Tuesday, December 9, 2008

The Tape Deck '08 Discussion: Volume #31



20 Beats to Earth

Nah, this ain't a post about 20 Million Miles to Earth! In fact, there's not too much to discuss about this volume of The Tape Deck. We've just got 20 instrumental tracks from the past two months or so that started piling up in my "2008 Singles" folder. I tried to cover the field by throwing in some underground stuff (Termanology, Zion I, Jake One), the blatantly commercial (Common, Swizz Beatz, Ludacris), and everything in between (Scarface, Ice Cube, EPMD). Tracks like "The Truth" have been getting serious spinnage -- not to be confused with spinach (although you should definitely spend some of yours on Jake One's album, White Van Music) -- over at my place, and so has the instrumental! Of course, I've been incessantly bumpin' Brother Ali's "Obama (You're the Man)" ever since November 5th! Can ya blame me? One of the tracks that I'm really proud to include in this set is KiD CuDi's "Day 'N' Nite" which I had been searching for for quite some time. Too long if ya ask me. The instrumental reminds of MIMS' "This is Why I'm Hot" - only better! Do you agree? Anyways, this is some nice chill-out music, so it's a keeper. Hmm... What else? Oh, my man Premo stops by (yeah, right) for "How We Rock", a track that takes every possible Premier-cliche-sound-effect and balls it up into a villainous, grimy heat rock. I love it.

I also acquired the instrumental to Game's "TouchDown", possibly my favorite track off L.A.X., from the man who shall be known only as The Chairman. You know who you are. Back to "TouchDown": how can you say no to such a smooth Curtis Mayfield sample? Bangin' doesn't even begin to describe this beat. I suppose my liking for this beat has a lot to do with Ma$e's 1997 hit "What You Want" featuring Total. Same sample. Just check the videos to the right of this text! Hmm... This woulda made a great Sample & Example post. Still on the west coast, it kinda pains me to include a pair of Zion I instrumentals. Not because I don't like 'em; on the contrary! Back in 2005, True & Livin' was my soundtrack for the summer. But because I absolutely hate the direction they've been taking. They went from soulful-yet-unconventional, abstract, out-of-the-box (shall I continue?) hip hop to a weird brand of cookie-cutter Bay-hop. Which is cool, 'cause they rep the Bay, but it ain't up to par with their old stuff. "Par" is like the top of Mount Everest compared to this shit. I hope Amp and Zumbi get back on track one of these days... True & Livin' 2.0! Make it happen!

That's all I've got for now. Volume #32 and #33 will be coming soon, with some new hip hop you can't be missing. I also plan on putting out a "Samples of 2008" release before the year is up! Got any suggestions/recommendations? Just holla @ me in the comment section. Enjoy the pulse -- the beats -- of hip hop! If I'm ever doing college work, I'm always listening to either jazz (hard bop, bebop) or instrumental hip hop. Highly recommended!

Aight, that's all for now. As always, don't forget to... Turn it up!!