Nick Carter, professionally known as MURS is an American rapper. His name is an acronym that he himself has created multiple meanings for such as "Making the Universe Recognize and Submit" or "Making Underground Raw Shit."[1] He is signed to the independent label Record Collection and is a member of the hip hop groups Living Legends, Felt, and the 3 Melancholy Gypsys. MURS is also part of a punk fusion band called The Invincibles with Jacksonville, Florida's Whole Wheat Bread as lead vocalist. MURS is a vegan.[2]
The group became friends with Mystik Journeymen, and joined them in the Living Legends collective in 1996.[3]
MURS appeared as a rapper on more than 20 records, EPs, and singles over a seven-year period, both on releases by 3MG and Living Legends.[3] His debut solo album, The End of the Beginning, was released in the spring of 2003.[3] He also worked with Slug under the name Felt, taking a more experimental approach.[3] A second solo album, Murs 3:16: The 9th Edition, was produced by 9th Wonder. Taking a more thoughtful approach than gangster rappers, the album prompted Andy Gill of The Independent to say "eschewing bogus glamour for emotional realism, Murs manages to say more about the corrosive cancer of hip-hop's gun culture than all the thousands of column inches lavished on 50 Cent's bullet wounds".[4] The track "Walk Like a Man" from that album inspired a film of the same name in which MURS starred along with Damien Wigfall.[3] After another solo album with 9th Wonder, Murray's Revenge, in 2006, MURS signed a contract with Warner Bros., his debut album for the label being Murs for President.[3] This was preceded by Sweet Lord which was given away free to fans.[5]
From the LA vs Celtics department... DJ Nu-Mark & DJ Mel @ The Scoot Inn tonight, May 29th for Night Fever! VOL I: Hip Hop! Dude. There's too much this weekend, don't drop the ball.
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Jurassic 5 was an American alternative hip hop group formed in 1993 by rappers Chali 2na, Akil, Zaakir, Mark 7even, DJ Nu-Mark and Cut Chemist. The group broke up in 2007.
Jurassic 5 came together from two separate crews, the Rebels of Rhythm and Unity Committee. The group formed at the Los Angeles, California health store the Good Life Cafe, where they performed at the open mic nights along with Good Life regulars such as Freestyle Fellowship, Abstract Rude, and many others. According to Cut Chemist, "The Good Life was a renaissance period in hip hop."[citation needed]
Jurassic 5 released their first record, Jurassic 5 EP, in 1997. The record cemented their position in the 1990s alternative hip hop movement, alongside artists such as Company Flow, Black Star and Kool Keith. The EP was later repackaged with additional tracks and released in December 1998 as the band's full-length debut album, entitled Jurassic 5 LP. The tracks hearkened back to the attitude of New York's Native Tongues Posse[citation needed], which included De La Soul, the Jungle Brothers and A Tribe Called Quest. The song "Concrete Schoolyard", and the album provided the troupe with a Top 40 single when it reached number 35 in November 1998.[citation needed]
Eddie Hayes, better known by his stage name Aceyalone, is an American rapper.
He is a founding member of the Freestyle Fellowship. Apart from his role in Freestyle Fellowship, Aceyalone is also a member of Haiku D'Etat (with Mikah 9 and Abstract Rude) and The A-Team (with Abstract Rude), and he is a co-founder of Project Blowed[1] [2].
After releasing a pair of albums with the Freestyle Fellowship, To Whom it May Concern... and Innercity Griots, as well as the 1994 Project Blowed compilation, Acey signed to Capitol Records and released his highly acclaimed solo debut All Balls Don't Bounce in 1995. He returned three years later with his second album, A Book of Human Language, a collaboration with producer Mumbles. In 1999, he released a self-titled group album with Haiku D'Etat. In 2000, The A-Team released their first album as a duo, titled Who Framed the A-Team?. Acey returned solo again in 2001 with his third solo album, Accepted Eclectic. In 2002, the Freestyle Fellowship returned after 9 years for the release of their third group album, Shockadoom. 2002 and 2003 saw two more solo releases, Hip Hop and the World We Live In and Love & Hate and another A-Team album ('Lab Down Under'). In 2006, Aceyalone released two more solo projects, first, Magnificent City, a collaboration with producer RJD2, followed by Grand Imperial.
Acey has also gained national prominence by being featured on numerous 2K Sports games.
From the isn't he gone department... Bavu Blakes writes us all the way from the other side of the world about his latest music video which was shot at the Highball in the Old School Hip Hop karaoke room! Read his rewrite of the Texas history book below.
