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.

MIXTAPE 101 – ORIGINAL GANGSTER

Yeah, order this is the story the Source won’t tell you. Consider this a bonus episode. Back in September, Jay-Z and I had put together a really brilliant companion to the American Gangster movie, featuring a lot of talented beatmakers previously featured on MTSN. I was pretty excited – my first A&R project, my first big industry check, everything was awesome.

Then Def Jam heard the final project and freaked. Next thing I know everyone’s scrambling around grabbing beats from no-names like Pharrell and Just Blaze, nobody’s returning my phone calls, and my money is all screwed up. Then the “official” record comes out, and no mention of my name.

So Jay, if you’re reading this, you know our first version would have gone triple plat, easy. I’m putting the first EP version up so people can hear the original. My version is 10 times better than the commercial release, Jay, and you know that.

intro dexalude: Pimpology 101 by Mathematics.

Nas – Hey Nas (remixed by Quincey Tones). We start with the whole remix thing kinda turned on its head. UK beatmaker Quincey Tones got hold of a bunch of Nas acapellas, plus the original joints sampled on the official American Gangster record, flipped them himself and created a new project. myspace.com/quinceytones.

Jay-Z – American Gangster (remixed by Shuko). That’s funny, when I think of the decade in which I was born, I don’t generally think of medium-sized wading birds in the Ardeidae family. To each his own, I guess. Been a minute since any Shuko production has been on the show. Mick Boogie and everyone’s favorite German got together and flipped Marvin Gaye samples and put this out pretty quick, from what I remember. This is probably my favorite cut on his version of the project.

Jay-Z – Ignorant Shit (remixed by Beewirks). Somebody stop this kid. I had this in my inbox a few days before Christmas hit. Pretty much everyone and their great uncle hit me up on some “hey dex look I made my own Jigga album lolkthx”. Beewirks’ version, though, is easily the most consistently great across the board. myspace.com/beewirks.

Jay-Z – No Hook (remixed by Beewirks). See? Kid’s range is pretty impressive. Beewirks brought a lot of nuance out of both this and the previous track that I think people would normally miss. myspace.com/shuko.

Jay-Z – Blue Magic feat Jack Benson (remixed by Von Pea). Yes, dig Von Pea on vocals – dude takes the remix concept one step further and sings the hook himself. Beat is extra dope too. I remember being absolutely bewildered as to why someone would name a song after hair product and then sing about drugs, but turns out Blue Magic is just extra pure heroin. Go figure. myspace.com/vonpea.

Nas - Warrior Song feat Alicia Keys (remixed Quincey Tones). Somebody will probably step in and hit me for sleeping, but this is the first I’ve heard of Quincey Tones. Dude really is not bad with these soul flips.

February should be an interesting month. We’ll talk more about that later. Until then…

MIXTAPE 83 – BEATJACKS & REMIXES VOL 2

First off, recipe thanks to those that voted in the Podcast Awards. They should be announcing in a few days, discount but regardless of the outcome, I appreciate the support.

This episode we return to the Beatjacks & Remixes concept – if for some reason you didn’t catch the first one, you can hear it here - right after you check this one. Let’s get into it…

Paul Wall – And Then What Remix feat Coota Bang and Archie Lee. I don’t know that this is the official title for this thing, but this came off of the People’s Champ sampler, which stayed in my CD deck a lot longer than his actual CD did. Say what you want about his nursery school rhymes, I find Paw Waww to be a pleasant listening experience, thank you very much. This joint shows what kind of shit Swishahouse was (is?) really capable of. djpaulwall.com.

Superiority Complex – Butter. Yes, as in they re-did the old Tribe joint. This takes balls, and apparently they have these in, uh, large, uh, supply. Some backpackers out there might scream sacrilege, but I dig this one. You’ve heard them here before – check them out in the First Impressions episode. myspace.com/superioritycomplexmusic.

Hell Razah – Freestyle. Off of his pre-album sampler, which somebody decided not to tag the filenames on, so I don’t know what it’s supposed to be called. But got-damn the opening bars on this one go hard. “I’m sick of marching in these rallies“…Cosign. myspace.com/razahrubiez.

Nas/Dextrus – Made You Look (CMP Remix). Got this joint a long time ago from Dextrus. Dude’s a software engineer by trade, but that doesn’t stop him from getting down behind the boards. myspace.com/dextrusdalabassistant.

Jay Electronica - My World (Nas Salute). The mystery kid shows up again, courtesy of Andres pointing out some of his leaked work. A little less surreal than the last offering perhaps, but still pretty damn out there. myspace.com/jayelectronica.

Pharrell – When Skateboard Came. Off the mixtape he and DJ Drama did some time back. I’m not sure what it was that made me like this cut so much, but it’s just ridiculous. There’s a reason that Skateboard P stays behind the boards most of the time, but when he comes out, it’s pretty entertaining. The rest of the mixtape ain’t bad, either. myspace.com/pharrell.

Pharrell – Liquid Swords. Apparently dudes really like Wu-Tang.

Jay-Z – Encore (Block Burners Remix feat Z Nuff). Am I crazy, or is this instrumental ridiculous? This instrumental is ridiculous. True story – I never actually listened to the whole Black Album until I’d heard its multiple reinterpretations via people like DJ Lt Dan and Danger Mouse. But this version sons most of the other cuts out there, easy. I have absolutely no information on these people, though.

DJ Virus – 2004 ITF World Championships Set. There’s a good reason that there isn’t a whole lot of turntable wizardry on the Mixtape Show – it’s just not really my flavor. This guy kinda kills it though – pay attention to the end. myspace.com/sdvirus.

Intro beat -
Iain Haywood – Bad Motherfucker. Finally got a myspace for this dude! myspace.com/12pads.

