Somehow made it through that weekend. Desto and Drunk Monk killed it at Shelter on Friday. I stayed till the end and slept four hours, ran to the mall to host a DJ battle for Pioneer and met a bag of ten Big Mac’s and a cordial, elderly Japanese boss wearing a white suit. He was not feeling my public-speaking-on-no-sleep skills.  Unfortunately all but one of the scratch DJs sucked. One dude like drummed out the piano lines from Linkin Park “In the end,” super offbeat and not in a cool way. Painful.

The one dude with skills didn’t win – but he is gonna come through COME CORRECT on Wednesday @ Shelter to play a special set. DJ Casper, straight from the slums of Xiamen.

Rooftop party, also legend status. Big up to the Ice Cream Truck for having me play at 8PM and 12:30AM. And the lamb party at Rico Rico…god damn. Speaking of lambs, and this has been done before by some cats i know, but i wanna get like fifteen – twenty people together to throw down on a WHOLE lamb or sheep at a Xinjiang restaurant. It’s about RMB1200 but I reckon that could easily feed twenty of us. Holla if you’re interested.

And really pumped about this – SAMIYAM, from Flying Lotus’s Brainfeeder label, coming to Shelter on Thursday with the Beat Conductorz fam (Ceezy, Hamacide, and SIG). Dude also has releases on Hyperdub and lots of other top-tier labels. Glitchy as fuck, syrupy rap beats. Something like the music from this #ghettoasfuck bootleg nintendo that my friends and i found in an abandoned building last night. We fought a feral raccoon for this but felt bad when we found out it doesn’t work. Peep how the controllers are attached to the system. Also, it’s “100% Ninteno compatible” [sic] according to the box.

SAMIYAM – Return

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SAMIYAM – Roller Skates

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If you’re in Shanghai tonight, come down to Dada for a classic 80s horror/comedy flick – Fright Night. Free.

And I’ll be in Beijing this weekend. Big things coming in November so need to dip out of Shanghai for a minute. What’s good in Beijing? Holla.

Lots going on in Shanghai this weekend.  Really wish people would stop calling it “Shangers.” Not chill.

Starting with Friday…

the homies and Otakrew fam Cavia and Ceezy + Shige and some cats from Japan playing hip hop at the new livehouse in north Jing An – Shanhai. dudes all play great hip hop and party jams. real DJs, super fun vibe. starts earlier too, like 10PM. excited to peep the new spot and soundsystem… ill-as-fuck flyer by Cherri, who does all our design for Otakrew too.

If you haven’t yet, peep Ceezy’s classic mixtape in the archives.

And on the late nite tip (like 1:00AM) Shelter for Desto, dubstep producer from Finland. Dude is playing live on an MPC, Korg R3 and 606 (!!!) Courtesy of Sub-Culture, always coming correct. More on that here. Flyer by the only VJ I really enjoy, Olivepixel.

Saturday i’m hosting a Pioneer scratch battle all day then rolling to Atanu, the lighthouse on the Bund for this year’s last Ice Cream Truck rooftop party. Spinning with the homegirl Siesta plus The Uhhh, Mau Mau, and Trix. Baijiu Robot B2B set Mau Mau vs. Heatwolves may go down.

This will be huge, and goes till 2AM. If for some reason you don’t dance or like social situations, it’s worth it for toursts on the bund reacting to the sheer amounts of bass and the surreal scene happening atop a hundred-year old building, with mile-high neon skyscrapers in the background. Gonna rap a bit and probably drop some new originals. Probably some 2 Live Crew too.

and I’m told of another late-nite party going late Saturday night at Rico Rico, the beach by the Cool Docks…. [edit, i fucked up and party is NOT actually on the beach but instead at Rico Rico in the Cool Docks. they're doing three drinks for RMB100 and I'll play Baile Funk when I arrive around 2AM].

DJing a brunch on Sunday afternoon in Jing An..so if you like eggs benedict and 90s R&B on the patio or rooftop of a boutique hotel, you should come. Likely getting there about 1PM. Then off to JZ fest (a park-ish place by a lake somewhere near the expo site?) in the early evening to see Cavia + Ice Nine and the man Roy Ayres. The fam at Shanghai 24/7 did a couple podcasts about the festival, so download those before your commute.

Heard sunshine be comin too…

thanks to everyone who came to Shelter last night come correct. four-turntable action by Shige and Caution, raps by MC One Consciousness, and “Milkshake” pitched down 12% and some rare slow jams by myself at the end, followed by a classic ji gong bao (chicken hot pot) sesh.

note to restaurants who plan on giving away free alcohol and advertising this in SmartShanghai – get more than one bartender. wtf. some people prlly came from Hangzhou for that free Sangria last night in Xintiandi.

hadn’t been to Xintiandi in at least a year. totally forgot about that side of Shanghai. meh. did meet a grave/tomb dealer though. best “so what are you doing in Shanghai?” convo I’ve had in years. dude took my “i sell dreams” response way too seriously though.

man wtf is going on in America right now…jesus.

it’s raining but fuck it, i’m going to the studio to finish this track. until then, peep these:

Aaliyah – Are You That Somebody

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Gemmy – Too Far

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No DL on the Gemmy track. Just came out. Also really feeling this mixtape – it’s a slow builder, and dark as fuck. If you like Salem, Three 6 Mafia, or anything on Tri Angle Records, you’ll love this.

