Raekwon stops by the Combat Jack Show to promote Lost Jewlry along with discussing how EPMD & The Hit Squad inspired he & Ghostface as well as all of the Wu.
Showing posts with label Ghostface Killah. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ghostface Killah. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Just Listen: Raekwon Visits The Combat Jack Show
Raekwon stops by the Combat Jack Show to promote Lost Jewlry along with discussing how EPMD & The Hit Squad inspired he & Ghostface as well as all of the Wu.
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Childish Gambino - Royalty Mixtape
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
DOOMSTARKS (MF DOOM & Ghostface) - Victory Laps (Audio)
It was many years ago - 4, 5? - when DOOM was here in Los Angeles playing us a few tracks he'd just begun working on with Ghostface Killah. Like everyone else, we thought it was a great collaboration. And like everyone else, after the years began passing, we thought it would never happen.
Here it is: the first official release from DOOMSTARKS. This is a limited edition picture disc 12" with "Victory Laps" on one side (Vocal, Remix, Instrumentals) backed with Serato Control Tones used to DJ with Serato Scratch Live software. Expected ship date is September 6-13.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Max Tannone Presents Ghostface - GhostFunk Mixtape
Ghostface combined with Afrofunk equals Ghostfunk. Take a listen . . .
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Monday, May 2, 2011
Thursday, March 17, 2011
What's In KRS-One's Bag?
Pete Rock & CL Smooth - Mecca And The Soul Brother
Nas - God's Son
Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
Mos Def - The New Danger
M.O.P. - Warriorz
A Tribe Called Quest - The Low End Theory
Wu-Tang Clan - Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
J Dilla - Donuts
House of Pain - House of Pain
EPMD - Strictly Business: U.S.D.A. Edition
Gang Starr - Step in the Arena
Friday, March 4, 2011
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Guest Blog - Fledgling Fashionista Examines 'Late Night With The Roots'
Late Night with The Roots
Review by Athena Dixon-DeMary
I entered my listen of Late Night with The Roots with a bias. A long time ago I deemed Do You Want More?! to be their best work. Consequently, I compare everything else stamped with their name to it. However, in recent years my ears have had to adjust to increasingly dark albums and collaborations. On this album I expected some new jazz infused hip-hop, a Black Thought verse here and there and perhaps a drum solo or two. I thought that I would hear small soundbites meant to be sandwiched between commercial breaks and witty banter, but what I got was nothing I expected. Despite my yearning for a Roots album, and my bias notwithstanding, I did appreciate the highs and find fault with the lows on Late Night with The Roots, but unfortunately most of the LP is fair to middlin'.
“How I Got Over” opens the album on a lukewarm note. I feel like I've heard this all before. It's a sped up, old soul sound that after a frenetic opening settles into a decent enough groove. What's missing is the grit, the urgency of the album version. Somehow the energy captured in the studio is more alive than an up close and personal rendition.
Review by Athena Dixon-DeMary
“How I Got Over” opens the album on a lukewarm note. I feel like I've heard this all before. It's a sped up, old soul sound that after a frenetic opening settles into a decent enough groove. What's missing is the grit, the urgency of the album version. Somehow the energy captured in the studio is more alive than an up close and personal rendition.
Monday, February 14, 2011
The Grammy Awards Get It Wrong Again
Normally I don't watch award shows, but with there being no more Sunday Night Football and the fact that 70% of my Twitter timeline would be tweeting about it, I decided to watch the Grammys. I had grown tired of award shows in entertainment in the late 90's or early 2000's. Most of the time none of the artists that I cared about wouldn't sniff a nomination, let alone perform.
At this point I only check for the best rap album to see who got snubbed for a nomination. This year the nominees were Drake's Thank Me Later, Eminem's Recovery, B.o.B.'s The Adventures Of Bobby Ray, Jay-Z's Blueprint 3 & The Roots' How I Got Over. I had no problem with Eminem winning for Recovery.
