MIXTAPE 124 – THE SKATE TAPE

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 117 -NIGGAS AND BITCHES

So I’m going to apologize upfront:

1. The intro is long. The outro is long. This episode is long. Almost an hour. I talk a lot.
2. I repeatedly use a word that I’m not really known for using, ever.

That out of the way, here’s the background:

The other day, during the course of my very serious research (read: half-asleep, cruising the Japanese interwebs), I discovered Japanese beef.

Apparently underground rappers Seeda and Oki of Geek had taken offense to something in the outro of the Teriyaki Boyz’ (probably only known in the States (and Japan) for showing up on Youtube videos wearing Bape and dancing around with Kanye) new single, “Serious Japanese”. They then proceeded to air their frustrations in public by recording a dis track (complete with accompanying video) and posting it up on Seeda’s blog.

Check the video below:

The two lines which we will be tackling today are below:

一人はビッチで後はカス you are serious? へそが茶を沸かす
One of you is a bitch, the others are trash. You are serious? Don’t make me laugh

二番煎じはニガの機嫌取り ass hall ガバガバ　＄をばらまく
You’re played out, just trying to make the niggers* like you. Assholes**, throwing money around

*Ostensibly, the black rappers/producers they’re associated with. I could have used the “nigga” form, but it’s being used more as an insult here, so it’s sort of in between a swap-word for “dude” and an actual proper racial slur.
**I think that’s what they meant.

Note that the above is a really loose translation. If you have a more eloquent one, let me know and I’ll fix it.

Oh yes, shouts to VTS for this week’s image design and some insight on the lyrics. Also shouts to ミスターポポ.

So yeah. Pretty much every underground Japanese rap fan is aware of this dis, the Teriyaki Boyz’ Verbal has responded to it on his blog and mentioned it on his podcast, and it’s been picked up on every site I can find – but there’s one angle that hasn’t been touched – the fact that in the first twenty seconds, somebody drops the N-bomb.

I thought it was interesting. So today, using this dis track as a starting point, we’ll look at some of the different ways we can look at this phenomenon (if you want to call it that), some of the background on how we got to this point, and in the end, I guess, look a little closer at the situation as it is at home.

A lot of talking, a lot of what will likely come off as little more than pointless theorizing, but at the very least, an awful lot of dope music.

beatro: The Brothers Johnson – Q.
beatro 2: Nipsey Hussle – Hussle in the House

Re-Up Gang – Real Niggas. I didn’t actually sit down and listen to the whole mixtape, but I do dig this cut. I had a conversation at a ramen shop this morning (somebody needs to tell these dudes that letting customers in at 3:AM, handing them soup, and then closing down at 3:20 is not funny) about the above dis track, and he said “Dex, you know that for these guys, ‘nigga’ just means ‘guy’”. If so, this song gives more than a few real-life examples of how to use the word – actually, this one goes above and beyond and expands on it, giving you the macho angle on the word as well. myspace.com/ablive

beatro 3: Super Smoky Soul – Simply (Extended Version)

Stat Quo – I’m Sorry. As I said in the episode, this stands on its own as a piece of art. All of these songs do. You don’t have to “agree” with what the dude is saying – since when did we start judging art with a PC ruler? But dig dude’s stance on the word: “They can’t say it but we can…Look at the power we hold in our hand”. And while this dude does make an attempt at showing respect towards women, this song is sort of uncompromisingly misogynistic – if you spelled it out in mathematical terms, bitch characteristics = “female” characteristics = undesirable characteristics. A = B = C, thus A = C, Q.E.D. This is sort of a theme throughout a good number of these songs. myspace.com/statquo

beatro 4: Jr Don – Bring In Black 2

Tribe Called Quest – Sucka Nigga. I guess this is the most palatable song of any of these for the PC set. That said, there’s not much substantially different from Q-Tip’s and Stat Quo’s stances on the word. myspace.com/atribecalledquest

Three 6 Mafia – Watcha Starin At feat Lil Jon. Sort of had to put these dudes in here. Lil Jon was possibly the root cause of white frat dudes screaming “nigga whut” at college parties from ’03-06′. At least from what I saw.

beatro 5: Unagi – High? Yes

Tahir – You Don’t Know Me. Probably the most challenging cut on here. Make no mistake about it, though – as the dude says, the sentiments expressed on this record aren’t rare, and they aren’t new. Lyrics to rewind and contemplate: “It’s my right to say this right here. This is my shit. This is my hood, and you’re in it“.

beatro 6: Sadat X – Hang ‘Em High

Jayo Felony – Don’t Call Me Nigga. I’m realizing that it’s starting to look like I put a large portion of this together just doing a search in my iTunes folder for “nigga”. Early 90s west coast. A lot of prison rap on this particular album, for good reason. myspace.com/jayofelony

MC Tucker and DJ Irv - Where Dey At? Probably a couple hooks in here you’ll recognize. Obviously this is just the intro, but the rest of the song sorta does the same thing.

beatro 7: Platinum Pied Pipers – After the Worries

You know, maybe I should have said this earlier, but I’m not here on some NAACP whining about how the word itself is bad. I’m not really interested in “nigga” right now beyond its use as a tool here to give us a look at a bigger issue. You know, just putting that out there.

