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Nas has released 10 albums in 15 years, but everyone pisses and moans because 9 of them weren’t Illmatic. That’s like hating on George Washington Carver for not inventing something better than peanut butter.
Compared to a lot of MCs, Nas is still dropping steady heat (Exhibit A: “Queens Get The Money”). But really though, every album has some weak tracks–and not just the horrible, horrible radio singles. Nas’ problem has always been beats.
A solo rapper lacks the consistency a DJ brings to the sound and keeps the ego in check–the strength has always been in the triumvirate (Run-DMC, Cypress Hill) or the duo (Gang Starr, Eric B. & Rakim) or the everyone-into-the-phone-booth-thing (The Roots, Wu-Tang). Relying on beats-for-hire has made Nas’ direction waver all over the place; it’s that lack of a defined sound that makes people hate. Every Cypress Hill record is pretty much the same (just in ever-decreasing quality); every Nas record is different. To me, that’s a strength. It’s just too bad he didn’t hook up with the right DJ early on and drop steady solid. When he does pick a good beat, it’s fire. When he doesn’t…that’s when the remixers step up.
So here we got an hour’s worth of Nas remixes, freestyles and unreleased cuts. Peep it.
Hope (Kenzo Digital Remix) / Sucker MCs 2007 / Made You Look (Elmattic #900 Remix) / Stillmatic (Paid In Full Mix) / DJ Clue Freestyle / The Foulness / Talk Of New York (Hard To Earn Mix) / NY State Of Mind Pt. 2 (Elmattic Meaning of the Name Mix) / Made U Look (DJ ABD Run Remix) / Got Ur Self… (MIDIMarc Remix) / No Idea’s Original (Kenzo Digital Remix) / Thief’s Theme (Q-Fish Remix) / Streets Disciple (Original Version) / The Setup (Q-Fish Remix) / Affirmative Action (Man Mantis Remix) / One Love (MF Doom Remix) / Every Ghetto (Goodwill Projects’ Minority Report Remix) / Ghetto (feat. Joell Ortiz) (DJ Green Lantern Remix) / Life’s A Bitch (DJ ABD C.R.E.A.M. Remix) / The Game (Dirty Harry’s Biggie Remix) / Silent Murder / Get Down (Nick James Remix)
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Here we got some Biggie remixes, mostly from other mixtapes. If that’s too meta for you, get with the times.
Why do we celebrate Biggie on the day he died instead of today, his birthday? It’s that gangsta cult of death. Ask yourself: When Big was in that car, broken glass in his lap, bleeding out, do you think he was ready to die? Or did all that gat-poppin’ nihilism fly away and he would’ve given anything to keep breathing?
Mishima wrote: “Human life is limited, but I would like to live forever.” Big didn’t leave behind a huge body of work (just a huge body). But every time it gets remixed, flipped around over a new beat, the lyrics become new again. They even become more iconic, like words cut in stone. And Biggie lives again.
Microphone Murderer / Where Brooklyn At? (Live From Madison Square Garden) / C.R.E.A.M. Freestyle / Things Done Changed (vs. Wu-Tang) - DJ Semi & DJ KG / Party & Bullshit (vs. LOTUG) - DJ Semi & DJ KG / Party & Bullshit (vs. Nas) - DJ Vlad & Dirty Harry / Party & Bullshit (vs. Jimi Hendrix) - DJ Doc Rok / Party & Bullshit (vs. David Bowie) - DJ Muggs / Hypnotize (vs. Joan Jett) - TRVS DJAM / Frank White - DJ Sane720 & Dantana / Going Back to Cali - Se7en Productions / Everyday Struggle (vs. Dr. Dre) – Filth / Real Niggaz (Original West Coast Version) / If I Should Die (vs. 50 Cent) - Dirty Harry / Victory - DJ Rukiz / Young G’s (Remix) - Astronote / Things Done Changed - Golddragon / Can’t Knock The Hustle - MIDIMarc / Ten Crack Commandments – Kenzo Digital / Hypnotize (vs. Frank Sinatra) - DJ Cappel & Smitty / Kick In The Door - DJ Sane720 & Dantana / Hypnotize (vs. Boogie Down Productions) – Elmattic / Nasty Girl (vs. Big Daddy Kane) - Mick Boogie & Terry Urban / Everyday Struggle - DJ Lennox / Dead Wrong (Stop Schemin Remix) - Renegade / Sleepwalkers - Cooking Soul / Things Done Changed (vs. El-P) - Elmattic / A Dream (vs. MF Doom) - DJ LivingDead / You’re Nobody Till Somebody Kills You (Original Version) / Juicy (vs. Aphex Twin) - Spin Doctor Zaeus
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…something something something, broke my sacroiliac. Which means ‘ass-bone’. Only time an MC’s used proper medical terminology. Kinda surprising since there’s so many ‘doctors’ (Dre, Ice, Octagon, etc.). But I guess nothing rhymes with things like ‘pancreas.’ Except…blancreas.
