Category Archives: hip-hop

Cadence Weapon: Separation Anxiety
(pay what you want)

Cadence Weapon (aka Rollie Pemberton) has gone and pulled a Radiohead. In a Facebook blast, Cadence announced he’s offering Separation Anxiety, a collection of remixes, collaborations and new tracks, on the pay-what-you-wish scale.

He also says he’s working on two – TWO! – new albums. I loved Afterparty Babies (still do, as a matter of fact), so this is some exciting news.

His note in full:

i make a lot of music. so much in fact, i have trouble releasing it all. the first thing i ever officially released was a patchwork CD-R of random bootleg remixes, verses, unfinished songs and instrumentals called cadence weapon is the black hand near the end of 2004. i had a girlfriend type person spraypaint all the CD decals and i did the official kinkos move for the cover art and tracklisting. now that other people have the internet and use it for hacking music, it’s made releasing music on it a more plausible idea. i wanted to do kind of a new version of the black hand mixtape.

as a result, i am putting this thing out with a pay-what-you-want prompt thing in case you actually like my music (unlikely) and want to pay for it. but you don’t have to pay. please let anybody know who might be interested in grabbing it

it has nevine on the cover!

i am also working on two new albums at the moment. one is called roquentin and it’s about abrupt shifts, hope, humanity, death and bands that take too long to soundcheck. and the other one is with a rapper called subtitle from LA, we’re called fall fashion. the album is mainly about getting fly.

You can pay (or not) for Separation Anxiety at Cadence Weapon’s Web site. (The download comes wtih album art and tracklisting; the mp3s are 320 kbps, but the tags are kind of a mess.) If you’re wondering, I paid $5, mostly because I was interested more in the new tracks than the remixes and such. Below is one of those songs, Roll With the Winners.

Z-Trip: Victory Lap – The Obama Mix (Pt. 2)

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In the heat of the presidential election, DJ Z-Trip dropped the Obama mix, an inspiring message through music that encouraged people to vote and take action. Now that our man is about to take office, Z has followed up his first mix with Victory Lap: The Obama Mix (Pt. 2). As Kyle said, if you need a soundtrack for Inauguration Tuesday, this is it.

Z-Trip explained the origin of the mix:

“Last week I was contacted by MoveOn.org to put something together for an email blast they are doing for the lead up to the inauguration. This one is called “Victory Lap: The Obama Mix Pt. 2”. It’s my way of congratulating all of us for electing what I think is the right person for the job. We made history and I’m proud to be a part of that. Yes, my friends, it is time to celebrate, but please don’t lose sight of the mess we are still in, there is plenty of work that lies ahead.”

As usual, Z-Trip does a masterful job of mixing music with a message, blending Obama sound bites with fitting song choices (Rare Earth’s I Just Want to Celebrate gets the ball rolling.)

[ZIP]: DJ Z-Trip | Victory Lap: The Obama Mix (Pt. 2)

Guilty Simpson: Piglets (prod. by Oh No)

Paying attention to Twitter can actually be rewarding sometimes.

On Sunday evening, Stones Throw (Web site / Twitter) dropped a link for a “Twitter exclusive”: an mp3 of Piglets by Guilty Simpson, a track that’s on EA Sports’ Skate 2 soundtrack.

It’s actually a remix of Pigs, which appeared on Guilty Simpson’s 2008 album Ode To The Ghetto. Oh No fleshes out the minimalist drum beats of the original for Piglets, a modern-day Fuck tha Police: “I’m just a young rap artist / do the shit you probably refer to as ‘that garbage’ “

  • Guilty Simpson | Piglets

[UPDATE: MP3 removed by request; good time to join Twitter.]

New Souls of Mischief: Tour Stories

If this were, say, the mid-90s, the idea of a Souls of Mischief album produced by Prince Paul undoubtedly would have made me a little light-headed from excitement (OK, really, I might have peed my pants a little, too.)

As it stands, a decade later, cautious optimism has taken over. I took the same approach to news of Q-Tip’s new album in 2008 (I think we were all pleasantly surprised by the outcome there). That said, I don’t doubt that the Souls/Prince Paul pairing has some magic to offer. After all, they are responsible for at least two hip-hop classics: Souls of Mischief’s 93 ’til Infinity and the Prince Paul-produced 3 Feet High and Rising.

The first offering from the forthcoming album – for which I have no title and no release date – is a single called Tour Stories, a tale that is pretty self-explanatory from the title and is a little reminiscent of Chicago off the Hieroglyphics album Full Circle. It makes sense, though, since Tajai told me in an interview that the Hiero crew (of which Souls is a part) plays about 150 shows a year. If anyone can properly convey the ups and downs of being on the road, it’s gotta be Souls and Hiero.

Peep Opio’s verse, in which he name-checks Nate Dogg and Blackalicious. Love it. Next to Del, he’s probably my favorite Hiero member.

The Gray Kid: Soothsayer (MP3 + video)

It seems 2009 is settin’ up to be a big year for Los Angeles playboy the Gray Kid.

As a prelude to the release of a new EP — the cleverly titled Free Music!!! — on Feb. 10, the Kid is offering the single Soothsayer as a free download along with a companion video. But there’s more where that comes from.

This from the Kid himself:

On February 10th graykid.com transforms into a digital jukebox box set where everything Ive made since 2001 (including rock band records I produced or mixed in DC) is available for free. Along with FREE MUSIC!!! two other new EPs (3-Sides and LMNOP-Sides) will be available with new tunes on them.

If you do nothing else, at least download Soothsayer, a jam that’s floated around his MySpace for a little while. (OK, well, you probably should download his full-length … 5, 6, 7, 8 when it becomes available, too.) But if you’re looking for one-stop shopping for what the Gray Kid is about, Soothsayer shows how easily he can maneuver between rapping and singing verses. And that’s to say nothing of his usual air-tight production.

He’s made a name as a one-man show, but be on the look out for his group venture, Spirit Animal, too.

Related:
The Gray Kid: “The Pilgrimage” mixtape
I Used to Love H.E.R.: The Gray Kid
The Gray Kid: “PaxilBack” video
The Gray Kid feat. My Brightest Diamond: Bang

Sundays with A Tribe Called Quest: Vol. 19

One of my Christmas gifts this year from my brother and his wife was the 33 1/3 book on A Tribe Called Quest’s People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm.

I’m eager to dig into it, if only because I find it a curious selection from the Tribe catalog to write about. Not saying it’s not worthy, but it seems like Low End Theory was really the watershed album for Tribe (even though Midnight Marauders is my favorite).

That said, one of the great storytelling tracks in Tribe (hip-hop?) lore comes from that first album, I Left My Wallet in El Segundo. The video is charming, not just for its visual illustration of the tale but also for how it captures Tribe in a time capsule, from the group’s Afro-inspired wardrobe to a rare appearance by long lost fourth member Jarobi.

The Grouch and Eligh: Say G&E

If you’ve paid just a little bit of attention around here, you’ll know I’m a pretty big fan of the Living Legends and all the group’s various offshoot combinations – like, say, the Grouch and Eligh.

The pair is getting ready to drop the full-length Say G&E in March, an album that features guest spots from Gift of Gab, Pigeon John, Sage Francis with guest production from Flying Lotus and AmpLive.

Until then, you can check the title track below.