Tuesday, February 08, 2011

Still Shining - Dilla Documentary

There is a lot to discuss about Jay Dee's postmortem fame - but there is also a lot to say about his premortem skill. Check out the "Still Shining" J Dilla documentary (via digitalinberlin).

If you disregard the amateurish editing and subtract the artificial glorification, this documentary contains some brilliant footage, transfers a nice message, and serves a great purpose: The purpose of commemorating James Yancey five years after his death on February 10, 2006.
That's what a lot of old hiphop heroes are doing, like Common (check out 29'30'' where he reports his 'on-the-fly gratitude' with a great shot at 29'54''), Q-Tip, Erykah Badu, Bilal, Pete Rock or Questlove (I especially recommend him explaining the different stages Jay Dee went through - at around 9'30')'.



Questlove (16'44''): Jay Dee taught me how to use the force... and when you use the force you keep it simple - you can keep it sloppy... but just keep it funky!

Friday, February 04, 2011

OZ Portrait by Court Illustrator

I have a lot of respect for court illustrators - they have to be quick, thorough and serious. I just discovered the great drawings by Christine Böer who attended some of the most important trials in the German history of the past few years. My favourite: The court portrait of OZ, the legendary graffiti tag "artist" from Hamburg who just recently has been put on trial yet another time - after having spent already 8 years in prison for tagging.

Thursday, February 03, 2011

Beats & Berlin - 10 Years Dickes B

You can say what you want about Peter Fox and Seeed but watching the "Dickes B" video even 10 years later still is fun.