Action Bronson & Party Supplies – Blue Chips (2012) [Fool's Gold/Reebok] // Grade: A-

There is no grand entrance here. No “NEW YORK CITY MUTHAFUCKA,” at all. It’s almost like ambient rap. We’re not listening to a collection of songs, so much as an hour or so of raps with different beats. Bronson and Party Supplies aren’t building up a big monument to their throneliness and asking us to watch it. They’ve built a throne room and spread out a feast in it for us. No one is tellin you what to eat first, or where to sit. There is very little regard here for the more tangible effects of structure. We’re not being spoonfed some pre-chewed slop. This album probably could start on any one of its tracks, and still wind up sounding the same. And that’s because it’s not about the songs on the record, but the way that the sounds on the record give us an approximation of Bronson and Party Supplies’ lives. And further, it’s about the way that those sounds have not been inhibited. Bronson and Party Supplies have done away with the hip hop conventions of late, and opted instead to just make some art out of sounds and words. It’s not an easy feat to accomplish, but Bronson and Party Supplies have pretty much made an unhinged rap record without even trying to. There is very little evidence to suggest that these dudes did anything beyond live their lives, do some drugs, and make some tunes for a hot minute.

Now that is by no means a new concept, but it rarely yields something this listenable. Bronson’s raps are dense enough that after multiple listens you’re still catching new stuff, but also approachable enough that an unattentive listen is still captivating. Party Supplies’ beats on the other hand, are very straightforward, and as soon as you hear them you’re getting the full picture. And while straightforward can sometimes translate to boring, in Party Supplies’ case it’s much more the means for creating tunes that ride on a feeling moreso than a testament to their composer’s skills. They’ve reached this casual high ground on the strength of their ability to abide only the conventions they choose, and totally do away with the ones they feel are not productive. Doing a song until you get it without errors? Not a necessity for Bronson. I’m an incredibly shrewd rap critic too, but when Bronson flubbed a line on 9-24-11, then re-did it I didn’t balk. It was almost like I was listening to a Phil Elverum record. No time to care about conventions that are attempting to contain an artist busy overflowing the whole thing. And that whole taking a step back, and choosing what to do is basically the strong suit for this duo. They’ve found an engaging way to sidestep all the circumstantial bullshit that bogs down music with non-musical things. The result is a bunch of songs that don’t play by the rules, and overflow the categories that they’re supposed to fit into.

Action Bronson is a larger than life personality, witty, unapologetic, hilarious, et cetera but that’s nothing out of the ordinary. There are thousands (probably tens of thousands) of guys like that in New York City (they breed them). Dudes who seem to overflow whatever space you put them in, dudes that seem to bust up the room no matter who’s in it.  I’m sure you probabaly even know a few. Where Bronson is flat out of the ordinary though, is in the company of other rappers. While most rappers create an identity in rap, and then make music that supports that identity, Bronson simply steps back and lets his larger than life personality fill in, and overflow the songs. From rare meats, to raw hooliganism, to a wild sense of humor, to obscurist nerdish facts Bronson really runs the gamut when it comes to content. The result is an inarguably monumental NY Style, that has more to do with New York in New York than New York in rap. Blue Chips is the most recent in a growing discography, and I don’t think it’s a stretch to say it feels like the strongest depiction of Bronson yet. The record cites mid 90′s hip hop with an immaculate precision, but then obscures its own citation through the flippant permutations of the internet age of rap. If this record is happening in the present, then it should be hailed as proof of god by all those folks livin in the past, and revered as a holy grail by all those foks livin in the future. Very very nice work dudes.

Download Action Bronson & Party Supplies’ Blue Chips (Click Here)

Мишка Reebok Twilight Zone

Come friends, as we crack open the secret vault and take a peek into the land of misfit Мишка products. As you know, we put out quite a bit of stuff every year, with four full collections and numerous exclusives, collaborations, and one-off items to boot. What you may not know, is that not everything we design ends up seeing the light of day. For reasons tragic and varied, there’s a whole world of stuff that will never be. We’re gonna show you them.

This is the first installment in what will be an ongoing series where we take a look at some products that never made it off the launch pad. The first thing is this trio of sneakers that we cooked up with Reebok a couple of years ago. We’ve done a shoe in the past, but this would have by far been our biggest footwear project, and we were really excited about it. So much so that we still have the samples sitting forlornly around the office.

