Hip Hop

[ILikePizza]

Biggest rap l's I can remember: I remember thinking Enta Da Stage and Livin Proof were on the same level for a while

Not saying they're on the same level but Livin' Proof is probably the best produced Prem album.

[Phoenix Dark]

Livin Proof is a hip hop tragedy on same scale as the RZA basement flood and 2pac/Biggie's death. All those prime Premo beats that could have gone to Nas or Hov...instead wasted. Disgusting.

[injurai]

#afterlife

[Phoenix Dark]

French Montana - Figure It Out Feat. Kanye West, Nas

[Syph]

Livin Proof is a hip hop tragedy on same scale as the RZA basement flood and 2pac/Biggie's death. All those prime Premo beats that could have gone to Nas or Hov...instead wasted. Disgusting.

first 20 seconds of supa star is legit one of my favourite parts of a beat ever
(not that the rest of the beat is anything to sneeze at though)

edit:

wait, PD, is this you? from amazon:

Few albums evoke the frustration of Livin' Proof. DJ Premier is at the top of the mountain. Group Home seems incapable of even beginning to scale it. Dap's voice is annoying, to the point of egregiosity (if that's a word). Seriously, the cat should be doing Tiny Toons, not lamely attempting to rip up a Preemo track. Melachi isn't going to leave you dazed with his rhymes either, but he's far from the worst emcee to ever bless a mic. You ever see those corny white kids dressed like ICP in the cipher before school? I rest my case. Although, realistically, will they ever get the chance to take a metaphorical dump on beats as beautiful as these? Preem's loyalty to his friends is admirable. Guru and Big Shug do drop in on "Serious Rap Shhh", instantly making it the best thing here vocally. They also sampled Paul Mooney years before the Chapelle Show made him fashionable to those aforementioned white kids. *sigh* Listen...you *need* this if you have any trace of hip-hop in your blood. This is argueably Premier's best production. Ever. Just try and zone out and ignore the rhymes and you'll enjoy it. If you find yourself in tears that he didn't give these beats to Nas or Jeru, well, that's two of us.

[Phoenix Dark]

Nah but he's 100% right. Livin Proof came out in 1995, which is around the time Premo began working with Jay-Z on Reasonable Doubt. A year after Illmatic too, back when Nas was working with Marley Marl for the second album...brehs imagine a Marley/Premo Nas album. Same year Premo did dope shit on KRS One's album...imagine if the entire thing was produced by Premo. Biggie could have gotten the beats too.


1995 Premo

[seagrams hotsauce]

Still, it's not like that album prevented any of that from happening. Biggie and Jay were both more interested in making pop records. Nas has had access to Primo for decades now, but it's Nas, who has handily the worst taste in production of any rapper of his caliber, and possibly ever, so the chances of that happening were always slim. The thing that fascinates me is why exactly he decided these guys were worth his time and talent. Guys like Jeru and Guru weren't the most technically gifted rappers, but they rapped circles around these dudes and had, y'know, personality and charisma

[Phoenix Dark]

Biggie, sure. But Hov wasn't really on the pop rap tip back then; Premier has like three or four dope tracks on Reasonable Doubt, I just wish they had more material from that era. When you think about it both Nas and Hov don't have that many tracks with Premo overall. Nas only has one track with Pete Rock, and one remix

(will we ever get a CDQ version of this smh...)

Jay only has one track with Pete Rock as well (The Joy from WTT). Pretty crazy when you think about how little material the best producers have with the best rappers of that era. Hell, G Rap barely worked with Premo and Pete Rock either. smh

And of course Dilla didn't work with any of them. I remember House Shoes saying Dilla made a beat specifically for Nas but they never connected. And of course if Nas heard it he'd probably turn it down lmao. Worst ear...

[seagrams hotsauce]

I dunno, I guess it depends what the window of time we're thinking of here. by Vol 2 Jay was at peak pop rap, though that was indeed a couple years later than GH/Prime primo

To most people Dilla was the guy who ruined the last tribe album til he died. TBH I think Jay is too much of a traditionalist to want to work with him. Biggie is the only one of the three I could see jumping on a Dilla beat, but that's probably because this exists
 

[Purrp Skirrp]

Premo's beats were that good because they had to be.

http://nahright.com/the-making-of-gang-starrs-hard-to-earn-with-dj-premier/

“Lyrically, [the Group Home album Livin' Proof] wasn’t that great. That’s why I made sure it had those top-notch tracks to compensate their lyrical ability, to balance it out.

