05/09/21

This beat is dedicated to Josie, whose ashes were scattered yesterday. I really think this beat captures her joy for life, and the focus she always held on doing what you love no matter what: follow what you believe in. Thank you for teaching and inspiring me, I wouldn’t be where or who I am without you.

Visuals: https://youtu.be/vdq2Vc_6m5Y

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/6jIMYxUsZNBRUVSGuRQsU2?si=9dbdc90443ae46e6
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/never-give-it-up-instrumental/1584847442?i=1584847443

Full O.C Remix (definitely will rework this by re doing the vocals on this version of the beat in the near future): https://soundcloud.com/tapeheadloops/never-give-it-up

For the instrumental I kept in some of O.C’s most relevant lines and the chorus, because to me this beat wouldn’t be complete without it. If anyone would like a version without the Born 2 Live elements, just let me know and I can email it your way.

Peace

Never Give It Up (Instrumental)

Beat, mixing and mastering by Tapehead
Vocals from ‘Hurricane Acapella’ by The Roots, Common, Mos Def, Dice Raw, Flo Brown & the Jazzyfatnastees

Visuals: https://youtu.be/WUl0HeGv5rM

Wanted to start off 2022 by reworking this remix, it’s definitely one of my favourites that I’ve ever done. I remember making this beat and it got really late cause I got mad immersed in what I was doing, and I spent ages getting the first flip down and how I wanted it. Then at like 2am I decided to try and flip another part of the sample cause I felt like I hadn’t done everything I could with the first, and when I came up with the 2nd flip I lost my mind on a different level, but had to keep it low key cause everyone else in the house was sleeping. I just mixed it there and then, went to sleep and first thing the next day revisited what I had to see what acapellas would work over it. I honestly can’t remember how any other acapella sounded over it, cause as soon as I heard this one I new it was the one, it’s still dope to me how well it fits cause I really didn’t make the beat with any acapella in mind at all. I think all the verses in the acapella are so serious and on point that they would sound good over any beat, and this one just had the perfect vibe and flow to match the acapella, and I’m still too gassed with how it sounds and really wanted to do the idea justice in this rework. 

At the start of 2021 I began working on a beat tape and was seeing which of my beats mixed well together, and one of my favourites was the one I used here, which I bring in at 2:44. It’s rare that beats from different samples will mix together that well, the melodies must be in the same key etc, but I knew I had to incorporate that blend into this rework. I always liked that beat on it’s own too, so I’ll probably re-do that at some point in the future, here’s the original upload of that beat with a Raekwon acapella over it: https://soundcloud.com/tapeheadloops/street-astrologists

I wasn’t 100% sure on what to use for visuals here. I went for this live performance of ‘Respiration’ by Blackstar, seeing as Common and Mos Def both have verses on that track. I know Talib Kweli is not actually on this track, but the energy of the artists and the crowd is too dope in the performance and matches exactly how I was feeling when I made this track, so I layered his visuals over Dice Raw’s verse. 

Here's the original version for anyone interested: https://soundcloud.com/tapeheadloops/time

Peace!!

TIME

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/2SiVTE7bp2CjyXfcC0TSIB?si=ba54b955c5ea46f1
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/gb/album/relaxed-instrumental/1603741766?i=1603741767

Instrumental for: https://soundcloud.com/tapeheadloops/relaxed

It's always nice when you get 2 flips from a sample which gel together. Here I filtered both flips to act as a bassline for the beat in different parts of the track, giving the sample more weight and flavour by combining the best bits of each, it's something I've been trying to do in most beats I make now and I definitely focused on it here, trying to give the track more variation and progression as well as building the vibe of what made the sample stand out to me. I was considering making the drums laid back on this one, but I decided to make them hit hard, partly cause the sample didn't have much low end so I needed the drums to fill out the mix.

Peace!

