Metal Lungies

“Guess Who’s Back” is a 1997 single by Rakim from his ’97 solo debut The 18th Letter. Clark Kent produces the beat, employing hard, stilted drums  combined with a slowed-down keyboard loop from Bob James’ “Shamboozie”. Kent scratches Chuck D from “Bring The Noise” and Rakim for the intro to set the mood:

[Chuck D]: Back once again, it’s the incredible/[Rakim]: Rakim Allah

“Guess Who’s Back” also received a strange music video, featuring Rakim doing some poor acting in a orange robe.

DITC producer Buckwild remixed “Guess Who’s Back” for a 12′ of remixes of the track. Buck starts the remix with a slowed-down scratch of the same Chuck D sample from the OG, then lets the beat drop. Buck’s remix captures a more mellow, contemplative mood, using an subtle string loop and a three-bar piano. Buck switches the drums up, using a mix of crisp snares and shuffling hi-hats. remix. The beat switches up for the second verse. Buck pulls out the main loop, and lets the drums ride out with the occasional appearance from a creepy piano loop.

This is one of the few times where I’d give the original the edge over the remix. Buckwild’s beat sounds like it was intended for another song; it’s an undeniable head-nodder but it doesn’t fit the mood of the track. Clark Kent’s track sounds like a triumphant comeback, and suits Ra’s lyrics and flow better.

DOWNLOAD: Rakim – Guess Who’s Back

DOWNLOAD: Rakim – Guess Who’s Back (Buckwild Remix)

I’ve covered several Buckwild remixes for Remix Tuesdays over the past few months. Catch up:

Beastie Boys

Artifacts

Tha Alkaholiks

Feedback Time: I’m considering changing the title of Remix Tuesdays so that I can post the feature on days besides Tuesdays. Any suggestions? What do you guys think?

The Score remains one of my all-time favorite albums. Here’s John Forte, Wyclef and Pras rhyming for an amazing 20 minutes for Funkmaster Flex in 1997. Last year, then-president George Bush commuted John Forte’s 14 year jail sentence. Moral of the story? Make friends with Carly Simon.

Download: John Forte, Wyclef and Pras – ’97 Funkmaster Flex Freestyle

via GRANDGOOD

Remix Tuesdays is back after a 2 week hiatus and in honor of Raekwon announcing for the release date for Only Built 4 Cuban Linx 2 for the 6th time (April 7th, make your calendars!), I’m doing a Remix Tuesdays on a track off the original OB4CL.

Read the rest of this entry »

Via Stones Throw

Here’s a great interview with the heads of two great record labels, Pedro Winter (aka Busy P) of Ed Banger and Chris Manak, aka Peanut Butter Wolf of Stones Throw. There’s some interesting back story behind both labels and Busy P’s answers are all in charmingly broken English  (the title of this post being the best example).

Particularly interesting: Pedro explains how Slum Village ended up remixing Daft Punk’s “Aerodynamic”.

Pedro, how did the Daft Punk remix by Slum Village/Jay Dee occur?
Pedro: You all probably know the classic “Raise it up” from Slum Village. This beat was insane at the time. Jay Dee as usual came up with an avant-garde beat. I did not notice the sample at first sight, but a friend of us was there and say, “Hey hey hold on, isn’t it a Daft sound?” And fuck yes! It was in fact a sample from Thomas Bangalter’s solo project for his label Roulé.
Instead of loosing our time and react as ass holes and ask for money or shit, I propose to the Daft boys to take care of it and ask a remix in exchange of the use of that sample. I met Dilla in Miami and he was of course up for it and was really friendly. He is from Detroit and electronic music never scared him. We were so happy with the result and the shout out. It was a simple and nice adventure. I feel really lucky to have met Jay Dee it was 8 or 9 years ago.

Download: Daft Punk – Aerodynamic (Slum Village Remix)

Download: Slum Village – Raise It Up

And of course, the sample for “Raise It Up”, Thomas Bangalter of Daft Punk’s “Extra Dry”:

Well, kinda. Let me explain.

