brokedownpalace:

After learning that Baseline Studios, the birthplace of some of my favorite music from the past decade, was closing up shop, I pulled a 2006 interview I conducted for VIBE with Justin Smith AKA Just Blaze, the studio’s longtime steward and creative heartbeat, from my archives. We sat together in Room A of the studio and talked for roughly three hours about the nuts and bolts of his production process, the making of The Blueprint, the long delay and problems of Saigon’s still-unreleased album, and the frustration and disappointment over the dissolution of Roc-A-Fella. An abridged version is running right now on Sound of the City, which you can read here; I may post the entire 15,000 word beast later this week. (It’s kinda boring!)

As a companion I’ve compiled a series of playlists denoting different phases in Just’s career. They’re not sequenced or rebranded, just collected. This isn’t quite definitive, I’d say I’m 90-95% there. If something is missing, and you’ve got it, recommend or send along: sean[DOT]fennessey[AT]gmail[DOT]com. And enjoy.

The Early Days

The Hova

The Roc-A-Fella (Part 1, Part 2)

The New York Hardcore (Part 1, Part 2)

The R&B

The South, West, and Midwest

The Underground

The Remixes

Additionally, if you’re not interested in 200+ Just Blaze productions, I’ve pulled together a double-disc compilation of my favorites—there are just a few esoteric choices here. I’m not a believer in fooling around with taste when it comes to stuff like Jay’s “P.S.A.” and Dipset’s “I Really Mean It.” So no games, they’re here. Tracklist below.

The Personal Favorites

State Property [Beanie Sigel & Freeway]: “Roc The Mic”

Jay-Z: “Oh My God”

Jay-Z: “Dear Summer”

Jay Electronica: “Exhibit C”

Cam’Ron feat. Juelz Santana: “Oh Boy”

Joe Budden: “Pump It Up”

Fat Joe: “Safe 2 Say (The Incredible)”

Usher feat. Jadakiss: “Throwback”

Kanye West feat. Lupe Fiasco: “Touch the Sky”

Freeway feat. Peedi Crakk: “Flipside”

Young Gunz: “Friday Night”

Beanie Sigel: “Get Down”

T.I.: “I’m Talkin’ To You”

Memphis Bleek feat. Freeway: “Just Blaze, Bleek and Free”

Jay-Z feat. Beanie Sigel: “Streets is Talking”

Fabolous feat. Swizz Beatz: “Return of the Hustle”

Jay-Z: “U Don’t Know”

The Game: “Church For Thugs”

Beanie Sigel feat. Grand Puba and Sadat X: “Bread & Butter”

Jay-Z: “Ignorant Shit”

Jay-Z: “Public Service Announcement (Interlude)”

Trina feat. Fabolous: “How We Do”

Lenny Kravitz feat. Jay-Z: “Storm (Remix)”

Shyne: “Diamonds and Mack 10s”

Jay-Z: “Soon You’ll Understand”

Jay-Z: “Allure (Remix)”

Jadakiss feat. Cross, Drag-On, Eve, Infa-Red, and The L.O.X.: “It’s Time I See You”

Memphis Bleek feat. Geda K: “M.A.R.C.Y.”

The Diplomats (Cam’Ron and Jim Jones): “I Really Mean It”

Jay-Z: “Meet The Parents”

Erick Sermon feat. Redman: “React”

If you want to build up your ipod with some classic Roc-a-fella dynasty material, this is the place to start. Almost every song in “The Personal Favorites” collection brings back some memories. Thanks Sean.

Looks like these links were all removed at the request of Just Blaze.

Track of the Day - Lil Wayne “Reciept”

It’s kinda hard saying this shit to your face,

so I do it over snares and bass,

music take me away

This is the song that made me a Wayne fan. I was late to check out The Carter II, but I remember buying a used copy about 6 months after it came out at Newbury Comics on Cape Cod.

This was a bit before the buzz around Wayne hit true pandemonium with the Drought 3 and Carter 3 bootlegs from The Empire, that made the anticipation for his studio album so big. I remember friends and fellow hip-hop fans making fun of me rocking out to an artist that was down with Cash Money. Eventually those friends came full circle as the buzz grew with songs like “Outstanding” and “I feel like dying” showing up in best of lists for 2007.

