Grandmaster Roc Raida, R.I.P.

I was really sad to read that Grandmaster Roc Raida passed away, especially so soon after the death of DJ AM. I only met Raida once but he seemed like a really genuine and humble guy.

There's no question he was one of the greatest scratch/battle DJs who ever did it, but when I think of him the first thing that comes to mind is always this, which he and Knobody produced:



The X-Ecutioners: "Let It Bang" feat. M.O.P. (Loud, 2001)

I can't think of any other song that gets me charged like this does. It's also about the only time M.O.P.'s rap/metal fuckery has fully clicked for me, aside from maybe "Cold World". (I love M.O.P. but dudes, please, less Mash Out Posse, more First Family 4 Life.)

The sample always cracks me up because it starts off sounding like Devendra Banhart covering the intro to Arrested Development and then goes from soft-hands to max power out of nowhere.



Toe Fat: "Stick Heat" (Regal Zenophone, 1971)

"Stick Heat" was produced by the great Jon Peel.

p.s.: M.O.P.'s new album is pretty good.

Reelin' in the years

Jane Birkin" "69 Année Érotique" feat. Serge Gainsbourg (Fontana, 1969)



Mad Lads: "Monkey Time '69" (Volt, 1969)



Inmates: "1974 Trying to Be a Pro" (Prison, 1975)



Horace Andy: "Africa (1983)" (Message, 1978)



Jimi Hendrix: "1983" (demo) (1968, Rising Sun)

This is nowhere near as good as the regular version or even the demo that appeared on Between the Lines, but it's a revealing oddity.



Ray Luv: "1991 R.I.P." (Strictly Business, 1991)



Common: "One-Nine-Nine-Nine" feat. Sadat X (Rawkus, 1999)



Roy Ayers Ubiquity: "2000 Black" (Polydor, 1975)



Obscure Disorder: "2004" feat. Non-Phixion (Audio Research, 1999)

The producer and manager of Obscure Disorder now record as Chromeo.



Alkaholiks: "2014" (Loud, 1995)



US69: "2069: A Spaced Oddity" (Buddah, 1969)

Scarlet & purple

Last night I was jonesing to hear this record, specifically the part right after the break where they come in with the guitar part and the wailing vocal.


Capability Brown: "Beautiful Scarlet" (The Famous Charisma Label, 1972)

It's 50% cheese and 200% awesome. When it got to the quiet part, I remembered that it was a cover of this:


Rare Bird: "Beautiful Scarlet" (Probe, 1970)

And I remembered that somebody sampled the Rare Bird version:



Diplo: "Summer's Gonna Hurt You" (2002)

The version I've posted is different from either of the versions that got released by Big Dada. It features a big ole hunk of this at the end:



Round Trip Ticket: "Captain Purple Rides Again" (GM, 197?)

I don't know much about the Round Trip Ticket 45 other than that it's from Detroit and there's a much better-sounding version of the song with vocals. Until I heard that version, I had no idea this was a Neil Young cover.

The hardest working man in show business

As I ever-so-gently ease myself back into my excuse for a grind, I've gotta send a shout out to my homie Nick Catchdubs, who just put out his fourth (!) full-length mix in the last three months (!!!).

I have no idea how Nick manages to crank out tapes at that rate while running the Fool's Gold label, holding down a weekly with DJ Ayres and touring (not to mention finding time to check for my bullshit!), but my pet theory is he's actually three people and none of them ever sleeps. Regardless, Nick not only cranks out tapes, he makes really good ones.


The new new one is Radio Friendly Unit Shifter, a 90s alterna-rock mix he cooked up with his former Fader colleague Eric Ducker. Taking Spinbad's almighty 80s tapes as their inspiration, dudes put "big hits next to unexpected favorites with lots of movie dialogue and interludes for jokes, all smashed up in a dance party megamixxx".

As someone who managed to insulate myself from pretty much everything rock-related between the time Sonic Youth signed with a major and Pavement broke up, it's not the trip down memory lane that they intended. But for anyone white, over 25 and college-educated who also happens to be normal, it's probably a pretty awesome encapsulation of those years.


Then he's got an artist mixtape with Izza Kizza, a Georgia rapper who's working with Timbaland and to me sounds more than a little like Chamillionaire (download here). There are a lot of good tracks on the CD, but my favorite is this, produced by Trackademicks:


Izza Kizza: "Tell Em What My Name Iz" (2008)


Then there's his hipster dance mix, Slick, which I suspect is more or less a representation of Nick's current live sets (embarrassing disclosure: because he insists on only getting himself booked in the Bay on nights when I'm working or out of town, I've never actually seen the boy play). It's available here with accompanying interview.


And finally, his second collaboration with D.C. rapper Walé, the Seinfeld-themed The Mixtape About Nothing, which drew a rave from Pitchfork, although those boobs somehow neglected to mention Nick.

All of the above tapes are available free in digital form-- just follow the various links.