a-Tunes

We showed you the preview, now the full video is out. It’s off his …Paper Cuts… EP. I’ll share my thoughts later tonight after I get a chance to view it too but for those of you lucky enough not to be stuck at their day job you can check it out now.

[edit] Just had a chance to view it. The video quality is sharp and the video is decently shot but a bit unimaginative. Doesn’t stray too far from your standard street video. If you like the song you’ll prob like the video but I don’t think it’ll change your mind if you didn’t. [/edit]

The latest music video from Bambu, “Paper Thin,” pairs the Los Angeles emcee with Chace Infinite (half of the West Coast supergroup, Self Scientific). The newest song from the EP, …paper cuts… released earlier this year, aggressively attacks the active gentrification in urban America. The music video was shot in New York City, between Woodside, Queens and the Lower East Side in Manhattan. Bambu’s next project sees him teaming up with DJ Muggs for a mixtape dropping on Soul Assassins before the year’s over. Also, the highly anticipated hat collaboration between Bambu x Soul Assassins x Pnoy Apparel will drop in conjunction with the mixtape.

Source: 2db

I definitely recommend the latest interview from Soompi with the veteran emcee and hip-hop artist Bambu. The host David Fung asks some great questions and allows Bam to speak his thoughts on his art, motivation, community work, new and old school approaches to music and a whole lot more. This is easily my favorite interview from Soompi so far. Good stuff.

Bambu dropped this EP earlier this year as something of a prelude to his upcoming exit album which he has been stating to be his last. He’s been in the game a long time now, both as part of Native Guns and now as a solo artist – choosing not only to use his mic to make music but speak and organize the communities he grew up in as well. It’s on that note that he continues to interweave the two worlds, regularly incorporating some type of socially concious theme into his music. So with the formal collections of his music as albums coming to a supposed end, how did this EP fare?

(more…)

It hasn’t been too long since Bambu dropped the MV for “Old Man Raps” but he’s already on to the next one, showing us a preview of the music video for the single “Paper Thin” featuring Chace Infinite off the same EP – …Paper Cuts… From the looks of the preview, the video reminds me of “Quit” and for good reason since it looks like it’s produced by the same folks. If you never copped the EP but want this track in your playlist, you’re in luck because Bam has also put up the “Maxi Single” for download for FREE.

Source: 2DB

Bambu teams up with Kid Heros/Xylophone Films again for the music video to his track “Old Man Raps” off his EP …Paper Cuts… The video itself serves as a follow up to one of their previous collabos – “Crooks & Rooks“. This is easily one of my favorite MV’s of the year. Some of you may think the message is heavy handed but I think it’s simple and real. Bambu speaks from experience and he’s only tryna lay down a better life for the youth than the one he lived. Real Hip-Hop.

It’s been about half a decade since the Native Guns have dropped any material. Comprised of Bambu & Kiwi and accompanied by DJ Phatrick, these artist felt compelled to dedicate this track to the late Oscar Grant, who was controversially shot on New Years 2009 by law enforcement officials although he was unarmed and eventually succumbed to his fatal wounds. These artists have been known to be socially conscious and I respect them using their art to make stance. It’s available as a free DL here.

Hours away from the verdict of the historic Oscar Grant trial, rappers Kiwi and Bambu (along with DJ Phatrick) have reunited as Native Guns to release their latest song, “Handcuffs” (produced by Six Fingers).

“With so much emotion and uncertainty around the outcome of this case, we felt a sense of urgency to come back together and do this track” states Kiwi, a former Oakland resident. Bambu adds, “We both experienced the L.A riots in 1992 firsthand, and we wanted to remind people of the lessons learned from back then, so we can keep them in mind as we move forward with this current situation.”

Kiwi breaks the song down further: “The message is threefold: to validate the community’s anger around the blatant murder of this young man, to spark a discussion and deeper analysis of what police are there to do beyond just enforcing the law, and to get folks to think strategically about how they want to react to this verdict, whatever it ends up being.”

This is the group’s first song together in nearly 4 years. Their critically-acclaimed debut album, “Barrel Men” (2005), followed by the “Stray Bullets Vol 2″ Mixtape (2006) received rave reviews and built them a loyal following that carries over to this day. Their material continues to be used in both college classrooms and community youth workshops alike.

Source: 24KMilkCrate

Lookin for some new Bambu music? Well his go to spinner, DJ Phatrick has leaked a new single featuring Bambu along with Do D.A.T. that was produced by 6 Fingers. I’m loving this beat. It’s seriously a dope track referring to the main artery highway that links So & Nor Cal. This is the fruit of labor of what is to be a collab EP, looking forward to the release of the rest of the material.

It’s a free DL here.

Bambu isn’t your typical Hip-Hop artist. He speaks about real people, real situations, and real issues. In this interview with Davey D he continues to expand upon the themes he touches upon his music and explains the rationale behind his opinions and thoughts. Some of his views are somewhat polarizing but I appreciate how candid and well articulated he is. Much respect.

We caught up with Bambu at SxSw and he spoke to us about the Filipinos in Hip Hop and gang Life in LA. he noted that he doesn’t say Gang Life is wrong.. He says it needs to be redirected and folks need to use their talents and intelligence to really owning their blocks

We caught up w/ Bambu who was on hand at Delores park for the Eco-Fest 2010. He broke down the inspiration and the meaning behind the song ‘The Queen is Dead’. He talked to us about brothers using flowery words like ‘Queen’ and ‘Sista’ and not really meaning it. It called such cats ‘Macktavist’

Source: 2dopeboyz

Here’s another interview from ChannelAPA’s East Coast tour. This time they talk with NY-based Deep Foundation, showing why their group name is truly applicable as their love Hip-Hop and their own ethnic Filipino heritage has really grounded them and runs deep in everything they do. They also mention what it was like to work with Choz Belen, Hydro, Bambu, and Legaci. Expect big things for the group!

The single dropped a while ago but the MV was finally released today. It’s a dope MV with some story telling interspersed with Bambu getting his Roots-esque-full-band vibe on. In case you haven’t heard the song before, it’s an interesting track that challenges how we view, label, and treat our women. That’s one of the things I love about Bam, he isn’t afraid to explore some real topics.

Source: 2dopeboyz

You can also see a teaser trailer for his next MV for the song ‘Old Man Raps’ (one of my personal favorites off his …paper cuts… EP). It serves as the followup to the ‘Crooks & Rooks‘ MV from 2008.