*UCK KOBE!!!

*UCK KOBE...
No wait...
No, *UCK KOBE...
Hold up...
NO, FUCK KOBE BRYANT!!! Make up your damn mind! Dude's been full of himself since day one. Only someone like him could prance around and think he's hip-hop (is Tyra still looking for a husband?).

[MP3] Kobe Bryant feat. Tyra Banks :: K.O.B.E.
{Just in case the live version wasn't bad enough. How's Tony Parker soundin' now?}

From one Mr. to another, please come back Mr. Clutch/Logo & fix my team.
::MISTA HIPPO::

Memorial Day Mix

To me posting "mixtape" posts, where the blogger usually just throws up a bunch of songs, is an excuse for being lazy. Well that's really not the case here. I've only done a handful of "mixtape" posts and even though there is no direct connecting theme whatsoever at times, it really gives us a good chance to put up some songs that I've wanted to post for a long, long time...& that are all bada$. I hope you enjoy them.

[MP3] Dntel :: To A Fault
{If you love Postal Service and Death Cab For Cutie, then this is for you.}
[MP3] Joanna Newsom :: Monkey & Bear
{I went to the Bay this past weekend to see Bjork. Of course, she was great as expected, but I became a new fan of her opening act, Joanna Newsom.}
[MP3] Bob Dylan :: Wigwam
{A real close glimpse of what Bob Dylan's singing style is really all about.}
[MP3] Maroon 5 :: Nothing Last Forever
{The "sample" that Kanye West used on "Heard 'Em Say".}
[MP3] Cat Stevens :: Here Comes My Baby
[MP3] Lou Courtney :: Hey Joyce
{I think I may have already posted this before, but I mean, hey come on, it's that dope.}
[MP3] Will.i.am feat. Phife :: Nah Mean
[MP3] Pelican City :: The Beach
{Dedicated to those bada$$e$ that have died for this country and others.}

Dipset salutes you.
::MISTA HIPPO::

Road Trip!!!

It's unfortunate that I'm NOT going to the Bay area to see the Golden St. Warriors continue their exciting run through this year's NBA Playoffs. No, I'm not sellin' out my Lakers like Snoop did, but you got love how the Bruins represent with Baron Davis and even mini-Matrix Matt Barnes (see above)...and of course Ms. Honey. But seeing Bjork is well worth the weekend trip!!!

Of course the Bay will be alright, as it still has two of my favorite figures in hip-hop today...Del The Funkee Homosapien and Dan the Automator. So for the trip, these are some of my favorite songs of their's that will be playing on the ipod:

[MP3] Dan the Automator :: The Truth
{Before the Gorillaz fame, off the the classic A Better Tomorrow.}
[MP3] Dan the Automator :: It's Over Now
[MP3] Dan the Automator :: Pit Stop (Take Me Home)
{Even though I didn't include anything off of it, definitely pick up his mixtape Wanna Buy A Monkey.}

[MP3] Del The Funkee Homosapien feat. Barrington Levy :: World Gone Mad
{Got love the OG version too...Barrington represents!!!}
[MP3] Del The Funkee Homosapien feat. Aesop Rock :: Preservation
[MP3] Del The Funkee Homosapien :: War of the Masses
{These tracks are all off of The 11th Hour, scheduled to be released sometime this year.}

Del's site

Yay, late night packing!!!
::MISTA HIPPO::

Better than Fried Chicken and Beer

What more can be said about Nas that hasn't been said already? He's an emcee's emcee, a backpacker favorite, a critic favorite, QB's finest, and a hip hop icon. That aside, I have to say I'm always impressed more by his lesser known songs than his classics. Don't get me wrong, most of Nas' staples are untouchable, but to me, some of these remixes have me setting Illmatic aside.

The first time I heard "Holy Ghosts," off of a DJ Dirty Harry mixtape, I was sucked into Nas' storytelling rhymes, then nearly lost it when Styles P. starting spitting one of the smoothest flows I've ever heard. As ill as Nas is, this is one track where he just gets outshined. And as bulletproof as Illmatic is, the Tapekingz's remix of "Life's a Bitch" laces a classic with a less gritty beat that still works and keeps your head nodding. The last track is Nas over a sublime Weldon Irvine sample featuring Tony Starks. You don't need me to tell you that
Nas + Ghost + Weldon Irvine = nutter butter.

[MP3] Nas :: Holy Ghosts (feat. Styles P.)
[MP3] Nas :: Life's Still a Bitch (Remix feat. AZ)
[MP3] Nas :: If This World Were Mine (feat. Ghostface)

|bruce banner|

ps. thanks to kangbang for the Tapekingz remix.

Follow the Light

I'm trying to think of how best to describe MF Doom's monster-movie concept album "Take me to Your Leader" and can't think of the right words except to say it's...unconventional. Relying heavily on what sounds like '60s and '70s movie soundtrack samples, the album is dense, gritty, and atmospheric. Released in '03 under the moniker King Geedorah, Doom again ventured into otherwordly territory that maybe sounds most like Kool Keith's "Dr. Octagynecologist" album, but even more insane, if that's possible.

While I love the beats on this album, I can't say I'm that big a fan of some of the featured MCs, whose flows at times overwhelm the cinematic arrangements. I like my rhymes delivered with a little more consideration to the beat it's riding on so they complement, rather than detract from one another, which seems to be the case on some of these tracks. Either that, or it's just too underground for me. A notable exception is Hassan Chop (has anyone heard of him before?) on "I Wonder", a song I featured a while back that I still bump on a regular basis. That said, I'm sure any fan of Metalface will be sure to like this album, which again pushes the envelope and puts a fresh spin on hip hop.

