Ten years in the waiting, The Seventh Seal has dropped…

…and goddamn, that is one bad record.  Really awful.  I guess every single top-shelf producer and same-weight-class-MC was in Barbados or Minnetonka that week, so he had to settle for a bunch of cats he found at the bus station or some shit.  It’s like Marlon Brando making his big return to acting by guest starring on Everybody Loves Raymond.

So instead, just get yourself ‘Holy Are You’, cool out to some more unreleased cuts and remixes, and let us never speak of it again.

Eric B. For President (DJ Showtime Remix) / Let the Rhythm Hit ‘Em (DJ Ayres Remix) / Hypnotic / Addictive (Remix) - w/Truth Hurts / Let The Rhythm Hit ‘Em (Omega One Remix) / Take the Train / New York London Paris - w/Art of Noise & Spleen / Buffalo Gals (Back To Skool) / Once Upon A Time in Japan (Remix) / Shades of Black / Living For The City (Remix) / Cold Feeling / Man With A Gun / We All Got Plans (Original Mix) / I Know You Got Soul (Z-Trip Remix) / The Saga Begins (Desert Eagle Discs-You Scare Me Remix)

I read this thing saying smartphones have created a race of cyborgs by making the internet extensions of our bodies, even though it’s not sewn on.

My question is: if I want to smack people who diddle their iPhones all the time, does that make me a racist?

This is Robots Will Fuck Your Shit Up, v3.0.

Exit Multi Mode - Jel / Farewell To The Flesh - Jedi Mind Tricks / Untitled #17 & 18 - Mr. Dibbs / Error Data - Powell / Robot Reality - Taborshell / Do It Like A Robot (Hell Rocks The Equalizer Remix) - Princess Superstar / Cyborg - DJ Quest / We Can Build You - Techno Animal (feat. El-P & Vast Aire) / Cyborg Dread - Techno Animal (feat. Dr. Israel) / Les Petits Yeux Métalliques - Brain Damage / Deshominisation (I) - Alain Goraguer / Robots Forever - Lil B / She Scanned - Four Tet / T-electronique - Faust & Dälek / 0101001011001101011 - Attacks The Darkness / Man Or Machine - K-The-I??? (feat. Mestizo)

The word robot was coined by Karel Capek in his 1920 play, R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots). Know what it’s about?  Robots rise up and kill the whole human race, that’s what.  Y’all been warned.

This is Robots Will Fuck Your Shit Up, v2.0

Straight Outta Skynet / Stupid Robot - Company Flow / African Robotics - Super Chron Flight Brothers / Dirty Robots - Exile / Bladerunners - Mike Ladd (feat. Company Flow) / Blood of the Robot - Rick Rude, Phree Wil, Jewels Hunter, DJ WD4D & DJ Able / Mechanical Advantage - Deepspace 5 / Fuckin’ Robots - Sick Symphonies / War With Robots (feat. PW Singer) / Please Disperse Immediately - Nephlim Modulation Systems / Annihilator Robot - DJ T-Rock / Digital War Lessons - Rouh & Qrazsirs / Humanity Vs Technology - Orko The Sycotik Alien / Programmed To Hunt - Jel / At War With Robots - Solaris Earth Pipeline / Attaque Des Robots - Alain Goraguer / Dominant Species (Instrumental) - Rheturik / Y’all Been Warned - The RZA

It’s been 90 years since the word robot was coined, and they’re firmly embedded in our culture, art and subconscious…and they still don’t exist yet.

Most robot stories have the theme of empathy–of bridging the uncanny valley.  Either the robots are more empathetic than us, and we treat them like slaves, or they’re less empathetic metal killing machines.  Robots represent the idea of our highest achievement, to create something better than ourselves, but also reflect our worse failings–cruelty, xenophobia, hubris, exploitation.

This is Robots Will Fuck Your Shit Up, v1.0.

‘…In Love With Another Robot…’ - Jel / The Mechanikal Man (Scratch Robot) - DJ Grazzhoppa / Bboy Robot - Rouh & Qrazsirs / Robot - Marc D & JRAY; Fourward; KRS-ONE & Buckshot / Robot Love (Medicine 8 Remix) - Popular Tyre / Do It Like A Robot - Princess Superstar / From Tragedy - DJ Krush (feat. Tragedy) / Robot - Proe / Robots - Clokworx / Do The Robot In Cyberspace - Giant Panda / Robot - Dockta Valkus / Anything You Can Do My Robot Can Do Better - Close My Eyes / Vote Robot Remix - Climax Golden Twins / Do Androids Dream of Electric Boogaloo? / Theme From Automatons / Sympathy For The Database / The Robot Has Got the Blues - Worm Is Green

Just like the first one, this is some funky shit, on a suiting-up-montage tip and some climactic-fight-scene-ripping-through-all-the-bad-guys-like-butter type of grooves, finishing up with some says-something-sassy-and-cool-like-’Always bet on black’-and-drives-off-before-the-credits-roll beats.  Ya feel me?  It’s cinelmattic beatsploitation.

