Until We Meet Again...

Alright bitches. I'm off for two weeks. May your holidays be filled with dopeness and that new hotness. No top anything lists here. Nothing to post either. I mismanaged my time. Fuck it. See y'all next year.
Pace

Mommy Mommy, Look. Here Comes Santa Claus. And He's Black...

Next up, we got the “Enhanced version” (I say enhanced because I added a bunch of tracks and switched the order and it makes me feel regal) of Christmas Rap. I had this tape and loved it. Of course Christmas in Hollis is a classic, but there were some other greats on it too. Sweet Tee’s “Let The Jingle Bells Rock” was good. Dane told another goofy story in a goofy accent. King Sun brought a depressing story of Christmas in the ghetto when “ghetto” wasn’t synonymous with “cool”. I added “Santa’s Rap” from the Treacherous Three. I put the single and the version from the movie (Beat Street). There’s a slight difference but I just loved the track and redundancy makes me feel good. Also, redundancy makes me feel good. I felt like this was the one and only Hip Hop Christmas release that wasn’t completely wacky. It seems that Luke’s Christmas and Afro Man’s 40oz Christmas and the Dipset one were all more interested in being shitty then feeling good. Granted King Sun and Spyder D were not happy but, and maybe this was 14-year-old naiveté, but I felt like this release was fun and not mean. Whatever. You can draw your own conclusions. Enjoy.
Pace.

01 - Run DMC - Christmas In Hollis
02 - Sweet Tee - Let The Jingle Bells Rock
03 - Dana Dane - Is Coming To Town
04 - Treacherous Three - Santa's Rap
05 - Derek B - Chillin' With Santa
06 - Spyder D - Ghetto Santa
07 - King Sun - Christmas In The City
08 - The Showboys - That's What I Want For Christmas
09 - Coldcut - Christmas Break
10 - Audio Two - Christmas Rhymin'
11 - Kurtis Blow - Christmas Rappin'
12 - Disco Four - He's Santa Clause
13 - Lightning Rich - Santa's Groove
14 - Hard Rock - Christmas Bells
15 - Busy Boys - Funky Fresh Christmas
16 - The Rap All-Stars - Last Christmas
17 - Surf M.C.'s - Surf M.C.'s New Year
18 - Treacherous Three - Santa's Rap (Beat Street Mix)

Word!

A Long Time Ago In A Studio Far, Far Away...

So, I realized that I am going to Costa Rica on the 20th and will be there till January 2nd so I figured I’d hit y’all off with some Christmas music interspersed with some other stuff before I am M.I.A. First off, we have Christmas in the Stars: The Star Wars Christmas Album. It was produced by some guy named Meco, who takes himself far too seriously. Armed with the vocal stylings of Anthony Daniels as C3PO who kind of talk/sings his way through most of an album spattered with brief skits, mostly between the stock sounds of R2 and 3PO calling him a silly droid. You can almost hear Anthony Daniels cocking the pistol that he has in his mouth as a tear leaves it's wet trail of sorrow across his cheek. It is somewhat difficult to listen through. The only other cast member is a roar by Chewy in the intro to the holiday classic, "What Can You Get a Wookiee for Christmas (When He Already Owns a Comb?)" Oh Meco, thou art so droll.

Oddly enough, the track "R2D2 We Wish You A Merry Christmas" brags the first time Jon Bon Jovi is on wax. Both of these tracks were released as 45's. The songs fit into the "painfully-cheesy" genre and I don’t really recommend it unless you want to hear something different or are a fan. It is nowhere near as bad as the TV holiday special and thankfilly, B. Arthur is nowhere to be found. It’s just kind of goofy and fun to listen to once and only once. I must stress this fact or you may suffer some anal leakage and mild clotting if you listen to it twice. Enjoy.
Pace.

01 - Christmas in the Stars

02 - Bells, Bells, Bells

03 - The Odds Against Christmas

04 - What Can You Get a Wookiee for Christmas (When He Already Owns a Comb?)

05 - R2-D2 We Wish You a Merry Christmas

06 - Sleigh Ride

07 - Merry, Merry Christmas

08 - A Christmas Sighting ('Twas the Night Before Christmas)

09 - The Meaning of Christmas

The cartoon from the holiday special

Treebeats A To Z Posting Compilation Of Really Dope Things. The Letter M

I’ve had about 5 different collections of M people. There are glaring omissions in this one. One of my main deciding factors is to try to get everything under 100 megs. With a letter like M, limiting that to around 20 groups is very hard. I get that this one is emaciated as far as what should be there. I just got tired of rearranging and adding and removing. So there it is. If you feel adventurous, put some of what you think should be there in the comments. I’m guessing about .00009% of you will do so, so don’t feel pressured. I hope everyone is having a swell December filled with visions of your said or applicable holiday. Although if you are not celebrating the official birthday of the son of the one true god then you probably will end up in hell with Satan. He has horns and a tail and a pitchfork. I’ve seen pictures.

