Mel D. Cole – Capturing Hip Hop Culture in Black & White (Photo Gallery)

Mel D. Cole - Capturing Hip Hop Culture in Black & White (Photo Gallery) | Third Monk image 2

NYC-based Mel D. Cole a.k.a. Village Slum shoots mostly black and white, but whatever he shoots, it’s in-your-face and awesome. His work got attention from shooting Erykah Badu and Common in 2001, and since then he’s become known as the “house photographer” for the legendary Roots Crew and has been pinpointed by Questlove as his favorite contemporary photographer. 

The Roots

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Identity

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M.I.A.

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Alexxi

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De La Soul

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La Flama Blanca

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The GZA, Bill Murray

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My Love

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Wiz Khalifa

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Bend it like Becky

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Time Jump

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Q-Tip, A Tribe Called Quest

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Chambers St.

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Kid Cudi

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Stage Lights

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Mel D. Cole – Perspectives

 

Mel D. Cole on his Photography Style

Primo Collection of Top MPC, Drum Machine Performances (Video)

Primo Collection of Top MPC, Drum Machine Performances (Video) | Third Monk

The MPC (Music Production Controller) is an electronic drum machine used for powerful sampling, interfacing and sound manipulation tools, which broaden the use of instrument beyond just drum and rhythm tracks. Many hip hop producers like Pete Rock and DJ Premier use the MPC to create their classic beats.

I tend to program my drums, but a lot of the time I’ll turn off the 16th notes and I’ll play the MPC live, so it sounds like live drumming. I like it to sound loose, and this is why my drums have a little bounce to them, more than with most people. I’m a big fan of Neil Peart from Rush and Buddy Miles, and in my whole production it’s about the drums. – DJ Premier

Fresh Kils – Enter the Dragon


Fresh Kils comin’ in with a tribute to Bruce Lee in a fitting little ditty called Enter the Dragon. Twitter: @freshkils flips Bruce’s battle screams into a crazy beat.

Durazzo – Within Arms Reach (On 2 MPCs)


Durazzo takes on two MPC 2500s for the live performance of his “Within Arms Reach” beat using Hugh Hopper and Alan Gowen’s “Morning Order”, which also was the sample used in Common’s “Nag Champa”. @Durazzo controls the chopped samples with his right hand and his left hand plays the drums to pull everything together. The performance is 100% in realtime without any sequenced loops.

Objektiv One – Everywhere A Million

This is a routine I have been working on for awhile! I flip this sample to death until I can’t flip it any more. From grimey, to spacey, from technical to banging. Its all fun and games. Enjoy. – Objektiv One now known as DataHowler

Exile, DJ Day – Red Bull Session


Wanting to bring live beatmaking, or “MPCism” as Exile calls it, he and DJ Day came up with the idea to create this routine using a D. Train sample used originally on Exile’s Dirty Science album. @ExileRadio resamples D. Train and DJ Day builds onto that using sampled notes and bass from the same song.

Araabmuzik – MPC MVP Session


The self-proclaimed MVP of the MPC, @Araabmuzik transitions eleven times into different types of hip-hop beats, even touching on some rock samples.

Kid Cudi, King Chip – Just What I Am, Psychedelic Music Video (KJ Song Rec)

Kid Cudi, King Chip - Just What I Am, Psychedelic Music Video (KJ Song Rec) | Third Monk image 5

Kid Cudi Ft King Chip – Just What I Am
Album: Indicud

Kid Cudi made his name as a stoner rapper before ditching Mary Jane for cocaine and a stream of problems. Just What I Am is Cudi’s chill anthem about his return to cannabis. Sometimes people blame cannabis for personal issues and take a break from it. When they get their life back in balance and realize that it wasn’t the herb causing the problems, reuniting with the medicine becomes a celebration.

For his directorial debut, Kid Cudi said he wanted to make a music video designed to be watched on shrooms and herb.

Neighbors knockin’ on the door, asking can we turn it down

I say, “Ain’t no music on” she said, “Naw, that weed is loud”

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I need smoke
I need to smoke
Who gon’ hold me down now
I wanna get high y’all
I wanna get high y’all

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Kid Cudi Ft King Chip – Just What I Am Instrumental

Kendrick Lamar – Bitch, Don’t Kill My Vibe (KJ Song Rec)

Kendrick Lamar – Bitch, Don't Kill My Vibe (KJ Song Rec) | Third Monk

Kendrick Lamar – Bitch, Don’t Kill My Vibe
Album: Good Kid, M.A.A.D City

If your intentions are good and you are true to your purpose, negative energy can’t bother you.

