5 Dope Sure shots...

Peace C.R.D.S. Readers, this is my final post for 2013 and I would like to wish all of my readers around the world a very Happy Christmas and to extend my thanks for the messages, re-posts and e-mails and I will see you all in 2014.

Here is a quick run down of what I have been loving this past November and December, I hope you enjoy them as much as I do, I should be completing a best of 2013 post soon too.

Peace

Jaz

Dudley Perkins-Foot Surgery (Produced by Kankick)

From the new album Dr Stokley

Roc Marciano ft Evidence-Love Means (Produced by Roc Marciano)

From the new album Marci Beacoup

 











Jamal Bufford-Oh My God, Forever (Produced by Evilldewer)

From the new album Victim Of A Modern Age

Early Reed & J Scienide ft DJ Jon Doe -Brimstone (Produced by Early Reed)

From the new album The Dose (The MFN Files)

The Dopplegangaz-Hollax2

From the forthcoming album Peace Kehd

 

Kibbles and Bits # 6

Yes, y'all and, to the like beat and...

 
 
 

The CRDS Fat Tape Vol 22

Volume 22 of the CRDS Fat Tape series, this one has been the soundtrack for my hectic, confusing, odd, challenging but ultimately rewarding (I'm getting married next year, yes me....getting m-a-r-r-i-e-d lol) and ever changing life for the past month and that is what a good fat/mix tape should always do...music will always see you through...;)

enjoy

"CATCH THE BEAT"                                                       

MAN OF BOOOM
sichtexot

"YOU & YOUR CREW"
 VARIOUS BLENDS FT MYSTIK JOURNEYMEN
Baraka Foundation  

"ALL THAT I GOT IS YOU (REMIX)"
GHOSTFACE KILLAH
Epic Street

"POISON"
BLACK MILK
Fat Beats

"WAIT A MINUTE"
QUELLE CHRIS FT DENMARK VESSEY
Mello Music Group

"INDY 500"
BINARY STAR 
Subterraneous Records

"WHO AM I?"
MYKILL MIERS
Ill Boogie

"WRIGHT RIGHT AWAY"
 ZEPS & ETURNAL (THE SPIX)
Point Dot Period

 "BLEED"
REASON
Mission Control

"A FINITE NUMBER OF STARZ"
MOODSWINGAZ
Karmis Productions

"CAGE ISH"
EPIDEMIK & DREAMTEK
Mic Theory

"MICA (PHONE CHECK)"
DECOMPOZE
Subterraneous Records

"ON THE REAL"
CM JONES
Ascetic Music

"IN THE CITY"
 EVAN HOLT & THELONIOUS MARTIN
DJ Booth 

Big props to DJ Sav One for the Mighty Mi "All That I Got Is You" remix

Denmark Vessey...

I must admit I was a bit late on the dope Detroit native known as Denmark Vessey's solo material but it's always good to play catch up...Denmark Vessey is named after an 1800's African slave (but with an added S) and of the group Crown Nation (with Mello Music Group signee Quelle Chris) was recently signed to the Dirty Science label and
has been releasing some quality material lately, after checking the dope Don't Drink The Kool Aid album I am looking forward to hearing the Cult Classic with Chicago Producer and MC Scud One and the Life In My Direction album which seemed to have fallen off my radar. 

Denmark Ves... is well I don't even know if unique is the right word but this dude definitely has a style all of his own...he makes dope beats, rhymes well and plays guitar, piano and drums so in simple terms, he is just dope and a well rounded talent and I can certainly call myself a fan.

Check these dope video's and get familiar...

November 9th, 1993-A Tribe Called Quest-Midnight Marauders 20 years on...

 

But hold up (wait a minute) The Wu's Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) was not the only classic album released on November 9th, 1993, Native Tongue's A Tribe Called Quest released their third album Midnight Marauders and it was an album that made a lot of top 10 lists by the years end and cemented Tribe as one of the greatest groups along with the Wu to ever grace Hip Hop.

 









What made the album so special other than the great music was the cover made up of a who's who of Hip Hop legends, I recall an old Friend attending photography school and a group of us recreated the cover, that was a wild and amusing day but the poster has long gone sadly.

