Can anybody from LA confirm if this is actually getting any airplay back home? Even on the college circuit? It wasn’t getting any love at all before I left. Thanks to Karthi for putting me up on the video – I’m actually a little embarrassed at how late I was.
(for the original, curse-laden version, check Episode 99 – The Primaries)

And bonus video:

Yes, the video from one of the stronger joints on last week’s episode. Thanks for Spencer for getting that to me. (If you’re looking for relevance, look at his shirt).

No matter what a person’s stance is on Obama or music or whatever, I pretty much defy anyone to deny hip-hop culture’s importance in this campaign. Like it or not, this culture is going to play a big part in the next four (or more) years.

That said, if somebody can get the man himself to dance to the Obama rap song, I will personally donate a large sum of money to his campaign.

New episode soon.

MIXTAPE 103 – BEAT JACKS + REMIXES 3

So this episode should answer all questions about who I voted for. Let’s cut the typing and do the rundown, shall we?

(but before I do that – remember that you can embed this episode in your myspace, blog, etc! Look above!)

Mobb Deep – Shook Ones (MF Doom Remix). I don’t think I need to say much about this one. The original was great, this one is possibly greater. Doom is just stupid as a producer. Who needs extra drums? Classic. I won’t be mad at you if you rewind just for this one. myspace.com/mfdoom.

Zero 7 – Somersault (Dangermouse Remix feat MF Doom). And Doom shows up as an MC this time. I had a very good friend once that played Zero 7 incessantly whenever I was at her place. I probably know all the songs from their first CD by heart, and I don’t even know what the album cover looks like. One of the odd joints out where Doom actually attempts to tell a(n ostensibly) coherent story. Simple, but dope production. Don’t get it twisted though – Zero 7 is great by itself. myspace.com/zero7.

Amplive - Video Tapez (feat Del the Funky Homosapien). Off the Zion I member’s somewhat infamous Radiohead – In_Rainbows remix album. There are obvious comparisons to be drawn to Dangermouse‘s Grey Album, but it’s still a good (and free) record. It raises a lot of questions (doesn’t everything nowadays, though?) about media ownership and rights, as well. myspace.com/amplive.

Donwill - Camp Cupcake. Off the Beat Thieves Vol 2 record. I will leave the title alone and say that I dig this cut.myspace.com/donwont.

vicolude – Daedelus - Playing Parties (Yesterday’s New Quintet – The Stars Remix). Featuring a very prominent figure from my childhood. Okay, who am I kidding – my teenhood and nascent adulthood.

Daedelus - Obama 2008 feat Shariq and Taz of Sa-Ra. This song is so ridiculous it’s not even funny. Wait, it is. This is the jam, official, game over, I could play this 20 times and it would make a great episode. I don’t know why they have to be so dismissive about my mother’s opinions – I think she may very well have voted for Obama. I should ask her. By the way, if you ever get the chance to see Daedelus – do so. It’s brilliant.myspace.com/daedelus.

Donwill - Go Head (beatjackee = Wale Oyejide). I’m not sure what Mr. Oyejide is doing about the inevitable mixup between him and the other Wale, but I’ve always dug the former’s production. Look for more Donwill soon, by the way, as soon as I get that Suburban Sprawl record…

Q-Tip – Breathe and Stop (Iain Haywood remix). More solid production work from Iain – dig the saxophones! What, you’ve heard his stuff before, right? Do your homework. myspace.com/12pads.

Muja Messiah – Paper Planes (feat Manifest). M.I.A. gets the beatjack treatment this time (about time, that Piracy Funds Terrorism Vol 1 was pretty much grand larceny – can we get a Vol 2, by the way?). I obviously like this song. I guess I should be a little troubled that the “activist” message has been lost in this version, but really activism is for pansies anyway. myspace.com/mujamessiah.

I kid.

Bonus cut –

Cappadonna - Slang Editorial (Madlib Remix). Or at least that’s who it’s credited to, I just happened upon this track while I was mixing this episode down. Remember Cappadonna? That dude was cool. I’d listen to a Cappadonna record. Apparently he actually made some records, but all I remember hearing about him after Triumph was that he was driving taxis. myspace.com/madlib.

That’s this episode…what’s good?

MIXTAPE 76 – NEW SOUL 3

Black TK comes back once again to bring the finest in Soultronica. That’s right – it’s Volume 3 of the New Soul.

702 – I Still Love You (prod. Pharrell).
Teedra Moses – You’ll Never Find (A Better Woman) feat Jadakiss.
J Dilla Interlude
Sa-Ra – We Gonna Do It Again.
JUSTICE – D.A.N.C.E.
Niri – Who Knows.

So hit the comments, join us on facebook, etc.

Oh, by the way, new site design. Hope you dig.

