Wednesday, March 03, 2010

Live From Souled On California...

What's good, soul children? If you're not hyped already, all you have to do is tune into the frequency we're transmitting and prepare for flight. Today...Live from Souled On California...I proudly present the majestic sounds of the almighty KinG.

Hold on a minute, though~ before I send this out into the funky universe, I got a story to tell...Biggie-style...

A few light years ago, this virtual stranger named KinG (aka Sherwin Keith Rice) asked me for some feedback on a beat tape he'd produced. Theoretically I'm all the way down with supporting independent artists, but in practice very few deliver the caliber of material that I'd actually consider promoting. Consequently, I gave his offering a hesitant listen...and much to my surprise...Keith turned out to be a truly rare exception to my half-assed rules. His music resonated so deeply with me that it felt like I'd had the good fortune to discover water or air. (Hmmm...okay...using the elements in my metaphor may lean slightly towards the dramatic, but I knew I'd found a mad talented beatsmith at the very least.)

During chapter two, the KinG and I started corresponding frequently, and we came upon the idea of him dropping a new series of tracks tailored exclusively for the Souled On listening audience. We worked tirelessly on the project for weeks on end, with Keith digging for his own samples, as well as flipping records I offered up as source material.

One of the most essential things I learned about this man is that it's nothing for him to roll out several beats in the same day. Our difficulty came not from his lack of ingenuity, but rather how the hell we were going to edit the project into a concise representation of his abilities. I'm a stressed-out Virgo and KinG is an unrelenting perfectionist, so I'm sure you can imagine what our process looked like at times. In the end, KinG would simply describe the whole experience/phenomenon as Live From Souled On California...and it was finally a wrap.

I won't lie to you, kids...your humble scholar is probably biased as hell at this point. However, it's with the utmost sincerity that I proclaim this to (easily!) be one of the finest releases I've heard so far this year. If you dig it half as much as we do, you'll be bumping these tracks well into the foreseeable future.The selection consists of remixes, instrumentals, and vocal tracks constructed with a couple of Keith's emcee compadres. You can download the tracks individually, or the more adventurous can cop the project in its entirety right off the bat. A few of the original songs KinG used as an inspirational foundation for his beats are included in the post (along with some production notes), but you'll have to download them separately as those mp3s weren't packaged in the zip file.

In the future, Keith might end up charging a KinG's ransom for his work, but today the price of admission is...LOVE. If you like what you hear, all we ask is that you pass it along. Burn it and hand it out randomly to people on the streets...especially the ones who claim to be aliens. Toss it into the collection plate at church~ no doubt the deacon will praise you for it! Download the tracks onto your grandma's iPod, but turn the volume up loud so she can differentiate it from Frank Sinatra. Each one reach one, and Keith should be well on his way to forming his very own cult.

Enjoy this ridiculously ill music, children...

suited for the masses,

yet fit for a
KinG.


Download all of Live From Souled On California in a zip file

INDIVIDUAL TRACKS/SAMPLE CUTS:

"99"---KinG (LimeLinx)
"99"---KinG (YSI)

Sample on "99":

"Aki & Ukthay (Brother and Sister)"---Ahmad Jamal

Oddly, I was reliving my childhood by watching old wrestling videos for days and this is the joint that came out of that. I found this album (The Ahmad Jamal Trio) while just doing some internet digging. Ahmad Jamal is pure genius. One of the best things about sampling, is being able to challenge yourself. I wanted to use a tiny sample of the song and be able to flip it and use it for the whole beat. You hear the same sample in the verse as you do in the hook.


"SFV (The Village)"---KinG (LimeLinx)
"SFV (The Village)"---KinG (YSI)

Sample on "SFV (The Village)":

"Let Me Down Easy"---Bettye LaVette (LimeLinx)
"Let Me Down Easy"---Bettye LaVette (YSI)

This sample was probably the hardest one to flip out of anything I was given by Scholar. There were no parts where Ms. LaVette wasn’t singing. So I took little pieces and played with the pitches of the sample. The parts I was able to use were slighty random, which is part of the reason it came out with a reggae feel to it.

"Erykah Badu's On & On (Kings New Pack of Strings Remixx)" (LimeLinx)
"Erykah Badu's On & On (Kings New Pack of Strings Remixx)" (YSI)


"Ghostface Killah's Mighty Healthy (Kings Mighty Freakn Wealthy Remix)" (LimeLinx)
"Ghostface Killah's Mighty Healthy (Kings Mighty Freakn Wealthy Remix)" (YSI)

"Get The Bread"---KinG (LimeLinx)
"Get The Bread"---KinG (YSI)

"2010 Boom Bap"---KinG (LimeLinx)
"2010 Boom Bap"---KinG (YSI)

"Celebration"---KinG (LimeLinx)
"Celebration"---KinG (YSI)

Sample on "Celebration":

"Try To Leave Me If You Can (Betcha Can't Do It)"---Bessie Banks (LimeLinx)
"Try To Leave Me If You Can (Betcha Can't Do It)"---Bessie Banks (YSI)

With this joint, I wanted to challenge myself by doing two things; do as little as possible to a sample and make a totally different beat using the same sample (which is what occurs at the end). The first version I did of "Celebration" had an ending that was lacking bump, so I had to go back and revamp it. I left the first half of "Celebration" empty because I felt that the sample had enough going on musically. I did a lot of chopping though, which is always fun.