 

Midnight Maruaders was ATCQ's trifecta and a superb follow up to the classic Low End Theory (1991) album and was just generally a great feel good album filled with positivity and dope jazz loops, crisp drum breaks and funk and soul samples supplied by Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Skeff Anslem (he gets props too) and Q-Tip with Q-Tip and Phife dropping some of their greatest verses of their careers and had "the funky diabetic" Phife telling us that his fave rap group in the World was EPMD (I agreed) and that "if he ever went solo my favourite MC would be me"

The LP will most likely be remembered for the dope Large Professor produced and guested track "Keep It Rollin" where Large Pro announced his solo album and for us to "buy the album when I drop it", as fans will know this album was never officially released due to label politics and b.s.

 
I remember taping the "Award Tour" video off TV and playing it pretty much every night (along with a ton of '93 classics that I had compiled on VHS tapes) and eventually heading to Allan's CD's to pick up the CD.

 

I picked up this album (from memory) around 2 weeks after the US release on import, needless to it was on constant rotation but "Sucka N--a" was the track the stood out to me the most after "Award Tour" & "Midnight" but in all honesty there wasn't a weak track on Midnight Marauders and the album has definitely stood the test of time.

I had a few Friends that picked up the album on vinyl and we thought it was dope that there were different versions of the cover and that they changed up who appeared on the cover and it was a great way to past the time to pick them all out, I raise a toast to the great ATCQ for blessing us with great and timeless music and for the legacy they leave in Hip Hop after their final tour in 2013.






 Check the links...

atcqs-midnight-marauders-turns-20-delve-into-the-story-of-its-arwork-and-the-intricacies-of-its-sonics
20th-anniversary-focus-a-tribe-called-quest-midnight-marauders-jive-1993
uncovered-tribe-called-quest-midnight-marauders-cover-art-director-nick-gamma
today_in_hip-hop_a_tribe_called_quest_midnight_marauders_turns_twenty
tribe-called-quest-midnight-marauders samples
a-tribe-called-quest-midnight-marauders


 
Big props to DJ Sav One and Mark 563 and Slurg for some of the scans used in this post.

"Seven times out of ten, we listen to our music at night"

Keep bouncin'...
 
This post is dedicated to the late Rob Arona, sadly this old Friend passed before the release of this album and I knew he would have loved it as he was a huge Tribe fan.

Wu-Tang Clan-'Enter The Wu-Tang' (36 Chambers) 20 years on...

Man I am old haha...yes indeed kids...we have finally arrived at the 20 year anniversary of the one of the rawest, illest and greatest and game changing albums in Hip Hop history a true landmark of an album, the album I am referring to is of course the debut album from the legendary Wu-Tang Clan released on Loud records November 9th in 1993.

I remember the day I first heard this album, the day that the Hip Hop world was properly introduced to the Staten Island (Shaolin) clique known as The RZA, Ghostface Killah, Raekwon The Chef,  Inspectah Deck,The GZA, Old Dirty Bastard (R.I.P.), U-God, Masta Killa and Method Man aka the Wu-Tang Clan.



I actually had to borrow the CD from the radio station I worked at as one of they were sent a promo copy and that CD did not leave my player for months, it was easily the most requested album on the Wednesday Nite Jam show throughout the 90's as well.



I eventually found the tape on import at Allan's CD's and I fondly remember DJing at and attending mad parties where either the whole album was played or people chose their favourite tracks.



I later got my own CD along with a few of the 12"s and I like many of you was Wu-Sane (Insane for the Wu) I had to buy every solo album from the original 9 members, every magazine, a couple of t-shirts, every album one of them appeared on etc and I still have most of them in storage but over time, albums were swapped, sold or given away.



I even had a manilla folder where I would write up discography's for each members resume, the Wu are still an important part of my life and always will be, I still dig at lot of what they record and I am looking forward to the next album, it was a true honour to be able to support the legendary Ghostface Killah & Killah Priest with my former crew Evil Mule in 2012 in Wellington, New Zealand.

That will always go down as one of the greatest moments and memories for me personally, so much of my life and listening time has been made up because of the Wu Tang Clan and I raise a toast to the entire crew for bringing back the realness to NYC Hip Hop for showing wack rappers the exit sign, for teaching producers how to make muddy and raw dope beats with ill Kung-Fu soundbites and little to no polish in the mixing, for teaching wack MC's how to really rhyme, , the power of words, have incredible wordplay, style and charisma and kick the truth and deliver messages to the "young black youth"...



 












If I set my mind to it, I could write a 100 page essay on the Wu but I will leave it here and tell you to listen to the album and if you feel like it, leave a comment on how the Enter The 36 Chambers album affected and participate in the poll below for the dopest track on the album.

