Potholes In My Blog: Outside Lands 2015 Review + Photos: Kendrick Lamar, D’Angelo, and Big Freedia

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• Outside Lands 2015 Review + Photos: Kendrick Lamar, D’Angelo, and Big Freedia
• Potholes In My Blog To Go On Hiatus
• Ohbliv Re-Releases His First Beat-Tape ‘Rugged Tranquility’
• Wale – The Album About Nothing
• Watch Lido & Canblaster In Studio For The Making Of Their Superspeed [EP]
• Watch Yasiin Bey Rap MF DOOM Songs On His Beyondoom Project
• Rapper Big Pooh – Words Paint Pictures
• Listen: SBTRKT’s “Roulette” & “No Less”
• Earl Sweatshirt – I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside

Outside Lands 2015 Review + Photos: Kendrick Lamar, D’Angelo, and Big Freedia Posted: 13 Aug 2015 07:44 AM PDT Editor’s note: Yes, Potholes is still on hiatus, but writer Fred Castano was already set to review this year’s Outside Lands, so here we are. Hope y’all enjoy it and we’ll let you know when and/if anything changes on our site. Second editor’s note: D’Angelo photos by Curtis Stankalis. All other photos by Daniel Ancheta. Kendrick Lamar and D'Angelo D'Angelo was powerful, his voice and presence belying his sabbatical and substance abuse. The Vanguard, performing cuts off Black Messiah as well as hits from D'Angelo's past, let the funk ride out at the end of each song for several minutes, creating a celebratory atmosphere that was part family cookout, part revival. D'Angelo also acknowledged the victims of police brutality, making full use of his platform to reach the crowd gathered before him about the injustices by law enforcement on unarmed black citizens that are happening seemingly daily across the country. Seeing D'Angelo and The Vanguard and Kendrick Lamar on back-to-back nights got me thinking about all the songs Kendrick didn't perform. In fairness to Kendrick, not many songs on To Pimp a Butterfly are fit for a music festival like Outside Lands. The attendees, mostly late teen-to-early-20s white kids, want the hits from Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City. They want to sneak shots from their smuggled plastic bag flasks to the hook of "Swimming Pools," and Kendrick obliged. He did perform "King Kunta," "i," and "Alright," the more single-esque pieces from TPAB, while pulling mostly from GKMC. It makes total sense from an entertainment standpoint. TPAB wasn't made for this kind of setting; GKMC was. It's not that Kendrick wasn't energetic; he hit every mark for a professional and engaging performance. It just seemed tame in comparison to D'Angelo's set, and even more so in comparison to what we know are Kendrick's full capabilities as an artist at this point in his career. The age difference between D'Angelo's and Kendrick's respective core audiences likely played a role. Shit, a lot of the kids at Kendrick's set were products of their parents listening to Brown Sugar. An idea for future Kendrick appearances: perform TPAB with The Vanguard as his backing band. "Wesley's Theory" by itself would burn the fucking house down. The Vanguard were outstanding in a festival setting with D'Angelo, and there's no reason that it can't work with an unleashed Kendrick in front of a more sophisticated crowd. G-Eazy and DJ Mustard G-Eazy did a fantastic job (editor’s note: ugh!) in that I remember nothing from his set besides appearances from Del and the Luniz. That's a pretty solid strategy for life in general (editor’s note: that’s fair). It was kind of funny to watch DJ Mustard play his hits from a laptop in the land from where he jacked his sound. The songs he played likely had ghostwriters and reference tracks. Either the crowd didn't know, didn't care, or both. They just wanted to shake ass. Sometimes that shit just doesn't matter. Big Freedia FUCK YES. BIG FREEDIA. Big Freedia had the best set at Outside Lands for the second straight year. Big Freedia's dancers shared the stage with a deluge of festival attendees who learned twerking from Taylor Swift and sent their rhythmless asses packing with a beignet for their troubles. The Queen of Bounce deserves a bigger stage, and yet I hope she stays at the small, out-of-the-way setup that she was at the past two years. Her set is the hidden treasure of Outside Lands and is the only one I will stand at the front for. Elton John Sir Elton Tha Gawd. Outside Lands' best moves the past few years have been booking legends like Sir Paul McCartney and Tom Petty for extended closing sets. Watching masters of their craft