When the Beat Was Born Interview | LHHS Interviews

When the Beat Was Born Interview

w/ Laban Carrick Hill & Theodore Taylor III

by Lee Rhyanes

To access the interview visit Hip Hop Stacks: click here

Pistol Politics & Man Plans God Laughs

#LHHS10 Adds for September 2015

Added two new #listens to the #LHHS10 Charts featured to the left side of the blog.  More information on Pistol Politics by Paris at guerrillafunk.com and Man Plans God Laughs by Public Enemy check out publicenemy.com.

PeteStrumentals & the Birth of The Representation Show

PeteStrumentals

& the Birth of The Representation Show

Before this record even touched down I was out for Pete's beats.  In my story, beats by Pete Rock detail major #listening transitions of my come up.  Beginning with Mecca & the Soul Brother, Pete's sound is timeless.  It's something I'll always think about when I reflect on my past and those moments that I can connect to songs.  What's crazy is I know that if I'm around twenty years from now, I'll be reflecting on what Pete put out today, the same way I'm reflecting on what Pete put out 20 years ago.  We can call it consistency, but I think its more about another C-word...creativity. Pete's sound is natural.  It's like having the Barry White on I've Got So Much To Give in the 80s, the 90s & on & on.  It's here to stay.  Hip Hop forever. 

This release right here, PeteStrumentals is the birth of The Representation Show on KRUX 91.5 fm... a shift from how the show started in 2000 when I referred to our slot as 'Lee's Hip Hop Show'.  PeteStrumentals represented a new perspective in how I wanted my radio program to sound. A representation of different sounds of music while encouraging other people to bring personality and story to the booth.  PeteStrumentals was definitely the voice over for this time period. 

A major move for instrumental releases in the 21st Century.  

Couldn't find much on video from the time for PeteStrumentals, but here go an interview posted online from 2001 w/ Pete Rock by Markkus Rovito of E-Gear magazine.

ROCK ON
By Markkus Rovito
Nov 1, 2001 12:00 PM

Anyone who would call himself the Chocolate Boy Wonder would have to be either an egotistical fool or an incredibly talented soul. Fortunately, in the case of Pete Phillips, aka Pete Rock, it's the latter. Possessing both the skills and the résumé to deflect a landfill's worth of trash talk, Rock has remained one of hip-hop's most influential producers since he rose to prominence during the early '90s.

As a precocious teenager in the late '80s, Rock sat in on sessions with big-timers Marley Marl and Heavy D when most of us were still drooling on our Converse high-tops. After landing a weekly DJ spot on New York radio station WBLS's “In Control with Marley Marl,” Rock hooked up with rapper C.L. Smooth for a string of soulful releases that provided an alternative to early- and mid-'90s gangsta rap. Rock constantly mined his Smithsonian-size collection of vinyl to create compelling mixtures of jazzy horns, soulful piano, funky guitar, and smooth bass lines, defining one of the most influential hip-hop styles of the decade. After releasing an EP and two albums, Rock and Smooth split in 1994, but Rock stayed busy producing, remixing, and continuing to develop his sound.

By the time the first Pete Rock solo album dropped in 1998, an entire industry of on-mic talent was waiting to guest star on its tracks, including O.C., the Roots, and Wu-Tang Clan's Raekwon. One of the most critically acclaimed hip-hop albums released that year, Soul Survivor (RCA/Loud) was a stylistic tour de force. Vintage Pete Rock jazz and soul stylings were still in effect — he even flirted with straight R&B — but an aggressive edge had also entered his sound, helping him remain a step ahead of the industry. Rock brought new life to the Wu-Tang dark-piano sound on “Strange Fruit,” and he even may have taught Timbaland a thing or two about big pimpin' with the melody on “Tha Game.”

Enter the 21st century, and Rock's as sharp as ever. The second release in BBE's (Barely Breaking Even) Beat Generation series, PeteStrumentals, is the perfect contemporary instrumental chill-out hip-hop album. All of Rock's signature instruments are present, but the pace is slower, and the arrangements are not as busy as those in most of his previous work. The relaxed moods and sampladelic strings and delays make it sound almost as if Rock decided to merge his soulful style with abstract down-tempo breaks. The album possesses an up-to-the-minute vibe even though most of the tracks are leftover, unreleased efforts from earlier in Rock's career — some tracks date back seven to ten years. That makes PeteStrumentals a testament to just how classic and far ahead of its time Rock's music actually is.

Despite the title's suggestion, the album is not entirely lacking in lyrics. A couple of new tracks have Rock teaming up with a new crew of MCs called the UN, including Rock Marciano from Busta Rhymes's Flipmode Squad, as well as MCs Divine, Godfree, and Laku. Their dangerous style flows eerily well with Rock's smooth bass lines and the gloomy mood of his dark strings and music-box samples.

