RUSH OVER BKLYN by PRODUCTOMART

“All right. It’s Saturday night, I have no date, a two-liter bottle of Shasta and my all-Rush mixtape… Let’s rock.”

I first heard the tune by “Tom Sawyer” by Rush on Futurama when Fry chucks his cassette into his walkman, the prog rock synth solo starts twanging as he loads up on the Space Invaders machine to (almost) defeat the Nintendians. In “Rush Over BKLYN” Tom Sawyer is sampled by El-P in a song to support his tour DJ, DJ Mr Dibbs, sadly afflicted with liver disease. Apparently clearing samples is a costly legal affair, so tunes like this would never have seen the light of day, but it is here due to a service provided by Legitmix:

Normally, “Rush Over Bklyn” would have been leaked on the Internet or left on some dusty hard drive. Now with Legitmix, El-p can sell his creative work and generate new sales for Rush. For this pioneering releasing, El-p has chosen to help out a friend in need and is donating all proceeds from the sale of “Rush Over Bklyn” to a fund established for the legendary DJ/producer Brad Forste aka DJ MR DIBBS who is battling liver disease. As hospital bills rise, El-P and Legitmix hope to relieve the burden of family and friends that a half a million-dollar debt can produce.

To donate with PayPal click “Send Money” and the email address: hellkitchen@netzero.com. The email address belongs to Kristin Rose. She is Mr. Dibbs’ wife. For those who don’t use PayPal you can send a mail check or money order payable to Kristin Rose. Address envelope to: Brad Forste 4830 Poplar St Cincinnati, OH 45212

Shady Records 2.0 Boys 2011 Cypher (Uncut) from Shady Records on Vimeo.

Eminem, Yelawolf & Slaughterhouse. $hit SO cash. Also HERE.

Jay Electronica & Mobb Deep – Call Of Duty (Modern Warfare 3) by Hypetrak

That’s right… MW3 is officially gangster.

Bit late to Danny Brown‘s scene, but first heard his distinctive voice on a guest appearance with Das Racist, EL-P and Despot on Mr MFN eXquire‘s Last Huzzah remix track. In the words of a mate, Danny Brown (out of Detroit) goes hard, and was signed to A-Trak‘s Fool’s Gold Records after 50 Cent turned him down because he wears skinny jeans, and G-unit only sells saggies. (Check Danny Brown reppin’ 10 Deep “Black Cats” steez in their Fall ’11 lookbook here!)

XXX (Fool’s Gold Rec)
The Hybrid

http://mishkanyc.bandcamp.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mr-MFN-eXquire/221674644227

ILL BILL – “My Uncle” Official Video from MoreFrames on Vimeo.

More More Frames :D

MoreFrames Animation Showreel 2011 from MoreFrames on Vimeo.

After the rioting in London, many soul-searching questions were asked of the country and of its class system, of how and why the youth could evolve into this unit of violence, destruction and theft on such a massive scale. While I don’t have answers those types of questions, or in depth analysis, research and statistics, I can attest to the undercurrent and vibe of the city coming from certain people and parts of London I felt – anger, violence and a need for release through drinking. I remember reading a newspaper article while there, about two positive young guys who were doing a long distance walk to raise money for charity. While they were walking they were set upon by a gang of youths who attacked them for being “too good.” The unfortunate guys were yelling for help to passers-by, when a man did come along, only to join the gang in beating them. I didn’t witness anything like that when I was there, except for some police cars and vans cordoning off a street near Liverpool Street station.

When tumultuous social events such as this happen (think Cronulla riots in Australia), I have noticed a tendency for conservative journalists to deliver their perspective on the topic, and almost always without fail, use the situation and event as affirmation for their point of view, without substantial and credible hard evidence to support their claims. In the UK a columnist for The Daily Mirror wrote an opinion piece blaming the culture surrounding “rap music,” and here in Australia, gay comedian and Triple J personality Tom Ballard challenged an opinion piece by Sydney Telegraph columnist Miranda Devine, who somehow came to the righteous conclusion that same-sex couples and the lack of a “nuclear” family produced the wide-scale rioting in London. (See his rejoinder here)

I had a tête-à-tête with my mate Aaron Jackson aka Mnsr Frites, MC from his group Granville Sessions about hip hop, rap, grime and his thoughts on the influence of music, and also the rioting. As someone who grew up in the city, and as an MC I felt it would be appropriate to get his thoughts down on virtual paper, so read the interview after the break!