Weezy has a big tour and a new rock record set for 2009, but its the Carter II and ‘07 Lil Wayne that showed this young talent in his prime. Lets hope it wasn’t a peak.

Track of the Day - Tiron ft. Ayomari “Sydney”

Off of the free mixtape, Ketchup (download here). I’ve been a fan of this artist since he first came across on 2DopeBoyz over a year ago. The mixtape features a number of standout tracks, another personal favorite is the joint “Quitter.”

This song has a fun loving melody and hook to what is sort of an all too familiar and depressing topic of ‘the friend zone.’ Its a topic that has been covered by many artists and also by another favorite MC, 88-Keys. How is it that these songs always show up on random at the right time?

Nontheless, a great song, and if you can relate, bump it.

Track of the Day - Mos Def “Say You Will” (live cover)

Work today was filled with too much work and the itunes on shuffle. No time to download anything new, but in the process I remembered a few favorites. For todays track I’ve taken a Mos Def live recording from The Blue Note in New York from January 2009, and one I added to a Play Count list earlier this year.

The live performance brings something special to the song, feeding in more emotion than the polished studio/auto-tune version from Kanye. Mos adds in verses from a track “U R The one” and with an extended instrumental mix, this track lasts for a melodic 12 minutes.

After listening to this it reminded me of some other Mos Def live track I had and after sifting through my itunes I decided to take 7 rare and/or live Mos tracks and share them here. In todays maxi-track of the day:

01. “Say You Will” (live cover)

.02. “Jay Electronica” (live tribute)
Recorded from a live show at Carnegie Hall in June of 2008. I had a chance to see Jay open for the Mighty Mos at Nokia Theatre back in March of ‘08, and since then, I’ve heard very little from Jay. I can’t believe that show was over a year ago.

.03 “Auditorium” (live)
Easily my favorite track off the new Ecstatic album. This is a live Slick Rick-less version recorded at Kennedy Center in Washinton D.C. back in September of 08.

.04 Kanye West - “Good Night” (Plain Pat Remix)

.05 J Dilla - “Saturday Night” (remix ft. Brand New Heavies & Mos Def)
Off of the Jay Dee - The Delicious Vinyl Years

.06 Omer Saar - Travelin’ man (ft. Mos Def & Money Green)

.07. Mos Def freestyle
From an old rip posted up by Cipha Sounds on his blog back in 08.

Download all tracks

Track of the Day - Blu & Exile “Dancing in the Rain”

Don’t nobody want to dance slow in the rain, just more your ass

If you’re heading out tonight. Rock out with some Blu.

See previous TOD:

Ghostface “Holla”

Play count 7

Yeah…so a week ago I promised to get back to old form and update whizhouse more. What can I say, I lied. The worst part is I have tabs open of things I want to post, but I hate not getting to write about everything I put up here. 

Until I have more time, here is this weeks playlist, posted over at The Volume.

Download the playlist here. 

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.

Download: She came along (bonus Poke her face)

See previous TOD:

Q-Tip ‘We Fight, We Love’ remix ft. Kanye West and Consequence

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.

Download here.

NYTIMES: 50 Cent vs Rick Ross

You can always tell when 50 Cent has a new album in the works, because he ends up in an over-the-top, media-friendly feud with another rapper. Last time it was Kanye West. This time it’s the Florida rapper Rick Ross, who also just happens to have a new album coming soon.The artist Andrew Kuo breaks the disses, accusations and allegiances down.

Love the ‘Jah Rule’ typo. At least this NYTimes article is littered with government names.
See more here.

Understand rap

A (kinda) funny site dedicated to helping the average listener decipher content from hip-hops biggest stars. If the site actually stayed true to its strength, describing obscure lyrics like it does in the photo example, it could be great. Unfortunately there are some really awful questions having nothing to do with bars in the ‘recent’ section that takes away from the site. To find the best analysis use the alphabetic search and stick to artist with larger following as they have had more entries and questions asked. 

understandrap.com