For those who don’t have any idea where I’m going with this (that is, everyone except myself), let’s rewind a moment. Last night in the Booth, G.O.O.D. Music R&B singer Tony Williams introduced himself to our readership with “King or the Fool,” a catchy cut which our own Matthew Kyle found to be inexplicably… scary. Others, however, didn’t seem to catch his drift. See more…

I haven’t been sleeping well for the past few weeks, and it’s all thanks to one burning question: “What would RefinedHype.com sound like in musical form?” I know, I know, I realize that makes absolutely no sense, but roll with me here – wouldn’t it be cool to browse the ‘net’s premier hip-hop/urban culture blog while vibing out to a beat generated by the site itself? Yeah, I thought so. So you can imagine how delighted I was to learn about the existence of CodeOrgan.com, an online service that does just as I described above, generating original compositions from the body of any page on the ‘net.

As a fairly huge fan of the UK heavyweights, I find the concept of a “hip-hop Radiohead” intriguing, but I’m not sure whether or not it makes sense…. or makes sense (yet). Like so many big questions, it really depends on how you look at things. But, backtracking for a sec, the track that brought this question back to the forefront of my mind was, of course, “Paperbag Writer”, the new, Booth-exclusive freestyle from DMV up-and-comer K-Beta. One of the fresher and stranger entries in recent memory, it came backed by an instrumental derived from Radiohead’s (kinda obscure) EP cut of the same name. See more….

Let’s talk about one of the highest-rated features over at DJBooth.net this week, a newly-released remix of underground emcee Bekay’s single, “I Am.” Chosen as the winning instrumental in a contest held by NodFactor.com DJ Qvali’s blend of sampled strings and authentic cuts (with a little help from DJ Revolutioun) was received by Booth readers as not only equal to, but arguably an improvement over heavyweight producer The Alchemist’s original – and I tend to agree.

The instrumental that got my gears turning the most vigorously (if gears can even turn with varying degrees of vigor), this was that of West Coast up-and-comer Curtiss King’s self-produced “Ren & Stimpy,” sampled, of course from the classic gross-out cartoon’s theme song (“Dog Pound Hop,” performed by animator Jim Smith). It’s hard to deny the sample potential of TV themes – I mean, watching massive amounts of television is one of the only things just about all of us have in common, so if you’re going for universal appeal, I can hardly think of a better strategy. See more…

Let’s be honest, “The Rebirth” was terrible in a “car crash you have to slow down and look at” kind of way, why dwell on the negative? Instead, let’s talk about Styles P. & DJ Green Lantern‘s “Shadows,” featured yesterday over on the Booth. The final leak on Styles and Green Lantern’s collaborative “Green Ghost Project” (due out this coming Tuesday), the track boasted some insanely fresh boardwork by East Coast heavyweight Statik Selektah. See more…

I have a confession to make: earlier this week, when I was writing my review of The Canz’ DJBooth.net-exclusive track, “2010 Hot Steppa”, I was holding out on you. While we all know that the record was a modern revamp of “Here Comes the Hotsteppa,” my research revealed that the story behind ‘Hot Steppa’ – specifically, that of the “Na, na-na-na na…” hook that made the Salaam Remi-produced joint a smash – is quite a bit shaggier than I would have guessed. See more…

One of the more controversial tracks to hit DJBooth.net this week was West Coast up-and-comer Kida’s latest single, “Ain’t Nothing”. Produced by TheRealfocus…, “Ain’t Nothing"s beat has inspired equal measures of love and hate from everyone who’s heard its glittering synth arpeggios. See more… 

We’re eight days into 2010, and you know what that means? It’s almost time for us to stop dwelling on the past and turn our attention to what lies ahead. Almost. Since I’ve yet to hop on the “retrospective” bandwagon, I’m going to take that opportunity before it’s too late, and discuss what I’ve officially chosen to be my favorite song – and beat – of the past year. When I began the “Production Breakdown” column one of the first thoughts to go through my mind was “Oh, too bad Sharam’s ‘She Came Along’ hit the Booth way back in April. That sh*t was fire!” Well, that’s a loose paraphrase, but you get the gist. See more…

If any angry old people happen to be reading, allow me to set the record straight: hip-hop is all about respect for the past. Producers who sample your favorite tunes from back in the day aren’t trying to ruin your precious memories, they’re exposing those golden oldies to a new generation – so why not cool it with the “I hate rap” stuff? See more…