Mr. Holland’s Intro - Rob Swift & Richard Dreyfus / Rip Rip - David Holmes / I’ve Never Seen… & Boing Boing (Instrumentals) - The RZA / Killing In The Name Of - The Apples / Baseball Furies Chase - Barry de Vorzon / Troglodyte (Cave Man) - Jimmy Castor Bunch / The Stretch - Detroit Sex Machines / Get Up & Get Down - The Dramatics / Know How (Solid Steel Mix) - Young MC / Jimmy James (Original Original Version) - Beastie Boys / Nite Stalker - Afrika ‘Baby Bam’ / If I Had Wings - DJ Frane / Claim To Fame (Instro) - Oddisee / North By Northwest - Blue Scholars / Collie Stuff - The Chosen Few / Bonus Bill Beat - EarDrumz / Blowin’ Up The Spot (Instrumental) - DJ Premier / Key Master - High & Mighty / House of Rising Funk - Afrique / Double Dog Dare You - Beat Rabbi / Aural Pleasure (Instrumental) - Blackalicious / Cold Blooded (Instrumental) - Common & The Soulquarians

In honor of The Seventh Seal dropping-any-minute-now-really-honestly-really-it’s-coming-out-this-time, here’s some remixes and rare cuts.

What’s the deal with Rakim?  Greatest MC of all time to anyone not fucked in the head.  Your favorite rapper’s favorite rapper. Originator of spiritual MCing and the internal rhyme scheme.  And no new album in ten years.

Reading the few interviews around, all I can tell is: the death of his father really messed him up; he’s enjoying raising his kids; and Dre really jerked him around.  I’d bet he also has a really, really bad manager, probably his goofy brother-in-law or something.  I mean, what label is gonna turn down The God Himself?!

So I’m wondering how come the album is late.  Maybe he’s giving us time to get the last six straight.

The Coronation of Rakhnaten (Opening Ceremony) / I Know You Got Soul (Dub) / Put Your Hands Together (Parkside Mix) / As the Rhyme Goes On (Pumpin’ the Turbo - Chad Jay In Effect) / Follow The Leader (RJD2 Remix) / Complicatem (Pass The Hand Grenade Pt 2) / You Don’t Fool Me / Bring It (Turn It Up) / Casualties Of War (Jazz Version) / Don’t Sweat The Technique (Original) / Let The Rhythm Hit ‘Em (Brixton Upso Mix) / Heat It Up / Run (Freestyle) / Last Resort (a.k.a. Paid Off) / When I Be Flowin (King Tech Remix) / After U Die (feat. Truth Hurts) / Guess Who’s Back (Buckwild Remix) / I’m Back (feat. Lil Fame) / Let The Rhythm Hit Em (Z-Trip Remix) / Microphone Fiend (Rage Mix) / The Coronation of Rakhnaten (Closing Ceremony)

Peep out Rap Dungeon and Hip Hop Is Read for more.

New single ‘Holy Are You’ just dropped; you can check it at The Message or here.

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 (#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 (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)

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

…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

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

[Update]

Really dope re-telling of ‘A Children’s Story’ by Hell Razah & Killah Priest here.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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?

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.

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

But underground there’s a new breed emerging.  Like C.H.U.D.s with Technics.  Technichuds?  Whatever, these cats are killing it.  They’re creating whole soundscapes out of other people’s tunes, ones which are thoughtful, engaging, rocking, playful, explorative, fascinating, and just plain dope as fuck.  What they’re doing is long-wave sampling.

Originally DJs took just the best breaks to make records.  Then you had a limitation on the early samplers of 8 seconds or something, so samples got shorter.  Innovators like the Bomb Squad started taking minute slices and making songs with them; RZA took this to another level by using isolated shards of funk.  By legal necessity samples got shook, shrunk, sliced and diced.

These cats do it galaxy-size.  They make cohesive hour-long songs out of other people’s breaks, songs, movies, what have you.  They’re not constrained by genre or style or legality.  If it’s dope, if it fits, it goes in.  Just as old school DJs soaked the labels off their vinyl so no one could jack their breaks, these DJs mix it and lump it and don’t show off their tracklistings.  Just like when DJs use a sample or a break you recognize but can’t quite put your finger on right away, these cats do it with songs.

They’re jumping off from the mixes Steinski, Coldcut and Cut Chemist did, but using a wider variety of stuff, and using the newer, iller sounds that are around–the illbient, sneakergazer, dubstep, all that other unclassifiable shit.

