THE GOLD CARTRIDGE LEVEL 1

Man, stomatology I don’t even know how to start this one off. So once, page a very long time ago, on this very here rappidy rap podcast, I put out a nintendo mixtape. I didn’t actually think anyone would like it, I just sort of wanted to do it – but the response was actually sort of good. You could call this a sequel if you want, but in reality, this is actually a prequel…

The year is 1998, and our hero is a 14-year old dex digital. I would write out the story here, but I’ll just let Ghosteo take it from here with the mad drawing skills.

And thus opens today’s episode – The Gold Cartridge, Level 1.

Or, if you want the full experience, try it in fullscreen as you listen to the new jawn.

So for those of you who missed the ridiculous 5 minute intro skits – here you go.

Instructionalude
Serengeti Drop.
J Bizness – Denice
Paul White – City Bright Lights
時の過ぎゆくままに(Toki no sugi yuku mama ni) (NES)

Meek Millz – One For The Money. Hoodfamous on the track. I have to say, this is probably the best flip of the Super Mario Bros sample I’ve ever heard. Even beyond that, this beat just sorta goes hard. And anybody who’s seen any videos of Millz knows that the dude is sort of skurry with it. I mean, I woulda liked some mario references in this cut, but I can’t be mad at him. Shouts to JT for the cut. m/hoodfamous215.

Game/Realitylude
Crash N The Boys (NES) – this game was the business back in the day. Most violent pseudo-olympics game I ever played.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Overworld Theme) (NES) – this game was so stupidly hard it wasn’t even funny.

Finale – Motor Music (snippet). When I first heard this cut I wasn’t really sure if I was reading too much into the droning background music – but then I heard One Man Show. Obvious nintendo influence. m/finale

Alchemist – That’ll Work feat Three 6 Mafia (snippet). You know, because I still like Three 6. This cut for some reason makes me think of Castlevania. I can’t really condone how dude prefers to spend his money, though. m/thealchemist

Wow, I forgot how whiny I was as a 14 year old.

Racist Gamealude
Street Fighter Intro. (SNES)

Turbo – Gigaton Punch. Definite shouts to AustinJ for putting me on to this track like two years ago. Now that he mentions it though, I don’t know anyone that actually used Balrog. Personally I started off on probably Dhalsim (long range punches), then Blanka until I realized the electricity thing was only cool until you got hit with a fireball in the middle of your shock attack. Then Guile, then Chun Li, mainly because she can jump off the walls. Why’d they have to make Balrog all useless? On the song though, you can’t even front on it. It’s great. y/scrambletv

Oh No – Lay You Out feat Redman. Oh No was already on the last Nintendo jawn, so he’s already got a record for being a nintendo fiend. And Redman isn’t really surprising either, considering that one episode of “Cribs” where he had like a Sega under his bed or something. m/ohnodisrupt

DJ Tour – Street Fighter Mix feat Mistah Fab. I don’t know, this is sort of a weird choice I guess. Beatwise, it’s actually perfect – they did absolutely nothing to the instrumental except add an extra kick and clap in and maybe some orchestra hits. Fabby himself comes with some sort of ridiculously corny lines, but I like how he says “money” so it’s okay. m/mistahfab

Outrolude
Star Tropics 2 (NES)

Afro Classics – The Follow Through. Maybe a new name for some (I’m actually sorta late with this one, so probably not), but if you remember Scarub of Living Legends – this is him paired up with Very. I haven’t had time to sit down through the whole record yet, but it ain’t bad. I dig the hook on this one. m/afroclassicsmusic

Oh wow, I completely forgot to do this in the outro, but shouts to B on the in-game announcer vocals. You might remember him as Uncle Chester from the Rock Episode.

Anyway, that’s what it is for this week. Apparently there’s a World 2 to this game, so I guess check back next week for another one?

MIXTAPE 122 – TSUYU

So yeah, hospital near the end of the actual Tsuyu season, diagnosis I manage to get this one out. If you haven’t heard of Tsuyu, more about you’ll know what it is by the end of the episode. So for those of you in areas of the planet cursed enough to be still dealing with rain at this time of year, sit inside, put the headphones on, look out the window, and dig it.

Introlude: Chris Craft – Rise Again.

Finale – Issues. Both sides of the mic, dude is really just kinda dope. I’ve got a couple other joints I plan on putting up in the near future. m/finale.

Doom – Absolutely. I mean, it’s Doom.

Edan – Murder Mystery. Surreal. Shouts to F Diesel for putting me up on the dude. m/eeddaann

Faimkills – In Your Sleep. Replaying the bit at the end, I’m realizing that I may be mixing up part of the story with something else. But I definitely remember cereal, and socks. Kid clearly puts a lot into tweaking out the production – I’m pretty sure some of the references are over my head. m/faimkills

Statik Selektah – The Thrill Is Gone ft Styles P & Talib Kweli. “I’m like god damn, they even screwed up conscious rap” = thank you, amen, church, tabernacle. I can’t quite cosign on the funny clothes comment though, because I like funny clothes. m/statikselektah.

JR & PH7 – Top Rank feat Guilty Simpson and Black Milk. Guilty just continues to say violent things where violent thing-saying is totally irrelevant and unnecessary, but still sort of cool. Dig the production.m/jrph7.

Outrolude: Esser – I Love You (Prince Paul Remix Instrumental)
Chan – Lonely Road Instrumental

Rhymefest – No Sunshine. Promise, last time I put a track up off this tape. Still, though, the concept was just really that great. m/rhymefest (thanks for the correction J)

On Michael – as I said, there’s not a whole lot that needs to be said. I can’t do a tribute episode or a special or anything like that, it just doesn’t feel right.

ps – I think I’m not using “paradox” right. Blame it on the whole not-english-speaking thing.

MIXTAPE 110 – STATE OF THE RAP UNION

So if there was a State of the Hip-Hop Union, generic I think one thing that we could probably count on would be that unlike any previous or current administration, we would get the straight, uncut reality of our current status. I mean, there would still be lying about what sort of dirt people did in the past or how many guns/cars/etc dudes owned – but yeah. I would tune in to watch that.

So the idea behind this is people from different angles telling us what our current situation is – some of them more indirect than others, some of them more violent than others, and hey, some of them even have some recommendations for us. Enough from me, let’s see what they have to say…

Stereolab – Neon Beanbag I think I must have been the one person at KUCR that never actually played any Stereolab. Probably because I never really listened that much – my mistake. Everybody go out and buy Stereolab. Off the 4AD and Rough Trade 2008 Sampler, which is ridiculous. stereolab.co.uk.

Young Jeezy – My President feat Nas. Leave it to Jeezy (yeeeeeeeahhhhh) to make a song where he praises a presidential candidate, damns the current president, and raves about his blue lambo in the same breath. I like this song.

East Coast Avengers – Kill Bill O’Reilly. I really wanted to get this episode out like four days ago, but technical difficulties prevented that. As I say in the episode itself – this track placement comes with zero disclaimers or apologies. I figure that in a genre where threatening other rappers for nothing is the norm – threatening somebody that actually deserves it is pretty sensible. ちなみに、the girl at the end probably deserves an award for best line in the song. East Coast Avengers is made up of Esoteric, Trademarc, and DC the Midi Alien. eastcoastavengers.com.

Mic Legacy – So Ghetto feat Rapper Big Pooh. The instro on this is like the musical embodiment of the Minstrel Show cover plus being in church. myspace.com/miclegacydafuture.

Crooked I – Paper Planes Remix/Block Obama. I’m not exactly sure what the official title of this cut is. About 80% of the stuff this dude is talking about is totally ridiculous – including the random diatribe on claiming that stealing songs is “not hip-hop”. I’m not saying that stealing music is a good thing, but seriously, it seems like every time I turn around someone is telling me that something is “not hip-hop”. Eating broccoli is not hip-hop. And co-opting the “Change” line? There’s got to be something wrong with that, but I can’t hate. Anyway, this song is hip-hop, and it is over the Paper Planes riddim, which makes it extra good. myspace.com/crookedi.

Elzhi – Colors. Come on, it’s Elzhi. There’s something sort of surreal about this song – not just the imagery. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but it’s a great song. You might need to play it back a few times to actually get what he’s doing. myspace.com/zhifi.

Invincible – Locusts feat Finale, wsg Gwen Mingo and Ron Scott. Welcome to the reality that is Detroit. There’s a video to this as well – I’ll leave my commentary on this one out and just let you read the interview. Thanks to Sweeney Kovar for this one (and the one above, come to think of it). Album sounds like it’s definitely worth a purchase. emergencemusic.net.

The Stranglers – Golden Brown. Apparently everyone else and their mom has discovered this song recently and are trying to make beats out of it, but if you want to hear a proper drug song done properly by proper white people (nothing against Pink Floyd, I like you guys too), this would be a good joint to track down. myspace.com/thestranglers.

See, told you I was back on track, sorta.