January 16th, 2010 — Uncategorized
D.C. singer Raheem DeVaughn just dropped a fantastic mixtape, including dope remakes/covers of the Clipse’s “I’m Good”, “Pretty Girls”, “Bonita Applebum” and “Redemption Song”. Appearances by Wale, X.O. and Tabi Bonney, among others. Raheem’s new album In Love & MasterPeace drops in March.
Track listing below the jump:
01. Intro
02. I’m Good (feat. Phil Ade)
03. Pretty Girls (Remix) (feat. Wale & Phil Ade)
04. Bonita Applebum (Produced by Supreme)
05. Know What I Mean
06. Take Home (feat. XO & Phil Ade)
07. Slow Love (Slow Dance Remix)
08. Fever (feat. Tabi Bonney)
09. Re-Invented Sex
10. West Coast Love
11. Never Too Much
12. Die For You
13. Lying To Myself
14. Soldier Of Love (Remix) (feat. Sade)
15. PSA
16. Village Ghetto Land
17. Birthday Cake
18. We Are (feat. DJ Jazzy Jeff & Phil Ade)
19. We Are One
20. Love Experience (Remix Pt. 2) (feat. Omar Retnuh)
21. Until (Unplugged Live Version)
22. Outro PSA
January 16th, 2010 — Uncategorized
Ladies and gentlemen, the face of New York rap today. Take it or leave it.
via Nah Right
January 13th, 2010 — Uncategorized
When “I’m Beaming” first leaked on December 23, Lupe Fiasco responded with a tirade against the leakers and an emotional appeal to fans not to “share, stream, or download any unauthorized or stolen Lupe Fiasco music.”
“Plain and simple its STOLEN property. And this goes for ANY record or track that leaks or is made available for illegal download from this day forward,” Lupe wrote on his blog.
Fine. Mainstream hip-hop blogs took down the song as did YourAudioFix.com, which premiered the song. Everybody acted like the song didn’t exist even though you could probably still find it on the first page of Google results.
Today, the song resurfaced with the blessing of Atlantic Records. According to OnSMASH, Lupe’s label sent out the song to bloggers.
Wait, what? It sounded like Lupe put his foot down when he said “ANY record or track that leaks or is made available for illegal download” was stolen — unless downloading “I’m Beaming” isn’t illegal anymore now that Atlantic is encouraging it.
According to Lupe’s blog, the song will be for sale on iTunes on Tuesday.
When the song first leaked, he wrote, “My music is the product of my life…So to see it treated in this manner really numbs the soul.”
He added, “And for those of you unsympathetic enough not to understand i can only compare it to someone breaking into your house and stealing everything not tied down or someone kidnapping you sister or brother and ransoming them back to you. A deep sense of helplessness. I hope you never have to feel this and i wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy.”
Wow. But if a song leaking is the equivalent of your brother being kidnapped, why did Atlantic Records happily leak the song to bloggers today?
In a follow-up post, Lupe wrote, “THESE MATERIALS WERE NEVER MEANT TO BE IN THE PUBLIC SPACE IN THIS MANNER OR ANY MANNER UNTIL STRICT AND CLEAR AUTHORIZATION WAS GIVEN BY THE OWNERS OF THE MUSIC.”
Is a blast from Atlantic records “strict and clear authorization”?
Lupe gave a similar rant when “Shining Down” leaked. He wrote, “I DONT LEAK MY OWN RECORDS!!! I’M NOT A FAN OF LEAKING RECORDS OR OF DOWNLOADING!!!” In the same post, he writes about leaking songs to The LupE.N.D. Blog and Nah Right.
You can’t act like the blogger who posted your song stole your soul when you were going to leak it yourself less than a month later.
In any case, I like the early version better than the official. Great song.
January 13th, 2010 — Uncategorized
Lupe over Neptunes beats is always a good look and this has a nice breezy, sipping a brew on your spaceship kinda vibe. We haven’t posted about him in a minute, but dude might be a strong candidate for GOAT in a few years, with the ways he’s going.
You got that Enemy of The State mixtape, right?
On my black man in the future shit/call me Billy Dee
via 2dopeboyz
January 13th, 2010 — Uncategorized
?uestlove presents rare footage of RZA’s screen test for Parks and Recreation. Wu-Tang forever.