at work make you realize your favorite could never compare. You could see Sir Elton shining in his sparkling blue suit from at least Oakland, and hear him from there, too. Like Sir Paul two years ago, he was effortlessly mesmerizing. After each song snatches your soul, they seem to smile and wink and say "You think that was something? Dig this," and repeat the cycle for two hours until you're reduced to a puddle of feelings and wonder. Saturday Couples Fight My friend and Beyoncé consultant Koryn and I are both single with poor taste, so seeing couples fighting warms our cold black hearts. As we watched D'Angelo and The Vanguard approximate a Parliament Funkadelic concert minus the Mothership and elaborate costumes, the young couple next to us got ugly. She was crying, he was pleading his case. "I don't know why you're mad! I didn't do anything! Nothing happened!" Which of course meant she caught him cheatin', creepin', to-the- window-to-the-wall skeet-skeetin'. They walked off together after a few minutes; we kept eating our churros. Sunday Couples Fight We were sitting at a table eating pizza and discussing the abomination known as porcini doughnuts. A youth in front of us in the pizza line described them thusly: "They make you feel like shit, like regular doughnuts, and they taste like fake mushroom paste." Hard pass. Anyway, so we're eating pizza, and a mid-20s couple sits down at our table. The dude with the beard is picking at a burger, arranging the toppings. She has those nasty-ass porcini doughnuts. "I don't know why you got that, I'm not eating that," she says. He sighs, gets up, and throws the burger away. "WHAT THE FUCK, I WAS GOING TO EAT THAT!" she yells at him when he returns empty-handed. At this moment, he has an epiphany: he doesn't need this shit. Without saying a word, he stands up and walks away. About five minutes go by and the blonde with the flowers in her hair realizes that the bearded, beaten-down gentleman isn't coming back. She gets up and leaves a full tray of uneaten porcini doughnuts. While fully cognizant of the fact that readers don't want to read about the sausage-making of music festivals, it is important to detail how poorly planned Outside Lands was this year. Several staffers I spoke to at the grounds noted that this was the worst Outside Lands they had worked, with most having worked it the past three or four years. When asked if the media wristbands would work at the VIP entrance, as in years past, the answer was "Maybe. Depends on the scanner, it's all fucked up this year." Exit routes that existed one night were not available the next, leading to bottlenecks in the two tunnels that lead outside the park. There were no clear exit routes for photographers exiting the photo pits. Following the Kendrick Lamar set, my photographer almost had his backpack, containing $10,000 worth of camera equipment, ripped off his back as he fought through the crowd. He could have gone through an emergency exit next to the stage, but was informed that there would be no re-entry to the grounds. This likely could have been avoided if the hottest non-Drake rapper on the planet making his Outside Lands debut wasn't relegated to an extremely narrow side stage while The Black Keys manned the main stage for their third appearance. In addition, this year the media tent was moved outside the VIP area. While the loss of VIP bathrooms was personally soul-crushing, the real issue is that non-media attendees, two of which I personally witnessed, hopped the sorry excuse of a fence in an area hidden from staffers and walked right into the tent. Fortunately, they just wanted a better view of the stage and a beer and weren't after the THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS WORTH OF EQUIPMENT IN THE TENT. Cameras, laptops, phones, backpacks full of designer hoodies and baby wipes, all available to the daredevils who hopped over a three-foot-high fence in a spot completely invisible to the three staffers standing near the tent's entrance. But of course, the moment you light up a menthol, staff is on your ass because "there's no smoking in the park," as a cloud of Northern California's finest agricultural product floats in from the direction of Slightly Stoopid's set. The lack of organization and concern for the safety of the photographers and their belongings was truly stunning for a festival that usually has its shit together. But I hear the VIP tents were very nice this year. Oh, and here are two pics of SZA.

