By now you should be familiar with that chain-smoking titan from Detroit that calls himself DJ House Shoes. If you’re not, this would be a perfect time to get familiar with the man.

It’s very easy to sleep on this record, although it’s really not advisable. Especially if you’re a Dilla fan. Read the rest of this entry »

Looks like LC’s Detroit brethren knew she was feeling a little down after last night and put out some music to ease her pain. While on the final leg of their European Tronic tour, Black Milk and eLZhi sent her a audio care package over the Atlantic. Read the rest of this entry »

Haircut is as Detroit as Faygo, Motown, Belle Isle, and Lafayette Coney Island with extra chili and onions all in one. He’s as white as the driven snow and as filled with soul as Aretha Franklin on Easter Sunday after a hotplate of Roscoe’s. And he’s Read the rest of this entry »

Ahhhh… breathe in that silty Michigan air wafting from slush-covered cement, finely dusted by salt, with a lilt tough enough to peel auto paint to the primer. Hello, Mittenssippi.

Now that I’m settling back into my stomping grounds, the primary concern is to get out of my parent’s Sophomore-year instated curfew of midnight and find my own place. As Pop and I begin the house hunt for a 1930s Craftsman-style bungalow fixer-upper in my price range, my thoughts gravitate back to the one piece of Southeast Michigan property I’d really like to buy and restore.

The Michigan Central Station train depot. A monolith of forgotten beauty, rotted out from within and near-offensively lined with a manicured lawn, like an ornate chamber pot set on a doily. Read the rest of this entry »

I’m not saying I’m jealous, but when do I get a song called “LC?”

To be fair, although we love our own Contra™ dearly, this single Read the rest of this entry »

My mom had minor surgery this past week, so today I did my duty as a loving son and called to check up. Disregarding the call as business-as-usual, she asked if I’d gotten a chance to read Mitch Albom’s feature from the latest issue of Sports Illustrated. She spoke on the article with a tone that made me feel it was my duty to read it.

“It’s about Detroit,” she said, as if nothing worthwhile had ever been written about the city where she was born and raised. She told me how the piece been reissued to the front page of The Freep as well, knowing I don’t read much more than a computer screen these days. “I’ll save it for you.”

“Detroiters Carry On Amid All The Hardships”

From the title alone I knew it was going to be much more than a sports story or some rehashed, Lions, year-end resentment. Mitch knows better than that. What it ended up being was one of the best pieces of literature I’ve ever read. Read the rest of this entry »

“…I had visions of many things. But happiness is just an illusion, filled with sadness and confusion.” – Jimmy Ruffin, Motown

“I’m absolutely wasted,” said House Shoes, my Michigan friend and California family. “I’m wasted” being his M.O. on nights like this. It was his release party for his King James Version at Fat Beats. No other state was expected from Shoes other than complete annihilation. Shit faced-ness. Three sheets to the wind. Piss pants. All of that.

“You going to make it through the night?” I asked, filling my plastic cup with keg beer.

“So what?” he responded, then fell out laughing at just how House Shoes-ian of a reply “so what” is to a yes-or-no question. He relayed the story through Henney-soaked smiles to all within earshot, and then again outside to Bishop Lamont, who laughed with the force of a man of authority. I was startled to see Bishop at first; not because I didn’t think he’d come to this event but because seeing folks like him in such familial settings still trips me out, almost three years later. Read the rest of this entry »

“Baby, I’m releasing an album on Christmas day,” House Shoes laughed and gently rubbed his fiancee’s pregnant belly. “No stores are open on Christmas, baby. How genius is that?”

This will be the first Christmas Shoes celebrates with his new family. A certain tranquility has set in on Detroit’s favorite DJ since the day he heard he’d be a father. His son will be named James DeShaun when he arrives in March — James, as in James “J Dilla” Yancey, and DeShaun, as in DeShaun “Proof” Holton. There was never a name seriously considered were Shoes to have a girl other than to take from his fiancee’s name (Leo) or, perhaps, just Buttercup… because “why not,” he joked. Buttercup Buchanan.

