LA Weekly’s Urban Nomad caught up with Little Dragon recently and had a nice chat about race, the pros and cons of signing a U.S. major label deal, and why the ‘others’ are going to take over the world! You’ll have to watch to see what I’m talking about……Don’t forget to check out the live footage from this same evening of Little Dragon’s new song “Little Man.”

Opening this weekend at Mid-City Arts is Miami Graffiti, a celebration of Jim & Karla Murray’s book documenting the Miami graffiti scene, and an art show featuring the work of many of Miami’s top street artists.
July 11, 7pm – 9pm
www.midcity-arts.com

Two of street art’s finest talents, Retna and El Mac, are appearing together at 33Third this Sunday, June 7 for a rare live painting collaboration. The two have worked together on several well-known street pieces, but this will be a great opportunity to watch them work their magic live before your eyes! The event will take place from 12pm-6pm at 33Third and will also mark the opening of their joint show in the adjoining Mid-City Arts gallery. An afternoon not to be missed.

Check out the teaser video:

Retna & The Mac – Mid-City Arts – Preview from elemental on Vimeo.

Some examples of their collaborations:

KCET’s SoCal Connected featured a segment on graffiti art last night, including coverage of the recent Chaka opening at Mid-City Arts, and interviews with Chaka, Revok and Retna. Check out a clip below.

In this live clip, from Live at Speakeasy #5 at The Apache Cafe, John Robinson gives a preview of the forthcoming collaboration album with J. Rawls – Jay Are – The 1960s Jazz Revolution Again.

Both J. Rawls and John Robinson have put out some dope albums. These are just a couple places to start your homework;)

John Robinson I Am Not For Sale

John Robinson The Leak Edition, Vol 2

J. Rawls – The Essence of J. Rawls

J. Rawls - Histories Greatest Battles, Campaigns & Topics

This is an amazing video that takes the art of music + visuals to another level! Thanks to SpankyStokes.

The official blurb on the the vid:

‘Heaven’ was used in the acclaimed skate film Fully Flared directed by Spike Jonze and Ty Evans. The collaboration inspired the directors to take footage and re-edit a sequence of shots that shows the Lakai skateboarding team demonstrating their considerable skills as they navigate through and around various exploding obstacles. With ‘Heaven’ as the musical backdrop, the resulting marriage of sound to picture is quite extraordinary.

Maxwell is back! Yay!

Stones Throw’s latest find is the very soulful Mayer Hawthorne. He’s got a classic soul n’ funk sound that even your parents might appreciate. And in this case, that’s not a bad thing. “Maybe So, Maybe No” channels a time when soul was good n’ funky, catchy and melodious. No production frills, no freakin’ autotuney majiggy,  just a nice dusty-sounding vibe that hearkens back to a simpler time :)

Download Mayer Hawthorne – Maybe So, Maybe No

Listen:
[See post to listen to audio]

And here’s an extra bonus I found via Nialler9, the video for “Just Ain’t Gonna Work Out”.

Mayer Hawthorne – Just Ain’t Gonna Work Out from Stones Throw on Vimeo.

Now, if only all white boys were this authentic in their use of soul and hip-hop. Asher Roth I’m looking directly at you (with a lot of malice).

Taken from the excellent album Conflict, available at MobileUnderground.com

Possibly one of the best songs from the Foreign Exchange’s Leave It All Behind album. Check out the video for “Take Off The Blues”…..

The Foreign Exchange feat. Darien Brockington – “Take Off The Blues” from The Foreign Exchange on Vimeo.