MIXTAPE 116 – PRIORITIES

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 121 – DO GOOD THINGS

Here’s Johnny? This is sort of a weird story and I’m not sure if it makes any sense the way I’m telling it, but yeah. This happened, and is still happening.

Fusion Unltd – The Sun feat Little Brother, Nickelus F, Hall of Fame, and Skillz. A producer that is sort of new to me. Lyrics ain’t bad either – “When I write I’m enlightening myself”? That’s sort of profound. myspace.com/fusionunltdfup

H.O.P.E – Can’t Knock the Hustle II feat Raquel Rodriguez. The vocals are kinda on the edge of contributing and taking away from the cut, but overall I dig. myspace.com/f2dhope.

Caltroit – Goatit feat Elzhi and Bishop Lamont. Off that recent Black Milk mixtape. This dude is sort of dope on the production. And come on, “raise your hands and see stars like King Hippo”? I hope I’m not the only one here who caught that. myspace.com/blackmk.

Jim Jones, Noe, and Tom Gist – Christmas Eve. Aside from dude feeling the need to do adlibs at the end of every bar, this is sort of a great song. myspace.com/jimjones

Rhymefest – Breakadawn feat Daniel Merriweather and alpha. I’ve dropped one cut from this tape before, but this is seriously a genius project. Don’t miss the skits. myspace.com/rhymefest.

Wurd Munchaz – Shakespeare. This is actually one of my favorite groups. If you don’t get the reference, I don’t know. You don’t spend enough time on the internet. myspace.com/wurdmunchaz

Okay, here:

original: marriedtothesea
I mean, come on. A rap song based on an internet joke? What’s next?

Cassius Clay – I Am The Greatest. Yes, as in Muhammad Ali. I checked the latest Shaun Boothe Unauthorized Biography joint (you heard the Bob Marley joint here last episode), and he referenced Ali’s recording career. Apparently people have referred to his stuff as some of the first battle raps – and really, listening to this, I can’t disagree.

John Robinson – Don King. Shouts to JR for linking this one up – been a minute since we’ve had some of his material on the show. If we spin Ali, it’s only fair to spin something about Don King, right? Info about his latest project here: myspace.com/thejohnrobinsonproject.

The Thunderclaps – Judgement Day (short preview edit). Shouts to Charlee for hooking me up with this joint forever ago. I have the long edit, but for some reason I dig the quick pace of this one. myspace.com/thunderclapsmusic.

instros:
intro:
Black Milk – Purple Track 3
outros:
Illa J – DFTF
RJD2 – Unlimited
Scarface – In Cold Blood

So yeah. Go out and do something nice for one of your friends, or for somebody you don’t know.

MIXTAPE 93 – LOVE

Yep. Halloween is right here, and here I am with a love concept episode. You’ll see what it is soon enough. Let’s get into the…

Intro Instrumental: Deltron 3030 – Love Story. Intro featuring SuhBURB as the player mentor myspace.com/delthefunkyhomosapien.

Black Spade – To Serve With Love. Ridiculous-ass parachute pants mention in the intro aside, this is just simply a great track. I think this was my introduction to Black Spade back in mid 05 or so – then he shows up on the Nicolay release and rips that one apart too. myspace.com/blackspade

Unagi - Hello Girl. I think this is actually the track that inspired this episode, which I’ve been compiling and conceptualizing for longer than I’d care to admit (who knew – good, recent rap music about love is sort of hard to find). Unagi was kind enough to send me like his entire catalogue some time ago, and this was one of my jams. Thanks, fam. unagi442.com.

C Boogie + Kenyatta - Blackanese Invasion. Okay, I was joking about the title. This dances very close to the “ooh baby let me describe your silky brown skin / hips / good hair / etc” that generally gets the Further Adventures Of Lord Quas Track #13 Treatment* from me – but that’s just because I have an extremely low tolerance for that sort of thing. But – I liked this track. That says something. It’s good. myspace.com/cboogie.

* First one to explain that reference gets a shoutout in the next show. ell oh ell.

Little Brother – That Ain’t Love feat Jozeemo. I haven’t personally listened to all of “Get Back” yet, but word is (okay, my man B has been telling me every day on AIM) that “it’s brilliant” and “hasn’t left his CD player for a week” and “oh my god dex I woke up this morning and I made Orange Tang and I listened to the CD and it’s so good man you need to stop listening to that Bathin Apes shit and get with this good music”. Forsooth, I’ve been listening to Soulja Boy on repeat since September and haven’t had time for that LB. Anyone got the real thing and want to corroborate B’s findings? I do like this song.

Quasimoto – Hydrant Game. Speaking of Quas…This isn’t the Jaylib remix (which is great, and appears on the 2K8 soundtrack), but the original. If you don’t already own this release, you really need to get on it. Shouts to Stones Throw myspace.com/quasimoto.

Pharoahe Monch – The Trilogy Pt 2 feat Dwele (Soul Essentialz Re-Edit). Cut is mean. I still haven’t gotten to listen to this whole record, but remember this joint? Man. R Kelly who? myspace.com/pharoahemonch, and myspace.com/soulessentialz.

Marion Brown – ‘Don’t Take Your Love From Me (Solo Sax)’. 30 seconds. Yep.

Darondo – Didn’t I. I don’t know, you tell me. Darondo on Ubiquity.

Outro Instrumental: Three 6 Mafia – Don’t Call Me No More. Not that I would listen to the normal song much, but the beat is pretty cool.

Share your feelings in the comments below. Bonus points for anyone who recognizes the background picture in this episode artwork.

MIXTAPE 92 – LITTLE BROTHER + DJ DUB

For this episode, your favorite hip-hop podcast brings you a mini-edit of DJ Dub’s new mixtape: Little Brother – Good Clothes. I think I’m pretty much preaching to the choir here, but on the off chance you haven’t heard of Little Brother, then this should give you an idea.

But beyond that, we’re doing a giveaway for the full-length DJ Dub mixtape (full tracklist here). If you want a copy, all you need to do is drop a comment with what you think would be an interesting collab between LB and any other artist. Extra credit if you can explain why/make it funny or interesting, and first come first served. Details in the episode itself, so listen!

intro/outro instrumental: 9th Wonder - My People

links: DJ Dub, Little Brother, Carlitta Durand, Chaundon, Dwele, 9th Wonder, Joe Scudda.

So that’s it – let the comments fly. I’ll post a notice when I’m out of CDs, first come first served. And if you aren’t in the facebook group already, better join now – I give away all the good stuff in there first.

Oh, and here’s that full tracklist for the full mixtape some of you lucky kids will get:

1. Intro
2. Little Brother / Kanye West – Good Clothes (Dub Mix)
3. 9th Wonder / Little Brother – No Time To Chill
4. Little Brother / Skyzoo – Speed Racin
5. Little Brother / Joe Scudda – Lovin It (Live Mix)
6. Little Brother / Jay-Z – Say It Again(Dub MIX)
7. Phonte / DJ Dub – Live On Ridin Big Radio Pt 1
8. Rapper Big Pooh / Joe Scudda / Chaundon – Plastic Cups (J Dilla)
9. Evidence / Phonte / Alchemist – Let Yourself Go (Remix)
10. Little Brother – Cool As A Fan
11. Foreign Exchange / Joe Scudda – Raw Lifes
12. Little Brother – Ain’t Nobody
13. Phonte / DJ Dub – Live On Ridin Big Radio Pt 2
14. Little Brother / Lil Wayne / Carlitta Durand – Life Of The Party (DJ Dub
Mix)
15. Little Brother / Mos Def – Let It Go
16. Little Brother – The Beginning
17. 9th Wonder / Phonte – Too Late
18. Rhymefest / Little Brother – Get Plugged
19. Drake / Little Brother / Dwele – Don’t You Have A Man
20. Phonte / DJ Dub – Live On Ridin Big Radio Pt 3
21. Little Brother – Whatever You Say (DJ Dub Remix)
22. DJ Spinna / Phonte – One For Jay (Dilla RIP)
23. Darien Brockington / Little Brother – I Need You (Cookin Soul Remix)
24. Little Brother / Carlitta Durand – Time Of Your Life

Dub Premium Draft Picks:

3 Tha Hard Way – What Happened To Hip-Hop
C-Note Ave – Holdin It Down
Little Brother / Lil Wayne – Breakin My Heart (Bonus Track)

MIXTAPE 89 – HELLO CANADA

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?

EPISODE 81 – START VOTING NOW SUCKERS

Oh damn – two episodes in four days? Yes. Better free up some space on your hard drive.

As I mentioned last time – your favorite hip-hop podcast is up for the Best Podsafe Music Podcast in the 2007 Podcast Awards. Everything else is a bunch of rock shows or Catholic music or something – so on the real, I fully expect us to win this. We need your help though! Post up on myspace, your blog, tell a friend, whatever. You can vote every single day!

How To Vote For The Mixtape Show
Step 1: Click here: Vote for the Mixtape Show
Step 2: Scroll down and find the Podsafe Music box (third box from the bottom on the left).
Step 3: Select the Mixtape Show, scroll down and fill in your email (they won’t spam you – it’s just to make sure we don’t cheat) and any comments.
Step 4. Hit “submit”.
Step 5. Ask three ten friends to do the same!

And yes – I am giving away a pair of tickets to the QN5 Megashow.

This only happens once a year, and I got tickets for the LA show, going down at the Roxy on 10th August at 8PM. CunninLynguists, Tonedeff, PackFM, DJ JS-1, Substantial, Mr. SOS, Session & Extended Famm. All Ages. Price is $20 – but if you want your free ones – just shoot me an email at dex [at] mixtapeshow [dot] net (or just use the contact page) and tell me the name of the very first CunninLynguists album. It would probably be in your best interests to make the email interesting – you know, so I pick you out of all the random meth-addled submissions I get.

Enough from me – on with the show.

Donwill and Suburb - Fly Me (demo). A Mixtape Show exclusive. As I said in the outro, after hearing this 1:40 song, I built this entire episode around it. This song goes hard – so hard in fact that I couldn’t justify leaking it without some sirens and a rewind. I mean, forget the ridiculousity of the lyrics – this dude raps with the watermark. Cosign, cosign, cosign. You ever been on a mixtape with sirens, ‘burb? Now you have. myspace.com/suhburb, and myspace.com/donwont.

Donwill and Suburb - Byrd Gang (Dead Ass). Another Mixtape Show Exclusive. More brilliance from the duo. Shout out to Donwill and Suburb for getting me these two cuts.myspace.com/suhburb, and myspace.com/donwont.

Strange Fruit Project – Get Live feat Erykah Badu. Where has Erykah been? You know, I never really did sit down and listen to Strange Fruit Project – this song is making me realize that I have really been sleeping. Anybody got recommendations? myspace.com/strangefruitproject.

Donnanlinks - Hear. Got this one through Mumbles. I know you’re busy, but as soon as this episode ends, you need to rewind and listen to what this dude is saying. Not that it’s new, but the shit bears repeating. [link coming soon]

ObeY - Can’t You See (prod by DEN ONE). The opening of this sold it for me. This hit my inbox and after hearing the ridiculous intro hook I was on this one. This has actually been a very good week for music. Lyricism is nice, I dig the production on this one as well – this gets the stamp of approval for being alternately funny and true. “They took my music and they dumbed it down / even the old heads is starting to sound redundant now“. Can I get an amen. myspace.com/huhproductions.

Outro beat – 4 Nations (demo) by P. Dukes.
Intro beat – 1 4 Dunn by P. Dukes. (what the fuck is in the water in the UK? Good work sir)

So that’s this episode. As I said in the outro, it’d be a good idea to hit up the Mixtape Show facebook group because I’m going to be giving out a copy of the Beautiful Mindz CD (which everybody really should own). And stay in tune with the blog in general, because there are more things coming your way.

MIXTAPE 67 – SOULTRONICA 3: THE SAGA CONTINUES…

On this edition of Soultronica – The Saga Continues, we find our heroes in deep space. After a mishap with the warp drive due to dex digital’s android copilot BrotherTron-17 pulling some dumb-ass stunts in the middle of an asteroid field, the two have pulled into orbit around Andromeda-13 to collect some valuable Dilithium Crystals in order to repair the ship.

But what’s with those weird readings dex keeps getting on the system scanners?

intro: Unagi – Space Cadet. unagi442.com
DJ Jazzy Jeff – Whatever U Want feat Little Brother. This track might surprise people that haven’t been paying attention to what Jeff has been doing recently. From what I’ve heard of this album, it’s pretty damn nice. myspace.com/djjazzyjeff.

Kingsbread – It’s Alright feat Steve Spacek. Dig the spaced-out production on this joint, and Spacek is just ridiculous with the vocals. I think I need to dig out his old solo album…myspace.com/kingsbreadsessions

interlude instro: Record Take 55 by Josh Ivey.

Chromeo – Needy Girl. This song is seriously the jam. Chromeo are producing some really bananas shit nowadays, and the video for this joint is really a must-see. I’ll post it soon. myspace.com/chromeo.

Basement Jaxx – Freakalude. I always wished they’d extend this and just make a goddamn track out of it. myspace.com/basementjaxx.

Quant – Tryin’. This joint was a staple in my soul mixes at the old college radio spot. I am probably going to have to dig out some Bugz In The Attic now, too. Oh, this dude is from Gothenburg, Sweden. myspace.com/jonasquant

And that’s it for this episode. The saga continues on Soultronica Vol 4…light up the comments section, kids.

MIXTAPE EPISODE 49 – SOULTRONICA

This week – no hip-hop. Yeah, you heard me.

I’d like to officially present to the internets – each and every one of them – a nascent genre of new Black music. I don’t know what to call it – I’ve heard Space Funk (or maybe I made that up? I can’t remember), Neo Funk, and TK seems to have settled on Soultronica, which I think is fairly accurate. You’ll see what I mean when you listen to the episode. So, for now, soultronica it is. Check the playlist.

DJ Spinna – Intergalactic Soul feat Phonte of Little Brother. This is sort of a weird record. Spinna starts off with two or three solid space-hop joints – this being the hottest – and then just when he’s got a good momentum going, he turns around and runs straight for motherfucking Chicago. House all the way through. Weird, but good. djspinna.com

J Davey – No More (Donwill Piracy Remix). At long last, after nearly 8 months of talking about it, I’ve finally gotten some J Davey material. I actually have enough for a whole episode, or two – peace to them for getting all that to me. I’d already heard the original joint, but this unofficial remix puts it over the fucking top. If you’re not already on the J*Davey bandwagon, you need to be. jdaveybaby.com.

Steve Spacek – Dollar. A J Dilla production [1]. Jon of SIC passed this to me damn near a year ago, or maybe it was a year ago, shit. Still, the beat is ridiculous. If you’ve already heard it, listen again.

Jneiro Jarel – Breathin’ feat Rocque Wun. In true space-age fashion, both of these artists have names that I can’t pronounce. For some reason I slept on Jarel’s last album for the longest – something about the cover art, I don’t know. Finally someone told me to listen to the goddamn thing, and it’s nice. Nice. jneirojarel.com

Sa-Ra – Second Time Around. Black pretenison personified. This is material done before the G.O.O.D. music thing – I think – some more material from the batch of exclusives Jon for SIC gave me a while back. If it hasn’t hit you quite yet that this whole Soultronica thing is a throwback to Parliament, maybe you’ll get it here – or find their sampler and listen to that.sa-ra.net

Opening beat – Kenny Keys – Starr Step (unreleased) – myspace.com/kennykeys
Outro – Sa-Ra – We Gonna Do It Again sa-ra.net

[1] Be on the lookout for the big Episode 51 – trust me, it’s going to be hot. Shaman Work has a lot to do with it, if that is any clue. Check back with your favorite hip-hop podcast next week for the full joint.