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Tracklist

intro – homeworklude
Ham-r – Workinonit Remix (ultra)
Curtis Williams – This Her Jam ft. MoneyMakinNique & Alkebulan (ultra)
S.L.A.C.K. – Hatsugen On Skit ft Rau Def (ultra)
Gucci Mane – Stupid (ahnnu remix) (ultra)
FatKidsBrotha – Queso ft Snubnose (ultra)

probably soultronica next. holler. @dexdigi

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(introlude) Kubota Toshinobu – Ichizu na Yoru, Mukizu na Asa

FatKidsBrotha – NWA ft Snubnose Frankenstein. I had this on repeat for a really long time. This whole tape is good – check them out on bandcamp.

A$AP Rocky – Been Around The World (Chopped and Screwed). From an older mixtape. This is a really mean song.

S.L.A.C.K. – Hatsugen On Skit ft Rau Def. You’ve heard S.L.A.C.K. here before, but I don’t think I’ve played any Rau Def. I really like what both of these dudes are doing, but Rau Def right now especially is on some wildness. Over the summer he started attacking Zeebra (sort of a living legend in Japanese rap) for absolutely no reason. It was pretty funny.
no twitter for S.L.A.C.K. Rau is @xxxRAUDEFxxx

FatKidsBrotha – Queso ft Key! and Snubnose Frankenstein. Just stop what you’re doing now and get their tape.

Gucci Mane – Stupid (ahnnu remix). HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA. swag.
@ahnnu

Ham-R – Workinonit Remix. I have a lot of respect for this dude. This is off a tape he put out in 2010, which was the hands-down most forward thinking mixtape in Japanese rap that year. He’s supposed to be putting together an album right now.
@hammerdahustler

Curtis Williams – This Her Jam ft MoneyMakinNique and Alkebulan. This is a pretty cool mixtape all around, but this track just kills. Also, the tape is called Trill Shit Only, which is worth a lot of points.
@thatboycurtis

and that’s it for this one. and yeah, i’m on twitter: @dexdigi

So yeah, the site got hacked. Stuff should be back running now.
Here’s an embeddable version:

download this episode

Here’s a tracklist:

Intro – Claudette Soares – Adeus Maria Fulo
Spaceghost Purrp – Way Back feat Speak
Agallah – Rooftop feat Shan
Wiz Khalifa – Spotlight feat Killa Kyleon
Dexter Wansel – Theme from the Planets
Key – The Sativa Interlude
Frankenstein – Impala ’61 (first half)
Domo Genesis – Clear Eyes
Agallah – The Power – (Ag verse only)
Frankenstein – Over There
Outro – K-Def – Stakes is High

i have a tumblr and stuff.

MIXTAPE 138 – WURD MUNCHAZ

The backstory – some time in late 2006, I got a bizarre email from a group calling themselves the Wurd Munchaz, with a link to their myspace. At first I thought it was just another low-budget demo, but then I listened to the cuts, and my mind was blown.

I don’t really know hardly anything about these dudes. They don’t answer their email, nobody seems to know anything about them. Every few months, though, a poorly spelled, all-caps email comes in from their producer, Copy Payper, with an mp3.

And out of nowhere, the other day I get this TTDD remix in the mail. I can’t find it online, they seem to have abandoned their myspace. I really know very little about these dudes – I don’t even know how many people are in their group – but real talk, they’ve been my favorite group for like 4 years now.

okay whatever this is getting long, let’s just get into the playlist.

TTDD – Love In Da Mall (Wurd Munchaz Remix). I’m 100% sure that this isn’t official, but it still goes. Oddly enough, the production on this actually sounds a little more ‘normal’ than the original. If, you know, you can ignore Copy Payper screaming over the top.

I guess @fucktyler is as good a contact for TTDD as any.

Graaeetest Gurrruuop. No, not a typo. That’s how they spelled “greatest group”. The chorus, if you can call it that, since it’s at the end, is great.

Shoht B Get That Muneee. Do not sleep on Shoht B. If you don’t pay attention, you miss things, like how he nonchalantly drops a reference to the Busy World of Richard Scarry in the middle of his first few bars. Frodo’s verse, though, is seriously insane. He actually starts threatening the Girl Scouts.

Tell Me About You Jeans Remix. Yes, there is an original to this, which I can’t seem to find, but this one is better, and a little more schizophrenic (listen to the lyrics. the singers are actually contradicting one another). Also, Little Leroy calls out T-Pain. This one is also a lot more complex musically – that sounds like actual violin by Devron, plus an absolutely epic guitar solo by Copy Payper.

Red Monkey Jeans. Early stuff. This is actually the track that introduced me to Wurd Munchaz. It’s pretty rough – I think they’re using an Archos or something to record this because you can hear the mic clicking in between verses. The gunshots, overtalk, and screams are enough (actually all of their stuff used to be full of gunshots and eagle shrieks), but come on. “I do my aerobics on my shoulder”? Telling us about how he brings ten pairs of jeans to the mall? Shoht B is a beast.

Also, this song is about pants.

Cowboy Test. I don’t understand the title, but this is sort of an odd song – the first verse is actually Copy Payper doing a rehash of Shoht B’s verse on You Got Beef, along with some other old lines from other cuts. I don’t know what album this one was intended for, or when it was recorded.

so, again. I can’t really provide much information, because I don’t have any. If you’re looking for more, there’s some on Grooveshark, and you can look at their myspace, which hasn’t been updated for a long time. But yeah, swag them out or whatever.

MIXTAPE 137 – OHAYOU JAPAN

I can’t really write much now. I recorded this last night. I am not in Japan now so I’m obviously safe, and the friends I’ve been able to get ahold of are all safe, but I’m still pretty upset – so no track breakdown.

The intro probably doesn’t make any sense, sorry. Things are going to be hard for a while, but I figured the very least I could do was post some swagged out cuts to keep people thinking about my friends.

holler→ @dexdigi

予め申しますと、このミックステープは日本在住の方を対象に作られていません。むしろ、俺と同じく海外に住んでいる人たちの為です。

ちょっと説明します。

俺はニューヨーク州在住、カリフォルニア＆高田馬場レペゼンのでじです。朝起きてニュースに釘付けになってしまい、ひたすらツイッターをチェックしてた。

東京や福島に住んでいる友達・家族と連絡は一応とれたが、それでも一向に気持ちが晴れず、ずっと心配しまくってた。

しかし一番つらかったのは、俺にはなにもできない、という事実だった。そう思ったけど、いや、一つできることがあるんじゃないかな、とちょっとしたら気づいた。

少なくとも、被災地にいるみなさんのことを、海外にいる人達に考えてもらうことくらいはできる、と思いついた。もちろん、手段は音楽で。俺は別に大物のDJじゃないけど、一つのパイプラインは出来ているし、それを使えばなにかをアピールすることはできるかな、と。

そう思って、日本語ラップのミクステをつくってみました。

曲の内容とか、歌詞とかはあんま気にしてない（どうせリスナーの殆どは日本語わかんないしｗ）。俺は普段テーマを決めた上で作成するけど、
今回は別にテーマに沿ってポッドキャストを作ったわけじゃないし。まあ、テーマがあるとしたら、俺がかっこいいと思った曲、くらいかなｗ

なんで、無理して前向きの歌詞だけとか、哀愁ただよう曲とかを入れようとは一切せず、
逆に、日本語ラップのかっこいいとこ、俺を含め多くの人を魅了した日本語ラップのヤバさを海外の人たちにいまこそアピールしたいと思ってつくってみました。

あんまり集中できなかったから、ミックスはそんなによくないし、もっと頑張ればもっといい選曲はできたかもしれない。ただ思いついた曲をバンバン入れてみただけだし、短時間で出したかった、という理解の上で聴いていただけたら、と思います。

あと、著作権に触れるかもしれないというコンテンツも入ってるけど、そっち方面のお問い合わせはツイッターでお願いします。@dexdigi　です。

これから色んな形での救援活動が行われると思いますが、取りあえず日本だけではなくて、地球の裏側の奴らも心からみんなの無事を祈ってる、ということをこの一発でみんなにお知らせしたかった。今日、日本語ラップの新しいファンが生まれる。それだけは保証できる。

みなさん、頑張ってください。

Seeda – Intro
Norikiyo – Ore hana no megane
Gasface – Problems
Yuki aka Juto – Show u my mixtape
Cherry Brown – Work Work Work!
S.L.A.C.K. – Deep Shit
Megahi – Kick the Megahi
Seeda ft MoNDoH、NIPPS、AKLO、STICKY、HORI、SLACK、SQUASH SQUAD、H.TEFLON – No One But Us
Ham-R – Can’t Stop
Rau Def – Doggg Race

MIXTAPE 136 – SOULTRONICA 7

But the soultronica series is officially back on. Brothertron handles the intro, since dex digital is incapacitated (if you caught the last episode, you’ll remember why) – but wait, dude somehow survived half an hour of no oxygen – what’s the deal?

Find out next time, maybe.

Toonami Soundtrack – Depthcharge. You all remember Toonami? They actually had some dope music on the show intros.

The Jet Age of Tomorrow – Welcome Home, Son (feat Casey Veggies and Tyler, the Creator). The whole Voyager album is dope. Get it. @thesuper3

The Jet Age of Tomorrow – But She’s Not My Lover. This was my first introduction to these two.

Theophilus London – Cold Pillow. I know nothing about this artist, but I like this cut. @theophilusl

Droop-E - [I AM]. Sure, dubstep if you want to call it that. Either way this song goes really hard. @droope707

Gucci Mane – Photo Shoot (Flying Lotus remix). Seriously, what is Gucci doing in the intro?
introlude: The Big Payback – The Return, and
Louis Bordeaux – Say The Word Again Bitch (@louisbordeaux)

Hir-O – Welcome Back Hir-O. He’s got an instrumental album out, which you should absolutely go get. He’s apparently going to be at SXSW in some capacity, so if you’re going, go there, find him, and thank him. @hirobeats

Suhburb – This is 96. Five points if you can guess what inspired this cut. Hint: he gave me this song like three years ago.

Suhburb + Donwill – Take it from me (remix). More Suhburb. I hear he’s making beats again. He still doesn’t have a facebook or twitter though.

That’s it for this installment. holler.

MIXTAPE 135 – SLAB ME OUT

okay, so you know how much I like all of you? I like all of you so much that I am in the goddamn library mixing this episode down right now. The library. I’m supposed to be doing homework now, but no – I’m here with my laptop and my Korg nanokontrol and I can’t even take a bathroom break because I’m afraid someone might steal my equipment.

So yeah, I’m not writing long breakdowns here.

So here are the takeaway points for this episode:
1. I wanted to slab out some indiekid music, because:
    a. I don’t want any of my caucasian listeners to feel left out and
   b. I actually like a lot of indiekid music
2. As I said last time, Odd Future is seriously my favorite group/collective right now. Also,
   a. I have been saying “swag” and “swagged out” recently
   b. The title of this jawn is obviously a reference to that
   c. Seriously if you dislike my show but like rap, just go listen to OF for a few months, you won’t miss anything
3. Please keep sending me mail. I love that stuff. Even if you hate what I’m doing, that’s totally fine; tell me. Requests/concepts are also great. You should also hit me on twitter at @dexdigi.

okay, lets get into it.

introlude: dubcat – mario. Kid needs better titles.

OFWGKTA – Up (Screwed and Chopped remix). This one sort of inspired the whole episode.

overlay interlude – video message from @mamikonu. everybody get your eyes checked.
Sweet Trip – Acting. Off of You Will Never Know Why, which came out in 2009. Anyone that used to listen to my radio show in like 05 will remember that I played their old velocity::design::comfort record pretty much all the time. The new one is good, the older one I think is a little more mind blowing, but I recommend both.

Maps of Norway – Holland Tunnel. I think someone at my radio station put me onto this. I’m also pretty sure that none of these people are from either Norway nor Holland, which is sort of confusing but okay I guess.

The Whitest Boy Alive – Burning. These guys make pretty good music videos. The band name is also pretty good. They’re from Berlin, which is really confusing in the context of the last song, because Norway and Holland and Berlin are all basically the same place, but it’s not technically ingenuine since I think all of them are white, so at least they are being partially honest, if a little boastful.

interlude: Yo Gotti Interlude. Digitally enhanced by me. @officialyogotti.

Ohmega Watts – Interlude 1: Journey.

Big K.R.I.T. – Small as a Giant. I actually like this dude a lot. Dude being where he is from I’m pretty sure someone has actually done a better job slowing this one out, but whatever I did it myself. @bigkrit

Wiley – Off The Radar. Come on, this song is great. He spends a good three minutes ending every goddamn line with the words “black one”. This is one of those songs where slowing it down is actually useful, because it makes you realize how stupid intricate the wordplay is. Memorable lines: “Black men ain’t meant to have black cards, bentleys – got them anyway“. Jesus. “Black, black, black. I’m so black I could make a rat run”. Come on, man. Also, read this.

Casey Veggies – Networking. I think a lot of people are really paying attention to Tyler, but seriously, the entire OF, and a lot of people associated with them make, and have been making, a lot of really swagged out songs for a really long time now. Mike G actually did a version of this, but I couldn’t get a high quality link for it, and actually now relistening to this, I sorta like mine. @caseyveggies

N.E.R.D. – Inside of Clouds (Tyler, the Creator remix). This song is absolutely adorable. Come on, it’s about rain and taking baths and hot chocolate. We need more music like this.

okay yeah i realize prolly lots of you didnt like this one but thats ok. holler at a scholar

MIXTAPE 134 – DIFFERENT VECTORS

I feel sort of weird about putting this out, because I’m not sure how people will take it. But fuck it I’m 26 I can do what I want.

As far as the inspiration for this theme, there are two things:

First, and I’m not going to turn this into a language lesson, but there’s a term I always liked in Japanese: ベクトルの違い, “bekutoru no chigai”, which sorta translates to “a difference in vectors”. This can be used to express a difference of opinion that two people have – so if you happen to feel one way about something and someone feels another way, then you both have different “vectors”, or different “directionalities”. Which I think is sort of an interesting metaphor. So that’s where the name comes from.

