The Very Good Agency

Wayne Brady – Making Shit Up

And he’s coming to Melbourne for 3 nights performances at the Crown Casino. Originally entering the world stage on the UK version of improvisational show ‘Whose line is it anyway’, this opportunity shot Wayne Brady into the immediate limelight that he obviously deserves resulting in an Emmy Award for outstanding individual performance in a Variety, Musical or Comedy series. Often pigeon holed at the beginning of his career as the latest ‘nice guy’ comedian due to his charismatic appeal, family friendly playfulness, and the wild response his comedy received from around the world, Wayne soon found ways to deconstruct these stereotypes by appearing and starring in a range of film, television, theatre, and alike from exciting the kids of America on ‘Sesame street’, to his hilarious ‘adults only’ performances with buddy comedians like Dave Chappelle.

Having gone on to host his own talk show, appear in a string of films and television shows, as well as recently starring in his own Las Vegas show ‘Making it up’, Wayne has now decided to turn his attention back to his first love, Music, and has released his debut album ‘A long time coming’ on September 16. The Album which is made up of 12 R&B tracks includes original compositions by Wayne, as well as his own renditions of tracks by The Beatles, Sam Cooke, and Stevie Wonder, and features production from The Heavyweights, best known for their work with Destiny’s Child.

Jack of all trades?

Singing?

Dancing?

Film?

Television?

Theatre?

How can this be?

He’s Wayne Brady Biatch

You can check out more of Wayne Brady at:

www.waynebrady.com

and see him live at Crown Casino in Melbourne

…bs

No-one Ever Really Dies on Tour

When he isn’t pimping out his other beats to the likes of Jay-Z, JT or Gwen; or ‘droppin’ it like it’s hot’ for Snoop, you might be lucky enough to find Pharrell making his own crazy genre-mashing N*E*R*D magic with his boys. That is if he isn’t being voted best dressed by Esquire magazine, designing skateboards, running his own clothing label or shoe company. This man who seems to know how to make money and do business in the modern era, where promoting yourself is an art form in itself, still knows how find time to have some fun by playing around with beats and mixing up musical styles as they take his fancy.

N*E*R*D was formed in 2001 as an almost bastard child of The Neptunes as a way to explore their less mainstream, more challenging sounds. The group consists of Pharrell Williams, Chad Hugo and Shae Haley, a trio who explore into some odd and intriguing realms of music to produce sounds that skate between the lines of familiar catchiness and experimental awkwardness, to make something in the middle. Juxtapositions that may in time outline and define popular production techniques of the future.

The music is can be described as funk-rock, with various other influences, including hip hop, R&B, soul, alternative rock, and blues. Pharrell is quoted as explaining the meaning of the band name as follows: “N*E*R*D stands for No-one Ever Really Dies. The Neptunes are who we are and N*E*R*D is what we do. It’s our life. N*E*R*D is just a basic belief, man. People’s energies are made of their souls. When you die, that energy may disperse but it isn’t destroyed.”

This revolutionary and innovative crew are coming down under for their first major concert tour of Australia & New Zealand, following the release of their third album Seeing Sounds, which came out in June of this year. So if their sneaky tunes rub you up the right way and tickle your musical fancy, then check them out on the upcoming tour.

According to the concert promo site “”N.E.R.D is the offspring of the Neptune’s, a fly-or-die, thrash-around, do-as-you-will, set-your-soul-on-fire alter ego that subscribes to no rules, adheres to no agenda. N.E.R.D are back in a big way and coming to a city near you. Don’t miss your chance to see this explosive live act up close and personal”

Tour Dates & Venues:

Thu 26th Feb – Vector Arena, Auckland
On sale Mon 10th Nov Tickets

Wed 04th March – Hordern Pavillion, Sydney
On sale Mon 10th Nov Tickets

Thurs 05th March – Hisense Arena, Melbourne
On sale Fri 14th Nov Tickets

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N*E*R*D – Everybody Nose

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New Album ‘Seeing Sounds’ Out Now includes single ‘Everyone Nose’.

