Scrobble Scribble #12: The Lost Tapes by Nas

One of my favourite albums ever is Nas's debut, "illmatic". I don't know what possessed me to buy that album, and when I first bought it I didn't really understand it. But a few years later I can understand why it has been hailed as the classic that it is - the in-depth stories of a young, articulate artist not trying to glorifiy himself but reflecting the gritty realities of his surroundings and simply making the best of what's been handed to him. Backed by some of the best Hip Hop producers of that time (Large Professor, DJ Premier, Pete Rock, Q-Tip) who delivered on bringing original, perfectly fitting beats that could nod heads or put minds at ease, it was an overall masterpiece. Even the only guest, AZ, rips it in "Life's A Bitch" with some of the best lines i've ever heard in any song. Unfortunately, as most Nas fans would know, "illmatic" was too good and ever since, everyone compares his output that has followed, trying to measure it up to the classic that it is.

What I think the problem with Nas and Nas fans are expectations and hype. This is my theory. Hip Hop fans love to hold Nas on a higher plateau, and this affects the quality of the output. So now on most Nas albums, you'll get a handful of nice songs but the rest are damn near below average because he felt too much pressure to do something as good as "illmatic". Don't get me wrong though, I'm a big Nas fan myself and he's in my top 5 of most listened artists on Last.FM. But how do you explain that the three albums after Nas's debut had a similiar album cover and then when one finally got trashed by critics and fans, he came back with an album called "Stillmatic"? Hmmm. Anyway, on a lighter note, and to further my theory, this post is about "The Lost Tapes".

The premise of "The Lost Tapes" is a compilation of unreleased tracks from the aformentioned "Stillmatic" recording sessions or from the earlier double disc version of "I Am...". Unlike pretty much 110% of any other unreleased compilation that I have (which I hope isn't that many), this is actually good because five of the tracks aren't a remix or demo version of some old track that I've heard to death. No, why this album is so good and is actually better than some of Nas's studio albums is because it is made up off actual unreleased, unheard songs. And they're actually listenable. Some of these tracks are just crazy good such as No Idea's Original with a badass guitar and a bit of drum thrown in. It's great, and Nas raps about how pretty much everywhere, violence is happening for all the same reasons:

But it all revolve around drugs, fame and shorties Stuck for your bling, stripped for your chain, the same story From, Czechoslovakia to Texas metropolis Them, treacherous rockstars in the Mexican mafias Be scrappin with tats on they back, violent wars Nothin less than a lethal injection if ever caught Courtrooms, eagles and flags, American style While in our world, the ghetto stays incredibly foul

That was one of my favourites of the album but there's many on there. You get a lot of political songs on the album like Purple and Black Zombie, as well as inventive narrative where Nas tells the tale as a drunk in Drunk by Myself and Fetus where Nas describes his experience while still being unborn. May sound corny but Nas being as literate as he is, he's the only one that could execute it seriously. The choice cut for this one will be "Poppa Was a Playa", funnily enough produced by then-unknown Kanye West, gets Nas recounting the ways his dad would sneak around with other women. Nas doesn't really sound mad at him and is more glad to have had him around. The beat isn't dark either but sounds celebratory, I find it just great to listen to.

The winning formula of "The Lost Tapes"? It was a compilation of unreleased tracks, and as most compilations suck in quality, there wasn't any expectations for this to be so great. Unreleased tracks are usually unreleased tracks for a reason. However, rather than being on of the few good songs on Nas's albums, he compiled them all onto this which somehow just made sense. "The Lost Tapes" is an oddity in that, and was a success in succeeding expectations.

Nas - Poppa Was A Player


BONUS:

Real old school Hip Hop. This is the "Life's A Bitch" track I mentioned before where AZ drops some of the most memorable lyrics ever.

Nas (feat. AZ) - Life's A Bitch


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Scrobble Scribble #11: I Want it Back by The Professionals

This is a belated post that I meant to do when the album that this belonged to got released. That album is "WLIB AM: King of the Wigflip" by Madlib who has in recent years grown to become one of my favourite artists, currently holding the number 1 spot on my Last.FM. He is very prolific, uses different aliases, has many side projects and, being a Hip Hop producer, has created beats for many Hip Hop artists. He has created straight Hip Hop albums, abstract Hip Hop, Dance, Jazz and even Funk albums. Just this year, he's released five projects (inclusive of this one). He is signed to the Stones Throw label.