Sporty T – Sporty Talkin 93. Edited. Note how “niggas” and “brothers” is used absolutely interchangeably. The first time I ever saw the Beef DVD series was in Japan (they got all 3 out here). Subtitles. And every time the dudes on TV said “that nigga this, a real nigga wouldn’t that, I don’t like them niggas”, etc, the “nigga” was translated as “黒人” “black person”. Sometimes 黒人男性, “black male”. So if you want to go with the “ignorance of the weight of the word” route, this would be a good thing to cite. Also I’m realizing now that I didn’t talk about bitches as much as I promised – maybe some other time. myspace.com/sportyt504

Jayo Felony – Niggas and Bitches. This was released as a radio single, believe it or not. And since the hook (you sort of have to hear it to believe it, try not to laugh) wasn’t going to work on radio, they actually cut a totally different version for the B-side called “Brothers and Sisters”, complete with each “nigga” being replaced for “brother”, and “bitch” for “sister” throughout the song. It’s sort of interesting to think about how simply switching the two words around makes such a large difference – the sentiment of the song doesn’t change at all (either way, it’s a tribute to loyal friends).

So that’s what it is for this round. Hit the comments, I’m interested.

(oh, and even though I said this in the episode, let me put it in writing – don’t mistake this as ‘dex is hating on Japan/Japanese rap/rappers’. And I like Seeda (and what I’ve heard of Geek). I sorta wish I woulda done a proper Japanese rap show before I put this out, but I had to get this off my chest first. Look for an actual music episode coming soon.)

MIXTAPE 97 – WEST COAST WINTER

Why is it so cold? Anyway, other news: Giveaways, son!

Yes, I do have 5 copies of 2K Sports’ NBA 2K8 for XBOX 360 (USA version) up for grabs. Merry Christmas, etc. Listen to the show to get details on how to grab your own copy and then post up your ideas in the comments. And as I said, 3 of them will be going out on the site, and two will be going out on the Mixtape Show Facebook Group – you gotta be in it to get the info on how to win one (click here to join up).

Massive, massive shouts to DJ Spaceboy at 2K for making this possible.

This ep – just West Coast all over the place. You’ll like it, I promise.

Strong Arm Steady – Steady Mobbin feat The Game. And Will Blast screaming random ignorant things in the background. No bad feelings though, that just adds to the bananas-factor of this joint. The funky Dago connection is in the house. I love this song. CHUUUUCHmyspace.com/strongarmsteady

Tha D.R.E. – Wild Child. I can’t necessarily vouch for the rest of the record, but for anyone who appreciates Bay Area rap, this cut is a gem. Oddly enough, dude is from Milwaukee.

Unagi – Mo Champagne feat Motion Man. Unagi hit me with this cut and I think I played it 8 times back to back. The dude really is just dope with the loops. unagi442.com.

Johnson&Jonson – La La La. Yes, Blu is in here. Seriously, how are they going to clear these samples? Jon, can you shed some light on this? Either way, this is really dope. (You’ve heard – and seen – Johnson & Jonson here before, by the way). Something to look forward to ’08 – the Powders and Oils album. myspace.com/jandjbabyproducts. I’m not pretending to understand the name, though.

Spice 1 – Playa Man. Again, get well soon, dude. I’m really just now getting into this cat’s music. myspace.com/spiceone.

Double F – Weed, Greed, and Chases at High Speed (prod. Dilla). This off his mildly controversial 2006 Welcome to Cali Jay Dee tribute tape (which almost made it onto the First Impressions tape). Short, to the point, and, well, great. myspace.com/mystadub

Dam Funk – December Sun – At some point the two of us are going to link up and just give you all a ridiculous show. Dam is just too funky with the beats. I know I talked all over this one, but you can go get yourself a listen at his myspace. Check for him on the new 2K8 soundtrack, too. myspace.com/damfunk.

Kam – (Untitled)?. This comes off of a Naam Brigade mixtape (the only one I have, actually). Yes, the Message revamped. You can hate all you like, but I actually dig this song a lot. Naam Brigade somehow pulls of these throwback beats that show the roots of this music without sounding contrived – on the contrary, a lot of their tape goes really, really hard. Kam is pretty great on this cut, and the combination of the NoI references, the commentary on the West Coast gangster rap market, and the parallels to the original cut are pretty interesting. In that vein, the “fag” lines are a little abrasive at first, until you remember that the original cut dropped them the same way. myspace.com/westcoastkam1

Hope you all dug this one. Good luck in the contest, and be on the lookout for a few special editions of the Mixtape Show coming your way very soon…

And on a related note, I know I’m kinda opening myself to the flames by calling anything a “West Coast” episode. Too much great music out here – again this is just a slice of the diversity out here. Feel free to let the recommendations fly in the comments.

