MIXTAPE 116 – PRIORITIES

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Happy new year, happy new president, hope you bought yourself a new hoodie instead of blowing it on chocolates for some dude/female who aint appreciate you anyway. Been a minute.

For those of you who have been curled up in a ball in your room, in the dark, whispering silently to yourself “man, I wish dex would hurry up and talk about something he has no business even opening his mouth about for over 12 minutes in an outro”, this is your episode. For those of you who haven’t, it’s all good because you can just loop the tracks instead.

Priorities – we all have them.

Tracklist

Intro – Kev Brown - Keep On Instrumental. myspace.com/kevbrown

Co$$ - Angelic feat Blu. Both of these dudes are dope. I can’t support the Power Rangers reference (never liked them dude(ette)s from the start, Ninja Turtles reigns supreme son), but Blu’s “we in the field tryna kill demons” for some reason makes me want to go play Final Fantasy or something.myspace.com/paidthecoss

Bambu - Crooks and Rooks. From LA to..uh, LA. Really, relistening to this track again, probably all of that nonsense at the end shoulda just been left to a close ear bent at this joint. I know I’m a little late on this, but this joint, along with the video, is some of the best rap music I have heard in a minute, period. myspace.com/bambumusic

Primeridian - Money feat Rashid Hadee and Pugz Atoms. True story – I found this cut, unlabeled, in my iTunes the other day, and dug it. I sent an email to Suhburb to double check that this was okay to blast on the show, and got a “uh, I didn’t write that song, fam” mail back. Lol wut? So I dug through my gmail box and it turns out it’s a Primeridian cut. Make no mistake, being mistaken for a Suhburb production is a good thing (come on, the drum work – doesn’t this sound like 06 era Suhburbia?), but seriously people gotta start tagging their mp3s – this “final mixdown 080707.mp3″ business is getting old.www.myspace.com/primeridian

oh yeah, thanks to mamiko for this ep’s design.

Tor Cesay – The Perch feat Flying Lotus, Phonte, and Oddisee. I got this sampler from (I think) Giant Step and it was sort of great. I really wanted to put some of the more grimy tracks up, but I ended up going with this one. Anyone out there more up on this person, the proper pronunciation of her name? myspace.com/toruk

Royce - Shake This. I’m too tired to remember the original sample on this cut (help?), but I’m actually kinda into with it. The balance and intensity is pretty impressive. I like how the first verse is squeaky clean and then all of a sudden Royce flies into a flurry of curse words near the end of the second verse, and then it’s really all over. Also how his statement regarding his status with Primo is actually affirmed an appropriate sound effect. Seriously guys, Primo-style radio edits are so much better than album cuts.

Pax and Pry – Another group whose name I’m not quite sure how to pronounce. I forget who put me up on this group (they’re from NL, so maybe Ouxu? was this your doing?), but right now I am very thankful for their advice because they are sort of good. And, for anyone wondering how they might implement, sans bandcamp or any other outside party, some of the pushy “advice” given in this previous post aimed at independent rappidy rappers, their site is a good example. paxandpry.com

Outro Instrumental – King Most Yancey Boys Megamix (sliced, looped, etc).

Eskibeat Public Service Announcement – as you probably noticed, that was a cover of the old Wiley “Eskimo” beat as produced by yours truly with a few minutes of spare time and a Nintendo DS. I’m totally serious, I expect to see a hit track pop up from over there produced on a DS. Also sorry about the whole echo effect thing, somebody told me UK people liked that sort of stuff so I was just trying to do some outreach.

Actually, if anyone wants the raw version of that track I can post it up.

And that’s what it is. While I’m not really confident that I expressed myself properly (or concisely) in the outro, I am serious about being worried that people that just randomly support any minority (choose your own definition for that word) artist, just for the sake of “supporting” them, are taking away from and cheapening the efforts those artists within that same group that really are dope and truly do deserve respect for putting out good music.

So yeah, does anyone have any thoughts on that? I’m sort of interested in hearing what people think about this.

MIXTAPE 112 – SOULTRONICA SIDEBAR: MOTHERSHIP DILLALEON

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What’s good Earthlings – this is an official Mixtape Show Soultronica Sidebar Hijack by your favorite android – Brothertron. What we have here is what I promised you last week (Future Colour Time – we don’t run on your crazy Earth clocks, dig? For us out here, this is on time!) – a new (to you!) project by A.Leon Craft (he’s appeared on the Mixtape Show in as a member of Labratz), over J Dilla beats, courtesy of Sol Messiah.

And, of course, since we’re bringing you this tape from the future – you’re the first to get it. Dig it.

Here’s the tracklist for those of yall keeping score:

Project Title: Mothership Dillaleon
Track Selections (Continual Stream Mode):
introlude: Planet New Afrika Cultural Archives Audio Identification.
1. ALeon’s Craft
2. Lite Beam
3. Healing Process
4. Guitars In The Water
5. Concrete Complications
6. Maroons
7. Melanin
8. The Moon
9. Black Dolla
10. Mothership Dillaleon
Possibly more info on the dude also at myspace.com/aleoncraft.

Bonus: The original album artwork from the project:
Front:

Dex (2008 version) will be back next week (Earth time, maybe) with a new rap episode – or in the meantime I guess you can holler at him in the “comments section” of this “website”. Brothertron out.

