You are currently browsing the monthly archive for August, 2008.
Man, I was so excited to see that this track was finally up. Although I wasn’t very into Keys’ “The Death of Adam” mixtape that dropped a couple months ago, I loved the snippet of this track that showed up on Kanye’s “Can’t Tell Me Nothing” mixtape last year (cop that immediately if you didn’t get it when it came out last year. It’s amazing. I still listen to it all the time.)
But it turns out that the snippet on “Can’t Tell Me Nothing – The Official Mixtape” was better. The intro really drags without Kanye talking over it like he does on the mixtape. Plus, the beat is really hot for a minute, but in a three-minute song it gets kind of old pretty fast. And the Borat reference was much fresher a year and a half ago. Plus I kind of miss Malik Yusef doing spoken word over the end of the track, now that it’s not there.
So really, the moral of this post is: if you somehow missed the “Can’t Tell Me Nothing” mixtape, get it right now.
Download: 88-Keys — Stay Up! (Viagra)
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While I’m in Cape Town, I want to get an internship at a recording studio. So in the next week I’m putting together a bunch of beats that I’ve made recently to give as samples of my work, and I’ll be putting them up here as well. I’m proud of these beats, and I think you’ll like them. I don’t have time to put them up now, but here’s a sneak preview of what’s to come.
Edit: What the hell, I’ll put up one more.
Oh, and anyone who can figure out the samples gets my respect for a long time.
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I want to punch this guy in the face. But after I take his shoes. Also, I am about 85% sure that the Dominican flag is on the brim of his hat.
So at this point in 2008, it seems that just about every single human being on earth who has ever rhymed two words together has released a “freestyle” over the beat of “A Milli”. Five people listened to it, and then remembered that it was probably worse than the original and forgot about it. Therefore, the fundamental flaw of most “A Milli” remixes is that they don’t do anything innovative because they’re all made by other rappers…until now. Discodust posted this great remix by Chewy Chocolate Cookies that is great simply because it sounds different, finally. Kanye posted this decent one a few days ago as well. My favorite, however, is this Nasty Ways remix of Lollipop. It adds another dimension of sound to the song altogether and makes it sound even more space age-y and out there. So check it out.
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I figured I might as well post my favorite Rock-afire Explosion video as well:
The part with Young Jeezy is excellent.
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I forgot to mention, I started a travel blog. I’m going to write about studying abroad in South Africa like once a week, hopefully. Check it out.
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(via Stereogum)
You may remember the Rock-afire Explosion from their out-of-place, but also funny, appearance in the music video for MGMT’s “Electric Feel,” which you can’t embed for reasons that are completely unclear.
On a side note, I never noticed how melodramatic and ridiculous the lyrics to “Neghborhood #1″ were.
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…but it’s not quite getting a traditional release either. As this press release says,
The album exists in seven different packaging formats: CD, LP, T-shirt, tote bag, button set, paper lantern, and wall decal set. Each item in the Skeletal Lamping Collection includes both the digital album and its unique packaging of the album art.
Basically, you can buy a CD or LP if you want, but you can also just by a T-shirt, tote bag, or whatever and get a digital copy of the album with it.
This sounds like a fantastic idea to me, much better than the pay-your-own-price-online paradigm. I’m going to be honest–I don’t pay for a lot of music. But I can definitely see myself going out and paying for a digital copy of an album if it comes with a t-shirt. I hope this catches on.
(via Stereogum)
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Pertinent Observations:
-Does Wayne even rap anymore? Sure this hook is pretty good after you listen to it a few times, but T-Pain probably could have done a better job.
-Haha at the Young Buck cameo (1:31).
-So many names dropped…yet The Game still can’t write a decent verse. The secret to making pop culture references in rap is cleverness and moderate obscurity. Without either of these, you get the garbage that he is spitting in this song. “I ain’t no preacher, but here’s my Erick Sermon”? Give me a break.
-Don’t get me started on “And why every hood nigga feed off evil?/Answer my question before this bullet leave this Desert Eagle”. That sounds like something I would write, if I rapped. Do you see why I don’t rap? I hope so.
-Dr. Dre’s headphone brand: I didn’t realize it was ok to use product placement in a “meaningful” song.
-”With the top back/In my Sox hat”. Why did he put on a Boston hat then? I don’t get it.
LAX looks like it’s going to be another mediocre album kept afloat by Dr. Dre’s beats. I wouldn’t expect anything else from The Game at this point anyway. I hope he retires soon.
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So like I said earlier, this mixtape contains all of the mash-ups I’ve put up to download, plus an extra mash-up, all as one continuous song (broken down into individual tracks). Check it out.
Download: The Mash-Up MegaMixtape
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