About

Champaign-Urbana, IL - Musician, producer, composer, audio designer, and DJ Larry E. Gates II  has played hundreds of stages across the nation and has shared those stages with the likes of Chuck Berry, G. Love & Special Sauce, 30 Seconds To Mars, Local H, Superdrag, Trombone Shorty, Brother Ali, The Nappy Roots, Blueprint, DJ Rare Groove, Illogic, and many others.

 

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Way Gone Wednesdays: Yasiin Bey

The elusive Yasiin Bey (formerly Mos Def) has dropped an inverted video for "Basquiat Ghostwriter". Still one of my favorite voices in the game. Dig.

Real Talk Tuesdays: Ice Cube

Saw Straight Outta Compton last night. It was excellent. You have to understand that the bulk of that story takes place during my high school to college years. Prime time for me. I had all those records. I knew every word. The flim drags in the third act - that's when the melladrama kicks in - but it's a great story with top notch performances all around. When Ice Cube left the crew to go solo - I remember that. I remember how much it mattered and I remember how hard he brough it. I bought his solo debut 3 times. Here's how it opens.

Madhouse Mondays: Mad Max the game

My homies over at WB Games have created a Mad Max adventure for your gaming PC or console complete with an interactive trailer. Go on, get mad.

Feel Good Fridays: Chris Dope Folks

This is a great idea. $1 bin underground hip-hop mix. Guarentee you'll hear some fire and discover some well-slept-on cats. Dig.

Throwback Thursdays: N.W.A.

In honor of the release of Straight Outta Compton let's review one of the lesser celebrated tracks on that album, 8 Ball. Neither Eazy or Dre wrote their own verses on this record (Ice Cube did the lion's share of the work) - truth is, Eazy wasn't a blessed MC - can't imagine how much time they spent just to get these verses "passable". Still, there was something so cool about the whole damn thing.