Archive for Music

Random Dancehall Blends

June 12, 2008 / / No comments

Going out by request to my man Brek One, here’s a couple of dancehall blends I use in the club or have used on various mixtapes in the past. The “Under Mi Sensi” blend with “Presidential” still gets a great response on the club to this day, despite being a bit off key. The “Hyot Gal Today” jawn is GLARINGLY out of key, but I still think it sounds kind’ve cool. The beat is such a monster. “Trapstar” is one of those anthemic beats that gets me everytime and while I hardly ever play the OG “Trapstar” or this remix in the club, it is definitely one of my favorite “IM WASTED AND THIS IS MY LAST SONG” joints to drop late night. Lastly, in a much different vein is a bit of a true school anthem for rap nerds: I’ve always loved Diamond D’s Axelrod-jacking “Hiatus (Remix)” and Beenie Man has a history of sounding great over these true school boom bap beats.

As always, thoughts are appreciated.

Mr. Vegas ft Alozade, Hollow Point “Under Mi Sensi” /
Young Bloodz “Presidential” (Emynd Blend):
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Sean Paul and Mr Vegas “Hyat Gal Today” /
Mike Jones “Mr Jones” (Emynd Blend):
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Elephant Man “Keep It Movin'” /
Young Jeezy “Trapstar” (Emynd Blend):
DOWNLOAD

Beenie Man “Heights of Great Men” /
Diamond D “Hiatus (Remix)” (Emynd Blend):
DOWNLOAD

-e

Philly Love Volume 1: Philly Favorites Mixtape

June 10, 2008 / / 5 comments


Click For Detail
Photography on Cover Images by Michael Penn

Linked below is a pretty thorough mix of Philly rap that Bo and I did that reaches from Cool C and the Tuff Crew, through the State Property and Roc years, all the way up to new-comers like Joey Jihad and Meek Millz. We completed this about two years ago so there isn’t much new stuff, and it’s really impossible to be exhaustive when making mixes like this–you’re bound to leave someone disappointed with what’s been included and what’s been excluded. But, that being said, since we never wound up doing anything with this mix and we’re both still really happy with it, we figured we might as well post it on the internets for the world to download.

Big shout outs to Cosmo Baker who was a big influence on this mix (he was the reason we put “40 Barz” up on this ish). I know he’s been talking about working on a Philly rap mix of his own for several years now and Lord knows if he ever completes it, it’ll be light-years better than this one. Hopefully you’ll enjoy this though. By the way, yes, we know the Krown Rulers are from Camden.

Philly, stand up!

Philly Love Volume 1:
Mixed By Emynd & Bo Bliz
DOWNLOAD (divshare)
DOWNLOAD (megaupload)

1. Tuff Crew “Going the Distance”
2. Freeway ft. Beanie Sigel and Jay-Z “What We Do”
3. Cool C “Down To The Gristle”
4. RAM Squad  “Rough And Rugged”
5. Ms. Jade ft. Peedi Crakk and Freeway “Pocket Full Of Bullets”
6. Schooly D “Saturday Nite”
7. Joey Jihad “Freestyle”
8. Jay-Z ft. Beanie Sigel “The R.O.C.”
9. Graham Nash “Chicago”
10. Beanie Sigel “The Truth”
11. Jakk Frost “Philly Love”
12. Jewelz (Allen Iverson) “40 Bars”
13. Freeway ft. Young Gunz “Full Effect”
14. Oschino “Down Too Long”
15. Reef The Lost Cauze “I Can’t Begin To Tell You”
16. Gillie Da Kid “Holla Back”
17. Re-Up Gang (Ab-Liva and Sandman)  “Re-Up Anthem”
18. High & Might ft. Rasheed and Baby Blak “Open Mic Night”
19. Rasheed (Maylay Sparks) ft. Chief Kamache “Jungle Book”
20. Beanie Sigel ft. Omillio Sparks “Tales Of A Hustler”
21. Young Gunz ft. Omillio Sparks “Take It How You Want It”
22. The Roots “Respond React”
23. Meek Millz “Hate It Or Love It Freestyle”
24. Krown Rulers “32nd St. Down”
25. Peedi Crakk “Fall Back”
26. E. Ness “My Hood”
27. Beanie Sigel “Why Wouldn’t I?”
28. Tuff Crew “My Part of Town”
29. Peedi Crakk “My Part of Town Freestyle”
30. The Miracles “Nowhere To Go”
31. State Property “Nowhere To Go”

Shoot Out Riddim

June 9, 2008 / / One comment

Photobucket

This is a heater to run during your crunk/reggae sets. It is a good tempo for some dancehall, because a lot of reggae around this BPM is sleepy.