Who are Granville Sessions and how did you come about?
Granville Sessions are a live six piece Hip Hop band from London. We formed in 2008 when the bands three MC’s were booked for a show in Manchester (this was the first booking we’d ever been offered). We wanted to do something different so we formed a band from some very good friends of ours: Giuseppe Falcone who was already producing for us, plus Louis Dale (drums) and Marvin Javier (bass) who were part of a metal band called Orakai at the time. Another good friend Ed Koral who was also part of Orakai played guitar for us at the time and he continues to play live shows with us now, though now he plays trumpet in the band. The gig went well and for want of a better cliche ‘the rest is history’. Prior to the gig me, Giuseppe and Louis had filmed a little jam session at Louis’ house on Granville Road and thats where the name comes from. In the run up to the gig we practiced a fair amount at a rehearsal space in Balham and so we had a nice wedge of material to perform up in Manchester. Our sound has changed a lot since then as we’ve all progressed and developed but the bands ethos remains the same, we’re a group of friends that have known each other for a long time that enjoy making music together; Hip Hop is the foundation of our sound but we all come from different musical backgrounds and have different musical preferences and interests and I think that comes across in our sound.

The band is comprised of Three MC’s; myself (Mnsr Frites), Luca Brazi (who is also a dope producer; he produced ‘IF’ on the ‘No State’ project), and Archetype plus Giuseppe Falcone on production, Louis on drums and Marvin on Bass. We are a full live band so when you see us live everything is played real time; we have a show on September the 2nd at Vibe Bar, Brick Lane, East London so come check it out.

Top five MCs (dead or alive)/hip hop influences?
That’s a difficult question; I’ll try my best!:

1. Rakim
Although there are MC’s that I’ve personally listened to more you have to give Rakim credit for being the first dude to take rhyming to the next level in terms of complexity and intricacy, I appreciate good word play and conceptualism so I’d say he’s probably the best MC ever in regards to all that. There are MC’s that are technically a lot better than him but had he not paved the way for them I feel Hip Hop would be a very different music.

2. Zack De La Rocha (Rage Against the Machine)
Zack De La Rocha has been a huge influence for me personally. His delivery, stage presence and content are my reasons for picking him as number two. If you think he can’t be considered a Hip Hop MC just because he rose to fame as part of a rock outfit go and check out his tune with the Last Emperor and KRS One off Rawkus Records ‘Lyricist Lounge Vol. 1′ compilation; Zack is ill!

3. Nas
Nas is an absoulute badman, if you listen to ‘Illmatic’ and consider that he was still in his teens when he made that album its pretty hard to not consider him one of the best ever. Don’t get me wrong he has dropped a few clangers over the years but he’s still nice with it.

4. Kool Keith
I’m a big fan of psychedelia and conceptualism in Hip Hop and Kool Keith is a pivotal figure in terms of this style. He has a prolific back catalogue of crazy shit and he’s been dropping quality material since he was part of The Ultramagnetic MC’s. For this reason he is one of my favourite lyricists.

5. Universal Soldiers
Universal Soldiers were a quality MC duo from Edmonton, North London. I highly reccomend their music to anyone that is in to Hip Hop. Don’t get me wrong though this list changes on a daily basis and I’m super geeky with this Hip Hop stuff. I listen to a lot of Hip Hop; some other MC’s that I think are ill are R.A the Rugged Man, LoDeck and Vast Aire. Also had I not heard Wu-Tang’s first album I dont think I would have got into Hip Hop so heavily; they are the best thing to come out of the genre in my opinion! Then there is producers; I won’t even touch on that as we’d be here all day! haha

- What are yours and the group’s musical (any genre) influences (as I noticed the classical/jazz/reggae etc after listening to No State) ?
We have a huge range of influences. I personally grew up listening to a mixture of groups like Pantera and Sepultura and Hip Hop crews like Onyx, Wu-Tang and Das Efx. My Dad has always been a big reggae head as well so thats been a huge influence upon me and Reggae contunues to be one of my favourite types of music.

