Posts
Few producers within the game, or industry rather, of Hip-Hop have ever really managed to successfully walk the line between legitimate underground street beatmaker and accomplished, mainstream radio hit maker. Enter in illmind. The true definition of diversity himself, the Filipino beatsmith from Broomfield, NJ has had the unique opportunity to work with the game's little known and overly saturated artist's alike. From El Da Sensei, Organic Thoughts and Supastition to 50 Cent and Ghostface Killah, illmind has proven his worth through being able to truly provide for whichever artist he is working with at the time.
A lot of my favorite producers ever, admittedly are guys that were very one dimensional. What can I say? I'mma a Hip-Hop head that loves his hardcore stylings. Honestly though, I'd also be lying if I said that I didn't go out from time to time and that a change of pace in clubs can be, well....nice. While I do admire my idols like DJ Premier, I had to give him props for being able to switch it up and produce records for Christina Aguillera, gettin' his money, gettin' his fair share of the American dream. We all want our favorite hardcore shit all the time, but fact is that in the 2K the biggest consumers of retail CD's is women. Our treasured boom bap icons of production have had to adapt or face being permanently relegated to the underground realms, where the dough is much shorter, the tours are longer and their work is falling on fewer and fewer ears....
To those small few that have chosen to brave the cold and unpredictable waters of the underground scene where nothing is promised, including a prolonged career, in the name of keeping real Hip-Hop alive...man, I can't thank them enough. And I do thank them; whether it's buying their new mixtape or a T-shirt on some shady online store run by their eccentric manager's or going to their "standing room only" shows at the smallest hole in the wall bars when they run through my town, I give back and try my best to show them my support, and there's thousands of die hard fans just like me who routinely do the same things. We still have that huge love and apprecaition for our underground "king's" and the music that they so selflessly continue to push on and make. Bouncing around from shitty indie label to shitty indie label, carving out a living on what most major label guys spend at the mall on sneakers. Damn shame is what that is.... That's why when guys like illmind come along I can somewhat understand the underground's relative indifference and coyness toward him.
young, capable and well trained illmind is the wave of the future. A guy that doesn't rely on just any one weapon, but instead is skilled in a wide array of tactics, that include but are certainly not limited to making "Hip-Pop" records. However, for all his prowess at crafting hit songs and whatnot, it's most likely his underground work you know him for. I like illmind's hustle. He'll never be in my top 10, but he'll never be broke either. He's too skilled and overall guys like him are the one's leading the way into 2009 man....50 saw this right off and immediately signed him to "the machine", insuring that he would have his lil' hitmaker exclusively himself and that anyone else that wanted to enlist his talents for their crossover record or underground anthem would have to pay the current going rate.
"Blaps, Rhymes & Life" is a great introduction to illmind's more grimey efforts, but there are a few of his more, well, how should I put this, "across the board" type of efforts on here as well. Pretty solid "best of" style tape, a couple of these I had been lookin for my damn self. If your new to illmind's stuff, tracks to definitely peep on here are Supastition's "Thankful", Skyzoo's "Lyrically Inclined" and LL's Queens boro anthem that includes Kool G Rap, Prodigy, Tony Yayo and 50 Cent; "Queens".
-BIG D O
01.) Get Ya Ass Up! (Intro) (Produced By Illmind)
02.) Heltah Skeltah - Everything Is Heltah Skeltah (Produced By Illmind)
03.) Brooklyn Academy - Raise Ya Hands (feat. Jean Grae) (Produced By Illmind)
04.) Fresh Daily - Get Over (Produced By Illmind)
05.) D. Black - The Come Up (feat. Skyzoo) (Produced By Illmind)
06.) 50 Cent - Make A Movie (Produced By Illmind)
07.) Supastition - Thankful (feat. Kil Ripkin) (Produced By Illmind)
08.) Naturel - The Bullets (Produced By Illmind)
09.) K.O. (K-Otix) - 48 Seasons (Produced By Illmind)
10.) Torae - New Blood (feat. Skyzoo, Emilio Rojas & Fresh Daily) (Produced By Illmind)
11.) Fortilive - The Come Up (Produced By Illmind)
12.) Broken English - Different World (Produced By Illmind)
13.) Skyzoo - Lyrically Inclined (feat. Wale) (Produced By Illmind)
14.) Naps N Dreds - Do What I Should (feat. Copywrite) (Produced By Illmind)
15.) Quan - Geez Like Deez (feat. Rapper Big Pooh) (Produced By Illmind)
16.) Naturel - Resurrect (Produced By Illmind)
17.) 8th W1 - A Fool's Lullaby (Produced By Illmind)
18.) Faro-Z - Clap Ya Hands (Produced By Illmind)
19.) A.P.E.X. - One More Time (Produced By Illmind)
20.) LL Cool J - Queens (feat. Prodigy, 50 Cent, Kool G Rap, & Tony Yayo) (Produced By Illmind)
21.) Wannabe? (Outro) (Produced By Illmind)
http://www.mediafire.com/?4mhm2mxyzrt
No comments:
Post a Comment