This man is currently one of the best, yet one of the most underrated beatsmiths doing it. He dropped an amazingly dope album White Van Music last year on Rhymesayers Entertainment and has an upcoming album in the works with Freeway (that shit is gonna knock!!!!!). He has the great ability to produce for all types of artists. These are some of my favorites…

De La Soul – “Rock Co.Kane Flow”

• De La Soul – Rock Co.Kane Flow

This is that shit! From one of the most criminally slept on albums of the last 10 years, De La’s 2004 The Grind Date, this song pulsates with the weird brilliance that both De La and guest MF Doom have made careers of. But the star of the song is Jake’s production.

Freeway – “Blauh”

• Freeway – Blauh

Everyday last December the “Philly Freezer” murdered a beat in his Month of Madness series and the chemistry these two developed on this, and another song, led the way to the collaborative album I mentioned earlier. I don’t know if this was made for Free, but it fits perfectly. Set the tone and let him go.

The Gift of Gab – “Rat Race”

• The Gift of Gab – Rat Race

To many people have never heard this song, or even the 2004 Gift of Gab album Fourth Dimensional Rocketships Going Up, for that matter. So have a listen.

Freeway & Brother Ali – “The Truth”

• Jake One – The Truth

Freeway and Ali over some rock-hard Jake One production!!! This song will still be as dope 30 years from now as it is right now as it’s being played. This is hip hop – simple, straight forward and infinitely better than anything you ever thought of doing. Off of the 2008 Jake One album White Van Music.

Prodigy – “Shed Thy Blood”

• Prodigy – Shed Thy Blood (w/ Un Pacino)

I’m a lyrics guy, but sometimes a beat completely makes up for lackluster rhyming. Case in point, this song from the 2008 album Product Of The 80′s. Seriously, turn this one up.

]]> http://jointcontrast.com/2009/07/the-jukebox-%e2%80%93-produced-by-jake-one/feed/ 1 http://jointcontrast.com/2009/05/keeping-cameras-rolling-4-eminem-ice-cube-el-p-nas-krs-one-madvillain/ http://jointcontrast.com/2009/05/keeping-cameras-rolling-4-eminem-ice-cube-el-p-nas-krs-one-madvillain/#comments Mon, 11 May 2009 08:17:35 +0000 J. Charles http://jointcontrast.com/?p=1226 The music video. Who remembers when this art form actually meant something? That was back when MTV and other “music video channels” actually played music videos for music fans. The platform was once used as a way to introduce new sounds to a new audience. And it worked from where we sat. At least for the likes of Dank Lucas, TimS and J.C.

Thankfully though, some of our favorite artists are still creating them. And they’re doing so with a message attached more times than not. Whether the music video goes hand-in-hand with the song itself, or brings a new perspective to the viewer, the cinematic quality of videos old and new should be celebrated for the masterpieces they are. And you best believe we’ll be celebrating our favorites, from all genres, from here on out…

• Eminem – “3 A.M.” – Maybe its the initial shock of it, but this is mad impressive. I was absolutely uniterested in Eminem’s comeback album and after hearing this song previously I was like “eh..” But this video is dope as fuck. The imagery is so incredible that I just had to keep playing it over and over after I first saw it. – Dank Lucas

• Ice Cube – “Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It” – Seeing the kids being brainwashed (and the distributing of blame) in the classroom is not very different from the way we grew up ourselves. The history books, the churches, the ideals our parents passed down as the “right way” to live our lives, should all be subject to questioning should some confusion arise. Cube’s lyrics and the familiar images in this video are powerful. – J.C.

• El-P – “Deep Space 9mm” – I never enjoyed NYC as much as I do when it’s portrayed in rap videos. Whether it’s the neighborhood of angry looking ruff-ryders popping wheelies on ATV’s, or the less than glamorous everyday feel of this video… this is as independent as the music itself.  So low-budget you say to yourself “I could’ve done better,” but guess what? You aren’t creative or cool enough, so you didn’t. – TimS

• Madvillain – “All Caps” – Hip Hop and Comic books. Need I say more? – TimS

• KRS-One and Marley Marl – “Hip Hop Lives” – Back when Nas declared “Hip Hop Is Dead” there were too many people that misunderstood what he was trying to say, which was that the Johnny-come-lately-on-the-radio garbage won’t stand the test of time. Since then former adversaries KRS-One and Marly Marl joined forces a few years back to create a criminally overlooked album that spawned this old school video, to help remind the young heads what it means to last forever. – J.C.

