Hotbox Productions: Sample Series

My man Hotbox, who has been featured numerous times on WYDU, has started up his own blog and has been releasing sets of samples. If there was ever anything that I lacked in as far as "hip hop knowledge" (yeah, I know that sounds dorky as fuck), it's my sample sources and what is what. Over the past couple years, I've gotten my game up enough to know the major ones, but I'm still all about learning about more. Hotbox is a producer, so of course he knows what he is talking about.

Here is the first couple he posted. Be sure to hit his spot up for the others, as well as him speaking his own mind....

http://hotboxbeats.blogspot.com/

#3 http://hotboxbeats.blogspot.com/2009/05/hotbox-sample-series-3-hip-hug-her_10.html
#4 http://hotboxbeats.blogspot.com/2009/05/hotbox-sample-series-4-nautilus-bob.html
#5 http://hotboxbeats.blogspot.com/2009/05/hotbox-sample-series-5-blind-alley.html

Hotbox Sample Series #1:"More Peas" (The J.B.'s)

For those that don't know, the J.B.'s were James Brown's legendary supporting cast of musicians during his commercial peak in the late 60's to mid 70's. One of my favorite bassline samples! The bass/drum loop break at the 7:20 mark of "More Peas" has been sampled many times in hip-hop. Perhaps the most famous examples are Cypress Hill's "The Phunky Feel One" and Organized Konfusion's "Fudge Pudge". Here is a 30-minute mix:

1. Soul Clap - Showbiz & AG 3.47
2. Behind Closed Doors - WC & The Maad Circle 4.50
3. Fudge Funk - Organized Konfusion 1.03
4. The Phunky Feel One - Cypress Hill 1.37
5. The Way Of Rhyme - Kris Kross 1.20
6. Fudge Pudge - Organized Rhyme 3.48
7. Search 4 The Lyte - MC Lyte 2.42
8. Gimme Dat Girl - Redhead Kingpin & The FBI (feat. Kwame) 2.25
9. Physical Form - Freestyle Fellowship 3.00
10. A Fight - Apache 2.57
11. I Shouldn't Have Done It - Slick Rick 4.01

http://www.zshare.net/audio/596766015689788f/

Hotbox Sample Series #2: "Handclapping Song" (The Meters)

There elements of the original track - the intro guitar break, the "clap ya hands now" vocal, and the drum/handclap break - have been sampled many times. All of the songs in this mix contain one or more of these pieces. I'm especially diggin' the Chi-Ali joint, which is pretty much a Native Tounges posse cut with a Chi-Ali 12 bar at the end. And no, I'm not from the Fax. . .it's a possible track for one or more rappers, presumably out of Halifax.

The Meters' 1970 album "Struttin" is littered with familiar breaks. I may feature another cut from the album for a future sample mix. The group's trademark scratchy guitar funk sound is firmly in place here, and the rhythm section is nice, tight, and choppy. Enjoy!

1. Handclapping Song - The Meters 0.43
2. Clap Your Hands - A Tribe Called Quest 3.12
3. The Symphony Pt. 2 - Marley Marl feat. Masta Ace, Big Daddy Kane & Kool G. Rap 3.50
4. Klap Ya Hands - Das Efx 1.40
5. Put Your Hands Together - Eric B. & Rakim 4.02
6. I'm From The Fax - Hotbox 1.44
7. Let The Horns Blow - Chi-Ali feat. Black Sheep, The Beatnuts, & Phife Dawg 5.14
8. Crumbsnatcher - Illegal feat. Diamond D. 2.43
9. Escape From Reality - Positively Black 0.57
10. Beauty And The Beat - Salt 'N' Pepa 0.25
11. DJ Premier In Deep Concentration - Gang Starr 1.02
12. Same Ol' Thang - Del Tha Funkee Homosapien 2.46

http://www.zshare.net/audio/59799625494131d3/

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5x5 Day Two: Trav's Favorite Blog Posts

I'm not up on the blogs as I used to be, but I've spent many an hour reading through blogs. To this day, my favorite blogs are the ones that are well written, creative and have something to say. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE picking up a rare, unheard Pete Rock track as much as the next person, but nothing beats some behind the scenes post or something totally original and creative. Through out my last four years of reading blogs, I have certain ones that stand out to me.....here are some of my favorites, that I can think of right off the bat.

1. Combat Jack's Top Five Gulliest Moments in The Record Industry

Combat Jack is a former industry insider, who drops his five gulliest moments in the hip hop industry and hilarity ensues. There was five parts to this series that originally appeared on ByronCrawford.com back in 2005, which is origianlly where I ran into at. I think Polarity told me about the Pete Rock story and I looked them up for myself. I've just recently got on the Combat Jack steez of reading his blog on the regular, thanks to A-One of Know Good Music. A great read.