I can feel your energy from two planets away
I got my drink, I got my music
I would share it but today I’m yelling
Bitch don’t kill my vibe, bitch don’t kill my vibe
Bitch don’t kill my vibe, bitch don’t kill my vibe

Kendrick Lamar – Bitch, Don’t Kill My Vibe (Instrumental)

How can I paint this picture when the color blind is hanging with you?

DJ Babu – Beat Juggling, Blind Alley Routine (Video)

DJ Babu - Beat Juggling, Blind Alley Routine (Video) | Third Monk

DJ Babu’s Blind Alley Routine at 1997 ITF

DJ Babu is a hip hop legend. If you’ve ever had the pleasure of watching Dilated Peoples, Beat Junkies or The Visionaries perform live with Babu then you know how live a show feels with a DJ like Babu working the beat instead of simply pressing play and letting the track run behind the vocals.

DJ Babu, is a Filipino-American DJ and producer. One-third of the hip hop group Dilated Peoples (alongside Rakaa, Iriscience and Evidence), Babu is also a member of the Beat Junkies DJ crew, and together with rapper Defari forms the duo the Likwit Junkies.

Babu has won multiple competition titles Including the Vestax World Championships and multiple ITF titles. As a revered battle DJ he has appeared in and hosted numerable videos. DJ Babu is famous for redefining the art of beat juggling during the 1997 ITF/Beat juggling category competition, when he first performed his “Blind Alley” routine. Under the name “The Turntablist”, produced perhaps the genre’s most popular battle record, 1996’s Super Duck Breaks, which sold over 10,000 copies.

DJ Babu Scratches and Performs Blind Alley Routine For Fellow DJs

DJ Babu shows off his skills for other DJs on this radio show by scratching over the beat before jumping into his Blind Alley Beat Juggling routine.

Stephen Marley, Mos Def – Hey Baby (KJ Song Rec)

Stephen Marley, Mos Def - Hey Baby (KJ Song Rec) | Third Monk

Stephen Marley Ft. Mos Def – Hey Baby
Album: Mind Control

Stephen Marley features Mos Def in this reggae and hip hop fusion. “Hey Baby” provides the chill atmosphere that is usually accompanied by the ganja leaf and good times.

Stephen Marley – Hey Baby (Solo Version)

This solo version of the song has more of a mellow dub reggae feel.

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Gorillaz – Hillbilly Man (KJ Song Rec)

Gorillaz - Hillbilly Man (KJ Song Rec)  | Third Monk image 3

Gorillaz – Hillbilly Man
Album: The Fall

The most appealing thing of the Gorillaz sound is how different and unique each track is. They have a bunch of hits that flip and combine genres into something new. Hillbilly Man starts off with a mellow and melodic guitar riff before transforming into a fresh trip hop beat.

 

Incubus – Summer Romance, Anti-Gravity Love Song (KJ Song Rec)

Incubus - Summer Romance, Anti-Gravity Love Song (KJ Song Rec) | Third Monk image 2

Incubus is one of the premiere stoner rock bands. From hard rock to hip hop, funk metal to jazz; Incubus has its own special groove embedded within every song.

Incubus is a band from Calabasas, California. The band was formed in 1991 by vocalist Brandon Boyd, lead guitarist Mike Einziger, and drummer Jose Pasillas while enrolled in high school and later expanded to include bassist Alex “Dirk Lance” Katunich, and Gavin “DJ Lyfe” Koppell; both of whom were eventually replaced by bassist Ben Kenney and DJ Kilmore respectively.

Incubus has received both critical acclaim and commercial success, reaching multi-platinum sales, as well as releasing several highly successful singles.

The ninth track on S.C.I.E.N.C.E. is “Summer Romance (Anti-Gravity Love Song)”. S.C.I.E.N.C.E. draws influence from diverse genres, including heavy metal, electro, funk, jazz, hip hop and techno.

Summer Romance (Anti-Gravity Love Song) S.C.I.E.N.C.E. Album Version

I’m home alone tonight.
Full moon illuminates my room, and sends my mind aflight.
I think I was dreaming up some thoughts that were seemingly possible, with you.
So I call you on the tin can phone.
We rendezvous at a quarter-two, and make sure we’re alone.
Think I’ve found a way for you and I to finally fly free.

When we get there, we’re gonna fly so far away,
Making sure to laugh; while we experience anti-gravity.
Anti gravity. Anti Gravity

For years, I kept it to myself.
Now potentialities are bound, and living under my shelf.
Simply choose your destination from the diamond canopy, and we’ll be there.
So I call you on the tin can phone.
We rendezvous at a quarter-two, and make sure we’re alone.
I may have found the way for you and I to finally be free

When we get there, we’re gonna fly so far away,
Making sure to laugh; while we experience anti-gravity.
Anti gravity. Anti Gravity

*Saxaphone Solo*

Anti gravity. Anti Gravity

Summer Romance (Anti-Gravity Love Song) Acoustic Version

Summer Romance (Anti-Gravity Love Song) Live from Mountain View 10/9/2011

Incubus still gots that good sound. The guitar solo instead of the saxophone is a sick switch up.

