Metal Lungies: Beat Drop – Best of 2009

Metal Lungies hosted a massive two-part (and possibly three-part) Beat Drop to wrap up the year. All contributors chose their 5 favorite beats of the year and just gushed over them. I chose the first 5 that came to mind …… which coincidentally all come from albums off my Best Rap Albums of 2009 list (yes, you are correct, I’ve really only listened to like 3 and a half albums all year, I’m a simple man). I chose Alchemist’s “That’ll Work,” G-Side’s “In The Rain,” Juicy J’s “Purple Kush,” Diamond District’s “Who I Be,” and DJ Quik’s “Do You Know,” though the last one didn’t make the cut (I guess ML thought my 140-character write-up was just plain lazy and they’d be right). There’s lots of good writing in the entire piece and plenty more good music to be heard that I’ve only barely scratched the surface myself. Here’s what I wrote for the Alchemist joint:

Three 6 Mafia is perfect for this track because this Alchemist beat is along the same lines of Satanic hip-hop that Three 6 came up on earlier in their career (and the style they went back to this year). The difference being that Three 6 beats sound like gargoyles, church steeples, and bloody goblets and shit. This beat sounds like a record being played backwards, twisting a nice sunny melody into a secret message from Lucifer.

Beautiful Skin Mix

I made a mix for a girl (who we will from here on out refer to simply as Girl) for her birthday because I’m a sucker like that. I won’t exactly be sharing it with you because yknow, it’s a gift for her and not you. But I did take some time picking out the songs and sequencing them and I thought I did a pretty good job. This isn’t saying much but this is my best mix yet (thanks also in large part to Audacity, which I’m finally beginning to learn how to use). Here’s what I included in the mix and some explanation of why. It’s mostly love/girls’ songs because I generally don’t give girls enough credit to be down with hard-assed gangster rap (except Monique, who is a 5-star chick like that) and also shottas don’t make for good hollas. But it’s still generally good rappity rap regardless.

1. Ryan Leslie – How It Was Supposed To Be

Well, except for this. I don’t listen to enough R&B to be a good judge but Ryan Leslie’s album is one of the best R&B albums I’ve heard in years. And this song has been stuck in my head for months, causing me to involuntarily sing it aloud throughout the day, sometimes rocking the harmony, betraying my high school choir roots (poorly at that …… our choir really sucked). I realize throwing this in first sounds cocky like “This is how a mixtape is supposed to be done.” But it’s just that this is the only straight-up R&B joint and I didn’t know how to fit that into the mix. I decided to tack it onto either the beginning or the end. I chose the beginning because it’s upbeat and I want to start off upbeat or fun for the mix.

2. Method Man & Redman – Mrs. International

These first four songs are all songs with fun concepts. It’s no surprise that two of them are from members of the Wu-Tang, which is prone to coming up with great concepts for girl songs (e.g. “Ice Cream,” “Killa Lipstick” come to mind). “Mrs. International” fits right into that mold with a great hook and hilarity from Redman (“Weren’t you on Maury?”). The concept fits the Girl really well too because she loves travelling the globe, is very interested in world politics, and seems to value bougie worldliness in general.

3. Atmosphere – Domestic Dog

The Girl also loves Slug from Atmosphere so I wanted to work him in. This joint off Atmosphere’s very good Strictly Leakage mixtape finds Slug extolling the virtues of picking up chicks at the grocery store. He’s usually really emo so when he gets a chance to be an asshole, it’s refreshing. Great hook too. The song reminds me of my pick up lines, which Girl really enjoys when I use them to fake hit-on her.

I’m that much quicker

I missed this when RapRadar first posted it more than a week ago. Around the 1:40ish mark, Quik breaks down how Isaac Hayes and Curtis Mayfield birthed gangster rap. I love BlaQKout so much, I wanna take it behind my middle school and get it pregnant.

Quik links

DJ Quik’s and Kurupt’s collaboration album, BlaQKout, came out today. I’ll go ahead and say it’s a contender for Album Of The Year. Go ahead and cop that as soon as you get a chance. I better warn though that it might take some effort. Being released independently on Quik’s imprint, Mad Science Recordings, the album’s distribution is a little less widespread. My local Target didn’t order any copies, just to give you an idea.

Anyway, some links:

• My review of the album is up @ Examiner. Let me know what you think here, I guess, since Examiner recently switched up their comments section to only allow 1000 characters max in your comments. Pretty soon, you’ll only be able to comment through Twitter. Discourse FAIL.
• Matthew Africa made an excellent ‘Best of DJ Quik’ mix. It’s been looping in my car the whole weekend.
• DubCNN got to chill with the duo over a game of pool.

After the jump, proof of purchase. Because it’s not everyday that I recommend you buy rap and then heed my own words. And yes, this CD comes with fold-out liner notes.

Mondays With Monchichi: Quik x Pharoahe

DOWNLOAD: DJ Quik ft. KK, Pharoahe Monch “Murda 1 Case“

I wasn’t going to do a Monch post today but when I was at work, feeling like Monday, this guest verse on DJ Quik’s Under The Influence album took me by surprise in a pleasant way, which was the original intent of Mondays With Monchichi anyway. It seems like a pretty odd combination, Quik and Pharoahe, and it likely came about in a less-than-genuine way, during that time when Pharoahe was on Rawkus Records and Rawkus decided to sell out for some mass appeal. This resulted in some pretty awkward bi-coastal collaborations, including Talib Kweli’s “Put It In the Air” with DJ Quik and, of course, “Oh No“, the video for which could pass as a Chris Rockish parody of 90s bling-era rap videos. Still, I wouldn’t be surprised if, despite Rawkus’s ill intentions, this had the positive effect of bringing great musicians into each others’ spheres for the first time, after which they worked together out of a real respect and admiration for each others’ music. Admittedly, this song still feels a little off and I don’t like the reggae-tinged hook, but Quik and Monch drop some memorable lines over a bouncy beat. Really, can any other producer eff with DJ Quik on the mic? I’d say he actually gives Pharoahe a run for his money on this track.