Crate Kings » Hip Hop Music

2012 Tools of War Park Jams Trailer

Semantik — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 02:18:27 +0000

I don’t get the chance to make it back to the east coast nearly as much as I’d like to. If you’re in the NY area, try it make to it one of the True School Park Jams.

June 7, 14, 21 & 28: Spanish Harlem Hop @ White Park, Harlem
July 5, 12, 19 & 26: Crotona Park Jams @ Crotona Park, Bronx
7/31 + Aug. 7, 14, 21 & 28: Digger’s Delight @ St. Nich., Harlem

Truthful Thought:
Life gets busy, but Crate Kings will always be here.

RIP Jimmy Castor (Jun. 23 1947 – Jan. 16 2012)

Semantik — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 03:05:36 +0000

Crate Kings takes a moment to mourn the loss of Jimmy Castor, a legend who greatly influenced the course of hip-hop music. We appreciate you and you’ll be greatly missed.

Jimmy Castor “It’s Just Begun”

Jimmy Castor “Troglodyte”

Step Off Beat Battle Movie Trailer & DVD Release

Semantik — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 22:50:31 +0000

About a year back we posted the trailer for a movie entitled Battle, which was based around the story of a producer’s journey through music and beat battles. The movie has been acquired by Lionsgate, renamed Step Off, and set for a March 15th release date. According to Step Off’s producer Martin Kelly, the movie will be available on DVD through Redbox, Netflix, and more.

Updated trailer after the break!

Most Slept On Hip-Hop Producers (Nominations)

Semantik — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 04:26:36 +0000

Earlier today there was a conversion on twitter about who Crate Kings readers thought was the most slept-on producer. I have to be honest. I was surprised and reminded of a lot of people that had somehow slipped my mind. By the way, if you haven’t followed Crate Kings on twitter yet, do it now.

Here’s your chance to get in on the conversation. Add your nomination to the list of most slept-on hip-hop producers in the comments section. In a few days we’ll post a poll to make the selection official.

UPDATE: It’s clear that the list has spiraled out of control and a poll isn’t going to work for a number for reasons. First, there’s been the question of the definition of “slept-on” and who actually qualifies. Second, the list has become way too long. The good thing is that this has turned out to be one of the most interesting conversations that we’ve had here in quite some time. Please keep the comments coming.

Reader nominated producers:

Large Professor
Beatnuts
K-Def
Prince Paul
Dust Brothers.
DJ Quik
Madlib
Havoc
45 king
Lord Finesse
J Swift
EZ Elpee
D.R. Period
QDIII
Thes One
Ayatollah
K-Def
DJ Scratch
Vinyl Reanimators
Kool Moe D
Fizzy Womack
Paul C
Dj muggs
Prince Paul
Larry Smith
Shock G
Organized Noize
Pharoahe Monch
Bomb Squad
Bernard Edwards Jr.
Hollywood Impact
Ced-Gee
Dan The Automator
King Shameek
Dust Brothers
Kurtis Mantronik
Diamond D
No I.D.

The Story Behind J Dilla’s Donuts Album Cover

Semantik — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 01:38:12 +0000

Have you ever wondered how the cover for Donuts was made? Director Andrew Gura gives the backstory behind the Donuts along with some insight into why your video will most likely not get played on BET.

It turns out that at the time that the Donuts cover was being created there were no photos of Dilla that had not been seen by the public. In the end, a shot from MED’s video shoot for “Push” was used. See if you can catch it at :22 in the video and compare it with the final Donuts cover after the break.

one completely unexpected outcome of the project was as follows: months later when stones throw art director jeff jank was designing the cover for dilla’s 2006 ‘donuts,’ he realized that he had no unseen photos of dilla and that dilla’s failing health made taking a new photo impossible. so he asked me if there were any stills from the shoot that might work for a record cover.

Read the entire story at director Andrew Gura’s Flickr page.

Ayatollah – Fingertips (Cover, Tracklist, and Video)

Semantik — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 20:38:18 +0000

Producer Ayatollah (Mos Def, Ghostface, Pharoahe Monch) gets ready to drop his latest release entitled Fingertips on Nature Sounds records. The digital will be available on February 1st while the double vinyl version (his first pressing in over 5 years) will be available on February 22nd.

