Gang Starr -25th Anniversary Mixtape Tribute to Hard To Earn

[djfilthyrich]

Got the co-sign from Preemo too!



'Hard To Earn' is near & dear to me, so I had to get back in the lab and record this 25-year tribute to this legendary album.
On this mix you'll find:

-Blends
-OG Samples
-Rarities
-B-Sides
-Hits
-Album Cuts

STREAMING LINK
https://soundcloud.com/djfilthyrich/har ... ry-tribute" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


DOWNLOADS:
For anyone looking to support their friendly neighbourhood DJ (I spent almost a week planning/brainstorming/recording/fine-tuning this mix), I'm selling CDQ downloads of this mix, with the tracks split up so you can skip/rewind. Audio quality is much higher (the stream was only encoded at 112 kbps), plus it comes with bonus tracks I never released to the public. If you're interested, just DM me, or email me at promoguy1 [at] gmail [dot] com


TRACKLIST

DWYCK (ft. Nice & Smooth) [Filthy blend]
Comin’ for Datazz [Filthy blend]
Mass Appeal (ft Quran, Lord Finesse) [Filthy blend]
Brainstorm
Now You’re Mine (Chumps Get Beatdown) [Filthy blend]
Code of the Streets [Filthy blend]
Speak Ya Clout (ft Jeru, Melachi the Nutcracker, Lil Dap) [ReFix]
Blowin’ up the Spot
Tonz o Gunz (ft Lil Vicious) [Filthy ReFix]
The Question Remainz
Borough Check (w/ Digable Planets)
F.A.L.A. (ft Big Shug)
Suckas Need Bodyguards
Alongwaytogo
Mostly Tha Voice
Doe In Advance (OG Unreleased version)
Serious Rap Shit (w/ Group Home)
The Planet

Feel free to hit me with any feedback below....

[Kool Max Power]

once again, it's a decent mix that does justice to the album it pays homage to. your blends are cool but I'm not a fan of adding verses from rappers not connected to the artist (digable planets, quran...) during the specific timeframe of that recording.

by the way, I always thought "hard to earn" is the most overrated gang starr album of the 90s. After 2 perfect albums, this was the first g.s. longplayer I couldn't listen to from beginning to end. "speak ya clout" is dope but I could live without the fuckin nutcracker interlude (wasted beat) and the big shug feature, plus I was really diappointed when I noticed they included 2 tracks that already have been released in 2 years before. Seems like premo was too busy to record with other artists in '93/'94...

[djfilthyrich]

once again, it's a decent mix that does justice to the album it pays homage to. your blends are cool but I'm not a fan of adding verses from rappers not connected to the artist (digable planets, quran...) during the specific timeframe of that recording.

by the way, I always thought "hard to earn" is the most overrated gang starr album of the 90s. After 2 perfect albums, this was the first g.s. longplayer I couldn't listen to from beginning to end. "speak ya clout" is dope but I could live without the fuckin nutcracker interlude (wasted beat) and the big shug feature, plus I was really diappointed when I noticed they included 2 tracks that already have been released in 2 years before. Seems like premo was too busy to record with other artists in '93/'94...

Whatup Max....thanks for taking the time to leave feedback....I appreciate it. It's always helpful to hear other people's points of view

The 2 examples you mentioned of verses weren't really added by me though. Guru actually was on the song with Digable Planets which was released in 94, the same year as Hard To Earn, and the Quran verse was actually on that Pass Da Mic song, which I used to show where Preemo sampled the Mass Appeal hook from (think of it as another OG sample transition, like what I did with DWYCK, or Code Of The Streets, or Question Remainz etc).

As for Hard To Earn being overrated, I have to disagree. It seems that there are 2 groups of GS fans...the ones who preferred their early jazzy sound, and the ones who prefer the harder sound that came after with H2E and Moment Of Truth. I'm one of the ones who fall in the 2nd category, and I actually think H2E is their best album (by a hair over Moment Of Truth). H2E was a departure from their previous sound, and was a lot more raw/hard. (I learned that it's actually Preemo's favorite album too ....you can find the interview soundbite on my mixtape).
Although I agree with you that Big Shug isn't the most lyrical cat, they had to include him since it was actually him & Guru that founded founded the group while in college, before Preemo came into the picture....you can also find that soundbite of Preemo sayin that on my mix right before F.A.L.A.).
Preemo also explains why they included DWYCK on the album, even though it was older (you can find that soundbite right at the very start of my mix). They originally just wanted it to be a b-side, then decided they wanted GS fans to be able to buy it on an album since it became a big hit, so they had asked their label to include it on Daily Operation....the label didn't do it on time, so it ended up on H2E instead...

[HeRBaN LyRiX]

Solid work homie, just as I expected to hear from ya tho! Really dug how ya showed where the samples came from, like that Mass Appeal transition for example. Had always wondered where that sample was from, extra gold stars for that. Can`t front, I`m not a huge Gangstarr fan but "Hard To Earn" was the their first album that I had heard & it`s still my favorite Gangstarr album to this day. It`s not a perfect album, but DoPe nonetheless. Anyways, good job on this one - salute...










1

[djfilthyrich]

Solid work homie, just as I expected to hear from ya tho! Really dug how ya showed where the samples came from, like that Mass Appeal transition for example. Had always wondered where that sample was from, extra gold stars for that. Can`t front, I`m not a huge Gangstarr fan but "Hard To Earn" was the their first album that I had heard & it`s still my favorite Gangstarr album to this day. It`s not a perfect album, but DoPe nonetheless. Anyways, good job on this one - salute...
1

Appreciate the feedback HL
Yeah, I had forgotten all about that Mass Appeal sample, then remembered it when I was puttin together that mix.