The second is actually something I’ve always considered to be a truth about thinking about interaction between people. I tried explaining this to a friend of mine when I was maybe 17, and she thought it was horrible and pessimistic, so I never really shared it with anyone else again, but I still think it’s pretty valid. Of course, the little exercise we do in the intro is a very simplified version – people are free to change their angles at any time, and sometimes do – but not very often; especially after they’ve gathered momentum from going in the same direction for a few years. So this is not fatalistic, I’m not saying people are doomed from the start to never get along, but, you know, it’s better than blaming your friend or blaming yourself when you don’t see eye to eye.

So that’s what this episode is about – different angles, different directions. In a sense this is sort of a final chapter to the (what I am now retroactively considering) series I made with 118 and 119.

TLDR: I made a rap tape about people fighting. It sorta goes hard so you should listen.

Doss The Artist – Outer Blue ft Flying Lotus prod Hir-O. Old dude got called out. Hir-O, by the way, is crazy with the beats and you will be hearing more from him here in the future. @hirobeats

Tyler The Creator – Inglorious. This cut is so heavy. Tyler is an absolute beast. I will say right here that there is no collective that I am more excited about right now more than Odd Future. If you do not like this, then you should probably take a break from this show for a while. Also, +5 points if you understand the Shake Junt reference. @OFWGKTA

Big Ken – Sweetest Thing Freestyle. I think I said this the last time I played him, but this dude can really sing. Took me forever to put this one together, but thanks for hooking me up with this one. @bigkenmrmoney.

Sway – The King Full Stop. It still sort of weirds me out that dude died. You ever drive by the house where a relative of yours that has since passed on used to live, and you start crying? @sway_dycypha

Earl Sweatshirt - Luper. I’m pretty sure we’ve all been here before. Earl is also just stupid with the flows – I highly recommend listening to more of this kid. Also, the intro on this is absolutely hilarious. Incidentally, this is Tyler’s younger brother.@OFWGKTA

Doss The Artist – Sasha Grey. Seriously, go check the rest of this tape.

Domo Genesis – Last Roll. Yet another Odd Future member. The creativity in this group is just off the wall. @OFWGKTA

outrolude: Tev95 – Purple Minks @supertev95.
dex digi – 声が好き[koe ga suki]. This is really more of a rework of someone else’s beat (mostly the voice samples), but I forgot whose. If this is yours, tell me, I’ll credit you. @dexdigi

so that’s this round. And yeah, if you do twitter or whatever, follow me: @dexdigi

MIXTAPE 133 – BOUNCE TAPE THE FOURTH

So this is sort of cheating, since this was actually recorded in like mid March, and just sort of sat on my hard drive, but whatever – as long as it keeps me on a weekly schedule it counts, right? Right?

Bounce Tape 4. If you’re new to the series, you can get yourself caught up by checking the bounce tape file.

Note – this tape (like the others) is not necessarily “good”, and has a lot of “mistakes” like – overdrawn or nonexistent transitions, me playing things 30 BPM too fast because I think it sounds better that way, and well, Super Mario sound effects. If you’re okay with that, let’s get into it…

Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg – The Next Episode (Jay Robinson Clubstep Mix). This kind of scared me the first time I heard it. @jayrobinson

Simian Mobile Disco – Cruel Intentions (feat. Beth Ditto) (Joker Remix). This is such a cute song, really, when you think about it. “Call me down, we’ll hang out, I’m down for whatever.” Like riding bikes or getting ice cream or something. That said, though, I’m pretty sure I’ve left messages like this on various females’ voicemails over the years, and it’s never worked out yet, so I can’t really recommend using it.

Deadmau5 & Kaskade – I Remember (Caspa Remix). Yes, like I said, this mix is old. But seriously, this song does not get old. The bass just really smashes like that. Have you seen this video that the mad decent kids put out? It also smashes. The clip, incidentally, is from Say Anything, which I watched on the strength of this clip, and I can also recommend, as it is a really fine specimen of mid-80s white cinema, if you’re into that sort of thing.

Gucci Mane – Dope Boys (Bird Peterson Remix). Seriously, listening to this now this song is so juvenile. I know MF Doom refers to himself in third person all the time, but somehow when Gucci does it he sounds like a first grader. Oh, the remix also samples BT – “Godspeed”, which is pretty funny. @gucci1017

Rapture – Don’t Go Do It (Million $ Mano Remix). Yeah, this is 2007 status, but nobody cares because this song just goes that hard. @djmano

Rye Rye – Bang feat. M.I.A. (DJ Sega’s Philly Club Remix). Speaking of M.I.A., has anyone really listened to that new record? I’ve only heard pieces, but I was liking what I was hearing. @tharealryerye

Prodigy – No Good. I don’t think people listen to enough Prodigy. @the_prodigy

Martyn – Hear Me. I think we need more organs, in general. @martyn3024

The Hood Internet – Blazin Kryptonite (Big Boi feat. Purple Ribbon All-Stars vs Ghislain Poirier). Yeah, I know, Hood Internet. But they absolutely got this one right. @hoodinternet

Lemon Jelly – ’75 Aka Stay With You. I played this a little fast, so if you want the real experience, I’d recommend locating a normal copy. It’s a pretty good track. www.lemonjelly.ky

Sabotage Party – Cold Night In Paradise. I can’t say I actually understand what’s going on here, but this is a pretty great song. @sabotage1893

okay yeah so that’s this week – see you next time.

MIXTAPE 132 – CASSETTE JAWNS

So yeah, 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

But anyway, here we go with a breakdown for the last episode in the Nihongo Rap (=”Japanese Rap”) series – ep 131, “Hansei Shitemaasu“, which roughly translates to “I’m soooorrryyy”. The cuts are, in general, about regret, the past, and/or looking forward to the future.

You can play it below, or go check the original post here.

Note that this is only the tracklist – I will be breaking down the actual skit in a future article. You will want to read this.

In the meantime, though, let’s get with these tracks:

MINT – Isoganakya (Gotta Hurry). Somebody feel free to call me out on this, but I forget who actually did this cut first (seriously, someone remind me). Point is, though – it doesn’t matter, because this song is better than that song. @minchanbaby

Cherry Brown – Hayai (Pyuun!) (Fast (Zoom)). I’m not really sure why I didn’t put Cherry Brown in the first episode, but, well, here he is. I think he showed up in The Source Japan (yes, we had one, for like four months), but I lent that issue to my friend and can’t find it now. Cherry makes a lot of weird music – like, a lot – and also produces under the name of Lil’ Yukichi. He also happens to be one of the people who are spearheading this new wave of mixtapes in the Nihongo Rap scene. @twitter.com/cherrycherry_b

A-Thug – Ori no Naka (In the Pen). So this cut is, thematically, pretty easy to understand – references to Scarface, and dude talking about how he spent time in jail, and about his life selling crack. My favorite line:

ヘイズとエクスタシー
Heizu to ekusutashii
Haze and ecstasy

ブラッズとつるみ
Burazzu to tsurumi
Hanging with Bloods*

クラックを造り
Kurakku wo tsukuri
Cooking crack

ブロックを仕切り
Burokku wo shikiri
Running the block

グロックを握り、あ
Gurokku wo nigiri, ah
Gripping Glocks, uh

*I really hope that I’m hearing this incorrectly. Please, let this be wrong.

This sort of talk, of course, is completely unbelievable, and I will personally mail you a dollar if you are able to find five Japanese people that know what the word “Glock” even means. It still sounds cool, though, which is what matters. m/athugscars

AKLO – Chance. From the Aklo 2.0 mixtape, which I recommend – if only for dude’s version of “Forever”. Incidentally, Aklo is also partially the inspiration behind me even doing this series – we had more than a few conversations about the state of Nihongo Rap, and own stance on the importance of mixtapes. Very, very bright dude. This isn’t the best song on the tape, by far – it just fit the theme. m/aklosound

GAGLE – Yuki no Kakumei (Snow Revolution). I swear I’ve heard this sample somewhere – does anyone have any leads? Anyway, Gagle is a pretty respected part of the scene, despite their being from Sendai. I should probably talk more about this at some point, but for a very long time, the general understanding was that if it wasn’t from Tokyo, it wasn’t hip-hop, and it wasn’t worth listening to (though you could argue that Hokkaido natives Tha Blue Herb straightened that out three years before this jawn dropped). This cut is easily my favorite off their 3 Men On Wax record. gagle.jp

PRIMAL , DJ Kohaku, CHIYORI, 02 – Butaiura (Greenroom). Off of DJ Muta’s Character Pack mixtape – which, if you can find, is pretty good. The beat is People Under The Stairs’ Acid Raindrops – and I keep saying this, but seriously, this cut is much better than the original. DJ MUTA’s blog

MINT – “YEAH”de gomakashiteiru (playing it off by saying “yeah”). Okay, that’s a terrible translation, sorry. Anyway, seriously kids, MINT just really goes hard. I was actually done mixing down this episode and chanced upon this cut on dude’s twitter, and absolutely had to fit it in. The hook is really simple, and lyrically actually sort of cheesy, but it’s still just bananas:

おれはずっとこのまま、きっと多分ここなんだ
Ore wa zutto kono mama/kitto tabun koko nanda
Definitely, probably I’ll always be here

YEAHでごまかしてる/自分の居場所探してる
YEAH de gomakashiteru Jibun no ibasho sagashiteru
Playing it off, saying “yeah” searching for my place

Have I mentioned that I’m a terrible translator? I’m a terrible translator. Just trust me, this is a good song.

So that’s what it is for this one – if you have any questions, want to hear on any specific artist, I’m thinking of doing posts on individual artists. Or, you know, if you have comments on the series in general, definitely let me know, either here or via twitter (@dexdigi).

Also, stay on the lookout for the aforementioned article breaking down the skit, and the “Hansei Shitemaaasu” line. It’s shaping up to be pretty interesting.

MIXTAPE 131 -反省してまーす

ご無沙汰しております！でじです。今回は（ちなみに前回も悪くないからチェックしてね）、「反省」をテーマにしてミックステープを作ってみた。イントロはちょっと長めなんで文章は極力短くします。では早速トラックリストへ！

イントロ：Buddha Brand – 黒船

MINT – 急がなきゃ. またまたオリジナルを遥かに超えてみせるみんちゃん。@minchanbaby

Cherry Brown – 早い[ピューン]. 俺、なんで一回目のやつにCherryさんの曲を入れなかったんだろ・・・まあいいや、ここで入れときます！いまシーンでは、フリーミックステープがちょっとしたブームになってるけど、彼はその火付け役の一人でもあり、あと「Lil’諭吉」名義でトラックも作ってる。生産量がハンパない反面、当たり外れも激しい気もするけど、当たった時は本当にやばい。@twitter.com/cherrycherry_b

A-Thug – 塀の中. この曲に出てる話はかなり信じがたい（クラックって流行ってなくね？そして「グロック」というのがなんことなのか、実際知ってるやつはそれほど多くないと思われる…）けど、今回のテーマに合ってるし、カッコいいから入れてみた。反省はしてるけど、後悔はしてない。m/athugscars

AKLO – Chance. AKLOの「2.0」ミックステープから。本人と何回か会ったんだけど、彼のヒップホップに対する観察力はマジで深いし、このシリーズを始めようと思ったのは、彼の影響もある。間違いなくこれからも注目すべき存在です。m/aklosound

GAGLE – 雪ノ革命. AKLOからの前向きな流れで、仙台からの古典！これ知らない人は多分いなくて、「いまさら」感なくはないと思うけど、まあカッコいいから見逃してください。このネタ、確かどこかで聴いた記憶があるような…知ってる方がいらしたら教えて欲しい。ずっと気になってたから。gagle.jp

PRIMAL , DJ 琥珀, CHIYORI, 02 – 舞台裏. DJ MUTAのキャラクターパーク収録。ビートはPUTSのACID RAINDROPS。毎回こんなこといってわるいけど、内容といい、PRIMALと02とビートの相性といい、こっちの方がオリジナルより好き。これを聴いてからPUTS版を聴いてみたら、後者の方がむしろいい加減なビートジャックにきこえちゃうくらい。ちなみに、キャラクターパーク自体はハンパないからそれもオススメです。DJ MUTAのブログ

MINT – YEAHでごまかしてる. 最初は舞台裏で終わろうと思ってたけど、この曲をツイッターで知って、入れない手は無いと思ってアウトロとして付けた。これ説明に困ります。シンプルなような、でも深い曲。これ聴いてから数日間は、フックを思わず口ずさんじゃう。でなければ、病院に行った方がいい。

今回はこんな感じで！楽しく聴いていただければ幸いですが、みんなの声も聞きたいので、愚痴や、ディス・コメントとかあったら、是非メールかコメント欄でどーぞ！！

ツイッターもやってるからフォローよろしく→@dexdigi

MIXTAPE 130 – INTERIOR CROCODILE

車内鰐・アリゲーター、私はシボレー製の映画館に乗る
INTERIOR CROCODILE ALLIGATOR
I DRIVE A CHEVROLET MOVIE THEATER
INTERIOR CROCODILE ALLIGATOR
I DRIVE A CHEVROLET MOVIE THEATER
INTERIOR CROCODILE ALLIGATOR
I DRIVE A CHEVROLET MOVIE THEATER
INTERIOR CROCODILE ALLIGATOR
I DRIVE A CHEVROLET MOVIE THEATER
INTERIOR CROCODILE ALLIGATOR
I DRIVE A CHEVROLET MOVIE THEATER

INTERIOR CROCODILE ALLIGATOR
I DRIVE A CHEVROLET MOVIE THEATER
INTERIOR CROCODILE ALLIGATOR
I DRIVE A CHEVROLET MOVIE THEATER
INTERIOR CROCODILE ALLIGATOR
I DRIVE A CHEVROLET MOVIE THEATER

if you’re still having trouble with this one, check the release date of this episode.

（まだ今回のテーマを把握してないという方は、今日の日付（４月１日）のを考慮にいれてくれればお分かりになるのでは、と思います）

In the intro, I said absolutely nothing of importance. Same goes for the outro. Not that that is surprising at all.

On to the artists:

Super Smoky Soul – you’ve actually heard them here before.