Dap had a look to him, and Melachi had a look to him, but Melachi didn’t want to rap. He wanted to be a boxer. That was his dream.

But he had two gun charges under the age of 18. I was going to two years of court with him almost every month, begging the judge to let him box.

But she was like, ‘No, it’s a violent sport. He’s already got two gun charges, and I don’t want to have to put him back in jail.’

But I’m like, ‘It’s something that he loves to do, and he can get paid for it. Instead of fighting people in the street, he’ll be able to do it professionally.’

She goes, ‘Do you want me to put him back in jail now? You’re in the music business, have him make a record.’ So that’s why we put together Group Home.

Lil Dap looking at Guru like

http://www.villagevoice.com/music/group-home-reminisce-over-guru-6428590

Looking back, Dap remembers being initially disappointed by Guru: "He wasn't dressing like the rappers on the radio, like Big Daddy Kane, Kool G Rap, Special Ed. I looked at Tommy and said, 'He ain't no rapper I look up to.'

Guru's mission was to get the Gang Starr song "Bust a Move Boy" played. He failed. "Red Alert just cracked that record," recalls Dap.

Dap warned Tommy, "Don't be bringing me out of the 'hood to this Manhattan shit when this nicca ain't got no respect."

In the days that followed, Guru called Dap repeatedly. "He said he knew I was mad, he knew the type of nicca I was, he apologized, and we became cool. After that, me and Guru got real tight."

Proof that Jeru was the best rapper in the Gang Starr foundation.





Leaving Premo to self produce your next album

[Phoenix Dark]

Good point Seagrams. I've always found it interesting that Dilla is heavily associated with multiple albums that disappointed fans at the time.

-Beats, Rhymes & Life
-Labcabincalifornia
-Electric Circus
etc

Personally I love Beats Rhymes & Life, the production is amazing. Labcabincalifornia is cool. Haven't heard Electric Circus in ages but I remember shitting on it.

Basically shows how much Dilla love is retroactive in many ways, or based on Donuts. His influence can't be denied, he's probably your favorite producer's favorite producer, I've always though he was dope etc...but you can't deny the general consensus was that he (and Consequence) ruined Tribe.

[seagrams hotsauce]

I was actually talking about The Love Movement but yeah the grumblings were there for BRL too. At the time the only thing of Dillas I was really familiar with was the Pharcyde and some of the shit he did with Busta, which I liked. The amount of revisionists buying DILLA CHANGED MY LIFE shirts after shitting on 'Find A Way' had to have been in the thousands (I grew up with a kid who did exactly this, and I'm assuming there was at least one in every suburb).  I definitely get fatigued by the amount of posthumous Dilla-worship and I'm kinda surprised that the tenth anniversary of Donuts came and went with so little fanfare considering how many think pieces have sprung up in the decade since his death.

None of that diminishes how much I enjoy Champion Sound or Welcome 2 Detroit or dozens of other records he's produced on though, there's an undeniable earnesty to his records that I love

[Purrp Skirrp]

When people talk best producers but forget about Buckwild



Buckwild Tells All: The Stories Behind His Classic Records
http://www.complex.com/music/2011/04/interview-buckwild/

AZ - Ho Happy Jackie

O.C. - Master Ya High

Organized Konfusion - Thirteen

Royal Flush - I Been Gettin So Much $

Big L - 8 Iz Enuff

Capone-N-Noreaga - Neva Die Alone

Jay Z - Lucky Me

The Notorious B.I.G. - I Got a Story to Tell

Fat Joe - Walk On Bye

Lord Finesse - Hip 2 Da Game (Remix)

Mic Geronimo - Masta I.C.

