Questlove teaches you "curation"

Danno3000

It's a sad sign of the times that this gem hasn't already generated a ten-page thread:



Kind of sad Questlove said yes and not, say, Diplo. 

para11ax

I see it differently, Dan.

You have Scorsese, Gordon Ramsay, Wolfgang Puck, Bob Iger, Samuel L Jackson, Margaret Atwood, etc…basically a “who’s who” of their craft doing these. It must have been flattering to have been asked (if it works that way). 

I would’ve done it for sure if I was him.

Another way to look at it if the argument is “he sold out” is to say he already did years ago when he joined Late Night with Fallon. And again, can you blame him? He’s making bank while rubbing elbows with Hollywood elites and other fascinating folk.

How do you say no to that? I would’ve jumped on that, too. 

As for Diplo “selling out”, (and I responded similarly in a poast a few months back to the good banjo-loving homie on here)…dude is set financially and dated Katie Perry! :i’d blap: :lemme holleur: :etc: 

ppadilha

I'm sure Diplo will give his own masterclass on how to appropriate cutting edge musical styles from poor countries in order to make personal profit

dizzybull

I’m sort of curious. Suppose you had been tasked to do this. I know my “master class” would be pretty short:
Play records you like that you think other people will enjoy. If all else fails hit the “echo” button and an air horn. 

Bonus tip: just because Gregorian chants are in Latin doesn’t mean you can play them for two hours straight and call it Latin Night. 

klezmer electro-thug beats

I absolutely think the world needs curation - I love browsing movies, books, music in a shop where a person thought about what to include in limited space. I will ride to tha death for some form of gatekeeping/curation in media beyond raw viral popularity. It's how I discover the stuff I like more than anything - for me, chancing on stuff that somebody else likes is a lot more successful than seeing what's most popular on amazon or some shit. But what the hell do you TEACH in this? How does somebody get better at it? Like... what, "get good at having interesting music tastes"? "Learn many thousands of works of art/pieces of media and classify them in your head?" Like what lesson is there.

I'd rather hear from Questlove on drumming or DJing as crafts you can practice and get better at and take things from others on. In fact I've seen similar from him in the past and it was rewarding. I don't blame him for taking the gig though but I feel like the masterclass people are half-assing the subject matter here. Teaching curation. foh outta here

klezmer electro-thug beats

in other words, curate these nuts

ketan

I'll try to check this out one day (won't be soon) and report back.  (We have subscription to MC via a family member.) 

The Penn and Teller one is as good as you would hope but many of the other ones got pretty unfocused and autobiographical pretty quickly. Like the Steve Martin was good just for his sense of humour and stories, not because it taught me how to be funny.  The Deadmau5 one is also funny but for the wrong reasons because he pulls back the curtain to reveal that... he just sort of wanks around with music software until something sounds "right", and how he's learned to turn that into a career.  I was like, are you sure you want to be calling this a "masterclass"??

DOR

This is just Questlove teaching and sharing what he loves. No different than being a college professor teaching an online course. If you can get paid for doing what you love, why not? Shit, most people would do it for free if anyone would listen to what they have to say.

If the rise of streaming music has taught us anything, is that there is a LOT of money to be made in the curation business.

billbradley

I can't hate on Diplo or Questlove for getting paid. Trying to teach someone how to "curate" is laughable though. Either you have good taste or you don't. 

Danno3000

For me it's not about selling out, it's the indignity of it all.  These aren't people who need to be paid. They're people who like Master Class's appeal to their vanity. If Questlove wanted to share his thoughts on curation, he could post a video to Youtube, but that's not quite the same as looking at the camera and saying, with cringy sincerity, "this is my master class". Come on now. I feel like Diplo, who seems as mercenary as anyone (and still owes me a Leon Thomas LP), would have had more fun with it.  

para11ax

Danno3000 said:

For me it's not about selling out, it's the indignity of it all.  These aren't people who need to be paid. They're people who like Master Class's appeal to their vanity. If Questlove wanted to share his thoughts on curation, he could post a video to Youtube, but that's not quite the same as looking at the camera and saying, with cringy sincerity, "this is my master class". Come on now. I feel like Diplo, who seems as mercenary as anyone (and still owes me a Leon Thomas LP), would have had more fun with it.  

I respectfully disagree with the idea that vanity is a motive, and I say that because the man probably has enough money and a large enough platform and people around him to really do something splashy, you know? 

As for the teaching curation bit that others have mentioned, it does sound fluffy (if not ridiculous) to folks like us, but I don’t think we’re the intended audience. I think his bit is aimed at absolute beginners, or to non-DJ/collectro fans who want a peek at his process. 

b/w

Which Leon Thomas LP, Dan?

If I have it, I’ll send it to you (no cost for the piece or for shipping)

ketan

i watched a bit of the first of two eps, so take this as a hot one.  if you wannabe a "dj" and you're just some chad or becky (or dante?), it would be useful.  he's an engaging speaker in a way.  i think strutteurs would be interested to hear details like how he goes about organizing his file systems, given a long history of certain nerd-level thraeds on there.  but yeah, don't go into is expecting to have your game changed as a lifer.

on another tip, he's clearly a detail-oriented person, and here's what sort of blows my mind - he talks about how he prepared for his gig djing for a beyonce/jiggaman party last year by working on his set one hour a day starting a year in advance!  he ultimately curated the (in his mind) perfect 180 minutes. like, damn

dizzybull

I’ll teach you to curate the perfect Spotify playlist for twenty bucks or a Leon Thomas record. 

