Damn It Feels Good To Be A Gangsta

I've been working overtime the last month (literally) and my two great passions (lists and mp3s) necessitate that I put you up to speed with my listening activities during my absence from the blogging realm:





Jay Electronica - Uzi Weighs A Ton



I'm not ashamed to acknowledge I'm kind of jock riding Jay Electronica at the moment, as I'm expecting big things from him in the next year. Not only is he Black Thought meets Doom meets Nas on the mic, but he's surrounded himself with some pretty cool people - at least in my books - aswell: Erykah on-and-on Badu's crazy ass, Just Blaze, the late great Dilla, Young Guru, Sa-Ra and God's Son have all co-signed. D.O.C.'s writing an album on which Jay'll perform the lyrics, he's been working with Nas, Just Blaze and Saigon and I'm expecting some classic material, don't disappoint me Jay! This joint's from the Style Wars EP, raw aggression.






Busta, Papoose and Cassidy - Psycho



The strings! The strings! Sacre bleu, Dilla outdid himself on this one. Heard it a couple of years ago and assumed it was the good Dr (Dre, of course) with those nutjob violins, but I should've known better. This is from Busta and Mick Boogie's quality "Dillagence" mixtape. Hope there's a humungous stockpile of Dilla beats lying around and they give it the full Shakur posthumous treatment.

Frank'n'Dank - Puff Puff Pass




Speaking of whom, this tribute track from the usually mediocre Frank'n'Dank's a bit of a head nod classic for me at the minute.





Black Milk - Broken Wax Outro




Can't get enough of that Detroit shit at the moment and this outro from Black Milk's "Broken Wax EP" is nothing less than I've come to expect from dude. He seems to save his catchiest beats for his instrumental tracks...though the ones with vocals don't half bang either.





Lupe Fiasco - Paris Tokyo



The man who never has and never will listen to Tribe Called Quest wholesale biting the Hieroglyphics? I don't get it, but the song's awesome and I love "The Cool".

Playaz Circle - U Can Believe It



Great song. This and "Duffle Bag Boy" are great singles. Did notice, the same sample and a near identical beat appear on Hov's "American Gangster" track "Say Hello", though DJ Toomp gives the Jay-Z track the heavy "Can't Tell Me Nothing"/"Big Brother"/Stadium Status drums. Not sure whether he sold the same beat twice, but anyhoo, it's got a sweet soul sample on it.





The Doors - Roadhouse Blues




A little change of direction; I'm totally loving The Doors at the moment and Morrison's vocals are monstrous on this song. Makes you want to sex-drugs-and-rock'n'roll your way to oblivion.


The Who - The Kids Are Alright




I've also been spending quality time with The Who. There live performances are legendary and like all great '60s rock acts, they wear rock's blues roots proudly on their sleeves...not something I can say about too many modern day acts (I'm not too big on the emo...how you say? It has no cojones!)





Wyclef ft Sizzla - Welcome To The East




One of the better songs from the new Wyclef album. Like his other post-Ecleftic, his collaborative streak plays as both its great strength and great weakness. With so many features, it feels like a producer album, lacking cohesion and is a veritabe gumbo of styles and genres. This is quite admirable and there are songs that will appeal to disparate musical tastes...but also, conversely, songs that each type of listener will find cloying.





Ms Keys - Teenage Love Affair




The Kevin Garnett of female r'n'b singer/songwriters f**ked around and got another triple double (see Ice Cube's "A Good Day"). Not too many artists guarantee a great album everytime around anymore and Miss Keys' specialness needs to be recognised by wrapping her in cotton wool and locking her away in a safe till her next record's ready, what with her being a global treasure and all that. Prince, Stevie, Aretha...so many awesome influences you can hear in this album, but it's also incredibly fresh-sounding and sounds better by the listen.





