KeapHope brings you some of our favs for your weekend festivities.
Late last night, during one of the many brainstorm meetings between Jamie and Dan came the idea to throw together a playlist mix to help everyone get down for the 4th of July. At midnight we picked some songs, heavily influenced by everyone who has stepped through the KH doors and spun or played a little something at a party. Big shout outs to WPP and JB for some of the music inspiration, Goose on being the cover model (Ian on the alternate version), and Fitz for doing some subtle mixing to make it complete this morning. Jamie on the oh-so-classic Americana cover art and of course, photo from Dan Dealy (GBM credit on the alternate cover below). We would have loved to have done a proper intro and thrown some air horns and soundboard drops all over this but it was a quick turn around and a labor of love to share with you the sounds that will be powering all the KeapHope activities this holiday weekend.
An old favorite, featured on Kanye’s The Essentials mixtape. This mix came out right before The College Dropout and is still one I overplay. “My Way” features the original Kanye soul sample sound, and personally, I like it more than Jay-z’s “My Way” from the Blueprint 2.
The mixtape documents the begging of what has turned into one of the biggest Pop Stars of today. Other highlights include the original version of “Self Conscious” with the Lauren Hill, “Wanna Ride” ft Common and Ye’s remix of Dwele’s “Hold On.”
For any fans out there, I’ve zipped up the mixtape. Download here.
Check out a previous mixtape post from the same era:
Track of Day - Sharam ‘She came along’ feat. Kid Cudi
I’ve been gone for a while, my apologies.
Its been a hellish couple weeks, but there have been a few great songs that have helped me grind through the work. With new music recently out from Em, Cudi, Blu, Asher and more it was difficult to pick a track to throw up out of the 20 or so I’ve had on a fairly constant loop the last week +.
It was truly a coin toss between this and Cudi’s latest posse cut ‘Poke her face’ ft the G.O.O.D. music fam, but there is something about the baseline in this track that keeps it stuck in my mind for the entire work day. As more from this artist is released and he begins to build up his press out reach the more anticipation I have for his debut album. Don’t miss out on this one.
Mixtape Street Album of the Week: S.O.U.L. Purpose City Permits
Street ‘album’ may be pushing it a bit as this has a number of interludes from a Mick Boogie interview with Mazzi of S.O.U.L. Purpose, but nonetheless, a number of standout tracks make this an enjoyable listen. Highlights include the classic Statik Selektah produced ‘Talkin’ bout You,’ remixed with a feature from New York Nick along with ‘Keep Movin remix’ featuring a verse from Fresh Daily. The mixtape also has a joint produced for Peter Rosenberg’s Real Late on Hot 97. Presented by Mick Boogie and Terry Urban, who’s stamp of approval is often worth the download alone.
Track of the Day - Q-Tip ‘We Fight, We Love’ remix ft. Kanye West and Consequence
Just a feel good track for your Wednesday afternoon. I’m expecting a lot from the Cons album featuring major heavy lifting from Ye and Tip handling the production. Hip-hop often strives on collaboration, and its clear how much Kanye has been inspired by both in his production (tip) and flow (cons). ‘09 might be the year Kanye comes back to being an MC.
Mixtape of the Week: Outasight From There to Here an album prequel
Mick Boogie jumps in to produce a new tape from one of my favorite unknowns of 2008. After checking this kid at the Brooklyn Bodega showcase for CMJ I quickly wanted to find out more and downloaded his last free album Radio. I’ve included a video post from Outasight and since then have seen him starting to get a little shine on the nmc blogs, mostly from 2dopeboyz.
As a prequel to his upcoming album, Outasight is releasing some of the obscure tracks from other project and some new remixes to Radio. If you aren’t familiar, its worth checking out. Highlights include a remix to ‘Radio, radio’ with a verse from Ced Hughes, and his Oddisee produced track ‘Exclusive.’
Great interview dropped by Juan Epstein today with all of the regular highlights including yelling at Rico, Jen From Brooklyn, and Rosie hating on Ciph for getting name dropped by Kweli back in the day.
The video above shows one of the big surprises from the show as Kweli performs a few classic snippets. Nice to finally hear Rosenberg and Ciph doing a great show. I’ve been avoiding the morning show since its format change but this back to a the classic Juan Ep’s, all the way left.
A few points during the interview also reminded me of shows I had completely forgot I had been to. Kweli mentioned opening up for N.E.R.D. on the Sprite Liquid Mix Tour. I attended the show at the Tweeter center (how great is that name now?) in Massachusetts and remember walking by the second stage and seeing Kweli perform in front of about 12 people. N.E.R.D. only performed to maybe 300 on the main stage and were on in the middle of the day, but the closing sets by Jay-z/Rocafella and 311 were packed. 311, stole the show with Amber.
Another reminder was during the Matt Pinfield walkin and Talib talking about a Highline ballroom performance for myspace. That was one of the most awkward shows I have ever been to. I was one of the few people there old enough to drink and the thing was setup as a fake New Years event but tapped over a month before. At least it was free.
Track of the Day - Asher Roth ‘Lark on my Go Kart’
I don’t care how much you think this kid sounds like Em, this sounds really promising. College kids are going to eat this album up. He is going to make a killing touring campuses and would be a great pick for UConn for Spring Weekend.
This is the opening track to the upcoming album Asleep in the Bread Isle. From what I’ve heard, this leaked a bit early, and I’ve noticed it pulled from a number of sites for download. Well, I don’t think I generate enough traffic for anyone to notice, so download the track here.
