mixtape maestro (2.0)

Earlier this summer, former First Lady of Flipmode Rah Digga triumphantly re-emerged from the “Where Are They Now?” file, reminding critics and hip hop heads why she earned space in their “Top 5 Female Rappers Ever” listings throughout the late ’90′s and early ’00′s with “comeback” single “This Ain’t No Lil’ Kid Rap”, a throwback-tinged slab of hard-hitting lyricism and simple boom-bap knock (courtesy of producer Nottz) that found her aiming to snatch back the game for the mature rap-lovers (“This ain’t no lil’ kid rap here/ This that gettin’ off from work/ And you wanna bob your head/ Not tryin’ to do the jerk”).

But just in case the babies didn’t hear her right the first time, Digga offers a second round of her oh-so-welcome sermon on the remix (“I ain’t trying to pick a fight/ But this ain’t a Fisher-Price, Kidz Bop, Nick At Nite”, she re-asserts), this time accompanied by fellow New Jerseyan Redman, who holds up the back-half with another solid serving of his punch-line-riddled mic mastery (“Drop every month like your menstrual cycle/ I’m why Oprah saying ‘Rappers, I don’t like ‘em’”).

Are Rah’s efforts enough to distract kids from their many hip hop dance crazes? Probably not, but us older rap fiends surely can appreciate the lesson that she’s teaching, and we’re anticipating even more of her “Dirty Harriet” greatness once her new album Classic (entirely produced by Nottz!!!) drops on September 14th.

Rah Digga – This Ain’t No Lil’ Kid Rap (Remix) (feat. Redman)

BONUS DL: Flipmode Squad (feat. Spliff Starr, Rah Digga, Baby Sham & Busta Rhymes “Cha Cha Cha” (alt)

Kinda making us feel a lil’ guilty for not putting more thought into the lame card and flowers we eventually copped (well, scrambled at the last minute to get) for our Maternal Ones on Mother’s Day, long-running West Coast Rapper To Watch (and Class of 2010 XXL Freshman) Jay Rock gifted his Mom’s last weekend by paying tribute to her in song for the holiday (Okay, we’re a week late…so what).

Rocking atop a slick sampling of, what else, The Intruders’ 1973 Gamble & Huff-produced classic “I’ll Always Love My Momma”, Rock’s “Love My Momma” is a touching one, tracking the gruff-voiced rapper’s undying admiration for his mother from birth (“After the doctors, the nurses wiped me off/ Your touch so soft/ I could feel the warmth of your heart through the cloth”) and childhood (“The teachers didn’t believe in me/ My Momma said the world needed me”), all the way through to his present-day adult-hood.

Expect Rock’s long-pushed back debut Follow Me Home sometime later this year.

DL: “Love My Momma” (alt)

BONUS DL: Jay Rock featuring The Game, Gorilla Zoe, Busta Rhymes, Lil’ Wayne & Will.i.am “All My Life (Remix)” (alt)

Cassie has so many odds stacked against her (a barely there voice; disastrous live performance attempts; being the owner of one of those rare Weezy-featuring tunes that flops real hard; being more popular in 2009 for her “shocking” haircut, leaked nude pics, and the “is-she-or-isn’t-she with Diddy?” gossip rag banter than anything music-related) that it’s a wonder why she even persists on still having a singing career when she can simply just go on being low-B/ high-C-list famous for…well, being hot.

Not to say that her weightless brand of spacey R&B/ Pop isn’t appreciated (especially amongst the sects of anonymous hook singer-craving producers and “puny-voiced starlets over electro beats”-loving critics, to which her nonchalant presence holds a certain appeal), it’s just that after debuting with something as strong as her summer of ’06 seducer “Me & U”, no argument would have been made for her just as quickly disappearing back into model-land semi-obscurity and becoming this decade’s equivalent of 1990′s one-(and-a-half-)hit-wonder INOJ.

Nevertheless, she’s once again returned to re-launch her long-delayed sophomore set, Electro Love, with the Mario Winans/ Bryan Michael Cox-produced “Must Be Love”, a wispy midtempo ballad that sets Cassie and guest star Diddy on opposite ends of a life-altering new romance.

Fluttery Spanish guitar strums and distant ringings give it a light and pretty ambience and there’s a certain heated undertone ‘neath Cassie’s whisper-thin musings as she comes to terms with her feelings, but damn if the song doesn’t threaten to put you to sleep at every turn, Diddy’s monotone verses lacking the burst of energy “Must Be Love” begs for.

