VonSwayne is a lover not a fighter…..so to all the ladies I say this……..

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That was Stephen ‘Di Genius‘ McGregor with ‘Don’t Cry’. You should remember his ‘production’ work from the Bad People Riddim we featured in just week #2 of ‘ROTW’ here on mToH. It seems a young 20-something Stephen wasn’t satisfied killing the game from behind the boards. I can only imagine he must have thought to himself…”Stephen if you can be called ‘Genius’ before the ripe old age of 20, why can’t you be called ‘King’ of the dancehall by 25?” I have to say if that’s what young Stephen is thinking then we’re all in for many more years of great music like Don’t Cry. The good part is when he does become ‘King’ then decides to take his talents to South Beach no one in JA will cry. That’s just the next step in dancehall success. Hate, hate, hate, hate, hate….anywho I digress.

The Street Swag Riddim is stuffed to the gills with great artists. You can buy and/or preview the tracks at the evil evil iTunes or Amazon. Take your pick. Before we hit the jump I will give you yet another 2010 banger from Agent Sasco. I have yet to tire of his voice and hopefully the same goes for you cuz pretty much every riddim I come across with him on it gets loaded into the good ol’ blackberry and hence the riddim of the week cue. This is “Lord Have Mercy”. If you can’t catch it, Sasco is singing to a higher power asking him why people hate and to protect him from said hate. This ‘goes hard’ as my guy Seif Al-din would say.

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Kanye claims he will be releasing one track per week from now until Christmas. You can hear one of the first of those releases here posted by my ‘Uncle Steve’. The internet is all a buzz about the track mostly due to Nicki Minaj’s verse. It feels about 60 bars long. Most importantly this track reminds me of  ‘Forever’ by Drizzy Drake. It’s yet another Kanye track and feature that is totally overshadowed by a Young Money/Lil’ Wayne signee. I think we need to start handing Wayne some music industry exec awards for the Young Money team he has assembled.

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If your blog is called year of mixtapes, then the mixtapes should be good. Damn GOOD!! If you are Chrissy Murderbot and you did one mixtape every week for a year ending in May 2010 then you should be applauded and then you should be given a free trip to Disneyworld or something like that. Well thats sort of what Atki2 did for young Chrissy. Atki2′s Karnival inspired mix is one of the most unique I have ever heard from a mixtape. Its also one of 50 or so DOPE mixtapes on Chrissy’s blog. It’s a must check or bookmark (at work or at home). Take a peek at the tracklist and then go in.

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Download mixtape here. <—-Right Click!

Tracklisting:
Bunji Garlin – We Done Dey (Iron Island Refix)
Atki2 & Dub Boy ft. GRina – Flower of Life (Dub / Idle Hands)
Donaeo & The Heatwave ft. Rubi Dan, Capleton, Vybz Kartel, & Danny English – Party Harder (The Heatwave Refix)
DJ Mujava – Please Mugwanti / Sgwejegweje (Out Here)
Magic Fly ft. Ricky Rankin – Those Two Sounds (Mr Benn Remix) (Bastard Jazz Recordings)
Sizzla – Money We A Make (Shaolin Temple Riddim)
Delly Ranx ft. Focus Ryte – Wine It and Climb (Shaolin Temple Riddim)
Joe – Claptrap (Hessle Audio)
Busy Signal – Step Out (Acappella)
Atki2 – Electric Wasp (Dub)
Natalie Storm – Look Pon Me (Acappella)
Hard House Banton – Flonko Bants Bootleg
Pamputae – Wining Master
El-B – Que Pasa Papi (Dub)
Geenius ft. Ms Dynamite – Get Low (Crackish) (Dub)
Donovan “Vendetta” Bennett – Jonkanoo Riddim (Don Corleon)
Ill Blu – Bullion (Hyperdub)
Bunji Garlin – Fire Now (Acappella)
Geiom – Eyl Booty (Berkane Sol)
Rita Indiana – Los Poderes (Dutty Artz)
Sticky ft. Marvin Brown – Too Bad Mine (Steak House special)
Sticky ft. Lady Chann – Eye Too Fast
Papi Sanchez ft. Shabakan – Guayamo o Peliamo
Enur ft. Natasha – Calabria (Ministry of Sound)
Pitbull & Lil Jon -Anthem (Calabria Riddim)
Smutlee – Hot Wuk / Calabria (Smutlee Blend)
Maxwell D – Don’t Care
Sticky ft. Ms Dynamite – Rude Gyal
Rymez ft. Juza – African Air Horn Dance
Ghislain Poirier – Coco Drunk (Ninja Tune)
Vybz Kartel vs Lil Silva – Clarks (DJ Shredah Remix)
Sticky ft. Marvin Brown – Jack It Up
Baobinga & I.D. ft. Rubi Dan – The Future (Dub)
Chief Boima – Techno Rumba (Uproot Andy Remix) (Dutty Artz)
Busy Signal & Machel Montano – Wooeii Gal Wooeii (Juke Boxx)
3 Suns – Give It Up

