Cool Hunting
After a weekend at the Womad festival, I am full of the joyful beats of World Music. With World Music artists on the up and up—take for example the late great Ali Farke Toure’s last album which is in the UK top 40—Womad is no longer the exclusive domain of jos stick-waving hippies. This is a true multicultural event, a living Benetton ad, with an audience as diverse as the artist line-up. Among the many incredible performances this weekend K’naan, a singer, rap artist and poet, is the epitome of a world musician. Born in Somalia into the Hip-Hop generation, he was rapping Nas and Rakim verses by age nine. At 13 he left Somalia on the last commercial flight out of the war-torn country. Since then he’s been a resident of Toronto, honing his lyrical talent and using it to speak out against war, corruption and human rights abuses. Within the fusion of African percussive rhythms, American hip hop and witty lyrics this man has really got something to say. “I’m gonna spit these verses ‘cause I feel annoyed and I am not gonna quit till I fill the void. If I’d rhyme about home and got descriptive I’d make 50 cent look like Limp Bizkit.” Check out The Dusty Foot Philosopher for more of where that came from or buy the album from Direct Current Media or Amazon.
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Recently formed hip-hop duo, Rootbeer (Pigeon John and Flynn Adam), have just dropped a super fresh piece of audio pie right in your kitchen. Influenced by artists such as MGMT, N.E.R.D and A Tribe Called Quest, Rootbeer offer up an edgy and unfeigned lyrical style. Turn up their debut release, The Pink Limousine EP, to eleven. You'll find it impossible not to make shapes....
The progressive online publication, Format Magazine, just took playing with Legos to a whole new level with their collection of 20 classic (and some not-so-classic) hip hop album covers recreated with those iconic plastic Lego men. Shot in the Format studio by Nick Hanekom, and graphically produced by beat-maker Glen Manucdoc, the little Lego guys assume the notorious album cover poses once carried about by...
by Tamara Warren For those of you not paying attention to recent pop culture news, New York artist KAWS' fantastical cover art montage—a cartoon-like image in red, purple pink and shades of blue swallowing up musical/sartorial/blogger sensation Kanye West—may prove to be more of a hit than the forthcoming album itself. Converging the world of animation, art and hip-hop, the work will appear on a...
With features like localized haptic touchscreen feedback, a touch-sensitive scroll arc, buttons that automatically adapt to the feature in use and a built-in FM radio with song recognition, we've been geeking out on the ROKR at CH HQ for months. Lucky for you, we're willing to share. As if the deal wasn’t sweet enough, the ROKR comes preloaded with the new Nas album. "Untitled"...
Known for beer-brewing, a heavy German contingent and little else, Milwaukee is far from the center of hip-hop culture. Out to change his hometown's reputation is Juiceboxxx, a 21-year-old rapper and producer whose sound lies somewhere between Big Daddy Kane and the Beastie Boys. An unassuming MC, the slight, geeky rapper is pure kinetic energy in live shows, captivating audiences with a punk rock...
Long the de facto home of techno music, it's no surprise that Berlin is bursting at the seams with electronic music. But it is a rare feat when one of these artists transcends the club scene like Modeselektor. A staple of the German capital's underground party circuit dating back to the mid-'90s, the group produces a genre-straddling brand of glitchy beats that are equal...
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