Been listening to a few episodes of the Heat Rocks podcast with Oliver Wang aka ‘O Dub’ (as dissed on The Outrage, but since been pals with The P)... some great episodes of artists talking through their love of classic albums.
Agreed, really cool to hear a producer's insight into the intracies of the album, picking up on loads of technical points your average hip hop fan wouldn't know about. Plus with Thes' jokes and geeky side stories totally dope
Thanks for bumping the thread and reminding me about this, Po.
I meant to check out the podcast nearly a year ago when you first posted but completely forgot about it somehow.
Already listened to the Illmatic episode with Thes and there's some great stuff in there (of course). My favorite moment might be Thes giving it up for Large Professor though. SO underappreciated considering how long he's been in the game, how deep his catalogue runs (esp. once you add in all the stuff he wasn't properly credited for) and how passionate he still is about making music >30 years later.
(I'll just refer anyone who hasn't seen it already to his Rhythm Roulette episode. Large goes IN putting nearly everyone else who's been featured to shame by really pushing the envelope, adding layers and looking to get as much as possible out of the actual records he picked rather than settling for some half-@ss beat or cheating his way through by fattening things up with drums or other stuff from some other source.)
Would have been amazing if things had worked out to get Extra P on the final album somehow as well. If anyone can be considered Hip Hop's elder statesman it should be him.
Needless to say the next episode I'll be peeping is the Main Source one with Pharoae.
Seen a few others that seemed quite promising as well: Cut Chemist on Cymande, B+ discussing Freestyle Fellowship, Jazzbo delving into 'Hard to Earn'...
Also great to hear Thes definitively state that he'll never stop making music. (Not that I ever expected anything else, but there appears to have been some confusion about what he meant by "retiring" (fromtouring and being a full time professional musician). )
*edit* Nearly forgot to mention: Thes is absolutely correct in pointing out all of the producers involved in recording Illmatic were competitive and determined to bring their A-game. In fact if I recall correctly Premier even went back and re-did 'Represent' after hearing some of the other tracks that had been submitted.
yo Twelve, glad I've finally got you into it! I've listened to a load of them and it's a great series. The B+ one, the Main Source one, the Illa J and Meshell Ndgeocello ones on Prince are great. Others that spring to mind are the one with Heartbreak Radio about Wong Kar Wai soundtracks (one of my favourite directors), the one on DAngelo and Brother Ali on Stevie Wonder.
Not listened to the Cut Chemist one yet though, will have to check it.
(I had such hopes these 'Illmatic'-era gems and other similar demos/unreleased tracks might finally be included on the forthcoming 'Lost Tapes 2', but alas Nas continues to disappoint, leaving some of his best tracks to gather dust on the shelf while releasing newer, big name/pop ish. )
Another thing that struck me about this episode was Thes being so (vocally) concerned with people getting upset by him voicing his views (from an "outsider's"/fan's perspective) but at the same time being so casual about offhandedly dropping highly opinionated comments ("I don't like 'Reasonable Doubt'").
Bit underwhelmed by the 'Breaking Atoms' episode TBH (despite being a big fan of Pharoahe's and him sharing some cool side stories). I guess I was expecting more personal insights into/in-depth discussion of the album - ODub, Rhodes and Monch mostly ended up agreeing with whatever the first of them said about something + then swiftly moving on to the next aspect. And is it just me or did anyone else kinda cringe at the mention of "heat rocks, bangers, fire, lava"? I don't really take issue with the terminology as much as if coming off rather awkward/forced (like they probably wouldn't use any of those terms in their own daily conversation.)
Really wish there were a more convenient way of listening to/streaming these as well (without having to download or use Apple Podcasts, etc.) - definitely prefer way Peter Agoston has things set up on 'The House List' where you can just peep everything on soundcloud with 1-2 clicks.
YoYoPo said:
Twelve you can straight download them from the heatrocks website. Otherwise Google podcasts or apple pods etc
Yeah, I know (I'm being lazy; and I have been downloading episodes).
Just saying it would be more convenient/require less preparation/lower the threshold if one could simply listen on soundcloud.
Really not looking to install yet another app - particularly anything by google or Apple.
That early demo version of 'It Ain't Hard To Tell' (as heard on Stretch & Bobbito in '92) is commonly known as 'Nas Will Prevail' BTW and people have even gone so far as custom videos for it (hence my tongue in cheek comment above), so you're certainly not the only one who considers it a song in it's own right. I realize this wasn't what they were shooting for on the podcast and in fact would probably have de-railed what they were trying to do (analyzing the LP as it was released from a sampling/production perspective), but there's SO much more to 'Illmatic' once you factor in everything leading up to and surrounding the album: the demos, Nas' monumental appearances on other tracks (BBQ x2) and radio, 'Half Time' being the lead single off the 'Zebrahead' soundtrack, all of which got people buzzing + the various alternate/remix versions released on the singles. (I'm not sure whether the Def Jef produced 'Arsenal Mix' would have changed Oliver's opinion of 'Life's A Bitch' but the Buckwild mixes might have...)
^^ Love this one as well. Nasty Nas >>> Nas Escobar >>> "current" Nas
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