Eazy-E - Eazy-Duz-It (Ruthless Records - 1988)

A few months ago, I entered a record shop in Paris, decided to catch up with what young people are listening to these days. I listened to Nicki Minaj and Drake but leaved the record store with Eazy-Duz-It under the arm. There are only two explanations to this phenomenon:

- Explanation 1: I'm just too old for this shit (I'm 38).
- Explanation 2: put a Drake record and an Eazy-E record side to side and you'll understand what popular hip hop is probably missing today.

I'm not talking of underground vs mainstream: west coast gangsta rap was made to be sold and make a lot of money. It's just that a while ago, hip hop was that raw shit that made you parents suit the record store that sold you the CD and it should have just staid that way. Eazy-E was a former street hodlum turned rapper. That guy barely could rap, the production was raw and minimalist, his lyrics and his lifestyle were irresponsible but he had that I don't give a fuck attitude that he shared only with the best rockers. That makes all the difference and didn't prevent him from making millions out of it.

























Download => Eazy-E - Eazy-Duz-It

ZE Sound Of N.Y.C (Les Inrockuptibles - 2011)

Sold with a special edition on NY rock scene of the French indie rock bible news magazine Les Inrockuptibles, this compilation is pure honey for the ears. Michel Esteban has chosen probably 14 of the best tracks of his ZE Records catalogue. If ZE Records artists have been numerous times compiled, especially on ZE own Mutant Disco serie, and are largely reedited, listening again those 14 arty no wave and punk funk missiles just makes you immediatly in a party mood. You'll even find three special edits: the Social Disco Club Edit of Gichy Dan's Beachwood #9's Cowboys & Gangsters, the Pilooski Edit of Don Armando's 2nd Ave. Rhumba Band's I'm An Indian Too and The Barking Dogs Edit of Arto Lindsay-Arto/Neto's Pini, Pini.

Download => ZE Sound Of N.Y.C

Arabian Prince - Innovative Life - The Anthology - 1984-1989 (Stones Throw - 2008)

12 electro funk bombs produced by the west coast pioneer Arabian Prince under his own moniker or for others (N.W.A, Professor X, J.B. Beat). The liner notes teach everything you need to know about the birth of hip hop in California. At first essentially a DJ thing, clearly oriented to dance and party, west coast rap only really existed on the hip hop map when NWA mixed electro beat with gangsta and ghetto tales and made millions of dollars out of it. Gangsta rap was born, rap music became a business like the other ones and its pioneers like Arabian Prince moved to something else (movie special effects for the latter). The instrumental bonus tracks on the CD, Simple Planet and Beatdabeat, are really surprising and are a must-have: Arabian Prince electro beats draw a direct line between Compton and Detroit and could have been released on UR.























Download => Arabian Prince - Innovative Life - The Anthology - 1984-1989

Vinicius de Moraes/Roberto Paiva/Antonio Carlos Jobim - Orfeu Da Conceiçao (Odeon - 1956)

Orfeu Da Conceiçao is a Brazilian play inspired by the Orpheus legend and written by Vinicius De Moraes. Vinicius made a musical out of it in 1956 with the help of Jobim, Roberto Palva (singer) and Luiz Bonfa (guitar). Orfeu Da Conceiçao is a really ambitious work that goes beyond the realm of bossa nova to touch classical music and jazz. The first track, Ouverture, starts like classical music and then switches into a bossa nova. Eu O Meu Amor mixes big band jazz with samba. Minologo De Orfeu is a poem recited by Moraes himself. You can hear as well for the first time the classic Se Todos Fossem Iguais A Voce. Jobim and Bonfa worked a second time on the Orpheus myth when they wrote the soundtrack of the Orfeu Negro movie, based on the same Moraes play. It's just the kind of record that has seminal and masterpiece written all over it.

Download=> Vinicius de Moraes/Roberto Paiva/Antonio Carlos Jobim - Orfeu Da Conceiçao