MosDub – HistoryTown

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This is my song of the moment. Max Tannone has been busy of late making enviable mash-ups of the above Mos Def with Reggae Dub as well as mixing two giants of the music industry, thuggy biz-ness-man! Jay-Z and the ever moody Radiohead to make Jaydiohead. But this is the standout cut for me. Perfect for the summertime. Enjoy!

Jaydiohead Ignorant Swan Medley

BONUS: this video of the a Jadiohead medley is a must see. Finally some new and interesting street dance!

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dj omni “Late Love”
o:{there is explicit content in this mix. apologies in advance.}

I’m a little late for the lovey-dovey vibe, but I can see that the love bug has had a hand in this mix. Some of that love is directed at my city. I spent a night in the Akwaaba Mansion, a black-owned Bed & Breakfast in the heart of Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn. It’s around the corner from the Lewis Avenue that Big Daddy Kane rapped about on his albums. It is also the setting for the video of “History” by Mos Def featuring Talib Kweli.

Tracklist:
1 Ammoncontact f. Prince Po, Yusef Lateef, & Dwight Tribble – Beautiful Flowers
2 Courtney Pine f. Cassandra Wilson – “Don’t ‘Xplain”
3 D’Angelo w/ Pino & ?uesto – “Ex To The Next”
4 Donovan – “Get Thy Bearings”
5 Fink – “Q & A”
6 Jazzanova f. Phonte – “So Far From Home”
7 Ty & Kory – “Flyin Away”
8 Tony Toni Toné – “That’s All I Ask Of You”
9 The Roots f. JazzyFatNastees – “You Got Me (Me Tienes Remix)
10 Tin Hat Trio – “The Longest Night”
11 Vampire Weekend – “Diplomat’s Son”
12 Ta’Raach – “Baaaby”
13 Skillz f. Freeway – “Don’t Act Like You Don’t Know”
14 RJD2 – “Work It Out”
15 Prefuse 73 f. Aesop Rock – “Sabbatical With Options”
16 Pete Rock f. CL Smooth – “Back On the Block”
17 Miguel Atwood-Ferguson and his 40-piece orchestra – “Hoc ‘n Pucky”
18 Jay Electronica – “Retro Electro”

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Mos Def Mix by DJ Omni

dj omni – “mos def mix”

1. Mos Def – “Jay Electronica Tribute (Live @ Carnegie Hall)”
2. Mos Def – “Universal Magnetic”
3. Mos Def – “QuietDog (Letterman_060809)”
4. Black Star – “Hard Margin”
5. Mary J Blige – “Beautiful (Black Star Remix)”
6. Mos Def – “Auditorium (f. Slick Rick the Ruler)”
7. Mos Def – “Ms. Fat Booty”
8. Mos Def – “U R The One”
9. Mos Def – “Umi Says (Zero 7 Mix)”
10. Mos Def – “Brooklyn Go Hard (Live @ Highline Ballroom)
11. Mos Def – “Black Jack”
12. De La Soul – “Big Brother Beat”
13. Mos Def – “No Hay Nada Mas”
14. Black Star – “Respiration (Pete Rock Remix f. Black Thought)”
15. Mos Def – “May-December”
16. Mos Def x HYPNOTIC – “Make it Funky (Live)”
17. De La Soul – “Stakes Is High (Remix)”
18. BlakRoc – “Ain’t Nothing Like You (Hoochie Coo)(f. Jim Jones)
19. Black Star – “Bright as The Stars”
20. Mos Def – “Priority”
21. Reflection Eternal – “Just Begun (f. Jay Electronica and J. Cole)
22. Mos Def – “Champion Requiem”

Continuing the congratulatory theme, a long overdue Mos Def mix that barely scratches the surface of this man’s oeuvre. Mos has been nominated for Best Rap Solo Performance “Casa Bey” and for Best Rap Album “The Ecstatic”. The solo performance category has strong competition from Drake, Eminem, Jay-Z, and Kid Cudi. Big-up Q-Tip for getting a Grammy nod for his excellent album “The Renaissance” (he deserves a mix of his own).

Mos Def is the definition of multi-talented. Almost as well known for his acting as he is for his music he has been nominated for a variety of awards but has at this point only won a Black Reel Awards in 2005 as Best Actor Independent for “The Woodsman”. (He really should have won Best Actor in a Television Movie or Mini-Series in 2004 for “Something the Lord Made”)

Needless say we will be seeing more from Mos.

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dj omni \”In The Spirit…Finally\”

Continuing the challenge to make a mix a month, I just pushed play and recorded myself playing around. This “quick-one-before-I-go” mix, is called “In the Spirit (finally!)”. And the spirit in question is the Christmas Spirit.

Listening to Benji B and J Rocc goof around and enjoy the cheesiest of x-mas music on Deviation really started this joyous season for me (as well as getting out of the office for the rest of the year!).

I was also inspired by the magic of DJ Questlove at his newly annual Holiday party at S.O.B.’s. The man was sampling, pitch-shifting, and recreating classics on the fly for the people. Amazing show!

