Went from turntables to mp3s, From "Beat Street" to commercials on Mickey D's, From gold cables to Jacobs, From plain facials to Botox and face lifts

Hip-Hop Is Dead

They buggin say Nastradamus just wasn't one of my hardess', sold over a mil regardless.

I know a lot of people don't get it,but I love Nas' strategy, which consist of sticking to Incredible Bongo Band samples. I mean, overused samples are the essence of hip-hop, no ? From Made You Look to Hip Hop Is Dead via Thief's Theme and Serious with AZ, all those Michael Viner's samples have been put to good use.

Totally unrelated : Ain't Hard To Tell demo(fixed) and Rise And Fall.

And the music plays on even after we're gone, from Brooklyn to Qadima to Ramallah and on.

Finally Nadav Samin has a myspace, and he has incredible new music on it : The Long Night and HB Reprise. Maybe you know him under his old MC name, Siah.

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Internet sensation NYoil had people talking about his video on YouTube just a week ago, but apparently they don't want to host it now. Oh well, here is the mp3 : Get Lynched produced by Fantom of the Beats.

Puba of the styles like miles and shit, like 60's funky worms with waves and perms...

Like Me, from Hyphy Producer/MC Beeda Weeda's new album. Turfology 101 is out on Hiero Imperium. For those who don't know, a lot of hyphy producers are "backpackers" at heart. Why did you think ex-Cosmic Slop Shop member Rick Rock sampled some random Digable Planets vocals in E-40's Yay Area and now throws in some Tribe Called Quest sample in Too Short's Keep Bouncin ?

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Let's be clear : I never bought anything by any member of D-Block. I don't like any track they've ever been on. But that Take Everything is killing it !

I'm takin ya back come follow me

Much to my surprise, Boot Camp click new album is not a totally worthless waste of plastic. The Last Stand has more good songs than any of their individual albums of the past 10 years. My favourite is
Souljah.

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Sadat X's collaboration with J-Zone from the new album, Black October.

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Thanks to The Game, name dropping is becoming fashionable again. Expect Tim Dog and Chino XL to make their big come back soon. But for now it's The Juggaknots name checking everyboy they've ever met on Namesake and dissing Stretch Armstrong by the way.

I just come back from well deserved vacations, but sorry for you, I didn't bring back a lot a music. Well, Madrid isn't know for its music scene anyway. I mean except this is the most decent hip-hop record I found there : DNI : Decir Funk

At least I heard good DJs and they make good comps, check the Jazz Travels compiled by Casbah 73 on Hitop Records. It Has dope Soul, Psyche, Bossa and, yes, jazz tracks, like Daniel Lencina's Negro en sol menor

Over the last month I've listen to that song a million time. It's on Exile's album, rhymes by Blu.

In recent bad news, I heard that Z-Ro got incarcerated recently. Let's hope that when the Mo City Don comes out, he'll get half the coverage TI has.

Which motherfucker stole my flow

Busta Rhymes and Q-Tip used to be like Sadat X and Diamond : you don't really why they do all these tracks together, but they just sound better than with their own crew. They used to share managers, crew members, producers etc. Now, I don't mean that what they did recently sucks, but stuff like Come On Down, Step It Up , Wild Hot, Ill Vibe or One, Two Shit was so much better.

Now that Busta is all about calling women bitches and pushing kilos, he has found a new friend in Raekwon. And if State Of Grace, Baggage Handlers or Goldmine are any indication, this new friendship might a good thing for us.

Fanboy for life

Fanboy #1 Brother ?uest letter to The Source, august 1992.

I don't know why this particular song leaked, but I think New-York Shit is a total anti-climax after Touch It. I hope Busta Rhymes has more in store for his album.

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I could go on and on about fanboy raps, from Edan to David Banner and Nas a lot of rappers let their inner fanboy out sometimes. Most of the timethe result is awkward, but NgaFish pulled out a good one with Where The Real Heads At ?. Probably 'cause he is closer to a fan than to a professional rapper.

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Please don't tell me that I'm the only one who doesn't like TI's What You Know About That ? I'm getting old now, and sometimes I prefer good old horn samples like in The King's Back. Yet, as much as I don't like the original, I can really get with Low B's altimore remix of What You Know. Well I guess I'm not that old if I like that !