Potholes In My Blog To Go On Hiatus Posted: 14 Apr 2015 02:34 PM PDT Hello Loyal Potholes Readers, Yes, our content output has slowed down quite a bit the past few months. We apologize for that. What it’s basically come down to is time and resources. Andrew Martin left the site a few months ago to focus on his career, Gedi has miraculously balanced full-time job responsibilities with day-to-day operations, and I have been almost entirely absent for the better part of six months. Let’s cut to the chase. We wish we could keep things going, but we would be doing an injustice to the artists and readers out there who have depended on our curation. With that said, we are going to cut the blog’s output for the time being. We hope this isn’t a good bye, but chances are Potholes will never be what it once was. We can’t thank you all enough for supporting us throughout this journey. I will be sure to keep everyone updated as we learn more about where things will end up for Potholes. We are open to any ideas you folks might have, too. Just saying! Talk soon, -David, Gedi & Andrew.

Ohbliv Re-Releases His First Beat-Tape ‘Rugged Tranquility’ Posted: 11 Apr 2015 04:23 PM PDT Ohbliv along with other notable names of the current beat scene such as Knxwledge and Dibia$e have released game-changing releases that have caused a shift in the sound of instrumental hip-hop music today each with thier own take on sampling and production style. In Bliv’s case, he’s a revered, SP-404-weilding OG in the game that’s been making dirteesoulhop for several years now. His appreciation for 80’s new jack swing, jazz, soul and gospel and Moor history have always been apparent in his huge catalog. His first beat-tape, Rugged Tranquility, that initially dropped back in ’09 has been re-released along with a bonus track. If your not familar with Ohbliv, now would be a great time to catch up – you’re in for a real dusty, raw treat. You can stream the re-release of Rugged Tranquility right below, and purchase it via Ohbliv’s Bandcamp here. … and there’s even more. Ohbliv and Czuck Jonez together form Czardust, and they have a collaborative tape coming soon. Here’s a taste of what it will sound like featuring contributions from GRiMM Doza and Rhetoric Wallace.

Wale – The Album About Nothing Posted: 06 Apr 2015 10:37 PM PDT Wale – The Album About Nothing Maybach Music Group: 2015 Seven years after Wale broke through into public consciousness with his brilliant Mixtape About Nothing, the rapper still has yet to escape the shadow from his most celebrated work. It's easy to see why, since the acclaim from that tape escalated Wale to "Next Big Thing" status. A Seinfeld-themed mixtape lasting an hour-and-change in length had potential to crash and burn, but Wale constructed it near-perfectly. Wale blended introspective and pop sensibilities with ease, bouncing all over his (at-the-time) trademark go-go production selection. Wale rapped about whatever he wanted, whether it was girls, shoes, his ambitions, or even racial politics. Fans and critics ate it up as The Mixtape About Nothing garnered "Best of 2008" honors from several publications and Wale appeared on the cover of XXL as a member of their 2009 freshman class. Since then, Wale has struggled to reach the same heights as The Mixtape About Nothing. His follow-up albums and mixtapes just never quite managed to hit audiences the way his early work did. He had a few minor hits, but never reached the commercial heights of peers like J. Cole and B.o.B. He collaborated with "harder" rappers such as Waka Flocka Flame and Rick Ross, but never felt like he was in place in that crowd. Wale struggled with his lukewarm reception, even notoriously threatening Complex's offices when they didn't name 2013's The Gifted as one of their top albums of the year. But there was always Seinfeld. His 2010 follow-up to The Mixtape About Nothing, More About Nothing still remains as Wale's closest effort of living up to his potential. He even began a friendship with Jerry Seinfeld himself. Seinfeld appeared on The Gifted's "Outro About Nothing," and Wale said Jerry would join him in the studio to help record his next album, The Album About Nothing. Wale was going to return to his roots on this album. The attempts at pop-rap stardom would end, and Wale would return to his sitcom-influenced roots. Yet here we are. Wale's most anticipated album of his career has dropped, and it is also the rapper's most disappointing album. The album might be titled The Album About Nothing and feature Jerry Seinfeld to guide us through the album, but Wale is the farthest he's been from his roots here. Seinfeld is here to give Wale life advice rather than tell jokes. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but his contributions seem completely trivial in the end. Seinfeld talks for a minute about something that ties in with the song, Wale raps, and nothing really ties everything together. It doesn't seem like Jerry was brought on board to create a cohesive album, but rather only so Wale could give his album the About Nothing name and get his old fans that gave up on him to check out his new material. It's a cheap and ineffective maneuver. Wale's greatest strengths when he released The Mixtape About Nothing was his flow, his charm and the variety of his subject matter. These are notably absent from this record. Wale never really spazzes on his beats like he used to, and it seems like Wale is taking himself way too seriously for a sitcom-themed album. The only track he sounds like he's even close to having fun is "The Girls On Drugs," which he already featured on a previous project (December's Festivus mixtape). This might be because of the general lack of interesting subject matter Wale raps about. Instead of switching from topic-to-topic, he primarily raps about relationships and the hardships that come with fame. These themes work over an entire project when somebody like Drake covers them, but Wale is at his best when he doesn't stay in one zone for too long. For an album influenced by stand-up comedy and sitcoms, The Album About Nothing is a nearly joyless experience. From a quality standpoint, the album is more like Bee Movie than one of the greatest sitcoms in history. The record's 14 tracks usually drag on too long (only three songs clock in at less than 4 minutes in length), with only R&B singers (and J. Cole) on hook duty and Seinfeld to break up Wale's mostly-average raps. Wale may have been master of his domain in 2008, but now he's a shell of his former self. 2 out of 5 stars 2 out of 5 You can purchase Wale’s The Album About Nothing on iTunes.

Watch Lido & Canblaster In Studio For The Making Of Their Superspeed [EP] Posted: 06 Apr 2015 10:37 PM PDT To celebrate the release of their collaborative EP, available now worldwide on Pelican Fly, Lido and Canblaster share a new film chronicling their journey in the studio for the making of Superspeed. The film illuminates both producers’ talents for writing catchy pop melodies almost effortlessly, Lido & Canblaster peeling off riffs on the keys as if it’s second nature to them. DJ Slow, the Pelican Fly labelhead, helps steer the ship and gets on the fun, the three artists exuding the joy and fun of lives filled with the spirit of music. Lido and Canblaster’s Superspeed EP is available on iTunes now. You can watch Lido & Canblaster’s recording process and stream the Superspeed EP below:

Watch Yasiin Bey Rap MF DOOM Songs On His Beyondoom Project Posted: 02 Apr 2015 07:07 PM PDT There’s no secret that Yasiin Bey has been a long-time fan of DOOM. There has been a FroLab video around for years that shows Yasiin Bey in the studio sharing his appreciation for the villian. So, how the in the world does a video series featuring Yasiin Bey paying tribute to DOOM go under the radar? — no idea. French blog Culturebox hosted Bey’s Beyondoom project from the latter of last year to this February. Within seven parts, he tackles some of DOOM’s notable tracks such as “All Caps”, “Beef Rap” and “Accordion”. You can check out the Beyondoom playlist below. Major shouts to  Fresh Selects boss Kenny Fresh for the heads up. In other Yasiin news, you can find him on Twitter via the handle @CalledEarth, an account he shares along with Stop Being Famous owner Ferrari Sheppard which offers some great insight into what he’s digging and been up to lately. Apparently he’s been in the studio and having Earl Sweatshirt’s new album on repeat. Here are a few highlights: been in the studio and just in a zone. up for air now – yasiin — ACountryCalledEarth (@CalledEarth) March 2, 2015 Selfie game skrong. Even flies think I’m fly. A damn fly on my forehead. Hello world. pic.twitter.com/WigqmnwFii — ACountryCalledEarth (@CalledEarth) February 22, 2015 Earl Sweatshirt – Grief: https://t.co/UlWj5fGQ9M – yasiin — ACountryCalledEarth (@CalledEarth) March 19, 2015

