Hey there cool kids, I’ve got some new throwbacks for ya today. First off we start in the genre of “real” meaningful hip-hop as I like to call it. You could say it’s as opposed to, whatever you think it is, everyone’s “definitions” of real hip-hop is different, regardless this soulful, never-realeased rare track from Kanye West featuring Snoop Dogg & John Legend is a perfect song to bring back for Summer2k15. With production from Kanye himself, the beat, melody and sample in the chorus are make an irresistibly groove-inducing song.
Next, though still dance-able, but much more conscious: this song could be seen as for dancers like b-boys, as a head-banger for the whip that increases your hardness as you vibe at the light and people think you’re a badass, or even just one you sit there not-moving still, taking in the rawness and lyrical prowess of Jaylib, the combination of underground hip-hop group Madlib and deceased, super-producer, J Dilla.
A tribal-sounding horn, hard beats and kicks accompanied by booming bass and a flute-like arpeggio make this a perfect listen (or beat to freestyle over, see the instrumental).
Finally to wrap up our series of summer-suitable throwbacks we have the absolutely chill, “Hey man, just be easy” relaxation inducing single “The Fruits” from Californian psychedelic rock / reggae band Slightly Stoopid. “The Fruits” is a great listen with its calming sounds that remind one of the ocean, the carefree rhythm and vocals the lead singer provides and its borderline no sensemaking, yet easily understandable lyrics emphasizing being free and happy in life. Check it out above!
(Original production for PS2 game Harmonix’s FreQuency) Science Genius Girl
DJ Hero 2’s deadmau5 Megamix feat. Kaskade
Second Feature, DJ Tiesto’s Megamix in DJ Hero 2:
Freezepop’s popular music video for TENISU NO BOIFURENDO
As a gamer (when time permits) I can’t not highlight music inspired by, from and featured in video games. In fact, there are several games of days past that I can solely attribute to accentuating my love of EDM (electronic dance music) [for a list of good music video games check below].
SSX Tricky and more notably SSX 3 on GameCubefeatured a wide variety of artists including many British EDM acts as well as hip-hop. This game was the first to introduce me to artists such as, The X-Ecutioners, LCD SoundSystem, Audio Bullys and Jason Nevins’ remix of N.E.R.D.’s “Rockstar” with a soundtrack that featured a lot of electronic and UK house music.
Underground sleeper-favorite, blur, a racing game released by the makers of Geometry Wars on PS3 and Xbox 360, had an incredible EDM-filled soundtrack as well. The game sadly went under, probably due to a lack of a good marketing, but its concept was revolutionary, combining the weapon firing elements of Mario Kart with the sports-car inner-city racing thrills of Need For Speed Underground or Midnight Club, blur was way ahead of its time. Check out the blur soundtrack starting with Spank Rock’s “Bump (Best Fwends Remix)
Notables: Shades of Blue, Everyone Says Hi, Cherry Lips] For this feature I am highlighting a song out of the Playstation 2 series of music games, “FreQuency” and “Amplitude“. Revolutionary for their time, these games combined elements of rail shooters with music production, where the player would control tracks (such as bass, drums, vocals, FX, etc.) and by successfully tapping the notes the actual tracks would play and be added (or skip or get silenced if you mess up) as you successfully clear the stage. Someone playing S.C.G. by Freezepop in Rock Band
Freezepop was a well-known band through the games alone where they contributed some original music productions that could be called sci-fi techno, trance or just early EDM music. They also created another song called Super Sprode for Harmonix’s sequel to FreQuency, Amplitude, a fan/cult favorite music game that was way ahead of its time. With the song-creating elements of the first game and online interactivity Amplitude is known as one of the greatest music games of all time. There is currectly a KickStarter campain to create a sequel to Amplitude for PS4.
EDM giant deadmau5’s Megamix featuring House legend Kaskade
Next, from another popular, but also sadly defunct music game series, comes a stunningly-good megamix of songs by DJ Tiesto featured in the game DJ Hero 2, also produced by Activision. This game was very similar to their other music series, Guitar Hero but featured an actual turntable peripheral used to play the game, scratch and cut-up audio tracks. Though the game was immense fun, it’s very mainstream songlist, huge jump of difficulty from Hard to Expert (much harder than in GH) and lack of support for online play and DLC (though there was a lot of DLC upon first release) led to its eventual demise. DJ Hero by far however was not the first game to use a turntable peripheral, neither was Guitar Hero the first to use guitar add-ons. These medals below to Konami, Japanese video game publisher who’s BEMANI music video game series (started back in 1998) and the obsession of my life from about age 10-19 with their breakout series beatmania, it’s follower beatmania IIDX, and their most popular series to date, Dance Dance Revolution. Video Games with Popular or Prominent Soundtracks: The entire Dance Dance Revolution series Final Fantasy series (notably VII, IX, X, XI and XIII) Audition (Korean PC free-to-play music series) The entire beatmania IIDX series Guitar Hero (3, World Tour, 4) Pump It Up SSX Tricky, and SSX 3 Grand Theft Auto Series & Sleeping Dogs FIFA games and many other EA titles
Clearing out favorite bookmarks is about a tedious task as trying to clean up your e-mail (especially when your inbox basically permanently says 1000+ new messages), but sometimes you stumble across gems you forgot you favorited 2 years ago.
Re-stumbling across a review of one of my long-time favorite rappers (at least when we was underground) Wiz Khalifa‘s third studio album, first major-label EP Rolling Papers, which released to mixed reviews in 2011. While technically more than competent, the content and lyrics of the album were a departure from Wiz’s original style he expressed in his earlier mixtapes, like Kush & OJ, the legendaryP.O.T.C. tapes or even B.A.R. (Burn After Rolling).
