Mr. Dibiase - May the Force

When listening to a track, I sometimes get this feeling like I've heard something like it before, just never done in "that" particular way. Well, Mr. Dibiase, $$$$$$ aka Diobolical offers this fantastic re-working of the classic Star Wars' The Imperial March. Yep, the drums are off-kilter and Dilla's signature WWII bomb-shelter siren can be heard near the beginning which might pit Dibiase as another Dilla clone but that's as far as the similarities go. This track is like a 3-in-1 instrumental because, well, it just really works that way, listen to the PREVIEW if you don't believe me.

8-bit fantastic with rhythmic-ADD. It's as if Dibiase gets bored with the track after a mere 30 seconds so he's constantly shifting focus and before you know it, it's all over. Yeah.

Kit Knows - First Space Kit on the Moon

This is Kit Knows; apparently he knows something that we don't because I have never heard of him, up until now. This is less of a proper release and more of a mixtape since every single track is produced by the up and coming Flako, but I think he already knows that. Just by looking at the cover, the effaced "s" in front of "hit" proves that this is one of those polished guerilla releases. Yeah, he spent some time on it but still, he doesn't own any exclusive rights to the beats and that means that all the tracks can be downloaded for free without having to worry about the RIAA coming for your money but then again, that all ended in 2001, no one cares about them anymore anyway.

Back to the album, er... mixtape... Kit's delivery is certainly poignant, he does have something to say but truth is, after track 08, it just goes on for too long. It's cool that he chooses to rap over all the beats featured on the aforementioned producer's original release: First Space Shit on the Moon, but for this Canadian rapper, sometimes less can be best.

A few stand-out tracks are "Welcome," Footprints" and "Failure" but that's more because I enjoy the beats more than anything else... If we ran things based on a scoring system, this release would get a 7/10 which is still good, just not "that good. Then again, I just show you what you might like. All you have to do is listen and then decide, and then keep it to yourself.

Download the entire album for free.

Dan Black feat. Kid Cudi - Symphonies Remix

This is one of those tracks that sounds all-too familiar... but in a good way. It all starts off in epic fashion with an orchestral choir that is backed by some fantastic film-score worthy strings and then, 10 seconds in, the drums kick in. The drums sample Rihanna's Umbrella, which also sounds like that certain drum loop in GarageBand... Hmm. In any case, this track is so good it doesn't really matter what the drums are. For 3:43, we're sent into a slow-dancey jam run by Kid Cudi and Dan Black, fantastic! Cudi's undeniable aural charm is present throughout the entire track and there is an equal trade-off between Black and Cudi as far as vocal duties go. 11/10. Check out the preview and then download.