The Mighty Underdogs

25 % Off Everything In The Pharmacy!!

defcon — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 09:55:25 -0400

For a limited time only we here at DJX are having a major blow out, go nuts, your head will explode ...sale.With any items purchased through the Pharmacy type in the promotional code, aka the magic words: DJXSALE and 25 % will drop off the cost of your purchases.

Again this is for a limited time only, so we expect you to do your worst:

Def Jux Free Amazon Sampler!! Get It While its Free

defcon — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:54:28 -0400

Click Here, Cause its free!!

The Daily Jux For Monday May 11th

defcon — Mon, 11 May 2009 18:01:59 -0400

Hello Jukies!

And so another week begins, we start it off with a Mr. Lif 'I Heard It...' review from Abort Magazine, and its one for the vault...

With notes from Lif on the origins and intentions of each tracks, and the full lyrics printed inside, this album is clearly a transmission of valuable information through soulful music that deserves to be heard over and over. As always, the richness of Lif’s mind has crafted a classic work that speaks ever more clearly as the voice and conscience of our times, with a compassion and over-standing so rare, yet so essential and truly Old School in it’s perspective. This is radical music - radical in it’s politics, and radical in the truest sense - coming from the roots.

Another review this week for Chin Chin is worth the peek and thanks to all who came out this Friday to Union Pool. Fun was had by all.

Despot has been spotted in the blogosphere.. under the alias 'Alec' ... odd.

Hi everyone! my name is Alec! I'm a world renowned rap star here to give you all a peek into one of the greatest minds in rap! I know you are saying to yourself, "but Alec, why would anyone want to have a great mind in rap?" I know you are also asking yourself, "Alec, if you are a famous rapper how come I didn't know that already and you keep talking about it?"

An article in Buisnessmirror.com yesterday illuminates some of the varying and evolving uses of english in hip hop..

To clarify, rapping would be the mere exercise of rapidly reciting in rhymes. If one reads aloud the works of Dr. Seuss at a fast pace, this would already pass for rapping. Emceeing, on the other hand, is the creative and playful manipulation of language. It entails the mastering of aesthetics and techniques, and most important, the development and precise execution of one’s intended style. Mother Goose on uppers would be a rapper; Redman is an emcee.

Not everyone who has assumed the title of emcee is actually an emcee. Think Michael V. He may have had roots in true hip-hop, but he isn’t an emcee, especially not in his comedic rap skits. Mark Wahlberg isn’t an emcee at all, although he used to rap as Marky Mark. Then there are those like Shaq, who was and still can be an emcee, but chooses to rap more nowadays.

......

Street emcees don’t use words like “amalgamation,” while left-field hip-hop would have no qualms inserting such terms in their lyric books. The likes of Aesop Rock, El-P and MC Paul Barman will unhesitatingly test a listener’s vocabulary, while Nas, Pharaohe Monch and even Biggie (the Notorious B.I.G.) will make sure you’re listening clearly to their nuanced elocution and occasionally uncharacteristic choice of words.

The Daily Jux For Thursday May 7th

defcon — Thu, 07 May 2009 18:37:30 -0400

Happy Thursday!

New Weathermen T-shirts out now, head on over and pick up the latest at Shopgun.com!!

Cage feature in LA Weekly this week, if you're out there swing on by and grab a copy. The photos are all by resident Jux photographer Todd Westphal, and the words are well put together, its sure to get you amped about Depart From Me... as if you needed another reason.

Chin Chin Plays Union Pool tomorrow, details Here, flyer below.... Come through, sip something fermented, and groove with your friends.

-DJX Editor.

Def Jux Time Travel Volume One Out Today Exclusively On Itunes!

defcon — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 16:25:48 -0400

Cop it today! With exclusives from the past decade of Def Jux, you're sure to find something you've never heard before... but don't just take our word for it...

Def Jux has spontaniously announced an iTunes-only compilation hitting virtual shelves tomorrow, featuring new music from Cage, Junk Science, Danny! along with some classic cuts from El-P and Company Flow. Fatboy Slim even makes an unusual stop on this hip-hop (in the broadest sense of the word) comp via a remix of The Mightly Underdogs.

-URB

Definitive Jux is taking fans through a hip hop journey from the 1990’s to the present with a new compilation hitting stores this week. Definitive Jux Presents Time Travel allows fans to literally travel through time with the label that has "blessed open-minded hip-hop fans with the most sonically bold and lyrically dense music" [The Source].

-AtariCoolKids

Since their Farewell Fondle ‘Em release in 2002, El-P’s Definitive Jux Records has paused to appreciate songs, no matter how recently they’ve been released. After almost a decade putting out critically and commercially successful work from RJD2, Aesop Rock [click to read], and Cannibal Ox [click to read], Def Jux is releasing Time Travel Volume 1, sporting 20 tracks, old and new, chronicling the label’s self-proclaimed “independent as fuck” take on underground Hip Hop.

-HipHopDefined

Time Travel Compliation Itunes Exclusive (4/14) Preview Playlist

defcon — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 18:46:24 -0400

The Daily Jux For Wednesday March 25th

defcon — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 18:49:18 -0400

Jukies!!

Tomorrow we leave SXSW behind us and plunge forth on the motivation of two really awesome showcases. If you weren't out for Austin this year though, some upcoming shows worth checking out ..

Cage will be at the NOS Center for Paid Dues this year with an all star line up of the best and brightest.

Despot and Ratatat are making their way accross the contintentals - click here for those dates, and if you make it out, look for the notorious music stand....

Lif is getting ready to embark on his journey of summer madness, click here for that and get tickets starting now.

