SimonAyEm – The Greatest Gift (Series)

Time to introduce you folks to a highly recommendable producer from my neck of the woods: Basel, Switzerland.

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SimonAyEm is part of the five-headed producer crew Prismatic Beats as well as the hip-hop collective TripleNine, a hold-all for producers, DJs, MCs and graff artists. TripleNine have become one of the more notable hip-hop hotbeds in the local and national scenes and have definitely shaped the arts in the last 14-or-so years, giving their output a recognizeable “Basel” branding. If I was to characterize what makes Basel, I’d say a bit rough and occasionally rude around the edges with tongue firmly placed in cheek–and a lot of heart for the art.

This year, SimonAyEm’s decided to do a bit of showing off, going through his immense back catalog of beats, to tie us beat heads a neat package of 13 dope instrumentals each week. All year round. For free! (Gasp!) Some have been used on published tracks, others haven’t. He’s currently at installment number 21, and there’s more than that where it came from.
So I strongly suggest you head on over to his blog to fill your boots and ears, and read up on the dude who should really get a lot more attention beyond our area.

The Greatest Gift by SimonAyEm

Peace,
9@home

 

Promoe – These Walls Don’t Lie (Video)

Amazing video, catchy-as-hell beat. And it’s a wonderful dedication to one of their fans and to all the graff writers sneaking around the block at night.

 

Static & Nat Ill – Teamwork (2006)

From Germany, we’re heading north towards a bunch of islands in the sea called Denmark. Home of quality hip-hop for decades already, this country is all too quickly overlooked. From a small town comes this duo that goes back like carseats. Since 93, these two have been honing their skills, doing live shows and DJ competitions and last year they’ve finally dropped their first legit album.

Wherever you’ll read about these two, you won’t be able to find an article that doesn’t attempt to describe their sound with the term “boom-bap” (aw shucks, I fell for it too…), but let me just say they embody the old school spirit of the big sounds, the thumping bass, the live atmosphere, the love for the artform, and, in real old school fashion, the DJ is the center of attention. And rightly so: Static crafts incredible tracks packed with vocal cut after scratch after vocal cut etc. putting every bedroom DJ to shame. And Nat Ill does what an MC was originally meant to do: he praises his DJ, which is easy to do in his case.

This is an album that doesn’t so much pretend to ooze philosophical wisdom, but it sure as hell packs a lot of heat and energy. The two get some help from Promoe (Sweden), Pacewon, Last Emperor, Slug, Blueprint (US) and Abdominal (Can) on the mic, and they have DJ Shine and DJ Noize (both Denmark) murdering the DJ track on the album. Make sure you catch their live shows. And bring tissues to wipe your tears. ;)

Static & Nat Ill – Teamwork (2006)

1 MC 1 DJ

More Dane-ish to come…

Peace, 9@home

 

DJ Desue – Art of War (VA) (2002)

Hailing from Boogie-Down Berlin, Germany is this dude by the name of DJ Desue. DJ and producer for a host of hip-hoppers in Germany, most notably at the time for the Kinzman Clikk (KMC), one of the few collectives who predominantly make music in English. Since the late 90s, his Triple XXX production crew, consisting of DJ Desue, Smolface and Perez have joined the KMC. But for one thing, the crew has gone through a dry period, and on the other hand, Desue has always been expanding and stepping his game  up.

On this here record, Desue has made the logical step from making Eastcoast-oriented beats for a collective in Berlin that raps in English to hooking up with a bunch of American cats fusing the two parts of the world on one album. What we get with Art of War is collabs between German and American artists that are sometimes a bit unobvious, but more often than that, it’s simply damn good stuff. I won’t say much about the Americans here, but as for the Germans we have pretty much the top heavyweight spitters on board, with Curse, Samy Deluxe, Kool Savas, Eissfeldt, Afrob, etc.

This is another one I’ve had for years and only just realized there were some real gems on it. Just peep the tracklist to get an idea of what I mean…

01 – Big Ju – Intro
02 – Afrob & Nature – Art Of War
03 – Ag & Party Arty – War
04 – Eissfeldt & Illo77 – Mach Mal Halblang
05 – O.c. & Square One – Lay Down And Die
06 – Ruck Aka Sean Price & D-flame – Warzone
07 – Legend Aka Kamikaze & Kurupt – Me And My Homies
08 – Cassandra Steen & Kool Savas – Weg Zum Ziel
09 – Sadat X, Kc Da Rookee & Diamond D – Summertime Heat
10 – Sentence – Wannabe Emcees
11 – Curse & Sauce Money – Unfuckwitable
12 – Afu-ra – The Score
13 – Spezializtz – Ooh Yes
14 – Aqueel Aka Antlo – Act Like You Know
15 – Samy Deluxe & Buckshot – U Know How We Do
16 – Legend Aka Kamikaze – Let Ya Niggaz Know
17 – Costa – Skit 1
18 – Kool Savas, Eko & Valezka – Tiefschlaf
19 – Total Eclipse Of The Xecutioners – There’s A War Going On

DJ Desue – Art of War (VA) (2002)

Desue’s Myspace

Peace, 9@home

 

Dynamite Deluxe (2 EPs)

But let’s go back to Hamburg for another dose of classic Dynamite Deluxe stuff (see also here and here).

