2Dilla - Untitled Cover

D r i f t i n g  T h r o u g h  T i m e

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/2eI0R64DEMhcDjDJSOC88Y?si=2c70467dd1eb46a9
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/scars-instrumental/1579972136?i=1579972137

Instrumental for: https://soundcloud.com/tapeheadloops/artifacts-chat

This is a rework of the first beat I ever recorded a song over back in December 2017( https://soundcloud.com/tapeheadloops/scars ). Recording over this beat back in 2017 was a huge moment in my life, in terms of working out what I really wanted and who I wanted to be. I was bugging back then, but that experience opened a lot of doors mentally, and helped me rediscover a passion which I was losing. This beat was actually really difficult to remix and remaster, the levels on the original flip are really really bad so it took a lot of work to get it to fit with the sound of my newer drums, which are mixed in a very different way. I think it paid off though and I’m a lot happier with how the beat sounds, especially the way I layered the sample in the chorus to give the track a bit more variation, because it is just a 2-bar loop, so I decided to filter it for most of the track and bring in the highs occasionally, so the loop didn’t get boring.

Peace.

Scars (Instrumental)

Instrumental: https://soundcloud.com/tapeheadloops/blunted-whose-world-instrumental

Beat, mixing and mastering by Tapehead
Vocals and scratches from 'America's Most Blunted Acapella' by MF DOOM and Quasimoto 

Visuals: https://youtu.be/0McuvBMEFWo

I flipped this sample back in October 2017, and have already reworked the beat in 2020, but I decided to rework it again for this remix.

The whole vibe of this beat is really dark, reflecting the situation I was in at the time I made it. I had just started my 2nd year at university, and was badly trapped in the lifestyle of smoking weed. I was smoking far too often to escape an unhappy reality which I myself had created through all the bad decisions and destructive life choices I made throughout my 1st year. I can’t remember much about making this beat at all, except I made it late at night, sampling the Fantastic Planet soundtrack, which I knew had been used by Madlib and Rascalz to make beats. I layered two parts of the sample to give it a gritty textured feel, originally flipping the sample at a way faster tempo (around 114BPM). However, I chose to slow it down to 95BPM for a much darker vibe, which I was feeling a lot more at the time, as it fit the general melody I created out of the sample much better.

To me, this beat sounds like I’m expressing feelings of sinking further and further without any hope. Thinking on my situation at the time only strengthens this idea to me, as I was starting another year in the same negative environment that I had grown to hate during first year, so the crushing weight of a seemingly inevitable and inescapable year of unhappiness and regret is shown in the overall sound and vibe of this beat. Because of all that, I thought it would make sense to put this acapella over the beat, because it's a song dedicated to smoking, and this beat is also born out of that place, just from a very different viewpoint and perspective. I think they work well together, definitely very different to the vibe of the original.

Peace and thank you for listening!

Here's the other versions of this beat: 
Original upload: https://soundcloud.com/tapeheadloops/whose-world
2020 Rework: https://soundcloud.com/tapeheadloops/whose-world-instrumental

Blunted

second single "time and space" from upcoming scientifical madness by bennyben out now

streaming: fanlink.to/giU5

also available on our bandcamp

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kick a dope verse! © 2021

bennyben - time and space

Instrumental: https://soundcloud.com/tapeheadloops/got-to-stop-you-dont-care-instrumental

Beat, mixing and mastering by Tapehead
Vocals from ‘Ghostwhirl Acapella’ by MF DOOM and ‘Ms Fat Booty Acapella’ by Mos Def

Visuals: https://youtu.be/Rx2QMOen6aw

I’ve always wanted to put a DOOM and Mos Def acapella together in the same remix, ever since I saw this video of Mos Def bugging out over DOOM lyrics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTBIvIDnnv8

I never really deeped what the DOOM acapella from ‘Ghostwhirl’ is even about until I found this sample, and before I made the beat I was thinking about what acapellas would work over it. DOOM is being pretty abstract but once I got it was about the stress and strain of relationships, mind games etc, I was crazily motivated to flip the sample, and once I had the first beat I realized it would go perfectly with the story Mos Def tells in ‘Ms Fat Booty’, so I flipped the second beat from the same sample. It was dope to really plan out the remix in this way cause it gave the track more progression. With this one I was trying to focus on the emotional release in the sample, the vocals are almost screaming there’s so much pain in them, so I thought it would pair well with these two verses that speak on heartache and manipulation of emotions. Even though it’s not the real focus in the original tracks, I think by using this sample it brought out that side to the verses and made that the focus of this remix, which is definitely what I was trying to do, so I hope it worked out.

