Loop Diggin' Thursdays, 8.23.07.
Posted by Phil Watts, Jr on 08.23.2007
Doombot sitting in San Francisco; was thwarted away by flying bottles!! Also, KRS's brother Kenny Parker recalls PM Dawn's involuntary stagediving incident!
I met this kid…he seemed righteous...represented knowledge. Yeah, him and his brother they was real smart. But then his brother died and he was taken in by a Grand Master...and from what I hear this kid Sambo was a snake, a rat---he stole shit and ran away to another state! Microchip bitch!
"I am making the rounds everywhere I can to expose the scam that MF Doom tried to run in California this past week. I went to his show in SF at the Independent and it was a circus. Someone with Doom's mask took the stage but it was clearly not Victor as this dude was a little shorter and had no sign of the pot belly that Doom has (and still had when I checked out his NY Rock the Bells performance on YouTube.) This impostor tried to lip sync through the set, but people started to catch on quickly and the "performers" just cut out after less than 20 minutes. I thought it was strange that the management at Independent announced before "Doom" took the stage that there was to be "no cameras, video, or cell phone cameras of any kind". This is standard, but it's never been announced so adamantly. Team Doom was hoping to pull a fast one. They did this in L.A. a few days before coming north to SF. I have lost all respect for MF Doom. He is now Milli Vanilli to me. But at least those jokers showed up and danced! This dude was probably still partying in New York while his entourage tried to cover for him and collect the money. Sorry Victor. Didn't work. Now your name is tainted forever. Don't support this impostor. We need to clean up Hip Hop." (from the UGHH.com message boards)
Zev Luv X, used to be merry
The mask took control of you like Jim Carrey
Megalon, tap him in the jaw--Knock it off him
M.I.C. got to put your mask in a coffin
Mos Def, De La soul, Roots can't revive you
When the bullets start flying, who's gonna hide you?
Rhymesayers, Stones Throw, Nature Sounds signed you
Make peace with you? Zev, I tried to…
"Doom has recently been accused of fake appearances at concerts, most notably in Los Angeles on August 12th and San Francisco on August 15th 2007. It is rumored that a member of Doom's entourage appeared on stage wearing the mask lip syncing through a twenty minute set. Opening acts for the San Francisco show confirmed that the microphone used by "Doom" was not plugged in. Enraged, fans in San Francisco began hurling bottles at the stage." (straight from Wikipedia)
Midgets Into Crunk--Monkeys In a Cage
Murderers In a Cut fucking you up on stage
Tell them about the time that Gunn punched you in the face
Basically you was hating and then you ran away
You ain't a man, you a character
I bet that mask make you feel a lot scarier
Cause man to man is your doom like we're parallels
M.I.C. will see you soon at your burial
Listen Vicky you not goons, you cartoons
Your hype man is not Grimm, that's not him
What you speak is not true, that's not you
Your team's weak, I'll pop them, then pop you
Smog made ya mask; Jet Jag made your name
M.I.C. gave you life and we can take that shit away!
So I ended up being the opening DJ for the MF Doom show at the Independent last night. The show started off just fine--I played, Pigeon John played, I did another half-hour or so after Pigeon John, everything went along smoothly--then Doom took the stage. Or rather, "Doom" took the stage. That dude with the mask and the mic was:
1) lip-synching
2) not actually MF Doom
The only thing that was actually live about the show was the hypeman's mic. Everything else ran straight off a recording, and fake Doom pretended to rap and walked up and down the stage doing rapper hands. He faked his way through a set of about 20 minutes, walked off the stage, and jetted out the back door.
For this, people paid $28. They were fucking pissed, booing and throwing bottles onstage and shit. I would be, too. I ended up jumping back on again because, well, somebody had to do something.
There's supposed to be another show tonight, in part because last night's show sold out so quickly. I'm not totally sure it's going to happen, though. As of right now, it is, and if it is, then I'll go play it, but I damn sure ain't gonna be hyping dude up on the mic. Unless I can do some finger-quotes action like: We got "MF Doom" in the house, and he's going to be "performing""live" on stage! (DJ Enki, "Doom"s opening act DJ, on the Soulstrut board)
What the fuck happened to you man? You fell the fuck off man. Niggaz used to love you, Mothafucka! Come home man...come home, Zev. Don't let them niggaz brainwash you man. I know your fans love you man. They love you. You getting brainwashed…
What the fuck, Zev…what the fuck?!
