MIXTAPE 127 – RAP FOR BUSY PEOPLE

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You know what, I know you’re busy. But you’re not too busy to listen to my show. If you really care about me, you’ll listen to my show.

Today’s jawn is for busy people. Each track is below 2 minutes, no exceptions. I even included times, so in case you hate a particular track you know how long you have to suffer until the next one. But you won’t, because you like my show, and you like me.

Listen on the train, in the car, on your coffee break, in the bathroom while you’re ditching class/meetings.

I even made the tracklist all short, in case you’re too busy to read.

Jadakiss – Look In Your Eyes Freestyle. [1:18] Shouts to Gavin. m/jadakiss.
Sin Sizzerb – Preme Diesel Freestyle. [1:17] “Kill you for a dollar / I’m from Serbia holla” I’m pretty sure that’s not representative of Serbians in general. I hope. m/sizzerbsin.
Moka Only – How Little Do You Know. [1:53] Been meaning to put this on forever. m/mokafansite
Lushlife – Meridian Sound [Part Two]. [1:28] m/lushlifemedia
The Five Corners Quartet – Interlope II. [0:53] m/thefivecornersquintet
Ryuichi Sakamoto – Before Long. [1:24]
Guilty Simpson – Pigs. [1:49] m/guiltysimpson.
Platinum Pied Pipers – The Pees feat Ta’Raach. [1:32] Philander philosophy – if you’re paying. m/ppprnb.
MF Doom – Sniper Elite. [1:59]
Jay Electronica – Spark ‘Em Up. [1:34]
Bash Bros & Afro Classics – World Still Burnz. [1:26] m/afroclassicsmusic.
Ghostface Killah – Crooklyn Dodgin (off a DJ Dub mixtape). [1:15]
Uncut Raw – Imwityou. [1:35] Shouts to Max. m/uncutraw42.
Suhburb – Beat#2 from First Tape of Fall Part 2. [1:50 or something] Suhburb, I’m still waiting for my episode.

you’re also not too busy to leave a comment and lemme know what you think. holler.

MIXTAPE 124 – THE SKATE TAPE

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Yeah. So first, I have several shoutouts – Mamiko for sending me my board, everyone I know out here in the city for probably unknowingly influencing me to buy one, Elliot for – well, I’m not sure, but somehow I think he influenced this one too.

And real talk, I’m not trying to act like someone who’s been down since day one on this. I only got my jawn like a month and a half ago, and my best trick is a little number I like to call “not falling”. But to be fair, growing up where and when I did, general common sense said that black people do not ride skateboards (I think my father might have actually told me this once). Somehow I did manage to own a pair of rollerblades, but that’s beside the point.

But yeah, this is a tape specifically engineered for hitting the pavement during these last few weeks of summer. Put this in the iphone/ipod/whatever devices you foreigners are using nowadays and hit the streets.

MIXTAPE 124 – THE SKATE TAPE by mixtapeshow

instromental: Madlib – Blunt Break.
Jay Electronica – Retro Electro. With DJ Clue screaming all over it, which maybe makes it better, I’m not sure. I was having a hard time thinking of what to start this off with, when I found this in the archives. I’m sort of looking forward to skating to this. m/jayelect

Che Grand – King ✖ Grand. My official theory behind the name of this track is that Che found out how to make this ✖ mark and decided to use it in a song. m/chegrand

Unagi – Song of Satisfaction feat Eddie Meeks. Shouts to Unagi for hitting me with this record in I think March. Actually, I’m certain it’s March, as I was listening to it back at home in CA and my moms heard me playing it and asked me who it was because she liked it – then she heard this particular track and said that “that man just ruined a very nice song”. I think the chorus is sort of great, personally. I cut this off halfway, but if you want the rest, go check it out. m/unagi

K-Salaam & Beatnick – Don’t Die feat Bun B, Talib Kweli, and Colin Munroe. I still don’t really understand the chorus here. “Don’t die” sounds like something you tell somebody before they try something stupid, like being Mexican and walking into a 7-11 with your hands in your pockets – but this song doesn’t even have any Spanish in it, so I’m sort of confused. That said, it’s a pretty good track. m/ksalaammusic

The Roots – !!!!!!!. Yeah. m/theroots

Tanya Morgan – Hardcore Gentlemen. The high pitched rapping in here is going to evoke a really obvious connection some other groups/tracks, but I think that’s the point. This song is great. “I took her to the movies and got her hella Skittles”? Brilliant. m/tanyamorgan

Wait, is that where I’ve been going wrong? Skittles. Had no idea it was that simple.

Born Wit It – Elevators Freestyle. The rest of the Substance Abuse tape ain’t too bad, either. w/bornwitit

J. Cole – Til Infinity. Somehow the last cut made me think of this one. Shouts to Ultra Ouxu for recommending this tape.

Hudson Mohawke – Rising 5. I mean, I’d heard of Hudson Mo before, but nothing like this. This is so good I felt bad talking over it. w/hudsonmo

Cymbals Eat Guitars – Living North. I mean, you can’t have a skate tape without at least some guitars in it, right? w/cymbalseatguitars

PS: My board is actually a longboard, and it’s hella cool. I should post a picture of it or something.

MIXTAPE 120 – THE BREAKUP JOINT

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See, a promise is a promise.

Anyway, this week, as the title suggests, is the breakup joint. Partially based on real life, partially based on the bizarre phenomenon in which when you’re depressed, you want to listen to even more depressing music, and partially based on that urge to just get something off your chest. That said, let’s get into the:

introlude – Mos Def – Brown Sugar.

