OK, so we went a little off-calendar with this one due to SXSW, but we’re making up for it by going big! As the best damn party in the East Bay relocates to the brand-new Legionnaire Saloon (2272 Telegraph Ave. in Oakland, corner of Telegraph and Grand), we’re bringing a lot of our friends to the kick-off party. Besides your residents, DJ Platurn, E Da Boss, and DJ Enki, we’ve got Mr. E, Proof, Rascue, J-Boogie, and Centipede putting it down. So don’t miss out.

Programming note: Yes, this is the 4th Friday of the month, but after this installment, the 45 Sessions goes back to happening on the 3rd Friday of the month. Got it? Good. See you there!

This is major, y’all. M’man Z-Trip is finally coming to do a show in Oakland! And the homies Platurn, Goldenchyld, and Saurus–along with yours truly–are doing the warm-up. Gonna be a fantastic show. Don’t miss out! Get your tickets here.

Large Professor is one of the greatest producers in all of hip-hop history, and he’s one of my biggest musical influences by far. This mix is my tribute to his catalog, from his debut single to his most recent one, plus original samples and all-Extra P blends (Large Pro verses over different Large Pro-produced tracks). I figure cuts like “Live at the BBQ,” “Looking at the Front Door,” “Fakin’ the Funk,” and the tracks he did for Illmatic are pretty well-covered territory, so I decided I’d shine the spotlight on some of his lesser-known work here. The Professor definitely schools people with his music; this is my take on his curriculum vitae.

UPDATE:I’ve also posted this mix up on Mixcrate, so you can go there to stream it or download it as well. And if you’d like to have it split up into tracks like a CD, drop me a line, and I will send you the MP3s.

Oh yeah, we’re closing out the year with a big one. Ladies and gentlemen, we’d like to introduce to you the man behind a boatload of hit records from Jay-Z to Kendrick Lamar: DJ Just Blaze! We’re throwing a special edition of the 45 Sessions to let Just get busy and flex his crazy record collection. And this show is for ages 18 and up, so feel free to bring your little cousin and his crew to witness the fitness.

Friday, December 7

The New Parish (579 18th Street at San Pablo, Oakland)
9pm-2am
JUST BLAZE
Shortkut
DJ Platurn
E Da Boss
DJ Enki

Opening set by DJ Saurus

Hosted by Jern Eye and Fran Boogie

Spinning all 45s all night.

Discounted presale tickets are available now from The New Parish.

But don’t let the rampant beat-jacking make you think X-Clan suddenly forgot how to make beats. The first single off the album, “Fire & Earth (100% Natural)” showed real production skills, and the lead-off song on the album, “Cosmic Ark,” is an underappreciated bit of production work that shows real sampling creativity.

The first bit of music you hear in the beat is the haunting horns from Average White Band’s “Would You Stay.” Those horns will come in and out of the beat over the course of the song, but they’re at their strongest here, setting the stage for the track. And as Brother J goes into his first verse, the full beat kicks in, propelled by a clever chop of Gwen McCrae’s “Funky Sensation.”

The McCrae is somewhat low in the mix, but really, it’s the backbone of the whole track. The drums are a half-bar chop of a simple kick-snare pattern with an extra snare hitting right before the kick, but the real creativity is in using McCrae’s vocals—she chants a syncopated “yeah” after every other beat, culminating in a “are you feeling this funk?”-style “uh-uh!” every other bar. The effect is Gwen McCrae in the background, egging on Brother J’s vocals, then adding her assent to his punchlines, like she’s right there in the booth with him, feeling what he’s saying.

The combined drums and vocals of “Funky Sensation” also provide the template for the drums, a snip of Sly Stone’s infamous “Sing a Simple Song” drums. The drum pattern is very choppy—particularly the use (or non-use) of the hi-hat following the snare—in a way that suggests a happy accident in drum programming like the one that gave “Top Billin’” its signature stutter. But the way the skipping drum pattern locks in with the Gwen McRae track, in particular the double snare that hits with the “uh-uh!” vocals is a little too perfect to be an accident. It’s a fully intentional rhythm, one that’s a bit out of the norm for hip-hop patterns, but still very precise and very funky.

I remember years ago trying to do a record with Brother J (sadly, it never panned out), and while we were discussing beats, he was adamant that they have a “skip” to them. “Cosmic Ark” is exactly what he was talking out.

Here’s the track listing:

Earth, Wind & Fire – “Moment of Truth”
The Joe Tex Band – “Chocolate Cherry”
Bobby Byrd – “Keep Doing What You’re Doing”
Edwin Starr – “Adios Senorita”
The Fatback Band – “Put the Funk on You”
Finished Touch – “Mighty Good Friends”
The Nite-Liters – “Down and Dirty”
Herbie Hancock – “Fat Mama”
Doris – “Don’t”
Honey Cone – “Stick Up”
Rosetta Hightower – “A Little More Line”
Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell – “Little Ole Boy, Little Ole Girl”

I gave A Taste of Honey’s classic groove a quick touchup–rearrangement, more drums, more bump. Check it out.