January 11th, 2010 — Uncategorized
Like my beats harder than two-day old shit
Reviving a long-dormant ML feature, which I haven’t done for almost a year now. For those new to Remix Tuesdays: each RT post finds me discussing a song and a remix of said song, comparing the lyrics and production of the OG to the remix. Today’s subject is “Oh My God”, a single released off Tribe Called Quest’s 1993 album Midnight Marauders in ‘94.
The OG “Oh My God” is an upbeat head-nodder, credited to A Tribe Called Quest (which means Q-Tip did it!). The beat is driven by playful horns, a dusty, winding bass line and crisp snares and kicks. Busta contributes a typically animated chorus that just involves him shouting the song title over and over again.
The “Oh My God (Remix)” can be found on the “Oh My God” 12’ and CD single, and is also credited to ATCQ. The beat is more reserved, replacing the energy of the original with cool keys, harder drums with hi-hats and a creeping bass line. An echoing sax that enters on the chorus, which is performed by Tip instead of Trevor. The drum pattern switches up slightly for Phife’s verse. Tip actually kicks a couple more bars after the nine he does at the end of the original; nothing too special, since he mostly just shouts out NY boroughs and tells the listener that he’ll see you next LP and next cassette!
I’m more partial to the original “Oh My God” because it’s a bit brighter and catchier, but Tip deserves credit for completing inverting the song for his remix; he converted a sunny bit of brag rap into a dark, late night banger.
As a bonus, here’s a crazy live performance of “Oh My God” on Late Night with Conan O’Brie. Tip & Phife improvise some awesome chanting at the beginning and end of the song, while Ali Shaheed does some vicious cutting on the chorus. Love Phife’s hand movements and Tip’s glasses.
What’s your favourite version? Let us know in the comments.
Download: A Tribe Called Quest – Oh My God (Remix)
January 11th, 2010 — Uncategorized
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| The Clipse x Jose Canseco x Rob Dibble |
On their newest album, Pusha and Malice of The Clipse upgraded their heartless drug raps to more responsible, introspective drug raps. The Clipse outdid themselves on Til The Casket Drops by successfully expanding their subject matter without abandoning the style that got them here.
Malice joined us to talk about coke rap, fried chicken, Jews, and money. Pusha must have been too busy moving keys.
ML: You’ve said this album is about redemption. Why did you need to redeem yourself. Were you feeling guilty about all the coke rap?
Malice: Nah, it’s not that I was feeling guilty about the coke rap, because that’s very much a real subject matter for The Clipse. I think I took on a responsibility, not just for myself, but just for music in general and I think that we just need to paint the full picture. And I think you should always paint yourself to be victorious and always come out on top. If anybody know the story about The Clipse, you know that we lost a lot of our family in ‘09 to the drug game. And when I say our family, I mean like people that we were with every day. Our entourage. Wherever you seen The Clipse, you seen them from our manager to entourages, everybody. We used to roll so deep, now it’s just four of us. We had a responsibility to share with our fans or anybody that aspire to be like The Clipse out there doing whatever they do to paint the other side of it, because we do have a pretty strong voice.
ML: Have you guys had any contact with Popeyes about a sponsorship?
Malice: Nah, from what we heard they don’t like us. They wanted to endorse us until they listened to the lyrics, then they was like ‘No, get these dudes away from us.’
ML: What kind of reception do you get when you roll up at a Popeyes?
Malice: Well at home, I don’t know if it’s Popeyes or it’s just the fact that they know us, but they’ll always sing the song every time we go in there. ‘Back by popular demand!’
ML: Where’s the best fried chicken in VA?
Malice: The best fried chicken in VA. I’m gonna have to give it up to Feather & Fin, man. Feather & Fin hands down. You must stop there anytime you’re in VA. Ask somebody about Feather & Fin.
ML: Do you guys think the ‘Look what them Jews made me’ line in “Freedom” is offensive?