Currently hanging in his hometown of New York City, Rock is busy working on several projects at once. He says he's six or seven tracks into Soul Survivor II, which should be out next year. He adds, “I'm working on an R&B project secretly with a dope singer that a lot of people should know, but I don't want to reveal who she is until we lock this deal down.”

When we caught up with him, Rock was just getting back from a trip to London to promote PeteStrumentals. He says he has a “big-time” following all across Europe, where fans like to hear the old classics that he rapped on as well as his new productions. “In London, you don't really have to do too much,” he says. “I get behind the decks and talk on the mic, talk ****, play a couple of records; know what I mean? But they do want to hear songs that they're used to hearing from me.” Behind the decks, Rock prefers either Rane or Vestax mixers for their superior crossfader action. “Gemini is cool, but I like the new style,” he explains. “It's 2001, man. The Rane and Vestax mixers are the best right now.”

Does Rock plan to continue exploring instrumental hip-hop? “I don't know,” he admits. “My next album may not be instrumental. It may just be a solo Pete Rock album, but I'll mix it with some instrumental stuff as well.”

When BBE first approached you to do an instrumental album, what intrigued you about the project?

I had a lot of leftover beats I wanted to share with the world that never really came out back in the day. I've got trillions of beats, but these were kind of special. Some were old C.L. tracks and a couple of other joints that never got used. I just figured I'd put ‘em out there like that. Some of them were recorded songs where I just took off the vocals.

What about the tracks with the UN crew?

I recorded those tracks this year. We're working on an EP now, and I'm working on an album with them as well. We don't have a solid deal yet, but we've got people biting. Trust me when I tell you, some real bangers are on there.

Can you talk about your production methods?

You mean how I do my thing? I can't reveal how I do my thing. I can tell you to be versatile and to single yourself out from other producers. You gotta create your own identity in this game. That's very, very, very important.

How did you create your own identity?

I got inspired by producers like Howie T, Marley Marl, and people that had '80s rap locked down, even Larry Smith, who did Whodini, and Rick Rubin — what he did with Run-DMC was a big inspiration to me. So I said to myself, “I want to be like these guys, but how can I be like these guys and be myself, because I don't want to sound like the next person.” So I just kept trying to master that E-mu SP-12, and I wouldn't leave the house until I mastered the machine. I started working at it, and my beats started getting better and better and better. When I was about 15, I did coproduction on Heavy D's Big Tyme, and a couple of years later, I worked on Heavy D's Peaceful Journey. Between doing the coproduction on those albums, I turned 16 and I did my first project alone with a group called Groove B. Chill with nobody's help. Actually, one of the guys is now an actor. He was in House Party, and he's been in movies with Robert De Niro, Cuba Gooding Jr., and all that. That was his first album, and I did my first beats with those guys.

From then on, I started getting work. I got signed with [Heavy D's DJ] Eddie F [Edward Ferrell] to Untouchables Entertainment. He was also C.L. Smooth's manager at the time, and he was getting me work as a producer. By that time, I had a little bit of a roster on the coproduction side, and people just gave me a chance and tried me out. What really jump-started my whole career was when I got called to do the Public Enemy remix of “Shut 'em Down.” From then on, I basically created my identity from the music I was inspired by; I just did it a little different. I put more into what those guys didn't do. I wanted to do things that weren't done before.

You were pretty tight with Marley Marl. Did he teach you how to produce?

He didn't teach me anything, but he showed me a lot just by me coming to his house back in the day and watching him and Heavy work. I'm a very fast learner, and I learned from watching him. His music, along with that of a lot of other producers, inspired me. He's like a mentor to me as far as hip-hop's concerned.

Which producers can you learn from now?

Well, there are producers out there that are hot that learned things from me. I know you go through your days learning something new every day, but when it comes to music — I'm not saying I know it all — I've experienced a lot over the years. I've been doing this for 12 years straight.

Have you mentored any of your own protégés?

Not actually under my wing, but in the sense that if you listen to certain guys today, you can hear some of my inspiration in their music. Hi-Tek, for instance, Ayatollah, Da Beatminerz, DJ Premier — who I love — a lot of guys out there. I was thinking about opening up a school and teaching kids about music and how to make hip-hop and stuff like that.

What would be the first lesson?

Basically how to write music and how to listen for something good. How to dissect music with your ears. Teaching them how to listen would be the first lesson.

What piece of gear would you start young producers on at your school?

I would start them out on something simple like a [Boss] Dr. Rhythm, and then I'd gradually move it on up to actual drum machines that are used in the studio. I'd give them something they could play around with and sample. I would go through the steps with them and tell them what to do.

Was the SP-12 your first piece of gear?

Yeah. I've worked with other drum machines like the [Roland] TR-808, [Oberheim] DX, the Roland [TR-]909, and the Dr. Rhythm box. When the SP came out, it first was the SP-12 and then it was the SP-1200. The 12 had no disk drive; you had to use a separate disk drive with the SP-12. The SP-1200 already had one built in, and it provided a little more sampling time.

