SA-RA FRESHclusive:
Shafiq Husayn EP Preview b/w
Badu “Master Teacher” demos w/ Bilal & Georgia
Shafiq Husayn EP Preview b/w
Badu “Master Teacher” demos w/ Bilal & Georgia
Two new exclusives for you guys today, both coming to you via the homie Shafiq Husayn of SA-RA Creative Partners. First up, we have a special full-side preview of his brand new instrumental EP, Shafiq presents… Jank Random vs. Earl Leonne – The Frequency Cla$h, which is out now on Poo-Bah Records. The record marks his first solo venture – in which he takes us along for an experimental beat excursion through the minds of his alter-egos. To give you a taste of just what that journey entales – I’ve got a full streaming preview of the entire Side B of the EP. For a breakdown of the tracks, read this excerpt from the Poo-Bah press release (also, big ups to Ras_G for all his help with this):
“Side B kicks off with PSA, a bouncer with a horn line reminiscent of early 90’s hip-hop drug through dust, and Sirius B, a quick time-out to shout out the fam! I predict Earls Thing to be the next great DJ standard along with The Mag, two absolutely ridiculous minimal stunners that hit all the right pleasure spots in your brain. While Earls features an off then on descending synth bassline and those groovy 70’s drum machine sounds we love, The Mag is straight up vinyl samples and strings smashed into machine funk, crackles and all! Push brings things back up to Bomb Squad-like intensity before closing things out with the fuzz acid guitar down a flight of stairs funk of Still Woke.”
“Still Woke” brings us to our next piece – the world premiere of three alternate versions of one of my favorite songs of the year, Erykah Badu’s “Master Teacher” (which Shafiq produced). Whereas the version that we’ve all come to know & love from the New Amerykah album, featured Georgia Anne Muldrow singing the lead verse & Badu on the second – the song wasn’t always that way. First, there’s the original version of the song, which Shafiq had co-produced with Georgia for SA-RA’s G.O.O.D. Music debut, Black Fuzz, which actually featured Bilal singing the lead vocals (who you can still hearing in the background of the Badu version), and Georgia on backing vox. I love what both Erykah & Georgia did over this – but I gotta say, Bilal really KILLED this shit, in my opinion (also – credit due to Ty&Kory, who I believe sing background on all of these versions – but don’t quote me on that). I’ve had this one since about 2006 (bigs up to my G.O.O.D. hook-up for that) and to my knowledge, this has never leaked – so I had to hit up Shafiq and make sure it was cool to unearth this lost gem. And not only did he give the OK, but he also gave some insight on how to came it be on Badu’s album and provided two additional unreleased versions.
So the story goes – after the deal for Black Fuzz fell through, Shafiq explains “Erykah always liked the song…I was like you should use it…(our deal at that time with GOOD was done) so it was just one of those records sitting around…Why not let Badu rock it? It made sense.” And so to go along with the album version (which you should already have), I’ve got Shafiq’s unissued “Final Mix” of the track, which features Georgia on lead & Bilal backing her up. This is the mix that Shafiq intended to be appear on the album, but it didn’t make it in time for the deadline. And if those two weren’t enough for ya, there’s the included bonus, “Master Teazer (Ken’s Revenge Edit)” – an instrumental re-edit of Shafiq’s beat, using different outtakes from the sessions by SA-RA affiliate, KenBts.
Stream of the the B-Side of Jank Random vs. Earl Leonne EP below, with the “Master Teacher” Sessions download .zip at the bottom, plus a bonus video of Badu talking about working with Shafiq & SA-RA after the jump. I’ll also have one more exclusive SA-RA joint for you guys at the end of the week as part of the first-ever FRESH SELECTS MIXTAPE. Stay woke!!
Shafiq presents.. Jank Random vs. Earl Leonne – The Frequency Cla$h: Side B
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i dnt care just keep em coming!! 2
d 3
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