Vintage Clothing Limited is the Official Clothing Sponsor of the “Smoking Needles Tour 2010″ featuring Phife Dawg (of Tribe Called Quest), Chip Fu (of Fu-Schnickens), and DJ Rasta Root! The crew will be traveling all over the map beginning with Copenhagen on March 12th and wrapping up the tour in Brussels on March 27th. We will be checking in with the three as their travels take them to all over Europe for a unique blend of classic hip-hop that’s sure to make an exciting showcase! If you have a chance to catch one of the show’s you can expect to see a Vintage Limited t-shirt being represented on stage as well as a banner, stickers, and other materials like flyers lining the venues at this month long Europe tour!

Also, be sure to pick-up your official Phife, Chip Fu, Dj Rasta Root tour shirts designed by Eric Nine and Vintage Clothing Limited! (currently available in Europe only during the tour). Soon to be available in the US @ our online store!

TOUR SCHEDULE:

Beat producers have hailed the Akai MPC as the holy grail of legitimate production for more than a decade. Not to discredit my mpc fanatics but the Akai is basically a mini-computer in-itself triggering samples loaded onto pads recording midi patterns for playback. Having said that its no surprise software engineers have tried to duplicate the Akai’s owner loyalty and user experience for years. Some have had success in the digital production age while other more “purist” producers are quick to discredit a software created beat’s ligitimacy.

Here enters a much anticipated player in the game by way of Native Instruments Maschine. A one-part software editing/sequencing suite and one-part hardware interface much like the mpc. While the verdict is still out on the legitimacy of software engineered beats because it allows anyone with the money to purchase the software and a gang of downloaded drum kits from the internet to call themselves a producer… There is no shortcuts when it comes to real talent. I once heard a well known producer say that many people like to talk about the tools they use to make their beats but no matter what tool is used its the talents of the producer and their ability to master whatever is at their disposal to craft masterpieces that truly makes you note worthy. I like that!

For more info on Native Instruments Maschine, visit their website here.

This is an open call to all beat producers! The Vintage BeatLab podcast presented by DJ Bonezelli and Vintage Clothing Limited would like to invite you to send in your beat submissions for consideration on future beat mix podcast episodes!

What is the BeatLab Podcast?

Think of it like a 30 minute beat tape released every 2 weeks in podcast form so fans can subscribe through itunes and have it automatically downloaded when a new mix drops. Its all underground beats with no lyrics so you can throw this on and do some work or chill or set a mood without any lyrics or artist distraction. It’s all about the beats!

Our podcast DJ (DJ Bonezelli) travels the World collecting beats from producers both know, unknown, commercial and underground and his beat collection is incredible. You might hear a Madlib beat then a Dilla joint followed by The ARe, then Alchemist, then Black Milk, M-Phazes, YOU and so on…

What do I send in and how?

Producers can submit beats through email attachments or links in an email to: beatlab@vintagelimited.com – The stipulations are that the music need to be in mp3 format at least 192 kbps (or higher!) but no more than 512 kbps to keep file sizes manageable on our end. No more than 5 beat submissions per email and all beats need to be fully ID3 tagged (which you can do in itunes) with artist name, album name (if applicable), and beat name. If a beat is from an artists album other than you (the producer) then the name should be as followed “song name (instrumental) – artists name – prod. by producers name”. This should help us to keep stuff organized.

Also if you have press sheets, album release information, etc. Please feel free to send us that as well. Please note that not all beat submissions will make it on the rotation and will be up to the podcast dj to make all final playlist decisions. We definitely appreciate your interest and send in those beats!

Check out the Vintage BeatLab Podcast now, right here on our site. You should also subscribe on iTunes now here.

Thanks and Best Regards!

Baltimore clothing boutique PEDX (who we’ve been promoting in the past couple months both in our newsletters and here on the blog) in February had planned to teamed up with us here at Vintage Limited and sponsor their weekly hip-hop show called Always Dope. Originally the event was scheduled for February 2 but due to a record breaking blizzard that pretty much paralyzed Maryland that event was postponed.

Last night at the swanky club in the Mt. Vernon district called Red Maple, set against a cold and rainy Tuesday evening backdrop, the rescheduled event took place. As planned we were in the building full force, and regardless of the less than the capacity crowd we had expected (due to a number of factors) those who came certainly got their entertainment fix for the evening. Around 11:45 Wordsmith hit the floor, mic in hand, and crowd raring to hear some heat. Word definitely did not disappoint. He left it all on the floor as he walked away, sweat from his face and exhausted after an energetic performance as if appearing before a prime time tv audience. Even know there was no Leno in attendance a video crew was capturing the set. I had my camera in hand as well and took plenty of photo’s to document the night. Below are a few but for the full effect you need to head on over to our Facebook fan page and check out the photo gallery here.