I thought it was the best of the available choices. If I were given run of the Grammy Awards, my nominees would be:
Ghostface Killah - Apollo Kids
Skyzoo & Illmind - Live From The Tape Deck
Meth, Ghost & Rae's - Wu-Massacre
Eminem - Recovery
Black Milk - Album Of The Year
My winner would be Live From The Tape Deck with Black Milk's AOTY a CLOSE second.
If it were up to you, who would've been your nominees and who would you have given the Grammy to?
Thanks for stopping by,
8
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Music Reviews In A Minute: Retro Review : DOOM - Born Like This
This time we have our first retro review. During these reviews we will be taking a look at great albums from the recent and not so recent past to help establish that baseline that we talked about in our original Music Review In A Minute. Think of it as a way to measure newer releases against albums that are widely considered great or classics. Hell, maybe they are just considered classics by us. First up is DOOM's Born Like This:
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Joell Ortiz: Hip-Hop & Boom Bap's Last Hope
If you know me or follow my blog to any degree, you know that I'm a huge Joell Ortiz fan. He's a throw back to the Hip-Hop of my youth. He's the embodiment of Hip-Hop from '93-'95. To me, he's essentially the Purple Tape with legs. I don't care if it's "underground" or "mainstream" as long as it has the knock I need and isn't glossy, I'll rock it. Joell is the first newer artist in a while that has a grabbed my attention and has me excited to find just about any knew track he happens to release.
I can't wait until summer is over because you will see me in my hoodie, jeans & timbs (editors note: I actually tie my timbs & my jeans don't sag). Hip-Hop has become way too metrosexual. Joell brings that grown man rap that I appreciate and to a large degree need. This is in no way a diss to any fans of Southern rap or Emo rap. There should be room for everything, but the music that I love and keeps my heart pumping seems to be going the way of the dinosaur. Okay, I'm done with my mini rant. Enjoy this cool article on Mr. Ortiz.
Joell Ortiz vs. Gentrification
Of Brooklyn, yes, but also of the NYC hip-hop on which he still aims to make his name
By Phillip Mlynar Tuesday, Jun 1 2010
Joell Ortiz saw gentrification engulf Greenpoint from the vantage of the Cooper Park housing projects. As the new millennium began, the 31-year-old rapper noticed the first changes sprouting up with "a little condominium here, a loft setup there." Before the influx of high-income housing, his section of Brooklyn suffered from a domino-effect blight: "My area was really drug-infested 'cause across from us was a shelter with a lot of drug addicts—the drugs bring the money, and the money leads to violence." But not these days. "Now, it's ridiculous. They brought in the hipsters, brought in the yuppies, and built up the big condos that no one in my 'hood can afford."
He's describing a phenomenon common to many areas of Brooklyn, but he could just as easily be talking about hip-hop. With a new album, Free Agent, on the horizon, Ortiz is at the forefront of a generation of New York rappers who have seen the music gentrify around them, their gritty rhymes and no-gimmicks personas pushed out by slick-talking Southerners with no qualms about taking over turf that was once the birthright of Big Apple rappers alone. As he puts it, "I'm part of this little project of raw hip-hop surrounded by so much happy pop shit—like three-bedroom condos all around us."
Make no mistake: Hip-hop is New York's music. Time was that simply hailing from the five boroughs brought both bragging rights and an audience at any major record label. New York was the place where an aspiring artist had to prove their talent—critically, commercially, and on the live stage. At our '90s peak, artists like Mobb Deep, Wu-Tang Clan, pre-Kelis-era Nas, and adopted New Yorkers Gang Starr reigned supreme with a blueprint of scrupulously composed lyrics, soul- and jazz-derived beats, and a pretext that rappers were reporting from the slums. It's a formula often regarded as "purist" and antiquated these days. But, as Ortiz testifies, "Back then, you had to be nice. You couldn't just get by with a catchy chorus and something to fill up the gaps in between."