Part One: Smoking a Blunt with Tupac....kinda

Part Two: Tragedy Likes His Cris Warm

Part Three: Diddy is a Gorilla Pimp

Part Four: Pete Rock Is Not A Snitch

Part Five: R.A. The Rugged Man Sloppy Seconds

2. Floodwatch Music - Autopsy of an Album: De La Soul - Bahloone Mindstate

I WISH I could write this good. My man Floodwatch (Where the hell you at???) wrote this beautiful piece on De La Soul's heavily slept on opus, Bahloone Mindstate. If nothing else, this piece give a whooooole new appreciation for an album that I already loved, but loved even more after reading this piece.

3. Oh Word - Oh Word Interviews Ignorance

The website that shot me down early in my "blogging" career. I applied to write for them, this was back when I had done maybe four or five posts on WYDU and they told me "Thanks, but no thanks". I think I sent them some drunken message back saying something to the effect that when I'm famous, they will regret not picking me up. Four years later, I guess they got the last laugh.....or did they? Haha. Actually they did me a favor, because WYDU would have never gotten off the ground otherwise and I'm happy with the mark I've left in the blogging world...for now. So besides having no hard feelings, I could have picked a handful of posts from Oh Word to battle for this spot, but I went with the one that was easiest to find, and most memorable. They got at Ignorance, who is most famous for rhyming on Jeru's "The Prophet" tracks. Funny and creative, you can't beat that.

4. Poisonious Paragraph - I Still Love H.E.R.

Another site that I had a hard time choosing from. If Dart isn't top on the list of blog...nah, fuck that.... just writers in general, then he is in the top three. His Myspace Producers series is always amazing. His weekly In The iPod series is something that I check out every weekend. He even writes on sports, something that I've tinkered with in the past. The only time Dart loses me is when he starts writing on comics, since I've never been much of a comics kid.

This particular post is the one from him that stands out the most. He brings up everything about hip hop that I love and why I fell in love with in the first place. We are close to the same age, so our timelines run somewhat similar as far as where we were at with our love affair with the hip hop music and culture. I still go back and read this post when I want to remember why I love it so much.

and if you want to read some of his other great posts, this is a good place to start.....
http://poisonousparagraphs.blogspot.com/2009/01/104-weeks-later-aka-483-posts-in-731.html

5. Passion of the Weiss - The 25 Best Hip Hop Albums as Voted on By The Internet

We all have to pat ourselves on the backs, and bloggers are always looking for the virtual kudos, why do you think we do this shit? Although my man Jeff Weiss has a million and one favorite posts that he has done, this post that he did with Straight Bangin is one that had all sorts of internet critics catching feelings and debates sprung up all over the place. It's just the most complete list that the blogs have ever come up with. And yes, I voted it in as well....

Other great reads that I can't forget to mention....

SouledOn: My man Scholar has a sense of humor that makes me think we are brothers of another mother, or maybe soul mates in a past life (who was the man and who was the chick, we'll never know....and it's probably better that way. I'll go ahead and put in a *pause and no homo just to be safe). The interview with Jesus was classic.


Clap Cowards: Zilla got his start doing some posts for Jeff and damn near stole the show on occasion. Dude is hillarious and probably should have a post or two on this list, but if I stretched it out to the top 10, he'd be there

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Things To Do While Travis Is A Bum.....

As you can tell, I'm a little laxed on the blog this week. I've just been feeling a little burned out lately and work has been hectic, so taking a step back for a few nights. Instead of my half assed write ups of stuff, you are getting a heavy dose of the email box, so I guess I'm just like 90% of the other bloggers out there now....oh well. Anyhow there are plenty of other great things out there that you can be checking out while I get energized again..... Here are a couple suggestions:

Some of you may remember the The Diary (World's Greatest Rap Megamix) that DJ Chris Read put together. If not, you need to catch up. It made some noise early last year and is one of the better projects I've come across of it's kind in quite a while. Well Chris is back.....

To check BOTH mixes, go straight to:

www.musicofsubstance.com

And Check out Chris on myspace

www.myspace.com/chrisreadsubstance

“THE DIARY” VOLUME 1.5 (20 YEARS OF THE REMIX)

Whilst the practice of releasing mixtapes between albums to maintain relevance has become a common practice in recent years. British DJ and producer, Chris Read is turning tradition on its head and releasing what many might describe as an album between mixtape releases.

