A note from AaronM: I’m super busy this week, my last in New York before I head back to school. So I enlisted ML devotee Jorge from Bang The Box for a guest drop. Enjoy, and show J support with some comments. I should be back with a RT feature next week.

“1, 2 Pass It” was the Premier-produced and only 12” single for the 1995 D & D Records compilation The D & D Project. The track features verses from KRS-One, Fat Joe, Mad Lion, Doug E. Fresh, Jeru the Damaja, and Smif-N-Wessun. Collectively known as the D & D All-Stars, this short lived collaboration managed to yield one of the dopest posse cuts of the era. Notable verses, in my opinion, go to KRS and Jeru but the same cohesion that makes tracks like ATCQ/LONS’ “Scenario” great is also prevalent here. The release was backed by Big C’s “Look Alive,” produced by Diamond D.

The verses on both versions are identical; however, the beat employed in the original versus the remix give each cut a radically different feel. The original maintains that same deep, Rhodes-laced, head-nod vibe that is also present in Premo’s Nyte Time remix of Show & AG’s “Next Level,” on that late night studio session tip. You can also easily draw comparisons to “Return Of The Crooklyn Dodgers,” produced around the same time. However, the revision of “1, 2 Pass It” offers a totally different sound, introducing horn stabs that give the track a much more funked-out feel; but still Premier. The drum kits on both versions are also identical, with most of the major differences lying in the backing samples and bass lines. In my opinion, the original beat is more complimentary to the verses and the overall feel of the track.

The video is a who’s who of D & D Studio regulars including cameo appearances from DJ Evil Dee & Mr Walt of Da Beatminerz, Lord Finesse, and Sadat X just to name a few.

DOWNLOAD: D & D All-Stars – 1, 2 Pass It

DOWNLOAD: D & D All-Stars – 1, 2 Pass It (Remix)

“Roc Boys (And the Winner Is)…” is the second single released from Jay-Z’s 2007 album, American Gangster. The song is produced by Diddy, Sean C & LV. “Roc Boys” is all about the upbeat, celebratory horns, sampled from the Menahan Street Band’s “Make The Road By Walking.” A funky guitar lick plays in the background through most of the song, and the sample is topped off with some thick, thudding drums (must be Diddy’s contribution there!) The beat quickly became the go-to instrumental for rappers to freestyle over, with rappers like Asher Roth and Wale still using it in 2008.

The video for “Roc Boys” has cameos from basically everyone. Look for appearances by Rick Ross, Memphis Bleek, Diddy, Freeway, Nas, Tru Life, Young Gunz, Jadakiss, Swizz Beatz, Beanie Sigel, Cassie, DJ Clue, Larry Johnson, Tristan Wilds, Just Blaze, Zab Judah, The-Dream, Irv Gotti and Mariah Carey.

Producer K-Def remixed American Gangster and released his set of remixes online, entitled Real Live Gangster. Def’s version of “Roc Boys” is a complete about-face from the original’s feeling. It’s slow and downbeat, centered around a series of jazzy electric guitar riffs. Every few bars, the guitar is joined by urgent strings and police sirens. The remix switches the drums to light, live sounding drum taps. K-Def’s stripped down instrumental is compelling enough to demand attention by itself, while focusing the listener’s attention on the lyrics.

Which version do you prefer? I really dig the whole Real Live Gangster remix album, and as much as I liked “Roc Boys” when it came out, the original is a bit played out for me. So the K-Def version is a compelling alternative. Given the massive amount of American Gangster remix albums, if you don’t care for either version highlighted here, you ought to be able to find one that floats your boat.

You can download Real Live Gangster here. I can’t recommend it enough, regardless of your opinion of the original AG album.

