Okay, so I just added this to my "At Work" playlist... Yeah, you know I'm gonna be bumping this in my headphones at work! This is off Playdough's new album Hotdoggin, which dropped in April, and has been my default commute record for the last couple months (My 2 year old daughter asks for it by name). I copped it at the release party in Dallas. Click here for my review, or Get familiar:
Because we talked about them on the Art Love Magic Radio show yesterday, here's some vintage fire from Playdough and Freddie Bruno, known collectively as Phonetic Composition. These cuts are from their first album PC Tools, before their induction into the mighty Deepspace 5 crew...
I first came across Fred and Playdough around y2k on the Christian Rap compilation Sonic Imperial, which I wasn't able to find any youTubery for, but you can peep some snippets on Amazon. I probably still have the ceedee somewhere, so I will eventually drop some on here...
I went to the release party for Playdough's new album Hotdogginon Friday night after sleeping all day and all I brought you was this bandcamp widget (yes you can listen free, cheapskates!) Oh, and here's a youTube vid of the single My Cadillac for your playlists, just in case yourjob blocks bandcamp (like mine does!):
the smiley-faced, hard-touring rap dude came home to Dallas and rocked out with the locals Friday night at the Green Elephant and I finally got my 4XL teeshirt with the design I made (above). I also copped the record and have been listening to it non-stop...
Although Hotdoggincomes 5 years after his previous solo studio record Don't Drink the Water dropped in 2006, it doesn't feel self-conscious or overworked, which is always the worry when an artist spends a long time putting together new material. I wasn't worried. Playdough has been a constant presence in the music players of his loyal fanbase in that time. Besides the fact that his records age well that so we find ourselves still enjoying them like they are new whenever we dust 'em off, Playdough has dropped a number of unofficial mixtapes and records (his Aussie tour record Goodonya, and the extra dope Writer Dye mixtape come to mind), guest spots, and mixtape one-offs, while also riding longside frequent collaborator Freddie Bruno as rap duo Phonetic Composition, and as part of the mighty Deepspace 5 collective. I said all that to say, Playdough has established himself as a name I could trust.
So anyways, Playdough is really in touch with his own musical tastes and is clearly feeling himself on this record. He strikes a satisfying balance between crowd-pleasing catchy music choices and abstract wordplay that rap nerds can get into. He has some funky stuff happening on the album production-wise, with a mix of beats from Dallas all-stars like Freddie, PicnicTyme, Blaze Won, DJ Sean P and Sivion (and other underground luminaries like For Beats Sake, Beat Rabbi and DJ Bombay). In case you didn't know, he also produced a few tracks under production alter-ego Harry Krum too...
The first song that jumped out to me as a potential repeater is track 5 The Business, which sports shout-outs to David Blaine, Lord of the Rings, Tex Avery and Zombieland in the same verse (he performed this song at the release party... see the Ustream vid above). Of course, upon repeated listens, his ode to his wife Singleminded Female(track11), Franks & Beans(track 8, featuring Gift of Gab), and I Got It Like (track 13) are equally brilliant. Beat nerds will feel Elizabeth Shue (track4), which was produced by emerging Dallas-based button-pusher PicnicTyme. (the title track is playing in my ear as I type this... it doesn't suck either). So my official recommendation is that you should cop it. It won't be long before my daughter is mangling some of these hooks in her two year old patwa to her daycare classmates... 'cause I believe in spreading hip hop anyway I can!
I've been rocking this wallpaper above on my computer ever since Playdough approved the drawing below as a teeshirt design for his limited edition promo to his new albumHotdoggin...
I'll be getting my teeshirt in the mail soon, in time to rock it at the album release party on April 29th. Until then, I'll have some more prints, magazines, comics and other such things at the party and will also be creating live art solo, and with the mighty Just-Us League, so if you can make it out, please do! Until then, feel free to preview the album below, which releases on April 26th.
Playdough has started taking preorders for the Hotdoggin' Limited Edition Package which includes the CD, poster and the limited edition T-shirt (with fresh to death art by yours truly) for just $25! The album will be fresh, by the way: features include Gift of Gab from Blackalicious, Mr. Dibbs vs The Black Keys, PicnicTyme, For Beats Sake, Deepspace5, DJ SeanP, DJ Bombay and more.ONLY 100 shirts will be printed, so if you wanna be one of the cool kids, get the lead out and click here to order!
As you may know, I was commissioned to do a tee-shirt design for one of my favorite emcees, Playdough of the mighty Deepspace 5 crew, to coincide with the release of his new album Hotdoggin'...
The deadline was very tight, and I was restricted to only 2 colors (on a black tee), both of which made this somewhat nerve-wracking (plus, I REALLY wanted Playdough to like it)... After struggling with some other complicated ideas that were not working at all, I watched this promo video for inspiration and decided I HAD to draw him skateboarding in a hotdog suit.
I like trying complicated stuff, but my talents are suited to keeping it simple. The final teeshirt artwork actually has text on it and a different composition (I'll post it up whenever Playdough starts taking preorders), but I will include this as a page in my artbook I'm working on whenever it comes out.
Here's another ballpoint pen sketch that I didn't use... I may actually finish it and make prints if I have time. The release party for the album is in Dallas on April 29th, and area art crews ArtLoveMagic and the Just.Us.League (both of which I am a part of) will be in attendance creating live art, so I want to produce of few printed treats that will appeal to the rap nerds and art geeks (again, I belong to both groups) that will be floating around the room sipping brew... These days, I'm loaded with stuff I need to work on, and I don't get nearly enough sleep (yeah, I have a 2 year old daughter too...), but dang it, I sure am having fun! Well, back to the drawing board...