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Its 1998, I just graduate…em…..high school and head to JA for almost 3 months before college. I remember two things distinctly. The world Cup was in France that summer and our National Team had made it. The second was the sounds of a riddim by a man known to some as Richard Frederick Freeman Stephenson III and to most of the rest of us as Richie Stephens. The Sail Away Riddim could be heard blaring out of any cab that was worth a “Nanny“. The riddim was released on Richie’s own label Pot of Gold and the production was also his own. Talk about a one stop shop, Richie sang on the riddim as well. As a sidenote I found out from Wikipedia (who is never wrong) Richie was the lead singer for Soul II Soul for a while. How cool is that? So in the spirit of O-Gee and the 90′s enjoy the 10 minute mix. I decided to do a mix cuz that’s the only thing that would truly grab the feeling of the parties I experienced during the summer of 98′.

Take a jump for the tracklisting.
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JC Poppe sent us the promo material for Automatic’s upcoming Transistor project and the Milwaukee duo look to have a classic head-boppers album on their hands. A.P.R.I.M.E. and Trellmatic’s debut album is set to drop on August 28th and fortunately those of us unlucky enough not to reside in Milwaukee can pick up the album from the House of Mutants website. (It is a flash site, but pretty well done)

From the site:

The lead single “Once Again” is an amazing jazz infused song that showcases the honest and witty lyrics A.P.R.I.M.E. has become known for. The B-side “Black Gold” has A.P.R.I.M.E. and Trellmatic back together with their House of M brothers for a track laced with venom, dedicated to the mythical evil figure Dr.Wacktagon and all his henchmen that are polluting the music and culture the M so loves.

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Download the single here.

We have O-Gee and the Re-Do parties this weekend, so we are in an even more school state of mind than usual around here. Check out one of the smoothest R&B/Soul cuts ever. Yes, ever!

Wanna fight about it?

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Wale follows up his mixtape about nothing with its logical sequel. The DC rapper makes much better mixtapes than he does albums, and a few years ago that would have been a slight but in these days where an album is only an album if it is backed by a record company’s marketing dollars, we don’t really care about semantics, do we?

Mixed by DJ Omega and can be downloaded hurr. It is well worth it.

Tracklisting:

1. The problem (prod by DJ Omega & Kosmik)
2. The MC (prod by Mark Henry)
3. The soup (prod by Best Kept Secret)
4. The breeze (cool) ft Wiz Khalifa & Tre of UCB
5. The friends n strangers
6. The number won (competition)
7. The eyes of the tiger
8. The war ft Daniel Merriweather
9. The breakup song
10. The work (workin)
11. The black n gold ft Sam Sparro
12. The Manipulation
13. KD Interlude
14. The posse cut (who don’t) ft Fat Trel & Black Cobain
15. The guilty pleasure (no hands) ft Waka Flaka
16. The trip (downtown)
17. The ambitious girl
18. The motivation (be right) ft Dre from Cool & Dre
19. The cloud ft Tiara Thomas
20. The power ft Avery Storm
21. The get away (fly away) ft Northeast Groovers

Bilal has a new LP coming out in Spetember called Airtight’s Revenge and as far as I am concerned its release date could not come soon enough. This track will be on the album although i am unsure whether it is an official single. I do know it is hot, hot, hot!

Restart is produced by Bilal himself alongside and Steve McKie who has worked with Jill Scott and Estelle. Now THIS is modern soul! Are you listening Ne-Yo?