Download: Jay-Z - Roc Boys (And The Winner Is…) (American Gangster, 2007)

Jay-Z - Roc Boys (K-Def Remix) (Real Live Gangster, 2007)

Okay, so I f’ed up. I’ve been busy and I forgot to write my final entry in the D’Angelo Remix Tuesdays. But I wanted to do D justice by posting my final writeup of D’Angelo Remix Month today, even though today is the first day of August. Ah well.

If you missed the previous 3 instalments of the series:

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

“Cruisin’” was released as Brown Sugar’s 2nd single in 1995. It’s a cover of Smokey Robinson’s 1979 single. D’Angelo produced the song himself, employing an impressive string section, including violin, viola and cello. Shakers and light drumming are used for the understated percussion, with sleigh bells entering on the chorus. D’Angelo’s version is fairly faithful to the original in terms of the basic chords and lyrics, but it’s a fair bit longer; at 6:26, the longest song on Brown Sugar. Gentle guitar figures and organ accompany D’Angelo’s graceful falsetto singing. “Cruisin’” is a great song for driving on a summer day.

On its 12′ release, “Cruisin’” was edited down to 5 minutes and 24 seconds and remixed by R&B production maven Dallas Austin. Austin strips the song of most of its instrumentation and replaces the live drums and shakers with programmed, 90s R&B style snares and hi-hats. He loops a short snippet of the guitar from the original into a catchy little riff and keeps the string arrangements from the original.

I was actually pleasantly surprised with the Dallas Austin remix. As much as I like the original, I can see Austin’s remix going over much better in the clubs or at parties, whereas the original would sound better in the car or at home. Let me know what you think of both versions in the comments!

Download: D’Angelo - Cruisin’ (Brown Sugar, 1995)

D’Angelo - Cruisin’ (Dallas Austin Remix) (Cruisin’ 12?, 1995)

And this marks the end of my month of covering D’Angelo songs exclusively for Remix Tuesdays. I’ve now covered every single released off Brown Sugar. Did you, the reader, enjoy the focus on one artist for a month? What did you think of D’Angelo Month (not the official title)?

As promised, Knobbz just let y’all know that Kid Capri > $4 & cap-less water bottles in Boston, we didn’t get a chance to experience the water situation (fortunately) or Kid Capri (unfortunately).
But read on to find out what the DMV arm of ML thought of the latest stop of Rock the Bells. Yesterday HM and I hit up the Rock The Bells stop in Columbia, MD (which most of the acts preferred to call Baltimore, DC, or even Virginia). In a nutshell the day was like many festivals, overwhelming at times yet highly memorable, esp. for a hip-hop head.

As I was getting my pass from Will Call, I heard some woman in a frantic asking to no one in particular at about 12:30 pm, “Is that Nas on?!”
When a security guard said it was “only” Jay Electronica, she was relieved, I fought back the urge to hiss/make verbal threats. Once I bypassed the crazy long line leading to the Pavilion to duck into the press entrance, I was at a loss at what to do first.. MURS was on the main stage, I stopped for a few moments to check him out, but with people just starting to trickle out it seemed like the perfect time to roam around, I stumbled across the smaller stage where a duo by the name of Ninjasonik, who were well into their set with a track about being on the internet called Internet Bitch, but once I heard Holla For a Dolla next which featured a sung part of the hook that went “HIV don’t be the death of me, I wanna fuck” over some clubby beat, I had to get them a mention and I didn’t really need to hear much more. I roamed some more to see the venue and try to find the elusive SanDisk VIP area, but in enough time to check out Wale on the main stage (home town advantage yo!), he only did a few songs including Nike Boots, but seeing a good majority of the people getting into his abbreviated set was a very welcome sight. Those that missed him this first time got lucky, he would come on later in the show to do even more songs during intermissions. After Wale wrapped up Supernatural or Supernatura if you will:

(we get it, Supernat never takes an L, right?)

went on to partake in his intermission/hosting duties that would carry on through out the day. He started freestyling about random objects throughout the concert,  people (Highlight: Saying konichiwa to a girl that looked Japanese; ethnicity couldn’t be confirmed as of press time), stage props, etc. while Scratch (of The Roots fame) did a pretty impressive beatbox and spun. When Supernatural saw that there was a section of seats in the audience on the left for the hearing impaired with a full out sign language lady (what’s that occupation called?), he bugged out in his freestyle “I’ve never seen a white girl translate my rhymes!!”. He went on to spit some more stuff directed at her which resulted her in shaking what her mama gave her (throughout the night a lot of the MC’s like Redman gave a confused/smile/wtf  look at what the epicness going in that section) . I’ve seen a few MCs do this schtick but Supernatural did it best.  I stuck around to see Dead Prez come one for a handful of songs but for some reason I decided to check out Tyga on the small stage for curiosity sake (I had a lot of energy to walk around at this point, ok?). I can’t hate on dude, he showed a lot of energy and I only caught him doing his last songs including the single Coconut Juice. One of his entourage members had 2 (!!) GED chains, for some reason that amused me. Next I stuck around to see B.O.B. to see if he was living up to all the internets hype. The verdict is yes. He has the most care-free southern drawl this side of the Outkast. He did his track with Amy Winehouse, Grip Your Body, and I can’t say there is anything out that quite compares to him.  Not only did rhyming seeming care-free his whole crew from the hypeman to the DJ were as well, I was impressed by the hypeman’s jumping jacks and told him later that he should make it into a trend.  And get this B.O.B.-plays the guitar he played a track for the ladies (who were heavily outnumbered at something of like a 90:1 ratio by the other gender):

[Read more]

Welcome to the third instalment of D’Angelo Remix Month at ML. For those who slept, check out the previous two posts in the series covering remixes of “Brown Sugar” and “Me And Those Dreamin’ Eyes Of Mine”. “Lady” was released in 1996,  the 2nd single off Brown Sugar.

“Lady” is produced by Raphael Saadiq and this album marked the start of his second career as the go-to producer for neo-soul. “Lady” is smooth yet subtly funky, starting with thick snare drums and claps. Gradually jazzy guitar figures and delicate piano chords enter the mix. It’s a fantastic slice of modern soul and D’Angelo sings beautifully over it.

DJ Premier remixed the song for the promotional 12′ release of “Lady”, turning in a version called the “Just Tha Beat Mix.”

The “Just Tha Beat Mix” strips the song down to heavy drums and a thumping 4-bar horn loop. AZ adds a decent verse that actually manages to stay on topic (unlike Redman and Kool G Rap), but his usually effortless flow sounds thrown off by the chunky Premier beat. A video was made for the remix, with cameos from Joi, Erykah Badu, and Faith Evans (thanks to reader DANJ! for correcting me). Oh, and AZ shows up at one point too.

My personal favorite is the original, without a doubt. Much as I love AZ, D and Premo individually, the Premier remix of “Lady” sounds a bit off. For a better AZ/Premo collab, I’d recommend seeking out “The Come Up”. And D’Angelo and Premier did great work together on “Devil’s Pie.” The remix of “Lady” is fine, it’s not awful, I just think the OG is a better listen. As always, tell me which version you like better in the comments.

Download: D’Angelo - Lady (Brown Sugar, 1995)

D’Angelo - Lady (Just Tha Beat Mix ft.AZ) (Lady promo 12′, 1996)

Welcome to week 2 of the D’Angelo Remix Month. Every Tuesday in July, I’ll be covering a different D’Angelo song and an accompanying remix.

“Me And Those Dreamin’ Eyes Of Mine” was the 4th and final single released in 1996 in support of D’Angelo’s album, Brown Sugar. It’s self produced, riding a funky, organ-driven groove accompanied by light percussion that sounds like it was generated with drum brushes. Strings play in the chorus, but they aren’t overbearing and serve D’s voice well. Its jazz club performance video is very fitting.