Alas, the main reason for doing the shoes also ended up being their downfall. Y’see, the whole idea started when Reebok approached us at Magic. Since Pumps had been kicked back and forth with retros for a few years now we told them that we’d be down on one condition… That the pump would be a fully molded Keep Watch eyeball. Genius! After all, who doesn’t want to furiously gouge away at an eyeball when tightening their sneakers? Reebok thought so too… or so we thought. The pump project would encapsule two styles. First up was the Omni, which would be a general release utilizing our classic Мишка colors for accents over an a black nubuck shoe with a gum sole. The final touch was  a grayscale allover print lining of our icons, like the background of our website.

Мишка Reebok Omni Pump

Style two was the hi-top Twilight Zone which would have been in white leather with black and grey paint speckles along with accents in our standard sea-foam and magenta. Like the Omni these too were to get that same pattern lining.

Awesome, right? But when the samples arrived, the Omni never came in nubuck or a gum sole, but that wasn’t really a big deal. We get samples made of the wrong material all the time. The main issue is that the Omni just had the standard Reebok pump, and the Twilight Zone had a standard pump with a Bear Mop printed on it. Uhh… what? We assumed there had just been some sort of misunderstanding. But after some e-mailing, the higher-ups got involved and responded that to make the new pumps would be too cost prohibitive to create a new mold. Sure a new mold would have cost some scratch but we use the same process to make everything from our keychains to vinyl toys. We knew it wouldn’t have been a cost prohibitive venture, especially when one of the shoe was going for general release. Hell we even offered to pay for the mold fees! When we did though they shifted tact.

Now it was was a branding issue, and they just weren’t about changing the basketball texture pump. Begrudgingly we accepted this as reasonable excuse but still not acceptable since that wasn’t the basis of why the project was started. There were offers of compromise in adding large garish Keep Watch eyeballs elsewhere on the shoe but that wasn’t the point of doing these. We knew that if we dropped a pump that didn’t have a Keep Watch eyeball as the pump you’d all have been like “You know what you guys should have done!? Made THE PUMP into a Keep Watch eyeball!” There was even an offer to just screenprint our Keep Watch eyeball over the basketball. Which was funny because it totally conflicted with the branding concern. If branding and identity are the concern why then cover it with a poor screenprint that we knew wouldn’t translate over the textured ball (as we could plainly see from the randomly placed bear mop on the Twilights).

The project died then and there and it stung because we knew we were denying the world a really, really, cool shoe.Seriously imagine a pump with the Keep Watch eyeball as THE PUMP!! That alone we felt was enough to make these one of the most coveted pumps in a minute. But Reebok felt otherwise. But as if that wasn’t enough Reebok threw salt in the still fresh wound a short time later by releasing a Basquiat Model Pump, which featured a custom rubber molded crown and which was definitely NOT their standard pump. Damn those miscreants!

Мишка Reebok Women’s Freestyle

The third model was a girls Reebok Freestyle which featured the allover lining from the pumps but in full color and plastered across the outside. These babies were loud n’ proud, but were  package deal with the Omnis and Twilight Zones and so these too were shelved along with the two pump styles. So there you have it. Мишка shoes from an alternate universe never to be.

We’d still gladly do these as long as the Pump is made into the Keep Watch eyeball. But I guess for that to happen you guys may need to jump in and start harassing Reebok. That’s the first installment of Declassified, see you next time with some more secret shit!

Big Baby Gandhi boutta munch down on the rap game like does his legally tender breakfast currency! The rising Greedhead futurestar just dropped his No 1 2 Look Up 2 mixtape on the earf and it’s good. Like… really good. Gandhi basically murders the whole thing with his crazy rhyme schemes and wonderfully emotive voice. Expect to hear a lotta noise about this tape.

The thing is also packed with dope production, from Gandhi himself to Heems‘ cohort Mike Finito, and a bunch o’ tracks from the wicked talented Hot Sugar. There’s also (of course) appearances from Das Racist, Lakutis, Fat Tony, and more. But the real star is definitely Big Baby Gandhi. Keep chowin’ down on those bills homie.

Download Big Baby Gandhi’s No 1 2 Look Up 2 (Click Here)

Well dang! It’s been a minute since I butt cheek titty fucked this particular column. Press Start! Column where we chat up the weekly happenings in the gaming world. I’ve been busy, okay? The sculpture of Casey Hudson I’ve been crafting made out of my own excrement and sticking pins into to punish him for Mass Effect 3′s ending won’t make itself. Lots of chicken finger plates. Lots of bowel movements. Lots of fun! What matters is that I’m here now. We’re all snuggled up, don’t sniff my fingers, and I’m about to rattle off five things that caught my eyes this week. Don’t see something you dug on the list? Good, this little community doesn’t work without your input. Let’s jam.