They ain’t doing compilations and this ain’t your Spring Break Party Mix or your Mixtape For Girl I Want To Screw.  This is DJ art in album-length.  I will never be as good as these cats.  I will study them.  I will try to do what they do.  I will ape them.  I will fail.

I’m gonna talk about Dday One’s new approach to jazz/hip-hop and Gaslamp Killer’s fusion of hip-hop, eclecticism and serial killer stylee another time.  But today it’s DJ Pain.

Pain brings down a serious vibe, not as heavy as Gaslamp Killer but there’s a definite hardness and weight to his beats. All of his shit appears to be free, so there’s no excuse not to check ‘em out. His scratching is Grade Fuckin’ A. His mixing is seamless–you just can’t hear quite where one song goes into another. He drops some seriously ill samples, mostly movies but just enough hip-hop signifying that you don’t go, ‘wait, this is a bunch of arty Ninja Tunes type of electronic crap.’ I think he’s dropping beats in there, too, because the beats are superb and hard-ass, and if he’s actually crate-digging that much ill, moody stuff with such ill beats, well, I want those crates.

The Day The Earth Stood Still samples a bunch from the original flick, not the dumbass Keanu remake, on top of sick beats.  It’s almost exhausting, it brings you through so many moods. This is maybe the absolute strongest. Get it here.

The Road To Oblivion brings the nuclear heat, with samples from Wargames, Miracle Mile, The Day After, Bay of Pigs interviews, and other shit.  Let me put it like this: He drops in samples from those Bush State of the Union remixes I ran earlier over what sounds like a Prefuse73 or Four Tet beat, then drops the beat for a Meryl Streep in Adaptation sample.  Get it here.

Hermanos Del Pulpo (which means brüder der krake or 章鱼的兄弟, for my Chinese brethren) with DJ Chaps One. This one is the weakest, I think, much more eclectic in bringing in rock and more straight electronic type stuff. Enough good shit on there to curse the lack of a tracklist though…  Get it here.

The Odd Side of the Sun is a megamix of Odd Nosdam beats.  If you like Odd Nosdam, this is like fucking manna.  If you hate Odd Nosdam, well, it’s probably like sticking a dentist’s drill in your ear for an hour.  I have to say a lot of it I didn’t recognize, which might be the weaker ON tracks I’ve ditched, but he does do some good mixing with it and brings in that large, distorted fuzz-beat sound. Maybe not the strongest outing though. Get it here.

You know what, there’s not all that much I can say about these except drop a bunch of adjectives, ‘cuz he doesn’t do tracklistings and I can only pick out a few breaks here and there.  If you like that weird, heavy instrumental shit with proper hip-hop flavor, check it.

In a lot of ways these DJs are hipsters of a kind, on the underground, totally eclectic and crate diggin’, but there’s something egoless and humbling about being a DJ: you can only be so egotistical when you only speak with your hands, only be so pretentious in crafting a good mix.

Pain in the Myspace

DJ Pain.com

Pain on Sun Dialect Records site

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

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.

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

If you believe there’s these vast, organized conspiracies which accomplish so much evil and remain secret (except to various bloggers, radio hosts, college students and nutjobs…) you’re giving them more power. You’re giving them the power of your fear.  Bush made cynical use of 9/11 as political capital to invade Iraq, erode the Constitution and use our fear of terrorists against us. But you gotta parse the difference between his using 3,000 deaths for his own ends and actually setting it up.

I’m not gonna get into all this temperature-of-burning-jet-fuel-vs.-steel-melting-point and look-at-this-frame-of-grainy-video and all that other shit. Aside from illogic, it’s just too implausible they could pull it off. I wouldn’t put it past ‘em. I just don’t think they have their shit together enough.

And the 9/11 Truthers seem to pretty quickly devolve into idiocy, lunacy and link into other stupid conspiracy theories. Oooh…Neo’s passport in The Matrix expired on 9/11/01 which proves that…um…Keanu Reeves…uh…blew up the World Trade Center…or something…

But emotionally, what is so attractive to the 5% of Amerikkkans who believe 9/11 was orchestrated by the government?  I guess it’s a way to avoid the thing itself: the terror of terror. The horrible deaths of three thousand people. That 20 highly committed Islamic fundamentalists could accomplish that with a little flight training and some lax airport security. Maybe doubts about our government’s lies—going back to Vietnam and Watergate and now repeated with WMDs—just means we distrust all truth coming out their mouths.