Black Rob - Whoa

50 Cent - I Don't Need Em

Method Man, Redman - Mrs. International ft. Erick Sermon

Saigon - Oh Yeah (Our Baby)

[Syph]

-Labcabincalifornia

Runnin tho

also after about an hour of searching I finally found a DL for Livin Proof instrumentals lol
you know, for that Bore/GAF-Hop crossover posse cut album

edit: shit Runnin also reminds me this: (shoutout to my Tony Hawk's American Wasteland playin mofos...no, not you Lil Wayne foh)

[seagrams hotsauce]

If you enjoy that article, I recommend these; first a doc from a few years back on sampling and copyright law
https://vimeo.com/9958864

As well as the Hank Shocklee RBMA lecture, which is kinda lengthy but really fascinating

http://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/lectures/hank-shocklee-art-brut

BTW there's a load of great RBMA lectures up on their site. If you're a music nerd and you've never delved into their archives, it's worth taking some time to explore. Some real gold there

E: And since it's right above me here's the What's Up Fatlip doc from Spike Jonze

[Syph]

gonna watch those later tonight, good looks

[Beezy]

https://soundcloud.com/proeraradio/joey-badass-ready-prod-by-statik-selektah

[Phoenix Dark]

 I see you Swishercat. But I always preferred the Fast Life remix

[Purrp Skirrp]

Nas goes full Escobar on the original, remix makes it sound like an Illmatic joint

IDK who the Vinyl Reanimators are but these two remixes are dope.

[Mr. Nobody]

When people talk best producers but forget about Buckwild (Image removed from quote.)

 

[Syph]

 
KANYE
this is fucking amazing and it's recorded off a phone

[Syph]

[seagrams hotsauce]

Sad that Esch isn't here to herald how dope this new currensy is http://www.datpiff.com/Curreny-Alchemist-Carrollton-Heist-mixtape.766213.html

[seagrams hotsauce]

Also sampha sucks and i can wait for ages for that bullshit

[Syph]

Sad that Esch isn't here to herald how dope this new currensy is http://www.datpiff.com/Curreny-Alchemist-Carrollton-Heist-mixtape.766213.html

heard this the day it dropped, definitely worth downloading
smooth as usual

Also sampha sucks and i can wait for ages for that bullshit

in general i'd agree he's not the second coming or anything but that song ...

[Syph]

[toku]

Wiki man, love that dude.

[Phoenix Dark]

Kendrick EP tonight

[Phoenix Dark]

https://twitter.com/iamstillpunch/status/705640745097519104/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc^tfw

let's fucking go

[seagrams hotsauce]

Who's he getting at? First thought was drake, but he has a career. Twitter says Jay elec, but I hope he wouldn't waste his time with that.

[Phoenix Dark]

Who's he getting at? First thought was drake, but he has a career. Twitter says Jay elec, but I hope he wouldn't waste his time with that.

Yea Jay Elect, who took direct shots at Kendrick recently. I always thought it would be best to simply say "release an album" and keep it moving but that career line accomplishes the mission pretty well too.

Lazy motherfucker...

[Syph]

 

[seagrams hotsauce]

Bleh, why bother? Kendrick is miles ahead of JE in pretty much every way imaginable, why waste his time?  "Jay is a lazy drunk who makes two songs a year" - ASAP Yams five years ago

[toku]

yea but those two songs were fire

[Phoenix Dark]

Prodigy - Tyranny
close...but...no

remember when Prodigy was top 3 in 96

[seagrams hotsauce]

He's still pretty solid in the right hands. Albert Einstein was great.

This isn't bad though it does kinda just make me want to listen to Murda Muzik

[Phoenix Dark]

Yea I like Albert Einstein but it's also frustrating as fuck hearing his flow now vs then. Some of those Alch beats just scream "rip me to pieces" and he doesn't really do it outside of a couple tracks.

Alch is co-producing the next Mobb album, maybe it'll be good...

probably not

[seagrams hotsauce]

That's very true. I loved his HNIC2, Return of the Mac era run, but I remember having that exact feeling on most of the beats. He's still really evocative, and there are still songs he does solo that give that old Mobb vibe from time to time, but his albums feel like meat and cheese samplers vs 96-99 Ps gourmet five course meals.

[seagrams hotsauce]

Oops mentioned HNIC2 which means I once again remember this happening

[toku]

Slept on era of ALC production too cuz he was only giving beats to like Prodigy and sub Prodigy tier rappers:

[Phoenix Dark]

looks like Paak gonna have two albums on my 2016 AOTY list.