"Out of Character"---KinG (LimeLinx)
"Out of Character"---KinG (YSI)

"The Band Needs To Warm Back Up"---KinG (LimeLinx)
"The Band Needs To Warm Back Up"---KinG (YSI)

Sample on "The Band Needs To Warm Back Up":

"Ooh Ah Ee"---Vern Blair Debate (LimeLinx)
"Ooh Ah Ee"---Vern Blair Debate (YSI)

"Keep It Rollin' (Feat. Hoodini)"---KinG (LimeLinx)
"Keep It Rollin' (Feat. Hoodini)"---KinG (YSI)


"Collins Ave."---KinG (LimeLinx)
"Collins Ave."---KinG (YSI)

Sample on "Collins Ave":

"Very Yes"---Bootsy Collins (LimeLinx)
"Very Yes"---Bootsy Collins (YSI)

"Very Yes" was one of the first samples I flipped. If you've heard it, you know it's a pretty long record. I had a lot of parts to choose from, so I just went through the whole song and took little parts. Throughout the song there are a lot of different synth sounds being played on the original record and they're panning right to left, giving the song a somewhat bigger sound.

"Valentine's Day"---KinG (LimeLinx)
"Valentine's Day"---KinG (YSI)

"3 Day Slump & Moo's Rough Draft (Feat. Moo)"---KinG (LimeLinx)
"3 Day Slump & Moo's Rough Draft (Feat. Moo)"---KinG (YSI)

Sample on "3 Day Slump":

"Be Ever Wonderful"-Earth, Wind, & Fire

I was having trouble coming up with something for 3 Days (obviously), so I decided to flip something that was common. The first version of the beat comes in on the second half of the track and features Mooruf.

I wasn’t really diggin the beat when it was first constructed.
Moo hit me on twitter and said he wanted to take a stab at it. That same night he sent me back this version. From my understanding, it was a freestyle so kudos to him for killing that. The 2nd Version hits a lot harder, but I like the bounce that the 1st brings. For some reason I want to say that the 1st version is a tad bit more commercial, while the 2nd has an undeniable gritty feel to it.

"Cashmere Reality"---KinG (LimeLinx)
"Cashmere Reality"---KinG (YSI)

Sample on "Cashmere Reality":

"Save Their Souls"---Bohannon (LimeLinx)
"Save Their Souls"---Bohannon (YSI)

I usually never lean towards samples that have been flipped already. But when Scholar sent this, I remembered being asked to flip this by a friend a long time ago. Also I thought it would be a challenge to get it to sound totally different from Jay-Z’s “Cashmere Thoughts” and Musiq Souldchild’s “Caught Up”. While those versions stuck to the loop in its regular form, I chopped it. I really like the way it came out, 'cause it has a very loose but bouncy feeling to it.

"Something Cool 1&2 (Feat. Elemental P)"---KinG (LimeLinx)
"Something Cool 1&2 (Feat. Elemental P)"---KinG (YSI)

If you want to get at KinG...to stalk him or make him a superstar...hit him up at any of the following convenient locations:

KinG's Beatssss
Twitter
MySpace

Word From Keith's Moms:

"You must be smokin' if you think that little shit was funny."

59 comments:

@slushygutter said...

"Earth Wind & Fire, rims and tires
Bulletproof glass, inside is the realest driver..."- Nas from "Nas is Like

yes yes yall, great stuff brah.

FYI- a few of the cats from EW&F are from Denver, notably Phillip Bailey.

Keep it light ...

eChac1 said...

I snatched this earlier and had to come back to say thanks. Luv it.

King! said...

"nas is like" is the reason i ever payed attention to hip hop.

thanks for listening guys...its deeply appreciated.

chrome said...

d/ling as i type. been on my Ghostdini thizzle for a minute so can't wait to hear the "Mighty Healthy" remix.

thx scholar

ps: link to KinG's blog is busted

Unknown said...

http://kingkingkang.blogspot.com/

Lucky Shot said...

Kings beat Get the Bread is serious,

thanks for showing us

T
London
takingmadshots.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

I'm liking Celebration and Collins Ave is smooth.

3 Day slump sounds like some no worries summer ish.

Keep doing your thing.

Paul C said...

These gears are great. Thanks for putting them out there for us, I'll forward on the link to others. Now let's work how to get you paid...

Scholar said...

Thank you everyone for giving Keith some feedback. He put a lot of heart into this effort, so I appreciate the show of support.

JD said...

Just found the blog and I'm souled. KinG!- really enjoying the tape, some great music. The sun is finally out in DC-MD-VA and it feels good. The sample on Keep It Rollin' is the truth. Great work. Godspeed you good fellows.

Jon

Anonymous said...

Keep up introducing indy artists!!!

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