Essential Music News: Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth to Re-Record Classic Album "Mecca & The Soul Brother" with Live Band!

Here's something fresh to ponder over the weekend....how awesome would it be if classic hip-hop duo, Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth, re-recorded their seminal album, "Mecca & The Soul Brother," with a live band? Well wonder no more because it's about to be a reality! Pete Rock recently confirmed in a new interview that this will indeed be happening!

So just think how good this jam is gonna sound with a live band!



Special Thanks: Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth for never resting on their laurels and Sunday hip-hop sessions

Om Records Releases Original Mushroom Jazz Mixtapes from DJ Mark Farina

We grew up on the game-changing hip-hop sounds from progressive acts like A Tribe Called Quest, Gang Starr and De La Soul, who paired crisp beats with classic jazz/funk samples. Gangsta rap this was not.

The beats were so good you could listen to them without the vocals and still be captivated. So in 1992, Chicago-based DJ Mark Farina took it a step further by compiling the now legendary 'Mushroom Jazz' mixtapes. What started with an initial run of 50, quickly grew to 500. These tapes became so popular that in 1997, San Francisco based OM Records began issuing them as proper mix cds and 7 incredible volumes later the demand is still ravenous as evidenced by Farina starting up his infamous 'Mushroom Jazz' nights again. 

Unless you were one of the lucky ones who got a copy of the original mixtapes, the 7 cds were all you had....until now. Much love to Mark Farina for digitizing some of these original cassettes and now making them available for FREE download via his SoundCloud page.

Some of the incredible contributors to the series have included: Pete Rock, People Under the Stairs, Andy Caldwell, MIguel Migs, King Kooba, Colossus and Mark Farina himself.

Love proper hip-hop? Funk and Jazz? Then jump on these FREE DOWNLOADS of the original 'Mushroom Jazz' mixtapes from Mark Farina HERE

Special Thanks: The SF Giants 2nd World Series title in 3 years, Photek's new album, Kendrick Lamar debates, The Punisher, The Legend that was Terry Callier, Autumn in LA, Scuba's FACT mix, Miguel Migs at King King and Yesterday's New Quintet