I and The Lost Tapes was missing in action when the devastating news of Prodigy's passing hit us all like an atom bomb. He was a guy that did so much for Hip Hop, always spoke his mind, but always with the respect he estimated his opponent to be deserving of and being a smart man he understood that there was so much more to life than petty hood beef that never gets anywhere constuctive for anyone. In the end it wasn't a violent confrontation by some disgruntled low-life thinking he owed them something (often despite helping them, giving handouts and power up to a point). But are we not all men, P wasn't put here to hold your hand through your careers, the fact that he gave you a helping hand at all speaks volumes of his character. Y'all kow who I'm talking about, but fuck them, this isn't about them,
Together with his rhyme and production patner in Havoc they created 3 classics or at least damn near classis for Loud Recods before P's health and writer's block got the better of him for a while, all while the Hip Hip landscape was shaping up differently around them. But those three albums right tere, "The Infamous....", "Helll On Earth" and "Murda Muzik" will go down in history as some of the best music the '90s had to offer both musically and lyrically. At this time they were clearly on a roll, and despite the unreleased "Murda Muzik: The Movie" being pretty damn unwatchable they did record an unreleased soundtrack for the album - granted some of the songs found other outlets later, some of them being on this very mixtape although some are only snippets to get you hyped for the actual album with WHOO KID quipping "COMING ON INFAMOUS RECORDS THAT MURDA MUZIK: THE SOUNDTRACK". Well I'm am going to bring as complete Murda Muzik Soundtrack album that is humanly possible so stay tuned for that.
But one man doesn't make Mobb Deep, but one man sure as hell made "H.N.I.C." which is in fact a better album than later Mobb Deep albums like "Infamy", "Blood Money" and "Amerika's Nightmare" (I did dig the last joint they put out as a team though). Just titling his solo "Head Nigga in Charge" was bold as hell, but his rhymes, songs, bars and personal statements and struggles on there sure as hell backed it up. You got "You Can Never Feel My Pain" (perhap the realest shit 'P' ever wrote), you got "Keep It Thoro", you had "Three", you had "Veteran's Memorial", the "Trials and Tribulations", the obligatory Mobb Deep cuts. Yes, this was everything a Mobb Deep head was wanting to hear at the time but from Prodigy's side of the spectrum and over the years it has only grown in status.
But this is not only a little mini-review of "H.N.I.C." but also a thank you to Albert Johnson for helping to shape Hip Hop as a whole and as such my own adolenscene. This is also about the official DJ Whoo Kid mixtape "H.N.I.C. Mixtape Part One" that dopped in 2000. To my knolwedge there was never a second part ever made but this mx is dope enough to rewind at least a couple of times. I've noticed that there's been floaing around a lot of fake mixtapes with this title on YouTube, basically Prodigy compilation of YT users favorite tracks. But this is the real deal. As DJ Whoo Kid shouts out "This is the best of P" several times, the tape had a few objectives to lay out. Showcase Prodigy as one of the best emcees out there and one who could do it on the solo tip, but also to promote Infamous Records with the upcoming Bars-n-Hooks (why do you think Bars N Hooks get the 5 minute opener),and the "Murda Musik: The Soundtrack" and film. There's some really sick exclusives here so press play and enjoy.
Matter of fact I was going to upload and do the Mp3 thing, but thanks to DJ Whoo Kid himself he has uploaded it to his AudioMack account. Last but not least: Rest in power Albert Johnson a.k.a. Prodigy, you were one of the truly greats and we won't let you be forgotten!
This mixtape dropped a coupe of months back but the way it's been totally lacking in promotion and so on is just insane. About a year or so ago there was word on Pete Rock's twitter that he was producing a project for a Wu-Tang Clan member - and that Wu-Tang Clan member was Cappadonna. Then out of nowhere, with hardly any promo, Cappa drops this 12 track mixtape called "Hip-Hop: The Mixtape" and he's not even making it a thing that it is produced by Pete Rock on the front cover but instead he big up the DJ, DJ Intrigue. I think Cappa need a new team becaue this is just ridiciolous. Sure the sound quality varies greatly on this tape, but the music is by far the best Cappa has put out since at least "The Pilgrimage" (very underrated album btw) and is so much better than recent bullshit like "The Pillage 2","The Cappitalize Project", and on and on and on.
