//SFIAAFF 2009 For Your Mind..

//Me & Z got a chance to rock the Asian Art Museum for the Opening Gala of the 2009 SF Intl Asian American Film Festival. Here's some flicks from the event, plus photos from the Directions In Sound event at 111 Minna the following night. Big up to Marky//DJ Proof and all the folks that came thru. More coverage here, there and everywhere.

According to this article we played "Junior High Prom" music?!

Mpenzi keepin it knowmadic & Proof looking very marketing directorly

B-Boy Roger fell through

Mama Z at Directions in Sound

GOLDEN A&R Department

Honor Roll!!

The homie Tap had to spin under that disturbing ObamaLincoln//Big Brother portrait

Kush Arora is family, plus he makes these crazy lasers come outta the laptop when he wrecks shop, you gotta see it in real life..

//Universal Magnetic Z&D Scientific..

//Last GOLDEN me & Zita went all in on the Midnight Mix, digging in to the catalogue of one of the foremost hip hop artists of this generation (sorry Young Jeezy) ...Black Dante aka Pretty Flaco aka Boogie Man aka Dante Beze aka The Mighty Mos Def! Dude has so many tight tracks that there was even a tense moment regarding who was gonna get to play what ;) But you know the dj family that plays together stays together so we put it down for the people that Saturday and I gotta say it came out pretty nice.

Another reason I like spinning these Midnight Mixes: heads will be coming up to booth talking bout "You gonna throw on some Universal Magnetic?" and "I can't leave til I hear Umi Says!" -- I'd rather hear that any day than some Britneyonce featuring T-Wayne request. And big up to my man for putting me up on the A.D.L.I.B. track "All Praises Due," I was not even knowing about that one! Oh and big up to DJ VNA for the Ms. Fatbooty Rmx, that's from his vinyl collection and I've never heard anyone else rock that.

So here it is: 74 minutes of straight universal magnetic b-boy science, knock yourself out. (definitely gotta catch Z's tipsy-on-the-mic "Mighty. Mos. Def. Muthaf****as!!!") 1neLuv..

Z&D Tag-Team Midnight Mix: MIGHTY MOS DEF
DJ Zita & Dmadness
Live at GOLDEN Feb 21 2009

Ghetto Rock
Respiration w/Talib Kweli
Rising Down w/ The Roots
Mathematics
Ms. Fatbooty (White Label Rmx)
7 Days (DJ Premier Rmx) w/ Craig David
Sex, Love & Money
Rock and Roll
There Is A Way
Double Trouble w/The Roots
I Against I w/Massive Attack
Oh No w/Nate Dogg & Pharoahe Monch
Quiet Dog (Sake1 Edit)
Supercat - Nuff Man A Dead
Good Night (Plain Pat Rmx) w/Kanye West
Brooklyn
Brown Skin Lady w/Talib Kweli
Love Rain (Head Nod Rmx) w/Jill Scott
A Brighter Day Rmx w/Ronny Jordan
Definition w/Talib Kweli
Get By Rmx w/Talib Kweli, Jay-Z & Kanye West
Hip Hop
Universal Magnetic
Astronomy (8th Light) w/Talib Kweli
Reminisce w/Bilal
Do It Now w/Busta Rhymes
Hurricane (D's Time You Looked Blend)
The Jackson 5 - If I Don't Love You
U R The One
Bullshittin' w/ N'Dea Davenport
Beautiful w/Mary J Blige
Respiration (Flying High Mix)
Travellin' Man w/DJ Honda
Tinseltown to the Boogiedown (Ali Shaheed Muhammad Variation) w/Scritti Politti
Life Is Good w/DJ Deckstream
Umi Says

//Home Sick Mini-Mix 2: Epilogue

Epilogue

Last call. The leaves have turned their last fall. The atomic clock in the kitchen has stopped. I empty the medicine cabinet and padlock it forever. Pick up the receiver and leave it off the hook, the dialtone echoing its flatline into the dim archives. The television now shows only live aerial footage from Beirut on every channel. I unplug it from the wall socket which sparks in my hand and shocks me. With a watergun I spray the remaining light bulbs. Glass ruptures and sprinkles onto my childhood. I hit the street as purple hailstones fall from the sky. I catch one in my left hand. It is lukewarm. Four sleek black stretch hovercrafts rove the landscape festooned with rims that keep spinning when they touch down on street corners bursting with moldy desires. I notice that some people have grown fins, some tails. The moon is so close I can see pimples on his scowling cheeks. He has a green glare. California is drowning, flailing and grasping for the last time onto the Hayward Fault, bucking and buckling. I ride the land wave that roars toward me. The San Andreas is three feet untied and widening, the tide three feet high and rising. I fold my skin inside my wallet and traverse the terrain unsheathed. In my jacket pocket I feel the weight of organs that were not there before. Their heaviness comforts me. At the corner of Lakeshore and Nevermore, I step east where the sky is sizzling. I materialize in a grove of redwoods that jut from a rocky outcrop spaced equidistantly. At the northwestern giant I gouge a crescent with my hand and remove three oblong seeds that resemble shark’s teeth. I place one in each kidney and one inside my liver for safekeeping. Discarding my contact lenses I peer from the ancient treetop at the tumbling mountains, beatbox along with the Max Roach on my eardrums and await the next world...

