mixtape maestro (2.0)

If Kanye calls you out as having the potential to be the second G.O.A.T. (behind Eminem, of course), best believe when he calls upon you to bless one of his tracks, the “it” better be brought.

So with that said, it’s no surprise that Nicki Minaj would attempt to drop the best verse of her still young career on the much-talked-about Kanye & Friends posse cut joint “Monster” (from the newly announced upcoming West and Jay-Z EP, Watch The Throne); what is shocking, however, is that she would end up making the rest of her brow-raising trackmates (the song rounds together not only ‘Ye, Jigga and, in a laughably brief cameo, the BAWSE, but indie god Justin Vernon of Bon Iver is employed to play hook man) seem completely irrelevant.

Using West’s sludgy fuzz-bounce as her own personal playground, Minaj adopts like seven different voices and three different flow tempos to slice-and-dice those lesser than (“Let me get this straight/ Wait I’m the rookie?/ But my features and my shows ten times your pay?/ 50k for a verse, no album out!”) and teasingly flaunt her maybe-faux/ maybe-not bisexuality (“Besides ‘Ye, they can’t stand besides me/ I think me, you and Am should menage Friday”), in the end, bringing all kinds of truth to her early boast of “Watch the queen conquer”.

Sure, Kanye earns Runner-up Prize with his naughty-clever “sarcophagus”/ “esophagus”/ “swallow-ship” rhyme, but in her wildly animated contribution, Minaj easily steals the show, re-igniting hope that when her Pink Friday solo album does finally drop this November, it’ll feature more of this playfully raw side…

…and less of the questionable bubblegum tendencies that dominate second recent leak “Check It Out”, a will.i.am production/ duet that unnecessarily twists The Buggles’ early days of MTV hit “Video Killed The Radio Star” into a typical BEP electro-hop jam for the Top 40-loving teenybopper crowd (and will likely become one of the biggest, most inescapable, radio hits of the fall season).

Sigh, Minaj. You’re so promising, yet so frustrating.

Kanye West – Monster (feat. Rick Ross, Jay-Z, Nicki Minaj & Bon Iver)

Nicki Minaj & will.i.am – Check It Out

Of course, Kanye‘s remix to “Power” wasn’t going to be some simple toss-in-a-new-verse-from-another-rapper affair. Of course, it was going to be some multi-level, mind-blowing epic-sized event with the…erm power to shut down the World Wide Web, just so he could one day straight-face tag it as being “the best remix OF. ALL. TIME!!!!!!” (and to some extent, be completely right). What couldn’t be predicted though, was how far the track’s 2.0 take would exceed anyone’s expectations of awesomeness.

Now we get even more ‘Ye notable quotables for lyric-heads to endlessly obsess over (Our favorite: “Now the question is, how we gon’ stop the next Vietnam?/ Keep Flex out of Korea, ’cause you know he drop bomb”); Jay-Z dropping another classic slab of his “elder statesman of hip hop” poetics (“We on that Norman Mailer shit/ In search of the true, even if it goes through Taylor Swift” HA!); and a gospel choir upgrading the original’s tribal chants to such three-dimensional-like levels, they sound like they’re going to bust through the speaker at any moment.

But neither one of those excellent enhancements can compare to what happens at the 3:16 mark, when Swizz Beatz emerges out of nowhere with his requisite “Showtime!!” exclamations, urging West to “take that jacket off and go crazy on ‘em” with a sudden beat switch to the forever-undeniable industrial clubfloor churn of Snap!’s 1990 smash “The Power”. And “go crazy” West does, going in on a breathless forty-bar verse in which he references crucifixion, compares himself to Michael Jordan, spins some Donny Hathaway to soundtrack memories of former loves, and, touchingly, states how much of a dream come true sharing a track with “big brother Jay” is.

Give this man a “‘Power’ clap” round of applause for this one. He deserves it.

Dark Twisted Fantasy (the album formerly known as Good Ass Job) drops November 16th.

Kanye West – Power (Remix) (feat. Jay-Z & Swizz Beatz)

DL: “Power (Remix)” (alt)

BONUS DL: Snap! “The Power (7″ Version)” (alt)

A blues-rock take on Jay-Z’s “99 Problems” doesn’t sound like the most necessary thing to exist, but once the weighted, banjo-aided stomp to this semi-cover of the track by curious Roc Nation signee Hugo drops, any trace of exasperation towards just the idea of this will quickly subside.

Beck and Jack White are just a couple of the many names that will boil to the brain’s surface while listening to Hugo’s rambling, slightly addictive and “sure-to-soundtrack-the-ending-credits-to-True Blood-one-day” “Problems”, and while we aren’t completely sure we could handle an entire album’s worth of these “gangsta rock” novelties, knowing that Jigga was intrigued enough by this cat to sign him up has definitely piqued our interest in what’s to come once his debut album (Old Tyme Religion) drops later this year.

