ROX-TV’s News from the underground is back with event coverage, a new drop, and some dope merch.

Welcome back to all of the returning readers here at the ROX-TV website. We are so glad to have you along for the journey. The press has been quiet for a few days due to some unforeseeable events but with the worst of the storm lifting, it’s full speed ahead like always. Life can be funny sometimes and things don’t always go as planned, but the best thing anyone can do is shrug that shit off, and take the next hill. Time waits for no one, so we have to get it in today, right here and now. So without further to do, lets examine a few items that have landed on my desk.

#1 Cruisin The Barrio’s event coverage from the “Prince Purple Party”

Well, this is one that I personally got to witness in the flesh and I can say that it was a good time. I had never been to the Prince tribute show put on by DJ Carlito and Rude Boy, but I knew that the music would be right and so would the vibe. Obviously the theme of the night was to rock out with some purple gear and although it wasn’t a requirement to get in, everybody in attendance honored the tradition.

This event is pushing almost two decades and was originally put together by Rude Boy to honor his favorite artist, the late and great Prince. Rudy’s love for Prince goes back years into his own life, when he attended a show with his late father many moons ago. That particular story is highlighted in Rudy’s upcoming memoir so I can’t say much more on that. Back to the story, Rudy has been honoring Prince for a long time, before the star’s untimely passing.

Eventually the Rude Boy passed on the tradition to his son DJ Carlito, who started helping his father with the event as he got older. The “Prince Purple Party” has been all over the country, and has had prior locations in San Francisco and even The Gathering of the Juggalos in previous years. The event went down this year at Trixie’s in Hamtramck. ROX-TV was on hand to report all the action.

Trixie’s was in the spirit and had a slushy machine that was churning up powerful Prince themed purple drink and also another one called “raspberry beret”. From what I could tell, the patrons at the event loved both of them. As always, the Modelo was flowing like a river from the DJ spot. The air in the outdoor area of Trixie’s was more funky than a George Clinton record, with fine smoke floating from almost every table. Trixie’s is a smoke friendly type of joint and it was as cloudy as London Fog out back. Located at 2656 Carpenter Street in Hamtramck, its a neighborhood place with charm.

It was nice to see people dancing and having a good time again. After the jive pandemic, I wasn’t sure if anyone was going to remember how to get out and cut loose, but the faithful came through. Zoe, from the Hoe Army Detroit aka 304 Army Detroit was there and she killed the dance floor for several consecutive hours. I believe it may have been her birthday as well but don’t quote me on that. The vibe of the evening was dope and everyone in attendance had a great night. I left around 1am and missed all the fireworks because it has been reported that the Hamtramck Police arrived twice to break up the Purple party around 2am. The night ended with a bang and another “Prince Purple Party” night is in the record books. Shout out to the Hoe Army Detroit and the Los Drifters in attendance.

#2 Merch package from the big homie HEXXX

I got mad respect for my West Coast Wicked Shit homie HEXXX. As we reported on a few weeks ago, HEXXX has been making some noise out West. On June 19th, HEXXX was invited to perform at the HAMC Berdoo Summerbash which went down out there in San Bernardino, Cali. HEXXX dropped his wicked beats and lyrics for those in attendance. That was a show that I really wanted to get out and see, but sometimes it’s just not in the cards. All I can do now is hope that HEXXX brings that West Coast Wicked Shit to the Murder Mitten. A Detroit show by the West Coast homie would be dope and I hope he makes his way to the Midwest very soon.

Not only is HEXXX coming off a dope performance, he’s been working on a collaboration with the Flint Town Legends Project Born and it will be featured on the upcoming drop, at least that’s what I’ve been able to grab from the wire so far. Flint Town meets the West Coast Wicked Shit, will no doubt be a crack house banger for the ages and I for one can not wait to get ahold of a copy. Keep checking back to ROX-TV for any details we get on the upcoming release.

Beyond that, HEXXX answered my call to arms and I am thankful and honored. The big homie sent me a package after I started the “Top 5 Underground Merch” article, so I am happy to review what he sent. I received an arm banger shirt “West Coast Wicked Shit” with a stunning graphic design. If I had any more room I’d probably get the image tattooed but space availability is no longer an option for me, with all the best real estate long gone.

Along with the fly away shirt, big HEXXX sent some flyers for his HAMC show which I also thought was kick ass and a handful of some wicked stickers. Basically I got the kind of shit from him that made collecting underground music and merch so fucking cool in the early to mid nineties. For the new school cats out there…fans love merch, stickers, fliers, and anything else you can get out to them. I’m talking from experience on this one because I started collecting fan club letters, tapes, cds, stickers, and everything under the sun back in the nineties and I still have all of it today.

It’s through these physical items that I’ve fostered my love for the underground for the better part of three decades and even today, I get the “stash” out from time to time and remember the days long past. The connection remains because of that “physical” stash and I strongly discourage anyone from going all the way digital. If you do…I’m assuming that people won’t get out their out dated thirty year old computers and look at some image or listen to a digital track. It won’t happen. Produce merch, physical items fans can hold onto, or be forgotten in time. I can guarantee that. Some of the biggest names in the underground had some of the best merch and collectables. Was that an accident? I fucking don’t think so. So again, shout out to big HEXXX from the West Coast and I thank him for the package.

