To date, only three rappers have recorded and released music with Olu Dara (Nas's father): Nas, Afrika Bambatta and now our homie Fokis. See below for:
A FREE download of the new song Fokis ft. Olu Dara - "I Wanna Live Good"
FREE BONUS CUTS from Fokis
A Behind-The-Scenes look at Fokis recording with Olu Dara
A two-part interview with Fokis and Olu Dara
Fokis Interviews Olu Dara
Behind-The-Scenes: Fokis, Olu Dara & (Producer) Dahoud Darien
DJ OPHAX, the French Mixtape King, presents Tape Cracker 8 and Tape Cracker 9!...
Tape Cracker 9 (December 6, 2010)
34-track mix from DJ OPHAX, featuring Scarface, Devin the Dude, The Game, Busta Rhymes, Nas, Joell Ortiz, The Lox, Maino, Dr. Dre, French Montana, Sean Price, Consequence, Raekwon, Crooked I, AWKWORD and many more, with production from Boola, Marco Polo, 9th Wonder and The White Shadow!
(Scroll down for 'album' art, tracklist and direct-download link.)
Tape Cracker 8 (December 1, 2010)
33-track mix from DJ OPHAX, featuring Lloyd Banks, Reek Da Villain, M.O.P., Jim Jones, Cam'ron, Skyzoo, T.I., Kanye West, KiD CuDi, Fabolous, Rah Digga, Talib Kweli, Ras Kass, AWKWORD, Kendrick Lamar and many more, with production from !llmind, Dame Grease, Harry Fraud and DJ Premier!
(Scroll down for 'album' art, tracklist and direct-download link.)
01. M. RECK Feat. BISHOP THE GREEK Hard 2 Smile 02. SPICE 1 Feat. SCARFACE & DEVIN DA DUDE Rollin' 03. GAME Kush 04. GEOLANI GRANDZ Feat. AJC She Is Music 2010 (Produced By DRONE BEATS) 05. DJ KAY SLAY Feat. BUSTA RHYMES, LAYZIE BONE, TWISTA & JAZ-O 60 Second Assassins (Produced By G-FORCE) 06. NAS Snitch Alibi (Produced By BOOLA) 07. VULCHA SMOOTH Take It To The House 08. JOELL ORTIZ Feat. THE LOX Put Some Money On It 09. ARLIS MICHAELS Standing Ovation 10. HOLLYWOOD HAITI I'm A Do It Big 11. MAINO Feat. MYA Hold On 12. JAE MILLZ Millzy Going Hammer 13. BISHOP LAMONT Feat. DR DRE I Dominate 14. JR WRITER Feat. TITO GREEN & FREEKEY ZEKEY Becky 15. JAE MILLZ Need Some Brains 16. FRENCH MONTANA Feat. G.I THE GENERAL Daddy 17. SEAN PRICE Sabado Gigante 18. MYSONNE In Jail 19. A-MAFIA Me & My Click Run It (Produced By MAX DOLLAS) 20. SHEEK LOUCH & STYLES P Wet Mattress 21. RASI CAPRICE Feat. RAS KASS & WAIS P Playing With Fire 22. CORPORAL ASSKICK Funky (Produced By MAX PAYNE) 23. CONSEQUENCE Feat. HAVOC Fake ID 24. GRAND DADDY I.U Ready To Kill (Produced By MARCO POLO) 25. DAVID BANNER Mas 4 (Produced By 9TH WONDER) 26. K FRESH Feat. BABY GHRYME The Truth 27. GRAFH Dark Fantasy 28. RUC Queenz Theme 29. DOE BWOY Damn Homie 30. TONY YAYO Tattoo 31. SLAINE The Religion 32. MEAN DOE GREEN Feat. RAEKWON & PLANET ASIA Blue Ribbon Rap 33. CROOKED I Feat. SALLY ANTHONY Villain (Produced By KOMPLEX) 34. AWKWORD Feat. C-RAYZ WALZ & CHIEF KAMACHI Imperialism (Produced By THE WHITE SHADOW)
01. RAEKWON Feat. TOMMY NOVA Da Barry Sistas 02. TONE TRUMP Feat. SLICK PULLA & CASHIS Mobbin' (Produced By VINNY IDOL) 03. LLOYD BANKS This Is The Life 04. VADO Fast Line (Produced By ARM) 05. AGALLAH & MURDAH BABY Wat U Kno Bout It 06. SHOWTUFLI Feat. JAE MILLZ Rock Band 07. REEK DA VILLIAN Feat. M.O.P Fall In Line 08. THA OUTLAWZ Warning Shots (Dissin' FUNKMASTER FLEX) 09. ROCK (HELTAH SKELTAH) Monsta Salutation 10. JIM JONES Feat. CAM'RON & JR WRITER Go Cinderella Remix 11. SKYZOO Feat. LLOYD BANKS & MAINO Speakers On Blast Remix (Produced By ILLMIND) 12. G.I THE GENERAL Feat. FRENCH MONTANA & TONY YAYO Henny N Nuevo (Produced By DAME GREASE) 13. T.I Feat. KANYE WEST & KID CUDI Welcome To The World 14. 