Anyway, I did really dig this cut on an Immortal Technique mixtape. I’m not down with 9/11 debunking, but this cat has got rhymes and good beats, and makes his case. Hip hop can really drop science when it wants to; it has enormous proven potential to influence and educate.  Lately I find intelligent/conscious/political rappers, though, either just can’t rhyme very well, or have really shitty beats (yeah, that’s right, Paris: I’m looking at you.) And it’s gotta have the whole package to succeed—and reach beyond the converted. Intelligent people will listen to all kinds of misguided stupid shit coming out of gangsta/mainstream rapper’s mouths if it’s got a good hook, right?

So I thought I better see what else this cat has dropped. It turns out his real name is Daniel (DL) Abrahamson, and he’s a 24 year old, highly intelligent activist who’s involved in various 9/11 truth stuff and such. I dig what he has to say here about ‘cell activism’: Daniel Abrahamson - Rebuilding Americas Senses

Holy shit, he’s a rapping version of Ryan Gosling in Half Nelson! He’s Bulworth 90210! He’s John Connor with Bilderburgs instead of robots! He’s John Walker Lindh if he hadn’t called his travel agent! He’s Michael Moore meets Paris by way of Donnie Darko! He’s a Jewish Zach de la Rocha for the You Tube/Lil Wayne generation!  He’s a hybrid of Immortal Technique and Stuff White People Like.com!  This is on some next-generation shit: a young guy spreading a message of scattershot, homegrown but tech-savvy activism in the same way. Using the outer edges of the self-made internet to reach people. And it’s unusual to find that kind of thinking and presentation in someone who has an ear for a good loop.

Oh, wait. He supported Ron Paul for Christ’s sake. He thinks Noam Chomsky is too conservative or an apologist or possibly a government agent or some shit. He yammers on about MKULTRA, fluoride in the water, and the Bilderburgs. “War on your holographic soul”? Shit.  Also, Pentagon space beams melted the Twin Towers. Or not.  Apparently Abrahamson/Shivers cut ties with some of the 9/11 truthers, and is talking a good deal more sense here.

There’s nothing really from him on the internets from the past year. His site falseflagsnews has been down since January. He’s maybe getting away from some of the crazy shit and moving more towards activism and spreading the word about the bigger picture of government/corporate control. Or he really was a government agent and has been redeployed to a Starbucks near you. Or he’s gone totally paranoid and holed up in his house with aluminum foil on the windows. Who knows? Here’s his myspace. You can pull down some ill tracks there. He comes across as pretty funny and self-effacing, not at all loony or over-earnest.

Maybe he’s sticking with music as the medium for his message?  See, that would be interesting: if he thinks he can reach more people, more effectively, through hip hop than through articles and lectures. What’s interesting is he’s taken down the 9/11 song, but doesn’t say why. Maybe he’s starting to see where the agenda really is, the pressure points that’re worth pushing on…

The real enemy is high fructose corn syrup. Oh wait, he already has a song about that.

Keep your eye on this cat. His beats are tight, he can spit, and he’s got something to say. It’ll be interesting to see where he ends up—either more or less batshit. Anyway, he’s less irritating than Canibus, but not as funny as the Reptilian Body Snatchers guys.  Below you can peep ‘Merv Griffin’.

You know I’m all about that willfully obscure, fucking bizarre crazy shit.

K-The-I??? is basically Saul Williams if Saul Williams could actually flow and didn’t take himself so goddamn seriously.

K’s beats are insane. The rhyming is flowing on some stream-of-collective-unconsciousness tip, and often totally off the beat in ways that makes the songs ride the line between beautiful noise and that’s-just-irritating-cacaphony.  He raps like someone just hit him in the head with a brick.

You have to learn how to listen to it.  It was the same with early P.E.–the first time I dropped the needle on the Bring the Noise 12″, I was flipping the speed between 33 1/3 and 45 because it sounded so ill.  36 Chambers was like that too–you have to work for it to find the beauty in the beat.

We’re beyond that ‘I’ma rhyme about UFOs and the pyramids because it makes me sound deep’ territory now. This is avant-garde hip hop. This is fucking art right here.

If Cannibal Ox was hip hop’s answer to Miles & Coltrane, K-The-I??? is hip hop’s Charles Mingus.  And Dalek is Ornette Coleman with a mouthful of mashed potatoes.

To put it another way, if Edan is Backpacker World’s Eminem (talented whiteboy overly concerned with farts and drugs), K-The-I??? would be its Biggie.

I’ll be running a few of his songs in the ‘09, but peep this cat out.

K-The-Myspace??? with some tracks.

Teletron 1 - early track

Angry Space (V8, K-The-I??? & Shortrock) - Free EP

Anyone who’s got some of his pre-Broken Love Letter shit, hit me up, I can’t find it nowhere nohow. Or the Youth:Kill 7″.

Hit the button down there for ‘Sabbath Faster’.

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)

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?

