The Greatest Nothing Mix You Ever Will Hear

Every now and again, i got nothing. The LET inbox doesn't have anything that particularly interests me right this second and/or i've got stuff to listen to that i haven't yet and/or i'm too medicated/not medicated enough to come up with anything with which to blow wind up your proverbial and collective skirts. That's right, Jimmy, you're getting a cheese wit' nuttin' today.

So here's the Greatest Nothing Mix You Ever Will Hear. It's bellisimo, magnifique and bonne all in one.

mp3: Talkin' Loud & Sayin' Nothing (James Brown from The Millennium Collection)

mp3: Nothing is Always Something (Alex B from Moments)

mp3: Nothing (Alex Ludovico from Winning/Losing)

mp3: Nothing to Lose (Dimitri from Paris from Sacrebleu)

mp3: Don't Believe Nothing (Ike & Tina Turner from More Dirty Laundry: The Soul Of Black Country)

mp3: Nothing Even Matters (Lauryn Hill from The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill)

mp3: All for Nothing (ft. Grand Puba Of Brand Nubian) (Sharkey from Sharkey's Machine)

mp3: Ain't Nothing Like You (ft. Mos Def) (Blakroc from Blakroc)

mp3: I Am Nothing (Nellie McKay from Pretty Little Head)

mp3: Love is Nothing (Liz Phair from Whitechocolatespaceegg)

mp3: Nothing Matters When We're Dancing (Magnetic Fields from 69 Love Songs, Vol. 1)

mp3: Ain't Nuthin' But a Jam, Y'all (George Clinton and the P-Funk All-Stars from Live...and Kickin')

mp3: Ballad of Big Nothing (The Thermals from To: Elliott From: Portland)

mp3: Can't Do Nuttin' For Ya, Man (Public Enemy from Fear of a Black Planet)

Nuttin, indeed.

Free Mixtape Love: Late Night with the Roots

I'm kind of surprised that the Powers That Be at GE haven't already done this, but DJ Heat has put together a mixtape made up entirely of live tracks of the Roots playing with some of hip-hop's biggest names, all from their gig on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. We're talking everyone from old skoolers like Q-Tip and Public Enemy to newer jacks like Wale (not to mention Mos Def, 50 Cent and damn near the entire Wu-Tang Clan). The only real "problem" with the Late Night with the Roots mixtape really is the same problem that most live TV performances have--the sound is so/so and doesn't seem to capture the full energy of the gig. Now, with that being said, the Roots prove admirably that they're possibly one of the only bands out there that could do justice to the job. For the most part, rap sounds like shit live, particularly if the MC doesn't have a real, live backing band. The Roots, however, are able to create live what most DJs/producers would give their left nut for to recreate on wax. Quite simply, they have a musician's knack for creating hip hop with instruments, and, hot damn, they do it well.

Some of the tracks here simply are of better quality than others. It's a shame, for example, that the Beastie Boys track has a few glitches. As it appears the songs were recorded directly from the TV (as opposed to sound board quality), it's hard to where the imperfections originated, but it's a bummer no matter whose fault it is. Of perhaps little to no surprise, the best tracks here are from groups that are used to working with live bands. The Blakroc track, in my opinion, is heads and shoulders above everything else here.

While I don't watch Fallon's show (or any other talk show, for that matter), there's still one glaring omission for my money here. The Day Wacko Jacko OD'd off to Neverland, the Roots cut some cover tracks with Erykah Badu while she was there in studio. The quality of those tracks is infinitely superior, and, more importantly, they show the band having more "fun."

Bottom line, this definitely is worth checking out, though you might end up culling some or most of the tracks from your mp3 library after you've sampled them. If you really want to hear the Roots "live on wax," look no further than "The Roots Come Alive," possibly the greatest live in concert rap CD of all times. If you want to hear the Roots play with some of the biggest guns in the game today, though, this one is for you.

mp3: Dollaz & Sense/Telling Me Things (Blakroc with the Roots from Late Night with the Roots)

mp3: Billie Jean (Erykah Badu with the Roots from ?love's twitter feed)

Album Review: Blakroc by Blakroc

I think we all can agree that Judgement Night taught us three very invaluable lessons:

1. Apparently, there are parts of Chicago about a block off of the Magnificent Mile where nobody is awake, out or about by about midnight-ish.

2. Regardless of what HBO might have you believe, one NEVER should hang out with Jeremy Piven.

3. Rap/rock albums almost always are better in concept than they are in delivery. For every "I Love You, Mary Jane," there are dozens of "Another Body Murdered."

So why the hell would the Black Keys even want to try their hand at that hybrid game? Turns out, Patrick and Dan have been hip-hop heads since they were teenagers, and, truth be told, who wouldn't want to hang out with RZA for a while? The kung-fu movie recommendations alone would be worth the price of admission for the artists, sure, but what about us fans?

Believe it or not, we fans are in for an actual treat. The musical duo lay down some impressive beats and riffs for some of today's top tier MCs. The guest list includes such heavyweights as Mos Def, Q-Tip, RZA, Raekwon, Ludacris, and, back from the grave, Big Baby Jesus himself, the ODB. (Speaking of which, somebody remind me that if i ever fake my own death to "just have" boatloads of blog posts laying around for other bloggers to sample me into their writings for the next decade or so.) Nicole Wray shows up to add some actual singing here and there, as does Auerbach. The only real disappointment for my ears is the inclusion of NOE. Sure, one should assume that if one of the co-founders of Roc-A-Fella Records was going to be a driving force behind the album, then you'd have at least one cat who sounds eerily like Jay-Z, but guess what? i can't stand Jay-Z, so why would i like a knock-off version any better? (i don't mean to hog the soap box or anything, but Jay-Z, Radiohead and U2 are the top three most egregiously overrated musical acts of my lifetime.)

But i digress. Beyond simply being a damn fine album, what do we learn upon listening? Well, for one thing, the Keys can play a boatload more than their usual white boy garage punk blues. Seriously, give those guys a back-up singer or two and a keyboardist, and they're freaking lethal. i don't even know what would happen if they added horns. Probably the start of some new religious movement, i'd imagine. The bearded clearly would be the Chosen, but i'm digressing again. While damn near everyone on the album puts in at least admirable performances, can i tell you, those two Mos Def tracks blow me away. While his lyrics remain sharping and his vibe stoney chilled, it's his off-key singing that intrigues me. i can't quite put my finger on it, but there it is.

i think there are greater chances of me growing a mullet than there are of the entire project ever touring, but i'll say this right now--make it just the Keys, Mos Def and Nicloe, and you've got the makings of a super band right there.

And if all that still wasn't enough for you, you can always buy the accompanying ride and go from there.

mp3: Ain't Nothing Like You (Hoochie Coo) (Blakroc from Blakroc)