All photographs are the property of Jacob Rosenberg. Ya’ll know Saucee Jake: He can be heard on Del’s “Pet Peeves” getting hyphy on Del. Jacob was the director of videos such as “You Never Knew”, “If You Must”, and “At The Helm”.

Also, you may be wondering who that dude on the right of many of these pics are. That’s Alex Tse; the producer of the videos I mentioned above and dedicated Hiero fan. Where’s Alex now? Writing the screenplay to The Watchmen movie and the forthcoming live action Ninja Scroll adaptation, of course.

I was invited to co-host the official Activision video games podcast, One of Swords this week with the show’s host (and my good friend), Dan Amrich.

We spoke about the DJ Hero titles, Guitar Hero, Rez, rhythm-action games and much more. Have a listen. Here are the links:

» Get the MP3 Download

   Get the podcast on iTunes
   Get the podcast on Zune
   Get the podcast on your own with RSS Feedburner

Check it out. These are from Rodney in Muuuurlan:

February 5th, last night:

Then next morning, February 6th (still snowing):

Once the snow stopped in the early evening, February 6th:

The result??

Song that comes to mind??

It’s a crazy time right now for artists, label owners and especially fans of music. We are well into the transitioning from physical goods bought and sold in brick and mortar retailers into a world where music is streamed, downloaded, purchased and consumed in everything from phones, to car dashboards, and even videogame systems. The frail, faltering war drums of the ancient and dying Major Label system have been trailing off in public for years now. But the indie guys are most definitely feeling the pinch too.

No one is buying CDs anymore. Not you — the listeners and fans — not the distributors, not the stores. It’s on its way out. We are either purchasing our music online, mostly as MP3s, or we’re downloading them for free. Regardless of how you obtain your music the old way of doing business in the industry is over.

Vinyl was the first format casualty; it was always a tricky proposition for an indie label. It’s expensive to manufacture, expensive to mail, you have to worry about returns and printing enough or not too much, and it is sold at a price to distributors and stores where maybe — just maybe — you’re breaking even. But more than likely you were losing money on vinyl as a means of promotion. (Serato, we *heart* you). But then CDs got hit…Damn…The Venerable Disc That Could…Stores started ordering less, distributors began receiving less. The writing was on the wall for the way labels had done business for decades. The packaged good was no longer dependable as a source of income.

After a brilliant ten year run, El-P has officially announced Def Jux is “wrapping up in it’s current form and re-imagining [it's] collective and individual futures”. Which as a brand is most likely true; let’s take El on his word. But make no doubt about it: the Definitive Jux record label is gone. And that’s sort of a sad thing I think, because they were certainly a powerhouse in their time.

El-P wrote on DefinitiveJux.net:

In 2000 starting a traditional record label made a lot of sense. But now, in 2010, less so and I find myself yearning for something else to put my energy into. I also see newer, smarter, more interesting things on the horizon for the way art and commerce intersect, and as an artist and an entrepreneur, I’m eager to see them unfold. The evolution of this industry is, in my opinion, exciting, inevitable and it would be nice to see the DEFINITIVE JUX brand be a part of it. In other words, maybe we can turn this hoopty in to a hovercraft.

You may not have enjoyed their music or liked any of their artists, but from a business standpoint and a model for brand recognition, Def Jux was among the top ever in hiphop. Their fans were referred to as, “Def Jukies”; an insignia which united them all over the world. The label’s art direction was unified, bold and coherent across media: Print, album art, merchandise and website. And Def Jux pumped out a considerable amount of videos, some of which I thought were brilliant — perhaps beginning with its very first one: El-P’s, “Deep Space 9mm“.

Hey, what can I say, I was a fan. But I was also a business partner with Def Jux at The Giant Peach where we manufactured and sold their entire clothing line. They were right there with us when we started back in 1999, among only a handful of labels we affiliated ourselves with. To this extent, I feel like our respective companies grew in parallel together, and we were brothers-in-arms at this indie rap game.

I’m getting sentimental, but that’s how I’ll always remember Def Jux. I hope their legacy will go on to empower hiphop because things seem strange and almost quiet on the independent tip at the moment.

“This Is Our Label, We Are Very Dedicated.”

Peace out, Hoppy Harrington. Ya’ll did good.