• Nas – “Be a Nigger Too” – This is the reason i fell in love with hip hop… uncensored expression, fly shit, and the denouncement of hate. Plus we get the sick spoken piece at the beginning! Nasty Nas at his finest. Oh yeah, and Rik Cordero owns music videos right now like Lebron’s gonna own the Magic next round! (Sorry Hawks and Celtics fans.) – Dank Lucas

Tear down boundaries. That’s what the Tow Away Zone does every Wednesday morning from 10 am-12 noon in the basement of 91.5 FM (www.WPRKDJ.org) at the Rollins College campus in Winter Park, FL. As 2009 approaches and the one-year anniversary of the show nears, host J. Charles sheds light on the past 11 months…

Why Call It Tow Away Zone? – On Jan. 28, 2008, without a name for my new radio show, I drove in circles around Rollins College in search of a place to park. Running behind schedule (as usual), I made a questionable decision to park alongside a curb that appeared to be out of harms way. Security tried to send me a warning via cell phone. I figured it was about 43 minutes into the show when it happened. I made my way out to the parking lot afterwards to find my car was gone. A $20 cab ride and $100 to get my bucket from the tow yard and I was back in the driver seat once again. So became the name of the show.

Backbone Each Week - Instrumentals and Interludes have been a staple since the show began. For the sake of keeping that element of surprise somewhat intact I offer only the minds behind those sounds (in no particular order)… Wax Tailor, Blockhead, The Budos Band, Omega One, J Dilla, Booker T. and the M.G.’s, Jel, RJD2, DJ Shadow.

Most Called Upon, Most Requested – (In no particular order) – Johnny Cash “The Time of the Preacher”; Kid Beyond “I Shall Be Free”; Azeem “Bush Is A Gangsta”; DJ Revelution (w/ Iriscience) “The Revolution”; Spoon “The Underdog”; Murs “Everything”; Bob Marley “Mr. Brown (DJ Spooky remix)”; Mr. Dibbs “Blind Loyalty”; Menomena “Weird”; Flowers Forever “American Dream”; Why? “These Few Presidents”; Q-tip “Shaka”; Black Sabbath “Who Are You”; El-P (w/ Suzanne Venzina) “Constellation (remix)”; South “Wasted”; The Foreign Exchange “Daykeeper”; Tim Fite “All I Need”; Psycho Realm And Street Platoon “The Beginning”; Brother Ali “Here”; Skillz “Pastor Skillz”; Skillz (w/ Common, Talib Kweili) ”So Far So Good (remix)”; Coldplay “Lost”; Radiohead “All I need”; Elbow “Grounds For Divorce”; Vast Aire “Shu (The God of Aire)”; Blur “Brothers and Sisters”; Saul Williams (w/ Zach De La Rocha) “Act III, Scene 2 (Shakespeare)”; Baba “Xperience”; Devotchka “Along The Way”; The Helio Sequence “Halleluhah”.

The Usual Suspects – Along with those bands mentioned above were the likes of (once again, in no particular order)… Beck, The Flaming Lips, Atmosphere, Clinic, John Lennon, The Roots, Mos Def, Ghostface Killah, Digital Underground, Rakim, Nas, Cee-Lo, Jay-Z, Public Enemy, Iggy Pop, Buck 65, Jean Grae, The Beastie Boys, J-live, Jane’s Addiction, Erykah Badu, Modest Mouse, The Beatles, Big Daddy Kane, The Toadies, James Brown, KRS-ONE, MF Doom, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Parliament, Gil Scott-Heron, Presto, Gorillaz, RZA, Shape Of Broad Minds, The Black Keys, Shortstack, Nine Inch Nails, Glue, Gang Starr, Slick Rick, Sage Francis, Lupe Fiasco, Morphine, P.O.S., Primus, David Bowie.

Local Orlando/Florida Connection – On average there have been two songs with local flavor played each week by the likes of Solillaquists Of Sound, X:144 And SPS, DJ Kittybat, Sincere Vega, The Black Hammock Band, All Good Funk Alliance, Kap, Alias The @ikt.

Can’t Forget Back Home – In an effort to never forget where I came from there have been a smaller number of additions to the playlist… AMC “Dun Dun Dunno”; Ryan Weaver “We Dream Tomorrow” and “Long Long Long”; Flux “River Dog”; Vic Freeze “Senora”.

By no means does this cover the whole gamut but it does provide some insight into what the show has evolved into. Tune in to find out where it goes from here.