here's a lil tribute mix to the late great James Yancey (aka Jay Dee, J Dilla) months after he passed, originally taken from Jeepney Sound vol 6 mixtape i did back in 2007 ~ [Jeepney Sound Vol. 6 by DJ PUMP]
Giorgio Moroder - E=MC2
DJ Pump - Thank You Jay Dee
Kanye West on Jay Dee
Dilla's World [still bangin' in your jeep]
The Trammps - Rubber band
Kool & The Gang - Fruitman
Martha Reeves - Sweet Misery
A Tribe Called Quest - 1nce Again [DJ Pump Remix}
J Dilla - Won't Do
Since today is the last day of February and also technically the last day of "Dilla" month, I thought we'd close out the month with some more Dilla for your listening pleasure. Quite a few obscure Dilla joints here.
Today is officially DJ Stickem day at pipomixes.com. Below is Stickem's description of the mix.
Hip hop mix recorded in response to my boy Roberto Rodriguez in engineering school who didn't believe that the kid with the 98.5 average in Chemistry 2 was nice on the turntables too. Hahaa! PUH-LEEEEASE. Check the playlist:
1) Jeru the Damaja - Come Clean 2) Mic Geronimo - Shit's Real 3) Black Moon - How Many Emcee's 4) Biggie Smalls - Who Shot Ya? 5) Method Man - Release Yo Delf 6) Black Moon - Act Like Ya Want It 7) Gang Starr - Mass Appeal 8) Show & AG - Next level
I never posted this mix when J. Rocc originally posted it on his soundcloud because of its shortness. In fact, I waited a while to listen to the mix because of its shortness. Well, I've had this quick mix in steady rotation for the last month. Highly Recommended.
Scratch provides a list of his top 5 deejays dead or alive, then provide his list of top 5"A" deejays dead or alive. His second list is pretty much a most "slept-on" deejay list. Props to Jah Wise for putting me on.
Naughty By Nature : Its On UMC's : Blue Cheese LONS: Sobb Story EPMD: So Whatcha Sayin Nice & Smooth Sometimes Tribe Called Quest : Footprints X-Clan : GrandVerbalizer what time is it Lost Boys : Renee 3 X Dope : Funky Dividends Notorious BIG: Gimme the loot Diamond D : I'm Outta here GangStarr : Just to Get A rep Digital IUnderground : Same Song Eric B & Rakim : i Ain't no Joke Epmd ft LL : Rampage Lakim Shabazz: Pure Righteousness Main Source: Looking at the Front Door Kool G Rap & Polo : Road to Riches Bobby Jimmy: Roaches Lords Of the Underground : Chief Rocka Suzanne Vega : Toms diner Redman : Time for sum Action Black Sheep : The Choice is yours Ice Cube: Check Yo Self MadCap: The Whole Kit and Kaboodle Doug E Fresh & Slick Rick : The Show Marly Marl: The Symphony Color Me Badd: Sex you Up Tragedy : The Rebal Grand Puba : Fat Rat Apache: Gangsta bitch 3rd Base : Gas Face
Ahh the 90's, a time when the digitalness of music didn't hurt your ears and your ears could take comfort in depth of crackling records. Highly Recommended.
