MIXTAPE 80 – FROM LA WITH LOVE

My bad on the delay. First things first –

The Mixtape Show is in the final round for the award for Best (Podsafe) Music Podcast on the internet. Thanks for getting us this far – let’s take it this year! The voting opens on the 28th and goes to the 10th of August, and you can vote every single day. I fully expect all of you to do that. I’ll be posting details on how to vote once the polls open.

It’s also probably a good idea to keep an eye on this space in the next couple of weeks – there’s gonna be a hell of a lot of music coming your way – the podcasts will be coming in more often, and there’s going to be a bunch of giveaways. So if you like free shiny discs with pretty songs on them, you should pay attention.

So – this episode. This is a compilation that came out a little while ago that spent a good amount of time in the ride, but for whatever reason has really been slept on. ArtDontSleep’s new From LA With Love has a mission statement that is a kinda tall order, but I am definitely feeling the music. I only have the promo version, but I hear the official release comes with a mini art booklet. Definitely a release worth checking out. This episode is a cool little mix put together by Kuthma that runs you through some of the highlights. Check the soultronica vibe on a lot of these cuts…

Here’s the official tracklist from the CD – obviously this isn’t the order of the podcast.
01. From Leaf to Feather – Night Sun
02. Nobody presents: Blank Blue – All the Shallow Deep
03. Sound Directions – Wildflower
04. Tarek “Dj Dusk” Captan – Let me know
05. A Race of Angels – Just Begin
06. Adventure Time – This Dome Is Our Home
07. Nathan Yell – Goodbye
08. Coleman - No Strings Attached
09. Computer Jay feat. The Gray Kid – 1000 Fold
10. Exile - In The Night 22 [more exile here]
11. Georgia Anne Muldrow – Killa Peach (I had no idea she produced! More of her here)
12. Flying Lotus – It’s A Secret [hell to the yes. more Flying Lotus]
13. Take feat. Gaby Hernandez – Walk Away
14. Yesterdays New Quintet – I Remember John Coltrane
15. The Gaslamp Killer feat. Gonjasufi - Kobwebs
16. Free Moral Agents – Sound At Sea
17. Carlos Nino & Miguel Atwood-Ferguson – Nag Champa (you’ve seen Carlos before as part of Ammon contact – more from them here)

Aaaand that’s about all I can get away with leaking. More info at myspace.com/fromlawithlove.

Oh – intro is that new Madlib - Get It Right.

As always, hit up the comments section, let me know what yall thought of this one..

MIXTAPE EPISODE 53 – BEAT TAPE VOL 2

And as promised, back by popular demand, it’s the Mixtape Show Beat Tape Volume 2. No Juggernaut this time, but plenty of dope instrumentals. Listen:

RZA – Flying Birds. I think this was a secret instrumental on a soundtrack. I mean come on, it’s the RZA. It’s short, but you’ll like it.

Kenny Keys – A Woman’s Gotta Have It. You should recognize this name from the Eulorhythmics interview – the dude is really that ridiculous. This joint in particular stayed in my mp3 player for a miiiinute. myspace.com/kennykeys1987

Jay Dee - A Man’s World Flip. This one didn’t make it into Episode 28, but I had to get it out there. I’m not sure if this one was ever officially released – I don’ t think it was – so ignore the title I gave it. jdilla.org

Suburb – selection from the fall tape. If you weren’t aware, the man Suburb is my favorite beatmaker at the moment – which, given my impeccable taste in music, should really say something. If you don’t feel this joint right here, you don’t have a soul. myspace.com/suhburb

Kenny Keys – F Minor. An interlude before we switch up the tempo a bit…myspace.com/kennykeys1987

Mathematics – Track 1. Yes, Mathematics of Wu-Tang Clan fame. I’m actually not sure what this track is supposed to be called. It’s the first track on his “Soul of a Man” release – shouts to the people at Nature Sounds for getting/clearing this one for me, forever ago.nature-sounds.net

Count Bass-D – All In. This joint is from the Beatology Vol. 1+2 record that J.R. sent me what, months ago? I unfortunately couldn’t find a copy of “Mister Magic’s Wand”, so I couldn’t flip that for you all. countbassd.com

Exile – Move On Em. I like this song – and it seems that Ta’raach did too, since he spit over it on his latest album. soundincolor.com Oh PS – Jon, where’s that mix?

