New visual from Pete Rock & Smif N Wessun’s Monumental album in stores now. “That’s Hard” features Sean Price and Styles P. Directed by the famous, Court Dunn. Fans in the New York Tri-State, join Smif N Wessun for a FREE album release party, performance & photography exhibition TONIGHT at Tammany Hall located at 152 Orchard Street btwn Rivington & Stanton. Doors at 7PM. Music by Da Beatminerz (DJ Evil Dee, Mr. Walt, DJ Goldfinger, DJ Wayne Ski. Hosted by DJ Bazarro.
It’s always interesting to see what the best think. You know everyone values their opinions more. If Pete Rock wasn’t creating this list, he’d be on top of it.
Check out Pete Rock and DJ Premier, 2 of the most legendary producers ever, talking to Hip Hop DX about various projects including Illmatic.
Sitdown With DJ Premier & Pete Rock from DJPremierBlog on Vimeo.
I had no idea Cypress Hill smoked weed….but seriously. 13thWitness has directed the video for “Light It Up,” a Pete-Rock-produced single from seminal hip-hop group Cypress Hill’s most recent album, Rise Up. The video was shot at Best Buy Theatre on Halloween eve, 2010, in the heart of New York City, to a packed live-venue audience. The video features live performance footage, as well as scenes from the band enjoying the streets of New York—prior to their performance, including a stroll through Manhattan’s Lower East Side.
One of the dope G.O.O.D. Friday tracks came in the form of the highly anticipated Kanye-Jay-Pete collabo The Joy*. Pete Rock spoke with Mikey Fresh at VIBE to break down the song itself. Still can’t believe that what he said is actually true, but you be the judge.
“I had to bring that back and reintroduce it to the young generation. I want to say big-up to Kanye West and Jay-Z for getting on that beat,” he continues. “I actually had that beat since 1997. I’ve been sitting on it for years.”
While Rock admits that it’s a close call on who had the best verse on the track, he gives the top spot to Kanye, citing his clever wordplay as the determining factor that won him over. The two emcee/producers haven’t officially released any material together, but another future collabo is just in arm’s reach according to Pete.
Last night J. Cole, Cee-Lo and Nas were the performers at Heineken’s Inspire Encore Concert Series in Manhattan. J. Cole ran through some cuts from The Warm Up as well as “Who Dat,” Nas brought out Pete Rock (who was one of the guest deejays throughout the event) to perform “The World is Yours.” Take a look below.
It’s hard to call a track that gets released Saturday morning, G.O.O.D. Friday. The new track comes with the announcement that “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” is finished and ready for release. Download below.
Download-The Joy-Kanye West, Pete Rock, Jay-Z, Charlie Wilson, Curtis Mayfield and Kid Cudi
Last week it was confirmed that Kanye West and Jay-Z are going to be releasing an album together. The album entitled, “Watch the Throne” will feature production from both Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest and the Westchester, New York (shoutout 914) native Pete Rock. With those two legends at the top of “Watch the Throne” the album will be sure to have an old school feel. Now that Kanye has ended his “auto-tune” phase and re-introduced himself into the world of real hip-hop, the album will sure to be killer. Hopefully Jay-Z will be calling the shots though. On Kanye’s G.O.O.D Friday’s he has released songs with multiple features that while entertaining make the songs way to long and drawn out. Nonetheless, the album should have some high quality music and excellent production. If you aren’t familiar with either producer, check these tracks.
Download-914-Pete Rock, Sheek Louch and Styles P
Download-They Reminisce Over You-Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth
Download-One Love-Nas (produced by Q-Tip)
I woke up this morning planning to write about something a little bit different. But as I do each morning, I check up on what’s going on in the hip-hop world. After reading through a few blogs, I found the best news since EA sports decided to bring back NBA Jam. Pete Rock and DJ Premier are going to collaborate on an album. For those of you who don’t know, Premier is hands down the greatest producer in hip-hop. Don’t believe me? He’s the only producer to be on Nas’ “Illmatic”, Biggie’s “Ready to Die” and Big L’s “The Big Picture” which are widely considered the three greatest albums in the hip-hop history. He has also produced for rappers in every single generation of hip-hop ranging from Jeru-the-Damaja to Royce da 5′ 9″ of Slaughterhouse. After the passing of his Gangstarr partner Guru in April, Premier has jumped back into hip-hop, even begging Guerilla Union President Chaing Weisberg to let him do a “Guru Tribute” at Rock the Bells this summer. Of course you can’t forget Pete Rock. Best known for joining forces with C.L. Smooth and pioneering jazz beats in hip-hop, the 40 year old can still rap with the release of an album in 2008. Not to mention the fact that Pete Rock did production for A Tribe Called Quest, Heavy D and Public Enemy.
Anyways, this album is sure to be a classic. Arguably the top two producers in hip-hop teaming together for what could be the last studio album for both of them. If it’s anything like what they have done in the past, (and it will be-Premier and Pete Rock could turn OJ da Juiceman into Nas) the album will be incredible. Every star loves to go out with a bang. Just ask Michael Jordan.
My favorite Premier beat: