Pimp C Freed!Two Damage Controls to Download - UPDATE - LINKS FIXED

Photo by Julia Beverly, Ozone Magazine

That's right, Pimp C hit the streets this morning, like 11 a.m. I believe. One day after his 32nd birthday. I was told about this a few days ago, but was also told the family and Pimp did not want any fanfare, they wanted to be alone so out of respect I held back on making the announcement and decided to go see my family in San Antonio. I guess I'm not a real cut throat journalist.

Anyway Julia Beverly flew in from Florida and got the exclusive, as you can see above. Welcome home Chad Butler. Y'all sure look happy, and all of us are too. Take some time for yourself and then hit us with a heater.

Here's the last two weeks Damage Control Radio Shows. Sorry I spaced on putting them up. These holidays got me BoyinaDaze. For real. I was talking with some people about how I used to always take the week between Christmas and New Years off (aka Kwanzaa) and this year I just can'teem to get a second to chill. The folks I talked to were all like "But yeah man it's the grind you gotta stay on it blah blah blah." Fuck I am sick of the grind. But um, it's paying the bills. Sort of.

DOWNLOAD DAMAGE CONTROL 12/22/05 HERE

DOWNLOAD DAMAGE CONTROL 12/29/05 HERE

You know HoustonSoReal turns 1 year old on New Years Eve right?? Thanks to everyone for a great year. Lets hope folks still read this thing in 2006 and don't move onto Wisconsin rap or Laotian Tuba Thumping or some shit. Tuvan Throat Music and shit.

HAPPY NEW YEAR if I don't see you before then....

ChristmasSoDamnReal

MattSoBehind... on everything! Except Christmas, that's behind us. Well behind most of us. Coming from a family of multiple divorces, you get multiple Christmases. This year we get three, last weekend, Christmas weekend and this weekend. I wish someone in my family was Jewish so we could switch it up a bit. Tired of ham and cookies already.

Anyway I'm behind on the picture game. Today we start with the Reprogram Christmas bash last Friday at the Bootleg Gallery. Then we go on to Chingo Bling the weekend before in Austin at Antone's. Then that boy FLX came by Damage Control. More on that later.


This how I do thangs. Really I don't, but CeePlus and I have talked about me coming and spinning some Christmas weirdness sometime and well, it happened. Only I was up against CeePlus and he was playing music that people could actually dance to. They weren't feeling my whole "Talk loud in your friends ear while I blast songs you never heard, some with no rhythm whatsoever" vibe. SO I basically DJed to a handful of folks, small handful of folks and every once in a while someone I knew would come in and kind of laugh at me, maybe attempt to dance, then leave quickly.

Thank God for Lin Yee! More on that later.


The event was held at the Bootleg Gallery off of Commerce Street. If you know Houston, you know Commerce runs through our warehouse district and is home to many artists and little venues and galleries that just pop up here and there for you to party in.


Thangs like this be parked outside. You know Houston, besides being The New Hip Hop Mecca ( ;) ), is also the Art Car Capital of the World.


This is one of the people who walked in and out of my Christmas Wonderland that night. I don't remember her name but she saw my Oxy sticker and told me she's from here, lives in New York, goes to Oxy parties. I said "What about HoustonSoReal parties and she said 'Que?'"


Witnes stuck it out for me in the end and cheered for the death metal.


Here's the crowd in the other room. I'ma leave my Christmas crowd to your imagination.


This is where I peed when -- if you listened to the set available for download below -- I shut down whatever was playing before the Waitresses abruptly and ran for the door.


Monique from Hater Magazine and Phd from Lower Life Form in the street as I was wandering BoyInADaze.


And Monique and her folks, one of which is from Germany. Guess which one. MY PEOPLE!


Crystal Lee showed up as I was leaving. And I had to leave... Party went super late and I had Christmas to attend to the next morning bright and early.


Rad Rich - I used to do a radio show with this dude back from 1991 - 1994, Droppin' Bombs Strictly Hip Hop, he's the man that introduced me to the inner workings of KPFT. Feel the real!


DJ Jester is one of my favortie DJ's ever and tonight he did not disappoint. He didn't do the comedy routine, he rocked the fuckin' house. Peep DJ Starsign in the background. He also ripped it.


O.K. Gotta give huge props to my girl Lin Yee. She was in town from New York, feeling the Christmas realness and stuck it out with me in the Christmas room more than anyone else throughout the night. She also got me beers non stop and had her own posse with a bottle of Glenlivet that was gone in 60 Seconds. Real fucking partier I Tell U Whut.

But shit, I couldn't drink no whiskey and I couldn't make it to last call for the next morning, Christmas Eve, we had Christmas at home for DJ Eva and MC Elena. Had to head to Austin for Christmas part three later that day sooooo we decided to have Santa come a little early at home and then let the Grandmas have their way with them Christmas day.


MC Elena


DJ Eva get excited over just about anything.

Then, let me not forget to post these right here. The Sunday before Christmas, I hit up Austin for the Chingo Bling Christmas Extravaganza at Antones.


It was put together by Dat Boy Mikee, pictured here, and the shit was wild. Basswood Lane, Set 4 Life, Kool Whip and a gang of other folks performed. ALl did well, but Chingo man, he ripped it. That dude has a hellafied show. Peep the photos. I gotta get this dude to Europe.

Oh yeah, Europe and Canada here I come. Hopefully I canmake official announcements by end of week but Eastern Canada I'm looking to see you twice in January and February and Europe, I'ma see you in late February...

And then March is South By Southwest. Damn.










And well, the photo above is not from the Chingo show, it's from Damage Control last week. FLX was in the building. He's the man who made Dirty States of America, the most important DVD ever made about rap music ever. The man fuckin' put it down. We been in contact for a while but finally met. He's a man of incredible energies. Thats FLX on the left and Lil J on the right. I'ma ask him if I can post his new single. Shit is off the chain. Get ready ready....

-----

Next NYC Jump Off looking like it's gonna be my birthday party at Sway Monday January 16th. DJ Chill, Rapid Ric and that man Mr. Rogers (DJ for Slim Thug) gonna hold down them tables. Sponsored in part by Ozone Magazine. Ima try to make that, you should too.

Merry Christmas - Happy Hannukah - Happy Kwanzaa... all that

Happy Holidays to all of y'all. It means a lot to me that anyone even ever reads this let alone all the love I get from y'all. So thanks a million and I look forward to another great year. 2005 Round up coming soon but for now...

DOWNLOAD THIS CHRISTMAS MIX OF SORTS

Anyway thats what I played Friday night up in the club. No one gave a fuck except my girl Lin Yee, Witness and like four dudes who kind of just stayed by the wall and laughed when appropriate.

Come See Me Make a Fool of Myself Christmas Eve Eve - Friday Dec. 23rd

Hey I'ma dork out with my laptop full of Christmas jams fo dat ass Friday night at the party below. Ceeplus, DJ Jester and a bunch of other merry little elves will be there to entertain you. BYOB, plus there's 10 kegs so you pay $5 at the door and $5 to drink and part of all that goes to the Star of Hope Mission, who really need it this year.

They do more for this community in 5 minutes than you do all year so come out and support you fuckin hump. Yer gonna be locked down with family Saturday and maybe even Sunday, so come get it going with your peoples.

Plus me DJing in any capacity is funny at the least. So come chill with your boy.

A.C. Chill Funeral and Wake Information

R.I.P. A.C. Chill!

K-Rino asked me to post this information regarding A.C. Chill's Wake and Funeral.

The wake is Thursday Dec. 22nd, 7 p.m. – 9 p.m. at Jimmy Pruitt Memorial Chapel, 2222 Dowling.

The funeral is Friday the 23rd at 11 a.m. at Mount Horeb Missionary Baptist Church. 118 West Gray St.

Thanks and PEACE!
matt

R.I.P. A.C. Chill

AC Chill, South Park Coalition, passed yesterday, December 14th, 2005. The story goes that he had an aneurism two weeks ago, had been in a coma, then had a heart attack and died yesterday.

DOWNLOAD and Listen to Last Nights Damage Control Here and get the story from Murder 1 of the SPC, and a little eulogy of sorts from Murder 1 and DJ-D.

That stress will get you people. Take some time to give thanks for all you've got today.

A.C. Chill Rest in Peace.

Two Bun B Draped Up Remixes and One Party Announcement

Maaaan quick post today. First of all I got two extra live remixes of Bun B's "Draped Up" recently and I had to post them.

First is from my man Mozell here in Houston. He basically remixed Bloc Party's "Banquet" and mixed it with Bun's vocals. Not a mash up though, Mozell did his thing. Would love to know what you think.

Download Rob Mo's Bloc Party vs. Bun B Draped Up Remix Here

Then my man CHOPS has the new "It's Goin' Down 3" coming out complete with a DVD that features Rapid Ric's performance at South By Southwest last year when Magno and Ryno and Chalie Boy joined him on stage. This shit is fire. You need it. Here's a sample.

Download the CHOPS Remix to Draped Up Here

Jammin' that Whut it Dew 3 right now, hosted by Trae. Man, upon first listen, this bitch is straight fire. Not sure when it will be available commercially.

And it looks like this is the next event I'ma be a part of. I tried to bring my Christmas set to New York for the holidays but Roxy thought it was a stupid idea. Young uns...

But these young uns in H-Town are so ready for it.

10 Kegs fools.

Things I have forgotten to post

First up here's last week's Damage Control. We had a dude named Belly on there from Ottawa in Canada who talked down on Kardinal Offishal for some reason. He commented on the fact that so many rappers in Canada make their videos and release their records with "borrowed money," ie: government grants. Well, I live in a country where you can barely get funding for music and art programs in public schools cuz we spend all of our money on war, death, destruction and Halliburton,and he's complaining about his country that actually helps young artists get their work out to the public.

Yes Canada GIVES RAPPERS money to make videos, and he says that's a bad thing. I think "Canada's first gangsta rapper" needs to get an apartment in 5th Ward for a while. I'm not hating, the music is good and he was a cool guy and he's down with my man Jokaman and he brought Sickamore to the studio, so I'm not trippin', but shit man, come live in our hustlin' ass country for a while and see how it really is. I'd like to do the same. I been considering spending some time in Canada. As cold as it is, the people sure are nice and the government doesn't hurt my bleeding heart.

Download Last Weeks Damage Control HERE.

And here you can hear a special from the BBC's 1Xtra on Chopped and Screwed Music - a genre I personally like to call "Houston Music." I'm interviewed throughout and I think they did a really good job.

Check out the BBC's Special on Chopped and Screwed Music Here.

And there's two new websites dedicated to bashing the hip hop magazines. One I cut for 100% - The Bible of Hip Hop, another I don't really dig, called Bitter Vibes as it takes swipes at Mimi Valdes, the editor in Chief at Vibe Magazine.


The Bible of Hip Hop in name is an obvious dig at The Source, a magazine that owes me $1,600 and will probably never pay. In fact they owe a lot of my friends in this writing game money, and need to be taken to task for it as they wither away. Merry Christmas Source Magazine, the Bible of Hip Hop is FOR YOU! And all of us...

Bitter Vibes is admittedly interesting as it is written by an anonymous Vibe employee who talks all sorts of inside personal shit about what happens at their office. I think that Vibe does a better job covering urban music than any of the other major hip hop magazines (except Ozone and I'ma keep my hopes up for Down to keep doing good thangs, but its quite early in the game) so I can't really trip on them. I really don't give a fuck if Mary J. Blige didn't like her cover shot. Inever liked one picture taken of me ever.

And fact is, back ten years ago when I just started getting my internet on, I tried to start this online weekly "Hip Hop Business" chat on AOL when only about 15% of the hip hop biz had internet capabilities. Mimi Valdes was like, literally one of my only supporters. Like I'd send out email invites and then the time would go to be in the chat room and it'd be just me and Mimi. So admittedly I have a soft spot in my heart for this woman I have never met or even sen for that matter. Let her dress however she wants you gossipy little bia...

