Metal Lungies

Shabbat shalom, ML readers! I’ma leave you for the weekend with two of my favourite mashups of recent memory. The rest of the Lungies team are a bit busy right now, so I’ll be doing most of the posting for a bit.

The first is from the amazing mashup/culturejam team, Evolution Control Committee. Off their Herb Alpert/Public Enemy mashup album, The Whipped Cream Mixes. This is song is a mashup of PE’s "Rebel Without A Pause" and and Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass song (anyone know which one?) I’m not going to post the whole album, but you can find it online somewhere. This was actually one of the first mashup albums, pre-Grey Album. What? Yes, they did exist before a capella albums were released officially.

This version of the song is absolutely brilliant.

Rebel Without A Pause (Whipped Cream Mix)

Here’s a sweet promo video made for the song too.

The second mashup is the Al Green/Nas mashup album, Almatic (props to the awesome Dumpin.net for pointing this out to me). This would be one of the best mashup albums in recent memory but for three things:

1) Most of the acapellas are clean versions.

2) It has a bunch of DJ drops.

3) One of the songs chosen is Oochie Wally. There are some things you can’t fix, my friends.

But it’s still very dope. Y’all know I’m an Al Green fan and the beats they sample from his stuff are consistently great. Here’s my favourite mashup of the album, the remix of "Made You Look" mixed with Al’s "Love & Happiness". It’s also one of the few songs that isn’t censored.

Made You Look/Love & Happiness (ft.Jadakiss & Ludacris)

Cop the whole album here, courtesy of the good folks at Swindle Entertainment. You can download the songs individually too, which is nice.

Have a good weekend!

AVC: What attracted you to the Bomb Squad back when you made AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted?

IC: Well back then, it was all about—I was a big fan of Public Enemy. And their production is still… I don’t think anyone used samples better than the Bomb Squad. So what they was doin’ was like mad-scientist stuff to me. The way they was putting that stuff together and the sounds they was gettin’ and the noises they was gettin’ out of that stuff was mind-bogglin’, so when I learned that Dre wasn’t going to be able to work on my solo record, which I always reached out for him to do, I said, "If I can’t get the best producers on the West, I’ll get the best producers on the East." And me and Chuck D had a good rapport, because we had toured together with N.W.A. And he told me, "Come on out to New York and sit with Hank Shocklee." We did that, and it was magic from there on out.

Read the rest here. This is a great interview. Nathan Rabin is a very slept-on hip hop journalist. Read his 2001 interview with Chuck D too. There’s some great stuff in the A.V. Club archives.

One of the most head scratching collaborations I’ve ever heard in my life. In what universe do LFO (aka Lyte Funky Ones) and M.O.P. (aka Mash Out Posse) share an audience? I guess they both go by acronyms…Anyway, Brownsville’s finest appear on an light ditty about appreciating life called "Life Is Good" (man, even the title seems to go against anything M.O.P. have said in their songs!)

Danz & Fame, who scored their biggest hit with a song about robbing people, jump in for a few surprisingly conscious bars that certainly aren’t embarrassing per se. But they don’t really fit the song at all and just sound hilariously out of place over LFO’s poppy boy-band-isms.

I should mention this is the album version and it’s been remixed by, um, adding a few scratches to make it more "rap-y". I dunno if they were hoping to capture the Timberland boots crowd with this remix but it stands as a testament to bizarre niche marketing. I should add that De La Soul also appear on a track on this album, but I’ve never heard it.

Here’s are the lyrics for M.O.P.’s verses (apologies if I mixed up Billy & Fame, I do that sometimes)

Billy Danzenie:

My mission is to save this world,
Cause it’s a never ending task
I don’t know where to begin,
And I feel I’m near the end
I don’t wanna live life doin’ petty nonsense
It’s hard to sleep at night with a guilty conscience
You know what’s really a mess, now I feel blessed
But twenty minutes from now, will it all turn to stress?
I’m twenty-seven years old and Brownsville raised
Upset with all the blood, the sweat, and the tears
Lil’ Fame:

Baby it’s on, a mother shed tears, at the same time, a baby is born
On the other side of town, a life is lost
A young thug was knocked off, and the heat was tossed
Damn, life is real, and so tragic
But don’t stop now, live your life, I know it’s hell for the rough,
But don’t talk down on ya man, unless you helpin’ him out
ITS YOURS!

For kicks, go read the rest of the lyrics. They are hilariously stupid.

For those interested, don’t say I didn’t warn you:

Lyte Funky Ones (LFO) – Life Is Good (ft.M.O.P.)

Today I’m doing an RT on one of my favourite West Coast groups (word to Trav at WYDU). Today I’m covering two different remixes for the Liks’ classic “DAAAM!”, off the equally dope Coast II Coast.

First, let’s go over the original, produced by Alkaholiks member E-Swift. The album version floats on a thumping bassline and a synth-y sample. It brings in the always fresh Nautilus sample on the chorus, which is probably one of the most sampled breaks ever. You can see the video for it below.

The first remix is on the original single release for the song, done by E-Swift himself. The “Swift Mix” rocks much harder drums, downbeat piano keys and an upbeat horn sample. It has new verses from each Liks member too.