As usual, you can search for more info on the net by viewing:

Official NERD Site

Myspace for NERD

“I’m right here, and I ain’t goin’ nowhere
You can turn tables and you can throw chairs
I’m right here, and I ain’t goin’ nowhere
You can knock doors and tear up, ya’have to air so…”
(Spaz – N.E.R.D)

It’s almost over now…Yossarian

Tags: Funk, gigs

Obama knows his hip hop

I didn’t want to name this article in such a way that I am making an unreasonable assumption, or simply exaggerating a point to make sensational news, so I went with what is self evident from his presidential  campaign… Barack Obama knows his hip hop. There is no need to sensationalise my opinion in this instance, because the way in which I perceive that Barack Obama has utilised hip hop in his election is not only simple and obvious, but transparent as you can see from the way he openly discusses his thoughts in the below video. To this day, I have not heard anyone other then a few of my favourite artists articulate how I feel about hip hops place in the world better then the way that Obama has done in this video.

An extremely important point of debate in the build up to many of America’s recent election campaigns, and especially in this most recent time has been the youth vote. Without turning this piece into an essay, in short, young people traditionally do not vote in large numbers and so it follows that many candidates and parties have tried (with varying degrees of failure) to capture the youth vote that has been going unused.

So if you want to engage an audience of youth, it seems that you would need to have a communication channel that they respect and identify with, and what in America do you think that the emerging dominant voice in this age group might be? hmmmmmmmmm… which is what i’m simply saying… Obama knows his hop hop, and more importantly he understands the power that it has to influence and even mentor an amazing community of youth and adults alike throughout the USA and the world.

Put into context in my situation, having no television over the duration of his campaign, I heard only occasional pieces of information in support of his growing popularity and increasing chances (according to poles on news shows and papers that I would read from time to time).  It was only through Hip Hop that I was exposed to Obama intentionally for more then a brief moment, and not once, but several times in pieces that I was came accross in my every day life as an everyday member of the hip hop community.

This article is admittedly based on my personal opinion, however researching this online I found out there were so many people who share in this opinion, even Dizzee Rascal is feeling it.

For a long time now I have held the opinion that if someone really had a message that they felt should be heard, or a desire to influence their community, the two options were to be a politician or a musician. I am hopeful that this new president will remind the world of the amazing  impact that politics and music can create when in harmony, with the use of hip hop. I’m also hopeful that he establishes subsidies for international artists with a positive message who wish to tour the states, ’cause that’d be awesome please bro.

You an check out more of Obama on:

Television, news, papers, radio, internet, talking to your mates, at the white house.

…bs

Tags: hip hop, Political

Q-Tip – The Renaissance

Can he kick it again?

Yes he can… after 9 long years, Q-Tip a.k.a. the brother Abstract, has hit back with another solo album entitled ‘The Renaissance’. Q-Tip continues to reinvent himself as well as the benchmark for lyricists throughout the world and has taken his place on the world stage as one of the fathers of modern Hip Hop. Giving so much to the Hip Hop scene through various solo projects, groups including A Tribe Called Quest and more recently The Standard with friend and collaborator Common, & a string of hit features from the late eighties, the mere mention of Q-Tip’s name is enough to interest this fan in this new release, but if that’s not enough, he’s brought along some awesome collaborations on the album including D’Angelo, Norah Jones, & Raphael Saddiq to name a few. Speaking to www.okayplayer.com this week Q-Tip explained the 9 year pause between solo albums… “I think I can speak for myself, Lauryn Hill, Erykah Badu and D’Angelo when I say that we make music when the spirit is with us. We are a lot who are very observant as well as introspective. We paint intense, colorful pictures, so it takes time.” If it was anyone else comparing  themselves to these amazing, iconic, soulful artists I would just laugh at their arrogance, but it’s not anyone else, it’s Q-Tip, and no-one belongs on your lips in this context more then he does.

