Chances are if you listened to East Coast ’90s hiphop, you probably listened to Native Tongues. Groups affiliated with the Native Tongues were The Jungle Brothers, De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest and of course this week’s Throwback Thursday, Black Sheep. I give credit to my cousin for introducing me to the whole Native Tongues crew, as he was based out on the east. Black Sheep comprised of two members, Dres and Mista Lawnge, and the group had some ridiculous jams back in the day. Their first album, A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing, sold over 500,000 copies and had hits like “Flavor of the Month”, “Butt…In the Meantime”, “The Choice is Yours”, “Have U.N.E. Pull”, “Yes”, “Strobelite Honey”, damn it, the whole album was pretty much crack. I remember “The Choice is Yours” was a big favorite between my cousin and I as we would pull lines from it and shit. “Flavor of the Month” was another favorite, but it wouldn’t be yeaaaaaaaars til I actually knew what the context of the song actually was.

Black Sheep released two more albums, Non-Fiction and 8WM/Novakane, but neither release ever saw the same success as the first LP. The two split up shortly after the last album, no real reason were ever given and since then they’ve gone on to pursue solo albums. But we’ll have these classic joints with us, check them out below.

Black Sheep “The Choice is Yours”

Black Sheep “Flavor of the Month”

Black Sheep “Strobelite Honey”

Click To Download.

Santigold “Your Voice”
Passion Pit “The Reeling” Wallpaper. Remix
James Kane “Isle of Space”
Keys N Krates “City of Awards” KNK x Tribe Live Remix [zshare]

K-OS is cool. For starters, he’s currently on his Karma Tour, where advance tickets aren’t being sold because you’re to simply show up, enjoy the show, and then donate what you think the show was worth on your way out. Talk about taking a huge risk. Secondly, he held and online contest where people could remix 11 tracks from his latest album, YES! At the end of it all, 11 people won $1000 and their remixes will be part of an album coming out spring 2009 called Yes It’s Yours (Fan Remix Album). Thirdly, K-OS chatted with us a few days ago and let us pick his brain.

Killahbeez: So are you all ready and pumped for your YES! tour?

K-OS: Hype, hype, super excited.

Killahbeez: Right now you’re touring for your latest album YES! What can people expect?

K-OS: This tour is about….I’ll just say it like this…an interesting prop we’re working with is a stoplight that we’re going to have on stage. The stoplight is interesting because all of my records from the green, the amber, now we’re at the red, and then Atlantis kind of interjecting between that with the blue.

The key of this hour and a half show is to take the best from all the albums and make them seamlessly just fit. It’s about weaving through the catalogue of the records in a way that makes it seem like all of the songs are married to each other especially when there have been so many differences. The interesting thing to find out was that after we rehearsed, it really wasn’t that hard. There’s been a theme with all the music so you’re basically allowed to go anywhere because there is no real limit to what the records or music have to sound like.

We got a new bass player who’s playing keyboard bass which I’ve never had so the sonics are different. Super excited to take this crew of dudes out and handle business. It’s going to be fun.

Nothing should sound forced or awkward and I think that’s why we rehearsed for a month, to work out the kinks. You can write a set list down on a piece of paper but then when you try to play it that way it just doesn’t feel right. We did that, it happened many times. I’m glad we had the time to rehearse and figure it out.

Killahbeez: What’s the whole battle of the sexes thing about?

K-OS: That was earlier on. That battle is over, how about that?

The battle of the sexes started with me and my mother. She tried to tell me what I could do and couldn’t do and I’m a boy, my father wasn’t around for a couple years of my life, part of my formative years, and here was this woman trying to tell me what to do. As a young boy that was a very hard thing to handle, but she did rule with an iron fist and she did prevail. I think some of my best qualities, she’s an artist and a singer, come from her.

