After nearly twenty years in the game,  Organized Noize doesn’t get their due respect.  Their prolific works still manage to be overlooked despite the three-man production team playing an instrumental role  in the creation of widely-accepted classic albums, number one hits and Grammy-winning records, as well as breaking some of the most important artists in Hip-Hop.

Rico Wade, Ray Murray and Sleepy Brown helped pioneer the Southern Hip-Hop movement, kicking down doors at major record labels and raising the ceiling for all artists from below the Mason-Dixon at a time when the industry and nation were still resistant to Southern sounds. They brought us one of the greatest collectives in the history of Hip-Hop, the Dungeon Family, while introducing Outkast and Goodie Mob to the world. They produced the entirety of Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik and Soul Food, not to mention platinum hits for TLC and En Vogue, and even completed songs with Curtis Mayfield. One would think that would be enough to land them a permanent spot in the “Greatest Hip-Hop Producer of All Time” conversation, but all too often Ray, Rico and Sleepy seem to be an afterthought.

It was with this line of thinking in mind that this mix was created. The trio doesn’t rap (though Sleepy Brown has several albums under his belt), and aren’t the most vocal in the media. They let their music do the talking, and Out Of The Darkness operates along the same lines. In 80 minutes, 50 tracks lay out a compelling case for Organized Noize’s inclusion when Hip-Hop fans are speaking of the royal family of production: Dre, RZA, Premier, Pete Rock and the other usual suspects. No less an authority than Big Rube (for the uninitiated, Rube is the voice of the spoken word pieces on classic records from Aquemini to Sir Lucious Leftfoot, as well as the intro to the Future’s Pluto) narrates the disc, helping guide listeners through two decades of productions ranging from the layers of soulful live instrumentation in “Waterfalls” and the early Outkast material to the hard-hitting drums of “They Don’t Dance No Mo” and “Watch For The Hook.”

The project is co-presented by Devil’s Pie, TSS, 2DopeBoyz and Maurice Garland.com, and the amazing cover artwork was illustrated and designed by illadelphsouL (prints can be purchased here). It’s impossible to capture the breadth of Organized Noize’s discography in 50 tracks, but this mix attempts to provide a starting place for listeners to develop their understanding of one of the most underrated production teams in Hip-Hop history.

Download — Trackstar The DJ – Out Of Darkness: The Best Of Organized Noize (Hosted By Big Rube)

I got in earlier and left later this year, mostly due to a sweet deal on Southwest, but also partially because I had more responsibilities than ever. Rockwell Knuckles had 8 scheduled shows, plus a showcase with Killer Mike, the GOP Party, HoopxHang, and Noisemakers with Peter Rosenberg and Nas. I actually had to turn down some pretty dope events with good people because my schedule was just too crazy. #goodproblems

First show was with Rocky at the Gypsy Lounge for Brooklyn Bodega & Couch Sessions’ Circus event. The bill had some super dope acts on it (Electric Wire Hustle, Pharoahe Monch, Nneka, BJ The Chicago Kid), but unfortunately like so many other SXSW shows, we had to bolt right after our performance (which was the first of the day, and delayed by an extra-long soundcheck by superstar crooner Miguel, who performed later in the on).

After heading to the convention center to pick up Rockwell’s artist wristband and free goodies, we hit up 6th street where I ran into Black Spade and a few other STLiens. Spade and I proceeded to the Lustre Pearl for the Life or Death PR/HipHopDX/Mshka/RAP Music showcase (major shouts to Ashley from Adult Swim/Williams St). After Action Bronson, Mr. Motherfxcking Exquire and a super wild band named Trash Talk did their respective things, Prodigy took the stage, rocking solo work, Mobb Deep classics, and featuring an appearance by Big Noyd.

^Prodigy of the infamous Mobb Deep

After Prodigy it was time for Killer Mike’s headlining set. Mike had just gotten a tooth pulled so he was in pain and having trouble even talking before the show, but once he took the stage he was as professional as ever and the crowd wouldn’t have known he was having any issues had he not explained that “my dentist told me not to perform, and I told him ‘Doctor Fxck You’”. We went through the normal array of throught-provoking bangers and Southern classics, with one surprise–halfway through the set he brought out El-P for “Butane” and “Big Beast” off their new collaborative album “Rebellious African People’s (R.A.P.) Music”. It was their first time onstage together, and it was an honor to be present for the moment.