Rapper Big Pooh – Words Paint Pictures Posted: 30 Mar 2015 10:53 AM PDT Rapper Big Pooh – Words Paint Pictures Mello Music Group: 2015 The album cover for Rapper Big Pooh latest effort speaks volumes to the current struggles and dilemmas that most black males in America face; a young child crowned as a king, riddled with bullet holes, bleeding into the ground, his hands cuffed behind his back. Powerful symbolism to make you aware exactly what Words Paint Pictures is about, and what he’s here to address – racism and the black experience in America, a justice system that serves injustice more often than not, propaganda in media disguised as pop culture and “television entertainment” – all while offering detailed insight on how we can rise above this seemingly bleak and hopeless landscape placed in front of us. As most of us already know, Thomas Jones is no stranger to the rap landscape. With a long and notable career as his platform, the talented wordsmith has consistently released solid musical projects since his exit from Little Brother, establishing his own successful career while building a devoted fan base. Heralded as one of the best rappers to emerge from North Carolina, the MC has dropped several quality albums and mixtapes over the last few years: his Black Milk produced, Prince inspired Purple Tape, Dirty Pretty Things and the hilarious Fat Boy Fresh chronicles. Even with Pooh's ear for beats, it has always felt as if his delivery and lyrical bravado could easily overshadow the tracks produced for him. Enter Apollo Brown — one of the best new producers emerging within the last decade — and it finally feels as if Pooh has found a musical equal. Using Brown's ear for well executed loops of classic soul and a strong production technique, Big Pooh creates some of the best music we've heard from both artists in a while. While Pooh is no stranger to tackling social issues on wax, this may be the first time the emcee has dedicated a large portion of an EP to addressing the ills of westernized decay and the social/moral issues at the root of these problems. From reliving a tense traffic stop to eulogizing Trayvon Martin and Mike Brown in "Stop" (with a stellar appearance from Steve Roxx), to reminders that pushers and politicians are inherently one in the same with "Eyes Wide Open", Pooh's words slice at the inherent inequalities built into today's society. "I'm just reminding you of things you already knew" Pooh points out on "Augmentation" – a reminder of what it can be like as a successful, creative black male in America. Drenched in Apollo Brown's trademark chops, wonderfully thick, heavy drums and usage of the boom bap format, and what we have here is one of Big Pooh's strongest projects in the last few years. With the powerful ending track "Kings" and outstanding guest spots from Ras Kass, Marv Won, Jalen Santoy, Novej, Eric "Blakk Soul" Keith and more, this EP begins its low-key ascent into "Best of 2015" territory. If words do indeed paint pictures, then Apollo Brown and Big Pooh have come together to create a lush and beautifully haunting portrait of life as a black male in America, social injustice and hip-hop culture that is incredibly necessary in today's music scene. Some people might take Pooh's direct approach to addressing these injustices and social ills as preachy. Others may complain of Apollo's formulaic, perhaps, slightly predictable beat making and drum patterns. I have no qualms with either, as the results have led to some really good music. The only gripe with Words Paint Pictures, is that it feels like it's too long to be an EP, yet too short to be an album. However, the nine song EP, might be a strategic move on their part, purposely leaving fans wanting more — and this is definitely the type of album where you want to hear more. 4 out of 5 stars 4 out of 5 You can purchase Rapper Big Pooh’s Words Paint Pictures on iTunes.

