Much love to J.Period for putting together this emotional and heartfelt tribute to 2Pac with his latest mixtape, Holla If Ya Hear Me. Piecing together interviews from 2Pac alongside expertly blended remixes and classic cuts, this 38-track mixtape celebrates the life of 2Pac, and gives us cause to reflect on what could've been had we not lost him to senseless violence. That said, it's appropriate to share 2Pac in his own words: "Don't support the phonies, support the real. How can these people talk about how real they are and they don't care about our communities? They talk about I'm this and I'm that, but they don't give a sh!t about the community. Listen to the words that people say in their lyrics and tell me if that's some real real sh!t, if that's real to you? Listen to what they're saying. Don't just bob your head to the beat, peep the game. And listen to what I'm saying and hold us accountable for it." Amen. Rest In Peace, Tupac Amaru Shakur and Afeni Shakur.
April 11, 2020: DJ Premier vs. The RZA will go down as one of the most historic beat battles / virtual events ever! DJ Premier and The RZA went track for track for 2.5 hours, live on Instagram in front of a total of 849,056 people! The RZA put his best foot forward with multiple tracks from his iconic group Wu-Tang Clan, as well as solo efforts by Ol' Dirty Bastard (R.I.P.), Raekwon, GZA, Method Man, Ghostface Killah, Kanye West, Nas, The Notorious B.I.G., and more. DJ Premier - who y'all KNOW I consider to be the G.O.A.T. - hit back with cuts by Gang Starr, Nas, Jay-Z, The Notorious B.I.G., Jeru The Damaja, D'Angelo, Group Home, Mos Def, Royce Da 5'9, M.O.P., Big L, KRS-One, and Das EFX. RZA and Premo shared stories/history on various tracks; bits about their cultural relevance and the personal impact these records had on both of them. That was undoubtedly a common thread that connected every fan that was tuning in around the world. There were close to 100K people tuned in just within the first 90 seconds of the battle! Artists like LL Cool J, Swizz Beatz, Nas, DJ Rhettmatic, Apathy, Method Man, Redman, DJ Eclipse, DJ Riz, Jay Electronica, Questlove, Shaq, DJ Numark, Killer Mike, Black Thought, Alchemist, Evidence, and so many others it's hard to list them all. With all the pain and loss going on around the world, this was a brief reprieve, where the bulk of the Hip-Hop community got together (social distancing) and collectively exhaled all our stress, and just enjoyed some great music. In the end, Hip-Hop won! Props to StrictlyCassette for these dope flyers, they are the icing on the cake. Here's the Playlist, dig in!
April 8, 2020 | Abby O'Neill -- While our culture adjusts to the New Normal, artists are revealing the threads of our common humanity as they find new ways to bring their work to virtual communities. In this installment of Tiny Desk (home) Concerts, hip-hop wordsmith Tariq Trotter, aka Black Thought of The Roots crew, took the occasion to premiere three new songs. On "Thought Vs. Everybody," Thought calls for unity in response to the conditions of an encroaching dystopia. Next up is "Yellow," a song from his upcoming off-Broadway musical Black No More, an adaption of the 1931 Afrofuturist novel by George S. Schuyler, set during the Harlem Renaissance. The track is co-written with Anthony Tidd. He closes with "Nature of the Beast," a cross-genre collaboration with alternative music sweethearts Portugal. The Man, who pop up on screen from a remote location. "Thought Vs. Everybody" and "Nature of the Beast" are produced by Sean C and will appear on Streams of Thought Vol. 3, which will be released as an EP. The Tiny Desk is working from home for the foreseeable future. It's the same spirit - stripped-down sets, an intimate setting - just a different space. - NPR. Much love to Black Thought holdin' it down for the culture, watch below!
On April 10th, 1990, A Tribe Called Quest released their iconic debut album People’s Instinctive Travels and The Paths Of Rhythm. Hip-Hop journalist and historian Dart Adams wrote a really great article on the legacy of Tribe's debut for OkayPlayer, here's a excerpt: "Jarobi White’s narration turned a bunch of random songs into a full body of work. It was an album reminiscent of the jazz, funk, and soul LPs from the late ’60s to the mid ’70s that I was digging through at record stores around this time. The production especially stood out to me. The sequencing of tracks and the way it flowed took a 14-year-old me on another ride beside the one I was already on. I felt like A Tribe Called Quest was consciously taking the listener along with them on their travels, while I was going through my own quest trying to discover myself. Listening to the album for the first time was one of those moments where I placed a mental bookmark on what an album could and should sound and feel like going forward." Please read the full article at OkayPlayer, and below is a video from 2018 of Scarface breaking down the significance of Tribe's debut and why the LP was so inspirational to him. Dig into the tags/labels below for a ton of content on various Tribe releases (solo and as a group).