Luca Brazi is big into soul, Louis and Marvin have that metal influence but are also into a huge range of other stuff, Giuseppe is big into electronica and lo-fi down-tempo sort of stuff. I think the wide range of influences we have is reflected in the music we make. Our track ‘Styles’ is definitely a nod to Reggae and Sound System culture in general and on ‘Pubsteppin’ you’ll hear Louis sneaking in a cheeky bit of Thrash metal Style double pedal.

Our sound is always changing and were not afraid to experiment so I reckon our material will grow to reflect our influences even more over time. Hip Hop is the foundation of our sound though so no matter what we make it will always be that head-nod shit.

You supported Necro, and some other big names and dudes … how were the shows, and how did the crowds feel your stuff?
Supporting Necro was a quality experience; that’s probably one of the biggest crowds we’ve played to. We were somewhat apprehensive as Necro has a notoriously strange fan-base but people were really receptive and it was an awesome night; we had mosh pits going and everything which is always welcome; I love that shit. We recently supported another London Hip Hop band called the Illersapiens and that was a quality gig, the venue which it took place at (The Hootananny in Brixton) is somewhere we all go to a lot socially so it was quality to play there; massive shouts to DJ Snuff for booking us! We’re always looking for gigs and I definitely look forward to playing some more gigs like the Necro show in the future.

Congratulations on releasing No State… can you tell us what it’s about, and how would you describe your song/lyrical content – as about life in general? For example maybe about boredom, hence the stepping out to the pub for a pint or 5?
Cheers man. It’s definitely good to have it out there. We touch on quite a lot of stuff in our songs; a lot of the time its kind of rapping for the sake of rapping (which has its place) but we definitely made a conscious effort to incorporate some solid concepts into the ‘No State’ project. I’d say the general theme is (without sounding too cheesy) ‘the daily struggle’ but we also touch upon the rise of materialism in Hip Hop and a lot of stuff relating to life in London.

What’s your take on the London riots, and the people behind the rioting… as someone who, maybe given worse life circumstances could have been out there smashing and stealing shit, fighting police and starting fires?
I do not condone the actions of the rioters; but I strongly believe that there is a reason for everything and that the riots should not be simplistically dismissed as ‘thuggery’ or ‘pure criminality’. Youth unemployment is rife in the UK and I have first hand experience of this; when you are force fed an ideal of unsustainable consumerism in every waking minute of your life and then are not able to attain items that are deemed necessary to you by advertising executives people will react, it is an inevitability.

You just have to look at the type of stores that were targeted by rioters; electrical goods outlets, shops that sell sports clothing etc. These products share a common characteristic, they are items peddled to you as status symbols, we live in a society where you are taught from a very young age that money equals success. The people that took part in these riots are products of said environment. It is useless to sit around getting angry about what happened without trying to highlight the cause of the situation. Typically politicians have tried to put a spin on the events for their own benefit, a myriad of unrelated topics have been raised in the aftermath of the riots and I have no doubt that legislation will be pushed through of the back of recent events.

(I think) progress could be made by focusing on creating stringent schemes of employment for young people in this country as well as bringing about an increase in access to education. Travel within in London should be made affordable and activities for young people should be created at a local level but with consultation from young people so they are not poorly attended and patronizing. These things will not happen though because they do not bear profit for the government in the short term, money is the main focus of everything our government does.

A conservative government has no interest in dealing with issues of wealth disparity because they act in the interest of the elite, the British media quite rightly highlighted the detriment that the riots bought to small businesses and to the welfare of people who were employed at places of work that have now been destroyed. However the reality of the situation is that police were out in force to protect places like Westfield Shopping centre where large MNC’s have invested money but they were no where to be seen in poorer areas where many local businesses bore the brunt of the riots. The Police were the cause of the initial riots in Tottenham, they unnecessarily took the life of a young man and then failed to provide ample explanation to the mans family.

