DMC x Necro Ft. Emilush & Caustic - "Murda Y'All"

From Sweden to NYC, Hip Hop is alive and kicking as evident on this wicked collaboration between DMC and Necro with Emilush & Caustic on the hook. The Swedish duo reached out to DMC and Necro with a request to lay down verses over this Nicseb beat and the resulting record is the hard hitting "Murda Y'all". As if the joint in itself wasn't enough we finally get an official release date and title for the long awaited Godfathers album (Necro's joint project with Kool G Rap, who also makes several appearances in the video) - "Once Upon A Crime", November 19!

[Album] THE ROOTS + ELVIS COSTELLO - "Wise Up Ghost"

Wow, I really didn't expect to be able to hear a new album by The Roots tonight but between this and the new episode of "Breaking Bad" this night is looking a lot better. As has been known for quite some time, the entire The Roots band has been hard at work in the studio with legendary English singer Elvis Costello (I won't even try boxing this legend in a genre folder). The result is 12 original tracks (and three additional bonus cuts for the various deluxe editions) with ?uestlove, Kamal, Poyser, Kirk Douglas and company supplying their usual brand of greatness for Costello to do his thing on. As if that wasn't enough to ensure greatness, "Wise Up Ghost (And Other Songs)" is being released on Blue Note Records and for a jazz lover like myself that is always a positive sign. On a related note, it will be very interesting to see if Black Thought makes an apperance here or not... The LP is officially released tomorrow, but already now you can stream the entire thing for free, so why don't you join me in doing just that (I just started track #2 and so far, so good)? Order the CD @ Amazon or download @ iTunes.

01. "Walk Us Uptown"

02. "Sugar Don't Work"

03. "Refuse to be Saved"

04. "Wake Me Up"

05. "Tripwire"

06. "Stick Out Your Tounge"

07. "Come the Meantimes"

08. "She Might Be a Grenade"

09. "Cinco Minutos Con Vos"

10. "Viceroy's Row"

11. "Wise Up Ghost"

12. "If I Could Believe"

13-15. [*]Bonus Tracks[*]

STREAM "WISE UP GHOST" @ NPR

[EP] ROME CEE x GREENSPAN - "Cee-Span"

I've posted a few tracks from emcee Rome Cee before, and the man as good as always brings quality ish to the table. For his latest release, he hooks up with fellow Baltimore spitter Greenspan and a host of producers including Swiff D, August Flight Gordon, and Pablow Beats. Titled "Cee-Span", this six track EP is straight on point whether you come looking for fresh, honest rhymes or tight, well programmed beats. Stream or download for free as it is definitely time to enjoy the fruits of the harvest y'all!

[Mixtape] KARRIEM RIGGINS - "Music Kaleidoscope"

Producer, DJ, and live drummer Karriem Riggins was a close friend of J Dilla, played extensively with Eric Reed and Oscar Brown, and produces instrumental hip-hop for Stones Throw. Easily one of Detroit's finest modern musician and just as easily someone that more heads should be very aware of. I'm not going to write too much about him right now as I intend to drop a 20+ tracks compilation of his outside production work here on The Lost Tapes already tomorrow. So, see this is a little warm up for you all to get acquainted with the musical wonderchild that is Karriem Riggins...

"Music Kaleidoscope" was a limited promotional CD released in 2009 on an imprint called Jae.B Group. During its 50 minutes run we are acquainted with Riggins the DJ, Riggins the producer, Riggins the drummer and Riggins the jazz lover in a seamless mix. Press play on the Soundcloud player below (thanks to Furious.Styles for the original upload) and enter Karriem's grooving mix of classic jazz, fusion, funk, R&B, and new compositions. A definite sure shot while you're waiting for the "official" compilation to be brought forward tomorrow... Keep that head moving!