These 12 tracks brings out great music out of Pete Rock, Soul Brother #1 and the chemistry between him and Cappadonna on tracks like "I Cried", "Walking Down The Street" and "Rhytmic Explosion" is album worthy material. Had this been engineered, mixed and mastered propetly and perhaps added 2-3 tracks this would have been a home run for both artists. But as it is now not many people don't even know that there is a full Pete Rock / Cappadonna joint so I'm here to enlighten you.
You can download the entire tape @ GLF Ent and stream the entire project up top via YouTube. Don't sleep on this, because it's fuego. And don't forget to TURN IT UP!!
Veteran DJ, producer and remixer Paul Nice recently started a podcast with fellow DJ Toast. Each week they celebrate an artist they feel is somewhat underrated despite vast body of work and for Episde 84 the spotlight is on one of my all time favorite producers and beat magicians - K-DEF. From his days working with the SP1200 and digging for samples to his 2006-output onwardw where he composes from scratch using computer software and manages to create fuly arranged, compositional masterpieces that puts any producer working with simple loops to shame.
This two hour pocast, entitled "Grown Man Rap Show", traces the New Jersey born and bred maestro through his days as Marley Marl's right hand boom bap man to Redef Records flagship man with his digital orchestra. Whether or not you're well aquainted or a nw fan of 'Def this is two hours well spent so crank that volume up and get your grown man on!
Boston is definitely in the house with this one! Price Stylez has a crazy flow that will have you hanging on each and every word on his latest single "NC-17", smoothly produced by Jakk Wonders. This is the first single from the upcoming "BlackMassEP" so be sure to stay tuned for that because at least to me this is the type of Hip Hop shit I love to blast with the volume turned way the fuck up!
In case Price Stylez is new to you be sure to check out his excellent 2015 project "Masterpiece Theater: The Mixtape Vol. 1" where he gets busy over a selection of classic beats and a few originals. I got a feeling this cat is about to blow... just you wait!
As big of a Wu-Tang fan that I am, I must admit that, although I absolutely adore "Heavy Mental" as one of the greatest, most creative and original musical works of the last 25 years I more or less lost interest in him following "A View From Masada", and was barely checking his material for the following six years. But then something happened, both the underground and Wu-Tang fanatics started whispering about a monumental comeback on Priest's part - an upcoming album called "The Offering" which Priest promised would be a classic album, and judging by the singles, freestyles and loosies he kept churning out during the two year build up Priest showed that he clearly meant business. And then of course when "The Offering" finally came in 2006, it was just as terrific as I had hoped and then some.. For me it's in that rare league of albums that I hold among the 20 best discs to be releaed since 2005 (other works include Freddie Gibbs "Pinata", Raekwon's "Cuban Linx II" (if just slightly modified), Kendrick Lamar's both LP:s, KanYe's "Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy", Ghost's "Fishscale", Nas' "Life is Good", Evidence's "Cats & Dogs", and so on... Matter of fact Killah Priest is up there twice with "Psychic World Of Walter Reed" as well).
"The Offering" put Killah Priest back in the position as one of the most cinematic and poetic storytellers of our generation, and his rhyme schemes are constantly excellent. For me he is without a doubt a top 10 emcee, and not only is he a master of his craft but given the right time he is also a master of putting together real songs and construct proper albums that should be enjoyed from front-to-back. "The Offering" is all that and then some - it has the heavily mysticism, religious ambiguity, hood tales, personal biographical stories, fierce guest apperances and posse cuts and superb production supplied mosty by, at the time, relative new-comers collectively known as Godz Wrath. The first single was the title song and right from the jump I knew this album was going to be something really special. Take for example the first single of "View From Masada", which was a track called "Whut Part Of The Game..." featuring Ras Kass - a banger in its own right, but hardly represent of the Priest we had come to known and love from his masterpiece of a deut (an album that was once crowned The Best Hip Hop album of all time in an editorial in Hip Hop Connection back in like 2002 when I was still buying magazines).
