Song of the Week – 8-25-09 – Beastie Boys, P. Diddy and Q-tip at Les Legends Du Hip Hop on MTV

This week's 'song' is a medley of Beastie Boys tunes featuring guest appearances from P. Diddy and Q-Tip. On July 20 the Beastie Boys released a video on YouTube announcing that they would need to delay their tour and the release of their new record (Hot Sauce Committee Part 1) because Adam "MCA" Yauch discovered that he had a form of cancer in his parotid gland and needed surgery. Here's to well wishes for a complete and speedy recovery. itunes_iconBuy music by The Beastie Boys on iTunes The song of the week is brought to you by Michael Zampelli, former owner of Southern California punk rock icon, Zed Records. For almost 30 years, this mecca of punk and alternative music kept Southern California enthusiasts adequately supplied with unique, original and innovative music. Currently, Zampelli manages a hockey fan message boards at www.letsgokings.com with thousands of subscribers. He takes photos for the LAist and the LA Derby Dolls. Each week he will contribute a song with a theme, a message and a beat. Enjoy and stay tuned. Apple iTunes

Female Rapper Roxanne Shanté Gets Stiffed on Royalties – Warner Music Pays for Her PhD

New York Daily news published an article titled Rapper behind 'Roxanne's Revenge' gets Warner Music to pay for Ph.D on August 23, 2009. Watch Roxanne's Revenge on YouTube. It's a great story of how persistence and determination paid off for Shanté. Despite the fact that the record company tried to stiff her out of all her royalties, they couldn't find a way to deny the clause in her contract that stated they would pay for her education for life. The result, Shanté got a PhD in Psychology at Cornell to the price tag of $217,000 and now she's using her education and rapping/hip hop skills to help urban African-American's express their angst through non-traditional counseling methods. She helps clients to "unleash their inner MC and shout out exactly what's on their mind". Read the entire article at NewYorkDailyNews.com.

Song of the Week – 6-30-09 – I Gotta Feeling by Black Eyed Peas

This week's song is about going out and having a good time. You can watch the video here or see a much cleaner version on YouTube. itunes_iconBuy I Gotta Feeling by Black Eyed Peas on iTunes The song of the week is brought to you by Michael Zampelli, former owner of Southern California punk rock icon, Zed Records. For almost 30 years, this mecca of punk and alternative music kept Southern California enthusiasts adequately supplied with unique, original and innovative music. Currently, Zampelli manages a hockey fan message boards at www.letsgokings.com with thousands of subscribers. He takes photos for the LAist and the LA Derby Dolls. Each week he will contribute a song with a theme, a message and a beat. Enjoy and stay tuned. Apple iTunes

Song of the Week – 6-23-09 – All The Above by Maino feat. T-Pain

This week's song is about rising above obstacles from self and others and daring to dream. All The Above by Maino feat. T-Pain Lyrics Tell me what do you see When you looking at me (woooahhhh) On a mission to be What I'm destined to be (woooahhhh) I done been through the pain and the sorrow The struggle is nothing but love (nothing but love) I'm a soldier, a rider, a ghetto survivor And all the above All the above (x7) Verse 1 [Maino]: Listen Really what do you see When you looking at me? See me come up from nothing, To me living my dreams I done been to the bottom, I done suffered a lot, I deserve to be rich, Headed straight to the top Look how I ride for the block, Look how I rep for the hood, I get nothing but love now When I come through the hood Getting this fortune and fame Money ain't going to shame The new benz is all white, Call it John McCain How the hell could you stop me? Why in the world would you try? I go hard forever, That's just how I'm designed, That's just how I was built See the look in my eyes? You take all of this from me, And I'm still gon' survive You get truth from me, But these rappers gon' lie I'm a part of these streets Till the day that I die I wave hi to the haters, Mad that I finally done made it Take a look and you can tell That I'm destined for greatness (Chorus) Tell me what do you see When you looking at me (woooahhhh) On a mission to be What I'm destined to be (woooahhhh) I done been through the pain and the sorrow The struggle is nothing but love (nothing but love) I'm a soldier, a rider, a ghetto survivor And all the above All the above (x7) Verse 2: [Maino] It's easy to hate, It's harder to love me Ya'll don't understand, Ya'll quickly to judge me Put your foot in my Nikes, Picture you livin' my life, Picture you stuck in a cell, Picture you wasting your life, Picture you facing a charge, Picture you beating the odds, Picture you willing to bleed, Picture you wearing the scar Thank you for making me struggle, Thank you for making me grind I perfected my hustle, Tell me the world ain't mine You've been seein' me lately, I'm a miracle baby I refuse to lose This what the ghetto done made me I put that on my father Tryna hope for tomorrow When I think that I can't, I envision Obama, I envision the diamonds, I envision Ferraris If the world was perfect, All my niggas behind me Ain't you happy I made it? That I'm making a statement? Take a look and you can tell That I'm destined for greatness Verse 3 [T-Pain]: Now if you come to the spot (spot) All the way from out on the block (block) I hustle hard cause it's all the same And you know that grind don't stop Just 'cause I rose to the top And everybody knows my name Still grindin (still grindin), Still hustlin (still hustlin) No more pain (no more pain), No more sufferin (no more sufferin) To my ladies and my shorties and my thugs, Just start dancing and shine in the love All the above (x7) itunes_iconBuy All the Above by Maino (feat. T-Pain) on iTunes The song of the week is brought to you by Michael Zampelli, former owner of Southern California punk rock icon, Zed Records. For almost 30 years, this mecca of punk and alternative music kept Southern California enthusiasts adequately supplied with unique, original and innovative music. Currently, Zampelli manages a hockey fan message boards at www.letsgokings.com with thousands of subscribers. He takes photos for the LAist and the LA Derby Dolls. Each week he will contribute a song with a theme, a message and a beat. Enjoy and stay tuned. Apple iTunes

