[mp3] Mos Def // Ms. Fat Booty (Wake Up! Remix)

Tag Archive: Mos Def

[mp3] Mos Def // Ms. Fat Booty (Wake Up! Remix)

Written on August 3, 2011 by Andy in Music, Remix

I’ve been avoiding our inbox lately, and hopefully avoiding disappointment for two hours every day. It sounds like one of them good problems, but having new, free music day in and out can take its toll. I need to go back and listen to albums and artists I love to get my mind right again. It happens every couple of months or so, and then I can get back into what we’ve been sent with vigor.

And then we got this remix sent our way; it’s a new remix, sure, but it’s of one of my favorite songs – Mos Def’s “Ms. Fat Booty.” The Brooklyn producer turns the track from Black on Both Sides from a sexual one into something far more introspective feeling, laced with piano. It doesn’t always match up perfectly with Mos Def’s flow, but it works pretty well despite the occasional awkwardness.

You can head to Wake Up!’s Soundcloud page for a bunch of other free remixes, including reworks of Lupe Fiasco’s “Paris, Tokyo” and Passion Pit’s “Sleepyhead.”

Sure, the track isn’t exactly new, but it dredged up the Mighty Mos out of the dusty corners of my iTunes library, and moves me another step closer to being ready to attack the growing number of tracks that I’ve built up for myself. For that, I’m happy.

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Mos Def // Ms. Fat Booty (Wake Up! Remix) [mp3]

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[video] Introducing // Shad

Written on July 29, 2011 by Will in Music

Like a good majority of my hip-hop discoveries in recent months, Shad comes from the good people at Prefix. Their hip-hop editor Andrew Martin truly has impeccable taste. He was tweeting about his love of Shabazz Palaces months ago. One of his cronies, Andrew Winistorfer, called Canada’s Shad (given named Shadrach Kabango), the country’s third most visible MC ever (behind Snow and Drake). This is probably the case, since you would be hard-pressed to list any others. I consider myself to be a pretty knowledgeable hip-hop fan, but I had yet to hear of Shad until the good people at Prefix brought him to my attention a few months back.

“Maybe I’m not big because I don’t blog or Twitter,” Shad informs on “Yaa I Get It,” the first single off his most recent release, 2010′s TSOL. Shad is truly a throwback. He is both heartfelt and lyrical, hearkening back to some of the early 90s music of De La Soul or any other act of that ilk you could single out (even Nobody Really Know’s Tyler Major). You can also hear a heavy dose of Talib Kweli, Common, or Mos Def in his rhymes. He is all about self-reflection and honesty. It’s a pretty refreshing combination in an era where we find ourselves listening to people boast about shit they have never done or unseemly deeds which need not be glorified.

TSOL is already well-recognized in Canada as it has achieved a fair amount of commercial success there and was also short-listed for the prestigious Polaris Prize. It’s rare, at least for me, to readily identify with anything like this. But the Kenyan-born, Ontario-raised Shad delivers.

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[mp3/Best of 2010] Andy’s 25 Most Played of 2010

Written on December 27, 2010 by Andy in Music

When it comes to my Top Played of any year, I’m more of a straight list kind of guy. I like looking at the numbers and noting things like the difference in plays between my 1st and 2nd songs (27 plays), and seeing how much total time I spent listening to just those 25 songs. I don’t need to knock things off the list just because they weren’t released in the specific year. I said this before, but this list tends to be what really makes or continues to make a personal impression. Maybe a song hit just at the right part of June, or I heard something in a new way. So, here is the list of what I took in most in 2010. It’s not always cool, but it’s always comfortable for me to come back to. (The number to the right of each song is the number of times I listened to that specific song, in case you were wondering.)

25. James Vincent McMorrow – We Don’t Eat (25)
24. Brett Dennen – Make You Crazy (25)
23. hellogoodbye – When We First Met [mp3] (26)
22. The Young Friends – Makeout Point (27)
21. Theophilus London – Hey Wonderful (27)
20. Mos Def – History [mp3] (27)
19. The Dads – Haunted (27)
18. Young Empires – Rain of Gold (28)
17. Black Elk Speaks – Sympaco Nom (28)
16. Delorean – Stay Close (29)
15. Best Coast – Boyfriend (29)
14. The Black Keys – Tighten Up (30)
13. Animal Collective – What Would I Want? Sky (30)
12. Tame Impala – Alter Ego (34)
11. Gauntlet Hair – Out, Don’t (34)
10. Sufjan Stevens – Djohariah (35)
09. Donovan Woods – Lawren Harris (39)
08. Cults – Go Outside (39)
07. Ra Ra Riot – Boy (RAC Mix) (41)
06. Kanye West – Good Friday (51)
05. Mayer Hawthorne – Thin Moon [mp3] (52)
04. Tokyo Police Club – Breakneck Speed (61)
03. Aloe Blacc – I Need a Dollar [mp3] (78)
02. Drake – Find Your Love [mp3] (79)
01. Gauntlet Hair – I Was Thinking… (106)