Before they dropped their milestone debut album in 2000, the crew made a name for itself with Samy’s scorching battle-type lyrics that were destroying everything there had been before and beats expertly crafted by DJ Dynamite and Tropf that redefined the headnod factor. But the two vinyl singles that had been available in the underground were soon out of print. Once their album had everybody’s attention, there was a huge demand for the group’s early material, so they dropped a Classic Vinyl Files EP which incorporated the first two 12″es on one CD. For its cover, the EP is also called the red EP: “Rote EP”.

1 Samy Deluxe
2 MCees
3 Pures Gift
4 Style Liga
5 Abführmittel

Dynamite Deluxe – Classic Vinyl Files (1999)

Soon after their album dropped, they released not just a single off the album, but, as it should be, they put out an EP that had the single “Grüne Brille” (=green glasses), a reference to how weed comforts him in this cold world, plus a dub version of the chilled-out album track “Lots of Signs” which features Hamburg reggae/soul singer Patrice, and on top of that, the extra track “So High” which sabotages the weed glorification we just heard on the Grüne Brille track by telling kids that if they can’t handle it, they better keep their hands off it. But the track that still takes the cake and makes this EP a must-own for everybody is without a doubt the one they called “!?!” for lack of a proper title. And quite appropriately, it does in fact leave listeners speechless and wannabe MCs sobbing into mommy’s apron. If I remember correctly, there had been no track before that one in the whole German-speaking world that combined double-time rapping with the kind of ill and funny punchlines like this. Samy single-handedly raised the bar for all battlecats out for fame. I still find myself going back to this track regularly. And to end the EP, they’ve included a few short freestyle heaters from live shows. Phew! What a record.

1 Grüne Brille ft. Eissfeldt
2 !?!
3 So High
4 Lots of Signs ft. Patrice (Dub Version)
5 Freestyle Live

Dynamite Deluxe – Grüne Brille EP (2000)

Peace, 9@home

 

Bassi Maestro – Hate (2005)

For years, this man has been active on the Italian scene, as an emcee, but also as a producer. This one is his eighth album (!), and if you pretend to be Italian (or French, Spanish, or Cockney) for a second and say the album title out loud in English, you can hear which number it is, too. (Get it?)

Davide Bassi aka Bassi Maestro hails from the city of Milano, in the north of the country, and he’s pretty much been a household name for years. But unlike his previous albums, this one he did entirely on his own. Both the verses and the production are by the man himself, and since he’s been around for so long, he’s made his own experience of hip-hop, his return to the roots and a tribute to the golden era the focus of the album. This results in a very personal approach to his beloved culture, and those of you who get the occasional word or two will hear that the passion for hip-hop is the exact same all around the world. And even if you don’t understand a damn word, it’s still great music to bob your head to and kick your feet up. Very recommendable album.

Bassi Maestro – Hate (2005)

And to round it all off, here’s a video off the album. It’s called Bang your Head…

Pace, 9@home

 

Rodney P – The Future (2004)

The original UK rap fossil, Rodney P, formerly of the legendary London Posse, straight kills it on his solo album from a few years back. His mixture of rap with his distinct  ragga twist goes like hand in glove with the outstanding production (check credits below).

I wish I could listen to this album out of a mountain of loudspeakers, but for the moment, I’ll have to turn it up in my tiny-ass headphones and hope I won’t go deaf before I’ve finished listening to the entire album again. I won’t front: I slept on this one for a while. But now I’ve realized what a great album this is so I’ll have to make sure y’all know. It’s bound to “nice up your area… Forreal…” (you’ll get it eventually.)

Rodney P – The Future (2004)

Rodney P & Skitz’ radio show on 1Xtra

London Posse on Discogs.com 

Rodders on Discogs.com (that is one long list there…)

Peace, 9@home

 

More IAM 12″es

By now you should know that I’m a hopeless IAM nutbag. So here I am with three more 12″ers, off their debut album “… de la planète Mars.”. And as IAM always do, they never just release one or two tracks off the album, but they usually throw in one or two unedited joints that they couldn’t fit on an album. Which makes every IAM maxi worth owning.

IAM – Planète Mars (2002)
Re-issue of 1992 original, with bonus tracks

IAM – Red, Black and Green (1992)

IAM – Tam Tam de l’Afrique (1992)

Peace, 9@home

 

Everything must go… (20 album post)

As I usually do every few months, here’s a quick dump of some stuff that’s been sitting around and hasn’t been posted properly.

I can’t do a write-up for each of these, but I want you to have them… (like you care, right?) :)

(edit 2013: since I’ve killed the links, consider these one-line reviews of a bagfull of random stuff.)