Malice: I don’t know. ‘Look what them Jews made me.’ I don’t know if it’s offensive or not, but we’re black so you should never get offended by anything that we say. I don’t know where that comes from, because especially over history we have been at the butt of everything, so I wouldn’t be offended if I was another race and somebody black said something about me. For real, I just wouldn’t be. I feel like minorities, we all in the same boat together. I think if we can say nigga we can say anything else.
ML: You guys started recording this album a long time ago. Have there been any major changes since you first started recording?
Malice: No, I just think once we got into it, we got into it. We may have started a minute ago, but it wasn’t a consistent work effort. I think once we really got into it, it took about maybe four and a half months to go ahead and bang out what we did.
ML: Was anything dope left on the cutting room floor?
Malice: Nah. We don’t even do that. We don’t even do that. Every song that we attempt to do, like if we agree with the beat and we agree with the hook, then we know what we supposed to do with it. I don’t know if it’s been a gift or a curse, but we definitely don’t make 30 songs and then scale back 15 and pick which ones we want. Anything that we start on or initiate, we definitely finish it and you get everything that we work on.
ML: You guys have a history of murdering pop tracks. Are there any out right now that you wanna rip?
Malice: There is one regret. Every time I hear the song, I wish I got on it, but “American Boy” by Estelle – I love that. Something about that song that – I don’t know, I would’ve loved to spit 16 on it or something. Other than that nothing really comes to mind. I enjoy that because it’s a different change of pace. It seems like you could just be more serious and more casual about it. We serious about our drug rap. [laughs]
ML: Can we expect to hear you freestyle over that on the next mixtape?
Malice: I think I let the time get away from me on that one. I’ll find something else fresh though and bust to that.
ML: Why is it that club-ready Neptunes beats go so well with vicious coke rap?
Malice: I don’ know. We slid under the radar on Neptunes tracks. People were just so caught up in those beats that I guess they really, at the time, didn’t know what it was we were saying and by the time they figured out what we were talking about, it was too late. We were already radio with “Grindin’” and also “Like I Love You” with Justin Timberlake. No one really saw that coming. We always stay in character, but it’s just we grew up with the Neptunes and we know their chemistry and they know us and we just always seem to mesh really well.
ML: Do you guys make more money off clothes or music?
Malice: I would say music, because we’ve been into music way longer. Way longer. I don’t have to really think about that too much, that’s cutting it easy thus far. But we’re getting into a bunch of other things as well. Not just fashion, I wrote a book and we also started a film company called Re-up Gang Films. So I think with the declining CD sales it would behoove anybody to try their hand at whatever they can get into.
ML: Do you plan on doing solo projects?
Malice: Yeah definitely. We’re gonna do solo projects. We’re gonna just try to maximize everything that we can. Every avenue, we’re gonna do solo projects, we’re gonna come back together as Clipse, you’re gonna get a solo album from Ab-Liva and whatever opportunities this game presents to us, we gonna do it.
ML: What was the last thing you bought?
Malice: Let’s see, let’s see. The last thing that I bought. Oh, a furniture set for my house.
January 9th, 2010 — Uncategorized
Bishop Lamont recently admitted that he’s no longer signed to Aftermath despite vehemently denying it in the first place.
Even Aftermath’s most loyal soldier got fed up with Dre’s slow work. Imagine being told you would drop after Detox.
The good news is, Bishop claims he walked away with 700 songs, so it would seem more music could start trickling out and his long awaited album The Reformation could drop soon.
RadioPlanet.tv via HipHop-N-More
via OnSMASH
January 8th, 2010 — Uncategorized
“Somebody else wanna tell this part? I always do this,” said Audible Doctor. Soul Khan reluctantly spoke up. “So a bunch of people worked at Fat Beats and that bunch of people would be us. And often, we would drink together. And when we would drink together, we would go around the corner.”
“You’re butchering it,” interrupted J57.
“I’m not butchering it, I’m giving the facts and the facts that matter, you douchebag,” retorted Soul Khan. “Right now, we are at 6th Avenue between 8th and 9th Street where Fat Beats is located.”
“Come find us,” said Koncept.
“We’ll make it worth your time. Pause.” said Soul Khan. “On 6th Avenue, there is a store with alcohol in it and we buy it from there. The owner–the proprietor of that establishment insisted that each beverage be placed in a brown bag, which I guess you could say is the etymology of ‘Brown Bag AllStar.’”
