Category Archives: episodes

MIXTAPE 101 – ORIGINAL GANGSTER

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MIXTAPE 101 – ORIGINAL GANGSTER

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

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

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

Tracklist

intro dexalude: Pimpology 101 by Mathematics.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MIXTAPE 100 – BEAT TAPE 4 – KING EDITION

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MIXTAPE 100 -BEAT TAPE 4 – KING EDITION

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

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

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

Tracklist

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

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

2’58 – P Dukes – Brown Leaves.

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

6’45 – Suburb – Jazz on Acid.

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

10’40 – Madlib – Old Age (loop).

11’45 – Ayatollah – Listen.

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

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

holler.

MIXTAPE 99 – THE PRIMARIES

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MIXTAPE 99 – THE PRIMARIES

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

Tracklist

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Peace to Barack Obama.”?

MIXTAPE 98 – SANTA GIVES MORE TO RICH KIDS THAN POOR KIDS

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MIXTAPE 98 – SANTA GIVES MORE TO RICH KIDS THAN POOR KIDS

(image from here).

Because real talk, buy viagra Santa Claus does give more presents to rich kids than poor kids. I’ll be spending my giftmas day back in the hood delivering toys and food. If you can do something to bring people up this season, please do so.

In the meantime, feel free to bump this in the ride.

Tracklist

[Intro beat] Meanest Man Contest – Don’t Die on Christmas. I used to play a lot of MMC on the radio when I first started out. I’m not sure who would win a Meanest Man Contest. myspace.com/meanestmancontest

Big Gen and Snipe – This Christmas ft Birmingham J and Mr Mal. This is pretty much the first I’ve heard of dudes. The song is marginally cheesy (I mean, it’s a Christmas song), but it brings to mind the fact that there’s really a very fine line between songs about giving people gifts and songs about giving people drugs. I dig this cut though. myspace.com/biggensnipe

69 Boyz – What You Want For Christmas. What can I possibly even add to this song? Make sure your bass is turned up.

(Digilude): Hally – Xmas Songs Plastic Sputnik Arcade Punk Remix (snippet). And in the suburbs, Mummy and Daddy wake up Brad Jr. What will little Brad Jr. get this year? A lump of coal? A hard-learned lesson in the gritty reality of living in the streets? Or maybe that new nintendo…8bitpeoples for the full cut.

Snoop Dogg, Nate Dogg, Bad Azz, Daz and Tray Dee – Santa Claus Goes Straight to the Ghetto. You might not expect this given the list of artists in the credits, but this may well be the most positive song in this episode.

Master Slash Slave – All I Want for Xmas (Is To Get The Band Back Together) (snippet). Apparently this song was written in like 5 takes and 53 minutes of bizarre indiekid desperation. You should visit the myspace just to look at the ridiculous pictures. If Postal Service did more drugs and had cheaper equipment, maybe they could sound as good as these kids. myspace.com/master1slave.

Treacherous Three – Xmas Rap. And to think that this was technically pre-crack era. Jesus. Other songs on here take occasional jabs at the government and media, but this one is actually pretty bold. And yes, Kool Moe Dee was part of this group.

AKIM & The Teddy Vann Production Company – Santa Claus is a Black Man. I don’t know about you guys, but in my house, Santa Claus was definitely a Black man. This joint really should be mandatory in every household.

Every household. Yours too.