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The Beat Generation: 10th Anniversary Collection [Digipak]

DJ Spinna/Mr. Thing
2 discs

0. DISC 1: COMPILED & MIXED BY DJ SPINNA:
1. Stop
2. Nothin' Lesser [Jamie's Mix] - (remix)
3. What It Do - (featuring Talib Kweli)
4. Big Faces
5. My Peoples
6. Pete's Jazz
7. African Rhythms
8. What Ruling Means - (featuring Grap Luva/Kevin Brown)
9. Drive - (featuring Shadowman)
10. Go! - (featuring Guilty Simpson)
11. Are You Ready? - (featuring Slum Village)
12. Lay Me Down - (featuring Terry Dexter)
13. Rock wit U
14. Surely
15. Give It to Y'all - (featuring Roc Marciano)
16. Beej-N-Dem, Pt. 2
17. Blow the Horns on 'Em - (featuring Guilty Simpson)
18. Live Ova Beats
19. We Live in Philly - (featuring Jill Scott)
20. All Up in It - (featuring Eric Krasno/Neal Evans)
21. Charmed Life, A - (featuring J-Live)
22. Money - (featuring Huck Fynn/Huck Flynn/Oezlem/The Horndogs)
23. Hummin' - (featuring Edwin Birdsong/Roy Ayers)
24. Rico Suave Bossa Nova
25. Spaces - (featuring Quasimoto)
26. Lost Change in D Minor
27. Transcend - (featuring Bahamadia)
28. Idols - (featuring Vinia Mojica)
29. No Stoppin' - (featuring Gene McFadden/John Whitehead/Black Thought)
30. Love Is Sold - (featuring Abdul Shylon)
31. Big Booty Express
0. DISC 2: COMPILED & MIXED BY MR THING:
1. Stop
2. Nothin' Lesser
3. What Ruling Means - (featuring Grap Luva/Kevin Brown)
4. Are You Ready? - (featuring Slum Village)
5. Galactic Soul
6. Lay Me Down - (featuring Terry Dexter)
7. Rock wit U
8. Pete's Jazz
9. African Rhythms
10. Beej-N-Dem, Pt. 2
11. Blow the Horns on 'Em - (featuring Guilty Simpson)
12. Give It to Y'all - (featuring Roc Marciano)
13. To My Advantage
14. Spaces - (featuring Quasimoto)
15. All Up in It - (featuring Eric Krasno/Neal Evans)
16. Live Ova Beats
17. Money - (featuring Huck Fynn/Oezlem/The Horndogs)
18. Rico Suave Bossa Nova
19. Transcend - (featuring Bahamadia)
20. Cobbs Creek [Great Skate Remix] - (remix, featuring De La Soul)
21. Lost Change in D Minor
22. No Stoppin' - (featuring Gene McFadden/John Whitehead/Black Thought)
23. Rock [Unplugged]
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Additional Info

Manufacturer Part Number (MPN): 162
Credits

Producer
Engineer
Audio Mixers: DJ Spinna; Mr. Thing.
The BBE label's Beat Generation series granted complete creative control to an impressive roster of hip-hop producers: Jay Dee (Welcome 2 Detroit, 2001), Pete Rock (PeteStrumentals, 2001), will.i.am (Lost Change, 2001), Marley Marl (Re-Entry, 2001), DJ Jazzy Jeff (The Magnificent, 2002), King Britt (Adventures in Lo-Fi, 2003), DJ Spinna (Here to There, 2003), and Madlib (WLIB AM: King of the Wigflip, 2008), as well as Philly soul string arranger Larry Gold (Don Cello and Friends, 2003). On this two-disc package, the label hands the series to Spinna and Mr. Thing, each of whom contributes a disc mixing his favorites. It treads close to overkill -- 18 tracks appear in both sets -- but does place a necessary spotlight upon an overlooked spate of releases. (BBE are known more for DJ mixes and obscurity compilations than proper artist albums, and they're too stylistically broad to be considered a hip-hop label.) With the exception of Gold's Black Thought-assisted "No Stoppin," each release gets roughly the same amount of attention. A number of minor gems and stone-cold classics are scattered throughout, and most of them are allowed to play out for the majority of their duration. There's Jazzy Jeff's gorgeous and powerful "My Peoples," featuring a young Raheem DeVaughn and traces of "Soudade Vem Correndo," the bossa nova tune sampled by Jay Dee for the Pharcyde's "Runnin'"; Jay Dee's playful "Rico Suave Bossa Nova"; Pete Rock's razor-sharp "Give It to Y'all," featuring some of the earliest appearances from Roc Marciano and Trife; Spinna's broken-beat jam "Love Is Sold," assisted by Kaidi Tatham and Mark de Clive-Lowe; and will.i.am's plush "Lay Me Down," with Terry Dexter's seductive voice processed into flutters. These mixes can be enjoyed whether or not you are familiar with the source releases. ~ Andy Kellman