Freeway - When They Remember




The most pleasant surprise from the Roc being back like cooked crack this 4th quarter is how good Freeway's album is. Back in '03 when his 1st record dropped, I slept on it because he sounded "annoying" (never mind me, my dumb ass previously felt the same about Ghostface, Jay-Z and The Clipse...go figure, they're all personal favourites now). However, I more tahn appreciate Free's growling, emotional delivery now, and along with Hov, he's really brought the soul sound back to East Coast gangsta rap.

The likes of Styles and Beanie went for southern keys/west coast keys that didn't really work on a lot of their tracks, but "Free At Last" is a throwback to Roc-a-Fella in its prime. Bink shines with his production on the track above and "Still Got Love" and it's a solid effort in the best possible way (the one exception is by-the-numbers for-the-ladies track "Take It To The Top" featuring - surprise, surprise - Curtis and produced by J.R. [bastard responsible for Sean Kingston] (sc)Rotem.

I'm not as young as I used to be and feeling kinda pooped...will resume this post on the 'morrow. Peace.

First and foremost, I must give muchos grazias to mon frere Stretch Nav who's put together the in depth coverage on a true legend of the hip-hop game. With no further ado:


People know Gangstarr....or are familiar with his work with nearly every major hiphop artist: Jigga, Nas, Snoop, Mos Def, MOP, Rakim, KRS, Common, BIG, Gangstarr Foundation...and/or have heard his recent output with NYG'z, Blaq Poet, Christina Aguilera, Termanology and the Nike "Classic" track. My point is, is that Preem has always been nice with his.

Here is the first of a few entries on Primo's lesser-known moments. Below are five sureshots from the nineties that not a lot of peeps know about. This is some NAV tha G.O.D. hiphop knowledge being dropped here..........nah'mean. How many people knew that Emma Bunton had one of her early solo tracks remixed by Preemo? I kid you not....and it's dope. I was trying to get it played on hospital radio when it came out in '99 but the haters (my co-presenter) did not want it. He did insist however, on playing "Mambo Number Five" on every show. Anyway, DJ Premier-we salute you.




D'n'D Allstars feat. Mad Lion, Doug E Fresh, KRS One, Fat Joe, Smif N Wessun, Jeru The Damaja-1,2 Pass It



A song that epitomises the term, "posse cut". A classic from 1995 with some of the hottest acts of that year. Who do you think rips it? I would say Fat Joe, KRS One and Jeru....Mad Lion is one of the funniest artists I've ever heard.




Group Home-Livin' Proof



Title track from their overlooked debut album from late '95. This is a head-nodder: A signature, stripped-down Primo number, complete with scratches on the hook that sample Inspectah Deck from C.R.E.A.M. A lot of his tracks were very minimalistic around this time and the samples and sounds he was using were unheard of (see Jeru's Come Clean). Melachi Da Nutcracker and Lil' Dap aren't the best rappers, but this is definitely a gem. The album is definitely worth investigating, one of very few albums entirely produced by Premier outside of Gangstarr.





Jeru The Damaja-Me Not The Paper Remix



Great, hard-to-find remix from early 1997. Nice usage of piano keys. Primo's music became more accessible in the late nineties, but he was able to move with the times.....




Freddie Foxxx-Part Of My Life



...as this track from early-mid 1999 shows. I bought this record from Major Flavas in London when it came out. It was, and still is, big. The chorus is ill and Freddie is intense on the mic on this one. Foxxx does justice to the beat and is one of the best to rhyme over any Works Of Mart.





Emma Bunton feat. Guru-What I Am (Gangstarr remix)



How many people would have believed this collaboration then? How many would have believed this collaboration now? Lol. Released in 1999, this is surprisingly good...Guru's verse and the violins are just right. After I heard this, I had a new-found respect for Emma Bunton.

And there we leave it friends and colleagues, jaws agape at this marvelous man whose mystical powers lend freshness to even the stalest of pop stars. Britney, take note. Thanks again to Nav and I'll get on him (pause) to hook up more Primo rarities ASAP.