when i was in the 10th grade, my cousin gave me his set of old turntables...geminis with needles so worn out that he had taped nickels on top in order to weight them down. i was given two records; the roots' "you got me," and a techno record. despite the fact that rave culture was vibrant in '99, i never was able to create a mallrat version of that roots song (probably a good thing). my stupid ass also got discouraged and figured, "man, i'm too old to learn to dj. the time's over for me."

i've always wished that i could dj, and i'll probably kick myself for not learning how to at least blend, seeing that my roommate is one of the freshed djs in the bay. but hay hay...here are the joints that have come out lately that i've been pumping all day err day for the past couple of weeks. the fact that i've made them all downloadable is horrible karma, and will probably be manifested in my debut album getting leaked on the internet, and then no one downloading it even though it's free.

so here it is...brand spankin new music to keep you bumping for the weekend...i tried to stay under 80 minutes (so you could fit it all in one cd). but oh well.



d'angelo - really love: oOOoooOOoohhh sexual chocolate! d'angelo is bizzzackk in the building! yeah, i know there was all this commotion over d apparently filling up on too much devil's pie. i personally don't have a problem with his weight gain...not that i had anything against his body when he was slim, but for real, i don't know why people found it attractive when his legs looked like you could pop them off like a ken doll



ugk & outkast - international player's anthem: now given that this song is a bit misogynistic, i must admit, UGK has matured over the past few years, and compared to their verses on jay-z's "big pimpin," this song makes them sound like ani difranco with a southern drawl. PLUS outkast is on the song?? the south can pretty much just not put out music for the rest of the summer. but then again, can we really go the whole next few months without seeing chamillionaire's beautiful face?





björk - innocence: produced by timbaland! yeah, i posted this one a few days back, but this is for all the folks *ahem chinaka hodge* who are all like "björk's not gangsta." you know how she's gangsta?? because she has you pronouncing her name björk and not bjork. she has you accepting the fact that the letter "b" and "j" next to each other make a "y" sound. i bet eazy-e couldn't convince you to spell his name "eazbj-e."



mark ronson f/ amy winehouse - valerie: cover of the zutons song. i hate mark ronson for quickly becoming my favorite producer. but i must say, i'm quite ecstatic that amy winehouse is finally blowing up...that first album was on rotation in my car for a cool three years and i was getting pretty itchy for some new joints from her. i remember when you couldn't find her in any record store in america, and then all of a sudden "back to black" drops and it's at the checkout line in wholefoods. speaking of wholefoods, she's definitely skinnied up since coming to the states though. hopefully she can pass her secrets on to d'angelo, and then fill up on fish n' chips when she hops back across the pond (there was nothing racist or problematic at all about that last sentence).



lily allen - smile (mark ronson revisit) & smile (mark ronson revisit revisted): yikes...i couldn't decide which version to give you...just download both. more brit goodness, i have to give it up to justin timberlake and lily allen for making pop cool again. i felt pretty closeted back in the day, like i could only poplock to "bye bye bye" alone in my room. luckily, you now have two versions of the exact same song, so you can poplock in two different tempos.

oh yeah, this is the song on my virginia video that everyone was asking about!



sunny jim - can't stop movin': yeeeuh, if you liked that saucy video i posted a couple of days ago! for this mix i challenged myself to leave out the people who i obsessively put in all of my mixes regardless of the mood they're supposed to have: stevie wonder, jay-z, and michael jackson. samples don't count, especially if they're of jacko pre-bubbles.



justice - d.a.n.c.e. (paste black remix): just found this one recently, it's like the song above except on acid. if it doesn't get your ass a-shakin, you should probably consult your local priest because it means you have no sooooooooouuuuuuuulllllllll! ok, that was kind of harsh. and back to the whole michael jackson thing, the reference to p.y.t.'s doesn't count.



kanye west - stronger: back in '04 i spent the summer in chicago. now this was the year that kanye was blowing up, and it was quite impossible to turn on the radio, on any station, without hearing him. hip-hop station, he was there. rock station, he was there. public radio, he was there...and since he talks like he raps, i would be bobbing my head for a good five minutes before realizing that it was just an interview. this is the song that has me STOKED for his album...and you know that's exciting, because when's the last time you heard an asian guy use the word STOKED?



dizzee rascal f/ lily allen - wanna be: i must warn you, this song is SERIOUSLY british. BRI-ISH. but don't let the thick cockney accents fool you--this song is in no way related to the other british wannabe song, by these people. this song is pretty hard though, complete with words that may sound nice and fuzzy to you amerikains, but are guaranteed to get you a shiner over in the UK. try acting hardcore while calling someone a "wooley."



lauryn hill - lose myself: whaaaaaaaattttt??? but driz, you already brought back d'angelo!! l-boogie too??? admittedly, i've been a bit disappointed in most of lauryn's new music lately. back in the "blunted on reality" days, i definitely never would've foreseen her on the "surf's up" soundtrack. c'mon ms. hill! how are you gonna go from refugee camp to penguin movie?? i don't know if she's expecting to get an oscar nomination with "lose myself" just because eminem got one for "lose yourself." i guess if i made people clear the entire backstage every time i traveled from my dressing room to the stage, i'd question if i've lost myself too. all good though. give this song a chance. i kinda looked at it cockeyed when i first heard it, but once you stop imagining pras with glowsticks, it'll grow on you.