Really though, “The Message” is the well from where all conscious hip hop flows. 27 years later the beat is still tight. The lyrics drop some serious poetical gems. It’s real art and therefore eternal.
The Message - Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five / Hard Times - Run-D.M.C., Vordul Mega, Onra, Baby Huey / In The Ghetto - Eric B. & Rakim / Ghetto Misfortune’s Wealth - The 24 Carat Black / Dead Homiez - Ice Cube / I Been There - KRS-One / Streetlamp Confessions - WindNbreeze, Cryptic One & Alaska / Minimum Wage - Redshield / Rent Control - Super Chron Flight Brothers / A Tribute to Melle Mel - Breez Evahflowin / The Message - Nas / The Message (Remix Suite) - Roots Manuva, Cutting Edge, Ice Cube, Richie Rich, El-P, Mobb Deep, Willy Mason
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Fetus - Nas / Birth - Ice Cube (feat. Khalid Abdul Muhammad) / The Birth - The RZA / Children of Children - The Black Market Militia (feat. Oscar Brown Jr.) / Wear Clean Draws - The Coup / Snoop Interlude / Grew Up Hard - Trife Da God & Solomon Childs / Young Man Grown - The Narcicyst / Message To Young People - Double Dee & Steinski / The Product - Ice Cube / Concrete Jungles - The Psycho Realm (feat. Crow) / Finger Painting - K-The-I??? / Home Work - Themselves / It’s Just A Playground - Dday One / Little Child Running Wild - Curtis Mayfield / Children’s Story - Slick Rick
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Reminiscing of another time: Parkside Ave and a bottle of wine…
Rain Dance - Arrowax / Make It Rain - Ultramagnetic MCs / Rain Drops - Jojo Pellegrino / Rain men - Deep Puddle Dynamics / Rain men (Remix instrumental) - Deep Puddle Dynamics / Rain Edit Interlude - Prefuse 73 / Rainy Dayz - Raekwon (feat. Ghostface Killah & Blue Rasberry) / Stormy Weather - Billy Woods / This Is It (Ain’t Gonna Rain) - Schoolly D / Rain - RJD2 / The Name of Every Raindrop - Tracy Jones / Rain - Autolect / The Levees Broke - Jay Electronica / A Sudden Rain Storm / Flood The Block (Instrumental) - Havoc
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Last piece in the bucket moves from head-nodding to nodding out to head-scratching tracks.
Super Chicken Meets Ice Cube Uptown / PLO Styles (Odd Nosdam Mix) - Method Man (feat. Carlton Fisk) / 9 Hip-Hop Samurai - Kode 9 vs. Dead Prez / Hip Hop (DFRNT Dubmix) - Dead Prez / Skank In The Air - Chinese Man / Poison Dart - The Bug & Warrior Queen / Stone - Spectre / Easy Way Out - Strangebrew / Close to the Fire - Teledubgnosis / Always Late - Booka B / Genetic Weapon - Brain Damage (feat. Tena Stelin) / Eyupsultan (King Fader Mix) - Systemwide / Seeing n=0 - Mormon Freegan / Upsetter - Odd Nosdam
Missed this one, but check it out:
King Tubby Vs. Wu Tang - Macro-Dubplates Vol. 1
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This one’s all instrumental, whacked-out sneakergazing dubstep, illbient, electronic dub type of shit. Goes perfect with an opium-dipped joint and a big pack of Frito Lays.