Were your first productions done solely on the SP-1200?

Yeah, and I've been using that ever since.

What about the Akai MPC-3000?

I have that still. I'm learning how to use that as well. So I'm not only working with the SP now; I have something alongside of it that I use.

Have you entered the world of computer editing and recording?

I've learned and I'm learning how to deal with Pro Tools. I mean, I'm an analog person. I like to record analog to keep that raw sound, but I've worked with Pro Tools where I've sampled vocals and moved them around. It's a much easier step to work with Pro Tools. It's like a faster way of making records or putting things together. I master to 2 inch to ½ inch to DAT. I basically master my music to DAT or even burn it to CD.

Is your home studio equipped to go from the first beats all the way through the mastering process?

It's a pre-production studio. It's not actually complete. I have a rack of digital effects and sound modules, and I have a 16-track board that I've used for a long time. I have an SP and an Akai S-950, an MPC-3000, and 60,000 records. If I want to play live instruments, I just get ideas from old records and try to play them over, or I'll sample and chop 'em up.

Do you play your own keyboards?

I play a little bit. I'm not as good as I should be, but I'm practicing. And I have session musicians who I contact. I just tell them what to play.

PeteStrumentals has a lot of guitars, bass, Rhodes, and horns that you can't really tell are sampled.

That's all me. The guitar stuff I didn't play. But some of the parts are chopped up where I'm playing it off the SP-1200, not actually playing the instrument. But also I have band guys I contact who play bass guitar or Rhodes. And I know several people who play keyboard. But a lot of that stuff on PeteStrumentals is basically me sampling from old instrumental records where they would just have, like, a whole album full of a Rhodes keyboard or a guitar or a bass or even drums and drumming. I've got drumming records, keyboard records, all that stuff. So that helps me create ideas when I want to do something live.

The album keeps you guessing, because you don't always know what is live.

Exactly, but most of the stuff that you hear on it is sampled. There are a few live joints on it, like the bass line on “Pete's Jazz.” I always make up all my bass lines and play them off the SP. The vibes and stuff are from an old jazz record. And then I just took some guitar chops and played “I Get Lifted,” an old song by George McCrae that went pretty well with the song. You know, once you get that basic beat, everything else comes easy.

How do you deal with sample clearance?

I have a pretty good method. I only clear the important ones. I find a lot of obscure music where the group ain't around no more, or cats don't know the music when they hear it. But I don't sample it to where they can notice it. I chop it up and do certain things to it so it doesn't sound the same.

Would you sample more and for greater lengths if you could still get away with it like people did in the late '80s?

I probably would. There are a lot of things I passed up that I wanted to just loop, but I knew they would come after me for it. And they always get what they want. Certain artists like James Brown now get, like, 50, 60 percent of a song — of your song. If you sample his song, he wants 60 percent. You know, certain cats come after you. Certain people will be like, “Okay, just give me this.” I like to deal with those kinds of people.

One vocal sample that goes “wow-wow-wow” shows up on two tracks.

That was because it was first used on the instrumental track “For the People,” and then you got a song I did called “Give It to Y'all” with my man Rock Marciano. That's a real hot song that Rawkus put out as a single.

Do you often reprise a sample from one song to another?

Well, sometimes. I just thought that was a good intro for the vocal song, and that's why I put the same thing in there. But I only do that once or twice. It doesn't hurt; it's just music. I could see if I did it on every track. Now, you got some producers out here who use the same sounds every single ****' time. That stuff gets played out, and you know, ten years from now you can't say, “Oh, that **** is still hot.” You know, a lot of that **** you hear today is not classic.

Do you do a lot of processing with the drum sounds?

Yeah, actually, I do. And when I'm listening to my collection, I find a lot of sounds on records like snares, kicks, hi-hats, you name it — timbales, whatever. There are a lot of sounds that come from records, but then I have sound-library CDs with drum sounds and other sounds that go into beats.

When a sound comes off a sample CD, do you usually have to fatten up the sound?

Yeah. Most of them you have to beef up — EQ them right and things of that nature, like adding another piece of sound to make it sound fuller. I always try to combine ****. I definitely layer sounds. I like to compress certain sounds and beats using the Tube-Tech compressors, because I can take any type of dirty sound from a record and clean it up. I like Eventide processors, and Rane has a few processors I like. Roland has a few compressors I like to use for vocals.

What advice can you give to the young beat generators out there?

My first piece of advice is never let somebody tell you that you can't do something. The second thing is to stick with what you love. If you have a passion for it, you're bound to unfold into something. As long as you stick with your craft and practice it every single day, something positive will come out of it. And stick with it. Try to be versatile with making beats; don't just pigeonhole yourself with one type of sound. Make various types of music.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Markkus Rovito (mrovito@earthlink.net) is a senior editor for E-Gear magazine. He's very grateful that Pete Rock didn't hang up on him as did a certain former Ultramagnetic MCs rapper, who shall remain nameless.