Jimster

ketan said:

i watched a bit of the first of two eps, so take this as a hot one.  if you wannabe a "dj" and you're just some chad or becky (or dante?), it would be useful.  he's an engaging speaker in a way.  i think strutteurs would be interested to hear details like how he goes about organizing his file systems, given a long history of certain nerd-level thraeds on there.  but yeah, don't go into is expecting to have your game changed as a lifer.

on another tip, he's clearly a detail-oriented person, and here's what sort of blows my mind - he talks about how he prepared for his gig djing for a beyonce/jiggaman party last year by working on his set one hour a day starting a year in advance!  he ultimately curated the (in his mind) perfect 180 minutes. like, damn

Wow.  I mean, I'd speak with B and J and just say "What kind of shit you wanna hear?" - I guess it would be in my professional interests to maintain a relationship with customers that can give me that kind of gig, rather than be all "Naw, Naw... Listen... I need to educate your musical tastes, you must deal with my curation."

I dunno, maybe I don't have the ego but AFAIK, nobody went broak by giving their customers what they wanted.

SO WHAT IF THEY WANTED CHIPMUNKED DESTINY'S 4 DAYS... ?

Jimster

dizzybull said:

I’m sort of curious. Suppose you had been tasked to do this. I know my “master class” would be pretty short:
Play records you like that you think other people will enjoy. If all else fails hit the “echo” button and an air horn. 

Bonus tip: just because Gregorian chants are in Latin doesn’t mean you can play them for two hours straight and call it Latin Night. 

Don't forget the classic "Flash Gordon" intro pitched down, shoutouts to fake celebs who aren't there and "When I say DIZZY... You say BULL!" chants.

Your sets sound less po-faced than ?'s.  

I'm in.

klezmer electro-thug beats

I wonder if edpowers is still running the needle across the previous DJ's record to get the crowd's attention, keepin it real for all us sinners...

Yeah I guess if you approach the sales pitch as bullshit and enjoy hearing Quest talk records and DJing for a while it's really fine. As I said I've enjoyed hearing similar stuff from him in other formats before. It's the "Masterclass" brand and marketing that kills me. We just wanna hear Werner Herzog wank on about his movies! Nobody is coming out of his class with his unique-on-earth filmmaker's imagination. It's like the whole Masterclass brand is "unstructured lectures from uniquely talented people (and also Aaron Sorkin)" - the education/class part of it is a fig leaf for what's basically "let's spend time with these people talking about what they do".

Rustledust

Questlove is a super annoying cornball. A walking cliché.

If I see him and Henry Rollins ruining another music documentary I am going to put my foot through the telly. 

Plaese to ask fellow hip hop drummer J Zone to be the talking head instead.   

klezmer electro-thug beats

Fuck! Now that's a "Masteurclass" I'd pay for!

Hour 1: Tim Dog Penicillin on Wax is the greatest hip hop record of all time
Hour 2: Sampling chud to somehow make dope beats
Hour 3: Drumming
Hour 4: More on Tim Dog

staxwax

Rustledust said:

Questlove is a super annoying cornball. A walking cliché.

If I see him and Henry Rollins ruining another music documentary I am going to put my foot through the telly. 

Plaese to ask fellow hip hop drummer J Zone to be the talking head instead.   

Ok so I just noticed this thread after posting in the sly stone doc thread. Questlove has always been suspect as hell in my book. Its like a sixrh sense for fake ass sucker goes off whenever I see him. Yeah yeah I know the roots yaddayaddayada. Teach the beckies about bob james and stay swinging on those hollywood nuts. Btw didnt watch the video. He's only slightly bearable on kimmel ✌

Danno3000

para11ax said:

Danno3000 said:

For me it's not about selling out, it's the indignity of it all.  These aren't people who need to be paid. They're people who like Master Class's appeal to their vanity. If Questlove wanted to share his thoughts on curation, he could post a video to Youtube, but that's not quite the same as looking at the camera and saying, with cringy sincerity, "this is my master class". Come on now. I feel like Diplo, who seems as mercenary as anyone (and still owes me a Leon Thomas LP), would have had more fun with it.  

I respectfully disagree with the idea that vanity is a motive, and I say that because the man probably has enough money and a large enough platform and people around him to really do something splashy, you know? 

As for the teaching curation bit that others have mentioned, it does sound fluffy (if not ridiculous) to folks like us, but I don’t think we’re the intended audience. I think his bit is aimed at absolute beginners, or to non-DJ/collectro fans who want a peek at his process. 

b/w

Which Leon Thomas LP, Dan?

If I have it, I’ll send it to you (no cost for the piece or for shipping)

Ha! That's kind. He sold me a Blues and the Soulful Truth in maybe 2003 that was like G-.  He offered to send me a cleaner copy if I returned it.  I did, and then nothing. I will forever hold a grudge. 

