American Gangster Remixed

4. February 2008 by Emmett.

When Jay-Z’s latest album came out of nowhere, and actually made me forget about Kingdom Come, I was pleasantly surprised. Even better, now producers are putting out their own versions of the entire album- inspired by Dangermouse, maybe?

Mick Boogie & Shuko’s Brooklyn Soul flips the original, and puts the vocals over Marvin Gaye samples. The tone of the original is almost all storytelling and introspection, so the new sound fits the tone of the lyrics pretty well. The highlight for me is “Hello Brooklyn,” which emphasizes the whole Brooklyn as love interest thing, with a “Sexual Healing” sample. Way different than the banging 808 drums of the original, but I think it’s an improvement.  The whole album is available for download here.

Chief Sneed of Brooklyn’s The Braves goes a step further- he remixes the whole album with original production, gets Rob Swift to scratch over top, sells it on cassette, and donates proceeds to the Red Cross. Some of the tracks admittedly sound pre-made and don’t fit the lyrics well, but others definitely outshine the originals. “Ignorant Shit” and “Say Hello” for sure. You can buy or download the album at NativeAmericanGangster.com.

 EDIT: While I’m at it, The Fader just linked to a great remix of “Roc Boys” with a Fela Kuti beat. So good.

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