Friday, March 28, 2008

Rap: Producing Art










1- Stoup The Enemy of Mankind (from Jedi Mind Tricks)
this nigga here is a god on the beats .. if you listen to JMT's track "Saviorself" you'll know what i mean, whenever i listen to this song, the beat takes me straight to the pyramids, and that's what makes a great producer, he makes you live what the rapper is talking about.. "Uncommon Valor", also a masterpiece by JMT is another example of his magic touch, he takes artists' lyrics to another level with his creative production, it don't matter if its fight music, love, war, history, or anything. JMT's earlier albums show his abilities so clearly.. his next collabo with Canibus is going to make him an enemy of producers for sure.






2- Tha RZA (From Wu-Tang Clan)
killa beez formed their swarm with the production skills of this man, his work on the group's debut album "Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)" is remarkable for its gritty effectivness, even though the group's equipment was so weak at the time, it was even described as "dusty", but RZA's production came with a brand new style that was unprecedented in hip hop, using soul samples and movie sound clips to enhance the picture lyricists were drawing in the tracks. RZA's solo album "Birth of A Prince" is a masterpiece, lyrically and instrumentally, and with another 4 solo albums, RZA proves with his discordant piano samples and wavering strings that rap is an art. "See The Joy" from Birth of A Prince.









3- DJ Premier (From Gangstarr)
Premo is a ill motherfucka when it comes to making beats, he's been killing tracks since the 1990 and still doin it, he's most notable for his work with Guru in the great GangStarr, tracks like "Above The Clouds", "Mass Appeal", "JFK 2 LAX", "Full Clip".. and Nas's "NY State of Mind", show how simple yet powerful his beats are.. he also produced for many artists such as Nas, The Notorious B.I.G., KRS-One, Bone Thugz N Harmony.. etc.









4- Necro
this white sick motherfucker is a true track murderer, his rugged beats are as sick as his lyrics, sometimes you can see blood comin out of the speakers after playing some of his shit lol, listen to his collabo album with Ill Bill (from Coca La Nostra) "Street Villians" ("Bury You With Satan The Remix").. also his album "Gory Days" got some really gory plays.. and I'm glad to tell you I'm usin some of his instrumentals for my mixtape :D .. my all time favorite beats by him are "The Big Sleep", "Morbid", "light my fire" .. and the list goes on






5- DJ Kno (from Cunninlynguists)
another white boi with infinite skills on the beats, this kid is so fuckin creative his beats are like movies man, the album "Will Rap For Food" is more than enough to prove his abilities, and he really excelled himself with his work on the group's last LP "Dirty Acres" .. and between Rap For Food and Acres, he made some of the most touching beats ever, "A Piece Of Strange" contains some of the most artistic beats in the history of hip hop. start with "Rain", "What'll You Do?", "War", "Appreciation Remix" and "KKKY". get their whole discography to listen to more, it really worth it.






6- 7L (from the group 7LES)
also a white boi, 7L is a skilled producer who manages to take the listener to the core of Esoteric's lyrics.. in tracks like "Rise of A Rebel" it's easy to see that the rebel is 7L with his amazing piano. listenin to the 2006 LP "Moment of Rarities" is a great way to sense his production style.






7- Tonedeff
as a rapper he is a god of flow.. as a producer he's more like an orchestra leader, but without the stick, beats on tracks like "Porcelain" or "Loyal" are deeper than the words said in em, actually the whole "Archetype" album is a deep as a scuba diver production, you don't wanna miss that, listen to it's overture entitled "Overture".






8- Pete Rock
Pete Rock style is based on samples, and he's really nice with what he's doing, even thoough i didn't get the chance to really listen to all what he's done, but his work on Edo-G's album "My Worst Enemy" really forced me to put his name here. cheak "Jus Listen", "Situations".. he also produced for Nas, B.I.G., and many others.


9- The Alchemist
another white producer, this kid truly does turn lead to gold, his serise entiled "The Chemistry Files" are rapper's best friend (he has an instrumentals album with the same name). he produced for so many artists, but most notably is his work with Mobb Deep, Dilated Peoples, Ghostface Killah.. etc. a must listen: "Mama" from Big Pun's album "Endangered Species", Prodigy from Mobb Deep "Hold You Down"




10- Immortal Technique
though his production is not as much as his punchlines, but good things comes in small packages, or something like that.. anyways, his "Caught In A Hustle" track is a mad nice produced saga.




11- Jean Grae
her producing career is not as serious as her MCin' career, but she still a mad nice producer, production of immortal technique's "Revolutionary" from "Revolutionary Vol. 1" belongs to her sweet fingers lol.


12- RJD2
this white kid is a GENIUS.. he's simply a fucking genius, and he makes some real trippy music.. always good to listen to when you high as a bird know what am sayin? RJD2 is a real artist, mixing diffrent types of music creating inspiring tunes.. he mostly rolls solo, but his collabo with Aceyalone is remarkable, he managed to cheak: "Smoke And Mirrors", "Ghostwriter", "Beyond the Beyond", "1976", "The Horror", "Junior", "All For You", and you'll sure gonna download his whole discography


13- MF Doom
before anything, listen to "Biochemical Equation" with RZA from wu-tang and i dare you not to praise this man in the iron mask.. Doom is a Stones Throw affiliate, and he's a gladiator on the beats (the mask he's wearing is designed like the one Russel Crowe had in the movie Gladiator) .. try: "Nastradoomus", "Monkey Suite", "I Hear Voices".. and when he meets with Madlib, that's another story yo..


14- Madlib
another Stones Throw affiliate, and a track killer, his name stands for "Mind Altering Demented Lessons In Beats" so you know how sick this nigga is.. most of his work was done with Talib Kweli and other stones throw affs, like MF Doom, his collabo with Talib "Liberation" is a 5 stars joint, cheak "The Show" .. and then "I Love Marijuana", "Slim Returns".






Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Can you see?


Pyramids of The Royal City of Meroe (North Sudan) - Period: "Zaman lil deen" (too freakin old)


"Maqam" of Shikh Kabashy (Shrine) - A Sudanese Sufi Sheikh


what do you see? I'll come next week and tell you what I see

Friday, March 7, 2008

Put on your shades cuz the truth will get too sunny

"وَإِن تُطِعْ أَكْثَرَ مَن فِي الأَرْضِ يُضِلُّوكَ عَن سَبِيلِ اللّهِ إِن يَتَّبِعُونَ إِلاَّ الظَّنَّ وَإِنْ هُمْ إِلاَّ يَخْرُصُونَ" - الأنعام (6:116)

"Wert thou to follow the common run of those on earth, they will lead thee away from the way of Allah. They follow nothing but conjecture: they do nothing but lie." - Al-Ana'am (6:116)