A remix was produced by Erick Sermon for the 12′ release of the single, billed as the “Def Squad Remix”. The remix starts with Redman fucking around on the mic before the Erick Sermon beat kicks in with stiff, stuttered drums. The opening organ swells from the original are retained and Sermon adds spacey keyboards, turning in a spare, hard-hitting beat for Red to rip shit. Redman delivers a quick and typically hilarious verse then returns to do adlibs on D’Angelo’s chorus. After that, the Green Eyed Bandit himself does typically awkward adlibs over D’s vocals. Red closes the remix with a few quick bars over D’Angelo’s cooing, amusingly threatening:

“Hey yo dreamy eyes/you better run it”

I like the original the best, but the remix is still dope for having a Redman verse over Erick Sermon production when both were in their prime as rapper and producer, respectively.

Remixes of “Me…” were done by Jay Dee and DJ Premier as well, but I can’t find those anywhere. If anyone reading this has either, please send them to me and I’ll do a quick write-up of them. Just check the contact info on the homepage.

Download:

D’Angelo - Me And Those Dreamin’ Eyes Of Mine (Brown Sugar, 1995)

D’Angelo - Me And Those Dreamin’ Eyes Of Mine (Def Squad Remix ft.Redman) (Me And Those Dreamin’ Eyes Of Mine 12′, 1996)

I’m doing something special this month, ML readers! Each Tuesday for the rest of the month, I’m tackling a different D’Angelo remix. I’ve been covering strictly hip-hop remixes for the last 20 installments (with some guest writeups from Buhizzle), so I’m giving y’all a little R&B flavor for a few weeks.

I’m starting with D’Angelo’s 1995 debut single, “Brown Sugar”. The original “Brown Sugar” is produced by A Tribe Called Quest producer Ali Shaheed Muhammad. Muhammad uses sleigh bells, organ, guitar and a lazy, grooving bass line on the track and gives it a more hip-hop feel than the rest of the album’s tracks. “Brown Sugar” is one of the best songs on a perfect R&B record. It also had a video, which I’m including because of the conversation at the beginning.

Da Beatminerz remixed “Brown Sugar” for the “Cruisin’” 12′ and got Kool G Rap to drop several off-topic yet ill bars just before D sings his 3rd verse.

Here’s a sampling of the Kool Genius’s verse (you really have to hear him spit it):

Well it’s that street flavor neighbor that I smack upon this track
So throw that tobacco outta that Philly, dump in the illy and sit back
And get with bubonic chronic, the pond green bionic
My brown eyes get Chinese, high frequencies like Panasonic
I gets dumb when I hits one, for when you splits one and twists one
If you ain’t with getting blitzed son then straight up you missed one
I be high ’til I die, blowing lye smoke up in the sky
Getting bumbed from the trum and hella else from chocolate thai
So fly the friendly get highs, we wise guys with red eyes
Bigger than life sized, for the big pies we terrorize
While getting blunted enemies get hunted, we don’t front it
Son if you want it, it’ll be a murder mystery like Whodunit
Steady, get ready to step to that next level
Fear this like a daredevil, bounce this and pass a sack to the ear level
So come get with the program as I slam
He run that old flim flam then you can catch a blam blam/ and I don’t give a damn

The Beatminerz track samples a beautiful piano loop (also sampled on M.O.P.’s “New York Salute”) and uses harder, but not invasive drums. Some warm vibes come in occasionally as well.

The remix is a dope revision of the original that I might actually prefer on occasion to the OG. What do you think?

Download:

D’Angelo - Brown Sugar

D’Angelo - Brown Sugar (Da Beatminerz Remix ft.Kool G Rap)

“C’mon Wit Da Git Down” is a 1994 single by New Jersey based duo the Artifacts, consisting of emcees El Da Sensei and Tame One. Buckwild produced the original and a remix of the track for a 12′ release, featuring an appearance by Busta Rhymes.