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#1: No One Knows When Super Mario Bros. Came Out In US
Super Mario Bros. dropped back in the day before the internet and the perpetual cataloging that seems so fucking standard these days. The 24/7 wind tunnel and news ticket and microscope hadn’t fully invaded the veins of Western Culture, and due to this wonky things could happen. Take this for example. No one knows when Mario’s first foray into preventing Lizard Rape occurred. Just mull that about in your brain-stem for a minute. These days we can catalog just about everything.  The quintessential jam dropped in Japan on October 12, 1985. Of this we are certain. But when it touched down in the Empire proper remains to be seen. Some people claim that same October, some think as far as the next March.

Where do I weigh in?

Man, I don’t know. I was three years old when the motherfucker dropped. All I knew is that I wanted to run quick like lightning, bashing goombas, and stop Bowser from laying urethra-destroying pipe in Peach. Since a young age I’ve fashioned myself a vigilante, stopping those in trouble. Unfortunately at such a nascent moment in my rotting history, I couldn’t manifest such a desire with aplomb. I mostly just sat around shitting my pants and playing Asteroids. The more things change, yo.

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#2: Journey Breaks PSN Sales Records
Mark this shit down as a moment for the minimalist experience! Journey dropped two weeks ago, and it has already wrested the crown of fastest-selling PSN game away from its competitors. Now, I’m going to pull down my pants and show you my warts. I haven’t played the game yet. I know. I ride the Fail Whale and shit. I’ve downloaded it though, and that has to count for something, right? Have I repelled your assaults? You stagger backwards with my repartee, grab a steel chair from underneath the ring and lay me out. I deserve this wailing. I was taken with the aforementioned Mass Effect 3, and then I dabbled a bit in the Alan Wake: American Nightmare. A small release unto its own right. Which…Sort of sucked. It felt the part of XBLA, but if it helps Remedy make a proper sequel on the next-gen swag, then my money wasn’t in vain. Take it. Take the cash.

Aside: This was also the week Fez got a release date. Fuck yeah.

(more…)

Mista Jam, a very well know DJ and Radio presenter for BBC Radio 1, recently came by our 350 Broadway store to pick up some gear. His show the Saturday Night Soundclash, is part of Radio 1 & Radio 1xtra’s on Saturday nights. He spins Dubstep, Grime, Hip Hop, R&B, Drum & Bass, House, Reggae Dancehall and pretty much everything in between. Sounds dope right?

His show is sometimes called “the key to the underground”, and features his personal picks for album of the week, and new dubstep releases you need to hear. Mista Jam even has a TV show on BBC Two called No Hats, No Trainers. The show gets into rap and electronic music, as well as DJ culture, and comedy. He delves into underground and mainstream music, trends, and culture from the UK and world wide. If I had cable TV I would be watching this show. Jam is rocking the super clean Old School Starter Snapback in Heather, and the Oversized Death Adder Crewneck in Black and Orange.

Мишка
350 Broadway
Brooklyn, NY
718-388-1725

J/M/Z to Marcy Ave.
G to Broadway
L to Lorimer

Madonna – MDNA (2012) [Interscope] // Grade: D

I was terrified MDNA was going to be dubstep. Then I heard it. And I wish it had been dubstep.

Make no mistake: The reference is there, in quick interludes and all sorts of wobbly suggestion. But what comes off most instantly, most overpoweringly, is bland and flatly produced Euro-trance, the whole boring mess of it punctuated with cutesy blasts of electro-pop. It might’ve felt relevant in 2007, when New Young Pony Club’s “Ice Cream” was the saucy little track du jour and David Guetta was suddenly a thing, but now? In the deep, cavernous EDM dregs of 2012? It sounds like Madonna doing an impression of Lady Gaga doing an impression of her. Dubstep, all jokes aside, would’ve been at least culturally reflective.