After being a group called Reelaktz for years and years -- technically since 4th grade -- but not dropping any product, I did my first solo sessions with Patrick Murphy in 1999. I was living in Dallas (1997-99), and Patrick had also moved back from UT to the exact same complex as I. In 1999 I'd also gone back to Austin to work on my boy NickNack's first single (we did a duo 12-inch under the name Soundscape) and his "Reconstruction" album.
By the summer of 1999 I'd moved back to Austin hoping to do the unthinkable (would it make us look crazy?) and launch an international hip-hop career straight outta the capital/casual city conveniently known as the Live Music Capital of the World. Before that year was up, a real hero named DJ Baby G had also moved to Austin. My boys from Reelaktz who'd started this event called Hip Hop Humpday (the main reason I moved back) also started a Sunday residency for Baby G at the Sidestreet Bar, which I think is now called Fuel.
By the year 2000 my neighbor from back in grade school, Bobby -- the same amazing artist who did everyone's graffiti sweatshirts, jeans, etc., all the way up to my Create & Hustle albu cover -- who was also my ride to high school and an emcee in Reelaktz for a year or two... became the art director of a hip hop clothing store (basically) on the Drag in Austin, that was owned by another friend from school named Alex. The clothing store was the stepchild of the screenprinting shop around the corner, and I started working there as a mascot. Since we promoted the store at spots like Humpday, I met alot of folks coming in to consign CD's, including but not limited to DJ Kurupt and Rapid Ric. Ric was doing some "mix every kind of hip hop on Earth" mixtapes with IHOP-styled artwork (not Mountain Dew, yet) and was looking for local emcees to rap on his CD's so I offered myself.
I wanna say Hot 93.3 in Austin started around late 2001 or early 2002. And one day I heard a song by Memphis Bleek featuring Nate Dogg on my homie Deuce's evening show. I don't think it won "Hot or Not" or played more than 20 times, but it sure was funky and soulful. I never forgot that song, called "You Need Dick In Your Life". I guess it was about the Vice President, yes absolutely.
August 13, 2002 I picked up 1,500 copies of my debut (and only) album, Create & Hustle. Later that night was the release party with DJ Baby G, Fort Knox, Strange Fruit Project, M-Y-K and S'ence.This was the 100% indie version before another indie, Bomb Hip Hop, picked it up for distribution and re-released it May 25, 2003. To make a long story short, I played as many shows all over Texas as I could through at least 2005.
Needless to say, I was looking for more ideas for music, and the whole Texas mixtape thing was getting big. This was 2002-03, a little over a year before Rapid Ric started getting a buzz by positioning himself as one of those guys with Trae on his mixtapes and such. I'd done verses on pretty much all his mixtapes for a few years, so I thought I'd try an actual underground song since it seemed to be working for a whole buncha folks in Houston. [By underground flow, I mean making a whole tune on someone else's beat and maybe mimicking their hook and/or melodies too, then calling it a freestyle. It was customary to jack their flow patterns and all that, too, but I wasn't ready for all that yet.]
So one day at the studio I asked Ric, who was also spinning on Hot 93, if he had that Memphis Bleek beat and he did. And that day "Me on the Mic" became the first underground freestyle I ever recorded, and I was proud of it 'til Ric told me it wasn't hot. I didn't believe him, but I wanted to because he was becoming an expert on that kind of thing. I knew I'd use it one day, just not on Ric's tape for obvious reasons!
By 2004, Ric had released his second Austin Powers mixtape which included features by some hot Houston rappers. He'd also met my boy Matt, who was now booking the hip hop acts at South by Southwest. That year I performed in between Swishahouse (Paul Wall 'nem) and Color Changin' Click (Chamillionaire 'nem), so I brought my A-game as to not look like a fool. I was all proud to have held my own, and the crowd was all into it. But the journalist who covered the event was not feeling me at all. Thankfully, he was writing for a small magazine that day and not Rolling Stone, where I usually see his byline.
Anyway, where was I... 2004... needed to bring my A-game... ok so later in that same year when Baby G proposed that we do a mixtape together. I was blown away because I have always considered G to be a hero of hip hop and a role model of upstanding character. He is the only DJ I've ever known who's gained alot of notoriety [more notoriety than any DJ I've ever known, by the way... do your own research] but didn't get the big heads. So we planned out the mixtape, and figured we'd make it somewhat contemporary to try to attract that Texas mixtape crowd. We even got consultation from Ric, who was outworking everyone on the Texas mixtape scene and quickly getting a huge name for himself.
By 2005, I'd recorded half my flows at Big J's crib in Dallas. He's moved from Dallas, and wasn't DJ'ing yet, but he sure is fresh on the tables and the mic now. G and I did our last recording session in person at Backstage Music on Cesar Chavez in Austin.
