Growing up in Seattle, the first tape I purchased was Sir-Mix-a-Lot’s Swass. A Tribe Called Quest, Wu Tang and Ice Cube were my building blocks. In the last decade, it was Definitive Jux, now it’s Stones Throw. I wanted it all. But therein lies my fundamental problem: I’m addicted to a genre that has been [...]

“Yo Flav, you think we’re gonna sell out?”
“I know if we do, we’ll get the hell out!”

— Public Enemy, “Caught, Can We Get A Witness?”
Since the first time it aired, I wondered like hell what Chuck D’s reaction was to “Flavor of Love.” Mine included the words “what,” “the” and “fuck.” In that order, with [...]

Ok, technically not a commercial. But in an attempt to branch out I was thinking of some great television show theme songs and the one that continued to haunt me was AMC’s Mad Men.
After some short searching, I found out that it’s an RJD2 instrumental called “A Beautiful Mine.”

And on a side note, if you [...]

I updated the San Francisco Concert Schedule with a fresh crop of shows. Lots of good stuff coming up, including the Black Keys (tonight!), Cat Power, Mike Doughty, Kathleen Edwards, Man Man, Rilo Kiley, SF’s own Rogue Wave, another round of Stephen Malkmus and his Jicks, Jamie Lidell, Tapes N’ Tapes (now featuring Erik Appelwick, [...]