Daz-I-Kue – Melon Bounce. Never would have thought somebody would have the nerve to flip some Herbie Hancock, but Daz did it. I like. www.myspace.com/dazikue

Earmint – All City. This came out forever ago (are you noticing a pattern here?), but that’s not going to stop me from letting you all get up on this Earmint dude. He’s also from EV productions – should ring a bell if you remember the Chester Copperpot and MC Longshot interviews – and his debut album – Another Early Evening – was pretty much the business. I’ll probably be dropping another joint in the not so distant future, so keep your ears out for that.evproductions.net

Fat Jon the Ample Soul Physician – You Are. This is an old joint off of Lightweight Heavy. Really the whole album is worth owning, and if you dig this cut, I’d recommend doing some research and finding more of this cat’s work.

Mumbles – unlabeled. I forget how I got this, but I think Jon of SIC sent it to me – any chance of somebody IDing this one for me?soundincolor.com

And that’s it for this week. Again, if you have a moment, be sure to drop a comment to let me (and the artists) know how people are feeling the show, and the material.

EPISODE 42 – SUMMER MIXTAPE

This episode, as you probably noticed, is the Summer Mixtape – yet another concept episode. Basically the concept here is a typical summer day – I won’t get all nostalgic about summers spent during my middle school years – you know, ice cream, running through sprinklers, and coke binges, you get the idea. One day, one mixtape. Here we go.

NOTICE – MAKE SURE TO NOMINATE THE MIXTAPE SHOW! CLICK HERE TO GET US (ALL) AN AWARD (in the “podsafe music” category)

4:35 AM: Eulorhythmics – Good Life (Intro). Yeah, I probably coulda put this one at the end, but damn, it’s such a dope intro that I had to switch it up. This is the joint you wake up to, before the sun wakes up. This is off their EP, which, incidentally, is probably up there with the best shit I’ve heard this month. Highly recommended, and there should be an interview with one of the members of Eulo fairly soon – watch out for that. allnatural.com.

6:30 AM: Steve Spacek – The Hills. Dawn’s broke like a minute ago, but nobody’s really awake yet – this is the joint you ride your bike around the block to, because you feel like it, and anyway you don’t have a driver’s license yet. I was about to play “Dollar”, but a) you’ve all probably already heard that and b) I don’t know, I couldn’t help thinking about Reaganomics every time I listened to it. More science from Sound In Color. Hope you guys aren’t mad that I played singing on the rap show. If you are, fuck off.

Shoutout to Fresh, by the way. I see you.

High Noon: Exile f/ Jontel – Summertime in LA. I’ll fully admit that this one is a little odd. Still, though, it’s sort of oddly catchy, and definitely on some weird next level yet familiar shit. Every time I listen to this I think of Costco. I have no idea why, because I don’t really like Costco that much. But I like this song. This one definitely goes at noon, though. Haven’t heard much about Jontel, but we all know Exile here, right? Right. soundincolor.com.

2:30 PM: Lawless Element f/ J Dilla – Love. Yeah. It’s early afternoon, you’re thirteen, somebody just stole your Pokemon cards, and you’re about to ride on the motherfuckers. That’s what the fuck I’m talking about. Have you ever bought a Wal-Mart CD with the edits, and realized that the edits make the song a bit better? That’s the case with this one – the bleep edits actually make Dilla’s (who, as one would expect, totally outshines everyone in this song) part a lot more interesting. I never got to listen to this whole album, but the parts I did hear were pretty good – easily recommendable if you like this track. babygrande.com.

