Tuesday, November 19, 2002
 
No updates in a while so here goes. First things first, we're still hard at work on our second album, (tentatively titled) Dogfight. We've more or less put six jams in the can already, and we hope to be finished with everything sometime shortly after the New Year (February target date). Those of you who have made it out to see our live show these past few months have already heard a bunch of the new material, and your feedback so far has been incredible. Thanks for that. If you haven't been able to catch us live, however, and are fiending to hear these new joints, we'll be at Coda on Saturday, December 7th (Pearl Harbor Day). More details on the dates page.

In other news, we have recently learned that several cuts from Rat Race Vacation have made it into heavy rotation at WZLY, the radio station at all-female Wellesley College in Massachusetts, and new reviews of the album continue to pop up, a full year now after its initial release. You can find one of these new reviews at FreeWilliamsburg.com while another is forthcoming at AltarNative.com.

Perhaps our most significant news, however, came in the form of a huge surprise from our man Maurice "Moelicious" Murdock. Old boy produced an entire album's worth of RHP jungle remixes titled Moelicious vs. RHP: The Rewired Transmissions (on the sly, mind you) and we were absolutely blown away by how ill the shit was. Be on the lookout for a DL release of this album sometime in the near future, with re-recorded vocals, and don't be surprised if an even more DL MP3 from this should surface on our audio page.

Last but not least, in the coming weeks Chuck D's Slamjamz.com will release two instrumental singles from Phon-X's side project (with Don Q), Lincoln's Second Assassin. Take it from me when I say you're not going to want to sleep on those, especially you rhyme-writers out there.

Until next update, peace.



Sunday, November 10, 2002
 
As an odd post that we can keep updating, I'd like start the list of artists RHP has been compared to in reviews:

(In no particular order) ..... KRS One, Eminem, Ice-T, Devo, Anti-Pop Consortium, Beastie Boys, Blackalicious, Weird Al Yankovic, De La Soul, Beck, Organized Konfusion, Nirvana, Sugar Hill Gang, Puff Daddy, DJ Spinna, The Neptunes, Emanon, The B-52's, Foreign Legion, Pee Wee Herman, Ced Gee, MC Paul Barman, Outkast, Afrika Bambaata, RUN-DMC, Dose One, A Tribe Called Quest, Six Too, Buck 65, Boogie Down Productions, Stuffed Animals, Timbaland......



Friday, November 08, 2002
 
Made a valuable connection last night. Emcee Doctor President hipped one of his chiropractic patients to RHP, and he invited me to come chill at the studio up in the Bronx where he's been recording his debut solo LP. Dude's emcee name is Munch and in addition to being "good people" he's also certified ill. He's got a jam called "Dear Congress" in which he more or less takes on the government straight up. Dude rhymes about real issues with impressive, varying flows, wordplay and vocab usage for real. And his boy Artie's home studio was mad, too (and in my Dad's old neighborhood!). The vibe was so positive that I even ended up dropping a 16-bar verse on a battle track of his titled "Not About," so that was fun too. RHP doesn't really do battle cuts, so it was a nice change of pace for me. That verse had been in the chamber for a while. Anyway, don't be surprised if you see further RHP/Munch collaborations in the future.

Also, new dates posted on the dates page. Come and see us if you get a chance. The next show is a Saturday night and on Pearl Harbor Day, so y'all can expect some theatrics.




Friday, November 01, 2002
 
Not a whole lot going on in the world of RHP right now. I think we're still just trying to wrap our heads around what went down this week with the Jam Master Jay tragedy. Being that the three of us were raised on RUN DMC, the news has hit home rather hard. The first time I ever heard a scratch in my life, Jay was the deejay, and if it weren't for records like Raising Hell, there may have never been a Regenerated Headpiece. That's no exaggeration. Jam Master Jay was a true legend, a positive force in the world of music and in his community, and his loss has left a void in all of our hearts that can never be filled.

Still, gotta press on. We'll be up in the studio all weekend working on tracks for our forthcoming LP, Dogfight, which is shaping up rather nicely. New gigs in the works as well. More info on that once it becomes available.

Also, we've updated our page at MP3.com, and have posted the jam Phon-X and I did with M'Portd Flows for his EP, Sensitive Information. Seriously ill stuff (produced by Old Yist). Don't sleep.

And in memorium:

"Jay's like King Midas, as I was told,
everything that he touched turned to gold.
He's the greatest of the great, get it straight he's great.
Claim fame cause his name is known in every state.
His name is Jay to see him play will make you say:
'God damn, that DJ made my day!'"
-- DMC, from "Peter Piper," 1986


"Run-DMC first said a deejay could be a band
Stand on its feet, get you out your seat..."
-- Chuck D, from "Bring the Noise," 1988

Rest in peace, Jay.