Buckwild brings out some Large Professor style sleigh bells and an undulating bass line. Muted horns and wah wah guitar come in occasionally. Roc Raida lays some lovely scratches on the chorus, chanted by El and Tame One:

C’mon with da come on

Git down with da git down

Buck’s remix of “C’mon…” gives it a smoother feel, with an airy vocal sample singing “Ahhhhhhhhhh”. Trumpets blow every few bars. The drums hit harder and faster, instantly bringing in the head nod. In this version, El da Sensei and Tame One rap a new verse each, and Busta Rhymes takes the third verse. Busta recites the chorus like he did the chorus of Rampage’s “Wild For Da Night”; alternating between hyped and calm. I’d say the remix improves upon the original in just about every way, but what do you guys think?

Download: Artifacts - C’mon Wit Da Git Down

      Artifacts - C’mon Wit Da Git Down (Buckwild Remix ft.Busta Rhymes)

“Searching” is a 1995 single by Pete Rock & CL Smooth, released just prior to the duo’s breakup . It was remixed and re-released in ‘96 as a promotional 12′.

The original version can be found on the group’s second album, The Main Ingredient, but the remix was only made available in CD format on the import-only Rare Tracks compilation.

Both versions are produced by Pete Rock. The lyrics are the same in both versions, with the exception of a new chorus added to the remix.  Pete does a call-and-response, reciting the following lyrics with CL’s sampled vocals  answering the first two lines. After that, a female vocalist answers Pete’s lines.

Let me break the chorus down, just so I have an excuse to type the word “sextafied.”

PR: Searching to find the one and have fun

CL: I’m thirsty for your love, sugar can I get a sip?

PR: Sextafied women who rank from 10 to 1, honey

CL: You know what it takes and you know how I want it

PR: Do you like it? (Yeah…)

Do you want it? (Yeah…)

Well, if you got it, why not flaunt it? (Hell yeah!)

Searching…

The original instrumental is butter smooth, with sultry female backing vocals and warm vibes. Sample vocals chant “searching” on the chorus and the backing vocalist plays off the samples. Pete adlibs all over the track, as he is wont to do.

The remix will please hard-rocks who thought the original was too soft, flipping the summery feel of the original into a much darker sounding instrumental. Pete employs an eerie string loop that should sound familiar to any 90s rap scholar and dark sounding vibes. He utilizes crisper, harder drums than he did on the OG and brings in muted horns every few bars. Pete drops the sampled “searching” vocals at the end as the beat fades out.

I respect that Pete & CL could pull off a credible ballad in such a hardcore-minded period of hip hop, and both versions of “Searching” are gems.

Download:

Pete Rock & CL Smooth - “Searching” (The Main Ingredient, 1994)

Pete Rock & CL Smooth - “Searching (Remix)” (Rare Tracks, 1999)

Special thanks goes to Buhizzle who held down Remix Tuesdays last week with an exemplary post about Cormega.

I just visited the Fat Beats online store and saw this on the frontpage. The distributor is listed as Geffen, and the site describes it as:

“Never heard before, heat from Large Professor. This album was shelved in 1993 and includes unreleased and rare joints.”

It seems to be a repackaging of the version of The LP that was packaged with preorders of 1st Class, with a slightly altered track listing that adds the song “Have Fun”.

Track listing on this version is listed below:

1 Sunrise

2 One Plus One

3 Hard

4 Spacey

5 For My People

6 Hungry

7 Get Off The Bullshit

8 Funky 2 Listen 2

9 Dancing Girl

10 Have Fun

11 Ijuswannachill

12 The Mad Scientist

It’s missing some of the tracks that have been circulating on bootleg pressings of the record, but I do like the cover more than the Dune inspired original, pictured below next to the cover that inspired it.

Is this legit? Could someone ask the Mad Scientist for me? If you’re interested, take a look at the FatBeats listing and tell me what you think.

While you’re at it, visit Robbie’s spot to pick up a few of the tracks omitted from the release