There’s that thing in Neuromancer where a bunch of Rastas in the future are living in space, and this supercomputer convinces them to help…I forget, do a space rescue or some shit…by cooking them up a dub mix. It would probably sound like this.
Super Chicken Crosses The Road / Gun Too Hot - Dub Syndicate / Headmash - V-Neck / In Heaven, A Devil - Teledubgnosis / Hospital, Come In! - Labº / Going Around Dub - Kobe / Spiritunational Remix - Vibronics / Balalaika Dub - Manuela Krause & Pole / Crusher Dub - Vex’d / Freak Freak - The Bug / At War - DJ Wally / J Dub - Boxcutter / Pre-emptive Psychosis (in Dub) - Alter Echo / Ice - Brain Damage / Anansi Abstrakt - DJ Spooky
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Revenge of Super Chicken / On Mission (Super Chicken Version) - Talib Kweli vs. Niney the Observer / Skanky Panky - Kid Koala / The Damn Number - Toots & The Maytals vs. Killah Priest / Lucifer (Paul Nice Remix) - Jay-Z / Hardcore Freestyle - DJ Cam (feat. Otis) / No No No - Ghostface Killah / Black Survivors - Bob Marley & Chuck D / Justice - Belief (feat. Vordul Mega & C-Rayz Walz) / Concrete Jungle - Bob Marley & Rakim / Just To Get A Rep (Super Chicken Version) - Gang Starr vs. The Upsetters / Forest Whitiker (Instrumental) - A.N.T. / MPE (Mr. Wyse Remix) - Public Enemy / International Broadcaster - Lee “Scratch” Perry (feat. Roots Manuva & L.S.K.) / Mr. Brown (Globemallow Spike Remix) - Bob Marley & The Upsetters
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Biggie & Meth vs. Niney The Observer.
So Notorious is out. It looks pretty boring. Not to hate, but biopics are all the same, blah blah childhood blah blah first big break, blah blah oh shit I’m so famous now, and in the background you get different decades’ lamps and news clips and shit.
Someday we’ll get a hip-hop film that’s as interesting visually/narratively as the music is sonically/lyrically: Krush Groove meets I’m Not There or 8 Mile meets Natural Born Killers. Or Wild Style meets Naked Lunch. Or Juice meets I Am Cuba, that would be the shit. In the meantime we’ll have to settle for Mephistophididdy’s latest cash-in.
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This one goes out to MZW, holding down the BKK/Lexico/Thaitaly axis.
Kool Herc brought the islands to the Bronx to invent hip-hop. This mix brings it back around again.
Super Chicken Lays A Dub / Champion (Remix) - Brother Ali / Niggas (BDP Remix) - Notorious B.I.G. / Clientele Kids (Reggae Remix) - Raekwon, Ghostface Killah & Inspectah Deck / Chains - R.A. The Rugged Man (feat. Masta Killa & Killah Priest) / Shining Interlude (feat. Mumia) / Telegram (Parts 1 & 3) (Catchdubs Remix) - Saul Williams / Badder Than - Sibot (feat. Teba) / Scalp Dem - Super Cat Vs Method Man / Progression Vers Sion - Djins / Jackals & Vipers, Part 9 - Sixtoo / Babylon Rhythm Exorcism - Musaics (DJ Sole) / Killa Instinkt - Sub Dub / Mr. Brown - Styles Of Beyond / Mr. Brown (Spahn Ranch Remix) - Bob Marley & The Upsetters
Also peep these out:
Perfecta - Reggae Reggae Wu
Mista D’s Music Blog: Hip-Hop Inna Reggae Stylee
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All mashup edition. Most mashups are ass ups: let’s take two shitty pop songs and put them together! Now they blow twice as much! These are fire, though.