S.L.A.C.K. – I actually met this dude, maybe slightly before people started really freaking out about him. His rap style is sorta weird – he slurs his Rs, his intonation is bizarre, and he doesn’t pretend to talk about anything of any great importance. This, believe it or not, is sort of important.

example (warning: awkward translation):
なんて適当にさ　話してる夕方が透き通ってさ　　　Like just whatever, we talk all night
なんて適当にさ　話してるやつが大好きでさ I like people that just talk like whatever
なんて適当にさ　適当って言葉が大好きでさ Like just whatever, I like the word “whatever”

Here’s a video off the same record, “My Space”:

M.T.Z – This is actually a friend of mine – I’d say a classmate, but I spend very little time on campus, so yeah. This is actually over an old Planet Asia beat, and one of only two tracks dude has ever recorded (he’s more known in the organization/freestyle circuit). Lyrically, as you can probably tell, this is way more complex and on some ‘sucker MCs’ kind of angle. He’s also a political science grad student at one of the most prestigious universities in the country, so maybe that makes sense.

Actually, lemme tell a story about this dude. One time we were on the 8th floor of our (newly constructed) school building, and I’d brought my skateboard to class. He comes up, laughing at me for riding my skateboard to class, and asks if he can try it (he’s never ridden one before) and I’m like yo, are you sure it’s okay? I mean, we’re indoors.

He gives me this dead serious look, the same look he gets on his face when he’s reading Marx, and says “Yes. This is our space. It belongs to the people”. And proceeds to skate on the brand new carpet.

AKLO – Player. My first encounter with this dude, he was trying to do a kickflip indoors at a bar I had played a show at, slipped off the board, and almost broke my shins. After his recent mixtape AKLO 2.0, I’d have to say that this dude is easily one of the most important forces in recent Nihongo Rap history. He’s only got one record out, but his mixtape game is seriously putting pressure on the rest of the scene, which to this point has been pretty lazy as far as release pace is concerned. Then we’ve got the producer, Ham-R, who also appeared on Seeda’s most recent record (raps and production). Aside from the coked out synths, I recommend paying attention to what he’s doing with his snares – even Bach Logic isn’t really touching this.

MINT – 変形合体　(“henkei gattai”). I’m not really sure how you translate this – the first part is like “transform” (as in “transformers” – get the reference to the original track now?)　and the second is like “union”. So basically if you think about Robotron or maybe Power Rangers when they made that big robot or whatever (I hated that show, so I don’t really remember), that’s the idea.

Anyway, Mint is a pretty weird dude. I think a lot of Nihongo Rap fans might know him best from 韻踏合組合 (loosely, and lamely translated, “rhyme association”), but apparently he ditched that group in like 04. A lot of his rhymes are pretty juvenile, complete with crude sex references (think really hard about where you could go with the image of robots transforming/combining into one) and entire songs dedicated to his favorite anime shows, but really this guy is one of my favorite rappers, period right now. And, as I said in the original article, his version of the Chris Brown joint is far, far superior to the original, and I will gladly internet fight anyone who disagrees with me.

Be on the lookout for more Mint in an upcoming jawn. (thanks for reminding me, Timm)

Hannya – Blog #50. Instead of a blog, Hannya releases a new freestyle every week. Each of them are sort of upsettingly good. In this one, he’s (among other things) dissing the Japanese edition of Source Magazine, which I agree with, because while it was nice to have a hip-hop magazine in Japan, it was very irresponsibly written, and probably never should have been released. After 3 issues it died out, though, so whatever. I very highly recommend checking out Hannya’s most recent record, HANNYA – it was probably my favorite record of 2009.

Essencial – Bomb Rush Freestyle. Off of the Backyard Vol 1 mixtape. I think most people remember Smith CN (the first rapper) more than his counterpart, which I guess is unavoidable. Dude’s voice is just that bugged out. Smith CN himself has a new record out – I’ve only heard one cut, but it is very recommended.

a.z – untitled (off a beat CD I got from Mori). I have played at a few events with her, and still don’t quite get it. She’s the producer for a few acts around Tokyo, but the word is that she never listens to hip-hop, at all. She just makes the beats, gives them out, and gets back to work. Really weird, but recently she’s been putting out some nice material. This is probably a good name to keep an eye on.

and that’s it. Now, go back, listen to the Nihongo Rap episode again. And stay tuned for the next installment.

Hell, are people interested in this sort of thing? If you are, I’ll keep doing these and breaking them down – if not…I’ll probably do it anyway, but it’s nice to know what people are interested in.

MIXTAPE 129 – JIKO SHOKAI

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。

(BGM) 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 / ï¼ 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.

(BGM) 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。m/xxxxazxxxx.

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！

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

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.

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.

MIXTAPE 127 – RAP FOR BUSY PEOPLE

You know what, I know you’re busy. But you’re not too busy to listen to my show. If you really care about me, you’ll listen to my show.

Today’s jawn is for busy people. Each track is below 2 minutes, no exceptions. I even included times, so in case you hate a particular track you know how long you have to suffer until the next one. But you won’t, because you like my show, and you like me.

Listen on the train, in the car, on your coffee break, in the bathroom while you’re ditching class/meetings.

I even made the tracklist all short, in case you’re too busy to read.

Jadakiss – Look In Your Eyes Freestyle. [1:18] Shouts to Gavin. m/jadakiss.
Sin Sizzerb – Preme Diesel Freestyle. [1:17] “Kill you for a dollar / I’m from Serbia holla” I’m pretty sure that’s not representative of Serbians in general. I hope. m/sizzerbsin.
Moka Only – How Little Do You Know. [1:53] Been meaning to put this on forever. m/mokafansite
Lushlife – Meridian Sound [Part Two]. [1:28] m/lushlifemedia
The Five Corners Quartet – Interlope II. [0:53] m/thefivecornersquintet
Ryuichi Sakamoto – Before Long. [1:24]
Guilty Simpson – Pigs. [1:49] m/guiltysimpson.
Platinum Pied Pipers – The Pees feat Ta’Raach. [1:32] Philander philosophy – if you’re paying. m/ppprnb.
MF Doom – Sniper Elite. [1:59]
Jay Electronica – Spark ‘Em Up. [1:34]
Bash Bros & Afro Classics – World Still Burnz. [1:26] m/afroclassicsmusic.
Ghostface Killah – Crooklyn Dodgin (off a DJ Dub mixtape). [1:15]
Uncut Raw – Imwityou. [1:35] Shouts to Max. m/uncutraw42.
Suhburb – Beat#2 from First Tape of Fall Part 2. [1:50 or something] Suhburb, I’m still waiting for my episode.

you’re also not too busy to leave a comment and lemme know what you think. holler.

MIXTAPE 126 – THE GOLDEN CARTRIDGE LEVEL 2

Okay, now I said this in the intro of the show itself, but just in case – you’re going to have to listen to part one, or this episode is going to make absolutely no sense.

This is a continuation of Level 1 in the Gold Cartridge saga. As you’ll remember, our hero managed to scrape through Level 1 with two lives left – will he make it to the end of this world? How long is this game, anyway? What’s with the weird Department of Defense references? And is it just me or is the amount of video game themed tracks increasing exponentially recently?

Some of these answers and more – all in today’s episode.

Random – Intro (Epilogue). While this record is sort of hit-and-miss for me, anyone with the nerve to put together an entire concept album on Mega Man earns respect from me. m/random215.

Random – Robot City feat YTCracker [short edit]. I actually got put up on YTC by someone who listened to the original Nintendo Mixtape forever ago, and I can’t lie, he’s not bad. There is an entire genre of this ‘nerdrap’ stuff, and most of it is unfortunately pretty terrible – but YTC is both an originator in the field and actually has flows. Dig the upper middle class whining about ‘posers’ – classic.

Harmonic313 – From The D feat Guilty Simpson. Really, really old cut, but still goes hard. harmonic313.com.

Theme from Werewolf (NES)
Theme from when you turn into a bunny in the Dark World on Legend of Zelda 3 (SNES)

Clipse – Virginia (Team Teamwork Lost Woods Remix). This cut is seriously just too hard. Shouts to nxt for linking me on this. Concept, execution – brilliant. teamteamwork.bandcamp.com.

D-Lo – Coppers feat Sleepy. Okay, so first this beat just really slaps hard. Things are fine left at that, but add on top of that the fact that this is a sample of the first three seconds of Metroid. Oddly enough, a Japanese rapper, Big J.O.E. used this same sample earlier, but this song totally sons that one, no question. Metroid, though. Did anyone ever even beat that game? m/mrnohoe

Airborn Audio – Now I Lay Me Down. Probably better known as two thirds (H. Prizm and M Sayid) of Antipop Consortium. They only put out one record, and I think it really went over people’s heads, which is unfortunate because this really was sort of a dope album. Note the potential ambiguous Final Fantasy loop – which is probably actually just wishful thinking on my part. m/airbornaudio.

People Under The Stairs – Gamin’ On Ya. This song is totally ridiculous – first, the samples they’re running predate anything else on here by at least five years – and then there’s got to be at least one game reference in every single bar, many of which I’ve never even played. That Karnov reference is ridiculous. m/peopleunderthestairs

Ghostface – Computer Love Remix. This cut is really old, you’ve probably all heard it, and there’s really not much to say here except that I know you’re glad I put it in anyway.

Animal Style – Living Distance. Shouts to Aaron for the heads up on this one. m/animalstyle.

…and that’s what it is this time around. holler at a scholar.

MIXTAPE 125 – STORYTIME IN THE 90s

So yeah, been forever. On one level we have strictly tracks from the 1990s, and on another level we have the art of storytelling coming in at various angles. I’ve been meaning to do something like this for a minute, so let’s get into it.

Introlude: The Pharcyde – Groupie Therapy

Top Choice Clique – Peace of Mind. Apparently this record, produced in 1990, never saw a proper release – until maybe a year ago. Word has it A&M label politics ended in all recorded material being canned, minus a few promo records that Esoteric found, baked in his oven to straighten them out, and well, here we are, 19 years after the fact. I ended up cutting part of this off because it’s too long for my tastes, but for those who dig it – go find the original. m/jawnp78.

Royal Flush – I Never Made 20. I remember reading about this cut in a Bun B interview, I think, and the dude was right – this song goes really hard. Anyone who’s been listening to rap for more than a week or so knows that some songs just sort of go in one ear and out the other, and others really feel like someone’s sitting you down and telling you something and you have to listen. This is one of those songs. m/streetboss.

Psychoward – Rockslangas. I’m probably one of the worst basketball players in the world. m/psychowarddotcom.

Hieroglyphics – Cab Fare. I didn’t actually hear this one until maybe like 04 or so, when a good friend of mine introduced me to this song. I used to sit at her house and just play it on repeat. Hi, helen. m/hieroglyphics.

CRU – Just Another Case feat Slick Rick. This is the only song on here that I actually heard when it came out. I remember the video being sort of scary (I mean, I was like 12), when it switched up into that PRONTO PRONTO craziness. The sample on this is pretty great.

Freddie Foxx - Man Destroys Man. Another previously unreleased jawn. Okay, so this is the song I was talking about in the intro. Let me be clear up front – I thought twice about putting this out because I didn’t know if people would be able to see past the language here. However – that’s actually not even the point here, because if you actually listen closely to the story as it plays out and if you listen closely to some of the clues dude drops in the middle – e.g. “it really was about who was the baddest” is a big one – you’ll see what Freddie, regardless of whatever homophobic issues dude is dealing with personally, is actually talking about here (hint: it’s in the title). If you think about it in this sense, this is actually a really interesting record. m/theogbumpyknuckles.

The Geto Boys – 5th Ward/South Central Malt feat Ice Cube. So for the few who didn’t know, St Ides was running this massive campaign to get as many dark people to drink malt liquor as possible back in the 90s, and a lot of rappers happily signed on. The scary thing is that a lot of these tracks – there’s around like 30 of them – including videos for 2 that I know of – were really great. This is only one of them. Shouts to Gavin for reminding me of this. m/getoboysfromthesouth.

So yeah, that’s what it is for this week. What’s good with you all?

PS: bonus points for anyone who knows what the picture on the episode cover is.

But more importantly than that, I found something I kinda like that I want to share.

So maybe like a couple weeks ago this dude posts two vimeo links on my facebook. This is generally a no-no, particularly if the music is not good, but in this case I make a very large exception because both of these jawns are pretty dope.

Sabotage Party – HOLDIN THE CROWN – AKIRA montage from Jet Setter

Probably the first thing non-UK people will notice here is that the two gentlemen on this song are speaking a variety of English that is absolutely incomprehensible. I think I understood maybe 20% of what they’re talking about, but it doesn’t matter because a) it sounds good and b) the instro is bananas.

Bonus points for splitting “compliment” into four syllables.

Sabotage Party – Real Girls (T1 montage) from Jet Setter on Vimeo.

And then Real Girls. This is sort of a confusing song because it’s clearly about women, but it’s not actually, you know, degrading or insulting. I had to listen to it a few times to make sure I knew what was going on.

Jokes aside, I might even like this one better than the other track. Contentwise it’s quite good, and I don’t think I ever watched Terminator I, but the edit work on this to make it into a completely different cohesive semi-storyline on this is pretty brilliant (also dig the Tekken screen, and for that matter the subject synchronization (audio “smack to the jaw” + visual wrench to the jaw) in Holdin The Crown).

Anyway, this is bar raising material, ladies and gentlemen, particularly on the visual front.

I know next to nothing about these dudes, but I think this is their myspace: myspace.com/sabotage_party

podcasts soon.

claim-my-podcast-in-podbean{scid-bWl4dGFwZXNob3c=-ecid}

Apparently as if making up a pretend city wasn’t enough, these dudes made up a pretend rap group that supposedly existed 15 years ago, and a pretend video for that pretend group, and a pretend video show that showed that pretend video, and then they pretend got pretend permission from the pretend video and made a pre…you know what, just watch the video.

I mean, I could sorta do without the intro, but it’s still funny. I still haven’t heard the whole record, but I don’t know, maybe I should go get it. What I have heard thus far is kinda good.