'The D Mixtape': The Official Tracklist 2015

Tracklist for 'The D Mixtape'

Dedicated to one cool boss.

INTRO feat. Lee & KD

((Bulletproof)) feat. La Roux

INTERLUDE Cristina Call Fail feat. Lee & KD

((Great Day)) feat. Tokio Hotel

((Live Forever)) feat. Oasis

((Walking with a Ghost)) feat. Tegan & Sara

INTERLUDE Eliza on the Mic

((By the Time I Get to Phoenix)) feat. El Michel's Affair

((By The Time I Get to Phoenix)) feat. Glen Campbell

((Freeway Traffic))

INTERLUDE Traffic Report feat. Lee

((Xiong Mao)) feat. Carsick Cars

INTERLUDE Grant Nights feat. Lee

((The Grants) feat. John Kite

INTERLUDE KD in German

((El Paso)) feat. Lolita (Zwischen heute und morgen)

((Boston Red Sox Chant...Sort Of))

Bill Burr Skit

((Music Makes Me Smart)) feat. Kids Learn Early

INTERLUDE Early Childhood Shoutout feat. The LAUNCH Crew

INTERLUDE Early Golondrinas Intro feat. Eliza & Maria

((Las Golondrinas)) feat. Jenni Rivera

INTERLUDE Introducing Juan feat. Lee

((Suena)) feat. Juan Valadez

INTERLUDE Cristina & Lil' Lupe

((The Thunder Rolls)) feat. Garth Brooks

((Phoenix)) feat. Tears of the Sun

((Arizona)) feat. Paul Revere & The Raiders

INTERLUDE Lee's Outro

((Veteran's Memorial Outro Instrumental))

INTERLUDE KD's Outro

Learning Our ABCs (Early Childhood)

OUTRO feat. Lil' Lupe

((Desaparecido)) feat. Manu Chao BONUS TRACK

*My latest mixtape in collaboration with some really cool people.

Dakah Hip Hop Orchestra

Dakah Hip Hop Orchestra

"Wow!...you know this is me right here! Yo, can I borrow it?" - Lee

"Of course G, I trust you..." - SA

"...can I have it??..." - Lee

(gives off that laugh of his)

DJ Spanish Aztec had a lot of records. From time to time I borrowed a few singles but there was one record I just had to have if not AT LEAST dub from SA's stash and that was the Dakah Hip Hop Orchestra LP.  One of the illest Side A's and B's right here...a Hip Hop orchestra going through Roots & Gang Starr classics.  Starting with one of my all time favorite by The Roots ((Act Too, Love of My Life)).  

A shout out to the spirit of SA.  Had it not been for him, I may have never heard this record...not like this. This was one of those "wait til' you see what I got" phone calls when he checked his mail.  It was also the only LP from his stash that I borrowed and dubbed in its entirety from my turntable into my PC's sound card. Being kinda tech illiterate in 99', it took a lot of trial & error figuring out how to dub first into cassettes then finally into digital when my brother's God parents bought me my first PC a few years later.  A lot of questions no one seemed to have an answer for, Google searching, software downloads, and Radio Shack RCA cables until I finally rigged my set up to capture the sound I wanted off the needle... all the way to the end of the center plate.  

Even the silence of a vinyl record sounds like something. 

Check out this interview with Double G of the Dakah Symphonic Hip Hop Orchestra by Corry Banks for the BBoy Tech Report.  A great place to start to learn more about Dakah: click here

Here is a great video with Geoff 'Double G' Gallegos:

Keywords + Tag = Dakah Hip Hop Orchestra | Geoff Gallegos | Double G | vinyl | DJ Spanish Aztec | interdependence | Corry Banks | orchestra | Hip Hop | classic | symphony | wax | digging |The Roots | Gang Starr | LP | DJ SA

Things Fall Apart

The Story Behind the 5 Covers of The Roots

Things Fall Apart with Art Director

Kenny Gravillis: click here

This week listening to one of my favorite albums of all time, The Roots Things Fall Apart. Here is a story of the cover art by Kenny Gravillis by Richard Dryden at Complex. 

Senior year theme music, ((Double Trouble)) in the 99'.

Vinyl in the Sun City

All That Music

Vinyl in the Sun City

Check out a recent article by Halima Mansoor about vinyl sellers in El Paso, Texas, click here.

Helen Folasade Adu

Folasade

One of these days... I'm going to make a mixtape for Dad.  Call it Songs for My Father.  I inherited my love for Sade's music directly from him and everything about my Dad's 80s character.  Pops blended really well into just about every decade.  His experience is a musical timeline.

The photos on the Diamond Life vinyl cover is handled by Chris Roberts.  Sleeve design by Graham Smith.  When I think of this record I think of my old radio comrade Steph aka Moleman who put me onto Stuart Matthewman's Cotton Belly CD when we were live on air.  He's the sax and guitar on Diamond Life and a lot of soulful music that really defined my own music experience and what I like... going back to the songs of my father with Sade.

