Random Tracks #7
L.E.G.A.C.Y. w/ Big Pooh - Styles – from NC State of Mind Mixtape Vol. 1 2004 – I just love this song. L.E.G.A.C.Y. is a little overconfident and cocky but humorous.
Kwest Tha Mad Ladd - 101 Things To Do While I’m With Your Girl – from This Is My First Album – I still can’t believe that one of my girlfriends at the time gave me this tape and we laughed like crazy listening to it as we drove to TGI Friday’s. Unfortunately, we crashed into a Nissan Pathfinder on the way and I had to ride my mountain bike for 3 weeks while my car was in the shop. I kept staring at her legs under her short skirt instead of keeping my eyes on the road. It’s funny how tragedy becomes comedy as you get older.
The D.O.C. - Mind Blowin’ – from No One Can Do It Better 1989 – Dr. Dre was killing it production-wise when he was hungry. And D.O.C. made this one of my all time favorite songs. He consciously chose to keep cursing at a minimum on the album because he was all about showing lyricism.
Danny Swain – The World is Yours – from Danny is Dead 2007 - I stumbled onto this EP download by accident while rummaging through blogs last year. This song is exactly what’s missing on the radio nowadays to balance out that repetitive garbage spewed out from Flo Rida, Shawty Lo, Rick Ross, Lil Wayne, Rich Boy, etc. Dude is entertaining, intelligent and creative and this song is a good example.
D-Nice – Call Me D-Nice – from Call Me D-Nice 1990 – No one cared what D-Nice was saying on this song back in ‘90. At a party, all you needed to hear was that beat drop and the floor would be crammed with people. Ice Cube’s “Jackin’ For Beats” is another good song utilizing the same beat.
Rough House Survivors w/CL Smooth – Can U Dig It – from Straight From the Soul 1992 – I made the mistake of believing that Pete Rock produced this but it turns out that some guy named Tony Dofat (who obviously knew Puff Daddy and worked at Uptown Records) copied Pete’s signature style back then and jacked it. So why would CL Smooth get on a track produced by a Pete Rock biter? Regardless, the entire album is a rare treat from ’92.
Big Daddy Kane – Mortal Kombat – from It’s a Big Daddy Thing 1989 – My favorite rapper in high school shows you why he shouldn’t be taken too lightly. It seems like he and Nas both did a complete 180 degree turn from their ‘real’ hip-hop side to the commercial side and never fully recovered.
Juvenile Delinquentz - Juvenile Delinquentz – from Terminator X & The Valley of the Jeep Beats 1991 – I bought this CD because of “Buck Whylin’” but was pleasantly surprised by this. I knew quite a few guys back then who felt the same way as them.
J. Rawls – A Tribute to Dilla – from The Liquid Crystal Project 2006 – This song (and album) is yet another reason why I love producers from Ohio. It’s some ole ‘chill out and have a glass of wine while you think about your stock portfolio and reminisce about your great grandmother’ vibe. J. Rawls, Fat Jon, Hi-Tek, Ill Poetic and even DJ U-Neek are all good producers from the Buckeye State. Don’t sleep…
Smif-n-Wessun – Bucktown – from Dah Shinin’ 1995 – I always liked this song but didn’t like the album or Tek much at all. The mid-90’s boom bap sound is encapsulated well on this song, though.
Slum Village w/Q-Tip – Hold Tight - from Fantastic Vol. II 2000 – Clearly just having a good time and not afraid to be themselves on this song. I swear this album confused the heck out of me when I bought it. I shouldn’t have but I expected more lyrically. The beats kept me happy, however.
Cunninlynguists – America Loves Gangsters – from A Piece of Strange 2006 – Hip-hop music with a message…never gets played on the radio anymore. Thank goodness for groups and songs like these. For some reason, though, I have never been able to swallow the voices of artists from Georgia/Kentucky (maybe it’s the strong accent?) even though the music produced by Kno from Cunninlynguists and the Organized Noize crew is always top notch. I do listen to the lyrics as well but when I get their albums, I always try to find the instrumentals, too. Kno is definitely one of my favorites and I’ve found a lot of his instrumentals in the blogosphere.
Queen Latifah – Just Another Day… - from Black Reign 1993 - A lot of younger people I know don’t even realize that Queen was a rapper way before starring in movies and cosmetics commercials. She’s come a long way since the days of rhyming in the basement with The 45 King. This was just a cool song to play outside…with a (gasp) message.
Slick Rick – It’s A Boy (Large Professor remix) – from It’s A Boy single 1991 – Large Pro made this song completely different than the original and it was well received. Maybe he felt bad about Rick being locked up at the time but it works. Can’t go wrong with a song about your child.
The Fugees w/ A Tribe Called Quest, John Forte and Busta Rhymes - Rumble in the Jungle – from When We Were Kings soundtrack 1996 – Hearing this makes me wonder why they didn’t collaborate more (as long as they locked Pras in a closet during the recording session).
Black Milk – Pressure (instrumental) – from Broken Wax Instrumentals 2007 - Yup. My favorite producers today (other than Primo and Pete Rock) are in Ohio, Georgia, Kentucky and Michigan. I would have never thought that ten years ago. Black Milk is a beast and he took the reins from Dilla just in time. I ride around just listening to his beats blasting.
All City – The Actual – from Metropolis Gold 1998 – This album was blessed by a bevy of good producers and I wonder how/why Primo got involved. These guys were not the best of rappers by any means but the budget for this album must have been high. Primo earns his paycheck as usual.
Outkast – Benz or Beemer – from New Jersey Drive soundtrack 1995 – Organized Noize does it again. Does Outkast still work with them?
3rd Bass w/Zev Love X from K.M.D. – The Gas Face – from The Cactus Album 1989 – Remember this video? A song this zany had to be produced by Prince Paul. And MC Serch drops the knowledge??? Who would have thought that Zev Love X in his pre-MF Doom days as an Ansaar Muslim would influence these guys on their own record?
http://www.zshare.net/download/119029675620a24b/
~Vincent~
