Rock n Roll Could Never Hip Hop Like This

I guess some people really get into those hip hop/rock song mash-ups. I'm not really feelin it but whatever, I suppose you have to appease the random frat boys and hipsters that happen to wander into the hip hop scene. To me, it's like when your mashed potatoes and gravy run into your steak and veggies and then your plate becomes a sopping mess of drowned food. (Am I just being OCD here?) I suppose the music lover in me just doesn't find it that innovative when DJs mix a hip hop and rock song and expect people to oooh and ahh just cuz both songs are good in their own right. This is probably why Z-trip doesn't excite me all that much.

What sets these songs apart is that they use rock n' roll samples - adapting and recreating the music to emerge with something different and refreshing. Check it out...

Common Market :: Come Together (Over Hip Hop)

Please do not sleep on Common Market. Foreals. When I first heard this Common Market song at the Knitting Factory show a month back, I stood there as the chills ran up and down my spine, my perspirating beer cup in one hand, screaming without shame, "Ooohhh shit!" It samples The Beatles song Come Together and emcee RA Scion spits some seriously sick lyrics. Sabzi, who also produces for Blue Scholars, comes through with some amazing production work on their debut album. I truly don't think he gets nearly as much props as he should.

[MP3] Living Legends :: 2010

Ok so I honestly haven't kept up with Living Legends in awhile, but I heard this song a week ago and it catapulted me back to 8th grade, flannel shirts, chucks, and Charles D. Lopez who gave me my very first Nirvana tape. Holla! 2010 samples Nirvana's The Man Who Sold the World. I'll refrain from going on and on about Kurt Cobain's genius and the beautifully eerie combination of the guitar riffs and cello in this song.

[MP3] Rock n' Roll (Could Never Hip Hop Like This) Pt 2 :: Handsome Boy Modeling School feat. Mike Shinoda, Chester Bennington, Jazzy Jay, Lord Finesse, Grand Wizard Theodore

Dan the Automator and Prince Paul produce a dizzying six minute song that somehow manages to incorporate samples from Vivaldi's Four Seasons and Fatboy Slim's Rockefeller Skank, flows from Chester Bennington and Lord Finesse, scratching by Grand Wizard Theodore, and to top it off - a little bit of a history lesson on how hip hop was influenced by rock music. It's a delicate balance that these two veteran producers pull off nicely by weaving the classical, rock, and hip hop genres together. Again, another good album.