88-Keys and Chuck Brody of Shitake Monkey for 88′s video shoot for “The Friend Zone,” the second single from The Death Of Adam. Doesn’t everything 88 does seem like Read the rest of this entry »
The only thing more random than this collaboration is the picture above. Read the rest of this entry »
Praise Jehovah, Cudi isn’t retiring.
In case we didn’t make it abundantly clear already, the B&T show was the talk of Austin. We had artists stopping by all day to witness the future of Hip-Hop be brilliant on our stage.
Two of those artists were 88-Keys and KiD CuDi. If you peeped our review of The Death of Adam or my endless praise of “Day N’ Nite,” you’d understand why I darted to the middle of the street to get a few words from Yeezy’s buddies. Cudi talks about his non-retirement, how “down to earth” Kanye really is, why he doesn’t do a lot of collaborations and shouts out Even Stevens and High School Musical.
BONUS — Mistah F.A.B. & Curren$y take a minute to talk to the TSS cameras. Read the rest of this entry »
Words By Darius Sinclair™
This is a little late, right?
We first heard the snippet on Kanye’s Can’t Tell Me Nothing mixtape in 2007. Then later, the full, mastered version on 88-Keys’ conceptual The Death Of Adam. Maybe the video isn’t late Read the rest of this entry »
Wet Wednesday With Manna Le
Diddy Opened His Home To Chris Brown And Rihanna ‘As A Friend’ [MTV]
Video: The Thrift Shop Experience Ep. 1 With 88-Keys [Nah Right]
From Gangster Flows To Weirdos [CBRaps]
Baby Mamas ARE the Weakest Link: 50 Cent has video of Rick Ross’ other BM? [Miss Info]
What’s On Bill Clinton’s iPod? [Chicago Tribune]
Big Boi Speaks On New Album [Ozone]
Beyonce’s New Singles Are…[TGJ]
The Converging of Cultures: MTV & YouTube [Hypebot]
Only Masturbation Can Save Cable [Gawker]
Morgan Lewis
The Making of Illmatic (XXL, April 2009) [FWMJ]
Txting Is Gud 4 UR Reading Comprehension, Apparently [io9]
Sneaker Freaker Nike ACG Feature [Sneaker Freaker]
Oscar Style: Is Alicia Keys Morphing Into Tatyana Ali? [Buzzworthy]
The Anti-Duke Manifesto [Brahsome]
The Reason Why Jamaica Is Banning Sex from the Airwaves…[Daily Swarm]
A Conversation With The Hype Machine’s Anthony Volodkin [Hypebot]
Mr. Potato Head Transformer [Daily Drop]
The Death of Adam (Original Cover) [ILMPL]
88-Keys sits with mens.style.com recently to discuss his affinity for Lo. A self-proclaimed fanatic, I remember reading a while ago that homie doesn’t wear anything but Lo Read the rest of this entry »
Video footage of 88-Keys performing a few tracks from The Death Of Adam during an in-store performance @ Fat Beats NY. First clip is an introduction, “Nice Guys Finish Last” & a remixed version of “Friends Zone.”
After the break, another clip of him performing “Stay Up” & ‘Bout To Bust” (not on the album). Read the rest of this entry »
Generally, the bickering and babbling that coincides with ranking the year’s best LPs tend to blur the focus on the overall picture.
While some albums directly catered to personal preferences more immensely than others, all the selections emerged amongst the year’s best in regards to quality, visibility and of course, durability. Behold fifteen albums deserving of all the accolades and praises heaped upon them throughout the course of 2008. And their value will only solidify going in to 2009.
No order. No bias. Just noteworthy Hip-Hop.
“From the brooding opening piano loop of “Queens Get The Money” to the uplifting snares on “Black President,” Nas channels his inner Walt Whitman as he explores the Black Diaspora. Lyrically though, his wordplay and delivery are sharp as ever as if all the attention to the title made Nas put extra effort and focus into his words…“ — From “America” – Review Of Nas’ Untitled Album
BONUS – Get familiar with Nas & DJ Green Lantern – The Nigger Tape Read the rest of this entry »
Okaaaaaaaay, we’re reloaded.