6:30 PM: DJ DMD f/ Screwed Up Click (Chopped by DJ Ryno). And this one rounds out the show – late afternoon, just maxin in the Rite-Aid parking lot with your cheap-ass ride. I came really, really close to saving this one for a slowed & chopped episode, but I don’t know if I’ll ever get around to doing that – if anyone wants to get at me with some of that shit, definitely holler at me about that. This one is pretty much a classic in my opinion, though. RIP Screw and Pat.

Oh, and the outro beat is courtesy alf-alpha. Believe that.

Well, there it goes. You can call my approach cheesy, but you can’t front on the quality of the joints themselves.

Nominate the Mixtape Show

Oh, as an aside – make sure to listen to the end of the show, since there are some instructions on nominating the Mixtape Show for a Podcast Award. I’m not trying to go for the prizes or personal fame here, but really it’s all about spreading the word and making sure that any artists featured on here get as much exposure and positive momentum from being on here as possible, yaoming? Plus the bigger this show gets, the more you get to be like “oh yeah I listened to that shit back in the day”, etc.

So, here’s the basic instructions:

1. Click here to go to the Podcast Awards Nomination Section

2. Scroll down to the “Podsafe Music” category, on the left and the third from the bottom.

3. Fill in the fields – the show is obviously “The Mixtape Show” and the URL is “http://www.mixtapeshow.net”.

Nominations close July 15th, so make that shit happen now. Voting should start after that, so I’ll keep yall posted if the show gets in there.

And that’s pretty much it – I do this for yall, so any support you all can give me is much appreciated and will help me keep doing my thing here.

Holler.

Oh yeah, and fuck an independence day.

MIXTAPE 41 – RELIGIOUS STUDIES

Well, I had to do it. Today’s show contains more than a few joints that a lot of people out there would consider blasphemous. That’s fine. Before you call Focus on the Family on me though, (happened once before), think for a second about shit like the crack epidemic, about Katrina, about Sudan, and then tell me that there’s no good reason that people should feel like they’ve been shut out. Let’s move.

Mobb Deep feat 50 Cent – Pearly Gates. Exile on the beats here. This is the joint that was censored by Interscope – as in you can’t even get this version that you’re about to hear here in stores. I mean, you’ve got Prodigy saying shit like that he’s going to “see [Jesus] when he sees him” or that he’s gonna beat Jesus up “like the movie” (I’m assuming he’s talking about The Passion of the Christ). But of course, I don’t know what happened in the movie because I didn’t see it, because of the White Jesus factor.

Also, why are people whining about Fiddy singing on hooks? I think he sings good hooks. Please leave Fiddy alone. Dude wants to sing, let him sing. He’s had a rough life. Poor guy.

Thanks to Jon at SIC for getting me this one. www.soundincolor.com

Sin Sizzerb – If God Close the Gate. Sin once again brings some fairly complex lyricism. Not complex like Ghostface, say, but more like complex like when you were in English class and your teacher would make you interpret poetry and shit. A lot of Sin’s more recent shit seems to have a lot of symbolism going on, which I can hardly argue with. Dude comes off as a pretty well-read individual, aside from having a unique-ass flow. Anyone interested in hearing a Sin Sizzerb interview up here? Hit up the comments and let me know. sizzerb.com.

L Jamar – Here Comes the Sun. I like the sample, I like his flow, but this somehow sounds almost too cheerful. I mean, it’s a great song, but I mean, a happy rapper? Who the fuck wants to hear a happy rapper?

Anyway, this song is pretty much loaded with 5% wordplay and ideas. Like I mentioned in the show, on the off chance that you didn’t catch that terrible-ass issue of the Source where they did a “history of the Nation of Gods and Earths” feature, you pretty much have to educate yourself on this shit if you want to continue listening to rap. I really don’t mean to insult anyone out there with this knowledge, but I know there are a lot of “oh man I found this great hippity-hop show on the interweb and its run by this guy who almost sounds white” people out there, and I’m really just looking out for you. I tell you because I care.