As bonus love, catch The Prince of Ballard‘s riDONKulously awesome Dap Kings-featured remix of “99 Problems” below (alongside another PoB favorite…just because):

BONUS DL: Jay Z & The Dap-Kings “99 Problems (Prince of Ballard Remix)” (alt)

BONUS BONUS DL: Rye Rye & M.I.A. “Bang (Prince of Ballard Remix)” (alt)

Hoping to finally put to rest all those “Satan-worshipping” conspiracy theories that have sprinkled the World Wide Web for years, Jay-Z pulls off one of his strongest verses in a minute, easily stealing the show as guest star on the Rick Ross/ Teflon Don cut “Free Mason”.

Calling out the rumors as the work of…who else?…haters, Jay sharply rips into his ever-present detractors, his rhymes edged with a seething undertone, though he avoids completely losing his cool: “Hear me clearly/ If y’all niggas fear me/ Just say y’all fear me/ Fuck all these fairy tales/…Bitch I said i was amazing/ Not that I’m-a mason”. Later he boasts: “Bitch I’m red-hot/ I’m on my third six but the Devil I’m not”.

The rest of The Inkredibles-produced “Free Mason” rolls out as pleasantly lush and soulful as most high-profile Rick Ross tracks do, with Boss Rawse serving a strong intro verse/ hook and John Legend helping heighten the tune’s anthemic purposes in all of his skyward wails (“We knew we was born to do itttt”), but it’s no doubt Jay’s contribution that will make this THE highlight of the Teflon Don set, while also once again re-igniting fan hope that the next Jigga album becomes that filler-less Reasonable Doubt/ The Blueprint-type classic they’ve so longed for.

Teflon Don drops July 20th.

(via)

DL: “Free Mason” (alt)

We’ve never really been all that moved by “Young Forever”. Jay’s hip-hop-ization of the Alphaville ’80′s pop standard “Forever Young” mostly comes across as bland and unnecessary, unless you’re a high school senior searching for a theme song for this year’s prom that is.

Seeing that same record brought to life on the Coachella 2010 stage with a tired-sounding Jay and surprise guest Beyonce subbing in for Mr. Hudson on hook duties though, completely changes our tune.

Mrs. Carter doing her soul-pop diva thing on the intro is amazing unto itself, her dramatic trills, no matter how annoying they might be on her own records, bringing about chills when wrapped around lyrics like “Are you gonna drop the bomb or not?”. But even more special is peeping the usually walled-off superstar couple interacting on the stage, with Be swaying and miming along to her man’s lyrics and Jay shooting giggles back in her direction.

Yeah, we’ll still probably immediately flip the station the second “Young Forever” pops up on the radio, but this performance is one we’ll surely be re-visiting again and again.

DL: “Young Forever (Coachella 2010)” (alt)

Understandably pissed after being left out of what’s become rap’s modern-day Olympics, MTV’s annual Hottest MC’s List, Lupe Fiasco has decided to make sure he makes it on next year’s rankings. This means temporarily backing away from epic, pop audience-targeting fare like this past summer’s blink-and-you-missed it “Superstar”-rewrite “Shining Down” and planting much of his focus on blessing the mixtape-hoarding crowd with stunning lyrical flexes like those found on the Jimi Hendrix-sampling beast “Fire” as well as nearly the entirety of his Thanksgiving Day-premiered set Enemy of The State: A Love Story (found in split version here).

On the teasingly brief State (it tops out around twenty-two minutes), Lupe breathlessly rips through miles and miles of clever pen-and-pad-less spitting atop instrumentals new (Timbaland & Drake’s “Say Something”), not-so-new (Lil’ Wayne’s “Fireman”) and, most intriguingly, non-hip hop (Radiohead’s “The National Anthem”), giving your rewind-button trigger finger plenty of work as you struggle to absorb all the random pop culture references (Street Fighter!! Tiny Toon Adventures!!) and genius-level wordplay trickery expertly embedded throughout his rapid-fire flow.

For us, one of it’s best offerings would have to be Lupe’s take on The Blueprint 3 joint “Thank You”. Not necessarily a highlight because it showcases Fiasco at the top of his freestyle game (though that is a plus), how “Thank You” really grabs us is in it’s pairing of an actual hungry emcee with a purpose against producers Kanye West & No ID’s lush, orchestral loop.

Having such a solid beat support Jigga’s umpteenth dishing of soul-less self-back-patting (at least for the first two verses) felt like a waste of an ill backing track; but that disappointment is quickly reversed the instance Lupe touches down with lines like “I aint the bomb/ I’m the company that got the contract to rebuild during the aftermath/ Have a blast” and this insane closing gem: “I’m the whole world, nigga you’re an island/ And the seas risin’, if I keep shinin’/
You gon’ have to take submarines to the drive-in nowwww”.

DL: “Thank You (Freestyle)” (alt)

Seeing as though Timbaland and Keri Hilson’s attempt to re-create the sexy he-say/ she-say barb over Euro-pop beats magic of “The Way I Are” on her underrated In A Perfect World… single “Return The Favor” ended up being a major flop, it’s not all that surprising that for “Rumors”, their lone collaboration on Timbaland’s Shock Value 2, the duo would take a wildly different approach. What is surprising though, is how much a record that features not only Tim and Keri but also a cameo from Jay-Z, totally stinks.

