DOWNTIME 4

DOWNLOAD :: DOWNTIME 4

If Downtime 2 had an acoustic theme and 3 was more electric, I'd have to say Downtime 4 is obscure. With music from Nigeria to Brazil, genere's spanning from afro-beat, hip-hop, jazz, house, and more, Downtime 4 is an amalgamation of sounds one wouldn't normally hear paired together. Peace.  

TRACKLIST

1. Massive Attack (Vibeangel Mix 1) - Flying Lotus | 2. Air ft. MF Doom (Geteye Remix) - Dabrye | 3. Blackfire - Madlib | 4. Orere Elejigbo - Lijadu Sisters | 5. No Particular One - Theophilus London | 6. Democ£stico - Marcos Valle | 7. Mother's Day - Aleke Kanonu | 8. The Gigolo and I - Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band | 9. Original Radio Spot Claudean - Claudean Movie Trailer | 10. No Hook (Ambassadors Theme) Ft. Pete Rock | 11. On Point Remix - Trademark Skydiver x Young Roddy x Curren$y | 12. Stay True - Ghostface Killah | 13. Original Radio Spot Young Blood - Young Blood Movie Trailer | 14. Troptikal (SS) - Mndsgn | 15. Classic ft. Talib Kweliw - MED | 16. Sustas - Mndsgn | 17. Full Moon - Noñameko | 18. Return From The Ashes - John Dankworth | 19. By Your Side (CottonBelly Mix) - Sade | 20. Everybody Loves the Sunshine - Seu Jorge & Almaz | 21. Soundgirl Personal - Fat Jon The Ample Soul Physician | 22. Light To Dark - Jesse Boykins III | 23. Return To The Journey -Thundercat | 24. Red Light - Fatima feat. Floating Points

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DOWNTIME 3: ELECTRIC

DOWNLOAD :: DOWNTIME 3: ELECTRIC

1st, I want to thank folks for the response I have been getting from the Downtime mixes. I've always accumulated a ton of music but only shared them minimally with folks. Expect more concept mixtapes in the future where I pair sound with design.

As for Downtime 3, I wanted to go in the opposite direction of Downtime 2. Whereas 1 was a mix of electric, low-fi, soul, and sample based Hip-Hop, and Downtime 2 being a mix of acoustic and stripped music, I wanted 3 to be more electric and harder than 2 yet not diverge from the subtleness that Downtime is known for. That's it. Peace.

Tracklist

1. Running - Gil Scott-Heron And Jamie XX // 2. Wildfire feat. Little Dragon - SBTRKT // 3. Free Press and Curl - Shabazz Palaces // 4. And We Gonna (Samiyam Chopsticks Remix) - Shigeto // 5. Embody - SebastiAn // 6. Ascension (Remix) - Maxwell // 7. Peace - Carlitta Durand // 8. Løb Stop Stå (feat. Coco O.) - Boom Clap Bachelors // 9. Don't Look Back - Telepopmusik feat Angela McCluskey // 10. Hoping Will Only Take You So Far - B.Lewis // 11. No Idea's Original (14KT Remix) - Nas // 12. Zambony (Remix) - K-OS // 13. Hear You Say (featuring Khari Mateen) - Money Making Jam Boys // 14. Magikbullet - Mndsgn/ 15. The Verge - Kenton Dunson / 16. I Mind - James Blake / 17. What You Need - The Weekend // 18. LucidAgain - B.Lewis // 19. Purple Pills (Sleeping Pills Remix) - Peter Hadar // 20. Manifestations - Mono/Poly // 21. Tiger Eyes (Laid Back) - Peaking Lights

 

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DOWNTIME

DOWNLOAD: DOWNTIME

This mixtape is inspired by Duke Hugh, a producer from the Netherlands, who is prominently featured on the mixtape.  His recent beattape and remixes of Oliver Daysoul's new project with Oddisee are so serene yet lively that I imagined it being a backdrop for a nice day, a good conversation with a friend, or music for a road trip.  Not wanting to simply mash his two recent projects together, I paired his music with current songs, and some old ones, that I felt complemented his sound.  What ensued was Downtime.

The covers were inspired by the recent video project, Hi-Fi, by director Bante and artist Moussa Kaba.  Nothing too fancy but images that reverberate simplicity, welcomed melancholy, elegance and tranquility like the Blue Note covers of yesteryear.

