With the release of The Confessional mixtape just two days away, I thought I’d offer a primer on my favourite rapper from the West Coast, Aftermath’s own Bishop Lamont. While we’re waiting for his debut to drop, everyone should listen to one of Bishop’s exemplary mixtapes for free. Dude has mastered the art of mixtapes, and basically fulfills all my criteria for a good mixtape.I’ve listed all of his mixtapes in chronological order with download links and tracklistings.
01) Intro
02) Klansmen (Produced By Focus)
03) Don’t Kill Me (Produced By Jake One)
04) Translator (Produced By Thayod)
05) The Truth (Feat. Stacee Adams) (Produced By Scott Storch)
06) Let’s Go (Produced By King Karnov)
07) Footsteps In The Dark (Produced By Nottz)
08) Fukk Kramer Radio (Interlude) (Produced By Jake One)
09) Super Freak (Produced By DJ Khalil)
10) Bitches On MySpace (Produced By RJ)
11) Last Crusade (Produced By JR Rotem)
12) First They Love You (Produced By 9th Wonder)
13) KKK Hotline (Interlude)
14) N*gger (Produced By Diverse)
15) Hood Psalm (Produced By DJ Khalil)
16) So Cold (Produced By The System)
17) HiStory (Produced By Nottz)
1) Murda Hextro
2) CALTROiT (Feat. Indef & Chevy Jones)
3) I Need It (Feat. Tash & Ras Kass)
4) Bang That Sh*t Out (Feat. Diverse)
5) Mouth Music (Feat. Guilty Simpson & Busta Rhymes)
6) On Top Now (Feat. Stat Quo & Dr. Dre)
7) Juggernauts (Feat. Young Dre, Glasses Malone, & 40 Glock)
8) Goatit (Feat. Phat Kat, Elzhi) (Slum Village)
9) Spectacular (Feat. iLLa-J, Frank Nitty & Busta Rhymes)
10) 4 All My N-ggas (Feat. Planet Asia, Mista Fab & Ya Boy)
11) Bad Girl
12) Inconvenient Truth
13) Go Hard (Feat. Ras Kass & Royce Da 59)
14) If You Ready (Feat. T3 (Slum Village) Kardinal Offishall & iLLa-J)
15) Ret 2 Go (Feat. Ms. Jade, Lady Of Rage & Peeps)
16) Everything (Feat. Kardinal Offishall & Trek Life)
17) Movie Star (Feat. Focus)
18) Not The Way (Feat. Mike Ant)
19) Bishop Lamont Outro
1. Pope Mobile Intro/Heaven ft. Bilal & Rev. Keep It Crackin (Produced By Dr. Dre)
2. Personal Chauffeur ft. Vanessa Marquez (Produced By DJ Khalil)
3. Shittin On Fools ft. Dready Beats (Produced By Dready Beats)
4. It’s Funny ft. Indef (Produced by Teddy Riley)
5. Yeah Pimp ft. PCP & Angelo (Produced by Focus)
6. I Just Want the Money ft. Bokey (Produced by 9th Wonder)
7. Street Theology Produced by (Mark Batson)
8. So Sad ft. Chevy Jones (Produced by Danjha Hands)
9. All I Dream About ft. Pooh Bear (Produced by Scott Storch)
10. Sumthin’ (Produced by Scott Storch)
11. Rappers Wanna Sing (Produced by Nottz)
12. I Always Knew
13. Music Shit (Produced by Scott Storch)
14. Sometimez ft. Mike Ant & Chevy Jones (Produced by Scott Storch)
15. Anyway ft. Mike Ant & Focus (Produced by Focus)
A few days late on this one, but no one on the internet cares about timeliness, right? The original is my favorite song of the year. Nas kills it on the remix, and Busta may have the greatest laugh of all time.
Rock for a fee not for free/Maybe I’ll do it for charity
Greg Nice beatboxed for T La Rock in the 80s, rapped with Smooth Bee as Nice & Smooth and guested on dope records by the Beatnuts, Gang Starr & Masta Ace, among others. He’s been around forever and people are still paying him to shout reverbed nonsense on a track. Robbie made a similar observation two years ago, which really shows his longevity. Imitatingcats may try for the position but accept no substitutes: Greg N. I. C. E. is the OG hook shouter. I direct your attention to some recent Greg guest spots:
O’Neal McKnight – Check Your Coat (ft.Greg Nice)
Greg did an awesome chorus for Time Machine‘s song, “The Unfortunate Twist”. There’s a great video for the song but it isn’t embeddable. Check it out here.
Some of these videos actually predate the formal creation of the Hiero crew, when Del was associated more with his cousin Ice Cube. Del is probably the best known Hieroglyphics member outside of hip-hop circles , thanks to guest appearances on two genre-crossing Dan the Automator projects, Gorillaz & Handsome Boy Modelling School. I skipped interviews this time around, because of the sheer number of music videos Del has.
“Strobelite Honey” is a 1992 single released by Queens-based duo Black Sheep. The song was the second single released of the group’s debut, A Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing.
The song received an incredible number of remixes on 12’s, most of them dance/house remixes, so I’m only tackling the album version and one of the remixes.
The album version, credited to the group, uses house-sounding claps and hi-hats, a guitar loop and a thick, bouncy bass line. The cut starts with some keys and percussion before breaking into the main beat. Dres tells a tale of spotting a honey in the club who looks good under the strobe light, and not so great outside of it. A very literal video depicts exactly what he’s rapping about. It uses a slightly faster, more danceable beat with horns.
The remix, entitled the “No We Didn’t Mix”, starts with wailing trumpets that loop a few times before the drums kick in. These horns reappear on the chorus; the verses employ a funky organ sample and a raw drum break. There’s a less raucous horn loop that blows occasionally. The lyrics are unchanged with a few minor exceptions (for some reason, Dres switches around a few lines in the first verse.) About 1:30, the beat strips down to just drums and some understated keyboards. The trumpet loops come in again in on the chorus and briefly at the start of the verses. An interesting remix that gives me a headache after a while – I think it’s the trumpets.
Step away for the long weekend and return to a new Wale video for W.A.L.E.D.A.N.C.E. and 3 new tracks, nice. Dan & Wale don’t stop even for the Memorial Day!
All courtesy of Elitaste (plus an assist from Ges).
One of the most underrated rappers on any coast, Casual is a beast. Here’s a collection of Casual videos, including a live performance with Handsome Boy Modelling School and an interview.
It’s the summertime, and Pete Rock’s production has never sounded better. All I feel like doing these days is breaking out The Main Ingredient and chilling in the sun. So I’ve compiled a list of links related to the great producer.