^Killer Mike, El-P, and my neck

Post-show note: IHOP never tastes as good as after a 12 hour day of walking and performing.

Thursday started early, since DJ Lowkey and I were the house DJs for the 4th annual Smoking Section/Nahright/KnuckleRumbler GOP Party at Peckerheads. It turns out our services weren’t needed for most of the day, so we spent most of the time chopping it up with the many, many bloggers, rappers, DJs and fans that congregated out front on 6th street. Eventually I bounced to check out a gifting suite at the W Hotel. I didn’t get any free stuff but I did meet Mannie Fresh, who was very down to earth and friendly.

From there it was back to Peckerheads where Rocky was performing at the MTV2 Sucker Free/Closed Sessions Digital Freshness party. This show ended up being one of the highlights of the weekend, as it was a capacity crowd (including a good 30 or so STLiens) and new material off the upcoming Take Me To Your Leader was incredibly well-received. The energy was crazy, we had a ton of fun onstage, and it sure seemed like the crowd felt the same way.

^my view of the packed house at Digital Freshness

Plus, Rocky brought Tony Williams (from G.O.O.D. Music, sang hooks on “Spaceship”, “We Major” and many more for Kanye) out for their as-of-yet unreleased collaboration “Pouring Rain”–it’s always cool to be onstage with such an accomplished artist. Check out the recap of the event on MTV.com.

After some much-needed dinner, we headed to the Scottish Rite for the Geffen/Interscope showcase for Rocky’s 1:30am set. My dude Peter Rosenberg was hosting alongside Lowkey from UHeardThatNew.com, and although the room was still filling up and there was sound issues still being ironed out, Rocky did his thing, bringing Tony Williams out again. Industry folks like Green Lantern, Kevin Liles and DJ Drama were in the building, so it was definitely a good look.

^Rockwell and The World Famous Tony Williams at the Geffen showcase

Friday started with a quick set DJing for another KnuckleRumbler act, God-des and She. Unfortunately the venue did not have turntables, so I was basically pressing play on iTunes, but it was still a good time. From there I stopped at Deco Lounge to catch Dirty Glove Bastard’s party just in time to catch Indeed (the first group on DJ Burn One’s new label). They did their thing, with guitarist Ricky Fontaine up to his usual rockstar maneuvers.

^Ricky Fontaine doing his Ricky Fontaine thing

From Deco it was back to Peckerheads, where Rocky, Tef and I did our thing yet again during an event called Vaya Con Tacos, impressing a high-energy crowd mostly full of fans new to the Rockwell experience. It was a productive time, and Brother Ali–always a good show–was set to perform next, but of course we had to head directly out the door to Sean Falyon’s Red Cup Party down the street. Plenty of familiar names on the bill and familiar faces in the building, so Red Cup was a guaranteed good time–plus Falyon demanded Rocky perform “All Aboard”, which wasn’t on the setlist, so this particular show included surprises for everyone.

^Vaya Con Tacos

After hanging out for a bit and catching my breath, I headed to The Belmont for the Def Jam Live showcase where I would be spinning while Peter Rosenberg interviewed Nas live onstage.

^Salute Gotty for this dope pic

It was an incredible experience, the anticipation for Nas’ arrival was insane and there was some impressive performances from the opening acts. I was already a fan of Kid Daytona and had met Nemo Achida the previous night at the Geffen showcase, but Denzil Porter really impressed me–I’ll be on the lookout for more from him. Some artist from Cleveland performed last before the interview, and brought out Machine Gun Kelly. They performed a song about Rossi, and for some god-awful reason thought it was fun to cover the entire stage–INCLUDING THE TURNTABLES, CDJS, and $1200 MIXER–with the beverage. Fortunately my laptop wasn’t in harm’s way, otherwise there would have been a serious problem. Pricks.

^it still makes me mad just to look at the pics

Eventually word came that Nas was on his way, and I warmed up the crowd with some standards (T.R.O.Y., Triumph, the usual), then ten minutes of Nas classics before Peter brought Nas to the stage.

Click here to view the embedded video.