[toku]

he's too ugly for me to fuck with

[Mr. Nobody]

That's very true. I loved his HNIC2, Return of the Mac era run, but I remember having that exact feeling on most of the beats. He's still really evocative, and there are still songs he does solo that give that old Mobb vibe from time to time, but his albums feel like meat and cheese samplers vs 96-99 Ps gourmet five course meals.

It's just something we've got to accept. At least we're still eating 

[Syph]

tyga calling 2pac "dad"
smdh
guy is a walking
L
L
L
L
L
LLLLLLL

[toku]

[Mr. Nobody]

Currently on repeat

[Phoenix Dark]

Zeds Dead - Back Home ft Freddit Gibbs

[Purrp Skirrp]

[Purrp Skirrp]

Re: Premo and wasted beats.

Ghostface on Livin Proof/Mass Appeal beat.

[Syph]

wait....is Tink actually good?
just heard this track:

[toku]

wait....is Tink actually good?
just heard this track:

Yes, especially her non Timbaland stuff.

[seagrams hotsauce]

Welp PD, this is as close as Nas over Dilla as we're gonna get.



The DJ getting agitated is pretty funny "This is NAS and DILLA ya'll!" yeah in 2016 lol dont act shocked that a bunch of 20 year old sxsw badgeholders dont care

[Syph]

quite possibly the greatest interview ever

[seagrams hotsauce]

Finished that mere minutes ago and hoo boy, that's up there. It's cool that Khaled can stay in character without doing the 'too cool for school' shit that some do with Nard. I really loved the part at the end where Nardwuar says "I think the Nardwuar story would be a pretty boring" and Khaled passionately rejects the idea. Khaled is right too, that is a pretty silly notion.

[Phoenix Dark]

Welp PD, this is as close as Nas over Dilla as we're gonna get.



The DJ getting agitated is pretty funny "This is NAS and DILLA ya'll!" yeah in 2016 lol dont act shocked that a bunch of 20 year old sxsw badgeholders dont care

I'm sure the CDQ will be dope. One of the good things about Nas taking over Mass Appeal is that it has forced him to be in close proximity to a variety of decent to dope producers for once. He's been chilling with El-P and Alchemist lately. I hope something comes of it...

The snippets Timbo and Salaam Remi posted show dude is still rapping at a high level. He just needs good beats.

Of course just watch, the album will come out and feature multiple Salaam and Dame Grease beats lol. Nas smh.

[seagrams hotsauce]

Has he? I've only seen him make fleeting promo appearances with RTJ and it looked almost obligational, he barely seemed to know who RTJ were.

Either way, I wouldn't get your hopes up for Nas choosing not trash beats anytime soon, but I also don't think production makes 2016 Nas any more interesting. His last album showed that he's still really good at rapping, as he has been his whole career, but it's not very interesting and that's not the productions fault. That said I would definitely rather hear him spit his 'stay woke' vagary over Madlib, Al, etc than the generic-to-awful trash he gravitates towards

[ILikePizza]

His last album showed that he's still really good at rapping, as he has been his whole career, but it's not very interesting and that's not the productions fault.

I don't know man, I'd say 90% of the reason I tune out is due to the mediocre beats.  That or he's trying to rhyme like a gangster from 30's.

[Purrp Skirrp]

Replaced my parents' shitty Vista PC with a Win10 SSD setup

Been combing through the old hard drive finding what's left of the videos and songs my friends and I made.

Had my own personal RZA basement flooding moment due to family PC fuckery. 5 people on 1 login, indiscriminate file purges.

Some context: It's 2008. Cacs. Friend raps and sings. I just torrented Mixcraft 4.

B Double L

A reinterpretation of T-Pain's Can't Believe It. Unfinished.

http://www.mediafire.com/download/rt3gvg2jgwg1yfd/B+Double+L.mp3

Whole Block of Cheddar

Diss track response to local cac rapper using the instrumental of What's the Difference.

http://www.mediafire.com/download/77aqe2o5a0oqthy/WholeBlockofCheddar.mp3

[Syph]

paging Toku
 

Young Thug - "Digits" (prod. London On Da Track)

[toku]

paging Toku
 

Young Thug - "Digits" (prod. London On Da Track)