Not any more. Today's biggest hip-hop artists hail from down South: Giants like T.I., Rick Ross, and Lil' Wayne may tackle the same street-level subjects that Ortiz dealt with growing up in Greenpoint, but when T.I. spits about dope boys, he does so over production that's cannily palatable to daytime pop radio, suitable for sweet-16 parties, and unafraid of hinging things on a hummable chorus. (It's to Jay-Z's credit that he's one of the rare New Yorkers who've managed to stay abreast of rap's sonic shifts.) Labels don't want to market an MC standing around in utilitarian Timberlands and Carhartt clothing—they want Wale in expensive, tight brand-name pants. "Rough, rugged, and raw" no longer earns a badge of authenticity—labels are looking for clean-cut kids like Drake, a rapping Dawson's Creek character if ever there was one. It leaves classical New York rappers like Ortiz, intent on staying true to their regional roots, left out in the commercial cold. Dollar cups of coffee from the corner bodega have been replaced by $4 cafe lattes, if you will, all served to a soundtrack of Jeezy and Weezy.
Ortiz is aware of the changed arena he's fighting in. Now living on a calm, residential Bushwick block, he's open to admitting that his brand of hip-hop is far from fashionable. He favors a style of rap that's abrasive and uncut and sounds best over production that cribs from the same well of sample sources his '90s New York contemporaries plundered. Done right, it's a ferocious but uncompromising blend, as exemplified by the DJ Premier–produced "Project Boy," a Free Agent track he comically recorded in a three-piece-suit while en route to a "formal function." Over a beat that sounds like it's based on the theme from a low-budget '70s spy flick, Ortiz paints an uncouth environmental picture filled with "crack heads [that] smoke anything that can fit in that stem/And little girls do grown men just to sit in that Benz." Then, as if condensing his whole mentality, he vows, "What y'all spit's sugar-coated—I be spitting that phlegm." (In a similar vein, in Ortiz's hands, Lloyd Banks's "Beamer, Benz, or Bentley" became the economical "Nissan, Honda, Chevy.") Asked whether he'd have been a better fit 15 years ago, he smiles broadly, leans back on his couch, and proclaims, "If I was making music back then, this interview would be going on in my mansion! I'm pretty sure it would have been a lot easier then."
But he's not bitter. He has had his dalliance with the top echelons of the music-industry machine, and it didn't work out. The buzz Ortiz created with his 2007 debut The Brick: Bodega Chronicles, earned him a chance to sign with Dr. Dre's Aftermath label—he did, only to sit on the shelf after being told that a new Eminem album and Dre's chimerical Detox pre-empted him on the release schedule. (A track titled "What's Your World," originally scheduled for Free Agent, caught Dre's ear and has been earmarked for Detox.) He was officially released at the start of 2008—a move that prompted the title of his new album, which will be released on E1 Music.
Looking back on his gamble with Dre, Ortiz reasons, "How could anyone not take that chance? I wanted to be alongside Eminem and 50 Cent, and get pointers on how to do records and get better as a rapper." The experience only fortified his belief in standing firm with his core hometown values—the very traits that attracted others to hip-hop in the first place. He predicts that Free Agent will be better received than his debut, but guarantees that it won't come with any gimmicks. He won't, as he jokes, bend to his label's marketing department and come out "50 pounds lighter with a six-pack." After all, he was here first, and he's confident in his heritage: "The thing is, I want to get a condo just like everyone else, but I'm not gonna change who I am to get there," he says. "And when I do get there, my apartment will still feel like the projects inside. I won't be going out and ordering a gourmet salad—I'll still be getting chicken wings and french fries."
*article courtesy of The Village Voice
I can't wait until summer is over because you will see me in my hoodie, jeans & timbs (editors note: I actually tie my timbs & my jeans don't sag). Hip-Hop has become way too metrosexual. Joell brings that grown man rap that I appreciate and to a large degree need. This is in no way a diss to any fans of Southern rap or Emo rap. There should be room for everything, but the music that I love and keeps my heart pumping seems to be going the way of the dinosaur. Okay, I'm done with my mini rant. Enjoy this cool article on Mr. Ortiz.