It was unbelievable being six feet from an artist I had spent countless hours listening to over the last 17 or so years, an absolute honor. I’m grateful that Peter and his brother Nick extended the opportunity–it’s not every day you get a chance to be onstage with an honest-to-goodness Hip Hop God, someone who would be on the Mount Rushmore of MCs. Nas was slow to warm up but once the interview got rolling, Nas really opened up and shared some great insight into his career.

^6 feet from frickin Nas

^my view

After the interview, Nas announced that AZ was in the building while I repeatedly played his new single “The Don” (on orders lol)…at one point he hinted that he wanted to rap, but the Def Jam higher-ups shut down that idea quite quickly.

^I’m on the right

After Nas left, Big K.R.I.T. and Wally Sparks absolutely tore the stage down. New tracks off the 4Eva and a Day mixtape hit just as hard as I expected live, and it was a great show. Asher Roth and DJ Wreckineyez had just taken the stage when I took off to meet some folks to catch a ride. I got caught up talking to Brother Ali outside the Duck Down showcase, and long story short I made a serious of poor decisions that resulted in my walking about 3 miles back to where I was staying, wearing my 30-lb DJ backpack. It was terrible, but the incredible night I’d just had at The Belmont eased my pain.

That long walk didn’t bode well for HoopxHang, which was the first stop on Saturday. My new team featured L.A. journalist Jeff Weiss and RT-Faq, an MC from The Force crew repping East St Louis, who I may or may not have gotten incredible scouting reports on and recruited sight unseen. Our first game was against Ro Blvd, Thurz and Skotch Davis, and it was a hard-fought game but RT-Faq proved himself as dynamic as his reputation and we took the victory. The second game was against Team Hardknock TV with Nick Huff, DJ Hyphen and Carl Chery from XXL. They had finished second in the tournament last year, and I knew going into the game that Huff and Hyphen were quite legit. It turned out Carl could play as well, and although we put up a good battle, they beat us and sent us to the consolation bracket. Read Carl’s HxH recap here and the TSS recap here.

^RT-Faq, Jeff Weiss, myself. Next year’s HxH champs.

The third game was redeeming, as we won by a decent margin and I got hot, hitting a few three-pointers in a row (as a streaky shooter, a hot streak at HoopxHang is all I ever wanted, so I was happy). Hardknock TV ended up winning the title over Smoker’s Club, so we took solace in the fact that there’s no shame in losing to the champion.

From HoopxHang we rolled to SXMW2, the STL-centric showcase at The Eastern. Unfortunately since it began at 2pm and HoopxHang didn’t end until almost 5, I missed most of the performances, but it was great to see all my people in one place, and catch sets from Hawthorne Headhunters, Lyfestile, Family Affair, Kash and Gotta Be Karim among others before rocking with Tef Poe and Scotty (an MC out of ATL who I met through Burn One–real good music). It was amazing having so many STL folks together–I kept saying it was just like the poster shop in The Loop (our regular hangout spot in 2003-5 or so), minus a few key players. Who knows when we’ll have that much of the whole crew in one place again so it was great…

^this is but a quarter of the STL crew reppin hard in Austin

After another Jimmy Johns stop, we mobbed over to The Dope House, 2Dopeboyz dance party collaboration with The Well Versed. The party was very cool, and after greeting Shake and Meka we rolled back out to the final Rockwell performance, promising to return to the Dope House afterwards.

Rocky’s last show at Malaia was another smash, as folks came in off the street, and down from the upstairs room to check out our presentation. Incredible energy, and a lot of relief when it was done, since it was the very last of so many responsibilites over four days.

^Rocky’s official showcase at Malaia

^my view at Malaia

We headed back to The Dope House about 20 deep and celebrated the end of a great week. It’s about a week later and I’m starting to feel recovered but you already know I can’t wait for next year to roll around.

Random notes:

*Major shout to the dozens of STL folks who made our presence known everywhere we went in Austin. I think the solidarity was very impressive, and I hope we bring twice as many people next year. I think I speak for Rocky and Tef when I say we are VERY grateful for the support.

*In case you’re interested, check our Rocky’s latest project here and Killer Mike’s leaks off his upcoming album (produced entirely by El-P): “Untitled” and “Big Beast” feat Trouble, TI and Bun B.

*Worth a read: David D, Beware and Chan-Lo post about 10 Things They Learned at SXSW.