Now back to this mix. We start with a little DIY Dwele magic. An ode to a cheap microphone and the support of friends moves into the first Dwele track I ever heard, “Jimmy stay down” an obvious ode to Stevie Wonder who also closes this mix. There are some Christmas songs mixed in. That chipmunk funk is a pseudo auto-tuned Lou Rawls, who has made some of the funkiest holiday sounds ever in this “Christmas Will Really Be Christmas”. Followed close behind by a rare Christmas cover of “Little Baby” called “Purple Snowflakes” (for some reason) by the always-amazing Marvin Gaye. Other highlights include “Do 4 U” by super-group Hawthorne Headhunters featuring PPP favorite Coultrain. Admittedly, I should’ve let this song go longer. Also included is some J Dilla and James Brown business followed by a project that I am REALLY looking forward to from Mochilla: Miguel Atwood-Ferguson’s orchestral concert for the Dilla-gentleman, “Suite for Ma Dukes”. Mos Def makes a couple appearances in this mix mainly because my song of the moment is his “24-Hour Karate School”! Which I imagine he came up with while walking in SOHO flipping through the Village Voice, seeing an ad and imagining a whole story behind it. Add an erratic beat created by Ski Beatz and the Apple Juice Kid (according to okayplayer) and this song is a bit of mad genius. There’s a Roots song before this that I pray will be on the next album, and a remix of Biggie’s first single by two white boys from Brooklyn that don’t get the credit they deserve for the infectious music they make. And finally we close with a master, not too far from where we began. I hope you enjoy. Happy Holidaze.

This is a great idea for building interest in a new artist. This interactive art piece gives those with attention-deficit disorder something to do while they are listening to the music. The full song. Which is good but noticeably long. The little animated details that pop-up throughout, keep the viewer’s attention throughout and the option to replay your hand-drawn music video and send it to your friends, is a great way to get this artist’s name out there. Which must be working, because FWA has awarded it site of the month and I found it through the Adobe newsletter.

Never one to rest on his laurels, Mr. Mos Def keeps it moving on the streets of Osaka, Japan to build anticipation for his now newly released album, “The Ecstatic”. The lyrics are so strong accapella, but I was sold when I heard the combination of Mos, Madlib, and MC Ricky D! o:{Slick Rick for the slow-pokes}

We are in a new stage of hip-hop where we can have a new single from an artist like Mos Def and at the same time have the original sample be revealed (see above)…and it takes nothing away from the magic of the music.

This has been done before (ghostface rhyming over “LALALA means I love you” comes to mind immediately) and 9th Wonder teaches a class on hip-hop with a section in his syllabus called “Santa Clause ain’t real” where he shows his students the line between the original sample material and what their favorite artists actually create in their music. Some students end up disappointed when they find out that certain songs aren’t made from scratch by an artist. Outkast’s “So Fresh, So Clean” was given as an example, as was Alicia Key’s You Don’t Know My Name.

Actually, better DJs have been playing the sampled and and the source material from the earliest days of hip-hop and it only enhances both compositions. Right now, listening to Banda Black Rio’s “Casa Forte” only makes me want to hear Mos Def’s “Casa Bey” even more. They are both strong cuts in their own right.

side note:

This has got to be the best fan vid ever! Ghostface as Racer X! Daytona 5000. JediDan has hit all the marks with this Speed Racer mash-up video. too dope.

The new Mos Def track/video seems to:

a) kind of deliver on the promise of artist as Doom fan.

b) continue the trend of typography in hip hop video.

Anyway, it’s fantastic and equals two hot songs in a row by me.

This is up there with Justin Timberlakes’ version that I saw the day after i saw the original.

Keep an eye out for this little star (and her posse!)

And it’s always nice to see talented people also stan.

New Mos Def single drops November 4 (ask me later what I think about people releasing music on Election Day, I mean, I know it’s a Tuesday, but when Fall Out Boy has the best idea…), but you can stream it now via RCRD LBL.  Myself…I don’t love it.  The whole plodding, anthemic thing is best used for intro’s – didn’t Jay kinda already do this in “The Ruler’s Back” (basically a 4-minute intro, c’mon)?  Just with a lot less synthesizer.  Damn you Daft Punk!  You done fucked hip hop up!  Are you happy now?

It’s a crime that “Love 4 Sale” never got an official release. It’s an amazing album. But that didn’t stop Bilal from filling the Highline Ballroom with a crowd that was singing and dancing along to the songs from that unreleased album alongside his well-known classics.

With support from a band filled with talent like the great Robert Glasper on keys and Chris Dave on drums (“Chris Dave, motherfuckers!” was the text I got this morning from my boy Ollie, an amazing drummer in his own right.), the music was wholly on point. They even slipped from Bilal’s “All for Love” to one of Glasper’s now-standard smooth jazz (but funky!) Dilla tributes; this one was “Fall in Love”. The rest of the band consisted of bass, electric guitar, a horn section, and two back up singers – one of which, a big unassuming dude in a yankees cap, was hitting high falsetto notes to rival the headliner!

The music went from faithful renditions of the songs to fun remixes that bounced from blues to gospel to full on rock. The band cut loose with a rendition of Jimi Hendrix “Purple Haze” that led beautifully in to Bilal’s “Fast Lane”. And all the while, Bilal is being silly and laughing on stage with his band mates. I’ve seen shows where he’s been a hot mess and lines like “I wish I was drug free…” from “Sometimes” really make sense. But for this show he was clear-headed and focused. Everything from the music to the antics and camaraderie on stage to the lighting was working together as each song built in intensity. You couldn’t help but get swept up in it. And for an artist without an album out, that’s more than you could ask for.

o:{too many links? hurmm…maybe.}