Happy Born Day to Kamaal the Abstract aka Q-Tip! DJ Filthy Rich dropped off a brand new blend tape to celebrate Q-Tip's 50th birthday today, and had this to say: "Q-Tip's music has always been a huge influence in my life, so it's an honor to work with his team to present this surprise bday gift to him. I always wanted to hear a full collab with Q-Tip on the mic and Pete Rock on the boards, so I decided to make it myself. I took Q-Tip's vocal's from the 'Amplified' album, and blended them with Pete's fire 'Return Of The SP1200' instrumental LP." The result is something dope! Listen below...
"Public Enemy first posed the question: "Why are you so hostile?" The answer gave voice to arguably the foremost emotion underscoring hip-hop, the confrontational. Since then, nearly every MC to have picked up a mic has employed infinite rhyme and reason in trying to build on that sentiment. Unfortunately, the expression has, for the most part, been diluted. Simply put, too much of hip-hop's rage has grown tired and impotent. These days it is the rare artist that infuses new energy into hip-hop's most tried and true well-spring. Chino XL is such an artist. Get ready to throw down props for his debut, Here To Save You All. First and foremost, Chino can rhyme. Last year, two of his unreleased songs - "No Complex" and a collaboration with Ras Kass called "Riiott!" - circulated throughout the underground, popping up on The Source's "Fat Tape" and on hip-hop radio across the country. The full album proves neither joint was a fluke. The 16 tracks on Here To Save You All are a densely-packed, tightly-wound, searing, non-stop verbal assault on everyone and everything." Check out Chino XL's album sampler mix to "Here To Save You All," continued below...
"Chino takes the venerable practice of reworking pop culture and current event references into hip-hop contexts to a new level: O.J., Eazy E, the U.S. Invasion of Haiti, Woody Harrelson, teen pregnancy, Heidi Fleiss, Darryl Strawberry, welfare reform, even his own label - "My company (Rick Rubin's American Recordings) is fuckin' me like Arsenio does Eddie Murphy." You name it, they all get done. Still, what is perhaps most impressive about Here To Save You All is the fact that it's a record with equal amounts style and substance. Listen closely and you'll pick up more than laugh-out-loud jokes and disses. "No Complex" takes on the insipid materialism of much of today's hip-hop: "What I Am?" deals with growing up as a child of mixed ethnicity; and "Ghetto Vampire" and "Rise" delve into complex political and spiritual territory. The beats don't miss either. The album's production is laced with an intricate, Wu Tang-like flava. Although Chino is an East Orange, NJ native, a good portion of Here To Save You All was recorded in LA and the record successfully incorporates elements of both coasts' sounds. Here To Save You All is solid, dynamic and refreshing. It's both good and good fo ya." - The Source, May, 1996. The album was released on this day in 1996. Much respect to Chino XL!
Happy Born Day to the human beatbox legend, Biz Markie! He turned 56 today and to celebrate another cycle, a look at the video and lyrics to his hit, 'Just a Friend.' The melody for 'Just A Friend' came to Biz Markie while he was asleep, can you believe that? Biz has also said that he composes most of his songs in the bathroom & off the top of his head. If you can write songs between the bed and toilet, you've got yourself a pretty good system, lol. These days, however, I see Biz Markie mostly behind the turntables. I moved to a smaller city a couple years ago and in year one, he visited twice for DJ gigs. A real humble dude, it was an honor to meet him and I think the industry misses artists like Biz in the limelight, whose character was only exceeded by his talent. It's also impressive, as a DJ, that Biz Markie has custom Technics SL-700s for 7" records and they are allegedly the only ones in the world. OG status! Now, let's go back to 1989 for 'Just a Friend,' which he wrote (lyrics above) and produced (video below) ... "I asked her name, she said Bla Bla Bla" lol.
The year was 2003. J Dilla and Madlib had just wrapped up their album Champion Sound, recording as Jaylib, with Dilla then still in Detroit and Madlib doing all his work from his bomb shelter studio in Los Angeles. J Rocc - who would later become the third member of Jaylib, on the turntables for each of the shows the guys did together - put together this mixtape of Dilla, Madlib and Jaylib songs, as well as some of their sources, essentially telling the story of this group. We had some promo copies of this CD floating around for a while that year, then took the Jaylib section and pressed it on a 45, which was released as the bonus 45 with Champion Sound. Both the CD and 45 are long out of stock. The photos were taken by B+ of Madlib in his studio in L.A. and Dilla in his in Detroit, and also came up with the concept for this packaging: a cutout photo sleeve with a second sleeve inside, juxtaposing the photos of Madlib and Dilla. - Stones Throw. R.I.P., J Dilla... Listen below...
