If you’ve been to a Jesse Dangerously live show in the last three years, odds are good that you’ve heard a version of this song featuring only his guest verse over ginzu’s beat. The secret truth though is that ginzu originally made “Have Nots” as a solo joint for one of the many albums that have, over the years, fallen prey to his rampaging perfectionism.

Switching out of the third person (this is Jesse), every so often I persuade ginzu to furnish me with a whack of his active and/or abandoned works in progress just so that my ears can cry and beg me to try harder to be that good. One such a whack included the embryonic and long-abandoned skeleton of “Have Not” (you know it’s ginzu when there are embryonic skeletons afoot; literal or figurative) and I was so taken by the clever conceit of the lyric and the searing menace of the beat, I wrote about sixty-four thousand bars on the spot and phoned up ginzu to inform him that I’d be coming over shortly so he could record me on the track.

To my surprise and relief, he acquiesced without protest. Then the track sat on shelves and mouldered for ages… like a fine cheese. I don’t know if it will ever come out in a “real” format, but in any event I can’t stand to see you looking so sad without a powerful rap all over your face so please just take this one and start grimacing hard at suckers.

Left click the title to listen, right click to download:
ginzuintriplicate – Have Not featuring Jesse Dangerously

Supplementary: if any giant nerds or self-styled “otaku” are reading this blog, please be made aware that ginzu lives in Osaka, Japan in an apartment overlooking Capcom world headquarters. Jealous? Yes, you are.

Don’t worry, the track of the week is still coming live to you any minute now and this is not a substitute, but maybe you would like to listen to the short Jesse Dangerously feature that Algonquin College‘s CKDJ 107.9 in Ottawa aired in November ’08?

I knew you would!

Click these words to listen!

It’s like four minutes of interview and then Timbuktu’s remix of “Celebrity Nudes” from Verba Volant.

For this week’s (okay, last week’s – this is the internet) offering, I have for you an unreleased gem from Toolshed. It’s called Cult Classic Hits (left-click the song name to listen, right-click to download) and it’s produced by Timbuktu, who also rhymes on it along with Choke. Psybo’s voice is absent from this number, which means that a few years ago we would have said it was by Sequestrians (which is what Timbuktu and Choke temporarily went by during his previous absence), but don’t worry – he’ll be turning up soon, and with a vengeance.

For now, check this smooth and slamming paean to underground origins.

On another note… this Saturday night, I had the pleasure of seeing Timbuktu, Ghettosocks and Fresh Kils share the stage with one of your all-time true school legends, El Da Sensei (late of New Jersey’s The Artifacts). Despite a few running time issues and a competing show by The Clipse across town, the show went off like a dream. Watching my friends tear a stage up under the approving stewardship of one of the architects of the way we do things to this day? It’s my biggest vicarious thrill of 2009… so far.

And although I wasn’t a performer that night, did I get a chance at the end of the night to elicit props from the god with my secret light speed flows? Let’s just say the answer isn’t “no.”

Ginzu3 at Zerro
Saturday January 24th, 11pm till whenever
Zerro’s resident turntablist Ginzu3, of Canada’s Backburner crew, spins a mix of new and classic hiphop all night. Come down and vibe out to well-known favorites, obscure surprises, and some exclusive Canada-only releases that you can’t hear anywhere else in Japan.
No cover. Drink specials TBA.

Check out the Bar Zerro Myspace for venue info.

Sometimes I suspect that I am the last person on the internet who doesn’t sell (or buy) beats. Seriously – Wil Wheaton’s Soundclick page went live just last weekend, and he’s letting bangers go for twenty bucks a pop. The Tron guy has MySpace on lock. And me? I just don’t sell (or buy) beats.

However, I do like it when people listen to my beats and tell me “hey that’s phat” or “damn son shit is amazing” or “did you mix this in the shower!? it sounds AWFUL.”

To that end: myspace.com/jessedbeats.

I have “new heat” up to listen to, but keep your wallets in your pockets. Tell your friend!

This is the part where I make a promise to you: from now on, for at least the duration of 2009 or 52 weeks (whichever is more) and maybe longer, we at Backburner are going to be giving you a free, unreleased MP3 from some member of our crew every Friday. There’s going to be a lot more other good, free stuff available from this site at various times throughout the year such as free mixtapes, podcasts, contests and what-have-you, but through it all will be a regular current of single songs that are completely free for you to download.

They may be solo tracks, posse cuts, unusual collaborations, remixes, who knows what else? I’ll tell you one thing for damn sure though: they’re for YOU.

So starting you off, here’s the AM remix of More or Les’ “Shooting People and Disrespecting Women,” bringing new life to the original as heard on his 2006 album, The Truth About Rap. (left-click the song name to listen, right-click to download)

In November of 2008, a young gentleman named Jeff Ngan filmed a house concert by Montreal artists Krista Muir and Shane Watt and just the other day, he posted a few gems from the performance up on his blog, equivocality.com.

It so happens that your friend and correspondent Jesse Dangerously was in the cozy little living-room audience that night, which wouldn’t be news except for this: when Mr. Watt prompted the crowd for requests, someone asked to hear “Girls” by the Beastie Boys. I don’t know what happened next (although Mr. Ngan’s video provides some evidence that a certain person’s girlfriend may have been the culprit) but all of a sudden the word is out that I’m a rapper and would I like to help Shane out with this little number please?

And so, with the help of a quick Google for the lyric sheet, I did!

For more information about what’s up with Jesse Dangerously lately, follow the link to my own blog on the right hand column of this page!

 
How can you not love an MC who raps about food? When Montreal-by-way-of-Toronto rapper/producer/DJ isn’t dropping rhymes about brunch, the triple-threat is busy mining the best of old-skool hip-hop to make it sound fresh for the ’00s (those of you who like fellow Canadian MC Shad should also check out Les).

Despite having toiled his way through the hip-hop scene over the past decade (aside from his own music, Les has done engineering and production work for other artists, including Ali Shaheed Muhammed and the Wordburglar), he’s largely remained underground, though his two albums, I Only Stop For the Red Ants (2003) and The Truth About Rap (2006) were both critically lauded, and he’s toured right across Canada, landing prominent spots at Pop Montreal, Halifax Pop Explosion, even the Vans Warped Tour.

His profile was raised this past year when he guested on UK downtempo ensemble The Herbaliser’s Same As It Never Was album, appearing with the group during several Canadian and European tourdates. On tap for ’09 is the Les-Kils EP, a six-song collaboration with Toronto producer Fresh Kils (who engineered and produced tracks on Truth) that’s intended to play out like a live show – the duo arranged the tracks with an eye towards performing them, with Les rapping over Kils’ MPC drum machine and sampler. It’s an energetic mix (that also features the considerable skills of Halifax DJ Uncle Fester) that should hopefully bring Les’ easy-going yet always enjoyable take on hip-hop to the masses.