01. Soft Machine - "Sly Monkey"
02. Miroslav Vitous - "See You, November"
03. Donald Byrd - "Think Twice"
04. Karriem Riggins & George Duke - "Untitled"
05. Common - "Sex For Suga" [Karriem Riggins Remix]
06. Rhythm Heritage - "Three Days Of The Condor"
07. Karriem Riggins - "Soon"
08. Karriem Riggins - "If This World Were Mine"
09. Dizzy Gillespie - "Matrix"
10. The Moments - "Sho Nuff Boogie"
11. Bobby Timmons - "I Don't Know What Time It Is"
12. Wee Three - "Reflection"
13. Guillermo Klein - "De Sábados Prá Dominguinhos"
14. Karriem Riggins - "Chinese Arithmetic"
15. Karriem Riggins - "12's in 8's"
16. Karriem Riggins - "Pacman @ The Prom"
17. Karriem Riggins - "Trance Delight"
18. Karriem Riggins - "Better Days"
19. Nohelani Cypriano - "Lihue"
20. Johnny Hammond - "Quiet Storm"
21. Robertinho do Recife - "O Elefante"
22. Isaac Hayes - "Title Theme (Tough Guys)"
23. Karriem Riggins - "Harp Me"
24. Mike Oldfield - "Part One (Tubular Bells)"
25. Karriem Riggins - "Outro"

[EP] PLANET ASIA / DIRTY DIGGS - "High End Cloths"

LA producer DirtyDiggs is a relatively new face on the scene, at least as far as record placement goes. He did however produce almost half of Planet Asia's slightly underrated banger "Black Belt Theater", and to me his soul drenched style perfectly compliments Asia's verses. Following the Cali emcees recent full-length collaboration with Gensu Dean, he now reunites with fellow Gold Chain Music label mate DirtyDiggs. Over nothing but inspired Diggs beats, Planet Asia creates "High End Cloths"´(which can be bought and streamed @ DJBooth now).

01. "Pimp Columns" (Ft. Killer Ben)
02. "Open Oceans" (Ft. Killer Ben & Killa Kali)
03. "Diamonds, Dollars, & Gold"
04. "Shine On"
05. "Gold Chain Cocaine" (Ft. Turbin & Rogue Venom)
06. "2 Sides" (Ft. Killer Ben)
07. "The Gods Speak" (Ft. Killa Kali)
08. "Take Money to Make Money" (Ft. Mac Mall & B-Legit)
09. "The One Who Did It"
10. "Outro"

PLANET ASIA  + DIRTYDIGGS - "HIGH END CLOTHS"

L.A.D. / Black Thought - "Rap Politicians"

La The Darkman and Black Thought together on a song? Yes please!!

"Rap Politicians" is the title of this new single from L.A.D. and it's really a winner with its powerful verses and energetic layered beat of dark piano keys, vocal chants, and occassional guitar stabs. As much as I like LA, there's no denying that Black Thought is victorious here. This is lifted from Darkman's "Paid in Full" mixtape.

[Throwback] FRANK-N-DANK - "All Seasons" [OG Mix]

As you might very well have figured, Jay Dee A.k:A. J Dilla, is one of them producers I just can't get enough. My collection carries every Yancey released album, and some 12":s , including both albums that he produced at least 85% percent on, as well as albums that the man produced at least a 1/3 of. Add to that an extensive digital library, and I love putting together compilations of the man's material. Frank-N-Dank's "48 HRS", recored in late 2002, entirely produced by Jay Dee, The album was semi-officially bootlegged in 2003, mastered and all, but no retail album was ever released... Until 2013 that is, when Delicious Vinyl finally released "48 Hours"  on wax, CD and digital.

As is well known, the album went through several transformations before it went ultimately shelved by MCA Records along with Dilla's "Pay Jay" LP. The original version focused heavily on samples, vintage Jay Dee style, and when this version wasn't to MCA's liking, the trio rerecorded the entire project, utilizing a heavily digitized sound, with little to no samples, keyboards and synths, and live drums alterating with heavy drum programming. Needless to say, both versions got shelved indefinitely, and when the 2013 vinyl reiusse came along it was the non - sample version that was presented.

Hopefully, one day the originally sample based recordigs will be fully mastered and released, especially since the concept of using unforgettable samples previously utilized in hip-hop classics but with a twist. Original samples included Mtume's "Juicy Fruit" (BIG's "Juicy"), Labi Siffre's "I Got the Blues" (Jay-Z's "Street is Watching +´Eminem's "My Name is)" and more. If you missed out on it before, make sure to check out one of my personal Lost Tapes compilation ("48 HRS" (c7 Revisit"). On there I premiered the original version of "All Seasons". taken from a House Shoes podcast. This is also the track that samples Labi Siffre´s song which you will mostly recognize from Jigga's Ski produce classic "Streets is Watching". So if you have yet to have heard that compilation I put together, this is a real treat, and I have lost time on how many times I have listened to it.

