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Potatohead People Originals HW&W Mixtape Cover Art
Potatohead People Originals HW&W Mixtape Cover Art

Mixtape Monday: Peanut Butter Wolf x Prince Paul Double Mix, BK-One's B-Boy Mix & More!

Lenny Kravitz, Grace Jones, Lauryn Hill, Lion Babe, Thundercat, SZA & More Rock The Afropunk Festival 2015 in Brooklyn, NY.

Brush the frost of your windows and the glaze off your eyes, because Mixtape Monday has returned for yet another fresh installment. This week we've got an extra-fresh four-turntable set from Peanut Butter Wolf and Prince Paul, a little tenderness from Sashamarie, some vintage West Coast rap and Wajeed doing due reverence to the one and only J Dilla. There's plenty more beyond that, as well, so let's get going. Your week in sound starts now.

Lenny Kravitz, Grace Jones, Lauryn Hill, Lion Babe, Thundercat, SZA & More Rock The Afropunk Festival 2015 in Brooklyn, NY.

Peanut Butter Wolf's admiration for Prince Paul manifested itself in a glorious 2x2 mix, and it's been far too long since we got one of those. Here's how the Stones Throw general himself put it:

I first started listening to Paul as a Stetsasonic fan in high school, but when I heard his new group's debut single "Plug Tunin" in around '89, it really flipped my wig. And by the time the "3 Feet High & Rising" album came out, I was fully on De La's jock (and the whole Native Tongues). I looked at it as more "misfit" rap than everything else coming out back then. They took chances and I identified with their quirkiness, unorthodox song structures, and overall funky style more than anyone else in hip hop. Eventually, I met and shared the stage with Paul in '97 while touring with Cut Chemist and I continued doing shows with him from time to time or the next several years. In 2009, I came up with the idea to do a Valentine's Day show with Paul on 4 turntables in LA at the Echoplex, and we created this mixtape in the process.

Tracklist:

1. Girls

2. In Your Ear

3. Your Body

4. Rock Your Body

5. Love Doctor

6. I Wanna Lust You

7. I'm So Jealous

8. Lonely Times

9. Don't Be A Playgirl

10. You're So Precious

11. The Dream Is Real

12. Funky? Kinky?

13. Grandmaster Lover

14. I'm A Ballplayer

15. Special Lady

16. This Love Can't Be Denied, Grace

17. I'll Remember Your Name

18. Too Many Girls

19. Straight To Love

20. Morris The Cat

21. Jones For Your Body

22. Searching For Love

23. Try Me Out

24. What's Your Game?

25. I Love The Way

26. You Can Love Me Baby

27. Gentle Persuasion?

28. I'm Only Yours, Cindy

29. Don't You Stop The Rock

30. Sexy Lady

31. Hot

32. Get Paid?

33. It's Alright

34. Can You Love Me Girl?

35. So Delicious

36. A Second Chance

Lenny Kravitz, Grace Jones, Lauryn Hill, Lion Babe, Thundercat, SZA & More Rock The Afropunk Festival 2015 in Brooklyn, NY.

Consistently well-sorted in their output, Pipomixes threw it down proper for Boiler Room a little bit ago, bringing in a bit of Colombian heat to blend with some classic hip-hop breaks.

Haven't dropped a mix in almost a year. Life has its way of pulling a deejay from his tables. Bogota got beats and Boiler Room sent the ol' Pipomixes to his mother's motherland to prove it. Classic night. Future beats and seamless blends. That is; until some lil Bogota hoppers shot-up the spot (video currently being held for ransom). I made like Carlito at the pool hall with his cousin; grabbed a flash drive; downloaded the mix, and was out the backdoor. Good thing Pachanga found work with Narcos. Hopefully, he won't tell Benny I uploaded the mix. Doesn't matter anyway because the mix already hit the web. Anybody seen Gail? Shoutout to the folks at Boiler Room. Sorry about the mess. Hoppers like beats too. More than that; I guess they can't stand some standing around, phone checking, want to be on camera moth$&f@ck!rs.

Lenny Kravitz, Grace Jones, Lauryn Hill, Lion Babe, Thundercat, SZA & More Rock The Afropunk Festival 2015 in Brooklyn, NY.