Sorry, back to the track. Track is hot, the album comes out soon, and from what I’ve seen of it so far, I recommend it. Maybe we can mash out an interview with L as well. www.5percent.org.

Akir - Urban Sprawl. Yes, this instrumental has been getting around a little bit – I think that just speaks to Exile’s talent. You’ve heard Akir here before, and you know his tendency to drop the political science on you. I’ll leave this one alone here, because you already know that it’s quality. www.myspace.com/akir.

Oh – sidebar - the remark I made in the show at the end about Akir having some supposed “beef” with JWs didn’t really come out right – so ignore it. Dude is obviously not saying anything of the sort, as you’ll notice if you listen closely. My bad. So no offense to any Jehovah’s Witness out there, especially not my Aunt Lucille.

John Robinson – Hit Me Ruff Draft. Come on, it’s John Robinson. This one comes off of The Leak Edition Vol 1, which incidentally features a lot more hot material. Be on the lookout for more of this shit coming soon. Shouts to JR for linking me up with this one. shamanwork.com.

Cheyeah, that’s it for this week. Holler at me with any feedback in the comments section, or whatever. Look out for even more hot shit coming your way like quick snap. Peace.

MIXTAPE EPISODE 34

Cheyeah. So this is pretty basic. I got a dope show, and some tickets to give out for next week. This is for the Exile (Sound in Color) Dirty Science Tour, featuring Exile, Blu, Ta’raach (Platinum Pied Pipers), Aloe Blacc, etc etc. Hit me up if you want to get on the guest list for any of the following dates: april 16th – Kansas MO @ PNut Downtown
april 18th – Iowa City @ Gabes Oasis
april 20th – Miami FL @ Sweat Records (In-store, so you dont need tickets. Just go.)
april 20th – Miami FL @ I/O Lounge (live performance)
april 24th – New York NYC @ Rothkow/ Beatminerz
april 25th – Atlanta GA @ Apache Cafe
Now for the playlist. (ps – intro/outro beat = Platonic – Alternate Thursday.)
Exile f/ Blu – Narrow Path. This, combined with the other Exile/Blu joint you heard on this site (check the archives son!) is what made me realize that Sound in Color was running with some fucking heat. Turns out Blu is singing the hook, but you really have to see Aloe Blacc singing it with him to get the full experience. Dope beat, hot track. soundincolor.com.
Scienz of Life f/ MF Doom – Yikes. I think Doom produced this one. This is off the Leak Edition Vol 1 that John Robinson shot me (what up JR). You pretty much already know the story with this one without listening to it. Real simple sampling, esoteric raps. Listen. shamanworks.com. [good looking out Aush]
Modill – Nod (radio exclusive). I don’t know, it said “radio exclusive” on the CD. This was my joint for a little while a couple years back. Modill actually released a new record just recently, and apparently I duped Chess into thinking it would be a good idea to let me play some of that shit on the show. Be on the lookout for that, and cop up kiddies. evproductions.com.
Von Pea – 1st Date. Nicolay on the beats. I don’t know Nicolay, but he’s apparently kina dope. Please don’t drift off on this beat though, because the story VP is telling does not end how you expect it to. I’m not going to say much more than that. God damn this episode is turning out well so far. loudminoritymusic.com.
Chill Will – Freestyle. Straight out of D-town. This one came via the Mixtape Show Hotline at (310)-928-6876. Breaks up in the middle, but that’s cell phones for you. Chill Will is part of the Certified Ballaz – not much info on them yet, but we’ll see… Second southern freestyle though. This should be proof for all you dumb motherfuckers out there that the Mixtape Show is not an LA thing, not a West Coast thing, but a fucking rap thang. Pay attention.Exile f/ Ghostface – Milk ‘Em. Oh, come on, it’s Ghostface. Do I need to write anything about this? Just download and learn. soundincolor.com.
That’s this week’s episode, though. Be on the lookout for episode 35 of the fucking best rap podcast on the entire internets, all of them. Again, if you want them tickets, holler at your boy. yeeeeeeeeeeah

MIXTAPE SHOW EPISODE 28 – Exile, Slum V, RIP DILLA.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the only mixtape show / hip-hop podcast worth fucking with. I’m dex digital.

