of those joints and a few new ones on a Wednesday. Yep, TODAY. The frwednesday Mixtape is available for free download over HERE and in addition to features by the likes of BIG FKN GUN and Reason as well as far-outing my favourite Zaki Ibrahim song, the mixtape is packed full of surprises. The frwednesday mixtape is the final offering before fratpack's famlove EP is released in the final quarter of this year. Tell all your frwednes! Here's the tracklist:

New Mix

You know you heard her on the radio. True. But in case you haven't, theblagg has our girl, V@rdz's Party People mix for you. You can download it right HERE. It's really dope that DJ Kenzhero has decided to hand the platform over to the ladies this month. But I wish more radio DJs (regardless of gender) invited female hip hop DJs to do their thang no matter what month of the year it is. But until then... Viva Women's Month ke, Viva Le DJ!

The Diamond Standard Remix

While trying to delay getting out of bed this morning - Cape Town is freezing, man - I was scanning the tweets when I came across one written by @Phonetiq. The spitter plugged the latest installment of the We Make Music Wednesdays. The Battlekat-poduced joint is actually a remix of a song by Simply Vincent and features Mo Katalyst, Principle and Golden Shovel. Feel free to download it HERE. Happy Hump Day.

Lyrics Matter...

...because, well, they do. Rah Digga - whom I heart to def - performed at this year's Vans Warped Tour and was seen sporting a #Lyricsmatter t-shirt. Sidebar: is The Ordinary Girl the only person who finds this whole hashstagging in real life mess lame? Back to Harriet Thugman. She breaks down why she thinks lyrics matter and also spits for some rhythmically challenged folks. Go, Digga!

Over/Play

I don't know what it's like wherever you are but the on-and-off rain in Cape Town has been super depressing. What better way to spend a day indoors than to check out nice mixes? DJ Pilzy Lee was over at DJ Kenzheros' Party People Radio show this past week and she played a pretty sweet mix she dubbed Over Play. Luckily for you, she's also put it up for free download HERE so feel free to go and get you some.

Oh Blimey

It's not just a female thing. You know that. There are plenty of rappers who are so ill in battles that you catch yourself almost finishing your data bundles while watching them murder opponents on youtube. Oh Blimey is one of those rappers. Can you say murderation? Go to sleep Coco McPuffington:



And, even though Loony Divine gave it her all, methinks she lost this battle to Oh Blimey:



So anyhow, as far as freestyling and battling goes, Oh Blimey is really dope. But she's also proof that the old ass theory of battle rappers being unable to make an album to save their lives is for real. I tried to listen to her mixtape, MVP Season, but that was so basic. I prefer her in the battles. Askies.

I first came across her in the GRLZ RMX video. Remember the annoying AF girl who was in the I'm From Rolling Stone reality show? Dude had a mini crush. Ha. Well, first she used to go by the name Krish. Then she decided nevermind writing about rappers because she wanted to be a rapper. So now her alias is Rocky Rivera. Yawn. And she featured Oh Blimey (as well as Raven Sorvino and Plane Jane) on this wack ass song:



See what I mean?

In Case You Forgot

We're Chasing Our Dreams

fratpack live

You know Choclate Seruno, right? So he's got the whole W.A.T.E.R clothing label thing going but he's launching his Styled By Seruno wing at Capello in Parkhurst tomorrow night. To do that, he has roped in fratpack and Bhubesii as well as a few DJs. Entrance is free and you can eat while you enjoy the performances so it sounds like a good idea to me. And yeah, up top is Mr Calibre in those Styled By Seruno threads. What do you think? You like them?