MIXTAPE 109 – BEEN TOO LONG


MIXTAPE 109 – BEEN TOO LONG

No, sales I’m not dead. And no, find the show is not dead, remedy and I’m not planning on letting it die anytime soon. I’ve kinda been underground for a minute, just basically putting in work and getting my bars up on the school angle. It has, however, been far too long – maybe too long? Are you all still even out there? That said – let’s get into it:

Tracklist

Intro Instrumental – 9th Wonder – Black Album Rejects #31 (I think).

Murs – Can It Be. I couldn’t think of a better track to start this one off with. And no, I’m absolutely not hating on Murs. I remember the first time I actually saw the dude – he came to my university in a dirty white T shirt, old sneakers, and some pajama pants and rocked a show on what was basically a hill with some grass on it. Crazy show, and I’ve been a fan ever since. Dude is a dope rapper, he just happens to have made a song that confused me, and this joint more than makes up for that. And apparently he’s got a free record up – check out www.mursand9thwonder.com. And yes, when the new record comes out – buy it.

Jay Electronica – Defcon 4. From what I can tell, this joint is at least 4 years old. Produced by Sol Messiah (fam hit me up), it’s a little more straightforward beatwise than the stuff we heard, say, on episode 82. Lyrically, it’s exactly what you’d expect from the dude. Time to hit the library. myspace.com/jayelect.

Gif – Invisible (Ramona Moore). I was eating dinner a few weeks ago with a kid from Hong Kong, a kid from Japan (duh), and a Kyrgyzstani, when the topic turned to the elections. The Kyrgyzstani dude said something about that he’d heard that there is no longer any racism in the US. Unfortunately he decided to say that when I was in the middle of trying to sip my soda so he definitely ended up with that joint all over his new shirt. I laughed that hard. I don’t know – maybe if you watch the news you get that impression – but I don’t watch the news, so I wouldn’t know (I have been, however, watching Japanese news, and that is a whole different story)…Dude was actually genuinely surprised when I had to set him straight.

Anyway, as I said, this song actually follows the seqence of an actual event. For some more info on what happened with Ramona Moore, you can check this blog post. For Da Gif himself, check myspace.com/dagif. Thank you for making this song, fam.

East Flatbush Project – A Day In A Life feat Stress. This cut is just dope. I don’t have too much to say about this. It’s been too long since we’ve had one of Spencer‘s joints grace the Mixtape Show. This one is off the “First Born” EP – a joint project with Spencer and Stress. Do yourself a favor and play this one a few times. myspace.com/theeastflatbushproject.

Black Milk and Fat Ray – Take Control. I’ve been sitting on this cut for a miiinute. Maybe it’s just the cymbals on this joint that do it for me – but they’re not exactly slacking in the lyrical department here either. myspace.com/blackmk.

Madlib – Go feat Guilty Simpson. This song has some of the cruelest lyrics I’ve heard since, well, the last episode. That Punk’d line, combined with the Black / white / Chinese man joint is just too much. stonesthrow.com.

Outro Instrumental – 410 Pharaohs - Fresh.

And yeah, I’ll get into the rap in japan thing at some point in the near future…

In the meantime, that’s what I got for this week. Holler at a scholar.

MIXTAPE 72 – BEAT TAPE VOL 3


MIXTAPE 72 – BEAT TAPE VOL 3

At long last, allergist it’s the long-awaited threequel to one of the original concept/spinoff series on this hip-hop podcast – the Beat Tape. Keeping in tradition with recent developments on the show, this tape is all over the place – stylistically and geographically. Three continents, multiple subgenres and inspirations, and just damn. I guarantee at least three rewinds on this episode or your money backTM

Intro – DJ Umoja – Ieidc. Words – my father. I wish I was kidding.

1’05 – Super Smoky Soul – Good Night. Straight out of Tokyo. The Light Smoke EP is the first release on Circulations Japan, and it goes hard. Please check this. Shouts to Dai. myspace.com/circulations

3’40 – DJ Cam – The Sound of The Streets. Now on to France. This joint coulda easily showed up on Episode #68. myspace.com/djcamrecall

5’20 – Iain Haywood – Smooth. And over to the UK. Oh, come on. It’s cute. myspace.com/12pads.

6’35 – Alf-Alpha – 22 Year Old. Back to southern CA. I had this on replay for a very long time. Cut is cute as hell, and I want to call the words/scratches clever, but it’s a little beyond that. I hear dude has an album out. You should check it maybe. myspace.com/alfalpha

10’00 – Gil Scott-Heron – Is That Jazz (excerpt). I have no qualms about jacking things from YouTube. The bassline on this thing is ridiculous.

12’00 – Suburb - untitled. I’ve been sitting on these joints for far too long. Suburb is sort of the truth. Check him out. myspace.com/suhburb.

13’25 – Suburb - Cornelius Brothers flip. See above.

15’30 – Unagi - The One Revisited. Cut is hard. unagi442.com.

18’05 – Disrupt - International Karate Championship. Jahtari, the Leipzig, Germany-based label has been doing their thing for a minute now. This was their first release and you know I am fucking with it. jahtari.org.

20’40 – Disrupt - Events Occur In Realtime. This is an exclusive given to me by the Jahtari kids themselves. jahtari.org.