The hip-hop community has suffered a tragic loss recently. This show is not a “dedication”, or a “tribute”, but I’d like to take a moment here and on the show to show appreciation and gratitude for a man that has done so much for us.

On with the show.

Exile f/ Slum Village – Time Has Come. It’s weird, because when I started putting tracks together for this week’s episode, I had already set this aside for the opening track. Exile is on the beats here (you’ve heard him here before), and lest anyone forget what Dilla was capable of on the other side of the glass…Jon, good looking out on the hookup with this one. Check out soundincolor.com for more on Exile.

Diverse - Jus Biz. Not new by any stretch, but I remember finding this joint on a plain b&w 12″ with nothing other than the title written on it, and thinking it was pretty smooth. Turns out that (according to the liner notes) not only is it Prefuse 73 on the beats, but also the background vocals. I think Diverse also showed up on Longshot’s Civil War Pt. 2 mixtape. Definitely check out the rest of the One A.M. full length – definitely worth your time. Respect to Gwen at Chocolate Industries for making this one happen. Check out chocolateindustries.com for more.

Rebel’s Advocate – Panic in the Streets. This one came to me on a CDR with a paper cover, which I’m pretty sure is the reason that it got stuck in my CD player the first time I listened to this track. The rhodes/wurli tones beat on this is definitely my flavor, as is the subject matter. They’ve got another dope joint on their mini EP called “Bite”, which is pretty much 5 minutes of just that – classic beats included. Maybe if you all ask nicely enough, it’ll show up on the show in the near future…rebelsadvocate.com for more.

Captain Cook – Shining Hour. For some reason I kept thinking this kid’s name was Captain Commando. Isn’t Captain Commando a nintendo game? Either that or Sky Commando, or something like that. Anyway, this is one of a few joints that Cook of the Beat Locker shot me via email. I’m not sure who the MCs are on this, but they ain’t bad, and you have to appreciate anyone who has the balls to work their email address into a verse. The bassline and programming on this joint is what really caught me from the drop though. Cook, who are these people? Good work. Check myspace.com/thecaptaincook for more beats.

What follows is not a Dilla tribute, because I’d need about 5 hours to cover the basics. But I thought these few joints were appropriate.

J Dilla - Yesterday beat flip. The classic Dilla formula – some obscure record and brilliantly understated manipulation of the samples. This is unreleased as far as I know, so that’s about all I have for you. If there is an official track name, feel free to comment me and let me know.

J Dilla – Airworks. This one comes off of Dilla’s last release, Donuts. If you haven’t already copped it, do so. It’s pretty much the beat tape to end all beat tapes. I think maybe the sample here is Luther, but I don’t spend all day digging in fucking record crates so I wouldn’t know. Anyone more enlightened than me, feel free to ID this one.

J Dilla – Donuts (Intro). The appropriately-named last track of Dilla‘s most recent blessing. Better writers than I have already conveyed their emotions regarding the passing of this man, so I’ll keep my comments brief.

I remember finding this record sitting on my desk the day I got the news. I sat down and listened to it the whole way through, and this last cut, especially the last 8 seconds or so, were pretty powerful to me. The track speaks for itself – just listen.

And if you haven’t already picked up a copy of Donuts, please go out and do so now. The man was a genius, and he had people to support. stonesthrow.com.

R.I.P. Dilla.

**

And for those of you who ain’t noticed, there is now an official mixtapeshow.net hotline. Just ring up (310)-928-MTSN (the letters stand for MixTapeShowdotNet, asshole) and do your thing. You never know what will happen. I might pick up, my baby mama might pick up, hell, knowing me, your baby mama might pick up, but don’t expect her to be in any condition to hold a coherent conversation.

