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For the fifth installment of Bring Me the Remix of Zilla Rocca, in which Clean Guns emcee Zilla Rocca has been reaching out to his favorite producers to remix tracks from his solo mixtape Bring Me the Head of Zilla Rocca, we've got a track from a producer out of New Jersey, Y?Arcka a.k.a. Young Architect. Like many artists originally from South Jersey, Arcka's moved his base of operations across the border to Philly, a fact that I tried not to hold against him while listening to his offering. More troubling to me than his decision to move out of Jersey, however, was his choice of song to remix, Sunbathing Bitches featuring Mally from the 612, a song that holds something of a special place in the history of this site.
The original S.B. track, which Zilla put out over a year ago before including it as part of his more recent mixtape release, came about after Zilla had heard some of Mally's songs on here. Despite my best efforts to get more unsigned artists to work together, it remains the one and only collaboration to feature two emcees that have been spotlighted on this site. On top of that, it had a great beat put together by Mr. Rocca himself to go along with a typically dope verse from Mally, making it one of my favorite songs of 2007.
It would have been hard to top the original effort, then, but Y?Arcka sidesteps that problem by taking the song in an entirely different direction, lacing the remix with a laid-back ragga-inspired instrumental that stands in stark contrast to its predecessor. Whereas the first version was on an 80's era South Beach vibe, Y?Arcka serves up a version that sounds like it came straight from the shores of Jamaica. I admittedly was hesitant to listen to this one when Zilla first sent it to me, but once I actually did load it onto the iPod, I found it hard to deny that Y?Arcka was a great addition to the series. I've always had a soft spot for songs that mix reggae and hip hop, a combination that, when done right (as Arcka has done here), has just the right blend of melody and boom bap. Guaranteed, after listening to Arck's remix for more than a few seconds you'll be unable to keep your head from nodding along, and you might even find yourself yearning for a spliff. Peep:
Zilla Rocca and Mally from the 612 - Sunbathing Bitches (Y?Arcka Tame Remix) (d/l link)
Here's what Zilla had to say about Y?Arcka:
"I met Y? Arcka in early '07 and just hated him from the gate! This cat would flip samples that I had been sitting on for years WAAAY better than I could even imagine. He's like the Philly version of Madlib to me -- he'll take a sample and make 7 different beats out of the same joint! Double time, 3/4th time, boom-bap, club...all from the same sample. He's a virtuoso, yo. It's really a matter of time before this dude becomes a household name.As always, for comparison's sake here's the original version of Sunbathing Bitches:
He dropped his instrumental album "The Un-Herd Vol 1" on Ropeadope Digital earlier this year and I really wanted to get some new shit from the kid for this project as he's got a track on my album "Fall Back Friday." Arcka will tell you (as he told me several times) he's not big on remixes, but he did an outstanding job on this track. Mally sounds right at home on this new beat and Arcka took the island/reggae vibe and added more headnoddage then I ever could."
Zilla Rocca and Mally from the 612 - Sunbathing Bitches (O.G. mix produced by Zilla Rocca) (d/l link)
You can hear a few more cuts from Y?Arcka over on his Myspace page. To be honest, though, you should really check out his album The Un-Herd Vol 1 if you want to hear what he's capable of putting together as a producer. All of the tracks from that album can be previewed over here (or, alternatively, you can load them through imeem). I started listening to it yesterday, and have been thoroughly impressed with it thus far.
What's that? You say you still haven't picked up a copy of Zilla's mixtape Bring Me the Head of Zilla Rocca? What have you been waiting for? Here's a sendspace link to d/l it for free.
Previously on Bring Me the Remix of Zilla Rocca:
Part One (Nex Millen)
Part Two (Douglas Martin of Fresh Cherries from Yakima)
Part Three (Small Pro)
Part Four (DJ Apt One of the Philadelphyinz)
12/17/2008 09:31:01 PM posted by Fresh