Ali Shaheed Muhammad @ Brooklyn Hip Hop Fest 2011

The Dekalb Market is opening on the old site of the Albee Square Mall and will have stores made out of salvaged shipping containers boasting a variety of pop-up shops in a town square like setting. A joint venture of Urban Space and Youngwoo & Associates, this new community destination will be open seven days a week and is located at the intersection of Flatbush and Willoughby in Brooklyn.

Brooklyn Bodega is proud to not only have a vendor space at the market but also operation of the beer garden "The Cooler" that will be open on weekends. This Saturday (7/23) and Sunday (7/24), the Bodega will be hosting the Opening Weekend Celebration with crowd-pleasers DJ Spinna (6-9PM Sat) and Ali Shaheed Muhammad (6-9PM Sun) who will be performing at this free admission event...

Bringing together new and old partners, Brooklyn Bodega presents the return of the Fat Beats record store (who closed their seminal Hip-Hop Manhattan location in 2010). In collaboration with Fat Beats owner Joseph Abajian, Brooklyn Bodega is opening "Bbeats" this Saturday (7/23), which will specialize in new and rare Hip-Hop, Funk, Soul and Jazz vinyl, domestic and international CD's and other merchandise including limited edition apparel, books, and magazines.

Awesome news... the return of Fat Beats! Best of luck to Bbeats. - BBG

The Fat Beats pop-up store reemerges this weekend. That includes another lineup of free performances like they hosted on Record Store Day.

Fat Beats is happy to announce that they're re-opening their Brooklyn warehouse doors this Saturday, May 21st, for their May Pop-Up Shop and music event. This is a free, one day only event and third pop-up shop for the legendary record outlet, which officially closed its last two retail stores this past September... Artists include Has-Lo, Blitz The Ambassador, Dinner At The Thompson's, Brown Bag Allstars, Succio Smash, Kooley High, Q-Unique, Erin Barra, and Bio Ritmo. The warehouse is located at 110 Bridge Street in the DUMBO neighborhood of Brooklyn, and the entrance is at the rear of the building. The Fat Beats Pop-Up Shop will be open from noon - 8pm.

Blitz The Ambassador's appearance at Fat Beats is one of a few lined up for the artist in the coming weeks, as he'll also play the Brooklyn Museum on 6/4 (free, but first come/first served) and Damrosch Park Bandshell on Aug 7th.

Fat Beats flyer and set times and more info below...

Continue reading "Fat Beats pop-up store returns, Blitz the Ambassador included"

DOWNLOAD: The Stepkids - "Shadows on Behalf" (MP3)

Relive the glory days before Fat Beats closed up shop at the Fat Beats Pop-Up Store, open in celebration of Record Store Day on 4/16. Kicking off at noon and lasting until 11PM, Fat Beats will open up their DUMBO Warehouse (110 Bridge St. 3rd Floor) with fellow groove devotees WaxPoetics and host performances from CSC Funk Band (performing Gang Starr material!), The Stepkids, Chico Mann, The Phenomenal Handclap Band, Neek the Exotic & Large Professor, DJ Center, Mista Sinista, !llmind, Amir, Eternia, Danny Dann the Beat Mann, Masta Ace, Maticulous, Kev Brown & Kaimbr, Ray West, "and many surprise guests". Oh, and it's FREE.

If you miss it, Fat Beats will be hosting a monthly pop-up shop/event at the same location. Check the updated fatbeats.com for updates.

Stepkids recently dropped the new Shadows On Behalf 12" via Stones Throw; download one track from the 12" above, stream another below. The band is on board for several Brooklyn dates in the coming weeks, including April 15th at 525 Waverley Ave, April 21 at Brooklyn Bowl with Delorean ("Limited Admissions at Doors"), and 6/4 at Bell House with Dennis Coffey/The Dirtbombs (tickets). All tour dates, and streams of the 12" are below.

Continue reading "Fat Beats & WaxPoetics opening Record Store Day DUMBO pop-up store w/ live performances by the Stepkids & more"

"After announcing the closing of their New York and Los Angeles locations, Fat Beats is excited to present a send-off worthy of their hip-hop legacy. A week-long series of in-store performances and music industry panels at both stores will allow the music community to not only learn about the history of Fat Beats and what the future of the music industry holds, but to also celebrate the legacy of one of the strongest music brands in the company of their favorite artists. These week-long in-stores are sure to go down in hip-hop and New York history. Everyone is welcome to come and all events are free.

