“One thing I noticed the other day. Because we had two guests the same night at Deep Space, the first using Serato, the other Ableton Live, I did not see it as possible to additionally ALSO have my Traktor setup in there. So I played from CDs that night.

Which was OK, but in my case a bit of a let-down. I will be the first to admit that after playing with Traktor for almost nine years it felt really strange not having access to all of the features I take for granted when using my S4 controller, as it has so profoundly changed me and the way I think of doing things which previously couldn’t easily be done with either vinyl or CD.

Creatively speaking, not having that S4 was as if a whole bunch of colors were removed from my palette, and prevented me from doing the usual ‘spur-of-the-moment’ improvisational thing where I can search for – and find! – any song I want, and have it cued up ready to play in less than three seconds.

So when people slag ‘Digital DJs’, i.e. those who uses computers to play, I can only wonder why they are getting so upset about it. If you don’t like something, just ignore it, treat it like it doesn’t exist. As Malcom McLaren so astutely pointed out about hateful Sex Pistols reviews, any press is not only pretty good, but a fairly obvious acknowledgment that people do care very much, even if it’s hating it. Indifference is arguably a lot scarier.

Obviously were are still coming to grips with a very disruptive technology here, and just as when live drummers started getting replaced by drum machines, it gives people with much less training, experience and expertise the ability to do basic things pretty well. Well enough to in fact sometimes replace DJs who had years of experience and a bit of an exclusive on it. Dunno, that’s the price we pay for technology I guess. Dumbed-down mass market version of something that previously was only available to the few skilled professionals. Something does give in the process if you haven’t learned the ropes and somehow paid your dues, I won’t disagree with that.

But for that matter, let’s stop being disingenuous here: if you look under the hood, Pioneer’s new CDJ-2000 decks are really a full computer inside a black box instead of inside a laptop (albeit with a much smaller screen and no keyboard, but other sophisticated controller input devices), but otherwise for all intents and purposes a CPU that boots up, has USB and ethernet ports, and the ability to network just as any other computer does. So what is it that those ‘digital DJ’ haters fixate on? The appearance, the shape of the box? WTF?

Now on the topic of analog, it also cracks me up a bit when I see all of these people up in arms about supporting vinyl, yet when anyone looks at average sales figures for most recent vinyl releases, they are usually around 500 units per pressing worldwide (dubstep a little more). How can thousands of people loudly complain about something that only sells five hundred copies? I don’t think there’s anything wrong with being upset about certain DJs not playing vinyl, I am totally OK with that sentiment, yet I find it peculiar that those who do the complaining sure aren’t doing an equivalent effort to support those vinyl releases themselves, or going to buy them at the store, or ordering them online. Do you really think that record labels wouldn’t like to press up more units if there was a demand?
So I am sorry to express it like this, but it feels somewhat disingenuous for all of those complainers to not even support the format they are championing so hard.”

Enjoy.

DJ K.I.

Please enjoy this Yes Size Does Matter Podcast in honor of Black History Month…

1. Buckshot LeFonque – Breakfast @ Danny’s
2. Nina Simone – Black Is The Color Of My True Love’s Hair (Jaffa Remix)
3. Shad – Brother (ft. B & F Kabango)
4. KARDINAL OFFISHALL – Everyday Rudebwoy (Radio)
5. KRS-One – Sound Of Da Police
6. Nas – I know I can
7. X-Clan – Grand Verbalizer,What Time Is It?(12 Inch LP Mix)
8. Staple Singers – I’ll Take You There
9. Big Daddy Kane – I’II Take You There
10. Talib Kweli – Listen!!! (Radio)
11. Public Enemy – Rebel With Out A Pause
12. Omar – Be Thankful (Solar Energy Remix)
13. The Stop The Violence Movement – Self Destruction
14. Gangstarr – Who’s Gonna Take The Weight Album Version
15. Maestro Fresh-Wes – Nothin’ At All
16. Boogie Down Productions – You Must Learn
17. James Brown – Say It Loud
18. Intelligent Hoodlum – Black And Proud
19. Curtis Mayfield – Radio Spot #1
20. Mr. Fingers – Can U Feel It (Martin Luther King Mix)
21. Gil Scott-Heron – The Bottle
22. Jay Williams – Sweat(Club Mix)
23. Phase II – Reachin(12 Inch Latin Workout Remix)
24. Mos Def – Umi Says
25. Nu Civilization – Wake Up(Shay Ama) 12 Inch 6A.M. Garage Mix
26. The Children – Freedom(Factory Mix)

Enjoy.
DJ K.I.

Whitney Houston died this afternoon … a rep for the singer told the Associated Press.

Houston won two Emmy Awards, six Grammy Awards, 30 Billboard Music Awards, 22 American Music Awards during her record-breaking career. Her album “Whitney” was the first female album to ever debut at #1 on the Billboard Charts. She has sold 200 albums world wide.