It looks like Doom tried to take another page out of Dr. Doom's playbook and send Doombots to various locations to fool people into thinking it was him while he lounges in his castle. Needless to say, that idea blew up in his face. I mean…how the hell did he expect to get away with some dumb-ass shit like this?! Seriously.
Now don't get me wrong: I liked this knucklehead ever since he rolled with 3rd Base giving the "GASFACE" to MC Hammer. I liked his transformation from mild mannered Muslim Zev Love X to the megalomaniacal super-villain MF Doom. OPERATION DOOMSDAY, MM…FOOD, his shit with the Monstah Island Czars (the M.I.C.), his shit with both Madlib (MADVILLAIN) and Dangermouse (DANGERDOOM). However, Zev has been acting funny the past few years. It's bad enough that he pretty much gave the finger to Grimm and his boys (You know it's a bad sign when you turn your back on the people that helped you get to where you are), but to trying to pull some GET RICH WITHOUT TRYING shit like this? Sorry, Zev…you done fucked up, kid. Even worse, salvaging his name is going to be an uphill battle. He's already gotten promoters pissed off at that Doombot stunt, and with that mask, it's a bit difficult for a lot of people to tell whether he's lip synching or not. And even if he unmasked in front of the audience, any new fans would still be iffy about it since they've never seen him unmasked in his KMD days…although a quick look at Wiki or Youtube would solve that (even though after this stunt, most of those fans wouldn't be that encouraged to find out).
And to think, people just got finished dealing with Lauryn Hill jerking them.
"Hard to earn…harder to hold on to…easy to lose." That's pretty much been the running theme for 2007.
****
You love to hear the story again and again…
I know that some of you have heard of that altercation that involved KRS-One and the coffeshop rap duo PM Dawn. Some of you only heard little bits and pieces of it. Depending on who you talk to, this was either one of the funniest moments in Hip-Hop or a moment that symbolized the end of conscious revolutionary Hip-Hop.
KRS's brother and BDP's resident DJ/Producer Kenny Parker was interviewed by UnKut.com where he went into great detail about the incident, including some of the people who were there, what was supposed to happen, what ACTUALLY happened, and the crowd's reaction. Here is a little bit of that interview:
...When Kris was doin' a interview, he heard about PM Dawn. A writer say "So how do you feel about PM Dawn dissin' you?" and he was like "I don't know what you talking about". The guy repeated what he said in the article, so Kris was like "Damn! Now I got a dude like PM Dawn tryin' to diss me! And he said my name! What's goin' on? OK, now I'm gettin' pissed off".
So now that was the climate. It just so happens that maybe two weeks or a week after he heard this, I found this flyer at some party, and it was the MTV party. I think it was Leaders of the New School, Nice & Smooth, Supercat and PM Dawn, and I think somebody else was on the bill. And I came to Kris with the flyer, we were in the studio, and I said, "Yo, PM Dawn got this show!" So he was like "You know what? I'm gonna go there and I'm gonna challenge him right there on stage. I'mma throw on a couple of my records, hype up the crowd, them I'mma challenge him to battle me right there." That was the initial mindset. "I'm gonna go up there, and I'm gonna be like ‘KRS One's a teacher, a teacher of what?' I'm gonna show you right now", and that's that. That was the initial mindset that we talked about - me, Kris and Willie D. The show was five days later, so we was like OK, some of us is gonna go down to the place and we was gonna meet a couple of other people, and we was gonna go in. So I think the initial people that went down there - Freddie Foxx was supposed to meet us, but he never showed up - it was me, it was Kris, it was [BDP's] Willie D, it was ICU, it was Just-Ice. I don't remember if K-Def was there, but I know Larry-O was there - I'm gonna say both of ‘em were there, but I'm sure Larry-O was there.
So we initially got there - there was, say, nine of us - initially went to the club. Now [UMC's] Kool Kim was sayin' twenty dudes came on stage with all hoodies and black shirts on. It wasn't even that organised, like we were all gonna wear the same clothes or whatever. We just hooked-up and we went. Kris actually had a hoody on that day, 'cause I remember he came in the club - we came in there early - and Kris doesn't usually hang out in clubs unless he's trying to get on and rock - so for him to just come to a club and hang-out was out of his norm. I remember he came there, we sat in the corner by the stage and he had a hood over his head and he was just chillin'. We chilled there for about two hours.
