Any dude with a record wall like this has got to have some mixes worth downloading.Before our crew gets to Karl Rove and Greg Paulus, a personal 'short story long,' with free mixes as a reward for suffering through it:
My Dad lives in the Pacific Northwest, and not Seattle or Portland, so for years now, whenever he visits, he asks me to hook him up with some new music. He's always liked those in-the-mix mixes off the radio, and being an old-school dude, he prefers the, shall we say, less-foul versions of our music. So a few years ago, in the midst of Dance-Hop week at All Thangs Funky, Brother B went overboard and hooked up a four-disc set of everything from Chuck Brown Go-Go to a Technotronic remix of Pump Up The Jam to Ralph Tresvant's Sensitivity. But B never made me a copy.
So my Dad visited last week and brought me those CDs to copy for my iPod, in case I ever have a sudden urge to hear C&C Music Factory or Twin Hype. In return, since he's recently joined the iPod generation himself, I promised I'd send him back west with some dope, and preferably curse-free, ish.
That reminded me of a page I recently discovered (here's the payoff). Brooklyn DJ Julian Bevan has an enviable wall of vinyl on his homepage, but more importantly gives away free mixes he's made for the past 10 years or so. Hip-Hop and Hip-Pop, Reggae, House and old Soul, dude's got it all. And they're pretty good mixtapes. Then as a bonus, he's got a Red Alert show, a Chuck Chillout and a Mr. Magic show you can download in a couple parts. Basically, he's converted his cassettes for all of us to enjoy. Good man!
I don't know much else about this cat (although I suppose I could read his blog) but I like the mixes I’ve heard so far (Smooth Grooves, The Dubtitled Mixtape)
And hopefully that'll inspire our in-house table-spinner, DJ Mentos, who told me he recently bought djmentos.com for a similar project, to convert Slender Regular and I Believe in Music into a downloadable format for mass consumption.
Bevan's style actually reminds me a lot of Mentos, to be truthful.
AND IF MIXES ARE YOUR THANG ...
Mentos (March 19)
OK, I have spring fever and immediately put this mp3 on. It's a nice dj mix by DJ Ferrari. I got this 2 summers ago and it's a really dope warm weather jump off. Some serious laid back lemonade on the porch type shit. Enjoy!
DJ Ferrari - Summer Soulstice
Brother B (April 2)
Retro Soul: A Basic Primer
From Soul-Sides.com (Aww shit, he's got the new J-Ro too. You know I love Tha Liks)
Tracklisting:
Amy Winehouse: He Can Only Hold Her (Live)
From a live recording from The Astoria, London (2/19/07)
Amy Winehouse: Rehab (Desert Eagle Remix)
From label (Universal Republic, 2007)
The Poets of Rhythm: It Came Over Me
From Practice What You Preach (Soulciety/Daptone, 1993/2006)
Sharon Jones: You Better Thing Twice
From 45 (Desco, 1998). Also available on Spike's Choice .
The Poets of Rhythm: Smilin'
From Discern/Define (Quannum, 2001)
Lee Fields feat. the Expressions: Honey Dove
From 7" (Truth and Soul, 2005). Also on Fallin' Off the Reels.
Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings: All Over Again
From Naturally (Daptone, 2005)
Alice Russell: High Up On the Hook
From My Favorite Letters (Tru Thoughts, 2005)
Breakestra: Hiding (QSO Remix)
From Stand Up EP (Ubiquity, 2006)
Nicole Willis and the Soul Investigators: A Perfect Kind of Love
From Keep Reachin' Up (Timmion, 2005)
Bonus: Nellie McKay: Won't U Please B Nice?
From Get Away From Me (Sony, 2004)
Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings: What Have You Done For Me Lately?
From Dap Dippin' (Daptone, 2002)
Mentos: (The Poets of Rhythm) song is sick, it sounds like some seriously heavy 60's psych.
AROUND THE ROUNDTABLE
Here are some other things the ATF Hip-Hop e-mail Roundtable (someone tell me we didn't really name ourselves that) has been kicking around (handily combined in one place for those of you who read from work and download at home, like me!):
Black Milk Mixtape: Pressure
Rahul: Hey all. Sorry if this has been posted already, but I thought heads might be into the Black Milk mixtape Pressure. I don't know much about him, but evidently this guy came up under Dilla. The beats are straight fire. His album drops tomorrow on Fat Beats' imprint. Big ups on the video Eric (see last ATF post) a simple but original concept that was well executed and entertaining as hell to watch. Peace.