GRIM – FADED RE-EDIT MIXTAPE CH. 1 by voodoo village

Some young kids from Memphis put this together, here’s the tracklist:

1. Diamond Bass – Nomada/All That
2. Three Six Mafia – South Memphis Bitch
3. Clicks & Whistles – Hello
4. Lil Daggers – Pair of Lives
5. Lil Wayne – I Feel Like Dying
6. Project Pat – I Keep That
7. Courtesy – Life, Man
8. Wiz Khalifa – On My Level
9. Com Truise – Colorvision
10. Koreless – Made In
11. Cities Aviv – Sixsixsixes
12. Gorillaz – Empire Ants

They call this “post-trap.” Awesome.

seems there’s a lot of confusion about what hip hop is, because there’s a lot of wackness in this city. a lot.

i really feel bad for people whose first introduction to hip hop is through something like, say, Hip Hop Hijack or Double Victory Entertainment, because that isn’t hip hop – it’s bullshit. Or when a club like Muse/M1NT has a “hip hop night” but actually it’s some cunt like DJ Spenny playing mashups of e.g. Journey x Beyonce.

luckily, my friends are starting a new weekly hip-hop night at shelter tonight. dudes running this night will not play mashups, and will not clear an entire dancefloor by shouting “booty booty booty booty booty booty!” a la Double Victory Entertainment.

the homeboys playing tonight have been DJing hip-hop for like ten – fifteen years each, from LA to SF to Japan. dem came up in the pre-Serato era; they know the deal. expect hip hop, g-funk, breaks (hip hop breaks, not techno breaks), soul, and more. i may drop a few tunes too.

originally this party was at Panic Room but that place is fucking wack and I bet it will close within three months. shit management + painful soundsystem = not a good place for a hip hop party, or any party.

so now it’s at the one and only Shelter. can’t think of a better place to do this.

Doors @10PM, free until 11PM, 5 RMB after. (5!!)

some tunes to get you in the mood – i never get sick of these

Ice Cube – It Was a Good Day

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Warren G – This DJ

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oh, and any MCs are welcome to come down and kick some rhymes. but if you come with some bullshit we will initiate mic control procedures.

seriously the most on-point and relevant sculpture in all of Shanghai. this city is a fucking time warp. was this random or just some really cheeky architects? this is right downtown like a block from Jing An temple.

some music for the day – the masters of the sample, Wu-Tang Clan, sampled by one of my new favorites, Mosca, who just dropped two free tunes to celebrate 5,000 followers on Twitter. He flips the classic Wu joint into a nice deep house tune.

Wu-Tang Clan – Can It Be All So Simple

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Mosca – The Way We Were

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new tracks coming soon…got something special cooking…

for your monday afternoon. don’t bother listening to this if you don’t have a sub or at least some headphones with bass. i’m not necessarily mad at brostep, but these ain’t no skrillex joints.

Kahn – Way Mi Defend

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Goth Trad – Falling Leaf

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Goth Trad comes from Japan. His much-anticipated Babylon Fall EP just dropped on Mala’s Deep Medi label. So heavy.

Been workin for the man cause Chinese national holiday = seven days vacation, seven days work. Lots of new music to get me through this though, plus the fact that I get to drop a lot of these tunes on top of a lighthouse on the bund on Saturday.

Will start it off with something I’ve waited all year for – the Rustie LP, Glass Swords. It’s October but I’ll already call this album of the year. Seriously every track is fire. Boy does not disappoint and nothing else sounds like it. It’s the sound of exploding stars, syrup, those anime speed-lines, Starfox, sonic the hedgehog, and purp. It’s really too bad for Joker that he dropped his album at about the same time, because really this makes the Joker tracks look laughable. Not even a huge fan of “My Trance Girl” and that’s easily the best track on Joker’s album.

Back to Rustie, I’ve been dropping “Ultra Thizz” at festivals over the last few months and people always lose it, and that’s not even my favorite track on the album. Here’s another example of this kid’s genius -

Rustie – Surph

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And something a bit different. This girl comes from Ann Arbor, Michigan so I gotta represent. Sounds kind of like Suzie and the Banshees mixed with Debbie Deb or something. Pretty cool.

Laurel Halo – Supersymmetry

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for those who gotta work seven days straight, I’m posting new music every day this week so stay tuned.

finally back chillin in Shanghai. did three cities in three days (Changzhou, Zhenjiang, and Suzhou) and brought dat fire to two music festivals. i still don’t know what the first music festival was called, and even though there were only like 11 people at the dance stage, i had a blast. i made some aunties and little kids dance and that makes it all worth it. ate some BBQ that was probably cat but did not care at that point.

really the only bad aspect of both music festivals – Snow Beer. truly believe this company is behind a campaign to reduce fun at Chinese music festivals. it’s fucking 2.1% alcohol and just tastes like bad water. luckily the kind folks at the Strawberry Music Festival hooked up with Absolut and were selling bottles for RMB300. shit got crunk. upset that no one played any dubstep and that one french girl just played shitty electro on Ableton, out of what seemed to be her built in Macbook soundcard. For real girl, u are at a festival, you need to bring some shit. Step your game up. Also mad at that weak-sauce electro remix of “How Deep Is Your Love” getting played instead of the [outstanding] original. Don’t be scared to drop that shit just because it isn’t quantized. Still love you Dawei.

I’m sure Blaise and Drunk Monk came correct the next day, but I was already in Suzhou, getting kicked off rooftops and petting strange dogs.

did u spend a considerable amount of time driving around the suburbs listening to three 6 mafia on blast? you’d think dem dudes would be dead by now, but oh no.

Juicy J coming seriously correct on his latest mixtape – Rubba Band Business 2

Juicy J – A Zip and a Double Cup

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Juicy J – Stoners Night

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Oh, I also added all the art from all the Love Bang and Beat Buffet parties under the new “Some Art” tab – check it out yo.