TRACKLIST
01 Steve Mason - Boys Outside (Keep Shelly In Athens Remix) // 02 Duke Hugh - Sweet and Lowdown // 03 Olivier Daysoul - In The Now (Duke Hugh Bossatronic Remix) // 04 Duke Hugh - Derby-Dana // 05 Electric Wire Hustle - Chaser // 06 Robin Hannibal - Transit (Instrumental) // 07 Casa del Mirto - Brother // 08 Von Pea - New Pair // 09 Electric Wire Hustle - Perception // 10 Musiq - I Luv Her // 11 Duke Hugh - Lovesong // 12 Bilal - Levels // 13 Olivier Daysoul - Labor (Duke Hugh Futuresoul Remix) // 14 Jazzanova feat Vikter Duplaix - Wasted Time // 15 Duke Hugh - Polaroids // 16 Foreign Exchange - Everything Must Go // 17 Duke Hugh - It's All Good // 18 N.E.R.D. - Inside of Clouds // 19 Yesterdays' New Quintet - Rocket Love Pt. 1 // 20 Gretchen Parlato - Weak // 21 Kenton Dunson - Stranger // 22 RJD2 - Work // 23 Dudley Perkins - Falling (Instrumental) // 24 Duke Hugh - The Blue Marble

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MORE ABOUT NOTHING

Download More About Nothing

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THE STUYVESANTS

The Stuyvesants

I had the pleasure of finally meeting producer/wordpress beast Allan Cole (Algorythm, fthrwght) and blog guru Darien Victor Birks (Flwrpt) a few months back in NY.  Aside from being tech and design geniuses, these two can sure put together a quality project.  Inspired by 60s and 70s music, The Stuyvesants is a beat tape equip with 25 solid tracks.  This is one of the best beat tapes around.  You can tell that these aren't just tracks sitting in an old computer folder, but a collection of well mixed and well layered beats.  Also, the fidelity is dope.  The geek in me can't stop thinking about what effects Allan used to make the samples thick and heavy?          

Download: The Stuyvesants (Album)
Check out their site: The StuyvesantsShare

ODDISEE - DOPEST MIXTAPE OUT RIGHT NOW

He continually gets better and better!

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NICK JAMES | SOUL REGGAE

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I was searching one of my hard drives and found a folder full of old reggae and couldn't help but peep how many classic covers of American soul music there was.  Thus, I threw a bunch of them together as well as a couple of roots reggae tracks in that folder and a special intro combing a Marcus Garvey speech and the intro from Rockers.  The second track is called "Ethiopia" and the Garvey speech I sampled speaks of praising Ethiopia and this speech had an influence on the Rastafarian movement in the 1930s.  "Oh yeah I gets deep."

Enjoy.  I think I'm going to release a bunch of mixes like this.

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WHO KNEW SCARFACE PLAYED GUITAR?

Scarface is releasing the first mixtape of his 20 year career. Listen to the song at the end it knocks.Share

WHERE HAVEN'T WE BEEN MIXTAPE

I never thought I would become a Curren$y fan let alone compile a best of mixtape and spend an hour of my time concocting the artwork you see below.  I still remember people posting his studio sessions years ago where the sound quality was horrendous and former boss Lil Wayne wasn’t too far behind shrieking over a minimalist beat.  Now, after leaving No Limit then Cash Money and then Young Money, he has been getting better and stronger (I guess record labels do stifle artist’s ability to put out music).  I put this together because after asking a couple of friends if they got the Smokee Robinson Mixtape, they replied, “My internet is down but I wouldn’t have downloaded it anyway”, I decided to package something for the nonbelievers.  This mixtape marks his growth plus something to expect from him as he continues to partner with Dame Dash and Ski Beatz.  His next album, Pilot Talk, will be fire and this mixtape will serve as the justification for Hip-Hop historians who ponder, "how did he get this raw?"

Download: Where Haven't We Been?: The Best of Curren$y

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YOUTH TOGETHER MIXTAPE

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My organization, Youth Together, has complied our first mixtape. Themed after our slogan, “Peace, Unity & Justice,” we picked songs that have inspired us as organizers and activists.  Two tracks even feature Youth Together employees, Academic Coordinator/Singer Siaira Shawn and Director of Special Projects/Music Producer Me.  Click the covers to download and if you would like to give a donation for the mixtape, you can here.

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THE EARLY YEARS

DOWNLOAD :: NICK JAMES | THE EARLY YEARS

Nick James Presents...The Early Years, is a compilation of unreleased remixes and beats I have compiled over the past six years.  In the past I have remixed whole albums such as Jay-Z's, The Black Album, American Gangster, and an 18 track mixtape remixing various songs from 6 different Nas albums entitled, The Nas Remixes.  I've always remixed as a way to get better at sequencing and mixing music and in the process I have accumulated about 100 remixes.  Thus, I decided to create a download to provide a snapshot of unreleased music I've done over the years.  The beats on this album are free for anyone to loop and use as their own.

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