Q-Tip Gettin Up

Having re-united A Tribe Called Quest this year for the incredible ‘Rock The Bells’ tour, Q-Tip has dispelled the rumours that they are set to reform permanently on this album with his track ‘A Tribe Called Quest is no more’. Heart breaking although it may be, at least we can continue to bump fresh music as he continues to create his own style of jazz infused, introspective, old school hip hop. This pioneer has paved the way for hip hop to be enjoyed by all walks of life, meshing with so many artists of as many genres in his partnerships over the years, and ‘The Renaissance’ seems to offer the same diversity and creativity as always, opening up the doors even further for hip hop as it fast becomes a dominant force in the music industry.

Q-Tip – Let’s Ride (from his debut solo album Amplifier)

You can check out more of Q-Tip at:

www.q-tip.com

www.myspace.com/qtip

…bs

Tags: hip hop, Jazz, Old School

Ladi 6 – Time Is Not Much

Those of us that have followed Ladi 6’s progress as an MC and hip hop vocal artist throughout the years will be pleased as hell to hear that she has now completed a solo record. Her debut album “Time Is Not Much” has just been released for the NZ market on October 27th. Since her days starting out with Sheelaroc (an all female hip hip crew), then with Verse Two (who supported acts like The Roots and De La Soul) and the many collaborations with all kinds of NZ groups and artists like 50 Hz, Shapeshifter and Fat Freddy’s Drop (FFD); Ladi 6 (A.K.A Karoline Tamati) has always shown amazing potential and guaranteed finesse. She certainly knows how to control the microphone, adding just the right vocals or rhyme whatever type of track. There’s also a positive message of looking to the future and achieving the goals we set our minds to. To her credit she has numerous awards, has been touring for 10 years and frequently sells out shows. The official website (which is pretty funky itself) describes Ladi 6 as “The New Zealand soulstress and our Queen of hip hop”, I can’t think of any better label for someone of such talents.

The new album was recorded at the Drop studio in Wellington’s Lyall Bay, home to the Fat Freddy’s Crew, who also have an album on the way (watch this space for a future post). The production duties were handled admirably by the talents of Parks (Ladi 6’s partner) and Mu (From FFD), who both seem to know a good bassline when they create one. Others involved in the project included family members Tyra Hammond and Scribe who added their vocal skills, along with some of  New Zealand’s top musicians including Julien Dyne, Chip Matthews, Jo Lindsay and Riki Gooch.

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Ladi 6 – Walk Right Up

Ladi 6 and friends are about to go on a NZ tour to promote the release after returning from their highly successful tour of Europe and the UK. Down below are the upcoming gigs for those of you that may be in NZ or Australia over the next few months. So check her live show out if you can, but if you aren’t nearby and want to know why people call her NZ’s premiere female vocalist and compare her to Erykah Badu, then listen to her single “Walk Right Up” and as usual take a look at the myspace profile for a sneaky listen and possibly (if you’re a good capitalist) purchase stuff!

Confirmed Tour Dates:
31 Oct The Toto Bacco Room, Auckland
1 Nov Flow Bar, Hamilton
5 Nov Missy’s Kitchen, Wanaka
6 Nov Subculture, Queenstown
7 Nov Backstage, Dunedin
8 Nov The Civic, Christchurch
14 Nov Phat Club, Nelson
15 Nov San Francisco Bathhouse, Wellington
20 Nov The Espy, Melbourne
30 Dec Rhythm and Vines, Gisborne
4 Jan 09 Days Like This, Sydney
16 Jan 09 Big Day Out , Auckland

So to find more about the new album and Ladi 6’s career so far… check out:

Ladi 6 Official site

Ladi 6 on Myspace

“Dreams can come true and I knew
knew not to believe you
and I flew away from the flock
now no one can stop me.”
(More Than Fake – Ladi 6)

Seek No more…Yossarian

Tags: Funk, gigs, hip hop, New Zealand Artists, Soul