I'm looking forward to the day I begin the Songs for My Father mix.  Not to mention the Folasade Tape I've always wanted to assemble.  All Sade.

DJ Spanish Aztec

DJ Spanish Aztec

I'm signed up for a digital MP3 list-serve called MP3Waxx.  A lot of rap audios arrive through the list-serve, mostly mainstream with a couple of gems.  Each time I check out the MP3Waxx emails, my old friend DJ Spanish Aztec crosses my mind.  He'd often go through a bunch of list-serves and record pools he was a part of to round up what he wanted to put people on to. He was gracious enough to share those audios with a lot of people including me.  He did this for years.  Below are some words I wrote shortly after his funeral three years ago.  It talks about SA's love for music... whether vinyl or digital, his archive was deep.  I plan on assembling tracks from these record pools and maybe starting up a newsletter listserve to share with whomever wants free access to music.  All of these audios are sent out from the labels or people that represent their promo teams.  They're already available online for free.  If you're an eMCee, beat maker, musician, one of those folks that works at a label or just interested in having someone hear out your music, email repshowhost@gmail.com.  I recently got a volume started up of a few mainstream tracks I downloaded from MP3Waxx.  What I'm interested in doing though is combining the mainstream with the independent.  My heart is into underground but I listen to everything... this is what DJ SA was all about too whether he was just hanging out listening to music with you, at the radio station, or out dj'n somewhere.    

In the future I plan to use this blog to document DJ SA's story.  When he was alive we got the chance to sit down and talk about his life everything from the ups and downs.  He let me write about his experience at the time for a short story I was putting together for one of my English classes at NMSU.  We recorded his story on cassette tape in audio... hours of conversation starting with his born day.  I put some pieces of the memories he shared for the short story I wrote for class.  I plan on returning to that story, including those cassette tapes I have.  Blogger seems like a good permanent platform that's not behind something you need an account to access like FB or Tweet. So I think it's the best place where I can "archive" something like this without it getting lost in the world wide mix.  That's the plan.

If you're interested in a digital download of some music, email repshowhost@gmail.com. I'm calling the digital collections Mp3oBOX... the Mr. Postman Volumes.  We on volume 1 right now.  It's mostly all mainstream stuff that sounds pretty good but in the future there will be more variety.  Maybe it'll turn into something else we can connect to interviews to educate people on what's out there with links to support what these artist have for sale  In a simple way... just MP3, download, play.  Nothing else to it, no theyTunes, streams, nothing like that.  Just simple... MP3, download, play.  

Here's the write up about my good friend  It was posted online at the time but the whole site was removed about a year later when I decided to turn it into a blog.

Dedicated to SA. Peace.

In Memory of DJ SA

October 22, 1968-March 6, 2012

Thinking of 2012 and the meaning of HHA (Hip Hop Alumni) I want to dedicate this site to Joseph Troy Candelaria, who a lot of people, including myself, called DJ S.A. (Spanish Aztec, Still Alive, and a few other acronyms he told me about).  DJ SA passed away this year.  SA’s life revolved around family, his friends, and his two Technics turntables and the new digi-wax setup he was starting to get down.  One of the things I appreciated most about the brother was his passion for music which was a lot like mine.  He had a lot to say about it, and more than that, he had a lot to share.  Thinking on the end of this year, and time throughout the first decade of the millennium, I appreciate having had the chance to get on air with SA, to check him out at a few of his events, and also for his help for a couple times I needed a DJ.  He’d come through and represent straight out of love.  It wasn’t easy for SA to get around, but he never hesitated when I reached out.  I also really appreciated SA’s exchange of music.  I like to think I’m up on a lot of stuff and when I first got to know SA and his interest in music, I was hype to put him on to what I was listening to.  But from the jump, it was never just me telling him about the music I had, it was him telling me.  He always had a top 20, 30, or 40 new joints he had to talk about.  “Yo, listen to this G…” he’d say on the phone.  I’d be on the cell my ear pressed up against the phone speaker and he’d ask… “You know who this is?....”  I’d say, “Naw…Who is it…”  And he’d laugh. 

For a Doujah Raze record that I’d pass to him, he’d put me on to Y Society, and then I’d go back at him with some Pharcyde/Space Boogie X records, and he’d hit me over the head with some DJ Skratch Bastid.  It got to a point where I was receiving data discs from the dude every time we’d get together… “check this out, check that out”… “listen to this, listen to that”… “check out this old mix I did back in like, I don’t even remember (97’ or something)”…  And me being who I am, I couldn’t put my appreciation for this dude into words.  And beyond that, the hospitality of him and his wife, and young B, was bar none.  It wasn’t just about what I was listening to… this dude was always asking if I had eaten yet, or if I was hungry.  And by no means did SA have a lot of loot, but he treated you like he did, sometimes spottin’ a meal at a restaurant and just lookin’ out overall, whether it be music, food, or a prayer while one was going through their own challenges with health or life in general. 

