2006


the '06 is two things: (A) something to tide over fans until the Tortoise Hustle drops, and (B) a chance for those who weren't there to hear the best set of my life. Said night was the Battle of the Bands semi-finals round, a night I was sure I'd lose. Jon at Monastic Chambers mastered the project and Kay at eyeball graphics handled the artwork.


semis-live: 25 minutes of live bookended by a possibly inebriated Jerr Dog (host of the battle) and a lively crowd. If you listen closely, you'll hear live versions of a few Tortoise Hustle songs including The Bottomline, The Zoom Zip and Sing it Backwards. When the Blue Sunshine instrumental is playing, the crowd goes nuts twice. Once is when I bust out a pair of clippers and shave off my beard, the other is when I bring out a bat and beat a rapping cookie jar to smithereens.

lenin's jukebox: This is actually two songs-Fiero and Roll Call-complete with death metal outro. Back when LLC and I were working on a group collaboration, we'd spend time in Brenn's freezing garage and mess around with songs. Thankfully, these two were recorded and will most likely be the extent of Lenin's Jukebox.

eds: I'd purchased one of EDS' instrumental CDs the first night they were available (via Wing Council), wrote/recorded to my favorite beat, and the next day gave him the track to do as he saw fit. If you listen closely to R&E's "Rookies of the Year", you might hear the track playing in the background of a phone conversation. EDS gave me permission to use the track and I hope you dig it.

i knew it: Here we have the typical result of my not having beats-running through songs, looking for something to loop and then rapping over it. Bonus points (maybe even a lanyard) to whoever can tell me what I looped.

clockwise: One of my all-time favorite beats gets the "I want to write and record raps but don't have a beat handy" treatment. The hook pretty much came to me out of thin air and, while it didn't turn out quite how I envisioned, it still worked out pretty well.

shark92: I recorded this track as a promo for Still Means Something and it was well enough received that I figured to put it on a release.

ognihs: ognihs and I have collaborated over the years (SA-2, White Collar Criminals, The Rosetta Stone) and he really wanted to produce the entirety of my next album. As it stands, he has one cut set in stone (Tale of a Cartoon Snake). He recently sent me this beat and I wrote and recorded to it a few days later. I figured this was a good outlet for what Keter calls my "Kool G Rap/Percee P rapping."