Thirty Three Jones | Desktop Site
Over the weekend, my man Zilla Rocca laced me with the newest mixtape from Beat Garden Entertainment, the Philly-based hip hop collective that has been laying the blueprint on how to succeed as independent artists in the digital age. Over the past year and a half, Zilla and his label have been an almost inescapable presence in the world of Internet hip hop, releasing a constant stream of music that has, more often than not, far surpassed the quality of the commercialized rap that has dominated the mainstream airwaves. This latest tape, released in conjunction with Yadibox.com, is no exception, loaded with bangers from start to finish.
It's reminiscent of the mixtapes of old, the kind of tape Tony Touch used to put out, where it sounds like someone just brought a microphone to a cipher and left the tape player on record while a bunch of emcees dropped rhymes just for the sake of rhyming. Their love for hip hop is evident throughout, and it's a refreshing change from a lot of the other mixtapes that have come out in the past year, where the featured artists often sound like rapping is just their day job. It's not all about the lyricism, though, and there's a pretty wide variety of beats on here with some new production alongside classic beats jacked from Liquid Swords, The Chronic and The Black Album.
In a lot of ways, Beat Garden is shaping up as a 21st Century version of the hip hop crews that were running the 90's, like Wu-Tang and Boot Camp. They've got a bunch of emcees, all with their own style, all with a seemingly endless supply of rhymes. I've been genuinely excited watching their development, and there aren't a whole lot of groups out there, signed or unsigned, that I can say that about.
With twenty six tracks on the tape, I had a hard time choosing which ones to highlight. The three that follow are a pretty good representation of what you can expect from the rest of the mixtape. The first one I'm putting up features Clean Guns and DAME freestyling over GZA's Shadowboxin' beat:
Clean Guns and DAME - Shadowboxin' '08
Next up is producer/MC/artist ASK?:
ASK? - Don't Ask For...
And finally, Clean Guns and Triple Nickels a.k.a. The Fairmount Park Commission:
Clean Guns and Triple Nickels - Put It on the Ritz
The bitrate on all three of these tracks is significantly lower than the official versions, so cop the mixtape to hear them in all their 256kbps glory. You can purchase the cd and/or download the mp3s for the Yadibox.com mixtape over at CD Baby. Consider it a six dollar investment in the future of Philly hip hop.
At some point in the very near future (tomorrow?) I'll be putting up an interview with one of the groups featured on the mixtape, Triple Nickels. In the meantime, you can hear more from the entire Beat Garden massive over at their website. And if you haven't gotten your fill of Zilla Rocca, he's got another new track up at 215hiphop.com.
1/29/2007 08:00:01 PM posted by Fresh