Relaxed (Instrumental)

Beat, mixing and mastering by Tapehead
Vocals and scratches from ‘Cypha Session II’ by Vice Grip, Building Block, Herbal E Starchild, Phantasm, U.G and Lord Digga 

Visuals: https://youtu.be/mCMJeAoRu8Y

Apologies for the state of the vocals on this one, I know they’re too quiet but the acapella for this is so rough and full of unwanted resonance because I recorded it off my cassette tape copy of this freestyle which already has a very rough sound to it, and had to sacrifice quality to remove the bass and make it useable as an acapella. This is the outro freestyle from Volume 2 of the Underground Airplay cassette mixtapes from the 90s, which were given away as promotional items with Echo clothing and other Hip Hop related stuff, to put listeners onto underground up and coming artists. I was just way too gassed off the idea of remixing this freestyle, and personally I love the super grimey raw vibe it has, and wanted to really exaggerate and build on that in this remix, and this is as good as I could get the vocals sounding. Turning them up more causes problems because of the resonance on the high frequencies, but reducing them too much makes it sound too muffled, so I had to reach a happy medium which left me with a vocal which is a bit too quiet and a bit muffled, versus one which is too loud on the high end with too much resonance if that makes sense, cause that was really causing major problems in the mix. I knew this one would be long to mix and I’d have to make sacrifices, but for real the concept was too crazy to me, even with the beat just layered over these verses completely unmixed I was bugging out at the overall vibe and the way it was sounding. 

I’ve said this before but this raw, unfiltered pure Hip Hop vibe really resonates with me on a different level, I love making stuff that really pays tribute and captures that energy. These underground freestyles off the old Echo tapes are to me some of the best examples of that raw 90s Hip Hop flavour, they were the furthest thing from commercialisation and profit cause the tapes were actually being given away for free, so it was all about the artists showcasing their skills and talent on the mic. These beats have always felt like freestyle beats to me, especially the first one, which I always thought had a real grimey vibe when I originally made it and put a Nas acapella over it: https://soundcloud.com/tapeheadloops/the-paper-chase

I’ve been trying to use these beats in an updated remix for ages now, and I was way too gassed with how they fit the vibe of this freestyle, I was actually working on something else, and suddenly thought it would be crazy to remix this freestyle, and within an hour I had the concept completely laid down and I was bugging out, especially the way the drums came in hard after the last line, and the scratching came in. Like I said I knew it would be long to mix and I went for more of a rough raw vibe, but I’m just too happy to have come up with this idea and make it a reality. There are other cypher sessions from other tapes, so I’ll definitely be seeing if I can do something with them in the future, I’m crazily excited about that.

I hope people enjoy this one I’ve been way too excited about sharing it, thank you for listening and peace!

Cypher Session

Soulmates

Doomsday In The West {80} (beat)

hand in hand

always//timing

MF DOOM Remix Album Out October 31st!

Beat, mixing and mastering by Tapehead
Vocals from ‘My Favourite Ladies Acapella’ by MF DOOM

Visuals: https://youtu.be/BJ-gIGHvQys
2021 remix: https://soundcloud.com/tapeheadloops/ladies

I haven’t really thought about remixing this track again since the last time but when I was making this beat I was hearing the acapella over it straight away, whilst I was making the different flips and working out the layering I kept finding myself spitting these verses from DOOM in my head, and I began to structure the beat around how it could fit the verses. Again this is really going for the emotional side to what DOOM’s talking about, but in an even more aggressive way. For last year’s remix it was more subtle with the piano being a lot quieter and subdued, the vocals too. This time the sample has way more aggression and weight to it, conveying that pain in a very different way. This made me sure I wanted to remix the track again cause I’d be doing something different, whilst still focusing on the side to the subject matter which I find most powerful personally. I think it’s cool how here the beat is initially quite happy sounding and carefree, the piano definitely is not sad melodically like the time before. When I was chopping up the sax parts of the sample I knew it would change the vibe though, and I thought that was perfect to layer when DOOM starts moving away from the positives of the Ladies and towards the negatives. I tried to structure the melodies in this way throughout the remix, with the ‘making love to a shadow’ vocals coming in towards the end as the track crescendos, I thought those vocals were a good fit with this track, speaking on the empty ‘shadow’ relationship that drugs ultimately bring. I’m definitely happy with how this turned out, I can’t decide if I like it more than what I did last year, they’re so different to me which is ideal honestly. I will say I’m glad I gave this one more of a journey, not just one vibe for the whole track, instead fluctuating from hopeful melodies to more aggressive sad ones, to mirror how DOOM seems to be happier when he’s first meeting the Ladies, but with time begins to point out their flaws and reflects on the negatives. 

Hope people like this remix, definitely let me know how you feel about it when compared to last years, would be really interesting and helpful for me, I’ve been thinking about it a lot since I’ve been working on this.

Peace!

Ladies (Remix)

5:46pm

point conception [tape]

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