MIXTAPE 95 – DILLAGENCE

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Once again, I have to give full credit to Mick Boogie, Busta Rhymes, and of course J Dilla. This is a distilled version – my favorite tracks – from the just-dropped Dillagence mixtape. All joints are brand new. This is just stupid good. Stop reading right now and listen. If you want the full version, grab it at mick’s site - though the servers there seem to be struggling with the traffic (part of the reason I did this ep).

You’re gonna dig this one.

Busta Rhymes – Dillagence.

Busta Rhymes – Takin’ What’s Mine. And yes, you’ve heard this beat on this show before, but I just had to do this one again. Stealing somebody’s lunch, their lunch money, and then making them buy their lunch back from you? That’s horrible. Did I say Busta wasn’t funny anymore? I take it back.

Busta Rhymes – Step Up. This beat is just ridiculous.

Busta Rhymes – Words from Ma Dukes. Dilla’s moms speaks to the people.

Busta Rhymes, Q-Tip, and Talib Kweli – Lightworks. One-upping the version on the 2K8 soundtrack. I remember my first time at the Do-Over and seeing people just go bananas to this song. Not this song, actually, just the instrumental. Like 1:30 of the Lightworks instrumental off of Donuts, and just wow. I was absolutely blown away.

Busta Rhymes and Rah Digga – Best That Ever Did It. RD is just crazy on this track. References to Portishead, Benzino, Eminiem’s drug habit all in the same verse? Busta’s just a given here.

Busta Rhymes and M.O.P. – Classic. Dig what he says at the end about Dilla’s production and EQing, which is something I’ve heard a lot. For those who this doesn’t seem like a big deal to, talk to anyone who’s ever been on deadline for an album and the studio lost the Protools files. Not fun.

Busta Rhymes and Rah Digga – The Range. As much as I loved that Plastic Cups remix (anyone who came to my last house party knows that one took on special significance!), this one is really just that dope. I have apparently been sleeping on Rah Digga:

That’s why I go to the range
I see some rednecks with shit I can’t even name
Saying to myself I better do it the same
Revolution coming, shit it already came
They called it a hurricane
That’s why I go to the range…

Damn. DAMN.

Busta Rhymes and Rah Digga – Not Right Now. Beat on this one is ridiculous. That “not right now” hook is alternately cool and hilarious.

Busta Rhymes, Cassidy, Papoose – Psycho. Somehow this makes me think of Cypress Hill. Cassidy has some pretty ridiculous lines on there, but Papoose with that “I’m the new era like a mistake on your computer”, and the “www” lines is just too much. And you know what, I miss Cassidy.

Busta Rhymes – Dillagence Outro. The end of this is absolutely priceless. I won’t ruin it for you.

That’s it. If you want the full version – go get it, there’s plenty on there that wouldn’t fit here.

MIXTAPE 89 – HELLO CANADA

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So I got interviewed on the Canada Broadcasting Corporation’s Radio One, on a show called Search Engine. Haven’t listened just yet, but it’s about the Jena 6. Shouts to Jesse for making that connection.

By the way, if you’re looking for the Jena 6 episode, you can click here to see the original post.

This episode, we’re pushing forward with more good music.

Jaylib - Mission Remix. There’s not really too much to be said that hasn’t been said about this duo. Dilla on the rhymes as well, and as you expect, he tears it up. The strings in this cut are ridiculous. stonesthrow.com.

Specifics - My Tunes. Straight outta Vancouver – and with this, I believe that I’ve exhausted my supply of Specifics tracks. For some reason I found this on my iPod when I was still in China, and jammed it for like three days straight – then I accidentally deleted my hard drive. They just really have this jazz loop thing down. In case you hadn’t noticed, I like this group. Go Canada. myspace.com/specifics.

UGK - You Don’t Know Me. Wondering why UGK gets so much respect back home? This is one reason. Thanks to cocaineblunts. myspace.com/ugk.

Phonte - Interlude: Wack Freestyles. I couldn’t resist this one. It’s just so…meta. Come on. He’s making fun of mixtapes. And this is a mixtape! Get it? Okay yeah but a good sign of a poor rapper is someone who can’t string together a decent demo without using an established song as a crutch. I’ve got no problem with unofficial remixes and bootlegs (check the archives on this very hip-hop podcast) but unless you have a specific reason for doing otherwise, find your own beats. If you need help with that, ask me – I know plenty of talented producers. myspace.com/mickboogie.

Gif - Alicia Keys Freestyle. And that prior thing was in no way related to this cut, because a) it’s a different flip, and b) it’s hot. Gif, could you explain your name to us? myspace.com/dagif

Wise Intelligent – Go With Me. Another storytelling joint. I won’t ruin this one for you, but check the very end of this cut. myspace.com/wiseintelligent

Polyrhythm Addicts – It’s My Life feat Phonte. I was a bit late on this one, but with DJ Spinna on production, this one’s an easy call. Dig what Phonte is saying about independence as well. myspace.com/thepolyrhythmaddicts.

And the bonus cut: Suburb - Synth + Strings (snippet). Again, the kid is ridiculous. I’ve got more from dude. Anyone want more? myspace.com/suhburb.

Intro beat: Specifics - Life’s Work
Outro beat: Mathematics - Untitled.

And that’s this week. More coming very very soon. Any requests?