Round up of links celebrating the landmark 20 year anniversary

egotripland: If you ever wondered why Wu-Tang rocked stocking...
20-year-anniversary-of-wus-enter-36
wu-tang-clan-36-chambers-anniversary
wu-tang-clans-enter-the-wu-tang-36-chambers-at-20-classic-track-by-track
enter-the-wu-tang-36-chambers-a-roundtable-retrospective
15-fun-facts-about-wu-tang-clans-36-chambers
wu-tang-clan-enter-the-wu-tang-36-chambers-oral-history
enter-the-wu-tang-36-chambers-20th-anniversary
wu-tang-clan-enter-36-chambers-20th-anniversary-retrospective
enter-wu-tang-36-chambers-samples
celebrate-20th-anniversary-enter-wu-tang-36-chambers
enter-the-wu-tang-36-chambers-is-still-locked-and-loaded
im-feeling-old-wu-tang-enter-the-36-chambers-turns-20-years-old
http://www.stereogum.com/1557582/enter-the-wu-tang-36-chambers-turns 20
enter-the-wu-tang-36-chambers-turns-20/franchises/the-anniversary






Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu...

SmooVth meets Ryks Muzik-Smoovth Dude EP

Smoovth

A dope, charismatic and very prolific MC that hails from Hempstead, Long Island and is1/2 of Tha Connection, who along with partner in rhyme Hus The Kingpin have released over 10 albums (official, mix-tapes and collections) on labels like Mello Music Group,  Digi Crates, Domination Recordings & Goon Trax (my faves being Little Boy Blue (2010) and Tha Connection's-Strive LP (2012) within 6 years is set to release an 11 track EP with top quality French label Ryks Muzik.

The Smoovth Dude EP will be available from the Rhys Muzik website in December 2013 and pre-orders for the record will be taken this month.

Check out "Don Dada" produced by Doktor Rheal

Casper-War Of Words (1991)

Big props to FC81 for ripping this '91 Broadway produced dopeness that I thought was lost long ago in the dust.

Kibbles and Bits #5

Yes indeed...another round up of some of the dopest Hip Hop video's out there today and the Remember Back In The Days video clip of the month.

 













"Remember Back In The Days"... Clip of the Month:

R.I.P. Lou Reed

Today was not a perfect day, in fact it was a sad morning, I awoke to the news that highly influential Rock legend Lou Reed had passed away at 71.

As a youth I used to listen to my Father's Lou Reed records and bought the "Sun City" 12" when it was first released (where it is now I have no idea though haha), I won't claim to be an expert on all of his music, but what I did listen to over the years was always enjoyable and he had a voice that was quite simply unique.



At a later stage I discovered The Velvet Underground and of course Lou and The Velvet Underground have been sampled in Hip Hop (we won't mention the terrible Jamie J. Morgan song and the Marky Mark & The Funky Bunch video below was pretty corny, but I left it in there, because the production was decent) particularly on the one of the greatest Hip Hop recordings ever made (see below) who Lou had no problem giving permission for use of the sample.

The music world has lost a true, great talent...RIP Lou Reed


 









http://www.artistdirect.com/nad/window/media/page/0,,149310-3255254,00.html#MaGVfkkputFz60Cf.08

Emskee & E The 5th-The Marc Smith LP

Dope DJ and MC Marc Smith aka Emskee has a new album lined up with beats provided by Brooklyn's E The 5th of Sputnik Brown fame, the new album titled "The Marc Smith LP*" will be released through UK label Diggers With Gratitude in November 2013

*cover artwork designed by Mr Krum

Download "Anunciate" here

Check out snippets of the upcoming album here

Black Milk-Poison-iTunes Bonus Track

As much as I enjoy the new album-No Poison, No Paradise from Detroit producer and MC Black Milk...I kind of feel that Milk has saved the best for last of his latest offering with the insanely addictive iTunes only bonus track "Poison" 

Seriously, just try and get that vocal sample out of your head.

 

No Poison, No Paradise features Black Thought, Quelle Chris, AB, Mel, Dwele, Robert Glasper and Will Sessions

Pick up the digital album here
Pick up the special 2 LP package (T-Shirt, sticker and poster) from Fat Beats here and pick up the CD here
If you haven't already seen it, check the superb video for the previously released single "Sunday's Best/Monday's Worst"