March 2005. It's South by Southwest, and we've burned some samplers for South by Southwest.
May 2005. Baby G and I released "Blazing Saddles" on double disc, including a screwed and chopped version.
And I wanna say that outside of the original tracks on the CD -- Nobody Leavin, Play the Role featuring Paul Wall and Money Waters, Overnight, Stay Strong feat O.G. Fatal [sorry if I forgot one] -- the songs I got the best feedback on were hands-down "Me on the Mic" and "69 o's" feat Ntymydat.
Sometime not too long after that I met Crew 54, when I was still pushing (1) Create & Hustle (2) Blazing Saddles (3) Spring '06 Collectors' Edition and (4) The Woodgrain Collection mix with Rapid Ric circa 2007. [I've calmed down a bit since then, but I hope and pray to relaunch a full-blown music career someday soon with my second album, "Too Selfish".]
The homie M.O.S. aka Dookie Vizion always liked "Me on the Mic" because it's pretty derogatory towards sucky rappers, handicapped mc's and such. I don't really do that style often, but when I do you get a song like "(bah-VOO)" or the upcoming "Remedy" off the upcoming "Too Selfish" album. Well M.O.S. likes that brashness, the whole school-a-rapper, slightly angry type thing from me because he knows I suppress it at this point in my life. But he is of the opinion that in hip hop you have to bring the bully out sometimes.
M.O.S. and I are close enough to where when he really feels a song that I had something to do with, he is able to slowly but surely get the details worked out with me and not charge me a million dollars to get a nice quality video done. If you don't believe me, check out Mojoe's "Strange Revival" feat guess who.
So earlier this year during Texas Relays, a day after I had an abcess located 1/4-inch from my rectum sliced, drained and stuffed with gauze... we shot this video at the Highball, which is a bowling alley, music venue, bar and karaoke club. If you can't tell, we shot in the Old School Hip Hop karaoke room. As a matter of fact, when you see me sitting down, I'm sitting on one of those red innertube things you use when it's best for you to not sit down on your actual behind. It is what it is. No... it was what it was. So the reason I look sleepy and out of it, is because I'm really on medication and had surgery the day before. This is hip hop people! LOL
All that to say... Five years after releasing this song on a mixtape, we now present to you... "Me on the Mic" feat Vooski... The Video!
P.S. Who is Vooski? Vooski is the real me, the guy my wife lives with. [It's the only natural nickname I have besides Voo, so poe-tay-toe/poe-tah-toe.] Folks like S'ence, Picnic and 'nem always call me that, so it sticks at times. Anyone who knows "the real me" knows that I'm an old school R&B head who secretly wants to be Keith Washington and/or Peabo Bryson on the mic. So that's Vooski singing the hook. The real me would sing that hook BEFORE the real me would rap like that. I'm just saying. Rapping is fun and all, but a lot of rappers are just black music artists in general who grew up while hip hop was hot. And I would sing like no tomorrow if I could sing a lil' better. [google "Phonte".]
P.S.S. What is this whole Mr. Drakes thing? If you've seen the "Me on the Mic" video trailer and you lack discernment to know whether I'm (A) Biting Drake, (B) Making Fun of Drake or (C) Making Fun of these Kids Biting Drake... the answer is absolutely (C) and no offense intended. Frankly, I used that Keith Sweat "How Deep Is Your Love" beat under myself singing on autotune because I love Keith Sweat (see Vooski), so even though that whole lil' skit idea [engineered/produced/mixed by Wes Sanders, of course] was conceived as stealth social commentary, I also think it's jamming and have been lip synching it at my shows for the past year!
From the it's a verb department... Check out BoomBaptist's remix of the classic Pharoahe Monch's Simon Says. Listen to it below and leave your comments.
From the Pachanga Fest department... The Cipher, Austin's Hip Hop Project @ Chupacabra Cantina tonight, May 22nd!
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Hip Hop Helps with Live Art and Music
Austin, TX-Members of Austin's Hip Hop Community will be donating their time and talents on behalf of local youths for a benefit concert and art auction on Saturday, May 22, 2010 at Chupacabra Cantina. Funds raised will go directly to The Cipher: Austin's Hip Hop Project.
The Cipher is a non-profit organization that uses creative expression and public performances to build a community of bright young leaders and engaged hip hop artists. The program provides positive learning experiences and the opportunity to record a compilation album. The participants gain confidence in their abilities, improve academic performance, build self-esteem, and acquire new life skills that help expand the possibilities for their future.