Joell Ortiz vs. Gentrification
Of Brooklyn, yes, but also of the NYC hip-hop on which he still aims to make his name
By Phillip Mlynar Tuesday, Jun 1 2010
Joell Ortiz saw gentrification engulf Greenpoint from the vantage of the Cooper Park housing projects. As the new millennium began, the 31-year-old rapper noticed the first changes sprouting up with "a little condominium here, a loft setup there." Before the influx of high-income housing, his section of Brooklyn suffered from a domino-effect blight: "My area was really drug-infested 'cause across from us was a shelter with a lot of drug addicts—the drugs bring the money, and the money leads to violence." But not these days. "Now, it's ridiculous. They brought in the hipsters, brought in the yuppies, and built up the big condos that no one in my 'hood can afford."
Make no mistake: Hip-hop is New York's music. Time was that simply hailing from the five boroughs brought both bragging rights and an audience at any major record label. New York was the place where an aspiring artist had to prove their talent—critically, commercially, and on the live stage. At our '90s peak, artists like Mobb Deep, Wu-Tang Clan, pre-Kelis-era Nas, and adopted New Yorkers Gang Starr reigned supreme with a blueprint of scrupulously composed lyrics, soul- and jazz-derived beats, and a pretext that rappers were reporting from the slums. It's a formula often regarded as "purist" and antiquated these days. But, as Ortiz testifies, "Back then, you had to be nice. You couldn't just get by with a catchy chorus and something to fill up the gaps in between."
Not any more. Today's biggest hip-hop artists hail from down South: Giants like T.I., Rick Ross, and Lil' Wayne may tackle the same street-level subjects that Ortiz dealt with growing up in Greenpoint, but when T.I. spits about dope boys, he does so over production that's cannily palatable to daytime pop radio, suitable for sweet-16 parties, and unafraid of hinging things on a hummable chorus. (It's to Jay-Z's credit that he's one of the rare New Yorkers who've managed to stay abreast of rap's sonic shifts.) Labels don't want to market an MC standing around in utilitarian Timberlands and Carhartt clothing—they want Wale in expensive, tight brand-name pants. "Rough, rugged, and raw" no longer earns a badge of authenticity—labels are looking for clean-cut kids like Drake, a rapping Dawson's Creek character if ever there was one. It leaves classical New York rappers like Ortiz, intent on staying true to their regional roots, left out in the commercial cold. Dollar cups of coffee from the corner bodega have been replaced by $4 cafe lattes, if you will, all served to a soundtrack of Jeezy and Weezy.
Ortiz is aware of the changed arena he's fighting in. Now living on a calm, residential Bushwick block, he's open to admitting that his brand of hip-hop is far from fashionable. He favors a style of rap that's abrasive and uncut and sounds best over production that cribs from the same well of sample sources his '90s New York contemporaries plundered. Done right, it's a ferocious but uncompromising blend, as exemplified by the DJ Premier–produced "Project Boy," a Free Agent track he comically recorded in a three-piece-suit while en route to a "formal function." Over a beat that sounds like it's based on the theme from a low-budget '70s spy flick, Ortiz paints an uncouth environmental picture filled with "crack heads [that] smoke anything that can fit in that stem/And little girls do grown men just to sit in that Benz." Then, as if condensing his whole mentality, he vows, "What y'all spit's sugar-coated—I be spitting that phlegm." (In a similar vein, in Ortiz's hands, Lloyd Banks's "Beamer, Benz, or Bentley" became the economical "Nissan, Honda, Chevy.") Asked whether he'd have been a better fit 15 years ago, he smiles broadly, leans back on his couch, and proclaims, "If I was making music back then, this interview would be going on in my mansion! I'm pretty sure it would have been a lot easier then."
But he's not bitter. He has had his dalliance with the top echelons of the music-industry machine, and it didn't work out. The buzz Ortiz created with his 2007 debut The Brick: Bodega Chronicles, earned him a chance to sign with Dr. Dre's Aftermath label—he did, only to sit on the shelf after being told that a new Eminem album and Dre's chimerical Detox pre-empted him on the release schedule. (A track titled "What's Your World," originally scheduled for Free Agent, caught Dre's ear and has been earmarked for Detox.) He was officially released at the start of 2008—a move that prompted the title of his new album, which will be released on E1 Music.