This week the whole crew lined up to look back at the past, set sights on the future, and take aim at the current potential threats. Read the rest of this entry »
When 88-Keys was retelling his story of how Kanye West called The Death of Adam the best album since Late Registration, the response was pretty skeptical. However, much to Mr. West’s foreshadowing, the producer/rapper has created a project that is a surprisingly cohesive, high quality concept album that may be the most hilarious effort since De La Soul rapped about their own demise. Read the rest of this entry »
In honor of the man’s upcoming release, here’s a short but sweet enticement to run out and buy 88-Key’s The Death Of Adam. Read the rest of this entry »
EPK for Adam, the man full of love & lust. Read the rest of this entry »
You may think you’ve never heard of 88-Keys, but more than likely you’ve heard him. The reserved New York beatsmith has laid the groundwork for several of urban music’s mainstays including both members of Black Star, Musiq Soulchild, and Scarface. And like most producers in the present, he’s been bit by the rapping bug as he prepares to release his first album The Death Of Adam, a conceptual tale of the pleasures (and the perils) that relationships bring. The LP features 88 handling the mic as much as he does the boards and he’s fully confident that his sexcapade will instill some innovation back into Hip-Hop. But don’t just take his word for it. Fellow artist and best friend Kanye West was so ecstatic over the record, he pleaded to get a slice of creative control.
Read along as 88-Keys speaks with the Crew’s TC and unveils Kanye’s role as executive producer, who “Adam” would die for just to get a taste, and how a man names himself 88-Keys with no expertise in the piano.
TSS: So is it safe the say the album is done?
88-Keys: Yep…uh…actually sort of (Laughs). It’s not 100%, I’ll say we at 95%.
TSS: Just doing a little mixing & mastering?
88-Keys: Actually there’s this song Kanye’s working on with Kid Cudi and they’re working on a melody. I’ll just come up with the lyrics for it.
TSS: Aiight, I may be asking for it, but what were you doing when you came up for the concept for The Death Of Adam?
88-Keys: I was actually making beats for an album but it ended up turning into this one. I had like eight or nine beats before I got to what would turn out as the first keeper on my album called “There’s Pleasure In It.” At the beginning stages of that track, it was real dope…but really annoying at the same time. Like I chopped it up so much but I couldn’t chop out all of the words, so it just kept saying “pleasure…pleasure…pleasure … pleasure.” Musically it sounded dope but I knew it would get on people’s nerves if they heard it for more than…thirty-seven seconds…so I was like “I need to give this song a concept.” I started going through my head, thinking of all the things that gives me pleasure. I broke it down to my family, my record collection, my Polo clothes. Then it clicked…the vag!
TSS: Yeah…well…(Laughs)
88-Keys: So then, once I honed in on that, I figured that song in particular would be the one about the vagina and everything else would be like…whatever it will be. But then the very next beat I made directly after that which was another keeper on the album, just so happened to kind of focus around the same subject matter. So I asked myself “Is this a coincidence?” And God was like “Nah, you need to make your album about this.” So I was like “Aiight.” Then I scrapped the previous eight or nine beats that I made and used those other two to give me direction to make The Death Of The Adam.
TSS: So how long ago was that?
88-Keys: Man! TOO LONG! And by “too” I mean T-W-O! Two years in the making. And it’s still being made. But the way shit’s forming up, it’s incredible.
TSS: Would you classify this as a pure Hip-Hop record? It’s sounds like you’re singing on some of the songs. It kind of reminds me of The Love Below from what I heard.
88-Keys: Nah, I wouldn’t call it pure Hip-Hop record. But at the same time, I would because I feel like I’m Hip-Hop and I produced the entire album with the exception of like three songs with co-productions.
TSS: Okay, I see. Even though it may not have all the traditional Hip-Hop elements per se, it’s still Hip-Hop because that’s the ideology you used to make the record.
88-Keys: Yeah, everything I do is Hip-Hop based even if intentionally try to cross genres. Because at the end of the day, I still feel like my drums and the sample chops are pure Hip-Hop. I just want to put everything to be considered “dope” instead of is it alternative or is it soul.
TSS: Albums like this are usually stronger as a whole. In the era of the singles being bought like albums used to, you got any plans to market this as a whole? Read the rest of this entry »
The Death of Adam. The album. 10.28.08.
Previously Posted — More Details On Adam’s Death | 88-Keys and Kanye West – “Stay Up (Viagra)” | R.I.P. Adam
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