MIXTAPE 73 – SOULTRONICA 4 – THE ESCAPE

After landing on the surface of Andromeda-13 in search of his cyborg partner Brothertron, Dex Digital contacts the ship’s computer (Cosbotron) in order to get coordinates on Brothertron’s last known location. Shortly after receiving those coordinates, Dex Digital is ambushed by a group of invisible space aliens native to Andromeda-13 – possibly the same beings that captured Brothertron.

Soon, Dex Digital awakens in deep within the aliens’ compound. He discovers that he is trapped in a cage suspended from the ceiling by a rather weak chain, and is accompanied in capture by Brothertron and an alien that appears well-versed in 21st Century Ebonics. Will our heroes make it back to their ship alive? What will happen to their new alien companion? And where did this alien dude learn to talk like that? Find out in this episode of Soultronica…

Be warned – none of this will likely make sense unless you’ve heard the rest of the soultronica series.

Tracklist:

intro – a ghosteo beat.

Ammon Contact – A Satellite’s Return. Special shouts to J.R. and Carlos Nino for linking me up with this jam. This one’s off of New Birth, which (from what I know) is the debut Ammon Contact record. There’s another one out, though, so check it.. AC on Ninjatune.

4Hero – Take My Time feat Jack Davey. Yes, vocals contributed by the singer of J*Davey. 4Hero has been around forever in this whole Nu Jazz / drum n bass thang, and this new soultronicaesque sound that they’ve got going on is hot. I might be sneaking another cut in off of their latest album – Play With the Changes. Shouts to JC of Milan Records for making the connection on this one. myspace.com/4hero.

interlude – Nicholas Cicero – Muerto 6.

The Big Payback – It’s You. The meandering opening cut on the second release from the Japan-based Circulations label. This song is not even the half of it, ladies and gentlemen. I think the artists on here are NY/France based – what they’re doing on a Tokyo label I don’t know, but I’m not complaining. Shoutouts to Dai again for getting this to me. myspace.com/circulations

Sa-Ra – Hey Love. Yeah, it would have been nice had I put this one out before the album come out, but hey, things happen. Doesn’t change the fact that the cut is nice. I still have some more on deck, so stay in tune.. sa-ra.net.

Ammon Contact – Omniverses 2. Probably my second favorite track off of the New Birth record. Check these cats out.

Glass Candy – Rolling Down the Hills [no vocals edit]. No offense to Ida, but I just couldn’t fuck with her vocals (at first – they actually grew on me after a while). Johnny Jewel, on the other hand, is a recent discovery (to me – he’s been doing his thing for a minute) and I dig his weird retro coked-out production. You can find the original on the Glass Candy myspace. myspace.com/glasscandy

pre-fight interlude – Josh Ivey

outro music – ripped from the Nintendo game Xexyz.

that’s this week’s jumpoff. And again – if you’re new to the series, you might want to step back and listen to Soultronica Vol 1, Soultronica Vol 2, and the recent Soultronica Vol 3.

MIXTAPE 61 – BLACK TK PRESENTS THE NEW SOUL VOL 1

This round, we’ve got the inaugural volume of yet another soultronica series – a spinoff of a spinoff, if you will – here on the Mixtape Show hip-hop podcast – The New Soul, starring comrade Black TK. We’re both coming from our own different respective angles on this soultronica movement, but I think you’re going to feel what dude has to say artistically.

Here’s the playlist and commentary courtesy of TK –

Kelis – Trilogy
Platinum Pied Pipers – Shotgun feat Jay Dee (I’m mad at you for getting to this before I did! -dex)
Niri – Fool in Love
Sa Ra Creative Partners – Unreleased
Jay Dee aka J Dilla – Think Twice

all bumps looped and chopped by black t.k. And if you don’t know who they artists are shame on you!!! You listen to commercial radio too much!!

Use your tools!!!

–

And there it is. As always, feel free to drop comments and let us know how you felt the show as a whole, individual tracks, and so on!

MIXTAPE 57 – SOULTRONICA VOL 2

And as promised, Soultronica Volume Two. If you haven’t caught the first installment in this ongoing sideseries, you need to go back and get a bar – once you’ve caught Soultronica Volume 1 in its entirety, come back and check this one out.

This volume finds our heroes back in space, and your boy back in Cali with the official studio – don’t get me wrong, the Macbook mic is fine for what it is, but nothing beats recording into a mic that’s worth more than you are.

D’Angelo – Devil’s Pie (Kenny Keys remix). I was so impatient to share this joint with the listeners when I first got it that I damn near made a one-song episode of your favorite hip-hop podcast. Keys shows us where his name came from on this joint, and the production is hot as well. Brilliant remix. myspace.com/kennykeys

J*Davey - Let It Bleed. There’s so very little I can say about this duo without simply reiterating what everyone in the know has been saying for what, going on a couple years, at least, now? Production is funky, soulful, and futuristic, the vocals ooze intelligence and well, sex. jdaveybaby.com

J*Davey – Gangsta. Damn. Do not let the lyrics slip by you on this one, trust me.