On your mark… ready… set… go.

Ayatollah – So many reasons to rhyme (2003)
Instrumental album. Beats, beats, beats.

Emanon – Anon & On (2002)
Aloe Blacc and DJ Exile as a duo. Short and sweet.

Emanon – Imaginary Friends (1996)
Some of their earlier work. For completists like me.

Emanon – Steps Through Time (2001)
ditto.

Grand Agent – Fish outta Water (2003)
Needless to explain.

Grand Agent – Fish outta Water (Remixes) (2003)
Beat Society teamed up on him, and look what happened.

J-Live – The Hear After (2005)
Can’t help but fidget around to this one.

Kid Frost – Hispanic Causing Panic (1990)
The Don of Chicano rap with his classic.

Mark B presents – Delta The Lostralian (2006)
Long-distance friendship on a record. UK-Aus.

Mars Ill – Pro Pain (2005)
Clever lyrics and beats to match. (Would you have guessed these cats are from the ATL?)

MED aka Medaphoar – Push comes to shove (Instrumental Album) (2005)
You wanna hear the vocal version first?…

MED aka Medaphoar – Push comes to shove (2005)
Quite likely one of the more underestimated MCs out there.

Micranots – Return of the Travellahs (1996)
Speaking of overlooked…

Monie Love – Down to Earth (1990)
Too bad Young Jeezy doesn’t love her anymore… we do. :)

Promoe – White Man’s Burden (2006)
Looptroop’s filthiest on his latest album.

Run-DMC – Down with the King (1993)
Maybe the last classic one before their star started sinking a wee bit.

Souls of Mischief – 93 til Infinity (Instrumental album) (1994)
Just the vibes to kick back to.

Spectrum City – Lies / Check out the Radio 12″ (1984)
Chuck D’s first group. Everything else is history.

Talib Kweli & Madlib – Liberation (2006)
Was a free download for a limited time. Now it’s not anymore – theoretically speaking.

Time Machine – Slow your roll (2004)
The kind of dope, intelligent and fun albums they don’t make so often, some people say.

Peace, 9@home

 

IAM – Albums and Singles (1990-2003)

If you’ve never heard of IAM, I wonder where you’ve been in the last 15 years. But for those who’ve just crept out from under their rocks, here’s a quick run-down of what every inhabitant of this planet should be familiar with.

IAM are from the mediterranean city of Marseille, France and it’s pretty safe to say that they put their city on the map, representing Le Côté Obscur (The Dark Side, a pun on Côte d’Azur and Star Wars, also referring to the forgotten or unwelcome part of the nation.) It was on their first album called … de la planète Mars where they turned their home town into a broken off part of Ancient Egypt, complete with their own mysticism and the names that went with it, but never lacking a healthy dose of humour. Their subject matter spanned both uninhibited silliness and deeply philosophical topics. Never afraid to voice their political views and to be a mouthpiece for the little people in the streets, these children of immigrants to France had all found Islam as their religion and kept stressing the openness and tolerance of their belief while the nation was afraid of Algerian extremists bombing French cities. To this day, the group members are frequently invited to serious talk shows on TV and have managed to both keep close to the street and open up the mainstream public to hip-hop culture.

In their initial constellation, Akhenaton and Shurik’n held down the microphones, DJ Kheops and Imhotep were in charge of the musical backdrop and Malek Sultan and Kephren were the group’s dancers, the latter also being their manager.

Later, between their second and third album, Malek Sultan turned into Freeman and picked up the mic to add his trademark raw southern French accent with an Algerian twist to the group’s tracks. (“J’vous preng tous ici!”)

For now, I’d like to introduce you to the group’s albums from their first tape Concept (1990) to their latest Revoir un Printemps (2003). Their numerous solo releases, collabs and posse albums with other locals, French and even international artists can be found in separate posts.

Here we go… Albums.

IAM – Le Concept (Tape) (1990)

IAM – … de la Planète Mars (1991)

IAM – Ombre est Lumière (1993) Vol. I & II

IAM – Ecole du Micro d’Argent (1997)

IAM – Revoir un Printemps (2003)

And now some of their singles:

1. Donne Moi le Micro
2. Je me gausse
3. Guinche le Style
4. Fizdou

IAM – Donne-moi le micro (1993)

1. Je Danse Le Mia
2. Ombre est lumiere
3. Je fais 1 avec ma Musique
4. L’ultra Mia

IAM – Je danse le mia (1993)

1. Le Feu (Prodigal Mix)
2. Reste Underground
3. La Mort n’est pas une Fin
4. Le Feu (Fiyah Mix)

IAM – Le feu (1994)

1. Une Femme Seule (Remix)
2. Sachet Blanc
3. La 25eme image (ft. Daddy Nuttea)

IAM – Femme Seule / Sachet Blanc (1995)

IAM website
Wikipedia articles on IAM: French / English
IAM on Discogs

Peace, 9@home