Ta’raach – Hey. You know, this is like that part where you’re all “man, forget her, I’m good.” You know that phase. Trackwise, I don’t know, I’ve just been meaning to get this one on forever. A lot of the stuff dude says in this track is just really mean-spirited, which makes me like it even more. myspace.com/taraach.

Super Chron Flight Brothers – Once We Were Kings. And then you start to think back. This record kinda reminds me of Airborn Audio. Weird, paranoid subject matter over weird, paranoid beats. Apparently they holed themselves up in a Yogyakarta hotel during the production process, and their weed/skurry noises type antics resulted in an unwritten ban on Black patrons at that establishment. Not sure how I’m supposed to feel about that. myspace.com/flightbrothers.

Malcolm Kipe – My Room Remix. Negativity. Really it was the instro that got me on this one. mk on lastfm.

RJD2 – June (Remix). Aaaand here comes the “why me why me” phase. After the first verse you think it’s just going to be a rant on the state of rap music, until the second one comes in. Just too heavy. myspace.com/rjd2

Jay Electronica – Girlfriend. You think about calling her… remember? That always used to work. Not much to say here. It’s Jay. myspace.com/jayelect

Albe Back – Without You (dex digi Bohemian Rhapsody Edit). No, she said don’t call. It’s already over. Give it up, famo, you’re just making yourself look bad. Don’t lose your cool. Seriously, three bars in I realized I’d heard this chord progression before. You can hate me for doing this, but really my only motivation was that I couldn’t stand the original hook. myspace.com/albemusic.

Jay-Z vs Coldplay – What If We Cry? prod Remot. Which gives you more time to think. And now you can finally be a little more honest with yourself. Trying to “keep your cool” was what got you here in the first place. I don’t own any Coldplay albums, but I hear from very reliable sources that lots of white people like them. This cut is even more depressing this time around. myspace.com/remotmusic.

People Under The Stairs – More Than You Know. Congratulations, you’re now officially “in touch with your emotions”. What, you want a medal or something fam? I keep forgetting how dope this group is. myspace.com/peopleunderthestairs.

O.D.B - No More (Wasted Time). But hey, at least you can respect yourself a little more now, right? Right? At least, that’s what this cut seems to be called. I know, it’s really lo-fi, but this is the only version I’m aware of. A cry for help, man, just too late.

DJ Lt Dan and Jay Z – Interlude b/w Living Proof. … I don’t know, this just seemed to fit.

And that’s what it is for this week. Bonus points for anyone who can identify the original image I bootlegged to make this week’s episode cover.

MIXTAPE 114 – YOU AINT EVEN GOTTA GO TO SUMMER SCHOOL

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All the education you need is right here on the Mixtape Show.

Okay, maybe not – but I’ll keep the written short and say this – if you don’t get something out of every track on here, rewind.

iLLiTe – Intro. Courtesy of CDR. Easily coulda made the First Impressions episode, if, you know, it was out back then. New artist to me, but sounds good thus far. Side street it on empty. myspace.com/eyedouble.

Jay Electronica – Exhibit A (Transformations). The early may have heard this a bit earlier this month, but hey, I’m putting in work here and things take time. Not much needs to be said here. myspace.com/jayelect.

Also this might sound sort of weird but something about the way Jay says “Nirvana” strikes me as kinda endearing.

Mr Scruff – After Time. Not necessarily representative of all of dude’s work, but yeah. Short clip. Go dig. myspace.com/mrscruffofficial.

Wu-Tang – I Can’t Go To Sleep feat Isaac Hayes (Live Version). Okay, I get that you invented the crying flow, fam, but serious? A little far maybe? I can’t front though, this one sort of goes hard.

DJ Sprinkles – Midtown 120 Intro. I discovered this earlier this morning. Sort of a counterexample to the intro. This one might change the way you think about house music – which should make you start thinking about hip-hop, considering the family tree. Check the release page here, which includes the words to the track. 日本語訳もあるので、是非チェックしてね。

Jay Electronica – Posers. I’ve been holding onto this forever with the intention of putting it into a different themed episode that I sort of tossed. No information on the vocalist though. Anyone care to fill us in before I start having to write emails?

Saroc – Motorbike. The title won’t make much sense until the end. Sol – who was kind enough to send me this cut direct from the studio last week – on production.

Shaun Boothe – Unauthorized Biography of Bob Marley. Seriously, this is like running through a Wikipedia article set to a beat, in a good way. Maybe if those stupid Multiplication Rap tapes my 2nd grade teacher gave me thinking I’d like it because I was Black were this good, I wouldn’t have gotten that D in Calculus senior year. I’m sort of looking forward to this Muhammad Ali joint. myspace.com/shaunboothe

Madlib – Disco Break. Yes, you’re supposed to learn something from this too. No excuses. myspace.com/madlib

Wiley – I Was Lost. I could never play this one on the radio back home because it had curses in it. Not the end of the world though, because I could still play Pies and Wot Do You Call it, and maybe that is making some of you UK kids roll your eyes but anyone who has the sheer nerve to end six consecutive bars with the words “no girlfriend” instead of thinking of actual rhymes on the first cut of their debut record is okay with me. www.myspace.com/eskiboywiley

e.s.t – Still (Radio Edit). In lieu of an outro, I guess. Shouts to Giant Step for the hookup.

Jay Electronica – Exhibit A (Transformations) – Final Version. Or at least that’s what it says on the tin. This sort of adds another level to the first mix, with more audio tweaking (but still a little reserved compared to old episode 82) but I like both, so here you go. Dig the outro.

Oh, also, supercali, there is a section in here that I absolutely expect you to identify.

Pencils down, put your answer sheet inside your test booklet, and pass your packets forward and to the left.