The Final Countdown

Well it looks like I've survived another year of staying young, traveling the globe, eating burgers from around the world, rocking parties coast to coast and internationally so in a nut shell I have nothing to complain about and everything to be thankful for. It's been a year of many acconplisments musically and artistically, we've taken Hot Peas and Butta on European tour and even Japan, we successfully pulled off a great weekend at New York Comic Con with our Artists Collective Booth and even stepped the game up by introducing new works from funk band Big Pimp Jones and their Japanese monster / Godzilla style soundtrack and comic book. We celebrated our 3 year anniversary with guest DJ's Chairman Mao (Bump Shop / Ego Trip) and Monk One (Wax Poetics) in 3D which to my knowledge has never been done before.

For 2012 it will be business as usual with many more dates and parties to rock, we'll be taking Hot Peas and Butta into other artistic areas with the debut of the Hot Peas And Butta comic book, our Sound of Film series will continue and we'll strive to continuously show you why Hot Peas And Butta is NOT just a 45 party but something much more unique. Look out for us as we make a return to the gallery scene as we did this past summer in the Netherlands. We love what we do and because of outside influences the creative juices will continue to flow so stay tuned!

This year I'm closing out my 2011 6 hours ahead of my east coast fam by doing a party in the mountains of Thun Switzerland with family and friends. This is a great way of ending the year and a beautiful way to start my adventures of 2012.

Happy New Years to all my fam worldwide!

Polaroid Style

Last night I had to knock out a photo shoot at the crib for an upcoming magazine interview that I did a few weeks back so I called the homie Red Kraus up to swing thru and take a few shots. Of course along with his Canon 7 whatever he also packed the Polaroid to take a few shots strictly for fun.

I'm bringing back the Shaolin Handlock in 2012, trust me!

Thrill of The Hunt

Being the "Nostalgia King" you know two things that I'm all about is Blaxploitation culture and comic books so when I found out that artists and creator of World of Hurt had a new graphic novel titled "The Thrill Seekers" dropping I had to jump up on it! Jay's way of combining gritty art with an amazing storyline brings this book together perfectly. If your not up on it then head on over of www.worldofhurtonline.com to check out his weekly comic strip and see what I've already been down with!

Golden Rules

Nothing new here to me because I've been living by these rules all my life and 2012 will be no different. Hopefully some of you other less fortunate types can take something from it!

New Years Eve in The Alps

Well it's been an amazing year up until now and although it's coming to a close, I've got one more party that I'm really excited to be DJing which is New Years Eve in Switzerland which is really becoming like a second home to me.

So to go out with a bang and bring in 2012 on the good foot I'll be spinning an entire night in the Alps of Soul, Disco and Funk. And just to make this even more of a themed night and to fit the scenery it's strictly an all white party so that means freshly dipped from head to toe in your cleanest freshest wares!

A Slice of Spice For The Holidays

There's nothing like waking up to the sound of the Postman leaving packages in your door unless of course it consists of bills. But there's an extra sense of enjoyment when he delivers a few hours before Christmas as if like Santa he knew exactly what you wanted. After opening the door I found a nice package from the good peoples at Slice of Spice, you know the label responsible for releasing a slew of unearthed material from some of the best Hip Hop producers and Emcees to ever record.

Contents include color limited editions as well as general releases of:

Paul Nice ft. Masta Ace "4BK" /
Paul Nice ft. Tony Touch & A.G. "Just A little Something"

Grap Luva "Neva Done" EP

K-Def ft. LL Cool J "Year of The Hip Hop"











It feels good when a label thinks enough of you to send you a promo here and there but it takes a label that really appreciates you to send you goodies on the regular and even on the holidays. Salute to Richard Smith and Slice of Spice for all that you are contributing and here's to making an even greater impact in 2012.

Fusik Live

A few posts back I talked about an incredible funk band named Fusik which recently released their limited edition 7". Here's is footage of the band performing live with myself doing their introduction. Enjoy

Watch The Birdie

Had a great night this past week in New York City while DJing the Official Book Release Party for the homie J-Zone. A great crowd in attendance on a Tuesday night with a who's who of DJ's, Producers and MC's and party people. Shout outs especially to Prince Paul, Danger Mouse, Edan, my partner on the decks KJ Butta, The Elroy Jenkins for making it jump off and to J-Zone for asking us to be down with it.