Local graffiti artists Sloke-One and Option will be creating art live while Blacklisted Individuals, R.A.S., Queen Deelah, Crew 54, Gidon, and Clemits perform. The finished pieces and donated pieces from J-Bro and emerging Filipina artist Sook will be auctioned off throughout the concert. The Public Offenders will be hosting the event.
All proceeds from the concert and auction will go to The Cipher; $5 suggested donation. Chupacabra Cantina is located at 400 E. 6th St.; must be 21 to enter. Doors open at 9 pm. For more information, email Gynae Davalos at pr@wonderrhythm.com. To donate to The Cipher, visit www.thecipheratx.org.
Performances By
DJ Chorizo Funk Blacklisted Individuals Riders Against The Storm Queen Deelah Crew 54 Clemits Gidon D. Cornelius $5 100% of the proceeds will go to the Cipher Austin's Hip Hop Project for youth. 100% http://www.thecipheratx.org/
Witness the raw power of write-or-die spoken word artists, street-conscious MCs, unapologetic dancers, acrobatic jam-skaters, and the true essence of The Cipher in Hip Hop Theater Explosion.
Hosted by the award-winning Zell Miller III. Music and sound-scape provided by the one and only DJ S.T.A.T.I.K. These Hip-hop super-heroes are bringing it back to the “boom-bap”. Featured Artists: Queen Deelah and DaShade of Black Listed Individuals, The Under 21 Slam Team, The Neo-Soul Slam Team of 2009, Ballet East Dancers, Outta Kontrol, SaulPaul, Riders of the Storm, Love Robinson, Gidon, The Cipher, Visual Impact (jam-skaters), Doc of the Killen Slam Team 2009, Savannah Blue, Ebony Stewart, and many, many more!
Announcing: Special Saturday Ladies Run the Night, featuring an all-female line-up, celebrating the book “The Many Faces of SHE” and album, Chrysalis by Ebony Stewart. www.ebpoetry.com
From the we care department... Check out the latest video from Lil Sicc and Gerald G, "Foolie Wayne"!
What do you think? Leave a comment.
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Lil Sicc is an infectuous rapper out of Austin, Texas known for routinely cranking the clubs of 6th Street to full tilt. His new single and video "Foolie Wayne" captures all the epicurean high jinx of a young man at the apex of his hip-hop virility.
Lil Sicc exemplifies the rowdy, raucous nature of a rapper aiming to bring extreme liveliness to any given party. That unmistakable “get bucc with it, put ‘em in the truck with it” 2AM vibe, Sicc bottles up and presents for sale in the form of his ever-crunk song conceptions. Across Texas, he’s well known for his energetic club antics apt to put a smile on the face of anyone within eye-or-earshot. The young man is nothing short of a walking rapture of hip-hop exuberance.
Originally hailing from Dallas, Lil Sicc rallies his current hometown of Austin with a boogie style inherited from the likes of DFW stalwarts Big Tuck and Tum Tum. Sicc’s groundbreaking single “Boi I Go Ham” features Ice B of Basswood Lane and displays more in common with Atlanta’s upbeat trap rap phenomenon than Houston’s sleepier variety of Screwed Up droning. By way of an extensive pile of live shows wrecked in his wake, Sicc knows exactly how to get bodies moving and lung muscles laughing with vigor.
Through a string of headlining mixtapes, with titles including I Am Texas, Da Hardest Solo, Da Siccness, Play 4 Keepz and Chant Muzzic, Lil Sicc crafts club anthems with the expertise of a last call champion. His 2010 dvd release Da Night Life of Lil Sicc showcases the exact sort of shenanigans that make him a 6th Street legend down in Austin. Affiliated with crews including Set 4 Life, Dollaz N Since, Black Face Entertainment and Poison Boyz, Sicc parlays his overriding status as co-owner of Capitol Punishment Records into an all-encompassing venture. Often called upon to host concerts thrown by his colleagues, Sicc leaves crowds thoroughly entertained as if his life depends on it.
From the Good Cause department... Nausheen Jivani, Pauline Lee, Kassandra Balli and Dino Hanes are four aspiring journalism students from UT, who put together a photo journalism project documenting this year's B-Boy City 17! Mucho props guys! Hope you got an "A"!
If I wasn't going to H-town for a paddling race, I'd be so there. I really gotta make it out to this soon! Tell me how it goes.
