One of the best mashes I've heard in a long while, smooth from start to finish. The Jaydiohead link is also definitely worth a shout, although it's a bit more well known than this absolute gem. Enjoy, Matt.
Let me begin with saying Happy New Year, 2009 was a top year for hip-hop, so many good projects. I can honestly say that choosing a top 10 was not an easy task, and I left out a couple of favourites, because ten means ten. Enough talking, hit the jump for the lists. Top 10 Albums(Not in any order):
Raekwon - Only Built For Cuban Linx 2 Blacroc - Blackroc Mos Def - The Ecstatic The xx - xx K'NAAN - Troubadour MF DOOM - Born Like This Fashawn - Boy Meets World Brother Ali - Us The Alchemist - Chemical Warfare Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz!
Top EPs, Mixtapes & other projects (Not in any order):
Modest Mouse - No One's First and You're Next Brother Ali - The Truth is here E.P.
MF DOOM - Unexpected Guests Danger Mouse - Dark Night of the Soul Joell Ortiz - Covers The Classics Wu-Tang Clan - Chamber Music Lupe Fiasco - Enemy of the State: A Love Story Sean Price - Kimbo Price (A Prelude To Mic Tyson) UNI - Before There Was Love
Honourable Mentions: Kasabian - West Ryder pauper Lunatic Asylum Cormega - Born & Raised Beriut - March of the Zapotec/RealPeople Holland Danger Mouse - Dark Night of the Soul Arctic Monkeys - Humbug Skyzoo - The Salvation Ace & Edo G - Arts & Entertainment
Agree, disagree or just want to put you 2 cents here, use the comments section. Read more.
Been a long time, I will explain why later. For now, enjoy these mixtapes by some local DJs, all of them do some good hip-hop nights, check em' out if you are ever near one.
DJ Illas & DJ Heritage - The Throwout Volume 1 The first is by DJ Illas & DJ Heritage, it is a compilation of the "dopest, freshest, stupidest new tracks" they can find, most of these tracks were a on my zune's playlist for a while now, have a listen. Tracklist after the jump. Download
THE SEX TAPE PART 5 - TAKE IT TO THE SHEETS The second one is done by our own DJ Lee Majors, it is not my kind of thing personally, but it is good 'baby making' music I hear, it is R&B, check it out and make sure you attend Familia on the 27th December at CORD. The Artwork is NSFW, peep it after the jump. Download
The Throwout's Tracklist
1. FASHAWN - Ecology (prod Exile) 2. KRS-ONE & BUCKSHOT ft. TALIB KWELI - oh Really (prod Marco Polo) 3. BILLY THE KID - Forgive Me For My Sins (prod Soul Unique) 4. BROTHER ALI ft. FREEWAY & JOELL ORTIZ - Best@it 5. Q-TIP - Won't Trade 6. MASTA ACE & EDO G ft. POSDNOUS & LIGHT - Good Muisc (prod DJ Spinna) 7. JACK FLASH - Sound Of a Genius (prod Wizard) 8. MICALL PARKNSUN - New (prod Jaisu) 9. FASHAWN ft BLU - Samsonite Man (prod Exile) 10. RAEKWON - Gihad (prod Alchemist) 11. SLAUGHTERHOUSE - Microphone (prod Alchemist) 12. MASTA ACE & EDO G - Over There (prod M-Phazes) 13. DIVERSION TACTICS - Can't Swim 14. EVIDENCE & FASHAWN - Amsterdam 15. ROYCE DA 5'9 ft. BUSTA RHYMES - Dinner Time 16. RETURNERS ft. EMILIO ROJAS, KAZE & DOUJAS RAZE - Do You 17. BROTHER ALI, TOKI WRIGHT & EVIDENCE - The Freshest Kids
Hello, Matt here, with my first of hopefully many posts. I'm a friend of Ozzie and Moose and they've taken the stupid gamble of letting me post on here... apologies in advance!
So I thought I'd start off with the overdone, cliched notion of a top 5 records of the moment, just to give an idea of the sort of things I'll be posting in the future; some of it will be old, some new, some hip hop, some not, some you'll hate, and some you'll hopefully enjoy. The whole point for me is to show people new music they wouldn't have heard otherwise, probably through choice, but which MAYBE they might want to play to again.
Right then. First album: Nas - Illmatic. Obviously from the first listen this was always going to be a favourite... Nas has it all here, engaging, storytelling lyrics, some of the smoothest delivery I've heard on any record before or since, all sitting on top of some hard beats vs vintage funk, courtesy of Premo, Large Professor, Q-tip and Pete Rock. Got me into hip hop, and will keep doing the same to others for a long time yet. Download
Demon Days - Gorillaz. A huge album - effortlessly moving from lo-fi pseudo hip hop (November Has Come) to euphoric, bizarre dub-soul (Demon Days)... with a fair bit inbetween. Cameos from MF Doom, Bootie Brown (Pharcyde), Shaun Ryder, De la Soul, and bunch of other unexpected people make for an intriguing first listen, which really does grow until all other forms of music seem... redundant. And as for the videos - I don't even want to know how they make cartoons that sexy and terrifying.
