My homie from The Scratch days, The Gooch wanted to give his take on the beat-jackin’ accusation-filled, finger-pointin’ foolery goin on between Charles Hamilton and Black Spade. The following views don’t necessarily reflect YN’s, but this is my house and I live here. The floor is Mr. Cantor’s.
There’s been much debate going on in the rap blogosphere today about whether or not Charles Hamilton beatjacked St. Louis producer/MC Black Spade for a track he claims he produced and uploaded to his Myspace player in 2007. There’s apparently a dialogue going on between all parties involved (Kenny Fresh, of Freshselects.net; Black Spade; and Charles Hamilton), obviously Spade is sticking to his story, and Charles to his.
After carefully listening to each track multiple times, it’s obvious that there are similarities and differences between them. Any time producers are working with samples, there’s the possibility that two different beatmakers can flip the same sample in similar ways. Still, it’s rare that producers will use the same types of drum sounds, the same swing on the rhythm section, same tempo, and so on. Because Spade’s version is a rough mix, you need to listen to each track with a pair of headphones, and you can very clearly hear that young Charles was working off Spade’s skeleton of a track. The whole beat is noticeably beefed up. There are some portions that sound like they have overdubbed vocals and additional layers of keys added, which Charles alluded to in his defense that he actually made the track.
Man, this drop from Masspike Miles is seriously smooth from start to finish. The Road Less Traveled totally delivers on that signature R&B vibe, and the production choices across these tracks are just insane. It honestly feels more complete than a lot of full-length albums out right now. Tracks like "Devoted" with Bun B and the title track hit different when you are just cruising around the city late at night. If you are heading out to grab the physical copy or hitting up a late-night listening session across town, trying to flag down reliable taxi services can sometimes be a real hassle, so planning ahead definitely saves the mood. Overall, this project proves why he is such a vital part of the Maybach crew. Definitely keep this one on repeat for a while.