Dec 12, 2009
"Everybody else on the Earth don't
exist."
- Crooked I
I suppose this is the Christmas episode, not that I've got any Christmas records to play! I did think about putting sleigh bell sounds behind some of the tunes but decided against ;o) Ah well, time to close out 2009 with this one, and looking forward to heading onwards and upwards for 2010!
Playlist/Notes
Camp Lo : Son Of A...
Great track - if a little short -
from Camp Lo's new album "Another Heist," setting things off with a
funk vibe. Ski is back on full-time production for them on this
album which will please many - personally, I actually liked a good
chunk of the Apple Juice Kid production they've had lately
(*ducks*) and I love the
stuff they've done with Tribeca in the past, hope he makes a return
too!
El Michels Affair :
Glaciers Of Ice / Raekwon:
Glaciers Of IceModern funk maestros with a version
of the classic Raekwon cut from the original "Only Built 4 Cuban
Linx..." - this is taken from the album "Enter the 37th Chamber"
which is a collection of instrumental interpretations of Wu-Tang
tracks, definitely recommended - it's on Spotify if anyone wants a
listen!
Ghostface Killah ft. Trife &
Twiz : TheodoreI don't know if anyone else likes
this track, but oh well :o) The bells, the bells...
Genius : Words From A
Genius (Prince Rakeem Remix)Yes, it's that Genius, aka GZA from the Wu. This
is the (almost) title track from his first album "Words From The
Genius" on Tommy Boy a couple of years before the Clan emerged on
the scene. I first heard this on Pete Tong's Rap Selection on Radio
1 when it came out in 1991, taped it off that show and loved it -
with no idea of who this guy was or the huge impact his crew would
eventually make on the scene. And Prince Rakeem? For those who
don't know, that's the man better known as RZA, the producer and
prime mover behind the Wu-Tang movement!
Termanology ft. Royce Da 5'9",
Crooked I, Akrobatik, Consequence : The Music Industry
(Remix)I said on the voiceover that Term
is from Boston, but in fact he's from nearby Lawrence,
Massachusetts - oops! Anyway, rarely do you see so many guests on a
single track, or at least on one that's any good which this
certainly is. Fizzy Womack of M.O.P is on production and Statik
Selectah adds some very nice cuts.
Patrice Rushen : Remind
MeClassic 80s single from the
multi-talented singer/songwriter/pianist/composer/musical director
- and it's been sampled plenty of times. Even if you don't
recognise her name, you may well know her hit "Forget Me Nots,"
famously sampled on Will Smith's "Men In Black."
Pharcyde : Drop
(Instrumental)One of those "Dilla before everyone
(including me) knew who he was" beats, though that's not to say
that when this came out everyone wasn't loving it, and it still
moves floors today. The video is also a classic - bit of trivia,
they actually had to rhyme all their lyrics backwards to make it
work visually, which is quite a feat!
Shara Nelson : Friendly
FireTitle track of the second solo
album from the former Massive Attack vocal lead, if you see a copy
it's definitely worth picking up!
Tajai : Who Got It?Solo excursion for one of the Souls
Of Mischief MCs, one of those B-sides I never get to play
anywhere!
Foreign Beggars : Black
Hole Prophecies (Jehst's Wild Wild East Remix)A gem from down London town! While
there was a little run of American artists using Asian music
samples, I always thought it'd be more natural for UK producers to
do it since we have a large Asian population and you do hear the
music a lot, depending on where you live. Shout out to DJ Reptile
of Assmatics who put me up on this track.
Byata : Byata Is The
IllestI think there's someone rhyming on
here, but I'm not sure because my word, that beat is dominating! DJ Premier on production
for this absolute banger - it's also one of those beats you
couldn't mistake for having being done by anyone else (To be fair,
Byata puts in a solid performance as the track goes on). I don't
know much about her other than that she's of Russian descent and
that she's apparently been on a Wu compilation; if she's done
anything else like this, do let me know!
Mark B & Blade ft. Phi Life
Cypher : Ya Don't See The Signs (Phi Life Cypher Remix)I think this is better than the
original, which is how a remix should be; the beat is much darker
and Phi Life, as always, absolutely destroy their verses and
provide a complementary vocal textures to Blade - all three MCs on
this are hall-of-fame level when it comes to British
Hip-Hop.
Kool G Rap & Ma Barker :
Bout That (Instrumental)Produced by VIC and Mike Heron of
the Ghetto Pros, diggers extraordinaire!
Jerry Beeks : Microphone
MingusFrom the home of Hip-Hop! Coming
out of the Bronx, Beeks shows the skills over production from
Touche on this album cut from "The Crop Report." Still got some
stuff we've done together stashed away in the vault, will let you
hear some on a future episode if you eat your vegetables
;o)
Roy Ayers : I Did It In
SeattleFrom "Virgin Ubiquity", a
collection of unreleased recordings from the late 70s to early 80s.
Picked this one up on a day off work in a sale at King Bee Records
down in Chorlton, a familiar spot for Manchester diggers - if I'd
not got there until the weekend, it'd have been looong gone! Roy
Ayers is an amazing musician and his tracks have provided the
backdrop for many a quality Hip-Hop release over the years so it's
worth searching out whatever you can find.
PS - I'm not sure what he did in Seattle!
Royal Flush ft. Noreaga :
What A ShamePS - I'm not sure what he did in Seattle!
Mid 90s Queens thug flavour from
Flush's "Ghetto Millionaire" album, speaking on life locked up.
Smooth track produced by EZ Elpee, with the first verse and closing
by Nore, who is famously a man who knows of what he
speaks...
Kaze : Locked In Chains
(Instrumental/Clean)Khrysis on the boards for this one,
this is on the B-side of "Last Laugh" - the uncensored version is
only on the "Spirit of '94:Version 9.0" album I think. Not heard
much else by Kaze but he rips this one!
Insight : Visual Audio
(Instrumental)Even though I'm just playing the
instrumental here, it must be noted that Insight is multi skilled -
he's an MC, producer, DJ, does engineering I believe and I've heard
he's a software developer! If he learns to take photos too, none of
my jobs are safe...
DJ Jazzy Jeff & Big Daddy
Kane : The GardenOne of the standout tracks from
Jeff's second solo album "Return Of The Magnificent," and one of
the very few five-star tracks on my iPod! A lot of people just
think of Jazzy Jeff as that guy that got thrown out of the house a
lot on "Fresh Prince," but as well as being a pioneering and
influential DJ he's a very gifted producer and has coached a lot of
other up-and-comers via his A Touch Of Jazz studio/company. A quick
aside - I'm no expert but when I listen to the actual sonic quality
of this track, I feel like there is nothing at all that could have
been done better!
As I always say, if there are things on here you like please do search out other material from the artists, buy the best of it and even better, try and catch them playing live!