FRANK-N-DANK - "ALL SEASOS" [OG]

VANGUARD FESTIVAL REVIEW

VANGUARD MUSIC FESTIVAL, COPENHAGEN 2013

Almost a month ago, I attended an absolutely brilliant new outdoor hip-hop festival in Copenhagen. 2013 marked the first time this one day festival ever happened (in fact it's a two-day event, but all hip-hop were lined up for the second day), and the line-up they had gathered simply reeked of quality. Or what do you think about De La Soul, Wu-Tang Clan, Pharoahe Monch, MF DOOM and LoopTroop Rockers? I started writing this review only a day or two after I returned home (probably around August 5), but after completing most of it I totally forgot everything about it... Until now that is!

Before I dwell into the separate concert reviews for each artist, I want to stress that not only was the music fantastic, but this Danish summer evening had beautiful and sunny weather conditions, I was in the company of a lot of fine friends, some of which I hadn't seen in quite some time, the refreshments were modestly priced and the food was definitely good! Couple this with performances from some of me and my homies favorite artists and you are sure to have one hell of an evening... And that it was! I also got to give theguys behind it huge props for the superb sound quality, you could hear every word uttered from stage, as well as every musical nuance which is a lot more than can be said than of many venues of this kind. So yeah, I would with no doubt visit The Vanguard Festival again next year if they will  turn this into an annual tradition - A highly recommended hip-hop event for all Scandinavians!

PHAROAHE MONCH

The Mighty Pharoahe kicked the hip-hop side of things off with a powerful concert that set the bar real high for the following acts. As usual, Monch did an immaculate job of getting the people involved, parly through his presence and powerful voice in itself, but mainly by giving a lot of focus on the high energy numbers from his solo catalouge: and there are plenty (like any other time I've seen Pharoahe in action, he does not perform any Organized Konfusion tracks at all, despite occassional requests from the audiences). Known in hip-hop circles as one of the best lyricists around and a political emcee incredibly sharp with the concepts, a much overlooked aspect of the Queens legend's ouevre is that he, unlke the vast majority of artists out there, truly embodies everything the letters MC originally stands for. With high-energized tracks like "Simon Says", "My Life", "Oh No", "Free", and "Clap" to name a few, Monch displays that he is indeed the Master of Ceremony and for each of the mentioned tracks the crowd went berzerk; tearing down the house and shouting at the top of their lungs. 

With Pharoahe Monch on stage this evening was the beautiful soul-singer/frequent collaborator Mela Machinko. This was as fortunate as can be since their distinct voices are the perfect compliment to each other, and their chemistry which is so evident can only be described as electrifying. The way her powerful voice and sung vocals from the soul/R&B and gospel tradition adds to the raw flows and intellectually charged lyricism of Pharoahe creates something totally new, which absolutely floored me. So much in fact, that out of the three times I've been lucky enough to catch Monch perform, the single time he didn't deliver a world class performance was the time he was not backed up by Machinko, which of course says a whole lot. Killing shit on the turntables was another one from Monch's iinner circle, DJ Boogie Blind. Blind did a very good job without doing any unneccessary routines, trying to grab the spotlight, instead making sure the set flowed seamlessly, even throwing in some absolutely immaculate turntable wizardry, and so forth.

Since I first heard Pharoahe Monch and Organized Konfusion I have held him in the highest regard as a fullly developed artist (unlike many acts, who are fantastic rapper but not very good artists). Now with the third Monch performance I've attended, that rings even more true, and I truly hope that he will never stop working with Machinko - few artists have a Chemistry LIKE THAT. Matter of fact, a full blown collaboration album between the two had without a doubt found its way into my personal collection (On a side note, make sure to pick up Mela's 2013 solo album "Hov Said it Best" which is a brilliant piece of music). In closing, this was a mindblowing 50 minutes set that remained it's high quality from beginning to end. The vast majority of the classics were all played, and we were even treated to a brand new cut from th have to wait and  next forthcoming album , that sounded rreally powerful; my memory is a Little hazy of much of the evening but it is very possible that one of my guys recorded it, so we'll see!. Monch and Machinko should definitely drop a lil' live album while the heads are eagerly awaiting P.T.S.D. (Post Traumatic-Stress-Disorder). .

