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We caught up with The Cool Kids @ Scala last night, where they played for a rather energetic and packed out audience.

These guys always do their thing on stage. They got that sh*t everyone likes. The charisma, the look, the swagger and the skills that makes everyone watching spaz out! I’m pretty rubbish at remembering the set list at gigs and every time I go I always think “write it down” but then, who has time [tyme!]?

They did pretty much most of their ‘well known’ tunes including “88″, “Black Mags”, “Pump Up The Volume” & “Jinglin” [to name a few!]. The Cool Kids brought on Killa Kella on stage for a lil’ Beatbox-’Multivocalisation’ rendition of “I (Mikey) Rock” and we caught it on video…

PinBoard Footage:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w82PwuBudDQ]

I was pretty impressed that the everyone in the crowd knew most of the words to their joints too! I think it’s dope that these guys have come so far and are getting the recognition they deserve. It’s easy for a lot of people to disregard their talents because they’re “too Hip Hop” for ‘Hipster Rap” [A term I think is total b*llocks anyway!]. But the truth is, these guys clearly know what they’re doing. You can tell from the offset that they love Hip Hop and are making music as naturally as anyone does anything they love.

The Cool Kids to me are the very definition on where music (not just Hip Hop) is going. It’s about talented young people doing their thing, on their own and making an impression. Two years ago, these guys were unknowns and now they’re in London doing a gig @ Scala AND playing the 02 Wireless tonight? If you don’t have mad respect for that, you just a bitchass hater! LOL!

Wow, that turnt into a lil’ rant there init? Anyways – back to the gig. It was a cool affair, nice to see the guys do their thing again and was glad to see they got a good turn out!

PinBoard Footage:

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=NJxdN86fhCE]

Much love to The Cool Kids and hopefully next time they’re in LDN, we’ll have a lil’ exclusive sh*t for you!

Peace, Love & The Cool Kids

Speeakz

P.s Sorry about the rant! lol!

More Pics after the jump GO!

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We caught N*E*R*D at Brixton Academy a couple weeks back, but we got the chance to see them again @ KoKo for the iTunes Festival on Tuesday too.

We grabbed our VIP passes (you know!) and headed for the VIP lounge (< the last time I will say VIP! Ha!). I really love KoKo, it’s probably my favourite venue. Something about it just works. The size of it, the style of the building, it’s pretty big, but really intimate at the same time. So, I was pretty excited about seeing the guys again, even though I wasn’t reeeeally feeling them when I saw them @ Brixton.

We grabbed ourselves a good, good spot right at the top of the venue, where we had massive leather sofa’s to chill on while we waited! < Pretty fly!

I didn’t know much about the gig before I arrived, but quickly found out that the whole Star Trak family were in attendance AND it was being recorded for ITV2 (boi’d!). It was a heavi surprise that Chester French and Kenna were the opening acts. I’m a big fan of both and was glad they performed their butts off. The crowd loved them!

…Robin Thicke came on quickly to introduce the guys

…And then…

“You so anti-you don’t even matter”…

When N*E*R*D finally came on, the energy flew through the roof. Daaaayum! I think maybe because the crowd consisted mostly of competition winners, the atmosphere was SO on point! The guys did their thing on stage, bringing it hard on every track. It was clear they were having a BIG night themselves and just by looking around errrrryone else was feeding off that!

The set was pretty much identical to the gig @ Brixton, they did tunes like “Spazz, “Fly Or Die”, “Maybe”, “Rock Star”, “Lapdance”, “Kill Joy”, “Brain” and of course “Everybody Nose” to name a few! They rocked out for sure! Pharrell was working the crowd like he normally does and this time I felt Shae did a lot more too, which was pretty cool! Let’s not forget Chad either, rocking his electronic keyboard machine-thing!

Continue reading, watch exclusive footage & see more pics after the jump GO!

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I. LOVE. HER.

It’s safe to say, Erykah Badu is not of this Earth.

