Friday, December 19, 2008

MikeLove Mixtapes: My Coldest Mixtape Intros

The Intro.
The Tone Setter.
The track that sets it all off.

The mixtape intro is easily the most important track of any mixtape or remix album I've ever done. Its the track that the avaerage cat skips and goes straight to the 1st song after hearing it once or twice, but I never skip intros. EVER! They set up an album or mixtape. Which leads me to tell you DJ's to step your intro game up (you can use these as a primer)

These are my all-time faves from all the projects I've done (in favorites order).

1. Cornerstone Mixtape #43 (2002)

Green Lantern's intro for Cornerstone Mixtape #8 is what inspired me to even do mixtapes and when I got an opportunity to do one I wanted to make it just as memorable. I got Juice (a Chicago rap and off-the-dome freestyle legend) to do the intro but at the last minute I decided to change the beat. Grand Theft Auto III was the hottest video game at the time and the opening credits music was my shit so I decided to use it for the intro. I do every mixtape intro for myself, so if you dont get it, you're like dude is rapping over a jazz loop. If you DO get it, you're like OH MY GOD...THIS DUDE FLIPPED THE THEME FROM GRAND THEFT AUTO 3!!!! What really touched my heart is there was a Cornerstone Mixtape that came out with a dvd about a year later and they were asking folks at this party which Cornerstone Mixtape DJ's they like the best and some cat said Mike Love. He obviously got it.



2. NBA Live Hosted by Antione Walker (2002)

Profound is one of very few MC's that I've ever approached in Chicago to do an intro and said I NEED...BLAH BLAH, SUCH AND SUCH and he delivered EXACTLY WHAT I WANTED THE WAY I PICTURED IT IN MY HEAD! I said, I'm doing a mixtape hosted by Antione Walker and I need an intro. Talk about 'Toine, the NBA live mixtape concept, MikeLove, and yourself (sounds easy enough but a lot of cats need waaaay more direction). The disco era Boston Celtics record kicks it off and the beat was inspired by the Trackmasters, who had flipped the Nike freestyle commercial into a really dope spot about the new AI joints with Jadakiss on the raps. I recreated the grindin' beat Trackmasters style with the ball bouncing, shoe squeaks, and the ball hitting the rim as kicks & snares. No 808 in the kick cuz theres no 808 in the ball bouncing :)


3. Psychodrama Universal Session (2006)

Short, sweet & to the point. This intro is one of my favorites because it sets the mood of the mixtape on some eerie, haunting shit. Buk & Psyde set it off with a not so serious intro that gets serious real quick. I jacked the music from The Ring II soundtrack because I wanted that motion picture shit feel . Vocal drops from Bobby Gore and Newsense and the vocal panning of Buk and the echoes make it hot (for me at least...as I've said before, I do these projects for myself 1st)



4. Nigerian Gangster (2008)

Ever had muhfuckas love something so much they make you love it? That's the Nigerian Gangster intro for me. Honestly, I think its dope. Musically, conceptually, everything. But Obamas (my new word instead of saying niggas) L-O-V-E-D-E-D that shit. Like, no for real, OBAMAS LOVEDED THEM SOME NIGERIAN GANGSTER INTRO! I remember always thinking, yeah it is really, really dope, but I didnt love it any more that the dozen or so others I'd done. If you listen to the other intros on this page, using soundbytes is nothing new to me. Placing all those drops in a row and making them all fit together like a puzzle was nothing new to me. You may hear it in the other intros or maybe you won't, but the Nigerian Gangster intro to me was something I'd done before countless times. (see free r. kelly intro)

But this time it was Fela so it was special to folks I guess...

However, after all those props I was getting on the project I started to say to myself, MY GOD THEY'RE RIGHT...I DO LOVE THIS INTRO!


5. Profound: The Mixtape (2005)

I just fuckin' like this one, and for a really long time it was my favorite of all the MikeLove intros but it was probaly heard the least because it was on an artist mixtape. Profound is an "underground" MC from Chicago that did a bunch of stuff for my old radio show on 'GCI. Since his mixtape was going to reach a gang of people who didnt know MikeLove was cold as hell, I wanted to show out. I used a gang of testimonials I recorded in the streets from people who'd heard of Pro and people who's never heard of him. Add some cuts & scratches and a dope beat and you have an all-time favorite that I rewind at least 10 times everytime I play it.