01 - Mad Kap - Da Whole Kit & Kaboodle
Back in 93, I was living in Florida, flunking out of my first attempt at college and smoking far too much weed of far too low a grade. I had a shitty car, I thought Phillies made me cool and I was planning my move to Atlanta to make it big and let the world hear my name. I lost everything except for the shitty car. Mad Kap was part of the blossoming West Coast sound that was based on East coast sound. They just did it well and the cat on the trumpet, while gimmicky, blended really well. This was a really great first and last release by them and worth checking out if you like that kind of thing. If not, you aren’t a patriot.
02 - Main Source - Fakin' The Funk (Remix Feat. Neek The Exotic)
I had the “White Men Can’t Jump”/“White Men Can’t Rap” soundtrack and actually kind of liked it now that I think about it. It had this joint and Cypress Hill’s A to the K and a College Boyz song I can’t remember the name of and don’t like it enough to actually look it up now but I remember liking it then. Anyway, it was The Xtra-P doing his thing and the “Ba-Ba-Ba-b-Ba” (that’s my creative interpretation of how it should look) always got my pumped.03 - Mary J Blige - Sweet ThingMy favorite part of old school mixtapes was when they blended an R&B acapella with a Hip-Hop beat. It always made R&B more palatable for me. Puffy made his early career out of it. Back when he was trying to be grimy and rhyme like 3rd eye. This is off the Remix album of "What’s the 411." I liked this version a lot more than the original but I kind of liked the original too.
04 - Massive Attack - Teardrop
My man Matt over at Beats And Blood wrote a really good review of Massive Attack’s Mezzanine record that this is off of. You should really check his site out anywayPlus, I’m lazy and can admit when someone does a better job than me. Plus, I’m laz (so much so that I can’t even finish typing “lazy” get it?)
05 - Master Ace - Letter To The Better (Remix)
I love Ace. I love the Juice Crew All Stars. I love Marley Marl. I fucking love this record.
06 - MC Shan - The Bridge
C-L-A-S-S-I-C!
07 - MC Lyte - Cappuccino
I’m always a sucker for a good story and this was Lyte in her prime. No “Rap & Bullshit.” No trying to be pretty. Just Lyte being Lyte, which was what she did best. I read some interview of hers where she was complaining about how she was forced into different directions like the “Ruffneck” and clubby shit. She sounded sorry and pissed off and seemed to realize that she fell off. I like when people admit they fucked up.
08 - MC Serch - Back To The Grill (Feat. Chubb Rock, Nasty Nas, Red Hot Lover Tone)
I won’t make any “Next White Rapper” jokes because that show depressed the shit out of me. This is one of those “posse” cuts that I always loved. A lot of MC’s can’t really hold a whole song, let alone an entire album. It’s not their fault. They are forced in different directions like Lyte was. Look at Supernatural or Cannibus. Those cats would rip most anyone to shreds in a battle but can’t make a complete record to save their life. The Posse cut allowed you to murder 8–16 bars and everyone got a chance to not suck. If you didn’t come off with 4 or five other dudes then you stuck out like a sore thumb and everyone beat you with socks filled with D batteries. Or so legend has it.
09 - Metallica - Last Caress & Green Hell
There was a time when Metallica were:A. not a shitty band and B. trying to help their fans. They released the $5.98 (as printed on the cover) EP to make sure we weren’t getting our balloon knots torn open by record stores. This song is also a two-fer because they are covering Misfits’ songs. I never really liked The Misfits when they were out because I thought Danzig sounded like a pussy. I had never seen him. This was before interwebs. They were too mature for my taste. I wanted someone screaming into the mic. Anyway, Metallica released this cover of two Misfits songs and fused Metallica's early raw energy into what I felt was missing from The Misfits back then. It made me want to punch someone in the face in the best kind of way.
10 - The Meters - Cissy Strut
We all have to start somewhere and if you’ve never heard The Meters, than you are wrong because you have silly. The Neville brothers and co. have been sampled to death and helped define that nasty southern funk. It's really an integral part of musical history that you should explore. Interestingly enough, they opened for the Stones on one of their tours.
11 - Method Man - Bring The Pain
The first solo Wu and one of the best. Meth still sounded interesting and thirsty to me. He wasn’t doing movies or deodorant commercials. Rza was always a favorite of mine because we both used an ASR-10 and therefore I thought he would probably show up to my parties or call me on holidays. He never did. He did make a fine ass series of beats (again) for Meth to flow over. Sure, the songs a gimme, but there is a reason for that.
12 - M.I.A. - Bucky Done Gun
My coming out song. I don’t really care how homosexual this song makes me. It’s really gay! I feel like I should be in a Cheerleading competition on ESPN4, wearing tassels. But not red because that makes me look fat. There is just something about those horns that I bug out to. The rest of her album was one of my top records last year too. Her new one is also really worth checking out if you are not musically limited.
13 - Minor Threat - Straight Edge
I think I’ve talked before about how many similarities I feel there are between the hardcore punk scene and the hip-hop scene. If I didn’t, then pretend I did and it was eloquent and convincing. Minor threat was a DC band led by the one and only Ian McKay and rocked your ass off. There was such a raw energy and emotion in these songs that completely appealed to the 13 year old in me. Plus, the lyrics came with the record and they said shit and fuck a lot, which made it even cooler.
14 - Mississippi John Hurt - First Shot Missed Him
My dad introduced me to Mississippi John Hurt and the blues at an early age. Mississippi John Hurt was on a lot. This is off of his last sessions when he was nearly 70's and you can hear him forget lyrics and just kind of hum melodies. He still sounded like two dudes playing the guitar though. It’s really someone worth checking out if you like southern folksy-blues.
15 - Moby - Flower
Granted, it’s very chic to hate Moby now. I certainly don’t want to have a cookout with him but he made some pretty well crafted music for what he does. This is from the "Play" B-sides. Along with being a sucker for a chick over a fat beat, I really like the counterpoint of having some old blues or gospel or something like that over a fucked up break or digital kind of back drop. It appeals to some part of me a great deal.
16 - Morcheeba - Tape Loop
"Wow, that’s weird. Another Portishead clone makes your list?" Yeah, yeah, I know. I’m just a sucker for a chick singing over a fat beat. I freely admit my fault. There’s nothing I can do about it. The group was properly named and forced me to purchase their namesake to truly appreciate their music and the wonders of incense and lava lamps.
17 - Morphine - Good
Representing Beantown, we have the greatest Drum/Bass/Sax trio to ever perform. Mark Sandman had one of those voices that was depressing and low and made you want to listen. They sound like no one else. Unfortunately, Sandman died from a heart attack and they only made a couple records but there’s a lot of extra material out there. If you are willing to let something sink in, I really recommend these cats.
18 - Mos Def - Ms. Fat Booty
When I heard the song it was sampled from, I fell in love with the beat. Mos Def is one of those cats that are pretty consistently dope, extremely talented and willing to take risks musically. Not all of it is great but his body of work, on a whole, is pretty fantastic. Plus, did you see him in that Carmen re-make with Beyonce!? Amazing!
19 - Murs - D.S.W.G. (Dark Skinned White Girls)
There are so many women from my past and present that fall into the three categories in this song that it gives me chills. I also felt it was a powerful/empowering song for a lot of them too. It hasn’t ever really been covered like this before and I found it refreshing and dope. I like when people do cool things.
20 - Muse - Time Is Running Out
I saw these guys, knowing that I would be disappointed by a three piece set trying to sound as big as they do on record. I am happily an idiot though and typically wrong and witnessed one of the better shows I’ve seen. A small venue and these guys sounded like a slew of dudes on stage. A really good group. This is from my favorite album of theirs but all their stuff is pretty dam good.
Pace.

