Rammellzee's Battlestation

The RAMM:ELL:ZEE from MOCA on Vimeo.


One of hip-hop’s most enigmatic figures, RAMMELLZEE was a graffiti writer, rapper, and sculptor. Born in Far Rockaway. Queens, RAMMELLZEE began a brief graffiti career on the A train in the mid-1970s. By the early 1980s, he was creating paintings and three-dimensional sculptures of letters, many of which were shown in galleries and museums. RAMMELLZEE viewed lettering as a form of weaponry and believed graffiti could liberate the mystical power of the alphabet, as a theory put forth in the manifestos “Ikonoklast Panzerism” and “Gothic Futurism”. A reclusive artist, RAMMELLZEE all but stopped exhibiting his work in public and spent much of the last two decade of his life in his TriBeCa loft he called the Battle Station, where he was rarely photographed without wearing one of his handmade, science fiction-style masks. He died in 2010 at the age of 49.

The Art Of Rap (Movie Trailer)

Looking forward to this!

G.O.O.D. Music

Been Working on my Scratching....

R.I.P. Guru

Sad news today that rapper Guru has passed away after battling cancer at the way too young age of 43. Guru was one half of Gang Starr along with DJ Premier. Their mix of jazz samples, dope beats and wordy lyrics is what hip hop should be about.

Photoshop Turns 20

Sure it's a great tool but when you really think about it Photoshop is pure evil.

R.I.P. Mr Magic

Hip Hop explained For Nerds

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See the whole set here.

Ridicules New Album Art

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Grime Time

At it's best U.K. Grime is a mixture of American Hip Hop, Jamaican Dancehall put together with an English sensibility. Sometimes it work and sometimes it does not. This song and video for Ina Di Ghetto by Wretch 3 shows what happens when it is done right.

Welcome Back Q-Tip!

It seems like every year It gets harder for me to find new hip hop albums to get excited over. Every now and then I'll come across something good but it's not like the 80's (Run DMC, Public Enemy) or the 90's (De La Soul, Tribe Called Quest, Gang Star) when half by music diet was made up of the "boom bap". That's why it was a pleasant surprise this week to pick up Q-Tips new album and find it to be quite good. For a guy who had his last two albums shelved by the label Tip sounds like he is having fun on his new one.