Review: M-Audio’s Torq Mixlab

Many of you want to get started with digital DJing but can’t afford the Serato price tag. A few years ago M-Audio dropped the Torq Conectiv to answer those prayers. Now they have an even cheaper version for the novice DJ called Mixlab. My friends at The Urban Daily.com took a peak at the package, which retails for about $130, to see if it’s worth your money.

Review: Premier’s Beats That Collected Dust

It’s not rally fair to “review” these beats because even Premier has admitted this is “not his best work.” However, it’s still great to get a glimpse into his mind and to know that even the great ones make “rough drafts” from time to time. These are just my first impressions after hearing the instrumentals and who I think could have used them, if anybody.
JLB

1.Spin Live. The GZA would BODY this. The moans give it a very RZA feel and it’s slower than your typical Premier beat. Definitely too moody for Guru, maybe Jeru? Nah.

2.Sing Like Bilal. Sounds like something meant for a Gang Starr album.
Simple drums with a played bassline. The coolest part is the vocal sample of Lil Fame’s “Sing like b-low.”

3.Blow Horn Joint is just what it sounds like, chopped trumpet over drums. It sounds more like a hook than a beat to rhyme over though. Maybe a ghetto love song but who? MF Doom is just crazy enough to make this work.

4.Pee-An-Oh. So I’m not the only one who gives goofie titles to beats? This one ain’t bad. Another one for Guru with proper mixing and mastering. It sounds a bit hollow but the chops are on.

5.Mysterious. The way it starts I’m just waiting for MOP to come in and light the fuse when the drums come in…but they never do. This is definitely unfinished but the bass line and strings set me up for something potentially bananas. I may play the “Substitution” drums over this just to hear what it sounds like.

6. Dadaa, this is the first one I hear that should just be an instrumental. Nice interlude maybe, but it doesn’t cry out for a voice. The chops are doing all the talking.

7. Dink. Royce. First voice I heard when this came on. Dark piano chop, but not as pervasive as “Pee-An-Oh.” Change up is nice.

8. B-Line. This is a little softer than the others. I could actually hear Eric Roberson singing over this. That would be an ill collab. If not a singer then maybe Mos Def. Wait, he sangs, too. Shweet.

9.Trackhorn. The most “complete” of the tracks thus far. Drums hit hard and horn chop has a nice melody. I’d speed it up just a little bit and give it to SkyZoo.

10.Waaaa. I love the way this starts. The melody is a beautiful, echoing mess that can only be tamed by some wicked drums. “Long Red” was a great choice but my lazy ass would have just looped it instead of trying to chop it in.

11. Droop. Niiiice. I can hear him scratching in some loud MOP vocals for a hook. Of course it needs a change up, etc. but I’d throw a Kool G. Rap or Nas acapella over this in a heartbeat to see how it sounded.

12.The Original Represent. “WOOOOW,” Is all I have to say. This sounds so bare compared to the original, just drums and a bassline. I appreciate it as a piece of history and just knowing where it ended up raises all of these questions. I really want to ask Premier how he got from this to the finished product with the Thief of Baghdad sample.

CD REVIEW: SKILLZ, THE MILLION DOLLAR BACKPACK

Shaquan Lewis aka Skillz ain’t mad no more. In fact, he sounds content with his place in hip hop on his new album, The Million Dollar Backpack. The album marks Skillz’ first release since 2005’s Confessions Of A Ghostwriter. His first CD, From Where??, was an undergound favorite in 1996 with a hit single that (that coincidentally inspired the name of this here website you’re reading) “The Nodfactor.”

There’s no doubt that Skillz is an immensely talented rapper, capable of amusing punchlines and engaging storytelling. But there is a big difference between doing a yearly “Rap-up” over someone else’s beat and putting out a project of your own. So what is Million Dollar Backpack really worth?

Backpack begins with Skillz tracing the journey of the backpack in hip-hop, from Buckshot to Kanye, over a mellow bassline and rimshots courtesy of DJ Jazzy Jeff (and maybe Al Green but we’ll let you all fight over it). But the difference between his 16-bar blitzkriegs on other people’s projects (ie “One MC, One DJ”) is that Skillz is more focused on concepts that punchlines for his own album. And for the most part the producers match his intensity note for note.