In January 2008, Chris released a mix album entitled ‘The Diary (World’s Greatest Rap Megamix)’, a stunningly intricate 800 track mix chronicling the genre’s landmark recordings in order of release from 1979 to 2007. Quick to gain support from many of the world’s best respected DJs and taste makers (including Andy Smith (Portishead), DJ Food (Ninja Tune), Ollie Teeba (Herbaliser), DJ Format, Plus One (Scratch Perverts) and DJ Yoda), the mix was described by some as one of the greatest hip hop mix albums of all time. With tens of thousands of downloads and radio broadcasts in over 30 countries, the mix has achieved cult status and continues to receive attention via the web.

Just over a year later, with work on ‘The Diary Volume 2’ underway, Chris is releasing ‘The Diary Volume 1.5 (20 Years of The Remix)’, a tribute to the innovations in production and beat making over the last two decades. In just under 80 minutes Chris sets about selecting and remixing one iconic track from each of the last 20 years, in each case paying tribute to the production style and trends in sampling popular at the time of the original release.

From the James Brown influenced sound popularised by the likes of Hurby Luv Bug and 45 King in the late ‘80s, to the jazz sampling trends of the early to mid ‘90s, to the iconic and distinct sounds of DJ Premier and Jay Dee, all the cornerstones of the genre’s development are touched upon. The result is an impressive collection of tracks that might easily be mistaken for lost or unreleased remixes from some of the genre’s greats.

“What we’re gonna do right here is go back…”
__________________________________________
“This CD just shows how much Chris Read knows about historic Hip Hop production techniques - Its just a shame he wasn't creating this stuff during the eras he's covering as we would probably rate the man as being up there with Paul C, Pete Rock, Premier and all! - I can't think of another Hip Hop CD I've played so much in years” (Andy Smith – Portishead)

"Crazy! This is Rap History in the making. Chris proves his production skills on this one to the fullest. A wonderful and refreshing journey through all eras of hip hop. Double thumbs up!"
(Marc Hype – MPM Records / Former ITF Champion)

"Chris continues the rap anthology concept of his super-dope 'The Diary' megamix in the shape of a remix project, re-lacing acapellas from 89-2009 with historically accurate beats. 'The Diary 1.5' serves as a great platform for Chris to showcase his ample beat-making skills whilst referencing those who've inspired him."
(DJ Woody – Former World ITF Champion)

“I'm always a fan of Chris’s stuff. A lot of hard work put into it … which pays off.”
(DJ Yoda – Genuine Records)

Chris Read has for twelve years been resident DJ and promoter of ‘Substance’ one of the UK’s biggest and longest running hip hop, funk and soul club nights. In addition to numerous UK club residencies, Chris spent two years as mix show DJ on the BBC’s station for ‘new black music’, 1Xtra. To view Chris’ full biography please visit the artists page at www.musiofsubstance.com
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Still bored??? Well, head over to Lyrics To Go for a rather nice write up on everyone's favorite Detroit group, Slum Village. If you like reading me ramble on, then you'll be right at home with this post (and they are not even rambling).
















From Lyrics To Go

Slum Village! (said In children and all the cats in the "D" voices). Their Backstory I will get into because, by now, you know the routine (or do you??? If not just dial "5" to speak a representative of Lyrics to Go and someone will get back to you at a later time). Slum Village was orginally comprised of T3, Baatin Washool Wajeed (full MC Name, for reals), and Jay Dee. Oh Jay Dee, what a vital role you would play to YOUR GROUP'S SUCCESS!!! These three cats went to the same high school and would usually hang out in the basement of, assuming with 99.9 percent confidence, I am not the friend (YESS!!, I want to thank the errrrbody and the you the viewer for watching our show).

OKay, but seriously, they would hang out a Jay Dee's basement and just freestyle to beats Jay would make for fun, you know. Then, they started to get light bulbs above their heads and, what do know, a group was born. I would say there group formed the day they heard Butter from A Tribe Called Quest's The Low End Theory (Never heard of this album, well than I guess... TO HECK WITH YOU). Alright, getting back to the main show, Slum Village formed in 1992, and it took them forever to get noticed. But then a funny thing would happen. Jay Dee would....

Read whole post:
http://lyricstogo.blogspot.com/2009/03/its-fantastic_03.html

And there is some dope sample sets and rare SV finds as well.

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And if you are STILL bored....Has-Lo and I had some laughs at this. Not that it's funny as in "ha-ha", but Jesse West is a funny dude on this, and it's somewhat interesting.....




If you are still bored, try going outside, it's weird what a little sun light will do to someone.....

PEACE!

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