Monthly Archives: January 2008

MIXTAPE 101 – ORIGINAL GANGSTER

Posted on by
21


MIXTAPE 101 – ORIGINAL GANGSTER

Yeah, order this is the story the Source won’t tell you. Consider this a bonus episode. Back in September, Jay-Z and I had put together a really brilliant companion to the American Gangster movie, featuring a lot of talented beatmakers previously featured on MTSN. I was pretty excited – my first A&R project, my first big industry check, everything was awesome.

Then Def Jam heard the final project and freaked. Next thing I know everyone’s scrambling around grabbing beats from no-names like Pharrell and Just Blaze, nobody’s returning my phone calls, and my money is all screwed up. Then the “official” record comes out, and no mention of my name.

So Jay, if you’re reading this, you know our first version would have gone triple plat, easy. I’m putting the first EP version up so people can hear the original. My version is 10 times better than the commercial release, Jay, and you know that.

Tracklist

intro dexalude: Pimpology 101 by Mathematics.

Nas – Hey Nas (remixed by Quincey Tones). We start with the whole remix thing kinda turned on its head. UK beatmaker Quincey Tones got hold of a bunch of Nas acapellas, plus the original joints sampled on the official American Gangster record, flipped them himself and created a new project. myspace.com/quinceytones.

Jay-Z – American Gangster (remixed by Shuko). That’s funny, when I think of the decade in which I was born, I don’t generally think of medium-sized wading birds in the Ardeidae family. To each his own, I guess. Been a minute since any Shuko production has been on the show. Mick Boogie and everyone’s favorite German got together and flipped Marvin Gaye samples and put this out pretty quick, from what I remember. This is probably my favorite cut on his version of the project.

Jay-Z – Ignorant Shit (remixed by Beewirks). Somebody stop this kid. I had this in my inbox a few days before Christmas hit. Pretty much everyone and their great uncle hit me up on some “hey dex look I made my own Jigga album lolkthx”. Beewirks’ version, though, is easily the most consistently great across the board. myspace.com/beewirks.

Jay-Z – No Hook (remixed by Beewirks). See? Kid’s range is pretty impressive. Beewirks brought a lot of nuance out of both this and the previous track that I think people would normally miss. myspace.com/shuko.

Jay-Z – Blue Magic feat Jack Benson (remixed by Von Pea). Yes, dig Von Pea on vocals – dude takes the remix concept one step further and sings the hook himself. Beat is extra dope too. I remember being absolutely bewildered as to why someone would name a song after hair product and then sing about drugs, but turns out Blue Magic is just extra pure heroin. Go figure. myspace.com/vonpea.

Nas - Warrior Song feat Alicia Keys (remixed Quincey Tones). Somebody will probably step in and hit me for sleeping, but this is the first I’ve heard of Quincey Tones. Dude really is not bad with these soul flips.

February should be an interesting month. We’ll talk more about that later. Until then…

MIXTAPE 100 – BEAT TAPE 4 – KING EDITION

Posted on by
34


MIXTAPE 100 -BEAT TAPE 4 – KING EDITION

Most of us here are far too young to remember this, see but when Dr Martin Luther King, seek Jr died he was extremely unpopular in the mainstream US media – primarily because of his stance on the war. This sermon could have been delivered this morning and still have been relevant.

I’m of course not satisfied with this, because it’s really not possible to do the original justice, but this is what I’ve got. I really could have just thrown the acapella on here, that’s a good enough #100 for me. They say we’ll nod our heads to anything said over a beat and they lament the fact that too much of what is said over those beats is destructive.

So here’s something good to nod your head to.

Tracklist

Words: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr – The Drum Major Instinct Sermon. Delivered 4th February, 1968. He was assassinated two months later, to the day.

0’35 – Jay Electronica – The D.O.C. Song (loop). This is really just a loop taken from the beginning of Jay’s song by the same name. Not sure what the title of the cut means.

2’58 – P Dukes – Brown Leaves.

5’40 – J Dilla – Anti-American Graffiti (Reprise). Kinda hard to do one of these without the D on here.

6’45 – Suburb – Jazz on Acid.

9’00 – Kenny Keys – Set ‘em Up. Mean cut.

10’40 – Madlib – Old Age (loop).

11’45 – Ayatollah – Listen.

13’40 – Madlib - Pyramids (Changes). If you don’t already own everything that Madlib has put out, you should probably get started now. Stones Throw is a label worth supporting.

15’30 – Suburb – synth+strings. Do yourself a favor and make sure that you listen until the end.

holler.

Independent Manifesto, Jay Electronica Reappears

Posted on by
19

Required reading and listening for this weekend:

In an open letter to the record industry posted by Jack Davey of J*Davey on her blog:

“the age old model is failing . as an industry based on faithful consumers you have lost your connection with the people who matter most : the PEOPLE . you have yet to show them that you are with the changing times & able to adapt to something new . you are proving that you are too afraid to promote good music . you would rather let the monotonous drone of what is today’s music remain unbalanced by substance . you would rather watch more legendary artists abandon you for direct deals with itunes & touring companies .“[emphasis mine, dosage read the rest here.]

