Lady Oracle's blog

This Friday Prince graced us with his enigmatic presence & amazing music at the Bell Centre. I was lucky enough to get tickets to see the show for my birthday and I couldn't have asked for a better present.

The stage was the shape of the infamous male, female, alchemic soapstone symbol that lit up along the edges. The show started with the New Power Generation coming out and jamming for a bit then the backup singers. Finally Prince himself came out dressed in a long sleeve graphic tee, tight pants and white boots with fur all sparkling and gleaming.

For the next three hours Prince performed his hits, funk tracks, and a few covers. I was pretty happy to hear his classic tracks, with all the songs he's written over his thirty plus musical career I didn't think he'd be able to get to all of them but he did!

Needless to say the show was amazing and I'm so glad he came back to Montreal again to perform.  Prince is one of my musical influences and seeing him live was that much more exciting for me.

Blog mp3: 

18 Purple Rain.mp3

  Montreal artist Conn Shawnery by way of BC put out his long   anticipated album CS01 and it was definitely worth the wait.  As a    vinyl collector you hear all the musical influences and great samples in  his musical production.  It’s not just that he created a beat , Conn Shawnery orchestrated a sound. Add artists like BluRum 13, N’Fa, and guests like Wayne Tennant and you’re in for a musical delight.  My favorite tracks “Shum Shum” “Takes 2/2 Tango” & “B-Boy Academy”. Four out of four limes.

Blog mp3: 

07 Track 7.mp3

1.Magnum Ft. RichKidd - Bad Man's World
2.Angerville ft. Bishop Brigante - Highway Of Life
3.Rico Blox ft. Uness - Stop Frontin
4.Conn Shawnery - Shum Shum ft. NFa,Two Tokez, Micro Cos
5.Nation Ruckus - The Anthem feat. muGz

Not far behind where
TONA - Neighbourhood
CeasRock - On My Wait
Son Real - Scream

Support local and underground hip hop, listen to Limelight Radio Saturdays from 6 to 8pm.

Check out some of the latest projects from these artists

Magnum - I'm Good
http://magnum357.bandcamp.com/album/im-g-o-o-d

Angerville - Warface
http://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/warfare/id451765330

Rico Blox
http://soundcloud.com/RicoBlox

Con Shawnery - CS01
http://conn-shawnery.bandcamp.com/album/cs01

Nation Rukus - Boombox Manifesto
http://www.nationruckus.com/

1.Magnum Ft. RichKidd - Bad Man's World
2.Angerville ft. Bishop Brigante - Highway Of Life
3.Rico Blox ft. Uness - Stop Frontin
4.Conn Shawnery - Shum Shum ft. NFa,Two Tokez, Micro Cos
5.Nation Ruckus - The Anthem feat. muGz

Not far behind where
TONA - Neighbourhood
CeasRock - On My Wait
Son Real - Scream

Support local and underground hip hop, listen to Limelight Radio Saturdays from 6 to 8pm.

Check out some of the latest projects from these artists

Magnum - I'm Good
http://magnum357.bandcamp.com/album/im-g-o-o-d

Angerville - Warface
http://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/warfare/id451765330

Rico Blox
http://soundcloud.com/RicoBlox

Con Shawnery - CS01
http://conn-shawnery.bandcamp.com/album/cs01

Nation Rukus - Boombox Manifesto
http://www.nationruckus.com/

   I just saw the documentary today so as soon as I walked through the door I decided to share my thoughts with you while it's fresh in my mind.

  Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest directed by Michael Rappaport documents the journey of A Tribe Called Quest from their sweet beginning, their success and the bitter end with commentary from artist/producers/DJs such as DJ Red Alert, Pharell Williams, Quest Love to name a few.

  The four members Q-Tip, Phife Dawg, Ali Shaheed, & Jarobi White discuss their journey with the group, how they got started, influences etc...then they get to the topic people really want to know about and that is the fall out between Q-Tip and Phife.  They openly discussed how they felt about the decision to stop making albums after The Love Movement released in 1998.  The tension during the Rock The Bells tour in 2008 when they reunited.

I had a chance to see them on the Rock The Bells tour in 2008 in Massachusetts and when Tribe performed Q-Tip was on one side and Phife was on the other. Watching them you could cut the tension with knife and when they were done, Q-Tip thanked everyone but Phife walked right off the stage.

Q-Tip & Phife didn't mince words on how they felt about each other during that time, the way they edited the scenes going back and forth between the two drew me in so much, it felt like two friends talking to me about a fight they had and I was getting both sides of the story and at a certain point it gets to be a bit much and the whole thing just becomes negative. That type of realness was refreshing to watch.

After watching the documentary I learned that the artists had things they were dealing with on their own and that there was no bad guy in the situation. In the end after knowing each other for most of their lives and being a family, they will always have love for each other.

I felt nostalgic when they were playing their tracks and videos, which made the experience that much more enjoyable.  I loved hearing how much they influenced so many of my favorite hip hop artists like Monie Love which I haven't heard from in a minute.