This post is for somebody I think of every time I’m listening to music by myself.  Just today I was going through some files and found a digital vinyl recording of a record he had lent me that I dubbed from the Dakah Hip Hop Orchestra.  I’mma miss all them boxes SA had in his living room that towards the last few months before he passed he never got the chance to share.  It was a bunch of music that him and his fam had recovered from his old days diggin’.  And what’s crazy is he usually has no problem showing you everything in the stash, but all them boxes he took home from EP was just too much.  In my mind I think of the Liquids Swords record he had flipped his hands through and a lot of Funkdoobiest stuff and crazy remixes that I couldn’t wait for him to share once he started to feel better and out from under the weather. 

There are a lot of songs, a lot of old mixtapes, CDs, tapes of recorded shows, that I look forward to going through some day just to share.  Cause that’s what dude was all about.  Getting people to hear that new, or old, instead of the same ole’ … So yeah, when I think of HHA (Hip Hop Alumni), I think of dudes like SA.  Who in their own way contributed a lot… And when you get around to learning about where he came from, what he had experienced, and survived… it’s  real interesting story when it comes to what Hip Hop means to us, whether we’re on our own, with our family, or with others.  Whether you be an MC, a beatmaker, a DJ, or an educator.

With much love, respect, and rememory of the big homie, DJ SA.

Nina Simone 1969

Nina Simone 1969

It was the Train of Thought record by Reflection Eternal that put me on to Nina Simone.  The turn of the century introduced a lot of classic records, and one of my favorite songs on Train of Thought was ((Four Women)).  Before he starts rapping Talib talks about the Nina Simone original ((Four Women)). 

I can't remember where I found the LP To Love Somebody.  I have very few Nina Simone records on vinyl.  This one is the first Nina LP I've ever found and its definitely up there as one of the worst cover designs I've ever seen for such a great record.  I love every minute of it.

Here's a note on the back of the LP cover by Claude Hall.  Also noticed the album features Weldon Irvine, Jr. on the organ.

"In the mansion of the mind, where a song feeds only on the nebulous winds of imagination and emotion, Nina Simone walks in musical grandeur where few others dare stray.  She can be warm and tender, or she might turn into a storm of anger, boiling in the fury of the song.  Yet she is so great she communicates human understanding and affection for her fellow beings even while she attacks the towers of Wrong or Prejudice lyrically."

Beautiful.

Keywords + Tag = Nina Simone | To Love Somebody | Weldon Irvine | vinyl | Talib Kweli | Hi-Tek | RCA Records | lyrical | Claude Hall | Four Women | records | wax | digging | Revolution | The Times They are A-Changin' | music | soul | Hip Hop | 2000 | 1969 | organ | vocalist | singer | classic

MC Zoolor's (Viva Cugat!)

MC Zoolor's (Viva Cugat!)

I picked up the Viva Cugat! LP by Xavier Cugat at All That Music.  This record was solely responsible for setting off The Lee Jun Fan Tape, a mixtape project dedicated to Bruce Lee that I put together.  I was looking for a "cha-cha" sound as reference to what I read about Bruce Lee being a really good dancer.  I read somewhere that he taught people how to cha-cha as he made his way over the Pacific to the \/\/est side of America.  Whether or not that is true, what's special about this record is the sound of certain instruments similar to sounds I've heard in some of Bruce Lee's films.  On the Cugat record, certain breaks sounded like someone was hitting two ends of nunchuck together in a hallow room.  It's real amazing.

I decided to Audio Scribe this record.  The Audio Scribe process pertains to records I've identified in my stash that hold a lot of weight or purpose to my life.  As I was going through the transcription process I had my little brother recreate the cover art.  I thought the name he signed below at the time was hilarious.  He go by MC Zoo.  On the piece its signed MC Zoolor's.  

Our nephew gets down with the artwork too.  We'll see if he's interested in hooking us up with some LP recreations some day.   

Here's a quote from the LP cover about Xavier Cugat...

"Cugat's long and fabulous musical journey had its beginnings in a cafe in Barcelona, Spain.  There, in the twenties, he was found playing the violin by the great Italian tenor, Enrico Caruso.  So impressed was the world-famous opera star by what he heard that he retained the young fiddler and took him on a tour to America.

In the course of their joint travels, Caruso discovered that young Cugat's talents reached into areas other than music.  The youngster handled a drawing pen as skillfully as the violin bow.  Since Caruso was himself an amateur artist, the two amused themselves on their journeys by drawing caricatures.  Cugat's caricatures have since appeared in many of the country's large circulation magazines, among them Life."

Child of the 80s - For Danielle

Child of the 80s - Chapter 1

For Danielle

Danielle aka 'D'.  