Rah
MC KARL ROVE
Ox: This is worse than the Wendy's 'How to make a burger' hip hop instructional video.
Eric: This hurts my brain.
We need Will Ferrell to come back to SNL for a special appearance spoofing this shit.
Brother B: Hip hop isn't dead because of stagnant topics and overblown marketing gimmicks, it's dead because of that shit.
Stick a fork in it!
(Has moved the Vida Guerra diss video out of the top spot as Top Moments In My Life I'll Never Get Back.)
Me: Personally, I really and truly couldn't give a shit what Karl Rove or anyone like him thinks about hip-hop. They have no effect on whether or not it's dope right now, and they never will. I think they're playing themselves more than anything, and that goes back to the start of hip-hop. Remember Fred and Barney's rappin' Fruity Pebbles commercial? (If I can find that on YouTube, it's over! Oh snap, There's this, this and this blogging about it, but no sign of the Flintstonian footage.)
That Karl Rove joint is funny to me.
THIS IS WHY DUKE SUCKS
Mentos: I'm not a big college hoops fan, but this is pretty damn funny:
Me: Yeah, the tournament's over, but this should have some staying power. One of the best uses of YouTube ever.
I LIKE BIG BIBLES
Mentos: I like Big Bibles
Me: Apparently this is an old spoof of Sir Mix-a-lot's hit, but in the devotional Christian mode. My sister (who did attend a bible college for a while) said she'd already seen it. But it was new to me.
EL-P AND TRENT REZNOR
Mentos: From El-P's new album: Flyentology (CWL Remix)
Eric: Yes, that's the Cassettes Won't Listen remix.
I dig it.
CWL is actually a friend of mine.
His solo album stuff is pretty good too.
Plus, he's got a bunch of other remixes out there that are solid.
PHONTE TAKES ON A-HA
Brother B: Yes Folks ... Phonte takes on A-ha
From Zo! and Tiggalo Love The 80's!
MR. LIF REMIXES
Brother B: Mr. Lif remixes:
By Willie Evans Jr.
Peace,
B
DJ SOUL ASSORTED DONUTS
Brother B: DJ Soul Assorted Donuts
AROUND THE ROUNDTABLE
Brother B: Prolly shoulda heard of this cat:
Marco Polo Beats
Brother B: Marco Polo Mixtape
Marco Polo - Newport Authority mixed by Mick Boogie and featuring tracks from Masta Ace, Big Noyd, Large Professor, Rasco, Sadat X and Boot Camp Click, among others.
Peace,
B
And welcome Brian to the Hip Hop Roundtable.
TRACY MORGAN ... FUNNIER WHEN LIT
Mentos: must see:
Tracy Morgan (Live and lit on your hometown morning talk show)
NEW WU-BANGER ALERT
Mentos: Dwayne, this is ALL you.
(From Spine Magazine)
Cilvaringz's 'The Weeping Tiger' featuring The RZA, Raekwon and Ghostface, produced by The RZA. Taken from his forthcoming album/DVD 'I' (which also features tracks with Method Man, GZA, Masta Killa, Killarmy and more) available for pre-orders through Wu-Tang Corp:
FIVE WORST LYRICS IN GOOD SONGS / KICKIN' IT OLD SKOOL
And two more things I’ve found that hasn’t made the rounds yet. Really, we could probably do this better than Cracked Magazine (Mad Magazine's busted cousin is still around?), but since they got to it first:
Five Worst Lyrics Ever to Ruin Good Rap Songs
I probably shouldn't admit this, but I think I want to see Kickin' It Old School
Looks wack, but I'll check it out and save the rest of you a few bucks. Of course, I won't be doing that until it airs free on DirecTV.
OUTRO
That ain’t a complete list of what's been going back and forth (Ox, post the BET joint!), but if it won’t keep you busy, I don’t know what will.
Damn, with all this stuff going around, we could really use more heads posting more often. (insert other shit I always say here)
-- KMc. aka TiVo (and now you know why the Rotogods gave me that nickname. I record and recycle shit with the best of 'em)
Labels: basic soul primer, Cassettes Won't Listen, DJ Julian Bevan, DJ Soul, Duke, Free music, Karl Rove, Marco Polo, Mr. Lif, Soul-sides