DE LA SOUL

Although I had attended several performances by Wu-Tang Clan, and Pharoahe Monch prior to this evening, to catch De La Soul in the act was a first for me, and a real treat at that. The groundbreaking trio from Long Island is responsible for loads of classic material. I've been a long time fan of the trio, having all of their albums in my collection which pretty much all are LP:s that to this day sound fresh and innovative and is therefore, not to there to collect dust. But everyone who's ever been to a live Concert know that the live setting is something totally different. And in that respect. Pos, Dave, and Maseo threw a superb De La party on that stage this evening.

Once Maseo took his place behind the turntables, and Plug Won + Two grabbed their microphones, classic after classic started pouring out from the big speakers. They performed at least one track each from  all of their LP:s together (the "Impossible Mission" and Nike mixtapes notwithstanding), and as such there were plenty of highlights tjhat had the crowd going crazy. You got high energy performances of "Grind Date", "Oooh.", "Jennifa Taught Me", "Oodles of O", "All Good to name a few of the tracks that The Soul ripped through with grace. I remember shouting "EGO TRIPPIN!!!!" and this young girl in front of me turned áround and gave me this Little wierd look haha,, obviously didn't know the guys at that stage to well. When  "Ego Trippin' Pt. 3" finally started blasting through the spakers and Pos and Dave started rhyming forthj and back, it was over! Best performance from their entire set, no question!

One thing that I personally found the coolest thing about the whole evening is that some of my homies who previously have found De La to be a Little corny, based on some of the singles they've Heard like "Me, Myself & I"). However, once the cocnert was in full swing, more or less every one of them had changed their mind about the great Long Islanders as they admitted to being blown away by the the later, more hard-edged material that here was represented by brilliance like "Verbal Clap", "You Don't Wanna Bust Dat Shit" and "Rock Co.Kane Flow". The latter served as the set closer, which it works well as hence it being one of my favorite De La joints, and its always smart to quit while you're still on top. What was slightly strange was that MF DOOM didn't make a suprise apperance during the cut, considering he already was in Place... The same goes for the DOOM set, who also did his part to "Rock Co.Kane" flow separately and with no suprise guests.

Pos and Dave clearly had a lot of fun on stage, and the chemistry that has been developed between them and their DJ for the last 28 years is something truly unique that could never be Close to duplicated. The festival visitors consisted of relatively young people, so it was fantastic to hear the entire crowd loudly sing the hook for "Jenifa Taught Me" and "Plug Tunin'". Amongst the other many highlights during the 50 minutes set was an energetic performance of"Oooh.", my personal favorite "Ego Trippin' Part 3" and "Stakes is High". The trio hasn't lost a step, instead they have only grown more mature, more Confident and better musicians both live and in the studio and this show made me even more eager to hear the official follow-up to 2004:s "The Grind Date"..

In closing, the show was terrific in every sense of the word, at least musically. What brought it down slightly for me was that they sometime felt stuck in the '80s and their way to engage the crowd  felt very outdated. Often Maseo faded out a banging track way too soon, while Pos and Dave interacted with the crowd in call and responses terms. "THROW YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR AND WAVE 'EM LIKE YOU JUST DON'T CARE"... "WHEN`I SAY HIP, YOU SAY HOP.... HIP...." (HOP!), and so forth. There's nothing wrong with this type of engagement, but when it goes out over the music and is so overdone that it's starting to bug you I feel they are doing something wrong. I'd much rather hear good verses over several minutes of this throughout their otherwise brilliant set. This is of course kind of a minor issue but it still took down the joy very slightly. Still,  all in all De La Soul put on a great performance. and as a fan of their music I'm very glad I got the chance to see them in action, and they surely did not dissapoint.

