Mix Monday: DJ Premier

Very quick mix Monday this week and indeed a repost from another blog but I assure you that its well worth it!

As I’m sure you all know, Hip Hop legend Guru sadly passed away last week after a long battle with cancer. Guru’s former musical partner and fellow Gang Starr founder DJ Premier put together this astonishing mix of records Guru was involved in by way of tribute.

Ignoring all the supposed beef, this mix shows not only how important Gang Starr were and still continue to be, but how well Premier and Guru worked together.

Grab it below and remember a legend:

DJ Premier - Guru Tribute Mix

1. Gang Starr – Betrayal (Feat. Scarface)
2. Gang Starr – Intro (The First Step)
3. Gang Starr – Execution Of A Chump (No More Mr. Nice Guy Pt. 2)
4. Gang Starr – Name Tag (Premier & The Guru)
5. Gang Starr – Speak Ya Clout (Feat. Jeru the Damaja & Lil Dap)
6. Gang Starr – Peace Of Mine
7. Gang Starr – Eulogy
8. Gang Starr – Royalty (Feat. K-Ci & JoJo)
9. Gang Starr – Daily Operation (Intro)
10. Gang Starr – In This Life… (Feat. Snoop Dogg & Uncle Reo)
11. Gang Starr – Above The Clouds (Feat. Inspectah Deck)
12. Gang Starr – The Planet
13. Gang Starr – Daily Operation (Intro)
14. Gang Starr – Next Time
15. Gang Starr – 93 Interlude (Unreleased Moment Of Truth Interlude)
16. Gang Starr – The Militia II (Feat. Rakim & WC)
17. Gang Starr – Intro (HQ, Goo, Panch)
18. Heavy D. – A Buncha Niggas (Feat. The Notorious B.I.G., Busta Rhymes, Guru, Rob-O & Third Eye)
19. M.O.P. – Salute Part II (Feat. Guru)
20. D&D Allstars – Hot Shit (Feat. Big Daddy Kane, Sadat X, Guru & Greg Nice)
21. Gang Starr – PLAYTAWIN
22. Gang Starr – Soliloquy Of Chaos
23. Group Home – The Legacy (Feat. Guru)
24. Gang Starr – Conspiracy
25. Gang Starr – Stay Tuned
26. Gang Starr – Zonin’

Serocee - Badeng

Serocee is an MC which many of our readers may well have heard of. To my mind he's currently one of the UK's top dancehall mc's, who is as natural riding classic reggae & rub a dub riddims as he is riding contemporary uk funky, bashment & garage beats.

Over the last few years Serocee has been steadily building a reputation for energetic live performances and had recorded plenty of big tunes with artists such as Toddla T, Poirier, MJ Cole, South Rakkas Crew, Zed Bias and Redlight.

His biggest tune to date is probably his collaboration with MJ Cole, the massive 'AO', which has been all over the radio, clubs and internet for the last year or so.



To follow on from this, Serocee is releasing his new single, Badeng, on March 15th, backed with a tidy MJ Cole remix.

The track is a unique mix of dancehall, electro, hip hop & uk funky influences with a fantastic slurred vocal from Serocee, and is already recieving major support from BBC Radio 1, Kiss FM and various other stations from the likes of Annie Mac, Toddla T, Sinden, Mista Jam, Ras Kwame, The Heatwave and the Steak House Crew.

To give you a taster, you can download the promo mp3's below to tide you over til the offical release, which will be available from all the usual online outlets

Serocee - Badeng

Serocee - Badeng (MJ Cole)

(The mp3's are 64kbps by the way .If you try and play these in a club you will look like a fool, so support the artist and buy them on March 15th. Alright.... ok)

Mayer Hawthorne - Just Aint Gonna Work Out

I was doing a bit of digging for info on the New Snoop Dogg Album, Malice in Wonderland when I came across a video that Diplo had posted to his twitter feed from hiphopDX.
I'd never heard of Mayer Hawthorne but was intrigued enough from the short clip to do some googling. According to his label, Stone's Throw:

"Mayer Hawthorne grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan, just outside of Detroit, and vividly remembers, as a child, driving with his father and tuning the car radio in to the rich soul and jazz history the region provided....(he) but draws the most inspiration from the music of Smokey Robinson, Curtis Mayfield, and the legendary songwriting and production trio of Lamont Dozier, Brian Holland, and Eddie Holland Jr"

Listening through to his stuff on youtube, this really comes across. At first listen his music is completely timeless, you can't tell if you're listening to modern versions of old tracks, or completely new stuff. The record that really blew me away is the gorgeously designed 10" Just Aint gonna Work Out. Pressed onto candy red heart shaped vinyl, these two tracks are equal parts J-Dilla and Smokey Robinson with just a nod in the direction of Prince's Slow Love. You can get the digital at Juno and Boomkat and you can hear the tunes below.