I’m giving you the Buju version but I recommend the Demarco and Mavado versions also.

SCOOP DAT!!!

Had a great weekend, shout out to everyone who made that shit happen in NH, Boston, and Toronto.

Peace.

Emynd “Sexual Healing (Second Line Bounce Remix)”

June 8, 2008 / / 12 comments

Most of y’all that know me know that I’ve been really into New Orleans music recently, specifically Bounce and Second Line jazz band stuff (there’s a good Wikipedia entry on Second Lines). If you get in my car, there’s a good chance I’m listening to one of Peacachoo‘s “Bounce Down” compilations, a Hot 8 Brass Band CD, or some random classic Bounce tracks. While the more “original” Bounce tracks are the ones I really love, a really important part of Bounce music is remixing non-Bounce songs into Bounce versions. This is particularly popular with R&B cuts. The “Bounce Down” compilations are full of R&B Bounce remixes, and a slew of other folks like DJ Money Fresh and DJ Lil’ Man have put out several CDs of R&B Bounce remixes. I’ve been bumping the Hot 8 Brass Bands’ version of “Sexual Healing” in the whip quite a bit and I thought it might be cool to make a Bounce remix out of it, especially since I’m such a huge fan of Bounce songs that have NOLA Brass Band samples (i.e. Ricky B’s “Y’all Holler” etc). I found the Marvin Gaye acapella and threw it on top of the horns, added the Brown Beat and that Triggerman and concocted the below. I’m not really planning on putting this out on vinyl or anything, so I thought I’d circulate it on the net.

Let me know your thoughts!

Emynd “Sexual Healing (Second Line Bounce Remix)”:
DOWNLOAD (Zshare)

-e

Federation Mix

June 3, 2008 / / No comments

Ok so philly heads know Kenny Meez from when he was rocking Sunday nights down at Filo’s. I’m sure he was active before that, but those nights became infamous to a lot of people for a variety of different reasons. I’m gonna have to drop a “real heads know the deal” right here. Anyways, Kenny is still doing his thing with Federation Sounds and they got a new mix you can grab over at their myspace. They teamed up with Alliance (Wayne Marshall etc.) for the tape so its extra official. If you want to grab it straight off this blog you can do that here.

This is that ol’ highly recommended shit right here.

Tru Story

Trash Menagerie Post on Emynd

June 3, 2008 / / No comments

The homie Markus over at Trash Menagerie Blog was kind enough to put together a profile on me (emynd). Thanks, dude!

Peep it here

-e

Reef the Lost Cauze Songs with Emynd

May 30, 2008 / / No comments



My man Reef The Lost Cauze is quite easily one of the best rappers in Philly. Dude is just a pro. His delivery is really flawless; technically and rhythmically, he often does some fairly interesting stuff; conceptually, he’s pretty forward thinking and isn’t afraid to take some chances; and even though dude can freestyle his ass off, he’s one of the few rappers I’ve ever known that can really translate that freestyle ability into solid written work as well. Dude also just knows how to make really good, cohesive songs: an art that is completely lost on the crops of young rappers in Philly that kill the DVD circuit but sound horrible on record. The one thing I love about working with Reef is that he’s never disappointed me on any of my beats. A lot of times when I’ve given beats to rappers, they give me back a finished song that I have to pretend to like and compromise my vision of the song. But that doesn’t happen with Reef. I give him a beat, and he rips it. It’s unfortunate that we don’t work more together (and hopefully we will in the future), but these 5 songs below are some classic ish that I’m proud to say I’ve done with him.

I still fairly frequently play “Look at the Sun” in the club and Reef’s interplay with the hook is really well done. His verses are hilarious and clever as eff, and I like that he toned down the aggression of his flow to just ride this beat. “This Is My Life” is a great introspective song where Reef tells the engaging story of his life and burgeoning rap career. I’m really happy with the beat and Reef plays with the many changes in the beat really well. You can tell that he wrote really closely with the beat and didn’t just throw some old lyrics on top of a track. I love the beat on “Intro” and Reef murders it. He sounds so good on the piano. I wish “The Puzzle” was mixed better because I think the song would bang in the clubs. “Main Event” is just a good ol’ fashion “I WILL KILL YOU WITH RAPPINGS” song. Anyway, he recently put out a really solid mixtape and we’re currently in talks about doing some more stuff in the future. Here’s to hoping we both find the time to make it happen!

