J. PERIOD'S Q-TIP MIX TAPE: CHECK IT OUT!

I've never been too familiar with the hip-hop mixtape scene. Most mixtapes aren't, strictly speaking, legal. But J. Period is a producer who has done a bunch of mixtapes... I don't know if they are "authorized" per se, but they are "commissioned." His latest mixtape is J. Period/Q-Tip The [Abstract] Best.

It's kind of like an audio documentary/podcast/tribute hybrid with pieces of songs, clips from interviews with Q-Tip as well as artists who he has worked with and influenced. There are new versions of some songs from his career (De La Soul cover "Excursions," Dres from Black Sheep gives his take on "Jazz" and a bunch of remixes that feature Questlove on drums). I found this collection on iTunes, where I also found a Roots mixtape by J. Period.  He occasionally posts other mixtapes at his website, if you love hip-hop, you should check it out. 

DE LA SOUL: UNDERRATED

de la soul was the first hip-hop group I ever saw in concert. I've written about this before: they opened for Living Colour at The ("New") Ritz in New York City, this was probably about 1989.  They weren't that great, but I don't feel bad saying that, they know that their first shows weren't great.  When I interviewed them a few years ago, I told them about that show and they were like, "oh no!" But I've seen them about ten times since then, and they are always great.

When hip-hop first came out, it was so radical.  But in many ways it was pretty conservative (and these days, I'd argue that it is very conservative). But even back in the late '80s (the heyday), mainstream hip-hop didn't know what to make of these guys, and that has sort of followed them through their career. In my mind, they should have been huge, but it didn't happen.  Still, I rate them over almost any group (hip-hop, rock, whatever) in any genre. I recently noticed that they are going to be playing Madison Square Garden soon.  I was like, "WHAT?" It turns out that they are performing with Gorillaz, with whom they have collaborated twice. It would be great if people realized how great de la is and they got to headline a place half that big.  I am not a huge fan of head Gorilla Damon Albarn, but I give him lots of credit for putting de la on his albums.

• The Classic Album: hell, there's like three... 1989's Three Feet High and Rising, 1991's de la soul is dead, 1993's Buhloone Mindstate
• Other Great Ones: 1996's Stakes Is High, 2000's Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump
• The Compilaton: 2003's Timeless: Singles Collection
• Look For:  Their Tom Petty sampling collaboration with Teenage Fanclub, "Fallin'," from the 1993 Judgement Night soundtrack.

MORE "HELP" FOR ROLLING STONE'S 500 GREATEST

So, once I was done paring down Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Songs," it was down to 486.  I tried to add 14 more, but I ended up adding almost 100 more songs.  This isn't my definitive list, but it's my job to share important stuff like this with all of you. Ha ha.  In no order at all, here's the rest of the songs on my "remix" which is now at 570 songs and counting.