People living in London have little reason to place any faith in the Police as an institution. Hoards of young men have died whilst in police custody and the Police are rarely questioned or punished in the same way as your average citizen. The Police need to be policed by a body of organisations that are truly independent and transparency in their operations needs to be increased. It saddened me greatly to see the state of London during the riots but everyone needs to work together to create an environment where the chances of such things happening again are decreased.

I saw that Daily Mirror article where the columnist opined that rap/grime music was a cause of violence… I’ve been listening to rap for ages, and grime for a little while now, and after having been to London I could almost definitely say that the music arose out of the social and living conditions, it’s definitely not a cause, or didn’t incite the violence… what’s your take on the cause/effect and influence of music on people?
Musicians have a responsibility to recognise their influence upon their respective audiences regardless of genre. People are often hideously misinformed as to what Hip Hop is because they have no real experience of what in reality is a beautifully creative all-encompassing cultural discipline set. Consumerism has infected every level of society and this is reflected in Hip Hop and Grime, just as it is in Pop and Country and Western music. Older generations have historically blamed societies ills on the interests of younger generations; just look at the hoo-ha bought about by the emergence of Rock n’ Roll! people thought Buddy Holly was outrageous and a threat to the structure of society and the time!

It is not the job of a rapper or Grime MC to instil values in a young person. Hip Hop is a powerful tool that can be misused but people are complex and how they act can not be appointed simply to the music they choose to listen to, that is a naive and patronizing way of looking at things; as it is an opinion put forth by the Mirror I cant say I’m surprised.

So where to next for Granville sessions, what releases, gigs etc do you have coming up?
We are always working on new material and we often play new stuff live before recording it, so if you can definitely come and check us out live! We are next playing on the 2nd of September at Vibe Bar, Brick Lane, East London. Look out for Luca Brazi’s new project ‘Fire Makes Dead Animals Nang: The Babylon Escape Plan Soul Sessions’! Its gonna be certified fire.

Check out:
www.granvillesessions.com
trinitymusicbrixton.bandcamp.com

Remember when Diddy came out on stage with that revolutionary change the game yada yada yada house track with Deep Dish… well now Skepta has added some UKG to a Diddy joint keeping him fresh to death.

Here’s the original track and same rnb rap scenario in the video monotonous material mini-blockbuster-movie-video-clip.

And for good measure:

Check out the awes anime by MoreFrames who created and directed the clip!

“War Is My Destiny”- Ill Bill (official video) from MoreFrames on Vimeo.

Street Sweeper Social Club is g-tarist and MEGAULTRADEMIGOD to guitar twanging long haired males around the world Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine fame… he’s still political and using music as his message delivery vehicle, but with a different guy with an afro spitting the rhymes: Boots Riley of political rap group The Coup.

Check out their live cover of paper planes… I’m not so sure about this one i think their masculine rock and/or roll edge takes a bit away from the high flying & free spirited melody of MIA’s voice and Diplo’s musical production but see what you think:

They have a new EP coming out called The Ghetto Blaster featuring this cover of MIA’s paper planes, and also LL Cool J’s mama said knock you out!

If you preorder it HERE you can get a free download of paper planes :D

N.E.R.D – Hot-N-Fun (Remix feat. Asher Roth & Nelly Furtado)
N.E.R.D – Hot-N-Fun (SonicC Remix)
N.E.R.D – Hot-N-Fun (Hot Chip Remix)
N.E.R.D – Hot-N-Fun (Crookers Remix)
N.E.R.D – Hot-N-Fun (Boys Noize Remix)
N.E.R.D – Hot-N-Fun (Yeasayer Remix)

As many yall may not know… ya boy Radric Davis AKA Gucci was recently released on May 12 from incarceration in Fulton County penitentiary GA…

To celebrate get his “Free At Last” mixtape produced by DJ Smallz, courtesy of some bootleggers :D

In addition to even for more at celebration… going with our blog’s beloved electronic music theme, sign up for Mad Decent‘s exclusive Gucci remix-mixtape, released before his bid in priz: “Free Gucci: Best of the Cold War Mixtapes” HERE … it features remixes by a host of dubstep, glitch, electro and electronica acts like DZ, Zomby, Flying Lotus, Douster, Mumdance, Brodinski, Bird Peterson & Diplo His-self!