 MF DOOM

DOOM was a late addition to the line-up and also one of the biggest headliners of the night. Since my economy was straight up nauseauting during the summer, he was one of the definite deciding factors for me to get a ticket since I'm a long time fan of the Masked Villain but hadn't seen him in concert before. In hindsight, there's absolutely no question whatsover that The Villain was the weak link of the chain during this otherwise remarkable evening, I guess he figured we should be satisfied that it was DOOM himself and not one of his famous imposters. He performed in the mask and a black T-shirt, backed up by a DJ who only stood for the musical selections, and the strangest hype man I have seen in my entire life. This "hype man" stood next to DOOM the entire set, yet he didn't have a microphone and he didn't dance or even nod his head... Come to Think of it, he might have been a sleep!

As far as the music goes the problem was that DOOM didn't at all seem interested in being up on that stage, and did little to nothing to get the crowd involved, despite there obviously being a lot of fans in the house this night. DOOM basically ran through his pre-written tracklist he had decided on for the night, while totally leaving home all of the necessary herbs and spices to turn it into anything above average. For the most part it sounded like alternate takes of songs from his album; the type of alternative versions that is being creeated until thhey get it right. Luckily, it wasn't all a waste though, there were some highlights along the way and all of them were highlights from "Born Like This" and "Madvillainy". The true highlights were few and far between but on at least two ocassions things really lifted big time, turning the Concert into the brilliant show it could have been had DOOM shown enough interest. I'm talking about an immaculate performace of "ALL CAPS" which really got the crowd going, and maybe even more so when he segued into a full version of the J Dilla produced "Gazillion Ear". Both tracks added some much needed energy in both DOOM's performance and the crowd who's loud cheers and rap-a-long sentiments gave us a momentarily glimpse into 5 minutes of superb live hip-hop. But it was too little, too late, and if this is what DOOM is like in a live setting, I much prefer sitting home listening to his albums on vinyl via a good pair of hradphones!

WU-TANG CLAN

The headliners of the night, of course, was The Wu-Tag Cla and this marked the third time I witnessed the greatest crew in the world in a live performance. First and foremost, the problem with booking Wu-Tang Clan is that you never know who or how many of the 9-man outfit promoters actually will get to the venue. the first time I saw them Method Man nor Cappadonna was there (this was after ODB's passing), so when the intro sounds to "Bring Da Ruckus" echoed throughout the stage  before the lights went up and revealed four generals and DJ Allah Mathematics - my man Big Rob leaned over me in the crowd, saying "Damn; there's only half of them this time". Nevertheless, "Bring Da Ruckus" had the crowd going crazy, and the five emcees on stage (GZA/Ghotface Killah/Inspectah Deck/Raekwon/GZA). If you know you' Wu, you are well aware that these particular five are the orignal lyricists on the studio recording. The initial dissapoitmet of not havig the entire Clan assembled didn't stop the music from blasting, and the crowd jumped up and down like crazy. Next the 7 man outfit segues into "Duel Of The Iron Mic" where Inspectah Deck by far is the definite key player; high on energy, flowing just as great as on any record, and no problems with the voice (as he sometimes have which most Wu-Tang fans are aware). The part where the beat stops and INS drops his openig verse before RZA let the beat drop again. Pure genius and the crowd went absolutely NUTS! 

A few more classics into the set and despite still missing Method Man just like the last time I saw the clan, the energy levels on that stage "Were as high as Wu-Tang Gets" and the positive energy that flowed between the artists and the crowd was a beautiful thing to see, hear and feel. Then out of nowhere, Mathematics switches the beat and RZA kicks off the intro to the classic "Method Man" single; "From the slums of Shaolin, Wu-Tang strikes again.. The RZA, The GZA, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Inspectah Deck, Raekwon, U-God, Ghostface Killah, and the METHOD MAN", and like that Meth himself runs out from behind the stage to enormous cheers from the crowd as he grabs the microphone and kicks off a spot-on performance of the B-side to the very first Wu-Tang Clan single. If the energy were high before, once Meth came on stage and the entire pack was reunited, those levels reached astronomical levels with the performance of "Reunited"., creating a huge sing a long moment. Hundreds of Danes and Swedes faithfully threw up their W's, standing in for Ms. Roxy's "It's WU motherfuckers, WU-TANG motherfuckers...".