• A Tribe Called Quest - "Award Tour"
• de la soul - "Ego Trippin' (part 2)"
• Alicia Keys - "No One"
• Fiona Apple - "O' Sailor"
• Ben Harper - "With My Own Two Hands"
• The Wallflowers - "One Headlight" (although the best version of this is the one from the MTV VMA's where they were joined by Bruce Springsteen)
• John Hiatt - "Have A Little Faith In Me"
• Cowboy Junkies - "Miles From Our Home"
• Jamey Johnson - "High Cost Of Living"
• Everclear - "Strawberry"
• Buddy & Julie Miller - "Gasoline & Matches"
• The Replacements - "Bastards Of Young"
• Gaslight Anthem - "The '59 Sound"
• Steve Earle - "The Devil's Right Hand"
• X - "Los Angeles"
• The MC5 - "Kick Out The Jams" (how'd they miss this one?)
• Pearl Jam - "Corduroy"
• Rancid - "East Bay Nights"
• Social Distortion - "I Was Wrong"
• Jane's Addiction - "Mountain Song"
• Nine Inch Nails - "Wish"
• Fugazi - "Repeater"
• Black Flag - "Rise Above"
• Dropkick Murphys - "The State Of Massachusetts"
• Rage Against The Machine - "Sleep Now In The Fire"
• Faith No More - "Midlife Crisis"
• Soundgarden - "Superunknown"
• Primus  -"Those Damned Blue Collar Tweekers"
• Iron Maiden - "Iron Maiden"
• Alice In Chains - "Angry Chair"
• KISS - "Deuce (live)"
• The Raconteurs - "Steady As She Goes"
• Matthew Sweet - "Dinosaur Act"
• The Jessica Fletchers - "Summer Holiday & Me"
• Cocktail Slippers - "Sentenced To Love"
• The Drive-By Truckers - "This Fucking Job"
• Loretta Lynn - "Rated 'X'"
• Lucinda Williams - "Car Wheels On A Gravel Road"
• Emmylou Harris - "I Don't Wanna Talk About It Now"
• Patty Griffin - "Mary"
• Sade - "By Your Side"
• John Legend - "Used To Love U"
• EPMD - "Crossover"
• Gang Starr - "You Know My Steez"
• LL Cool J - "Rock The Bells"
• Nas - "Made You Look"
• Peter Tosh - "You Can't Blame The Youth"
• Fishbone - "Ghetto Soundwave"
• The Red Hot Chili Peppers - "Can't Stop"
• The Afghan Whigs - "Going To Town"
• PJ Harvey - "Long Snake Moan"
• Florence + The Machine - "You've Got The Love"
• The Avett Brothers - "I And Love And You"
• Crowded House - "Distant Sun"
• Living Colour - "Bless Those (Little Annie's Prayer)"
• The Yardbirds - "Heart Full Of Soul"
• Van Halen - "Mean Street"
• Muse - "Uprising"
• Peter Gabriel - "Solisbury Hill"
• Wilco- "Jesus Etc."
• Pete Yorn - "Don't Wanna Cry"
• Kathleen Edwards - "In State"
• Norah Jones - "What Am I To You?"
• David Gray - "The One I Love"
• Rilo Kiley - "Silver Lining"
• Ben Folds - "Landed"
• Duffy - "Stepping Stone"
• Adele - "Chasing Pavements"
• James Hunter - "No Smoke Without A Fire"
• Levon Helm - "When I Go Away"
• Ray LaMontagne - "Three More Days"
• The Black Keys - "I Got Mine"
• My Morning Jacket - "I'm Amazed"
• Wyclef Jean featuring Norah Jones - "Any Other Day"
• Raphael Saadiq - "100 Yard Dash"
• Michael Franti & Spearhead - "Say Hey (I Love You)"
• Mark Ronson featuring Daniel Merriweather - "Stop Me"
• KRS-One, Kanye West, Nas and Rakim - "Classic (Better Than I've Ever Been)" (produced by DJ Premier)
• Common featuring DJ Premier - "The Game"
• N.A.S.A. featuring Kanye West, Santigold and Lykke Li - "Gifted"
• Mary J. Blige - "Be Without You"
• Black Star - "Definition"
• Mos Def featuring Q-Tip and Tash - "Body Rock"
• Talib Kweli - "Going Hard"

COACHELLA: MUSE, FAITH NO MORE, THEM CROOKED VULTURES

I'm probably not about to go camping in the desert, but if I were going to, I'd do it for this year's Coachella festival. The lineup has some great artists: Them Crooked Vultures, The Specials, Muse, Faith No More, Les Claypool, Devo, Sly & The Family Stone, The Dead Weather,  and de la soul. Plus some younger artists who I like, including LCD Soundsystem, She & Him, The Avett Brothers, MGMT, Coheed & Cambria, The Raveonettes, Sia, Corinne Bailey Rae, Porcupine Tree, Shooter Jennings, Band Of Skulls, Spoon and King Khan & The Shrines.  And "Thom Yorke???"  I presume that name is because Thom Yorke hasn't named his new project. Great lineup.  I love that Pavement - the big deal reunion of the year - are billed beneath a cartoon band, Gorillaz.

TOMORROW ON OUTQ: DE LA SOUL, PIXIES, STONE ROSES, BOWIE ANNIVERSARIES

Tomorrow on OutQ, I'll be discussing some
classic albums that celebrate their anniversaries this year.

