I had another review planned for this week, but with the recent passing of Baatin this one feels a little more natural. Fantastic, Vol. 2 is another record that came very close to charting on my most influential albums list. Even though it wasn’t on my most influential albums list, this is another album that I can say would probably easily be in my top 20 favorite albums of all-time. The flow of this album is pure like water and yet it’s as melodic as heaven. Jay Dee’s production is so stellar on this album, that I’m fairly sure it will always withstand the test of time. From Jay Dee’s earlier Ummah sound, to the spaced out synth that he implemented later in his career, Fantastic, Vol. 2 has it all. Baatin, T3 & Jay Dee all sculpt to these tracks like clay and even though they aren’t the wittiest emcees in the world, this album is still utterly amazing. Continue reading
Wild Style Wednesday Review: Slum Village, Fantastic, Vol. 2
Posted in Music Reviews, Wildstyle Wednesdays with tags Baatin, Busta Rhymes, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Fantastic, J Dilla, Jay Dee, Pete Rock, Q-Tip, T3, Ummah, Vol. 2 on Thursday, August 6, 2009 by Tim AlthausBlue Scholars – “HI-808” Music Video Preview
Posted in News, Video with tags Blue Scholars, HI808, Massline, OOF on Wednesday, August 5, 2009 by Nolan LevensonVodpod videos no longer available.
More Blue Scholars for you today. Here’s a preview for the music video for the track “HI808”. As mentioned in the previous post, the track can be downloaded for free from the Scholars’ website. Enjoy!
Blue Scholars official EP release announcement + another free track
Posted in Art, Downloads, Media, Music News, News with tags Blue Scholars, Caffe Vita, Duck Down, Massline, OOF on Wednesday, August 5, 2009 by Nolan Levenson
Today Blue Scholars released on their website/blog the tracklisting for their new EP entitled OOF! The project will be released August 25th via Massline/Duck Down. The inspiration for the album came from MC Geo’s Hawaiin roots and the Scholars return trip last New Year’s. The Scholars claim it will be “their most collaborative multi-media project” working with artist Andy Woebots to create art for the single “HI-808” that will later be printed and sold on a limited edition T-shirt. In addition, they will be working with photographer Aaron Yoshino. A new video for “HI-808” will be released too, made by Hawaii production team Kai Media and edited by DJ/Producer Sabzi’s brother Zia Mohajerjasbi.
The EP will have 6 brand new tracks from the Scholars (and the instrumentals although the instrumental titles are different). The EP will be released digitally along with limited edition 808 CDs. Follow me after the jump for the tracklisting and downloads.
How DJ Shadow Spent His Summer
Posted in Media, Video with tags Digging, DJ Shadow, Scratch, vinyl on Wednesday, August 5, 2009 by Tim AlthausVodpod videos no longer available.
One of the originators of full blown sampling shows us how he has spent his summer thus far. DJ Shadow takes us on an adventure that involves a lot of vinyl searching. If you’ve ever seen the DVD Scratch, you know that this guy goes to extreme measures to dig for vinyl. There are very few cats in the game that are as ambitious as Shadow. In the background of the video you will be able to enjoy the track “Time of My Life” (I’m sure that’s how Shadow feels when he digs).
Spotted @ Crate Kings
Two New Slaughterhouse Tracks
Posted in Audio, Downloads with tags Alchemist, Crooked I, Emile, Joe Budden, Joell Ortiz, Microphone, Royce Da 5'9", Slaughterhouse on Tuesday, August 4, 2009 by Tim Althaus
Damn, I don’t really have a whole lot to say. If you pirated this album, you should be shanked with a thousand microphones repeatedly until your death. Here are two new tracks from the Slaughterhouse conglomerate courtesy of 2DopeBoyz. These tracks both go harder than concrete, and I can assure you that I will be at the store on August 11th during my break to pick this one up. The first track below is “Microphone” which is produced by Alchemist, whom you all know never disappoints. The second joint is produced by Emile and it’s called “Onslaught 2” and Emile’s horns paint a beautiful backdrop for these Royce, Joell, Joe & Crooked to massacre. Don’t fucking sleep.
Download: Slaughterhouse, “Microphone” (Prod. By Alchemist)
Download: Slaughterhouse, “Onslaught 2” (Prod. By Emile)
Oh No, Ethiopium (Snippets Download)
Posted in Audio, Downloads with tags Dr. No's Oxperiment, Ethiopium, Madlib, Oh No, twitter on Tuesday, August 4, 2009 by Tim Althaus
I can’t believe I totally spaced this one yesterday. I was on Twitter when I caught Dr. No tweeting about leaking some material. He posted the link and I wanted to get to it, but it slipped my mind. If you don’t know, Oh No is Madlib’s brother (although that really shouldn’t be that relevant) and he’s one of the illest producers in the game. You may not know of Oh No highly, but you will in the future. No can make beats with the best cats in the game without question. If you haven’t heard his album Dr. No’s Oxperiment, you haven’t heard an amazing modern day beat tape. All of the work I’ve heard from Mr. No is far exemplary, and there’s no doubt I will continue to support his work to the fullest.
Download: Oh No, Ethiopium (Snippets)
Black Milk Broadcast, R.I.P. Baatin
Posted in Media, Video with tags Baatin, Black Milk, Black Milk Broadcast, Long Story Short, Slum Village, Tronic on Tuesday, August 4, 2009 by Tim AlthausBlack Milk dedicated an episode of his show Black Milk Broadcast to his good friend, and comrade Baatin. If you recall, on the track “Long Story Short”, Black spits “My kinfolk went on tour, roadie for Slum Vil/He got a beat CD in the hands of Baatin/didn’t hear from em’ til they got back to Michigan..”. That’s right, if there was no Baatin there may not have ever been a Black Milk. Black adresses right away that Baatin was the one that got him into the music game. In the video Black Milk reminisces about making music with Baatin, as well as how he was influenced by Tin. At the end of the video Black shows some video footage from a Slum Village music video shoot for their upcoming album Manifesto.
As I said before, Baatin was one hell of an emcee and embassador to Detroit Hip-Hop. He will be dearly missed, and he will always be in the prayers of true Hip-Hop heads.
Spotted @2DopeBoyz
E & A – “Junk” (Video)
Posted in News, Video with tags By The Throat, E&A, Eyedea & Abilities, Rhymesayers on Tuesday, August 4, 2009 by Nolan LevensonVodpod videos no longer available.
When I went to see Eyedea and Abilites at Fifth Element in Minneapolis recently, they were showing this video on the monitors. Although I am not the biggest E & A fan, the video did look very cool. The video has now been released and it’s for the son entitled “Junk”. It featureas a lot of cool scenes, including a big white room with sweet angles of Abilities scratching. Check it out! Shout out to 2dopeboyz.
Ghostface Speaks on Bulletproof Wallets
Posted in Media, Video with tags Bulletproof Wallets, Flowers, Ghostface, Supreme Clientele on Tuesday, August 4, 2009 by Tim AlthausVodpod videos no longer available.
You may recall that I posted the video of Ghost talking about his album Supreme Clientele. This video has Mr. Starks talking about his album Bulletproof Wallets. Ghost mentions that he thought it was a good album, but there were some songs that were fucked with when it came to the final product. He said that they made him change the beat on “Flowers”. Tony mentions that the beat change kinda messed with his creativity. Either way, Bulletproof Wallets was dope, and so is pretty much everything that Ghostface has done.
Spotted @2DopeBoyz
MIND INVERSION 