Tanya Morgan / Hardcore Gentlemen

So yeah, for those of you who caught the Skate Tape, this is the video from Tanya Morgan’s Hardcore Gentlemen.

Apparently as if making up a pretend city wasn’t enough, these dudes made up a pretend rap group that supposedly existed 15 years ago, and a pretend video for that pretend group, and a pretend video show that showed that pretend video, and then they pretend got pretend permission from the pretend video and made a pre…you know what, just watch the video.

I mean, I could sorta do without the intro, but it’s still funny. I still haven’t heard the whole record, but I don’t know, maybe I should go get it. What I have heard thus far is kinda good.

As a side note, the Tanya Morgan name shouldn’t be new to you at all if you’ve been following the show for a while. Check the archives.

Realest like Bruce Willis.

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 108 – SUBURBAN SPRAWL

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This is for those of you who have been sending emails and leaving comments asking when I was finally going to let go of some of the SuhBURB stuff I had stockpiled up…

As promised earlier (you did see the video, right?), the new Suburban Sprawl record is out. In case you missed it, Suburban Sprawl = Donwill (of Tanya Morgan) and probably the one producer that gets the most airtime (airtime? do you say that for a podcast?) on the Mixtape Show – SuhBURB.

So yes, the record is out. 40 minutes, 16 tracks, and highly recommended. And it’s on here. In its entirety, for free.

I’m going to keep my comments to myself for the time being, but lest you be wondering whether or not you should click that “play” button, keep the following three points in mind:

1. This is the best thing I’ve heard all year
2. The last time I gave an entire episode to one artist/group, it was Jay Electronica. We all know how I feel about Jay Electronica
3. wow

As you listen, you can check the liner notes featuring ridiculous commentary by both artists, and grab the full hi-fi version from the official site.

00 – Ridiculous-ass Mixtape Show drop by Suhburb. Seriously fam, this is not what I had in mind when I asked for a drop.

01 – The Tiki Torch. I remember when I first got this beat. First time I played it out anywhere, it got a nod from Daedelus. I’m sort of glad they left it as is.

02 – Sittin’ at the Bar Demo. Ha! Tearing apart Ladder Theory from the base, I guess.

03 – Baltimore Bitch. Words fail me.

04 – Diwadiwadonald. Wow, the bongos on this one. I think at this point I remembered why Donwill is sort of dope lyrically.

05 – Salsoul. This is one of the things that, for me, separates SuhBURB from other producers – the soul he puts into the kick drum programming. This obviously isn’t the only song where you’ll notice that, but dig the lows on this one.

06 – Fly Me feat. Von Pea. (you heard this one earlier, but without the Von Pea verse, which is quite possibly the cruelest verse I’ve ever heard in my life.)

07 – Guilty. Damn.

08 – Night Time. Am I the only one who thought of UGK at the end here?
09 – All Right. When I first met Suhburb, I don’t even think he was really making that much rap music yet – he was a jungle producer. I’d been sitting on this track for a very long time – I wanted to drop it as part of the Soultronica Saga. I guess that will teach me to wait to drop a track.

10 – Slipknot. Is this from the Brasil beat tape?

11 – The Words. It’s joints like these that make me respect Don for actually having the nerve to rap on tracks like this. I think Suhburb makes beats that are hard to rap on on purpose.

12 – Dead Ass. Lyrically maybe the most powerful track for me on this project. Check this one.

13 – Maybe. More heavy content.

14 – Audio Visual. This song is sort of ridiculously cute. I mean, I’m not even mad they didn’t get to put Jack Davey on this one. Can we get this “girl at the time”’s name?

15 – The Champ (LP Version). Seriously, who raps over things like this? Something is wrong with both of these kids.

16 – Funeral March. Propane Pip dropped this one first, but it’s still dope. And by the way, Suhburb – you make fun of me for spinning slab music on my old radio joint, and then you turn around and drop a slowed version of this joint? Explanation? Also, the content here confused me until I read the liner notes – you should probably check them instead of reading this.

And there you have it. Burn it, share it, whatever. I’m still sort of scratching my head over the fact that this isn’t being sold for, you know, money.

So, obviously, I think that this record is dope. Thoughts?

Suburban Sprawl: Donwill – Night Time

As always, staying busy. I do have some good news – a lot, actually, which will hopefully take shape into something concrete and show up in this space soon.

But first, something I am actually really excited about. Dig the video for the first leaked track (is this a single, kid?) off the Suburban Sprawl record:

Donwill – Night Time (produced by SuhBURB).

I’ve heard bits and pieces of the record, and trust me, it gets even better than what you see and hear above. For those of you who were asking for more SuhBURB – hold tight, just a few more days..

I hear it’s dropping on Wednesday. Hell or high water, they say.

Also, the visuals is pretty nice.