March 04, 2014

Fashawn "Ode To Illmatic" (Mixtape, 2010)


An 11-track mixtape from Fashawn - Hosted by DJ Green Lantern - that goes track-for-track through Nas' debut opus, "Illmatic" - with the inclusion of an original bonus remix to "Represent." Ironically, the first time I met Fashawn was back in 2010 (or... maybe it was '11?) at the A3C Festival. They booked Eternia for a few appearances, one of which was a Tribute to New York show. The concept was that artists would spit lyrics to classic tracks from New York, ahead of Big Daddy Kane's headlining performance. Eternia chose "Excursions" from A Tribe Called Quest and our brother Jarobi came out to perform with us, which was dope. Anyhow, earlier that day in the hotel lobby, I was sitting next to Fashawn who looked like he was writing a verse. At some point we introduced ourselves and I asked what he was working on ... he told me that he was going over the lyrics to a track from his "Ode To Illmatic" project; he was performing at the show, too. I told him he had it easy - at least he had a joint already, lol. I liked his energy; nice dude and obviously talented! He and Elzhi were working on this project around the same time, and it's possible that since Fashawn dropped first, Elzhi went back in the studio and came up with the idea of Will Sessions recreating the beats; a phenomenal idea and easily one of the greatest mixes of all-time! (Updated audio link.)