The Joe Bloggz Hip-Hop Minimix...

As you all know I have always been a huge Hip-Hop fan, but for some reason have never been involved in actually making any properly... so when a friend approached me to record his tunes I jumped at the chance. We've recorded 6 1/2 tracks so far and are looking to actually collaborate more fully on a future project. Below is a 4-minute minimix of some of the highlights.

As for production, I cannot claim credit for the beats... they were made by various producers scattered across these fair isles. I DID however: Make sound effects, scratch, and sing* (*on the final track in the minimix.) Oh and also I do the stupid minimix robo-voice (which actually makes me crack up every time i listen to this.

hope you enjoy, please listen to it right the way through and leave comments.

The second of the 3 design jobs this week...

...was to design a series of images for a friend's website.

Michael J Rawson is a comedy scriptwriter for Film and TV, and he wanted some fun and fresh images to personalise his website and make it more in-keeping with his writing style. There's nothing worse than a plain and boring website, that's filled with great content. The correct window dressing helps to add to the inspiration factor.

Click the image to enlarge

Above is theHeader/Background image I drew, coloured & textured for his site. I opted for a retro look mixed with a "Simpsons" cartoon colour palette.

His site acts as an online CV and script access for potential producers/investors. So contained on the website are also individualised fonts drawn for each of his scripts. I won't post them up for the moment because, out of context they might not make sense.

This week I've had 3 design jobs on...

One of them was to assist in a window display for a fabric store. I was asked to recreate the vintage look of the old "Make Do And Mend" posters, with a slight contemporary nod. Here are 4 of the colour variants I worked up:

(click the image to enlarge)

What do you think?

I've posted them here small, and in low definition so that they can't be ripped off. A few friends have recently had designs thieved from their websites, so I'm erring on the side of caution.

The other two jobs I'm not allowed to post up until they are published... so stay tuned!

So erm... You though Rahzel could jam huh?

BOOM.

Boots now doing home paternity tests. *Jeremy Kyle sweats*.

I drew this shortly after hearing the news this morning. PJPC

Indie Hip-Hop's King and Indie Indie's Queen start intriguing new project

My favourite rapper: Aesop Rock and Moldy Peaches's Kimya Dawson have joined forces to create a fusion of both of their styles. The project, tentatively named "Bag-Less Maggots" (or possibly "YadaYadaSTOP") was formed after Aesop Rock was brought in to produce Kimya's forthcoming solo album. Below is the first capture of them performing live, at a recent appearance on the 25th of January.

The song, "Delicate Cycle" demonstrates a mixture of Aesop's overtly verbose and cleverly phrased flows on top of Kimya's trademark loose acoustic strums. Dawson's pretty but simple melodies with quirky storytelling lyrics will remind readers of her work on the Juno soundtrack.

This video (although slow to start) makes me extremely excited about what comes next!