It’s almost Valentine’s Day, and that means many things for many people. Some of you are no doubt looking forward to a prix fixe dinner and roses. Others, champagne and a night at home. Some (side pieces) will get a romantic Feb. 15th lunch date at Red Lobster (ease up on those coconut shrimp, boo). And there will no doubt be a few of you flying solo.
But whoever you are, man or woman (I’m so secure), and whether or not you have a special someone this year, Chop still loves you. So I smoothed out a joint from Killeen’s best. Stream, download and enjoy. And if any babies are conceived while listening to this, I ask that you name them after me. It’s the polite thing to do.
Some of y’all might have wondered why I’ve been largely absentee from this website in the last year. There’s a couple reasons for that, but the main one is that I’m in graduate school now and my free time to do music and post it online has been basically non-existent for the last 9 months or so. But it’s (just about) summer vacation, and I’ve got some biz to take care of. So with that in mind, I’ve got four goals for this summer, and can’t nobody stop me:
1. Everything must go.
I’m sitting on a big back catalog of pretty damn good beats that people have expressed interest in but never used. Eff that. If you’ve got songs, I’ve got beats. It helps to have a previous relationship with me, but I’ll entertain offers from anybody. Twitter is a good way to reach out to me, but make it clear that you’re interested in doing business. If it looks like spam, I’m gonna treat it like spam. Nothing would make me happier than to clear this old crap out.
2. New Chop s**t.
In January, I started work on my debut solo album, which I’m currently calling Polite Society. I’m going to get that finished in the next few weeks and in your hands by fall. Yell at me if I don’t have a progress update by about mid-July. To whatever extent I have fans, I think they’re really going to be impressed by this one.
3. Conspicuous consumption.
Still working with @thehonestape on a promotions company that’s largely focused on dance music. We already pushed a soft launch with DJ Diamond Tip‘s Energy Crisis mixtape and you should expect more soon.
4. New collaborations.
I got heat in the chamber with Crew54, and everybody’s been real supportive of my work with the League of Extraordinary G’z in the last year, so expect more projects with them. Still in the process of laying some stuff down with Feddi Man, and I also plan to work with Tip some more.
There’s a lot on my plate, but I’m resolving that this summer will be full of new music. Let’s get it.
presented by chopsteakmusic.com and bigbadmedium.com
Once again, back is the incredible. I return with a mix of my favorite hip hop, R&B and everything in between from 2010. Thanks very much to Abe Garcia, a.k.a. The Honest Ape, for the cover design and all his help getting this mix off the ground via his website, bigbadmedium.com. Thanks also to Tasha Johnson. Have a wonderful holiday, and hit me up when you can.
Listen:
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Track Listing:
Andre3000: I Do
H.I.S.D.: Lando
Exile: Your Summer Song f. J. Mitchell
Big Boi: Shutterbugg f. Cutty
Willie The Kid: Bath Water Running
Aloe Blacc: I Need A Dollar
Kanye West: Monster f. Jay-Z & Nicki Minaj
Black Milk: Oh Girl
Leela James: So Cold
Little Brother: Tigallo For Dolo
Guilty Simpson: Hood Sentence
Rick Ross: Free Mason f. Jay-Z & John Legend
Foreign Exchange: Maybe She’ll Dream Of Me
Chopperlude
Jabee: Imagination f. Carlitta Durand
Wiz Khalifa: Black & Yellow
Janelle Monae: Tightrope f. Big Boi
YahZarah: Why Don’tcha Call Me No More
Dred Skott: Home f. Tuk Da Gat (Produced by Chop Steak)
If you’ve been keeping up with them Crew54 boys (and shame on you if you haven’t), you know they dropped a new mixtape back in June of this year: The 54 Reality Show Tape.
I have been busy as a mug with my first semester of graduate school, so I haven’t been doing much of anything on the boards. But this week, I decided to dust off the keyboard and make it do what it do. So without further ado, here’s my remix of one of their tracks off the album, “So Beautiful.” Download, share, and let me know what you think via the comments.
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A huge thank you to The Honest Ape, who designed the cover art for my newest summer hip-hop mixtape, Soft Serve. It’s chilled, it’s smooth and it’s so refreshing on a summer day. Chop Steak Music and Medium are proud to release this mixtape. Enjoy and let me know what you think!
Track Listing
1. Goapele – Different f. Mos Def
2. Petey Pablo – He Spoke To Me
3. Beatnuts – Get Funky
4. Bishop Lamont – Right
5. Dilated Peoples – Worst Comes To Worst
6. Q-Tip – You
7. Zion I – Boom Bip
8. Freddie Gibbs – Ghetto
9. Redman – Tonight’s Da Night
10. Foreign Exchange – Raw Life f. Joe Scudda
11. Pete Rock – Queen f. AG
12. Common – Real Nigga Quotes
13. Johnson & Jonson – Told Me
14. People Under The Stairs – Days Like These
15. Cam’ron – Like Shiiit
16. Pharcyde – She Said (Jay Dee Remix)
17. Ludacris – Good Relationships f. Snoop Dogg & Nate Dog
18. The Game – Old English
19. Lil’ Wayne – Mo’ Fire
20. Three 6 Mafia – Da Summa
Listen and download my newest track, “Home.” Rhymes by Greezo, Tuk Da Gat and Esbe. Hook by Reggie Coby. Da C.O.D. and the other members of the LOEG’z release their newest mixtape, Concealed Weapons 2, this week. Let me know what you think.
To all the rappers and singers in the audience, I give you my brand new beat tape. This is an 18-track collection specially released for South By Southwest Music Festival 2010. We have specially prepared a limited release of CD’s to hand out at SXSW as well as put the album up for free download on Bandcamp. All these beats are for sale. Please contact the beat sales mailbox for more information. Thanks very much to Abe Garcia for design. Abe and I will be out in the streets for SXSW, so be sure to hit us up when you see us!
In years past, I have put together a list of free events/parties for SXSW, and you have loved me for it. This year, the Austinist’s SXSW 2010 guide includes a list of free events so complete that I really don’t feel compelled to do much more than link to it (Hover over the “SXSW Party Guide” link to see the free events broken out by day).
Am I being lazy? Indubitably. But you’ll thank me when we’re drinking free beer together somewhere on a Thursday afternoon. My advice is to RSVP for every single party. If you don’t do that, at least hit anything you have even a vague interest in. Remember, a lot of these events have free refreshments and other cool stuff. I may try to post a more focused list here later, but no promises.
I got the news this evening that one of my musical heroes has passed away at the age of 59. I wish peace to his family and friends. As my tribute, I am posting up the first beat I ever made, which samples Teddy’s classic, “Close The Door.” While this beat is no technical masterpiece, it was the first step on the road to where I am today and where I continue to go musically. Over the last 8 years, I have gone back to Teddy P. many times, and drawn much inspiration from his work. I only hope that my own music keeps his spirit alive, and is a fitting tribute to the man who first inspired me to chop up a sample. Safe journey, Teddy.
Chop Steak – No Babies
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Teddy Pendergrass – Close The Door
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As promised, some bonus material! I selected one track from each of my top 20 and made a youtube playlist. I’m aware T.I. is missing. Thank his label for making every single one of his videos either silent or not embeddable. I suppose 2003 was a different era of internet distro. In any case, enjoy…
say what?