Wiz Khalifa – In The Cut (Song Rec)

Wiz Khalifa - In The Cut (KJ Song Rec) | Third Monk

Wiz Khalifa –  In The Cut
Album: Kush & Orange Juice (Mixtape)

Before Wiz blew up with “Black and Yellow”, he was hard at work putting out mixtape tracks for his stoner fanbase. In The Cut is all about chilling and having a good time with your buds (tress and people).

“Wake up, bake up, gotta get my cake up”

Bambu, DJ Muggs (Cypress Hill) – Smoke Starter (KJ Song Rec)

Bambu, DJ Muggs (Cypress Hill) - Smoke Starter (KJ Song Rec) | Third Monk

Bambu, DJ Muggs –  Smoke Starter
Album: Los Angeles, Philippines (Mixtape)

Step your stoner IQ up with this DJ Muggs (Cypress Hill ) x Bambu created and certified jam off their mixtape collab.

Bambu, DJ Muggs – Los Angeles, Philippines Mixtape Release Party

Bambu and DJ Muggs had an in-store mixtape and product release party to drop their collab mixtape “Los Angeles, Philippines”. The event was a huge success, with a crowd that packed the shop and the products selling out before the end of Bambu’s performance.

The Grouch & Eligh – Lake Release (KJ Song Rec)

The Grouch & Eligh - Lake Release (KJ Song Rec) | Third Monk

We can lose focus when our thoughts are filled with too much clutter, fortunately cannabis is here to help us relax and release from the noise.

[Chorus: Eligh]
When G & E is in the flesh we fresh with style’s, give it to the crowds,
Sing it out loud, put your palm to the gods if you sick of facades,
And you wanna go down to the lake for a break,
Take this journey don’t be scared, be prepared,
For the light that shines from the top of the spine,
Not the mind to the mouth, creativity release

[Eligh:]
Sittin’ by the lake, skippin stones, rippin’ poems, thinkin’ bout what I gotta do next,
For the moment trynna get my Chi in a zone, all alone on the park bench, reading through texts.
Hard to get my shit together when the brains, forever on go.
Green light, let it all flow, let em’ all know… elbow to the gut when I’m on flow. Ho
Sittin’ by the lake, and inspire me, fire me up, cause I’m bored on the back of a pick-up truck.
Trynna pick up luck like a passerby, when everything I need to survive is in side the ride of a lifetime,
Bring on, to bring on the ultimate goal, God holds my soul.
Like a pot of Gold, when the Pot gets old, I stop drop and roll,
To the next pleateu, that’s a couple of thoughts that pass me,
Like traffic on the 101, reflection, eternal, especially… by the lake, that’s one.

[Chorus:]
When G & E is in the flesh we fresh with style’s, give it to the crowds,
Sing it out loud, put your palm to the gods if you sick of facades,
And you wanna go down to the lake for a break,
Take this journey don’t be scared, be prepared,
For the light that shines from the top of the spine,
Not the mind to the mouth, creativity release

[The Grouch:]
When the world is heavy on my shoulders, I can’t get a grip (grip).
I take a break, go to the lake, there I can skinny dip (dip).
Watch me skip a rock across the greatest body of water (water),
In it I see no limit, just reflections make me hollar (hollar) (yeauh),
I’m a Baller, I got balls (balls), I rest em’ at the lake edge.
Mother Earth supports my stress, cause people often fake it (fake it).
Splash I make it last until the sun can’t even take it (take it)
Have a conversation with crickets, cause I’m sick… when I kick it (kick it).

[Chorus:]
When G & E is in the flesh we fresh with style’s, give it to the crowds,
Sing it out loud, put your palm to the gods if you sick of facades,
And you wanna go down to the lake for a break,
Take this journey don’t be scared, be prepared,
For the light that shines from the top of the spine,
Not the mind to the mouth, creativity release…

Release Release Release… Release Release Release,
Release Release Release Release Release Release Release…
Release Release Release… Release Release Release… Release Release Release,
Release… Release…
Release Release Release… Release Release Release,
Release Release Release Release Release Release Release…
Release Release Release Release… Release… Release…
Release Release Release… Release.

[Chorus:]
When G & E is in the flesh we fresh with style’s, give it to the crowds,
Sing it out loud, put your palm to the gods if you sick of facades,
And you wanna go down to the lake for a break,
Take this journey don’t be scared, be prepared,
For the light that shines from the top of the spine,
Not the mind to the mouth, creativity release…