I think I told y'all before that I never been much for the art of the mixtape that is such a prominent part of this hip-hop culture we all love and cherish. I dislik the fact that there's rarely full songs, whatever exclusives are on there are hidden between records I already have in way better quality on their original album, and that's not even mentioning the often lame transitions from songs and DJ shouts (some DJ:s really DO get it right though, and those mixtapes are often incredible). But to cut to the chase I found an extremely cheap, used, copy of a Killah Priest release called "A Prelude to the Offering" a week or two ago, and for the reasons I stated above I hadn't actually heard this mindblowing release beforehand although I of course remember its release and it making some buzz on the Wu forums. Now searching on Discogs it turns out that there are actually two versions of this mixtape - one mixed by the talented DJ J-Ronin and featuring a hopscotch of new and old material, including tracks like "4th Chamber", "B.I.B.L.E." and "America" blended with new or unreleased cuts. This is the type of mixtape I don't care for; however, the version I have is spread out over a double CD, getting rid of all the previously released material (or at the very least disposing of the very well known cuts like the aforementioned joints). The two discs features 13 songs each with the first one being called "A Prelude To The Offering" and the second "The Best Of Killah Priest", however the second disc at one point has a female introduction stating "You are now listening to the sounds of "A Prelude..." so it's really one and the same, something also the tracklist confirms.
Needless to say I was absolutely blown away by this release - as a build-up to the album it works tremendously well as it will have your mouth salivating for more due to the fact that it showcases Priest reclaiming his spot as one of the more interesting emcees around. Of course it's not better than "The Offering" but as an album I place it above all three of the discs he released between "Heavy Mental" and "Offering" (four if you cound that "Black August Revisited" project). The thirteen tracks on Disc 1 are more or less all exclusive for the time it was released and here the DJ lets more or less the full songs of each cut play out from beginning to end. It's clear that the majority of the tracks were songs recorded for "The Offering" but left off due to the fact that Priest had so much material already and wanted to make a cohessive project - this doesn't mean that thhe majority of them are inferior to the ones on the album. For example, I was suprised to see "Hood Nursery" and "4 Tomorrow" on here - songs that would later appear on the album's official sequel "Behind The Stained Glass". Speaking of that, there is a beautiful, very atmospheric song with INTENSE lyrics on here with that title that I believe was meant as an "Offering" inclusion as Priest urges the listener to look at the album cover and try to envision what's behind the stained glass (if you have seen the cover to "Offering" you'll know what he's getting at). Most of the beats are original, though there are some freestyles set over other tracks (including Busta's "Touch It" and KanYe's "Big Brother) and a beautiful track like the somber, accoustic guitar monster called "Lost Generation" sounds like Priest basically put on an old instrumental and straight up rhymed to it - very effective.
Between the two discs a couple of gems would later appear on "The Offering" - the immaculate "Uprisign", a way too short track that I can probably count on how many fingers the times that I'd not rewinded it at least once. The other banger is the hardcore guerilla attack known as "Stand Still" with Immortal Tech and Poison Pen. The only other songs previusly released (aside from a small amount of guest apperances) comes in the form of the Main Flow collaboration "The Rain", which appeared on the weird "album" or compilation "Black August Revistied" and the song "Black August" which serves as the intro to remarkable effect. Both very good tracks, and especially the latter manages to do what Priest failed to do on the "Masada" LP - adapt hs flow to a more trending one at the time over some bouncey drums, yet the backdrop is as soulful as soulful can be and they talk about some real shit (especially Dontés verse is particulary strong). Other highlights include the amazing collaboration with Nas on "Crime Cardinals" (the original "The Saints" with an even stronger KP verse - "the day Escobar die it snowed cocaine, so let's BLOW smoke"; the triumphant return of Shabaam Sahdeeq who joins forces with Priest and Hell Razah on the soothing, yet heartfelt "On The Way To The Top"; and of course the Just Blaze produced "Masada" outtake "Last Fall Of Solomon" which once again shows that few can construct rhymes as cinematic as Walter Reed.
If you're a fan of Killah Priest you owed it to yourself to listen to this, take my word for it - many of these songs are so good you realize that Priest must have had a hell of a hard time cutting down "The Offering" to its 16 tracks. Grab it from DatPiff below and TURN IT UP!!
