Hip-Hop had it’s ups and downs in 2009. Definitely some good stuff, most notably the Blueprint 3 and Only Built for Cuban Linx 2 dropping, but also a lot of bad stuff that just pushes us further and further away from the hiphop we all know and love.

These are just a few key trends that hip-hop music needs in in 2010. If you’ve got some to add, drop them in the comments.

1. Bring back the samples – We saw a slight resurgance in the sample game in 09, but we always saw the shift towards electronic music. Not even the whole “I played this” type of stuff, but straight up Electronic the Genre – you know, DANCE music. Hip-hop in 09 kept moving towards electronic dance music. It’s cool for dance, but let’s not merge everything into one big POP genre. The solution – BRING BACK THE VINYL. It’s still the epitome of hiphop, so keep it coming.

2. Let them RAP – As has been the trend since the passing of the “BIG’s” (Big Pun, Big L, and Notorious of course) rapping has faded and replaced by half-singing r&b hip-hop vocalists. Obviously if that’s your thing, go for it, but when I’m listening to someone like Young Jeezy trying to sing, I’m hitting the skip button. If you’re a hip-hop artist, prove it. That’s what’s been lost, saying something. I’m not talking about the no-one-hears mixtapes, get that stuff out in the open. It’s been started in 09, let’s continue in 2010.

3. Bring back the grime – I’m sure I’m not alone in thinking that everything is too “soft” these days. Not even talking about content, but voice and sound. It’s a shame when Lil Wayne has the grittiest voice on the radio and that’s just because he’s so f**ked up when recording. Remember the emotion you’d hear from someone like Sticky Fingaz or even Jadakiss. His songs got zero radio play here.

What does hiphop need in your opinion? We need you to chime in.

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Dj Premier is more than a legend to us hip-hop fans, producers, and artists. If there was a movie about the “Golden Age” of Hip-Hop, Primo would definitely be doing the score. His contributions to the game can be seen with every great artist of our time. From Jay-Z’s ‘D’Evils’ and ‘So Ghetto’ to the Illmatic classics, then the Gang Starr stuff, and the list goes on and on.

One thing though, is that some of Premiers best work slipped through the cracks. Whether it was because of an outshining “commercial” single, or a lack of promotion. While the beats may have definitely peaked at a point in the early 2000’s, Premier stays relevant today as evidenced in the list below as well as with the new Ludacris – MVP track.

Even some tracks with great artists just never really got the shine they deserved. Now we change that!

NOTE: To all the hardcore Primo fans (like myself) these tracks won’t be new to you, but there may be a few gems you completely forgot about.

1. Ras Kass – Goldyn Child

2. Jaz-O – The Love is Gone

3. Royce da 5′9″ – BOOM!

4. Brand Nubian – The Return

5. CNN – Invincible

6. Rakim – Waiting for the World to End

7. Fat Joe – That White

8. All City – The Actual

9. Sauce Money – Against The Grain

10. Group Home – The Legacy

11. Craig G – Ready, Set, Begin

12. Big L – Intro (The Big Picture)

Get a copy of Dj Premier – Slept On Classics Vol 1 for your iTunes

DOWNLOAD

Look out for part 2 coming soon! Any suggestions? Drop them in the comments!

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In the market for a second hand MPC? Chances are if you’re an MPC user, or if you’re on this site, you’re always on the lookout for new gear. Check out these 10 options that you might not be aware of. The world doesn’t revolve around eBay, and chances are you’ll get a better deal at one of these sites

1. Future Producers Forum

A very large array of individual users selling/trading their gear. You’ll find a lot of the usual low-end gear, and you can also find some MPC’s pretty easily.

2. MusicGoRound

A long-time favorite where I’ve found gems for years. Picked up my Digi 001 from there about 5 years ago for $125, back when the 001 was worth more than that. Pretty much anything you could ever want they’ll have for you. If you’re looking for any of the Recession Gear pieces, you’ll find them here or you’ll find them nowhere.

3. Daddys Junky Music

Daddy’s used to be a pick-up only chain in the Northeast but a little while back they started doing mail order like every other online retailer. Thank god for that one! Now you can find amazing deals that are updated daily. They usually have a ton of MPC’s at any given time…hopefully this post doesn’t stop that.

4. UGHH Producer Board

One of the longest standing Producer communities on the web. I’ve been a member for about 10 years now (for real, since 1999) and it’s a very cool and trustworthy group. Not always a lot for sale, but if you put up a request, you can usually get it. I found my MPC-60 through UGHH and I sold my MPC-4000 through UGHH

5. Guitar Center Used Gear

So when you think Guitar Center, deal doesn’t usually pop in your head. But there are some deals to be found in their Used Gear. I once walked out with an MPC-60 and an ASR-10 for $850 from a local Guitar Center. Best bet is to call the store and make an offer.

6. Craigslist via SearchTempest.com

Craigslist is nothing new, it’s a classic medium for finding gear. If you’re selling, watch out for the lowballers! If you’re the adventurous type, try SearchTempest. You can search every craigslist site at once. You’d be amazed at what people in Kalamazoo are selling, and most people will ship if you PayPal it.

7. Kijiji

Not as popular as the classified monster craigslist, but still gets a decent amount of listings, especially if you’re in a big city. Just check it out, it can’t hurt.

8. Rogue Music

Last but not least. One of the all-time greatest music stores. I purchased so much from these guys over the years and everything was great. Can’t say enough about them. Good prices, great products. I’ll always have love for Rogue since they were where I got my SP-12 Turbo for $350 back in the day. Now they have one for $750 w a drive…oh how I wish I had $750 to pay for that right about now..

That’s it for now, get searching! And when you need any accessories or customization, be sure to visit the store!

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This is the first project of many that will be posted on here. I picked up this little monster up for just a little more than $100 here in Philly. It had some nasty problems so it became a nice project piece.

When I first bought it home it refused to even power up, but with a little disassembly and a replaced fuse, it booted right up.   Screen has a few lines and the Headphone jack is trashed, but other than it, it’s not a bad machine, now waiting for parts to finish it up.

Installing one of my custom card readers (which will be available soon) and installing and 8 output board that will need some modding since it’s from an akai S-2000 sampler. After all that I’ll be giving it a custom BEATSTATUS skin.

I’ll post some before and after pics once I get it all completed, right now it looks like this though:

Stay Tuned

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There are a lot of good resources out there for MPC Owners, here’s a quick list just to get you started

MPC-Forums: Great Helpful Community for most problems. From the most challenging, to the simplest, someone here can most likely help you out.

UGHH: Another forum that has a lot of knowledge people to help you out.

HipHopProduction.com: A Production blog that gives you a little bit of everything beat related.

FutureProducers.com: Not as Many MPC users as the others, but a really group, great for the newbie who needs help with indirect MPC stuff such as MIDI, Syncing, and stuff like that.

That’s it for now, so get involved!

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