*Oh yeah, I also met WWE wrestler Mark Henry backstage at the Nas event:

^I’m on the left

*Eating at SXSW (at least when you have as many responsibilities as I had) is about keeping things comfortable, so I ate Jimmy John’s and Extreme Pita about four times each lol. Food from the street vendors is often delicious but comes with it’s own unique risks, so I played it safe.

*Photo credits: John Gotty, Icy Mike, Hip Hop Mike, Lyfestile, Nice Kicks, sorry if I missed someone

Wed 3/14
1:45pm The Circus @ Gypsy Lounge w/ Rockwell Knuckles
9pm Destroy All Parties @ 21st St Co-op w/ Rockwell Knuckles
1am Life or Death @ Lustre Pearl w/ Killer Mike

Thu 3/15
12pm-8pm Smoking Section/Nahright/Knucklerumbler GOP Party @ Peckerheads (house DJ)
10pm MTV2 Sucker Free & Closed Sessions present Digital Freshness @ Peckerheads w/ Rockwell Knuckles

Fri 3/16
3pm-5pm Red Cup Party @ The Dorm Room w/ Rockwell Knuckles
4pm Vaya Con Tacos @ Peckerheads w/ Rockwell Knuckles
8pm DefJamLive @ Belmont (DJ for Noisemakers w/ Nas)

Sa 3/17
12pm-4pm HoopxHang basketball tournament @ TBA
6pm SXMW @ The Eastern w/ Tef Poe, Gotta Be Karim, Skipp Coon, etc
10:50pm Official SXSW show @ Malaia w/ Rockwell Knuckles

T.I. vs Michael Eric Dyson
originally posted 7/3/08

“The last great debate I had was with Michael Eric Dyson”-Killer Mike, That’s Life
“I know you’re going through it, know I’m going through it too”-T.I., A Better Day

Last weekend I was lucky enough to witness, in the span of about 20 hours, two of Black America’s foremost public leaders address their constituents live and in person.

Friday night, at the University of Missouri-St Louis, Michael Eric Dyson spoke at the Black Radical Congress’ 10th Anniversary opening ceremony, to a crowd, presumably mostly Black radicals or at least inclined towards Dyson’s way of thinking, who had paid to see him speak. He addressed Barack Obama’s candidacy and its effects with eloquence, charisma, and an excellent balance of academic and street talk.

The next day, karma paid off nicely: as a result of my volunteering at the Circuit Court 22 Juvenile Detention Center, I was lucky enough to be one of the few non-”residents” to hear Clifford Harris, better known as T.I., address a sea of red, blue, green, yellow and orange sweatsuits there. While he was there to fulfill his community service requirement as part of his sentencing on gun charges, his 45 minute speech had every bit of the swagger, intelligence, heart and wittiness (not to mention his unbelievably thick-in-person accent) he displays in his music.

His influence and impact on the kids was evident from before he even arrived. While waiting for him to traverse security and make his way to the cafeteria, the incarcerated youth sat more quietly and appropriately than I have ever seen them before—and any door creak or footstep in the hallway was greeted by 70 heads quickly swiveling towards the door.

Both men spoke of being realistic when choosing your methods in life. Dyson discussed the practicality of Obama’s potential presidency as well as the role from which Black radicals can affect the most change, while T.I. questioned how likely it was for the young men in the room to actually make a living (and a life) out of doing the wrong thing.

“Most cats that’s livin like that is rottin in prison and those not locked wish they made better decisions”-NYOil, F***ing Dumba**

He started by making it very clear that he wanted the youth to differentiate between real life and entertainment—and the difference between the messages in his records, and what he was about to say. Whether speaking as T.I., T.I.P., or Cliff Harris, his authority in the room was unquestioned. The youth knew that T.I. grew up similar to them, and that he had been locked up many times–that he could relate to them in a way that many of the speakers who visit them never could.

“There ain’t probably nothing that any of you in this room have done that I ain’t did. Well, it might be a few of you who mighta done one or two things I ain’t done, but it’s not much.”-T.I.

His focus for much of his time was instructing the youth on how to “get money”, but along the way he slipped in diverse lessons on listening to your elders, on weighing risk and reward, on hope, hard work and on the power we all possess over our destinies.

It was an ingenious way to draw in an audience weaned on the flashy opulence of Lil Wayne, Jay-Z, and …T.I…. keeping their attention while imparting some of his accumulated wisdom along the way. Speaking in terms that every one of the youth could relate to, he equated the power structure’s unwillingness to help them succeed to their own admission that in a dice game, they wouldn’t offer money to an inexperienced player who hadn’t claimed money he’d won—shades of The Wire’s Mr. Prezbelewski.

