One of my favorite Dj/producers is DJ Muggs, the man behind Cypress Hill’s best music, as well as the multiplatinum evergreen Jump Around, by House of Pain. Muggs’ label is called Soul Assassins, it has a website and a whole lot of musical goodies in free download: vintage mixtapes, demos, previews – the lot. It’s a fantastic example of how Hip hop communities operate, here on the West Coast and elsewhere. A side note: SA isn’t just a record label; among its artists you’ll find Mr Cartoon, tattoo artist extraordinaire, and the photographer Esteban Oriol. This is a true art collective, exactly the way I feel art collectives should be.
One of my favorite flavors of Hip hop (and House too) is when it’s mixed with Jazz, a la Waldeck for example. On the SA website I found this fabulous Jazz/Hip hop mixtape made DJ Solo & Roger Jao. It’s called Jitterbug Driveby, and it features amazing bits, including Iggy Pop, Parov Stelar, Cab Calloway, De La Soul, Basement Jaxx… It’s truly a crosscultural music experience, that will shake your butt while enlightening you on how very diverse music can bounce together very nicely. Dope art for the 21st.
I regret A Tribe Called Quest, talkin’ about Hip Hop.
Their jazzy feel caught me many times, even in their last album, “The Love Movement”. And they were “real hip hop music as it should be” in my opinion.
Another example I remember is the fantastic single “Get To Grips” by Ronny Jordan, back in the mid 90s, or the first “Jazzmatazz” chapter by Guru (the only I own in my collection): all with heavy jazz vibes in it.
grazie sergio, sei un po’ di brainfood!