This mix is so hard, you can go out and hammer nails with it all day, and it’ll still hit right on target every time.

Beautiful - Beat Rabbi / Quiet Village - Lalo Schifrin / Respect the Name - Noddable Industries / Call Me D Nice (Instrumental) - D Nice / Playin’ Bellevue - DJ Mark the 45 King / Reflector - Medeski Martin & Wood / 33% God - Beastie Boys / The Comin’ Is Near - Blade / I Can Do My Thang - DJ Frane / Bullit - Sparo / I Just Want To Celebrate - Rare Earth / Cloud Nine (Instrumental) - Temptations / Untitled #27 - Dert Floyd / Colleen - Heavy / La La La (Instrumental) - Blueprint / Come In Out Of The Rain - Parliament / Give Me Your Love - Curtis Mayfield / The Meaning of the Name (Instrumental) - Gangstarr / Say Yes Say Word (Instrumental) - Akrobatik / As High As Wu-Tang Get (Instrumental) - The RZA

Batman Gangster. Yakitori Gangster. Bagpipe Gangster. Ouagadougou Gangster. Walt Whitman Gangster. American Gangster Rids The World Of The Curse Of Evil Vampires. Gangster Over Easy. Hong Kong Gangster Phooey. Seinfeld Gangster.

Shit is played the fuck out. Basta es basta, y tu mama tambien en culo.

I have seen the future of soundtrack remixes, and it is EarDrumz.

This mix is tight as hell. He’s taken the soundtrack by Nick Cave & Warren Ellis from that cowboy movie with Bread Peat and that hot chick from Weeds, chopped it up, thrown down some MPC beats, and laid in some vocal samples. Simple, ain’t it? But quite clever.

Lemme make this clear: I don’t really watch Westerns. I don’t listen to Nick Cave (but I did bury my Nick Cave doll in my backyard when I was a kid). But this shit is straight up dope. He’s built a half-hour of eerie, grimy, downtempo hip hop out of that soundtrack. Don’t sleep. If you like Flying Lotus, Dday One, Cyne, Herbaliser, and stuff like that, you’re gonna like this.

EarDrumz has done a whole slew of shit, but to me this is the most interesting. The Kill Bill remix has some good cuts on it (Blue Leaves Showdown, D.I.V.A.S., Cruel Tutelage of the 5 Point Technic), but it doesn’t to me come together the way Re:Assassination does.

Peep him out:

Direct download of Re:Assassination Eardrumz remix downloads

EarDrumz’ on the myspace

EarDrumz on the internets

So, DJs: I challenge you to make some more dope remixes of soundtracks that you wouldn’t think make good hip hop. Taxi Driver. Mishima. Requiem for a Dream (and no, that shitty techno remix LP doesn’t count, it was ass). Paris, Texas. Koyannisqatsi. Blade Runner (oh wait, El-P already did that–it was called Cannibal Oxtrumentals). I’ll take more suggestions in the comments…

Peep out EarDrumz’ ‘D.I.V.A.S.’ from the Kill Bill remixes down below.

Ol’ Dirty Bastard vs. Bonobo by way of my ill technique.

By ‘ill’ I mean ‘off beat and poorly mixed.’ But ODB ain’t never on the beat, just always on point.

And drunk. And high. And severely unbalanced. Damn, I miss him.

Peep my mix over at The New Worck:  Beats & Breaks & Breaks & Beats.  It’s hotter than a dromedary you found on Craigslist, for real. Direct download here.

I Need A Beat - LL Cool J / Beats & Pieces - Coldcut / Strong Beats From A Strong Man - DJ Mark The 45 King / The Perfect Beat - Talib Kweli (feat. KRS-One) / Jimmy’s Bonus Beat - Jungle Brothers / Just A Beat - Eric B. / Master’s Bonus Beats - Master O.C. & Krazy Eddie / Beats - DJ Shadow & DJ Krush / Bonus Beat - DJ Premier / Bonus Beat - RJD2 / Bonus Beats - Odd Nosdam / Beats Within - Spectre / Beataholic Reformatory - Ryu (feat. Beat Knuckles) / Mary Break - Disrupt / Break - Saul Williams / Cowbell Break - Boiler Room Collective / Break That Break - Wu-Tang Clan / Break - Cut Chemist / Breaks - Rob Swift / The Break Witch Project - DJ Junk

Another set over at The New Worck: An Antique Fork, How Long Will It Last? Straight jack the download here.

It’s banging, dark, grimy beats with VERY PECULIAR titles. Some turnablism, some downtempo, some illbient, some you can put in your don’t-know-what-he-said-book. Like mashing Yes and Schoolly D, what fucking genre is that? I guess mahfuckas get way too high after recording and take a brooding beauty and name it Barbecue Island. Some people are inspired to paint the Sistine Chapel, others are inspired to make a song about broccoli. Or cockroaches. Or bathing. Or unicycles. You figure it out.