If it starts there, all my life there’s always been this thing where, how do you relate to people who come into your life of the opposite sex who are also musicians or who are artists? The battle starts there with other people who do what I do and trying to find a way to come together or not even sometimes, you compete with each other and I think that’s what that “4 3 2 1″ song is basically talking about. You always hear that term we can make love or make war, it’s a very true thing.

For me when I say it’s over it’s because being asked the question so many times I kind of figured out that it’s really a battle within my own self. I think hip hop represents the masculine capacities of my identity and singing, which I get from my mother, represents the feminine aspects of my persona. Those two aspects are always trying to punch each other out. Hip Hop is always like, you’re singing too much, just chill, just rap over a beat, you don’t need to sing. And singing is like, you know what, singing is an older art, we’ll take it from here. And then all that comes into music.

All battles start from within and I’m dealing with it through my music.

Killahbeez: You’ve been through multiple eras of hip hop, from your early years with “Musical Essence” to your latest album YES!, from Maestro Fresh West to the Northern Touch era with Rascalz, Kardinal, Threat, and Choclair. How have you managed to evolve and stay relevant in an industry that seems to give artists a certain shelf life? How do you define yourself?

K-OS: Because I love other types of music outside of hip hop. Busta Rhymes said something like hip hop never comes from hip hop. For a time it was coming from soul music: Wu Tang and those guys. Then Pete Rock and A Tribe Called Quest sampled jazz. Then dudes were sampling classical and then Spanish music.

What is hip hop? It’s a music that takes a turn table and takes other music. What started to happen right after the Golden Age around ‘96, ‘97, ‘98, when Puffy and these guys came out making dance music for clubs, weekend music for people who worked hard all weekend and wanted to dance in the clubs on the weekend, hip hop started to take from itself because someone saw someone making money so someone samples the same thing and then people started to mimic each other. Instead of trying to find that original breaking sample that would blow people’s minds, people started to sample a sample or make a beat like the next guy, and so hip hop ate itself.

Kanye West basically, no matter what anyone says, when he did Through the Wire, it was a sample. He brought it back to sampling and that’s when things started to change again. He started sampling in an original way, he didn’t do it because Through the Wire was a hit, he did it because he wanted to bring that music into hip hop.

For me it’s different because I have a live band so it’s not really about sampling but it’s about maybe playing something from Iggy Pop or maybe listening to a band like Mars Volta or something that has nothing to do with hip hop at all and then trying to rap onto it. All my records and going into the next era starts with me looping something that I’m not supposed to rap on. At my house, I’ll put on headphones and rap over it for twenty minutes just to see how it feels. All of a sudden you’ve brought that thing into the hip hop universe.

I think that’s how I’ve been able to continue: I love hip hop. Hip Hop to me is a mystery, it’s like the Riddler, it has a question mark, it is whatever you want it to be as oppose to me looking at hip hop like, I gotta’ wear these clothes man, I gotta’ wear that hat, I can only wear these colours, and I can only use these slang words. I never look at hip hop like that. To me it’s very much more mystical than that.

Killahbeez: Speaking of incorporating other music styles into your own, you just recently worked with Emily Haines from Metric, and Metric is just blowing up right now, they’re huge. How was it working with her?

K-OS: Emily is a friend and we’ve been trying to work together for a long time. It was something that was in the works for a long time. I’ve spent time in the studio with her before. It’s hard to perceive it like that, yeah it’s like everything’s sort of happening at the same time, and it’s good, I’m glad she’s on my record, and Murray Lightburn is also on that track, from the Dears, not to be overshadowed because he helped write the track, but all those things come from friendships based on hanging out. Also too just wanting to work together and being fans of each other. Sometimes in a way that outweighs the friendship where a guy might be more excited to get on a track with you as an artist instead wanting to be your friend. It’s those two factors dancing with each other that make it an interesting dynamic.

Killahbeez: Any future collaborations in mind or are you just busy with YES! for now?

K-OS: All the artists I know are so finicky and snooty that we can’t plan anything [laughs]. You can say it’s going to go down but if it’s not the right day, climate, or the space to do it, it’s not going to happen. I just let it go and keep it as spontaneous as possible.

