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— By Shaheem Reid, with additional reporting by Rahman Dukes
Artists: Green Lantern, Kay Slay, Whoo Kid, Doo Wop, Pudgee-P, Envy, Dirty Harry and the Tape Kingz
Mixtape: Tape Kingz 15th Anniversary
Representing: Everywhere
The 411: Happy born-day, Tape Kingz. The organization that has been in the mixtape game for a decade and half celebrates with a gaggle of prime-time spinners. All the DJs have their own sets, giving the mixtape a different feel almost every four songs. It goes from blends to exclusives to freestyles.
Joints To Check For:
- The entire sets by Green Lantern and Dirty Harry. When it comes to mixing, these two have to be in the top five dead or alive. OK, well at least the top 10. Here you'll hear a Kanye West instrumental mixed with a chorus from 50 Cent, verses from Biggie and a vocal sample from "Love Is a Battlefield" (do you homework if you've never heard that record), and that's just in one track. Props to Green for blending old Big Pun vocals over a beat from the Terror Squad's "Yeah, Yeah, Yeah" so fans can hear how he would've sounded alongside the TS if he were still here.
- "Sunshine" by Dr. Dre. Whoo Kid gets another treat seemingly from out of thin air. You're not going to hear this record anywhere else, at least for now. Hopefully, since this laid-back musical reflection by the Doc has surfaced, he has not abandoned the Detox album after all.
- "A Toast to Da Tape Kingz" by Doo Wop. It seems like just yesterday the street was pumping DJ Doo Wop's 95 Live mixtapes. Here Wop raps an abbreviated retrospective about the mixtape game: "52 Beats, Kid Capri/ 50 MCs, Tony Touch/ 95 Live I and II, me /Funk Master Flex vintage Tunnel footage/ Back when Clue used to open up/ Then the boy shut it down /Kay Slay took the crown/ After that I ain't really sure/ But heard Big Mike is putting it down."
Don't Sleep: Other Notable Selections This Week
- DJ Sickamore and Dylan's Life After Diddy
- Young Buck and D-Tay's Da Underground Volume One
- DJ Rukiz's Shyne: Life After the Club
- Jail Break Recordz's A Look From Within: Chapter 1
- Chops & G-Unit's By Hook or Crook
- DJ Snoyl's Notorious Blends
- DJ EFN's History in the Making Vol. 30
'Hood's Heavy Rotation: Bubbling Below The Radar
- Jay-Z - "Ignorant Sh--" (see below)
- Young Buck featuring T.I. and Ludacris - "Stomp" (see below)
- Fat Joe featuring Big L and Big Pun - "Bring Em Back"
- Trick Daddy featuring DMX and Lil Scrappy - "Can't Go for That"
- Nelly featuring Jaheim - "My Place"
Celebrity Favs
What up, gaaaaangsta? Down Bottom spinner extraordinaire DJ Drama, famous for his Gangsta Grillz series and part of the Philly DJ crew the Aphilliates, says he's feeling the MCs repping for Atlanta on the mixtape circuit. "I like Stat Quo and T.I. for their lyrics and style," he said. "Both of them have real distinct voices. You listen to them and be like, 'I can't believe he said that.' "
The Streets Is Talking: News & Notes From The Underground
- This week's golden gem doesn't come courtesy of one of the mixtape masters like Kay Slay, Whoo Kid or Envy. It comes via DJ Clue's homeboy Don Juan DeMarco's Sh-- Like This Part III, and it's one of those beautiful summertime jams that's going to make the whole world shake once it gets out to the public. It's called "Ignorant Sh--," a brand new cut from Jay-Z. Well, not totally new. According to the song's producer, Just Blaze, the record was actually the first track Hov recorded for The Black Album, but obviously it never made the LP. Just explained that "Ignorant Sh--" did not fit with album's concept. Jay's people are not too pleased that the song got leaked because they were considering putting it out themselves. The Jiggaman's displeasure, however, is the fans' bliss. We get to hear Hov rap over a looped sample of the Isley Brothers' "In Between the Sheets," "I got that ignorant sh-- you like/ ... You like it, don't front." Later he even divulges his plans if he were ever elected president, saying, "This is S.C., CEO/ The next Lyor? No/ The next leader of the whole free world/ And the first thing I'mma do is free Sigel." Hov closes out the record showing some chivalry. "Heard they love it when I'm hard on hoes/ Said a G don't know bitch keys or security codes/ I agree my lady ain't no bitch/ She gets whatever I own/ So when you see her, understand that's me, n---a/ Understand I'm the same old G, n---a/ I understand the difference between a bitch and a B."
- Just when you thought T.I. and Ludacris' subliminal jabs at each other were over, it looks like it's beginning again. The two actually drop barbs in each other's direction on the same song, Young Buck's "Stomp." An early version of the track popped up on a Big Mike mixtape a few weeks ago with just Buck and T.I. "Real n---as see the difference between you and this," T.I. raps. "Me getting stomped out, that's ludicrous/ My name rings from the streets of Spain to Mechanicville/ N---a, all you getting is Rodney Dangerfield/ No respect." Apparently Cris took exception and asked to be added to the track. Some of Luda's highlights include the lines "Pimpin' be easy, quick catchin' feelings/ 'Cause you worth a couple of hundred grand and I'm worth millions/ Nobody's thinking 'bout you, and your beef ain't legit/ So please get off the T.I.P. of my di--!" Stay tuned.
- Kanye West got Lil Jon to remix "The New Workout Plan," and now the mouthy producer has another major reworking on the horizon. This time Jon is getting down with the Terror Squad for a new version of "Lean Back." Fat Joe's people say to look out for it in the next couple of weeks.
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