MIXTAPE 132 – CASSETTE JAWNS


MIXTAPE 132 – CASSETTE JAWNS

So yeah, gonorrhea 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.

Tracklist

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

MIXTAPE 113 – SKEETER WAS BLACK


MIXTAPE 113 – SKEETER WAS BLACK

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

Tracklist

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.

Dillagence – Radio Clean Edit

This one is for all my college / community radio family.

So a little while back, view my man JR put me up on the fact that someone had made a radio edit of the Mick Boogie + Busta Rhymes + J Dilla tape. (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, advice you should listen to the Dillagence tape, viagra dosage here). I still do a little radio work myself, so I was happy to hear that the tape would be getting some more exposure.

After checking the edit, though, I realized that while it was pretty good, there were some pretty serious words that slipped through in the edit. I am – unfortunately – really really well versed in FCC indecency rulings, having met with pretty much the top lawyers in DC on the subject. And yes, your local Clear Channel affiliate may be able to write off a max $350,000 fine for a slipped “ass” here and there as a business expense, but a local underground station can’t.

So – building off of AJ’s mix, this one is more polished, and 100% radio friendly* for current US legal climate.

I also took the liberty of flip-editing the N-word. Not that the “nigga” or any of its variants are subject to FCC fines (let that sink in for a second), but I know a lot of DJs who’d prefer to not play it. “Bitch”, however, is intact.

So for all you young DJs looking for something to drop on your next weekly session, download this, burn it up, and push play.



Click here to download Dillagence – KUCR Clean Edits

Tracklist:

1 ) Words From Ma Dukes
2 ) Dillagence (produced by DJ Spinna)
3 ) Takin What’s Mine
4 ) Step Up
5 ) The Conversation (f/ Talib Kweli)
6 ) Code of the Streets (f/ MOP)
7 ) Lightworks (f/ Q-Tip and Talib Kweli)
8 ) Baggage Handlers (f/ Raekwon)
9 ) How We Roll
10 ) Best That Ever Did It (f/ Rah Digga)
11 ) Psycho (f/ Cassidy and Papoose)
12 ) The Range (f/ Rah Digga)
13 ) Not Right Now
14 ) Other Side Of The Road
15 ) Who Tryin To Kill You
16 ) High
17) Dillagence Outro

And of course, if you aren’t in public radio, you don’t need this, so go grab the dirty version. New episode in the works kids.

*Not a guarantee. Preview and broadcast at your own risk.

Hey, remember when Busta Rhymes was funny?

I do:

Busta Rhymes – Gimme Some More

This one is just plain weird.

Busta Rhymes – Dangerous

This video in particular was bananas. I remember my friend telling me that the white dude in the car was Busta with makeup on, capsule and I didn’t believe him until I saw it again.

Craig Mack – Flava in Ya Ear Remix feat Biggie Smalls, Rampage, Busta Rhymes and LL Cool J

I think it’s hilarious that everybody shows up to the video show with standard gear on, but Busta feels it necessary to bring some ridiculous-ass hat and jump around in front of the camera like an idiot. Also LL is the only dude that felt it necessary to bring some scantily-clad woman along with him. I don’t like LL so much.

Bonus Video: Lupe Fiasco – And He Gets The Girl (unofficial)

I don’t really remember this song, but it, and the video, are hella cute. Reminds me of a certain Mixtape Show episode.

As an aside, Kanyeezy has an oddly decent blog.

How was everyone’s weekend?