Danger’s Not A Stranger (Diplo Remix)
Dope Boy (Bird Peterson Remix)
Excuse Me (Memory Tapes Remix)
No No No (Brodinski & Monsieur Monsieur Remix)
Frowny Face (Douster Remix)
Frowny Face (Emynd Remix feat Playboy Tre)
Im Expectin (Teenwolf Remix)
Boi (Zomby Remix)
My Shadow (Salem Remix)
Excuse Me (Diplo Remix)
Photo Shoot (Flying Lotus Remix)
I Be Everywhere (Mumdance Remix)
I Be Everywhere (DZ Remix)
Im The Shit (Benzi & Willy Joy Remix)
Break Yourself (Diplo Remix feat Lil B)

Also: check out Mad Decent label-mate Rusko‘s new album OMG (ohmagod it’s pretty good) featuring Gucci Mane on the track Got Da Groove!

Future Prophecies – Dreadlock (Foamo Remix) I clipped from Foamo’s Chew The Fat 001 mix (available at Chew The Fat [it is l33t get it over there!!1one!])

The mad synth lines come from Norwegian drum and bass duo Future Prophecies, and it’s a sick remix slowing those DnB beats down to bassline bpms

Major Lazer – Bruk Out (Foamo Remix)

And my tinkering with Lee Mortimer & Foamo – Superman … adding Eminem – Superman acapella and warping it to fit over the top to make Superman^2 (still needs a bit more work I think)

Lee Mortimer & Foamo & Eminem – Superman^2 (JZArector warp edit) by JZArector

After caning the shit out of ‘Pon De Foley‘ of late, I’ve decided to leave Scientology and join the Church Of Ludachrist.

Yes, this mash-up mixtape is old now (anything past a week is on the interwebz is…), but a good mash-up mix will always remain timeless.

Thank you jza for showing me the way to the light. Download link and tracklist after the jump.

Ludachrist – Bangfest Mix

01. Get On My Axel (1:27)
02. Polar Bears in Africa (1:08)
03. Toto 2 Hot (0:33)
04. East vs. West vs. Bitches (0:55)
05. Suck That News, Tiger (1:16)
06. Hey You! Get Down On The Floor (2:15)
07. Take On Me (0:46)
08. The Golden Era (1:29)
09. Metallitroy (1:06)
10. Lunchbag (0:38)
11. Predators (0:49)
12. The Windows Of Justice (1:15)
13. Ghost Busta Rhymes (1:53)
14. Only The Strong Eat Cake And Get Hypnotized (1:44)
15. Meet Me In The Grind (1:15)
16. Rock Me Child (0:57)
17. Cult Of Brutality (0:21)
18. Interlude (0:44)
19. Dire Straight Bitches! (2:19)
20. We Are Your Hoes (2:13)
21. No Love (1:11)
22. Owner Of A Lonely .44 (0:50)
23. Daft Effect (0:57)
24. Headbanger (1:35)
25. The Swarm (2:59)
26. The Legend Of Curtis (1:49)
27. Soul On Ice (1:52)
28. Detatchable Pinky (1:46)
29. Splash D’s (1:43)
30. The Pigs Are Here (1:08)
31. Se-bast-i-Am (2:01)

Monster of a mixtape here from the boys from N.A.S.A. which was originally a limited gift for big spending CLOT customers. That was the middle of this year and thankfully now us masses can now enjoy it also. Tons of mashups here plus a wide variety of tracks chosen across multiple genres so there’s definitely something for everyone. Tracklist and download link after the jump.

N.A.S.A. – Tanning On The Moon Mixtape

Tracklist:

01. Tanning On The Moon Intro
02. Eric B. & Rakin – Juicy ( Eli Escobar vs N.A.S.A. Short Edit)
03. N.A.S.A. – It’s NASA Collage
04. N.A.S.A. – Samba Soul (Ape Sh!T Brothers Remix)
05. N.A.S.A. – Strange Enough (Mr. Oizo Remix)
06. Kanye West vs MGMT – Electric Feel vs Touch the Sky (DJ Zegon Mash Up)
07. Knight Rider vs A Volta (N.A.S.A. Mash Up)
08. A Skillz & Krafty Kuts – Happiness
09. Eric B. & Rakin – I Know Got Soul (Acapella)
10. Jesse Rose – Well Now
11. Amanda Blank – Might Like You Better
12. M.I.A – 10 dollar
13. The Count & Sinden – Hardcore Girl (feat. Rye Rye)
14. Holly Ghost! – Hold On
15. La Bionda – Wanna Be Your Lover
16. Theme From S’ Express – S’Express
17. Tom Tom Club – Wordy Rappinghood
18. Egyptian Lover – Egyptian Lover
19. Todd Terje – I Want Your Love
20. Justin Timberlake – My Love
21. Simian Mobile Disco – Love
22. The Beatles – All You Need Is Love
23. N.A.S.A. – Gifted (Boombotz Remix)
24. The Jonzun Crew – Pack Jam (Look Out For The OVC)
25. Sweet – Love Is Oxygen
26. Ultramagnetic MCs – Burn Dope (Instrumental)
27. DJ Medhi – Pocket Piano
28. Kid Kudi – Day N’ Night (Crookers Remix)
29. Bart B.More Beat vs Rakin (DJ Zegon Edit)
30. Major Lazer – Hold The Line
31. Dick Dale vs. Major Lazer – Hold Misirlou (Ape Sh!T Brothers Mash Up)
32. Silvio Mazzuca – Cerveja
33. The Champs – Tequila
34. Drunk Masters – Top Cat
35. The Rolling Stones – You Can’t Always Get What You Want (Soulwax Remix)
36. M.I.A. – Paper Planes (DFA Remix)
37. The Jacksons 5 – I Want You Back (Roger 72 Remix)
38. Missy Elliott – I’m Really Hot (Instrumental)
39. Michael Jackson – Bad (Acapella)
40. Soho vs Missy Elliott – Hot Music vs I’m Really Hot (DJ Zegon Mash Up)
41. LCD Soundsystem vs Busta Rhymes – Put Your Hands Innocuous (N.A.S.A. Mash Up)
42. Tittsworth – Boojangles (Instrumental)
43. Mighty Dub Katz – Magic Carpet Ride
44. Friend & Lover – Groovy Now (Mighty Mi Mix)
45. Mylo – Drop The Pressure
46. Daft Punk – DaFunk
47. Daft Punk – Da Funk (Thunderous Olympians Remix)
48. Kid Color vs Too Short – Blow The Zonga (N.A.S.A. Mash Up)
49. B-Easy – Bongo Joint
50. Switch – A Bit Patchy (Acapella)
51. N.A.S.A. – Money (Count Of Monte Cristal Remix)
52. N.A.S.A. – Money
53. N.A.S.A. – Whachadoin’ (DJ Zegon Megamix)
54. Quincy Jones – Soul Bossa Baile (N.A.S.A. Remix)
55. Ron Rico – Miss A (Sneeze Song)
56. Frankie Valli & The 4 Seasons – Beggin’ (Pilooski Re-Edit)

On an interesting note, our man JG on the blog here went to high school with Edison back in the day. Time to reconnect and get us some hookups haha!

If you didn’t catch them earlier on this year at their gig at the Espy, N.A.S.A. will be back next year at the St. Jerome’s Laneway Festivals. Dates are:

Brisbane – Friday 29th January @ Alexandria St off St Paul’s Terrace, Fortitude Valley
Melbourne – Saturday 30th January @ Footscray Community Arts Centre
Sydney – Sunday 31st January @ Sydney College of the Arts
Auckland, New Zealand – Monday 1st February @ Britomart Station
Adelaide – Friday 5th February @ Fowler’s Live, North Terrace
Perth – Saturday 6th February @ Cultural Centre, Northbridge

Tickets are on sale now and you can grab them from the Green Tix website.

Pitbull – Shut It Down (featuring Akon)

50 Cent – Baby By Me (featuring Ne-Yo)

LMAO – Shots (featuring Lil’ Jon)

Chris Brown – Crawl

Rihanna – Russian Roulette

David Guetta – One Love (featuring Estelle)

Snoop Dogg – Gangsta Luv (featuring The-Dream)