Preorder the vinyl over at Nature Sounds.

Tracklist and video after the break!

Fingertips Tracklist:

The Entrance
Some Superfly Shit
Brotherly Love
Change
The Battle
Listen To This
It Came From His Fingertips
Atlantis
Waiting For A Miracle
Nod Your Head
I Am What I Am
Funky Fresh
A Penny For Your Thoughts
Black
Taking A Walk
Illmatic
Nothing But The Best
Plain As Day
Could It Be Him
Relaxation

Fat Beats Founder Joe Abajian On The Store’s Legacy

Semantik — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 21:54:41 +0000

LA Stereo TV interviews Fat Beats owner and founder Joe Abajian to talk about how and why he started the business in July of 1994. Joe talks about how as a business student he first conceived of the idea for Fat Beats and how the store ultimately became known as a premier independent retailer.

Everything is the same in hip-hop, just like it is in business.

I was always like whatever I got for free I gave out for free.

Crate Kings Reader & Producer Appreciation Promo

Semantik — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 05:32:06 +0000

Hey everyone. It’s reader appreciation time here at Crate Kings!

As many of you already know, we receive a ton of submissions for beattapes, videos, and other projects. Unfortunately, there is simply not enough time to review each of them. To make things simple and fair, individual projects such as albums, mixtapes, or beattapes just haven’t been featured for quite some time.

A little while ago I came up with the idea to offer exposure for smaller projects and submissions. As a thank you to all loyal readers and up-and-coming producers, we’ve decided to offer ultra low cost advertising to each one of you.

For only 2 dollars per day you can have an ad for your project in the top right corner of the site (currently where you see the crown images). Yeah, that’s right. Only 2 dollars to have your project featured on the front page of Crate Kings for 24 hours!

Why only 2 dollars? Besides the fact that Better Off Dead is one of my all-time favorite movies, the idea is to implement a simple and somewhat effective filter. The goal is to keep the price low enough to allow anyone to take part and yet filter out those who are too cheap to spend 2 dollars of U.S. currency to promote their own project.

Who knows how long this will continue. It may last two days or twenty. It may become more trouble than it’s worth. We’ll see how it goes and if anyone finds it useful. If it goes well, we may continue or make adjustments as necessary, but for now just grab a spot while you can.

Simply click on the Advertise Here link or one of the crowns to your right and follow the steps. You’ll be able to upload one 125 x 125 image of your own design along with a link to your website or project download. Payments can only be made via PayPal.

As always, thanks for visiting and supporting Crate Kings!

– Semantik

Notes:

This offer is limited to unsigned and unestablished DJ’s and producers/beatmakers only. Vocalists, event promoters, established artists, and others with any sort of real budget will have their ad promptly rejected.
We’ll try to keep as many spots as possible open in the queue so a handful of people will not be able to monopolize the ad positions.
Three (3) ads will be featured at any given time. We may add up to six if things really begin to heat up and there’s demand for more positions.
If an issue becomes too complex or complicated, your 2 dollars will quickly be refunded. It’s only 2 dollars.

Fat Beats Closes Physical Store Locations (LA & NY)

Semantik — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 22:19:05 +0000

Unfortunately, the breaking news of the day is that all Fat Beats retail locations, which consist of NY and LA, have closed will close on September 4th and 18th respectively. Over the years Fat Beats has cultivated a reputation for being the center of the universe for hip-hop vinyl and in-store performances. While the store will continue to maintain an online existence, the physical locations will be sorely missed.

The Musical Legacy of J Dilla

Semantik — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 19:53:41 +0000

Pitchfork runs down its version of J Dilla’s musical legacy complete compete with timeslines and musical examples.

This inevitably brings us to a skeptical question: Why Dilla? Yancey’s death during a peak period of creativity has led to a lot of attempts to extend a relatively slept-on legacy– an ironic development for an artist whose most high-profile remixing job was of Janet Jackson’s “Got ‘Til It’s Gone”. His story has a lot of indie-lifestyle appeal, too: a fast rise defined more by sonic innovation than personality-cult gimmickry, a rule-breaking stylistic shift that mainstream fans and major labels rejected, and an artistic rebirth with a popular underground label.

Head over to Pitchfork to check out the complete article.