Also, dude is like my favorite drinking partner ever.

Reef “Look at the Sun” (Produced by Emynd):
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Reef “This Is My Life” (Produced by Emynd):
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Reef “Intro” (Produced by Emynd):
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Reef “The Puzzle” (Produced by Emynd):
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Reef “Main Event” (Produced by Emynd):
DOWNLOAD

-e

Serengeti Songs Produced by Emynd

May 22, 2008 / / No comments

Serengeti is one of the few underground rappers I find interesting these days. Mind you, this isn’t really because I’m anti-underground rap in any real way, it’s just hard to find the time to find this stuff when my focus has been club-related stuff for so long. But, he’s really a talented, charismatic, and fun rapper. The strength of his songs is not lyrical (though he’s certainly not a bad writer by any stretch of the imagination), nor is his rapping technically very impressive in the virtuosic Bun-B/Rakim/KoolGRap/Micah9 type of way (though he’s certainly technically sound enough to enjoy). What’s remarkable about Serengeti is the characters he portrays in his songs. They’re usually over-the-top caricatures of prototypical character types, but he does them in really funny and equally convincing ways (whether we’re talking about a middle aged Chicagoian who loves Chicago sports and bratwurst, or a teenage girl that wants to go to a concert). He really knows how to sound good on a beat as well–almost like he was a singer in a previous life or something. Whatever the case, I’m really happy with the songs I’ve done with the guy and wish I could find the time to do some more with him. I believe he’s recently signed with Anticon records which is kind’ve funny because the Anticon dudes are dudes I produced for way back in the day before going a completely different direction with my tastes and production. Anyway, here’s a bunch of songs I did with Serengeti. I like them all, but I think the clear stand out is “I Don’t Know.” There’s a really good video for it on youtube as well which is linked below.

Serengeti “I Don’t Know” (Produced by Emynd):
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VIDEO

Serengeti “Critters” (Produced by Emynd):
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Serengeti “Don’t Look At Jules (Emynd Remix)” (Produced by Emynd):
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Serengeti “Teenager” (Produced by Emynd):
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Serengeti “Jim Duggin” (Produced by Emynd):
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-e

Lunch Break Beats #6: Aaliyah “Are You That Somebody (Emynd’s Lollipop Blend)”

May 22, 2008 / / 4 comments



Emynd’s Lunch Break Beats is a series of club-friendly blends, edits, or beats Emynd produced on his laptop (usually while sitting in his car on some random side street in Wilmington, D-ware just after eating his WaWa lunch) while on his lunch break at his 9 to 5.

The whole series can be found here.

LUNCH BREAK BEATS #6:

Aaliyah “Are You That Somebody (Emynd’s Lollipop Blend)”

If you missed it, valedictorian homie (and resident hockey dork expert) CAPS posted a really thorough, tasteful, and listenable Aaliyah mix over at the Fader blog, full of Caps’s favorite jams ranging from the obvious to the obscure. May she rest in peace. I was reading Caps’ description of his mix on his blog and noticed a side note where he says the following:

Note: I made a very deliberate choice to kind of put myself in the background here, aka no C-C-C-CAPS!!!!! drops, no Aaliyah vox over the new Lil Wayne beat, no super scratchiti defacing the Are U That Somebody instrumental.

Well, a couple days earlier, I had thrown the “Are You That Somebody” acapella on top of “the new Lil Wayne beat” and his mix helped me muster up the energy to post it on the blizzog. I know there’s already way too many damn Lollipop-related mixes out there, and really, nothing is touching Timb’s production on the OG “Are You That Somebody,” but I think this works. And for the DJs, it’s a good way to end the night.

Aaliyah “Are You That Somebody (Emynd’s Lollipop Blend)”:
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-e

Emynd “Back At Your Ass”

May 11, 2008 / / No comments

I’m currently going through tracks, trying to decide what will and won’t be released officially on vinyl over the coming months. I’ve got a bunch of stuff in the pipeline, some of it that is definitely useful, but just not something that I really feel compelled to commit to permanence on vinyl. So, over the next few weeks and months, I will be posting a bundle of these songs that won’t be released on vinyl any time soon. The first is this Club/Party Music track I made using elements from 2 Live Crews “Back At Your Ass” Megamix from their album “Back at Your Ass for the Nine-4”. It’s really simple track, but I think that’s part of what makes it so effective. The deep bass kicks work realy well in the club and I really like the chopped melody. I’ve posted the excellent 2 Live Crew song below as well.