The woman does things that I don’t think any other artist (or person) could do both creatively and on stage. She has ‘something’ that is so special, so unique and so inspiring, that while watching you must remind yourself to LISTEN to what she’s singing.

Badu hit London with her “Vortex Tour” for a one-off gig @ Brixton Academy and it seemed like everyone and their mother turned out! Quite a few PinBoard family members were in attendance and I am in not doubt that like me, they were all blown away by this lady’s two hour set.

Erykah began the evening with “My People” off her new album and effortlessly entertained us by using musical props, an electronic sound machine and Apple Mac Pro – truly an analogue girl in a digital world!

She gave us everything we wanted and kept everyone continually anticipating what song she would perform next and what she was gonna do. Erykah Badu is not someone you can predict, you just gotta go with the flow! She blends sounds and noises and while normally most people would think “er…confuse me?” Badu makes you listen, makes you understand and makes you want more…

I can’t remember the exact set list but I know she went though a good selection of tunes including: “On & On”, “Sometimes”, “I Want You”, “Amerykahn Promise”, “Me”, “Tyrone”, “Love Of My Life”, “Didn’t Cha Know”, “Bag Lady” and  “Solider” < I mean, just those songs alone would have done it, but there were more. Maybe those of you who attended could let me know which ones I missed out??

Oh! And she did her very own version of Lil’ Wayne’s “A Millie” < It was both jokes and DOPE!

All this and not to mention, Badu’s voice. When this woman sings live, she sounds TOTALLY different from the CD you got in your stereo. Honestly, you would never think her vocals could do what they do from just hearing her albums. Her voice is spectacular live and her range is phenomenal!

Aside from her musical talents, Badu is just so freaking cool! Her dancing, her posing, the movements, her swagger, her outfit, her HAIR! Everything about her is so cool! Dear God, I think I’m having [another] moment! haha!

To top it all off, she closed with a rendition of “The Light” by Common. How. Freakin. Perfect?

The evening was simply sublime! < Yes. I said sublime! I really could gush about it for hours, but I can’t/won’t! If you were there or have ever seen Erykah Badu live, then you’ll know. If you haven’t, I urge you, next time she’s in your town – GO SEE HER!

Like I said, Erykah Badu is not of this Earth. She is from some next place…And I want to go there!

Peace, Love & Erykah Badu

Speeakz & Crew

Find more pictures after the jump [..]

The Cool Kids new mixtape dropped yesterday. Yes, I’m late in delivering, but the next batch of posts SHOULD explain why. It’s been a very busy, eventful, stressful, crazy, non-stop couple days and the remaining week doesn’t seem set to be any different!

The Cool Kids – “That’s Stupid” Mixtape

The PinBoard crew will be catching up with The Cool Kids tonight @ their gig at Scala. So, will def bring you some of that good, good exclusive sh*t soon! Keep an eye out!

Peace, Love & The Cool Kids

Speeakz

Go check out N*E*R*D’s coverage of the Brixton Academy Gig on Saturday! < We were thurr!!

Peace, Love & N*E*R*D

Speeakz

This is just a heads up for those who didn’t manage to get tickets to the Stevie Wonder show on September 11th at the O2 – HE’S ADDING ANOTHER DATE (12th September). I don’t know how, but I managed to get myself tickets to that show (front row, may I add!) but as SOON as I had booked them, the date disappeared? Spoke to TicketMaster and they confirmed there is an extra date (and that my transaction was real LOL!) SO, if like me you were gutted that it was sold out – hold tight and keep an eye out for the second show!

Peace, Love & Stevie Wonder

Speeakz

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Usher performed a one off, money-can’t-buy-tickets gig @ The Indig02 last night and naturally the PinBoardfamily were there to see it all go down! And booooooooi, did he KILL it!