Tracklist: 01. Trans AM - "Firepoker" (City Slang) 02. 11.59 - "TG" (Ticking Time) 03. Cheif XL - "Last Stop" (Mo' Wax) 04. Marxman - "Sad Affair" (Talkin' Loud) 05. Peanut Butter Wolf - "Lunar Props" (2 Kool) 06. Abyss - "Shadow" (Sec) 07. Nine - "Promo" (white Label) 08. Beastie Boys - "Bohisattua Vow [instrumental]" (Mo' Wax) 09. Major Force - "Last Orgy" (Major Force) 10. Stereo MCs - "What Is Soul [instrumental]" (4th & Broadway) 11. DJ Shadow - "Mutual Slump" (Mo] Wax) 12. Ultramag. MCS - "Chorus Line [instrumental]" (Next Plat) 13. Needle Thrashers - "Ill, You + Me = Naughty" (promo) 14. Wild Bunch - "The Look Of Love" (4th & Broadway) 15. Major Force - "Zenguin In Action" (Major Force) 16. DJ Krush - "KRB" (Mo' Wax) 17. Indho - "Love Will Be On Your Side [Photek Mix]" (Mercury Music) 18. Rebel Crew - "Serpent" (promo) 19. DJ Krush - "Only The Strong Will Survive [Attica Blues Mix]" (Mo' Wax) 20. The Root - "Clones" (Geffen) 21. Stereo MCs - "Devils Claw" (4th & Broadway) 22. Pressure Drop - "Back 2 Back" (C & P Big World) 23. Beatnuts - "Are You Ready [instrumental]" (bootleg) 24. Fed - "Cut Ridge" (Randall) 25. Major Force - "untitled" (Major Force) 26. Sven Can Hees - "Freak Ysthan" (Royal) 27. Love Corporation - "Cathedralls Of Glitter" (P & C Creation) 28. Nuphonic - "untitled" (white Label) 29. Coldcut - "Beats & Pieces" (Big Life) 30. Howie B - "Undercover" (Polydor) 31. Massive Attack - "Sly (String Section)" (4th & Broadway) 32. DJ Cam - "promo" (Sony) 33. Automator - "Sleep" (Unbiquity Music) 34. Lewis Parker - "Rise" (Bite It) 35. Co-Flow - "promo" (white Label) 36. DJ Shadow - "DJ Shadow Theme (solesides)" (Mo' Wax) 37. DJ Shadow - "Midnight" (Mo' Wax) 38. DJ Shadow - "Hardcore Inst. Hip Hop" (Mo' Wax) 39. DR Octagon - "Bear Witness" (Mo' Wax) 40. DJ Krush - "Meiso" (Mo' Wax) 41. DJ Shadow - "Lost + Found" (Mo' Wax) 42. Blackalicious - "Swan Lake Instrumental" (Mo' Wax) 43. DJ Krush - "Duality" (Mo' Wax) 44. Real Deal - "Headless Horseman" (Botchit & Scraper) 45. Massive Attack - "Daydreaming Inst." (4th & Broadway) 46. Smith & Mighty & Kelus & Lynx - "Clash Of The Beasts" (3111) 47. Uc Force - "Strong Island" (Boy Boy) 48. Gangstarr - "untitled" (Chrysalis) 49. Jazz Grooves - "Huh" (B Balls) 50. EPMD - "So Whatcha Sayin" (Sleepin Bag) 51. Major Force - "Guess What" (Major Force) 52. Wost Wanted - "Calm Down" (Sutra) 53. Lamb - "Goreckt" (Fontana) 54. The Amalgamation - "Eric" (Filter) 55. Renegade Soundwave - "Phantom" (Mute) 56. Nicolette - "Waking Up" (Shup Up & Dance) 57. Local Zero - "Airbag" (Filter) 58. DJ Shadow - "The Numbers Song" (Mo' Wax) 59. Beastie Boys - "Flute Loop Inst." (Mo' Wax) 60. Bjork - "I Miss You (Dobie Rub Pt 1)" (One Little Indian) 61. Gutter Snirfs - "Trial Of Life Inst." (Libaty Grooves) 62. Unkle - "Berry Meditation" (Mo' Wax) 63. Air - "Casanova 70" (Source Lab) 64. Brand Nubain - "Love Me Or Leave Me Alone" (Elektra) 65. Automator - "A Better Tommorrow" (Ubiquity) 66. Dust Brothers - "Save Me" (promo) 67. Roni Size - "Down" (Talking Loud) 68. DJ Die - "Stone Love" (promo) 69. Oasis - "Wonderwall" (Creation) 70. Major Force - "Return Of The Original Artform" (Major Force) 71. DJ Mink - "Hey Can You Relate" (WARP) 72. Stetsasonic - "Hip Hop Band" (Tommy Boy) 73.Tru Funk - "Early Beat" (3 Stripe Music) 74. Carlton - "Do You Dream" (ffrr)
This is a live all 45 mix made with one turntable and a loop pedal. It was constructed for Red Bull's 45 night on October 27 2008 in LA. This mix includes some cutting room floor ideas from The Hard Sell (DJ Shadow and I on 8 turntables and two loop pedals) and elements from what would later be part of my one turntable/loop pedal live mix CD "Sound Of The Police", which is out now.