Killahbeez: So I’m not sure if my next question is relevant or not but do you notice a big difference between the Canadian and American music scenes and audiences?

K-OS: I can’t pontificate on the American scene because I’ve only toured America once with the Gym Class Heroes and I was the opening band. The people I got to see were through them and I did get to see the country because it was an extensive tour. I learnt that America shouldn’t be as pigeonholed as the world makes it, it’s a beautiful place.

As far as the music scenes go, I was reading Rolling Stone yesterday and thought, how many years have I been reading this magazine and America is just a place in a book to me. I’ve never spent time there. I’ve hung out in L.A., Chicago, New York, but I’ve never fully committed. I’m kind of like somebody who goes into the front seat of a car and always has his hand on the door handle, like I’m ready to jump out, as soon as the car slows down and there’s a corner, I’m out.

What I’ve heard from other people is that America is different [from Canada] in the way they see celebrities and how they see the star-machine. I know for sure that Canadians are super nonchalant just from friends who are musicians, artists, or celebrities, who say, no one bugs me in Canada, I could be somewhere and people recognize me but they just walk by me. Whereas in America its stop, stop, stop, picture, picture, picture. I think Canada has a little less tenacity when it comes to trying to jump on celebrities or something that’s popular. Canada seems a little more if-y in that way. Maybe that makes us a little uptight sometimes but I think it makes us a little bit cooler as well.

Killahbeez: On Killahbeez we have a fashion/style section. I’ve noticed that you hide behind shades here and there. Can you describe the evolution of your style? Is it whatever, I don’t care, this is what I’m going to wear today!

K-OS: I’m starting to care less about what those conventions are supposed to mean. The sunglasses do come out still but that’s boring too now. I’ll be honest: most of the things I do is just because I’m bored. Even when I started wearing sunglasses, I just wanted to see what it would be like; people treat you differently. They can’t see what you’re thinking through so you get different responses. It’s a good social science experiment. Much of what I do with fashion and style have nothing to do with fashion and style, they’re just experiments. What if I press this button right….here! [laughs]

I think to the person who’s observing, it might be like wow, this guy’s original or whatever they want to call it. Most times I’m operating from a sense of social scientist just trying to get a reaction mostly for myself because I get bored. You walk around society and you get the same responses all the times and questions, you might want to do something to your physical or wear something that invokes a different response.

Killahbeez: So when you are relaxing at home tonight, what are you going to listen to? What are your musical inspirations?

K-OS: Two things as of late. Chamber/classical music calms me down and reminds me of my father. He would come home and throw on classical music, he didn’t want to talk, and you couldn’t say anything for the first hour or two that he was home, he would just chill out.

Also, Zen music. Some weird, eastern, Asian music.

Mostly when I want to chill I just like music with no vocals; not invaded by personality at all. Just music, just tones, I have a lot to learn in that aspect as well so by listening to a lot of instrumental music I learn a lot about music.

Killahbeez: So I have one last request and you might totally shut me down. Can you rap something for Killahbeez?

K-OS: You want me to rap something right now? I don’t know about that. For that to really work, I really have to just do it when I feel it.

Send me your email, if I’m vibing around I’ll send you something!

Killahbeez: Thanks so much for the interview. It’s been one of my best.

K-OS: I do a lot of these, I love it. Talking about yourself for hours upon end teaches you so much about yourself. I appreciate the questions. Thank-you!

Photography by DT

Vancouver has now been lucky enough to experience Lykke Li live a few times. And on February 11, two of us ‘Beez got to hit up her sold-out show at the Commodore Ballroom, thanks to Timbre Productions.

When we arrived, openers Wildbirds & Peacedrums was warming up the crowd. The husband and wife duo from Sweden consists of Andreas Werlin on drums and Mariam Wallentin on vocals. While their experimental folk-rock sounds more subdued on records, their live performance is a no-holds-back semi-spiritual experience, complete with Werlin’s forceful and complex rhythms and Wallentin’s Bjork-like wails. By the time their set ended, the energetic audience was stoked for the main show.