But not even here, the suprises had come to a halt, as one final emcee was behind that stage getting ready to come out and play. Though I had hoped to hear Cappadonna's infinite verse on "Winter Warz", it was almost just as interesting to hear him perform a live version of "Slang Editorial" and "Run", two tracks I never heard in a live stting before, backed up by the entire Clan. For 75 minutes no one left the stage, ad-libbing each oher's verses and running through classic after classic. It was definitely a night to remember, and with two true and tested classics (and two of Wu's finest live tracks at that) in "Gravel Pit" and "Triumph" the set came to a close to loud cheers. If the posse can transfer the chemistry from the stage into the studio for their rumoured new album "A Better Tomorrow", it could very well be the best Wu-Tang album sice "Wu-Tang Forever".

"NAS is Like" [Sean-Touré Remix]

There were only about a week ago that I wondered what happened to the immensely talented, soulful producer Sean-Touré out of Maryland. In late 2011, I posted several singles from the man that really had me going ("In The Heat of the Night", "A Day in the Life", etc.) but after that he kind of dissappeared from the public eye.... Or I just didn't look hard enough!

 

Now he's back with a brilliant, soul grooving revisioning of Nas' classic "NaS is Like"; I'm usually under the impression that you shouldn't fuck with the classic but Touré's version here is totally original, fits perfectly with NaS lyrics without in any way diluting the original. Please, Touré give us a full-length project ASAP!

[comp] MADLIB - "No Stones Thrown V.1"

Madlib borders between one of the absolute best producers out there, to releasing weird music with little to no replay value. I have been wanting to make a compilation of his extensive work among his doper outside productions, but haven't been able to post it since I know he's Stones Throw numer one flagship artist, however I made a large effort in not including any Stones Throw material (hence the title "No Stones Thrown V.1".

The thing I want to do is spread Madlib's music as much as possible, I personally buy pretty much everything he drops and this collection of B-sides and outside productions really give another, more unheard chapter in the Madlib saga... So I really hope Stones Throw will let this one ride as I haven''t used any ST material here, and if everything goes well except a part 2 soon if you're feeling this!

Featured here are incredible Madlib remixes and original productions spanning about 15 years, showcasing brilliant collaborations with the likes of Erykah Badu, Pharoahe Monch, Strong Arm Steady / Black Thought, DOOMSTARKS / Madvillayn, Prince Po, Vinnie  Paz, Mos Def, Zero 7 w. Yesterday's New Quintet, Dabrye/DOOM, Talib Kweli / Norah Jones, AG, Wildchild, Freddie Gibbs, Karriem Riggins, Jay-Z, and a host of instrumental Malib istrumetnals to ensure a real album feel. This is a really good compilation, and if ST doesn't fuck it up look for Volume 2 coming very soon (again with no material released on ST). Grab this as soon as possible if you want to hear it, it might not be here in two days but sicee there's ´no material from that label I can't really see why they wouldn't allow me to put it here - I only want to give a good rundown of what 'Lib can do as an producer for hire. TURN IT UP!!

 

01. Erykah Badu / Pharoahe Monch - "The Healer Remix"

02. Tha Alkaholiks / Lootpack / Declaime - "WLIX"

03. Strong Arm Steady / Black Thought - "Clean Up"

04. Madlib - "Intermission #1"

05. DOOMSTARKS - "Victory Lapyz" [Madvillain Remix]

06. Living Legends - "Blast Your Radio"

07. Wildchild / Masta Ace / Percee P / MC Lyte - "The League"

08. Madlib - "Intermission #2"

09. Jay-Z - "Threat" [Madlib Remix]

10. Vast Aire - "Look Mom No Hands"

11. Prince Po - "Mecheti Lightspeed"

12. Madlib - "Intermission #3"

13. AG - "Frozen"

14. Dabrye / Madvillain - "Air Remix"

15. Erykah Badu - "Inscence"

16. Madlib - "Intermission #4"

17. Mos Def - "Pretty Danger"

18. Zero 7 / Yesterday's New Quintet - "Distractions Remix"

19. Freddie Gibbs + Madlib / Karriem Riggins - "City"

20. Talib Kweli / Erykah Badu - "Soon The New Day"

MADLIB - "NO STONES THROWN V.1"