Emynd “Back At Your Ass”:
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2 Live Crew “Megamix” (Back At Your Ass):
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-e

Flo-Rida ft T-Pain “Get Low (Emynd’s Passion Remix)”

May 11, 2008 / / 2 comments

I just realized I never posted this song on this blog. It’s gotten quite a bit of shine on Discobelle and elsewhere on the internets. Just putting it up here for anyone that may have missed it and because that pic above with dudes nips is hilarious.

Flo-Rida ft T-Pain “Get Low (Emynd’s Passion Remix)”:
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-e

SRC “Mad Again (Emynd’s More On the Floor Remix)”

May 11, 2008 / / One comment

Linked below was my first attempt at a remix of SRC’s perfect song “Mad Again.” I don’t think it’s quite as successful as my Bounce remix that ultimately wound up being on the official digital release, but I do like it enough to share with y’all. The idea is fairly similar in that I sampled “Automan” and there’s a Bounce breakdown near the end of the song, but aesthetically, this is quite a bit different from my Bounce remix. For one, it’s much more obviously House inspired with the four on the floor drums and the reverbed House piano that adds the melody on top of the twirling “Automan” synth. It also just feels a whole lot different in mood and uses significantly more of the acapella. The Bounce remix is hard, aggressive, and energetic, while this has a bit more of a smooth and melancholy feel. I do really like the Bounce breakdown in this, but I also think Diplo was wise to advise me to get rid of the pianos and make a full on Bounce song out of it. That being said, I think this song is interesting in its own right and would love to hear some thoughts.

South Rakkas Crew “Mad Again (Emynd’s More on the Floor Remix):
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Once again, purchase my New Orleans Bounce remix of “Mad Again” at Turntablelab right here: COP IT!

DJs, if you’re too broke or don’t want to SUPPORT THE MOVEMENT WITH YOUR $$$, hit me up on the myspace and I’ll get you an MP3.

-e

Cop that Inauthentic NOLA Bounce!

May 8, 2008 / / No comments

I never provided a link to buy my New Orleans Bounce remix of “Mad Again.” You can cop a high quality MP3 or even WAV file right here at Turntablelab. I guess that little check mark means it’s a “pick” or something. Yay!

Once you’re done buying my inauthentic imitation of Bounce music, go and cop all that REAL NOLA Bounce ish, starting with the Shake, Twerk, and Wobble compilation.

Stay tuned for a Mad Decent podcast by yours truly with a bunch of Bounce stuff. It’s going to be sick and hopefully have some special appearances and drops from some heavyweights from outta the NO.

-e

Emynd “Rock This Park”

May 5, 2008 / / 4 comments

When I originally set out to make a Bmore club version of the Blackbyrds classic b-boy jam “Rock Creek Park,” I wasn’t really planning on making it too “hard.” I was kinda just messing around and hoping to make a useful transition record that updated the aesthetic of the OG so it wouldn’t sound terribly out of place when I played it in sets of some of the more bass and drum heavy club stuff I’ve been playing the past several years. But, when chopping the samples up into their parts, the stabbing synth lines were really energetic and forceful, so I went all out and added the cliched Lil Jon “WHAT!”s and some syncopated, menacing “HEY!”s a la Blaqstarr. I know Diplo was opening a lot of his sets with this track about 6 months ago and I’ve gotten a lot of good feedback on it from Scottie B, Blaqstarr, Sega, and big homie Dirty South Joe. It should be released on vinyl on the next Emynd & Bo Bliz EP that will be out this summer. This version is mixed and mastered by DJA but a new mixed and mastered version might appear on the vinyl.

Anyway, hope y’all like it and find it useful.

Emynd “Rock This Park”:
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-e

Kenny Dixon Jr vs Emynd “I Should’ve Known (Emynd’s Party Break)”

May 3, 2008 / / One comment

The original of Kenny Dixon Jr.’s “I Should’ve Known” is without a doubt one of my favorite house songs ever. The shit is just so soulful and painful, while still grooving real hard. The drums on the OG, however, were preventing me from playing this song out, so when making the Crossfaded Bacon 2008 Mix, I thought I’d whip together a beefed up version with some more traditional house drums. I wound up adding the Rihanna vocal and the Nightcrawlers horn loop just to spicen it up a bit and keep it familiar for folks who aren’t totally into this style of shit. This is by no means a replacement for the OG of this song however. The OG is perfect. In comparison, this is just some random bullshit thrown together.

Whatever the case, I hope you find it useful and enjoy it.

Kenny Dixon Jr vs Emynd “I Should’ve Known (Emynd’s Party Break)”:
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-e

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