40 GLOCC One Day At A Time 15. STARSKY Feat. POSTA BOY So Serious (Produced By RASHAD) 16. FABOLOUS White N Navy 17. V THE GREAT Feat. JASE Perfect 10 18. JOKAMAN Juicy 19. FULLMETAL F DOT Okay 20. MILITAINMENT REGIME Memoirs Of Militainment (Produced By HAZARDIS SOUNDZ) 21. ARLIS MICHAELS & PRINCE SHAMEL Mind Of A Maniac 22. FREEWAY Feat. LANCE DRUMMONDS Take It From Me 23. RAH DIGGA Joy (Produced By PETE ROCK) 24. THE ALCHEMIST & OH NO Feat. RAEKWON Gutter Water 25. TALIB KWELI Palookas (Produced By MARCO POLO) 26. TOMMY SPITZ No More 27. RAS KASS, REKS & EKKO In My Lane Remix (Produced By HAZARDIS SOUNDZ) 28. AWKWORD Feat. SHABAAM SAHDEEQ, PUNCHLINE & BERETTA 9 The People's Champions (Produced By HARRY FRAUD) 29. WAIS P You See It (Produced By DJ PREMIER) 30. JAY ROCK Feat. KENDRICK LAMAR & GIDDY Diary Of A Broke Nigga 31. JERZEE DEEP Breathin 32. STREETZ Kill Me A Rapper 2nite (Produced By IZZY) 33. DA BOY BAKE When It's Time
From: NasTo: LA Reid, Steve Bartels, Steve Gawley, Michael Seltzer, Joseph Borrino, Chris HicksSubject: PUT MY SHIT OUT!
Peace to all,
With all do respect to you all, Nas is NOBODY’s slave. This is not the 1800′s, respect me and I will respect you.
I won’t even tap dance around in an email, I will get right into it. People connect to the Artist @ the end of the day, they don’t connect with the executives. Honestly, nobody even cares what label puts out a great record, they care about who recorded it. Yet time and time again its the executives who always stand in the way of a creative artist’s dream and aspirations. You don’t help draw the truth from my deepest and most inner soul, you don’t even do a great job @ selling it. The #1 problem with DEF JAM is pretty simple and obvious, the executives think they are the stars. You aren’t…. not even close. As a matter of fact, you wish you were, but it didn’t work out so you took a desk job. To the consumer, I COME FIRST. Stop trying to deprive them! I have a fan base that dies for my music and a RAP label that doesn’t understand RAP. Pretty fucked up situation
This isn’t the 90′s though. Beefing with record labels is so 15 years ago. @ this point I just need you all to be very clear where I stand and how I feel about “my label.” I could go on twitter or hot 97 tomorrow and get 100,000 protesters @ your building but I choose to walk my own path my own way because since day one I have been my own man. I did business with Tommy Mottola and Donnie Einer, two of the most psycho dudes this business ever created. I worked well with them for one major reason……. they believed in me. The didn’t give a fuck about what any radio station or magazine said….those dudes had me.
Lost Tapes is a movement and a very important set up piece for my career as it stands. I started this over 5 years ago @ Columbia and nobody knew what it was or what it did but the label put it out as an LP and the fans went crazy for it and I single handlely built a new brand of rap albums. It’s smart and after 5 years it’s still a head of the game. This feels great and you not feeling what I’m feeling is disturbing. Don’t get in the way of my creativity. We are aligned with the stars here, this is a movement. There is a thing called KARMA that comes to haunt you when you tamper with the aligning stars. WE ARE GIVING THE PEOPLE EXACTLY WHAT THEY WANT. Stop throwing dog shit on a MAGICAL moment.
You don’t get another Nas recording that doesn’t count against my deal….PERIOD! Keep your bullshit $200,000.00 fund. Open the REAL budget. This is a New York pioneers ALBUM, there ain’t many of us. I am ready to drop in the 4th quarter. You don’t even have shit coming out! Stop being your own worst enemy. Let’s get money!
-N.Jones
For more background, click here (if you haven't already peeped the Nah Right post).
My opinion: Fuck Def Jam. Nas: Go indie. Put it all out yourself. I'll spend $ to support.
Not sure if it's "the Best Website Ever", but ?uestlove's new spill page is definitely entertaining — and, if anything, deserves a design award.