As a side note, the Tanya Morgan name shouldn’t be new to you at all if you’ve been following the show for a while. Check the archives.

Realest like Bruce Willis.

MIXTAPE 124 – THE SKATE TAPE

Yeah. So first, I have several shoutouts – Mamiko for sending me my board, everyone I know out here in the city for probably unknowingly influencing me to buy one, Elliot for – well, I’m not sure, but somehow I think he influenced this one too.

And real talk, I’m not trying to act like someone who’s been down since day one on this. I only got my jawn like a month and a half ago, and my best trick is a little number I like to call “not falling”. But to be fair, growing up where and when I did, general common sense said that black people do not ride skateboards (I think my father might have actually told me this once). Somehow I did manage to own a pair of rollerblades, but that’s beside the point.

But yeah, this is a tape specifically engineered for hitting the pavement during these last few weeks of summer. Put this in the iphone/ipod/whatever devices you foreigners are using nowadays and hit the streets.

MIXTAPE 124 – THE SKATE TAPE by mixtapeshow

instromental: Madlib – Blunt Break.
Jay Electronica – Retro Electro. With DJ Clue screaming all over it, which maybe makes it better, I’m not sure. I was having a hard time thinking of what to start this off with, when I found this in the archives. I’m sort of looking forward to skating to this. m/jayelect

Che Grand – King ✖ Grand. My official theory behind the name of this track is that Che found out how to make this ✖ mark and decided to use it in a song. m/chegrand

Unagi – Song of Satisfaction feat Eddie Meeks. Shouts to Unagi for hitting me with this record in I think March. Actually, I’m certain it’s March, as I was listening to it back at home in CA and my moms heard me playing it and asked me who it was because she liked it – then she heard this particular track and said that “that man just ruined a very nice song”. I think the chorus is sort of great, personally. I cut this off halfway, but if you want the rest, go check it out. m/unagi

K-Salaam & Beatnick – Don’t Die feat Bun B, Talib Kweli, and Colin Munroe. I still don’t really understand the chorus here. “Don’t die” sounds like something you tell somebody before they try something stupid, like being Mexican and walking into a 7-11 with your hands in your pockets – but this song doesn’t even have any Spanish in it, so I’m sort of confused. That said, it’s a pretty good track. m/ksalaammusic

The Roots – !!!!!!!. Yeah. m/theroots

Tanya Morgan – Hardcore Gentlemen. The high pitched rapping in here is going to evoke a really obvious connection some other groups/tracks, but I think that’s the point. This song is great. “I took her to the movies and got her hella Skittles”? Brilliant. m/tanyamorgan

Wait, is that where I’ve been going wrong? Skittles. Had no idea it was that simple.

Born Wit It – Elevators Freestyle. The rest of the Substance Abuse tape ain’t too bad, either. w/bornwitit

J. Cole – Til Infinity. Somehow the last cut made me think of this one. Shouts to Ultra Ouxu for recommending this tape.

Hudson Mohawke – Rising 5. I mean, I’d heard of Hudson Mo before, but nothing like this. This is so good I felt bad talking over it. w/hudsonmo

Cymbals Eat Guitars – Living North. I mean, you can’t have a skate tape without at least some guitars in it, right? w/cymbalseatguitars

PS: My board is actually a longboard, and it’s hella cool. I should post a picture of it or something.

THE GOLD CARTRIDGE LEVEL 1

Man, I don’t even know how to start this one off. So once, a very long time ago, on this very here rappidy rap podcast, I put out a nintendo mixtape. I didn’t actually think anyone would like it, I just sort of wanted to do it – but the response was actually sort of good. You could call this a sequel if you want, but in reality, this is actually a prequel…

The year is 1998, and our hero is a 14-year old dex digital. I would write out the story here, but I’ll just let Ghosteo take it from here with the mad drawing skills.

And thus opens today’s episode – The Gold Cartridge, Level 1.

Or, if you want the full experience, try it in fullscreen as you listen to the new jawn.

So for those of you who missed the ridiculous 5 minute intro skits – here you go.

Instructionalude
Serengeti Drop.
J Bizness – Denice
Paul White – City Bright Lights
時の過ぎゆくままに(Toki no sugi yuku mama ni) (NES)

Meek Millz – One For The Money. Hoodfamous on the track. I have to say, this is probably the best flip of the Super Mario Bros sample I’ve ever heard. Even beyond that, this beat just sorta goes hard. And anybody who’s seen any videos of Millz knows that the dude is sort of skurry with it. I mean, I woulda liked some mario references in this cut, but I can’t be mad at him. Shouts to JT for the cut. m/hoodfamous215.

Game/Realitylude
Crash N The Boys (NES) – this game was the business back in the day. Most violent pseudo-olympics game I ever played.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Overworld Theme) (NES) – this game was so stupidly hard it wasn’t even funny.

Finale – Motor Music (snippet). When I first heard this cut I wasn’t really sure if I was reading too much into the droning background music – but then I heard One Man Show. Obvious nintendo influence. m/finale

Alchemist – That’ll Work feat Three 6 Mafia (snippet). You know, because I still like Three 6. This cut for some reason makes me think of Castlevania. I can’t really condone how dude prefers to spend his money, though. m/thealchemist

Wow, I forgot how whiny I was as a 14 year old.

Racist Gamealude
Street Fighter Intro. (SNES)

Turbo – Gigaton Punch. Definite shouts to AustinJ for putting me on to this track like two years ago. Now that he mentions it though, I don’t know anyone that actually used Balrog. Personally I started off on probably Dhalsim (long range punches), then Blanka until I realized the electricity thing was only cool until you got hit with a fireball in the middle of your shock attack. Then Guile, then Chun Li, mainly because she can jump off the walls. Why’d they have to make Balrog all useless? On the song though, you can’t even front on it. It’s great. y/scrambletv

Oh No – Lay You Out feat Redman. Oh No was already on the last Nintendo jawn, so he’s already got a record for being a nintendo fiend. And Redman isn’t really surprising either, considering that one episode of “Cribs” where he had like a Sega under his bed or something. m/ohnodisrupt

DJ Tour – Street Fighter Mix feat Mistah Fab. I don’t know, this is sort of a weird choice I guess. Beatwise, it’s actually perfect – they did absolutely nothing to the instrumental except add an extra kick and clap in and maybe some orchestra hits. Fabby himself comes with some sort of ridiculously corny lines, but I like how he says “money” so it’s okay. m/mistahfab

Outrolude
Star Tropics 2 (NES)

Afro Classics – The Follow Through. Maybe a new name for some (I’m actually sorta late with this one, so probably not), but if you remember Scarub of Living Legends – this is him paired up with Very. I haven’t had time to sit down through the whole record yet, but it ain’t bad. I dig the hook on this one. m/afroclassicsmusic

Oh wow, I completely forgot to do this in the outro, but shouts to B on the in-game announcer vocals. You might remember him as Uncle Chester from the Rock Episode.

Anyway, that’s what it is for this week. Apparently there’s a World 2 to this game, so I guess check back next week for another one?

So let me make something clear upfront.

First off, after being here for over a year, I think I can say with confidence that a large portion of Japanese hip-hop is not very good². I would actually go as far to say that a good portion of it is actually completely unlistenable, and that any non-native speaker of Japanese who claims to prefer Japanese rap over, say, its American counterpart is either very very familiar with the underground scene here, or lacks musical taste.^2.5

This coming from someone who only has Japanese rap in his mp3 player.

Second, I should also say here if someone asked me who my favorite Japanese rapper was, at this point in time I’d have to say Seeda. It is also an undisputable fact my opinion that his last album is a landmark record in Japanese rap history, is the best Japanese rap record out right now, and is going to be a major force in what happens over the next couple years in the scene. So if you want to call me biased, sure, I’m biased. But then again, I’m not really known for talking much on this site about things I don’t like.

Second point five, people who have been following the show might recognize the Seeda from the mildly infamous Niggas and Bitches episode (Seeda isn’t the rapper whose lyrics I took up, though – that was Oki). Yes, this is the dude who shared a mic with that rapper in the video. Possibly something to keep in mind as you read this.

Third, I’m going to try to avoid making really broad generalizations about Japanese society/politics – partially because such generalizations aren’t possible, and partially because if you wanna know more about society/politics, there are better places to learn about that than from me. As good as I am at hiding it, I actually don’t know anything about anything, and encourage you to do your own research.

So, on to the track itself. This one is called Dear Japan, by Seeda, produced by Bach Logic. I actually heard this maybe four or so months ago when Seeda put it up for a couple days on his myspace, and actually liked it enough to want to drop it on the show. Didn’t happen, obviously.

Okay, let’s get to the video already:

Seeda – Dear Japan (prod. Bach Logic)

The first thing that you will notice is that dude stares at the camera for like fifteen full seconds before he even says a word. If I may be permitted to say something here about dude （Seedaさん、気を悪くしないで下さいね）, dude kinda has a crazy look in his eye. And he continues to make really skurry faces at the camera for the whole video. So if that makes you uncomfortable, yeah.

Lyrical breakdown, background, and wild, baseless speculations after the jump.

The video itself – there’s not really much to say about it. It’s simple, but I sort of like it that way, because it actually really fits with what dude is talking about pretty well. There’s actually another “proper” video in the works (shouts to ham-R) for another joint off the same album, but I’m not sure when that’s gonna be ready.

But what I’d like to focus on today really is the track itself. Aside from having extremely dope production (Bach Logic = favorite Japanese producer right now), the lyrics are kina interesting. Let’s get into the first section. First section is Japanese, second is transliterated into roman letters, third is my translation.

クラブのbeefは　ラップより喧嘩
ラジオのbeefは　ラップより大人？
kurabu no beef ha rap yori kenka [β]
rajio no beef ha rap yori otona?
Beef at the club more fighting than rapping
Beef on the radio is more “adultlike” than rapping

As you’ll probably notice in a second, stuff that sounds cool in Japanese doesn’t necessarily sound good in English. Also, there are limits to my Japanese ability (read: I suck), so if anyone fluent out there wants to contribute more fluent/accurate translations, or if I’m just totally off in my interpretation on something, please, hit the comments section and correct me.

So contextwise, this track was leaked immediately after the airing of the last episode of Verbal’s (of Teriyaki Boys) podcast featuring Seeda. As I mentioned in Episode 117, after Seeda dissed Verbal, Verbal turned around and invited him on as a guest on his talk show, saying that “Japanese people can’t understand the concept of ‘beef’, so we have to educate them“. Seeda accepted the invite, but was disappointed with the, how do you say – non-hip-hop-ness of how Verbal handled things, and said as much on the show. At the end of the special, which somebody converted and posted up on youtube, the two freestyle “battled”, which resulted in Verbal absolutely embarrassing himself. But more of that on another day.

Point is, the first part of this song comes off as Seeda being pissed off about Verbal’s sorta holier-than-thou attitude. But then all of a sudden the track turns into a pretty violent criticism of the government.

どこぞの官僚政治家ども
お前の息子がさらわれてもそう、
ソファーにふかくこしかる　重い腰
いまかいまか待ち人　は年老い
dokozo no kanryou seijikadomo
omae no musuko ga sawaretemo sou
sofa ni fukaku kosikaru omoi koshi
imaka imaka matihito ha tosioi
random-ass bureaucrats
is this what you do when your children are abducted?
sitting there on the couch
the people who need your help are getting old waiting for you

Okay, yeah, that was a terrible translation. Here, he’s talking about the North Korean abduction of Japanese citizens during the 70s and 80s (Japanese version here). I won’t go into detail here, but essentially the NK goverment abducted at least 16 Japanese citizens, some say for use in training spies. North Korea didn’t officially admit it until the early 2000s, and only actually allowed a few to return. I’m not up enough on the issue to say much more, but suffice to say that a lot of Japanese people are still really heated about the lack of pressure the Japanese government is putting on to get people back to their families and to the bottom of things, and the issue is still being debated.

What’s interesting here is that Japanese rap isn’t really known for being directly political. When something does get “conscious” (ps – hate that word) or “political”, out here, it’s usually sort of ambiguous on some “television is bad, society is troubled” kind of tip, and it’s rare to see someone actually point fingers or get in someone’s face. But let’s move on –

遅いなんてものは一つもない
塵も減らせば山は消える right?
I wanna I wanna I need dat I need that I need that believe that
裁判官、検事、警察はグル
本当のことを教えてくれ aight?
I wonna I need dat believe dat
osoi nantemono ha hitotu mo nai
tiri mo heraseba yama ha kieru right?
I wanna I wanna I need dat I need that I need that believe that
saibankan, kenji, keisatu mo guru
hontou no koto wo oshiete kure aight?
It’s not too late
If you take enough specks of dust away, even a mountain will disappear
I wanna I wanna I need dat I need that I need that believe that
The judges, the detectives, the police are all in it together
tell me what’s really going on, aight?

Healthy distrust of the police/justice system here. Nothing really surprising for a listener of American hip-hop here, but you don’t see much of this in Japanese rap.

Or, for example, this:

まわりくどい　不透明や妥協
俺はぶれないファック麻生

海の向こうをお前がみれば
不景気がなんだ
YES WE CANさ
オバマと団結し向かう明日
同じ夢見れる　そんなリーダー
mawari kudoi futoumei ya dakyou
ore ha burenai, fakku asou
umi no mukou wo omae ga mireba
fukeiki ga nanda
YES WE CANさ
Obama to danketu si mukau asita
onaji yume mireru sonna riidaa

You probably recognized at least one phrase in there. Here’s the translation:

beating around the bush, purposefully unclear statements and compromises
“I won’t budge” – Fuck (prime minister) Aso!
If you looked over across the ocean – what “financial slowdown”?
“Yes We Can”!
They can collaborate with Obama and face tomorrow
Someone who shares the same dreams as the people – that’s the kind of leader we want

This section is interesting on a couple of points. First off, Seeda gets on and says, in public, “fuck the prime minister“.

This is massive.

Whereas we probably all know at least a few kids for whom “Fuck Bush” was practically a greeting, saying things like that over here doesn’t fly.

At all.

