So Friday night we went out with some friends, and I ended up, uh, falling asleep in the passenger seat while my wife navigated home. While I was still awake, I popped Midnight Marauders on the iPod – only one of the greatest hip-hop records with one of the greatest covers – for the drive home.
I’m told I fell asleep, clutching the iPod as to not allow my wife a chance to change the tunes (and, really, why would she?). I quite enjoyed the unintentional symbolism at work there: You’re going to have to rip Midnight Marauders from my cold, dead hands when my time eventually expires. It’s too much to go into how much I love that album for these purposes, but let’s say I will write an I Used to Love H.E.R. entry one day soon … and it will be long and it will be glorious.
Until then, I will say that the last two tracks on Midnight Marauders – Lyrics to Go and God Lives Through – are probably my favorites off the record. (I think there’s a post brewing about best last songs on albums … hmmmm.) One of the most unique aspects of God Lives Through is how it samples a vocal loop – Busta Rhymes growling “oh my god!” – off a song from the same album. It’s a move that seems like it would be self-aggrandizing, but it’s really genius instead with how it hammers in your brain the hook.
The pacing of the track also appeals to me, its unorthodox syncopation dropping bass hits early in each measure. It’s definitely one of my favorite Tribe songs to rap along with while it plays. The verses – just one apiece from Q-Tip and Phife – are meaty and loaded (thanks to Phife) with playful yet resourceful name-checking: the Pharcyde, Toni Braxton, Babyface, Shanice and, of course, his best friend Steven at the Home Depot.
Samples used: Jimmy McGriff, Dig On It; David T. Walker, On Love (via The Breaks).
I haven’t read up much on this movie The Wackness with Ben Kingsley, but I’m more motivated after seeing one of my favorite hip-hop artists, D-Nice, take part with the “official movie soundtrack mixtape.”
Considering the movie’s backdrop is mid-90s New York, D-Nice’s mixtape drops a healthy dose of East Coast classics in this lean, mean 24-minute mix.
The Wackness Official Movie Soundtrack Mixtape tracklisting:
1. Intro (Heath Brothers - Smiling Billy Suite)
2. Nas - One Love
3. The Notorious BIG - The What Feat. Method Man
4. Lou Reed - Walk On The Wild Side
5. A Tribe Called Quest - Can I Kick It
6. KRS-One - I Can’t Wake Up
7. Stanley Turrentine - Sister Sanctified
8. BDP - My Philosophy
9. Black Moon - How Many Emcees
10. O.C. - Time’s Up
11. Craig Mack - Flavor In Ya Ears
12. Group Home - Supa Star
13. Biz Markie - Just A Friend
14. Freddie Scott - (You) Got What I Need
15. Wendy Rene - After Laughter (Comes Tears)
16. Wu-Tang Clan - Tearz
17. Ahmad Jamal Trio - I Love Music
18. Nas - The World Is Yours
According to a MySpace bulletin, the guys from Universatile Music are bringing GZA to the Clubhouse in Tempe on Sept. 17 for a performance of Liquid Swords. Um, woah.
Here’s the brief bulletin:
“UM presents…THE GZA performing a special Liquid Swords set
at The Clubhouse in Tempe on 9-17
at The Green Room (formally Mogollon Brewery) in Flagstaff on 9-18
I’d be more excited about this one if I didn’t have to drive two hours to Tucson to see it. We had a blast the last time we saw Mr. Gregg Gillis, at the SoCo Music Experience in Tempe in the fall.
Anyway, Girl Talk is playing Rialto Theatre on Oct. 23 with Heart of Darkness and Grand Buffet. Tickets are $15. More info.
Did anyone pick up Feed the Animals? If so, how much did you pay?
I’m going to try to keep up with the folks over at Stinkweeds – and hopefully a couple other local retailers – on a regular basis to see what their top-selling albums each week are.
I’d like to point out I was partially responsible for Nos. 2 and 3, both of which I purchased on vinyl last week. In a sign that my consumer habits are changing, I actually had the Wolf Parade CD in hand until I realized I’d get free mp3 downloads with the vinyl and the awesome artwork in a bigger size, to boot. (For more on that topic, visit Bows + Arrows.)
Otherwise, I own only one other record from this list (Evil Urges), though I do have the Silver Jews record on my to-buy list.
Stinkweeds’ Top 10 sellers for the week of June 22-28:
1. Sigur Ros – Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust (XL)
2. Fleet Foxes – s/t (Sup Pop) // MP3: White Winter Hymnal
3. Wolf Parade – At Mount Zoomer (Sub Pop)
4. My Morning Jacket – Evil Urges (ATO)
5. Notwist – The Devil, You and Me (Domino)
6. Hercules and Love Affair – s/t (DFA)
7. King Khan & the Shrines – Supreme Genius (Vice) // MP3: Torture
8. Silver Jews – Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea (Drag City) // MP3: Strange Victory, Strange Defeat
9. Love as Laughter – Holy (Epic)
10. Plants and Animals – Parc Avenue (Secret City)
After the recent release of The Bake Sale EP (get at eMusic), the Cool Kids are back with That’s Stupid The Mixtape, available as a free download.
It’s short – five songs and about 25 minutes – but full of that easygoing, old-school Cool Kids style. It comes with jpgs for the front (above) and back artwork.
My next music DVD purchase undoubtedly will be The Hard Sell at Hollywood Bowl, a live performance of DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist using all 45s.
Here’s the intro to the DVD – a brief history of the 45 that is both informative and amusing: “Those big holes can really wreak havoc when you’re cutting it up.”
It’s been a minute since I’ve taken the time to upload some songs to my Muxtape, probably because the site had some internal issues and I lost the last one I uploaded.
Ah well. I got new songs posted. The theme? Remixes. Hip-hop remixes, to be exact. Just some of my favorites in my library. Man, I love 3rd Bass. More on them soon.
I’ve been meaning to start some arbitrary weekly feature for some time now, and I came to the decision that every Sunday I will now post something related to A Tribe Called Quest, if only because the group is one of my all-time favorites (Midnight Marauders is desert-island disc material) and, really, do I need another reason? Anyway, we gotta educate the young’ens, right? So check back every Sunday for songs, videos, remixes, whatever. We’ll see how deep my Tribe catalog is. And if anyone has some Tribe goodies to share, holler at me.
If there was some sort of sign that I should begin this feature, it came to me on Saturday night. Earlier in the day I was browsing The Meaning of Dope (a must for you hip-hop fans) when I came across a video of A Tribe Called Quest performing Check the Rhime on In Living Color.
Well, on Saturday night, I was working the Mariners-Padres game for work. While listening to the San Diego feed on MLB.tv, Check the Rhime was played on a fade into a commercial break. Coincidence? I think not.
Without question, Check the Rhime probably is one of the best examples of interplay between Q-Tip and Phife in its sort of call-and-response format – “You on point, Phife?” / “All the time, Tip.”
More important is one of the most well-known and cited lines in Tribe lore. Even 17 years later, no truer words have been spoken: “Industry rule No. 4080, record company people are shady.”
Peep the video. And check out Q-Tip: Could he be any more of a front-runner with the Yankees jersey and Braves hat? Damn.
