Beat, mixing and mastering by Tapehead
Vocals from ‘Passin’ Me By Acapella’ by The Pharcyde

Youtube: https://youtu.be/4Tkr1jGNXPo

The first time I heard this track was on a Stretch and Bobbito show from ’92, where Stretch blended this acapella over the beat to ‘Bonita Applebum’ by A Tribe Called Quest. Straight away back then I knew this was a crazy acapella, because it sounded absolutely mad over that beat. Both originals are great, but the fact that this acapella fit so well over a Tribe beat made me know it was on a high level both rhythmically and in terms of the delivery and tone of the whole track. This is my first time remixing this acapella, and I definitely won’t be doing it again for a while, I can’t believe how well it fits over this beat. 

It’s always fun to make a beat like this, the chops are all in-between vocals, so there’s a real nice quality to how they then mesh together, with the start and end of the vocals sometimes leaking into the chops. I took chops from two versions of a similar melody, one toward the start of the song where the singer is accompanied by piano keys, and a later version when some strings come in on top of the piano as the verse builds up. I chopped each version of the melody up into similar pieces, and then combined them together into a 4 bar where I was trying to take the best of each, and create something that built in the same way the original song did, just in a much more compact melody. Because the beat was made using a love song, I had a feeling that the Pharcyde acapella might work over it. It’s just always a gamble about whether the key of the sample will match the key of an acapella like this, and I’m just too glad it matched it perfectly. 

Because of how well the acapella fit the sample I was determined to go hard on the drums, I really wanted them to have that hardcore feel without overpowering the sample, so I kept them punchy and hard hitting. I added this kick layered with some kind of wood block sound, which reminded me of the sample from the original track, which I think helps make this remix more convincing. Also, these verses are so jokes to me, the acapella has this mad infectious vibe: it’s such a relatable track which has fully stood the test of time, timeless really. I hope people enjoy this one, I’ve been bugging out over it all week.

Passin'

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/used-to-love-her-instrumental

Beat, mixing and mastering by Tapehead
Vocals from ‘I Used To Love H.E.R. Acapella’ by Common Sense

Visuals: https://youtu.be/J_b2wfQjntQ

This original track from Common is an absolute classic, being the lead single to ‘Resurrection’, which is my personal favourite of all his albums (which is pretty difficult to say because he has so many great ones). Also an interesting fact on this song is H.E.R. is an acronym for Hearing Every Rhyme. For a fan of 90s Hip Hop, this is really is the perfect track and the perfect album from Common, I can’t really say too much aside from highly recommending listening to the full thing back to back. I personally don’t think there’s a weak track, all the production from No ID is so crazy, one of the best ‘jazzy’ Hip Hop albums of the 90s for sure. I’d say this is up in my top 10 favourite albums, and definitely in my top 10 most played albums over the years, and every time I always enjoy it just as much. I actually vividly remember playing the tape for the first time on the way to school and I was bugging out on it, and just played it again and again throughout the day whenever I could. It really was crazy to be listening to these classic albums for the first time, and this is without a doubt one that I have the most vivid memories of, in terms of being blown away by how unique the sound was, and also how dope Common was as an emcee. His style is definitely unique, it’s hard to pinpoint cause it’s not crazily out there or mad abstract, he just has charisma and a very very mad outlook on things, which gives him such a good perspective and presence as an emcee on the mic. I guess that’s shown clearly in this song, it’s a very powerful song and message, which is executed in such an interesting way that works well and has definitely stood the test of time, I’m pretty sure Kanye West even referenced the opening lines to this song in one of his tracks. 

When I originally made the first beat in this remix I instantly thought about putting this acapella over it, and did a very rushed remix which was mixed very badly. The levels on the drums are all over the place and the acapella sounded horrible, but I was really gassed off it at the time as a concept, and wasn’t really experienced in mixing and mastering so just put it out as it was: https://soundcloud.com/tapeheadloops/what-i-loved-most 

I’ve wanted to revisit this idea for a while now, but always felt like the beat wasn’t enough on it’s own to remix more than one verse, so every now and then I’ve been experimenting with other beats that would blend well with this one. I wanted to keep the first beat as it was for the first verse, because that’s where Common is setting up his love for Hip Hop, so I thought a beat with less emotion and more of a straight up Hip Hop vibe would work for that. When I started thinking about that, I was then thinking on what would work well for the later verses in the track, and I definitely wanted to focus on the way Common gets a bit more ‘emotional’ as he starts talking about how Hip Hop changed, making him fall out of love etc. Cause of this I wanted a more emotional beat, but kept it as a piano so the switch up wasn’t too jarring, and I think it worked out OK. I was mad happy with how they blended together at the end of the track too as an outro, it’s just dope when things come together like that, I was thinking the way Common reminisces saying ‘I used to love her’ at the end, made perfect sense to then bring that first beat back, and I’m just glad they blended together OK making that possible.