As Schobbejak, the New Worck’s maestro, put it: We started soepel and we will stay soepel! Word to your soepel.

Crazy Hebrew Shit - Beastie Boys / Say Yes to Schoolly - DJ Riko / Harvard Mouth - Wal Martian / Broccoli Wars - Noisy Stylus / Searching For The Space Monkey - Chinese Man / Hello Flat Foot Have You Had Your Fish Yet? - Sibot / Frank Miller Tank Killer - Esoteric / Cockroach Omen - Red Ants / Possi Purple - DJ Wally / Advice From God On Getting A Face - Corporal Blossom / Barbecue Island - Mnemotrauma / The Nightmare of Ungah (Sandro in Effect) - DJ Krush (feat. Noah & Stash) / Spectre Meets The Psycho Priest In The Temple Of Smoke - Spectre / Laid in Soyetyland - Mike Boo / No More Mosquitoes - Four Tet / In The Bath - Lemon Jelly / Physics Of a Unicycle - cLOUDDEAD / Mon-Mon Hills - Phox

But yo, they didn’t care: they turned it out. I know a few will understand what I’m talkin’ about…

In The Ghetto (Drums Mix) - Eric B. & Rakim / Prelude To A Come Up - Cypress Hill (feat. MC Eiht) / Throw Your Guns - AZ & Nature / Arise - Mr. Lif / Come Clean/Channel One Suite - Jeru The Damaja vs. The Cinematic Orchestra (DJ Food & DK Mix) / Shook Ones (Original Version) - Mobb Deep / The Dark Ages - Mighty Joseph (Vast Aire & Karniege) (feat. Murs) / Madd Buttons - Vordul Mega / Facts Is Facts - Autnoyz / Wit Da Evilz - Boom & Science / The Final Call - The Black Market Militia (feat. Abiodun Oyemole of The Last Poets) / Lonely People - Talib Kweli / Ruby Ragdollenne - Qwel & Maker / America Is Dying Slowly - Wu-Tang Clan (feat. Killah Priest) / What Goes Around - Nas / Livin’ in the Jungle - Schoolly D / Biggie’s Dream - Jay-Z & Biggie vs. Sage Francis (Goodwill Projects Mix)

Introlude: 1987 - Chuck Chillout / The Corner - DJ Rerok (feat. DV Alias Khryst, Ras Kass, DJ Doo Wop & Termanology) / Little Ghetto Boy - Donny Hathaway (Arthur King & Uncle T. Mix) / Ghost Deini (Original Version) - Ghostface Killah / Sometimes the Neighborhood (instrumental) - Call O’ Da Wild / Code Of The Streets - Gang Starr / Shot in the Dark - RJD2 / Telemundo - El-P / Play This Only At Night (Instrumental) - Doug E. Fresh & The Get Fresh Crew / City Under Siege - The Geto Boys / Dough - Blockhead / Represent People - ID4Windz / Bottom To Tha Top (instrumental) - Timbaland / Bricks Crumble - Dälek / Endless Railway - DJ Krush (feat. ?uestlove) / Quiet Storm - Havoc / So ‘N So - Mike Ladd / Concrete Reservation - Syl Johnson

“I tell everybody, ‘Kiss your girl, blast your favorite song, and have a cheeseburger because tomorrow, it will all be gone’. We will be in some Mad Max shit over gold and oil. It will be like Tina Turner and Mel Gibson over gold and black gold. It is pathetic. We could have been using electric cars and solar powered toothbrushes. The powers that be and the dynasties are involved. The leader of the metal industry is going to marry the leader of the plastic industry. These groups are not trying to lose their power. It is going to be this way until it falls. I do not see this utopian, peaceful, compassionate world. I see this world just burning out until it is done.” –Vast Aire

Pity Of War - Jedi Mind Tricks / It’s Just Begun - Rakim vs. The Jimmy Castor Bunch (Elmattic mix) / On The Eve Of War - Jedi Mind Tricks (feat. GZA) / That’s War! - Dead Prez / Casualties Of War - Eric B. & Rakim / Battle Without Honor Or Humanity - Tomoyasu Hotei / War Within A Breath - Rage Against The Machine / War At 33 1/3 - Public Enemy / Friendly Fire - Vast Aire & Mighty Mi / The Nang, The Front, The Bush & The Shit - El-P / Dogs of War, Gods of Raw / Undeclared Wars - Vordul Mega / Third World - RZA/GZA / Battle Of 2001 - Cypress Hill / Ghetto Vet - Ice Cube / Street Platoons - The Psycho Realm / Chinese Invade - Philip Glass / Ready To Die - The Notorious B.I.G. / The Empty Foxhole - Ornette Coleman / Col. Santiago Outro

Happy 5th birthday, Iraq war.  You smell like burning meat.

