Happy Birthday, Dilla!

 

Happy Birthday, Dilla!

Tribute post & downloads coming soon..

100 Best Hip-Hop Albums of the Decade (2006-7)

*Sinatra voice* When I was 21 (2007), it was a very good year..

Click the covers or names to boost my Amazon affiliate cred buy your own copies of albums that will be remembered. Forever. Enjoy!

Best Hip-Hop Albums of 2006

1. Ghostface Killah - Fishscale

2. J Dilla (Jay Dee) - Donuts

3. T.I. – King

4. Clipse – Hell Hath No Fury

5. Nas - Hip Hop Is Dead

6. Lupe Fiasco – Food & Liquor

7. Cam’ron - Killa Season

8. The Roots – Game Theory

9. Jay-Z – Kingdom Come

10. Rhymefest – Blue Collar

Honorable Mentions: The Coup – Pick A Bigger Weapon, Cunninlynguists – A Piece of Strange

Best Hip-Hop Albums of 2007

1. Kanye West – Graduation

2. Talib Kweli - EarDrum

3. Blu & Exile – Below the Heavens

4. Lupe Fiasco – The Cool

5. Jay-Z – American Gangster

6. Little Brother – Getback

7. Black Milk – Popular Demand

8. Redman – Red Gone Wild (Thee Album)

9. Brother Ali – The Undisputed Truth  

10. UGK – Underground Kingz

Honorable Mentions: 50 Cent – Curtis, Common – Finding Forever, Pharaohe Monch – Desire, Hell Razah – Renaissance Child

Only 1 more year left, then we’ll close it out with a treat ’09. Stay tuned..

100 Best Hip-Hop Albums of the Decade (2002-3)

You can’t stop me, babe

Let’s continue with my picks for the Best Hip-Hop Albums of the Decade, 10 from each ’02 and ’03.

Click the covers or names to buy your copies at Amazon, Enjoy!

Best Albums of 2002

1. GZA / Genius – Legend of the Liquid Sword

2. Eminem – The Eminem Show

3. Scarface – The Fix

4. Clipse - Lord Willin’

5. Atmosphere – God Loves Ugly

6. Styles P – A Gangster and a Gentleman

7. Nas – God’s Son

8. The Roots – Phrenology

9. Jay-Z – The Blueprint 2: The Gift & the Curse

10. Talib Kweli – Quality

Honorable Mentions: Blackalicious – Blazing Arrow, DJ Shadow – The Private Press, Nas – The Lost Tapes

Best Hip-Hop Albums of 2003

1. 50 Cent – Get Rich or Die Tryin’

2. OutKast – A Love Below / Speakerboxxx

3. Jay-Z – The Black Album

4. Jaylib (J Dilla & Madlib) – Champion Sound

5. Little Brother – The Listening

6. The Diplomats - Diplomatic Immunity

7. Gangstarr – The Ownerz

8. T.I. - Trap Muzik

9. Viktor Vaughn - Vaudeville Villain

10. Joe Budden – Joe Budden

Honorable Mentions: Brother Ali – Shadows on the Sun, Madlib – Shades of Blue

Next Up: Best Hip-Hop Albums of 2004-5, keep it locked..

[Final Post] A Tribe Called Quest Weekend: The Lost Tribes (Compilation) [Japan] – 2006

Download: A Tribe Called Quest - The Lost Tribes (Compilation) [Japan] – 2006

We’ve made it (finally, right? Ha) all the way through A Tribe Called Quest Weekend, give yourselves a round of applause! For the final post, I’m dropping this compilation of rare material that came out in Japan a few years ago.

As of 2006, “I C U (Doin’ It)” is the most recent Tribe song, which was released in 2003. “That Shit” is the only A Tribe Called Quest song released with vocals by Jay Dee. The “Scenario Remix” was the B-side to the original. The O\original “Jam” can be found on Beats, Rhymes and Life, as well as the original “Stressed Out.”

Thanks for ridin’ with me this weekend. Let me know if there’s any Tribe stuff you want to see, and I might post it. If you have trouble downloading anything, I’ll re-up links per request.

Stay tuned for more “Weekend” dedications to come in the future, Enjoy!

1. Oh My God (UK Flavor Radio Mix)
2. Mardi Gras At Midnight (Feat. Rah Digga)
3. The Remedy (Feat. Common)
4. Can I Kick It? (Phase 5 Mix) (Denmark)
5. Stressed Out Remix (Baby Phife Version)
6. Scenario (Remix) (Feat. Leaders of the New School)
7. I C U Doing It (Feat. Erykah Badu)
8. It’s Yours
9. Jam (remix) (Feat. Consequence)
10. Game Day (Feat. Rodney Hampton)
11. Glamour & Glitz
12. Weekendz (Feat. Consequence)
13. Hey
14. Rumble In The Jungle (Feat. Busta Rhymes, Forte & Fugees)
15. Practice Session
16. Bonus Track : That Shit (Feat. Jay Dee)

A Tribe Called Quest Weekend: The Jam EP [Rare] – 1997 – Production by J Dilla

Download: A Tribe Called Quest – The Jam EP – 1997

Dilla & The Ummah on the beats for this rare Tribe EP!