My initial reaction to the Spin review of the album was that the author was over-hyping this musical “fail” and stuck on the ability of a big budget to make a rapper’s album sound polished and “professional.” However, when he had brought up longtime favorites that really weren’t too bad, in fact Wiz had some sleeper hits on there as well, a few I agree with the author such as with “Rooftops” featuring Curren$y, “The Race,” one of the top tracks of the album, or Roll Up (the most mainstream but catchiest single by far. There were a few other songs I give 5 stars in my iTunes here: “Top Floor” with an addictive very-experimental beat, “Hopes and Dreams,” my personal favorite of the album, and “wake Up” all do more than enough justice to Wiz’s earlier works.
The remaining tracks, while not necessarily terrible, were not anything great either. I completely disagree with the SPIN article’s author opinion of “Fly Solo,” that song. was. just.terrible. Which is why today’s highlight will highlight “Hopes and Dreams” from Pittsburgh’s own. “Star of the Show” with fellow Taylor Gang label-mate Chevy Woods is also a standout, with that “chill” vibe Wiz is known for.
For this honorary first “Hip-Hop Origins” we highlight “Do It With No Hands.” My Atlanta folk may remember this well-known local trap banger, born out of the “snap music” crazed era of the mid 2000s in Georgia. This song, and many others like it [See Maceo: Nextel Chirp, remember Crime Mob?] released around 2002 through 2008 were the forefathers of the Trap EDM genre. The trap-style beats and the lyrics that usually talk about…well, trapping and the hood highlighted a time when ATL and Southern Hip-Hop were on fire and highly sought after to produce the next hit. Don’t get me wrong, Atlanta is still the premiere ground for hip-hop, rap music and breakout music artists (and now actors as well), however the magic that surrounded the city and rap’s mentality here has changed since those days.
Our second is a rare remix of Outkast’s “Jazzybelle” originally released in 2006. Outkast is well-known as one of the groups that put Atlanta on the map in terms of music as a whole. As such they are widely acknowledged and celebrated by Atlantans and worldwide. Fans of the group were overjoyed when Outkast returned to the stage and began touring in 2014.
Other artists and groups born of the mid-2000 era of Atlanta hip-hop:
D4L
Crime Mob
Lil’ Jon & The Eastside Boys
Young Jeezy
T.I. (was on the scene prior to then)
Outkast
Usher
Rasheedah
Our two throwbacks today are from the hip-hop genre, as we revisit two standout tracks from ATL’s Young Jeezy, T.I. and Gucci Mane. The first is “F.A.M.E.” from Young Jeezy’s Thug Motivation 103: Hustlaz’s Ambition, the sequel to TM 101 and 102. Comprised of some very unique, even calming beats, the track samples major trance artist, Above & Beyond’s “Air For Life,” a collaboration with fellow trance artist Andy Moor. This results in quite a moving track with none other than The Rubberband Man himself, T.I. delivering some great verses as well.
The next track is an old-favorite off of Gucci’s mixtape Lean, which he released in 2013 alongside two other mixtape projects, Gas and Molly. The three mixtapes are praised as being some of Gucci’s better works and his workmanship and resolve to putting out constant quality music as all three mixtapes were released at the same time. This business model is nothing new, artists the likes of Soulja Boy, Lil’ Wayne, Lil’ B “The Based God”and many more also rode the hype of releasing constant streams of music and mixtapes, helping to keep them in the media spotlight and of relevance to hip-hop as a whole.
The progressive house throwbacks “Da Hype” and “Stupidisco (Dare Me)” from Italian house DJ, Junior Jack, withstand the test of time and are shining examples that foreshadow EDM’s launch into mainstream America. The building progressive rhythm of both songs are characteristic of house at its core and capture the spirit of many “early” EDM songs.
Electronic and dance music released in the early to mid-2000s catalyzed the evolution of the genre and certainly were ancestors of the soon-to-be popularized “dubstep.” Released back in 2004, “Da Hype” is forever a favorite of mine; it was part of the first real collection of EDM and house music I had acquired…back then would’ve been about 9th grade. Several years after I was introduced to the genre (when I was 10 or 11) but about two years since I’d really gotten into the scene (mainly from video games soundtracks w/EDM: Need For Speed Underground,SSX 3 come to mind).
I am forever grateful for my exposure to artists such as Junkie XL, LCD Soundsystem, BT, Deep Dish, DJ Tiësto, Röyksopp and many more that solidified my interest in EDM. Artists like these were pioneers of the genre and helped drive it to what we know today. We musn’t forget however, that quality is always over quantity. The ubiquity of electronic music today is refreshingly satisfying, but we should all take note of the sheer originality and creativity expressed during those years and even earlier before.
Today’s throwback is on West Coast rapper Khadafi Dub and his quite good freestyle over TNGHT’s “Higher Ground.” The original tune featured has been a big hit ever since TNGHT, the collaboration of EDM artists Hudson Mohawke and Lunice dropped it in 2012.
Khadafi Dub may not have the best lyrical skills in the game, but he has worked hard at his craft and worked even harder at finding unique, interesting beats to rap over; many EDM tracks as well as house and dubstep, and he was one of the first rappers to do it. Check out his freestyle above and support Khadafi Dub and TNGHT below:
West Coast rapper “khadafi Dub’s” freestyle over TNGHT’s “Higher Ground.”
Our second track is another throwback, this one I discovered during my high school days. Released in 2005, “When The Dawn Breaks” by Narcotic Thrust was one of the first progressive house tunes I ever got into. The original and the Cicada remix do not disappoint! Smooth vocals layered over calming house synth sounds compose this little-known trance sleeper gem.
LUMiNOUS Musings 