And this is a problem for my long-beloved Madge, one that transcends age or relative hipness or even motherhood and divorce. Though MDNA is reported to be Madonna’s big fuck-you to Guy Ritchie, it refuses to take any real risks in throwing that finger. Maybe that’s the product of a huge Live Nation deal designed primarily to sell a year’s worth of tickets. Maybe it’s too many advisers giving her too much epically bad advice. Or maybe this sort of hum-drum pseudo-dance bullshit — complete with the same hum-drum, self-referential and nauseatingly “modern” lyrics found on 2003’s American Life — is just what Madonna likes. There’s no accounting for taste, even when producers like William Orbit and the Benassi Bros. seem to be sorta-kinda trying. But to hear a woman who’s historically led the mass consumption curve — or, at the very least, been right on target; see 2005’s American Apparel-chic Confessions on a Dance Floor — suddenly tumble five years behind it is disappointing at best. The Madonna era, the era I’ve inhabited and adored since second grade, since “Lucky Star” and “Express Yourself” and “Vogue” and even 1994’s new-jack swing-inspired “Secret” — that era, long verging collapse, seems to have finally and officially ended.

I could take you track by track through this saccharine energy-suck, but you don’t want to read it, and I don’t want to write it. Suffice to say that M.I.A. and Nicki Minaj do little to save the cheerleader-cute, post-Toni Basil (post-Gwen Stefani) “Give Me All Your Luvin’.” And “Gang Bang,” though ostensibly trying to channel the vibe of violence and illicit sex in dark warehouses, just comes off like a hastily spruced-up (and humiliatingly “urban”) Erotica sketch. There’s a touch of merit to the undulating octaves of “I’m Addicted,” but the Ritchie-pointed “I Don’t Give a” and “I’m a Sinner” read like a 13-year-old girl’s diary; just substitute “prom” and “football field” for “marriage” and “babysitter.” Madonna’s lyrics have always been an issue, culminating in the soy latte/double shot-ay snafus of 2003, but they’ve previously had some commercial-hook merit to cover the embarrassment. Now it’s just Madge shoving out songs because she has to, because some dude with a double shot-ay in hand told her that a divorce record would not only sell a fuck-ton but also bolster sales (and budget) for a set of grandiose performances. The fire inherent in Madonna’s being, that seething, burning, sexy grasp of a thing we witnessed as late as Ray of Light, even as late as “Die Another Day,” has been bluntly extinguished. And maybe even dubstep couldn’t have saved it. Maybe, sadly, it can no longer be saved.

Com Truise – Terminal

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The Church of Synth – Geh Ins Licht

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Pwin Teaks & The Children of The New H – The Children of The Showroom Dummies

Check out this tight performance Killer Mike, Despot,  Mr. Muthafuckin eXquire, and El-P threw down at SXSW. Seriously, how much cool shit was going on there? Dayom. Well, we have the video evidence of this rowdy performance. Complete with a bear hug, and chest pound from eXquire, it’s sure to please.

It all happened at the Mohawk, in Austin, Tx. And it looks like they were having a mad good time. Brooklyn bred El-P from Company Flow raps side by side with eXquire, and then Killer Mike and Despot come out to tear things down even further. Catch the vibe, and ride with it.

Hey Japanese friends! Based on what people keep telling me about these “time differences” I do believe that it’s Friday already in the wondrous city of Tokyo. That means that it’s officially the two year anniversary of our store there. Greg and Lamour are currently in effect at the shop, overseeing the installation of a brand new storefront. The last one had moving parts, so you know this has to be something real special to top it.

We’re having a big party to celebrate the anniversary, so get on over to Shibuya to check out a bunch of awesome dj’s and shenanigans and whatnot. We’ve got Akihiro Namba from Hi-Standard, Hikaru from Bounty Hunter, and much much more. It’s the party that two years deserves.

Friday March 30th, 2012
Мишка Tokyo
3-28-5 Jingumae
Shibuya, Tokyo, 150-0001

The store might be right in the heart of Brooklyn, but for one night next week 350 Broadway is becoming an honorary outpost of Queens, for what’s sure to be a very memorable performance by trio Children of The Night celebrating the release of their new album, Queens… Revisited. The album came out earlier this week, and we couldn’t be happier excited (judging by the reception neither could you).

As you probably know, Children of the Night are part of the larger Queens collective World’s Fair, who can thrown down huge venues. So imagine what seeing COTN in the incredibly intimate setting of 350 Broadway is going to be like? Nasty Nigel, Remy Banks, and Lansky Jones are three of New York’s rising rap stars, and the fact that they all work together makes it even better. So grab Queens… Revisited below, gird yourselves for tomorrow’s release, and we’ll see you at the store on Friday!

Friday March 30th, 2012, 7PM
Мишка
350 Broadway
Brooklyn, NY

J/M/Z to Marcy
L to Lorimer
G to Broadway