1. Jam ft. Consequence – Produced by The Ummah
2. Get a Hold – Produced by Jay Dee a.k.a. J Dilla for The Ummah
3. Mardi Gras at Midnight ft. Rah Digga – Produced by Jay Dee a.k.a. J Dilla for The Ummah
4. Same Ol’ Thing – Produced by The Ummah

A Tribe Called Quest Weekend: The Lost Demos – 1999

Let’s start Saturday off with some unreleased demo material from the Tribe, Enjoy!

Download: A Tribe Called Quest – The Lost Demos – 1999 [New RapidShare Link!]

1. Practice Session (Demo Mix)
2. Rock ‘n’ Roll (Jay Dee Mix)
3. Get The Money (Dong and Andy Remix) (feat. Mobb Deep)
4. The Riot (Laid by Mix) (feat. Busta Rhymes)
5. Put It Down
6. Girls (The Ummah Mix)
7. Waiting On You (On the Q Mix)
8. Weekendz (DJ Crazy Mix)
9. Get It Up (Phife House Mix)
10. Wifey Material (‘AJ’ The Booty Banger Production) (feat. SWV)

A Tribe Called Quest Weekend: Find A Way – CDS – 1998

Dilla on the beat, R.I.P.!

Download: A Tribe Called Quest – Find A Way – CDS – 1998

1. Find A Way (Radio Version) (3:23)
2. Steppin’ It Up (Radio Version) – With Busta Rhymes & Redman (3:20)
3. Find A Way (Instrumental) (3:23)

Five Jay Electronica Tracks

Looks like the third best rapper alive Jay Electronica answered my letter, with an assist from Just Blaze. Now all we need is an album!

Peep Jay Elec Hanakkuh’s recently-leaked, new-to-me songs below, Enjoy!

Exhibit C (Radio Rip) prod. Just Blaze

Suckas prod. J Dilla

2 Step

Defcon 4

Uprock

The Little Green Tape

I love getting music like this in my inbox. It balances out the BS that account for 92.7 % of the e-mails I receive.

Bay area turnablist DJ Matt Cali and New York music guru/graphic designer Russell Fong craftily pieced together The Little Green Tape, an hour-long sonic journey through turntablism, break-beats, and instrumental hip-hop with sprinkles of electro-experimental and funkified rhythms throughout

Broken down into four parts, the duo works together as Cali mixes and scratches the sounds that Fong has expertly chosen. I’d compare it to the works of Double D & Steinksi and DJ Shadow & Cut Chemist in that the samples are hand-picked and spliced for a compelling, non-stop musical onslaught.

Among the laundry-list of sampled artists are Wu-Tang Clan, J Dilla, Mobb Deep, Jake One, The Xecutioners, Peanut Butter Wolf, DJ Shadow, Lewis Parker, etc.. You get the point, these two don’t play around.

Big thanks to Cali for hitting me up with this. Kick back, get in the zone, and vibe out to The Little Green Tape, Enjoy!

Download: DJ Matt Cali & Russell Fong – The Little Green Tape

 

Get Yours: Nowalataz

This is hands down one of the best instrumental albums I’ve heard all year. I’ve been vibing to it all afternoon.

I know everyone is yapping about the BP3 and OB4CLII leaks (rightfully so), but don’t pass up this Dilla-inspired collection of beats from fellow Michigan producer 14KT that hit the ‘net last week months ago in internet time.

In the words of 14KT himself:

Whatupdoe? First off, I must say THANK YOU for supporting me and my music!! As a result of your support, I want to share some upcoming music from my 2nd album entitled Nowalataz.

Also due to the success of my first album, The Golden Hour, I will be releasing The Golden Hour 2XLP on (LIMITED EDITION GOLD VINYL w/ Full Cover Artwork) coming end of September. I will also be on tour with Mayer Hawthorne x Buff1 x Houseshoes beginning September 5th. A physical release of the Nowalataz Digital/CD is in the works.

Here it is.. a project I unofficially had done since 2006. It started when James Yancey (aka J Dilla) passed that February. To cope with the death of my favorite producer, who I liked to call my unofficial “musical mentor”, I started making “donuts” … uncontrollably.

Fellow heads should be excited to see that last track “Black & Gold” featuring none other than celebrated producer Black Milk.

Peep the download link below. Shouts to Freestyle Madness for the inspiration, Enjoy!

Download: 14KT – Nowalataz