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 72 – BEAT TAPE VOL 3

At long last, it’s the long-awaited threequel to one of the original concept/spinoff series on this hip-hop podcast – the Beat Tape. Keeping in tradition with recent developments on the show, this tape is all over the place – stylistically and geographically. Three continents, multiple subgenres and inspirations, and just damn. I guarantee at least three rewinds on this episode or your money back^TM

Intro – DJ Umoja – Ieidc. Words – my father. I wish I was kidding.

1’05 – Super Smoky Soul – Good Night. Straight out of Tokyo. The Light Smoke EP is the first release on Circulations Japan, and it goes hard. Please check this. Shouts to Dai. myspace.com/circulations

3’40 – DJ Cam – The Sound of The Streets. Now on to France. This joint coulda easily showed up on Episode #68. myspace.com/djcamrecall

5’20 – Iain Haywood – Smooth. And over to the UK. Oh, come on. It’s cute. myspace.com/12pads.

6’35 – Alf-Alpha – 22 Year Old. Back to southern CA. I had this on replay for a very long time. Cut is cute as hell, and I want to call the words/scratches clever, but it’s a little beyond that. I hear dude has an album out. You should check it maybe. myspace.com/alfalpha

10’00 – Gil Scott-Heron – Is That Jazz (excerpt). I have no qualms about jacking things from YouTube. The bassline on this thing is ridiculous.

12’00 – Suburb - untitled. I’ve been sitting on these joints for far too long. Suburb is sort of the truth. Check him out. myspace.com/suhburb.

13’25 – Suburb - Cornelius Brothers flip. See above.

15’30 – Unagi - The One Revisited. Cut is hard. unagi442.com.

18’05 – Disrupt - International Karate Championship. Jahtari, the Leipzig, Germany-based label has been doing their thing for a minute now. This was their first release and you know I am fucking with it. jahtari.org.

20’40 – Disrupt - Events Occur In Realtime. This is an exclusive given to me by the Jahtari kids themselves. jahtari.org.

22’05 – J Dilla – Make Em NV (instrumental). Yep. jdilla.org.

23’20 – 9th Wonder – Track 07. Off the marginally infamous “Black Album Rejects” beat tape that floated around forever ago. myspace.com/9thwondermusic.

This is clearly the best beat tape episode yet, and it has nothing to do with me. Thanks to all the artists for contributing tracks, and I was serious in the outro. I want to know what you think about this. Let me know.

ps – in case you missed the first two in the series, check here: beat tape vol 1, and vol 2.

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 66 – SOUL

So in this week’s hip-hop podcast, lest any of you webternet kids think that I’m forgetting about the “Soul” in “Soultronica”, I bring you some of the more soulful joints I’ve come across recently. This is necessarily South-heavy, because I mean, they’re the ones really making these country rap tunes.

Check the playlist:

intro: Nedelle - I lied. (thanks elizabeth)

UGK – International Player’s Anthem feat Outkast. This cut is ridiculous. There’s a reason that there are no drums on Andre‘s verse. myspace.com/ugk.

Devin the Dude – Anythang Remix feat Rick James (produced by Cory Mo). Shout outs to Cory Mo for linking me up with this exclusive remix. Cory Mo did this joint originally for Devin’s last album, then went back and remixed it with the Rick James vocals. Shit is hot. myspace.com/devinthedude and corymo.com.

Dex – Ponds & Lakes. No, this isn’t me – but like the hip-hop podcast star from whom this artist obviously stole his name, he clearly has talent. myspace.com/thefoundationmusic.

Nicole Wray – Can’t Get Out The Game feat Beanie Sigel. Shoutouts to Krystian for getting this mixtape out to me. I can’t think of that any other singers that would actually make sense on an Aphilliates mixtape. myspace.com/msnicolewray

interlude – Unagi‘s If You Wanna, and two females that I hope never ever hear this episode.

Oh No – T Biggums feat Dudley Perkins and Georgia Anne Muldrow. I never really did listen to Exodus Into Unheard Rhythms – maybe I need to get back on that. Georgia‘s joint too – damn, I’m slipping. Not enough hours in the day to really listen to all this shit. myspace.com/ohnodisrupt.

outro beat – Alf-Alpha – Slam.

Hit the comments and let me know how you felt this one. And if you haven’t done so already, make sure to subscribe in iTunes!