By Adam Murphy
Since taking the stage at 30 Rockefeller Plaza as the house band for NBC's "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon," the Roots have been settling nicely into their new home in New York. Drummer ?uestlove just kicked off his Thursday night "fANtastic" residency at Le Poisson Rouge, MC Black Thought has been channeling Langston Hughes and the Harlem Renaissance at Carnegie Hall, and the whole group opened for Dave Matthews Band at Madison Square Garden two weeks ago.
Though they're never slow to remind audiences of their own Philadelphia roots, New York fits these guys like a glove.
Perhaps the most exciting development for the Roots (besides replacing the Max Weinberg Seven on "Late Night," of course) is their residency at Highline Ballroom, aptly called "The Jam." Each Wednesday night, the group brings its favorite artists to the stage to — as the name of the night implies — jam. This past Wednesday's installment included a barrage of newcomers and unknowns far too great in number to identify individually, but recent guests included rappers Skillz, Pharoahe Monch, stic.man and M1, a.k.a. Dead Prez. Read more...
By Steven Roberts
BROOKLYN, New York — Despite having existed for 60 years, Puma celebrated its birthday with a trio of young acts on Monday evening. Still young at heart, the German-based sportswear company threw a party at the Music Hall of Williamsburg featuring up-and-coming artists Charles Hamilton, the Knux and Chester French.
"If you look back on any old hip-hop DVD, all you see is Puma," Hamilton said. "It's a cornerstone in hip-hop fashion, and when they hit me up about it, I was like, 'Cool!' "
Clad in his trademark pink shirt, the 21-year-old Harlem MC performed a short set of tracks from the mixtapes he has released in rapid succession. Hamilton, who was featured in last week's "Mixtape Monday" for his Sonic the Hamilton, has already released another, newer mixtape, Intervention. He said he's been releasing so much music as part of what he calls his "Hamiltonization Process," a buildup to the release of his first proper album, The Pink Lavalamp.
"Basically I want people to see that I present work to the fans and the listener, so that they can feel where I am coming from, as opposed to listening and saying, 'Oh, that's cool music.' " Read more...
