Tuesday, February 24, 2004
Grey Tuesday bootleg music edition
New "The Hot Ish" list is up in the side bar at left (for those whose screen set-up means the sidebar is not, in fact, visible at the side, I'm sorry but I am not technically adept enough to fix the problem in my blog template). There's more indie stuff in this edtion as I've been slackin' on my mixtape purchases and the ones I did buy weren't really impressing me too much (see below). Still some good music on there though so mouse over listings for mp3 links or for more info on tracks.
Old music I was playing this weekend:
- Show and AG: Goodfellas
- The Roots: Organix.
O-Dub, not sure if these made it into your Classic Material book but, if not and there's ever a volume 2, these should both be included. Goodfellas was an album I kind of dismised on its release that has stood the test of time. This album is incredible underground, hardcore hip hop (do people even still use that term any more: it's all either backbapck or gangsta now, WTF?) that, production-wise, treads a middle ground between the jazzy artfulness of A Tribe Called Quest and the grimey, nihilism of early Mobb Deep.
Organix was the Roots' pre-major label debut album that basically served as their demo and was incredibly hard to find up until a couple years ago when it was officially re-released. It's an album that has the feel of being recorded as one long-jam session and sounds like a group having real fun. As compared to the Roots epicly over-produced later efforts, this is cheerfully low-budget in feel, although ironically, their new album is supposedly a return to this jam session aesthetic. Let's hope so.
Speaking of Tribe, I bumped into Q-tip while selling some old wax at Sound Library in the East Village this weekend. Duke is still diggin' but here's the weird thing: I told him that I was really diggin' the track he did the N*E*R*D album that I had heard on Trevor Nelson's Radio 1 show and had subsequently listed on my last "The Hot Ish" chart. He looked at me puzzled and said the track wasn' t even finished yet. When I described the song I had heard he looked even more confused and said he had no idea what track I was talking about. So now he's got me doubting what I had heard even though it's clearly listed on the archive playlist for the show I was listening to.
While at the store, I also heard a rumor about Sony trying to do an Illmatic 10th anniversary remix re-release similar to the Paid in Full one that came out a couple years ago and the Lord Finesse one coming out soon. The only problem, according to sometime Nas producer LES who told Sound Libray about this, is they are having trouble finding acapellas for many of the original tracks (what? nobody has the multitrack masters, which were still in common use back then, that they could pull them from any more?). The story is also confimed by SOHH (spotted via the I'm so Sincerr blog).
Copped a few mixtapes last weekend too:
You can safely skip DJ Whoo Kid's All*Star Superbowl Weekend 2004 mixtape (yes, I guess I'm reviewing this late). Completely uninspiring and nothing that's a must-hear even though my man, The Game reps it out yet again and the tape ends with a new Dr. Dre joint "Smokin Weed 4 Hrs." with the good Doctor rockin' over a replayed and flipped "Everybody Loves the Sunshine" loop. The mediocre quality of this tape is probably a function of Whoo Kid dropping three tapes at once. I copped the second one, D-Block The Mixtape, and passed the on All Eyes on Us G-Unit Radio jumpoff. Buying mixtapes on a semi-regular basis, I have more G-Unit/50 cent music than any one person could possibly want. While I guess the same could almost be said for The Lox & D-Block, they haven't quite flooded the market with crew mixtapes like G-unit plus I'm just more into their music. DJ Enuff & Kast One normally drop pretty good mixtapes but, while their It's Ya Birthday mixtape has a few cool freestyles by newcomer Cashmere and other bigger names, this is also not a must-buy. Finally, I was kind of disappointed by the Kon The Louis Vuitton Don Kanye West pre-album mixtape. I guess now that his College Dropout album is out, most of the stuff on this tape isn't so timely and there wasn't really anything else on here that made me feel like this was a classic tape. To be fair though, as a compilation of Kanye's production work it works plus there's a few tracks he's done for others where he adds his own new verses. Verdict: cop from your local $2 a disc street bootlegger if you missed this a couple months back.
Also, bought some non-hip hop wax this weekend too. For those open-minded enough to spin beat-oriented music beyond just hip hop, you really need to f-ck with John Tejada 3-track "Breakout" EP of "tech house" on Palette Recordings. "Tech House"? I see you skipping to the next blog you read already but hold on a minute before you do.... If you used to be into classic early Trax-era Chicago house like Marshall Jeferson, Steve "Silk" Hurley, Fingers Inc, Frankie Knuckles etc. or the first wave of Detroit techno (I'm talking pre-Inner City Kevin Saunderson, Juan Atkins and Derrik May), then you need to really check this EP out. Trust me I don't mess with this type of music at all normally but, thanks to my man Scottie B of Blunted Funk/Takeout Marketing for the heads up on this release at Halcyon last Saturday. That was one record I wasn't planning on buying that I'm really glad I did. (mp3 samples: real | mp3 courtesy: Satellite Records and DJ Nexus)
Old music I was playing this weekend:
- Show and AG: Goodfellas
- The Roots: Organix.
