American Exchange

I've talked and talked in the past about Baby J's production credentials on this site since day one, and highlighted the modern UK classics he's already created with countless british emcees.

He has three solid producer albums under his belt, all of which have been well-recieved. He's helped Blade craft arguably one of his best albums a couple of years back in 'Guerilla Tactics' and he is about to unleash new material very soon. One thing Baby J doesn't get credited for is his work with US emcees.

Even on his debut album 'Birth' he had songs with Shabaam Sahdeeq of the late 90s indie label Rawkus fame. In fact, one of his best ever songs was with revolutionary, at times quite racist but always entertaining 'dead prez' on his song 'Scattered People'.

One US group that have been a permanent fixture on Baby J albums is the A-Alikes. They are a duo who are loosely affiliated with dead prez and Tahir (Hedrush) and they make some hard-hitting tracks. Whilst not the MOST talented duo, they certainly know their way around a hook and a beat. Also, with Baby J producing every track on this album, they couldn't really fail.

'Kill The Middleman' is a solid if not spectacular that showcases J as notjust a one trick pony. Although he does rely on soul samples a lot of the time, he has proved that he has other weapons in his arsenal.

A-Alikes - Kill The Middleman (2005)

1. Intro
2. Pop Off
3. Young Buk to OG (feat. I.G.)
4. Love Is Love
5. Why? (feat. Laurissa)
6. Freedom
7. Treeman
8. Keep It Funky
9. What Niggaz Do
10. Throw Ya Gunz
11. I'll Probably Wind Up
12. If I Get On (feat. Teresa)
13. The Babies
14. Some Of Us
15. Snitch
16. Eenie Meanie (feat. Teresa)
17. Strategy
18. Grey Skies

Brum Rap

Fulfilling a request here while i get the rest of this here blog back on track, it’s ‘The Power & The Glory’ by Moorish Delta 7. MD7, hailing from Birmingham, and yes, on the skits you can here that Brummie twang in short bursts, they have been in the UK hip-hop scene for years.

This album is probably their most well known and well-received, and features some great singles they released such as ‘Extreme Speeds’, ‘Hot’, and the Baby J-produced songs ‘Don’t You Leave Me Lonely’ and ‘Silent Screams’.

The album was a pleasant surprise for me when I bought it because I wasn’t expecting much from a bunch of Brummie emcees, but rappers Jamar & Malik hold down the lyrics well, with Cipher JEWELS doing some great work behind the boards.

This album had more than a few songs I was very impressed with, not to mention ‘Rowdy’, which I thought would be absolute garbage due to the fact that it features JD aka Dready aka That-Annoying-Reggae-Guy-From-The-So-Solid-Crew, but it’s a very good song and its not the only one of its kind. A few other tracks benefit from good guest appearances from artists such as Yogi, Venom & Rodney P, not to mention Robert Lee (unfortunately its some singer and not the legendary Newcastle United midfield stalwart from the mid 90s). All in all a very solid album. Enjoy.

Moorish Delta 7 - The Power & The Glory

1. Intro
2. Power
3. Hot
4. Don’t Leave Me Lonely
5. Time
6. Dusk Till Dawn (featuring MJ)
7. Talk Time part one
8. Talk Time part two
9. Death Or Dishonour
10. Paper Cuts (featuring Yogi)
11. The Art Of Survival
12. Silent Screams
13. Too Late
14. Intermission
15. Rollin On (featuring Adante, Tre Styles & MJ)
16. Night-Time Chimes (featuring Robert Lee)
17. Rowdy (featuring Dready)
18. Extreme Speeds (featuring Adante)
19. Where We From (featuring Rodney P & Venom)
20. Wisdom
21. Glory

As a Brucey Bonus, on the subject of Baby J, over at http://www.babyj.biz/ the man himself has uploaded a new mixtape called FTP2: The Refix, which features new versions of the tracks from his second album and some mash-ups between UK & US rappers. Here’s the best part….it’s up for free download!
So go and get that.

Also, a few prominent bloggers from this here community that we so adore are putting together a new project called 'I Hook A Beat Up'. The site's premise is that a song is provided on the site and producers are invited to flip the song and make it their own, with the entrant's products voted for and against by a panel of judges. The Judges will include Travis from my personal favourite blog Wake Your Daughter Up, Eric from When They Reminisce, Max from the always interesting Hip Hop Isn't Dead, Mike Dikk from Dumpin.Net, Andrew from Strictly Beats and a guy I'm not familiar with called King E, from the Justus League message boards.

The site and competitions will be opened on Sunday, February 3rd and it should be very interesting for us fellow bloggers to see what happens with it. If you think you can create a good beat, get yourself down to http://ihookabeatup.blogspot.com/ and show your metal.

The Re-Up

No, not that god awful compilation Eminem did. I've decided to re-upload all of the single songs that have been uploaded so far into full sets, just like the Aspects one from the last post. For your convenience!!!! Aren't I a champ, eh?

