Grip Grand — D.O.A.

Now in digi-stores near you!!

New 5-song digital single includes:

1. Grip Grand — D.O.A. (Dirty)

2. Grip Grand — D.O.A. (Clean)

3. Grip Grand — D.O.A. Instrumental

4. Grip Grand — D.O.A. Acappella (Clean)

5. Grip Grand — D.O.A. Acappella (Dirty)

Now available from better imaginary stores everywhere (mostly Bandcamp and iTunes), may I officially present the Grip Grand “D.O.A.” Maxisingle! Totally unrelated to the Jay-Z song of the same name, D.O.A. (recently featured on the Rec-League “Season 2″ compilation) is a classic winter-thru-summer jam combining pointed punchlines and sly social commentary with a catchy little-kid chorus. It also happens to be one of the most poorly timed releases ever. But that’s how it goes…great minds think alike. I recorded this shit before Jay’s was released (you’ll just have to trust me), but since his version came out first, I lose…or maybe I would lose either way. Typical. Try to forget all that while you enjoy a tall glass of lemonade alongside the equally refreshing sounds of Grip Grand, aka myself. If you decide to try your hand at a remix, give me a shout (facebook.com/gripgrand or myspace.com/gripgrand or gripgrand.com…you get the picture). If you decide to just bump the instrumental, I won’t be mad at you. If you decide you want nothing to do with me, why don’t you just keep it to yourself, pal? Thanks a million. Whatever you do, I hope you’ll give this track a try. It could be your new favorite song! How do you know it’s not? What are you, psychic?

Best wishes from sunny California,

Grip Grand

Well, here we are…a mere twenty days from the release of the album; pending the date you actually read this. In which case, its up to you to do the math, and we’re a mere_____ day(s) from the release of the album. In any event, I can only imagine you’re waiting with bated breath, and the anticipation is a real dickwad. Thats how I feel too. But what exactly are you waiting for? Just another rap album? Just another combination of beats intermingled with some cute lil’ wordy words? Absolutely! This, similar to most rap albums, is just an imposition of the authors presumed life relevancy, masked behind a series of jovial rhythms and a mildly decent application of a number of literary devices. However, and I quote, *ahem* “This sh*t right here, nigga! This sh*t right here…” This sh*t right here is faaaantastic!

I didn’t attempt to break any musical barriers with this album, or preserve the culture with lyrics dispelling tales of head spinnies, biker shorts or the luminous shine of my third-eye’s soul…that junk is so Bahamadea. Instead, I had fun with it. I wrote some raps that I thought were pretty amusing. If you cant fox with that, its totally cool. You and the rest of your sour patch friends can go sit in a circle and play Duck, Duck, Sad Face.

However, if you enjoy a good ditty about nomadic wandering, misadventure, and lighthearted/ambiguously racist commentary, narrated by an Uncle Remus like voice…well, hot damn have I got something for you!

In addition, to keep you abreast (boobs, haha!) with whats going on before you purchase the album, I’ve decided to give you a one-word subject description of every song on the track list. Enjoy.

1. Wake Up- Induction.

2. Mockin’Bird- Whop.

3. Trouble- Larceny.

4. El Segundo- Larceny. (en espanol)

5. Applesauce- Gaiety.

6. Porch Swing – Porches.

7. Februaries- Entrepreneurship.

8. S.O.S.- Slavery.

9. Jumpback- Absurdity.

10. Neighbors- Crackas.

11. Good Grief- Me.

12. I know- Knowing.

*Haji P & DJ MF Shalem. “Neighborhood Kid.” Feb. 23, 2010.*

Please Re-tweet.

Some San Franciscans make a Mission burrito run as soon as they return to town. Rapper and producer Richie Cunning just takes a deep breath and says, “Oh, thank God.” He loves the city’s air enough to give it a shout-out on his debut LP, Night Train, a record with a Blue Note look and a Golden Age hip-hop feel. “There’s definitely a different smell in different parts of town, but there is always the air,” he explains. “In a literal sense, it’s not so much the smell as the texture, the moistness of it.”

There was plenty of moisture — buckets of it — in the air the day I met Cunning at the High Tide, a cozy Tenderloin dive bar his father used to own. “When I was a wee lad, I used to come here with my dad [while he did] the books on Saturdays and Sundays,” he recalls. “I’d just drink 7-Up and grenadine [and play] Pac-Man.”

Richie Cunning was born Richard Lipton; he remembers the day, 15 years back, when he swapped one name for the other. He was lugging a stack of LPs from Amoeba Music to the Sunset District, mulling over rap names. “Richie Cunningham [from Happy Days] just came to mind,” he says. “I was like, ‘That would be cool, without the ham on it.’ I always thought of it like I sampled the name — I only use the part that I want.”