Looking back on his gamble with Dre, Ortiz reasons, "How could anyone not take that chance? I wanted to be alongside Eminem and 50 Cent, and get pointers on how to do records and get better as a rapper." The experience only fortified his belief in standing firm with his core hometown values—the very traits that attracted others to hip-hop in the first place. He predicts that Free Agent will be better received than his debut, but guarantees that it won't come with any gimmicks. He won't, as he jokes, bend to his label's marketing department and come out "50 pounds lighter with a six-pack." After all, he was here first, and he's confident in his heritage: "The thing is, I want to get a condo just like everyone else, but I'm not gonna change who I am to get there," he says. "And when I do get there, my apartment will still feel like the projects inside. I won't be going out and ordering a gourmet salad—I'll still be getting chicken wings and french fries."
*article courtesy of The Village Voice
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Terry Urban & J Dilla - The Dills Mixtape
01. Biggie & Kanye West - Love Or Money [Terry Urban Remix]
02. AZ & Nas - The Word Up Firm [Terry Urban Remix]
03. Black Moon - How Many MC’s [Terry Urban Remix]
04. Common - So Far To Go [Terry Urban Remix] (Featuring Jay-Z)
05. Raekwon - Criminology [Terry Urban Remix] (Featuring Ghostface Killah)
06. Nas - The Flyest [Terry Urban Remix] (Featuring AZ)
07. Clipse - Mr. Me Too [Terry Urban Remix]
08. Mobb Deep - Hell On Earth [Terry Urban Remix] (Featuring Common)
09. Jay-Z & Kanye West - Diamonds Circulate [Terry Urban Remix]
10. Redman & Method Man - How High [Terry Urban Remix]
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
Wu-Massacre: Album Art & Track Listing
01. Criminology 2.5 (Featuring Raekwon & Ghostface Killah)
02. Mef vs. Chef Part 2
03. Ya Moms Skit
04. Smooth Sailing [Remix] (Featuring Ghostface Killah, Method Man & Solomon Child)
05. Our Dreams
06. Gunshowers (Featuring Method Man, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck & Cappadonna)
07. Dangerous (Featuring Raekwon, Method Man & Ghostface Killah)
08. Pimpin' Chipp
09. How To Pay Rent Skit (Featuring Tracy Morgan)
10. Miranda
11. Youngtown Heist
12. Breaka Breaka "Its That Wu Sh*t"
13. Made Men (Bonus)
*Cover Art by Chris Bachalo
**Track Listing Courtesy of RapRadar.com
Thursday, February 11, 2010
9th Wonder Invented The Remix . . . Again!
01. Babyface – Grown & Sexy [9th Wonder Please Talk To Me Remix]
02. Memphis Bleek – Be At [9th Wonder Fire Remix]
03. Kanye West – Breathe In, Breathe Out [9th Wonder Soul Remix] (Featuring Ludacris)
04. Goapele – Catch 22 (9th Wonder I’m Stylisticin’ On Ya Remix)
05. Heavy D – It’s Your Birthday [9th Wonder Let’s Work Remix] (Featuring Diddy)
06. Method Man – Method Man and 9th [9th Wonder Babydoll Remix]
07. Method Man – Method Man and 9th [9th Wonder Pre-quel Remix]
08. Method Man – Method Man and 9th [9th Wonder Rainy Day Remix]
09. Method Man – Method Man and 9th [9th Wonder Smoke Something Remix]
10. Beyonce – Naughty Girl [9th Wonder Hip-Hop Remix] (Featuring Donna Summer)
11. Kanye West – Never Let Me Down [9th Wonder The Real Hip-Hop Remix] (Featuring Jay-Z)
12. Little Brother – Not Enough (More) [9th Wonder STILL Ain’t Enough Remix]
