RAS KASS / APOLLO BROWN Ft. Xzibit & Bishop Lamont - "Giraffe's Pussy"

The third single from the upcoming "Blasphemy" album brings more raw heat from Ras Kass over heavy, synth-driven heavy beats by Apollo Brown. For "Giraffe Pussy" (haha what) the duo invites Xzibit and Bishop Lamont for a real West Coast rendezvous. "Blasphemy" drops on October 28 via Mello Music Group, count on me to cop this! Pre-order and check the tracklist @ Bandcamp.

[Book] ODB: The Dirty Version

Great hip-hop books are far and few in between but there are definitely some real gold to be found amongst the bookshelfs if you look hard enough. Brian Coleman's "Check The Technique" is a must-read for any hip-hop fan, and most recently I read Cristopher R. Weingarten's 150 pages meditation on Public Enemy's landmark album "It Takes A Nation..."; another one I strongly recommend. Now comes a full book on the phenomenon that was the great Ol' Dirty Bastard, fittingly entitled "The Dirty Version". It seems quite legit too since it ís written by Buddha Monk with Mickey Hess. Sounds pretty damn interesting for us Wu heads, don't you think?

You can-pre-order the hardcover edition from Amazon now and get it in time for its official release on November 4 of this year. Just follow this link and a copy can be yours for $25.99! Spotted by Pyrex Visionist @ Wu Corp, so peace to him... Below you'll find a somewhat "rare" joint from the Dirty Bastard - a track he featured on together with Xzibit on one-album wonders M.A.D. Kutz '99 LP "Reelizm".

M.A.D. KUTZ - "Desparate Man" (Ft. ODB & Xzibit)

[Mixtape] SERIAL KILLERS Vol.1 (B-Real x Xzibit x Demrick)

I recently posted the full tracklist for "Serial Killers Vol. 1", one of the first real West Coast "super groups" in the last few years. Serial Killer's first endeavour as a group was their singles "The First 48", "Legends Never Die", and the newly released "Six Billion Ways" as well as the tracklist with its producers is definitely looking like they will be some serious heat on here (Statik Selektah, Sir Jinx, The Futuristics, Mo$$, Ill Bill, Bink! and G Rocka of Soul Assassins to name a few - I haven't had the chance to stream the project yet but I'm definitely excited about it. It's probably the first B-Real and Xzibit project that I've really been looking forward to hearing in severeal years. The whole album is now availbale for free via LiveMixtapes.com.

01. "First 48" [prod. Futuristiks & Sir Jinx]
02. "Wanted" [prod. G. Rocka & Medi]
03. "Dickies & Bandanas" (Ft. Kurupt) [prod. JRB]
04. "In The Sky" [prod. Ill Bill]
05. "Doctors In" (Ft. Hopsin) [prod. DJ Lethal & C-Lance]
06. "Whatever Cuz" (Ft. Goldie Locc) [prod. Green Lantern]
07. "Legends Never Die ft. Easy MoneyST (produced by: Statik Selektah)
08. "Worst Nightmare" [prod. Futuristiks]
09. "Get 2 It" [prod. Dublin Beats]
10. "Six Billion Ways" [prod. Ill Bill]
11. "No Coming Back" [prod. Ill Bill]
12. "Laugh Now" (Ft. Jon Connor) [prod. Nottz]
13. "Eaten Alive" [prod. BINK]
14. "Angels Come Calling" [prod. DJ Khalil]

B-REAL, XZIBIT & DEMRICK - "SERIAL KILLERS V.1" 

B-REAL x XZIBIT x DEMRICK are SERIAL KILLERS

Two of the West Coast's most influential emcees, Cypress Hill's B-Real and Xzibit joins forces with up-and-comer Demrick under the name Serial Killers. The newly formed unit will drop their first mixtape "Serial Killers Vol. 1" via LiveMixtapes.com on October 31. A few days ago they released the short but effective concept video "First 48" which is the Sir Jinx produced intro the album. Today another sick single hit the net via DJ Statik Selektah who produced the joint which is called "Legends Never Die" (featuring Ea$y Money). Peep the track below and up top you find the aforementioned video.

XZIBIT x THA LIKS x PETE ROCK - "Prime Time" [1998]

Between '96 and '99, Fukmaster Flex released a series of superb mixtape type albums called "60 Minutes of Funk" in three installments. All three volumes in the series are essential front-to-back listening, as it shows Flex' trul getting busy behind the boards, playing classics, freestyles, rare tracks and everything in between. If you're a hardcore collector like yours truly, all these definitely have a place in your physical collection as these mixes are filled with Funk's incredible skills as a DJ, showing he knows exactly what gets a crowd of hip-hop heads going - mixing classics, with rare records, and most importantly several selections recorded especially for these projects; sometimes self-produced by Funk himself.

