MIXTAPE: BEEN JAMMIN VOL. 1

Dogg's got moves, dawg.

Today is World Gratitude Day. And today, I'm grateful for @BJams11. You should be, too. To show my appreciation, I put together just over an hour of some Hip-Hop featuring artists that have been jammin since day 1. Because like these artists, @BJams11 has been grinding since day 1. It's a mix of old and new. It's also a mix of good shit and better shit.

PS: I kinda made this because I'm tired of Drake's album. I listened to it all of one time. I fell asleep.

Shout out to Struggle Music Records for sponsoring this project. Download the project HERE.

Here's the tracklist:

MIXTAPE: Young $tunnaz Vol. 2 - Champagne & Caviar

Loungin' on 300

Once upon a time I put out a mixtape called Young $tunnaz. The link to that mixtape has since gone to vacation on Jay Z's beach and no one asked about it, so there it will stay. But, welcome it's way more sophisticated and enviable cousin, Young $tunnaz Vol. 2 - Champagne & Caviar. This one is the chillest one I've put together, as it's meant to be the soundtrack for the rich and famous. So when you're showing your main crib to your fellow billionaires, put this on each of their personal bluetooth headsets. When you're being driven in your Rolls Royce from your front door to your yacht, put this on. And most importantly, when you're kicking it in one of your drawing rooms while entertaining the President and his family, put this on (I know you're gonna dig this, First Lady).

As with every project I put out, there are bound to be tracks you love, tracks you hate, and tracks you're just scratching you're head at. IDGAF. This shit makes me feel rich. I put the tracks in a specific order so peep the tracklist in the .zip folder and get it right! I also included a .m3u file to make your lives easier. Double click that and it should automatically put the tracks in the right order in your media player. If it doesn't, either do it the old fashioned way or ask my man @TeamTakattack since he recommended creating the .m3u file in the first place. I imagine he knows how to make it work.

DOWNLOAD HERE

1. madlib - "coltrane" : see, this dope producer put together a crash course on great jazz musicians. this is one track from that project. 

2. amerigo gazaway - "doin' time" : amerigo mashed up some pharcyde and tribe. this one is perfect as it captures the summer wind down we're in and preps us for fall.

3. gorilla warfare tactics - "dark saber jedi" : brooklyn group that has a dope lyricist and smooth beats.

4. amerigo gazaway - "it ain't nothing like" : why wouldn't you want more pharcyde x tribe.

5. melo-x - "itsdesgodgod" : the beat had me hooked at the start.

6. alchemist - "tesla" : tough to hate on an alchemist beat, especially with these rappers featured (domo, freddie, hodgy).

7. shawn chrystopher - "palm trees" : another great beat.

8. bishop nehru - "flow 1" : this kid is from rockland. yes, rockland. pay attention.

9. cocaine 80's - "motivation" : no i.d. put this group together and it has since been one of my favorite rnb groups. james fauntleroy always kills it.

10. neako - "the kanye killer" : using one of the samples everybody wanted more of from yeezus, neako spits some average raps.

11. sunnie colon - "karma" : another great rnb singer.

12. demrick & polyester the saint - "ride or die" : and the great beats keep flowing...

13. le$ - "hennessy" : this dude has a great ability to spit over a variety of beats.

14. az - "thank you" : dj doo wop provides the firm rapper with some sonic ammunition.

15. hanni el khatib - "save me" : i'm sure you've heard of this dude. no? 

16. mos def - "pretty dance (preservation remix)" : preservation is a cool producer that remixed all of mos def's ecstatic.

17. mikeyy lee - "young niggas" : can you tell the mixtape is getting a little more hype here?

18. mos def - "priority (preservation remix)" : another standout from recstatic.

19. ken rebel - "money money money" : this track needs no explanation playboi.

20. r.f.c. - "burn" : you know you liked the original song this sampled so why not have a legit reason to blast it?

21. action bronson - "strictly 4 my jeeps remix" : lloyd banks and ll cool j for the remix? yessir.

22. a$ap ferg - "shabba" : rich or poor. this is the joint right now.

23. john deaux - "take 47" : young emcee from new orleans can spit.

24. juicy j - "ain't no coming down remix" : another one of t.i.'s billion features since leaving the pen. good thing it's on a juicy j track.

25. joey fatts - "choppa" : a$ap mob gives him the cosign and i don't blame them.

26. az - "doin that" : gotta close out the project with something for the haters. hi, haters.

MIXTAPE: Pop Booties. Not Molly. Vol. 1.