After a quick set change, Lykke Li’s minimalistic stage set was ready to go. Rising up from the smoky stage was a drum set, a guitar, and synths. Lykke Li’s single mic stood center stage.

As “Melodies & Desires,” the opening track on Lykke Li’s 2008 debut album, Youth Novels, filled the room, the Swedish songbird graced the stage. Lykke Li looked stunning in a simple, black painter’s smock-inspired dress, opaque black leggings, black high-heeled ankle boots, and a leopard-print scarf draped around her neck. As she hushed the almost-rowdy crowd, she began tapping the beat to “Dance Dance Dance” on a cowbell and sang a capella over top. Midway through the first verse, her three-piece band joined in, and Lykke Li switched to tambourine. What was obvious right from the start is that Lykke Li’s raspy, almost child-like vocals sounded almost identical live as they did on her album. What heightened the live version of “Dance Dance Dance” was the heavy, militaristic drumming.

After finishing her first song, Lykke Li asked the crowd, “How you all doing?” The audience erupted in a cheer, but not before the blond-haired singer could start the cute, wallflower anthem, “Everybody But Me.” Near the end of the track, which is only available on the North American release of her album, Lykke Li began to break out her vigorous, disjointed dance skills. She threw it all out on stage before going right into the next song, “I’m Good, I’m Gone.” This song was almost identical to the recorded track, except for featuring more thrashing guitars and once again, heavy drumming in the live version.

Next, Lykke Li broke out folksy, tribal beats in “Hanging Me High” before starting up the hit love song, “Little Bit,” which energized the crowd from the opening four notes into a full-fledged sing-a-long, despite the overall angelic airiness of the single.

For the second half of the show, Lykke Li was ready to turn the night into a party. “Are you ready to get down?” Lykke Li shouted into the crowd. Then the more electro-sounding “Complaint Department” started up. Next, Lykke Li performed the first of three of the night’s covers. She sang “Knocked Up” by Kings of Leon passionately into the mic, and the crowd responded. But that was not enough for the singer. “You’re awfully quiet today,” she said after the song. “I have a question for you, Vancouver, have you ever had a bad boyfriend?” The audience cheered and shook their fists towards the stage while Lykke Li sang the last track on her album, “Window Blues.” At the chorus, she invited the audience to sing along and shout out the numbers one to six in French. Then, she finished the song on a megaphone.

For “Let It Fall,” which came up next, Lykke Li called for dancers to join her on stage. Immediately about 20 girls leaped onto the stage for a chance to dance with the singer. After that, Lykke Li sprang into a relatively unknown track called “I Don’t Mind (Jump On It)” which broke into a cover of Lil Wayne’s “A Milli.”

“Thank you for tonight,” Lykke Li cooed into the audience. The singer left the stage just for a minute before coming back on to perform her hit single, “Breaking It Up.” She then slowed it down with very beautiful and sensual performances of “Time Flies” and “Tonight,” which flowed from one into the other. And to end the night, Lykke Li brought the energy back up by spitting out Tribe Called Quest’s “Can I Kick It.”

Overall, Lykke Li’s show was nothing short of amazing and impressive. Her stage presence and command of the room is outstanding, considering the songstress has yet to celebrate her 23rd birthday. Lykke Li will continue her North American tour into the States until the end of April. Props again to Timbre Productions for hookin’ us up and continuously bringing in stellar shows.

Check out the rest of the photos over on our Flickr page.

No this ain’t Mixtape Monday, just a dope new mix by one of the members from the Eh! Team, DJ Illo. Judging by the playlist you can tell that it’s a soul, funk, hip-hop and RnB mix, overall one dope collection of edits, remixes and blends. For those out in the Toronto area you can check for the Truth Mixshow every Saturday on Flow 93.5 between 9pm – 10pm. Stream the mix then give it a download.