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I am not sure how we’ve gone this long without featuring Luchini (which happens to be the unofficial official anthem of O-Gee) on Throwback Tuesday. If Sonny Cheeba and Geechi Suede (collectively known as Camp Lo) never do another constructive thing in their lives, they will at least have produced one of the biggest and most enduring anthems in hip-hop.

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They still perform around the world and according to this interview are working on an album with Pete Rock!

Pete Rock and Camp Lo!!?! It’s enough to make this hip-hop heart flutter.

This week’s mixtape comes courtesy of the most excellent Potholes in my Blog. It is a mixtape of remixes by the least classifiable group in hip-hop, Digable Planets, mixed by DJ Alex J.

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Download

Tracklisting:

1.Digable Planets-Rebirth of Slick (King Britt Rmx)
2.Digable Planets-Rebirth of Slick instr (DoodlebugftDOR Outtaspacefunkadelic acc)
3.Doodlebug feat D.O.R.-Outtaspacefunkadelic
4.King Britt-Instrumental #18
5. DJ Shadow Feat Blackilicious-Swan lake
6.Ghostface killa feat MF Doom-Angels
7.D.O.C.-Its Funky enough
8.Kai Chi-Got Green
9. DJ Alex J-tribal drums (Doodlebug vox)
10.Butterfly and Doodlebug-Fresh Out
11.J.Period and K’naan -Relationships Lay (Bob Dylan Tribute)
12.Butterfly (Shabazz Palaces)-Sparkles
13.MF Doom-Dead Bent
14.Digable Planets-Brooklyn Sky
15.Young Buck-Bang Bang instr
16.Cee knowledge feat CFO Allstars-These Eyes
17.Black Moon-Buck ‘em Down-Beatminerz instru
(Doodlebug feat D.O.R.-Back in da Daze Accap)
18. DJ Premier-Its All Real instru
19.Chali 2na Feat Talib Kweli-Lock shit down
20.Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth-T.R.O.Y.-They Reminisce Over You instr
21.Talib Kwela & Hi-Tek-Back Again
22.Buster Rhymes-Put ya hands where my eyes can see instr
23.Camp Lo Feat Butterfly-Swing
24.Butterfly (Shabazz Palaces)
25.Sonny Bonoho-Judge Brown
26.J Walk-Soul Vibration
27.Digable Planets-Where I’m From RMX
28. DJ Honda Feat De la Soul-Trouble in the water instru
29.Digable Planets-The May 4th Movement
30.9th wonder-Nightriders instru
Bonus track
31.Doodlebug Feat D.O.R. JBizness,The Tones-Sweet Music

I love stories like this. Of special interest is how the beat for Rosa Parks was originally meant for Bad Boy’s Total. Says Andre 3000:

I actually submitted that beat to Total – ’cause I was going with Keisha from Total around that time – but they couldn’t use it, so we ended up using it.
By the time Aquemini came, I was stretching out as a producer. Big Boi was the family man. He had just had another kid, so he would come hang out at the studio and listen to the beats and make these big hooks. So it was a cool combination.

Read the complete story on Creative Loafing Atlanta

A short while back we had the musical foresight to feature the Cosa Nostra Riddim produced by Ward 21. At that time, the riddim was on its way to making waves across dancehalls near and far. The Ward 21 boys must have undoubtedly been basking in its impending mega-success. I wonder how they must be feeling right now? How would you feel if two dancehall legends came out of retirement just to voice on your riddim? Although that’s not exactly what happened that’s the story I would be circulating if I were them. This year we are seeing a number of historic things happen in the reggae world. Two of the most significant happenings are the return of Shabba Ranks and Spragga Benz to dancehall. While Shabba is still warming his laurels by doing one-off riddim cuts here and there, Spragga is setting to release a full length album and docu-drama entitled ‘Shotta Culture’. As a side note he will be performing at a venue a stone’s throw from where I will be at this weekend and I probably won’t be able to make it…….C’mon ‘Swayne!!! Despite my whackness don’t let that stop you from enjoying what Shabba and Spragga did to the Cosa Nostra.

Shabba Ranks – Nuh Follow

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Spragga Benz – See It Yah

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I am so considerate I decided to give you two riddims this week since last week we skipped ROTW to bring you this Six Pack Feature thingy last Friday. Hit the jump for more reggae goodness.

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