Shoes’ downy calm when around his fiancee or when discussing his son is most feverishly juxtaposed with the Newport-smoking, hail-storm-cussing, grizzly exterior of a man brow-beaten by time and circumstance. Once inside Shoes’ ring of trust he’s a gentle giant, but it takes years of loyalty to be viewed in his eyes as a genuine article worth a damn. Before you enter that circle, it’s in his music — not the music he spins, but rather the music he creates — you can hear House Shoes for who he really is. Sometimes thoughtful, sometimes cold and calloused, always with a profound understanding for the pull of humor and struggle on life.

Here are a few choice picks from House Shoes — a man who can spend endless hours digging for the records that move him in the dance between joy and pain.

Kaos and Mystro — Outcast Vol. 1

“Some Detroit shit — like ’89, ’90 — that was the first Detroit shit I heard that was on something serious. I was a freshman [in high school,] and I remember we had gym first hour and we would go in the locker room at like 7:30, and I’d have my radio. I’d have my radio on the bus — I got kicked off the bus in sixth grade for playing 2 Live Crew Read the rest of this entry »

Hardcore Hip-Hop has taken a hit since it’s mid-9o’s heyday, where rappers tried their best to be equally creative as crass. Gaining attention for the Motor City with his 2005 single “Welcome 2 Detroit,” featuring a then, red-hot Eminem, Trick Trick made a name for himself in the dwindling pool of strident MCs that defy the laws of “cashing in.” Fast forward three years and Trick Trick has a new bag treats for his sophomore project The Villain backed behind 100 proof verbal barbs and equally forcible production. But despite moralistic intentions, the album has its fair share of internal incongruity that pull the project to the middling proportions. Read the rest of this entry »

The doors of the church are now open. Whosoever will, let him come.

I laughed hard the first time LC & Tay showed me this shit. Just spotted this over @ MDubb’s & I promise you, I have tears welling up in my eyes Read the rest of this entry »

WJLB. Friday nights.

Jitting and Errol Flynning. Read the rest of this entry »

Intro By Jesse H.

The TSS crew is proud of our national and international presence. This place stays moving with fresh and lively comment boards no matter what time zone you’re in (we’re looking at you in particular, Greumsy.) Not only is the TSS nation comprised of an eclectic mix of readers from all over the globe, we’re also blessed enough to have a similar hometown diversity on our writing staff. While we might show our respective regional biases from time to time in our posts, we decided to really tilt our hands and give you all a behind-the-scenes look at what we listen to when we’re in transit to the places we call home. From coast to coast, our crew of writers put on for our cities, in a little piece we like to call…

Entrance Music

Matt Mundy

New York City

I just recently moved to NYC, and whenever I visited here in the past I would always bump the same song on my iPod coming in – “Where I’m From.” Read the rest of this entry »

Awhile back I recalled the last time I was in The D, at a beat-maker showcase hosted by House Shoes. Now Detroit’s DJ has released the audio from the night — featuring Black Milk, 14KT, DJ Dez, Apollo Brown, Nick Speed, Danny Brown, Big Tone and, of course, Hennessey-laden color commentary from Shoes himself. Read the rest of this entry »

…and it was made so.

Turns out if you start a revolution that is televised (such as all Lions, Red Wings and Tigers games) and you take it to the streets, you can impart change.

The firing of Detroit Lions CEO Matt Millen bodes well for John Q. Public in this transitory time of upheaval and decay. Read the rest of this entry »

There has been a lot of discussion about concept albums around TSS Central Command as of late — i.e. what defines a concept album, what succeeds and what fails, who is at the helm of the greats, etc. I come to you, TSS family, to share with you my without-question favorite concept album of all. A soon to be released, multi-faceted diamond sure to set DJs, vinyl junkies and beat-fiends alike into a tailspin.

But first let me introduce the man behind the music… 14KT.

KT most recently won the Detroit faction of the Red Bull Big Tune beat battle, and will be heading to New York City this winter to represent Michigan’s legion of producers in the nationwide showdown. He’s one-forth of the LabTechs and behind beats for Guilty Simpson, Tanya Morgan, Buff1, OneBeLo, Invincible, Tiffany Paige and Aloe Blacc among many others.

And he’s an alien with a kick/snare/boom/bap/bass/ivories/keytar/sample/whathaveyou. Read the rest of this entry »