A big shout out to Garth the owner of PEDX for his hospitality and for the opportunity. I’m sure this won’t be the last event we’ll do together and I definitely look forward to more in the future. Also, a big thank you to all the blog readers, and people who receive our newsletters and support us with your purchases. I got the chance to talk with a few of our local supporters last night and its always inspiring to hear that you like what we’re doing and rep us hard! Thanks for the compliments coming first hand and face to face. Much respect!

Part of a four chapter series, Wordsmith, an MC, discusses Chapter I of his upcoming album “Vintage Experience”.  The album will be available for purchase on March 30, 2010.

Learn more about Wordsmith and Vintage Experience by logging onto his website www.wordsmithmusic.com

This video Interview was produced by Olawale Ogbonlowo for 4sight Pictures. Shaun B. of Vintage Limited designed the album cover  seen in this video. Also you can download the latest mixtape by Wordsmith by going here now to get you ready for March 30th!

I’m not late on this one because yes I know its been out for a minute. I just keep finding myself looking for the video online every few months since first seeing it and being utterly amazed. The creative genius who thought this up needs to be applauded. Wow. Not too often you see a hip-hop video with this much creativity and uniqueness. It beats rapping into a camera from different angles any day. Check it out.

It’s not too often a clothing line will shout out a competitor but a few weeks ago I came across this exceptionally well done video for a line I had never heard of named Defam Nation (obvious play on the word defamation). The video struck a chord with me because I keep finding myself coming back to it for the shear volume of art and message they having going on at several subconscious levels. I must say it was very well done. Take a look.

Ushering in its 20 year anniversary like only Nike can do the footwear kings decided to re-issue a classic. As it’s name indicates the Air Max ‘90 was first released in 1990. Featuring the legend AIR MAX on the side panel and visible air bubble in the heel. This exclusive White/Black/Blue/Gray colorway can only be found at JD Sports in the UK for about 90 Euros (click here to see more photo’s of the shoe on JD’s website). For fun we decided to see what would happen if we paired up these hot kicks with our own classics. We matched them with our Lion in the City retro blue t-shirt and gray molten wool/black/white Art Addiction fitted hat. The combination of similar colors and complimenting textures made for a good look.

The new Warner Brother’s film “The Preacher’s Kid” hit theaters nationwide on January 29th, 2010. Why is this relevant you may ask? Well, you may have heard that local hip-hop artist Soulstice had a song featured in the recent smash “The Blind Side” which stars Sandra Bullock and depicts the struggles which Baltimore Raven’s offensive tackle (NFL) Michael Oher endured on his rise to stardom.

Its also relevant because Soulstice is a friend of mine and having heard him perform on a few occasions while marketing Vintage Limited in make-shift stores at the back of live venues Soulstice and I have had the chance to speak on issues concerning the music industry, the state of hip-hop, and life here in Baltimore. A few seconds into a conversation and you instantly get that he’s no slouch and has a collegiate background knowledgeable on many subjects. For the past few years we’ve kept in touch through email and events and Soulstice has been a supporter of ours. Take a look at our photo gallery and you can see a few shots of him rocking our Brown Classic tshirt at a local show. Another one on there shows Soulstice wearing the Rock is Steady tshirt during a tour in Italy in 2009. I was also informed that he wore one of our shirts on a tv appearance (more details to come regarding that).

“The funny thing about The Preacher’s Kid is that this was actually the first movie I placed a song in, it’s just taken this one forever to come out.” Soulstice said in a recent email to his fans. Apparently It took so long that he had actually forgotten about it until his Dad text messaged a reminder.

“The Preacher’s Kid” is a modern twist on the prodigal song story in which a preacher’s daughter leaves home to pursue her dream of being a singer.  The movie stars the singer Letoya Luckett (formerly of Destiny’s Child).  The photo here shows Letoya and Soulstice on the red carpet at an event in DC.

The movie features a remix of the Soulstice song “The Melody,” which was the first single he ever released back in 2003, on 12″ vinyl. The club-friendly remix featured in the movie was crafted by DMV producer Arsonal.  If you watch the movie trailer, you can hear the song play briefly around 1 minute: http://bit.ly/aBsWVx

You can hear the song in it’s entirety on his myspace page: www.myspace.com/soulstice (yes, musicians still use myspace even if the rest of us have left it far far behind ha)

Congrats Soulstice! Look forward to seeing you around the city. Who knows? Maybe Hollywood comes knocking?

Nu Revolution Entertainment LLC presents Wordsmith “Tour Guide To New Bride”. Behind the scenes of the video shoot for his UK single (produced by Capish) off the debut album “Vintage Experience”. Album dropping March 30, 2010. Check out the Rock is Steady tshirt making a cameo. Thanks Word! We’re looking forward to the final video drop and the album no doubt.