Episode 6 : ...to pay the bills...

Nov 15, 2009

"Don't be shady, just pay me"
   - Roger

Wow, it's been half a year already! It's a challenge to keep coming up with stuff but the feedback I get makes it all well worth the effort, especially when people are discovering something new. Anyway, let's have a look at this month's offering...

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Playlist/Notes
Little Brother : Atari 2600

A very limited release 7" single out of the Justus League crew with a hilarious take on what a promotional piece for the vintage console would have sounded like if endorsed by RZA and a similarly vintage singer...

Air Adam : Bench Pressure

A little beat I dug out from a few years ago; I did this in a Swedish hotel room on a little Korg Electribe ES-1 sampler, and as such it's on  my "Swedish Hardcore" beat tape which I might make available sometime if people want it!

Goldfrapp : You Never Know

I was really, really late on Goldfrapp but thanks to the wonders of the internet started checking them out and found some stuff I really liked on the "Supernature" album, including this track; the "We Are Glitter" remix project has some good tunes on it too. Alison Goldfrapp's voice and those synths go together nice like chicken and rice...

Jay-Z : This Life Forever

Not a massively well known track by Jay, but I managed to pick this one up in a local charity shop on 12" - this is from the soundtrack to "Black Gangster," based on the Donald Goines book of the same title. Interestingly though I'm not sure the film was ever made - the soundtrack was done first with a view to making the film if it took off! The soulful backing track is provided by Ty Fyffe, someone who's not a huge name compared to many others but always seems to pop up with something good.

Blak Twang : Real Estate

A classic UK Hip-Hop single from 1996; Tony Rotton aka Blak Twang with a tough track about the runnings of the inner cities of the UK. It's  our own State of the Nation Address, and it's nothing nice. Thirteen years later and a new government later, has anything really changed?

Jacky Jasper ft. Roger Troutman : Mad Game

If there was a Devil, and he had a car with a big system and listened to Hip-Hop, he would play this on repeat - super dark production for real! I've played this tune for a few people and got great response, but no-one seems to have it or even have heard of it, so it was an obvious candidate for inclusion at some point. Turn it up!

Black Moon : Buck 'em Down (Remix Instrumental)

Took me a while to appreciate this in its own right after being such a fan of the original but this is a must-have 12" - if not for this, then the killer (no pun intended) B-Side "Murder MCs."

Black Moon : Buck 'em Down (Original version)

Grimy Brooklyn Hip-Hop from one of the great groups of the 90s. Perhaps besides the mighty "Who Got The Props?" this was my favourite track on "Enta Da Stage" and I played my vinyl copy of this every day for months...

Rae & Christian ft. Veba : All I Ask

This somehow didn't properly penetrate my consciousness when it first came out, but a couple of friends played it for me last year (shout out to The Mojos!) and this time I was ready; gorgeous track, if you close your eyes and turn the heating up it could make you believe it's summer...quite an achievement for a song coming out of the heart of rainy Manchester!

DJ Quik ft. Mausberg & Raphael Saadiq : Well

From the underrated (even by Quik) "Balance & Options" LP, a brilliant piece of laid back production with plenty of flourishes - instrumentation is courtesy of the South Central Philharmonic Orchestra.

Cormega : Soul Food

A very different track from Cormega to the one I played last month ("No Equivalent"), I've been meaning to play this for a while and found a spot for it here.

Erick Sermon : Hittin Switches

Blast from the past - though it doesn't seem like that long ago! 1993 track from the "Who's The Man?" soundtrack which also ended up on Erick's debut solo "No Pressure."

Craig Mack : Get Down (Q-Tip Remix Instrumental)

Q-Tip is so well known as an MC (helped by his distinctive voice) that it's sometimes easy to forget his production work; in the early- to mid-90s he did some great beats outside A Tribe Called Quest, with the kind of smacking drums you often don't hear these days!

Souls Of Mischief : Medication

SoM are best known for their incredible debut single "93 Til Infinity" but this is a great single from their "Trilogy: Conflict, Climax, Resolution" album with a different but yet somehow familiar sound. Their extended crew, The Hieroglyphics were not just ahead of their time with respect to their music but with their recognition of the potential of the Internet in promoting themselves and operating independently.

Edgar Allen Floe : Floe Almighty (Desperado Remix)

Excellent MC name :o) Anyway, when you twig to this tune it ought to smack you in the face how genius it is. On first listen I thought "hang on, did he just repeat the first verse?" - then the lightbulb went on and I gave him a mental standing ovation! Floe is part of the North Carolina Justus League collective and certainly shows some super MC powers on this track.

Red Rat : 40 Leg

Picked this up in a big stack of reggae/dancehall 7" singles on eBay and it's a bit of a jewel to me - can't get enough of that Jamaica meets the Scottish Highlands flavour! I just have visions of a traditional pipe and drum band skanking along in a dancehall style...

Ludacris : Southern Hospitality (Instrumental)

Booming Neptunes production on this B-Side to "Area Codes" - almost forgot about this tune until I came across a used vinyl copy!

DJ Revolution & KRS-ONE : The DJ

Gets bonus points for (coincidentally) using a line I once did a T-shirt design for - "A DJ is not a jukebox!" On the spiritual sequel to his 1996 track "The MC" from the "I Got Next" album the legendary KRS-ONE (for those that don't know - "Knowledge Reigns Supreme Over Nearly Everyone") breaks down the proper place and conduct of the DJ, with particular respect to the culture of Hip-Hop which was of course started by DJs - rhyming came along later, not that you'd think it looking around these days! One of his central points is that it's the job of the DJ to break music to the people, not to just reflect what they think they want to hear - in some small way, I'd like to think this podcast honours that.