1-01. "Black August"
1-02. "Stained Glass Freestyle 2" (Ft. Antonio Chance)
1-03. "Lost Generation" [Exclusive]
1-04. "Hood Nursery"
1-05. "The Hit" [Exclusive]
1-06. "The Rain" (Ft. Main Flow)
1-07. "Crime Cardinals" (Ft. Nas)
1-08. "Behind The Stained Glass"
1-09. "Felony Fights" (Ft. Noname Zodiak)
1-10. "The Abyssinian Sword" [Exclusive]
1-11. "Give It More" (Ft. Canibus) [Exclusive]
1-12. "Stained Glass Freestyle #1"
1-13. "Wolf In Sheep's Clothing" (Ft. Antonio Chance)
2-01. "Intro Skit Freestyle"
2-02. "The Letter 1, 2 and 3" (Freestyle)
2-03. "Touch It Freestyle"
2-04. "Uprising" [Exclusive]
2-05. "Things We Share"
2-06. "Blessed Are Those" [Original Y-Kim Mix]
2-07. "On The Way to the Top" (Ft. Hell Razah & Shabaam Sahdeeq)
It's been quite a while since I updated this blog as I'm sure you know- The thing is that I don't have the passion to continue do daily updates for a few reasons. No. 1 I barely listen to hip-hop at the moment (it's all about jazz like the Mwandishi sextet, all Miles Davis, Eric Dolphy, Coltrane and so on); No. 2 I still check for new hip-hop but i don't feel that there's been much music up to par recently; No. 3 I have been employed as a full-time librarian so the time is quite precious. But besides that I'm letting the site be up throwing some ill updates every once in a while.
My first thought was to make a D.I.T.C. blog/website and since the start of The Lost Tapes I don't think I missed any new shit from the Diggin' crew as well as posted interviews by Diamond D, Buckwild and E-Blaze. 2014 and 2015 brought us plenthy of dope new releases from Lord Finesse, Showbiz & AG, OC (with Apollo Brown) and most importantly the Slice-Of-Spice sponosred "The D.I.T.C. Remix Project" which featured incredible modern takes on some of the D.I. classics updated by some of the finest proudcers around (it even included a previously never before heard Big L verse on Finesse's "Thick" mix - is this the original?). A while back D.I.TC. dropped the news about an upcoming brand new album and dropped some ill snippets and a single or two on their Soundcloud.
Since then they have posted a brand new track each and every week, featuring all living members of the crew - including a slamming Fat Joe verse on the guitar heavy boom bap monster "Rock Shyt", also featuring Lord Finesse (first verse in a decade) and Diamond D. You got a short AG banger produced by Buckwild, several heavy OC joints, D.I.T.C. fam member M. Gage getting busy over Showbiz productions, the soulful O & A collabo "16 & Out" which Lord Finesse truly blessed with that boom bap we all love., If you open the Soundcloud page and press play on the first song you'll be able to hear all uplaoded tracks in chronological order - creating somehwat of a new D.I.T.C. mixtape so don't fucking SLEEP!
Whenever J. Rocc are in charge of a DJ mix you know it's going to be potent as hell and his "Thank You Jay Dee" series still holds up as perhaps the best tribute mixes to the late, great producer that has yet been produced. Just like he did with Pete Rock's instrumental 2015 banger "PeteStrumentals II" the legendary Beat Junkie has cooked down the excellent instrumental posthumous Dilla compilation "Dillatronic" that was released last fall into a seamless 30 minutes mix of his favorite moments from the original 40 tracks selection. While I did thoroughly enjoy the official compilation some of the beats were definitely drawn out for quite a bit too long so this is a good alternative experience of that same music which Dilla mostly recorded between early 2001 and late 2003 (covering unreleased beats from the period that brought us gems like "48 HRS", "Champion Sound", "Ruff Draft" and his work on projects like Slum Village's "Trinity" and Talib Kweli's "Quality"). Matter of fact given the short running time of both I would imagine playing J. Rocc's sets of this and the Pete Rock one back to back should be a great way to spend an hour of the best instrumental hip-hop avalable at the moment. TURN IT UP!!
Hus Kingpin, along with emcees like KA and Roc Marciano, are to my ears part of a New York renaissance where the classic style of raw and depraved hardcore boom bap have been embraced yet updated for our times. Hus' excellent release "The Cognac Tape" still holds up as one of my favorite LP:s of recent time, and the Hempstead spitter just doesn't seem to be able to stop or even care about making money from his studio recordings. It's artists like this who continously bring a quality product to the table, totally free of charge, that we really need to support when they actually drop a proper retail release. The new album/mixtape is called "House Of Kingpin" and features 26 brand new bangers with features from the likes of DJ Skizz, Killer Ben, Big Twinz, Nutso, Shabaam Sahdeeq, and many more. Yet it's obvious who the main star of the show is so don't sleep...
