Its been less than a week since the birth of this blog, and I'm already wanting to change the name to: "Critical Ish & No-Brainers." at the end of the day, isn't that all life is consistent of anyway? so since there isn't but so many hours in the day, let me commence to "droppin 'em."' Critical: I realize I'm a day late with this stuff but, it's whatever. brotha is busy right now. check it, the end of 2001 was a dramatic time in nyc. we all know the state of events that occurred in september, so we don't have to state the obvious. but living in the city at that time meant having to deal with unemployment, whether you were the one that was unemployed or not. it was everywhere. actually 5 years later, and it still is everywhere. and if you have one of those golden-crisp tans that just wont go away, you've always had to deal with it on all levels. but this particular time saw the displacement of alot of the artistic community that made nyc the center of the universe. so, going into the beginning of '02, you began to see a lot of old heads that you may have not ran into since "the towers". when you're really picky about your art, you quickly take heed to like-minded individuals that are around you at any given time. there was a brotha that I used to bump into on the regular, but had not seen in a minute, by the name of Jamal. i never knew where dude was from I just considered him as one of the cats from around the way, L.E.S. I always enjoyed a good convo with this cat because he too was under the impression that contrary to popular belief, there's plenty of great gems ready to be unearthed on the city's dancefloors. it just takes the underground DJs to expose, and the headz to embrace. so we would run in to each other in-between playing neighborhood dives in the alphabet on the regular. anyway, we're catching up, and Jamal hips me to the fact that a slew of our cronies broke out-west, to the L dot. i honestly hadn't a clue. I just remember not seeing the regulars around anymore. Jamal had begun an internship at Rawkus Records, shortly after all of the infamous side of the roster had bailed. so he hands me the promo 12-inch Pharoahe Monch's politically charged "Agent Orange." after blazing it early in my following sets, i get at jamal trying to find out more about who the production credits belong to. keep in mind, this is early 2002. he couldnt tell me much, only that it was a trio of fairly flashy cats from LA, and that THEY were the new H.N.I.C.s at Rawkus A&R. this trio was Sa-Ra Creative Partners. so thanks to all of these headz that used to reside in NY, we all started getting mini discs, cdrs, cassettes of what was really good on the left side. strong shout out to asya, who had always been THE west coast connect, as well. but we started doin the knowledge on demos and leaks on headz such as carlos mena, gavin trinidad, daedulus, dj take, etc. but personally, the entity i was always most impressed with throughout this new education was Georgia Anne Muldrow. she possessed something that could otherwise only be heard when needle droppin on those thrift store finds. a minute went by, and those geniuses at stones throw finally scooped her up for a project. they released an ep's worth of compiled highlights from all of those dirty dubs entitled "Worthnothings." people wanna get things twisted when production comes into conversation. production is not a word synonomous with beatmaking. true production is creatively seeing a project through, making all things happen from beginning to end. that includes beatmaking, concept sketching, songwriting, vocal arrangement, instrumental session work, vocal and instrumental overdubbing, mixing, bookkeeping, and a host of other important things, all done within budget (money and time). Georgia does all of these things effortlessly, and beautifully. once again, i feel like all is right with the world when i'm able to witness the release of Muldrow's debut full length, "Olesi: Fragments of an Earth, " (out August 22nd on StonesThrow Records). No-Brainer: The late great J-Dilla's "The Shining" is released on the same day. What more can i say?... Before i bounce, I, Jaekim, will be spinning at the Buddha Lounge in Houston (2670 Sage Rd near Alabama) Thursday August 31st. we're loungin, so expect throwback jazz/soul breaks and rare groove, mixed in with this rebirth of the instrumental movement im feelin right now. when i get the flyer, it'll be posted here, aaight?