Venice Cull

Yep, bought on X-box - couldn’t invert the camera, so did it at the 'system' level which worked - but then all the mini games and interactions are also inverted - causing much frustrating mental gymnastics. How can this kind of thing actually happen?

Well, I went. Always interesting to see T-shirts, threads and albums you owned 'not so long ago' as museum pieces behind glass. Well worth going down.

Anyone near the Saatchi gallery could do no worse than pop down to the 'Beyond the streets' exhibition. https://www.saatchigallery.com/exhibition/beyond_the_streets_london

Ooo, I've yet to dive in properly, but I'd noticed Cool Breeze has been gutted, and the Eddie Murphy "Car" one from Magic number. Any others?

Guess there was little chance they were going to pay for these 😀 And.. it's only just occurred to me that the launch date was 03/03/2023. Bitter sweet listening to the album now 😪

Not everything was cleared back in the day (if at all). Famously the 'Turtles' sample used (on "Transmitting live from mars") kicked off the debate when they sued De La. Biz Markie's lawsuit didn't help either. Once publishers smelt their was money to be had taking these 'fringe music' artists to court the game was over. Three Feet High came out just around this point (89) as things were kicking off, so I suspect hundreds of those little fragments they used just weren't cleared. As I've said before, there's a few albums I've heard on streaming that have been 'cleansed' of troublesome samples - totally to their detriment. But yeah - physical media. Interesting one. No idea on that as statute of limitations would likely prevent them being able to sue for things that have technically existed for more than 25 years. No idea if a 'remaster' would constitute a 'new release'. To clarify, it's not been 'changed' (i.e. Steely Dan sample) - but there's deffo had to be negotiations going on around clearance of samples (which, lord knows how much would cost today), hence why they've had to put Otis as a writer (so his estate will get new royalties?). I seem to recall De La giving Steely Dan their gold record at the time, so I'm guessing that particular sample was cleared up to the wazoo. We'll find out when the album finally drops, but they did remove the Eddie Murphy one from Magic Number which gives me pause.

There's definitely been some sampling issues / re-clearance going on. In the past few hours they've uploaded remasters to youtube etc. and the song credits to 'Eye Know' have now been officially changed. No mention of 'Steely Dan'...

So, De La finally gets on streaming platforms (March) after much wrangling around sample issues, and to kick off created an official video to '3'. One slightly concerning thing (that hopefully doesn’t pan out) is my sample nerd senses noticed that the 'Eddie Murphy' “Anybody in the audience ever get hit by a car?” sample has been removed from the track. Are we in for a shock when these albums drop in March? I've had other childhood fav albums gimped through removing samples on a few occasions, annoyingly sending me back to YouTube for the 'proper' versions (Young MC, Geto Boys to name a few). anyway, great vid…

What. the. fuck? The state of hip hop is almost beyond parody at this point.

Not the most obvious of pairings, but there you go…

The original Halo continued to blow me away for years with its little details. The shells rolling down the slopes after a firefight, the microscopic little creatures you could see in the water on the silent cartographer if you get the angle just right, the fact that snow flies off the trees if they get hit by Wraith fire. I recall being disappointed with subsequent games where they removed most of these details - even the remastered Halo 1 misses them out.

Not a much as I'd have assumed for something that (from my perspective anyway) clearly pointed the way to that sound. 'Original Nuttah' seems to get the most nods from historians but that was 2 (3?) years later... Edit: That said, Rebel MC is sometimes credited as coming up with the term 'Jungle'.

I always thought that Rebel MC's third album - 'Black meaning good' had a profound effect on the UK dance scene. Certainly more than it appears to have been given credit for. Proto drum and bass/jungle really.

Camel knows.