I've been getting up earlier and earlier since the semester finished; which is odd since I should be taking advantage of the open days and sleeping-in. Today I went to the newsstand down the street, bought the paper, came home, and made coffee with my French press--for that extra "umph." If you don't own a French press, do yourself a favour and pick one up. I recommend the Bodum variation, which I own myself:
It's hard to get good coffee living downtown--my old neighbourhood was a lot better on the coffee tip. Also, remember to get medium grind and not fine grind--fine grind will clog up the filter and shoot hot scalding coffee out of the spout--which would be a shitty start to anyone's day.
So I heard the new Royce The 5'9 song today, called "Shake This," produced by Preemo. That makes 2008 the second time a high-profile rapper has used a David Axelrod sample. (Okay, Royce isn't "high profile" per se, but he isn't really doing the indie circuit anymore--a middle ground rapper I guess.) This summer Lil' Wayne recorded an interesting concept/b-side curiosity, "Dr. Carter," off of The Carter III. Produced by Swizz Beatz, the song sampled Axelrod's "Holy Thursday," from his incredible 1968 Songs Of Innocence LP. That particular LP has been a favorite of mine since the late 90s, when vinyl re-issues of deep funk, soul, and rare b-movie soundtracks began filling record store bins; shedding light on once rare and sought-after sample sources.
The new Royce track has Preemo chopping Axelrod up in the MPC 60, keeping most of the triumphant strings intact while beefing-up the drums. And yeah, Royce's verses are a little cheese-ball at times, but it's still cool to hear David Axelrod getting burn in '08, and to have another collaboration between the Detroit emcee and seminal New York producer. Also, did you know that David Axelrod is a top advisor to President Obama? Only this Axelrod wasn't signed to Capital records in the late-60s.
Here is the new Royce video. It somehow manages to avoid the usual bent of contemporary rap videos, although it's still take-it-or-leave-it:
Here is the original sample:
These last two songs feature Axelrod's "Holy Thursday" sample, from the same Songs Of Innocence LP. I'm not going to post it. Go find it yourself, jerks.
Weezy rapping over Axelrod on "Dr. Carter," produced by Swizz Beatz. I like how he sheds some light on the craft of emceeing--to which 90% of Lil' Wayne fans don't give a fuck about:
Finally, my favorite rap song that uses Axelrod: Artifact's 1994 "C'mon Wit Da Git Down (Remix)" ft. Busta Ryhmes, produced by Buckwild. Can't deny the freshness. I love Buckwild, he's defintely in my top 5 NY producers. This shit makes me want to thrown on an old Jansport and go tagging! Check it:
