I hear the Shaolin monks say the Wu-Tang school originated with them… Shaolin still say that?
Two days ago I posted Shawn Lee covering pop and today I bring you the ruff rugged and raw version of that post by a band called El Michels Affair and their tribute album to legendary Hip Hop producer Prince Rakim aka Bobby Digital aka The Abbot aka Rzarector aka Bobby Steels or as most of you know him the Ruler Zig-Zag-Zig Allah – Rza.
El Michels Affair is actually a sort of super group made up of members of The Dap-Kings, the Budos Band, and Antibalas – fresh. I’m sure most of you know by now but the Dap Kings are the guys responsible for that chart topping sound behind Amy Winehouse, much of Mark Ronson’s work and Sharon Jones. I was a huge fan of them but now that they’ve revinted one of the greatest hip hop albums of all time my appreciation has gone to another level. These days production is so impressive, clean sounding and perfect that you start to miss that natural imperfection and error. Don’t get me wrong I’m all about it yet there’s just something that always keeps me going vintage and that something is feeling. The El Michael cover of Heaven & Hell for example is so full of that real life and passion that you start to just get taken somewhere else, I mean as much as I like the Robot Rock I’m still human after all and nothing compares to the real thing. Anyways, this is a noteworthy album and I wish I has more time to talk about it but as usual there’s so much to do before I can officially call it a weekend, enjoy.
El Michels Affair – Incarcerated Scarfaces (Raekwon Cover)
El Michels Affair – Heaven & Hell (Raekwon Cover)
Bonus: Here’s the original Heaven & Hell, probably my favorite Raekwon song.