#3 DJ Dankish has some more news to drop on the underground

I’d like to send a shout out to DJ Dankish for keeping me up to date on all of his latest moves as well. As many of you know, Dank has an upcoming festival scheduled for July 17th at Simons in Allen Park. There is a host of great performers scheduled to rock the mic, including Flint Town’s own Project Born. For the readers who may not know, I wrote a book with Project Born called “Forever in the Jects” which is dropping on July 7th.

This show will be the first “live” show that fans can purchase the book in person and get their copy signed as well. We will be bringing a limited supply to the show because those bastards are heavy, so arrive early and get your copy before they are gone.

Tickets for the “Dankish Vibe Life Underground Hip Hop Festival” will cost ten bucks, which is a great price considering all the artist appearances scheduled. It will be a great day for all the hip hop heads in the Murder Mitten and I encourage everyone to get the fuck off the couch and out to support the underground sound. If you don’t use it, you lose it.

Beyond that, we have even more news to bring you from the Dank camp. My homie just passed on the information that there is a brand new release coming out this summer! I’m sure the readers are just as excited as I am to get a hold of the new drop and the count down has begun. I was lucky enough to chop it up with the homie Dank a short time ago and ask him about this new release. Here’s how that went down….

What inspired this dope collection to be put together?

“I always wanted to make a dope compilation of artists on wax just like Master P did with West Coast Bad Boys 2, hip hop is in my DNA 100%”

Will the album be released this summer or early fall? Will there be any special events to mark the much anticipated drop?

“I’m thinking about doing a listening party for the project, probably in the early fall honestly”

Congrats on the new project! Will the album be a digital release or will hard copies also be available?

“Thank you brother and yes, we will be pressing up hard copies. We are also gonna go hard with the streaming promo as well”

Where will be fans be able to purchase copies when the bang machine drops? Where can I get mine G?

“The amazing thing about this album is that we’re dropping it on DatPiff.com and you can download it for FREE. I will also be pressing up some hard copies for the “Street Dank” live events coming. Thanks again for the love homie, and I can’t wait to get you a copy because again, it’s not about the money for me as it is all about the music, so this is a gift to the game on wax from me to you”.

Well, there you have it folks. It you can’t get behind this shit then your probably already fucking dead. There are hard working artists and dj’s out there, doing whatever it takes to get the sounds out to the fans and for that, I tip my hat every time. Sometimes the hard reality about life is that there are only two kinds of people out there…the people that “do stuff” and everyone else. Lets support the cats putting in work, grinding out crack house jams, and show them that we care. What else are you doing to do? Listen to the fucking radio or dig up the dead corpse of MTV? I think not.

#4 Daniel Jordan has just announced a live show in July

What can I say about this guy’s music? I think it’s absolutely brilliant. When “Dark Night of the Soul” dropped a few months back I was lucky enough to get a few copies from Daniel, along with some other dope merch including a dvd, some cds, and more. I’ve been a fan of Daniel Jordan, going back awhile. I believe I’ve wrote about it before but some of my favorite songs from the old days include “Human Tornado” and Esham’s “Police” featuring Daniel. He’s been on my radar for a long time, but when “Dark Night of the Soul” dropped, I was taken back by how good it really was (although not surprised).

I’m from the nineties and it was customary back then, for mainstream releases to have one or two good songs on the entire album (which by the way was bullshit but if a single wasn’t released, you were paying for ten dog shit tunes to get that one jam you needed for the summer). This type of shit went on forever, at least until Napster and YouTube completely destroyed the death lock of big industry music bastards….at least for awhile.

The greatest artists in my opinion back then, were the ones that had more than one fucking song and a fake ass album draped around the money shot. The Underground Cats never had to do this, at least my favorite artists didn’t. Since there was no radio play coming, there was no need to release radio edits that sucked, and because there is life and soul in the underground sound, most tracks were going to be from the heart or straight from the streets the artists were living on.

The new album from Daniel Jordan is so packed with emotion and that real life heart ache, that it crept into my soul and left me stutter bombed for about a month. “Dark Night of the Soul” didn’t leave my car stereo for over a long time. The sounds penetrated my mind and every song brought the heat. Just like the greats from that golden era of the early to mid nineties in the Murder Mitten.

Unfortunately, the show announced for July 9th is the day before the upcoming Project Born book release party at CRB radio with Cruisin The Barrio, which prevents me from being on both sides of the country at once. And for that, I am disheartened because I know Daniel Jordan’s show will be fire, but it is what it is. All I can do is hope for a Michigan tour stop at some point this summer or late fall, but time will tell. Until then I will continue to revisit his outstanding new album “Dark Night of the Soul” and I suggest anyone who hasn’t checked it out yet, to do so immediately. Rock of Ages (31015 Ford Road, Garden City Michigan) does stock physical copies, so anyone with an old school appetite for physical copies can head over to the record store and pick one up, or check Daniel’s social media for other options to purchase it.

Well that’s about all the time we have for today. Please keep coming back to ROX-TV for the latest news, merch, and other points of interest kicking off in the underground and beyond. Until next time…

Signing Off,

Mike Shepard

ROX-TV Head Writer

kidvicious810 on IG

(Dedicated to Grams-Pushing forward but never forgetting)