But super extra credit goes to my homie Mr. Beon for rocking photos of the night using strictly a Polaroid camera! Yes he's got the latest Canon 7 deez nuts and all the new technology but sometimes you want that classic analog feel for such an analog party as J-Zone would say. No photoshop or editing just capturing the moment in the raw. Check out his sites.

www.krausphade.com and www.redkraus.com

Pimps still don't pay taxes!

Rolling Tape

Woke up this morning feeling really motivated with a new outlook on many things and focused on 2012 and beyond. I've been trying to plan a new mixtape for a while now and if you've been checking out the Official DJ Skeme Richards Fan Page on Facebook then you'll know I asked people to post pics of them with their boomboxes.

So today I finally got up to head out to the Armands which is one of the last remaining classic records in Philly. When I say record stores I don't mean digging spots, I mean how it used to be where you could buy records, needles, speaker cabinets, woofers and tweeters to build your own speakers, lighting and more. This spot has been in existence way before the days of Sam Ash and Guitar center!

So now the project begins, I finally grabbed about 20 blank cassette tapes which I'll be using for the mixtape giveaway. Stay tuned!

Fantastic Florida Funk

This past weekend I had the pleasure of introducing one of in my opinion best new Funk bands on the scene, Florida’s own Fusik at their show in Orlando which was a great honor for me. Fusik has recently released their first 45, On The Fly b/w Battlefield which are both sure shot uptempo burners with of course a nice break in between for all you DJ’s.



Be sure to cop their new release which is limited to 500 copies but the way I saw them being sold at the show you’ll be lucky if there are 100 left!



fusikmusik.com

Reinterpreations

Stumbled across a couple of really great reinterpretations / fan art for one of my favorite War genre flix, The Dirty Dozen and one for the upcoming Dark Knight Rises.


(Uncredited)


(By Chad Russo)

In Total Black & White

The use of black & white shading is really being used heavily in posters these days which is obvious by these two, but that's something minor you pick up on when your into the visual aspect of posters.

Anyway, I'm really looking forward to the upcoming Dark Knight Rises film, this series hasn't let me down yet so this next one should end it all perfectly. I'm not too sure on the Spiderman flick though, I can only co-sign the first one and maybe the second but anything after that was a thumbs down with the no way. Either way, comic book movies are still raking in the dough big time.

Terror In Your Area!

We're planning an amazing 2012 for Hot Peas & Butta as we've got so many really great (and different) things in the works. We've got a few new parties that we'll be hitting you with, the European Winter Tour, Hot Peas and Butta Comic book and a new project from Big Pimp Jones called Kodoja: Terror Mountain Showdown which includes a 45, Album and comic book. If you don't get where this project is going then you definitely will in the upcoming months, very excited to show how as a brand we bring you multiple levels of creativity.

You can peep one of the tracks from the upcoming album on the Kaijucast.com Podcast.

Way of The Warrior

The tough thing about collecting especially when it's a series of something is waiting for or finding the missing pieces. I've been really getting my comic book reading on heavy these days and have been coming across some really good materiel, the first being this limited series called "Samurai's Blood". After six months of waiting for the final issue to drop I've finally completed the storyline, and ready to read.

If your into swordplay and violence then this one is for you, highly recommended!

Root For The Villain

Last month rap legend, producer and homie J-Zone released his book Root For The Villain "Rap, Bullshit and A Celebration of Failure" which has been steadily making it's way up the charts. You know it's a great read if most of these MC's, DJ's and Producers who never pick up a book have all read and co-signed it.

Next Tuesday December 20th I have the pleasure of sharing deck duties with my fam KJ Butta for the official book release event of J's masterpiece. So if your in New York City be sure to swing by Fat Buddha for an evening of madness.