The second scored its own single, done by DITC producer Buckwild. The Buckwild remix puts a much breezier backing behind the original verses. It floats on smooth keys and what sounds like sleighbells. There’s the odd “Check it out y’all” Big Daddy Kane sample that pops up here & there as well. All three versions are well worth your time, which can’t be said about a lot of remixes.

DAAAM! (Album version)

DAAAM! (Swift Mix)

DAAAM! (Buckwild Remix)

One thing I wanted to ask my readers here: when I do Remix Tuesdays, do you guys want/expect instrumentals or acapellas as well? Or are you cool with standard vocal versions? Let me know in the comments.

Via Stones Throw

1. THE AMERICAN DREAM – Produced by Madlib
2. ROBBERY – Produced by Mr. Porter
3. SHE WON’T STAY AT HOME – Produced by Madlib
4. FOOTWORK – Produced by Oh No
5. ODE TO THE GHETTO – Produced by Oh No
6. GET BITCHES – Produced by Mr. Porter
7. I MUST LOVE YOU – Produced by J Dilla
8. THE FUTURE feat. MED – Produced by Madlib
9. PIGS – Produced by Madlib
10. MY MOMENT – Produced by Black Milk
11. RUN feat Sean P & Black Milk – Produced by Black Milk
12. KINDA LIVE – Produced by Mr. Porter
13. YIKES – Produced by Madlib
14. THE REAL ME – Produced by Black Milk
15. KILL ‘EM – Produced by DJ Babu
16. ALMIGHTY DREADNAUGHTZ feat Super MC, Krizsteel, Konnie Ross – Produced by Konnie Ross

Coming out on March 25, 2008.

Damn, look at the production lineup. Nice to see an album with a cohesive sound (I’m predicting) based on the shared sound of the producers.

I was kinda "eh" on the guy before, thought he was another crappy friend of Dilla who the late great wanted to put on. But he’s really wowed me on all his guest spots and individual tracks. I’d like to see the projects he’s set to do with Jay Electronica, Black Milk & Sean Price (the latter two as "Three The Hard Way") actually see release. That’s the official cover, by the way, according to Stones Throw.

Check out his Stray Bullets mixtape, mixed by DJ Rhettmatic of the Beat Junkies. Download it here in iTunes (Mirror) through the Stones Throw Podcast, which you really should be checking out on the regular anyway.

1. Pete Intro
2. We Roll (w/ Jim Jones & Max B)
3. ‘Till I Retire
4. 914 (w/ Styles P. & Sheek Louch)
5. Questions (w/ Royal Flush)
6. Best Believe (w/ Redman)
7. Ready Fe War (w/ Chip Fu & Renee (of Zhane))
8. Don’t Be Mad
9. Bring Y’All Back (w/ Masta Ace, Wordsworth, Phonte & Joe Scudda)
10. The Best Secret (w/ Lords Of The Underground)
11. That’s What (w/ Rell)
12. The PJ’s (w/ Raekwon & Masta Killa)
13. Made Man
14. Let’s Go (w/ Doo Wop)
15. Comprehend (w/ Papoose)

The album is out on Nature Sounds on February 26. I’m not totally wowed by the guest list but I’m still going to check this out. The excellent “Gangsta Boogie” with Slum Village is apparently an iTunes only bonus track.

Preview 3 tracks on Pete’s MySpace. And check out a few more Pete treats here at ML.

Also check the inspiration for the album art below. RIP JB.

Great interview.

Not all at once, but all fairly recently.  These will all be up on ebay on: never.

• Nike SB MF Doom Dunk High
• Nike SB Brut High
• Nike Classic SB Jeremy Fish

The legendary Rev. Al Green is working on a new album produced entirely by ?uestlove of the Roots. That’s not news, but this new track released from the sessions is. This has the potential to be amazing and this track seems like a good indicator of what the album could sound like.

If you don’t know Al Green, you don’t know soul. The definition of Memphis soul and a frequent sample source for hip hop (go read up).

Here are some details about the track itself:

Recorded in October of last year for his upcoming album on Blue Note.  ?uestlove on the drums and James Poyser on the keys (also known as The Randy Watson Experience).

Al Green- Thought It Out

More info here, here, and especially here.

Via DJ Soul’s dope blog.

Bonus beats:  ?uesto has released video from the sessions as well.

Here’s him laying down drums for the record:

Al sings with the band:

Haha, I keep forgetting about this series but I finally got a new one together for y’all. (sidenote: if anyone really digs these posts, leave a comment. I’m really trying to do these on a weekly basis and a little encouragement would help me out.)

Today’s remix is from the 1996 promotional “O.D.B. EP” release. It has a few non-album goodies on it but the real treat is the remix of “Shimmy Shimmy Ya”, done by Bay Area producer (& frequent E-40 collaborator) Studio Ton. Ton’s remix replaces the dusty drums and and memorable piano sample of the original with a fat bassline, squelchy synths and Zapp-style claps.

ODB raps over his own vocals throughout the song, occasionally shouting along with himself. He even flatly resings the chorus over the original, which is played in the background. Ason also adds a new verse at the end of the song, along with an amusing series of shout-outs. Of course, there are also excellent guest verses from MC Eiht & E-40. They even did a pretty crazy video for it, with fake looking fire effects and some hilarious dancing from ODB.

Here’s one of the two videos for the original song for comparison:

Listen: Shimmy Shimmy Ya (Studio Ton Remix)