Not that you’ll go to jail or anything, but had Seeda tried to release this on a major label, or even a large indie, it woulda been censored or he would have been forced to remove the line. And that’s even considering that the word “fuck” isn’t even banned on the air (it is, after all, a foreign word) – it’s not uncommon to see people flipping each other off in children’s cartoons. But directly pointing out a particular political leader is not done – not even in hip-hop^3.5.

I’m sure someone will get on here and correct me, but I can’t think of a single incident in Japanese rap, period, that precedes this.

Second, dig the Obama reference, and the absolute trust put in what the dude is doing. Seeda’s basically saying he wishes he had somebody like Obama instead of Aso, and that Aso should start taking notes and quit lying to the people. Regardless of what your opinions are on either of the dudes, it stands to note here that, as I said, Japanese rap is simply not very political – at least not in the way that most from the US or the UK for example would consider “political” – and that the young generation showing anything other than absolute apathy towards society is kind of rare.

Immediately after the previously quoted line:

あれ自民党、これ民主党
シャッタファッかアップ I got bored on both
ファックリックロスなみにフェイクなボス
口先野郎に定めるスコープ
are jimintou, kore syumintou
syattafakkappu I got bored on both
fakku rikku rosu nami ni feiku na bosu
kutisaki yarou ni sadameru suko-pu
LDP⁴ this, Democratic Party that
Shut the fuck up, I’m bored of hearing about that
Fuck this dude, fake as Rick Ross
I line up these liars in my scope

Scope, as in sniper scope.

One thing you might notice is the “I got bored on both” line. Seeda’s known for talking an awful lot of English in his tracks – which isn’t really an uncommon phenomenon. I’ll talk about that some other time though, but I’ll say for now that I find a lot of it weird.

And, for those familiar with Rick “I-rap-about-selling-large-amounts-of-coke-but-really-I-used-to-be-a-cop” Ross, the comparison of a political leader to a “fake” like that should probably come across pretty clearly. And the sniper scope metaphor. Anything that even suggests violence – even in the abstract – is not something to be aimed at government officials out here. Can’t stress that enough.

Last selection.

どうなんだ?って聴いてんだ　ただ
どうなった？って聴いてんだ　はらー

俺がDISるヤツ
俺がDISるもの
俺がDISるbeef
hateだけじゃねえ

９条捨てる
医療を変える
倫理を捨てる
スタイルを捨てる
俺の読んだ教科書、ゴミになる？
どんな基準で国民を守る？
自分の子と思えなきゃ何が政治家
値打ちもねえゴシップ政治が
何もあおっちゃいない
俺は意見をここに記したい

dou nanda? tte kiiten da tada
dou natta? tte kiiten da hara-
ore ga disuru yatu
ore ga disuru mono
ore ga disuru beef
heito dake ja nai
kyuujou wo suteru
iryou wo kaeru
rinri wo suteru
sutairu wo suteru
ore no yonda kyoukasyo gomi ni naru?
donna kijun de kokumin wo mamoru?
jibun no ko to omoenakya nani ga seijika
neuti mo nei gossippu seiji ga
nanimo aottyainai
ore ha iken wo koko ni sirusitai

What’s going on? I’m asking you
What happened? I’m just asking you, holla

The suckers I dis
The things I dis
The beef I dis ⁶
This isn’t just me hating

You throw away Article 9
You change Healthcare
You throw away your morals
You change the style*
What, is the textbook I read in school trash all of a sudden?
On what level are you protecting the people?
If you don’t think of the people as your children, what kind of politician are you?
Worthless-ass gossip government
I’m not trying to start anything
I want to scribe down my opinion here

And here, we actually get into some specific issues. Article 9 is basically the article of the Japanese constitution that prevents Japanese from ever having a military:

ARTICLE 9. Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes. (2) In order to accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph, land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained. The right of belligerency of the state will not be recognized.

Emphasis mine.

So, essentially, “throwing away Article 9″ means building an armed force with the intention of starting a war. And in Japan, this is actually prohibited by the constitution⁷. The text books you get as a kid in Japan teach you that war is a horrible, terrible mistake, and that Japan is forever a pacificist country. Seeda is accusing the government of breaking this promise, and lying.

The healthcare thing – I can’t say too much about this, but apparently the government is attempting to raise the prices of healthcare dramatically – as in like a lot – and that’s not going over well with some people. Contrary to popular belief, Japan has poor people too. Plenty of them.

The style thing – personally I read this as a double entendre on a rap level, but strictly in context, this seems more of a “everything was fine before you started trying to change things – the style we had before you came in was good” thing – possibly putting emphasis on the healthcare thing. You could call this conservative if you want.

So yeah, I’m getting hungry, so I’m going to wrap things up here.

断っておきますが、this is not intended as one of those articles that praises some artist for his or her bravery/makes them out to be more than they are/tries to set someone up as some sort of hero⁸ – and if it read like that, I apologize. Please attribute that to my ineptness as a writer.

But.

But.

I mean, come on. Distrust of the government bordering on paranoia, mixing of rap metaphors with political ones, outright slander, plus a kind of brilliant beat – this is a good rap song. A quite good one. Don’t respect Seeda for being some sort of deep political thinker, don’t respect him for starting some imaginary “movement” that only exists in somebody’s graduate thesis, respect him for making a dope rap song.

It’s also pretty interesting as a look at what is happening in the scene over here – musically, of course, but possibly even more so as a look at a small piece of the culture. This is a Japanese song, about Japan (and Japanese songs), written by a Japanese person for a Japanese audience. And like I said in episode 117, if you want to get what’s actually going on, it’s important to listen to the conversations people are having within the community.

Not whatever trash that outsiders that don’t know anything anyway happen to be running their mouths about.

cough cough.
—-

[1] I mean, seriously. I’ve been out here for like a year and some change and said very very little about the music here. Sorry about that.
[2] A good portion of American hip-hop is also not very good.
[2.5] That is to say, if you were born in Japan and don’t speak English, then I can understand if you prefer to listen to music that you understand. But if you’re some sort of bootleg orientalist Pocky-munching yellow fever Japan anime fanboy/girl that professes love of anything from Japan just because it’s from Japan and mean to tell me that, oh, I don’t know, Rip Slyme is better than Kanye, or that King Ghiddra is better than Wu Tang, then you are clinically insane and need to have your head examined and get on a twelve step program immediately. Also you have no musical taste. Sorry. That said, though, there are plenty of Japanese rappers who I prefer – easily – to a lot of US rappers.
[β(sorry, thought of this in the middle and didn't wanna renumber)] Note that he doesn’t say “ラップ” really, but “rap”, in English. If he said it in Japanese, it would break the rhyme pattern. Just something for the rhyme heads, I guess.
[3] He even takes a line that Aso is known for saying – “I won’t budge” (as in, I’ve made the correct decision and am not changing my mind) – and flipped it on its head.
[3.5] Not necessarily because it’s illegal or anything, but just because it’s considered “uninteresting”. There isn’t a large (perceived) market for “overly” political rap.
[4] LDP, the Liberal Democrat Party
[5] Not all of it is understandable though.
[6] I’ve no confidence in this translation at all.
[7] You could argue that Japan already has plenty of “war potential” – hello, SDF.
[8] Actually, I think anyone who expects too much of a man hollering into a microphone over some drums coming out of a box needs to get they head checked.

MIXTAPE 122 – TSUYU

So yeah, near the end of the actual Tsuyu season, I manage to get this one out. If you haven’t heard of Tsuyu, you’ll know what it is by the end of the episode. So for those of you in areas of the planet cursed enough to be still dealing with rain at this time of year, sit inside, put the headphones on, look out the window, and dig it.

Introlude: Chris Craft – Rise Again.

Finale – Issues. Both sides of the mic, dude is really just kinda dope. I’ve got a couple other joints I plan on putting up in the near future. m/finale.

Doom – Absolutely. I mean, it’s Doom.

Edan – Murder Mystery. Surreal. Shouts to F Diesel for putting me up on the dude. m/eeddaann

Faimkills – In Your Sleep. Replaying the bit at the end, I’m realizing that I may be mixing up part of the story with something else. But I definitely remember cereal, and socks. Kid clearly puts a lot into tweaking out the production – I’m pretty sure some of the references are over my head. m/faimkills

Statik Selektah – The Thrill Is Gone ft Styles P & Talib Kweli. “I’m like god damn, they even screwed up conscious rap” = thank you, amen, church, tabernacle. I can’t quite cosign on the funny clothes comment though, because I like funny clothes. m/statikselektah.

JR & PH7 – Top Rank feat Guilty Simpson and Black Milk. Guilty just continues to say violent things where violent thing-saying is totally irrelevant and unnecessary, but still sort of cool. Dig the production.m/jrph7.

Outrolude: Esser – I Love You (Prince Paul Remix Instrumental)
Chan – Lonely Road Instrumental

Rhymefest – No Sunshine. Promise, last time I put a track up off this tape. Still, though, the concept was just really that great. m/rhymefest (thanks for the correction J)

On Michael – as I said, there’s not a whole lot that needs to be said. I can’t do a tribute episode or a special or anything like that, it just doesn’t feel right.

ps – I think I’m not using “paradox” right. Blame it on the whole not-english-speaking thing.

MIXTAPE 121 – SOULTRONCA 6 – MALFUNCTION

After what, like a year of Earth time, the two adventurers from the 2100s are back with the future funk. In this installment, Dex Digital (wait, that’s not his real name?) and Brothertron are busy repairing their ship after getting half blown apart by space pirates. Everything is going well, if slowly, until all of a sudden the main computer starts, well…malfunctioning?

Note – this is a continuation of the Soultronica Saga series – if you missed Episode 5, you might wanna check that out.

Introlude –
Black Milk – Purple Track 6
Black Milk – Purple Track 8

A Leon – Spaced Out. Real talk, this track is a large part of what prompted this episode. I don’t really think there’s a whole lot that needs to be said about this cut. And just a reminder – for those of you who were in to myspace.com/aleoncraft

Co$$ – Khakis and Taylors. More ridiculous, random statements (“documenting the documentations?”) from someone you’ve heard here before. This one kinda just goes hard. m/paidthecoss.

Saroc – The First Mother. Production from Sol Messiah. I can’t really think of any other artists that could get away with running the same lyrics twice – but in this case, it’s more than worth the second runthrough. Everything I have heard from this woman has been dope. I got a little more Saroc on the way too…

malfunctionlude:
Aphex Twin – Ageispolis
Louis Bordeaux – Say The Word Again Bitch (

Gil Scott-Heron – Angel Dust. Really, just bootlegged off of an old Sa-Ra mixtape.

Ta’Raach & Konphlict – 10 Feet High (Giraffe Pussy). I can’t even pretend that I understand this one. Stoned rappidy raps over triple time. m/taraach.

Afro-Mystik – Urban Euphoric. Off the Future Tropic record. I can’t really even recall why I have this joint, but it’s definitely very good. m/afromystik

Team Knoc – Swisher. Sirrealz is actually one of my favorite artists, even though I haven’t heard much from the dude lately. Team Knoc can be kinda hit and miss, but when they hit, they hit. m/officialteamknoc.

Biosphere – In Triple Time. I really recommend that you just get the full version of this and space out. m/biosphereofficial.

So. Yeah. Soultronica. Holler.

MIXTAPE 120 – THE BREAKUP JOINT

See, a promise is a promise.

Anyway, this week, as the title suggests, is the breakup joint. Partially based on real life, partially based on the bizarre phenomenon in which when you’re depressed, you want to listen to even more depressing music, and partially based on that urge to just get something off your chest. That said, let’s get into the:

introlude – Mos Def – Brown Sugar.

Ta’raach – Hey. You know, this is like that part where you’re all “man, forget her, I’m good.” You know that phase. Trackwise, I don’t know, I’ve just been meaning to get this one on forever. A lot of the stuff dude says in this track is just really mean-spirited, which makes me like it even more. myspace.com/taraach.

Super Chron Flight Brothers – Once We Were Kings. And then you start to think back. This record kinda reminds me of Airborn Audio. Weird, paranoid subject matter over weird, paranoid beats. Apparently they holed themselves up in a Yogyakarta hotel during the production process, and their weed/skurry noises type antics resulted in an unwritten ban on Black patrons at that establishment. Not sure how I’m supposed to feel about that. myspace.com/flightbrothers.

Malcolm Kipe – My Room Remix. Negativity. Really it was the instro that got me on this one. mk on lastfm.

RJD2 – June (Remix). Aaaand here comes the “why me why me” phase. After the first verse you think it’s just going to be a rant on the state of rap music, until the second one comes in. Just too heavy. myspace.com/rjd2

Jay Electronica – Girlfriend. You think about calling her… remember? That always used to work. Not much to say here. It’s Jay. myspace.com/jayelect

Albe Back – Without You (dex digi Bohemian Rhapsody Edit). No, she said don’t call. It’s already over. Give it up, famo, you’re just making yourself look bad. Don’t lose your cool. Seriously, three bars in I realized I’d heard this chord progression before. You can hate me for doing this, but really my only motivation was that I couldn’t stand the original hook. myspace.com/albemusic.

Jay-Z vs Coldplay – What If We Cry? prod Remot. Which gives you more time to think. And now you can finally be a little more honest with yourself. Trying to “keep your cool” was what got you here in the first place. I don’t own any Coldplay albums, but I hear from very reliable sources that lots of white people like them. This cut is even more depressing this time around. myspace.com/remotmusic.

People Under The Stairs – More Than You Know. Congratulations, you’re now officially “in touch with your emotions”. What, you want a medal or something fam? I keep forgetting how dope this group is. myspace.com/peopleunderthestairs.

O.D.B - No More (Wasted Time). But hey, at least you can respect yourself a little more now, right? Right? At least, that’s what this cut seems to be called. I know, it’s really lo-fi, but this is the only version I’m aware of. A cry for help, man, just too late.

DJ Lt Dan and Jay Z – Interlude b/w Living Proof. … I don’t know, this just seemed to fit.

And that’s what it is for this week. Bonus points for anyone who can identify the original image I bootlegged to make this week’s episode cover.

Del – Funk Stimulus Package

Seriously, to appreciate this you have to look at the deeper meaning. This dude takes almost a full two minutes to say something that could have been summarized in three seconds: “hey guys download my cd”.

