The Roots -- "Now Or Never" (Featuring Phonte & Dice Raw)
That's right! Get some quality music in your life. The Roots' 11th LP How I Got Over is in stores now Tuesday. If you like, you can cop the digital version via iTunes today. Click HERE to buy and download.
**BONUS**
The Roots -- "Dear God 2.0" (Featuring live orchestra & Jim James of My Morning Jacket)
Former Hitmen producer/studio maverick Nashiem Myrick stopped by Grind Music Radio and revealed something that even astounded me. The first beat that he ever made professionally was Notorious B.I.G.'s 1995 classic track, "Who Shot Ya." Now that is pretty amazing. From being an intern at Bad Boy Records to making one of Biggie's most controversial songs, Myrick's start as a hip-hop producer is an outright Ripley's Believe It or Not. Bravo, young man, bravo!
Robert Glasper Experiment -- "Dilla*Shine" (Featuring Zynzelay)
The Players:
Zynzelay -- Vocals/Lyric
Chris Save -- Drums
Casey Benjamin -- Saxophone & Vocoder
Derrick Hodge -- Bass
Robert Glasper -- Piano & Rhodes
Robert Glasper is a brilliant pianist who can expertly mix hip-hop and jazz into a cohesive hodgepodge sound without favoring one genre over another. His two albums In My Element (2007) and Double-Booked (2009) are great collections for any hip-hop head looking to broaden his/her musical palette.
Glasper is a huge J Dilla fan. Since the late producer's death in 2006, the musician takes a few minutes during his concert set to pay homage to Dilla as heard on "J Dillatude" (from In My Element).
We get another Dilla tribute song by Glasper that, apparently, was originally performed on Giles Petersons Worldwide radio show in the UK with soul crooner Bilal on vocals.
This new song features a beautiful songbird from Miami named Zynzelaywho was listening to the radio show via the Internet and recorded the song. She then added her own vocals to the Glasper/Dilla instrumental, which is a reinterpretation of Busta Rhymes' "Show Me What You Got" (by way of Stereolab's "Come and Play in the Milky Night"), and called it "Dilla*Shine." Talk about musical synergy.
Zynzelay gives a backstory to her creative flip of the Glasper/Dilla song in her own words:
i love bbc radio, esp. gilles peterson & the homie benji b.
far less than i like to, i listen to their shows via net.
i love robert glasper & bilal oliver as well.
(mr. glasper's version of "maiden voyage/everything's in its right place"
has been my ring tone for almost a year ;)
recently i had the pleasure of experiencing him
with bilal opening for sis. erykah in miami.
the show was incredible...just too short.
i wanted more of mr. glasper.
so in the days after, i google'd him.
one of the first returns was gilles hosting them on bbc!
somewhere during the course of the show the subject
turned to ~++>> dilla
i was in a zone and surfing and this tune starts playing that
grabs my heart...in a way that was so powerful i didn't know
whether to smile or cry...
a song was born.
i recorded the track @ home
in my studio womb.
freestyled the lyrics
recorded it in 1-2 takes.
took a copy of it to my brother charlton @ miami beat wave and
he tweaked the raw mp3 i recorded from the internet.
i sang one or two straight takes in their beautiful neumann mic that i love ;-)
sprinkled some vocal layers on it and told charlton how i heard it inside.
he's so gifted because what you hear is what i described.
originally, i called the song moonshine.
i'm blessed to have a wonderful musical family.
when i let my brother dynas hear the tune he told me
it was a beat dilla used for busta...and it was.
when i found out it was dilla...
i named the song dilla*shine.
like countless others...i have been a fan of the man james yancey
way before he flew away so i was tickled to find out not only
had i written lyrics to a robert glasper song...it was a tribute to
my fave producer of all time.
the story goes on...
there are parts i'm leaving out.
you'll hear the rest in due time.
i am touched & deeply grateful for everyone's support.
thank you for sharing the ride...
DJ Chief-One recently put together a mixtape highlighting some of the great hip-hop tracks from 1992. It’s pretty amazing how many classic songs and albums that were released that year. Off the top of my head, I can name about four or five songs that are easily in my all-time favourite hip-hop songs list. Some of these include; “Uptown Anthem”, “They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.)”, “DWYCK”, “Deep Cover” & “Rebirth Of Slick” which are all included in this awesome mixtape. For those of you wanting more hip-hop on the blog hopefully you’ll enjoy this mixtape as much as I do. Please give it a spin and let us know what you think.