Murs - "'67 Cutlass"

Have you heard Murs' joint project with Ski Beatz, Love & Rockets Vol. 1, yet? If not, I suggest you check it out (as well as Murs' back catalog if you're not familiar - Ski's too, for that matter).

Since becoming aware of him through his first collaboration with 9th Wonder, Murs has quickly climbed into my favorite MCs list. Here is a video he put online recently for one of the tracks off of Love & Rockets.

"'67 Cutlass" was descriptive enough to paint a clear picture without visuals, but this video, with animated additions, really succeeds at adding some humor to the song.

DJ Funktual Interviews Ski Beatz

I mentioned in yesterday's post on DJ Funktual that I would be throwing up an interview he did. Well, here it is. It's a three-parter with legendary producer Ski Beatz.

This interview is about a half hour long, but it's great because it's pretty in-depth, and doesn't just stick to the standard questions and topics. The two really just sit and talk music for a while. Plus, you get to hear about Ski's start in Hip Hop. This really surprised me because I wasn't aware of him before Reasonable Doubt, when his history actually pre-dates that album by quite a bit.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Jay-Z - Feelin' It

Here is the video for "Feelin' It" off of Jay-Z's debut album, Reasonable Doubt - probably my favorite hip hop album of all time. Also, this is arguably Ski Beatz best producing effort, and he's got a lot of great tracks under his belt.

I actually don't think I've ever seen this video before today. The reason I'm posting it is not just because it's a great song. The video has a story to it, where Jay is some kind of kingpin coming to the island to straighten out someone who doesn't wanna pay up. Kind of a pre-'Streets Is Watching' video.

I was annoyed at first that the lyrics were cleaned up, but then I remembered how in the early to mid-90's, MCs would have some creative ways of taking the curse words out of their lyrics - Dre and Snoop's early songs are another good example. So, I kept watching, and I liked how he flipped his lyrics to remove the curses. It was sort of a new version of the song. But, then here comes the third verse. One of my favorite Jay-Z verses...only it isn't. Almost the entire verse is different. And, it's brand new to me! If you haven't seen this before, or even if you have, I suggest you check it out. Maybe the last time you saw it was before you listened to the song a hundred times and you didn't notice the changes then. Enjoy!

Fresh Daily - Mothership/LAND

I’m not really up on Fresh Daily yet. But, after seeing the Ski Beatz' video where he talks him up for a while, I think I gotta check this out and see what I’ve been missing. Free Bandcamp d/l link below - don't blame me if it sucks cuz I haven't listened to it yet (haha). But, go ahead and list the shitty projects Ski has worked on...I'll wait.

http://freshdaily.bandcamp.com/album/mothership-land

This Is It

While I, and many others, continue to wait for Ski Beatz to decide to finally release his album, here goes a video of one of his classics - "Luchini" by Camp Lo. Good thing there's so much other good shit being put out to keep me busy.

Where Is 24 Hour Karate School?

This is a funny way (and the most involved) for an artist explain why his free album didn't drop on the expected day. Ski Beatz' 24 Hour Karate School was supposed to be available on 3/30 (wasn't Jay Electronica supposed to drop something on New year's Day??). Until then, I'll keep playing "Taxi" over and over.

WHERE IS 24 HOUR KARATE SCHOOL? from Creative Control on Vimeo.

Taxi

My Internet connection is hit or miss this morning for some reason. And, I'm about to get dressed and head out to watch the first games of the NCAA Tournament.

But, before I do I wanted to throw up the song I'm listening to over and over, and will probably play a few times in my car today. This one is from producer Ski Beatz' new album 24 Hour Karate School and features Mos Def and someone named Whosane. It's called 'Taxi'. This one here has me really hyped to see what else Ski has to offer on the album, If 'Taxi' is any indication, it's gonna be classic.