I love Del, partially because he’s crazy. Seriously, after about the one minute mark, none of what he is saying actually makes sense – until you listen with your heart.

Also, bonus points for him using bandcamp instead of rapishare links.

Anyway, this is a good opportunity for me to do something which I’ve been meaning to do forever, which is take a sidebar from the aural for a second and get into the visuals.

So for those of you who have been waiting for more Suhburb, first joint up is a kinda trippy time-lapse joint from Mark from Eye Tape, with a Suhburb soundtrack.

Warning: if you are viewing this in an environment where it might not be okay to look at a video of a picture of someone not wearing clothes, you might wanna save this for home.

Synesthesia from Eye Tape on Vimeo.

Videowise, it’s sort of a weird experience. Like I almost feel guilty for going through in six minutes what took dude 13 hours to do. Also, the final product is sorta skurry. If you’re not paying attention though, you’ll miss a lot of subtle syncing and shifts in the visuals – full screen recommended.

On the audio tip, I’m not sure what the first cut is, the first jawn is There Is Only Room for Two Eddies (thanks Mark), the second and third are Tusk and Vagabundo, at least according to the titles in the mp3s I got from Suhburb (can we get an ID, fam?). And as far as I know, these haven’t really been put out anywhere (not even on this show). Eye Tape Exclusive?!?

Also, Mark was kind enough to put the show name up in the credits, but I should say in advance that I seriously didn’t do anything noteworthy, other than handing dude some mp3s and say “hey man check these out”.

So yeah, if you see Mark/Eyetape on the internets, tell em I said what’s up.

MIXTAPE 119 – KEEP IT MOVING

Yeah. Took a minute. We changed directions last week, now we gotta keep it moving.

Oh yeah, I’m sorta trying something new here with the soundcloud player. You can play this show in the player below, and embedding on your own site should work too.

Lemme know what you think, I’m in the midst of rethinking the structure of this site…anyway, on to the…

introlude: Zaki Ibrahim – You Choose.

GaKnew Roxwell – Trynna Say. I’m not going to lie, I’m not sure how to say this dude’s name. Joint itself is raw, in a good way, and just powerful. myspace.com/gaknew.

Shaun Boothe – Unauthorized Biography – Jimi Hendrix. I’d sort of appreciate it if people here stopped comparing me (visually) to Jimi Hendrix. Not that that’s going to happen any time soon though. myspace.com/shaunboothe.

Cee-Lo – Free (full version, live on 88.5). This isn’t really even rap music, it’s gospel, and it’s brilliant. If you need any more of a reason to recommend this show to anyone, do it for this track. myspace.com/ceelogreen.

Blu and Mainframe – Long Time Gone. Off the Johnson & Jonson release. You all already know how I feel about this project. myspace.com/jandjbabyproducts.

Alf-Alpha – Bittersweet feat Pheo. Alf gave me this track (speaking of which, I never asked you dude, why the name?) forever ago, and then just recently hit me with this version with the Pheo vocals. I think he did it because he knew I would appreciate the Dexter’s Lab reference (shouts to anyone that remembers the Lab parties, or was at one of the Lab parties but doesn’t remember it, ahem). myspace.com/alfalpha.

Black Milk – Mo Power. Dude can produce, and rhyme. myspace.com/blackmk.

U-N-I – Reach For The Sky feat Tabi Bonney and Haziq Ali. Really the production is what pulled me in on this one (Beatnick and K-Salaam have apparently been really busy recently), but it’s solid all over, really. myspace.com/unimuzik.

The Uhh – I Love Me feat Jon B. As Yep of The Uhh (these dudes are either on to something with their names or, well, I don’t know) stressed, “thee Jon B“. I’ve been asking these dudes for a record for like four or more years. It’s sort of rough, but this is an all over hilarious-but-still-really-good song. They were also kind enough to let the instro ride out for like a minute and a half, which I happily jumped on to talk about the term “grown and sexy”. In short, I’m not a fan of the term. Details in the show itself. myspace.com/theuhh.

So yeah, let me know what you think. Also feel free to talk about Grown and Sexy because I think that this is seriously an epidemic that should be stopped. I’m dead serious about this, as serious as I was about Skeeter being Black.

Anyway, that’s what it is for this week. Tune in next week. Yes, next week. Yes. Next week. Promise.

MIXTAPE 118 – CHANGE OF DIRECTION

note: if you accidentally got ep 11 instead of 118 in your iTunes, my bad. Things are fixed now. Try hitting the “update” button in your iTunes or podcast client. Sorry about that.
注意：間違って１１８回の代わりに１１回をもらった購読者がいらっしゃったそうなんですが、まことに申し訳ないです。 iTunes又は常用のポッドキャストアプリで「更新」のボタンを押せば直ります。

So I’ve been recently getting a little jealous of the popularity of the Soultronica Series on my own site. I’m not really sure how they do it, but somehow Digi (the 2109 version) and Brotherton manage to consistently make tapes that rival, or maybe exceed, my stuff. Even though it’s been over a year since there’s been a proper update to the Saga, I still get mail about it.

I mean, they’re 100 years in the future so I guess it makes sense that they’re more advanced than me, but still. So I figured I’d try my hand at something different, but still kept it 2009 with it. Hope you dig.

通常はラップばかりのMixtape Showなんだけど、今週は敢えて新しい方向へチャレンジしたいと思ってソウル・R＆B系へと向かった。イントロではあまり話さないけど、まあ、僕の声が聴きたくてこのサイトに来てくれたわけでもないだろう。

introlude: Ratatat - Nostrand

The Foreign Exchange - Daykeeper feat Muhsinah. Not really the way that I normally start things out, but I dig this one. Shouts to Aimee, by the way.

本当ならこんな風に回を始めないけど、こんな曲が好き。Aimeeに感謝。 myspace.com/theforeignexchange.

Dwele – Untitled. At least, it didn’t have a title when I got it from Sweeney Kovar like a year ago.

ドゥエレ（だと思われる歌手）からの無題の曲。まあ、Sweeney Kovarからもらったとき、タイトルはなかったけど。myspace.com/dwele.

J*Davey -You Are. This one probably has a proper title by now, but this was the track name when I got it Got a title. Thanks Niels.
今となってはこの曲はきっとちゃんとしたタイトルを持ってるけど、もらったときは単に「untitled 2」だった。　やっぱちゃんとしたタイトルはあったよね。 ありたとう、Niels.myspace.com/jdaveybaby.

Full Crate - She Was Fly feat Mar. Space out, man. The video for this is sort of cool, sort of scary.

なんか超現象的。　この曲のPVはカッコイイつーか、怖いつーか。myspace.com/fullcrate.

Dwele – Workin’ On It. This hits like 4 classics in the space of about a minute and a half.

やばい。　１分半のあいだに４曲のディラーによる古典にも触れる。

Innosphere – Gotta Be Me. Brand new group formed by Mixtape Show alumni Kenny Keys and a new name (to me), Nina Rae. Sort of raw on the mastering process, but I dig this one. I was actually about to put an old Z’hane remix Kenny had sent me on this, but I got this and changed my mind. Looks like they have a site up here.

かつてこのMixtape Showにも素晴らしいビート力を見せてくれたケニー・キーズと（僕の中で）新人のニナ・レーからなる新しいウイニット、インノスフィーア。　録音物としてはちょっと生っぽいけど、好き。　実はケニー・キーズによるZhaneのリミックスを入れようと思ってたけど、この曲をもらって気が変わった。　

Jimmie Reign – 3 The Game. See, if I wouldn’t have pulled this out, I could have almost passed this off as something Brothertron put together. Couldn’t help it though. Also, everybody take this opportunity to make sure that you’re being real with your significant others people in general.
これさえ流さなければ、これをブラザートロンが作ったミックスとして掴ますこともできただろう。　あと、いまのうちに、みんな、彼氏とか彼女とかに、自分に素直でいれてるか確認しよう。
myspace.com/jimmiereign1.

L.A.U.S.D. - iFeel feat Curly Tops and Nautica Jackets. Okay seriously these two need to stop with extra names. Generally the acceptable limit is 6ish official names plus 37 throwaways used in rap lyrics only ala Wu-Tang, but these two are about to get their alias privileges revoked just off the ridiculousity of their first picks. I’m not sure which is which, but Jack of J*Davey and Blu are both on here. Also L.A.U.S.D. as in the producers, not as in the system that screwed up countless friends (shout outs to the San Bernardino system too though). The more I listen to this the more I like it. Even though it’s sort of corny.
普段、原則として、（ウータンクランのように）正式な別芸名は６つで、歌詞だけに使われるもの。使い捨て用のあだ名は37までは許容範囲だけど、これはやりすぎだ。それはさておき、この曲は聞く程好きになる。ちょっと甘いといえば甘いけど。
myspace.com/curlytopsandnauticajackets.

Suhburb - Gone Away feat Aniyia.
I’m running out of things to say about this guy. If you don’t get it, maybe you just don’t get it. わかる？

この番組を熱心に聴いてくれてる方の馴染みのサバーブ。いつもながらとんでもない作曲ぶりをみせてくれる。こいつやっぱすごいね。ところで、まだ元ネタがわかならないのなら、T.I.のWhat You Know About Thatを聴いてからこれを聴き直してね。myspace.com/suhburb.

So that’s what it is. And yeah, no outro on this one, but after the last couple joints, I’m sure nobody’s exactly complaining.

Holler.

MIXTAPE 117 -NIGGAS AND BITCHES

So I’m going to apologize upfront:

1. The intro is long. The outro is long. This episode is long. Almost an hour. I talk a lot.
2. I repeatedly use a word that I’m not really known for using, ever.

That out of the way, here’s the background:

The other day, during the course of my very serious research (read: half-asleep, cruising the Japanese interwebs), I discovered Japanese beef.

Apparently underground rappers Seeda and Oki of Geek had taken offense to something in the outro of the Teriyaki Boyz’ (probably only known in the States (and Japan) for showing up on Youtube videos wearing Bape and dancing around with Kanye) new single, “Serious Japanese”. They then proceeded to air their frustrations in public by recording a dis track (complete with accompanying video) and posting it up on Seeda’s blog.

Check the video below:

The two lines which we will be tackling today are below:

一人はビッチで後はカス you are serious? へそが茶を沸かす
One of you is a bitch, the others are trash. You are serious? Don’t make me laugh

二番煎じはニガの機嫌取り ass hall ガバガバ　＄をばらまく
You’re played out, just trying to make the niggers* like you. Assholes**, throwing money around

*Ostensibly, the black rappers/producers they’re associated with. I could have used the “nigga” form, but it’s being used more as an insult here, so it’s sort of in between a swap-word for “dude” and an actual proper racial slur.
**I think that’s what they meant.

Note that the above is a really loose translation. If you have a more eloquent one, let me know and I’ll fix it.

Oh yes, shouts to VTS for this week’s image design and some insight on the lyrics. Also shouts to ミスターポポ.

So yeah. Pretty much every underground Japanese rap fan is aware of this dis, the Teriyaki Boyz’ Verbal has responded to it on his blog and mentioned it on his podcast, and it’s been picked up on every site I can find – but there’s one angle that hasn’t been touched – the fact that in the first twenty seconds, somebody drops the N-bomb.

I thought it was interesting. So today, using this dis track as a starting point, we’ll look at some of the different ways we can look at this phenomenon (if you want to call it that), some of the background on how we got to this point, and in the end, I guess, look a little closer at the situation as it is at home.

A lot of talking, a lot of what will likely come off as little more than pointless theorizing, but at the very least, an awful lot of dope music.

beatro: The Brothers Johnson – Q.
beatro 2: Nipsey Hussle – Hussle in the House

Re-Up Gang – Real Niggas. I didn’t actually sit down and listen to the whole mixtape, but I do dig this cut. I had a conversation at a ramen shop this morning (somebody needs to tell these dudes that letting customers in at 3:AM, handing them soup, and then closing down at 3:20 is not funny) about the above dis track, and he said “Dex, you know that for these guys, ‘nigga’ just means ‘guy’”. If so, this song gives more than a few real-life examples of how to use the word – actually, this one goes above and beyond and expands on it, giving you the macho angle on the word as well. myspace.com/ablive

beatro 3: Super Smoky Soul – Simply (Extended Version)

Stat Quo – I’m Sorry. As I said in the episode, this stands on its own as a piece of art. All of these songs do. You don’t have to “agree” with what the dude is saying – since when did we start judging art with a PC ruler? But dig dude’s stance on the word: “They can’t say it but we can…Look at the power we hold in our hand”. And while this dude does make an attempt at showing respect towards women, this song is sort of uncompromisingly misogynistic – if you spelled it out in mathematical terms, bitch characteristics = “female” characteristics = undesirable characteristics. A = B = C, thus A = C, Q.E.D. This is sort of a theme throughout a good number of these songs. myspace.com/statquo

beatro 4: Jr Don – Bring In Black 2

Tribe Called Quest – Sucka Nigga. I guess this is the most palatable song of any of these for the PC set. That said, there’s not much substantially different from Q-Tip’s and Stat Quo’s stances on the word. myspace.com/atribecalledquest

Three 6 Mafia – Watcha Starin At feat Lil Jon. Sort of had to put these dudes in here. Lil Jon was possibly the root cause of white frat dudes screaming “nigga whut” at college parties from ’03-06′. At least from what I saw.

beatro 5: Unagi – High? Yes

Tahir – You Don’t Know Me. Probably the most challenging cut on here. Make no mistake about it, though – as the dude says, the sentiments expressed on this record aren’t rare, and they aren’t new. Lyrics to rewind and contemplate: “It’s my right to say this right here. This is my shit. This is my hood, and you’re in it“.

beatro 6: Sadat X – Hang ‘Em High

Jayo Felony – Don’t Call Me Nigga. I’m realizing that it’s starting to look like I put a large portion of this together just doing a search in my iTunes folder for “nigga”. Early 90s west coast. A lot of prison rap on this particular album, for good reason. myspace.com/jayofelony

MC Tucker and DJ Irv - Where Dey At? Probably a couple hooks in here you’ll recognize. Obviously this is just the intro, but the rest of the song sorta does the same thing.

beatro 7: Platinum Pied Pipers – After the Worries

You know, maybe I should have said this earlier, but I’m not here on some NAACP whining about how the word itself is bad. I’m not really interested in “nigga” right now beyond its use as a tool here to give us a look at a bigger issue. You know, just putting that out there.