• Read El-P’s sendoff, “Of Hooptys And Hovercrafts”
• Definitive Jux clothing, t-shirts and merchandise at The Giant Peach

I was digging through the (virtual) crates and came up on my man Stitch’s EP, Before We Go Any Further. This is a true gem from a producer I really respect and admire. This has never been released before and I asked Stitch if it would be cool to share it here on the blog. Not only was he down but he was MAD DOWN and excited for ya’ll to hear some of his earlier work.

Stitch says,

HOLY SHIT!!! Yes those are all mine. What a trip, I havent heard those tunes in YEARS!

I added a little bonus: “G-Way” featuring Philly MC’s, Indy 500 & Peedi Crakk (now known as Peedi Peedi). This particular track was produced by the Superchimps — That’s Stitch and Benny Brows. And that’ll in fact be the *next* EP I’ll be uploading next week.

But for now, dig into Stitch’s EP of raw beats. I love this album and I’m glad ya’ll can check it out too!

Download:
» Stitch – “Before We Go Any Further” [35.2M, LAME MP3-V2(VBR)]

See also:
• High-res cover art

Youtube member, YO! EDY K RAPS has posted some classic, live Hiero YO! MTV Raps performances and interviews from the early 90’s online, some of which I havne’t seen personally in over 15 years. Check em out.

But oh — a word of warning: Get em while they’re hot. Vaicom (MTV’s parent company) pulled the Del / Fab 5 Freddy interview down the last time it was on Youtube, so best to check it quick if that’s gonna be the case a second time around. Enjoy.

Del The Funky Homosapien Ft Hieroglyphics – No More Worries (Live) @ Yo MTV Raps 1993

(A-Plus, Casual, Snupe of Extra Prolific, Del)

Souls Of Mischief – 93 ‘Til Infinity (Live) @ Yo MTV Raps 1993

Del The Funky Homosapien – Interview Pt 1 @ Yo MTV Raps 1991

Del The Funky Homosapien – Interview Pt 2 @ Yo MTV Raps 1991

[YO! EDY K RAPS via Access Hip Hop]

My man Dan Amrich — former senior editor of GamePro, Official X-Box Magazine, World of Warcraft Magazine and a ton of other journalistic endeavors of the videogame-kind (spanning well over 16 years!) — has just been hired by Activision as their brand-spankin’ new Community Manager! Congrats, Dan!

One of Swords, his nom de Web, has just dropped Episode 001 of the brand new podcast featuring music by ya boy. Check it out here:

» One of Swords Podcast 001: The Saga Begins

Also, be sure to check out:
• Joystiq Interview: Dan Amrich of Activision community site One of Swords

Google Voice tries to transcribe your voicemails to text so that you can read them online. Here’s my favorite jawn this week from my own mailbox:

Kirk, Hi Dad, tech associates I. At together the range listing with us tomorrow. Hey, check the weather report at North Star, and there’s lesbian list. I’m coming in this afternoon and I don’t know that in until tomorrow night. So yeah okay. Alright, so I’ll talk to you soon.

Dope article written by Tajai of Souls of Mischief over at XXLMag.com about Hiero’s independent legacy:

Making the transition from being on a major, where everything is paid for—cars, hotels, plane tickets, tour support—to being on…nothing, was shocking and a little bit scary. We came directly out of high school into a major label deal into a world of stardom, so to not have that label security made it seem like everything else would go away.

Check it out over at XXLMag.com »

See also:
• Yameen & Tajai Interview, XLR8R Magazine
• Yameen & Tajai Releases

Ya’ll know Blockhead, right? Ninja Tune recording artist, Yameen remix collaborator, one half of Party Fun Action Committee…Well, add Internet O.G. to that list. My man has been blogging before it was even called “blogging” (shouts to alt.rap and rec.music.hip-hop, hoooo!) and now he finally has a website of his own and the shit is straight up hilarious.

Phat Friend is probably the funniest blog I peep regularly. When Block tells you flat out Willie D is his favorite rapper ever, he’s not joking around with you. Block shares his thoughts on M.I.L.F’s, Trannies, Rapping Wrestlers, posts regular Songs Of The Day or special MP3s from his recording vaults; Blockhead’s blog has you covered.

Check it out, bookmark it, do what you do. You won’t be disappointed.

• Blockhead’s, Phat Friend blog