I don't care who's first and who's last

Ok, now call me stupid, but until a few weeks ago I didn't know that E-Swift jacked the beat from the video of the best posse cut ever.

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My internet provider is messing with me right now, I can't upload anything. Anyway here are a couple of free mp3 I listen these days, courtesy of their respective labels :

One of the very few interesting groups to emerge from Beta Bodega, Climber with a very 2000-season-ish track called Reparations.

The centerpiece of Key-Kool & Rhettmatic 1995 Kozmonautz album Reconcentrated about the incarceration of Japanese in America during World War II has since been used many times in universities.

I don't know if from a marketing point of view Tanya Morgan is a good name for a rap group with no female member. But who cares about considerations like this when the music is good ? Paper Thin.

Bop to the beat, walk down the street

Everybody should be aware that Run-DMC's 808 beats were a major influence on Miami bass and Texas rap. This screwed & chopped remix of My Adidas is just one example.
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The Three Freaks plus two more : Mistah FAB and Droop-E join Turf Talk and Keak Da Sneak on the remix of DJ Shadow's track. Link courtesy of http://nationofthizzlam.blogspot.com/

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Recent interview with the One More of the Funky Four : Sha-rock

Let's travel back to where it all began

Sorry for those still reppin the 56K, here is a quite long Run DMC track from 1986-87 that didn't appear on any of the recent reissues : Black History.

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Longtime radio DJ Carlos Niño's group Ammoncontact has a new album coming out in may, called With Voices. Among the numerous collaborations they did two tracks with Nouka from The Nonce also known as Sach : Into 777.

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It's borderline sexist, it doesn't sound organic at all, it has chicks dancing in the video : his old fans won't like it at all. Yet if you ask me, 3 Freaks is the best thing made by Shadow since Swan Lake.

Twist wig back, head crack, Flat line, alpine, deck !

Earlier this week in New-York Warner had a listening session of a new kind for E-40's My Ghetto Report Card. Instead of letting the journalists, you know, listen to the album, they heard a mix of E-40 classics and only a few cuts from the album. Meanwhile Lil Jon was there distributing free weed to everyone and they had girls stripping and dancing naked.
I don't think it's a good sign. I wasn't a fan of E-40 during his heyday, so I can only have a good surprise with his album, like I had when he dropped Gasoline . The album which will drop this month has production by Studio Ton, Lil Jon, RIck Rock, Kanye and E-40's own son, Droop-E.

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Some good old mixes by DJ Clyde on Dusty Tape.

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Bonus pour Bachir : East : Straight From The Underground.

Forever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever...

The first time I heard KRS One's Check It Out was on a Bazooka Joe & Truck Jewels double mixtape. It took me along time to figure out where it came from, until I found a web site dedicated to the Dust Brothers (who produced this beat). Check It Out was one of the few exclusive tracks made for the soundtrack of the worst movie ever made, Orgazmo.

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If this is what the Ultramagnetic MC's reunion will sound like, I think I'd rather have another 254 self produced Kool Keith "albums"...

En attendant Casey

Alors qu'est-ce qu'on fait en attendant ?

Frooty a des bons vieux Beat de Boul, 90BPM a du nouveau TTC, Vraitruc a du Al Peco , le clip de Rocé Besoin d'Oxygène est sur son site perso, Disques Dur propose un mp3 inédit de Dany Dan Ne me pousse pas et moi j'ai La Rumeur Les Bronzés Font Du Rap.

Mais il va pas falloir nous faire attendre trop longtemps quand même.

Everybody ain’t a stereotype

Spine Magazine has an mp3 of Ice Cube's Race Card, the theme song to the reality show Black.White. I love the chorus : "Everything in the world ain’t black or white. Everybody ain’t a stereotype." But all white people are devils...

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I interviewed Spank Rock last week for Clark. Real down to earth guys who are not used to give interviews yet ! Their album sound like a Diplo DJ set. With an MC who sounds just like Mos Def and a producer who's fan of Dizzee Rascal. Their first 12" Put That Pussy On Me was on Money Studies, and the new one Rick Rubin just came out on Big Dada.

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Dope footage of a battle between Mistah Fab and Jin, probably the only rapper who retire before he even had a career.

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See all the videos of Rakim on his own MySpace page. And if you're nice to him, may be he'll let you be his virtual friend. Ain't that cool ?

Enjoy

Introducing the crew you gotta see to believe...