Mixtape Monday: Familiar Faces

November 9th, 2009

Shael Riley and the Double Ice Backfire

This month’s mixtape is a week late, but nothing short of awesome. It features some familiar faces, several remixes and a downloadable video. Enjoy… and show the artists some love with some comments

1. thekeenone – Hit that Shit (I’m no pothead… but keen, Ill Bill, and B-Real are)

2. BenKenoB – Party Joint (Runner up in RemixThis! Hit that Shit)

3. thekeenone – Hit that Shit Frozenmammoth Remix (Winner of RemixThis! Hit that Shit)

4. the85bears – Meshac (Da Bears make sweet melodies in this track)

5. the85bears – Meshac Alexander Lowery Mix (Runner up in RemixThis! Ditka Style)

6. the85bears – Meshac Second Reality Remix (Winner of RemixThis! Ditka Style)

7. Shael Riley and the Double Ice Backfire – Chinese Ninja Warrior (Incredible cover of The Immortals classic MK-inspired tune)

8. CookBook – Molly Ringwald (An ode to everyone’s favorite 80’s redhead hottie)

9. Cook & Uno – Let it Go (Another hot track from Cook & Uno)

10. K. Flay – Love in this CLUB MED (My wife’s favorite track from MASHed Potatoes)

11. Tunc Ak – zigZag (Electronic music for my readers with robot ears)

12. JustMe – Kentucky Chrome (My favorite JustMe track)

13. Venia – World All Your Own (Spirit Filled HC by my new favorite hardcore act, Venia)

14. Weatherbox – Ask My Flashlight (Winner of sticker contest announced this week!)

15. BONUS VIDEO: the85bears – Snares (You can also watch the video, here)

K-Flizzle’s Mix-Tizzle

September 25th, 2009

thepaintedman rates this: ★★★★★★★★☆☆

K.Flay_URB_2

K. Flay, Hip Hop’s best kept secret, just released a hot FREE mixtape (available at her website) to wet our proverbial whistles for her debut full-length album. Frequent Nerdcore collaborator who has also worked with Del and Zion-I (among others) uses this release to demonstrate her production, rapping, and singing chops. Taking popular songs from all types of genres, K. Flay put together 11 tracks and a 12th bonus track where she intertwines great beats with familiar hooks and showcases her vocals for all the folks who are new to the Suburban Rap Queen.

I first got diggin’ on Ms. Flay when I heard “Other People’s Property” from The Digital Gangster LP, then I hear her on other Lars tracks, and I got my first full taste just a few weeks ago when I picked up the Single and Famous EP. Then a last week I was clicking through my On Demand music videos and saw a Zion-I video featuring K. Flay called “Coastin’”. After this, I was hooked, just in time to see MC Lars tweet about her mixtape… I immediately downloaded it.

The mixtape, as all good mixtapes do, works best as a complete product, but I do have a few favorite tracks.

The opener, “ON the bridge” immediately catches me with the RHCP sample it utilizes as the primary backing track. Flay’s flow on top of the track demonstrates her ability to chill out the listener with a sing-song rap delivery, almost like a female version of my favorite MC, Pigeon John. “boom boom pow KUNG FU” uses a cool sample of a kid saying just that with a well crafted computer drum loop to set up a perfect backdrop for her to crank up her showing of her MC skills. On “paper planes & SPITBALLS”, K. Flay chops ups MIA’s “Paper Planes” and brings MC Lars on board for a verse. Solid track, which is no surprise when considering how solid the entire tape is and that Lars is the best post-punk laptop rapper ever (he told me on Twitter that he was not Nerdcore!).

Flay samples tracks from Kanye, Missy Elliot, and a whole bunch of others. It’s well worth it’s price… and quite a bit more. So do yourself a favor, in fact, two favors:

1. Download the mixtape.

2. Watch this video of Zion-I featuring the Suburban Rap Queen.