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Dan Nishimoto

About Dan Nishimoto

Nishimoto has written features for Wax Poetics, Paste, Venus and Prefixmag.com, liner notes for Tuff City funk reissues, and more than his allowable share of forgetable book reports. When he's not DJing weddings, working on his footwork, balancing budgets, shaking hands or kissing babies, you can catch the kid blahgging at sintalentos. He also detests bios and lists. Wait a second...

Columns

Call and Response

It Ain't No Joke

[1.Apr.08] :. Hip-hop, like most other arts, intentionally pays humor less mind because, hey, it's not supposed to be taken seriously! But seriously.

Recent columns

Call and Response

Burning Down the House

[5.Feb.08] :. A pack and purge process got Nishimoto to thinking about Jay Electronica, who may be the M.I.A. that hip-hop has been waiting for.

Recent columns

Call and Response

Viva 'Wild Style'

[11.Dec.07] :. Wild Style confirms what we now know for a fact: hip-hop wanted to and succeeded in blowing up. No one in the cast/ crew/ generation could conceive what it meant to go pop.

Recent columns

Call and Response

Season of the Tribe

[2.Oct.07] :. A Tribe Called Quest's standout recognition among the glitterati at the VH1 Awards could be viewed as a subtle reminder that hip-hop does not adhere to a static definition, nor is it beholden to a single (commercial) goal.

Recent columns

Call and Response

Now, Check the Method

[20.Jul.07] :. Brian Coleman's new book on classic hip-hop albums and Saigon's public rant offer rare behind-the-scenes glimpse of hip-hop's creative process.

Recent columns

Call and Response Bling, Bling, Bia, Bia!: How Hip-Hop Can Survive Beyond Black History Month

Call and Response Where Are They Now?: Hip-Hop Learns How to Look Back in Anger (Management)

Call and Response Who Owns What?: Engaging the Fog of Hip-Hop

Call and Response If 6 Was '06...

Featured Article

Call and Response

Pickin' Up the Pieces: Sampling from the Great Producers

[2.Dec.05] :. What makes a hip-hop song dope? It's not just about the hook, it's not just about the drops, it's not just about the scratch chorus, and it sure as hell ain't about a salary; it's about a totality.

Recent columns

Reviews

Music

Windimoto: The Travels of Windimoto

[1.Feb.08] :. The name Windimoto conjures a dance fan's fantasy: the meeting of the two meccas, Chicago and Detroit. However, Windy City-born DJ Sean Haley and Motor City-born producer Scorpio (a.k.a. Scorpeze)...

Recent Short Takes reviews

Featured Article

DVDs

La Jetee / Sans Soleil (1962)

[20.Jul.07] :. The persistence and permutation of memory (or the truth about cats, blondes, Hitchcock, video games, and the post-apocalypse) -- what more would you expect from Chris Marker's entry into the Criterion Collection?

Recent DVD reviews

Books

Practical Research Methods for Media and Cultural Studies by Máire Messenger Davies and Nick Mo

[19.Jul.07] :. I majored in history, but failed math: strongly agree, strongly disagree, or I don't remember. If you chose the first option, continue reading.

Recent Book reviews

Music

The Electric Prunes: Release of an Oath

[12.Jul.07] :. It took a village to raise the Electric Prunes to both its highest and lowest.

Recent Music reviews

PopMatters Pick

Music

Betty Davis: Betty Davis / They Say Im Different

[18.May.07] :. Funk's first feminist Betty Davis resurfaces.

Recent Music reviews

Music Connie Price & the Keystones vs. Big Daddy Kane and Percee P: Give a Demonstration, Part 2

DVDs Sidney Bechet: Treat It Gentle [DVD]

Music Hatori, Miho: Ecdysis

Music Basement Jaxx: Crazy Itch Radio

Music Ghostface Killah: Fishscale

Music Ne-Yo: In My Own Words

Music Various Artists: The Rough Guide to Bhangra Dance

Music Various Artists: Studio One Women

DVDs Four Tet: Everything Ecstatic Part 2 [CD + DVD]

DVDs Duke Ellington: Love You Madly/A Concert of Sacred Music at Grace Cathedral [DVD]

Music Various: The Celluloid Years

Books DaCapo Best Music Writing 2005: The Year's Finest Writing on Rock, Hip-Hop, Jazz, Pop, Country & Mor

Music Various: Dawning of a New Era: The Roots of Skinhead Reggae

Music Various: Cuban Essentials

DVDs 9 Songs: Unrated Full Uncut Version (2004)

Music Juelz Santana: What the Game's Been Missing!

Music Various Artists: Impulsive! Revolutionary Jazz Reworked

PopMatters Pick

Music

Anthony Hamilton: Ain't Nobody Worryin'

[20.Dec.05] :. Anthony Hamilton is proof that you can handle The Truth.

Recent Music reviews

Music Chamillionaire: The Sound of Revenge

Music Lady Sovereign: Vertically Challenged

Music Various Artists: Childish Music

Music Dengue Fever: Escape From Dragon House

Music Gang of Four: Return the Gift (U.S. Version)

Music Boards of Canada: The Campfire Headphase

Featured Article

DVDs

Rockers (1977)

[11.Oct.05] :. For the last 25 years, Rockers has passed the spirit of Roots, Rock and Reggae on to successive generations. A remastered and re-released DVD promises to continue its legacy.

Recent DVD reviews

Music COB: Moyshe McStiff and the Tartan Lancers of the Sacred Heart

DVDs Kool Keith: Kool Keith Presents Global Enlightenment, Part 1 [DVD]

Music David Banner: Certified

Music Curumin: Achados e Perdidos

DVDs Wire: The Scottish Play: 2004 [DVD]

Music Superpitcher: Today

Music A Gun Called Tension: A Gun Called Tension

Music Various Artists: Thai Beat A Go-Go, Volume 3

Music The Likwit Junkies: The L.J.'s

Music The Juan MacLean: Less Than Human

Music Pale Sunday: Summertime?

Music Mahjongg: RaYDONcoNG

Featured Article

Music

Various Artists: The Bunny Lee Rock Steady Years

[24.Jun.05] :. Moll-Selekta has quickly established a considerable reputation with impressive reissues of Jamaican artists, such as Cornel Campbell and Barry Brown. The Bunny Lee Rock Steady Years is its latest set of golden nuggets.

Recent Music reviews

Music Solvent: Elevators + Oscillators

Featured Article

Music

Cardinal: Cardinal

[17.Jun.05] :. Cardinals aren't so rare. So why's this bird's song so top shelf?"

Recent Music reviews

Music Kava Kava: Maui

Music Björk: Army of Me

Music DJ Sneak: House of Om Presents: DJ Sneak

Music Proe: Perfect

Music Deep Thinkers: Necks Move

Music Petra Haden and Bill Frisell: self-titled

Featured Article

Music

Various Artists: 4 Women No Cry

[19.May.05] :. 4 Women No Cry establishes a new space for female musicians, one grounded in pure creativity, art for art's sake. And it's only just begun.

Recent Music reviews

Music Mice Parade: Bem-Vinda Vontade

Music The Quantic Soul Orchestra: Pushin' On

Music Platinum Pied Pipers: Triple P

Music Mark de Clive-Lowe: Tide's Arising

Featured Article

Music

One Be Lo: S.O.N.O.G.R.A.M.

[27.Apr.05] :. De la asked where you were when you first heard Criminal Minded. The Rawkus era pined about Resurrection. One Be Lo seeks to be the Next Coming.

Recent Music reviews