When I found out that Playdough had a new album in the works, I had a happy moment, THEN I saw who's on the guest spots...
whoa! Okay, so Gift of Gab is the man... having Gift on a track will definitely raise Playdough's profile, I think. If not, they will have to settle for making my head explode at the thought of Playdough and Gift rhyming back-to-back. Looks like the album release is slated for April 26th, 2011. I can't wait! holla!
I'm not gonna badmouth my local radio stations 'cause I have friends who work there... I mean, they're doing their best to bring us real hip hop, but... you know, it's the radio, so... yeah. What was I saying? OH YEAH! So I had no idea that they did a rap battle segment on 97.9 the Beat, but looks like our dude Playdough called in and won it five weeks in a row...
"The people demanded it so here it is. In 2008 Playdough showed his city who's boss by winning 5 weeks in a row on 97.9 The Beat's Freestyle Fridays. Most of the competition wasn't much to speak of, but who is against the self proclaimed Greatest Emcee In the World? Every week will be updated with another battle. We hope you enjoy!" Clearly, Playdough was having fun against a dude who just wasn't up to it... but don't step in the ring, unless you are ready to box, nah mean? holla! -samax
so a last year when Rhymefest was prepping El Che he did a contest where emcees could submit a verse for his song Give It To Me, and our good man Playdough* of the mighty Deepspace 5 crew stepped up and threw his grown man hat into the ring...
I thought the contest was a pretty cool thing to do. Although I did like the original version Rhymefest did solo better than the one they ultimately chose, I would have loved seeing "f/Playdough" on the tracklist to El Che. Ah well... click here to get more Playdough in your life. holla!
Playdough of the mighty Deepspace 5 crew has been one of my favorite emcees for years, even before I knew he lived in my area.
So as you can imagine, I was very pleased when I saw the name of the emcee/beatmaker's production company listed on an order report for a bunch of stuff from Ziontific, my online store. Among the stuff he bought was the Gorgeous Destroyer: Black Flag teeshirt he's modeling above, as he rocks a show in Cincinnati, OH. Incidentally, Playdough will be back in Dallas headlining a show at the Green Elephant Tuesday night... hopefully, I'll be able to make it (fingers crossed). Click Here to get an earful of his new record Writer Dye, or click here to cop one of these Gorgeous Destroyer tees for yourself or a friend! Personally, I recommend both... holla!
g'mornin'... here's that new Playdough I promised you below...
your dude Playdough is having fun on this one, (as usual) with Florida producer For Beats Sake on the tracks. Writer Dye is a concept album in which Playdough took lyrics from other bands and genres and turned them into choruses for these 10 songs. Some are word for word, others served as inspiration. All production is finely crafted by For Beats Sake with guest appearances by Sivon, Othello, Chucky Sly and Sev Statik. All cuts are by DJ SeanP and Theory Hazit.
This mess is banging, fammo... and you can listen to it free and name your own price to cop it via the miracle of bandcamp. lawdamercy...
A little fire from your man Playdough of the mighty Deepspace 5
This track is called ArrowSmitherines from Playdough's upcoming concept album Writer Dye, in which the emcee takes lyrics from other bands and genres and turns them into hip-hop songs. The album has 10 joints with lifted pieces from The White Stripes, Kings of Leon, The Doors, Pearl Jam, Aerosmith, The Violent Femmes, Nirvana and more. All the production is crafted by Florida producer For Beats Sake. It has guest appearances from Sivion, Othello, Chucky Sly and Sev Statik. All cuts are by DJ SeanP and Theory Hazit. Writer Dye will be available for free download on Tuesday November 2nd, but you can click here to snag this joint right now!
First of all, I had great productive weekend! Repped with 4/5ths of the mighty GhostWerks crew at Dallas Comicon and H4's Lung Cancer Association benefit show, now it's back to drawing these comics and doing Daddy Day Care now that wifey is back to her PhD classes. Today's soundtrack shall be provided by the classic Playdough ceedee Lonely Superstar which will be on endless repeat while I get my multitask on, and you can share in the fun via the miracle of Bandcamp:
All the regular readers know I freaking heart Playdough, and Lonely Superstar -his solo debut, after having won me over on mixtapes and compilations and with his work as half of Ill Harmonics and Phoenetic Composition- will help you understand why... If you want more Playdough after this click here for more. holla!
Here's Elementary, one of my favorite songs from one of favorite crews, the mighty Deepspace 5. this is from the crew's debut plate, The Night We Called It a Day. In this song, each emcee takes on the identity of a different element on the periodic table, which is extremely cool to me, 'cause I'm a nerd like that about this rap isht... anyways, DS5 has a new album out on Megaroyal Records called The Future Ain't What It Used to Be, which you can buy here. To get more Deepspace 5 in your life, click this. Have a nice day!
, before their induction into the mighty Deepspace 5 crew...
, which I wasn't able to find any youTubery for, but you can peep some snippets on Amazon
on Friday night after sleeping all day and all I brought you was this bandcamp widget (yes you can listen free, cheapskates!)
dropped in 2006, it doesn't feel self-conscious or overworked, which is always the worry when an artist spends a long time putting together new material. I wasn't worried. Playdough has been a constant presence in the music players of his loyal fanbase in that time. Besides the fact that his records age well that so we find ourselves still enjoying them like they are new whenever we dust 'em off, Playdough has dropped a number of unofficial mixtapes and records (his Aussie tour record Goodonya, and the extra dope Writer Dye mixtape come to mind), guest spots, and mixtape one-offs, while also riding longside frequent collaborator Freddie Bruno as rap duo Phonetic Composition, and as part of the mighty Deepspace 5 collective. I said all that to say, Playdough has established himself as a name I could trust.