In total, I listened to these 25 songs for 4344 minutes and 44 seconds. Or, 72 hours, 24 minutes and 44 seconds. Or, just slightly over 3 entire days just listening to these 25 songs. Nearly 10 of those hours were spent listening exclusively to the fantastic “Djohariah” from Sufjan Stevens’ All Delighted People EP, which was the song I sent the most time listening in the past year.

This is all slightly obsessive, really, but I like having the ability to quantify and qualify my obsession/addiction/love. It’s not useful data for anyone except me, unless you study my music listening habits for a living. (And if you do, how come we haven’t met?)

Bottom line: I love that there are two local bands on here, that the only band to appear twice on the list doesn’t even have a full album released yet, and that there are so many different styles and feelings represented. This is me drinking, this is me dancing, this is me driving, this is me living. It’s been a great year. Here’s to the 2011′s Top 25 – the majority of which are undoubtedly not even in my collection yet.

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Best of 2009: 34 & 33

Written on December 4, 2009 by Andy in Music

34. Miike Snow – Miike Snow
Andy: 31 :: Dave: 31

There’s something to be said for Swedish pop; between Robyn (now rumored to be working with Diplo) and Miike Snow, the socialist Scandinavian nation has produced two recent hits (and Jose Gonzalez). Miike Snow’s eponymous debut expands and contracts – incorporating accessible guitar/piano over synthesized beats.

It’s an album meant to be consumed as a whole; there are a couple of missteps, but the better songs more than make up for the mistakes. It’s not particularly challenging; it’s straightforward, upbeat electro-pop. And if that’s what you’re looking for, you’ve found it.

Miike Snow – Burial (mp3) from Miike Snow

33. Mos Def – The Ecstatic
Andy: 21 :: Dave: Unranked

When I first heard it, I told a friend of mine that The Ecstatic was Mos Def’s Bitches Brew. Thinking back on it now, that seems hyperbolic, but the meaning behind it still rings true: The Ecstatic – in spite of (or more likely because of) how groundbreaking it could prove to be – probably won’t ever be fully appreciated. It isn’t filled with Top 40 hooks, the next dance move or an affinity for materialism.

It is, conversely, layered with enough samples and sounds to reward repeated listens. In an era where music has become something disposable, or simply something to be accumulated without appreciation, Mos Def’s attention to detail here is truly something to take in.

Mos Def – Casa Bey (mp3) from The Ecstatic

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New Releases: June 9

Written on June 8, 2009 by Andy in Music

New Releases: June 9 There are a couple of interesting releases this week. Speaking personally, I’m looking forward to the So Many Dynamos album (not simply because I love palindromes), as well as the Mos Def album. (NOTE: You can still stream the new So Many Dynamos album in it’s entirety over at Buzzgrinder.) I’m recommending you avoid the Iron Maiden album, if for no other reason than the name. There’s new Sonic Youth too.

If you were looking for something else, check Amazon. We hope everyone has a great week. It feels like it’s going to be a good one. And, grab yourself a track or two after the album list.

Oh, and while you’re here, be sure to enter our giveaway of the Bloomsbury EP from the band Princeton. You have until Thursday, but why procrastinate?

Anti-Flag – People or the Gun
Black Eyed Peas – The E.N.D. (Energy Never Dies)
British Sea Power – Man of Aran
Cake – Motorcade of Generosity
Dredg – The Pariah, The Parrot, The Delusion
Deerhunter – Rainwater Cassette Exchange [EP]
Iron Maiden – Flight 666
Kasabian – West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum
Mos Def – The Ecstatic
Pelican – Ephemeral [EP]
Placebo – Battle for the Sun
Rhett Miller – Rhett Miller
So Many Dynamos – The Loud Wars
Sonic Youth – The Eternal
The Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca

Mos Def – Casa Bey (mp3) from The Ecstatic

Rhett Miller – Our Love (mp3) from The Instigator

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