6. Free R. Kelly Vol. I (2002)

To this day, I've never seen the R Kelly sex tape but in 2002 after that shit leaked to the press everyone else and they mama sure did! Suprisingly there had never been an R. Kelly's Greatest Hits up to that point and no one had ever done a mixtape of Kells hottest joints. I figured this cd was the best way to kick off my first official mixtape & get the Mike Love Show series off the ground and running.

I was right.

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Amazing (rough snippet)

Here's a short snippet of a track i'm working on that was inspired by those "Where Amazing Happens" commercials they play during NBA games. Full track soon...

Amazing *click to listen*

Saturday, September 06, 2008

Incredible. Months later, Nigerian Gangster still being blogged! (AKA the "all things Nigerian Gangster" post)

I was watching the Top 100 songs of the 80's on VH-1 and got to thinking, even though there are a lot of 1-hit wonders on this countdown, these songs have managed to live on and become classics. Why are the songs classics when most of the groups have broken up years ago and some of the artists have even passed away? Simple. When music is timeless, people continue to pass it on and discover and rediscover it.

There have been 100's of blogs that have featured or written about my Nigerian Gangster project that dropped in February (google:Nigerian Gangster to see results) and its always amazing to see blogs still writing about the project months later.

The reason?


Timeless music will live on and always be discovered & rediscovered.

*link to weheartstuff blog Nigerian Gangster post*

*Link to Nigerian Gangster Spotlight on KanYe's blog (thanks Yeezy)*


*working link for Nigerian Gangster Download*

Recent review of Nigerian Gangster from Writer's Block Club Magazine





Mr. Starks of the World Famous Naija Blog interviews MikeLove about Nigerian Gangster

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Mike Love's Universal Session-The Chicago Gangster Story

Originally realeased July 4th 2004, Universal Session is a Classic Chicago Mixtape & the 1st in the series. The initial idea was to do these mixtapes as the definitive Chicago artist spotlight ala Gangster Grillz, but as with anything in and of Chicago, outside forces will come in and fuck up even the greatest ideas and make you say, nevermind.

For the uninformed, this is basically a soundtrack to Chicago gang culture. Soundbytes from artists like Common, Lupe Fiasco (In '04 nigga, NO DJ was on Lupe before me) Psychodrama, Do Or Die, Bump J, Preast of Qualo and Malik Yusef pretty much give you an insight on what its like growing up in Chicago & joining a 'nation'. Its a really dope documentary style mixtape with a a lot of timeless music that still holds up 4+ years later

Universal Session Playlist

1. Universal Session Nation intro
2. Do what the track say (instructions)-Qualo
3. Joining a Nation interlude
4. Respect my gangsta-Bump J.
5. Infamous Syndicate is back! - Shawnna & Teefa
6. Nation Talk (deeper)-The Moes
7. Universal Law interlude
8. Revolution-Mikkey
9. Fire-Bump J, Payroll & Cap-1
10. Psyche of a gang member interlude feat. Malik Yusef
11. 2 words (nation remix)-Preast, Columbian Prince & Chicago Shawn
12. Lights, Cameras, Police Action interlude
13. Cross the gun line-Color 1
14. Two-Soul 360 feat. Boo (of Boo & Gotti)
15. Common interlude
16. Keep it poppin-Big Blast & Pistol Pete (act like it ent.)
17. Higher-D.O.D feat. Kanye West
18. Universal Session-Newsense of Psychodrama
19. Psychodrama interlude
20. Wipe a pimp down-Turtle Banks
21. Sometimes-Triple Darkness
22. Gang members are leaders interlude
23. What you be about-EC Illa
24. Chi-Town all day- White Chalk feat. Corona
25. Pirate Nation Radio skit
26. Q nation army (Mike Love remix)-Qualo
27. Hustla-King
28. Gentrification/Blame YT interlude
29. 1st& 15th is back-Lupe Fiasco
30. Come holla at chief-Payroll
31. The Future... outro

Wednesday, July 02, 2008

Mike Love's Universal Session starring Psychodrama

back in the day
way back, it seems
2006 seems like
forever ago...
I used to do Chicago based mixtapes
meaning if you were from Chicago or really dug our music this is for you

Here's the 2nd and final of the Universal Session series

Saturday, June 14, 2008

I like Nike, but wait a minute...