Click the image to get your Hollywood glimpse (through the eyes of an unusually intellectual celebrity musician, of course). See below for our Top Picks.
Top Picks
Nas — This dude was my favorite emcee growing up. I kicked it for two hours with his father, Jazz/Blues legend Olu Dara. I chose his side against Jay. And I've wanted to support him in his battles with Kelis. But damn.
Russell Simmons — This illustrates what so often happens in activist circles: competitiveness and infighting over discourse and collaboration.
Rosario Dawson — Ever since Larry Clark's KIDS, Rosario has been my girl. But this story was more about our insatiable celebrity culture, and the toll it takes on the person behind the celebrity.
Allen Iverson — Cuz this sh*t is too damn funny to miss.
Amy Winehouse — Cuz you can't always believe what you read/hear.
Kanye West — Cuz I knew he was arrogant (read: insecure).
lauryn hill — I was actually nervous clicking this one. And at least it makes you laugh.
dead prez — Been trying (unsuccessfully) to link with these dudes for a minute now, because they're dope emcees with a World View like mine... I've always wondered if they were as revolutionary in action as in lyric. And this story answered the question, kind of.
Robert De Niro — Rather than crumple paper for a night, let's just put it like this. This guy's acting credits include: Mean Streets, The Godfather, Taxi Driver, The Deer Hunter, Raging Bull, Brazil, The Untouchables, Goodfellas, Cape Fear, A Bronx Tale, Casino, Heat, Wag the Dog, Jackie Brown, Ronin and The Good Shepherd, as well as Analyze This, Analyze That and Meet the Parents. Plus, dude is just cool. And he owns one of the best restaurants in my favorite city, Tribeca Grill in Manhattan... And this story, thankfully, confirms EVERYTHING.
James Brown — Fame sucks. So does meeting famous people.
Herbie Hancock — A full story, with compelling lead-in, sorrowful climax and satisfying denouement.
Jeremy Piven — Despite his being a terrible representation of the modern Jew, I can't help but thoroughly enjoy his exploits. And this story.
will.i.am — You can read it, but, if you're like me, you won't believe it.
MF DOOM — Do the masked emcee's secrets get revealed!?
Bob Dylan — Cuz sometimes it's fun to live vicariously.
BB King — Cuz sometimes it's fun to live vicariously. (And because all of this is well-deserved. Salute!)
[If you think Nas's Illmatic is a classic, click the image above.]
Get Your Mind Right: FIRE
If you're at all familiar with GetYourMindRight, you know we are not like most hip hop blogs.
We do not publish every day (hint: subscribing won't bite you in the ass).
Not only do we NOT post trash and apologize for it (don't take it personal), we actually reject 99.9% of the music submitted to us for posting.
And that's NOT because we are elitist -- it's just that we (1) are very busy; (2) take this very personally; and (3) feature a lot more here than traditional 'hip hop' fare.
Every once in a while, however, we do hear a song that, for one reason or another, really sticks with at least one of us. And in those cases, we have featured here Sha Stimuli, Copywrite, dead prez, Crooked I, J the S, yU (Diamond District), Mistah F.A.B., General Steele, and REKS & Ron Artest.)
In continuing that tradition of spreading good music, today we offer new joints from Ivy League-educated emcee Homeboy Sandman, Nigerian-German hip hop/soul singer Nneka (ft. the God Emcee Nas) and NBA basketball player, sometimes rapper and Queensbridge representative Ron Artest. All three songs were leaked in the last week.
Enjoy...
Homeboy Sandman
A tragic, beautiful ballad for an angel, from one of the few emcees you could bring home to dinner...
Song: Tyshae Producer: Lotus Album: The Lotus Effect Download: HERE
Born in Nigeria, Nneka relocated some 10,000 miles to Hamburg, Germany, at 19, to pursue a career in singing alongside a degree in Anthropology. Today, she has a critically acclaimed album, a song on the official 2010 FIFA World Cup album and this powerful collaboration with Nas. We should all salute artists like beautiful Nneka, now 28, whose passion, strength and vocal range shine on this remix.
Song: Heartbreak (Remix) Featuring: Nas Download: HERE
(We here at GetYourMindRight have always held the highest regard for Nas, and this was only heightened after AWKWORD spent a couple hours kicking it with Nas's legendary bluesman father Olu Dara.)
Ron Artest
So, AWKWORD's uncle has known Ron Artest for more than a decade. Dude can play ball. No disputing that. Dude's nuts -- and often dangerous. Unfortunately, no disputing that either. But dude can also spit. I doubted it until I heard this... So I wasn't so surprised when I heard the new one, released June 19, 2010, two days after Artest scored 20 points in his team's NBA Championship game 7 win.
