It’s with a pang of guilt that I legitimately enjoy Asher Roth’s verse on this awesome bonus track from The Alexander Green Project. Kev Brown’s beat is thin and subdued, except for the occasional dramatic strings — perfect for a lyrical slaying. Kaimbr and Kev Brown teamed up for an album with a worthy concept: straight Al Green samples. I think this samples “Simply Beautiful,” previously sampled by G-Unit, but I’m not sure. The Alexander Green Project is out now.
As with Strong Arm Steady’s last album, production is the main draw on Arms & Hammers. The group is always mentioned in the same breath as a monster producer. They had Pete Rock’s beat for “The Joy”before Kanye and DJ Khalil’s beat for “Talkin’ 2 Myself” before Eminem. But instead of the blessing of straight Madlib beats they got on In Search of Stoney Jackson, SAS got a varied but impressive range of heavyweight West Coast producers. Underground/indie/blog favorites like DJ Khalil, Jelly Roll, and Terrace Martin handle the bulk of production, but none of them reproduce the gritty underground magic of SAS’s work with Madlib. Gangbanging and calibrated DJ Khalil beats don’t suit Mitchy Slick, Krondon, and Phil The Agony as well as blistering, oddball battle raps and dusty, warped soul. Obviously, Madlib’s “Chiba Chiba Pt.2” is a highlight as would have been Jelly Roll’s “Hand Guns” had it not been cut. Game makes a memorable appearance on “Trunk Music” as if to show the guys how to successfully parrot West Coast cultural markers. Moral of the story? Madlib is a tough act to follow.
In the Long Island suburban haven of my childhood, there is a large Jewish community. This meant that in the Summer of 2001, I went to at least one bar-mitzvah every week. These parties all had the same exact faces, the same kosher caterer, and the same spiky-haired DJ. This guy had bar-mitzvahs down to a science. He knew exactly what we wanted to hear and nothing stirred up the preteen horny like 112. We sang “Peaches & Cream” word for word and we all clapped it up on “Dance with Me” when Q, Daron, and Mike sang, “If you’re sexy and you know it, clap your hands.” I was all about the Beanie Siegel remix of “Dance with Me” and I still have Jay-Z’s verse on the “Peaches” remix memorized.
As you can imagine, Son Raw’s expert mashup of Skream and 112 hits me in a special place. This takes me back to long hot nights of gelled back hair and virgin pina coladas.
Jamie xx got beats. On We’re New Here, due out February 21, Jamie Smith of The xx remixed Gil-Scott Heron’s comeback album “I’m New Here” with amazing results. I’ve been stuck on “Running” and “Home” — cold entrancing electronic head-nodders. Old man Heron becomes another instrument in Jamie’s arsenal. His grizzled mutterings bring Jamie’s spacey sounds down to Earth, or at least somewhere in the stratosphere.
Heart Failure wouldn’t work if Torae didn’t have a sense of humor. His Valentines Day mixtape is all about rapper-specific relationship issues: ‘Why are you coming home at 3:30 in the morning?’ ‘You have to go on tour again?’ and of course ‘Who are those groupie bitches?’ Remember, this was the guy who was at the forefront of the boom bap revival in 2009 with an album called Double Barrel (that means guns).
It’s an homage to the “for the ladies” tracks that show up halfway through an album when the rapper thinks it’s safe to show you his sensitive side. It’s way more Hot 97 than you’re used to from Torae, but it’s still sample-based production and a vintage flow. The previously mentioned “Let It Go” is a favorite.
DJ Khalil has become the go-to producer for big luxurious beats. No mainstream rap release is complete without a shiny contribution for the Self Scientific alum. With a title like “I Don’t Need No Bitch,” an Aftermath staff producer on the beat, and a Devin the Dude verse, you’d expect this to sound like a Dre and Snoop reunion. But there’s nothing g-funk about it. Shit, “Kush” doesn’t even sound like a Dre and Snoop reunion (also produced by Khalil, incidentally).
Snoop Dogg is better known for his TV/movie/commercial appearances than music nowadays. He’s the weed smoking cartoon character who shows up when it’s time for a hip-hop joke. The leaks from Snoop’s new album indicate that he’s trying to be taken more seriously. “I Don’t Need No Bitch” is as dignified as it gets for a song about bitches from an album called Doggumentary.
It’s a dope track and a good look for uncle Snoop, but it’s probably a good thing he’s not billing Doggumentary as Doggystyle 2 anymore. For funkier sounds, see Jake One’s offering.
Last night, someone might have told you that Eminem had the best rap album of the year. He’s dead wrong. That award belongs to Roc Marci. Beneficence’s Sidewalk Science drops March 3. Update: Added clean and instrumental.
Willie the Kid has established himself as one the torch bearers of mobster rap. He and Styles enumerate Goodfellas imagery: trench coats, tommy guns, marble toilets, cognac, and vintage chandeliers. Willie’s new tape The Fly 2: The Transformation drops tomorrow.
The second single from the mysterious experimental outfit 3:33 is a surprising dose of malevolent boom bap, the vocal version of which appeared on Del The Funky Homosapien & Tame One’s 2009 album Parallel Uni-Verses. This is great for brooding and/or plotting grisly revenge.