For "WLIB", Madlib contributes the last addition to the BBE Beat Generation series which was started by J Dilla, Madlib's Stones Throw label mate and Jaylib (J Dilla + Madlib = Jaylib) partner. Although I didn't really notice much of a radio theme, that seems to be what Madlib was aiming for with this release showing how he can move between diverse sounds. However, since I suppose it is Madlib's radio station you get more of the music that he's experienced in which is Jazz, Soul, Hip-Hop and other urban-drenched sounds. On "WLIB", you get RnB, typical Hip Hop, abstract Hip Hop and instrumental beats. There is a few Stones Throw label mates that show up on a few tracks, and other guests include Talib Kweli, Murs and Stacy Epps.

I Want it Back is a collaboration between Madlib and younger brother Oh No as The Professionals. Oh No is also signed to Stones Throw being a fairly original artist in his own right. I'm assuming that Madlib provides the beat while Oh No does the rapping over this track, as Oh is the only one that can be heard rapping. I love the beat, it's a looped violin? Or organ? I'm not sure but it just works and is an epic beat . Oh No drops lyrics about how Hip Hop basically sucks because noone listens to the older Hip Hop, which was when it was better and "had more meaning". It's the same argument that pretty much every rapper gets on on every album, especially conscious rappers. But sonically, I can still dig it and maybe you will too. And this is one station I won't turn off.

The Professionals - I Want It Back



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Scrobble Scribble #4: Stones Throw 101 Mix CD by Peanut Butter Wolf

To coincide with the camera task I have to do for this week's DIGC101 class and continuing the Hip Hop music, I bring you the "Stones Throw 101 Mix CD" by Peanut Butter Wolf - the record label's head. I just bought this, and 69 Love Songs by The Magnetic Fields, and the picture to the left is a picture of the box from my phone. For those who don't know, Stones Throw is home to some of underground/indie Hip Hop's finest with my personal, current favourites being Madlib, J Dilla (and their duo Jaylib), Percee P, Oh No, Koushik and James Pants (who actually isn't featured on this mix). Madlib, J Dilla and Oh No are 1st, 2nd and 20th in my top 50 most listened artists (and actually, Madlib and Dilla have more entries as well under Jaylib, Madvillain, Quasimoto and Jay Dee in the top 50). Oh, and I have MF DOOM at 28 - but I don't know if he's officially with the Stones Throw label.

And can I indefinitely say -- Dilla and Stones Throw changed my life. I did discover Dilla after his untimely death, a few days after the release of his masterpiece Donuts. That album is definitely one of my personal favourites no doubt, and once I discovered it I started going back through Dilla's catalogue. Of course, this led me to rediscover his work with A Tribe Called Quest, The Roots which I already owned but didn't know he produced. Beyond that, he opened me up to the amazing talent on the Stones Throw label (and in my personal opinion, he has led to some sort of renassiance in Hip Hop with so many tributes still dedicated to him more than two years after his passing and trust me there are so many more). Of course through Stones Throw, you get Madlib who also goes by the aliases of Yesterdays New Quintet, DJ Rels, Quasimoto (which all have their own musical styles) AS well as being part of many groups formed under Stones Throw. Trust me on this if you don't know, Madlib's solo discography is exhaustive in itself with the exclusion of the production he has done for others.

And this is just a taste of the oddness of the Stones Throw catalogue that, in itself, is an abstract label of any musical genre. Where, say, you might have the straight Hip Hop sound of MED, you get the weird new-wave disco of James Pants, the psychadelic groove of The Heliocentrics and the oddly slow but human breakbeat of Koushik. They're a very eclectic record label that also owns Now-Again and Soul Cal records which re-release old funk and soul classics.