Over a completely boring spare synth-and-tumbling drum shuffle that feels like it was concocted by a Timbaland protogee rather than the man himself, Keri extends what might have been an okay hook or bridge about dismissing ever-gabbing haters over two verses that fail to keep your attention even a few lines in, while Jay yawns through another forgettable sixteen.

Every few years Timbaland seems to hit these creative droughts where he’s simply re-heating old beats. And right now, he sounds like he’s there again, this time dragging a couple others into his un-inspired funk along the way. We say pass.

DL: “Rumors” (alt)

Back in 2000, Mya kicked off the release of her second album Fear of Flying with the single “Best of Me”, a Jadakiss-featured/ Swizz Beatz-produced midtempo about resisting a thug that managed a peaking of #14 on the R&B/ Hip Hop Singles Chart. Barely remember it? That’s okay, since most will only recall the remix version that would go on to dominate that year’s summer-time airwaves.

Titled “Best of Me (Part 2)” (aww, remember when urban acts had briefly stepped away from the whole ‘remix’ thing as an attempt to make their records sound like blockbuster big screen events?), the “sequel” completely wiped the memory clean of the original, thanks to one of Jay-Z’s hottest cameo appearances (“What’s a little me on top gon’ hurt?/ Maybe a little…”), it’s use of the shuffling beat behind Biz Markie’s classic debut single “Make The Music With Your Mouth Biz” and the accompanying video‘s oh-so-sexy image of Mya in that North Carolina jersey dress (aww, remember THOSE!?!). With all these elements at it’s disposal, and Mya’s featherweight coo as the center, the track quickly garnered kudos as one of the better marriages of hip hop and R&B to ever arise.

Crate-digging remixer Siik (the man behind buttery smoove, soul-bathed re-hauls of “Single Ladies” and “1 Thing”) has taken it in as it latest project, and he succeeds at making it a must-have gem all over again, comfortably underlining the a capella vocals with the instrumental of Slum Village’s biggest hit, 2004′s Kanye West and John Legend-blessed “Selfish” (itself based off a sample of Aretha Franklin’s 1970 #1 “Call Me”).

Lay back and chill with the Mya/ Siik, Slum Village and Aretha Franklin cuts offered below.

DL: “Best of Me (Siik Remix)” (alt)

DL: “Selfish” (alt)

DL: “Call Me” (alt)

With the ‘Net world currently immersed in “new Jay-Z = meh” banter (thanks to the like 52 fine, but mostly underwhelming, maybe-or-maybe-not B3 Jigga tracks that have leaked this past week alone), it’s kinda easy to forget that things didn’t look so depressing waaaay back in January when a likable ditty titled “When The Money Goes” mysteriously bubbled onto the Web.

While it took a minute to figure out whether it was the first taste of the Blueprint junior volume or not (it was later revealed to be nothing more than an American Gangster outtake), what we did know was that we immediately liked it. And how could we not? Backed by crisp R&B-like production that honed in on a champagne glass-clinking, “livin’ the good life” luxuriousness, “When The Money Goes” featured Jay delivering a tight and concise narrative based on the tried-and-true “Can I Get A…” concept: “I know you riding with a nigga through the Gucci store/ All through Prada…but what if I had nada?”.

Hey, it sounded like a surefire hit to us. But somewhere along the line, Jay decided that he didn’t need to cater to radio so blatantly (he’d rather play the cantankerous old fogey role and denounce everything the kids liked, whether it be Auto-Tune or allowing Drake his own verse), so he opted on handing off the track elsewhere. Whatever. In the end, it makes for a nice grab for Fabolous, who adopts the “When The Money Goes” concept and beat, laying down three verses that are so sharp, Jay really isn’t even needed beyond the hook duties he’s reduced to here.

Catch the “Money Goes, Honey Stay” clip below, followed by MP3′s of Jay’s unreleased original and a nice “Jamerican Remix” of “Off That” featuring reggae/ dancehall newcomer Atiba:

DL: Jay-Z “When The Money Goes (Original)” (alt)

DL: Jay-Z featuring Drake & Atiba “Off That (Jamerican Remix)” (alt)

“Welcome to the future”, Jay-Z intros on the latest (ho-hum) Blueprint 3 pre-leak.

And by ‘future’, he means an era where having a “high yellow broad” and a “best white mate” named “Chris” (Martin) and not wasting dough on “making it rain” or rocking rims, Timbs or ‘Cris puts him a cut above the rest. Oh, and slightly generic Timbaland shuffles will rock the clubs while promising “future” mic hopefuls are disappointingly reduced to only hook cameos.

Sssiiiiggghhhh. Something’s definitely not right when the Black Eyed Peas corny glimpse into what will be hot tomorrow sounds more appealing.

DL: “Off That” (alt)