MIXTAPE 110 – STATE OF THE RAP UNION
Posted: September 2nd, 2008 | Author: dex digital | Filed under: episodes | Tags: bill oreilly, crooked i, dc the midi alien, east coast avengers, elzhi, episodes, esoteric, finale, gwen mingo, invincible, mia, mic legacy, nas, obama, rapper big pooh, ron scott, stereolab, the stranglers, trademarc, young jeezy | 16 Comments »;openPlay(119);)
So if there was a State of the Hip-Hop Union, I think one thing that we could probably count on would be that unlike any previous or current administration, we would get the straight, uncut reality of our current status. I mean, there would still be lying about what sort of dirt people did in the past or how many guns/cars/etc dudes owned – but yeah. I would tune in to watch that.
So the idea behind this is people from different angles telling us what our current situation is – some of them more indirect than others, some of them more violent than others, and hey, some of them even have some recommendations for us. Enough from me, let’s see what they have to say…
Stereolab – Neon Beanbag I think I must have been the one person at KUCR that never actually played any Stereolab. Probably because I never really listened that much – my mistake. Everybody go out and buy Stereolab. Off the 4AD and Rough Trade 2008 Sampler, which is ridiculous. stereolab.co.uk.
Young Jeezy – My President feat Nas. Leave it to Jeezy (yeeeeeeeahhhhh) to make a song where he praises a presidential candidate, damns the current president, and raves about his blue lambo in the same breath. I like this song.
East Coast Avengers – Kill Bill O’Reilly. I really wanted to get this episode out like four days ago, but technical difficulties prevented that. As I say in the episode itself – this track placement comes with zero disclaimers or apologies. I figure that in a genre where threatening other rappers for nothing is the norm – threatening somebody that actually deserves it is pretty sensible. ちなみに、the girl at the end probably deserves an award for best line in the song. East Coast Avengers is made up of Esoteric, Trademarc, and DC the Midi Alien. eastcoastavengers.com.
Mic Legacy – So Ghetto feat Rapper Big Pooh. The instro on this is like the musical embodiment of the Minstrel Show cover plus being in church. myspace.com/miclegacydafuture.
Crooked I – Paper Planes Remix/Block Obama. I’m not exactly sure what the official title of this cut is. About 80% of the stuff this dude is talking about is totally ridiculous – including the random diatribe on claiming that stealing songs is “not hip-hop”. I’m not saying that stealing music is a good thing, but seriously, it seems like every time I turn around someone is telling me that something is “not hip-hop”. Eating broccoli is not hip-hop. And co-opting the “Change” line? There’s got to be something wrong with that, but I can’t hate. Anyway, this song is hip-hop, and it is over the Paper Planes riddim, which makes it extra good. myspace.com/crookedi.
Elzhi – Colors. Come on, it’s Elzhi. There’s something sort of surreal about this song – not just the imagery. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but it’s a great song. You might need to play it back a few times to actually get what he’s doing. myspace.com/zhifi.
Invincible – Locusts feat Finale, wsg Gwen Mingo and Ron Scott. Welcome to the reality that is Detroit. There’s a video to this as well – I’ll leave my commentary on this one out and just let you read the interview. Thanks to Sweeney Kovar for this one (and the one above, come to think of it). Album sounds like it’s definitely worth a purchase. emergencemusic.net.
The Stranglers – Golden Brown. Apparently everyone else and their mom has discovered this song recently and are trying to make beats out of it, but if you want to hear a proper drug song done properly by proper white people (nothing against Pink Floyd, I like you guys too), this would be a good joint to track down. myspace.com/thestranglers.
See, told you I was back on track, sorta.