I don't know too much about this mixtape but it is stated to be an official tape made with Ace's authorization so it should be worth checking out. Mixed by Donnie Propa straight from vinyl this collection features 19 songs from Ace's extensive discography and features some of his lesser known heavy hitters as well as some of the certified classics. According to the Bandcamp site it was also available on limited edition cassette but they are all sold out so you'll have to settle for the digital.
Now I rarely check for blends as I mostly listen to albums and official releases but there are definitely a few mixtapes of this kind out there that's absolutely brilliant. One such release is "PreMatic", a mix put together of classic Nas accapelas expertly mixed with classic DJ Premier instrumentals, and for the most part it works really well thanks to some very talented DJs. The four DJ's at work here are DJ Money Mike, Lt. Dan, King Smij and Wiz Hoffa, though the ones that really grabbed me were the mixes by DJ Money Mike and Lt. Dan who thankfully gets the most time on this tape. Nas and DJ Premier sounds so fucking incredible together even on a remix tape like this that none of the artists had anything to do. Don't sleep on this one as you know I don't recommend any wack shit... TURN IT UP!! [Additional Link]
Drasar Monumental salutes his legendary partner and label mate MF Grimm with a slamming 45 minutes mix featuring classic selection spanning the veteran emcees vast career. Following the excellent "Good Morning Vietnam" trilogy you better know that the combination of Drasar and Grimm is a combination as fucking potent as they come... and this is a free download too, so go ahead and TURN IT UP!! Happy birthday to the one and only Grandmaster Grimm!
This mixtape was announced quite a while back on Wu-Tang Clan's official Facebook page with very little information attached, making me and others to believe that this might be a new Clan mixtape. It has now been released for free through Wu Music Group, and while it does features the ocassional apperance from Cappadonna and a very welcome joint by the god Killa Sin the vast majority of the tape features new, unknown emcees so I guess this "Parental Advisory Volume One" works as an introduction to new artists on the roster. I've only listened to a few cuts but it actually sound pretty dope, so be sure to check it out below!
J. Period is one of my favorite mixtape DJ's right now, he's always bringing that heat and whenever he hooks up with The Roots crew you know that magic is bound to happen. For the latest installment in the Live Mixtape series, he and Black Thought pays tribute to the one and only Godfather Of Soul. What's so amazing about these mixes is that they are recorded live, in one take, with one DJ and one MC - and of course in one take, so no punsch ins or whatever. Recorded live at #16 Bars, The Boombox last year. Definitely don't sleep on this, Black Thought absolutely murders this and you know J. Period is a killer when it comes to them remixes. TURN IT UP!!
Spectacular jazz and boom bap fanatic A Cat Called Fritz finally unveils his mixtape "Nowadays", something at least I've been eagerly anticipating. Fritz first came on my radar with his absolutely excellent production work with Soundsci / MassInfluence emcee Audessey on their collaborative LP "Rounds Per Minute" (one of last years ten best projects). His build up for this new mixtape has included some pretty mindblowing remixes, including Fritz' take on Bahamadia's "I Confess" which literally had me screaming for a Bahamadia/A Cat original full-length, or at least a remix project. Mainly made up of remixes (for the likes of Nas, Little Brother, Beatnuts, De La Soul, Mos Def, Show & A, etc.) but there's also some brand new Audessey joints and some dope instrumentals to enjoy! (If you can't see the embeded player up top,click here where you'll also find the tracklist).
Queens singer Satchel Page is a close associate to Neek The Exotic and by extension Large Professor, having appeared on the underrated "Still On The Hustle" and Neek's 2013 project "Hustle Don't Stop". Now the vocalist unveils his first project under his own name via Walk Down Entertainment, a 10 track mixtape / street album called "Disco Sucks" available for free via DatPiff. The idea behind the project is creating a modern soul album based around "the hardest disco samples made famous during the Golden Age of Hip Hop". Some of the joints definitely works better than others, with some even going pretty damn hard so this is one I recommend y'all checking it out. What's especially interesting is that it's not a straight solo effort either, there's a lot of Large Professor beats (he might even have produced the entire thing since there's no credits) and verses from Neek and Main Source member MC Mikey D.