Chin Chin got some hometown love from the Louisville Courier Journal after their show this past week on the way to SX;

Were you and Wilder involved in Louisville's music scene at all?

I didn't start playing music seriously until I left for college. I dropped out after my freshman year and again retreated to Louisville. I started a band called Navin R. Johnson with Jaleel Bunton (now of TV on the Radio), Brett Holsclaw and Chris Layton. Wilder had an awesome high school band called Dingleberry Brown and the Fly Rhymesayers, but they were just too far ahead of their time. He also worked at ear X-tacy.

The Daily Jux For Tuesday March 17th

defcon — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 18:04:52 -0400

Hey Jukies,

If you're taking a break from counting your large bonuses of unregulated government stimulus money... we've got news for you! First off, as we gear up for South by Southwest, you oughta know where to find us this year...

Chin Chin and Cage will both be playing the Biz 3 showcase at The Club Deville on Friday night. Chin Chin is set for 8 PM and Cage will take to blowing the roof off around 10 PM. Then, if that still wasn't quite enough, shuffle on over to the Wax Peotics/ Ubiquity Showcase at The Scoot Inn and catch Chin Chin for an even later, even ROWDIER (Yes it IS a word..) set round abouts 11 PM.

And speaking of Chin Chin, since the Kanye mention of the 'Go There With You' video, Mo Fos is waking up! Some other catchers on include SPZSHIP, Videostatic, and Starworksny. Catch them in PA tonight at Carnegie Melon and tomorrow in their hometown of Louisville!!

The Mighty Underdogs are on tour in Colorado now and if you haven't gotten out to see them yet check the dates, and get on buying those tickets.

Finally, in preparation for South By, this lil editor has been scouring the World Wide Web for gems of Cowboy Wisdom that will serve the dual purpose of seemlessly blending her into the general populace in Texas and as words to live by in this our current climate of corporate crooks.

Here's what I've come up with...

- Don't name a pig you plan to eat.

- Life is not about how fast you run, or how high you climb, but how well you bounce.

- It don't take a very big person to carry a grudge.

- When you wallow with pigs, expect to get dirty.

- Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance.

- The easiest way to eat crow is while it's still warm. The colder it gets, the harder it is to swaller.

- Never miss a good chance to shut up

And Finally.. most importantly for our friends over at AIG...

- If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop diggin'.

So get back to your countin!!

-DJX Editor

The Daily Jux for Thursday March 12th

defcon — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 18:48:13 -0400

Hi Kids,

This newspost is brought to you by left-eye twitching ...something about a whole week of staring at computer screens.... Two Def Jux artists will be plaing the ATP festivals this year. Mr. Lif to England and El-p here in the motherland... more on that soon!

In the meanwhile be sure to check out the upcoming Lif dates he'll be heading to your town. AND If you're in New York tomorrow come out and help Mr. Lif support a good cause with project Nine 11 Thesaurus.

Speaking of Gooood Causes we want you to help local radio. Its not always the most obvious of things we need in a recession but on those long drives home after a break up, or a an evening when the in-laws need drowning out, or even just a boring sunday afternoon the soothing voices of your community speaking of elsewhere can be of the utmost importance...

Yep, once again, it's fundraising time at WFMU and we need your help. Your tax-deductible donation will reap the greatest dividend of all: great radio unsullied by the long arm of corporate greed. ....First, we have to complete construction on our New York-based booster transmitter by August, or else the FCC will scrap our construction permit. This is the only opportunity we'll ever have to improve our over-the-air reception in New York, Brooklyn and northern Jersey, but we need to raise $80,000 above our operating budget to make it happen.

Finally a story about the Under 14 demographic. We always love to hear a variety of input on what it is we do here and we're consistently grateful for our fan's honesty....

The goal of the “Sound Stories” workshop I created with my co-teacher, Emily (another occasional music writer), was simple: to use various songs as writing prompts for students’ short stories. We decided to play the kids a mix of popular songs—Kanye West’s “Love Lockdown” and Paramore’s “Decode” (a/k/a that song from Twilight)—and stuff that we, the snobs in charge, liked a lot more (selections included Radiohead’s “Reckoner” and an El-P instrumental track).

...

The students also initially claimed that music needed lyrics to truly have meaning; it was hard to tell what a song could be about, they said, unless given some explicit clues. Yet they were soon filling sheets of paper with random ideas. Ulrich Schnauss’ electronic meanderings inspired many visions of water; El-P’s sonic barrage brought to mind things as diverse as “war” and “Michael Jackson”.

Whatever you're doing, its working.

-DJX Editor.

The Daily Jux For Tuesday March 10th

defcon — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 18:34:11 -0400

His Imperial Highness, he, from whom we all await our cues, has decreed it Chin Chin Day.. an you Mofos better obey!!!

Chin Chin has a new album, a new video, and a new lease on life.. we recommend you come share in the drunken revelries tonight.. be prepared to dance and pray for no flash photography.

Danny! has also released a new 12" after a long hiatus, which, if you check out his blog is carefully explained. If you head over to his Just Friends 12" you will find that it has a secret free track hidden in there for your unemployment woes.. can you find it? (Our Flashplayer is down temporarily but will be back with you tomorrow March 11th. Sorry for any inconvenience)...

The Mighty Underdogs will be touring Colorado for all of you folks too cheap to make it to Austin this year..(just kidding .. a little recession humor?).

Finally, we usually reserve this part of the news section to say something snarky about politics, music, or culture... but today is a day of new releases and fresh starts. We want to announce that our very own DJ Ese has a special new release of his own.

He is a wonderful boss, mentor, DJ, and chef and we are so happy for him over here at Def Jux. Sending our love and Congratulations to him and his...

- The DJX Editor.