Respect Authority

Be Shareful highlights a band/musician/hip hop superstar number one in the game/whatever and offers free downloads of some of their music. The MP3s will be available for one week so get them before the RIAA gets me.

Despite the explosion of mashups available on the Internet and the insatiable consumption of tracks by mash monsters like Girl Talk, there was a hole in the genre that no amount of “Umbrella” samples could fill. R. Kelly may be a flirt, but when would he flirt with bearded indie rock supergroup Broken Social Scene? And how would Lil’ Wayne sound blazing over Modest Mouse? Would Dre ever consider collaborating with synthy sound technicians Fujiya and Miyagi? Well, probably not, but that’s why there’s The Hood Internet.

The Hood Internet

DJs STV SLV and ABX are a fearsome duo, and as unlikely as a couple of dorky white dudes having such a command over booty rocking beats may be, the rap-indie hybrids they produce are perhaps even more so. But considering the extreme oversaturation of popular samples as of late, unlikely is as disarming as a pregnancy scare but, like, way more enjoyable than that.

The Hood Internet are based in Chicago and have become small internet phenomenons. While not yet attracting the swarms of crazed hipsters that acts like Girl Talk or Diplo draw, it’s surely only a matter of time considering their music provides some hope for a largely soulless genre. They’ve managed to reintroduce the kind of magic listening to “Pop, Lock and Drop It” seventy more times never could — their mashups are surprising, original and most importantly, transformative. Their unpredictable blends are inventive and yet surprisingly simple. It comes down to good taste and good ears; they pick songs that work fantastically well with each other and haven’t become aural gonorrhea yet due to overplay.

The pair is seemingly full of surprises, as if their music wasn’t unpredictable enough as it is, as they are constantly producing new content. They’ve released several long full-length mixtapes and are always pumping out a steady stream of new tracks on their blog, www.thehoodinternet.com. Bookmark their site, and if you’re anything like me, you won’t be bored of all your music again for a solid… week and a half or so.

Picking only a select few songs was the only hard part about listening to these guys. If you like what you hear, you can get all of their music for mother fucking free on their website, making my role here, more or less, completely irrelevant. So yeah, you’re welcome, or something… bitches.

Downloads

This Is How We Go (Montell Jordan vs. The Arcade Fire) | Download
This one may seem risky, considering Montell Jordan’s “This Is How We Do It” isn’t exactly not lame, but with Arcade Fire’s epic “No Cars Go” winding throughout Monty’s assertion that he is, in fact, kinda buzzed, and it’s all because (this is how we do it), the song is reborn as an urgent, darker look at Montell’s typical Friday night in the hood.

Smash That There (Yung Berg vs. The Smashing Pumpkins) | Download
This is originally a track from The Hood Internet vs. Chicago mixtape, an ambitious undertaking where the DJs used only songs by artists who are or at one point were Chicago-based. “Smash That There” is a menacing electro groove that slowly builds into something great, and by the time those famous intro bars from The Smashing Pumpkins’ “Today Is The Greatest” break, it’s a melodic cacophony like somebody brought a nine millimeter to Lollapalooza, which may sound a little unappealing, but somehow it’s actually a good thing.

Fire It Up, Firemouse (Lil’ Wayne vs. Modest Mouse) | Download
Thanks to this song off the duo’s first mixtape, we can now say for certain that Lil’ Wayne’s “Fireman” and “Fire It Up” by Modest Mouse were meant to live together in the strange alternate dimension where weird shit like this is supposed to exist for the rest of all time. This mashup seriously improves on Weezy’s fairly generic track, turning it into a laid back jam that works as a perfect soundtrack to cracking a beer and firing one up for yourself.

I’m A Flirt (Shoreline) (R. Kelly vs. Broken Social Scene) | Download
Montell Jordan and R. Kelly in one post? Alright, you’ve figured me out… It’s true, I spend many of my nights alone, sniffling into my bowl of frosting and listening to heartfelt R&B. That said, this mashup is not a heartfelt R&B song. Nonetheless, it does feature R. Kelly, so you know peeing is going to be involved, but this time it’s going to be you peeing in your Osh Kosh B’Gosh overalls when you hear how fucking cool this song sounds. It’s upbeat, energetic, and hey, what do you know — it’s… the… re… mix!