I know this mix is going for the lowest common denominator, but I’m trying to learn to flip a tight mix. Like how Mondrian was a realist painter and then started taking things out, until all that was left was squares and lines. Not like I’m gonna be the Mondrian of beats or anything. The Mondrian of beats is…uh, I don’t really know who that would be. Pete Rock, maybe.
But if this don’t rock your New Year’s Eve party, you took the wrong drugs.
Psycho Ill Logical Intro / Jay-Z vs. Jimi Hendrix - TimG / Kurupt & Roscoe vs. Jimi Hendrix - DJ Muggs / Notorious B.I.G. vs. Jimi Hendrix - DJ Doc Rok / Beastie Boys vs. Jimi Hendrix - CosmoKramer / Ludacris vs. Led Zeppelin - DJ Redeye / Public Enemy vs. Led Zepplin - Z-Trip / The Gravediggaz vs. Metallica - DJ Topcat / Jay-Z vs. The Beatles - DJ Danger Mouse / M.O.P. vs. The Stooges - Elmattic
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Ten best underground bangers of 2008. I know you slept on some of these. I can see ya pajamas.
Absolute Value - Akrobatik / Hoobity Blah - El-P / The Saga Begins - Almighty / Brooklyn Zu - Brooklyn Zu / Straight Through - KRS-One / The Anthem - The Mighty Underdogs / Dots & Dashes - Doomtree / Breakfast - Fresh Daily / Claim to Fame - Oddisee / Deadly Blades - DJ Muggs & Planet Asia (feat. Prodigal Sunn & Tri State)
Honorable Mentions:
#11. Sabbath Faster - K-The-I??? (feat. Busdriver)
#12. Deathbed Doctrine - Jedi Mind Tricks
#13. So Far - Edgar Allen Floe*
*bonus points for the name. I guess William Cargopants Williams and Herman MelvILL were taken. There is an actual MC called Mo B. Dick. Is that gonna be the new thing for 2009? Hip-hop with allusions to 19th century literature?
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Can you rock it like this? I can rock it like that. Can you rock it like this? I can rock it LIKE. THAT.
Go Hard - Dub Trio, Gift of Gab & Z-Trip / Tougher Than Leather - Run-D.M.C. / Rockstar II - Z-Trip / Live @ Scribble Jam 2002 - Mr. Dibbs / Lightning Strikes - Cypress Hill / I’m Destructive - Dr. Octagon / Unpleasant Thoughts - DJ Shortfuse / Rock Hard (12″ Version) - Beastie Boys / Dope Beat - Boogie Down Productions / Rocked By Rape - Evolution Control Committee (feat. Dan Rather) / Who Owns Culture? #2 - Double Dee & Steinski / Decay - Jel / Untitled #10 - Dert Floyd / Rock & Roll - Edan (feat. Dagha) / Ladies & Gentlemen…Always - Teledubgnosis / Destroyer - Money Mark / Shut This Down - Odd Nosdam
One time my boy Maestro plugged his bass amp into the stereo, put it in the bathroom for the acoustics, and we did whipits listening to “Tougher Than Leather” on a loop while waiting for the mushrooms to kick in. So this mix goes out to him.
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More fire than Krakatoa. If Krakatoa was on fire, plus with the spitting lava all over the place.