Enjoy!
P.S. The end is a train wreck!!!
Congratulations to DJ Melo-D for being voted the most "slept-on" DJ according to the Pipomixes.com community of deejays, mixtape listeners, and general musical connoisseurs of all things dope. Full list of deejays receiving recognition after the jump. Read more »
Often, when I find a dope mix I hoard it like a spoiled fat kid and stash it away to be posted on a "special occasion." More times than not, I end up forgetting about the mix and never post it. I'd say that there are at least a dozen "Highly Recommended" mixes that still haven't posted because I'm waiting for them to age like fine wine. Well, here's one straight from the cellar. I'd describe it, but that would defeat the entire purpose of this blog, wouldn't it.
Surprising that nobody mentioned C-Minus as a slept-on deejay. In this interview, C-Minus discusses his early musical influences, meeting and befriending Mr. Choc, initially passing on the Power 106 gig because it started on X-Mas day, and being one of the innovators of the rap-rock fusion.
One of the finer 10:52 of mixing I've heard in quite a while. Highly Recommended. ADA's description of the mix below.
It's a 4 track mix I made in 2006 when I was living with my uncle and spending a lot of time in the garage with my turntables and sampler. This has a lot of classic dope 90s beats which I looped and layered at 90 BPM and added skratching. I was definitely influenced by the J Rocc vs Jaylib mix and other classic 4 track mixes of the 90s. I always wanted to do something like this and this was my first project of this nature. I hope you can dig it.
I'm not the biggest fan of electro music, but this set has me straight mesmerized. Because of his technical skill, I anointed Revolution (a few months back) as the "Tim Duncan" of deejaying. I think I'm going to change that to the "Jordan" of deejaying. Jordan is the GOAT because he was able to combine superior technical skill with unmatched talent and ability. Watch this video and I dare you to try to convince me that the "Jordan" shoe doesn't fit Revolution.
God damn, all the Valentine's Day mixes are simply overwhelming. Is there some sort of hip hop-Valentine's Day connection that I am not aware of? Rhettmatic's description of the mix below.
Peace Everyone, Not a big Valentine's Day fan but in honor to all the lovers in the world, this one's for you. I made this mix in 2003 originally for my girlfriend at that time.....her friends heard the mix and wanted to a copy for themselves. Next thing you know i've been getting request for the mix. I decided to redo the mix and give it out for free at our NIGHTLIFE event that the Beat Junkies would throw in Hollywood (that particular theme for the night was ironically called "Ladies' Night). I gave it mostly to all the ladies.....anyways, if you have the actual mix cd, you're pretty lucky. I don't even have the original artwork for it. Though personally I like to kick Cupid's ass & choke him out, this is dedicated to the all the people that's in love.....enjoy.
Gill Scott was right when he said that the revolution will not be televised. I just don't know whether he thought it was going to be twitterized.
Ice Cube: The Product
NWA: Real Niggaz
2pac : Holla if you hear me
Lakim Shabazz: pure righteousness
X Clan: Funkin Lesson
Public Enemy: Fight The Power
Eric B & Rakim: Don't sweat the Technique
Ice T : New Jack Hustler
Big Daddy Kane : RAW
De La Soul: Ghetto Thang
EPMD: Gold Digger
Above the law: Menace to Society
Afros: Feel It
Freez Luv: When i was Young Boy
I had no idea that Valentine's Day was a cause for a mixtape cornucopia. I guess all of these quality mixes softens the blow of Valentine's dent in my wallet. Enjoy.
