Nobody Beats The Biz

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I’m thrilled to have written my third cover story in a row for Wax Poetics Japan. This issue (#35!) is immensely focused on the rap’s first royal collective, The Juice Crew. The photos are amazing, with deep pieces on Big Daddy Kane, Marley Marl, Kool G Rap, and other stalwarts. You can peruse parts of the issue and purchase it HERE .

Since it’s for WPJ, it (obviously) reads in Japanese, but my dudes at Wax Po here in the US were gracious enough to post the original English translation on their site. Take a look at Rap’s clown prince and his deep history, followed by a Q&A sourced from a series of interviews I did with Biz a few years back. READ IT HERE.

MEEK SHALL INHERIT THE EARTH

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I’ve always had a love affair with Joe Meek’s music and strange life– “Telstar”, I always thought, would be the perfect dirge at my funeral. Meek was so innovative for his time, lacing spooky instrumentals with washes of echo and sound effects. He sang, composed, and famously produced so many songs, and a good number of them were weird and icy, mostly due to his innovations behind the engineering board. It was also said he had a weird obsession with Buddy Holly, claiming that he spoke to him from the afterlife.

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*“Sunday Date” by the Flee-Rekkers (1961)

Meek also infamously told Brian Epstein not to sign the Beatles and advised the Small Faces to get rid of Rod Stewart. His story ends with a crazy murder suicide that capped a career of eerie tunes and an obsession with the occult (he’d set up tape recorders at graveyards to ‘speak with the dead’).

Produced by Meek, “Sunday Date” by the Flee-Rekkers is one I’ve wanted for a while and just recently acquired. It’s distinctly Meek, sounding like a slowed down surf instrumental, melancholy and kind of pleasantly haunting.

WANDERLUST

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Quick plug: I recently helped edit the latest issue of Globetrotter Magazine, a music, art/design, style and culture publication that dares to exist in the rapidly decaying world of print publishing– it’s 2015 afterall. This issue features Afrobeat legend Tony Allen, Parisian beatmaker Onra, menswear maestro Jeff Staple, and a stunning photo essay from Kathmandu among so much other interesting, worldwide happenings. Honored to be apart of something that’s hard to pigeonhole while making a sincere effort to capture the global community. It’s a big thick book you’d likely find at bookstores and airports. To purchase, or for more info, head over to their Facebook Page and make friends.