Sunday, April 15, 2012

12" Throwback - J-Love Remixes (GZA / M.E.F.)

The connection between the impeccable DJ J-Love and The Wu-Tang Clan goes way back and is still as strong as ever. Even on Rae's masterpiece "....Cuban Linx Niggas", he received a shout out from The Chef himself ("Peace to the Paris crew in the avenue/ And my nigga J-Love, who carries switch blades on the red roof". Since then he's had official placements on various Wu-Tang Clan solo members' full-lengths and works as Ghostface Killah's tour DJ these days and is an official member of his Theoore Unit.

However, J-Love is of course best known for being one of the most prolific mixtape DJ's, releasing several classic masterpieces of tapes featuring loads of rare and unreleased material from the most legendary artists in the world of hip-hop. Besides Jay's Nas and Mobb Deep series, his most stunning mixes has to be his extended catalouge of Wu-Tang Clan related tapes and mix-CDs. Besides a whole load of never before heard "old-school" Wu tracks, they also includes several very dope remixes of various Wu cuts. J-Love is a great producer in his own right, having laced classics like Cormegas' "Fallen Soldiers", GURU's "Revolutionist", "King Of New York", Ghost's "Return of the Ironman" and many others.

Today's 12" Throwback focuses on a VLS featuring two superb J-Love remixes - GZA's "Fame" and Method Man's "Uh-Huh". A related and funny story concerning me, J-Love and Method Man seems in order here so take it or leave it. In the early 2000s I had more or less lost faith in The Clan, prior I had picked up every Wu-Tang release ASAP but after "Ironflag" and "Digital Bullet" I figured there were a lot more great hip-hop acts to add to my collection instead. Visiting a good friend, he gave me the J-Love/Method Man tape "Tical 0: The Pequel" which instantly blew me away - my confidence in the W were restored. The next day I went to the store and picked up the actual album,"Tical 0" and MY GOD what a dissapointment (save for maybe four songs). Needless to say I sure as hell wasn't impressed at all by the LP but at least it made me start to pick up all Wu-Tang releases again, including the ones i first missed out on, so mad thanks to the homie J-LOVE for all the dope tapes, incredible production wotk and restoring my faith in the greatest group of all time. 'Nuff talk, let's get down to business (sadly, the instrumentals and acapellas are missing but at least i can bring you both A- and B-side in 320 kbps). This rip was borrowed from DJ Step One so mad thanks to him. Aight, press play, enjoy and throw your "W"s up.... Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!

WUI-TANG CLAN - J-LOVE REMIXES [12"]
A: GZA/GENIUS - "Fame" [J-Love Remix]
B: METHOD MAN - "Uh Huh" [J-Love Remix]

 WU-TANG CLAN / J-LOVE - "REMIXES" 12"

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