Dwight Trible and the Life Force Trio – Equipoise (feat Sa-Ra). And somehow I managed to sneak Sa-Ra back into Volume 2. I remember back a couple summers ago when JR was talking about Dwight Tribble, and when I finally got my hands on Love is The Answer, I got what he was talking about. Real spacy, groovy, soulful joints – special thanks to JR for approving this joint for mixtape show play. Make it a point to cop the full album.

DJ Spinna - Where’s Your Love (feat N’Dea Davenport). Another joint off of Intergalactic Soul. This record is kind of weird because it starts off hip-hop – and does a pretty damn good job of it, as listeners that caught volume 1 will remember – and then around track 5 decides it’s had enough of this rap shit and runs for safety in the form of house. I’m not complaining, because I like house anyway – shit, I might do a house episode sometime soon (what do you all think – want to hear that? comment away), and this is a nice example of what the rest of the album sounds like. djspinna.com

J*Davey – Mr Mister. Some of you might know this one.

Wale Oyejide – Falling. And we finally got some more Wale on here. This joint is off of Africahot!, and was actually recommended to me by LG over at Shaman Work – I’d forgotten how much I felt this joint when I first heard it. There’s been a lot of buzz around this record, and for good reason. Wale’s got style all over the place – wait until I break some more of this Black Gold material out for y’all… shamanwork.com

(opening beat – Kenny Keys).

And that’s it for this week’s installment of the most important hip-hop podcast on the entire intarwebbe. Next week, we’ll be…actually, I have no idea what I’m doing next week.

Any feedback, questions, comments, light up the comments section.

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.

MIXTAPE EPISODE 38

All fucking right then. This week we’re getting into some more diverse shit. Check the tracklist, and download this shit. Don’t forget to subscribe to the show.

Dwele feat. Che Grand – Lady In Red. This joint is off of the “A Sensual Evening With Che Grand” mixtape. I don’t necessarily want a sensual evening with dude, but the music is generally pretty hot – this should give you an idea of what an indie label is actually capable of. I’d highly recommend copping the whole mixtape, if for no reason other than to hear the skits in between the tracks. Shit is off the wall. loudminoritymusic.com


Sa-Ra feat. J. Dilla – Thrilla. Oh, how cute – the producer and the track rhyme! Speaking of rhymes, the recently departed genius fucking smashes the first verse of this shit. Body bling like C-3P0?!? ohhhhhhh shit. The man will be missed. Shouts to Jon and everyone else at Sound In Color for giving your boy free reign on this shit. soundincolor.com

Sa-Ra – Big Fame. Okay, I know I made a comment in the show that could be taken the wrong way. Don’t get it twisted – I mean “bootleg” in the best sense of the word. I’m not sure if their record is going to be like this, but the sampler is absolutely off the fucking wall with the skits. Dear Sa-Ra: please do more of that shit. Since when does having a cookout equal “being productive”? All of you can hate all you like, but if Sa-Ra isn’t a part of this new space funk black music shit, then I’m caucasian. soundincolor.com

The Jones Girls feat. Che Grand – Nights Over Egypt. Yes, once again, an unauthorized remix off of the Sensual Evening mixtape. This should show all of you random-ass kids rapping over dead Dre beats over and over again something – namely, that anybody can do that shit. If you can rap over that electro groove shit, you have my respect, and possibly a coveted spot on the hottest rap podcast in the history of womankind. Che is a weird dude, but you can’t deny the talent. Dude rips this joint gently, if that’s possible. Fuck it, just listen. loudminoritymusic.com

Ol’ Dirty Bastard – Drunk Game. As I said in the show, this track really blurs the line between genius and insanity – which pretty much sums up the majority of the dude’s oeuvre. I have no idea who produced this – it could be RZA, or it could be one of those Casio joints that play when you push the red “demo” button. If you actually forget for a moment that it’s Unique Ason singing, you’ll notice that the man actually kinda sons about 80% of R&B singers out there. Which is good!!! which is good…. wutangcorp.com

Tanya Morgan – She Moved Outta Cincy. No, I haven’t revoked my strict “no female emcees” policy* (seriously, what the fuck is up with the ladies?! The second one of y’all hit me with some heat, I’ll put you on) – Tanya Morgan is actually three dudes that are labelmates of Mr. Che Grand. You might recognize Von Pea’s voice from a couple episodes ago. Is it just me, or is Loud Minority’s catalog full of joints about really horrible shit happening? Well, either way – TM is supposedly hot. If anyone wants more, I’ll see what I can do… loudminoritymusic.com

Damn, I managed to keep it short this week. Feel free to pass the information on, and be watching for the People Under The Stairs interview prolly next week. We all love hip-hop podcasts.

*No, really. For some reason the females have been slacking on me recently. Ladies please step your game up, thanks.