-D.M.
(from my book Cloudbank Robbers, Charms Dealers, and Things of that Nature
to be published when the time comes)

Home Sick Mini-Mix 2: Epilogue by DJ Dmadness

1. "Hour 23" - Eclipse427 f/ Karma Chi (unreleased, 1995?)
This post and mini-mix: simply an exercise in imagining what the the end of the world would look and feel like. Heads that were around in the Telegraph Era (circa '93-'96) will remember Eclipse...he goes by Walt Liquor now. I actually saw him & Karma perform that track at a house party in West Berkeley that True Justice was djing in like '95. By the way, I ripped that from cassette yall (see above-thus the sound quality), and the feedback at the beginning is meant to be part of the song.
2. "Dandelion Dust" - Joi (EMI, 1997..but LP was shelved)
Couple years later when Kirb put me on to Joi's 2nd album masterpiece Amoeba Cleansing Syndrome, I recognized the same loop but this time it was blazed up with Fishbone guitars. I'ma put "Joi Mix" on my to-do list right now.
3. "Da Art of Storytellin', Part 2" - OutKast (LaFace, 1998)
Then comes this Aquemini monster...there's few OutKast cuts where Big Boi outshines Andre but this is one of them..and Dre killed it too! Too many quotables.
4. "Last Day" - Teedra Moses (TvT, 2004)
Last but not least, another LP masterpiece is Teedra's Complex Simplicity. One of the most slept-on R&B/Soul vocalists ever, but more and more I find out how many people have been bumping that album and waiting for her to come back out. Gotta end with the female perspective on the end of the world...beautiful. 1neLuv.

//One (Live Mix) In A Million..

//Last month at GOLDEN me & Zita put down a special Midnite Mix in honor of Aaliyah, who would have celebrated her 30th B-Day the day before. Help yourself to the live audio recording of the set, and do remember it's live so please excuse any bumps! Also I was sick and just barely made it thru the nite with like 4 tall glasses of OJ and a whole bag of Ricolas, so that's why my voice sounds like that! ..And much love always to FiyahLilly aka Golden A&R Dept for the idea. We do what she says!!

We do it again this Saturday, Feb. 21 when we dig thru the catalog of the one Mighty Mos Def and unearth slept-on joints as well as all of your favorites in anticipation of his forthcoming album The Ecstatic. You know everybody loves Mos Def! Plus films featuring that guy projected on the wall in a GOLDEN stylee! 1neLuv.

Z&D Tag-Team Midnight Mix: HAPPY 30th B-DAY AALIYAH!
DJ Zita & Dmadness - Jan 17 2009 Live at GOLDEN

Throw Your Hands Up
If Your Girl Only Knew
Down With The Clique
Come Back In One Piece f/ DMX
More Than A Woman
I Need You Tonight w/ Junior M.A.F.I.A.
Rock The Boat
No One Knows How to Love Me Quite Like You Do
Back & Forth
Try Again
Are You That Somebody? (Supafriendz Rmx w/ Danja Mowf)
Are You That Somebody?
At Your Best (You Are Love) (Gangster Child Rmx)
It's Whatever
One In A Million
Hot Like Fire
A Girl Like You w/ Treach
4 Page Letter

//Anatomy of ExtraLoving

//REWIND
This is the third in my series of Valentine's mixes. Now, I'm not a huge fan of V-Day, I'm not all into it... it happened because I wanted to make love-themed mixes dedicated to my incomparable wife DJ Zita. The first one I made when we first started dating! There had been some great love mixes already done, some of my favorites included Neil Armstrong's Warmfuzzy and Cosmo Baker's Love Break. Back in '06 to my knowledge no one had done a mix of Lovers Rock reggae for V-Day, so I did a short selection and made a hand-drawn cover (only 1 in existence!). I liked it a lot so it was the first mix I uploaded and shared online. There are a couple tunes on it that I had to include on the new mix, they just fit so well. It's still up here: LoversRockTunes.

