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Recommended Reading: I let my mom use Tinder to find me a date
This Is What Happened When My Mom Ran My Tinder for a Month Clay Skipper, GQ Mom knows best, right? Well, here's the story of a 26-year-old who installed Tinder on his mom's phone and let her find him a date. As you can probably guess, hilarity ensued.
Use your keyboard to recreate tracks from J Dilla and Kanye West
If you've ever wanted to try your hand at creating some stellar beats, here's your chance. Thanks to music enthusiast Matt Daniels, all you need the keyboard that's likely already in front of you to rebuild tracks from J Dilla, Kanye West and 9th Wonder. Daniels built Sample Stitch: a website that reconstructs songs from their original samples, and in the process, reveals just how each one was created. "I wish that more people understood this process and gift, so I've recreated the process of chopping up a sample, just as a producer would," he explains. The pieces of each beat are mapped out for your keyboard, so after listening to a portion of the sample play, try your hand at Dilla's "Don't Cry," 9th Wonder's "Impressknowsoul!!!" or Yeezy's "Otis." Heck, you can even record your efforts to see just how they match up, or to add more on top of 'em. This web-based MPC will at least save you the trouble of investing before you know the extent of your talents. [Photo credit: Photo by Jerritt Clark/Getty Images for Roc Nation]
Hip-hop producer J Dilla's beat-making gear headed to Smithsonian
Last week, the Smithsonian announced two of J Dilla's production tools would be displayed at the upcoming National Museum of African American History and Culture. Thanks to a donation from his mother (pictured above), the influential artist/producer's custom Minimoog Voyager and Akai Music Production Center (MPC) 3000 Limited Edition will be part of a collection that aims "to explore how popular music helped shape the nation's history and culture politically and socially." Before passing away in 2006, J Dilla worked with A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, The Roots, The Pharcyde and many more, creating unique sounds for each in addition to his own solo work. "Everyone who pays attention to hip-hop has heard J Dilla's work whether they realize it or not," said Timothy Ann Burnside, the museum's popular music historian. "In the very demanding world of hip-hop producers, he was one of the busiest and most sought-after." When the museum opens in 2016, Dilla's instruments will be included in the "Musical Crossroads" exhibit -- one of the venue's 11 inaugural collections. If you're unfamiliar with his work, there's a brief introductory Spotify playlist from our Engadget channel just after the break.
De La Soul can't sell their old music online yet, so they're giving it away for one day only
While internet music services promise limitless shelves full of songs for purchase from iTunes and Amazon or streaming from Spotify, Pandora and the rest, there are a few holes in the catalog. De La Soul's unique brand of hip-hop is among the missing tracks -- even after long holdouts like Led Zeppelin and The Beatles have gone digital -- owing to label and sample clearance issues, but that problem is about to be fixed. The group tells Rolling Stone that its entire catalog will be available for download tomorrow, for 25 hours starting at 11AM ET. According to group member Posdnous, "Its been too long where our fans haven't had access to everything," despite a "trying" journey to wrangle all the clearance details. Serving as a celebration for the 25th anniversary of its debut album 3 Feet High and Rising (and timely promotion for the upcoming EP Preemium Soul on the Rocks and album You're Welcome,), it should help fans fill in the hole left by long-discarded CDs and tapes. The tracks will appear on wearedelasoul.com, set the bookmark and your alarm now for a mid-Valentine's Day present to your ears tomorrow.