This Goes Out To May Favorites "He's Incredible"

Last week I started a new entry entitled "This goes out to my favorites" so this week I continue with that theme to bring you another entry from the Sleeping Bag / Fresh Records family with T La Rocks "He's Incredible". Now when you think of T La Rock the first choice for many is "It's Yours" which is a great song but I really love this seldom talked about 12" especially the X side of "Breakdown". T La Rock always comes nice with the lyrics and here is no except. I always loved this cover as well, simple and plain with T sporting all black, white gloves, name belt and 2 simple gold ropes looking like he's conducting the orchestra. Simple but effective!

Reaching A New Chamber

Ground breaking, classic, top 5 all time favorite, legendary. Is there much more to say about this cinematic classic?

Funky Florida

It hasn't even gotten cold yet in Philly but I feel like I really need to get away to some place warm so this weekend I'll be rocking in Florida for Outbreak 7. In addition to the jam I'll be rocking the official afterparty with the homies Kid Riz, Cros1 (or 1 too many depending on the time of night) and DJ Ynot.

Future Past

Growing up I loved the Atari 2600 but if it was to come out today in a hand held version with cartridges like this, I would be all up on it! Yes a total Atari rip off but hey....

A Groovin' Boxset

First and foremost I have to give a shout out and congrats to my Butta Brother Supreme La Rock and Light In The Attic for releasing The Wheedle's Groove 7" Boxset and making sure that I was one of the first to receive it. It's always good to see my fam making moves and bringing freshness to the game for others to enjoy.

The Wheedle's Groove boxset consists of 10 really rare Seattle funk & soul 7" released between 1965 & 1979, in addition you also receive a 90 page full color book which breaks down the history of the artists involved in the project. To top it off you also receive a cd with unreleased sessions and a limited edition Seattle Supersonics trading card. Being a limited edition boxset makes it even more of a necessary item to get your hands on!

A Page Turner

This is still such a great video, I love who whole comic script treatment that it received and the storyline fits perfectly. Artists and labels need to get back to having creativity when putting together their videos and other visuals and hire other creative minds with fresh ideas to bring things to life.

This Goes Out To My Favorites

I was sitting back today going through some 80's Hip Hop 12" just at the same time Brand Nubian's "Dedication" just happened to be playing and I realized that there were some really great covers during that time which in some cases was the reason for me buying the album. Looking forward to the now, album covers are works of photoshop and cliche pics of the artist which are usually boring so I decided to do a few posts in the upcoming weeks dedicated to some of the freshest album covers of that time.

I'll start out with these two classic Sleeping Bag Recordings and Mantronix produced works which I really love (if anybody knows if there was ever offical promo posters put out for these to covers let me know, I need that!). Both of these covers done by graffiti artists Gemini and Gnome capture a time when everyone was fresh, even on your worst day you needed to be on point.

Mantronix "Needle To The Groove". Mantronix was a beast on the SP12 before anyone else had even touched one, he was the guy but that's another topic. This cover is of a classic club party with Mantronix on the wheels and "Crime Master T" aka MC Tee on the Mic. If you notice everyone is freshly dipped in sweatsuits, Cazals, Kangols, gold earrings and fresh kicks. I love how they drew the classic Otari reel to reel as it captures the live recording.





Next up is the classic Just-Ice "Back To The Old School" cover. This cover is a typical summer afternoon and as you can tell Fila was the brand of choice with the exception of Mantronix rocking New Balance. One thing that I really like about this cover is how they changed the classic Benetton rugby to spell Latoya instead. People today don't understand the importance and impact brands like Benetton, Coca Cola and Mikey Mouse Co. played within Hip Hop fashion. Also peep Mantronix carrying his Roland 909, that's how we did it when it was time to do a live show.

Puttin' Up High Scores

Even though I own a few arcade and pinball machines I miss the days of dark and loud 80's arcades, slapping a quarter down on a machine to symbolize that you've got next and just the overall surroundings of people enjoying the atmosphere. Yesterday I spent the afternoon and evening hanging out at Barcade with my homie New Hampshire Dan who happens to be one of my few friends that aren't in the music industry (but has great taste in music). It's not often that I get to kick it with Dan and since we're the same age we have the same memories of growing up and enjoy the same things, two being fine beers and 80's Arcade games so this was a perfect outing.

So we hung out at Barcade which is a new spot in Philly that is a Bar & Arcade listening to loud 80's rock, drinking beers and setting high scores.

