Look, I get it: this whole COVID-19 thing sucks. Being trapped in your home sucks; not having the option to live life in whatever fashion you believe to be "normal" sucks; being sick during this time, whether with a "regular" cold or flu, allergies (that always hits me this time of year), or the actual coronavirus, especially blows. Whether you're working remotely from your couch, attending unplanned online courses, are simply trying to pass the time, or maybe you're actually at work, helping people in a medical capacity or on the front lines of grocery stores and pharmacies worldwide, we all deserve ways to fill our day without driving ourselves (and anyone sharing your living space) fucking crazy.
So I'm here to help, with some links to articles you may have missed during the never-ending news cycles, some mixes to help take your mind off of things, and some Patreon articles I've unlocked to give non-subscribers something new to check out while we wait for all of this to blow over.
CATCH UP ON THESE ARTICLES FROM HIP HOP ISN'T DEAD
Here is a selection of reviews and things that you may have skipped over the first time around, presented in descending order.
Jay Electronica - A Written Testimony
House of Pain - Same As It Ever Was
50 Cent - The New Breed (Bonus CD)
Blahzay Blahzay - ENYthing Iz Possible
The Danny Brown Annual Appreciation Post (a/k/a Max Continues to Explore the 2012 XXL Freshmen Class, Part VIII)
Fat Joe & Remy Ma - Plata O Plomo
Cannibal Ox - Blade of the Ronin
Gang Starr - One of the Best Yet
Kanye West - Jesus Is King
De La Soul - The Impossible: Mission TV Series: Pt. 1
Busta Rhymes - Year of the Dragon
You can also dig into the 12 Days of Wu-Mas series (or revisit, if you've read these already):
Czarface & Ghostface Killah - Czarface Meets Ghostface
9th Prince - Prince of New York
60 Second Assassin - Remarkable Timing
Czarface - The Odd Czar Against Us
Deadly Venoms - Still Standing
Method Man - Meth Lab Season 2: The Lithium
Inspectah Deck - Chamber No. 9
Ghostface Killah - Ghostface Killahs
Shyheim - Manchild
Wu-Tang - Of Mics and Men (EP)
Cappadonna - The Cappitalize Project
Zu Ninjaz - Now Justice
Give these a read and leave some comments if you have questions or thoughts. I'm around (I'm also under instruction to stay home), so if you want to spark up a conversation, we can do it via comment section, Twitter, Facebook, or via the e-mail address in the sidebar if you wish.
FREE PATREON PREVIEWS + UNLOCKED ARTICLES FROM HIP HOP IS DONE
The first four links are to free previews of the Hip Hop Is Done Patreon, my side project where I get to play around outside of the restrictions of this blog's experiment. The others are things I've unlocked temporarily as a way of helping keep you two occupied. Hopefully you like what you see, and when everything evolves into whatever our new normal is going to be, we can talk about ways to support my writing even further.
(EDITED 5.13.2020: The temporarily-unlocked posts have been placed back behind the paywall, but I'm leaving the article titles below. In their place, I've unlocked different posts for you to peruse during these strange times. You can also subscribe to the Patreon for $3.00 per month and read everything I have to offer at any time.)
Dan the Automator Presents 2K7
Kool Keith - KEITH
The DJ Khaled Chronicles S01E13 (featuring Freeway and the Clipse)
Wu-Block - Hidden Gems (a bonus from the 12 Days of Wu-Mas)
(previously unlocked - subscribe to the Patreon to read these posts!)
THE RANDOMAX RADIO PLUG
As always, RandoMax Radio is here to present music you may or may not be familiar with in brand new contexts. If you hadn't had the chance to listen, and at this point you don't really have any excuse, click here to visit the Mixcloud page with all of the episodes, including the O.G. RandoMax Radio podcast-slash-mix show, two Max-Approved Mixtapes so far (EDIT: there's now four), five episodes so far of the Producers Guild series (two for Dan the Automator, two for DJ Premier, and one for Nashiem Myrick of the Hitmen) (EDIT: there's a sixth and seventh now, both focusing on Easy Mo Bee), my fake Wu-Massacre 2 album, and a few other miscellaneous mixes that are there for the taking. Listen, and take your mind off of how society is collapsing all around us.
AND FINALLY, THAT REQUEST
I want to know what you're doing to get through these thoroughly bizarre times. What are you listening to, if not my mixes that I keep whining about? What are you watching and.or reading? Share it with the group - you might help someone figure out what they're about to tackle next. I've been passing the time working from home, playing The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past on the Switch because I'm an old man who feels nostalgic apparently, watching a bunch of random shit (read: old Simpsons episodes, random YouTube videos), and the last album I listened to, Jay Electronica's A Written Testimony, is still the hip hop album I've been spinning the most, so all that shit I wrote in that project's review rings true for me: I have no idea if I'd still care if I were able to "go out" and "do things" like a "person".
As always, thanks for reading! Take care of each other by staying the fuck away from each other. And click the goddamn links! In the meantime, let me see what I can do about this whole "content" thing.
-Max
I've been listening to a lot of Backwoodz Studio's output. I liked Billy Woods' first album and had been meaning to check them out for a long time and finally have the time to check out the whole label. Really scratching the itch Def Jux used to fill in their mid-00s heyday. Check out ShrapKnels S/T that just came out last week.
ReplyDeleteI've dipped toes into the Billy Woods water, but I need to just jump right in already. Any recommendations from the label?
DeleteCheck out Known Unknowns. That's the easiest Woods album to get into. Catchier hooks, shorter songs. Straight to the point. Superpredator, Everybody Knows, and Cheap Shoes are some of my favorite songs off of it.
DeleteI'm also home, in a remote working capacity. As such it afford me the ability to listen to things during the day that I don't always get the chance to in the office.
ReplyDeleteA show I follow did a Canadian hip-hop mix a while ago (check it out: http://www.wefunkradio.com/show/1018) and since then I've been checking out a lot of that music which I've enjoyed. In fact, Pro-V who did the mix on that show has a weekly show that I've been checking too (All Da Way Live).
I had the chance to give the Jay Electronica a few spins, not sure if I really like it or I was just interested, but I've listened to it a solid six times so it can't be bad.
Haven't been on the Patreon site in a couple of weeks so will head over there on my next break!
Good to see you keeping this active Max, thanks again.
I'll have to check that out - I'm getting tired of podcasts.
DeleteWorth a look, some decent variety.
DeleteThanks, Max!
ReplyDeleteI'm "essential personnel" (I work in health care) and have to keep going to work every day : /
Hopefully this helps you get through this.
DeleteWhat ever country you happen to reside in, thank you for your efforts.
Deletethanks for your continued cheer Max. Last thing I watched was dolomite is my name; fucking excellent
ReplyDeleteAnyone else read (or reading) The Rules of Contagion? Didn't take much genius in Amazon's marketing department to feed that one out on the old 'recommended for you' emails.
ReplyDeleteI'm only about 10% in but it discusses how epidemics spread and why they end. Pretty much common sense so far but interesting and also applies to computer viruses and the like.
Thanks Max. I'm fortunate to be able to work from home and been able to listen to a lot of music. I've been checking out a bunch of rap records you've recommended here: Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, Xzibit's first two records, Music to Driveby by Compton's Most Wanted.
ReplyDeleteBeen reading a lot of comics and playing through Thimbleweed Park and Majora's Mask 3Ds.
If you're a comics person or are interested in trying, there's a bunch of free comics being given away https://www.ign.com/articles/free-marvel-comic-collections-spider-man-venom-captain-america-and-more