UnKut.com: Was he wearing the hood so no one would recognize him?
Yeah, he was tryin' to be on the low. We was just chillin' there with the crowd, but you couldn't really see him. But the stupidity was, I was just there chillin'! So people that knew me, they'd be looking to see Kris! [laughs] So it was really stupid, that was the stupidity. A couple of guys we knew were in there and they're like "Yo Kris, what's goin' on?" and he's like "Yo, PM Dawn tried to diss me! I'm gonna run-up on his set", so they was like "OK, we're down". So now nine or ten became fifteen. Then we saw [Naughty By Nature's] Treach and ‘em - and we was like "We're gonna run-up on stage", so of course Treach is down, and of course they was deep as hell, so now fifteen becomes twenty-five! I'm not gonna say Naughty was down with us to rush PM Dawn, but if Kris is like "Yo, I'm goin' on stage, it's about to happen", then Treach is like "Whatever, I'm wit'chu". That's how I recall it, I don't wanna put words in Treach's mouth. And Latifah was there too. So we had two plans. The first plan involved me - to get control of the DJ both. "By any means necessary - Kenny, you get control of the booth". That was it, that was the only real plan we had. And Kris says "When I get the mic, you throw on "Still #1'". So that was the plan. So I had a couple of guys with me, we went to the DJ booth around twenty minutes before PM Dawn was meant to go on. I had never even seen him, I didn't even know he was in the place. Clark Kent was deejaying, so I went up there and I said to Clark: "In about ten minutes I'm gonna need the turntables for a second", and he was kinda reluctant. I guess he thought like I was tryin' to get on his set - like he was the DJ for the night and because it was a packed crowd, I just wanted to get on. He had a look like "C'mon man, I'm deejayin' up here!" So I was like "Look, something's about to happen, Kris is about to run on stage. I need to be set-up and I need to be ready." He was like "Aight, cool", and he wasn't deejayin' at that moment 'cause there was shows goin' on. So we chilled. I think Leaders went on first, then there was a break and I'm like "Is PM Dawn goin' on?" Then PM Dawn comes on stage and starts doin' his show - and nothing happens! So I'm like "Aww man, Kris backed-out. He's not gonna do it". I remember I had "Still #1? on a big acetate, 'cause there was no instrumental of "Still #1? on wax. It's really hard to cue-up those acetates - I had to keep checking to see if it was ready, 'cause you have to really move it to get it started. In my mind I'm like "Yo, this acetate is gettin' on my nerves! What is Kris doin? Is he gonna do it? What's goin' on?" Then all of a sudden, "Set Adrift On Memory Bliss" comes on, and PM Dawn starts doin' his thing,
...and then you see Kris comin' up---
…and THEN------
…you'll have to go to UnKut.com for the REST of the story! What? You think I'm going to deny them some hits by swiping the whole thing? Nah, my brother--they put in too much work for that! Trust me---it's worth it!
****
Remember Q-Tip? That loveable squirrelly-sounding muthafucka that fronted for some 3 (or 4) man Tribe called Quest? Who'da thought that it's been nearly 8 years since AMPLIFIED, where Tip sounded like a complete MORON throughout it, while J-Dilla carried him by the hand through most of the record. A lot has happened to him during those 8 years, as he's been trying to put out not one, not two, but THREE projects (KAMAAL THE ABSTRACT, OPEN, and RENAISSANCE), only to be held up by mountains of red tape and various record label bullshit. Ever since he first told us about Industry Rule #4080, he's been unable to get that monkey off his back.
He was recently interviewed by the wonderful people at AllHipHop.com, where he goes over this and other foolishness:
AllHipHop.com: I know in the past you struggled with the concept of the "Alternative Hip-Hop" title. Do you feel that after almost two decades, we've gotten past that at all?