One of the most interesting of these excclusives that falls in the latter category is a joint called "Prime Time", featuring Tha Alkaholiks family including Xzibit, and Phil Da Agony, over a classic Pete Rock type production, mixed by super engineer Marley Marl. With names like these it would be a miracle if it wasn't a brilliant record in every way, which it indeed is. But what's really interesting about it is that it exists in two radically different mixes that both NEED to be heard by every serious fan of any of the involved artists. For the actual "60 Minutes of Funk, Vol. 3" listeners only got a quick chance to whet their appetite before the 1:22 snippet seauged into the next song on the !tape". While even a small taste of such a future classic is hardly a shame; when I found out that there is actually a full version of this song, stretching out over four minutes I just had to track it down... and so I did it!

The full version of "Prime Time" appeared on a very limited and rare Funk Flex Mixtape III 12" sampler on LOUD in 1998. Highlighting some of the most outstanding tracks from the mixtape in their full galore. The same happened to Tribe Called Quest's / Jay Dee's "That Shit" which had cut out Phife Dawg's closing verse on the Vol. II mixtape., and so on. But if a full version of that '98 banger from Tha Liks wasn't enough, what makes it even more interesting is that it's produced and/or mixed differently. All the basics of the beat are there, but Pete and Marley adds a lot of sonic treats not found on the mixtape version; So which is your favorite?

FUNK FLEX / THA LIKS FAM - ''PRIMETIME'' [MIXTAPE]
FUNK FLEX / THA LIKS FAM - "PRIMETIME" [12" MIX] 

[Comp] Ras Kass, Xzibit & Saafir as GOLDEN STATE PROJECT

Few rappers as talented and well-known as Ras Kass have had as many failed deals and shelved projects. From the "Van Gogh" and "Goldyn Child" solos to the Four Horsemen supergroup, fans have been left with dodgy bootlegs and broken promises. Similairly, Ras was also an official member of the group Golden State Project, along with fellow West Coast heavy hitters Xzibit and Saafir. Originally going by Golden State Warriors, the trio was supposed to deliver a full-length called "The Coast is Clear" as the first release on Xzibit's now defunct Open Bar Entertainment imprint. This was right around the time of the major success X was enjoying with 2001's "Restless", and had everything gone down as planned Golden State would've probably made a lot of noise around the same time. As is often the case when dealing with multiple artists signed to different labels, Priority wouldn't release Ras Kass from his contract for the release. It's unknown how much of an actual album was recorded at the time, but through multiple collaborations between its members we can still get a pretty good idea about how fantastic this power trio could be on wax. 

My man Ant, who previously contributed with several superb compilations and other material for The Lost Tapes (including the original "Center Of Attention" rip), brings the goods yet again with ten tracks featuring Golden State Project. The opening number, "Bounce, Rock, Golden State", is lifted from the Training Day soundtrack and is to this day the only 12" single released in the group's name. "The Big Picture" was ripped from Xzibit's MySpace and is supposedly a song from the actual recording sessions circa 2001. The other tracks is borrowed from various releases by all of the individual artists and totals 40 minutes of heat that will have you curse Priority Records for standing in the way for this to happen in any official capacity. Major thanks to Ant for hooking me up with this banger, it's really well put together!

 

01. "Bounce, Rock, Golden State" [prod. Battlecat]

02. "3 Card Molly" [prod. Bud'da]

03. "Touch Somebody"

04. "The Big Picture"

05. "Plastic Surgery" [prod. E-Swift]

06. "Sex" (Ft. JellyRoll)

07. "Back Up Offa Me"

08. "Break Yourself" (Ft. Truth Hurts) [prod. Rick Rock]

09. "Harder" [prod. JellyRoll]

10. "NBA" [prod. Rockwilder]

THE GOLDEN STATE PROJECT

Xzibit / Alkaholiks / King Tee - "Louis XIII"

Xzibit.. Tha Alkaholiks.. King Tee.. Dr. Dre.. The West is definitely killing it with this one! The Dr. Dre produced posse cut shows any naysayers that The Likwits crew still get it poppin in 2012. "Louis XIII" will appear on X's forthcoming full-length album, "Napalm", which hit stores on September 25. 

XZIBIT x ALKAHOLIKS x KING TEE - "LOUIS XIII"