More Akira / Rap stuff

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okay, approved well there’s not all that much rap in here, but this is something worth checking out.

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”.


Akira: The Kaneda Short Film from Eye Tape on Vimeo.

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

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MIXTAPE 127 – RAP FOR BUSY PEOPLE

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

Today’s jawn is for busy people. Each track is below 2 minutes, medications 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.

Tracklist

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

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MIXTAPE 126 – THE GOLDEN CARTRIDGE LEVEL 2

Okay, phlebologist now I said this in the intro of the show itself, visit web 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.


Tracklist:

introlude: an unnamed beat from Flying Lotus. I got this from him forever ago and have a feeling it’s since seen an official release, but don’t know what it’s called. Any ideas?
nintendo
Jurassic Park – Level 1 theme music (NES)


World 2-1

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)


World 2-2

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

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MIXTAPE 125 – STORYTIME IN THE 90s

So yeah, website like this been forever. On one level we have strictly tracks from the 1990s, clinic 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.