O-Dub, not sure if these made it into your Classic Material book but, if not and there's ever a volume 2, these should both be included. Goodfellas was an album I kind of dismised on its release that has stood the test of time. This album is incredible underground, hardcore hip hop (do people even still use that term any more: it's all either backbapck or gangsta now, WTF?) that, production-wise, treads a middle ground between the jazzy artfulness of A Tribe Called Quest and the grimey, nihilism of early Mobb Deep.
Organix was the Roots' pre-major label debut album that basically served as their demo and was incredibly hard to find up until a couple years ago when it was officially re-released. It's an album that has the feel of being recorded as one long-jam session and sounds like a group having real fun. As compared to the Roots epicly over-produced later efforts, this is cheerfully low-budget in feel, although ironically, their new album is supposedly a return to this jam session aesthetic. Let's hope so.
Speaking of Tribe, I bumped into Q-tip while selling some old wax at Sound Library in the East Village this weekend. Duke is still diggin' but here's the weird thing: I told him that I was really diggin' the track he did the N*E*R*D album that I had heard on Trevor Nelson's Radio 1 show and had subsequently listed on my last "The Hot Ish" chart. He looked at me puzzled and said the track wasn' t even finished yet. When I described the song I had heard he looked even more confused and said he had no idea what track I was talking about. So now he's got me doubting what I had heard even though it's clearly listed on the archive playlist for the show I was listening to.
While at the store, I also heard a rumor about Sony trying to do an Illmatic 10th anniversary remix re-release similar to the Paid in Full one that came out a couple years ago and the Lord Finesse one coming out soon. The only problem, according to sometime Nas producer LES who told Sound Libray about this, is they are having trouble finding acapellas for many of the original tracks (what? nobody has the multitrack masters, which were still in common use back then, that they could pull them from any more?). The story is also confimed by SOHH (spotted via the I'm so Sincerr blog).
Copped a few mixtapes last weekend too:
You can safely skip DJ Whoo Kid's All*Star Superbowl Weekend 2004 mixtape (yes, I guess I'm reviewing this late). Completely uninspiring and nothing that's a must-hear even though my man, The Game reps it out yet again and the tape ends with a new Dr. Dre joint "Smokin Weed 4 Hrs." with the good Doctor rockin' over a replayed and flipped "Everybody Loves the Sunshine" loop. The mediocre quality of this tape is probably a function of Whoo Kid dropping three tapes at once. I copped the second one, D-Block The Mixtape, and passed the on All Eyes on Us G-Unit Radio jumpoff. Buying mixtapes on a semi-regular basis, I have more G-Unit/50 cent music than any one person could possibly want. While I guess the same could almost be said for The Lox & D-Block, they haven't quite flooded the market with crew mixtapes like G-unit plus I'm just more into their music. DJ Enuff & Kast One normally drop pretty good mixtapes but, while their It's Ya Birthday mixtape has a few cool freestyles by newcomer Cashmere and other bigger names, this is also not a must-buy. Finally, I was kind of disappointed by the Kon The Louis Vuitton Don Kanye West pre-album mixtape. I guess now that his College Dropout album is out, most of the stuff on this tape isn't so timely and there wasn't really anything else on here that made me feel like this was a classic tape. To be fair though, as a compilation of Kanye's production work it works plus there's a few tracks he's done for others where he adds his own new verses. Verdict: cop from your local $2 a disc street bootlegger if you missed this a couple months back.
Also, bought some non-hip hop wax this weekend too. For those open-minded enough to spin beat-oriented music beyond just hip hop, you really need to f-ck with John Tejada 3-track "Breakout" EP of "tech house" on Palette Recordings. "Tech House"? I see you skipping to the next blog you read already but hold on a minute before you do.... If you used to be into classic early Trax-era Chicago house like Marshall Jeferson, Steve "Silk" Hurley, Fingers Inc, Frankie Knuckles etc. or the first wave of Detroit techno (I'm talking pre-Inner City Kevin Saunderson, Juan Atkins and Derrik May), then you need to really check this EP out. Trust me I don't mess with this type of music at all normally but, thanks to my man Scottie B of Blunted Funk/Takeout Marketing for the heads up on this release at Halcyon last Saturday. That was one record I wasn't planning on buying that I'm really glad I did. (mp3 samples: real | mp3 courtesy: Satellite Records and DJ Nexus)
Grey Tuesday bootleg music edition" title="Bookmark using any bookmark manager!" target="_blank">
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