A Twisted Sense Of God (Part 1) - Fine Arts Militia / What Would You Do? - Paris / The President Is Speaking - Rob Swift / Dear Mr. President - The Lost Children of Babylon / Dear Mr. President - The S.T.O.P. Movement / Impeach The President - The Honeydrippers / Impeach The President - DJ Green Lantern (feat. dead prez, Saigon, Immortal Technique & Just Blaze) / Arrest The President - Pedestrian / First Time - Pyro & Q (Cpl Watts & HN Givens, 1st Batt 4th Marines) / Don’t Understand - Pyro, Amp & Q (Cpl Watts, Sgt Hodge & HN Givens, 1st Batt 4th Marines) / September 12th - Saul Williams / Mosh - Eminem / Bin Laden (Remix) - Immortal Technique (feat. KRS-One & Chuck D) / Q’uraan and The Kolishnikov - The Lost Children of Babylon / The Age Of Sacred Terror - Jedi Mind Tricks / Death To America - Cilvaringz / A Twisted Sense Of God (Part 2) - Fine Arts Militia

Worst. President. Ever.

One Finger Of Victory / Guns of Kabul - DJ Alibi / Heavy Artillery (Instrumental) - Mr. Lif / The One About The War - C-Mon & Kypski / Drill Sergeant - J.Rawls / Blues For Gitmo / Torture - The Infamous / Bin Laden - Spectre / Bin Laden (Instrumental) - Immortal Technique / Bin Laden (Remix) (Instrumental) - Immortal Technique / Song For John Walker (Sticky Mix) - DJ Krush (feat. Anticon) / Empire - The Reavers (feat. Priviledge, Goldenchild & billy woods) / War Ensemble (Instrumental) - Stoupe the Enemy of Mankind / The Problem With Michael Jackson / Bloody Oil - Medeski, Martin & Wood / Beaten Metal - Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra / Land Mine - Oh No / Tired Soldiers – Badawi

I get my swerve on like a narcoleptic race car driver on the autobahn in monsoon season. 

flow my beats, the DJ said (part 4) / Masters of the Scratch - Master O.C. & Krazy Eddie / Starfish Poplock - DJ Frane / Duke of Hazzard - Blockhead / Nigga What’s Up (instrumental) - Jake 1 / 3PM Migraine - DJ Stoic / Danger Interlude - DJ Cam (feat. DJ Djam & DJ Jmdee) / More Beats & Pieces - Coldcut / Electric Vindaloo - Steinski (feat. Dan The Automator) / States Of Abuse Mix - Platform / Horehound - MF Doom / Check One, Two (instrumental) - Diamond / Mind Deep (instrumental) - Public Enemy / Get Down (instrumental) - Nas / Bus Stop Bitties - RJD2 / Boxed Social - Wal Martian / Davy’s Midnight Ride (The DMX Will Rock) - Davy DMX

This is for the kids worried about the apocalypse: do something, prepare yourself, and stop talking shit. 

Act III, Scene 2 (Catchdubs Mix) - Saul Williams & Zach de la Rocha meet Nas / Rock Box - Run-DMC / Housing The Joint - Schoolly D / Go Cut Creator Go - LL Cool J / W.K.Y.A. - Saukrates & Redman / Bang Bang - Dr. Dre (feat. Knocturnal & Hittmann) / Ooh! Ooh! - Vast Aire / Razor To Ya Throat - Everlast / The Grand Prix - Muggs, GZA, Raekwon, RZA & Sen Dog / Last Day (Criminology Remix) - Notorious B.I.G. & Nas / Ghost Is Back - Wu-Tang Clan / Juice (Know The Ledge) - Eric B. & Rakim / Bring That Beat Back - Public Enemy / Truancy - El-P / And So It Burns - Jedi Mind Tricks / Made From Scratch - Kid Koala / 99 Problems (Instrumental) - Jay-Z & Rick Rubin / Act III, Scene 2 (Shakespeare) - Saul Williams & Zach de la Rocha

Remember Saturn 3?  The killer robot scared the shit out of me when I was a kid.  That was a messed up movie.  Harvey Keitel, Kirk Douglas and Farah Fawcett, with a script by Martin Amis, yet it sucked.  Actually, my mom took me to see The Man Who Fell to Earth around then and that scared me a lot more.  I was down with it until David Bowie took his skin off and his freaky eyeballs were showing.  Then we had to leave.  Anyway, let’s kick back and listen to the music.

