the mixtape show

and it was brilliant.

Not because of the taste, but because it was my first solid meal in a week and a half. This also means that I can talk again.

Anyway, I’ll probably address this in audio form later, but I just wanted to put people up on some new updates to the site/show:

One minor annoyance on the site has always been that if you’re listening to the show on the show player and then click any link - the comment link, say, then the page reloads and you have to start over again. This isn’t so fun if you’re on a slow connection.

So, there’s a tiny pop-out bar just above and below the show player over there on the right. Click that (try it here now), and you should get a small window containing the last 20 or so episodes. You can jam on that while you check the site, or hell, just open it up and browse the rest of the net.

Okay, this I’m excited about. I’ve wanted to do this for a very long time, and really just now got around to putting it together. If you look just below the “cover art” for any episode, you’ll see a tiny box with an embed code, like this:

Click anywhere in that box, go to Edit → Copy, and then paste wherever you like. Myspace bulletin, profile, blog, forum, whatever. You’ll get something that looks like the following:

easy way to put your friends up on Jay/Labratz/Iain/Suburb/Brothertron, whatever.

Not to beat this into your heads, but you are subscribed, right? Good. Now sneak onto your friend’s computer and make sure they have a steady stream of good music flowing into their inbox. Click here for the rundown (opens in same page).

Oh, bonus because a couple people asked for it - if anyone wants the site background for use on their very own desktop (!) :

have at it. Heavily influenced by my friend Elliott G’s line, Ultra Vitalence (dig Elliott in the middle, you’ll see what I mean),

which got a nice writeup recently in the URB blog, courtesy of my other good friend Jolie.

Okay, yeah, that’s about it, really. I’ve tested stuff somewhat, but if you use IE, god bless you there might be some bugs I don’t know about. Let me know if things are or are not working.

New things soon.

(click the image below to listen!)

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Yeah, so that’s where I’ve been the last few days. I got my wisdom teeth pulled, and you know how they usually give you a choice between getting knocked out or just doing anaesthesia? Well, the surgeon took one look at my X-rays and said “Son, we generally like to give our patients a choice in the matter, but you’ve got four impacted choppers in there, and I’m gonna have to put you under. No arguments accepted.” I’ll spare you the bloody details, but suffice to say that there was a lot of sawing involved and I’m not able to talk just yet.

Now, most people would just take a break and enjoy the vacation from rappidy rap podcasts, but I promised myself February would be special. But I was in no condition to speak into a mic - so a few scrawled messages on napkins, promises I have no intention of honoring, and sad puppydog looks later, I managed to con Mamiko into recording the intro for me. Everybody, please, a round of applause for Mamiko.

A lot of good music this episode - let’s get into it.

mamikolude - Bullion - God Only Knows. Yes, the Beach Boys flip. I gotta put this dude on - next beattape, I promise.

Labratz - Grow. Is Labratz a new name to you? It shouldn’t be. More of the same raw post-production (especially on the I mentioned the first time I played these dudes. Too many quotables in here, but all the same - “It gotta precipitate / Before you levitate”. Take that one with you today.myspace.com/thelabratzmusic.

Jay Electronica - When The Levees Broke. I’m not sure who produces some of these more unconventional tracks (it may well be Jay himself, come to think of it), but the understatedness of this cut…man, just listen.

Jay Electronica - Departure. The title of the second part of this cut (not included here - next time!) is what inspired my original name for this episode before Mamiko took it over, but the spirit is still there. Vividly autobiographical track. See that “embed” function up here? You might consider using that to share this with your friends.

Penuckle - I Love Being Black. As do I. I’ve been meaning to get Penuckle on the show for some time, so when he hit me with the track just before February kicked off, I knew this one was a given. Black History Month - do your research. Thanks again, P (by the way, who handled production on this one?). myspace.com/penuckle.

G.L.C. - Honor Me. Not the Welsh group. Not them. No. The flow and beat on this are obviously dope, but what does it for me is that extra vocal tweaking on there. Everyone, more delay, please. The trash talking at the end is kinda funny, but doesn’t take away from the intensity of the track. Shouts to Vince for putting me up on this track. myspace.com/glc.

C.L. Smooth - Multi Barz of Fury (prod. Pete Rock). Yes, you read that right. Is the coldness between the two masters over? I have no idea, and technically this isn’t that much of a new track considering that Pete released this cut on the Surviving Elements as an instrumental called “You Remind Me”. So what does this mean, CL? Are more Pete/CL collabs on the way? myspace.com/clsmoothmusic

Saroc - Black Dot. Exclusive courtesy of Sol Messiah (Labratz). I got an email from dude referring to Saroc as his “secret weapon” with this cut attached. I’m not sure how much longer he’s going to be able to keep her a secret, but the lyrics are definitely impressive. The production? Signature Sol. Make sure to play this back a couple times to make sure you’re absorbing it all - in the meantime, I’m waiting for more from Saroc.

Erykah Badu- Real Thing (prod. Madlib). Anyone else out there miss Erykah? Fortunately we won’t have to wait that long - her new record is coming pretty soon. I wouldn’t mind hearing more collaborations between these two. myspace.com/erykahbadu.

I’m excited for the rest of this month. I’ll post the particulars in a bit, but I’m craving milkshakes again. Thoughts on the show are welcome, as are suggestions for food that won’t make me pass out.

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Yeah, 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.

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…

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Most of us here are far too young to remember this, but when Dr Martin Luther King, 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.

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.