[MP3] King Geedorah :: Fazers
[MP3] King Geedorah :: Krazy World (feat. Gigan)

|bruce banner|

More Than 15 Minutes

Linkin’ Park, Minutes To Midnight. Gotta love these boys, reppin’ LA properly. They really know how to integrate that whole hip-hop/rock-fusion-thing. Even I gotta admit that I was getting a little tired of hearing the same “formula” over and over. But I’ve been looking forward to this album for quite some time now (drops 5/15), ever since I heard that Rick Rubin would be the executive producer on it. You know how Rick do. And I’m not disappointed one bit.

On a sidenote, if you’re ever in LA and on Melrose you got to check out Joseph Hahn’s store, SURU. Typical LA hipster scene (When is it gonna die? I remember when the only LA hipster was Beck.), but the art in there is off the hook. I was always a sucker for "high-low" art that integrates different images, boundaries, sounds, etc. well…like Linkin’ Park.

[MP3] Linkin’ Park :: Leave Out All The Rest
[MP3] Linkin’ Park :: Shadow Of The Day
[MP3] Linkin’ Park :: In Between
{Wow. I love how Rubin encourages stepping outside of the box…“Under The Bridge”?}
[MP3] Linkin’ Park :: In Pieces

SURU
{Not too much on the site.}
LP's site

Feeling depressed?
::MISTA HIPPO::

Doing It Till Death

There have been plenty of articles, blogs (including this one), etc. that have paid tribute to the legendary James Brown. You can't say enough about his influence over music & he will be greatly missed. I would say more (Talkin' Loud Sayin' Nothin'), but I think DJ Premier does a better job with his DJ Premier Salutes James Brown (The Foundation Of Hip Hop), a 2-hour double-disc mix. Not only do you get some of JB's greatest work every mixed by Primo himself, but you really get to see the extent of JB's influence in Primo's Hip Hop mix.

[MP3] DJ Premier Salutes James Brown :: Funk & Soul
[MP3] DJ Premier Salutes James Brown :: Hip Hop
{Half of hip-hop wouldn't exist if it wasn't for James Brown.}

You should really check out Primo's Sirius radio show.

Take Some Leave Some.
::MISTA HIPPO::

Hip-Hop Is Dead, But Has It Lost Its Soul?

As one art dies is it replaced by another? I’m not going to jump on the bandwagon and say that my true love, hip-hop, is dead, but we can all agree that its freshness, aura…something about it is not the same as it was 10 years ago or even 5 years ago. And it seems around this same time, as hip-hop went under-underground, soul has had resurgence (see O-Dub’s post for the details). But is this really a resurgence or like my sneakerhead-friend says, “Retro is it, bro.”. That does seem to be the case if you look at artists like Maxwell, D’Angelo, Lucy Pearl, etc. And now with Amy Winehouse, Nicole Willis, Mark Ronson (the Godfather of what I like to call “new neo-soul”...the hotness right now) it definitely seems like “retro is it”.

We can all agree that this sound/feel started to pop up first in the hip-hop of A Tribe Called Quest’s later albums (Beats, Rhymes & Life and The Love Movement, the albums that everyone at the time said was the cause of ATCQ’s “fallin’ off”). This sound was spearheaded by Jay Dee/J. Dilla along with Q-tip. Which later became The Ummah (Q-tip, Jay Dee, Ali Shaheed Muhammad). And even when they went their separate ways, (Dilla kept developing his sound to greater highs, Ali went on to form Lucy Pearl with one of the Tonys - Raphael Saadiq), Tip kept plugging away.

This would then bring us to the Slept On portion of this post. Q-tip’s Amplified was an album that was slept on not by mainstream peeps, but more by the underground scene. A lot of people were saying Tip sold out, even his 5ft. man Phife (I believe he called him a wannabe Maxwell, if I’m not mistaken). Sure it seemed with the videos and all that Tip had sort of changed his view up, but harsh words from a brother nonetheless. I don’t know if people were tried of it or were just too damn judgmental, but I think Jay Dee blessed him with some of his nicest beats on Amplified. Case in point:

[MP3] Q-tip :: All In
[MP3] Q-tip :: Let’s Ride
[MP3] Q-tip :: Do It, See It, Be It

Now as this sound grew and developed and part of it became known as Soulaquarian, again Tip was on the scene. But this time it wasn’t the fans that slept, but the record execs who wouldn’t even allow the album Kamaal The Abstract to see the light of day. Time to wake up:

[MP3] Kamaal The Abstract :: Blue Girl
[MP3] Kamaal The Abstract :: Heels
[MP3] Kamaal The Abstract :: Even If It Is So

Even though the newer sound of Winehouse, etc. is more rooted/retro’d in the Motown sound, the concept is the same. And again Tip is in the mix, with his soon-to-be-released Renaissance. Tip calls this album a tribute to Dilla. Here are some of my favorites:

[MP3] Q-Tip feat. Andre 3000 :: That’s Sexy
[MP3] Q-Tip :: Where Do You Go
[MP3] Q-Tip feat. D’Angelo :: I Believe

And I couldn’t leave you without Madlib reminding us all where “retro” really came from.
[MP3] Madlib :: Motown Mix

Clean out ya’ ears, cause hip-hop is still hear.
::MISTA HIPPO::