…man…nice show. i love tha fact we can speak our minds and say what the hell we wanna say, big up to east coast avengers…that elzhi track is killen em…peace dex
~sdotta
thanks for showing back up dex. i’m diggin all the new shit and i’m excited to hear the fruits of your japanese hip hop expedition. i tried to find some shit before but i got as deep as MINMI before i decided it was a little poppy to take seriously..
oh.. but i wanted to ask how you are doing your kana.. two things.. what method did you use to learn if you know them? and how are you typing? Japanese ISO?
i sent you some tracks a while back and you said maybe you could use the instrumentals and i never sent’em cos i switched recording platforms and i only have’em with the vocals still on the chorus.. just wanted to say thanks for the incisive criticism.. i got some new shit comin down the pipeline you’re gonna dig.. here’s just a tiny sample (not a big self-promoter).
Halaluyeah. the lyrics don’t make sense unless you know something about molecular biology of memory.. i’ll explain if anyone is interested..
i’m puttin everybody i know up on the mixtape show. peace.
s-d – yes. That’s the beauty of this whole new media thing. I’m sure there are plenty of people out there who would love to stop us from doing this sort of thing, but as long as we can stay one step ahead…
by the way, nice site. cute beat, even.
Koohii – (and yes I caught your コーヒーを飲みます line)
keep me updated on the music, fam. I never did much neuro so I can’t say I understood much of it other than the dopamine bit…
There’s definitely plenty of awful Japanese (same can be said for anywhere, though) rap out there. I’ve managed to find some interesting stuff, but am definitely still digging. I’ll be putting some things out before too long, though.
Kanawise, second question first: I’m on a mac. Pretty much the best OS out there for different language support (Korean/Japanese/Chinese – simplified or traditional – works right out the box, both reading and writing – no installation cds or anything) (linux is okayish, but having to logout and log back in to switch languages is a dealbreaker – maybe some distro has fixed this, but Ubuntu or Mandriva certainly hadn’t last time I tried). Modern Windows systems will let you install an IME, but you gotta have the install disc.
Or you can use an ajax’d service like this, which is pretty impressive.
learning wise – I did this forever ago, but from what I remember, all it took was a copy of both syllabaries written out on a sheet of notebook paper, some index cards cut in half, a pen, and a few weeks. And some ridiculous mnemonics. I remember telling myself that を looked like the letters “TLC”, like the R&B group. Not too rough.
Yooo, the show was pretty dope. I was feelin that Elzhi track alot. But keep it pump Dex Digi. (sidebar: when is Edan gonna make the show) Peace fam.
Good looking out. (sidebar: not quite sure just yet..)
fantastic show! just downloaded the podcast for the first time – blown away. keep up the good work!
Dex…when we going to get the next installment of The Soul.
Love and Light.
Carl
p.s. we shall prevail
So this week was on it (as usual). Not sure if you caught the DNC of the RNC but this ties right in (for those of us who plan to vote).
Sidebar Time: Whats poppin with the soultronica saga?!?!?! and when are you gonna bless us with some Japanese Hip-Hop??
bhadsjvn zvcjkn m
they even killed his goldfish. Another great ep Dex
btw ur right about that golden brow, i heard like a million versions of dat lol
brer –
they even. killed. his goldfish. That’s a mean line, haha.
Pirate T – I caught snippets of both on TV. Of course, the PM over here decided to resign for no reason, so that has sorta been prioritized over here (not as much as you’d think, though).
Soultronica Saga – there’s a whole new galaxy full of music still waiting to come out. Still in the works. Japanese hip-hop wise – definitely in the pipeline.
Nice work! Lookin’ forward to the next show. . .
Jeezy’s track was solid. It was relevant and go over the top on the soapbox stuff. Is a guy named CrookedI going to complain about downloading… really… odd… The podcast made the drive to boston better this week…
That whole show was hot! Loved that East Coast Avengers track.
PJ – yeah, that Crooked-I cut is weird. I’m not denying his talent, but the rant is definitely a strange one. Good listening either way though, I think.
bluntz – Are you an ECA fan otherwise? This was really the first joint of theirs I was feeling enough to drop. Not like I have their whole discography, though…