One word, phenomenal. That’s just about the only word I can think of that would best describe my first time being at a real live concert this past Tuesday, the best hip-hop concert in Oakland. Read more...

How has hip hop in the bay area evolved? Back when I was in middle school the only artist getting played in the bay were Keak da sneak, too short and E-40. A song that I remember the most that played at that time was “Tell me when to go” by E-40. Read more...

Some of today's top hip hop bloggers met a packed house last month for the "If I Ruled the Blogosphere" Hip-Hop Bloggers Conference in Washington DC. I had front row seats as 2DopeBoyz co-founder Meka Udoh, Dallas Penn of Dallas Penn & the Internets Celebrities, OkayPlayer writer Jason Reynolds, Frank William Miller Jr. (FWMJ) of rappersiknow.com, and producer/emcee Odissee talked about everything from the genesis of the hip hop blog (actually that was just Dart Adams of the recently deceased poisonousparagraphs), to what they are doing to keep they're fans happy and their blogs afloat?

We play some clips from that conference and it sparks conversation around the motives of a maker.

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While you're at it, you can stalk Noah (@areyouthatguy) and Brandon (@1o_a_K) on Twitter as well.

Zion-I's Zumbi is one of the Bay Area's underground hip-hop superstars (and one of All Day Play's DJ's), which means he's constantly on the road performing. On today's Maker's New Math Brandon talks with Zumbi about the touring side of the business and about Zion-I's path to success, by rocking 1 show at a time. [15:47]

Listen:

Download: Episode 4: Zumbi Science Of Touring

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Throw us a "like" on Facebook.

Stalk Noah (@areyouthatguy) and Brandon (@1o_a_K) on Twitter.

Next Week:

Geek troubadour and "1000 True Fans" role model Jonathan Coulton, a trip to a Washington D.C. hip-hop bloggers conference, and hip-hop underground juggernaut Odisee.

Zion-I's Zumbi is one of the Bay Area's underground hip-hop superstars (and one of All Day Play's DJ's), which means he's constantly on the road performing. On today's Maker's New Math Brandon talks with Zumbi about the touring side of the business and about Zion-I's path to success, by rocking 1 show at a time. [15:47]

Listen:

Download: Episode 4: Zumbi Science Of Touring

Subscribe now:

 
 in a reader via Feedburner

Throw us a "like" on Facebook.

Stalk Noah (@areyouthatguy) and Brandon (@1o_a_K) on Twitter.

Next Week:

Geek troubadour and "1000 True Fans" role model Jonathan Coulton, a trip to a Washington D.C. hip-hop bloggers conference, and hip-hop underground juggernaut Odisee.

Giving fans more for less: that's the model that the members of Tanya Morgan have based their entire career on. When giving away music online was fairly new, TM was ahead of the game. And now, they're able to not only pack a venue, but rake in extra money from Tanya Morgan-branded merchandise. Brandon sits down with one third of Tanya Morgan, Donwill, while he was in the Bay Area promoting his solo release, Don Cusack in High Fidelity to talk about music, merch, & monetizing on the latest episode of Maker's New Math.

Also up for discussion: the power of the blogosphere to make an artist. [18:09]

Listen:

Download: Episode Two: Donwill- Populating Brooklynati

NEXT WEEK: blogger and storyteller Molly McAleer talks about breaking into TV while holding down a day job, Fred Beneson of Kickstarter talks about his work around Creative Commons, and Zumbi of Zion-I shares wisdom from the road about the life of a touring musician circa 2010.

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Mogul, Roc Nation CEO, and fashion icon Jay-Z has a new short documentary titled “NY-Z” which it details the Brooklyn rapper’s bond with the world’s famous arena—Madison Square Garden. The documentary was released online by Absolut vodka. The 15 minute long documentary follows Jay-Z as he is preparing for the release of the Blueprint 3 album and his September 11 benefit show at Madison Square Garden. Mary J. Blidge, P.Diddy, Kid Cudi and John Mayer are some of the guests in the documentary.

Nicki Minaj has the most animated freestyle and holds it down for the ladies (what ever happened to Rah Digga? just asking), Joe Budden displays the coldest flow out of the bunch, Buckshot is the average o.g. rhymer and Crown Royyal deffinately has the sickest style in the first of the 2009 BET Hip-Hop Awards Cyphers.

MMMM. Now that's some good ol' RAPPING!

Does anybody outside of New York know who Crown Royyal is? Dude! step your visual game up.

Guess if you're not a part of the main hip hop blogosphere or on MTV then you're a on "underground status". Wait. This actually gives BET hella more hip hop credit! Read more...

It seems that MF DOOM is finally getting his due props in the form of a feature in The New Yorker by writer Ta-Nehisi Coates. Earlier this year Mos Def said "I'd put a million on DOOM against Lil Wayne (in a rap battle)" As much as I'd love to see this happen, I know it won't. But I was compelled to imagine what that battle between the two very different MCs would sound like. I believe it would go a little something like this:
 

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As David Segal pointed out recently in the the New York Times, conservative talk radio hosts like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck have a lot in common with rappers like Jay-Z and Ludacris. As Segal sees it, to make it in either the hip-hop of the right wing talk game you'll need Ego, Haters, Feuds, and Verbal Skills:

Free-style rap requires precisely the facility with words that it takes to free-associate for two or three hours a day. Forget, for a moment, what the Fox TV and radio gabber Glenn Beck is saying and marvel for a moment at how long he can say it — and how sharp and funny he can be.

Segal lays the case for the "kinship"- showing how rappers embrace capitalism and have a view of human nature as dim as any right wing pundit-  and builds up to what he sees as the big revelation: that "liberals and moderates are asking the same question about conservative talk radio that conservatives have long asked about rap: How dangerous is it?" Yet there is more going on with the story of hip-hop culture and the GOP's pundit class than a synergy of styles. As blogger Jeff Chang of Can't Stop Won't Stop points out, the place where hip-hop activists and right wing radio intersect has become a flashpoint in the culture war:

Are you mad yet? You should be. Glenn Beck has now taken down Yosi Sergant, the second hip-hop activist to be targeted in the Obama administration in a week.

[On Sep. 9th] the 34-year old communications director at the National Endowment For The Arts was asked to resign. Why? Because he was trying to organize artists to support President Obama’s national service program, United We Serve. If your next question is: so what? That was ours too. But Glenn Beck compared the effort to “Nazi propaganda”.

So the battle lines appear to be drawn, and unlike the 90's- the last time these two factions in the culture war went after each other- no one can honestly claim that they don't speaking the same language.