Is It What It Once Was or Is It Still?

Just caught wind of a great interview in The Guardian called "The Rise and Fall of Skateboard Chic" and it reminds of the same questions that I have about so called "Hip Hop" that came from nothing and became a major something with all types of sponsors throwing money it's way and how people that aren't from this element become rappers, DJ's etc. because it's the cool thing.

Here's an excerpt from a portion with Hufnagel of the Huf Brand.

With so much money in the sport, both Hufnagel and Oblow have seen a change in the kind of kids who are interested in skateboarding. "Skating in the beginning was so poor, it had nothing. It nearly died out. Then all of a sudden it came back and the guys were buying nice watches, then the next generation see that and think, 'I want to become a skateboarder so I can drive a Mercedes.' Now you're seeing parents involved and the whole soccer-mom thing. All of sudden these parents were saying, 'I want my kid to skateboard because he can make money.' It's horrible," Oblow says.

Hufnagel has worries about the future. "My concern is: are they [Nike and Adidas] always going to be there? What happens in a couple of years when skateboarding isn't cool any more and they just drop their programme? They've been in before, dropped it and then come back. Are they going to do it again? Those are the concerns."

Hufnagel remembers the days when skating wasn't so cool: "I grew up in New York and it was unacceptable to have a skateboard. I'd have to take the train up to Canarsie in Brooklyn and I'd put my board under the C train because we'd go through these areas where kids would steal your board and punk you out. In 1992, there were some brands but it was nothing like it is today."

Butta Since Day One

I was going through some boxes that we had stored away and pulled out this gem of mine that I wore in the 70's probably around the age of 5 and proves that I've been Butta since day one and had mad style. Since I don't have any kids I might have to pass this along to my Butta Bro Supreme La Rock for his Butta Son!

Made in Italy with the proper leather patches, my parents made sure I was fresh to def!

In The Bins

Reading and collecting comics is a tradition that I've had since a kid and even though I've stopped and started over the years I still find myself being pulled in for interesting new titles. With all of the going through records, making phone calls, sending emails and handling business it's not often that I get a free moment to sit and read but while on a plane or relaxing at the hotel in another country or before and after gigs I try to play catch up and zone out for an hour or so.

There's been a nice amount of titles being released lately that aren't the typical "superhero" types but more period pieces that I've been diggin up lately. Here's a few that you should definitely check out when your searching the bins.

Dark Shadows was a classic Vampire TV series that ran from 1966 to 1971 with a total of 1,225 episodes. For all the beat diggers out there your probably only familiar with this title because DJ Premier sampled from the Dark Shadows soundtrack.

I've always been a fan of the Spaghetti Western and World War II film genres so Helldorado and Operation Broken Wings both were no brainers to check out.



Flash Gordon was a title that I just picked up today, the first thing that attracted this issue to me was the cover art, I've always loved fantasy art so I had to scoop it for that alone. But after reading it, this will most definitely be on my monthly list to pick up.



The 5th and final issue to the Red Skull limited series finally dropped today, I've been waiting 5 months to read the storyline in one shot. As usual the cover art was what attracted me to this series, it was something about the propaganda style posters that they used which I hope will set the tone for this story.

Still The Greatest

There isn't much left to be said about this truly unique individual that hasn't already been said.

Happy Birthday to the greatest to ever do it, Lee Jun-fan aka Bruce Lee.

The Box of World Travels

If it's one thing that I really like is design and packaging on items, and a boxset done right can really be a make or break for me. I'm not a designer but Hot Peas and Butta visual artist The Elroy Jenkins is and I've picked up alot of his attention to detail when it comes to designing. It's not always about being functional for me, but sometimes it's about the interests and just being cool in its own way.

I guess this example is the equivalent of people buying refrigerator magnets.



Before the days of ‘Your name on a grain of rice” and ‘I heart…’ t-shirts, travellers collected souvenir labels. Attached to your oversized hard luggage, everyone knew where you’d spent your summers, meaning you didn’t even have to brag about it to your fellow passengers. Louis Vuitton’s nephew Gaston-Louis collected over 3,000 of them before his death in 1970. The company has recreated some prize examples for this boxset of 30 postcards, see more at LV.