MPS HR ELEVEN: "It All Goes Back To Taste..."

Welcome to the Fourth of July edition of Mixtape Preservation Society. The only acknowledgement of this, however, comes in the form of the first song: a demo version of L.A. punk band X's tune "4th Of July". The rest of the hour is spent hanging out with DJ Greenhouse and talking about rap music in particular, all music in general. There is no real theme for the hour but we do run a few tangents and I try to play selections that relate somehow to those topics.

After talking about the death of Prodigy from Mobb Deep a little more (Prodigy was a favorite of Greenhouse) we start talking about Jay-Z, which is ironic considering the interview was conducted before he dropped his 4:44 album online. I managed to get a copy of the album after the fact, and I cued up the track "Family Feud" for your listening pleasure. My verdict on the album is that, while not a masterpiece, it is very good; it seems raw, as if Jay were in a rush to get it out, or perhaps striving to give it an unfinished feel to accentuate that very rawness. "Family Feud" is as raw as a millionaire rap CEO/businessman gets these days.

Then we discuss Beyonce and her marriage to Jay-Z, a topic that isn't necessarily off limits given the confessional nature not only of 4:44 but Lemonade as well. This leads us to talk about the industry of fame in this country, which segues into Run The Jewels' "Legend Has It". I've been meaning to include some RTJ in the podcast for some time now, so this was really more of an excuse to play this track than anything else.

Greenie and I get into the finer points of rap storytelling, and there isn't an MC out there more equipped to do that than the one and only Slick Rick. "The Moment I Feared" is a classic cut from his debut solo album The Great Adventures Of Slick Rick. I purposely avoided his more popular cuts so that listeners get an idea of how versatile Rick's deep cuts are, and "Moment" is a great example of this.

We talk about Prodigy some more, and then I bring up KRS-ONE, a legendary MC and one of my favorites since I was a kid. Once again, this was just another excuse for me to play some classic hip-hop music, and to me KRS-ONE is just as relevant today as ever. In a better world, KRS-ONE would have Jay-Z's clout, but then again there's people like me who insist he indeed does possess that MC pedigree and status that just can't be bought or sold. "MCs Act Like They Don't Know" was produced by DJ Premier and quite simply rocks.

We discuss people's musical tastes, a controversial subject no doubt. Everyone has different tastes of course but to me it is a defining characteristic of an artist. I may come off as being a snob or an elitist but that's because I spend a lot of time and energy cultivating certain tastes; I'm not against anything without good cause. I have no blanket standards either-- I make exceptions constantly, but I also defend my choices and tastes vigorously. Greenhouse is the same, which is why we click. I picked Natural Born Chillers' "Rock The Funky Beats" mostly for the ill Chuck D sample they chop up throughout the song.

Then my son JR makes an appearance (he can be heard in the background of the podcast playing in the next room, if you listen real hard) and requests two of his favorite songs: Black Sabbath's "Iron Man" and Blue Swede's "Hooked On A Feeling"... he even sings a bit of the latter for our amusement. And with that, the interview section of the podcast is over. I pay a short tribute to Prince's NPG drummer John Blackwell (who passed away earlier this week) while playing a cut from the Purple Rain Deluxe Edition... I will probably expand on that tribute next week, as well as pay belated respects to one Richard Starkey aka Ringo Starr, whose birthday is today.

All in all, I think this is a strong hour of podcasting and I am digging the back-and-forth format of talk and music. Greenhouse as usual brings his A-game to the lively discussion, and  look forward to having him on future podcasts.