Sporty T – Sporty Talkin 93. Edited. Note how “niggas” and “brothers” is used absolutely interchangeably. The first time I ever saw the Beef DVD series was in Japan (they got all 3 out here). Subtitles. And every time the dudes on TV said “that nigga this, a real nigga wouldn’t that, I don’t like them niggas”, etc, the “nigga” was translated as “黒人” “black person”. Sometimes 黒人男性, “black male”. So if you want to go with the “ignorance of the weight of the word” route, this would be a good thing to cite. Also I’m realizing now that I didn’t talk about bitches as much as I promised – maybe some other time. myspace.com/sportyt504

Jayo Felony – Niggas and Bitches. This was released as a radio single, believe it or not. And since the hook (you sort of have to hear it to believe it, try not to laugh) wasn’t going to work on radio, they actually cut a totally different version for the B-side called “Brothers and Sisters”, complete with each “nigga” being replaced for “brother”, and “bitch” for “sister” throughout the song. It’s sort of interesting to think about how simply switching the two words around makes such a large difference – the sentiment of the song doesn’t change at all (either way, it’s a tribute to loyal friends).

So that’s what it is for this round. Hit the comments, I’m interested.

(oh, and even though I said this in the episode, let me put it in writing – don’t mistake this as ‘dex is hating on Japan/Japanese rap/rappers’. And I like Seeda (and what I’ve heard of Geek). I sorta wish I woulda done a proper Japanese rap show before I put this out, but I had to get this off my chest first. Look for an actual music episode coming soon.)

MIXTAPE 116 – PRIORITIES

Happy new year, happy new president, hope you bought yourself a new hoodie instead of blowing it on chocolates for some dude/female who aint appreciate you anyway. Been a minute.

For those of you who have been curled up in a ball in your room, in the dark, whispering silently to yourself “man, I wish dex would hurry up and talk about something he has no business even opening his mouth about for over 12 minutes in an outro”, this is your episode. For those of you who haven’t, it’s all good because you can just loop the tracks instead.

Priorities – we all have them.

Tracklist

Intro – Kev Brown - Keep On Instrumental. myspace.com/kevbrown

Co$$ - Angelic feat Blu. Both of these dudes are dope. I can’t support the Power Rangers reference (never liked them dude(ette)s from the start, Ninja Turtles reigns supreme son), but Blu’s “we in the field tryna kill demons” for some reason makes me want to go play Final Fantasy or something.myspace.com/paidthecoss

Bambu - Crooks and Rooks. From LA to..uh, LA. Really, relistening to this track again, probably all of that nonsense at the end shoulda just been left to a close ear bent at this joint. I know I’m a little late on this, but this joint, along with the video, is some of the best rap music I have heard in a minute, period. myspace.com/bambumusic

Primeridian - Money feat Rashid Hadee and Pugz Atoms. True story – I found this cut, unlabeled, in my iTunes the other day, and dug it. I sent an email to Suhburb to double check that this was okay to blast on the show, and got a “uh, I didn’t write that song, fam” mail back. Lol wut? So I dug through my gmail box and it turns out it’s a Primeridian cut. Make no mistake, being mistaken for a Suhburb production is a good thing (come on, the drum work – doesn’t this sound like 06 era Suhburbia?), but seriously people gotta start tagging their mp3s – this “final mixdown 080707.mp3″ business is getting old.www.myspace.com/primeridian

oh yeah, thanks to mamiko for this ep’s design.

Tor Cesay – The Perch feat Flying Lotus, Phonte, and Oddisee. I got this sampler from (I think) Giant Step and it was sort of great. I really wanted to put some of the more grimy tracks up, but I ended up going with this one. Anyone out there more up on this person, the proper pronunciation of her name? myspace.com/toruk

Royce - Shake This. I’m too tired to remember the original sample on this cut (help?), but I’m actually kinda into with it. The balance and intensity is pretty impressive. I like how the first verse is squeaky clean and then all of a sudden Royce flies into a flurry of curse words near the end of the second verse, and then it’s really all over. Also how his statement regarding his status with Primo is actually affirmed an appropriate sound effect. Seriously guys, Primo-style radio edits are so much better than album cuts.

Pax and Pry – Another group whose name I’m not quite sure how to pronounce. I forget who put me up on this group (they’re from NL, so maybe Ouxu? was this your doing?), but right now I am very thankful for their advice because they are sort of good. And, for anyone wondering how they might implement, sans bandcamp or any other outside party, some of the pushy “advice” given in this previous post aimed at independent rappidy rappers, their site is a good example. paxandpry.com

Outro Instrumental – King Most Yancey Boys Megamix (sliced, looped, etc).

Eskibeat Public Service Announcement – as you probably noticed, that was a cover of the old Wiley “Eskimo” beat as produced by yours truly with a few minutes of spare time and a Nintendo DS. I’m totally serious, I expect to see a hit track pop up from over there produced on a DS. Also sorry about the whole echo effect thing, somebody told me UK people liked that sort of stuff so I was just trying to do some outreach.

Actually, if anyone wants the raw version of that track I can post it up.

And that’s what it is. While I’m not really confident that I expressed myself properly (or concisely) in the outro, I am serious about being worried that people that just randomly support any minority (choose your own definition for that word) artist, just for the sake of “supporting” them, are taking away from and cheapening the efforts those artists within that same group that really are dope and truly do deserve respect for putting out good music.

So yeah, does anyone have any thoughts on that? I’m sort of interested in hearing what people think about this.

MIXTAPE 121 – DO GOOD THINGS

Here’s Johnny? This is sort of a weird story and I’m not sure if it makes any sense the way I’m telling it, but yeah. This happened, and is still happening.

Fusion Unltd – The Sun feat Little Brother, Nickelus F, Hall of Fame, and Skillz. A producer that is sort of new to me. Lyrics ain’t bad either – “When I write I’m enlightening myself”? That’s sort of profound. myspace.com/fusionunltdfup

H.O.P.E – Can’t Knock the Hustle II feat Raquel Rodriguez. The vocals are kinda on the edge of contributing and taking away from the cut, but overall I dig. myspace.com/f2dhope.

Caltroit – Goatit feat Elzhi and Bishop Lamont. Off that recent Black Milk mixtape. This dude is sort of dope on the production. And come on, “raise your hands and see stars like King Hippo”? I hope I’m not the only one here who caught that. myspace.com/blackmk.

Jim Jones, Noe, and Tom Gist – Christmas Eve. Aside from dude feeling the need to do adlibs at the end of every bar, this is sort of a great song. myspace.com/jimjones

Rhymefest – Breakadawn feat Daniel Merriweather and alpha. I’ve dropped one cut from this tape before, but this is seriously a genius project. Don’t miss the skits. myspace.com/rhymefest.

Wurd Munchaz – Shakespeare. This is actually one of my favorite groups. If you don’t get the reference, I don’t know. You don’t spend enough time on the internet. myspace.com/wurdmunchaz

Okay, here:

original: marriedtothesea
I mean, come on. A rap song based on an internet joke? What’s next?

Cassius Clay – I Am The Greatest. Yes, as in Muhammad Ali. I checked the latest Shaun Boothe Unauthorized Biography joint (you heard the Bob Marley joint here last episode), and he referenced Ali’s recording career. Apparently people have referred to his stuff as some of the first battle raps – and really, listening to this, I can’t disagree.

John Robinson – Don King. Shouts to JR for linking this one up – been a minute since we’ve had some of his material on the show. If we spin Ali, it’s only fair to spin something about Don King, right? Info about his latest project here: myspace.com/thejohnrobinsonproject.

The Thunderclaps – Judgement Day (short preview edit). Shouts to Charlee for hooking me up with this joint forever ago. I have the long edit, but for some reason I dig the quick pace of this one. myspace.com/thunderclapsmusic.

instros:
intro:
Black Milk – Purple Track 3
outros:
Illa J – DFTF
RJD2 – Unlimited
Scarface – In Cold Blood

So yeah. Go out and do something nice for one of your friends, or for somebody you don’t know.

MIXTAPE 115 -YOU AINT EVEN GOTTA GO TO SUMMER SCHOOL

All the education you need is right here on the Mixtape Show.

Okay, maybe not – but I’ll keep the written short and say this – if you don’t get something out of every track on here, rewind.

iLLiTe – Intro. Courtesy of CDR. Easily coulda made the First Impressions episode, if, you know, it was out back then. New artist to me, but sounds good thus far. Side street it on empty. myspace.com/eyedouble.

Jay Electronica – Exhibit A (Transformations). The early may have heard this a bit earlier this month, but hey, I’m putting in work here and things take time. Not much needs to be said here. myspace.com/jayelect.

Also this might sound sort of weird but something about the way Jay says “Nirvana” strikes me as kinda endearing.

Mr Scruff – After Time. Not necessarily representative of all of dude’s work, but yeah. Short clip. Go dig. myspace.com/mrscruffofficial.

Wu-Tang – I Can’t Go To Sleep feat Isaac Hayes (Live Version). Okay, I get that you invented the crying flow, fam, but serious? A little far maybe? I can’t front though, this one sort of goes hard.

DJ Sprinkles – Midtown 120 Intro. I discovered this earlier this morning. Sort of a counterexample to the intro. This one might change the way you think about house music – which should make you start thinking about hip-hop, considering the family tree. Check the release page here, which includes the words to the track. 日本語訳もあるので、是非チェックしてね。

Jay Electronica – Posers. I’ve been holding onto this forever with the intention of putting it into a different themed episode that I sort of tossed. No information on the vocalist though. Anyone care to fill us in before I start having to write emails?

Saroc – Motorbike. The title won’t make much sense until the end. Sol – who was kind enough to send me this cut direct from the studio last week – on production.

Shaun Boothe – Unauthorized Biography of Bob Marley. Seriously, this is like running through a Wikipedia article set to a beat, in a good way. Maybe if those stupid Multiplication Rap tapes my 2nd grade teacher gave me thinking I’d like it because I was Black were this good, I wouldn’t have gotten that D in Calculus senior year. I’m sort of looking forward to this Muhammad Ali joint. myspace.com/shaunboothe

Madlib – Disco Break. Yes, you’re supposed to learn something from this too. No excuses. myspace.com/madlib

Wiley – I Was Lost. I could never play this one on the radio back home because it had curses in it. Not the end of the world though, because I could still play Pies and Wot Do You Call it, and maybe that is making some of you UK kids roll your eyes but anyone who has the sheer nerve to end six consecutive bars with the words “no girlfriend” instead of thinking of actual rhymes on the first cut of their debut record is okay with me. www.myspace.com/eskiboywiley

e.s.t – Still (Radio Edit). In lieu of an outro, I guess. Shouts to Giant Step for the hookup.

Jay Electronica – Exhibit A (Transformations) – Final Version. Or at least that’s what it says on the tin. This sort of adds another level to the first mix, with more audio tweaking (but still a little reserved compared to old episode 82) but I like both, so here you go. Dig the outro.

Oh, also, supercali, there is a section in here that I absolutely expect you to identify.

Pencils down, put your answer sheet inside your test booklet, and pass your packets forward and to the left.

MIXTAPE 113 – SKEETER WAS BLACK

I was originally going to talk about something else here, but all of a sudden I like felt the holy ghost or something and was inspired to talk about this. Seriously everyone, this is an important issue that I feel strongly about. I’ve actually had serious conversations about this.

Intro: Copywrite – Fuck A Soundcheck (prod RJD2)

Busta Rhymes – Packin Them Things (prod Kev Brown). This is just sort of a given. And even Busta Rhymes voted for Obama. You know where to find Busta, so go check out myspace.com/kevbrown.

Blu and Mainframe – Hold On John. Off of the Johnson and Jonson record, which you’ve been hearing bits of for the last couple years or so. Apparently the joint is actually out now, and it’s highly recommended. I don’t think there’s a single cut on this record that I don’t like. I’ve said enough about this record before, so I’ll leave it at that. Shouts to Steve for this one. myspace.com/jandjbabyproducts.

I mean, think about it. The only dude who seemed to be able to dance. He could beatbox. He wore rappidy-rap style clothing – well, comparatively. Oddly enough, I never felt like this was stereotyping – I just naturally internalized that Skeeter was Black. I seriously can’t wrap my head around the fact that some people don’t get it. To my white friends – I like you all a lot, but sometimes you miss things. Very important things. Like which cartoon characters are which race.

Stanza – Do. As heard previously on your favorite rap podcast, this is another selection off of Name This Album. The lyricism is sort of bizarrely great (trying to imagine the hand contortions in the beginning is alternately funny and amazing) and as with the rest of the cuts on here, there’s actually a message in here. And as I mentioned in the outro, Stanza has inexplicably put this entire record up online for free download – inexplicably because it’s easily worth the money. The record is dope. Go get it here, and check out the rest of the site at mqrt.com.

MF Doom – Rapp Snitch Knishes feat Mr Fantastic. Does anyone actually know anything about Mr Fantastic? I mean, I could google the dude, I guess, but after listening to this, I’m realizing that I haven’t heard much of anything from the dude.myspace.com/mfdoom.

This of course, is all based on when the show was on Nickelodeon. I quit watching when Disney took over. Actually I think at that point in my life I was a little busy to be watching cartoons (okay, it was just on at an inconvenient time. I definitely used run late for school because I wanted to catch the end of Pokemon).

Q-Tip – Gettin’ Up. On the Dilla rework – you might have heard this one, but for those who haven’t – dope. This really is a proper rework. myspace.com/qtip.

Marlena Shaw – California Soul (Diplo remix). For real, when I read the track title before actually listening to it, I was both excited and worried to hear what sort of destruction Diplo would wreak on this classic – but it’s oddly restrained. It’s good. myspace.com/officialmarlenashaw.

Outro: Qwel and Kip Killagain – Heliocentric (Instrumental). I actually like Qwel.

