Uh Ohhh! Look who got their hands on some Aesop Rock! Lets be real for a second. Aesop Rock is a little over my head. I probably only can hang with about 12% of his content matter. But his flow is sick and most of his beats are pretty dope to me. I normally don't gravitate to this kind of music but my boys slowly forced him onto to me by sh*tting all over all the other hip hop I normally listen to and constantly comparing it to Aesop Rock. And I can't complain because it led to me finding other favorites like Lodeck. So I was lucky enough to come across some Aesop acapellas and decided to do something with them. Do me a favor, if you are feeling any of the work below, please check out and buy some Aesop rock if you have not already. His catalog is timeless in my opinion.
This was a fun remix. The tempo changes up in the middle of the song so I got to use the global tempo change feature in Logic. Something i would probably never use for myself. My favorite line in the song was at the end, "....you don't want me smiling at your cameras." There isn't a version B yet because I wanna finish all the remixes before I go back and do few more variations.
A Jimi flip. If I looked harder I probably cold have found a better Hendrix break but I just used what I had. NY Piss Hiss Bleed Dolby Homey. I am def going to go back over this one. I know I could have come a little harder than this. Not a lot of change ups and I didn't freak the chorus at all.
This my favorite song on Aesop's Bazooka album. I like the chorus. You learn more when your mouth peice retreats. I can grab these kind of lyrics but lines like, "Upside down, I pick wigs for beetles," totally lose me. If anyone out there is an Aesop expert... I would love to be enlightened. Since I liked this cut so much I remixed it twice. I think I liked Version B better. I think it was a better chop. My kicks could have been better.
"Eyes spiraling back when he hit the mat, woke, first words, Oh it's like that?" Someone please enlighten me. What am I missing here? Burn train buffers. They only came to buff the name stuck to the train and that is a textbook page up in flames for my seeds. Corporate suits are erasing the real hip hop? That's what I am getting. Stop erasing my graf. Let me know if I am way off.
LIMELIGHTERS ::: 035a ::: 035b
"Pain cave uno, smoking a broke blue note." See... I was lost right on the first line of the track. Version A was the original beat and Version B is the beat after I mapped it to the remix and added a few elements to the beat. You can hear it is slowed down and I added a snare that had more of a clap sound. I like Camp Lo. This as a good collab. Chiba's line at the end was my favorite line mostly because of his flow. Right after he says "design'em" he says Aesop. I must have heard that line about 30 times before I realized what he was saying. Slap that Orangatang...
SUPER FLUKE ::: 036a ::: 036b ::: 036c
Three versions. I like B the best out of the three. But I still think I need to go back and try to do a better remix. Version A was an older beat I had and I thought it would go with this accapella but it didn't. I think the sample in version B came from an Illmuzik flip week or a Hip Hop Production contest kit.
Lyrically this was my favorite track. I understood everything he was talking about. I don't know which version I liked better. I think the chops for both of them came out dope but B could have had some EQ and Dynamic work done. The kick and snare are weak as hell. But I got lost in the break and stopped paying attention to the quality of the audio. I think A had the better arrangement but I liked the bop in version B. And I think Aesop's flow went over B better because you could focus on what he was saying since the beat wasn't screaming.
FREEZE ::: 038a ::: 038b ::: 038c
You didn't have to be listening too hard to tell that the chop in version A came from the same break I used in Cook It Up. Guess I just really liked that sound set. Version B was a beat I made on an airplane. It was actually a faster pace than what you hear but had to be slowed down to match Aesop's flow. And you didn't have to be listening too hard to tell version C was using the same sound set of version B. I think I ended up liking version C but it needs some mastering and engineering.
FAMOUS ::: 039a ::: 039b ::: 039c ::: 039d ::: 039e
I remixed this like 6 different ways. But I have only bounced two versions down. They sound similar but as soon as I get done arranging the other versions I will post them. I liked the message in this cong so I just kept trying to find the right beat but after auditioning like 5 different beats I couldn't get the sound I wanted. Maybe the others will sound a little better than these.
BABIES ::: 040a ::: 040b ::: 040c
I most def need to go back and redo these two beats. UGHH dot com had a big Shug Street Champ contest and I was gonna enter but to get an edge on the comp I wanted to chop Primo's original version and come up with a slightly different break. But... brag-rap is not my favorite kind of stuff to rap so I had a hard time writing a song about being the next Street Champ. I ended up missing the deadline. A cat named Breed Winna won the comp. I will try to come with an original chop instead of using my Primo contest chops. Stay tuned.
I got three different versions of this track but I really need to polish them up before I post them. Subscribe to my myspace page or my blog and and you will get a notice as to when I finish these.
This beat idea played out a little better in my mind. I tried to sample something familiar but something others would not have thought to sample. But the beat ended up kinda basic and plain. Def could have used a bassline or some sort of synth.
I think I do a better job with synths when I take my time but chopping soul samples is fun as hell. This arrangement was pretty simple but I think it came out pretty good. I ended up leaving the ending orginal because I could not get the tempo down.
To round out this volume to end it on an even 45, this is my boy King Mez ripping one of my older beats. Smooth flow. Nice vocal layering. I can't take no credit for that. That was all him and his camp. I just volunteered the beat. Visit his myspace page to hear more of his work. version B is the instrumental after I ran some plug'ins over it to pump the kick and snare a little.
Aesop announced in his blog that Def Jux is releasing more accapellas so as soon as those drop I'll be all over those too. I have no idea as to when I will finish those remixes. Life has been getting busy on my lately. but, I think I am getting better and faster at making beats. I am just trying to get better at my mixing and engineering. I don;t need to be a master but I just want to get better at cleaning up the sound and getting everything to fit. What makes it so hard is it a case by case situation. every track is different and it takes time. You're supposed to let your ears comb over the track over a a few days and I tend to move through these remixes so fast because these are just practice. So anyway.. another volume down. Download it and enjoy it and pass it along before I piss someone off and they make me take all this down. And again... if you like any of this, you will love the original work so purchase and download some of the original work from Aesop Rock on his website. If you didn't know yet, you can download the kits I used to make each beat on my blog. So visit that spot if you want those or if you want to get at me in general. I always post a bunch of dumb stuff up there. You know... video games, girls, cars, beats, funny videos and anything else that is interesting. So thanks for checking me out. Send me some feedback!