Listen to the mixtape and dance like Yeezus

So in between mixtapes, TakAttack is the only person who demands more mixtapes. Everyone owes that guy a thank you card because I just put together a two hour mix for all of your outdoor activities this summer. ALL OF THEM. What I've created is a starting place for your guys' mixtapes. Take off and add what you like. Don't look at the tracklist below as a guideline for the tracklist order. It's just there so you know what I put on here. These songs are a sample of what I would spin if I had to DJ a party. What a crazy idea... me... DJing... The mixtape I put together has a mix of new, old, freestyles over familiar beats, remixes, and just feel good tunes. Now fire up that grill!

DOWNLOAD HERE

MIXTAPE: BLAU VOL.1

Since I haven't put out one of these suckers out in a while, I decided to go way back through the archives of my iTunes and dig up some gems. There's old shit! There's new shit! And as you can tell by now, the theme I blessed this mixtape was "hard hitting." Whether it's the beat, the lyrics, or what the song is about, these tracks will leave you with a black eye. Use this playlist to work out, rob people, lead rebellions, play CoD, or watch Monday Night Raw. Just make sure to get hype mofo!
CLICK ME.
1. Pharoah Monch - Simon Says: According to folklore, whenever this song came onto the speakers in a club, mad fights broke out. No kidding... 2. Flux Pavilion ft. Sway, P Money - Double Edge: Some dubstep for you fiends. I dig the further blending of genres these days though. 3. X-Ecutioners ft. M.O.P. - Let It Bang: One of the loudest emcees on the mic join some of the nastiest DJ's in Hip Hop. 4. Wu-Block - Stick Up Kids: This track flips a classic sample and adds some of the grimiest emcees your favorite rappers love. 5. Garcia ft. N.O.R.E. - 2 Gun Salute: Now known as P.A.P.I., N.O.R.E. joins Garcia (Winner of the Most Boring Rapper Name Ever), jumps on the most hype beat I've heard in ever. Seriously, this beat is dangerous. 6. Liva - Re-Up Gang Motivation: Remember the Re-Up Gang? Man, that group was awesome. 7. Dope Boy Esko ft. ill Camille - D.G.K.: I'm sure all of my white, suburban friends can relate. 8. Reek da Villain ft. Busta Rhymes, Lloyd Banks - Get Away Car Driving: These rhymes are pretty tough. 9. Slum Village ft. Rapper Big Pooh, Joe Scudda, T3 - Riot: I hate how much Slum Village isn't given shine on radio and mainstream media. These guys are so legit. 10. Dope Boy Esko ft. Kendrick Lamar, Scoe - Murda: Had to throw another Esko track on here because of the perfect West Coast gangbangin' beat. 11. Dag Savage - Twilight: I'll listen to almost anything Exile produces. Johaz holds it down on the mic. 12. The Underachievers - New New York: Part of the Beast Coast Movement, this duo is gonna be around for a while. Check out their new mixtape, Indigoism.  13. Raz Fresco & Chill Will - salmonILLA: Man, the Bakers Club's beats are a perfect homage to the Golden Era. And these guys make rapping about looking fly cooler than actually looking fly. 14. Chill Moody - Suicide Barz II: Kick it in the clutch music. 15. Bad Religion - Fuck You: Sometimes you gotta just say "Fuck You." 16. Timeless Truth ft. Sean Price - True Grit: RAW 17. Yahweh - Expensive $hit: Shout out to Andreas for showing me this group. Chitown, represent.  18. Paul Banks ft. High Prizm - Trace: So Paul Banks of Interpol made an instrumental/Hip Hop mixtape and called it Everybody On My Dick Like They Supposed To Be. Some of it is weird and some of it is dope. I'm just honestly confused as to who is on his dick, besides maybe his girlfriend. Or boyfriend. I don't know him like that. 19. Small Professor ft. Elzhi - A Remix I Did Of Deep By Elzhi: Elzhi has sick flows and this beat is bananas. Yes, the fruit. 20. Troy Ave ft. Pusha-T - Concrete Jungle: Token drug dealer track. 21. Reks ft. Kali, JFK, Termanology - Such A Showoff: It's like a punch in the throat from a velvet gloved fist. 22. Hollywood Holt ft. Million $ Mano - Tonite's Da Night Freestyle: Oooh, just wait until they get serious over this beat.

MIXTAPE: UNIT ANTHEMS

This one is a long time coming. From the day inhabitants of the Unit and its associates graduated, we've been talking about putting this together. Well, now that the universe is going to end (not really, guys), I guess it's time to put it out to finally close out my bucket list. Damn, I never got to drive that tank...

I'm not gonna include a tracklist because honestly, I'm lazy. There are about 4 hours of music in this one. Plus, if you don't know some of the songs, no offense, but this mixtape isn't for you. Every song on here has a story behind it (any Doors song), was played way too many times at Unit parties ("Marco Polo"), or sums up something about the time I spent there ("Fat Spliffs"). You may not have noticed it but I definitely played all of these songs at some point on my blown out speakers. You were probably just too fucked up to remember. Or maybe that one song you can't figure out why it's on there, is there because we were playing it on our shitty stereo in the kitchen while cleaning the mountains of dishes as a family/cooking Taco Tuesdays.