Antimatter - Radar / Mind Over Matter - DJ Faust / Battle For The Mind - Mixmaster Mike / Web - The Reavers / Worldwide Computer God Secret Containment Policy - Francis E. Dec vs Qaballah Steppers (Elmattic Reassembly) / One Source Reality - Dan Gardner / Parallel Universe Dub - The Nothing / Synaptic Dissonance - DJ Spooky / Interrupted Data - Qaballah Steppers (feat. Likkl Jerr) / Voices Of The Ether - Dalek / James Woods Is Bugging / Death Wish - Katana / Burner - Odd Nosdam / Survivalism - Vitamin String Quartet / Go Tell It On The Mainframe / Cellular Antiquity - DJ Espionage / Animal Expansion - Low In The Sky

I run up in ya like a porn star cheetah.

Hard Knock Radio Freestyle - Immortal Technique / Hideyaface - Prefuse 73, Ghostface Killa & El-P / Slow Blues - Vast Aire, Timbo King, Prodigal Sunn & Byata / Gotta Give The Peeps What They Need (Original Demo) - Public Enemy / Awaiting The Hour - Ill Bill & Killah Priest / Heavy - Oh No / Too High (Instrumental) - Bear / Walk On (Instrumental) - Versatile / KRSLightly (Instrumental) - Vast Aire

The utterly cold, vast emptiness of outer space induces a deep psychic loneliness in the human spirit.  Also, never let Dennis Hopper drive the spaceship.  He’ll crash that shit.

Destination Altair 4 - The L / Earth People! - Dr. Octagon / Intergalactic - Beastie Boys / No Guts No Galaxy - Material (feat. Ramm Ell Zee & phonosycographDISK) / We Have Met The Martians And They Is Us / Galactics - Killarmy / Solar Powered - Binary Star / Above The Clouds - Gangstarr (feat. Inspecta Deck)

Schoolly D didn’t spend money on videos. He was too cool for that. He spent it all on…um, I’m gonna guess Filas, Gucci watches, and weed. Mostly weed, probably.

Me and some cats drove out to Philly once to see Schoolly D. He had 2 big dudes on either side the stage whose only job was to hold up 5 fingers on one hand and 2 on the other, and nod their heads, when he did Parkside 5-2. Later we went backstage and he was cool about our drunkenness until one of his boys noticed I was wearing a Public Enemy shirt and threw us out. I wish it was still 1987 sometimes. Not often.

Anyway those first 4 albums he did should be cut on diamonds and shot into space. They are slept on classics.

Nowadays you kids know him only as the guy who, as David Rees says, does the theme song for that cartoon about the milkshake which people on drugs watch. But if you don’t know, now you know.

I Don’t Like Rock N Roll

You gotta love the brainwashing machine. And the random, drunk white Illadelphians. And the randomly inserted Dick Tracy cartoon because they ran out of footage or some shit.

King Of New York

That movie was the shit. I did a whole mixtape based on it about 15 years ago. How much would it cost you to get Laurence Fishburne in your video nowadays? A lot more than $17.25, that’s for sure.

Livin’ In The Jungle

This would be cooler if it didn’t have dancers. Dancers are stupid, they’re why I hate music videos. Think about how much better the world would be if the hip hop video dancer had never been invented. Otherwise it’s cool, on some Illmatic shit back when Nas was all about Voltron and Frosted Flakes.

Live At The Latin Quarter 1986

Can you give us an example of some of the typical words you use in the rapping?

Am I Black Enough For You? As An Obama Ad

Oh shit, that’s cool. Some other candidates seem to lack this.

Cats who say hip hop is dead just aren’t fucking paying attention to all the ill shit that’s coming out.  It’s evolving, it’s fragmenting, it’s shooting off in all kinds of crazy directions.  Kinda like your moms.

Part 1: Evolution

Bongo Rock - Incredible Bongo Band / Dis Groove Is Bad - Schoolly D & Code Money / Have You Seen Davy? - Davy DMX / Supa Wyde Laces - Mixmaster Mike / Quest Represent - DJ Quest / Chakra Khan - Kalyanji Anandji (feat. Dan The Automator) / Pagina Dos - Prefuse 73 / Holidisk Inn - DJ Disk aka phonopsychographDISK

Part 2: Variation

Flow My Beats, The DJ Said / Lazy Hip - Live Human / How You Say - DJ Espionage / Mr. Brown (Dub) - The Upsetter / Natural Suction - Wagon Christ (feat. cLOUDDEAD)

The Greater Good (Instrumental) - Nine Inch Nails / Triumph (Instrumental) - Wu-Tang Clan / untitled 13 - Odd Nosdam / Saraba - We / Slow Sex - El-P / Girl of the Well - Adventure Time