Download Team Canada Presents: The Truth Radio Show – Dj Illo – 13.12.08

1. Dj Illo vs Suzanne Vega vs Ron Browz – Pop Champagne at Toms Diner
2. Dj Flipout vs Ron Browz – Pop Champagne (Dilla Remix)
3. Dj Illo vs The Pharcyde – Runnin (Dilla Remix)
4. The Dixie Cups – Iko Iko Remix
5. Dj Illo vs Betty Wright – Clean Up Woman (Illo Edit)
6. DJ Eleven vs Bill Withers – Lovely Day (Eleven Edit)
7. Dj Illo vs Janet Jackson – Thats The Way Love Goes (Illo Rmx)
8. A Tribe Called Quest – Check The Rhyme
9. Dj Jayceeoh vs Mary J. Blige – Enough Cryin (Jayceeoh Remix)
10. One Way – Cutie Pie
11. JBlow vs Biggie – Big Poppa (JBlow Rmx)
12. Zapp & Roger vs E-40 – Tell Me When To Bounce
13. Zapp & Roger vs Craig David – Whats Your Flava
14. Agent Lovelette vs Busta Rhymes – Touch It (Disco Rmx)
15. Dj Illo vs James Brown vs Soulwax – Sex Machine (Illo Edit)
16. Hedspin vs The Commodores – Brick House (Hedspin Edit)
17. Dj Illo vs KC & The Sunshine Band – Boogie Man (Illo Edit)
18. Crooklyn Clan vs Dj Kool – Here We Go Now (Bboy Edit)

This Throwback Thursday I can credit my cousin, Van, for putting me on this when we were kids. At this time I was fully entrenched in hip-hop music listening to Ice Cube, NWA and shortly after getting into the whole native tongues crew with A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, Jungle Brothers, etc. Every summer I’d visit my cousin down in Virginia, but I can remember this particular summer he had some new jams he showed me that I ain’t even heard of at the time. I still remember walking into his room and seeing the GWAR poster that he had up on his wall near the door, bet you didn’t think I’d remember did you. Anyways he proceeded to show me some new music he had picked up and within the assortment of albums was the 1988 Danzig self-titled album. I remembered listening to that cassette all day and all night long, ahhhh memories of when we were young. Just wait til next week to see what he introduced me to only a few years later. Back to the topic, the track that still gets me pumped up to this day is Danzig’s “Mother”, the song is fuckin’ hard and mad satanic, but shit I love it. Also Glenn Danzigs’ vocals are ridiculous, I think his voice is the essential heavy rock voice. The above video is the original video that came out in ‘88, but this song blew up again in like ‘93 or some shit and they remade the video, which can be seen below. Enjoy.

As we mentioned yesterday, Keys N Krates are going to be doing their thing this Friday at Wrong Bar out in Toronto. Well, get ready folks, cus they’re about to drop a new jam, I haven’t even heard yet and I’ve seen them a million times, something brand new for them ears so it should be a huge show. This is their remix of A Tribe Called Quests “Award Tour”, but renamed “City of Awards” for the remix. Pretty freeeeesh!

It feels like it’s been a minute since we’ve done a hip-hop mix, but quite honestly I haven’t come across anything quite inspiring, until now that is. Q-Tip is the shit, ’nuff said. He has a new album coming out and teamed up with Dj Dub to present an array of songs that he’s been featured as an artist or produced. This soon-to-be classic features new, classic and unreleased from Q-Tip. Artists like Busta Rhymes, Andre 3000, Kanye West, D’Angelo and more all make appearances on this momentous mixtape.

