Blackroc. Q Tip. Hope You're Happy.
From the forthcoming Blackroc LP. Download here.
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Q-Tip - Renaissance Rap
I haven't been able to stop listening to Q-Tip lately. He's got to be
one of my favourite rappers along with Murs, Mos Def and Talib Kweli. Both The Renaissance and Kamaal the Abstract are on heavy rotation on
my iPod at the moment. Check out his video for Renaissance Rap below.
I've also added another favourite of mine, Deltron 3030.
Crate Diggin' - A Tribe Called Quest
via youtube.com
Keep It Rollin' - 1993
Roy Ayers "Feel Like Making Love"
Luck Of Lucien - 1990
Billy Brooks "40 Days"
Award Tour - 1993
Weldon Irvine "We Gettin' Down"
Check The Rhyme - 1991
Minnie Riperton "Baby This Love I Have"
Electric Relaxation - 1993
Ronnie Foster "Mystic Brew"
For heavenly
Off of his new solo project, Kamaal the Abstract. He's still got it.
Abstractisms (Featuring Kenny Garrett Aka Truth) by Q - Tip
Daily Dose Of Dilla (24) A Tribe Called Quest - Stressed Out (Baby Phife Version) Featuring Faith Evans - 1996
Stressed Out (Baby Phife Version - Full) Featuring Faith Evans by Jay Dee
http://www.amazon.com/Beats-Rhymes-Tribe-Called-Quest/dp/B00000053T
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stressed_Out
Q-Tip ft. Norah Jones - Life is Better
via evilmonito.com
Love these two doing something together.
Life Is Better - Q-tip feat. Norah Jones
This is my favourite song off Q-tip's album, The Renaissance
The cult of J Dilla - What made him special?
Pretty cool article on Dilla by Guardian editor Simon Reynolds, cool in the way it describes the experience of a person after having discovered the work of J Dilla. Or as the famous t-shirt states "J Dilla changed my life".
I'm one of those people who believe the sector that kept rap vital these last dozen years wasn't the underground but that cusp zone between "the streets" and commercial mainstream: Cash Money, Ruff Ryders, Ludacris, Lil Jon. Mostly dirty south, in other words: hip-hop that isn't encumbered by crippling reverence towards its old-skool past.
Still, sometimes as a critic you just absorb a sense of the musical landscape through osmosis and sure enough when I asked the DJ what record he was playing, he reluctantly (the attitude, typical for this kind of store, seemed to be "if you need to ask, you're not someone who needs to know") showed me the instrumentals version of Dilla's posthumous album, The Shining.
Over the next week I got hold of as much Dilla as I could: stuff he'd done with his group Slum Village and in collaboration with Madlib, solo records like Donuts, Ruff Draft, Welcome to Detroit and, naturally, The Shining (where I discovered that the track that blew my mind in the store was called Won't Do)
But then the internet comes along and responds :)
While I respect this as opinion, and musical taste should be as personal and free a choice as anything, I think it is quite wrong to claim that the above mentioned artists have " kept rap vital these last dozen years". Vital to you maybe but most of those who have a deep appreciation for hip hop surely will find fault with this. With respect, it is obvious that the author has, at best, a subtle knowledge and interest in hip hop, as he admits he "slept on" Jay Dee only really discovering him after his death. Anyone truly familiar with "these last dozen years" of hip hop would have known Jay Dee's work intimately, even if, like me, they didn't favour every one of his productions.
The 'backpack' label, a ridiculous reductive stereotype, is not applicable to a man who produced tracks and remixes for Janet Jackson, Heavy D, D'Angelo, Erykah Badu and Jamiroquai and, from his beginning, crafted a sound which had a profound influence accross the genre-and beyond. Neither is it relevant for Premier or Pete Rock. It belittles their accomplishments and influence on the music as a whole.
There is a tendency amongst those over 30 to be irrationally protective of their favourite hip hop artists I do not to fall into that category. As the popularity, and popification, of hip hop has increased over the years some find it hard to deal with their favourites perceived loss of relevance. They shouldn't worry. If we accept music as art and ignore the attempts of people to attatch cultural relevance and vitality to record sales and TV appearances, in other words treat hip hop as any other music or art form, popularity, arbitrary labelling and the concept of relevence become, themselves, irrelevant. The fact that years after his death Jay Dee's past work is still being discovered by some and new releases are eagerly anticipated is proof of this.
He was, ultimately, in the great tradition of hip hop production with influences from a wide variety of musical genres fused into a fresh, true new sound. This influence is traced through the works of, amongst others, Marley Marl, Paul C, Ced Gee, Prince Paul, Rick Rubin, Dr Dre, DJ Muggs, Eric B and Rakim, Erick Sermon, Large Professor, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Q Tip, Mark the 45 King, DJ Premier, Pete Rock , The Beatminers, Buckwild, Jay Dee, MF Doom, Madlib, Lord Finesse, The RZA, Just Blaze, Kanye West, Hi Tek, 9th Wonder and on and on and on.
Sorry for the role call but if you like Jay Dee and are not familiar with some of the names I have listed give them a listen. There are many more.
Many of these producers began at a time when almost ALL hip hop was "underground", a euphemism for not popular. Most have produced tracks for the biggest names in popular music, hip hop or not, which has never impeded their ability to remain relevent to all who apprecite thier sound. This doesn't mean all of their work is great, how could it be, but these are the people who have injected vitality in the music for the past 25 years or so. I'm sure knowledgable people like Ludicrous,some of the Ruff Ryders and Mannie Fresh will acknowledge that fact.
I mean no disrespect to the author. As I said, I appreciate the post and its honesty. No backpacks in sight.
Daily Dose Of Dilla (14) Detroit's Best Kept Secret - Full J Dilla interview (audio only)
via youtube.com
Full interview, Dilla on Slum Village, Q-Tip, Janet Jackson, Pharcyde etc.
Loads of music included.
