[Album] MACK WILDS - "New York: A Love Story"

A couple of nights I ago I posted the Method Man assisted "Land of the Wild Things" from The Wire actor Tristan "Mack" Wilds turned R&B singer. As the first signee to Salaam Remi's production company Re Mi Fa / Louder Than Life, Wilds and the Award winning producer have been hard at work on the singer's debut album "New York: A Love Story". Not to be confused with the super sugar coated R&B of today, this is often more reminiscent of the street-edged crooners of the '90s that often used hip-hop beats and didn't exclusively sing about love.In that vein, Salaam and Mack have rounded up additional beats from hip-hop legends like DJ Premier, Pete Rock, Havoc, Bink!, and James Poyser which was then given additional touches and production by Remi, meaning that he in some shape or form have had a hand in producing every single song on the LP. 

Unfortunately there's no production credits around for most of this yet, though I know that "Land of the Wild Things" was solely produced by Salaam Remi, while "My Crib" and "Henny" was produced by Bink! and Havoc, respectively, (both with co-production from Remi). An educated guest is that Premier co-produced and put the scratches on "Keepin' It Real", while Pete Rock might have done the same for the strictly hip-hop oriented "Duck Sauce". Guest features are kept to a minimum but the ones who appear are all terrific writers and long-time greats -  Meth, Raekwon and Doug E. Fresh... TheUrban Daily has been given the get-go to premier the LP in its entirety, before it officially drops September 30. Be sure to give this one a spin unless you absolutely hate R&B (and even then check out "Duck Sauce", "Keepin' It Real" and the feature cuts).

01. "Land of the Wild Things" (Ft. Method Man)
02. "My Crib"
03. "Henny"
04. "Own It"
05. "MaGic!"
06. "Keepin' It Real"
07. "U Can Try To Me" (Ft. Raekwon & Doug E. Fresh)
08. "Don't Turn Me Down"
09. "The Sober Up"
10. "A New York Love Story"
11. "Art Of Fallin'"
12. "Remember The Time"
13. "Duck Sauce"

 STREAM "NY: A LOVE STORY" @ U.B.D.

[Video] NAS - "Bye Baby"

NAS went ahead and shot a video for the amazing closer to his latest opus, "Life is Good". The brutally honest lyrics, the Salaam Remi production, the Guy sample and the way it sums up the record makes this a truly outstanding piece of music. I'm glad he decided to make a music video for this; I believe "Life is Good" now has more videos than the majority of Nas' previous releases.

Salaam Remi Breaks Down 10 Classics @ OKP

Salaam Remi got gold and platinum plaques, but I still would consider him somewhat of an underrated producer. He don't produce hip-hop records like the average joe, but rather incorporates all sorts of live instruments and weird percussion gadgets to make those beats stand out. I can't stand when a new Nas album tracklist is revealed and peeps start complaining "Oh no, look at all this Salaam Remi, I want Preemo"... Shit, Salaam and Nas makes some of the illest music imaginable so I hope their working relationship will continue for a long time. 

In this extensive interview with Okayplayer, Remi gives his take on a bunch of his classic productions including "Fu-Gee-La", "Here Comes The Hotstepper", "Made You Look", "The Don" and more. A definite read!

SALAAM REMI BREAKS DOWN 10 CLASSICS

[Tracklist] NAS - "Life is Good"

Nas is still one of my absolute favorite rappers, and the old saying that he's a dope rapper that can't make good albums is plain bullshit if you ask me; matter of fact, he's got an impressive catalouge with only a couple of exceptions. The July 17 release of his tenth official LP, "Life is Good" has been a hot topic since it first was announced. Now, we have even more to look forward to since the tracklisting with production credits has been revealed. Lots of No I.D. and Salaam Remi beats, and a few contributions or co-productions by J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League, Buckwild, Heavy D, Swizz Beatz and legendary QB DJ Hot Day. What's up with the deluxe edition though? I want "Nasty" on my turntable?!

01. No Introduction (prod. J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League)
02. Loco-Motive f. Large Professor (prod. No I.D.)
03. A Queens Story (prod. Salaam Remi)
04. Accident Murderers f. Rick Ross (prod. No I.D.)
05. Daughters (prod. No I.D.)
06. Reach Out f. Mary J. Blige (prod. Salaam Remi, Rodney Jerkins, DJ Hot Day)
07. World’s An Addiction f. Anthony Hamilton (prod. Salaam Remi)
08. Summer on Smash f. Miguel & Swizz Beatz (prod. Swizz Beatz)
09. You Wouldn’t Understand f. Victoria Monet (prod. Buckwild)
10. Back When (prod. No I.D.)
11. The Don (prod. Salaam Remi, Heavy D & Da Internz)
12. Stay (prod. No I.D.)
13. Cherry Wine f. Amy Winehouse (prod. Salaam Remi)
14. Bye Baby (prod. Salaam Remi & 40)

DELUXE EDITION
15. Nasty (prod. Salaam Remi)
16. The Black Bond (prod. Salaam Remi)
17. Roses (prod. Al Shux)
18. Where’s The Love f. Cocaine 80s (prod. No I.D.)