Q-Tip: [Sighs] No, because those executives are still executives, [laughs] who come up with those phrases. So until they're gone – you would think that the people who commandeer these positions in these records companies have to be somewhat of a people person and deal with so many genres and the cross-collateralization of music would not be so one-dimensional in their appraisals of this s**t. They come up with the same terms. Just yesterday I had this meeting, and the executives said "this backpack s**t." I'm like, "Dude! Okay, I may still rock a backpack here and there, but what the f**k does that mean? I can't do a tequila shot? Do I have to like eat barley and read The Isis Papers and burn frankincense and myrrh and give the salaam?"
I definitely agree with him on that. The fact that he's signed to Motown, which is currently headed by Kedar Masenburg (the guy that looked at the efforts of D'Angelo, Maxwell, and Badu and created his own title to pigeonhole it in: NEO-SOUL) doesn't help. It's no wonder that he's been having problems over there. Plus, I could never understand that 'backpack' title. Yeah, I have a backpack. What does that have to do with my musical tastes?
I'm tellin' everybody out there right now…if you walk up to me in the street and disrespect me, I'm not gonna walk away and be like, "I'm sorry brother. I will pray for you." If you put your hands on me, I'm gonna try to knock you the f**k out! [Laughs] [Phil: Damn, Tip…] That's just what it is. I'm just a regular person. The categories and all of that stuff, they could be damaging. We should try to steer clear of those things. It even works against me sometimes, because if I do something that doesn't sound "Tribe-ish" or when I said "vivrant thing, vivrant thing" the people are like, "Dude that's so not Tribe; so uncool." Dude…reinventing. Especially in Hip-Hop, because it's harder for Black folks to accept reinvention and accept growth, I think. I'm speaking from the inside in, obviously. When I look at people like Bowie or Madonna, they're allowed the freedom to reinvent and still grow. I think just now we're starting to be that, but for a long period of time, the categories have almost been like shackles. We have to free ourselves of all of that stuff.
Uh…that's where I have to stop. That screams of generalizing. To think, people were so ‘unaccepting' of Marvin Gaye's change from "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" to "What's Going On" that they scrounged up 2.5 million copies of "What‘s Going On"! Furthermore, we all agree that Common's LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE and ELECTRIC CIRCUS were huge departures from his work with No ID…and yet, why was it that CHOCOLATE was universally accepted (garnering his first plaque, by the way) while CIRCUS was rejected? Simple--CHOCOLATE was a decent record with songs that everyone felt, while CIRCUS was garbage! Which brings us to Tip--It's not that people wanted to just HATE-HATE-HATE on AMPLIFIED just because he wanted to make a light-hearted party record…it's that Q-Tip sounded like a fuckin' imbecile the whole time! "Y'all ain't nothing' but bush leaguers/and I bet ya y'all ain't getting' no bush either"?! That's REINVENTION?! Please, Negro. Then his KAMAAL album leaked and people were furious. But again, it's not that people wanted to HATE-HATE-HATE on it just because he wanted to expand his horizons by singing with a live band this time out…it's that his band SUCKED and Tip CANNOT SING!
If Tip is that desperate to experiment and reinvent himself, he should've just moved to Cali and signed with Stones Throw. You don't hear Madlib complaining about his record label not letting him do anything, do you?!
He also talked about his acting career. Remember when he was hanging around with Nicole Kidman for a while? That's because they were working on a movie together. And whatever happened to that movie?
Q-Tip: Oh, well…there was a problem with that. [Laughs] I did that movie; it was great. Then the director got fired. They re-shot it, and there was three other main parts that got cut, and of course the rapper gets hacked. I'm a cutting room floor casualty. Hey, but it happens to everybody. It happened to [Robert] DeNiro, not to compare myself to him. It happens to everybody, so it was just my turn. It's all good, because I can't tell you how optimistic I am for things to come. I'm not discouraged by that at all.
AllHipHop.com: Are you currently reading any other scripts?
Q-Tip: Yeah I'm looking at a couple of scripts I am looking at that are interesting actually. We've gotta wait and see. It's the Hollywood thing…hurry up and wait.
You can check out the rest of the interview RIGHT HERE. His latest project, RENNAISSANCE, is set to be released near the end of this year…label situation depending, of course.
*****
That's it for this week. Remember--IDENTITY THEFT AIN'T NO JOKE. I have more respect for a stick-up kid on the street than I do anyone who tries that shit. At least they have the balls to actually approach you and take your money, instead of doing some sneak shit through the internet.
