Mr. Scruff / Ninja Tuna Mixtape

Mr. Scruff is the recording name of Andy Carthy (born in 1972 in Macclesfield, England), a British DJ and artist. He lives in Stockport, England, and studied fine art at the Psalter Lane campus of Sheffield Hallam University. b His DJ name was inspired by his scruffy facial hair, as well as his trademark loose-lined drawing style. He has been DJing since 1994, at first in and around Manchester then nationwide. He is known for DJing in marathon sets (often exceeding six hours), his eclectic musical taste, his love of a "nice cup of tea" and the quirky home-produced visuals and animations associated with his music. In an interview he said: "It’s about putting a lot of effort in and paying attention to detail. I get annoyed if I don’t take risks. I’m very hard on myself."

Here is a promotional free mixtape from Mr. Scruff. I discovered Scruff because he was part of the Ninja Tunes label and in the late 90's a nd early 2000 that label constantly put out the best records out there. His music is a mixture of many different types of music that emmit the same vibe and you will understand after listening to the mixtape. Itès a continuous mix (hope it was single mp3's) and here is the tracklisting

Daweh Congo ‘Iration’ (Charm)
Mr Scruff ‘Whiplash’ (Ninja Tuna)
Mr Scruff ‘Test The Sound’ (Ninja Tuna)
NYGZ ‘Legendary pt1’ (Year Round)
Roots Manuva ‘Kick Up Ya Foot’ (Big Dada)
Mr Scruff & Danny breaks ‘Bang The Floor’ (Ninja Tuna)
45 King vs Wale ‘Roof’ (Scion)
A Tribe Called Quest ‘Buggin Out’ (Jive)
Johnny Jones ‘It’s Gonna Be Good’ (Brunswick)
Merry Clayton ‘Good Girls’ (Ode)
Rance Allen ‘Peace of Mind’ (Stateside)
Incognito ‘Out of The Storm (Carl Craig Remix)’ (Talkin’ Loud)
Vester ‘You Got The Power’ (Blake)
Herbie Hancock ‘Wiggle Waggle (Mr Scruff Remix)’ (Verve)
Kokomo ‘Use Your Imagination (Rahaan Edit)’ (Kat)

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Peace & I'm out !

GVz

Che

Che is a two-part 2008 biopic about Marxist revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring Benicio del Toro as the title character. Utilizing a cinéma vérité stylistic approach, the pictorial diptych comprises two merged films entitled The Argentine and Guerrilla. Each part is intentionally illustrated with differing approaches to narrative linearity, camerawork, and aspect ratios; with such duality intended to be reflective of the two military campaigns divergent outcomes. The Argentine (part one) focuses on the Cuban revolution, from the moment Fidel Castro, Guevara and other revolutionaries landed on the Caribbean island, until they successfully toppled the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista two years later. Guerilla (part two), meanwhile focuses on Che's futile attempt to bring revolution to Bolivia and his early demise.

The film itself over four hours long is unfortunately boring and long. The cinematography reminds me of Oliver Stone's JFK. Besides Del Toro who is just magnificent once again, the supporting cast was weak and the film felt more like a documentary. We do not feel that any relationships we're established. The female lead in the first part is not believable as a guerilla soldier. I would of loved to see more of the relationship between Che and Castro. The second part was somewhat better, the suspense was good but still did not come as important enough.

Maybe this will be good for someone who as no idea of who Che Guevara was but from my point of view, I learned nothing new. So I would suggest you pass on that one and keep your money for something else.

Peace & I'm Out.

Afro Samurai Ressurection

Afro Samurai is a Japanese Manga series created by Takashi Okazaki. Originally a Manga graphic novel. In 2007 Spike TV aired the first series and the sequel played in January 2009 and it's now out on DVD & Blu Ray.

American actor Samuel L. Jackson returns as the voice for Afro and Ninja-Ninja, while this time he is joined by Lucy Liu who voices Afros' enemy Sio, Mark Hamill also joins as the voice of Sio's protector and henchman Bin. Yuri Lowenthal also returns as the voice of Jinno / Kuma.

I discovered japanese animation with Akira, Ghost in the Shell and Ninja Scroll, these movies are now considered classics, pillars of the japanese animation world. I'm an animation fan but I have a special spot for Manga and Afro Samurai Ressurection quenches my thirst for bloody violence, stylistic design and great story line. Ressurections picks up right after the first installment of Afro Samurai Jinno/Kuma is back with Sio for the number 1 headband (it's not really clear how the got it) and the rest is history, A now docile Afro must go back to his old violent ways to get the number 1 back. I still prefer the fisrt afro series because it's so difficult to raise the bar when the bar is so high. Ressurection is still a fun watch all of the elements that made the 1st episodes a success are back, the animation, backgrounds and action are all better then the first series and Ninja-Ninja (Samuel L. Jackson) is more annoying then before but then again it remains very entertaining and a fun watch. One last thing that I must mention is the soundtrack, once again provided by the RZA and the music merges beautifully with the action sequences.

If you are an animation fan, you need to check this out and if you are not well it's never too late to expand your horizons.
You can GET IT on the Hip Hop universe blog

Enjoy !

Peace & I'm out