Our b-days are separated by two days, same year, 1981.  Aries!

Child of the 80s Chapter 1 Mixtapes

Original (Lee aka repshowhost) | Belinda

#HHbeAtz10

hiphopalumni.com/hhbeatz10

#HHbeAtz10

I was inspired early on by a love for beats.  At the turn of the century having access to Hip Hop vinyl, for me, was all about the instrumental versions.

Before that... when I arrived to college, the internet was just starting to pick up.  I heard about Napster but knew nothing about the internet, computers, or downloading.  In 1999, I didn't own a computer yet and knew very few people that did.    At the computer labs on campus I'd click Netscape and wander the world wide web reading whatever.  Using search engines I ran into a few corners of the web that had information about Hip Hop music.

In middle and high school, my Hip Hop collection was built from what I picked up exchanging cassette tapes with classmates, from the tapes my father brought back from his deployments overseas, from what I saw on BET's Rap City with Big Lez & Joe Clair, or YO!MTV Raps with Ed Lover & Dr. Dre... or from the few times I had enough to buy a tape or CD from a local music store or the flea market, and from rip off CD subscription plans like BMG and Columbia House.  The extent of my family's vinyl collection was the Soul that survived the CD wave now stuffed in a closet space and underneath the bed.   

Fast forward time, back to the college computer lab freshman year and I discovered a webpage called Da Vault that had a catalog of instrumentals and unreleased tracks. The guy running the site made about $15 per CD (money orders only).  I'd learn what a rewritable CD was through Da Vault but still had very little knowledge about the digital mp3 and how accessible it was.  When I was at the computer lab I spent a lot of time searching Da Vault's catalog, learning about some of my favorite Hip Hop songs without words, just beats.  I recall wondering where and how he was able to get all that music on one CD.  Prior to that time, the only way I knew you could make a copy of something was to do it on cassette.  The extent of how I shared music with people was all about filling up both sides of a 90 minute Memorex cassette tape.

My first Hip Hop 12-inch single w/ instrumentals was Ras Kass ((Jack Frost)) w/ B-Side ((Anything Goes Remix)) that I found at an Albuquerque record shop along with a compilation vinyl by The Originators that had a Big L track I wanted.  This was the beginning of a beat budget and an 8 year journey doing college radio.  Doing radio gave me access to more music than I ever knew existed.  I'd spend hours at the radio station.  Even managed to finesse my way into working on staff as a music director just so that I could have access to the promos coming in the mail.  Through the radio station I picked up the halves on digital media and editing.  Started learning about record pools and charting and picked up a lot from the collections of other radio personalities that would come through.  I also built a lil' web space for myself around 2000 called leehiphopshow.com.  Got a lot more familiar with the net too discovering sharing platforms like SoulSeek and online music stores like SandboxAutomatic, Dusty Groove, and spaces like Turntable Lab that always had serious supply of instrumental vinyls from some of my favorite producers.  That was my sole purpose for getting a set of turntables and other equipment I'd need to extract audio onto tape and later on into digital form.  Whether it was for talk overs or freestyles live on air, or to listen to for school work, or simply for my every day soundtrack, thinking through my headphones...everything I was learning was all for the BEATS.  Early on, it was instrumental LPs like Madlib's The Unseen, everything and anything by J Rawls, Pete Rock, the Liquid Swords Instrumental LP, of course J Dilla, everything by The RZA in the 90s, Mobb Deep (Havoc), all production out of QB, down south music from Dungeon Family & Organized Noize production, Death Row's music (Dr. Dre, Snoop), DJ Quik, MC Eiht's producers, and the genius of projects like Illmatic.  It got to a point where the only reason I wanted to make sure I kept my grades right and not lose financial aid, was so that I could continue participating in student radio and having access to free music.  One of the first online radio programs I set up was a strictly beats platform called InstrumentalLive365.  There was also an entire semester where I had the opportunity to host an instrumental only radio slot.  Also figured out how to setup automation so that towards the end of the night and on into the early morning, if you put on 91.5 FM, you were hearing nothing but BEATS.  Learning what I knew at this point about digital media and editing, I stuffed the radio station database with as much music as I could for anyone to access and play.

HHbeAtz10 is basically a homage to the Hip Hop instrumental.  It's my current top 10.  A charting of official Hip Hop projects without words.  It's a focus on today's Hip Hop beatsmiths.  I'm planning to do some interviews through twitter.com/hiphopalumni (@hiphopalumni) when I get the chance.  Plan to also post a few interviews I've done in the past with beat makers.  Will plan on posting thoughts on the latest projects I'm #listening to and keeping the top 10 as up to date as possible.  I want to send a shout out to my boy Dune and the Fresh Produce Online radio show, which is where HHbeAtz10 is inspired from.  If I thought I knew a lot about Hip Hop beat makers before, the Fresh Produce program put me on to a whole other world of beat makers out there.

