Freestyle Battle: A Translation

Strangely by way of the Freakonomics blog, I was made aware of this hilarious video, in which a rap battle is "translated" into "correct and coherent" English, by a couple of guys named Ben and Ryan. It's quite dope:

Ryan Bingham

If there has ever been a reason for me to adore Pandora radio it's due to the discovery of new music like Ryan Bingham. 

Coming from a rugged living-on-the-road past he sounds exactly what you'd expect: rugged and real. But what you wouldn't expect is such experienced musical chops from a man barely 27. A whiskey and cigarettes voice matched with music melodic enough to be catchy, yet rough enough to be country. He's already turned some heads, playing on both Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien. 

I was lucky enough to catch him at a somewhat underground venue in Topanga, and watching him live only bolstered my love for his sound. So for those Angeleno's be sure to check out his show at the El Rey on December 12th. Check out his album Mescalito, a cheap buy on iTunes for all of the music is contains. A few of my favorite tracks include, "Southside of Heaven", "Bread and Water", "Best of Me", "Don't Wait For Me", "Sunshine", well, as you can tell I kind of love the entire album. 

Check out Ryan Bingham if you love smokey voices, alternative country sounds, and long drives down the dusty open road.  

Apple Juice Kid: Miles Remixed

Okayplayer regular The Apple Juice Kid apparently has the gumption to try and mess with Miles Davis, on his bedroom project Miles Remixed.

As it's a free download (available here), I wasn't expecting all that much, though as I will hopefully show, there is lots of great free music out there if you want it!

Basically the groove is decidedly lounge, with Miles riffs being looped into easily-digestible hooks and overlaid with new drum patterns and some throwaway scratching. Think Thievery Corporation's mellower tracks or the Brooklyn Funk Essentials' down tempo numbers.

I found this "pleasant" but not really attention-grabbing, as Miles Davis truly is. Great music to work to, though. If you're into a more original experiment in hip-hop/jazz fusion, check out The Roots' Organix (if you can find it, that is) or DJ Logic's Project Logic.