Six employees of Fat Beats, a New York-based record store, comprise Brown Bag AllStars, an indie rap group with an old school slant and a disdain for tired trends. Of the six of them, there are two DJs, two producers, and four MCs. After closing on a Wednesday night, Soul Khan, Koncept, The Audible Doctor, and J57 sat around in a circle, while DeeJay Element and E-Holla stood behind the store’s turntables.
“Brown Bag AllStars was a crew of people who would hang out here, drink and play music and that’s it. It was people who interned here, worked here and just friends of that really knew music,” said J57. One night, they went to a friend’s studio to record some music.
“We did a couple songs. They came out alright because we were wasted,” said J57. Eventually, they whittled down the group to the current six members and put the booze aside long enough to record a mixtape.
Though they’re surrounded by classic hip-hop records and describe their sound as “boom-bappery,” they hesitate to pigeonhole themselves as throwback rappers.
“I don’t think [working at Fat Beats] forced us into a certain sound, I think it more showed us what not to do,” said Audible Doctor. Having hosted many upcoming rap artists in their store, the Brown Bag AllStars are wary of following trends and fads.
“It enabled us to bounce what we were doing off the average rap customer,” said Soul Khan, “Most artists these days either suffer from trying to pander to too many people to the point where it wears them thin and there’s nothing individual or interesting about them; or the other side of that which is they’re very self indulgent. Like, ‘This is my experience, this is my life,’” he said in a mock rapper voice, “And no one cares. 99% of the time, your autobiography is something that never needed to be told unless it’s some real riveting Antwone Fischer shit and usually it’s not.”
“I feel like there’s this new outcrop of dudes who are like, ‘I’m a regular guy and I’m gonna tell you where I’m coming from.’ That’s the new thing in indie hip-hop and they all sound the same and no one gives a shit,” he continued. “OK, so you collected comic book cards and you blew into your Nintendo cartridge and it’s all very nostalgic. I don’t give a shit. There are so many trends and shit that we just don’t follow because we’re tired of them.”
So far, the Brown Bag AllStars have officially released The Brown Tape, which they recorded in late 2007 and early 2008. “If you’re unhappy with the quality, we made it in six hours, so shut the fuck up,” said Soul Khan. The tape quickly found an audience with Fat Beats patrons and it was released digitally by Coalmine Records on August 4, 2009 with two new remixes.
The group followed with Brown Bag Season, a marketing campaign of two albums’ worth of free songs released from May to August. Brown Bag Season was their answer to rappers who flood rap blogs with sub par music. “Shitted on everyone else’s shit, might I say,” said Soul Khan.
“I had DJ Premier yesterday say to me ‘Who the fuck is this playing?’ and it was a Brown Bag track and he said that he had to play it on his show and to send it to him. I thought that was a pretty damn good day. And then ten minutes later O.C. said the same thing,” said Koncept.
“We’re never satisfied,” he said with a sudden zeal, “We’re in the studio every single day.”
“We’re just trying to get sharper and sharper — not even to outdo each other — we’re all working together to outdo everybody else,” said J57.
“It’s a return to being human beings when you rap, not shoe models, not Twitterers who happen to rap,” said Soul Khan.
Soul Khan did roll call with another monologue.
“You’ve got J over here who’s like the benevolent pizza chef. You’ve got Koncept who punches dogs if they look at him the wrong way. You’ve got Audible Doctor who probably owns only velour clothing at home. You’ve got me – I think someone said on stage, I dance like Luther Vandross, but after he died.”
“We have DJs, they’re really good at what they do,” added J57.
“We spend much more time on music now,” said Soul Khan, “I guarantee, our first official album, even just production alone, is going to crush everyone’s. Everyone you know and love in the rap scene, give ‘em a hug.” They anticipate the album will be finished in February and come out this year.
“If I’m talking too much at any point you may try to punch me in the mouth, but I may respond,” said Soul Khan.
January 8th, 2010 — Uncategorized
(image)
Some funky synth shit from Georgia and Declaime’s album SomeOthaShip which will be available digitally February 16 and in stores February 23.
via Potholes In My Blog
