Requiem - Oddisee & Phonte (Persona - Mello Music Group compilation 2015)

Requiem is the lead track off the phenomenal label compilation from Mello Music Group entitled Persona.  Were this a lesser label full of lesser artists undoubtedly this release would quickly become part of the background noise and dust bunnies accumulating in the expanding/collapsing musical universe.  Mello Music Group is a constant.  Quality, Consciousness and Intelligence are their mandate.  Admittedly this shouldn't be so revolutionary in Hip Hop (admittedly Common fucked the 'genre' for micro-ages).

It's safe to say that Oddissee, who has made a name for himself on a handful of his own releases, production moves, but mostly as the braintrust behind the groundbreaking (second) Diamond District release March On Washington (along with yU and XO) is the bald wizard behind the curtain.

Requiem is an interesting opener though. Oddissee, deeply akin to producer Phonte (of the influential mid-west group Little Brother)  who is known for his phenomenal ear for soul and unique sample flips echoes the Detroit sound as championed by J Dilla, Black Milk and younger producers like Denmark Vessey.  Every hip hop reviewer hears something Dilla in the Requiem cut but its likely owing to laziness or vague ancestral sample memories (more likely lazy cellphone search engine research).  Admittedly a track was released in 2012 on Rebirth of Detroit credited to J Dilla and Allan Barnes entitled Requiem.  More recognizably Dilla, born James Yancey, samples Requiem on one of his more popular Unreleased Instrumentals Trashy.  But Trashy bares little resemblance to Requiem except perhaps in spirit.  As to who Oddissee is sampling in the opening bars and throughout that remains a minor mystery for a hot minute.  You know it though. Or you think you do.

For what it's worth later at the midpoint of the release Oddissee delivers Word To The Wise which samples indelibly - if you like - the original sample of (You) Got What I Need  by Freddie Scott as recalled through Biz Markie's Just A Friend. Slick.

In the studio with 9th Wonder (Part 1)

9th Wonder who's now considered a go to super producer in Hip Hop, lifetime member of Little Brother (named after the Little Brother ARP synthesizer), waxes eleqoent here about the challenges and titans of sample based music: Pete Rock, DJ Premier, Just Blaze and particularly emphasizing Blueprint. 



He reflects on his own father's musical education which taught him arrangement, the manual challenges of physically chopping up samples, how a great producer never really has a 'throw away' beat, knowing the production history of 70's records 'what to chop and what not to chop', as well as how it takes a true musical sense- actual ability to play piano or other instruments- to reconstruct samples in a melodious way.  "It's just hard."



Elzhi - Sound Clash Festival, Toronto (setlist)

Elzhi (elZhi)
Sound Clash Festival
Harbourfront Centre Stage
July 14, 2012
setlist

Blue Widow (from forthcoming album The Weather Report)
Halftime (prod. Will Sessions, orig. prod. Large Professor)
Life's A Bitch (prod. Will Sessions, orig. prod. L.E.S./ NAS co.)
D.E.M.O.N.S. (prod. Black Milk from The Preface)
Fire (Remix) (prod. Black Milk from The Preface)
Tainted (prod. Karriem Riggins, from Trinity Slum Village feat. Dwele)
Deadly Medley (prod. Black Milk from Album Of The Year)
Hiding Place (prod. 9th Wonder from The Minstrel Show Little Brother)
The World Is Yours (prod. Will Sessions, orig. prod. Pete Rock)
Come Get It (prod. J Dilla from Welcome 2 Detroit)
Do You (J Dilla from Detroit Deli (Taste of Detroit) Slum Village)
One Love (prod. Will Sessions)
Memory Lane (prod. Will Sessions, orig. prod. DJ Premier)
Represent intro>
Represent> (prod. Will Sessions, orig. prod. DJ Premier)
C.R.E.A.M. (prod. GZA, Wu Tang Clan)
Motown 25 (prod. Black Milk from The Preface)
It Ain't Hard To Tell (prod. Will Sessions, orig. prod. Large Professor)
Detroit State of Mind (prod. Houseshoes, orig. prod. DJ Premier)