Stone Roses - The Stone Roses No tricks here, just a phenomenal indie record from one of the greatest, most underrated bands from the UK. Endless re-releases, missing songs, crap videos, huge egos and lawsuits SHOULD have made this a disaster of a debut - but the fact is, it flows beautifully from start to finish, Ian Brown is enigmatic yet incredibly forthcoming, and the instrumentals show what a great band the Stone Roses could, and should, have been... and for a couple of years why they were the most exciting band on the world.
The Masterplan - Oasis OK so everyone knows Oasis, but not as many people have heard their best album... forget Definately Maybe, this collection of pre-1998 B-sides is their greatest work. Noel is at his best on Half The World Away, Talk Tonight and the title track, Liam sounds halfway to articulate on Listen Up and Rocking Chair, and there are even some clues to their early punk influences in Headshrinker and Fade Away. A live version of I Am The Walrus sums up the audacity, and bravery of the record - even the Beatles never played this one live...
Anthology - A Tribe Called Quest Yeah I know, putting a best of is lame... but how could I pick from the first 3 albums!? Regardless this isn't a bad compilation; all the best songs from a career-spanning 5 discs in all the right places, and I can't turn ATCQ off at the moment so they had to feature in the top 5... Download
Ozzie here A.K.A the music addict and I'm here to showcase a couple of Hip-Hop videos.
Starting with the latest Roots single 'How I Got Over', I am a massive Roots stan so this had to be done,the track is growing on me. Black Thought for president.
Secondly, it is the original video for Common's UMC, the album might have failed but this track still gets heavy play. Back to business, before that robotic video was done Com & co did this video but disliked it for some reason. Check it out though.
Finally, we have a superstar admiring another superstar, we need to see more of that shit in hip-hop instead of that so called 'beef rap'!
A pair of albums that impressed me recently, you should be used to this by now; short descriptions and selected tracks are waiting below.
The xx - xx One of the best albums of the year, I said this about a few albums this year, but they all deserved it. This is one is no different. This Boy/Girl band made and amazingly innovative album, that sounds complete and does not contain any fillers. Check them out, you won't be disappointed.
KRS-One & Buckshot - Survival Skills Two aging rappers, or more accurately two hip-hop pioneers. These two uncles diss wack MCs, talk about great they are, and preach a lot. The album contains production from Black Milk, whose dope as hell, and features more than half a dozen other artists, such as: Talib kweli, Mary J Blige, K'NAAN and Pharoahe Monch.
All sounds good, but unlike the album above, this album requires some skipping, but don't let that put you off, cos over all it is pretty good.
In the fifth edition, I will be showcasing two of the most anticipated hip-hop albums and one album everyone forgot about.
Raekwon - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx PT II "See these fans can't resist the rush, they Wu-Tang for life Scarred for life, they can't forget the cuts" Method Man
The follow up to Rae's 1995 classic, the first one is considered to be one of the best hip-hop albums of all time, it is one of favourites as well. This explains why it took a very long time for this album to drop, Raekown tried his best to make this a classic as well and he succeeds at that. This album belongs in the mid 90's, it shits all over the competition, it is pure hip-hop, pure Wu-Tang, it is the project that managed to reunite the clan.
The production is mean and raw, and with the likes of RZA, J Dilla, The Alchemist, Dr Dre and Pete Rock behind the boards, it is no surprise. In addition, all guest verses on this album are fire. Do yourself a favor and buy this album.
Jay-Z - The Blueprint 3 With all the hype, A-list producers and guests, you would think this project can't go wrong. False. This album is just slightly above average at best, like most things involving the new KanYe. Instead of doing good hip-hop Hov tries to 'push boundaries', brag about his status in hip-hop and his new BFFs (Obama and Oprah).
Most of the production fails to impress me, however, out of 15 tracks I like 5, so I can't really co-sign this album. But it is worth a listen or two , just make sure you delete 2/3 of the album, so you don't have to skip all the time. A decent effort.
Wu-Tang - Chamber Music Although this is technically not a Wu Tang album, it is endorsed by them and RZA is the executive producer. It has the old WU sound in it and feature several members of the Wu-Tang Clan collaborating with New York hip hop veterans.
Most of the production is done using live instrumentation mixed with classic soul and kung fu imagery. Check it out.
Jay's new album might be a bit of a shit sandwich, but that does not take away anything from this dope album advert, in it Jay recreates all his previous album covers.
This video > Blueprint 3 (The only one without Hov on the cover)
Rest in peace Adam 'DJ AM' Goldstein, he overdosed on drugs and was found dead in his flat in NY. Dude had talent and I enjoyed some of his tapes lately. Anticipate a 'DJ AM Music Showcase' later tonight.