Northern Author Collections


Baby J Download

Baby J (feat. Freestyle of The Arsonists) - Focus (from 'The Birth')
Baby J (feat. A-Alikes) - Walk With A Bop (from 'The Birth')
Baby J (feat. Rukus with Ty, Klashnekoff & Yogi) - Let It Go (from 'F.T.P.')
Baby J (feat. Bang) - Get 'Em Bang (from 'F.T.P.')
Baby J (feat. dead prez & Shabazz The Disciple) - Scattered People (from 'F.T.P.')
Baby J (feat. Dynamite MC) - Young, Gifted & Black (from 'FTP2: Fight The Power')
Baby J (feat. TB) - Forever (from 'FTP2: Fight The Power')
Baby J (feat. Poisonous Poets) - Must Get Free (from 'FTP2: Fight The Power')
Moorish Delta 7 - Don't Leave Me Lonely (prod. by Baby J) ( from MD7's 'The Power & The Glory' LP)

Jehst Download

Jehst - Liquid Diction (from 'Premonitions EP')
Jehst - High Plains Anthem (from 'Return Of The Drifter')
Jehst - Falling Down (from 'Falling Down')
Jehst - Hydroblowback (from 'Nuke Proof Suit')
DJ MK presents Supa T, Jehst, Kyza & Harry Love - It's All Live
Secondson & His Orchestra with Jehst - Turn It Up To The Red (from 'Secondson & His Orchestra')

Harry Love Download

Klashnekoff - 'Murda' (from 'The Sagas Of Klashnekoff')
Kyza - 'Lights Out' (from the 12" vinyl single 'Lights Out/Harsh Reality')
Yungun - 'What Eye See Part II' (from Yungun's LP 'The Essance')
Jehst, J-Zone & Harry Love - 'Staircase To Stage' (from the 12" vinyl single of the same name)

Verb T Download

Verb T & Harry Love - Showbitchness
Verb T & Harry Love (feat. Kasmere The Iguana Man) - Not Enuf Hours (from 'Bring It Back To Basics)
Verb T & Harry Love (feat. Red, Ransom Badbones & Jehst) - Equal Portions(from 'Bring It Back To Basics')
Ghost (feat. Verb T & Asaviour) - Better Tomorrow (from 'Seldom Seen Often Heard')

Cappo & P Brothers Download

Cappo - Grand Final (from 'Spaz The World')
P Brothers (feat. Cappo) - Nottingham BX
P Brothers (feat. Scor-Zay-Zee, Cappo & Mr. 45) - 3 Kings
Cappo & Konny Kon - CapKon Entertainment

FTP

Baby J has been around for what seems like yonks, but his style of soul sampled beats have only came to the forefront in recent years. This is possibly due to the success of The Heatmakerz in the US, who are responsible for producing most of the 'chipmunk soul' that The Diplomats used to favour.

Over in Britain, Baby J has been creating these sorts of beats long before the Heatmakerz were even established, and long before The Diplomats released their debut 'Diplomatic Immunity'. One thing that Baby J has borrowed from the US, however, is vocalists. Over the course of his three-album career, Baby J has linked up with US rappers such as Shabazz The Disciple, Poetic, The Arsonists, dead prez, and many more. His beats are always in demand by established UK artists such as Skinnyman, whose last LP 'Council Estate Of Mind' was partly produced by Baby J.

His first album 'Birth', came out with little to no fanfare, as he had no buzz around him as a beatmaker at the time. When I first came across this album a couple of years back in a Nottingham record store I was really surprised at the amount of known emcees were guest featured on it, maybe hinting at good things to come from the man. The hints became concrete, and when Baby J released his second effort 'F.T.P', he was instantly catapulted to the top of the pile of British producers. This album was crammed full of single-material, such as Skinnyman's 'None Of The', Rukus' 'Let It Go', Blade's (I really need to do a post on this guy) 'Mumps', and dead prez's 'Scattered People'. The beat on 'scattered people' blew me away the first time I heard it. I think it's probably the most 'dead prez' beat ever made that wasn't crafted by M-1, Stic.man or Tahir. So atmospheric and brooding.

Before and since that record Baby J has produced the odd song for artists outside of his camp, notably the quality track 'Don't You Leave Me Lonely' by Moorish Delta 7. Now, I'm not usually one to listen to all of that Dipset stuff, and this song has the whole sped-up soul sample thing going on, but I must admit, that song is top notch.

The success of that album and his other productions made me anticipate his next album, which is why I was VERY surprised when it came. Not because it wasn't a good album, but because it had absolutely no hype and seemed to just get released without a single or anything. I have enjoyed 'FTP2: Fight The Power' very much, but it still doesn't reach the same level as 'F.T.P' did.

It does have its fair share of big songs on it though, such as 'Young, Gifted & Black' by Dynamite MC. This song doesn't really do much with the Bob Marley sample other than just lay a beat over it, but its simplicity works quite well, and the usually Drum'N Bass rapper, Dynamite MC flows over it nicely. It also has the superb 'Forever' by TB (I don't know much about this guy, but I hope his initials aren't a medical term), and 'Must Get Free' by Poisonous Poets. These guys can rap, and the beat utilises the same sample that Timbaland & Magoo used back in 1997 on the song Luv 2 Luv U, albeit in a very different way.

Either way, Baby J has something that, although not that different if in the US market, it is very singular in Britain, as there are not many people making beats in the same way he is over here.

Baby J (feat. Freestyle of The Arsonists) - Focus (from 'The Birth')
Baby J (feat. A-Alikes) - Walk With A Bop (from 'The Birth')
Baby J (feat. Rukus with Ty, Klashnekoff & Yogi) - Let It Go (from 'F.T.P.')
Baby J (feat. Bang) - Get 'Em Bang (from 'F.T.P.')
Baby J (feat. dead prez & Shabazz The Disciple) - Scattered People (from 'F.T.P.')
Baby J (feat. Dynamite MC) - Young, Gifted & Black (from 'FTP2: Fight The Power')
Baby J (feat. TB) - Forever (from 'FTP2: Fight The Power')
Baby J (feat. Poisonous Poets) - Must Get Free (from 'FTP2: Fight The Power')
Moorish Delta 7 - Don't Leave Me Lonely (prod. by Baby J) ( from MD7's 'The Power & The Glory' LP)