Danno3000

dizzybull said:

I’ll teach you to curate the perfect Spotify playlist for twenty bucks or a Leon Thomas record. 

Deal. Can we do this over Zoom?

ppadilha

thank you guys for this thread, now The Algorithm keeps pushing Quest's Masterclass to me every time I watch something

ketan

ppadilha said:

thank you guys for this thread, now The Algorithm keeps pushing Quest's Masterclass to me every time I watch something

tampons  laxative  liver and onions  pro-keds  joe rogan  richard simmons  dubstep

klezmer electro-thug beats

for months after I bought a toilet bowl I got ads online for additional toilet bowls. I am not living that kind of life that I impulse buy toilet bowls, algorithm. leave me alone.

RAJ

Ha.. I saw this on Instagram the other day and immediate thought of the strut. The fact this guy is the crate digging ambassador is laughable. I'm sure dude is cool in real life, but I always found his record collecting persona to be down right cringey (like this interview where he talks about buying a $300 copy of Headless Heroes when it is obviously a bootleg/reissue):

klezmer electro-thug beats

I guess people read that figure wherever that said "Questlove owns 30,000 records!!!!" and just decided that meant "this is the greatest diggiste ever". I feel like I read similar shit about one of the Abba guys having a huge collection, like... a guy with a lot of money from music has a lot of records, is this newsworthy? Does it make him the greatest collectro, does it even make him knowledgable?

Cause if I was rich as fuck and could buy as many records as I want at any price, I'm pretty sure it wouldn't make me the guy you wanna talk to about crate digging.

Reynaldo82

I hear that scratching records ruins them over time. That’s lesson one of my record preservation master class.

dizzybull

Reynaldo82 said:

I hear that scratching records ruins them over time. That’s lesson one of my record preservation master class.

Even listening to them is not a good idea. I buy them but listen to the Spotify version. Keeps them minty fresh. 

RAJ

Reynaldo82 said:

I hear that scratching records ruins them over time. That’s lesson one of my record preservation master class.

I'm in the predicament right now as I try to keep it real by spinning raers on the live stream.

At some point you have to say fuck it and realize these are DJ records and are meant to be played.

It's pretty shocking when you listen to Brainfreeze today realizing fools be cutting up priceless OG Salt 45s.

para11ax

Danno3000 said:

para11ax said:

Danno3000 said:

For me it's not about selling out, it's the indignity of it all.  These aren't people who need to be paid. They're people who like Master Class's appeal to their vanity. If Questlove wanted to share his thoughts on curation, he could post a video to Youtube, but that's not quite the same as looking at the camera and saying, with cringy sincerity, "this is my master class". Come on now. I feel like Diplo, who seems as mercenary as anyone (and still owes me a Leon Thomas LP), would have had more fun with it.  

I respectfully disagree with the idea that vanity is a motive, and I say that because the man probably has enough money and a large enough platform and people around him to really do something splashy, you know? 

As for the teaching curation bit that others have mentioned, it does sound fluffy (if not ridiculous) to folks like us, but I don’t think we’re the intended audience. I think his bit is aimed at absolute beginners, or to non-DJ/collectro fans who want a peek at his process. 

b/w

Which Leon Thomas LP, Dan?

If I have it, I’ll send it to you (no cost for the piece or for shipping)

Ha! That's kind. He sold me a Blues and the Soulful Truth in maybe 2003 that was like G-.  He offered to send me a cleaner copy if I returned it.  I did, and then nothing. I will forever hold a grudge. 

Danno3000 said:

para11ax said:

Danno3000 said:

For me it's not about selling out, it's the indignity of it all.  These aren't people who need to be paid. They're people who like Master Class's appeal to their vanity. If Questlove wanted to share his thoughts on curation, he could post a video to Youtube, but that's not quite the same as looking at the camera and saying, with cringy sincerity, "this is my master class". Come on now. I feel like Diplo, who seems as mercenary as anyone (and still owes me a Leon Thomas LP), would have had more fun with it.  

I respectfully disagree with the idea that vanity is a motive, and I say that because the man probably has enough money and a large enough platform and people around him to really do something splashy, you know? 

As for the teaching curation bit that others have mentioned, it does sound fluffy (if not ridiculous) to folks like us, but I don’t think we’re the intended audience. I think his bit is aimed at absolute beginners, or to non-DJ/collectro fans who want a peek at his process. 

b/w

Which Leon Thomas LP, Dan?

If I have it, I’ll send it to you (no cost for the piece or for shipping)

Ha! That's kind. He sold me a Blues and the Soulful Truth in maybe 2003 that was like G-.  He offered to send me a cleaner copy if I returned it.  I did, and then nothing. I will forever hold a grudge. 

I just so happen to have a gatefold ’72 Canadian pressing. 

Jacket is a weak VG+ (no shrink, sadly) but the vinyl looks NM. I’ve played “Shape Your Mind” out a few times a couple years back at my old weekly (and made sure to transition into something else before Leon Thomas’ insane/terrifying laughter kicks in LOL!) 

DM where you’d like it sent.

Cheers

para11ax