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Soft Serve – A Summer Mix

The homie Chop Steak drops another mix just in time for the first weekend of summer! A smoothed out mix with the feeling of a cold creamsicle on a hot summer day. Oh yea!

Tracklisting

1. Goapele – Different f. Mos Def
2. Petey Pablo – He Spoke To Me
3. Beatnuts – Get Funky
4. Bishop Lamont – Right
5. Dilated Peoples – Worst Comes To Worst
6. Q-Tip – You
7. Zion I – Boom Bip
8. Freddie Gibbs – Ghetto
9. Redman – Tonight’s Da Night
10. Foreign Exchange – Raw Life f. Joe Scudda
11. Pete Rock – Queen f. AG
12. Common – Real Nigga Quotes
13. Johnson & Jonson – Told Me
14. People Under The Stairs – Days Like These
15. Cam’ron – Like Shiiit
16. Pharcyde – She Said (Jay Dee Remix)
17. Ludacris – Good Relationships f. Snoop Dogg & Nate Dog
18. The Game – Old English
19. Lil’ Wayne – Mo’ Fire
20. Three 6 Mafia – Da Summa

Artwork by The Honest Ape

Right before SXSW I finished this project up for Chop Steak. A pretty simple CD design but the steak CD is then wrapped up in butcher paper, with a faux carniceria label with a QR code that directed you to Chop Steak’s website. Some of yall were lucky enough to get physical copy, if not you can still listen to and download his latest beat tape. Holler at Chop Steak if you’re interested in working with him.

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Chop Steak Motel – The Day After Valentine’s 2010 Mix

Cupid’s arrow even hits my studio now and then, so I decided to bring y’all a little Valentine’s Day mix Chop style. It’s a few of my favorite hip hop songs, mostly album cuts, B-sides and mixtape tracks, on the subjects of love and sex. They’re sometimes sweet and sometimes ignorant, but always excellent. Hope y’all had a fantastic Valentine’s Day nd and even better trip to the clinic this morning. And remember, Chop still loves you.

Cover Designed by The Honest Ape

Tracklisting
1. Mannie Fresh – Not Tonight 0:00
2. Scarface – High Note 1:45.625
3. T.I. – Let’s Get Away f. Jazze Pha 4:19.928
4. Murs & 9th Wonder – Silly Girl 6:35.869
5. Devin The Dude – Fa Sho f. Odd Squad 8:43.297
6. Ghostface Killah – Yolanda’s House f. Method Man 11:02.238
7. De La Soul – Special f. Yummy Bingham 13:01.666
8. Lil’ Wayne – Hoes f. Mannie Fresh 15:18.146
9. Sean Price – Bye Bye 17:28.209
10. The Game – Wouldn’t Get Far f. Kanye West 19:57.675
11. Jaylib – Starz 22:00.388
12. Clipse – So Fly (Now We’ve Had Her) 23:48.048
13. Slum Village – Hood Hoe 25:59.776
14. Little Brother – Slow it Down f. Darien Brockington 28:10.707
15. Bishop Lamont – All I Dream About 30:41.583
16. Notorious B.I.G. – One More Chance (Album Version) 32:48.165
17. Big Pun – I’m Not A Player 34:30.105
18. Foreign Exchange – Something To Behold f. Musinah 36:42.000
19. Natural Four – Try Love Again 38:58.169

The homie Chop Steak has a great write up of the best albums of the decade. Check out the first part of the write up, 11 through 20 and 1 through 10 on ChopSteakMusic.com. The Youtube playlist above is a song from each of the albums, sit back and listen to the best from 2000-2009.

	Benny Blue The Meaux Project S/R, 2009 Rated 3 out of 5

Listen to MC Eiht – Thuggin’ It Up Meaux Remix

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Benny Blue -  The Meaux Project Side A
Benny Blue -  The Meaux Project Side B

This double-length album is a collection of remixes from Pittsburgh, PA producer, Benny Blue. He is with the Steel Town Sounds crew, a collective of Pittsburgh producers.  For this effort, he has taken a collection of diverse hip hop and R&B tracks and remixed them using a distinctive jazz, funk, and R&B-sampling sound.  Overall, the tracks are mostly breezy and understated, with a few having a higher energy.  In some cases, they fit the tracks perfectly.  In others, though, they lack enough punch to match the vocals.

After a brief intro, the album gradually eases into a stutter-stepping version of Detroit MC Royce Da 5’9″‘s Hip Hop.  With just piano chops and drums, the track is very sparse and light.  It works decently, but leaves the listener wishing there was a bit more to grab onto.  This seems to set the trend for the early part of the set.  Kanye’s We Major is still piano driven and jazzy, but has a bit more meat to it.  Again, though, something feels like it is missing.  He finally hits his stride two tracks later, on a funky reprise of California hardcore rapper, MC Eiht’s Thuggin’ Out.  Here, the understated nature of his production becomes an asset, lending a smoothed-out west coast vibe to the track’s tough rapping.  On the following track, however, the haunting track for Busta Rhymes’ club banger Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Can See.  That sets the pattern for the rest of the first disc.  He does however, do a first rate job on Slum Village’s Selfish, lending the track a cool Robin Thicke vibe that would sound at home on a lazy Sunday afternoon drive.  The second disc picks the energy up just a bit though.

After a long intro with some interesting found movie audio and an awkward remix of Rich Boy’s Throw Some D’s, side C gets into the best few tracks of the whole set.  Mos Def’s Summertime is another lazy groove, but with a fuller, soulful sound.  Like the Slum Village track, it is perfect for Mos’ raps.  Diddy, Loon, and Usher’s I Need A Girl gets a light, funky treatment, and  Pussy Cat Doll, Nicole Scherzinger’s Supervillain is a really nice Latin disco bounce for the roller rink.  Method Man & Busta’s What’s Happening is the one of the higher-energy tracks on the set, with a spare funky bassline and syncopated drums.  After this, the album again recedes into slightly too light territory.  Masta Ace’s INC Ride and AZ’s Doe Or Die are decent, but not terribly memorable.

This double album has it’s share of high points.  Where it fails, however, it errs on the side of too sparse and light.  Still, the best tracks definitely make it worth a spin.

Chop Steak is an Austin, TX hip hop and R&B producer.  He also has his own blog.