The next year I wanted to take it up a notch, so I did a more eclectic mix with jazz, hip hop, soul, r&b and reggae, got drops from the homie Kirby Dominant, and had my mellow Shing02 create artwork for it, the "Mixtapes in Love" illustration which is brilliant. I called it loveisloveisloveislove... Download here or purchase the CD here.

Later that year, in December '07 I was scheming on my next V-Day mix. I decided I wanted to expand on the first lovers rock mix, make it full-length. Me & Z had gotten booked for "The First Annual Cupcaking Invitational" at Sake1's PST. I did a draft of the mix, but the time constraints were not going to allow me to put it out properly and I didn't wanna halfass it. Plus Sake dropped his Hardcore Cupcaking mix that night which is off the chain.

//FORWARD

So for this year I got started early. I was happy with the draft I had done in Dec.'07 but I knew it was not complete. I am even happier now that I didn't put it out. The year that followed is history: Zita & I got married, and while honeymooning I got to build with selector Red-I in Manila and dig for 45s in Tokyo (big UP Rocker's Island!). Also, I had the Guardian Angel riddim already on my mix, but the acoustic version came out which was dope. Don Corleone dropped his Secrets riddim which was a sureshot for the selection, and Jazmine Sullivan introduced a reggae burner over the Queen of the Minstrel riddim to R&B radio. Then, in a twist of fate our crib was burglarized in October. In the process of rebuilding we finally started converting to Serato. So then I was able to use the built-in effects on the mix and also include 2 tracks that are not on vinyl: Hawai'i reggae band Ooklah the Moc's "You Light" and the super brand new "Forever More" by Alaine & Tarrus Riley. The rest of the selection is almost all Jamaican 45s with like 3 LP cuts thrown in. All in all, you will find a mix deep with classics, some more obscure, and some newer tunes, all top-notch lovers.

I really gotta give it up to Jidan Koon, my folks from way back, who contributed an original canvas to our fundraiser back in November. After I peeped her style I would have to hit her up to create the visuals for ExtraLoving. She came through for real, with a vibrant collage that captures the feeling and the sound of the mix. I just told her to do what she do, whatever comes out naturally, and she did.

Lastly, can't forget my brother MC Zulu. We collaborated on my mix STOP THE FUSSING AND FIGHTING! back in '07 and his voice MUST be included on any reggae mix I do! I used some vocals from our past sessions. MC Zulu is really at the forefront of a future international dancehall sound so get familiar! Lookout for some Riddim Killah mixes from us and SFF part 2 in the future.

//SELECTOR!
Thanks to Green B for having me rock 1LOVE last night for my CD release party and much love to everyone who came thru.
Cop the cd at Giant Peach or holler at me.

Next on the blog: Extra Extra Loving! I'ma post some of the tracks that I had to cut from the mix. Dammit it's hard to keep it under 80mins sometimes!

//1neLuv.

//From a Rebel It's Final/On Black Vinyl..

//One of my own heroes, Chuck D writes his thoughts on the inauguration, "sleep rapnea", and of Barack Obama entering the terrordome...

Chuck D - "I Got A Letter for the Government" (hiphop.com)

Pharoahe Monch - "Welcome to the Terrordome" (SRC,2007)

//Happy 30th Aaliyah!

//Staying home sick was a blessing in disguise. Much needed rest and a chance to go through some records for this Saturday's Z&D Midnight Mix in honor of AALIYAH, whose 30th birthday would be tomorrow! From Berkeley to Chicago to Tokyo, whenever I see an Aaliyah record I buy it everytime. Looking at the R&B singers of today, not a single one of 'em has filled the void Aaliyah left when she perished suddenly 7 years ago. My middle school students, 5 years old when she passed, know her music well. She is kinda to R&B what 2Pac is to hip hop.

At the same time, I believe that through and with Aaliyah, producer Timbaland created his best, genre/radio-defying work (Nelly Furtado & Justin Timberlake? Sike). Their concoctions were far ahead of their time, off-kilter and spacey and beautiful at the same time. She didn't have the greatest vocal range or voice like Alicia Keys, and wasn't as strong a dancer as Beyonce, but she still surpasses them all somehow.

Thank you for your music, Aaliyah. We dedicate this Saturday's Midnite Mix to all those we lost in the past year: Alton Ellis, Bo Diddly, Miriam Makeba, Eartha Kitt, Isaac Hayes, Freddie Hubbard, Oscar Grant, the 1000+ in Gaza, my moms, Romeo's Uncle Mangi and any others you wanna light a candle for. Your love is a one in a million/it goes on and on and on...1neLuv.

Digital Black f/Aaliyah - "Don't Think They Know"


Aaliyah - "If Your Girl Only Knew (Siik Remix)"