Download Here

Tracklisting:

1. Intro – DJ Dub
2. Verses From the Abstract – A Tribe Called Quest
3. Midnight – A Tribe Called Quest
4. Midnight 08 Smirnoff Signature mix – Q-Tip
5. Wild Hot – Q-Tip / Busta Rhymes
6. Oh My God – A Tribe Called Quest
7. Got Til Its Gone – Janet Jackson / Q-Tip / Joni Mitchell
8. Footprints – A Tribe Called Quest
9. The Promo – Jungle Bros / Q-Tip
10. Buddy Remix – A Tribe Called Quest / Jungle Bros / De La Soul
11. Check The Rhime – A Tribe Called Quest
12. Groove Is In The Heart – Dee-Lite / Q-Tip
13. Sh. Fe. Mcs – A Tribe Called Quest / De La Soul
14. Excursions – A Tribe Called Quest
15. Drink Away The Pain – Mobb Deep (Prod by Q-Tip)
16. Get Down Q-Tip Remix – Q-Tip / Craig Mack
17. Dont Curse – Heavy D / Kool G Rap / Grand Puba / CL Smooth / Big Daddy Kane / Pete Rock / Q-Tip
18. Make It Better – Kanye West / Talib Kweli / Q-Tip
19. A Rolling Skating Jam Named Saturdays – Q-Tip / De La Soul
20. Heels – Q-Tip
21. Abstractionisms – Q-Tip
22. I Believe – Q-Tip / D’Angelo
23. Vivrant Thing – Q-Tip
24. Can I Kick It (Spirit Mix) – A Tribe Called Quest
25. Lyrics To Go (Tumblin Dice Remix) – A Tribe Called Quest
26. Get It Together Remix – Beastie Boys / Q-Tip
27. Sucka Nigga – A Tribe Called Quest
28. Get A Hold – A Tribe Called Quest
29. Lets Ride – Q-Tip
30. One Love – Nas (Prod by Q-Tip)
31. Give Up The Goods – Mobb Deep (Prod By Q-Tip)
32. The World Is Yours Remix – Nas (Prod by Q-Tip)
33. In The Sun – Large Professor / Q-Tip
34. Bonita Applebum (Hootie Mix) – A Tribe Called Quest
35. Glamour & Glitz – A Tribe Called Quest
36. Feva – Q-Tip
37. Practice Session – The Ummah
38. Thats Sexy – Q-Tip / Andre 3000
39. What The Fuss (Hard Remix) – Stevie Wonder / Q-Tip
40. Ill Vibe – Busta Rhymes / Q-Tip
41. Gettin Up – Q-Tip

The year was 1994. The setting, summer time in New York City. This comedy / drama takes you on a journey through the main character, Luke Shapiro, who spends his summer before college selling weed throughout New York City. He ends up trading weed for some therapy with his shrink (Ben Kingsley), which honestly was pretty funny, the conversation the two have throughout the movie. Luke also has a crush on his shrinks’ step daughter and his high school classmate, Stephanie. The reason for the film name The Wackness, is because of Luke’s inability to see things positively and just living in the moment, as Stephanie puts it, “Your all about the wackness, while I’m all about the dopeness”. In addition to this coming of age story this film definitely throws you back to the Golden Era of Hip Hop with tracks like: “The What”, “Summertime”, “The World is Yours”, “Can I Kick It?” and a few other tracks that aren’t actually on the soundtrack such as Pharcyde. Check out the trailer above or visit the film’s site here.

Just Blaze drops a mixtape featuring over 50 tracks from the early 90’s. The mix is dope, but there is a bit of talking on it, which I’m not a huge fan of, but hey this is Just Blaze. Features a ton of tracks from artists like Main Source, A Tribe Called Quest, Naughty By Nature, Black Moon, Das Efx, Big L, Mobb Deep and more. Tracklist is after the jump and download link below.