Song of the Week – 6-16-09 – Auditorium by Mos Def

This week's song is from the album The Ecstatic by Mos Def. This track also features Slick Rick of Grandmaster Flash fame. itunes_icon Buy Auditorium by Mos Def on iTunes The song of the week is brought to you by Michael Zampelli, former owner of Southern California punk rock icon, Zed Records. For almost 30 years, this mecca of punk and alternative music kept Southern California enthusiasts adequately supplied with unique, original and innovative music. Currently, Zampelli manages a hockey fan message boards at www.letsgokings.com with thousands of subscribers. He takes photos for the LAist and the LA Derby Dolls. Each week he will contribute a song with a theme, a message and a beat. Enjoy and stay tuned. Apple iTunes

Song of the Week – 6-9-09 – One Tribe by Black Eyed Peas

[caption id="attachment_1171" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Black Eyed Peas - The E.N.D. (The Energy Never Dies)"]Black Eyed Peas - The E.N.D. (The Energy Never Dies)[/caption] itunes_icon This week's song is off the Black Eyed Peas new album released today titled The E.N.D. (The Energy Never Dies). Buy The E.N.D. by the Black Eyed Peas on iTunes. . . . Lyrics for One Tribe Whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh! Whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh! Woah-oh-oh-oh-ooooh! Oh-woah-oh! One Tri... One Tri... One Tribe, One Time, One Planet, One Race Its all one blood, don't care about your face The color of your eye Or the tone of your skin Don't care where you are Don't care where you been Cause where we gonna go Is where we wanna be The place where the little language is unity And the continent is called Pangaea And the main ideas are connected like a spear No propaganda, They tried to upper hand us Cause man I'm loving this peace Man, man, I'm loving this peace Man, man, I'm loving this peace I don't need no leader That's gonna force feed a Concept that make me think I need to Fear my brother and fear my sister And shoot my neighbor Or my big missile If I had an enemy to [enemy] If I had an enemy to [enemy] If I had an enemy Then my enemy is gonna try to come and kill me Cause I'm his enemy There's one tribe ya'll One tribe ya'll One tribe ya'll One tribe ya'll We are one people Let's cast amnesia, forget about all that evil Forget about all that evil, that evil that they feed ya Let's cast amnesia, forget about all that evil That evil that they feed ya ap_will_meRemember that we're one people We are one people One people, one people [One People] One people, one people [One People] One people, one people [One People] One tribe, one tribe One tribe, one time, one planet, one [race] Race, one love, one people, one [and] Too many things that's causing one [to] Forget about the main cause Connecting, uniting But the evil is seen and alive in us So our weapons are colliding And our peace is sinking like Poseidon But, we know that the one [one] The evil one is threatened by the sum [sum] So he'll come and try and separate the sum But he dumb, he didn't know we had a way to overcome Rejuvenated by the beating of the drum Come together by the cycle of the hum Freedom when all become one [one] Forever One tribe ya'll One tribe ya'll One tribe ya'll We are one people Let's cast amnesia Forget about all that evil [evil] Forget about all that evil [evil] That evil that they feed ya Let's cast amnesia Forget about all that evil [evil] That evil, that they feed ya [feed ya] Remember that we're one people We are one people One people, one people [One People] One people, one people [One People] One people, one people [One People] One love, one blood, one people One heart, one beat, we equal Connected like the internet United that's how we do Lets break walls, so we see through Let love and peace lead you We could overcome the complication cause we need to Help each other, make these changes Brother, sister, rearrange this The way I'm thinking that we can change this bad condition Wait, use you mind and not your greed Let's connect and then proceed This is something I believe We are one, we're all just people One tribe ya'll One tribe ya'll One tribe ya'll We are one people Let's cast amnesia Forget about all that evil Forget about all that evil, that evil that they feed ya Let's cast amnesia Let's cast amnesia, forget about all that evil That evil, that they feed ya taboo_n_meWe're one tribe ya'll We people, we people One tribe ya'll One people, one people [One People] One people, one people [One People] One people, one people [One People] One people, one people [One People] One people, one people [One People] One people, one people [One People] Let's, let's cast amnesia Lord help me out Trying to figure out what its all about [what its all about] Cause we're one in the same [one in the same] Same joy, same pain And I hope that you're there when I need ya Cause maybe we need amnesia And I don't wanna sound like a preacher But we need to be one One world, one love, one passion One tribe, one understanding Cause you and me can become one. ---------------------------------- I couldn't resist, a couple of pictures of me with the BEP in 1998 before they made it big, they were very gracious and excited that we were diggin' their music. If the lyrics of the song are any indication, it seems that even with all this big time fame they still have the same loving, peaceful hearts. So refreshing. itunes_icon Buy One Tribe on iTunes The song of the week is brought to you by Michael Zampelli, former owner of Southern California punk rock icon, Zed Records. For almost 30 years, this mecca of punk and alternative music kept Southern California enthusiasts adequately supplied with unique, original and innovative music. Currently, Zampelli manages a hockey fan message boards at www.letsgokings.com with thousands of subscribers. He takes photos for the LAist and the LA Derby Dolls. Each week he will contribute a song with a theme, a message and a beat. Enjoy and stay tuned. Apple iTunes