The Pixies' doolittle celebrates its 2oth, and the band is touring to mark the occasion. I remember buying the album while I was in college after reading a review. It was like the Violent Femmes' debut, which I discovered while in high school: it sounded exotic, like it was from another planet. I didn't love doolittle at first, but I somehow knew that if I gave it time, I would. Earlier tonight I ran 3 miles while listening to it: it was like having a caffine overdose. It was incredible. It is fast and slow, loud and quiet, beautiful and ugly.

de la soul's 3 Feet High and Rising is also 20. They're touring as well; I wrote about this album recently.

The Stone Roses' self-titled debut: also 20. 1989 was a good year. No tour there, but their label is putting out a super deluxe reissue with demos, b-sides, a DVD of a concert from the era, and all thier videos.

The Cult is playing Love in its entirety on their current tour. That album came out 24 years ago, and they've just put out a deluxe reissue.

Finally, David Bowie's Space Oddity is getting a 40th anniversary reissue. I don't think it's one of his better albums, but I will probably check that one out as well.

DAMN! DE LA SOUL'S 3 FEET HIGH AND RISING IS 20!

de la soul is touring to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their debut album, the classic 3 Feet High and Rising. de la was the first hip-hop group I ever saw in concert: they opened for the mighty Living Colour (also on the bill: The Michael Hill Bluesland). de la was pretty weak actually. I don't feel bad saying that: a few years ago I interviewed them and told them I was at the show and they were all like "Oh no!" I pointed out that I'd seen them about 10 times since then and all the other shows were great!

But when I saw de la soul's "Me, Myself & I" on Yo! MTV Raps, I knew they were on a whole different thing. In my mind, most hip-hop was like heavy metal, but this was more like They Might Be Giants or something. I got the album (the tape, actually) and loved it. It was so different. They appeared to be making fun of hip-hop fashions, but they weren't really dissing artists, they were dissing people who jumped on the trends started by artists. They had a great sense of humor. But they also had something to say, like in "Ghetto Thang."

They've put out a lot of great music since then - much of which has gone unnoticed by the press, too busy fawning over the darling of the moment - they're one of the best bands in the world, in any genre. I'm glad they're still around, and hopefully younger people will discover 3 Feet High and their other amazing albums. And 3 Feet most definitely is an "album," as opposed to a collection of songs. Everything about it works as an album: the skits, the production, the order of the songs, everything. They don't make 'em like this anymore.

UH OH, I'M OLD: DE LA SOUL'S 3 FEET HIGH & RISING TURNS 20

Yeah, that's right, de la soul's classic 3 Feet High and Rising is 20! It sounds as fresh as ever (I might not say the same for the band's visuals). de la was the first hip-hop group I saw in concert. I wouldn't give the performance a good review, but I don't feel bad saying that: I've seen them many, many times since (including at last summer's Rock The Bells), and they are one of the best live groups in hip-hop. Back then, they were opening for the mighty Living Colour (Michael Hill's Bluesland was also on the bill) at The New Ritz in NYC. I told them about the gig when I was interviewing them a few years ago, and they were like, "Oh no!" I told them they've improved a thousand-fold since then.

Anyway, read a cool piece on the album here at HipHop.com.

VH1'S HIP-HOP HONORS

I was glad to see one of my favorite groups of all time, de la soul, get their due at the Hip-Hop Honors. It took Q-Tip, Estelle (John Legend's protegee), Cee-Lo, Public Enemy with Mos Def and EPMD to pay tribute to them. The only problem was that each segment was too short (no pun intended).  It's just too bad that PE and Mos Def's collab was like, one minute long. 

And they need to honor EPMD next year! They are way more influential than some other artists who have been honored. But it was also great to see Cypress Hill and Slick Rick get honored.  I wasn't as big of a fan of Naughty By Nature or Too $hort. 

Anyway, great show, I remember working at the first Hip-Hop Honors, and there was some initial skepticism about Video Hits 1 doing a hip-hop awards show. But it was awesome, and they've done a great job on all the subsequent ones. (Although tough to beat the original lineup, which included PE, Run-D.M.C. and KRS-One). 

CONGRATS TO DE LA SOUL

VH1 just announced the artists who will be celebrated at this years' Hip-Hop Honors: de la soul, Slick Rick, Cypress Hill, Naughty By Nature and Too $hort. de la is one of my favorite acts in any genre, so I'm glad to hear they're getting their props, as I think they're quite underrated. And my wife's favorite MC is Slick Rick, and it will be nice to see him get some love - dude hasn't had an easy ride. This should be a great show, but they'll never match the first one, which honored Run-DMC, Boogie Down Productions and Public Enemy. 

