Drink somethin warm and try and drop the needle on your favorite record.

Bedroom Sessions is gonna be a new, occasional mixtape series from me, full of eclectic hip-hop beats and underground cuts that I've been vibin too recently. I'll try to throw in lesser-known (but dope) artists, a couple classics, and an original beat or two of my own, all mixed up on Serato. Track listing below.

Bedroom Sessions Vol. 1

If you didn't check it earlier, here's Subtext's video for "The Essence," off the Opening Salvo EP.

Coming in early 2009, we're dusting off an unreleased classic and the first full-length that ever was forged in the Brooklyn basement, back in 2004: emcee Subtext's "Kid with the Broken Halo" LP, all production by DJ Ian Head. You may have checked Subtext's EP "Openinig Salvo," but if not, it's available for free here:

In 1996 I was sitting in my dorm room, one hand on the antenna, the other holding my boombox at odd angles so I could get the best reception while the RECORD button was pressed down, listening to the Halftime Show on WYNU. My roommate would be asleep so I'd be sittin in a chair listenin on headphones to classic freestyles and bsides. Recently I came across a tape that had a number of obscure moments on it, including an early debut of a rapper named Talib Kweli, that ends with a vintage freestyle from A-Butta of Natural Elements. If you listened to underground NYC hiphop in the 90s, especially on radio, you know A-Butta was one of the illest freestylers out there. So I figured I'd post a few things - first, an mp3 of A-Butta finishing off a show with DJ Mayhem on the beatbox:


A-Butta Freestyle, WNYU 1996:

Part of a freestyle posted on Youtube he did with Supernatural (I have the full 10-15 minute freestyle somewhere, I'll try and post it soon):

Dollabin - "The Drummer (Live Version)"

The Drummer - Album Version

VerbMath (Dollabin) performs the song "The Drummer" live with the Contemporary Youth Orchestra of Cleveland. "The Drummer" will appear on the forthcoming Styles You Can't Afford album from Dollabin, but we thought we'd treat you to this right now. As a producer, it's crazy and humbling to see a beat switched into live music, by an orchestra nonetheless. If we get video of this performance, we'll definitely be posting it. In the meantime, check an upcoming post from Verb about the experience, and stay on the lookout for that new Dollabin!

If you haven't checked it, download Omega Jackson's release from earlier this year, "Lack of Eye Contacts." It's that raw, gritty ish straight from Yonkers - Omega produced the entire joint on his MPC 2000. And yes, that is the EPS he's got in the flick - my man gets down on all kinds of techniques.

DJ Ian Head and Khingz at Hala Hala's in 2003

coffee

I saw this post in the NY Times the other day and was amazed at many of the similarities between the author's coming around to coffee and my own "coffee story." I especially loved the parts about New York City coffee drinkers: "When I came to New York in 1995, I was delighted to discover deli coffee. At the time, I was focused less on taste and more on quantity and price. Thus, I was in caffeinated paradise..." Or about coffee at work: "I order large coffees, but stop drinking when the coffee gets too cold. There’s always a couple of ounces left in the cup, so I can’t just toss it into my wastebasket. I dread the long haul to the bathroom to properly dispose of the coffee remains. Hence you will usually find a tower of paper cups on my desk." The author just summed up the last three years at my former job.