Their eclecticism works however as a cohesive whole, as so made poignantly clear by Peanut Butter Wolf in this mix CD. Their all very short snippets of songs made by artists on the label but dammit if it doesn't feel perfect - just the right amount of music for a mix. For example - you get the abstract Accordion by Madvillain followed by the jazzy Little Girl by Yesterdays New Quintet. It's a more than competent mix in giving you an idea about the sound of Stones Throw or what you have missed out on if you can't get a grasp on the whole catalogue - I'm definitely hearing some new things on here. Besides, with 42 tracks deep you really can't lose.

May I also add that STH101 totally owns STH102 - that was only a DVD (released after STH101). I bought that before this one and in comparison, not only do you get a DVD with STH101 but yeah get this sweet ass mix that I've been playing since I got home from the city.

Out of all the Hip Hop songs on here, I choose to give you Space Slut by Funkaho which is a lot more like dance music. Don't say I don't give you a mix of all different types of stuff here on Scrobble Scribbler.

Funkaho - Space Slut



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BONUS:

The history of Stones Throw - Peanut Butter Wolf

And next post...

"69 Love Songs" - by The Magnetic Fields (if I can chose 1 song...)

Scrobble Scribble #3: Momma I'm So Sorry by Clipse

Little story about my music taste: people who know my music taste should know that it started with Hip Hop. Not rock, not metal, but Hip Hop - specifically the song H to the Izzo by Jay-Z. I received as a gift for Chris Cringle from this guy. Spawning from that point, I went through the stage where any Hip Hop was good; Nelly, Ja Rule - why not! Then I discovered the album "illmatic" by some really dumb luck (or what you might call, internet hipsters and getting bored), which started my phase of listening to underground/alternative Hip Hop and being antagonistic to anyone who listened to mainstream Hip Hop or didn't know who I was listening to. I started researching the history, watched Style Wars, watched Scratch, read (and still do) read blogs. Then I started finding out the popular samples for Hip Hop - Jazz, Funk, R&B, Soul and dabbled in a bit in that. Then for some reason I got into psychadelic rock (probably because of listening to "Bitches Brew" era Miles Davis) and eventually came to listening to rock. And that's pretty much it for me, after that I started listening to Triple J & FBi because Uni deprives me of money to spend on music. It's opened me up to all types of genres and now I just listen to anything. Still, I probably look into Hip Hop a lot still.

And of course, I still have to keep up with my favourite music some way (downloading of course). And I still have a heap of music which sometimes I acquired and listened to once, then gave up on it because I didn't understand it. But then I revisit and realise - why didn't I like it this much first time around? "Hell Hath No Fury" by Clipse is one of those albums (Momma I'm So Sorry being one of the many songs). The time it was released it was getting so much hype and rave reviews to back it up. But when I listened to it I was like - wtf? It sounded so arrogant, heavy beats - this can't be good. But after a couple of years, and releases by similar sounding The Cool Kids, you just get this newfound appreciation. I don't think Clipse have gotten in my Top 50 yet, but I think some of their tracks from Hell Hath... should be creeping up my charts. You have to get off your high horse once and a while and just love knockin' beats by a group so crazy that they get labelled as "Coke Rap". Also, I just admire Pharrell and his Neptune beats. Some people might find him annoying but he's very likable to me.

And all of the beats here are provided by Pharrell Williams & partner Chad Hugo --or a production team you may know as The Neptunes. They've produced so many songs and are probably recognized by their bucket sounding beats. This one isn't strictly normal-Neptunes sounding beat because of that accordion but it has that epicness of Drop It Like It's Hot. In fact, why I chose to do this song was because of that unique accordion part I was hearing which was similiar to the Cool Kids' new song, The Delivery Man (and later, reminding me of Accordion by Madvillain). Right at the start of the song, you get Pusha T (1/2 of Clipse) singing "Miami Vice... For My Cocaine Dreamers..." setting the "Coke Rap" label in its place. The lyrics are very braggadocioloious - " I Philosopy's About Glocks And Keys" - but that's really the keys to Clipse's success; never letting up to their hardnosed approach, backed with crazy beats. Oh and the beat - it's sort of like a high hat, mixed with a bit of bass and that lovely accordion. Top that off with a bit of Pharrell vocal - just in case you didn't he wasn't over everything else on this album.

Besides, doesn't hurt if Clipse apologizes to their mums, right?

Clipse - Momma I'm So Sorry



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