For a multitude of reasons I’ve been listening to a lot of rap lately – obviously there are a few albums that I play pretty regularly just because they’re awesome and I never get bored of them (Ready To Die, Illmatic, Capital Punishment) – but I’ve just been playing a lot more of everything lately. Maybe it’s cause I had My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy on repeat and felt it wasn’t fair to give it so much love (regardless of how good it is) when I’ve got so much other stuff I haven’t listened to in an age. I’ve also been giving much love to The Rub’s History of Hip-Hop mixes. 1998 and 2000 were both pretty special mang… And then there’s the news that Raekwon is coming to Dublin in March, which is major in anyone’s book right?
Another big reason is that I decided on a whim to play a hip-hop set on New Year’s Eve and had to immerse myself in the genre to be comfortable doing it. Yo DJ ain’t no DJ and all that… I think it went pretty well, and I’ve benefited in that I’ve been reminded that there’s this whole world of rhythm and rhyme that I’ve been ignoring recently. It would have been really handy for my preparation if this little package had surfaced before this week. Prince Klassen, who’s been super productive lately – and you can really see how much so right here – put together a little edit pack of some of his favourite jams from the new Ghostface Killah album, Apollo Kids. He’s made them more DJ friendly, adding intros and fleshing things out a little bit. Of course this is nothing if the tracks aren’t already special enough, and of course they are – it is Tony Starks after all. I didn’t know which to post, but I’ve gone for Superstar with its funk-inspired percussion and bassline and Busta Rhymes guest verse, and this silly throwaway references to TMZ and Oprah.
Other Klassen-related business that may raise a smile is his 2010 round-up interview with Turntable Lab and the Kim Jong-il-inspired blog in his honour.
One track I played on NYE was the perenially popular Ghost Writer by RJD2 – seriously, I don’t think anyone who’s ever heard it has had any response other than a giant smile, it’s irresistable – and dude has just released a free remix package for The Glow, with reworks from Candy Panther, Paolo and, most excitingly for me, Flostradamus, who turn the piano-led, almost psychedelic original into a G-funk-turned-disco jam. Damn.
Download:[wpaudio url=”https://truantsblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Ghostface-Killah-feat-Busta-Rhymes-Superstar-Prince-Klassen-Edit1.mp3″ text=”GHOSTFACE KILLAH – SUPERSTAR (PRINCE KLASSEN EDIT)”] 320kbps
Download:[wpaudio url=”https://truantsblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/RJD2-The-Glow-Flosstradamus-Remix1.mp3″ text=”RJD2 – THE GLOW (FLOSSTRADAMUS REMIX)”] 320kbps