We must say, before we get into the details of the gig, we learnt something about women last night! LOL. What did we learn? That they be stuuuuuupid. Sorry ladies, but the bottom line is “Usher don’t care about YOU”. The balcony section of the venue (where we were sitting) was mainly for ’industry folks’ and so, wasn’t filled with horny teenagers, but quite the opposite! So why is that the lady directly next to us would literally JUMP. OUT. HER. SEAT and scream like a Banshee EVERYTIME Usher remotely looked in her direction?  At one point, I swear to God she nearly fe;l over the damn ledge. And again, she wasn’t 15…No! She was a big woman! What are you thinkin? That Usher is gonna see you, stop the show and come take you away? Again…”Usher don’t care about You!”. LOL!  Just be cool! I don’t think I’ve ever seen women going thatnuts over anyone like they did last night! Shambolic! Ok, sorry – rant over!  

^ Sorry about that annoying bar! Great seats, but that bar!

Usher began the night with “This Ain’t Sex”, taken from his new album, but didn’t waste time in getting to his older material. ”You Make Me Wanna”, “My Way”, “Nice and Slow”, “U Remind Me”, “You Got It Bad”, “You Don’t Have To Call”, “Confessions”, “Caught Up”, “Burn” and “Yeah” are just SOME of the mega hits he performed. Seriously, how many artists can say they’ve had THAT many hits? These joints aren’t just hits anymore, [particullary his "My Way" stuff] they’re now classic! It was trip!

^ “You Make Me Wanna…”

Having said that, the night wasn’t all about nostalgia. Mr Raymond assured us that there is enough room for more hit jams. “Here I Stand”, “Trading Places”, “What’s Your Name” were performed to perfection. Then he performed “Moving Mountains”…which wasn’t so perfect; in fact, it was pretty disastrous! The dude mimed through it and did so very badly! It was the only moment of the entire night that flopped. It wasn’t a good look.

Lip-sync aside, it was clear last night [and on his new album] that Usher’s voice has matured. It was sounding bigger and better than we’ve ever heard it. He proved that the Chris Brown’s in this world have a long way to go yet…

Always the consummate performer, Usher did his standard/typical strip tease thing, taking of his T-shirt and ripping off his vest etc, etc, etc…We really don’t have to tell you how the ladies reacted [see beginning rant!].

And like all great things, the night ended too quickly. The two hour set, felt like 20 minutes, but you know what they say about time when your having fun! The night ended with “Love In This Club”, of course.

The best thing  about the gig was that Usher managed to blend old and new brilliantly. It’s easy to forget how long Usher has been in the game and how many hits the man has had…He took us down memory lane and the ride was serious! The other factor that made this gig so great was it’s venue - the Indig02 is the perfect location for an intimate, one-off gig like this.

Big props to Usher on his new album (which is so dope!!) and his performance last night. Continued success to the man, we say! We’re pretty sure he’ll be touring the UK soon, so if you get the chance, we definitely recommend you go see him!

Peace, Love & Usher

SpeakerBox

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Damn! We’ll post a full itinerary as soon as it’s available! Tickets go on sale July 7th!

Peace, Love & Janet Jackson

SpeakerBox

The fam’ were out and about in East London last night for the Stag and Dagger extravaganza! It was cool (lol), lacking in Hip Hop [BIG TIME] but cool nevertheless. It was heavi seeing the streets busy on a Thursday night, the weather was aiight and the atmosphere was on point. Everyone was jammin and having themselves a good, good time! This, is never a bad thing! 

Stag and Dagger was a “one ticket gives access to all areas” festival that allowed over 5,000 music lovers in the Shoreditch access to over 100 of the best new live music acts, DJ’s, art shows and film screenings – basically the ‘cool kids’ version of the Camden Crawl! Are we allowed to say that? lol!

The main [only] reason we attended was this man:

Yup. We were hype-hyped about seeing A-Trak do his thing and yesssssirr, we were right to be excited. The man is a DJ’ing machine! He. Tore. It. Up!

After trekking half of Shoreditch [thanks PinBoard family - you know who you is!] and walking in and out of about 10 bars! We made our way to Cargo, to see Mr Trak. Cargo is one of our regular haunts, it’s a dope chill out place and is often home to cool nights (as we’re sure many of you already know!), but last night was special. It was all about A-Trak and the place was RAM!