Song of the Week – 5-19-09 – Brick by Scripts ‘N Screwz

Check out this new video from Scripts 'N Screwz, directed by John Hill. Unique music mix and fun video, reminds me of old 70's cartoons like Fat Albert and Josie and the Pussycats. Check out their website at scriptsnscrewz.com and download their Sound Cinema mixtape. Few groups achieve the unique chemistry that is shared by E. St. Louis natives Scripts ‘N Screwz. The pairing of their distinctly different styles makes them a force to be reckoned with in today’s repetitive rap world. While many M.C.’s recycle the same cliche subject matter, these two perfer to explore a rage of different musical possibilities. The group’s resident producer, Loose Screwz, has spent years perfecting his trademark eccentric sound. His lyrics have an almost cinematic, story-telling quality, and his versatile production makes it hard to predict his next musical move. Meanwhile, diehard wordsmith Scripts adds an edgier element to the equation. His vivid wordplay and crushing punchlines keep your attention, while his wide ranging of subject matter can appeal to almost any Hip Hop fan. These two have been making music together for close to a decade, and with their unique blend of experimental innovation mixed with a mastery of Hip Hop fundamentals, Scripts ‘N Screwz are poised to take the music world by storm. I hope you packed an umbrella. itunes_iconBuy Brick by Scripts 'N Screwz on iTunes The song of the week is brought to you by Michael Zampelli, former owner of Southern California punk rock icon, Zed Records. For almost 30 years, this mecca of punk and alternative music kept Southern California enthusiasts adequately supplied with unique, original and innovative music. Currently, Zampelli manages a hockey fan message boards at www.letsgokings.com with thousands of subscribers. He takes photos for the LAist and the LA Derby Dolls. Each week he will contribute a song with a theme, a message and a beat. Enjoy and stay tuned. Apple iTunes

How it Feels to Be Stressed Out

Stressed Out by A Tribe Called Quest on YouTube. Stress takes all the joy out of life. If you've got a lot of stress and it's bogging you down, hypnosis can help. Hypnosis is about relaxing, chillin' and creating an inner reality that helps you feel positive. When you change your inner world, the outer world changes too....or at least your perception of it does. I'll be doing a free hypnosis workshop in Long Beach on March 3 where you can learn more. For details and a downloadable flier, click here. itunes logo - all links go to itunesIn the meantime, enjoy this video by A Tribe Called Quest or buy Stressed Out on iTunes.