Gotta tell ya, Dame Dash may not be the best business man and kind of an a**hole but you can never say that he is NOT a hustler. I think this venture is worth the watch. You’ll be impressed. Thanks to High Heels and High Tops for the reminder. I was sleeping on this. Late pass.
Great footage of Q-Tip talking about his production of beats for Jay-Z and Biggie. Although we’ve never heard an Ummah beat for these NY MCs, I can imagine something classic. On a separate note, think Tip loves to do impressions of his friends. Anyone remember his impressions of Busta at the Noisemakers interviews? Thanks to NR for the vid.
Flying under the radar due to the hype of the NBA playoffs, Cassie vs. Rhianna, “Motherlover”, and the Relaspe leak; De La Soul has been making moves and noise with the signature quality music. They just got back from Australia where my favorite mixtape DJ, J. Period, was opening for them. Then they released last week the stellar mix for Nike, which the homie, Dukes, took the time to chop up the mp3 for 2 new songs.
After the jump are some vlogs of J. Period’s trip to Australia and De La discussing the Best of Q-Tip mixtape.
*** UPDATE: I haven’t visited Cold Rock Da Spot in awhile but I am glad I did today because they dropped a great post on De La’s rare songs and remixes then proceeded to give them to you, the hip-hop loving public. Now stop reading and go check it out!
Spotted at Miss Info’s, this is a classic clip where Q-tip is showing off his producer and DJ skills with the needle drop. I think I’ve watched this a hundred times. Can’t get that beat out of my head. I’m hooked. Its funny to see Kanye become a fan again and talk about listening to Marauders. Have fun with the video (no paris hilton). Speaking of Q-Tip, finally listened to the Renaissance in its entirety this weekend. Its a complete album and the singles sound better when in the context and flow of the album than just stand alones. Late pass for me.
The homie Peter Rosenberg has been hitting homeruns with his new Noisemakers series in NY. Playing off his successful interview style from Juan Epstein, he’s gotten DJ Premier, Questlove, and now Q-Tip to share some great stories about thier personal history and inside scoop on classic hip-hop moments. I wasn’t there but from the twitterverse has disclosed, he talks about: how Busta almost became a part of Tribe, meeting Phife, battling Ol’ Dirty Bastard, and working with the Native Tongues. The video above is a classic clip of Q-Tip’s impression of D’angelo, an outburst from Questlove, and his first encounters with Dilla. Thanks, FWMJ.
Another hip-hop confession for all 12 KTL readers, I’m bored with Mos Def. He has just gotten lazy and effortless with his work. If you have been to his shows recently, you know what I mean. 30 min of Jazz scats doesn’t make you deep. Anyways, the video above he loses his sanity for a moment to think he battle Jay-Z. I agree he can whip Lil’ Wayne but so can a pug that’s has digestive problems. But to not hurt those readers that believe Mos Def is authentic (”he’s from Brooklyn!”), funny (”he was on Chapelle show!”), artistic (have you heard “Black on Both Sides?”), an actor (”he’s in the new Gondry film!”) and true hip-hop, I give you a dope collection of rares and remixes. Its a box set that came out in 2006 that is very hard to find in origianl packaging but here for your digital pleasure. Go change your diaper. Tracklisting after the jump.
We Are Hip Hop, Me, You, Everybody (Discs 1 & 2)
We Are Hip Hop, Me, You, Everybody (Discs 3 & 4)
I dropped a hint of this last week but I am excited to say J. Period finally released this mixtape. I tried to put J. Period’s website link up but I think the # of downloads crashed the site. So, I jacked it from Nah Right and gave you the tracklisting after jump. Once you read it, you’ll know why you should download it.
J. Period – The [Abstract] Best Mixtape
Exile is killing the producer game with these clips. Just Blaze or $port – where you at?! Exile first got my attention in 2007 with his album with Blu – Below the Heavens. I didn’t know if he was slept on by the masses and I found a diamond in the rough (pause) or I was the last to know about him. In any sense, I think what Qbert did for Scratching, Exile could do for beatmaking. His chop up of “Q-Tip’s Let’s ride” and “A Millie” after the jump. Thanks to Eskay.
Many of you may be scratching your head like, “What is ‘Excursions’ and why is there a 2009 version”? If your head has been scratched and you got dandruff (pause), then dead yourself. One of my favorite songs from the Low End Theory has been given the remake treatment by fellow Native Tonguers, De La Soul. And although I’m not a big fan of remakes of any song, this one is good. A leaked cut from one of the Djs that inspires me, J. Period. New mixtape dedicated to Tribe coming later this month. BTW, I am still bumping J. Period’s Best of Lauryn, Isley, and Mary tapes – like constantly. And if you didn’t know, Grind Date is De La’s second best album behind De La Soul is Dead. What?!
Last month, many know that Q-Tip was doing a show at the House of Blues while in the middle of Vivrant Thing, Mr. Purple, came out and did some playing with his band. According to all accounts, this was a complete surprise to everybody, including Tip & DJ Scratch. Well, now we got the video!
On a touching note, my boy E.Mares let me know of a 6 Degrees of Seperation story between him, his late sister (RIP), Prince and Tip. I’m not going to post it here b/c it’s his story but you may want to ask him about it when you see him. Thanks for sharing, homie.