He began by taking us through some electroFUNK, 80′s, synthesized ish (sure his brother had some influence there!). This was a good look. It got the place live, everyone was feeling it and we did our mandatory ‘electro’ ravin (hands in the air and skank like ya just don’t care – you know the drill!). 

He then started to tease us with some Hip Hop samples, dropping “Stronger”, just before launching a full on rhyming attack! The man played and scratched his way through some of the biggest Hip Hop joints. When we say serious, we mean SERIOUS! A little Notorious, some KanYe, a tinge of Busta, threw in some Dead Prez, Luniz ["I got 5 on it..."], The Cool Kids – the list goes on, and on, and on, and on…

It all pretty much went banana’s after that point. Don’t really remember much of that section of the night. Hip Hop does that. LOL. But yea, the man killed it. Strrrraaaaaight!

Aside from his set, (and yea, we know we don’t have to tell you this, but…), his scratching skills were just TOO MUCH! It’s rare to see a person, do what that man do! The dude just kept amazing everyone! We knew he won the DMCs World DJ Championship when he was like 15 (still holds the record for youngest recipient of that title!) and we knew what his credentials were, but seeing it live is a whole different thing.

BIG Props to A-Trak for doing his thing. This little ‘review’ (if that’s what this is?) does the night no justice, and we’re pretty certain that there were tons other amazing things going on during the Stag and Dagger hoopla (including Diplo!!), but our highlight was most certainly A-Trak.

Respect to all those who attended Stag and Dagger.

…LONDON, you know how we do!

Peace, Love & Stag & Dagger

SpeakerBox

Update: We were fortunate enough to be invited to Prince’s “21 Nights” book launch at the Dorchester Hotel in London – check our full report HERE!

*Ok. Stay Calm < Instructions for us, not you!*

Aiight, so anyone who knows the PinBoard Crew will know how much we love, adore, admire, appreciate, look up to and generally obsess over PRINCE. For us, he’s probably the most amazing artist of all time.

Don’t get it twisted, we love MJ – no one has done what Michael’s done (and probably never will do!), but Prince, Prince is special because he not only DID amazing things, but continues to do so (unlike Jacko!). 

The man lives and breathes music. He writes pretty much everyday, plays pretty much every instrument, he’s recorded THOUSANDS of songs, released countless (albeit, sometimes weird) albums AND not only remains current but also revolutionary and innovative!!

Ok, you get the point? We think the man is a genius! And yea, we’re not afraid to say that on a very long, long, looooong list of “favourite” artists, Prince is probably numero uno!

Anyways, to the point! The Purple One is coming out with a new book! It’s called “21 Nights” and will be ram packed with amazing pictures, stories, essays and poems inspired by his “21 Nights” in London @ The O2 Arena (yes, we went..twice!). It will also feature a brand new Live DVD of his intimate shows at the Indig02!!

We can’t tell you how excited we are about this book, it’s gonna be overly dope!! If you were lucky enough to go see him during his 21 Nights, we don’t have to tell you what he does. If you didn’t get to see him, the term “you missed out” doesn’t quite cut it.

The Book:

Masterful composer, multi-faceted musician, international megastar and cultural icon—Prince—presents his first book, 21 NIGHTS, a stunning multi-media volume offering a rare glimpse into the life, lyrics, and mystique of one of the most notable and prolific performers of our time. This beautifully designed photographic essay flows from Prince’s sensational, unprecedented, record-breaking, sold-out 21 concerts in 21 nights at London’s O2 Arena in 2007. Juxtaposing his dueling worlds of music and solitude, it will incorporate Prince’s evocative poetry and lyrics to new songs and other selections, and 124 full-color, sumptuous, never-before-published images by celebrated photographer Randee St. Nicholas. As part of the dimensional experience, it will also feature “Indigo Nights,” a CD capturing Prince’s speak-easy, after-hours, raw, live after-show sessions of pure unadulterated jams.

Read more after the jump [..]