22’05 – J Dilla – Make Em NV (instrumental). Yep. jdilla.org.

23’20 – 9th Wonder – Track 07. Off the marginally infamous “Black Album Rejects” beat tape that floated around forever ago. myspace.com/9thwondermusic.

This is clearly the best beat tape episode yet, and it has nothing to do with me. Thanks to all the artists for contributing tracks, and I was serious in the outro. I want to know what you think about this. Let me know.

ps – in case you missed the first two in the series, check here: beat tape vol 1, and vol 2.

MIXTAPE 68 – FIRST IMPRESSIONS


MIXTAPE 68 – FIRST IMPRESSIONS

I think if you’ve been keeping up on current [USA] events, mind you’ll know what the opening skit is about. Shout outs to Derek for creating/voicing the character of Johnathan America.

Other than that, though, this episode is all about first impressions. When you are a child of the MTV generation like I am, and you have crazy ADHD like I do, and you bought a Sidekick for the sole purpose of being able to IM and drive at the same time like I did, you rarely have the attention span for much beyond the first minute and a half or so of a new CD.

And as anybody who has ever sold indie CDs out of a trunk on a busy thoroughfare will tell you, the first impression is the difference between a sale and an angry look.

So this episode of your favorite hip-hop podcast is the First Impressions Episode – nothing but first tracks. Track 01s. This is probably one of my favorites so far. Hope you dig – have fun with this one.

Tracklist!

J Dilla – Geek Down feat Busta Rhymes. I remember how fucking amped I was the first time I played this in the dusty Volvo. jdilla.org

Oh No – Intro. 27 beats in 3 days? Damn. As much as I like dude’s older brother, I can’t remember the last beat that Madlib made that made me want to hit somebody (feel free to refresh my memory in the comments though). This one does that to me, but maybe I’m just violent. myspace.com/ohnodisrupt.

Large Professor – Intro. The tempo might slow down a little on this cut, but your head should absolutely not stop nodding. myspace.com/thelargeprofessor.

J.R. Writer – To Be A Diplomat. I like how the dude fits a good portion of the backstory to his entire career into the first track of his CD, just like he’s trying to bring you up to speed on who he is and why you should care. This track inspired the entire episode. myspace.com/jrwriter

Murs – Intro. This is pretty much a given. If you don’t already own this album, get off of my internet. As soon as you put this cut in, you know the rest of the album cannot possibly be anything other than hot. myspace.com/murs316

M.I.A. – Banana Skit. 30 seconds of weird. I bet a lot of you actually skipped this track looking for “Galang”. Dummies. Get yrself an educayshuuuuuuuuuun! miauk.com

Agallah – Gangster. Summer of 2005 (okay I was late), this stayed in the deck like stupid. I replay this to the point where I should be sick of it, but I’m still not. This joint was my introduction to Purple City, period (again, slow). I don’t know if the mixtape is even available anymore, but if you can find it, there are some gems on Doomsday. myspace.com/agallahdonbishop.

Stanza – Enter In. I wish I had found this CD in my stash before I’d started the Soul episode. Two minutes of telling you who he is, and what you’re going to hear for the next 48. The production and the wordplay are both worth a rewind. Probably the best surprise I’ve found in the mail all month. Recommended. myspace.com/stanzahiphop.

Superiority Complex – Intro. See, these dudes get to talk all cocky like that in their intros, and the second I try things like that, females start looking at me crossways. Not fair. These two invite a lot of criticism based on their name alone (not to mention their insulting the rapping public at large), but I think their opening attack ain’t half bad. myspace.com/superioritycomplexmusic.

Now On – Ascension. I remember kinda being eh on this cut until they brought in them crazy-ass synths and rhodes. I actually have a hard time concentrating on the lyrics because the instro just really goes that hard. And then they drop in the turntablism…feel free to rewind this one as well. nowonmusic.com. [thanks josh]

intro beat: Unagi – Sacred Music
outro loop: The Go Gos – We Got The Beat.

Whoo boy. As always, hit up the comments section.

MIXTAPE SHOW PODCAST EPISODE 32


MIXTAPE EPISODE 32

Hectic as fuck here, unhealthy as usual. Since we were on that education tip last week, pharm I figured we’d continue the domination of the hip-hop podcast world this week with some more of the same business. Focus this week: politricks and other “conscious”-type shit. I actually don’t really like the label “conscious”, sick since it seems like we’re patting MCs on the back for being sentient beings. I don’t really know how I feel about that. Does anyone have a better word we can run with? Feel free to leave a comment about that.On with the show. (click “continue” to see the playlist for this week’s show!)Saigon, dead prez, and Immortal Technique – Impeach the President. Not that this beat hasn’t been done before, in fact somebody did it like last year, but the joint is hot. Too many quotable lines in this one. Really, come on. Saigon, dead prez, Immortal…you know this joint is going to be fucking hot. Please download this, because if you don’t the terrorists will win. saigon on myspace, deadprez.com, immortal-technique.com.Oh yeah, by the way, XXLmag.com, I really hope you paid the dude that you jacked the flash player from. Also feel free to credit my site as your inspiration (see above, then check out xxlmag’s ‘bangers‘ section). Word. Continue reading