So, really. Doug was clearly white, Skeeter was obviously Black. The logic doesn’t really run across color lines, however – I mean, what about Bee Bee? She’s blue too, but I never got “Black vibes” from her, if that’s an appropriate word. And reversewise, come to think of it, Patti was sort of ambiguous – mixed ancestry, perhaps? She was sort of dark. Connie was Asian. I’m fairly confident about that one.

Am I overthinking this? Any other theories are welcome.

Oh yeah, and thoughts on the music. You know.

So – to the point. Earlier I received an email from imeem:

Dear dex digital:

Before you vote, check out imeem playlists of Barack Obama and John McCain’s top ten favorite songs: http://www.imeem.com/presidentialplaylists

Whoa. Both major presidential candidates had online playlists? You know I had to check this. And looking at the playlists, I realized how much these speak to the style wars of the future. Keep in mind, kids – the hypebeast electrobanger listeners will some day be running the country. What you see below is a rundown of each candidate’s playlist, with a running commentary, final grading, and suggestions on improvement.

So, because voting based on political stances is played out – here I present the official Mixtape Show guide to voting based on taste.

Ready Or Not – The Fugees. This is a very, very good start. A group that many adults (and younger kids, really) haven’t even heard of, but Obama doesn’t care. A brash opening move that will get respect from the hardcore. Respect.
What’s Going On – Marvin Gaye. I’ve actually always hated the hook to this song, but the rest of the song is classic. Political Black soul. A strong following move.
I’m On Fire – Bruce Springsteen. Off the Born In The U.S.A record, which methinks is an appeal to the “Obama – ain’t that like Osama? I bet he’s one-a them thar A-rab queer lesbasexual terrarists” crowd. Decent enough song. I didn’t have this one in my house growing up.
Gimme Shelter – The Rolling Stones. This either. I am, however, noticing a rather unsubtle selection of track titles here.

Read on for the rest of the lineup…

Sinner Man – Nina Simone. Not the best title to woo the Fox News crowd, but otherwise this is a pretty good pick, politically. Elements of gospel, jazz, rock, and the careful backpacker may notice the original sample for Talib Kweli’s “Get By” at the 5 minute mark. This may be the most “impressive” cut on here, tastewise.
Touch The Sky (feat Lupe Fiasco) – Kanye West. My dad doesn’t even like Kanye West. This is clearly a reach for the younger generation. A good one, anyway.
You’d Be So Easy To Love – Frank Sinatra. For the old white folks.
Think – Aretha Franklin. Black female power? And the album is listed as Rhino Hi-Five – Black History Month Songs. Sort of a bold move here, and again, a possible reach at the crate-diggers (and junglists?)
City Of Blinding Lights – U2. You probably could have achieved a similar effect with Coldplay, but I can understand reaching for the post-quarterlife crisis yuppie vote in a slightly safer manner.
Yes We Can (YOU MUST VOTE) – Barack Obama and Will.I.Am. This is an understandable pick, but ultimately falls short of the expectations set by the previous tracks in that this song is simply not good. The Barack 2008 jam by Daedelus and Taz would have been much better – though one can understand why he wouldn’t pick that.

Overall Notes:
Musical Merit: A-. This is actually a decent playlist. Looking at it again, I think that if this guy had come in to apply as a DJ at KUCR (alma mater radio station) with this playlist on his app, we’d probably have at least granted him an interview. There’s a broad taste shown here, with a leaning toward politically conscious lyricism, and as mentioned above, the Nina Simone track, when combined with the other soul cuts, shows a pretty deep appreciation for roots and soul music. The Will.I.Am cut is an unfortunate slip, however, and calls into question his taste in hip-hop (e.g. is he just putting this there to seem hip?)- but this is balanced out mainly by his inclusion of Fugees at the top. And beyond that, the playlist actually flows properly. If this guy flunks the election, he could probably get a gig as a college DJ.
Politricks: A. This is a very, very well thought out playlist – to the point of being slightly suspicious. The songs, when presented in this context, all seem to carry some appeal to the voting audience – down to the track titles (“Gimme Shelter” = a nod to the working poor? it’s possible). The artists themselves are diverse – Blacks, whites, males, females, Christians, Muslims, and other persuasions that are probably just a Wikipedia search away, but I’m too lazy for that.

Personality Profile: Taking a look at this list, this seems like a person I would get along fairly well with – I’d actually probably ask to borrow some of his Nina Simone stuff (can you tell that that cut impressed me?) because I don’t have any. That said, it should be mentioned that I do detect a bit of a streak of self-importance in this playlist. I don’t care how many people have written songs about you – including a song with your speeches in it as your final cut is a little bold, no? That combined with his approval of Kanye and Lupe’s ridiculous swagger betrays a vain side that he doesn’t seem particularly concerned with hiding.

Recommended Amendments To This Playlist: This playlist could have been slightly better with Elton John. Really, just replace any one of the white guys on here with Elton John. If you like Kanye, you like Elton.

Personal Recommendations: Jay Electronica, probably. I think he’d probably dig it. Looking at this playlist, he might already have some Dilla, but I’d pass him some of that, and recommend probably some Outkast, and maybe even UGK (he could keep it in his car, he doesn’t have to let the voting public know he likes it). Also probably some funk (he may well listen to it, but there’s not much in here – and that Will.I.Am song worried me), and by logical extension, soultronica. Probably some Sa-Ra. Really, I’d actually just tell him to listen to this show.

Dancing Queen – Abba. It’s still a little too early to like this song. Maybe in 2015 or so. Not enough time has passed for this to be an ironic hipster favorite song. Not the best start, but the energy is there.
Blue Bayou – Roy Orbison. This isn’t such a bad song, I guess.
Take A Chance On Me – Abba. As decent as this song is, two Abba songs in the same 10-song playlist? That’s not fandom, kiddo, that’s just a lack of creativity. And “Take A Chance On Me”? That doesn’t exactly inspire confidence, fam.
If We Make It Through – Merle Haggard. What, dude, were you afraid to pull out a country track? This might actually be the best cut on here.
As Time Goes By – Dooley Wilson. The first Black dude on here, and it’s from a somewhat unfortunate era. I don’t know, this one makes me think Blackface and shucking and jiving.
Good Vibrations – The Beach Boys. Stoner.
What A Wonderful World – Louis Armstrong. The second Black solo artist on here. Legendary song, but come on, man. Similar era to Dooley…this is starting to look suspicious.
I’ve Got You Under My Skin – Frank Sinatra. Next to Good Vibrations, the second edgiest song on this cut. He’s clearly trying to appeal to the youngins with this happening tune. I’d make a heroin joke here, but I think that might be reaching a little far.
Sweet Caroline – Neil Diamond. Neil Diamond actually inspires rage in some people. This might not have been a good pick.
Smoke Gets In Your Eyes – The Platters. I’m really starting to think that maybe McCain was/is into psychedelics. Too many of these songs make me think about drugs.

Overall Notes:
Musical Merit: C. This is a lazy, narrow playlist. There’s no tension, no release, no peaks or valleys, just dredge. The songs themselves aren’t necessarily all bad, but there’s no understanding of how to tell a story here, which is unfortunate. As mentioned above, the Abba shows either a lack of taste or an artistic laziness – neither of which are good signs. There’s not much that differentiates this playlist from a drivetime oldies station lineup, with the exception of the Merle Haggard cut.

Politricks: B-. McCain truly dropped the ball here – with such an easy method to display an appreciation for diversity, there’s no sense of even a proper effort. There are no female solo artists on here, and the only Black people here are from the Jim Crow era. And what’s the matter, McCain, with all the thousands of disco records made by Black people, you only dig the white guys (if this is indeed the case, you really should have gone with the Bee Gees – anything but Staying Alive and you would have been good)? To his credit, though, McCain speaks to his audience – if only his audience – by including a lot of songs that make old red-state white folks feel good.

Personality Profile: This is going to sound scarily like Bush PR (and perhaps for good reason), but this guy is clearly a straight-shooter. He doesn’t really listen to music made by Black people or women, and doesn’t really mind letting you know that. He is clearly nostalgic for the Jim Crow era, and he doesn’t mind letting you know that, either. This is a good person to watch the game with at a sports bar over a beer. Or five. He is what he is, and he’s not pretending to be anything else. This is a good thing, because he’s apparently bad at hiding things – things, for example, such as his apparent affinity for drugs. A lot of these songs seriously make me think about drugs. Uppers and downers – he may not be diverse with the company he keeps or the people he cares about, but he appears to know his drugs.

Recommended Amendments To This Playlist: Seriously dude, the only thing that would even partially offset the damage you’ve done here would be to replace the first Abba song with the something from The Last Poets.
Personal Recommendations: I’d have to take it pretty easy on this guy. I’d probably recommend some of the less heard Johnny Cash. Maybe some Muddy Waters. Maybe slowly introduce him to rappidy-raps, possibly using M.C. Hammer as a gateway and then slowly working up to maybe Common, but that could take a while.

I’ve already said this before, and you pretty much knew what was going to happen before you read this, but unfortunately or unfortunately, McCain isn’t as cool as Barack, so he can’t win. That’s the way it goes.

The lists, of course, aren’t perfect. What artists/songs would you recommend to either of the presidential candidates?

Assuming, you know, you’re still reading this.

More music soon, promise.

This is a post I’ve been meaning to write for some time. I held off partially because I didn’t want to come off as being some jaded, negative, know-it-all music blogger, because I am not – but also because I don’t like whining about problems without presenting a solution – and at the time, I didn’t have a good one. I do now. This post is aimed at all artists, managers, or labels – from basement operations on up – and is a result of spending the better part of six years screwing around with rappidy raps. What I say here is not a surefire way to get radio/podcast airtime, nor is it a guarantee of any other sort, but I think it’s safe to say that some of the things I will mention here, if you pay attention, will actually help you get your music out there in the digital world.

As I’ve mentioned before, I get a lot of music-related email. Some of it from majors, some from indies, some from solo artists just starting out, but all with a basic common goal – to get me to listen to their music and put it on the show. When I started out, it was fun – an email from Warner here, two days later an email from some dudes in Chicago, then a week later someone from LA wanting to get my opinion on her beats…fast forward a few months, and we’re talking dozens and dozens of mp3s per day.

And I want to give everything a fair shake (particularly the independent artists), so like a year ago I made a sort of rule to submitting material – 2-3 mp3s, attached to the email. No onesheets, no bios, etc. If I like it, I get back to you. If not, no.

Often, however, I’ll get emails that make the following mistakes. For those of you artists following along at home, see if you can figure out why each of the below are not good promo looks:

Okay, put away your pencils and papers and close your test booklets – answer time.

A2: Similar to the above – you’re assuming that a) I want to download your 72MB file, b) I have the time to waste unzipping and loading your tunes, and then searching for a song I like, and secret bonus c) Rapidshare/Sharespace/ZipMania is not screwed up today (this happens more often than you think). I mean, come on. You want me to wait 70 seconds to start downloading? Not a good look. Send me a couple mp3s, and include the link as an extra option – not as the only way to listen to your work.

A3. This should be obvious, but apparently it escapes a good 70% of the people that send me mp3s (including those from professional college radio promotion companies). If you’re going to send someone a file that is going to eventually be separated from the original email, you’d better make sure that it’s marked properly. This is as easy as opening up iTunes or any other program and writing your artist name, track name, album/EP name, and perhaps your email/site in the comments – and that’s it. But now, when I listen to STOOEY_FINAL.mp3 three months from now and decide that it’s brilliant, how am I supposed to remember who gave it to me? Or, if I pass it on to another DJ who decides they love it, how is he/she supposed to get at you to do some promo work? This is like passing out business cards without putting your name on the front.

And seriously – you would be surprised at how many people actually make their living at promoting (not making, promoting) music and fail the above steps. I’m not saying that failing to follow some obscure, unwritten code will result in your failure in the music industry – just that, and this is important – you don’t want to create any unnecessary barriers to your success. Why would you want to make it a challenge for someone who has devoted two or three minute of their time to listening to your music to actually listen to your music? Five minutes spent considering the time of your audience can really pay off, seriously.

And I say this because I’m nice. Seriously. Making music is hard enough without having to read promoters/bloggers/record label people’s minds.

The other day, I got an email from a band that provided a quick, curse-word-laden, two-line introduction, and a link to their site on Bandcamp. Not knowing what it was, I clicked on the link. Within a matter of seconds, I was on their site – complete with a custom header, graphics, and their latest single playing in a flash player. The track itself was terrible, but I was interested in the main site, so I checked it out.

It turns out that Bandcamp is a new (like a month old?), but they’re doing pretty much everything right already.
You can watch the video below if you like:

Bandcamp Screencast from Ethan Diamond on Vimeo.

or just read on.

Here’s the basic rundown:
1. You can create a free profile for your band. This includes album artwork, lyrics, descriptions of your album/individual tracks, and so on.
2. You upload a single, lossless file (e.g. WAV or AIFF format) and they create .mp3, .ogg, .flac, and pretty much every format for every player, automatically (and tag them). There is a rabid minority of DJs and listeners that will be very, very happy about this.
3. You can let people stream as many songs as you want, you can let them download them for free, or set a price, or let your visitors name their price (ala Radiohead).
4. You can let visitors embed your tracks on their myspace/blog/whatever.

But instead of me trying to write about it, let’s see a good example of Bandcamp put into good use – check out Killer Mike’s Bandcamp site. Go ahead, flip through it, and keep in mind that this probably took someone a good hour (minus uploading time) to put together – hell, Mike may have done it himself. Also note that, as of now, you can download the whole record, or name your own price for it. This makes me, the listener, like Killer Mike a lot more right now. Are you getting the picture here?

Before I say the next thing, let me say this. This is a new service, and is free. As such, it deserves a bit of caution as far as expecations go, but still – it’s impressive. That said…

I do not endorse things easily, and you couldn’t even pay me to give a site/service this sort of recommendation, but here it is: as of right now, Bandcamp is officially the business. No competition, not even close. If you are a rapper, if you are in a group, if you a producer, if you are managing one of the three, then do yourself a favor, take ten minutes, and set yourself up on Bandcamp.