unk f/ outkast & jim jones - walk it out remix: hmmmm...first outkast is working with U-G-K and now U-N-K...do we see a pattern here?? i guess i'm not the only one that's infatuated with the U-K up in this piece. i think we all know what's next...perhaps a collaboration with U-R-K-el??



i know "walk it out" has been out forever...but nico recently showed me this version, which has big boi so it's NEW TO ME.



jill scott - hate on me: the truth is, this song was probably written for me, because i was hating on jill scott for a long time. i just didn't see the point of singing about waking up in the morning and making grits. it's probably just culture clash though. if she was talking about waking up in the morning and making rice and chinese sausages, i'd be all up in the front row like "mmm-hmmm gurrrrrl." lately though, i've been really loving her features, and this song is ridiculously hot. i don't know what it is about it...maybe because it sounds...GRITtier...



native guns f/ ise lyfe & do-dat - gangsters & guerrillas: ohhhhhh how i miss the guns. the secret is, they actually split up because when they went on tour with ill-lit i got kiwi to agree to grow an emo comb-over one day, and bambu wasn't down with it. "that's not street, that's not gutta!" he would say, and kiwi almost gave in until we walked by a fall out boy poster, where kiwi stopped, placed his palm on paper, and said, "this. is. me." in any case, this song is so hot i don't know what to do with myself. own it. love it like your kin.



arctic monkeys - fluorescent adolescent: i have this standing obligation to give a listen to any song where the title already rhymes with itself. and anytime a group of white people voluntarily call themselves monkeys, it's a nice change of pace. arctic monkeys is badass though. they make me wanna break something...like...like the CHAINS OF OPPRESSION. and the system.



yeah yeah yeahs - sealings: yeah yeah yeahs is just the right amount of off the wall for me. not quite bite-the-head-off-doves crazy like ozzy, but also far better live than a knocked up britney spears. it's sad that it seems that ashlee simpson's lip syncing was seen as a bigger scandal than britney's. you know, there was a time when we all thought ms. spears was going to be the one to bridge middle american trashlife with the rest of the country. i guess we were wrong. oh yeah, this is supposed to be about yeah yeah yeahs. best. band. with. half. korean. lead. singer. ever.



mark ronson f/ lily allen - oh my god: ok, i promise this is my last lily allen song. but it's confirmed, i'm totally a fan. if i ever saw her in person i'd probably giggle like a little british schoolgirl (which might work towards my advantage, because then we'd be twins!). for real though. when the horns come in, you'll know why. oh my god, you'll believe it.



common - the people: only common and my little pony would ever get away with naming their album "finding forever." but despite the title, the songs i've heard from it are hotter than vegan porridge (and that's hot).



rihanna f/ lil mama - umbrella remix: so this is my compromise for not putting the "lipgloss" song. you know, and i know, that i wanted to put it on there. in fact, eff all the other songs. if it was up to me, i'd just post 23 links to lipgloss. but that would be irrational, and probably would draw a much more ugs-adorned following than what i'm shooting for. so i'll lower it one notch on the teeniebopper scale.



erykah badu & madlib - real thing: no, this isn't the coke jingle. but cotdammit if it was, well gosh darn, you could slap me silly and call me cokehead because this song is more poppin than lil mama's lipgloss (you see how it all connects?? eh? eh?)! i love that this one sounds live yet studio, new yet retro, basically badu the way i love her. it's been about time anyway, right?

ps: to those of you going to my santa clara show on sunday, you'd better LOVE me, i'm missing erykah at the fillmore live for you!!!1!!



zion i - don't lose your head: it was just four years ago that zion i was performing at davis and i was one of literally three audience members. my things have changed since then! don't let the hyphy-ish beat and title fool you...this song isn't what you think it's about, you sick-minded bastard you.



sa-ra - hey love: this song is extremely smoove, and you might be tempted to play this dim-lit, possibly on a first date...very good for making out in slow motion, if you're into that stuff. but this is only very very smoove if you're not paying attention to the lyrics. make sure that you play this either at the point where said datemate is already very comfortable with you, or in the middle of a conversation where you're sure there aren't going to be any moments of silence, especially during the part at 1:39 that goes "oooh oooh you bring out the powerful erectionnnnnn..." that could be awkward.



feist - i feel it all: this is like...stop in the middle of the road a pick a daisy music (or come home drunk and cry yourself to sleep music, depending on what time during the day you play it). in any case, feist's voice is hotfreshsaucycool. and if you ever get caught in an aZn drag-racer situation, in which a car pulls up next to you at a light, rolls down the window and start bumping annoying ying-yang twins all loud, there's no better way to throw them off than by answering it with skinny blond canadian emo.



the isley brothers f/ mos def - groove with you: this is ruby's favorite song of the moment, and for good reason...mos has learned to bllllllllllow! for me personally, mos is my 2nd favorite singer to imitate (next to el debarge, of course). just hold your nose and try to make the voice you would have if you swallowed helium. good to go.



dahlak f/ paul wynn - rainbow on my ceiling: i don't know if i'm supposed to admit stuff like this, but this is probably my favorite song on the album. and no, i'm not putting this on the list just because he's part of my group, and no, this isn't a cheap plug complete with a link to the ill-literacy store to buy his album. and no, i don't get rainbows on my ceiling. i do get the random crackhead on my roof though.



welp, that just about wraps it all up. if this weekend ends up being ridiculously fun (or at least boring but with ridiculously good music), you know who hooked you up. hollerrrrr back!