Over at Cratekings, there was a spirited conversation about the most "slept-on" producers. The conversation got a little out of control because there were as many definitions of "slept-on" as there were opinions of who is actually "slept-on." The post did get me thinking about "slept-on" deejays. For argument's sake, "slept-on" will be defined as "deejays who do not receive proper recognition, given their deejay skills and contributions to deejay culture."
Also, the below deejays are excluded from the conversation because there is no way anybody could convince me that they are "slept-on."
Jazzy Jeff breaks down his infamous "transformer" scratch. Scion will always have a special place in my heart for allowing me to see Jazzy Jeff & Revolution perform on the same night.
Ahh, the days of the old 4-track. Call me stupid, but I never quite figured out that damn 4-track. As I'm sure you've all noticed with my mixes, I love the sound of a 4-tracked mix (thank you J.Rocc). However, I was never able to figure out the whole 4-track thing until the Cool Edits of the world became industry standard. In any event, below is Chase One's description of the mix. Highly Recommended.
I was going through some boxes a while ago and found my old Tascam 4-Track Cassette Recorder, so I dusted it off and decided to make an old breaks/ original sampled artists mix. This mix was made with one turntable, one mixer, one tascam 4-track and one korg kaoss pad II ( for some echoes and shit). I think I recorded this late 2008 or early 2009?
I really don't know what to think with this whole Kool Herc situation. I do find it very sad that a man responsible for a multi-billion dollar industry does not have access to adequate health insurance. On the other hand, I've read a few blog posts (read here) that having me feeling some regrets for donating some serious coin to his healthcare fund. Thoughts? If not, enjoy the mix.
It's one thing to make a mixtape every month. It's a whole other thing to make a monthly mixtape with the quality that Ian Head does. Below is the description of the mix.
Ok, I'm just gonna list the reasons why I made this mixtape:
February is a tough month. In NYC, it's usually the coldest, icy-est, most brutal month of the year. Last February I got sicker than I've been since I was a little kid. You can get kind of swallowed up by the city in February. So instead of doing something more downbeat and mellow, I figured I'd break out some upbeat records to keep things moving forward during the next few weeks.
I love dollar bins. I've done a few tapes of dollar (or less) records, and figured it was time to get back into the crates for the funk. Shout out to my man Verbal Math and all the dollar heads out there.
Recent travels in the Northwest (SEA/TAC/PDX) the past couple months revealed some dollar treasures that I thought needed sharing.
I needed to throw out a couple donuts in tribute to Dilla, RIP.
I've got to say that I'm a sucker for a beat with a piano loop. Once I hear those keys, I'm hooked. A few years ago my man Omega:NYC made an all piano-based sample mix, but I think the mix was lost in my most recent move. A few months ago, I started feigning for the mix only to discover it was nowhere to be found. Well, necessity is the mother of innovation. In the spirit of necessity and innovation blah blah blah, I decided to do my own piano-based mix. To thank all of those who give me love on the social networks, I'm going to make this mix exclusive to my twitter and soundcloud followers. You can get the download link via twitter or soundcloud, below are the instruction on how you can hear/download mix.
For those of you who are into the genre of beatmakers that includes cats like Flying Lotus, Low End Theory crew etc... (which I know many of you are), you will really enjoy this mix. Below is a description of the mix.
In 2010 a lot of the music that really impressed me contained very interesting use of vocals or vocal samples (and you'll find this reflected in my mix). There is a lot of beat music (downtempo, wonky, glich, and future) as well as some dubstep, glitch hop, idm, skweee, and a taste of footwork. Kutmah, Gaslamp Killer, D-styles (really the whole Low End Theory crew), and Danny Drive Thru are some of the cats that inspire me to mix and select that way I do. I really hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I enjoyed putting it together.
