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David Ma

@davidmadavidma

Music journalist/editor: NPR, Wax Poetics, Dust & Grooves, Complex, Rolling Stone, The Guardian, The Paris Review, Billboard, SF Weekly, Pitchfork, Passion of the Weiss, The Ringer, etc. Needle To The Groove Records + Dad Bod Rap Pod + SJSU

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15.11.2024
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Latest posts by David Ma @davidmadavidma

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Kool Keith's "Facts Remain": Transcending Epochs & Styles | Passion of the Weiss This recent release from the unorthodox master finds him spitting slick rhymes through unwieldy flows.

Kool Keith is 63 years old and still making some of the weirdest, funniest and best rap songs out.

www.passionweiss.com/2026/03/04/k...

04.03.2026 18:51 πŸ‘ 19 πŸ” 5 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

damn rest in peace Bob Power

03.03.2026 02:58 πŸ‘ 69 πŸ” 19 πŸ’¬ 4 πŸ“Œ 4
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Grandmaster Flash explaining the origins of his DJ technique and hip-hop itself.

24.02.2026 20:09 πŸ‘ 25 πŸ” 7 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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Lou Reed and Fela promoting the Amnesty International Conspiracy of Hope Show at Giants Stadium in '86.

18.02.2026 21:01 πŸ‘ 58 πŸ” 7 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 2
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18.02.2026 03:45 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Til Then is the cut!

16.02.2026 09:57 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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DOOM offering a moment of silence for Dilla

07.02.2026 04:39 πŸ‘ 61 πŸ” 13 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 1
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Platurn by Dust & Grooves Platurn β€” 45 Is The Magic Number New interview on the Dust & Grooves website. β€œIf you are really nerdy about music and start diving into stuff, you realize that there’s a wide array of personalities...

Hi guys πŸ‘‹πŸΌ
www.mixcloud.com/dustandgroov...

06.02.2026 04:00 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

this epidemic of people holding loud ass speakerphone conversations on the train……. bring back shame

03.02.2026 19:50 πŸ‘ 1024 πŸ” 46 πŸ’¬ 43 πŸ“Œ 16

When I part, they grieve, pray the mark I leave (Beautiful)

Can end quick, treasure friendship, 'cause it's (Beautiful)

I know that evil 'cause I lost some people that were (Beautiful) - KA

**Goddamnit, miss him all the time.**

31.01.2026 11:55 πŸ‘ 6 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Fire And Ice : Blood Of The New Gestapo

25.01.2026 00:43 πŸ‘ 310 πŸ” 89 πŸ’¬ 8 πŸ“Œ 1
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.

25.01.2026 02:32 πŸ‘ 21 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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John Coltrane: Live at Birdland John Coltrane

🎺

20.01.2026 02:11 πŸ‘ 255 πŸ” 28 πŸ’¬ 7 πŸ“Œ 2

must’ve just missed ya

20.01.2026 04:11 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Rap fans recall Fab 5 Freddy from YO! MTV Rap, but his resume includes painting, directing videos (Gang Starr’s β€œJust to Get a Rep”) and producing films (Wild Style). This year his autobiography Everybody’s Fly will be released.
crimereads.com/big-pimpin-p... @penguinrandomhouse.bsky.social

19.01.2026 06:36 πŸ‘ 10 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

just wrote a thing on seafood city. so dope g

18.01.2026 05:47 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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A Bay Area Rap Cult Classic Gets a Second Life Eyedlmode blazed their own trail, at their own peril. Now, decades later, they’re getting their flowers.

my Eyedlmode β€œFogville” project on Bandcamp Daily

daily.bandcamp.com/features/eye...

14.01.2026 15:50 πŸ‘ 15 πŸ” 6 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

this is like the golden age of bozos

10.01.2026 05:54 πŸ‘ 190 πŸ” 46 πŸ’¬ 6 πŸ“Œ 0
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#5debutalbums9094 #NowPlaying
Freestyle Fellowship - Too Whom it May Concern.
Top 5 not even in question.