Been wanting to show off my collection of deadstock size 13's for a minute. Just a few pieces I got sittin' on ice (Some of these joints been on the shelf for more than 7 years) Mostly showin off my AF1 addiction (before Nike got on that wannabe Bape patent leather bullshit) and a few Reebok pieces.

Yo, I'mma rock niggaz this summer..."Ghostface"




AF1 Supreme '07


B-More Careful


Calvin Natts'

Stats'


Stats, B-More, Natts


LA I & II's !!!!

No ring in '08, but classic joints

Chi-Town I (I killed niggaz at the Source Awards in Miami wit these)

Chi-Town I's again (2000, the year of the brawl btw)

Lebron special edition

'Bron @ 19

Delta Force Mids '07

DF Mids again

Chi-Town II Mids

Humbolt Park IV's

That's a wooden box, son!

25th anniv.
Marshmallos in a wooden joint...


Limited Edition J-Hud & Beyonce's One Night Only (from Dreamgirls, get it?)

Sheed I's


RBK DJ joints

OOOOOH, The G-Unit Humbolt Park Jumpoffs!

G-Unit California & Division joints (so fresh)

S. Carter I's. I gotta get Hov to sign these one day...

The Cedric Bensons...

Friday, June 13, 2008

2 Classic Mike Love Show Mixtapes from '04

Nigerian Gangster is the project that helped to make the name Mike Love a global brand, but it made a lot of heads say,

"Who is this guy Mike Love?"

Here's a couple of mixtapes I did in 2004 that really blew up the Mike Love Show mixtape series. It's also good history lesson on what I been on from then till now.

John Monop.

I pulled it out and was listening to this joint this week and I really understand why It got the spotlight on MTV's Mixtape Mondays. It's the best produced, sequenced, and has the best selection of the entire Mike Love Show series. A bunch of dope remixes, some exclusives (at least in '04 they were), and the hottest underground joints coming out of Chicago in 2004. No need to hype this one. If you want to hear what Chicago was on before the "hipster hop" explosion of '08...

Tracklisting

Eddie from the Barbershop- Cedric The Entertainer
Mike Love's Workout Plan -Kanye West
John Monopoly's mission intro
So Chicago - Alexander Monday Feat. Qualo
The Food -Common Feat Kanye West
John Monopoly on Kanye West Mike Love
The Future of Chicago- Bump J. & Yung King
The Champ is here- Green Lantern Feat. Jadakiss
Theifs Theme -Nas
All falls Down Video Shoot
Got it Twisted - Mobb Deep
Freek-A-Leek - Petey Pablo Feat. Twista
Oh My God - Tony Sunshine
Welcome Back- Mase
Introduction to Crack- Mikkey
Goons Where We At- Goon Squad feat. Bump J
Leave - Jrunk Unkles
Johnny On Street Relations
Serrous-Diszwone
Look at the Grillz- 8Ball&MJG Feat. Twista
Band of Brothers- Il Vikings
Jo Capone (interlude)
Sweet Lies - Usher
Hot 2 Nite - New Edition
Dont Say Nuthin'- The Roots
U Gonna Love Me- Da Backwudz
I'm Rick James Bitch- Ill/Wolf
Live from Happy's House feat. Abnar Farrakhan
U know the time - Steady Serve
M.O.V.E.M.E.N.T - Alexander Monday Feat. Qualo
John Monopoly Outro

Download it!


The very next Mixtape I dropped was the Kanye joint. The mixtape dropped in '04 but the interview part was recorded in '03. At the time Kanye was still struggling for respect (and a release date for college dropout) at Roc-A-Fella records. Twista's Slow Jams hadnt dropped yet and he had to fight for everything. Listening to this mixtape, It's amazing to see how far he's come in 4 years.
I remember listening to this with 'Ye, Common, John Legend and the whole Hustle fam in his trailer at the All Falls Down video shoot. College Dropout was coming out that upcoming Tuesday but we popped in this cd cuz we'd never done a mixtape together & Kanye wanted to hear how it turned out. He just kept starting Nuthin's Gonna Stop Me over & over.

Nothing like going back to the good old days.