01 - Mad Kap - Da Whole Kit & Kaboodle
02 - Main Source - Fakin' The Funk (Remix Feat. Neek The Exotic)
03 - Mary J Blige - Sweet Thing (Remix)
04 - Massive Attack - Teardrop
05 - Master Ace - Letter To The Better (Remix)
06 - MC Shan - The Bridge
07 - MC Lyte - Cappucino
08 - MC Serch - Back To The Grill (Feat. Chubb Rock, Nasty Nas, Red Hot Lover Tone)
09 - Metallica - Last Caress & Green Hell
10 - The Meters - Cissy Strut
11 - Method Man - Bring The Pain
12 - M.I.A. - Bucky Done Gun
13 - Minor Threat - Straight Edge
14 - Mississippi John Hurt - First Shot Missed Him
15 - Moby - Flower
16 - Morcheeba - Tape Loop
17 - Morphine - Good
18 - Mos Def - Ms. Fat Booty
19 - Murs - D.S.W.G. (Darg Skinned White Girls)
20 - Muse - Time Is Running Out

Masters of the universe indeed!

Mixtapes Suck.

I hate “the mixtape” culture. I just don’t get it. I’ve been “down” as much as my melanin deficient dermis allows since the early 80’s and I get the point that cultures need to evolve. I’m not saying it was better back in the day. It was by the way. But the whole mixtape thing. It is you rhyming over someone else’s beats, typically. They are rushed and sloppy and lack direction and substance. I understand there are a few that are done well but I don’t need to be inundated with new material from MC Magoo or DJ Magee every few months. It doesn’t make you prolific, it makes you irritating. In my opinion, the only time one should rhyme over someone else’s beat is on the legendary and sadly extinct “posse cut” or at a battle. Otherwise it’s biting. You are straight jacking some shit. Rather than put the rhyme you wrote last night on 2” or into your computer. Take some time with it. When I started rhyming I didn’t really understand that other people made your beats. I just thought you wrote the rhyme, made the beat and, I guess, engineered the session yourself. Naïve? Maybe. But I had to learn how to do it all myself. It was a lot more work, but I got a lot better at making everything gel together.
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p.s. I refer to the rapper "mixtapes" not a bunch of songs from a bunch of artists. That would just make me a hypocrite.