Category Archives: hip-hop

general, hip-hop

El-P: Weareallgoingtoburninhellmeggamixx2 (free)

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If you keep up with El-P’s blog, Bastard’s Delight, at Okayplayer, then you already know this. If not, take note: El is offering the first disc of his tour-only Weareallgoingtoburninhellmeggamixx2 for free download.

As El-P notes, however:

“You won’t get the Eat My Garbage CD (disc 2), nor will you get the amazing original artwork by Travis Millard or the bragging rights of owning a cd that is going for 150 (so ive been told) bucks a pop on EBAY. But to be honest i felt kind of bad not letting fans who weren’t able to go to the shows hear this stuff. and besides it aint like its not being spread here and there on the net anyway.”

You have to go through the Definitive Jux shop to get it, but it’s worth it. Also, is there anything as depressing as the cover image for the mix?

  • El-P | Krazy Kings 3

(From Weareallgoingtoburninhellmeggamixx2.)

general, hip-hop, samples

Wednesday night: Filet of Soul

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My pals Jay (aka DJ Funkfinger) and Celine (Queen Celine) are putting on the first of what I hope to be many successful soul nights at Chez Nous in Phoenix. As you can tell by the blinking gif there, the night is called Filet of Soul.

Jay has kindly asked me to contribute some tunes – 45 minutes’ worth – and my wife (bless her) won’t let me get out of this. Eeek! As I’m not a DJ nor do I pretend to be, I’m a little nervous about showing how I can’t mix or match beats. To think, I usually mock those kinds of DJs!

Ah well. If anything, I’m going in there with a theme: I’m going to play soul songs that have been sampled by recognizable hip-hop songs. Maybe not all that original, but it’s what I know.

So who out there has some suggestions for me? I’ve got a pretty decent list compiled so far. I’ll be using Jay’s Serato set-up – what? I never ripped on DJs who mix only mp3s … honest – though I wish I could do it on all 45s.

No matter. Here’s one of the tracks I’ll be playing.

  • Ike Turner and the Kings of Rhythm | Getting Nasty

    • As sampled on:

  • Jurassic 5 | Concrete Schoolyard
    • hip-hop, Sundays with Tribe

    Sundays with A Tribe Called Quest: Vol. 2

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    So Friday night we went out with some friends, and I ended up, uh, falling asleep in the passenger seat while my wife navigated home. While I was still awake, I popped Midnight Marauders on the iPod – only one of the greatest hip-hop records with one of the greatest covers – for the drive home.

    I’m told I fell asleep, clutching the iPod as to not allow my wife a chance to change the tunes (and, really, why would she?). I quite enjoyed the unintentional symbolism at work there: You’re going to have to rip Midnight Marauders from my cold, dead hands when my time eventually expires. It’s too much to go into how much I love that album for these purposes, but let’s say I will write an I Used to Love H.E.R. entry one day soon … and it will be long and it will be glorious.

    Until then, I will say that the last two tracks on Midnight Marauders – Lyrics to Go and God Lives Through – are probably my favorites off the record. (I think there’s a post brewing about best last songs on albums … hmmmm.) One of the most unique aspects of God Lives Through is how it samples a vocal loop – Busta Rhymes growling “oh my god!” – off a song from the same album. It’s a move that seems like it would be self-aggrandizing, but it’s really genius instead with how it hammers in your brain the hook.

    The pacing of the track also appeals to me, its unorthodox syncopation dropping bass hits early in each measure. It’s definitely one of my favorite Tribe songs to rap along with while it plays. The verses – just one apiece from Q-Tip and Phife – are meaty and loaded (thanks to Phife) with playful yet resourceful name-checking: the Pharcyde, Toni Braxton, Babyface, Shanice and, of course, his best friend Steven at the Home Depot.

    Samples used: Jimmy McGriff, Dig On It; David T. Walker, On Love (via The Breaks).

    hip-hop, movies

    The Wackness official mixtape by D-Nice

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    I haven’t read up much on this movie The Wackness with Ben Kingsley, but I’m more motivated after seeing one of my favorite hip-hop artists, D-Nice, take part with the “official movie soundtrack mixtape.”

    Considering the movie’s backdrop is mid-90s New York, D-Nice’s mixtape drops a healthy dose of East Coast classics in this lean, mean 24-minute mix.

    The Wackness Official Movie Soundtrack Mixtape tracklisting:

    1. Intro (Heath Brothers – Smiling Billy Suite)
    2. Nas – One Love
    3. The Notorious BIG – The What Feat. Method Man
    4. Lou Reed – Walk On The Wild Side
    5. A Tribe Called Quest – Can I Kick It
    6. KRS-One – I Can’t Wake Up
    7. Stanley Turrentine – Sister Sanctified
    8. BDP – My Philosophy
    9. Black Moon – How Many Emcees
    10. O.C. – Time’s Up
    11. Craig Mack – Flavor In Ya Ears
    12. Group Home – Supa Star
    13. Biz Markie – Just A Friend
    14. Freddie Scott – (You) Got What I Need
    15. Wendy Rene – After Laughter (Comes Tears)
    16. Wu-Tang Clan – Tearz
    17. Ahmad Jamal Trio – I Love Music
    18. Nas – The World Is Yours

    hip-hop

    Incoming: GZA performing Liquid Swords?!!?!

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    According to a MySpace bulletin, the guys from Universatile Music are bringing GZA to the Clubhouse in Tempe on Sept. 17 for a performance of Liquid Swords. Um, woah.

    Here’s the brief bulletin:

    “UM presents…THE GZA performing a special Liquid Swords set
    at The Clubhouse in Tempe on 9-17
    at The Green Room (formally Mogollon Brewery) in Flagstaff on 9-18

    VERY, VERY special guest TBA

    more info coming soon…stay posted.”

    Two words to that: Hell yeah. … Nice job, UM.

    • GZA | Liquid Swords
    hip-hop, Sundays with Tribe

    Sundays with A Tribe Called Quest: Vol. 1

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    I’ve been meaning to start some arbitrary weekly feature for some time now, and I came to the decision that every Sunday I will now post something related to A Tribe Called Quest, if only because the group is one of my all-time favorites (Midnight Marauders is desert-island disc material) and, really, do I need another reason? Anyway, we gotta educate the young’ens, right? So check back every Sunday for songs, videos, remixes, whatever. We’ll see how deep my Tribe catalog is. And if anyone has some Tribe goodies to share, holler at me.

    If there was some sort of sign that I should begin this feature, it came to me on Saturday night. Earlier in the day I was browsing The Meaning of Dope (a must for you hip-hop fans) when I came across a video of A Tribe Called Quest performing Check the Rhime on In Living Color.

    Well, on Saturday night, I was working the Mariners-Padres game for work. While listening to the San Diego feed on MLB.tv, Check the Rhime was played on a fade into a commercial break. Coincidence? I think not.

    Without question, Check the Rhime probably is one of the best examples of interplay between Q-Tip and Phife in its sort of call-and-response format – “You on point, Phife?” / “All the time, Tip.”

    More important is one of the most well-known and cited lines in Tribe lore. Even 17 years later, no truer words have been spoken: “Industry rule No. 4080, record company people are shady.”

    Peep the video. And check out Q-Tip: Could he be any more of a front-runner with the Yankees jersey and Braves hat? Damn.

    (B-sides from promo CD single.)

    Here’s a list, via the Breaks, of samples used in Check the Rhime. And the lyrics via OHHLA.com (Original Hip-Hop Lyrics Archive).