MIXTAPE 132 – CASSETTE JAWNS

So yeah, gonorrhea I’m not dead. As I mentioned in the intro, this is a quick throwback to how a lot of us used to make mixtapes, complete with pause edits, bits of the song bleeding through five seconds early because of the source tape deteriorating, radio static, questionable sound quality, and so on.

Oh yeah, and this episode is composed entirely of tapes I found in a bargain bin at a Wherehouse when they went out of business in like 2003, and never listened to until last month. A lot of these groups/acts aren’t really around anymore, hence the lack of links.

Shoutout to anyone still actually listening to the show.

instrolude: Norse Horse – Hidden Place. Beatflip by me, whatever.

Busta Rhymes + Phife – Freestyles. 1996, off of DJ Cash Money Presents WKIS: Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner. This isn’t exactly Busta Rhymes’ most skillful performance ever, but he gets points for managing to somehow screw up the most famous line of the most famous opera ever. Also for referencing Zack the Lego Maniac. Then Phife comes on and starts talking about Shaq being on the Orlando Magic, and starts seriously hating on MC Hammer, which is pretty hilarious in 2010. Then again I can sort of understand, because I seem to remember him showing up in a music video in a zebra print speedo on some total seriousness.

Also, yes, I cut out Q-tip’s freestyle, because it was boring. Also the Roots, because it was boring, and Bahamadia’s, because it was boring, and Biz Markie, because I just couldn’t fit it. It’s pretty hilarious, though – worth hearing.

Dana Barros – Check It. Yes, Dana Barros the basketball player. This comes from the infamous 1994 compilation B-Ball’s Best Kept Secret, which also brought us Shaq’s awful ‘Mic Check 1-2′, which was basically Ill All Skratch interrupting Shaq’s rhymes in mid-verse in an attempt to save him from embarrassing himself. Seriously, though, why is Barros’ song so good? He’s got a sort of scary amount of skill on the mic considering this is just a sidebar for him, and looking through the liners, dude actually wrote his own lyrics. Listening to his shoutouts, he also has pretty good taste in music. I don’t know anything about the guy basketballwise, but man, he probably could have had a decent underground career if he felt like it.

Critical Madnez – Sumthin’ Sumthin’. The compilation – or at least I think it’s a compilation – this came off is sort of weird. It’s got 4 tracks from 4 artists, and none of the selections are very good, except this one. Of course, the sample probably helps, but I genuinely dig this one.

Brotha Lynch Hung – West Coast Parlae feat D. Dubb. You know, I never really listened to Brotha Lynch Hung, but this is pretty great. The cover to this compilation, however, is seriously laughably terrible, and the inset picture is some dude in a hospital gown or something. Of all of the tapes I raided for this episode, however, this was probably the most consistently listenable.

Blu – Hide & Go Get It feat E-40. Note that this isn’t the Blu from LA. But okay seriously E-40 totally ruins this song so hard that he actually makes it better. I found this on a caseless compilation called “Whoop Ass”. Seriously, though, the R&B part makes zero sense, and the E-40 part makes negative sense.

B-Boy K – Funkin’ Up The Scene. 1994 Bay Area slaps, from a record label that was apparently right down the way from where my moms grew up. The rest of the tape itself isn’t that great, but this one just slaps way too hard. It’s mainly comprised of various Parliament/George Clinton samples, which is always good – and the rhyming just goes hard.

Ghetto Twinz – Sho No Luv. 1995. The only real bounce tune on this album, and easily my favorite. It’s sort of weird though – I’m pretty sure that these two can sing, but the singing they do on the hook is pretty bad. This is also the most brutal song in this episode.

That’s it for this time – hollerrr