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— by Shaheem Reid, with additional reporting by Rahman Dukes and Jasmine Dotiwala
Artists :
Consequence and Little Brother
Reppin':
Hip-hop's underground sound
CDs: Con's Consequence Presents A Tribe Called Quence 1995-2004 and Little Brother's The Chittlin Circuit V. 1.5
411: This week is another two-for-one deal. First of all, Consequence called up guys like Little Brother's 9th Wonder, former Hitman producer Yogi and underground buzzer Chops to remix some previously released Tribe Called Quest records he was featured on. Meanwhile, down South in North Cacky (that's Carolina, slow-pokes), Little Brother have pieced together some unreleased material, obscure remixes and B-sides for their new mixtape. Both Little Bro and Consequence are working on studio albums now.
Joints To Check For:
-
"Welcome to Durham" by Little Brother (featuring Big Daddy Kane). Kane, who lives in North Carolina now, needs to stop playing and make that comeback album. He still has some spit game left as he raps about the similarities between NYC and N.C. "Staring in the face of death and I'm looking in the mouth/ Like got-damn, Brooklyn done came down South."
- "Wordplay" remix and "The Jam" remix by A Tribe Called Quest (Consequence). Tribe need to make that comeback album as well. Their words sound as unsullied over these new beats as they did in the '90s.
- "The Beginning" by Little Brother (featuring Yahzarah). 9th didn't actually helm this beat, but Illmind more than serves his purpose as a stand-in producer. He takes the track somewhere between RZA's soul looping, Hi-Tek's funk and Just Blaze's splattering drum-thumping.
Don't Sleep: Other Notable Selections This Week
- Daddy V's "Welcome 2 Tha Chuuch" DVD
- Royce Da 5'9"'s Independent's Day (self-released) and
- The King Is Back (mixtape)
- Ras Kass' Razzy Kazzy (double mixtape)
- The Game's You Know What It Is Vol. 3
'Hood's Heavy Rotation: Bubbling Below The Radar
- "Nowhere to Run" by Capone (featuring Scarface)
- "Say It to My Face" by Boo (featuring Queens Boys)
- "Street Music" by Sheek (featuring Game)
- "Can't Fade Me" by Cassidy (featuring Nas and Quan)
- "Outta Control" by 50 Cent (featuring Mobb Deep)
- "The West Is Back" by Dr. Dre
- "Dedication to Justo" by Game
Celebrity Favs
Capone, who's known most for rapping in the group Capone-N-Noreaga — and will drop his solo debut Pain, Time & Glory on July 12 — says that he got "a laugh" courtesy of Outkast's Daddy Fat Sacks, who paid them a visit at their hotel room.
"We was at the Source Awards in L.A. I don't remember the year, but it was the year they was robbing people out there. Me and Nore was in our hotel, like, 'Damn, they just robbed this person, they robbed that person.' We in our room and somebody knocks on the door. We hear a knock on the door again, look through the peek hole and nobody's there. So we're like, 'Ah man, it's about to go down.' We're grabbing lamps, pillows, we're going to take down whosever there. So we just yanked the door open and see Big Boi. He was like, 'Oh no, oh, oh, no.' I fell on the floor down laughing. He was like 'I just want to see Capone and Noreaga.' "
The Streets Is Talking: News & Notes From The Underground
After over a year of turmoil, the Clipse have finally gained their release from Jive Records and are in the midst of securing another contract with a major label. In the meantime, Pusha T and Malice are going to put up their next mixtape, We Got It for Cheap Vol. 2, featuring the other two members of their Re-Up Gang, Ab-Liva and the Sandman.
With previous collaborations with Dr. Dre and Eve, Gwen Stefani has been embraced by the hip-hop community, but this is something else: Since she's put out "Hollaback Girl," Gwen has the hip-hop heads checking for her more than ever. She's getting heavy rotation on mixtapes and clubs and radio stations that cater to the hip-hop crowd.
"You can feel the energy around this song 'Hollaback Girl,' " Stefani smiled.
"In the clubs, it's crazy," said Queens DJ King Smij, who also puts out mixtapes as well spinning in clubs and at shows for Murder Inc. "You can bring back the intro for like two minutes: 'Uh huh, all the girls ...' It's a female anthem. A dude will say something to them and now women are starting to say, 'I ain't no hollaback girl.' I heard that and said, 'Gwen Stefani done started some sh--.' That's one of the go-to records in clubs."
Smij originally included the song on one of his mixtapes way back in early March, and although he liked the song immediately when he heard it, he did have second thoughts about slotting it alongside songs by Usher and Amerie. Other DJs such as Envy have followed suit, while acclaimed MCs like Joe Budden have added rap verses to the record, making for unofficial underground remixes.
"When people saw it, they was like, 'Gwen Stefani on a King Smij mixtape?' I was nervous, so I put it last. But people started calling me and saying, 'You know the last song on your mixtape? I liked that one.' I'm glad I trusted my ears."
Gwen is also elated. "Hollaback Girl" was actually one of the last records she recorded for Love, Angel, Music, Baby. After writing almost two dozen songs, she felt that a certain feeling was not present on the LP.
"I knew I had a missing vibe on the album," Stefani said. "I basically called Pharrell up and was like, 'Dude, what's going on? We didn't do a track together. It's crazy.' Next thing I know, I'm on a plane going to New York, going to the studio — for another week of torture, is what I call it. But it was so fun. Pharrell is so musical and so inspired. You can tell the whole time he just thinks about songs. It's a collaboration with him kinda driving the car."
Reunited and it feels so 'hood ... With the release of Lost Boyz Forever, fans of the Lost Boyz are getting to hear material that was recorded when all four members of the south Queens crew were together. Of course, you know that Freaky Tah was murdered in 1999, and Spigg Nice is serving out a 30-year-plus sentence for bank robbery. With Pretty Lou rumored to be on the run from the police and nowhere to be found, the group's frontman has released solo albums since the group's last LP, LB IV Life, in 1999.
However, with Lou resurfacing and the LB fam celebrating their 10th anniversary in rap, Cheeks and Lou decided to put out a group album on their own Legal Drug Money label. Forever consists of previously unreleased recordings alongside some the crew's biggest hits, like "Jeeps, Lex Coups, Bimaz and Benz."
"It took some time after we lost Freaky Tah just to be where we're at now," Cheeks explained. "We still been working and everything. But this album is like, it's certain things we couldn't put out when we was with Universal [Records] or running around before we got off of that. We put some material together really just to say we back at it."
So what has Pretty Lou been doing all these years?
"Trials and tribulations, man, facing personal demons and stuff," he said. "That's all it really is. Some of the stories you hear are true, some you might hear are just totally made up or people taking them out of context. But I'm still here. You see me in the 'hood."
Lou did admit to having an ongoing situation with the law but declined to elaborate.
"They trying to say I did something that I ain't do," said Lou, who described his role with the Lost Boyz as the businessman. "It's nothing to do with Spigg did. I ain't got nothing to do with that. It's something else. Just being at the wrong place at the wrong time. That's all I can say it is."
Lost Boyz Forever was released last week.
For more on the role of mixtapes in the music industry, check out the feature "Mixtapes: The Other Music Industry."
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Photo: MTV News
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