More likely though, you’ll be able to leave a message. Feel free to drop shoutouts, tell me what you think of the show, tell me why you wish Cheney had been shot instead of vice versa, leave a freestyle, leave a drop, leave your thoughts, whatever. Whatever you want. The interesting/funny/dope messages will be played on the show, so if you’re doing freestyles, make them good.

That’s it for this episode. Catch y’all next week.

MIXTAPE SHOW EPISODE 18

This show is pretty much the official relaunch of the mixtape show, the most major known unknown rap / hip-hop podcast on the internet. Basically it’s a fucking mixtape that you can download, for free, and it’s not illegal. Read the show notes, check out the artists, buy they shit, bookmark my shit, tell your friends. Let’s go.

First off is Hezekiah. I got clearance to put this joint on a long time ago, but I liked it so much that I couldn’t really find a spot to do it justice til now. Have any of you ever seen dude perform this song? I did, and he pretty much just wore a suit and jumped up and down and hollered. Nobody seemed to know the words, and nobody really seemed to care because he was wearing a suit and jumping up and down and hollering. It was great. If you get a chance to see him perform, do it. Way more energy than you’d expect from his most recent album, Hurry up and Wait, which is good by itself. Check out Hezekiah at Soulspazm.com..

Hezekiah – You.

Exile feat. Blu – Soul Rising.

I’ll be honest, I hadn’t heard much from these two before this. The homie John Kim from Sound in Color hooked me up with the mp3, so I had to put it on. If you want to know more, get your fucking Google on. For now though you can check out www.soundincolor.com.

Off of Up Above Records, Kev Brown. Peace to sam for getting this one to me. The song pretty much speaks for itself, so just listen. Apparently he’s done work with De La Soul, Jewel, fuck a namedrop, go listen. myspace.com/kevbrown..

Kev Brown – Not That Way.

Che Grand – Brown Study.

Che Grand, off of his upcoming Official Bootleg Import EP. Expect an interview or feature soon, because this shit is important. From a conversation with the producer: what up dex: is “brown study” about having sex with white girls? westcoastbadbuoy: i honestly have no idea, what up dex: i’m pretty sure it is. westcoastbadbuoy: apparently brown study is some intellectual term in the dirctionary, but i’ve never bothered to look it up what up dex: from google: “The expression is old, dating at least from the sixteenth century.” what up dex: where the fuck did this kid go to school? westcoastbadbuoy: lol. what up dex: well. what up dex: it’s about fucking white girls, anyway. thanks for clearing that up for me. Che Grand at LoudMinorityMusic.com.

What’s up, EV? Back to the East Coast again. Has anyone actually heard the Color of Money mixtape? Honestly that joint was hotter than a lot of fucking records that came out this year. This joint is technically just Numbers, but really it’s sort of hard to pick a “best” song since there’s a handful on here that I like a lot. This one goes with the vibe of the show, though. I think you can listen to, and cop, the mixtape here: Smoke and Numbers – The Color of Money..

Smoke and Numbers – 5A.

K’naan – Struggling.

I love reading press releases about this dude because they always bold and underline the fact that dude is Somali-Canadian, as if that’s all he has going for him. Hopefully this joint lays that notion to rest. www.thedustyfoot.com.

This one came to me on a 3-track radio promo in an unmarked package, no CD case, just a printed CD cover in a paper sleeve. Anyone that listens to old DJ Shadow should recognize the beat, which was pretty much just waiting for someone to rip it up. Had to close the episode with this one. Peace to Frankie Lewis for clearing this one. www.strong-quality.com..

Black Market – The Wall.

So that’s what it do. If you want to get at me for any reason, including track placement or interviews, get at me on the contact page. Or kucrdex [at] gmail [dot] com. wizzone.

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