But I have to admit, it's fairly juicy, like some horrid reality TV show you can't stop watching even though it's the most retardedly ridiculous thing you've ever seen. Bitter Vibes is my new Paradise Hotel or whatever that catty fucking show was called.

Anyway, I'm taking Eva to her friends house and whatever, you don't care about that. Enjoy Damage Control, the BBC and these two new websites...

Devin the Dude Live in Houston - Amazing.Houston young taggers kill a good thing

IT WENT DOWN Last night in Houston, Texas. Devin the Dude, the Chicharones - Josh Martinez, Sleep, DJ Sest, Jokaman, Lower Life Form, PKT and Witnes basically killed it. Nice crowd, nice vibes, $2 Heinekens... it went down.


Witnes held it down above and beyond the call of duty all night.


The Dude by Article. He's been making these amazing portraits and selling them at shows lately. Shit is off the chain.


PKT on stage


PKT with T. Piper and crew


Coughee Sistaz Erica Marlin and Sista Green


Josh Martinez orders a double rum and coke or some shit


Karijimis!


Lower Life Form, Ish, Phd and Brew all killed it too


Tom is a future Congressman from my district and Bubba is a big time record label mogul


Jokaman tore it up for sure.


They got it live




Governor Good Grief in the house. He saved the day with a CDJ when Sest's began to smoke on stage.


Domo


The Chicharones were off the chain. The crowd was all over them, for real. They had 'em.






Then your boy hit the stage at like 1:23 or some shit. Stayed there till 2:30 with the Odd Squad, Erika Marlin and even a vocoder (or whatever that thang is) in tow. Shit was wild.




The vocoder and Erika


Coughee Brothas were in full effect. Shit was crazy






Jugg Mugg


Rob Quest and Devin. Rob dropped me some solo shit off last week. Tune in to hear some of it on Damage Control this week


Odd Squad did it accapella at the end


MAAAN HOLD UP! B-Boy Craig, Devin, Article and friend


K-Rino was in the house. Lookout for the HoustonSoReal K-Rino Texas mini-tour in January.


Magno even showed up. Lookout for Magno on the moon. That man is finna blow.

I didn't really take as many photos as I should have. Ir eally didn't know a lot of the people there last night. It was a wild crowd man, but real chill...

Save for some little tagger fools and toys who stuck all these 8.5 X 11 BAD SEED stickers EVERYWHERE. I'm talking about they destroyed the mens and ladies rooms hard with tags and these fucking huge stickers. Shit that meant nothing. Like I was trying to decipher the tags so I could figure out who these fools are, but I couldn't read shit. The shit was wack like 6 times over on every wall in the bathrooms.

These little toys fucked me. The tone of thenight went from "Hey Matt youthink youmight want to do every Sunday here?" to "Hey Matt this shit is totally fucked." Real quick. And with good reason. Like, I would be, and am, mad as fuck about that shit. If someone tagged the shit out of my nice restaurant - yes they hit the walls and tables in the restaurant part of Havana - I'd be pissed too. It was messed up.

Somebody even stole the huge 6 foot lit up inflatable Heineken bottle. We had $2 Heinekens for most of the night till they ran out. Somebody took that, but I made some calls and got that back today. No big deal.

But the tags were fucked up and I'ma be looking for you toys, that shit was fucked up. That shit takes hard work to put together and execute and gain the trust of the venues and there you little bitches (and I heard some of the taggers were girls) go and turn a good thing to shit just so your corny tag can be up on a wall for 10 minutes. They make this shit called Goof Off you tard. Your shit was gone less than 15 minutes later you corn balls. You succeeded in making me and a few other good people very angry, that's it and that's so stupid.

But anyway, my goal for January is to have a huge birthday jump off with a couple of my favorite DJ's and then book some shows with K-Rino, Young Bleed and Money Waters through Texas, get Devin back to Canada, and hopefully to Europe too. Hopefully I can still do the Houston events at Havana, but I doubt it and don't blame them.

Shit.

But other than that, all the groups were off the chain, the crowd was stellar and we shall proceed.