He made very clear that noone should expect success and money to come strictly by doing what one wants to do all the time—the key is to “do what you don’t want to do so well that noone can tell you don’t want to do it”. His example—acting on rollerskates in ATL: “Do I look like a skater to you? Okay then. When you saw the movie I sure looked like I was having fun, right?”

“I can’t help the poor if I’m one of them, so I got rich and gave back, to me that’s the win win”-Jay-Z, Moment of Clarity

In the JC Penney auditorium, Dyson was heard by a quarter-capacity crowd that paid rapt attention to every word. He also recognized the need to step out of one’s comfort zone in order to make meaningful change, but focused more on the end result than the methods, allowing that was okay to “Do what you gotta do to get where you gotta get but don’t forget to do what you came to do when you get there.”

He expressed little faith that Obama would do so, but at the same time recognizes and appreciates the effects of his candidacy—specifically opening doors for other Black politicians and providing a role model for Black youth. He believes Obama as President will be able to do very little to change things at the federal level, but thinks that as a result of his success meaningful gains can be made locally by politicians who gain legitimacy through an elected Black president. Just as significantly, he articulated excitement about the fundamental change in Black children’s psyches, just knowing that a Black man had been elected President of the United States.

“If you say something I can’t understand, it is a failure of your education, not mine.”-Jesse Jackson

Dyson expressed himself sometimes with strings of higher-education vocabulary, and sometimes in slang that would seem more at place on a street corner or in a barbershop. The juxtaposition of his styles speaks to his attempt to reach a wider audience than your average academic, and would have boded well had he switched roles with T.I.—speaking to seventy incarcerated Black youth with no idea of who Dyson was instead of a similar number of paid attendees who were there to hear what one of America’s foremost Black social commentators had to say—that is to say, they were already “on the team”.

It raises an interesting point that Tef Poe and I were discussing earlier about the effectiveness of the activist hip hop community—so often “conscious” rappers and events speak only to the relatively small number of fans of “conscious rap” and, though their music may in many ways educate and motivate, this “preaching to the choir” effect leaves the masses, necessary to any revolution, untouched. To this end, we decided that despite Dyson’s great speech, his credentials, and his reputation as a radical, it was Cliff Harris who had the more revolutionary effect on his audience.

From: TSS:

Searching for Saturday morning listening material? Seek no more as DJ Burn One, DJ Dibiase & Trackstar The DJ have three hours worth of hand-picked tunes neatly packaged, wrapped and waiting at your e-doorstep. The most recent installment of Burn & Dibiase’s weekly, live-recorded Presidential podcast series features Burn One going with an all Hypnotized Minds tribute set while Dibiase chooses to go Chopped & Screwed. Sitting in as this week’s special guest, our man Track goes all over with his selections and between the trio’s sets there’s enough flavor here to satisfy most listeners. Listen and be ye entertained.

DJ Burn One’s Memphis Tribute:

Presidential 3 SIDEA by fivepoints

DJ DiBiase’s Chopped-N-Screwed Mix:

Presidential 3 Side B by TheMillionDollarDJ

My Buncha-Shxt-I-Felt-Like-Playing Mix:

Presidential Side C by djtrackstar

TSS Post

Download P.O.E.

Alt Link

1. Blue & Exile-So(ul) Amazin’
2. Ill Camille/BJ the Chicago Kid-Keep Going Hard
3. The 24 Carat Black-Ghetto: Misfortune’s Wealth
4. T-Prince/Tef Poe-Inner City Blues
5. Organized Konfusion-Maintain
6. Kendrick Lamar-My Mind Drifts
7. Freddie Gibbs-187 Proof
8. Killer Mike-That’s Life 2
9. Royce da 5’9″/Eminem-Writer’s Block
10. Kendrick Lamar/Gucci Mane-Vanity Slave pt 2
11. ScHoolboy Q-My Homie
12. Royce da 5’9″-I Ain’t Coming Down
13. Dam-Funk/MC Eiht-Hood Pass Intact
14. Skipp Coon/Mr. Nick-Die Fightin

#repeatstatus September 2011 by djtrackstar

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