Thankfully the Bad Boy CEO helps rescue the underwhelming number by firing up one of those all-star remixes he used to pull off so well and crowding up the listless groove with strong guest turns from Busta Rhymes, R&B boy band Day26 and underground rap favorite/ new Bad Boy signee Red Café. Yeah, when placed betwixt the male personalities Cassie feels more like an afterthought on her own record, but the sequel definitely ends up carrying more of a worthwhile heft than the original.

Catch the main version’s video below, than snatch up the remix afterward.

Electro Love is expected to be released sometime later this year (though if this record doesn’t catch on, don’t get your hopes up too high conerning an actual release).

DL: “Must Be Love (Remix)” (alt)

Here’s a couple random goodies that have pierced the Maestro’s eardrums in a good way recently:

First up, the great DJ Ted Smooth gives Lady GaGa’s breakout smash “Just Dance” a nice hip hop tone, throwing in those beloved skittering drum patterns from Jay Z’s “Jigga What, Jigga Who” and a Busta Rhymes verse (“I’m back on my bullshit so much/ My bowel movement’s fucked up”) as backup to GaGa’s drunken exclamations (still love the WTF randomness of that “Where are my keys?/ I lost my phone” line).

Our lone complaint? Not enough Buss.

DL: “Just Dance (Ted Smooth Remix)” (alt)

Next, from the fingertips of DJ Fabian, comes a summer-ready blend of Jamie Foxx’ deathless “Blame It” atop the always-BBQ-friendly grooves of Arrested Development’s “Everyday People”.

Thank you Fabian, for being all too aware that you can never go wrong with a lil’ 90′s throwback vibe.

DL: “Blame It On The People (Jamie Foxx Vs. Arrested Development)” (alt)

As proven on previous club banger singles “What It Is”, “Light Your Ass On Fire” and “Pass The Courvoisier, Part II”, whenever Busta Rhymes’ animated flow is matched with the Neptunes’ cartoon-ish digi-funk beats, a good time is about to be had. That golden chemistry is highlighted once again on the the two forces’ newest collaboration, Fast & Furious soundtrack cut “G Stro”.

Anchored in standard ass-shaking request banter, “G Stro” doesn’t really stretch the creativity of either Busta or the ‘Tunes too far (the beat could have easily come from the Virginia production team’s early-00′s heyday), but damn if the nimble bass groove, handclap-laden breakdown or Busta’s contagious mic presence don’t get you out of your seat.

DL: “G-Stro” (alt)

On this remix to Melanie Fiona‘s “should’ve been a smash by now” sultry debut single “Give It To Me Right”, Busta Rhymes and Raekwon (is anybody else as overly excited for the Only Built 4 Cuban Linx sequel as us?) are brought on to give the tune a bit of a public interest bump.

Donning their sexiest “inside voices”, both men enthusiastically respond to Fiona’s naughty, below-the-belt cravings. “If you let me give it to you/ I’m-a give it to you good”, Bussa-Bus promises, trying his best to soak her undergarments by conjuring up fantasies of sex sessions on the hoods of cars and tops of dressers. Meanwhile, the Chef opts to shower her with bags and pumps, before announcing a desire to lick the boogers off her face. Ugghhh.

TMI-littered rhymes aside, hopefully their contribution will help “Give It To Me Right” become the super-smash it deserves to be.

DL: “Give It To Me Right (Remix)” (alt)

For this upgrade to his late ’08-leaked Weezy-assist “Up In The Club”, Swizz Beatz trades in the obscure, mid-90′s Brit-pop sample reference of the original for the far more familiar old-school knock of “It Takes Two”, effectively transforming “Club” from a mild head-nodder to a surefire banger.

No alcohol in your system? No problem, as this track’s delirious combination of a Rob Base and DJ EZ Rock swipe, “Don’t stop! Get it, get it!” hype-man chants, Wayne’s Auto-Tuned trills and a sturdy Busta verse that starts with the classic line “I wanna rock right now…” could bring even the bone sober to drunken-like heights of giddy euphoria.

Swizz may not be…hell, anyone’s favorite emcee, but when it comes to rocking a party and rocking it right, you can’t argue that the man doesn’t know how to deliver the goods.

DL: “Up In Da Club (Remix)” (alt)

Back in the day, you were damn near guaranteed something special everytime Busta Rhymes dropped a new record. His penchant for rousing hooks, otherworldly beatscapes built from obscure samples and kooky eye-popping music videos with multi-million dollar budgets awarded listeners with a slew of left-field bangers that still snatch up major props to this day. Unfortunately, as the years wore on, he seemed to lose some of that magic. His precious speedy flow remained intact and he could still pump out a hot chorus every once in awhile, but with the beats taking a sad turn towards the radio-friendly and his videos looking cheaper and cheaper (not to mention the image-tainting of numerous bouts with the law), what was once an extraordinary rap icon soon morphed into just another ordinary hip hop entity.

