July 4th, 2025 would have been Omega:NYC's 47th birthday. I want to send this out into the world on his birthday, but like I tend to do with finished mixes; I held onto this for reasons unexplained.
I dropped my tribute mix to my fallen friend several months back (you can read the original write-up here). At the time, I promised to provide liner notes to give broader context to all the track selections used in the mix, musical inside jokes, backstories, etc. Here is the promised liner notes. I hope it helps bring my tribute mix to my friend to life for you.
Liner Notes
0 to approx 3:10 - You'll Know When You Get There/Fanstastic/Missing You Interlude/O Voicemails - I met O standing in line at Slum Village's Fanstastic,Vol. 2 album release party. The sample for SV's Fantastic is used to set a somber tone for the tribute mix that was made too late, for which the need was too soon. The scratched-in drops come from the intro to Biggie's Missing You (also a tribute) where Biggie discusses the death of his friend he referred to as 'O.' Other drops come from voicemails left by O (Omega:NYC). Fantastic sample (You'll Know When You Get There) is then blended into the Fantastic instrumental and song to set the bed for the mix.
Approx 3:10-4:07 - Workinonit/Fantastic blend. - I bought Donuts on the February 10th, 2010; the day Dilla passed away. I recall it was a Friday because I bought the album at Tower Records on my way to work. At that time, I was very young in my teaching career, and I taught a Friday night class. The kind of class nobody was willing to teach unless you were a young upstart willing to teach any day at any time. With Friday traffic, my commute was never any less than two yours to campus. I'll admit that I wasn't really feeling Dilla's new sound at that time. I can't tell you how many times I passed over the bootleg copies of Rough Draft that were always in the bins at Amoeba and Aaron's Records circa 2003-2006. After hearing of Dilla's passing earlier in the day online, I made a special trip to Tower Records near my parent's house (who were lending me their car for the long commute to work) to find some Dilla for the drive. I didn't even know Donuts was released a few days earlier. I'll admit that I wasn't specifically looking for Donuts that day. I'm not even sure what I was looking for. I do remember seeing the distinctive Donuts cover art (with the cartoonish yellow donut) for the first time. I thought, no way! I couldn't believe there was a new Dilla album coinciding with his death. It reminded me of how 2pac's Makaveli dropped just a few weeks after his death.
I immediately bought the classic instrumental album and slid it into the CD deck. Workinonit is the second track on the album, but for all intents and purposes; it's the first real song on the album. It sounded like nothing I had every heard before. I vividly remember calling O from the car to play the beat for him. I must have played that beat back 15 times before we resumed our conversation. The Workinonit beat loudly stated, this album is on some different shit! I recall O and I chopping it up the rest of the car ride to work that day, and I played the rest of Donuts on the way home. I recall that conversation every time I hear Workinonit and the exhilarating feeling I had at the time that I was about to hear something new and innovative.
Approx 4:07-6:25 - Workinonit/Tramp/Show Me the Good Life blend - I tried my best to include as many UBB records as possible. As extensive as his record collection was, O was most proud of having the complete collection of UBB releases. Tramp is then blended with Madlib's interpretation on his tribute to Dilla from Beat Konducta, Vol. 5-6, then played to the song's outro creating an interlude which allowed for a tempo switch.
Approx 6:25-8:04 - Wish That I Could Talk to You/Mighty Healthy - O had an original copy of the relatively rare Mighty Healthy 12" which included the instrumental and acapella. He would regularly taunt me with this record lol I blended Mighty Healthy with its sample source and freaked it a little bit as a homage to the decades long taunt between he and I.
Approx 8:04-11:10 - Mighty Health/Fanstastic/Tonz'O'Gunz/Heaven and Hell - Heaven and Hell might be my favorite record from the UBB series so I had to find a way to incorporate it into the mix. We were both big fans of Gang Starr like any true head, particularly Hard to Earn. I took another UBB staple (Isaac Haye's Breakthrough) and blended it with its sampled interpretation (Tonz 'O' Gunz), through it all in the blender and made something funky.
Approx 11:10-12:00 - Breakthrough/I'm Gonna Love You.../No Ideas Original - When Nas dropped No Ideas Original we were both amped for what Lost Tapes had in store. We hoped Lost Tapes would be the return of Nasty Nas, and No Ideas Original certainly had us believing. Lost Tapes had its moments, but it wasn't Illmatic or even It Was Written. However, that didn't stop up from endlessly rocking doubles of No Ideas... circa 2002. Given it's sample of Barry White's I'm Gonna Love You... in UBB 21, it was a no brainer to include.
Approx 12:00-12:40 - I'm Gonna Love You/Impeach the President/Top Billin'/I Know I Can/Misdemeanor/Getting Funky - A lot going on this 40 seconds of multi-track blending! It starts with the classic break from Barry White's I'm Gonna Love You and then blends into the UBB break of all UBB breaks, Impeach the President. A few classic joints that sampled the drums from Impeach the President are teased into the mix. Props to Salaam Remi for the I Can beat. O could be a finicky head. He was tough to impress. I remember him calling me late one Friday night when he first heard the I Can beat incorporating the drums from Impeach the President with Beethoven's piano. That was always my metric. If it impressed O, it was dope.
Approx 12:40-16:44 - Misdemeanor/Getting Funky/Push It/Let Me Ride/Kissing My Love/Mothership Connection/Fantastic/You'll Know When You Get There - The mix climaxes as Misdemeanor blends into Impeach the President and then the classic Dre/DOC beat (Getting Funky) is teased over the blend. Another UBB classic (Push It) is then brought into the mix to downshift the mood toward a more somber end. Sticking with the UBB theme, Dre's Let Me Ride's drum source (Kissing My Love) is seamlessly blended into the medley. The foundation is then paved for Let Me Ride's more known sample source, Mothership Connection to join the tribute. Of course that's where O has now gone, to the Mothership. Mothership Connection is then paired with the bed throughout the mix, Slum Village's Fanstastic. As fate would have it, the classic Dilla beat masterfully samples Herbie Hancock's You'll Know When You Get There. I'll see you when I get there good friend. I hope the mix did justice to how much you taught me about music.