"REAL HIP-HOP" WAS INDEED IN THE MUTHAF@#$IN' HOUSE: ROCK THE BELLS 2008

The Rock The Bells 2008 tour was a great time, but before I talk about it, I gotta thank my friend Angela Yee from Shade 45 for getting me in, and my friend Su for getting me a ticket! 

The behind the scenes stuff was a mess, and the waiting time between artists was way too long, but why dwell on that. It was a great show. I got there a few hours after it started, but as I got to my seats, dead prez were wrapping up their set with their classic song, "Hip-Hop." They are group who definitely have something to say: I wish I liked their music more. Speaking of having something to say, the next artist was Immortal Technique. He's a little bit to the left of me, but I liked his tracks and definitely appreciated that he has something to say. I may not even agree with everything he says, I don't know, but I am at least interested. 

Then de la soul came on. de la was the first hip-hop group I ever saw perform: it was at The Ritz in New York City back in like '89 or maybe '90, they were opening for Living Colour. Back then they came off a bit goofy, but I don't feel bad saying that: a few years ago, I got to interview Pos, Dave and Mase and when I mentioned that show they were all like "Oh no!" But they've toured so extensively since then, they've got their thing down, and they are one of the tightest live hip-hop acts that you'll see.  It was tough for them to squeeze their set into 35 minutes or whatever, but they did good. Q-Tip joined them for a bit of "Buddy," and Dres from Black Sheep joined them, yes, for "The Choice Is Yours." Say what you want about "one-hit wonders," it must feel good to have thousands of people chanting along with your big hit from 15 years ago. On the other hand, it was clearly a bitch to have to follow that song up. 

Raekwon The Chef and Ghostface Killa were next. Here's my problem: like quite a few hip-hop crews, these guys let everyone they know come on stage with them. That might be cool at a club (I'd argue that it isn't cool even in a club). But at a huge venue, it doesn't work. I was so far away, I couldn't really see who was who. Most of the people on stage didn't even have mics. So why did they need to be there? But the performance was mostly tight. I like Ghost's new song "Be Easy." But the old stuff like "Ice Cream" and "Incarcerated Scarfaces" of course got everyone out of their seats. 

Then Mos Def. For my money, he's one of the most talented cats out there, but I sometimes think he needs some focus. The guy is a great lyricist, has awesome delivery, can sing soulfully, but also do rock and reggae, and has lots of presence. He's always got so much going on: hip-hop, his rock band, his big band, spoken word, acting, etc. I think he's had some great cameos, but other than the Black Star album and his solo debut Black On Both Sides. And that was kind of the deal with the beginning of his set: there were these weird scenery videos going on, and the performance wasn't too gripping. Then Talib Kweli hit the stage. Next level, how ya doin'? I know those guys aren't too anxious to do another Black Star album for fear that it won't live up to the first one, but I don't know, if they really focus, maybe they can do it. "Respiration" was great. Too bad Common wasn't there (it would have been cool if he'd joined de la as well). 

Considering how much Method Man and Redman seem to enjoy blowing trees, it's surprising how tight they were. Meth kept yelling the same "The same amount of energy you give us, we'll give back to you!" thing he yelled at last year's festival, when he played with The Wu-Tang Clan. He seemed to have more fun with Red, though, and the crowd seemed more into them. They're plugging Blackout 2, the sequel to their first album, Blackout, from 1999. But they hardly played any songs from that album; too bad, it was really underrated. Other than "Da Rockwilder" (which they did play) I liked "Mi Casa," "Cereal Killer" and "1,2,1,2." Ghostface joined them, which was cool. And Erick Sermon and Parish Smith (a.k.a. EPMD) also joined them, which was cooler. They did "You Gots To Chill." Slick Rick also popped on stage for a second or two to recite the hook to "La Di Da Di." 