Yeah, there's a lot of Lil Wayne on here. Yeah, he used to be good at rapping. And yeah, that's an edited interview of Rick Ross on there that you probably heard us reference all the time. It's hilarious.

ALL YOUR DREAMS (click on them and make them come true, idiot)

Much love from the Unit and never take your shoes off inside.

MIXTAPE: Dope Crisis Vol.2

I'm pretty sure this is the first sequel to a mixtape I put out a while ago... Regardless, it feels like I haven't put a mixtape out of just shit I've been listening to on my iPod. Maybe I'll even put out a themed mixtape before the year is out. But don't hold your breathe. I'm also open to suggestions for mixtapes.

Disclaimer: Preserve the original tracklist order for best results.

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1. ig'nant II - kami de chukwu: i had to make this the opener with a beat like that. chicago hip hop is so consistent with their core of young emcees.
2. lawd knows - athletic mic league: michigan hip hop group. diggin the choppy flow on this one.
3. the prolog - derek wise: this one is grand like james bond grand. could be the bonus track on the skyfall OST.
4. gone - MHz ft. copywrite + tage future: see if you can catch up with the flow
5. they can't come - p.o.s. ft. sims: minnesota emcee from doomtree. kinda underground as in you've probably never heard of him.
6. even louder - danny! ft. tanya morgan + swizz beatz: danny! is back and better than ever
7. the gordeon knock - typical cats: this chicago group is one of the funkiest. more upbeat than a tribe called quest but very similar in tastes
8. here we go - statik selektah, slaine, wais p, jaysaun: big band horns.
9. world famous - styles of beyond: i could definitely see most people not liking sob because of their rawness. but i'm sure anyone would be down to drink with these guys.
10. pull the plug - statik selektah, jfk, jon connor: jon connor. it's a given.
11. how we do it - jr + ph7 ft. kvbeats + slum village: WILLIE BEATS REALLY DIGS THIS. OFFICIAL COSIGN SON.
12. what you want - audio push: this guy's flow just pulls me in. pause.
13. our time - xv + the squarians: this mixtape wasn't that bad. xv is picking up steam.
14. kidz with gunz - skeme ft. schoolboy q: some hood shit you can ride or die to
15. midnight sprite - riff raff + trapzillas: the genius, in his own right, that is jody highroller and a dope beat courtesy of trapzillas.
16. rivers of blood - the wu-tang clan ft. kool g rap: i can't tell you how much this album and movie met and exceeded my expectations. amazing.
17. don't harsh my mellow - kids these days: this group is gonna be around for a while. pushing hip hop boundaries and doing it well.
18. 1991 (bklyn-hrlm remix) - melo-x ft. azealia banks: melo continues his successful remixing streak and adds some verses to it.

MIXTAPE: THE FIX VOL.1: MONDAY MORNING EDITION

This 13 year old kid bought Grey Goose off eBay. This kid got his fix.

This one is long overdue. I've been working too damn hard at The Source and haven't been able to put a mixtape out in a while. Here's a small one that should help everyone get through the week. Oh, and  it's O-Week. So that means it's an excuse to show up to work shitty this whole week for everyone!

DOWNLOAD (it's the one that says 'open me mofo')

1. bare knuckle - kid gloves: they make some of the funkiest music of this century. i hope they keep making music.
2. the night out (a-trak & clinton sparks remix) - martin solveig ft. ludacris: a-trak and clinton sparks. what more do you need. ludacris? SURE.
3. absolutely - donnis, iamsu, jay ant: donnis is really good at making hype tracks. case in point.
4. clique - kanye west, big sean, jay-z: one of the stronger tracks off of cruel summer. and it bangs btw.
5. rnr - will brennan: watch out for this kid.
6. the horns - avious: datpiff hidden gem. he can spit.
7. fist of fury - jon connor, papoose, fred the godson, mysonne, sheek louch: off of dj kay slay's mixtape. who listens to those huge dj mixtapes anyway? ...besides me.
8. i'm crazy - st. millie ft. rich tha second: chicago representer.
9. excelsior - the niceguys: i've been saying it for years-these guys are nice. the production on the whole james kelley album is dope.
10. guitar wonderlust - griffen, vic spencer, fat boi: the antierthang crew from chicago.
11. break ya neck freestyle - wrekonize: wrek continues his rampage over other people's beats.
12. big bank - threat, sir jay are, roc: another datpiff hidden gem.
13. 50k - ferrari boyz (gucci + waka): yeah it's hood trap gangsta ignance. so what.
14. we are not good people - bloc party: bloc party dropped off a pretty solid album recently. here's a cut off of it.
15. precautionary measures - illogic, blockhead: simple. efficient.
16. 4th king - brother ali: i think he had the best verse on this beat. maybe tied with hov.
17. simon says (etc!etc! & brillz bootleg remix) - pharoahe monch: GET THE FUCK UP.

UPGRADE

For anyone who has been following this excuse for a blog, I guess I owe you an apology for the lack of posts as of late and an explanation. I recently started an editorial internship at The Source. I've been dedicated a lot of time to that so I won't be able to keep up with this site as much. I'm still reviewing albums at Audiocred. And I just had a post I wrote featured on the front page of The Source. So basically I'll mainly be using this blog for updating people on mixtapes I put together, which is for like five people. Well, thanks to you guys! And fuck the rest!

Made From Beer

The creativity in beer commercials are great. Car chases are great. Put them together and you have the ad above for Carlton Draught. Never had it but it makes me want a pint. Well done.

Space: The old new frontier

Remember that time Bobby Ray wanted to perform on the moon? Well will.i.am debuted a new song, "Reach for the Stars," from MARS via the Curiosity rover on the 28th. The song covered his passion for science, technology, and space exploration. I think I was dropping a deuce in the Smithsonian when this happened. Dahwell...

Friday morning brings us...

...daggering! Insight takes us to Jamaica and follows a young man as he describes what goes down when such a daggering hotshot as himself shows up. With a ladder. You have to believe that his re-enactment at the beginning of the video is spot on. I did.

ICP does more than sue the FBI and rap

They review music videos. Pretty funny especially with the pop up video-esque notes throughout. Too bad it really wasn't the Credit Score band...

What is Chief Keef doing to our society?

At least consider the representation of Chicago, Chief Keef serves as for young kid in Chicago and across the country. It's fun and everything to act hard, livin' that life, and grinding but you always have to look at the flipside. And if you really think about it, we should be afraid along with Lupe. The subconscious messages some kids get from this music can be stronger than you think.

Happy Birthday Michael Joseph Jackson

The King of Pop: August 29, 1958 - June 25, 2009

Old Spice continues to win

Whoever heads the ad campaign for Old Spice needs to organize Presidential campaigns. I swear the person could even get Rocky elected for mayor. And not Sylvester Stallone. I mean Rocky-the fictional character.

These guys are cooler than you

... or at least they're way thriftier than you. Macklemore and Ryan Lewis rap about their extensive collection of second hand clothing items. Ain't so bad when you're the one picking it out, I suppose. Here's their official statement on it:

I am the most prolific thrift shopper in the rap game right now. What Bob Barker is to the Price Is Right, I am to used fringe jackets. My collection is worth anywhere between $70 and a $100,000,000 depending on who’s appraising it. I’m gonna be honest, if it’s me… I’m going with a million. Count the zero’s. That’s how many fur jackets I have. Tell PETA my Mink, Fox, Rabbit, Coyote, and Hungarian Raccoon jacket are ALL dragging on the floor. And I don’t mean that in a disrespectful way. I love my animals. But they’re dead. And they’ve been dead for hella. When I wear them, I’m bringing them back to life and introducing them to a whole new generation who wasn’t around when they were out in the woods doing their thing. Those animals have now migrated from some old lady’s closet, to a thrift shop and are now getting their proper shine, up to 40 years later. It’s recycling. And recycling is beautiful, am I right? That’s what this song is about. – Macklemore

WTF does DJ Khaled really do?

According to his interview with Complex, here are some things he's DONE:
1. DJ'd
2. Ad-lib the shit out of a lot of songs
3. Produce
4. Make hooks

Things he does NOW:
1. Acts as president of Def Jam South
2. Acts as A&R for Rick Ross' albums aka Rick Ross' coach
3. Handle his We the Best label (didn't see that name coming)
4. Solo artist for YMCMB (wait, what?)
5. Hit up artists to rap over a song (I could do this. Drunk.)

Of course he does a bit of his former duties, but I guess it's basically the fact that dude has a vast network. He hustled and now his grind consists of living lavishly. Must be nice to have friends like DJ Khaled.

DMX is everywhere

This version would have changed my life-for the better. YOU THINK THIS IS A GAME?

Cardiak vs. Just Blaze

If this were to be a battle, somebody would've gotten embarrassed. Somebody whose name rhymes with bardiak. I'm mainly posting this for a quick Hip Hop review on Just Blaze's phenomenal production and that crazy ill chop he was doing to "Can't Touch This" around 11:50.

POOF! THERE GO DAVID COPPERFIELD. FORREAL.

At the Reebok Classics event in Las Vegas, Rick Ross really brought out David Copperfield for "Black Magic." I'm pretty sure he was paid judging by his face when he comes on stage. Or he's on that black magic. SNIFF. There goes the car...