Crate-digging at the Roosevelt, Dr Dre’s deal with Apple, Mark Ronson’s TED talk, and the last episode of Dazed and C4’s Music Nation mini-series.
Crate-digging at the Roosevelt. Record dealer John Carraro reflects on introducing the likes of Pete Rock, Q-Tip and Busta Rhymes to music during the golden era of hip-hop, when luminary artists dug in the crates at the legendary Roosevelt Hotel Record Convention. Check out the Wax Poetics article here.
Dr Dre’s Apple deal will make him the richest man in hip-hop. The Guardian reports on Apple’s reported takeover of Beats, giving Dre a personal fortune in the region of $800 million, nudging him ahead of P Diddy in the runnings for the ‘richest man in hip-hop’ title. Reports suggest any deal could be worth £1.88bn, the California company’s largest ever acquisition.
The 432Hz ‘God’ Note. Vice reports on why fringe audiophiles want to topple standard tuning, which is based around middle A being 440Hz, in favour of a supposedly more harmonically resonant standard tuning with middle A being 432Hz.
Mark Ronson’s TED talk on “how sampling transformed music”. Sampling isn’t about “hijacking nostalgia wholesale”, says Ronson. “It’s about inserting yourself into the narrative of a song while also pushing that story forward.” Watch the superstar producer trace the evolution of Doug E Fresh and Slick Rick’s classic hip-hop hit ‘La Di Da Di’, which has been reimagined for every generation since 1984, below.
C4’s Music Nation – Jungle Fever. The final episode of five in Dazed‘s Channel 4-commissioned documentary series Music Nation, ‘Jungle Fever’ charts the rise and fall of one of Britain’s most vibrant, unforgettable scenes and maps out everything about it from the style to the sound. Featuring jungle veterans Fabio & Grooverider, DJ Hype, Kenny Ken, Brockie and more. Watch it here.
Japanese government committee votes to relax ‘no-dancing’ restrictions. A Japanese government committee has voted to loosen the controversial Fueiho law that restricts people from dancing at nightclubs, as shown in RA‘s Real Scenes: Tokyo. Committee chair Motoyuki Oka described the law as “out of date”, adding that “loosening the regulations will also help to spur economic activity”. More info here.
China: Guangzhou nightclub ban for ‘greedy’ officials. The latest chapter of China’s anti-corruption crackdown stirs debate, as officials in the country’s third-largest city are banned from going to nightclubs. The measures are part of a wider drive to end the “excesses of greedy officials”, who have already seen a ban on using public money for “luxurious meals” and receiving “gifts, souvenirs and coupons”. The BBC reports.