Nas is kind of having his moment right now: his untitled album is at #1 despite controversy over its original title. I was surprised to see that he was backed by a band, along with DJ Green Lantern. (GL calls himself "The Evil Genius," which - no disrespect - makes no sense. Why doesn't he call himself Sinestro if he's evil? That's some comic book stuff.) They opened with a new song "Slave/Master" which was pretty powerful, and then went into the title track from 2006's Hip-Hop Is Dead (a great song to play live with a band). Then he kicked into a bunch of songs off of his classic debut Illmatic, followed by other his from his career (including "One Mic" and "Hate Me Now." And Jay-Z joined him for "Black Republicans." Predictably, people went nuts for the former President of Def Jam. I'm not a fan, but I had to admit, it was pretty cool. A lot of people weren't feeling the band thing. I thought it worked at some points, and others it didn't, but it was overall a good set. 

Next, Q-Tip hit the stage with DJ Scratch and did stuff from his upcoming album (but not the cool song "Work It Out," some Tribe stuff, and his earlier solo hits like "Vivrant Thing" and "Breathe And Stop." He had a band but no drummer, which was pretty weird. It didn't totally work for me as much as I wanted it to. Still, I believe Tip may have a few classic albums in him, his mind is in the right place. 

It's probably almost too easy for Tip to play with A Tribe Called Quest again. Still, they are so awesome together, it would be a shame for them not to do it anymore. I hope that he can balance his solo career with Tribe - even if it is just Tribe concerts and not new music. They were awesome, and when Busta Rhymes joined them for "Scenario," it just tore the place up. 

Great night, and thanks to Shade 45/Flow TV personality Angela Yee for getting me through the gate and my pal and former intern Su for hooking me up with a ticket.  I took some pictures, but they were from far away, I gotta look at them and decide if I want to post them. 

"SEVEN NIGHTS TO ROCK"

A week from today, my lovely wife (we just celebrated our six year wedding anniversary) leaves for a week and a half trip to Africa. She goes nearly every summer. Last summer I went with her. This summer I'm not (her trip involved a class, much reading and a term paper that needed to be completed before the trip).

Anyway, at some point I noticed that starting the night she leaves, there are seven shows in a row that I want to go to. Wouldn't it be fun to go to all of them? I'm calling it "Seven Nights To Rock," after an old song that Springsteen sometimes covers. Of course, I'll be blogging about it. Other than just writing about the shows, though, I'm also going to be writing about what it costs in ticket prices, gas, tolls, parking and food. Plus, what's it like to be a guy who is pushing 40 (or, leaving his 30s), holding down a job, and going out for seven nights?

My old company, VH1, may be interested in me blogging about this on their site. I've been trying to push it to other sites as well, but time is running out. So, I may blog about it here, or I may blog elsewhere (but I will link to it from here). Here's the schedule: 7/26 I'm starting out with a movie that "rocks," Neil Young's Crosby Stills Nash & Young Deja Vu documentary. My original plan for 7/26 was to see Yes, but they cancelled their summer tour. However, if I do it for VH1, I'll be going to the Warped Tour. I went to the Warped Tour in its first year, its first few actually, but I haven't been for a long time. I'm not that interested in many of this year's bands. I know that Pennywise is playing, so is Against Me! (a band I would probably be into if I were in high school now) and the Horrorpops. 7/27: Rock The Bells (with A Tribe Called Quest, de la soul, Nas, Mos Def, Method Man & Redman, Raekwon & Ghostface and more). 7/28: Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band. 7/29: The Foo Fighters. 7/30: Aimee Mann. 7/31: Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band (yes, again). 8/1: Loretta Lynn. But if I do it for VH1, I'll go to see Apples In Stereo instead. Should be fun and interesting, if tiring. I'm sure I'll be talking about it on the OutQ In The Morning With Larry Flick Show.

A TRIBE CALLED QUEST TO HEADLINE ROCK THE BELLS

Last year's Rock The Bells Festival featured the reunion of Rage Against The Machine, as well as Public Enemy and The Wu-Tang Clan, which is a pretty tough to beat bill. But they've got a great lineup this year as well: A Tribe Called Quest, Nas, Mos Def, Rakim, de la soul, Method Man & Redman and Ghostface & Raekwon are all on the bill. Unlike last year, lots of these guys will have new music out (Q-Tip, Nas, Mos, Meth/Red and Raekwon). I thought the organizers did a great job last year, so I'm really looking forward to this festival.