1MC Podcast Mixes: Stop Sleepin', Small Axe & Mama Africa

Aaight so if ya'll don't know I'm a recovering mixtape addict....in the late 90's and early 2K you could easily find me blowin' 30 bucks or more on mixtapes at my local spot....I had it bad and if it weren't for the game's downward spiral into shitty music I just might of become a full on lifer. Fortunately for my wallets and unfortunately for those of the world of Hip-Hop's, things like Internet downloading, shitty club themes fusing with the culture and an overall dumbing down of all of hip-hop element's has significantly scaled back my patronage of the "mixtape".

After being burnt by more than a few sub-par purchases I have employed a few simple tactics in the new and never-ending fight against lame mixtapes. First, I have staved off visiting my local bodega's and African bootlegger's to find the good stuff, opting instead to scower the net for my fix. Second, I have broadened my search for good music, stretching across genres even. Now I dig for mixes of not only good hip-hop, but Reggae, Dub, 70's Soul, Electronic, progressive rock and House.....Ya' know, anything that moves me. It's an enlightening experience listening to all this music man, everything has it's own sense of goodness and performance. Usually the dud's are few and far between, if I get any at all.

So here I am, checking out a Dancehall mix in the morning, peeping a Turntablism DJ mix in the afternoon, cleaning up while a James Brown vs. Nas mix plays in the evening and falling asleep to an Emo Rock mix in the PM. It worked for awhile, but eventually my inner hipster kicked in and there was a yearning to have all that great music in one mix, minus making my own by slicing together my fav. songs off the CD's. Since I don't have the highly effective functionality of say, an iPod (shameless attempt at hinting at what I want for Christmas people!) which is perfectly built for making such mixes in literally minutes, I have decided to cut myself out of the equation and depend on other really talented people to blend and mesh together all the highly artistic genre's of music I mess with for me. There's only one problem....I can't seem to find anyone in the current decrepit, simple and lifeless world of mixing or contemporary urban music that is throwing soul, rock, instrumental, new wave, blues, jazz, electronic, dancehall, world and spoken word music all on the same mix, with a heavy Hip-Hop influence in a way that I enjoy. Until now......

As I scan the many, many Internet outlets for dope music and mixes what do I come across? A cat named Rev. and a group of people (I think) that put together Podcast's (one long MP3 mix that is usually syndicated for download and apart of a series) that totally symbolize what the Hip-Hop mixtape used to be about--good music mixed to perfection. Their or his name, I'm kind of unsure who's behind this great work, is "1MC" and I think these culprits of musical splendor hail from the UK or Australia, not sure. All I know is that they/he throw together quite consistently the best mixes of music out there man.....Anwhere.....Whether starting off with Aretha Franklin singing one of her Soul clsssic's, phasing out of a instrumental jam by J Dilla into a record by some obscure Italian techno producer or plucking a sound on a Joe Tex record for 2 minutes while a sample from some foriegn movie plays over it, the 1MC mixes are absolutely original and what I wish was going on in the vast majority of Hip-Hop today. By that I mean I wish that artists and DJ's were still truly pushing he limits, still combining genres and trying out new things.....

To properly introduce you to what 1MC is all about I've selected three of their Podcast's to put up here and make it easy for you to get started. Make no mistake however, I strongly encourage you to go onto the 1MC blog and peep out the countless mixes they've been droppin since 2006. A healthy archive aside, the blog also features quite a bit of political commentary and news which is an added bonus to what already has all the bases covered.

-BIG D O




To start off we have "Stop Sleepin'", the latest offering from 1MC and a deftly solid mix of music. A nice dose of pretty much all the newest and illest underground Hip-Hop singles you should know about but don't combined with some older R&B and soul selections and even an appearance from John, Paul, George and Ringo.


01 Cynthia Fee - Thank You For Being A Friend (Golden Girls Theme)
02 TiRon - Still Never Happy
03 Danger Zone - Stop Sleepin
04 The Beatles - Baby You’re A Rich Man
05 Shad - Brother (Watching) (f- B. & F. Kabango)
06 Pacewon & Mr. Green - Four Quarters
07 Mountain - Long Red
08 Heltah Skeltah - D.I.R.T. (Another Boot Camp Clik Yeah Song)
09 J Dilla - People
10 De La Soul - Rock Co. Kane Flow (Instrumental)
11 Danny! - Passion Fruit
12 DJ Muggs & Planet Asia - Black Mask Men
13 Jake One - The Truth (f- Freeway & Brother Ali)
14 Jean Grae - Don’t Rush Me
11 KRS-One - Gro—Oh! (HipHop Nation) (f- S-Five)
16 Craig G & Marley Marl - Made The Change
17 D. Rose & DJ Cozmos - Taster’s Intro/A Beautiful World
18 Raashan Ahmad - If I
19 Grip Grand - Santa Ana Winds
20 Onra - I Wanna Go Back
21 Madlib - What It Do (f- Talib Kweli)
22 Johnson & Jonson - The Oath
23 Eddie Kendricks - My People…Hold On

http://1mc.us/media/podcasts/Stop%20Sleepin%20Podcast.mp3



Next we have "Small Axe", a joint that features Bob Marley, Aretha Franklin, Run DMC & More…just another brillant meshing of genre's here, I mean who follows a Beatnuts joint with Archie Schepp?? Come on man....too ill....


01 Small Axe by Bob Marley
02 Move (Instrumental) by Jay Dee
03 Psycho Linguistics (Convergent Thought) (f/ MAD) by Prince Paul
04 Misty by Aretha Franklin
05 Population Control by Company Flow
06 Rock N Roll (Could Never Hip-Hop Like This) by Hansdome Boy Modeling School
07 Crisis by Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers
08 Me & Mr.Jones by Amy Winehouse
09 Run The Numbers (f/ Aesop Rock) by El-P
10 Rocket Number Nine by Sun Ra
11 Number Nine by Aesop Rock
12 Isn’t It Romantic by Bill Evans
13 My Adidas by Run DMC
14 If You Want Me To Stay by Sly & The Family Stone
15 Strictly Mash’ion by Poor Righteous Teachers
16 The Cause Of Death by Immortal Technique
17 Dead Pan by Aesop Rock
18 Climax (Girl Shit) (Instrumental) by Slum Village
19 It’s Too Late by Carole King
20 Bless The M.I.C. by The Beatnuts
21 Prelude To A Kiss by Archie Shepp
22 Yee Haw (Instrumental) by PNS
23 Put Your Records On by Corinne Bailey Rae

http://www.1mc.us/media/podcasts/Small%20Axe%20Podcast.mp3



And saving the best for last in memory of the prolific songstress and supremely brave civil rights activist Miriam Makeba AKA Mama Africa, a tribute of her finest music, comprised of live performances and studio recordings. Sorry no tracklist, really you won't need one, sit your butt down and listen to this woman's beautiful voice and message...incredible music....R.I.P. Mama


http://1mc.us/media/podcasts/Mama%20Africa%20Podcast.mp3



To check out the 1MC blog Archive for more great Podcast mixes visit this link:
http://1mc.us/blog/podcasts/2008/03/water/