Archive for the 'hip hop' Category

We recently took a trip to LA to visit some Hip Hop history. If you’re a true school hip hop head, we definitely recommend you visit The Hip Hop Grammy Museum in downtown LA. It displays artifacts that make up Hip Hop’s history including classic J’s, Dunks, vintage outfits worn from Eazy-E, LL Cool J, Run DMC & more. The museum is also home of Hip-Hop: A Cultural Odyssey, a 16-pound, leather-clad compendium that chronicles the entire history of hip-hop music and culture. The show runs until May 4th. 

Pics from the iPhone

A Ceria favorite, D-Nice is a rap artist who made his first debut in the late 80′s/early 90′s. Since then, he’s continued on to become a successful DJ signing with one of the top DJ agencies, Skam Artists. Along his extensive DJ/Rap career, he has evolved into creating his own series of powerful shorts entitled “True Hip Hop Stories” as well as “Soul Survivors.” These documentaries include D-Nice handling the majority of the work involved such as shooting his own cinematography, editing in post & art direction. D started putting out these mini documentaries just 2 years ago & has already amassed a body of work that involves some rare insight of Hip Hop & R&B’s most influential figures. Below is a sample of one of his shorts….brilliantly executed & inspirational. For more knowledge, check out D-Nice TV here.

If you are a lover of Hip Hop, then you already understand how poetic Rap music can be.  Sam Anderson, book critic for New York Magazine, had only heard a handful of Hip Hop songs when he took on the task of critiquing The Anthology of Rap, a compilation of lyrics from over 300 songs spanning the last 30 years.  Reading the lyrics, he gained a love and respect for the art of the lyricist, naming Big Daddy Kane as the all-time greatest rapper, without ever hearing his songs.  It gets even better when NPR decides to interview Anderson and get his reaction to hearing the words he read off the pages, for the very first time in their true artistic form, being performed over a beat.  He is quick to recognize how Hip Hop has transformed since it’s birth, and in the end he sees that while you can see the poetry of some lyrics on paper, others you have to hear to truly appreciate.  For the full article read here.

Sad day in hip hop…Fat Beats in LA & NY will be closing up shop. The LA shop in particular holds many nostalgic memories. It was when they held the first ever Fat Beats DJ battle in ’97 that the crew, Immortal Fader Fyters (IF2) was formed. We all competed against each other. From there on, the LA shop would serve as a melting pot for DJ’s alike to cut it up & hang with the likes of the Beat Junkies, Dilated Peoples or The Likwit Crew. Fat Beats Distribution & their site will continue, so be sure to show your continued support for that. For the full story read here.

Time for another anthem peoples. This video is sure to resurrect the inner hip-hop beast in you. The Wake Up show does it again with their official anthem for 2010. If your hip hop is in a state of emergency, you most definitely need to run this all the way thru. Big up to Sway, King Tech, Revolution & the whole wake up show posse for this. Much needed!

If you missed our in-store meet & greet/album listening party with Talib Kweli & Hi-Tek then be sure to check out our ustream of the night’s event all the way live. It was a packed house filled with commentary from both Talib & Hi-Tek about their new album Revolutions Per Minute. They also opened up the floor to discussions to pretty much anything related to the album and much much more. Forward to about 35:35 on the ustream video as they ended up giving the audience a very special treat where Reflection Eternal performed songs from their new album. Definitely an epic event that we were glad to put on for you. Shouts to everyone who came out and also those who joined the chat during the live broadcast. We even had viewers who joined the chat all the way from London to Brooklyn. More pics to come….stay posted.

Roc C, Rone Kash & D-Tragic

At Ceria, we want to share with you what it is when you merge the genres of streetwear, art & music and we hope to do just that with our upcoming in-store double header. Start marking your calendars now because you won’t want to miss this. A lot more info to come as it develops…check out the flyer in the meantime! Let’s go!!!