Weekly Digest 16
It’s February. In Hip Hop that means it’s Dilla Appreciation month. Arguably the most influential hip hop producer of all time, Dilla died on February 10th, 2006 of a blood disease. Every year his friends, fans and fellow artists celebrate his contribution to hip hop with an onslaught of tribute mixes. To be honest most of them are rehashed and not that noteworthy, but if a big dog in hip hop drops a tribute, it gives you a nice insight into which songs that person picks as Dilla’s most influential work. Case in point this year: Mr. Cee on Hot97.
Good news everyone! We will be blessed with some post-mortem Dilla! And not just a collection of Dilla’s beats, but a lost vocal album recorded in the early 2000’s. It will be called The Diary and there’s a first track of the album already available to stream on Soundcloud: “Anthem” featuring Frank N Dank, produced by J Dilla. Mixed and mastered from the original 2-inch tape. 12-inch clear vinyl to be released on Pay Jay Productions, Spring 2013. You can pre-order “Anthem” and another track titled “Trucks” here: rappcats.com/shop/jdilla-anthem/
While “Anthem” and “Trucks” are produced by J Dilla, the rest of The Diary features Dilla rapping over choice production by Madlib, Pete Rock, House Shoes, Karriem Riggins, etc.
Brooklyn-based Bastard Jazz Recordings, who rock Bastard Jazz Radio on this very site, released The Kosmichemusik EP by Montreal/Vancouver duo Potatohead People. Their debut for Bastard Jazz is a trip through the mellow synth-jazz hip-hop style they’ve become known for. Bastard Jazz will also be releasing a limited edition 7” from this project featuring “Love Hz” and “Back To My Shit” on Valentine’s Day for all the heart-breakers and/or broken hearted.
Order the Digi EP and accompanying 7″ on the Bastard Jazz Shop
Just in time for Valentine’s day, they gave away the track “Back To My Shit” – a lovelorn tale of breakup and redemption featuring the rhymes of Detroit’s Frank Nitt (Frank’n’Dank, J. Dilla) with very catchy yet deep synth-heavy production from the Potatohead People.
Download Potatohead People ft. Frank Nitt – Back To My Shit
Brainfeeder signee Miguel Baptista Benedict released “Phemy” a haunting instrumental based around some loose piano loops, that sounds a lot like it could be part of the soundtrack for “Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind” – then again could perfectly fit on a sketch-style beat tape. I don’t know – I come back to it time and time again, so there’s definitely something more catchy to this beat, than meets the eye (or ear) the first time you listen to it.
YES! A project we’ve been looking forward to for months now, comes closer and closer. Of course we are talking about Ghostface’s “Twelve Reasons to Die”. While we dig Ghost, we love Adrian Younge – the man on the production side. He really brings a vintage soul sound to life! The first track “The Rise of the Ghostface Killah” can be streamed below, the full album comes out 16 April 2013 and is a “brutal tale of gangsters, betrayal and one vengeful soul hunting the 12 most powerful crime lords in the World”. Cool with me!
Financial freedom is the newest output by Fiddy. For his new video, he frees himself of all material possessions. In his own words
“This was inspired by 10years anniversary of GET RICH OR DIE TRYIN I wrote the song so everytime i hear it it reminds me of it. I wrote it the day before yesterday shot yesterday it took me longer to find the beat than to actually write it.”
James Blake returns with the first single, “Retrograde” off his new project coming April 8, under the name of “Overgrown”.
Alice Russell’s anticpated new album To Dust is being moved to an April 30th release date for the US. In the meantime, Alice just premiered a new track from the album called “Twin Peaks.”
Fresh new video from Brooklyn artist K.Burns performing “Better Way”. The song echoes a chilling but common sentiment among the youth of today who are plagued with violence and a dog-eat-dog mentality. WARNING: Video contains graphic video of violent shootings. Viewer discretion is advised. @theRealKBurns x @AllEasyTV
On the heels of his latest project, Bizarre Tribe; A Quest To The Pharcyde, Amerigo Gazaway’s scored a spot in the SXSW line up. Hailed as one of the largest, most influential music events of the year, Gazaway will soon join the likes of Kendrick Lamar, Big Krit, A$ap Rocky, Action Bronson, The Pharcyde, and countless others who will leave their mark on the stages of SXSW. In honor of this monumental event, Amerigo Gazaway has put together a 35 minute mix of funk jams, original mashups and remixes for those who won’t be with us in Austin. Featuring tracks from Kashmere Stage Band, Gummy Soul’s Wally Clark x Kanye West, The Meters, Q-Tip, Grover Washington Jr., Blowfly and more:
Listen/Download the full mix here:
http://gummysoul.com/2013/01/the-gummy-soul-show-freak-the-funk/
Tracklist:
1. Kashmere Stage Band – $$ Kash Register $$
2. Carlos Sarmiento – Old Funk
3. Tatsuro Yamashita x Jay-Z – Can’t Knock The Hustle
4. Maker – Shout
5. Antonio Carlos & Jocafi – Kabaluere
6. Bad Medicine – Trespasser
7. 9th Creation – Bubble Gum
8. Amerigo Gazaway – 4 Better Or 4 Worse (Bizarre Tribe Instrumental)
9. Bob James – Nautilus
10. The Meters – Cissy Strut
11. Grover Washington Jr. – Knucklehead
12. Keith Mansfield – Funky Fanfare (Original)
13. Keith Mansfield – Phunky Fanfare (Si Begg Remix)
14. Alan Hawkshaw and Keith Mansfield – Funky Fanfare (Soul Thing)
15. Q-Tip – Lets Ride
16. Fred Wesley and The J. B.’s – You Can Have Watergate Just Gimme Some Bucks and I’ll Be Straight
17. Maker – Hold ‘em
19. Wally Clark x Kanye West – Get Em High (Gummy Soul Remix)
20. Gary Byrd – Soul Travelin Pt. 1 (The G. B. E.)
21. Amerigo Gazaway x Slim Thug – Ooh I Ain’t Heard of That (DJ Chase Marz/Fela South Edit)
22. Blowfly – Outro
Bonus: Amerigo Gazaway – Library Funk
Medline is a musician, producer and DJ from Rennes, France with roots in Chile. With his debut album „People Make The World Go Round“ the French producer is taking us on a trip down memory lane by paying tribute to the jazz funk masters who’s music shaped the musical DNA of hip-hop. From Roy Ayers and Lonnie Liston Smith to Freddie Hubbard and the Heath Brothers. Songs like „Everybody Loves The Sunshine“, „Red Clay“ or „Smilin’ Billy Suite“ have been a staple amongst hip-hop and jazz fans alike for a long time. But the album is more than a sample song-book of 90ties rap. Medline reinterpretates the songs in his very own way.
FYI: Our friends over at Names You Can Trust just released a Medline cumbia 7” under his Alliacara 2743 moniker.
