MIXTAPE 129 – JIKO SHOKAI

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はじめまして。高田馬場出身のでじと申します。日本のヒップホップ・ポッドキャストがあまり無かったから、自分で作ってみた。良かったら聴いてみてね。

Super Smoky Soul – Smile. かなり前に、てか考えてみれば２年あまり前に、サーキュレーションズの栗原さんに貰った。m/supersmokysoul.

S.L.A.C.K. – Hot Cake. ビートがいい加減というか、シンプルでいいというか。カッコいいから、後者かな。それにしてもスラック君のゆったりとしたラップ、いいな。m/slack56psg.

Norikiyo – In Da Hood (Punpee 地元は違えど Remix). オリジナルも充分カッコよかったけど、このリミックはまた一味違うね。つい口ずさむようなベースラインもハンパない。m/norikiyo.

M.T.Z. – スキル、リアル. M.T.Zはフリースタイルとかは昔やってたらしいけど、録音物はこれとあと一曲しかない。今回に出るラッパーとは違って、一小節に言葉を盛り込むスタイルは最初はちょっとアレと思ったけど、もっかい聴いたらこれはちょっとウケるなって思った。てか最後の「革命が起こらない」ってなんっすかｗ mtz-the-illest [at] hotmail.co.jp / ＠m__t__z

MINT – 変形合体. オリジナルよりも遥かにヤバイ。異論は認めない。＠minchanbaby

AKLO – Player. A Day On The Wayを持ってない人はまずいないと思うけど、一応その一曲を入れてみた。彼のミックステープ（無料だからダウンロードして）の中で好きな曲は結構多いから一番好きなヤツはどれだって訊かれたら困るけど、この曲のちょっとイカれたフロウは特に気に入った。あとHam-Rの作曲っぷりも見せたかった。BLに例えられるのは多分しょうがないけど、Ham-Rのスネアの処理は…文字には説明しづらいけど、とにかく深い。わかんなかったら耳澄ましてもう一回聴いてみ。m/aklosound.

般若 – Blog # 50. 俺のポッドキャストが好きじゃなくても、是非般若のヤツは登録すべき。毎週ブログをフリースタイル形式でやる、しかもフリーダウンロードとして配信するアーティストって他は見当たらない。他のアーティストならせっかく書き留めたライムを大事にしといてアルバムで出すというのに般若は毎回ヤバイフロウを配信するってなんという余裕だろう。そう言えばソース誌が休刊になったって噂は本当だったみたいだな。別にいいけどね。hannya.jp.

Essencial – Bomb Rush Freestyle. みんなはもうKid’s Return聴きましたよね？ m/backyardessencial.

A.Z – トラック５. これは（三千世界の）森に焼いてもらったRから取ったから、ちゃんとした曲名があるかどうかは知らない。A.Zもあまり知られていないと思うけど、それはもうすぐ変わると思う。森の話によると、A.Zはヒップホップとかは全く聴かない。なのにこんな曲が作れる。どうかしてます。

ということで、今回はこの辺で！これからもがんがん出したいと思うから、よろしくお願いします！
ご提案・ご意見、もしくはディス・嫌がらせ、お待ちしております！

Black TK – Knowledge as a Form of Combat

People who have been with this show for a minute will undoubtedly remember the only other person who’s ever hosted a show on here (okay technically Mamiko did one too – thanks greg) – the man behind The New Soul series – Black TK.

Obviously in Tokyo I don’t run into dude as much as I used to, but I ran into this the other day.

TK has more than a few videos up on his account, but this one I think a lot of people could benefit from checking. Specifically his words on knowledge. From near the end of the video:

One of the best things you can do is to educate yourself, as well as to get a formal education. Combine those things. And then question those things.

Because it’ll give you a balance in life that no one can take away from you. There are certain things that you learn in the streets of Northern America that no one can teach you. And if you combine that with academic studies, you are going to be a very sharp sword, and you’ll be able to serve justice. And cut the heads off of a lot of people that come in your way.

There’s really not a whole lot more to say here.

I encourage anyone reading this, especially young brothers and sisters from those communities that are continually put at a disadvantage – I’m looking at those of you in high school, just out of high school, and hell even in middle school:

in all senses of the word, get an education.

MIXTAPE 128 – BE PATIENT

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I know, I know. One episode I’m trying to help out the busy people, now I’m telling you to slow down and be patient. Sorry. But to make up for that, I included another nonsensical intro because I know you all love those.

But on the real though, if you feel like any of the stuff in the intro applies to you, sit down, grab some chips, and give yourself a good half hour to listen to this one.

Also, please note that nothing I said in the intro should be interpreted as an okay to go stab somebody.

DJ Signify – Fly Away. That first line is just too hard. “To thicken the plot”? Wow. m/djsignify.

Gil Scott-Heron – Me And The Devil. Shouts to Mr U for reminding me of this cut, and for part of the inspiration on this episode. I guess people are sorta lukewarm on this song itself, but I don’t know, I dig it. gilscottheron.net.

UNKLE – Rabbit In Your Headlights feat Thom Yorke. Remember the video for this jawn? Skurry. m/unkle.

UNKLE – Rabbit In Your Headlights (Massive Attack Remix). Just the drum section, really.

Morcheeba – Never An Easy Way. This stayed in my no-skip-protection-having-CD player so much when I was 12. I’m still not sure why I came into possession of this record in the first place, but it goes pretty hard. Protip: Post-Skye Morcheeba isn’t really that great. m/morcheeba.

Sandpeople – The Dapper Mob. This is just a really unsettling song, which is I think the last cut of an actual rap album. More unsettling is how this song gets stuck in your head. m/sandpeople.

Big Ken (of 334 Mobb) – We Miss You Teddy. I think I remember hearing Big Ken sing before, so it’s not such a surprise to hear him do it on this cut. That said though, this is sort of a weird track – the rap literally only goes for like four bars and then the song ends. m/bigkentheone.

SMKA – Deer Mama feat Yelawolf. This cut introduced me to Yelawolf. I can’t really stress how much I like this cut. And SMKA – that whole 808 project is basically dope. Get it. Bonus points if you realize that this is the only proper rap song in this whole episode. m/smkamusic.

Gil Scott-Heron – We Almost Lost Detroit. There’s not much to say about this one. If you don’t get it, rewind.

Anyway, that’s what I got this round. Holler.

More Akira / Rap stuff

okay, well there’s not all that much rap in here, but this is something worth checking out.

I did a post on Sabotage Party’s Holding the Crown video with the Akira visuals a while ago, and we all remember Kanye’s attempt. But now Mark from Eyetape, who you might remember from this site the last time I posted on them, has just dropped a very unofficial, very bootleg but actually pretty cool Akira “trailer”.

So aside from the fact that this thing is extremely well done, especially considering the budget – there is some actual rappidy rap in here. Seeda, who you might remember from my quick breakdown of Dear Japan I did forever ago – appears (without his explicit permisson) with the first part of “Lost Heaven”. If you’ve never heard the track you might miss this, but the editing is actually pretty smart at the beginning – those sound effects from the CD changer weren’t added in postproduction – that’s part of the actual song.

This is sort of an interesting project – an absolutely unauthorized – both in terms of soundtrack and film (I’m assuming that “90% guerilla” means “90% of this stuff wasn’t cleared with city authorities”) trailer of a Japanese film made by a kid raised in the States. Using a soundtrack spotlighting a Japanese artist using a quote un quote “American” artform.

For those of us born in the mid 80s and later, on both sides of the river, these “boundaries” are really starting to take on new meanings. I’m not saying they’re going away, but stuff’s starting to get interesting. I mean, look at the Golden Cartridge series (vol 1, vol 2) or the original Nintendo mixtape, man. We’ve got a generation of American kids influenced by Japanese machines, and a generation of Japanese kids influenced by recordings of American kids yelling into a box. Of course, there’s the negative side, which we’ve discussed here before in part, but still.

But forget that, watch the video. The set work in this video is also pretty dope – the bar actually looks like the original place from the film. I think I’m going to have to go rent this movie again.

In the meantime, holler at Eyetape.