Cunning moved to Santa Cruz for college, where he met the like-minded Rec-League All-Stars crew. Luckily, they followed him back to San Francisco, because he couldn’t have stayed away long. The city is the center of his universe, and there’s no better time to enjoy it than late at night. “The city actually goes to sleep,” he says. “I’ve had many, many years of getting stranded [and] taking the bus and/or train home by myself. That’s where I delve deepest into my thoughts.”

These late-night journeys heavily figure on Night Train. Among the many references is the hilarious “Call me the zen Buddha of the N-Judah.” On “The Station,” a funky, boom-bap joint with Leslie organ swirling over the chorus, he rhymes, “I murder any microphone I happen to touch/Then I’m cracking a Dutch on the back of the bus.” Cunning’s horn- and jazz-heavy production, coupled with his swaggering, perfectly enunciated delivery, results in an upbeat and aggressive revisiting of his luminous predecessors Gang Starr and Pete Rock & CL Smooth.

On the gospel horn–inflected “Work It Out,” Cunning notes, “When I took the stage, other rappers took cover.” This is understandable. He and the Rec-League sold out the Night Train release party at the Elbo Room last month, thanks in part to their ability to maximize the impact of their stage show. “One of the ways that you really lose crowd energy is by pausing in between songs,” he says. “So we [developed] a rapid-fire, machine-gun style. The beat just drops. This song ends; this song starts. We don’t even give people a chance to get bored.”

This style might be too much for most aspiring rappers to achieve on the first time out, but Cunning and Co. have launched a campaign imploring MCs to “Stop Performing Over Your Vocals.” The issue springs from hip-hop shows being marred by the use of accompanying CDs that contain beats, recorded choruses, and sometimes entire songs. “That instantly turns me off,” Cunning says. “All you have to do is be on the mike. It’s already almost like karaoke, but to go one step further down the ladder and put vocals onto [the CD], it’s like, ‘C’mon, dude. Try a little harder.’”

MCs, take heed: Cunning is cleaning up like Dirty Harry.

I don’t remember if I ever put this up here, but the amount I care about that is dwindling even as I type. I did this track way back while recording at the Look Records Masterplex. As you may recall, I put down a couple of verses over some at-that-time-unreleased Madlib beats. One of them got sampled by Madlib for his Percee P remix project, while the other was thrown into the vaults, never to be heard from again. Until now…or until whatever earlier time I already played you this cut. But you get the idea. Enjoy the following one-verse non-song over a famous producer’s beat that may have since been used by someone for something else!

Grip Grand–EarthWindFireWater (“Produced” by Madlib)

Special thanks to Design for making this triumphant collaboration possible. Did you know he also designed the character above? Get familiar.

Alright, y’all, be easy. Until the next…

He flipped it like Madlib did a old jazz standard,

Grip Grand

The homie Emdub from Thizzler On The Roof slid through the Cunning estate a few days after the Night Train release party and sat down with Richie Cunning for his Under The Bay series.  Here’s part one, part two will be available on Wednesday. Big ups Emdub!

Bruh’man

download here

“Oooooh snap! Only one month before Neighborhood Kid is released, and Haji P is still dropping jams!?”

Pffft, yup! Gon’head and add this to your collection of songs I didnt know what to do with. Also, be advised, all the songs I’ve previously released under the title, Home Repair, WILL NOT BE ON NEIGHBORHOOD KID! *ahem* WILL NOT BE ON NEIGHBORHOOD KID!

…and now, I’d like to introduce you to the newest addition of Home Repair…”Bruh’man!”

as seen on hajip.com

To purchase Night Train.. Try some of the links below

Night Train CDs or MP3s on RoutineFly.com
Night Train on iTunes
Night Train on Amazon
Night Train on Napster
Also available at finer retail locations in San Francisco.. you might want to try Amoeba.

The Rec-League hitmakers have done it again. QM was featured on Richie Cunning’s Late Night Special mixtape so it only seems fitting that Richie make an apearance (or two?) on QM’s upcoming album, Happy Hour. Lending a hand on production, Richie took this sample and flipped it on it’s ear for this joint. Other people have tried to use this sample before but we’re pretty sure it’s never sounded this good. Happy Hour is every party goers dream come true, with anthems produced by Grip Grand, Richie Cunning, Proe and more. Rec-League will not disappoint in 2010.

QM (feat. Richie Cunning) – Blinded

DOWNLOAD: Usershare | DivShare

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