With the big bank bravado and drunk-friendly hysterics of new single “Arab Money” (a sort of companion piece to producer Ron Browz’ other Auto-Tune slathered current fave, “Pop Champagne”), Busta Rhymes had begun inching his way back onto the nightlife circuit; but the record was riddled with some major handicaps. Yeah, it carried the minimum requisite of song elements to conquer the dancefloor, but seeing as though any other rapper could have recorded it and came out with similar results, it definitely paled in comparison to the man’s heyday achievements. Even worse, “Money” held a hard-to-ignore offensive tinge in it’s make-up that drew head-scratching reactions from a lot of people.

But the promise of a career-reigniting track has proven too big a grab to let slip away, so Busta has opted to continue to push the record. What’s the obvious next step? An over-crowded remix featuring all the usual suspects so they don’t have to waste time rushing out their own bootlegged “freestyles” before the cut loses it’s heat.

Tardily attempting to appease the balkers, the remix sees Busta replacing the nonsensical hook of the original (one of the main sources of the controversy) with real Arabic words and the correct pronunciation of the word “Arab”, even getting his track-mates to pull out some authentic phrases on their own verses. It also serves the typical wealthy braggadocio of Diddy (“Bout to buy Dubai and swim in the shark section”), robo-voiced goofball antics of both halves of T-Wayne and an extended appearance by Browz (who has quickly leap-frogged over Pain, Weezy and Kanye as the worst artist ever to over-lean on the Auto-Tune).

Is it a solid enough addition within this Era of the Posse Cut Overkill? We’ll give it that. But revising a chorus and hiring on an A-list line-up probably won’t be enough to woo over those who despise the original, or just wish that Busta could stop fiddling around with all this sub-par material he’s been unleashing recently and really focus on figuring out a way to tap back into that mid-90′s appeal.

DL: “Arab Money (Remix)” (alt)

We thought Busta was onto something major once the rowdy “Don’t Touch Me” made it’s premiere way back in Spring. But with the song’s embarrasingly low peak at #83 on the R&B/ Hip Hop charts, it seems the rest of the public didn’t think so much of it. Now, following a sudden switch in label support (from Interscope to Universal Motown), Busta is being forced to re-launch the hype of his oft-pushed back eighth album, now going by the title B.O.M.B. (Back On My Bullshit). Unfortunately, recent leak “World Go Round” isn’t getting us excited as much as it’s left us scratching our heads in wonderment.

We understand a need to ride with urban music’s current obsession with everything dance and “Round” isn’t completely horrid (digging the Eric B & Rakim bite at the beginning) but it’s blatant lean towards the European club floor just doesn’t gel right. Maybe it’s because we’d rather hear Keri Hilson, Danity Kane or Rihanna on it, rather than the Whitest of White anonymous hook girl otherwise featured. Maybe because it’s sad to see one of the most out-there icons of 90′s hip hop continue his sad de-evolution into being like everybody else. Perhaps, most of all, maybe it’s because “Don’t Touch Me” didn’t become the supreme career revitalizer we prayed for it to be and this one’s potential at maybe becoming a big hit has left us a little bitter.

After all the hoopla surrounding “Touch It”‘s “everybody-and-their-mama” all-star remix, Busta amps up another one of his singles to posse status; but taking it a step further this time, he mixes his guest list with some legendary icons (Big Daddy Kane, Nas), giants of today (Lil’ Wayne, Game), an up-and-comer (Reek Da Villain) and…well, Spliff Star for the blazing “Don’t Touch Me” sequel.

Some thoughts after hearing it:

-Spliff Starr manages to impress every time he gets around to dropping a verse, so why has he not released one solo album after all these years? Would anyone even buy it?

-Reek Da Villain is nice here (and second to Busta as the one that adheres to the raucous track the best). But who is he again?

-How many watches does Game need?

-But we’ll give him props for not giving us a laundry list of name-dropping…save for a subtle Wu reference.

-The love/ hate relationship with Weezy continues. His cameo here ranks on the love side, but it wasn’t made official until the “Wayne is a flame that can live in the water” line.

-Isn’t it weird hearing Nas saying things like “See you in the club/ Wrist never on froze”?

-Big Daddy Kane might be 75 but, in the words of T-Pain, he’s still “got it”.

-We get that Flipmode is, like, a “STATE OF MIND” and everything, but does the actual group still exist?

DL: “Don’t Touch Me (Remix)” (YFH)