Download Here

01. Main Source – Atom
02. Main Source – Looking At The Front Door
03. A Tribe Called Quest – Footprints
04. De La Soul – Simply Havin
05. New Edition – Once In A Lifetime Groove
06. Brand Nubian – Allah And Justice
07. Brand Nubian – Steal Ya Ho
08. Positive K – Flower Grows In Brooklyn
09. Grand Daddy I U – Something New
10. Intelligent Hoodlum – Live And Direct From The House Of Hits
11. Marley Marl feat. Craig G – Droppin Science
12. Das EFX – Caught In Da Ak
13. Das EFX – Clap Ya Hands
14. LL Cool J – Pink Cookies In A Plastic Bag
15. Mobb Deep – Just Step
16. Jeru The Damaja – Whateva
17. Big L – Put It On Em
18. Artifacts – What Goes On
19. Da Youngstas – Crewz Pop
20. Illegal – On The Mic
21. Jamal – Fades Em All (Pete Rock Remix)
22. OGC – Hurrican Starrung
23. Black Moon – I Got Cha Opin
24. Flipmode Squad – I Got Cha Opin Pt. 2
25. Black Moon – Six Feet Deep
26. Black Moon – Act Like You Want It
27. Busta Rhymes – Abandon Ship
28. A Tribe Called Quest – Verses From The Abstract
29. Pete Rock & CL Smooth – In The House
30. RA The Rugged Man – Every Record Label Sucks Dick
31. Milkbone – Keep It Real
32. Mood – Karma
33. Erule – Listen Up
34. Kris Kross feat. Redman – Tonight’s Da Night (Remix)
35. Too Short – Buy You Some
36. D’Angelo – Dreamy Eyes Of Mine
37. PMD – Rugged N’ Raw
38. PMD – It’s The Pee ‘97
39. Xzibit – Paparazzi
40. L The Head Toucha – Too Complex
41. Method Man – Untitled
42. Natural Elements – Lyrical Tactics
43. Natural Elements – Hemlock
44. AZ – Gimmie Yours
45. Wu Deep – Shook Ones Blend
46. Ini – Fakin Jax (Remix)
47. Mobb Deep – Untitled
48. Tevin Campbell – Tomorrow (Just Blaze Remix)
49. OC – Far From Yours
50. Nas – It Ain’t Hard To Tell (Demo)
51. Just Blaze – Clientel/Life Of Mine

Awwwwwww gyeah. Rock The Bells line-up has been announced for this year. Headlining this year will be A Tribe Called Quest, NAS, Mos Def and a grip of other artists as you can see from the flyer above. I had the pleasure of attending last year’s Rock The Bells in New York with Wu-Tang Clan and Rage Against The Machine being the main headliners and I have to say it was easily one of the best concerts I’ve ever attended. Off course alot of it had to do with the fact that it was in New York and a lot of these artists were killing it on stage for fam and friends. I’m hoping for Santogold, Kid Sister and Dead Prez for the leg of the tour that hits my city. For more info visit www.guerillaunion.com.

This weeks’ Throwback Thursday goes out to A Tribe Called Quest. Dedicated to a co-worker of mine, she brought up all these memories of all the classic joints I grew up listening to and spinning. Growing up I loved the whole Native Tongues crew, which included the likes of the Jungle Brothers, De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest and Black Sheep to name a few. Two things when I first copped the Midnight Marauders album: 1. I thought this was one of the illest album covers I had ever seen. Granted I didn’t know all the faces on the cover, but I knew a few to be like “wow” and made me want to find out who everybody on the cover was and 2. All of the songs on this album were classics, in fact this album would stay in constant rotation. First on cassette, then on CD, then on my iPod, now I’m looking to get this on vinyl, as I’m trying to collect all the classics on vinyl.

The joint that I’m featuring today off of this classic album is “Electric Relaxation”, as soon as I heard the opening beats I was hooked and guess what, that opening 30 seconds of this song I use as my ringtone. The way Q-Tip and Phife flipped it back and forth lyrically is just seamless and smooth. The video is classic and simple featuring the three members in and around New York, cruising in a cab, kickin’ it in the streets and chillin’ in the restaurant. Simply timeless unlike these wack videos we usually see nowadays. Refresh your memory on the song and then hit the jump to check out where this was sampled from.

Ronnie Foster – Mystic Brew