Peace and thank you for listening!

Got To Stop  (You Don't Care)

Instrumental: https://soundcloud.com/tapeheadloops/street-dreams-instrumental

Beat, mixing and mastering by Tapehead
Vocals from ‘Street Dreams Acapella’ by Nas

Visuals: https://youtu.be/B2nN8bCGQO0

I remixed the Street Dreams acapella over this beat a few months after I originally made the beat back in 2016, when I was much less focused in general and less dedicated to making music. This is one of those beats that doesn't have any particularly deep meaning behind it to me, I was in a good mood when I made it and was in an even better mood afterwards. Seeing as I made this only a couple of months after I started producing, I do think it's an important beat, because the feeling I got from making this beat and the positive vibe of the sample was unlike anything I'd felt before, and it was one of those moments that made me really start to become passionate about making music, cause of the happiness and contentment it was bringing me, and after this beat I was very motivated, and was making beats more and more often, if that makes sense. Last year I revisited and reworked this beat to get it sounding how I wanted it to when I originally made it by improving the drums, but I only remixed the hook from Street Dreams over it because I didn’t have much experience in mixing and EQing vocals. Now that I’m way more experienced overall I thought it would be dope to do a finalised version of this remix to try and do the idea justice, and just sort of celebrate/reflect on the progress I’ve made even over the last year with this more positive vibe. I revisited the sample for a switchup but I still like my original flip the most, definitely used the best parts of the sample, but I think the new flip adds some variation and highlights the difference between both the verses I remixed. The first feels like more of a story being told by Nas, whereas to me the second is more reflective and nostalgic looking back at the past. Where I’m at now is somewhere I could only have dreamed of a few years ago for real, and it’s really got me dedicated to keep on doing what I love no matter what. The whole hook and vibe of Street Dreams really did feel like something I wanted to remix now, it was just resonating crazily, so I hope people enjoy it too!

Original mix: https://soundcloud.com/tapeheadloops/street-dreams
2020 Rework: https://soundcloud.com/tapeheadloops/street-dreams-2

Peace

Street Dreams

Taken from "Seasons." EP: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/mrcusjones/seasons

Seasons.

Influences.

Influences. ( "Seasons." EP Available On All DSPs)

portals

[Verse 1]

“Nobody cares if you fade away
Your blood on the floor is the price you pay
You’re just a burden, a wasted breath
Nothing but silence is waiting in death”


But I won’t let that poison win
I’ll fight these lies till the very end!

[Chorus]

I’m not leaving — I’ll stand by your side
Through the fire, through the flood, through the darkest night
Your life still matters, your heart still beats
You are not forgotten — you are not defeat!
I’m not leaving — don’t believe the lie
Hold on, stay strong — you don’t have to die!

[Verse 2] 

I’ve been screaming in the silence, no one ever came
Drowning in shadows, suffocating shame
I hear the whisper: “You’re better off gone”
But the ache in my chest keeps dragging me on

And if I fall, will you carry me still?
If I break apart, will You rebuild?

[Pre-Chorus]

Every chain, every lie, every voice in my head
Is a grave trying hard to pull me into the dead —

[Chorus]

I’m not leaving — I’ll stand by your side
Through the fire, through the flood, through the darkest night
Your life still matters, your heart still beats
You are not forgotten — you are not defeat!
I’m not leaving — don’t believe the lie
Hold on, stay strong — you don’t have to die!

[Bridge]

 “You’re worthless! You’re nothing!”
 YOU’RE MORE THAN ENOUGH!
“You’re broken! You’re hopeless!”
YOU ARE LOVED!

[Breakdown]

I WON’T GIVE UP — I WON’T LET GO
YOUR LIFE STILL BURNS — I WANT YOU TO KNOW
I’M NOT LEAVING — I’M NOT DONE
WE’LL FIGHT THIS DARKNESS UNTIL IT’S GONE!

[Final Chorus]

I’m not leaving — I’ll stand by your side
Through the fire, through the flood, through the darkest night
Your life still matters, your heart still beats
You are not forgotten — you are not defeat!
I’m not leaving — don’t believe the lie
Hold on, stay strong — you don’t have to die!

[Outro]

I’m not leaving.
Not now.
Not ever.
Stay alive.

I’m Not Leaving

Beatmaker / Emcee
Contact: tapeheadloops@gmail.com

<--MPC2000 Classic                     

Underground Airplay

Trying to give something back to Hip Hop - really appreciate any comments or feedback.

Peace