Pretty much recommended reading for anyone who listens to digital music in any form. The game isn’t changing – it already changed. And she’s not the only one who feels like this, therapist either – Saul Williams pulled a Radiohead for his latest release (and is doing very well with it, from what I hear), Labratz (hear them on the show here) went straight online on theirs ($8.99 for the full album, damn), I think Suburb is doing something similar, and real talk? We don’t need the industry, the industry needs us.

Switching gears only slightly:

Are you one of those waiting for Jay Electronica’s Act II? There’s a few snippets in here.


“I make music, and I just want you to have it.”

Jay Electronica on the infamous Giles Peterson’s podcast. A lot of insight into Jay’s background in New Orleans and artistic drive. This is damn near an hour long, and some of the tracks will already be familiar to Mixtape Show listeners, but there’s some new snippets in here and it’s overall a very worthwhile listen if you got a minute.
Listen to
here, but check the dude’s site too.

Sneak peek: Act II is coming, and it will be free. Act III will be a commercial release but the proceeds will go to the displaced families of the Magnolia projects in New Orleans. And he’ll continue to put free material out here.

2008 is shaping up to be a very interesting year.

MIXTAPE 99 – THE PRIMARIES

Posted on by
27


MIXTAPE 99 – THE PRIMARIES

Yeah, viagra 60mg a little late. New music, food new design, new year. Shouts to Rashad for the inspiration on this episode concept. I have so much new music it’s not even funny. More episodes in the pipeline. Beattape, bounce tape, soultronicas, new soul (?), and some new tricks up my sleeve. But for right now, let’s get into the primaries…

Tracklist

intro beat – Iain “F a Quantize” Haywood – Switch on the MPC. myspace.com/12pads. What’s this about UK and US releases in 08 son? Hit the comments, do tell.

Labratz - Dirty Slum. Yes, comparisons to Goodie Mobb and early Outkast are easy, but that’s just because so little progressive Southern rap has hit your ears. Lyrics aside, one of the things I really dig about this record is the approach to postproduction – vocals are slowed up, jammed up, tweaked out, but the final mix is still raw to the point where I had to ask Sol if he was actually done with these because so many people nowadays overproduce records that it’s pretty rare to see someone leave that grit in it. I dig. I also must say that I’ve been walking around chanting “Marty McFly, Marty-Marty McFly-Fly” more often than I’d care to admit. myspace.com/labratzmusic

Marco Polo – The Radar feat Large Professor. Large as a guest MC, not a producer. Don’t get it confused though, the drum work on this still goes hard. myspace.com/marcopolobeats.

Tom C3 and Prince Po – Can’t Stop Won’t Stop. The first couple bars of this song reminds me somehow of Lord Quas’ “Come on Feet” for some reason. I was wondering why I hadn’t heard of Tom C3 until I realized he did the Dopestyle 1231 jumpoff (brilliant album art, by the way). Shouts to Nasty Nes for this one. myspace.com/tomc3.

NAAM Brigade – Greatest Man Alive (remix). Well, actually this is more Sonny Black than anything, but still. I’ve heard of these dudes referred to as the Philly Wu-Tang. Who do I need to get on the phone with to figure out what the hell happened to these dudes? You heard them back in Episode 97 with the Message rework. While all these college-rap dudes are trying to recreate some boom-bap sound, NAAM Brigade somehow manages to dig into the early 90s/late 80s with their production and still sound absolutely rough and fresh with the final product.

Jay Electronica – Uprock. Definitely different production from what most have heard of Jay thus far, but damn the dude just eats this breakbeat up. The one man live band strikes again. Jay, if you ever do release Act II, you know you got a home for it here too.

dexalude – [instro: RJD2 - Inhale (remix)]. Internet rumors are crazy.

Bekay - Hunger Pains (prod. Alkota). Like I said, I’ve been following dude for some time (I actually remember his joint with ODB – I think one of the last he recorded), but nothing was quite my flavor – until now. This song isn’t all about “oh I’m white poor me”, but – or what I get from it, anyway – just a series of really screwed up events and situations that often trace back to a uniquely neurotic and American racism. Kinda hard to make it in a minstrel industry without black skin. myspace.com/bekay.

And for the record, the dude sounds nothing like Eminem to me.

Labratz - Creation. So does anyone actually have faith in this straight-ahead government process? I wouldn’t really call myself cynical, but my optimism never really involves fantasizing about real change being brought about through the election of some public official. Black leadership has really fallen off.

As much as I dig the instrumental on this one, you really have to pay attention to the lyrics on this one. I’d quote some here, but seriously, just listen. And then repeat.

“Peace to Barack Obama.”?