A mix with songs all based on the same soul classic of the late Eddie Kendrick (R.I.P.). Pretty dope concept. I kind of feel bad for posting this on a Saturday, but I like to reward the Saturday faithful.
If I remember correctly, Dilla's "Welcome to Detroit" was the first producer-based BBE album that was released. I bought the album right when it came out and initially didn't give it more than one listen (though I burned the 'Pause' 12" like nobody's business). A few weeks later, I was hanging out with my man Omega:NYC and I remember him raving about the production on "Welcome to Detroit." As he continued to rave about the album I started to think to myself that maybe I missed something. As we were driving around L.A. together going to local record shops diggin' for records I finally broke down and asked him to put the "Welcome to Detroit" cd in the stereo deck so I could give it another listen...
In typical Omega fashion, he replied: "Nah man, I only copped it on vinyl." "Oh well," I thought. It wasn't the first nor last time we musically disagreed. After an evening of diggin', Omega drove me back to my car so that could head home. Before starting my engine, I reached into my backseat to grab my still virgin copy of "Welcome to Detroit" and tossed the cd into Omega's car. "Here, you can have the cd. You'll clearly use it more than I will." Obviously, I just "didn't know." Last year, I bought "Welcome to Detroit" for the second time. True story.
Now that February is underway I'm sure all of the Dilla tributes will begin to circulate to commemorate one of our fallen legends. The reality is that many of the most hardcore Dilla fans were very late on the bandwagon. That is why I've decided to post my Dilla Confessions leading up to February 7th. These "confessions" are intended to give a more honest look at Dilla fandom from the perspective of a hip hop head who's been down with Dilla beats since the mid 90's, but who admittedly did not fully appreciate the musical contributions of James Yancey until much later in life. With that said, here is Dilla Confession #1.
I can't believe this right here. The Great Zeee tells the story of how he came to own Jam Master Jay's Record Collection. As he was telling the story I kept thinking the other dudes where going to suddenly stick'em up and take all the crates.
Is it me, or has Pete Rock been recently more willing to discuss the whole "Juicy" story. In several recent interviews I've been reading/hearing, Pete Rock has been a lot more candid about not receiving production credit for "Juicy." In a relatedly unrelated note, word on the street is that a certain deejay that is very familiar with this blog is getting ready to release the mother of all Biggie tribute mixes in March. But, you didn't hear that from me.
At first, I thought this interview was going to be a little on the boring side. But, I've got to say that I was inspired by listening to the passion of a starving artist/athlete. Being the son of two immigrant parents, I personally found the whole "citizenship" thing to be a little over stated. Before you all accuse me of being cold hearted, believe me when I tell you all that I am intimately familiar with the struggles that all of our "undocumented" young people face. That being said, the guy seems to be talented enough where you'd think he'd be able to find someone who could help him become a citizen and get legitimately paid from his craft. Either way, his passion for being a b-boy is very admirable. I just wish he could channel some of that energy into getting himself "legit."
Mix I made to give to this guy who runs a DJ night in Philly. This is the sort of stuff I'd play if he'd let me DJ there. It's all Hiphop and dancehall beats and blends mostly from the 90s, all that raw shit, all bangers, all vinyl. These are some deep cuts, not your usual '90s greatest hits' if you know what I mean, but all highly head nodding and danceable.All vinyl goodness with plenty of blends. Funny story: I was listening to the mix in the car on the way over and forgot to eject it and put it back in the sleeve. So what I ended up giving the guy was the CD that was in my car, which happened to be a compilation of classic songs I put together for a family vacation at a lake in 2006... not exactly what I'd rock at a club (think Beach Boys, Santana, War, etc.)... but who knows if the guy even listened to it... I will explain myself when I see him again, and make sure he gets THIS mix, which is banging.
