Sampletastic: Lil Wayne & A Tribe Called Quest

Unbeknownst to most, the sound behind one of the biggest hip hop records of the year derives its sample from one of hip hop's most influential and respected groups. The song is Weezy F. Baby's 808-laden, screwed vocal looping pantheon display of bravado known simply as "A Milli." Tribe comes into the picture because the "a milli-milli" that gets repeated ad nauseum comes from the super-rare Vampire Mix of "I Left My Wallet In El Segundo." While they make strange bedfellows, somehow when the forces combine it's like Captain Planet ("The power. Is YOURS!") and it becomes a purveyor of greatness. Someone on put up a comprehensive breakdown of this amalgamated anomaly on YouTube. Peep game:

If that didn't make your head explode, congrats. It's so simple it's mind boggling. Along the same vein, it's beyond me why they even needed a sample to create that. Bangladesh could have just as easily gotten Lil Wayne to say "a-milli" into the mic 8768437534 times and then slowed it down. It seems like it would have achieved the same result - but hey, what do I know about music production?

And while we're on the subject of Bangladesh, apparently he wasn't the only producer who worked on "A Milli" but he's getting all the credit. Chicago-bred/ATL-based producer Cha-Lo is said to have had a significant hand -as co-producer to be exact- in crafting the track, but they're straight giving him the hard, sandpapery shaft and there's nothing he can do. That's the music industry for you...

Free Album Download: African Swim

Major props to Adult Swim for reppin' the Motherland's latest interpretations of this ever evolving life form we call "hip hop":

[click image to download album + artwork]

Check out the African Swim page for a taste of the music you're in for, as well as exclusive videos from several of the artists featured on the album.

"And it all falls down..." © Lauryn Hill

The Top Producer Who Hit The Skids
via CNN.com:

MIAMI, Florida (AP) -- Just a few years ago, Scott Storch was one of the top producers in pop music, living in a $10.5 million mansion on an exclusive Miami island, driving a phalanx of luxury cars and dating the likes of Paris Hilton and Lil Kim.

Nowadays, Scott Storch, 34, is missing in action. He owes over $500,000 in real estate taxes and had a warrant out for his arrest when he failed to show up in court in a child-support case last month. He has not had a top 10 hit in three years. He still has his waterfront marble mansion, but his lawyer, Guy Spiegelman, says Storch is attempting to refinance it after a "catastrophic occurrence this year" resulting from "mismanagement." Storch no longer works with his old manager or publicist. He hasn't talked to either of his children in months.

Replete with tragic details and bad behavior, the ballad of Scott Storch may be the swan song of the bling era, a riches-to-rags tale of excess, poor decisions and a hobbled music industry.

Read the rest here...

Looks like Storch drank too much of the proverbial Kool Aid and started living his life like it was a non-stop music video...now he's paying for it, literally.

Janelle Monáe

Before she took the Interwebz and the electro-funk-soul underground by storm performing as her cyborg alter ego Cindy Mayweather, Janelle Monáe paid her dues on Big Boi Presents...Got Purp? Vol. 2, the Idlewild soundtrack and her own 2003 solo release The Audition. Below is a sampling from each release:

Janelle Monáe - Lettin' Go.mp3




Outkast - Call The Law ft. Janelle Monáe.mp3

Janelle Monáe - You Are My Everything.mp3

You gotta love that kind of versatility. And when both your face and your voice rival each other with their immense beauty, you're quite the force to be reckoned with. Throw in quirky charisma and a willingness to overstep boundaries that need to crossed and well...you get her current persona:

We need more Janelle Monáes...

Nas - Hero/Sly Fox

Videos for new tracks appearing on the widely controversialized Album Formerly Known as Nigger:

"Hero" ft. Keri Hilson



This joint is such a beast. I fornicates with Polow Da Don's production HOARD. As long as I don't ever have to hear him rap about how I should have a picture of his dick on my wall again, we're good. Apparently Keri Hilson is the new hip hop hook-singer chick along with Chrisette Michelle and Estelle. Not sure if I can take her seriously yet, but then again I'm kind of embittered when it comes to R&B post-2002 (damn you Ashanti. DAMN YOU!) so I'm not the person to ask. Of course Chrisette and Estelle bring an immense amount of redeeming quality to the genre and to female performers in general but for the most part I stick with my tried and trues of the 70s - 2001.

"Sly Fox"



Nas calling out Fox News = WINNER . After that stunt Bill O'Reilly pulled with regards to him performing @ Virginia Tech last fall, I guess he didn't have a choice. Who wants to get punked by the same guy who got punked by Cam'ron and Dame Dash?

The Genius of Mannie Fresh

During it's heyday, I was never really on the Cash Money bandwagon too hard - of course it was kind of difficult since they were EVERYWHERE circa '97 - '02. And who can forget when Lil Wayne introduced "bling-bling" into the American lexicon *facepalm* But yeah...after that era came to an end, and things for them kind of dismantled there was Mannie Fresh standing in the wake. His emceeing abilities leave much to be desired but I fornicate with his production (BTW, "fornicate with" will be used in lieu of "fux with" just because it's just some nerdy shit to do, and the double entendres that can be inferred depending on the context are hilarious. I told you I was easily amused). Anyway, it takes a truly special mind to take two HUGE 80s R&B tender-lovin' slow jams and interpolate them into Southern hood anthems the way he did on his 2004 release "The Mind of Mannie Fresh."

Somehow, some way he managed to take "Make It Last" by Keith Sweat and Jacci McGhee...

Keith Sweat - Make It Last Forever ft. Jacci McGhee.mp3

...and flipped it to become "Shake That Ass" featuring Lil Mo, a dutiful anthem to strippers and their skill at their, um, craft:

Mannie Fresh - Shake That Ass ft. Lil Mo.mp3

(This is SO not safe for work)

Same thing with "Nite and Day" by Al B. Sure, who probably got so much tail off this one song which I'm certain is what enabled women to overlook the fact that he really had only one eyebrow...

Al B. Sure - Nite and Day.mp3

Mannie took the quiet synth strains and added a shitload of bass and some hi-hats to make "How We Ride" with Bun B and David Banner...

Mannie Fresh - How We Ride ft. Bun B & David Banner.mp3
(once again, SO not work safe)

So yeah - I dunno if I'd go so far as to say he's brilliant for flipping those songs like that, BUT the fact that he took apples and made them into oranges that still faintly resembled apples is pretty damn remarkable. I have been forever tainted by his renderings of my childhood favorites - now, if I happen to hear "Make It Last" somewhere, I start singing "Just shake that ass!" and it's just all sorts of wrong >_<