‘We’re putting the band back together…’ Doo Wop re-unites with Snaggapuss and Aul That to bring some new improved Bounce Squad shit, with a liitle help from Jadakiss. If 2010 had produced 99 more songs on this level, I’d actually be able to write-up a Top 100…
Been off the air for a minute since my modem blew-up last week so I’m playing catch-up… just caught DJ Eclipse‘s Dec. 5 edition of the Rap Is Outta Control radio show, which featured the one and only Neek The Exotic playing rough mixes of three cuts from his new album due next year, as well as this dope freestyle session over Grand Daddy I.U./Marco Polo‘s ‘Hard To Kill’ beat.
Here’s something I wrote about Neek for Canada’s Pound magazine a couple of years ago:
Neek reminds me of a thinking man’s NORE, bringing the same kind of belligerent attitude but exchanging Swizz Beats/Neptunes ‘Tunnel bangers’ for crunchy Large Pro beats. Ever since his super- amped Yo!MTV Raps performance of ‘Fakin’ The Funk’ with Xtra P, Neek has been snapping ‘backs ‘ necks’ with a series of highly entertaining indy 12″s sporting bugged-out titles such as ‘Rip ‘Em Flip ‘Em’ and ‘Money, Thugs’. Whether it was the fact that he uttered the line ‘I keep it moving like Soul II Soul’ on two different songs on his album with little concern, or his boast of being willing to ‘straight piss on bitches”, Neek never fails to endear himself to the listener. His quotables are seemingly endless, whether he’s reminding us that ‘Me and rap stick together like hookers and patent leather’ or hipping us to the fact that ‘I skate on niggas like the Icecapades’. It’s hard to pin down what exactly sets this Wastelandz resident apart from the pack, but N.E.E.K.’s combination of excitable ‘Shout Rap’ delivery, unique timing and occasionally ignorant content over banging tracks is a good combination in any situation.
“Rap Is Outta Control” 12/5/10 Playlist and Download links: (more…)
The second half of my conversation with Mario, who speaks on some of the more technical aspects of engineering and mixing, as well as working on Ready To Die and winning a Latin Grammy.
Robbie: How many songs that were left off Hell On Earth?
Mario Rodriguez: There were a lot of song that weren’t used n the album that we did. We worked on that album for a long time – we must have taken eight months to a year, and it wasn’t like, ‘Let’s lock ourselves up in a room and work on it non-stop’. There was 22, maybe 23 songs that were recorded, and not all of them made it to the album, but a lot of that stuff they released on mixtapes. I think most of it, if not all of it, made it to the streets somehow.
Were you hanging out with the crew outside of the studio?
No. Never. My nature as a human being is not one of being somebody that likes to hang-out a lot. However, when you’re in the studio the process of being in the studio is hanging out. When your doing a session you’re basically getting together with a bunch of guys and exchanging ideas. During some sessions it’s a party, during some sessions it’s serious business. People that are not in the industry go to clubs to hang out and be surrounded by music – I didn’t have to go to the clubs
because my business was being in the place where club music is created. But in order to work with an artist I never felt the need to socialize and do anything outside of the studio. The music does the talking when it comes to that. (more…)
So there was a free show the other night featuring Jean Grae and Pharoahe Monch, which isn’t really a big deal since I never really pay to get in anyways and I don’t really know a song that either of ‘em have done for the last five years, but eff it. First thing I noticed that were a lot of broads around, which is pretty unusual for a scumbag spot like this one but always a positive. Did all this gals roll up to hear ‘Simon Says’? On closer inspection, I noticed that 85% of these chicks appeared to be on some of that old rug munch status, and then the penny dropped. ‘Oh shit, Jean got this girl-on-girl rap audience in a headlock!’. There also seemed to be your usual fudge pudge of type-Emo rap fans and J. Bieber wannabes, which seems to be par for the course in this fruit basket we call hip-hop now. (more…)
With a career in the music industry spanning over 30 years, Mario ‘Not Rude’ Rodriguez has worked on a lot of records as an engineer and mixer. Amongst his hip-hop projects, he’s been involved with records from Mobb Deep, LL Cool J, Biggie Smalls and Public Enemy to name a few. For the first part of our discussion, Mario gives a little background to how he got started and his thoughts about music.
Robbie: You’ve lead quite a varied career so far, in terms of who you’ve worked with.
Mario Rodriguez: I’ve been around for a long time, so I’ve survived by being a little bit of a chameleon.
Do you prefer any particular style of music though?
If I can be really candid – I’m a bit of a whore, and I will turn wherever I can feed myself. In a business like this, if you do one thing you get stereo-typed very easily, and I don’t particularly like that. I like to have a variety of types of work. My musical taste is incredible eclectic – if you looked at my record collection you would probably call a shrink or have me committed. The gammut of music that’s in my collection is so extensive, so expansive, that you think that, ‘He must be out of his mind!’ If I’m working a project, I will not to listen to any other music. I don’t like to be thinking about somebody else while I do work. (more…)
The original grew on me after it got blasted every other week on the Combat Jack Show, so I figured I’d give this remix a little burn. Live From The Tape Deck out now.
Here’s the clip for the sequel to ‘Change The Style’. Gotta love Half-Pint‘s ear-shattering vocals. If her and Milk D made an album it would smash both speakers and ear-drums across the planet. Cop the Well Thawed Out album here.
Dallas Penn gets the scoop at the Meyhem video shoot for ‘Just Can’t Win’, while J-Love‘s ‘Contraband’ and Meyhem & AG Da Coroner‘s ‘Sound Boy Massacre’ get official clips. (more…)
It’s amazing that nobody has thought to remake Criminal Minded before, but the idea of hearing new raps over the ‘Elementary’ beat is not exactly the worst idea ever, especially when DJ Revolution is involved. Not familiar with the MC’s but I’m willing to give ‘em a shot since they didn’t try to cover Illmatic.
