Edrys - He Ain't No Joke (Buffalo, NY)

One of my favorite beats of all time is the James Brown sampling instrumental from Eric B.

(Image - Edreys)
One of my favorite beats of all time is the James Brown sampling instrumental from Eric B. and Rakim's I Ain't No Joke (a beat that Rakim claims he was using long before he ever hooked up with Eric B). Every now and then I hear an emcee on a mixtape attempting to jump on that beat and recreate Rakim's flow, but they rarely come anywhere near the level of the original - perhaps the one exception being Buckshot from Black Moon.

With that said, if you're a new emcee and you've chosen that beat for your first single, you have a lot to live up to. Edrys, a producer/writer/artist/blogger out of Buffalo, NY, did just that on the promo for his upcoming album, Good Morning Amy, flipping the track into a Wire-esque tale of the drug life that's equal parts cautionary and braggadocios. It's not going to make you throw away your copy of Paid In Full, but it's pretty good:

Edrys - I Ain't No Joke



Edrys' promoter sent along one more track, Get Free, which is a little more on the socially conscious tip. It's a good look for him, check it out:

Edrys - Get Free



For more from Edreys, hit up his myspace page.