Listen: SBTRKT’s “Roulette” & “No Less” Posted: 30 Mar 2015 09:22 AM PDT Last week SBTRKT released a new song, “FLAREtWO” indicating that a new project might be on the way. Well the UK producer released two more songs over the weekend on his soundcloud, “Roulette” and “No Less”. “No Less” quietly bubbles to what sounds like a grand entrance of sorts, then eventually becomes a more dance-friendly track thanks to the percussion arrangements. “Roulette” is an up-tempo song from the start, with various recurring snares, and unknown samples, over a club friendly sound bed. I really enjoy the variety and experimentation in SBTRKT’s music and these two songs are indicative of that. Stream both songs below:

Earl Sweatshirt – I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside Posted: 27 Mar 2015 03:27 PM PDT Earl Sweatshirt – I Don't Like Shit, I Don't Go Outside Columbia: 2015 In what is turning into one of rap's classic “What if…?” along the lines of “What if Kanye never picked up a mic” or “What if Dr. Dre never made headphones?", it's an interesting experiment to wonder “What if Earl never went to Samoa?” It turns out to be a tricky thought exercise, one that leads down a slippery slope of the nature versus nurture debate. What is more clear, however, is that the experience of being uprooted from his home and planted at the Coral Reef Academy for at-risk youths ("baby jail," as Earl refers to it) wildly transformed Earl's trajectory as a rapper and a person. In interviews Earl appears lucid and self-aware (he calls it “woke”). He's distanced himself from the antics of the Odd Future crew and stepped out into the spotlight, even if his album title suggests he's already over it. I Don't Like Shit, I Don't Go Outside is a deep, dense and sometimes menacing record, one he never could have made if he had stayed in California. For an intensely personal record, it is easy to see why Earl was miffed about Sony botching up its release. The video for “Grief” was slated to be the first glimpse of I Don't Like Shit, I Don't Go Outside. While the release stumbled, the track and its accompanying video deliver, revealing a jaded and scathing Sweatshirt. "All I see is snakes in the eyes of these n—as/ Momma taught me how to read ’em when I look,” he raps on the chorus. Halfway through the track, his flow slows down as the drugs kick in. "I just want my time and my mind intact, when they both gone, you can't buy 'em back," he delivers before the track blurs into an outro from Gary Wilson. Now armed with a level head and the awareness of life-experiences, Earl's keeps opening up the floodgates. On “Faucet”, Sweatshirt slows down his flow and digs into his own career for material: “Last autumn the leaves fell, and I raked in a profit. /Disobeying a doctor.” Its chorus contains both complex rhymes and relatable lines. Elsewhere, on “Mantra” he sets his sight on his ex-girlfriend but his rhymes devolve into an argument anyone can relate to: “My absence of fucks was a problem that we ain’t never really get to solved…Tryna keep it calm, but I snap at you./ Now you’re taking all your property back.” As with any breakup, particularly one involving someone in the spotlight like Earl, no one is the winner and everyone comes up a little worse for the wear. And that's just the first half. For the whole 30 minutes of runtime, Earl digs deep. Thankfully, he has enough material to keep his limber mind busy. His lyrics are as cunning and cutting as ever and they're super tightly. It’s a dense record that rewards multiple listens. While the album is certainly dark in tenor, its most vivid moments are brilliant. On “DNA”, Earl's friend Nakel drops by shortly after dropping acid – only to receive the news his best friend died. The wounds are fresh and we practically hear him dealing with his grief in real-time. It's a moment and it is almost disturbingly real and the track has a vital place on the album. It helps codify exactly what Earl is trying to capture throughout the record. This is my story as of now, as I see it. This is how I'm dealing with it. You deal with it in your own way. One can only imagine the shocks (shell, culture) of returning home from an extended stay in Samoa, and not only are your friends super famous, but you are a celebrity in your own right. The challenge to come back and continue to evolve, knowing he couldn't possibly please everybody. And even though we are only getting a partial glimpse into his life, it is fascinating to watch him navigate turbulent waters in a fishbowl. It will be fascinating to watch him develop as not only a rapper but as a person. Formerly a kid to watch, we should still keep our eye on him, but now only to chart his star's steady ascension. 4.5 out of 5 stars 4.5 out of 5 You can purchase Earl Sweatshirt’s I Don't Like Shit, I Don't Go Outside on iTunes.