06.01.2026 10:33 πŸ‘ 14 πŸ” 5 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

OK then, here's a WAV file download of the entire LP.

▢️ www.swisstransfer.com/d/28423248-d...

bsky.app/profile/obso...

21.12.2025 21:36 πŸ‘ 13 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 2
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Deep Cut Friday: β€˜Another Lonely Christmas’ by Prince Each week, SPIN digs into the catalogs of great artists and highlights songs you might not know for our Deep Cut Friday series. Prince released an album almo

I wrote about Prince's "Another Lonely Christmas" for Spin's Deep Cut Friday column:
www.spin.com/2025/12/deep...

19.12.2025 15:10 πŸ‘ 9 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 1
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Coming up in the 70s my cuz DeeNee taught me about funk, mom's friend Bubba introduced me to disco and Uncle Carl schooled me on the magic of Miles Davis. My essay on imformal music lessons "Fly Away: On Jazz," appears in the new Kevin Powell edited website The Game. thegame.visibility.art

19.12.2025 04:07 πŸ‘ 9 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
in the pit

in the pit

This entire weekend

15.12.2025 03:58 πŸ‘ 34415 πŸ” 7273 πŸ’¬ 218 πŸ“Œ 255
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Today marks 4 years since my friend, mentor and brillant writer Greg Tate died at the age of 64. He'd been in my city the month before, but I'd blown off the oppertunity to hang-out, figurin' there would be a next time...
--Afrodisiac: A Textual Meditation on Greg Tate lithub.com/afrodisiac-a...

07.12.2025 21:04 πŸ‘ 10 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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A look back at Stax Records with Steve Cropper, Booker T. and Isaac Hayes The Memphis soul label is the subject of the HBO Max documentary series, Stax: Soulsville U.S.A. We listen back to archival interviews with Stax musicians Steve Cropper, Booker T. and Isaac Hayes.

Steve Cropper's death is as good a reminder as any that if you haven't seen HBO's wonderful docuseries on Stax Recordsβ€”in which Cropper himself is featuredβ€”you gotta get on it www.npr.org/2024/05/24/1...

04.12.2025 17:15 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

go watch β€œSchool Colors” (as mentioned in this article) about race relations at Berkeley High School in the early 90s) and have your mind blown at the echoes out to today

04.12.2025 01:44 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 1
David Byrne: Tiny Desk Concert
David Byrne: Tiny Desk Concert YouTube video by NPR Music

Ok, with this year being what it has, we all deserved and needed this today. Do yourself a favor and watch it. You deserve it.

03.12.2025 01:08 πŸ‘ 1406 πŸ” 301 πŸ’¬ 87 πŸ“Œ 32
Ras Kass Interview
Ras Kass Interview YouTube video by The Truth Hurts

We spoke to Ras Kass about coming up in Watts & Carson, his early encounters w/ 'Pac & Rick Rubin, the making of "Soul on Ice," collaborating w/ Dre, the "Home Sweet Home" controversy, major label nightmares & more

One of my favorite Truth Hurts eps.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKlM...

02.12.2025 20:35 πŸ‘ 16 πŸ” 6 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
12" of Sanchez - Praise HIM on Exterminator label. Released in 1995. Produced by Phillip 'Fatis' Burrell.

12" of Sanchez - Praise HIM on Exterminator label. Released in 1995. Produced by Phillip 'Fatis' Burrell.

Happy 61st birthday to Sanchez.

Throughout the 90s Sanchez was in the premier league of Jamaican singers. Best known for his sweet lovers tunes, he also recorded one of the greatest roots anthems of the decade...

youtu.be/GVti33SqS6I?...

#reggae #reggaesky #vinylsky #vinyl #musicsky

30.11.2025 13:28 πŸ‘ 33 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 3 πŸ“Œ 0
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27.11.2025 17:34 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0