Marshall McLuhan was a Canadian communications theorist and writer, who devised the expression, “the medium is the message”. What he means by this: the form of a medium embeds itself in the message, creating a symbiotic relationship through which the medium influences how the message is perceived. (via Wikipedia) In 1967, he wrote The Medium is the Massage: An Inventory of Effects, which explained how the effects of media massages the human sensorium. The same year, he released an audio recording of this work on Columbia Records.

The album consists of McLuhan reading statements from the book while repeatedly being interrupted by a variety of speakers: people criticizing his theories, other people reading the book in weird voices, sped-up recordings of McLuhan, odd random sounds and samples of incidental music encompassing different genres and moods. The idea was to create a media pastiche that would evoke TV’s connection of unrelated images in audio form. It foreshadowed many future sound experiments, especially those put together by Steinski and turntablists like DJ Shadow. It’s certainly not the earliest form of sound collage, but it’s striking how close it sounds to modern sound experimentation. It’s out of print now, but you can download it here, courtesy of the blog The Sphinx.

Here’s Side A of the record as a sample.

Marshall McLuhan – The Medium Is The Massage (Side A)

Guesswhyld was an indie label that released a lot of singles in the 90s. Guesswhyld Presents… “The Classics” is a compilation of their releases. Here’s some classic NY off the album. Anybody else miss the 90s?

Download: El Da Sensei – Frontline (ft. Pharoahe Monch, Prince Po, Mike Zoot, FT) (produced by Sean J Period)

Here’s what the original 12″ looked like.

“It’s A Boy” is a 1991 single by Slick Rick, released to promote his sophomore release, The Ruler’s Back. Rick spits about the birth of his son Ricky.

Vance Wright produced “It’s A Boy”. His instrumental consists of tinny horns, clipped synthesizers and a sloppy loop of the “Impeach The President” break- can you tell I’m not a big fan of Vance’s work on the beat? The chorus consists of an reverb-ed Rick saying “It’s a boy” followed by a baby crying.

Large Professor remixed “It’s A Boy” for the 12′ single release of the song. Large Pro brilliantly flips a Carl Tjader sample, combining chiming vibes and thick bass line. LP adds dusty boom-bap drums and his trademark sleigh bells. Some echoing horns complement the chorus nicely.

The track got the music video treatment featuring a bunch of rappers as adorable children.  There’s a baby Rick, Flava Flav, LL Cool J, MC Hammer, even a tiny 3rd Bass! Wee MC Serch is awful precious. YouTube won’t let me embed the video but you can view it here.

Slick Rick – It’s A Boy

Slick Rick – It’s A Boy (Large Professor Remix)

I’ve covered Large Professor’s remix prowess before but this is the first Remix Tuesdays I’ve written where the remix tops the original in every single way. Vance Wright’s original beat is awful, cheap-sounding and utterly ill-suited to Rick’s lyrics.

Via Hip Hop And Breakz

A 1998 solo single by Q-Tip under the pseudonym “Lone Ranger”. It’s a Tip produced joint, a loose tribute to T La Rock’s classic, apparently recorded under the “Lone Ranger” name to avoid trouble with Jive. This is dope, hard to believe I haven’t heard this before.

Q-Tip – It’s Yours

Q-Tip – It’s Yours (Instrumental)

Previously: T La Rock in a Jewish nursing home

“Get It Together” is a 1994 single by the Beastie Boys, released in support of their ’94 album, Ill Communication. It’s a collaboration with Q-Tip that avoids the pitfalls of modern collaborations. Rather than simply tacking on a verse to the end of the song, Q-Tip and the Beasties spend the song trading off verses and bizarre adlibs in a refreshingly loose fashion. Tip is clearly freestyling his lyrics and Mike D, MCA and Ad-Rock go with the flow, shouting adlibs and playing off his verses.

Read the rest of this entry »

“Father Time” is a 1995 single by Canadian rapper Saukrates, released as a 12′ shared with Choclair’s “21 Years.” It’s considered something of a underground classic, getting spin on the Stretch and Bobbito show back in the day and chosen for the first Fat Beats Compilation.

Read the rest of this entry »