Flying Lotus is by far one of the most interesting artists out there at the moment if you ask me, and lately I've been listening a lot to his albums and his work with the Brainfeeder camp. Every now and then he pops up on the BBC Radio 1 channel to drop a crazy deep mix of classic beat records, jazz and his own music. His latest drop was on the 12th of March for a two hour set that also includes a short guest mix from Jonny Greenwood (would love to hear a studio collaboration between those two). You got nine days left to listen so Hurry Up and BUY!
One of the main reason Prince Paul is such a damn good producer, and especially why he's such good at knowing when incorporating skits and who will sound good together, is because he's such an extremely ill DJ. In fact I'd go as far as to say that '90% of the best producers are also DJ:s, there are exceptions but having that DJ ear makes you know what works and what does not in a crowd setting and so on. But enough of that, Prince Paul posted Part One and Part Two of this featuring music that's pretty damn rare, that he want to put some exposure on (meaning the mix is actually new). The DJ mix set is called "It's Not The Size of Your Mix That Matters, It's How You Use it" and the 90 minutes set is uploaded in two parts to Paul's official Soundcloud page. Spotted @ EgotripLand, peace!
Heavily skilled DJ Romes (of Lootpack fame) has put in a lot of work with especially Oh No, MED and other Stones Throw alumnis over the years so you can count on him knowing how to put together an ill mix. This little mix was done specificially to celebrate last years one month long tour that Blu and MED did together, two interesting West Coast artists. Though the mixtape is light on new material (which doesn't mean that they aren't at least a few brand new joints), it's a very good listen as it features remixes and a load of collaborations between this dynamic duo recorded and/or released between 2009 and 2014. Enjoy!
When MF Grimm announced that he had teamed up to form a duo with producer Drasar Monumental the latter name was completely new to me. Having now released three projects together, there's no question that they are a match made in hip hop heaven and Drasar Monumental is a straight up incredible beat wizard and DJ. I love how each of the respective records are sonic masterpieces in such a cinematic way that they need to be heard from front-to-back (even taking it so far as the CDs and retail downloads comes as one track containing the entire album or EP). It's a fresh concept, and Drasar never allow the listener to get bored as he's constantly introducing new thematic changes in his music, adding skits, beat switches, and INTENSE drum programming. It's a restless production style to say the least, something that might have something to do with his love for punk rock that he told me about in my interview last year.
Besides his work with Grimm, D has also released some stellar mixtapes, remix albums and so on. One of the earliest of these projects are "Strictly Weapons", a 10 songs deep remix tape, of Mr. Monumental's takes on hip-hop classics by Lord Finesse, M.O.P., Onyx and Nas amongst others. As if that wasn't enough in 2010 he also created a full-length Mobb Deep remix LP called "Remix Weaponry". I might very well have posted that before, but either way it's very interesting to hear these two tapes in light of his evolvement to one of last years absolute best albums. Be sure to head over and visit VendettaVinylVietnam where you can buy all that great music from Grimm and D. Don't sleep because this is limited stuff guys and it's definitely something you need in your collection.
OkayPayer premiered this really, really solid mixtape put together by Chocolate Sunday's resident DJ:s Manuvers, Sharpsound and Louie Arson. Titled "Bangin' Like a Dilla Instrumental" this expertly crafted mix blends some of the most legendary Jay Dee instrumentals for other people, to classic solo work and group settings, and rare beats "straight from the fucking cassette". It's amazing how fresh these beats still sound today and one thing that's pretty amazing with DiLLA beats is that they are usually just as interesting with or without vocals on top. Enjoy this shit but be sure to TURN IT UP!!! A LITTLE LOUDER!!
Also released via OkayPlayer is this rare studio footage of The Soulquarians in action (with Dilla on the drum set), jamming out a track that would eventually transform into "Aquarius" on Common's underrated "Electric Circus". Read more about the session @ OKP. Last but not least in this selection of DiLLA news, FatBeats and Ne'Astra Music Group are reissuing both the original Slum Village albums with JayDee on wax and cassette, so if you don't have those gems you better grab them both. Read more over @ FatBeats.com.