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Skills is a monthly night showcasing underground hip hop in Austin. We're representing the local scene and the talented and skilled DJ's, MC's, BBOYS and Writers. For booking: MSGSTUDIO@YAHOO.COM
Cypress Hill is an American hip hop group from South Gate, California. Originally called DVX, the name was changed after Mellow Man Ace left in 1988.[2] Cypress Hill was the first Latino group to have platinum and multi-platinum albums, selling over 18 million albums worldwide. They are one of the most well known groups in West Coast rap and are critically acclaimed for their first four albums.[3]
After recording a demo in 1989, Cypress Hill signed a record deal with the major label, Columbia Records. Their self-titled first album was released in August 1991. The lead single was the double A-side "The Phuncky Feel One"/"How I Could Just Kill A Man" which received heavy airplay on urban and college radio. The other two singles released from the album were "Hand On The Pump" and "Latin Lingo", the latter of which combined English and Spanish lyrics. The success of these singles led to the album selling two million copies in the US alone.The band made their first appearance at Lollapalooza on the side stage in 1992.
Black Sunday, the group's second album, debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 in 1993, recording the highest Soundscan for a rap group up until that time. Also, with their debut still in the charts, they became the first rap group to have 2 albums in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 at the same time. With "Insane in the Brain" becoming a crossover hit, the album went triple platinum in the U.S. and sold about 3.25 million copies.
From the cats out of the bag department... DJ Qbert @ Republic Live on Thursday, May 13th! For those that don't know, DJ Qbert's show at the Sky Lounge was the reason I started Austin Hip-Hop Scene. Man that was a great show.
Richard Quitevis (born October 7, 1969), in San Francisco, California. Known by his stage name DJ Qbert or Grandmixer Qbert, is a Filipino-American Turntablist and composer. He is often referred to as the Jimi Hendrix of the turntables, known to make them sing in complex and subtle ways. He invented the first musical annotation system for scratching, battling and composing on vinyl.
Growing up in San Francisco's Excelsior District on Moscow Street, he graduated from Luther Burbank Middle School and in 1987 from Balboa High School.[1][2]. Qbert started playing with records at the age of 15, although he got his first Fisher-Price turntable as a toddler. He was influenced by the street performers and graffiti artists of the local hip hop community in the mid 1980s. It was at Balboa's school cafeteria that he went up against Mix Master Mike in his first DJ battle and lost.[3] He is of Filipino descent.
From the Crossing the Rubicon department... DJ Protege tickles our ears with Corner Store Hero Vol 2. Check it out below and download it for on the go. Leave your comments!
The modern Mother's Day is celebrated on various days in many parts of the world, most commonly in May, though also in March, as a day to honour mothers and motherhood. In the UK and Ireland it follows the old traditions of Mothering Sunday.
Father's Day is a corresponding holiday honoring fathers. It was thought up in 1910 by Sonora Smart Dodd, after listening to a Mother's Day sermon.[1]
Lamberts thought[who?] this day emerged from a custom of mother worship in ancient Greece, which kept a festival to Cybele, a great mother of Greek gods.{Encyclopædia Britannica|(1959)Vol.15,p. 849} This festival was held around the Vernal Equinox around Asia Minor and eventually in Rome itself from the Ides of March (15 March) to 18 March.
The ancient Romans also had another holiday, Matronalia, that was dedicated to Juno, though mothers were usually given gifts on this day.
In Europe there were several long standing traditions where a specific Sunday was set aside to honor motherhood and mothers such as Mothering Sunday. Mothering Sunday celebrations are part of the liturgical calendar in several Christian denominations, including Anglicans, and in the Catholic calendar is marked as Laetare Sunday, the fourth Sunday in Lent to honour the Virgin Mary and your "mother" church (the main church of the area). Historians think that children who served in houses were given a day off on that date so they could visit their families. The children would pick wild flowers along the way to place them on the church or to give them to their mothers.[2]
Dublab is a non-profit music public broadcasting internet radio station based in Los Angeles. They have also been involved with art exhibition, film projects, event production, and record releases. Their broadcast is mostly electronic, noise, ambient, post-punk, and folk music in recorded sessions that are mixed by their DJs. Twice a year they broadcast live for two weeks to raise funds which is known as their Proton Drive. As of Friday, January 2, 2009, Dublab has a weekly radio show on KPFK called, "Future Roots Radio". [1]
Their name is a portmanteau of dubbing and laboratory for the combined meaning: a place of experimenting with sampling music. Examples of this, besides their stream, is their film production Secondhand Sureshots where they gave producers, such as Daedelus, five dollars to buy albums from thrift stores and sampling the music to create new tracks. Another in audio/visual form is Into Infinity a collaboration with Creative Commons[2]. It is a group art exhibition of around a hundred vinyl record sized circular artworks and more than a hundred eight second audio loops. The works are randomly dubbed together and is all made freely available for others to remix and sample, even on the project's website.
From the props to those who serve department... MURS @ Emo's tomorrow, June 1st!