Houston had one child, Bobbi Kristina, with husband Bobby Brown. Houston and Brown were married from 1992-2007.

Cause of death and location have not yet been confirmed.

DJ K.I.

Only in Madonna’s material world could headphones cost a million dollars. SkyBlu, one half of the party anthem-makers LMFAO, wore diamond-encrusted headphones valued at $1 million during his guest DJ appearance at the Super Bowl halftime show.

A special collaboration between Beats by Dre and London-based Graff Diamonds, the high-priced pair of headphones featured 114 carats of diamonds and were custom-built to match the extravagance of the Super Bowl show. Watch them get made in the video below.

Besides the extra sparkle, SkyBlu’s pair had the same sonic technology found in all Beats by Dre headphones, which are tuned by the “million-dollar ears” of Dr. Dre and Interscope founder Jimmy Iovine, a Beats spokesperson told Rolling Stone.

For the halftime show, LMFAO remixed Madonna’s “Music” with their 21st century earworm, “Party Rock Anthem,” and joined the 53-year-old pop star on the floor to do the shufflin’.

Thanks to Rolling Stone for this story.

Enjoy.

DJ K.I.

Law enforcement sources said police arrived at Cornelius’ home around 4 a.m. He apparently died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the case was ongoing. The sources said there were no signs of foul play, but the Los Angeles Police Department is investigating.

According to a Times article, Cornelius’ “Soul Train” became the longest-running first-run nationally syndicated show in television history, bringing African American music and style to the world for 35 years. Cornelius stopped hosting the show in 1993, and “Soul Train” ceased production in 2006.

Thanks to the LA Times for this piece.

DJ K.I.

Top executives at file sharing website Megaupload.com have been indicted and charged with violating piracy laws on January 19th, 2012. Federal prosecutors in McLean, Virginia shutdown Megaupload.com claiming that the company has cost copyright holders over $500 million in lost revenue, from pirated films and music being shared on the website.

In recent months, Megaupload.com had garnered support from a variety of artists, including Kanye West, Macy Gray, and Alicia Keys, who is married to Megaupload.com’s current CEO, Swizz Beatz.

Universal Music Group filed a lawsuit against Megaupload.com in December of 2011 and forced a takedown of the promotional video because it features artists signed to Universal. Megaupload.com countersued and the video was reinstated in December.

Megaupload.com was founded by convicted cyber criminal/entrepreneur Kim Schimtz a.k.a Kim Dotcom and employed over 155 people, mostly software engineers.

No word yet if Swizz Beatz, born Kasseem Dean, is facing charges.

Federal prosecutors denied that there was a link between Megaupload.com’s shut down and the timing of the SOPA/PIPA legislation that would have given the government tighter control and regulation of piracy on the Internet.

Thanks to AllHipHop for this piece.

DJ K.I.

Etta James, whose powerful, versatile and emotionally direct voice could enliven the raunchiest blues as well as the subtlest love songs, most indelibly in her signature hit, “At Last,” died Friday morning in Riverside, Calif. She was 73.

Ms. James was not easy to pigeonhole. She is most often referred to as a rhythm and blues singer, and that is how she made her name in the 1950s with records like “Good Rockin’ Daddy.” She is in both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Blues Hall of Fame.

She was also comfortable, and convincing, singing pop standards, as she did in 1961 with “At Last,” which was written in 1941 and originally recorded by Glenn Miller’s orchestra. And among her four Grammy Awards (including a lifetime-achievement honor in 2003) was one for best jazz vocal performance, which she won in 1995 for the album “Mystery Lady: Songs of Billie Holiday.”

Ms. James’s survivors include her husband of 42 years, Artis Mills; two sons, Donto and Sametto James; and four grandchildren.

DJ K.I.

There were no hints that the XO to Drake’s OVO was going to drop the 9-track mix tape titled The Echoes Of Silence. The appropriately named mix tape was dropped silently via The Weeknd’s Website near midnight.

The mixtape even features The Weeknd covering the King of Pop’s Dirty Diana in a track titled D.D.

Enjoy.
DJ K.I.

The Roots’ Undun is a concept album, each song is a first-person retrospective from the life of a 25 year old black man named Redford Stephens. Through the songs we begin to learn about the life of Redford. Until now there have been pieces of the entire film that was directed by Clifton Bell in the form of videos. Here is the one minute film in it’s entirety.

Enjoy.
DJ K.I.

Who knew that Ice Cube, the infamous rapper with ’80s group NWA and actor, studied architectural drawing before he started rapping? Pacific Standard Time, a collaborative project launched this past October and including over 60 cultural institutions across Southern California, celebrates the birth of the Los Angeles art scene. “Coming from South Central Los Angeles, you’ve got to use what you’ve got and make the best of it. What I love about the Eames is how resourceful they are.” Pacific Standard Time is an unprecedented collaboration of cultural institutions across Southern California coming together to celebrate the birth of the L.A. art scene.

Thanks to Core 77 for the story.

DJ K.I.