Common, Scarface and Mos Def – Corners (Remix)
What can I say really. It’s good. Its like getting Ma$e on “Jesus Walks” or Common on the “Why” remix. Better than the original, Scarface’s verse is best, his grainy voice is perfect, and Mos is on point lyrically, so New York. “The church, the chicken shack the liquor store the dope house the bail bond the nail salon the barbershop and yo house.” or maybe its “the yao house,” I can’t tell.

Bobby Valentino feat. Ludacris – Give Me a Chance
This is so weird! But its very good. It starts out like Blackalicious or something, soft new-agey “positive” rapping over soft, pleasant synth harmonies. But then the drums come in, and it’s a lot better than Blackalicious. Drums are a grab-bag of different timbres, bongos and big metallic knocks during the chorus. The same shifting atmospheres as “Slow Down,” but the lens is more focused, the drums are more precise, and Luda’s got a verse this time rather than a mere cameo in the video, aiming for that number one spot. And there’s even a new age/”world music” pan flute thing going on every couple bars! I assume this is Tim and Bob again. It’s like they’re trying to take the softest sounds and then hammer them with the beat, rip in-the-clouds dreamy airyness and graft it to heavy drums. This is very good music for summer. Promising producers from the Timbaland school, not imitators but its as if they’ve taken one of his one-off tangents and turned it into an exciting style all its own, slowing it down, removing the funk and replacing it with a fluffy, expansive polish.

Juelz Santana “Mic Check” video

Best song out right now. Minimalistic video that’s a “Drop it Like it’s Hot” bite, but who cares? Beat is murder, Juelz is flowing, and Rakim dropped by… UNINVITED.

Similarly, I like how Juelz wears his bandana like it’s a crown.

2005 is the year of the Dips.

Somebody download that shit and then post it on youshareit.com for me for the unlimited downloads.

-e

Yay more regional rap! I picked up this mixtape at Amoeba the otherday, which by the way fucking sucks at carrying mixtapes. They got all the fucking early 90′s you could want but when it comes to shit outside of that you’re fucked unless you want some lowbudge central valley comp. The mixtape is 20 tracks deep and features a bunch of artists from the bay, from the “new bay” to the “old bay” to whatever the hell label you want to put on shit. The content and styles on here are pretty diverse from piano laced melodies about faces on t-shirts to hard ass drums and buzzing synth songs about putting bitches in positions.

30/30 Bounce – Turf Talk, The Mossie, Poppie Cas, DB’z and A2thaK

Bounce Bounce smoke an ounce drink a fifth cause there’s money to count and all that good shit that people like to rap about. Turf Talk sets it off overf some thumping drums with these little electronic squeaks popping up and some deep strings coming in for one stroke.

Wild As It Gets – Furious

Furious rapping about how hard westcoast nights can be when you’re staring at the sunset and getting wild like a yokohama tire fishtailing. I like the beat more than the rapping, it just hits a enough for me to not be bothered by the generic we rock and get that money lyrics but his flow on the track makes up for the general content and I can fuck with it.

So Crazy – Federation

The Federation rocking some whiny blips that The Team has used already on “Moe Doe” but this time they raise the pitch a little and rock some drums that just stomp like crazy, making the beat just go way harder. I recommend playing this song as loud as possible.

buy it here

oh and here is a track that Ross Hogg posted over on soulstrut, it’s Mac Dre and E-40 getting all latin active on you. Considering that mixtape is titled after a Mac Dre song it’s kind of fitting to post this. At some point b-sides is suppose to have this 12″ for sale, I know they have the record already. yeah you can try but apparently they are sold out as fuck

Dredio

Dj Dumpy Dump and The Lyrical Rampage