Canadian beatmaker duo Potatohead People shared a mixtape of entirely new, original material with the world and HW&W last week, and with so much infectious, jazzy knocking going on we'd be sinning if we kept it to ourselves. Make sure you listen through and into that second half--the session closes out with its absolute best stuff.

Lenny Kravitz, Grace Jones, Lauryn Hill, Lion Babe, Thundercat, SZA & More Rock The Afropunk Festival 2015 in Brooklyn, NY.

It seems that Todd Simon is a musical man of many hats. The trumpeter and bandleader of Ethiocali already shared a top-flight mixtape of vinyl jazz cuts, and now he's back with more of the same goodness. Simon's new mix includes a rare Quantic 5-inch along with an exclusive 10-inch acetate pressing of Simon’s Angel City All-Star Brass Band. Also in the mix are recordings from Hailu Mergia, Hugh Masekela and Simon himself. If it's a mixtape tracklist and history lessons on the individual tracks played (including Simon's own anecdotes on how he copped these 45s), then head over to WaxPoetics.

Lenny Kravitz, Grace Jones, Lauryn Hill, Lion Babe, Thundercat, SZA & More Rock The Afropunk Festival 2015 in Brooklyn, NY.

The audio's a little murky, but the selections ring loud and clear on this new Wajeed live mix, which features a few Dilla cuts, some Baatin, a little Madlib, a dash of Benji B and, of course, Drake. What we have here is an excerpt from a recent two hour set thrown down at Benji B's Deviation club, but that might be a good thing: any more and it'd be too much to take. Also, be on the lookout for a mini-speech from Wajeed, who can't help but dig up his old emotions and memories of Dilla's tragic passing.

Lenny Kravitz, Grace Jones, Lauryn Hill, Lion Babe, Thundercat, SZA & More Rock The Afropunk Festival 2015 in Brooklyn, NY.

If it's strange and wild dance cuts that you desire (and really, who doesn't?) then the new "Insanity Clause Mix 2015" from Double Dee and Steinski will give it to you real good. Short and sweet, the mix splices in rare and off-kilter lines from action and horror films to create an atmosphere that's a little spooky, a little funky and way more hip than "The Monster Mash." We're headed toward the Halloween-theme season of mixtape creation, it seems, so consider this your advance notice and get out on the floor.

Lenny Kravitz, Grace Jones, Lauryn Hill, Lion Babe, Thundercat, SZA & More Rock The Afropunk Festival 2015 in Brooklyn, NY.

Wax Poetics' BK-One takes us deep, deep inside his mix process with this one, a deliberate and ornately-detailed set designed to get the b-boys moving out on the floor. To quote WaxPo words:

Last spring, when producer, DJ, and multi-instrumentalist BK-One was invited to lecture at the McNally Smith College of Music in St. Paul, Minnesota, he performed a showcase of his music, DJing a hip-hop set of some of his Rhymesayers productions, with rappers Brother Ali, I Self Devine, and Toki Wright joining in as guests. He also wrote and performed two original pieces with students of the brass and woodwinds department, as well as performing his song “Tema Do Canibal” from his album Rádio do Canibal.

The mix we hear below is nothing but old-school breakbeats, made with two turntables and a whole lot of prior planning. The DJ has even uploaded a piece of notebook paper that outlines how he crafted the mix, showing us exactly how much geographic thinking is required to make these sorts of seamless sets.

Lenny Kravitz, Grace Jones, Lauryn Hill, Lion Babe, Thundercat, SZA & More Rock The Afropunk Festival 2015 in Brooklyn, NY.

Coming straight out of Compton (okay, the entire Left Coast) comes this mix of 1995-era funked-up hip-hop from Abcdr du Son. Rock it like the Clintons are back in power (or just wait a year and that'll be the case once more).

Tracklist:

Brotha Lynch Hung – « Rest In Piss »

Menace Clan – « Da Hood »

Coolio – « Gangsta’s Paradise » (ft. LV)

Domino – « Tales from the Hood »

Young Lay – « All About my $Fetti »

E-40 – « Sprinkle Me »

Young Murder Squad – « How We Livin' »

DJ Battlecat – « On Top Of The World » (ft. Ras Kass)

I Smooth 7 – « Coolin’ In Da Ghetto »

Doomsday Productions – « This Is for the Hoes » (ft. Suga D)

RBX – « A.W.O.L. »

The Nonce – « Bus Stops »

C-Bo – « Birds in the Kitchen »