13. Supernatural – Off The Top [9th Wonder Nature Super Remix] (Featuring DJ Babu On De Cuts)
14. Memphis Bleek – R To The O To The C [9th Wonder Creepin’ Through The Hood Remix]
15. Ghostface – Run [9th Wonder Remix] (Featuring Jadakiss, Nas & Big L)
16. Monica – So Gone [9th Wonder Dedication To The Moon Cuz It’s Black Remix] (Featuring Joe Scudda)
17. Twista – So Sexy [9th Wonder Change Up Remix]
18. Memphis Bleek – Take A Minute To Breathe [9th Wonder I Can Take It Remix]
19. Common – The Corner [9th Wonder 70’s Pimped Out Willie Hutch Remix] (Featuring Kanye West & The Last Poets)
20. Nas – Thief’s Theme [9th’s Back To Metcalf Remix]
21. Tweet – Turn Da Lights Off [9th Wonder Oh No You Didn’t Remix] (Featuring Missy Elliot)
22. John Legend – Used To Love You [9th Wonder Playmates Imaging Remix] (Featuring Renee & Angela)
23. A Tribe Called Quest – Wordplay [9th Wonder Loungin' Around Remix] (Featuring Consequence)
24. The Notorious B.I.G. - Bad Boy, Bad Boy [9th Wonder, I'm The Lost Hitman Remix]
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Late Night With The Roots
01 The Roots – How I Got Over
02 Ludacris – I Do It For Hip Hop / Last Of A Dying Breed
03 Mos Def – Casa Bey
04 Beastie Boys – So Whatcha Want
05 Black Star – History
06 Snoop Dogg – I Wanna Rock
07 Ghostface – Baby (Featuring Raheem DeVaughn)
08 Wale – Pretty Girls
09 Raekwon – Catalina
10 50 Cent – Baby By Me / Do You Think About Me
11 Clipse – Popular Demand (Featuring Black Thought)
12 Clipse – Grindin’ (Featuring Black Thought)
13 Rick Ross - Magnificent
14 Q-Tip – Barely In Love
14 Q-Tip – Barely In Love
15 Goodie Mob – Soul Food
16 Public Enemy – Bring The Noise
17 Blackroc - Dollaz & Sense / Tellin Me Things (Featuring RZA)
17 Blackroc - Dollaz & Sense / Tellin Me Things (Featuring RZA)
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Reflection Eternal - The RE:Union Mixtape
01 Intro
02 Revolutions Per Minute
03 In This World
04 Hip-Hop (Unreleased)
05 Back Again
06 Wishing On A Black Star
07 Just Begun (Featuring Jay Electronica, J. Cole, & Mos Def)
08 Come Around (Featuring Termanology & Royce Da 5'9) [Prod. by Statik Selektah]
09 Internet Connection
10 Let It Go (Featuring Dion)
11 Testify (Featuring Styles P.)
12 Time
13 The Thrill Is Gone (Featuring Styles P.) [Prod. by Statik Selektah]
14 Can We Go Back
The Reflection Eternal Classics:
15 Fortified Live (Featuring Mos Def & Mr Man)
16 Chaos (Featuring Bahamadia)
17 The Express
18 Respiration (Featuring Common & Mos Def)
19 Definition (Featuring Mos Def)
20 RE:Defininition (Featuring Mos Def)
21 Move Something
22 Ghetto Afterlife (Featuring Kool G. Rap)
23 The Blast [Remix] (Featuring Erykah Badu)
24 Good To You [Prod. by Kanye West]
25 Get By [REMIX] (Featuring Jay-Z, Mos Def, Kanye West, & Busta Rhymes) [Prod. by Kanye West]
26 Back Up Offa Me
27 Piano (Featuring Ghostface Killah)
28 Music Is Life (Featuring Nas)
29 Hang Ups
30 Outro
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Monday, March 16, 2009
Ghostface & (MF) Doom - Chinatown Wars
The track first debuted on DJ Premier's Sirius satellite radio show Live From HeadQCourterz. The track and it's remix will both appear on Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars
for the Nintendo DS
, which drops 3/17/09.
Download: Chinatown Wars
Download: Chinatown Wars [Remix]
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