The Very Disconcerto / We Speak Animal - Sharkey & C-Rayz Walz / Step It Up - Akrobatik / How Low - R.A. The Rugged Man / Stained Glass Freestyle Pt. 4 - Killah Priest / Made You Shit Your Pants - Copywrite, Yak & Cage / Home of the Brave (Remix) - paWL (feat. Mr. Lif) / Seat Yourself - Roots Manuva (feat. Ricky Ranking) / Brand New Vandals - Rob Sonic / None Shall Pass - Aesop Rock / The Network - Qwel & Maker (feat. Mestizo) / 1000 Degrees - MF Doom & MF Grimm / Victory (MF Doom MoMix) - The Notorious B.I.G., Amerie & 9th Wonder (Lee Plenty Remix) / Watcha Got - Brother Ali / On A Rampage - Stig Of The Dump / Don’t Get It Backwards - J-Live & Supa Dave
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Every day is a gift. It’s just…does it have to be a pair of socks? -Tony Soprano
Ghost Dog’s Lament / RZA’s Theme / Walken’s Lament / What’s Your Life Worth? - Fatal Hussein / Lose This Skin - The Clash (feat. Tymon Dogg) / Soprano’s Lament / More Than My Breath - Solaris Earth Pipeline / We’re Still Standin’ Here - El-P / Phantom - Mr Lif / Feel Like A Ghost - El-P / Scarface’s Lament / Son of Public Enemy (Flavor Whop Version) - Public Enemy / Pigeon - Cannibal Ox / Chef’s Lament / Ghosts I/6 - Nine Inch Nails / Dark Was The Night (Cold Was The Ground) - Blind Willie Johnson (Synthetic remix) / Almost There - Killah Priest / Ghosts Of Things To Come - Clint Mansell & Kronos Quartet / Barris’ Lament
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I feel that artists’ responses to 9/11–in film, music, literature–that I’ve seen haven’t really been able to successfully interpret it, or bend its resonance into something else. I think the only way to get at its impact is to stick with the thing itself, confront it in all its raw emotion. So that’s what I tried to do here.
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Discoverlude - Twilight Of The Idols / It’s Over - Killah Priest / Boxcutter Emporium, Pt. 1 - Sixtoo / The Violence Of The Lambs - Paris / Bin Laden - Immortal Technique, Mos Def & Eminem / Makeshift Patriot - Sage Francis / America’s Fallen Heroes - The Lost Children of Babylon / Profiled - Abu Nurah / Jihad Remix - Badawi & DJ Spooky / WMD - Jel (feat. Wise Intelligent) / Jihad (Edit) - Slayer / Shock & Awe - Z-Trip (feat. Chuck D) / Guy Fawkes - Super Chron Flight Brothers
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Kicks off with some hip hop blues, then gets into some avant garde shit. These cats went diggin’ in the crates and came up with Leadbelly. These cats went diggin’ in the crates and came up with Baudrillard.
PJ’s - El Michels Affair & Raekwon / Accepted - Autolect / .45 Caliber Blues - El-P / Rain Water - Brother Ali / Low Tide/Epilogue: Rain - Super Chron Flight Brothers / Play With Toys - Basehead / Old Soul - Malkovich Music / Asphalt Static - Red Ants / Crow Topped Walls - Twilight Of The Idols / Images Of .44 Casings - Dälek / Fallen Angels - Mentol Nomad / We Came From Lego Blocks - Faultline (feat. Vordul Mega) / Escapisms Pt II - Qwel & Silence / Temple Of The Mental - Material (feat. Killah Priest)
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Picture me cooling out on the 4th of July, and if you heard I was celebrating that’s a worldwide lie…
Amerintro / The Pledge (of Resistance) to Patriotism - Saul Williams vs. Rob Swift & DJ Quest vs. Beat Junkies & Company Flow / Om Nia Merican - Saul Williams / Cause of Death Freestyle - Immortal Technique vs. Saul Williams / Hitler Day - Public Enemy / White America - Eminem / Gasoline Dreams - Outkast / Piss On Your Grave - The Coup / Amerilude - Steinski / Uncle Sam Goddamn - Brother Ali / Typical American - The Goats / America (Remix) - Allen Ginsburg vs. Company Flow vs. Kurtis Blow / Scar Spattered Blather - Hendrix vs. RATM vs. Minor Threat vs. a nation of millions / Thanksgiving Prayer - William S. Burroughs / The End of an American Dream - Lee “Scratch” Perry / Dead Flag Blues - godspeed! you black emperor / Who’s America?
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