If you're a Tribe Fan and a Hip Hop fan period this is a must see.

What's up everyone!

If you've been listening to the Limelight, you know J-Nice has been holding it down on the solo tip because I'm in Hawaii visiting my girl Sweet Feet.  I've been having an amazing time and have a new perspective on life and how to live it.

With that said I'm looking forward to having my next guest when I get on air April 9th.  We'll be interviewing Homeboy Sandman. We'll talk about his music projects but I'm looking forward to discussing his perspective on life. I saw a video interview of him on okayplayer.com and he talked about was not stressing life and work. He said if work is making you unhappy then you need to do something else. Being in Hawaii I can relate to that. The purpose of life is to enjoy every moment. If you hate your job then do everything in your power to change that.

I'm getting off my soap box now, it's time to sleep over here but be sure to tune into The Limelight April 9th gor that interview.

Peace

So # 1 was turntables so naturally # 2 on my list of favorite things would be

Vinyl!!!! I love it! How it feels how it smells when it's new and even when it's old. I love getting vinyl copy of albums even though it's rare now. My goal is to build a large vinyl collection one day, even go back to the old school days and DJ at an events using strictly vinyl.

When I was a kid I would spend hours going through my dad's vinyl collection.  When I would take one out to play on the turntable my dad you make sure I took it out with extra care, holding it at the edges so I wouldn't get finger print marks on it. I'd also have to clean it everytime I played it.  It was sooo annoying but this image is one of my dad's vinyl from 1980 and it's pristine. It was played often because my brother and I loved the song. It's now in my possession & it's free of finger print marks and scratches. Dad taught me well.

Hey CJLOers!

I thought one the first things I'd do so y'all can get to know me better is share some of the things that I like. 

The first thing is the Technics SL1200MK2.  They're the original DJ turntable that are built to last.  These are the ones that I own and the day I got them was one of the happiest days of my life.  I hugged them and still do every so often (I'm serious). 

I'm even more happy to have a pair because it was announced a few months ago that they will no longer be making these ones. It's the end of an era & I'm glad I was a part of it. 

While I was at CMJ in NYC last October a friend of mine handed me the October issue of XXL magazine with Kanye West on the cover with the title Kanye West Love Hate.  The first thing I said when I saw that was Hate. For those who listen to my show know I love Kanye West but like everyone I was really unimpressed by the incident at the VMA's. I still loved Kanye in spite of the tantrums he threw because his music and production always prevailed.  For me though the incident was the last straw.  I mean Taylor Swift won her first award and Ye completely took away her moment. I was very impressed by Beyonce, who graciously gave Taylor back her moment. 

So here I am in October with this issue that actually sat in my room until December.  I went to Toronto to see my mother for Christmas with my brother, my nephew and his mother.  My brother has the new album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy & he is a Ye fan so of course we listened to it in the car. At the end of Lost In The World, I said "Wow, great album" I could not deny it is well produced, which is what you expect from Kanye but I felt a humbleness to it, perhaps because he shares his thoughts and emotions over the past year.

When I got back from Toronto, I picked up the XXL magazine to read on the bus on my way to work.  The article was written by Kanye West himself.  He talked about his behaviour at the VMA's and his behaviour in general.  He said what really made him feel like shit is Taylor Swift wanted to work with him.  He acknowledged that his behaviour is not leaving the impression he wants people to have of him. He doesn't want to remembered as an asshole, he wants to be remembered for being a good person, someone who took the time to sign an autograph for a fan, a great artist.  If he has something to say he needs to pick and choose when he says it.  He even said he didn't mind being the butt of Obama's jokes especially because at the time of his comment about Kanye he was working on the health care reform which was a tense time. His comment lightened the mood, I mean it was funny and like the rest of us Kanye said that it should never have been recorded and broadcasted.

Reading the article written by Kanye himself allowed the reader to hear his side, and also see that this man/artist was regretful for his actions and choices, learned from it and is working on redemption all the while without coming off as a sap and begging for forgiveness which I respect.  For me it was enough.  I took the time to check out his website and download his Good Friday tracks.  I took the 30 minutes to watch Runaway which I thought was artistically beautiful, and of course I have My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy in rotation.  You can be sure to hear his tracks in The Limelight much to J-Nice's dismay.

I am the type of person who doesn't like to judge but I did judge Kanye and that was wrong because just like people who aren't superstars you don't know a person's story so you can't know what causes them to do the things they do.

Seeing what Kanye does, you can't help but admire what he does and be inspired by it.  I look forward to seeing what he does from here.

Blog mp3: 

Kanye West - Lost In The World

I wanted to take a moment to wish everyone a Happy New Year! I wish you all lots of love, joy & success in 2011.  Thank you for listening to The Limelight and our amazing CJLO shows. We have a lot of volunteers and execs who work hard to bring you the quality radio you hear every day. 

One of my personal goals in 2011 is to have the listeners get to know me on a personal level.  You will be seeing more blogs on my page this year so be sure to check regularly what I have to say about whatever!

See  you soon and again all the best to you and your loved ones

Peace

Lady Oracle