Black Milk | ChinaShop

Music The Best of 2010…according to Rich Thomas

December 20, 2010 - 9:26 am

When you’ve got Kanye West and Tron blowing up the spot. it’s tough to remember how much good stuff came down the pike this year. Thankfully our esteemed ChinaShop contributors have been making some lists (and checking ‘em twice), and are here to jog your memory. Every weekday from now until the New Year we’ll be turning out our Best Of 2010 accolades, as seen through the hungry eyes and ears of our esteemed legion of contributors. Peruse these lists, take notes, click links, download our MP3s, write us back, tell us we’re completely full of it or applaud us on our sagely advice. Just promise you’ll love us in the morning. So now without further ado, our first Best Of list after the jump.

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Music ChinaShop’s 2010 Infinite Playlist

by Rich Thomas

December 13, 2010 - 11:17 am

Well, it’s not quite infinite, but we will be adding to it between now and the end of the year! But in the meantime, enjoy our nifty little SoundCloud playlist packed with songs from the past 347 days that really carved a niche in our brains. We’ve dropped a bit of everything in here, from the rousing beats of Groove Armada (nominated for a Grammy!) and the Midnight Juggernauts to the front porch balladry of Frazey Ford and Lou Rhodes. Double bonus: most of these tracks are downloadable and ready to be added to your own playlists. Enjoy the music, and stay tuned for some more ChinaShop Best Of’s!

Gallery Music Red Bull Big Tune Welcomes Black Milk to Chicago

by Max Herman

November 19, 2010 - 12:34 pm

Let’s just get this out of the way: hip-hop shows, more than any other genre, regularly feature an absurd amount of waiting before the headliner you went to see finally hits the stage—often after midnight. Some of the opening acts or DJs you see beforehand might be good and you may even be hyped to have been introduced to them, but when it takes four hours before the main act steps on stage, shit can get old. With this in mind, Black Milk’s last minute, Red Bull Big Tune pre-show in Chicago at Reggie’s Rock Club was as close to ideal as you can get.

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Fashion Black Milk Does Minimalist Luxe

by Gala Darling

July 30, 2010 - 9:31 am

Designer leggings. Is that an oxymoron?!

James Lillis of Black Milk would say no. Based in Australia, this designer — who had no formal training – was first inspired by the fashion atrocities he saw committed on the street! Australia is awash with leggings: every girl owns several pairs, & many of them prefer leggings over pants. Now, there’s nothing wrong with that — we are all entitled to our preferred aesthetic. But what really upset James was the poor quality of the leggings he saw girls wearing. If you use cheap cotton to make leggings, the sad outcome will eventually include saggy knees & bottoms, which don’t flatter anyone.

He decided that he couldn’t take it any more! Why couldn’t anyone make good quality leggings?! Maybe he was the right man for the job. After many, many hours at a sewing machine, breaking needles & making messes, he created his Black Wetlook leggings & hasn’t looked back since.

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Music Black Milk

by Jeff Nau

September 1, 2009 - 10:58 am

Juno Records | Even on the troubled streets of Detroit, Black Milk has been steadily delivered through these rough economic times, providing an original, distinct concoction of different R&B ingredients for fans needing an escape. 2008′s Popular Demand proved to be one of the sleeper hip hop gems of the year, seeing the rising star collaborate with legends like Pharoah Monch and others. With the new release of Tronic, the listener hears Black Milk improve on his already vintage sound, incorporating a series of new influences and new collaborations, and showing up fresh at record store doorsteps across the rest of the country. Now to go overkill with the milk metaphors: B.M. may prove to be a bit of an acquired taste, but its eclectic flavor is already proving to have what the hip-hop star predicted would be a longer shelf life. One of the better hip-hop releases out now, check it out.

Words by Jeff Nau

Black Milk – Give the Drummer Sum

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Event There Can Beat Only One

by Dustin Downing

July 7, 2009 - 5:17 pm

On this energized summer night 12 men enter and only 1 man would emerge as Red Bull Big Tune Denver’s producer finalist, as the nation’s premier music producer battle made its second stop along its third national tour. Over 700 crazed onlookers packed Beta nightclub to listen and shake a stanky leg as Denver native “Boon Doc” beat up the competition to claim his seed for the National Red Bull Big Tune Championship in Atlanta in October.

Veteran producer Vitamin D and Jake One got the spinning started as Exile and Black Milk, entertained the crowd between battles. Jonathan Moore, one of the co-founders w/Vitamin D, emceed and helped contain the heard of cats. As the couple of intense hours of competition progressed, I quickly learned to appreciate how sick a beat competition between some of the best producer talent can truly sound.

The next stop on the Red Bull Big Tune tour is Chicago, where twelve more eager participants will take the stage on July 13th to crown the “Windy City” beatsmith, who just might have the next big tune. Other regional battles will be hosted in Houston, Seattle, Long Beach, Detroit and Minneapolis. The top two producers from each city will square-off in October 2009 at the Red Bull Big Tune National Championship in New York City. The winner of the National Championship wins the opportunity to collaborate with a recording artist of his/her choice in the prestigious Red Bull Recording Studios in Santa Monica, CA. Last year’s Red Bull Big Tune National Champion had the opportunity record with hip-hop star, Nas.

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