Today marks the official start of the week-long in-stores for the New York location. This location will host artist performances every day this week from 4-9pm until it closes its doors for the final time on Saturday, September 4th, 2010. Additionally, both locations will be selling limited edition commemorative t-shirts, as well as discounted music and merchandise"

The schedule for the New York location is as follows:

Continue reading "free in-stores all week @ Fat Beats (leading up to closing)"

by BBG

After 16 years, Fat Beats has announced the closing of the legendary label's two remaining retail locations in New York and Los Angeles. Fat Beats will celebrate the legacies of the stores, which are scheduled to close in early September (New York: September 4th, Los Angeles: September 18th) by throwing a series of blow-out sales and tribute parties open to the public during their last weeks. Fans can check www.FatBeats.com for updates.

Fat Beats' longest running and most famed location is at 406 Avenue of the Americas in Manhattan. Since the 1994 opening of Fat Beats' flagship retail location, hip-hop fans have traveled far and wide to visit the iconic store. With locations soon following in Los Angeles (7600 Melrose Ave.), Atlanta, Amsterdam, and Tokyo, the record stores were a place to experience hip-hop culture and its legacy, which became a global phenomenon. "The closing of Fat Beats is just like one of my friends passing away. They promoted vinyl at its highest degree for the culture of good music and that makes it more difficult to say goodbye," says DJ Premier.

I should have asked my job to pull out pre-tax dollars for Fat Beats back in the day; I used to EMPTY my pockets there on a weekly basis. The Fat Beats label and distro will live on, but the retail store is sadly no more. More on those "tribute parties" soon, but until then, long live Fat Beats!

Continue reading "Fat Beats closing NYC & LA stores"

record store day @ Permanent Records in Greenpoint (autovac)

Hi everyone...

We at Permanent Records just wanted to take a moment to thank all of you so much for making this year's Record Store Day the unbelievably huge success that it was. You all helped make it the biggest weekend we've ever had, and we sincerely thank all of you for your continued support of our little record store. Hopefully you managed to get most (if not all) of the Record Store Day exclusives you were looking for. If you'd like to see photos from the big day (which, if you were at the front of the line that morning, you are probably in), click here.

We do still have some of the Record Store Day exclusives in stock... so if you haven't made it in to check out some of these limited new releases, it's still not too late! They're on display, right in front of you as you walk into the store.

So, since we're still recovering from the mayhem of this weekend, we're taking a break from our New In Stock / Back In Stock mailer this week. Rest assured, we have plenty of new records available this week, but if you wanna know what they're are, you'll just have to come in and look for them. You know, like old times.

Thanks again everyone. We truly appreciate your business.

-The P-Recs Staff

Mystery of Two were the house band at Permanent Records on that day. The Drums and The Pains of Being Pure at Heart performed sets at Other Music. Billboard reports (via) that "this year's Record Store Day was, again, a success when measured by awareness, turnout and sales."

- Other Music had their best single day in their 14 year history.
- The Sound Garden had their busiest day in years, outpacing Christmas sales for the past couple of years.
- Vintage Vinyl sold more stuff on RSD than any other day in the stores' history.
- Twist N Shout reported the best sales they've ever had in a single day.
- RSD 2010 was Sonic Boom's single biggest sales day in their 12 year history.
- Silver Platters' sales on RSD 2010 were up 80% from last year (which were up 20% from the year before).
- Exclusive Company's RSD 2010 sales increased 102% from RSD 2009.
- Dimple did twice as much in sales from last year's RSD event.

And those numbers don't even count the RSD records that (some) stores are (allegedly) just throwing right on eBay.

Record Store Day video interviews and performances and stuff, some taped at Coachella, below...

Continue reading "Record Store Day was great for records & record stores"

words and photos by BBG

Black Milk at Audible Treats showcase, SXSW 2010

Duck Down Records (meaning Buckshot, Smif N Wessun, Torae, Ruste Juxx, Marco Polo, "and more") will showcase their infinite rhymes with a show at NYC record store Fat Beats along with Black Milk (with a live band), AG (of DITC and Showbiz & AG fame), Von Pea (of Tanya Morgan), 88 Keys, Soul Khan, and DeeJay Element in celebration of Record Store Day Saturday (4/17). Flyer for the show is below.

Both General Steele of Smif N Wessun and Ruste Juxx with Marco Polo recently dropped their new albums on Duck Down, Amerikkka's Nightmare part 2: Children of War and The Execution respectively.

Black Milk plays SUNY Purchase tonight (4/16) as part of Culture Shock 2010. The Detroit beat killer headlined one of the stages at our Attitude Adustment show at Red 7 and then the BV-sponsored Audible Treats show on 3/20 during SXSW. Lost pics from the latter and and flyer for Fat Beats (with set times) are below...

