The Wu Tang member produced the track Heart Breaker on Game’s recently released free mixtape Purp & Patron but the beat was originally due to be used on R.E.D. the upcoming album from the West Coast rapper. However, due to clearance, the track couldn’t be used and was put on the mixtape. RZA stated:
“We got an offer to have the tracked purchased by someone else…So this is not anything personal, and RZA has nothing but love for Game, but this is business and in all fairness, it would have been cool if they would have just let us know what the intent was, because we began soliciting the track for purchase and its looks like this was a double sale issue when it wasn’t.”
Time will tell what’ll happen. In the meantime, grab the latest installment, Purp & Patron: The Hangoverhere.
Corsica Studios will see a plethora of DJs descending upon their doors on February 5th.
Tiger have teamed up with Get Me! and Reely & Truly for the night which will feature Crossfire favourites Julio Bashmore, Fantastic Mr Fox and Becoming Real as well as the likes of Terror Danjah, Pariah, Shortstuff, Mizz Beats and many more.
Reely & Truly will be projecting films and photography around the venue to ensure eyes are satisfied as much as ears are. Plus, as if that wasn’t enough, the first 200 people through the door get a free Tiger Beer and at just £5 entry, there’s not much you can argue with.
The Game dropped one of the best mixtapes in a quite a while when he released Brake Lights last year and somehow, over the course of nearly 30 tracks here, he seems to have outdone himself again. As everyone waits for this new album R.E.D., the LA rapper chucked out Purp & Patron and served another reminder of why he should be considered amongst the current greats.
Going in hard from the very start, an early appearance from Weezy on Soo Woo features some nice brass samples after typical Pharrell production on the Snoop-guested In My 64. The standout track comes in the form of Taylor Gang with Wiz Khalifa this time on team-up duties over one of the best beats I’ve heard in a long, long time, by Che Vicious. Further guest spots include Rick Ross, Jim Jones, Clinton Sparks and even Big Daddy Kane, Doug E Fresh and KRS-One as The Game brings in as many of his mates as he can.
One criticism that’s always levelled at The Game is that he doesn’t really have his own style, he tends to mould himself around the guest rapper that he’s alongside, but this is what makes the new mixtape such a fun ride. He shows a playful side that we’ve never seen before on Children’s Story in a huge homage to Slick Rick and Biz Markie beat, a dimension which is as endearing as it is smile-creating.
Other standout moments include the Biggie-sampling Living Better Now, the DJ Skee mix of Black & Yellow, which has Game joining Snoop and the original MC of the tune Wiz Khalifa for Purp & Yellow, RZA’s guitar-led Heart Breaker and the Travis Barker, Lil Wayne, Swizz Beatz and Rick Ross mammoth Can A Drummer Get Some.
Whilst this is a long old ride, almost two hours worth of hip hop, it whizzes past and showcases Game’s ear for a beat and now undoubted vocal prowess. If this is anything to go by, R.E.D. is going to be one hell of an album.
Starkey has dropped a video for his bassy banger Robot Hands.
The track is taken from his Space Traitor Vol. 1 EP which is out now and proves just why people love the Philly producer so much. Turn the volume up and get read to involuntarily lose your proverbial.
The track Fighting Fire features Jess Mills on vocals and is brand new fire from the producer and continues the excellent work he did with last year’s Foundation album which was on more than one list on our Best Of 2010 feature. The track is released on Digital Soundboy on February 27th.
Erreon Lee
The Day The Game Elevated 2 Free Download
Erreon Lee won’t be a name known to most people reading this. This isn’t being said on any pretentious, we-were-here-first level, it’s just a matter of fact. The young Texan recently got signed by Wiz Khalifa to his Taylor Gang imprint and as a result a score of people have been turned onto the MC. Whether he’s known or not however, this mixtape is a great way to get into him.
A free download over at his site, the 22 track mixtape has its ups and down though the former thankfully vastly outnumber the latter. From the opening track Ignorant Shit, Lee shows his prowess over a laid back, slightly disco-infused beat before slamming down on Tear The Ground which features a deep Southern chain-gang sample on which he boldly states “I don’t need a hook on this beeeeeeeeetch”.
The standout track, Go To Hell, comes fairly only on too, with booming drums marching and skiffling hi-hats slinking along the beat as Erreon declares war on haters. Sure the subject matter might not be the most original, but the ease with which his delivery lays out the vocals is something not many rappers are able to master. The chipmunked vocal which provides the understated backbone of the track before coming to the fore in the chorus is a guaranteed winner.
There are some off moments – no-one wants to hear a remix of Bed Rock and Say Somethin’ is another Drake-a-like track skipper. But when the sunshine-in-a-bottle production of The Wrap Up and the Lady Gaga sampling [yep, you read that right and it’s GREAT] Make Her Say follow the duff tracks, it’s easy to forgive and forget.
Having Khalifa appear on a couple of tracks certainly doesn’t help either with his weed-smoking hombre killing things in his own inimitable way on Boarding Pass Remix and Superstar. Erreon Lee doesn’t come acorss over-awed or overshadowed though, which is arguably the best compliment one could give him. Similar to Wiz, this might not grab you instantly, but after a few listens you’ll be on side, no doubt about it.
Check the video for Go To Hell below and make sure to grab the mixtape, it is free after all!
The Alabama rapper, championed on Crossfire since 2009 [commence trumpet blowing now], has inked the deal which will see him go through the Shady imprint whilst still carrying the Interscope and his own Ghet-O-Vision stamps.
Slaughterhouse, the supergroup containing Joell Ortiz, Joe Budden, Crooked I and Royce Da 5’9, were also signed by Eminem with Royce saying “It’s very exciting for me to reunite with Eminem years after our Bad Meets Evil project together. Slaughterhouse on Shady Records will be a force to reckon with.”
Glassjaw are planning to give away an EP in February.
The band are set to make their Coloring Book EP available to fans who see them on tour next month. To give fans a taster of what to expect, they have made the track Gold available on their site.
Coloring Book follows their Our Color Green collection, which was brought out earlier this year. The band are also working on their new album, which is slated for release sometime this year.
The band, who returned to the line-up that made their debut album Tell All Your Friends, have been working with Eric Valentine on production duties. The album has no set release date, but is expected later this year and will be their first since 2009.
Lower Than Atlantis have released details of their second album, which will be called World Record.
The album will be released on April 4th with the single Beech Like The Tree out on February 14th on Wolf At Your Door Records. The tracklisting is below as well as the video for the single. Boom!
1. (Motor) Way of Life
2. Beech Like The Tree
3. High At Five
4. Uni 9mm
5. Another Sad Song
6. Marilyn’s Mansion
7. Deadliest Catch
8. Bug
9. Up In Smoke
10. Could You? Would You?
11. Working For The Man By Day, Sticking It To The Man By Night
12. R.O.I.
RZA has spoken out on why he’s suing The Game.
Starkey
Breakage
Glassjaw are planning to give away an EP in February.