To the Hip Hop instrumental chefs, thank you.  Ya'll are Hip Hop's pulse and the inspiration for MC's that got something to say, especially for those that speak from the heart.  Hip Hop beats are conversations, a lot of questions and answers.  Deep stories that many of us have memorized only to revisit time and time again.

Wish I knew how to make beats.

Introducing HHbeAtz10.

Check twitter.com/hiphopalumni #HHbeAtz10.

The first top 10 is featured in the image above and include:

Pete Rock - PeteStrumentals2

Large Professor - Mega Philosophy

IV the Polymath - When and Where

Damu the Fudgemunk - Public Assembly 2

Kev Brown - Brown Album Instrumentals

The Beatfonics Crew - Beatxploitation, The Blacktape Vol. 7

Apollo Brown - Thirty Eight

J.Rocc & Med - Theme Music Instrumentals

Crown City Rockers - Earthtones Instrumentals

Klaus Layer - For the People Like Us

More projects currently under review.  Within the week will definitely add the Lord Finesse SP1200 Project.  And next listen, Drasar Monumental & Ayatollah...

  

Child of the 80s - For Belinda

Child of the 80s - Chapter 1

For Belinda

An original from the 80s era.  Shout out to Belinda.  The photo features B' diggin' in Hollywood circa 1980s with combat boots!  For the story on the mix including track list click here.

To receive your copy of the mix send an 80s picture of yourself and some back story to repshowhost@gmail.com.  Include first name.

2015 LHHS Charts 10 | #LHHS10

 2015 LHHS Charts 10 | #LHHS10

It's been a while since the last LHHS Charts update.  A busy start to 2015 but never too busy not to put on some new music to start a day or close the night.  It's February 2015 now, and after hearing the latest from Raw Poetic and DJ K-Def from ReDefinition Records I felt it would be a good time for an update.  Their record, Cool Convos in Quantum Speech set off 2015 for me.  In thinking about that, it also had me reflecting on what came out at the close of 2014 that I've been listening to lately.  

This begins with talking about Good Morning Vietnam III, The Phoenix Program by MF Grimm and Drasar Monumental.  For me, I'm not sure I can be convinced of a better 2014 record than GMVIII.  Whether we're talking about wordplay, production, the creative process attached to this record as the conclusion of a trilogy, and everything else connected to why we consider what we consider great or better than the other... for me this record is in a Hip Hop conversation of its own, that perhaps is better left for people to listen to and absorb over time, rather than expecting for others to pick up on it.  I don't know.  What I do know, is as I change my top records list for LHHS (featured to the left of this write up), I got GMVIII above it all.  I can't even think of what it's going to take to replace this record from that spot.  While I listen to everything as its own project, if I'm asked, "what was your favorite record of 2014..."  I'm going with GMVIII.  Let's see what 2015 delivers. 

The next record is from an MC that deserves continuous praise and that's Junclassic.  Especially in his involvement with producers and what he's connecting through his music.  On his latest masterpiece, Words are Weapons, we got Maniac on the beats.  This record waste no time from one track to the next and with each feature.  Everything about it to me, is dope.  And if its your first time listening to Junclassic's music, its a perfect place to start as I encourage that listeners retrace their ears back to a discography worth listening to, sharing, and talking about.  Jun's also hard at work with the visuals providing fans with his physical presence if you look him up on YouTube.  

Other records I've enjoyed include the remix project by Ali Shaheed Muhammad with Souls of Mischief on the There is Only Now, originally produced by Adrian Younge, who's also attached to the real dope Phryme record between the legendary production of DJ Premier and Royce Da 5'9.  In addition, really loved the interview on The Combat Jack Show with J Cole and what we learned about his latest effort with the 2014 Forest Hills Drive record. Other mentions that I want to get into include what I've been hearing from MC Melodee of La Melodia through multiple projects she put out in 2014 including the Crunch Time EP and of course the Zion I crew who's latest EP The Sun Moon and Stars is on my list to check for.  People been active these days on EP projects.

On top of that, I missed out on a lot of other records I hope to hear soon.  But this is where I'm at for my charts and what I've enjoyed in the past few months.  You can see the lists to the left of this message (scroll down).  Having just got my hands on the Lord Finesse SP1200 Project, Large Pro's touch on the Mega Philosophy record, Apollo Brown's .38 project, and one I've got on repeat by the incredible production of IV the Polymath, When and Where, I've decided to separate a top 10 exclusively for instrumental projects called #HHbeAtz10.  I've accumulated a few projects to kick off the top 10, including some incredible work I've been listening to via the Fresh Produce camp with the Beatphonics crew.  

This post if anything, is also a note of thanks to all artist, groups, producers, eMCees that continue to bless our troubled times with the peace, joy, and creative therapy of music.  As Malcolm X said, "history is best qualified to reward our research"... this includes our music.   

Peace.