Continue reading "Black Milk played SXSW (pics), playing Culture Shock (today) & Fat Beats (w/ Duckdown artists & others) on Record Store Day"

by Black Bubblegum

DOWNLOAD: Marco Polo & Torae - Hold Up featuring Masta Ace & Sean Price (ZIP)
DOWNLOAD: Marco Polo & Torae - Party Crashers (MP3)

Buckshot (Black Moon)+Smif N Wessun @ KF in November (more by Tim Griffin)

For those of you regretting the fact that you missed the great Black Moon & Smif-n-Wessun rip through their classic LPs, you're in luck! The two crews will once again team up to rock A Tribute To The Classics, AKA Black Moon's Enta Da Stage and Smif N Wessun's Dah Shinin', not one, but TWO times in the coming months (and that doesn't even count their appearance at June's Brooklyn Hip Festival).

One of those shows, August 12th in NYC's Brower Park is FREE. It's one of three free concerts the city is throwing in Browser Park this summer. Full schedule below.

So what the hell may top Black Smif N Wessun beltin' out the classics live, and for FREE? Well, the other 'Tribute To The Classics' show happens at Southpaw on May 23rd (THIS SATURDAY), and this time Black Moon and Smif-N-Wessun will share the bill with their Duck Down labelmates, the great Marco Polo & Torae! Tickets are still available for the Brooklyn show.

..On his 2007 critically acclaimed album Port Authority, Polo recruited a who's who of MC's like Kool G Rap and Kardinal Offishall to ride over his hard-hitting, boom-bap instrumentals. Torae, on the other hand, has certified his rep as one of the game's illest lyricists in a similar fashion with remarkable wordplay on his highly touted 2008 street album Daily Conversation. So, in the spirit of great hip-hop duos, the producer and the MC signed with Duck Down Records in 2009 to release their collaborative album Double Barrel.

Double Barrel pays homage to New York's mid-'90's rap scene, when artists like Gang Starr and Wu-Tang Clan reigned supreme... Throughout the album pays homage to the genre of rap that influenced the duo and even features critically acclaimed heavyweights like M.O.P., Masta Ace and Sean Price to help balance out the track list.

Marco Polo & Torae's new album, Double Barrel, is due on June 2nd. Look for the duo to bless the legendary Fat Beats with an in-store performance on the same day, and they too will be playing at this year's Brooklyn Hip Hop Fest. Check out two tracks from their record above.

Fliers and Brower Park dates below....

Continue reading "Black Moon, Smif N Wessun, Marco Polo & Torae - classic & new material - live (4 NYC shows) & on album"

photos by Jacob Blickenstaff

Fresh Daily & Homeboy Sandman

Record Store Day (4/18) meant events at record stores all over the country on Saturday. Bill Callahan played Other Music in the NoHo section of Manhattan. Further west, Fat Beats had an all day line-up that ended with the Rock Steady Crew followed by DJ Premier, NYGz & Blaq Poet followed by headliner Talib Kweli (who also played Columbia University the same day). More pictures and video from some of the acts earlier in the day, below...

Continue reading "Record Store Day 2009 @ Fat Beats in NYC - pics "

by Black Bubblegum

DOWNLOAD: Guru - "Who Got It On Lock" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Guru - "Jazzy Ways" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Guru - "State of Clarity" featuring Common (MP3)

DJ AM with the legendary DJ Premier and Stretch Armstrong

As we discussed before, this Saturday (4/18) marks the Vampire Weekend/Talib Kweli show at Columbia University. According to an email sent to alumni (thx J):

DATE: Saturday, April 18
TIME: 3:00 - 5:00PM
LOCATION: Columbia University's Low Plaza
RSVP: This is a ticketed event open to the first 300 Class of 2008 CAAL members who renew their annual CAAL membership by April 13th. Only ticket holders will be admitted through campus gates.

You can try your luck, or you can catch Talib at another appearance scheduled for that same day at the legendary Fat Beats in the West Village where Talib Kweli will join the mighty DJ Premier, Yearround records signees NYGz & Blaq Poet (ex-Screwball), as well as members of the Rock Steady Crew for day of "live performances and signings" in celebration of Record Store day from 1PM - 7PM. Word of advice, get there eaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarly. For a full list of Record Store Day events, check RecordStoreDay.com.

Speaking of DJ Premier, his (ex?) partner in Gang Starr, Guru has scheduled a show at SOB's on May 13th with Solar (not to be confused with Guru's other collaborator, MC Solaar) and The 7 Grand Players and featuring K-Born and Highpower. Tickets aren't on sale as of this posting, but are priced at $20/$22 day of the show. K-Born & Highpower is signed to Guru and Solar's label, 7 Grand Records. Guru's new album, Lost & Found, is due on May 19th.

Talib Kweli is also teaming back up with Mos Def for two Black Star shows at Nokia Theatre at the end of May. You can also catch him with Hi-Tek (Reflection Eternal) at the Rock The Bells fest this summer.

No word on the Rock Steady Crew 32nd Anniversary show thus far, but we'll keep you informed.

Continue reading "Talib Kweli playing Columbia & Fat Beats, Guru playing SOBs "