On “So Far, So Good” Usef Dinero gives Skillz and Common a lilting piano to reminisce on their place in hip hop and on the hilarious “My Phone” Fusion Unlimited provide the jazzy soundbed for Skillz “dreams of calling an Hollywood chick” style narrative. On “Hold Tight,” Skillz and Black Thought of the Roots rip a horny, pounding beat from ?uestlove and James Poyser and on the inspirational “I’m Gon Make It” Bink! wraps some organ notes around some frantic cymbal crashes matching Skillz Redbull-infused recollections of his childhood. “Preachin To the Choir” may not invoke the “oh shit” factor of stories like “Imagine” but it comes pretty damn close.

But the battle-rapper in Skillz is not dead. The Kwame-produced “Sick” is an epic brag rap where Skillz tells listeners just how long he’s been a one-man quarantine. Over what are probably the hardest kicks on the CD Skillz brags that “he was sick before Ye’ and Swizz Beatz knew how to chop them drums…” and on “Don’t Act Like You Don’t Know” has Skillz and Freeway spitting vicious verses over a “What We Do” sound-a-like produced by Orthodox and Ransum.

Unfortunately, some tracks feel like mixtape material–good without leaving a lasting impression. Filler like “Yeah You Know It” just drag down the proceedings and Skillz falters when he forces the R&B hand. He feels out of place like Buckshot at a P Diddy over the breathy hook and conga drums of “(For Real) He Don’t Own Me” and and the Jake One produced “Where I’ve Been.”

That said, the best tracks on Backpack are some of the best tracks I’ve heard this year, and prove that Skillz still deserves our attention in 2008. No matter what his backpack costs his flow is worth way more than 50 Cents any day.

Aaron Matthews

CD Review: J-Live’s Then What Happened?

Disclaimer, this is not an objective review which is why it’s taken so long to write it. I know J-Live, have spoken to him on many occasions. I only even knew this CD was coming out because I called him on his phone to ask him what he was up to. If that’s a little too honest for ya’ll, tough.

Anyway, I’ve always admired J as a lyricist but this review is about the beats. To this day All of The Above sits as my favorite of his projects because the beats complemented his intricate word play. Like many of you I was not blown away by the instrumentation on The Here After (with the exception of the jazzy “Listening” and guitar-flavored “Harder “) and was intrigued at his explanation of what happened. I copped the Reveal The Secret EP and was extremely pleased with the sample heavy, scratch-laden soundscapes he got from the likes of Jazzy Jeff, Da Beatminerz, etc. “The Incredible” and “Feel Like Spittin” were on constant rotation in my iPod until I could get my hands on Then What Happened?

Now the good side of Then What Happened? is that it is a 1000% percent improvement over the beats on The Here After. The xylophones and scratches on “It Don’t Stop” go great with the drums and the melancholy rhodes and trumpet on “The Last Third” are a fitting conclusion to that series. As for head nodding ear candy the CD doesn’t get better than “The Understanding” and “The Upgrade.” They come closest to the energy of the EP and gave the sub woofers in my truck a nice workout. A close third is DJ Spinna’s “We Are!” with its soulful moans and claps from “Long Red.”

Somewhere in the middle “Simmer Down” “Be No Slave” and “The Zone” do their part to keep the party going. But unlike the above cuts they haven’t migrated into my roadtrip playlists on their own merit. Nevertheless the drums and claps on “The Zone” are ripe for cutting and “Simmer Down” could be ill in an indie movie soundtrack.

Bad side? There really isn’t a “bad” side, just songs I could have lived without. Maybe a lil too subdued or left of center the beats on “Ole,” “One to 31″ and “What You Holdin” didn’t have much replay value for me. And the drums on “You Out There” were just too weak and the synths sounded way too artificial.

I personally think there were cuts from the EP that should have made the final CD so what I’ve done is created a wish list of what is my ultimate J-Live CD, Reveal What Happened, made up of cuts from Then What Happened ? and Reveal The Secret in this sequence:

1) It Don’t Stop

2) Feel Like Spittin

3) We Are!

4) The Understanding

5) The Last Third

6) Red Light Green Light

7) The Upgrade

The Incredible

9) The Zone

10) Practice (The Magnificent Remix)

And for someone with as much to say as J I wouldn’t have minded a skit/interlude or two to weave it all together. Maybe excerpts from an interview with a certain website:) Peace Justice.

Jerry L. Barrow