So – as usual, hit the comments, link up on the facebook group, and just generally holler at a scholar.

MIXTAPE 60 – BACK TO BASICS

Hey, sovaldi sale I think I’m actually on time with this one. There’s no real concept here, stomach aside from the “back to basics” thing, sale which basically means that I’m talking ass and playing random tracks because I like them. Classic.

Also, since I did a lot of talking in the show, I’m going to lay off on the long descriptions for the tracks. Hope you don’t mind. Leave comments, let me know how you felt this one…

Oh yes – I’ve just upped the quality from 96kbps to 160. It’s 2007, kids. The player above is gonna give you lofi, but if you want the hi-fi, you’ll need to download it by clicking the album cover from now on (or just subscribe in iTunes).

shoutouts to truestatiks for the intro beat!

DK – Observing The Night. DK’s all right, man. I like this dude. myspace.com/dk730

RZA – Just A Lil’ Dude feat Q-Tip and Free Murder. I am really feeling this joint. Off the Afro Samurai soundtrack. I have yet to check this show out – anyone out there seen it and can comment on it? afrosamurai.com

Hi-Tek – Let It Go feat Dion. This new Dion cat is kinda nice. I’m not buying this “15 times in a single day”, though. I mean, logistically, that’s just not even fucking feasible. Liar. myspace.com/hitek

Denots – Inolvidable. Better break out your old high school Spanish texts, because these motherfuckers get bilingual on us. This crew is out of Paraguay, and apparently fans of the show, which is always a bonus. myspace.com/bassreflexpy.

Howard Lloyd – We Did It. I’m not condoning any of the behavior found in this song. It is kinda funny though. cdbaby.com/cd/howardlloyd

4-Ize – Steroids. You might remember this dude from mixtape show 29. 4-Ize is a weird dude. 4ize.com

Nas – Where Are They Now (West Coast Remix) featuring Breeze, Kam, King Tee, Candyman, Threat, Ice T, Sir Mix A Lot, and Conscious Daughters with cuts by DJ Bobcat. Yeah, that’s a long “featuring” list. There’s another couple of these ones, actually, featuring mainly East Coast rappers from both the 80s and 90s – y’all wanna hear those? I got em…

Sniper E - SAS Diss Part 2. I can’t really explain why I like this song. It’s hilarious. Check out the “big ups” on dude’s site for a shoutout to the mixtape show. I actually don’t even know anything about SAS other than that they like to say “Dipset, bitch”. snipere.co.uk.

That’s it for me for this show. Let me know what you thought, and be sure to stay tuned to your favorite hip-hop podcast for more craziness soon soon soon.

Oh, and speaking of that video I was talking about, I am kind of toying with the idea of doing a video podcast. Would you all be interested in seeing something like that? If so, what would you want to see?

MIXTAPE SHOW EPISODE 52

As most of you are aware, patient I get so much music on a daily basis that it’s not possible to put even a tenth of it into a show. Thus, anemia a lot of good shit never ends up getting out, due to a combination of my tendency to sit on joints until I feel like it’s ready and my ADHD kicking in and me getting bored with the stuff I was going to put out. It’s not an easy life, trust me.

So with that said, I’ve tried to put some of the joints that really caught my attention over the last few months on this podcast. Don’t call it “leftovers”, cause it ain’t that, but just because sometimes I just can’t fit a song into a particular episode shouldn’t mean that it never gets out.

Here’s the track list.

Dabrye – Air feat MF Doom. Regardless of what I might have said about that Dangerdoom project, I’m still a Doom fan – and I’ve always liked Dabrye’s shit. If you feel this joint, I’d actually recommend going out and picking up Dabrye’s Two/Three – it was a long time in the making and there are at least five joints that spent forever in my Volvo CD player. dabrye.com.

Nicolay – The End Is Near feat Black Spade. I was actually so swamped a few months ago that I never actually got to listen to this record until I was in Hong Kong. I remember the overall record – Here – being sort of hit or miss sometimes, but for the Black Spade joints are definitely worth checking out. Cop up. myspace.com/nicolay.

Justin Timberlake – My Love (Benja Styles remix with Vybz Kartel). I realize that probably most of you have had this song played the fuck out by now, but I really couldn’t let this remix sit any longer. The dude Benja Styles threw a Vybz Kartel verse on top of the original, and for me, there’s really no point listening to the rest of the joint because that’s simply the best part. myspace.com/benjastyles

Diamond D – An Untitled Percee P Joint
Jaylib – The Ruckus

Both of the above joints were shamelessly stolen from the Stones Throw Chrome Children podcast. I actually lifted these when the joint first came out – too bad, they would have fit perfectly in the Nintendo Mixtape. The CD/DVD is out right now though – check out stonesthrow.com for more.

E-40 feat Big Gipp and Big Boi – Ham Sammiches & Coup Devilles. Straight from the source:
On the subject of songs that vaporize into the ether, this, from an interview I did with 40 Water on June 1, 2002, best I can tell, so happy anniversary and shit: “That song right there was a winner. At the time Outkast was going through some type of merge [LaFace/Arista] the same time my album was coming out. Jive neded a response about the licensing, and all I remember was they were saying $50,000, no video, no packaging, no single rights. No disrespect to them, they might not have even known this…”.

It’s a hot joint. Listen to it.

Nas and Lauryn Hill – If I Ruled the World (Wale Oyejide Black Gold Remix). Courtesy of the Shaman Works family, a pretty brilliant remix of the what – ’96? – classic. I’ve got the rest of the Black Gold album, and trust me – the remixes are hot. Wait until you hear the Dead Prez remix.. shamanwork.com.

Aight then – till next week.