Funkdoobiest – « Dedicated »

Damu Ridas – « Damu Ride »

Spice 1 – « 1990-Sick (Kill ‘Em All) »

Luniz – « I Got 5 On It » (ft. Michael Marshall)

DGSB – « Hootchie Love »

Tha Dogg Pound – « New York, New York »

B.G. Knocc Out & Dresta – « 50/50 Luv »

Vell Bakardy – « Drink Wit¥ Me »

The Click – « Hurricane »

Kam – « Pull Ya Hoe Card »

WC & The Maad Circle – « West Up! »

E-A-Ski – « Blast If I Have To »

Cypress Hill – « Throw Your Hands in the Air » (ft. Erick Sermon)

Mannish – « Expect That (Bird Mix) »

Rappin’ Ron & Ant Diddley Dog – « P.H. Balance »

Souls Of Mischief – « Rock It Like That »

The D.O.C. – « Return Of Da Livin’ Dead »

Dr. Dre – « Keep Their Heads Ringin' »

Poppa LQ – « Why Hate Me »

Coz – « No Place Like Tha Hood »

Mack 10 – « Foe Life »

Mad CJ Mac – « Come And Take A Ride »

2Pac – « California Love » (ft. Dr. Dre & Roger Troutman)

Jayo Felony – « I’ma Keep Bangin' »

Too $hort – « Top Down »

Mac Vo – « Players Only »

Eazy-E – « Just Tah Let U Know »

Tha Alkaholiks – « The Next Level (Remix) »

Incidents – « West Coast (Radio Mix) »

Mr. X – « Any Ole Sunday »

Mel-Low – « B.G. Thang (Remix) »

The Pharcyde – « Runnin' »

Cold World Hustlers – « Everyday Thang »

JT The Bigga Figga – « Dwellin’ In Tha Labb »

Watts Gangstas – « Wanna B »

DJ Quik – « Safe + Sound »

Twinz – « Round & Round »

Ray Luv – « In The Game »

Underground Rebellion – « Drownin’ In A Sea Of Funk »

AMG – « Pimp Of The Century »

Murder Squad – « No Peace »

Skee-Lo – « I Wish »

C-Funk – « Lime In Ya Coconut »

Radio – « Groovin' » (ft. DarQ & Roc Chill)

The Dove Shack – « We Funk (The G Funk) »

Kausion – « What You Wanna Do »

G-Mo – « Ballin' »

Lenny Kravitz, Grace Jones, Lauryn Hill, Lion Babe, Thundercat, SZA & More Rock The Afropunk Festival 2015 in Brooklyn, NY.

Get some classical music education in your ears, you danged hip-hop degenerates!

Tracklist:

1. Heitor Villa-Lobos / Villa-Lobos Duette: Movement 1 & 2 / New York Woodwind Quintet

2. Franz Schubert / Octet in F for Strings and Winds, Op.166 / Scherzo (Allegro vivace) and Trio / Melos Ensemble

3. Scott Joplin / Treemonisha - "Aunt Dinah Has Blowed De Horn" / Original Cast conducted by Gunther Schuller

4. Henry Brant / Angels & Devils : Concerto for Flute Solo and Flute Orchestra / conducted by Henry Brant

5. Samuel Barber / Hermit Songs / "Heavenly Banquet" / performed by Samuel Barber & Leontyne Price

6. John Philip Sousa / "Sesquicentennial March" / The Goldman Band

Lenny Kravitz, Grace Jones, Lauryn Hill, Lion Babe, Thundercat, SZA & More Rock The Afropunk Festival 2015 in Brooklyn, NY.

Soulection's headmistress Sashamarie is gearing up for a European tour, and to set the mood just right (and perhaps give herself a bit of traveling music), she's dropped a mini-mix for all of us to enjoy. In fact, the set is more of a "playlist of gems that I just want to share with you right now," and isn't quite so delicately-blended and mixed as some of her other offerings, but then if this is what her rough drafts sound like, we can't wait to hear the next polished offering. This "oregano, h20, cinnamon, ginger & sweats" set is soothing in every way, like a warm cup of tea on a cold autumn afternoon.

Lenny Kravitz, Grace Jones, Lauryn Hill, Lion Babe, Thundercat, SZA & More Rock The Afropunk Festival 2015 in Brooklyn, NY.