It's too early to write and I'm frying myself, preparing for the online version Jeopardy, which may or may not get me on the show. Without sounding too crass, I'm boning up on my knowledge of useless information. Here's this week's downloads:
1. Blue Sky Mile, "Ten Minutes" Chris Walla produced this now-defunct Seattle band's debut EP. Even though Initial Records pushed them as the next Thursday and Brand New, you could hear more of a midwest rock influence with them.
2. Xzibit featuring Mobb Deep, "Eyes May Shine (Remix)" The b-side for Xzibit's second single, "Eyes May Shine (Remix)" features production by Mobb Deep as well as some pretty harsh lyrics, even by the infamous Mobb's standards.
3. The Nonce, "Mix Tapes" My friend Dave has this song called "Ol' School Sessions" where he borrows elements of songs from the early-t0-mid 90's era hip-hop. The Nonce's seminal single "Mix Tapes" is explored on the second verse.
This week, I'd thought I'd switch it up a bit and cull selections from my tape collection. That's right, TAPE COLLECTION! Admittedly, I feel like I have a pretty sick tape collection, but then again, I am subjective in my opinion. I don't know about you, but the weather here in Seattle has been a little bit on the sucky side. It's cold as hell and there's snow and ice all around my neighborhood. God, I can't wait for summer.
1. Genius/GZA featuring D'angelo & Inspektah Deck, "Cold World (Remix)" "Cold World" is a dark tale of abandonment, drugs and ghetto life. The original was haunting enough, but the addition of D'angelo's smokey vocals and RZA's production makes this the kind of song that tugs at your heartstrings and sense of fear.
2. Illy Funkstaz, "Bloodshed and War" (featuring Mobb Deep)/"I'll Make U Famous (Remix)"/"Verbal Glock" Illy Funkstaz was the adult version of kiddie rappers, Da Youngstaz, who had a minor hit with "Hip-Hop Ride." After the fall out of posi-rap acts like Lords of the Underground, Pete Rock and CL Smooth and Digable Planets, Da Youngstaz signed to Marley Marl's Pop Art label, donned some hoodies and bandanas and made "The Infamous" and"Ready To Die" the soundtrack to their lives. While it's a little difficult to take these kids seriously, you can't deny the production of their thug rap, even if it is a little lame.
3. Big L, "MVP (Summer Smooth Remix)" Fuck the winter! I'm psyching myself up with THE summer jam from 1995. While Lord Finesse did not produce this version (Salah handled the remix duties), I prefer this version over the DeBarge-sampled original for nostalgic purposes.
Is it really week 8? Has it really been two months? I guess it's a bit longer since I took some extended breaks for the first three posts, but it's been a little nice to do this on a regular basis. This week's post is all hip-hop. As my band begins a somewhat lengthy hiatus, I find myself making hip-hop music once again, as is such, I'm entrenching myself in the rap music that I'd grown to love over the last 19 years or so. Yes, I really have been a hip-hop fan for that long. My original idea for this week was to do an extensive post of the best posse cuts of all time. I decided to stagger some of the songs for future posts. There actually may be one day when I run out of songs to share with you guys.
Backed With brings rare and out-of-print gems to your hard drive. This is primarily for those hard to find records, but if you are an artist who wants their music removed, just leave a comment.