Tracklisting

I Anit A Pimp (Remix) Qualo Featuring Twista
Kanye West Intro
Nothing's Gonna Stop Me Kanye West T
What More Can I Say (Freestyle) Qualo feat. Yung King
Jesus Walks (mike love remix)-Kanye West
Kanye West On Chicago Love
Goon Squad-Bump J & Sly Polaroid
Rubberband Man- TI
Swing On' Em-Arrogant
Quick To Back Down-Qualo
Kanye West On Strengths And Weakness
So Sexy-Twista & R.Kelly
Fist Full Of Dollars-Crucial Conflict
Crown Me-Cam, Juelz, TI
Go Gettas 99 freestyle from WGCI Chicago
The Way That You Do-Carl Thomas & Kanye West
Do What I Gotta Do-John Legend Featuring Kanye West (unrelesed)
Family Business-Kanye West
Fight With The Best-Kanye & Rhymefest ('99)
Kanye's Biggest Project in '04
Milkshake Freeestyle- Kanye West & Common
Baby I Love You-JLo
M.I.K.E L.O.V.E-Royale Featuring Qualo Crystal
Roc interlude
Kanye West 01 Freestyle
Love It- Daily Plannet Featuring Rita J
The Saga Continues-Redman
High School Chicks-1st string
Kanye on Remixes
Yeah-Usher
Kanye vs.MikeLove
Thru The Wire-Mims
Kanye fave mixtapes
Realest Killaz-Qualo
Kanye West outro

Download it here

Since R. Kelly's Free, here's Free R. Kelly



*These are 4 actual texts I recieved on friday afternoon*

My baby FREE!

R. Kelly acquitted

He's not guilty :)

R. Kelly got acquitted. LOL. Oh wow. Too much reasonable doubt I guess. What a trip.

Gotta love black folks! No need for me to turn on the tv or radio, I get instant nigganet updates for my wireless service!

I figured in celebration (?) of the news, I'd post the very 1st mixtapes of the Mike Love Show series. Ladies and Gentlemen, from 2002 I present to you...

Free R. Kelly


Volume I

Volume II




Sunday, June 01, 2008

Nigerian Gangster Instrumentals

It's June and you can tell summer has finally arrived in the Chi cuz women finally can wear their shoes with the toes out. You can also tell its summertime cuz you can hear the music beatin up the block (I personally had the windows down rockin that Carter 3 advance Saturday)

Here's some more beats for the whip on a hot summer day... I'm feeling in a generous summery mood so lets go ahead and by popular demand, release...


Nigerian Gangster Instrumentals, all 15 cuts. *link*

Saturday, May 31, 2008

Wayne-Tre'

The Carter 3=dead
Weezy F. Baby=dead

This nigga killed the game so hard with The Carter 3 that I'm just callin' the album
Tre. I can't even call dude Weezy no more cuz this dude is a man now so I'm callin' him Wayne. I dont know who finally got in this cat's ear, but he did it! The album is a classic full of Kanye-esque stadium status joints and the only thing I'm worried about is that its so mature that he might scare off his base (the kids)

But fuck 'em, if u ask me critical acclaim & the rap album of the year (so far) is 1000x bigger than being every high school & college kids' favorite rapper. He can now take his rightful place amongst today's greats. Hov, Em, 30o0, 'Ye and now Wayne

I played this song 4x back-to-back in the ride on the 1st listen to the cd. my favorite joint...Dr. Carter

Monday, April 07, 2008

VIP status with the GTA IV XBOX 360



Free Shit. Thee single greatest part of my job! It's great to be mentioned in the same breath with other VIP's like Reggie Bush, Dave Chappelle, and Just Blaze, but I need to know is that the same Mean Green who had an album on No Limit back in the 90's?
OH SHIT SON, I'M IN THE COMPANY OF GREATNESS!!!!



Thursday, April 03, 2008

To quote Craig Mack...

It's been three years since you last hear
But now I reappear your heart pumps fear.

Maybe not fear, but It has been 3 years TO THE DAY! This blog was literally floating untouched & unread (by anyone other than myself) in cyberspace when I rediscovered it. Now, with the miracle of modern technology (read:template updates) I'm back in '08 with some of my classic mixtapes, podcasts, remixes, beats, and all things MikeLove. I promise if it's nothing else it will be Cold As Hell!