Peace!

Used To (Love Her)

Instrumental: https://soundcloud.com/tapeheadloops/dont-mind-me-instrumental

Beat, mixing and mastering by Tapehead
Vocals from ‘Money Folder Acapella’ by MF DOOM

Visuals: https://youtu.be/a81-toGlUWk

Back when I first flipped this sample I put the acapella from ‘Strange Ways’ over it cause I thought the beat fit DOOM’s style. Looking back though it’s clear that the vibe of the beat doesn’t really fit what DOOM’s talking about on that track, so I switched up my approach for this rework. I thought ‘Money Folder’ fit it way better, DOOM has a sort of carefree attitude on that track which I think goes with the beat, has a sort of go with the flow kind of vibe. I’ve been wanting to make this one for a long time now, I actually first put the Money Folder Acapella over this beat at the very start of the year when I was working on my first DOOM tribute track, and then left it for time as a rough concept idea. Now after spending this year really dedicating myself to music, I felt crazily motivated to revisit this idea and do it justice. I really am too grateful and humbled by all the support I’ve been getting throughout the year, and I’m now more than dedicated to keeping on and growing/improving as much as I can. To me this beat gives of that vibe of contentment and focus: knowing what you want to do and being in a blessed place doing it. It makes sense to me that I set up the ideas for this remix at the start of the year with that focus and grind to music in mind, and am now revisiting and releasing it after spending the year doing what I set out to do, if that makes sense. 

Peace and thank you for all the support and feedback, hope people enjoy the vibe of this one!

Original version: https://soundcloud.com/tapeheadloops/same-game

Don't Mind Me

Feeling this one if i do say so myself ;D Hope everyone is doing good

Peace x

S t o n e s

SLEEPDABEAT x earfluvv - Lunar

SENTIMENT

Dust

WATCHU ON.wav

notofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotofnotof

Anything Else

Yo, girl I wanna know you now, I wanna hold you down,
GB knows you hold the crown, can’t fold around.
Girl, you Georgia Brown, worth the pound,
Girl, you a queen, only right that you draped in Celine.

Manifested outta my dreams, creme de la creme,
More beautiful than Olivia Dean, you my deck of queens.
Let me proceed, with this horoscope reading,
You hold the crown, it’s misleading but you leading.

What a gorgeous proceeding, wedding on the ocean,
Don’t play with my emotions, you know that you chosen.
I shot my shot like DeRozan,
Played you director's cut, you called me Christopher Nolan.

Body tight, body right, you’re the one that I want,
You pulled up in Celine, can't lie I was stunned.
I was drunk in love, was punked—think not,
Puncher, some say it was luck, gorgeous beauty, one I struck.

And not in that way, please don’t be silly,
Put her in Celine when it chilly, the view side hilly.
They calling me Billy, I’m the GOAT,
So many hits that I penned, GB wrote.

‘Oi, GBengs, who’s that queen that you roped?’
‘I see you G, she’s an Olivia Pope.’
Pree the coat, peep the Pelle, only right that she scoped,
Scooped her up, she good in the Vogue, brought her back from Woolwich road.

Yo, girl I wanna know you now, I wanna hold you down,
GB knows you hold the crown, can’t fold around.
Girl, you Georgia Brown, worth the pound,
Girl, you a queen, only right that you draped in Celine.

Manifested outta my dreams, creme de la creme,
More beautiful than Olivia Dean, you my deck of queens.
Let me proceed, with this horoscope reading,
You hold the crown, it’s misleading but you leading.

New season, a new reason, just to treasure my girl,
She hits them notes like Adele, gorgeous I fell.
Straight for beauty, she my cutie, she my baby,
My lady, we take trips in Mercedes, but can’t lie, she drive me crazy.

‘Oi GBengs, what was you doing last weekend?’
I was in the bedroom, I can’t pretend.
It’s a weird flex, couldn’t find the latex,
But can’t lie, I scared a late text.

One from my baby, saying that I’m late text,
But girl, I wanna know you now, I wanna hold you down,
GB knows you hold the crown, can’t fold around.
Girl, you Georgia Brown, worth the pound.

Yeah, crowned in Celine, you wear it like you mean,
Together we create the perfect scene.
So let’s dream, baby, let’s scheme,
Girl, you the queen, you know what I mean.

Blondie [Demo]

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