You got it bad? Well Phonte sure knows how to put up a good fight for the 99ers. Directed by Kenneth Price and produced by 9th Wonder. Do remember, Charity Starts At Home here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HH9vR_iJOqU

Phonte gives the visual treatment to one of the best tracks off his solo debut Charity Starts At Home, “The Good Fight” produced by 9th Wonder. If you want to know more about this song as well as various tracks in the Little Brother/Foreign Exchange discography, don’t forget to check out Phonte breaking them down on our recent Vision Behind The Spittin.

Related posts:

1. Phonte: The Good Fight (prod. by 9th Wonder)
2. Vision Behind The Spittin: Phonte
3. YahZarah: Cry Over You (feat. Phonte) [Music Video]

One of the illest things about doing what we do here at KN, or any other site really, is watching the evolution and success of talented artists. Add-2 is one of those artists I personally have followed for a while now and to see what he has accomplished over the past year alone has been dope. Salute Add-2. For his latest release we find the Common co-signed Add-2 rocking with songstress Deejay Juice over a 9th Wonder track on “Going, Going, Gone.” Be on the lookout for Add-2′s Save.Our.Souls soon.

Related posts:

1. Add-2: Exclusive Interview With Womazing [Video]
2. Actual Proof: Super Genius [Remix] (feat Skewby, Laws, The Kid Daytona, Add-2, Naledge, Kendrick Lamar, Cutlass Reid & Brittany Street) [prod by 9th Wonder]
3. Add-2: Come On [prod by D-Man]

For University Of North Carolina Television, the network highlights Tarheel natives 9th Wonder and J.Cole. North Carolina, c’mon and raise up!

Happy New Year to our readers and welcome to this year’s first installment of KN’s, Who Flipped It Better. Beginning with the sample of choice for the entry, “Let Me Ride,” we’re looking at an impeccably soulful song courtesy of 1970’s Chi-Sound Records band, Windy City. This song was flipped to create the two instrumentals in today’s match-up, comparing Slimkat78’s production on Diamond District’s “Off The Late Night” from their stellar LP In The Ruff against 9th Wonder’s beat for “Let Me Ride” from Actual Proof’s album The Talented Tenth.

Each producer emphasized vocal chops from the sample throughout the verses, which helped maintain the laidback soul vibe of the original, although Slimkat’s78’s manipulation of the voices sounds downright sexy. He chose to draw out the vocal loops and chops to the point they almost sound like background singers creating an incredibly smooth track. 9th Wonder uses his signature choppy, pitch adjusted techniques on the vocals and softly placed the more harmonic loops in the background, omitting an airy ambient sound from their presence. Wonder chose to speed up the sample giving “Let Me Ride” a much different feel than the snail-paced original and the 89 BPM  “Off The Late Night.” Slimkat78’s ability to uphold the essence of the original while still completely flipping it was a nice addition. His beat has a very sophisticated sound to it that I’d consider the track more of an instrumental than a “beat.” The main component of 9th’s beat is the string loop, which carries on throughout just about the whole track. In comparison to some of his past work, 9th Wonder’s flip on this song does not standout. The sample sounds lackadaisical and doesn’t give the track the fullness that it should. Of course any drum pattern from 9th Wonder is going to make your head nod, but the drums here are nothing out of the ordinary, but one thing I did notice was it did not contain much if any percussion or hats; it was basically just a kick drum and snare.

“Off The Late Night’s” drum pattern has a bigger, brighter sound to it that has a nice swing and bounce along in perfect timing with verses from the members of Diamond District. The one up that “Let Me Ride” has on “Off The Late Night” is a thicker baseline. Neither of the tracks are overly bass heavy but Slimkat78’s doesn’t quite fill up and drive the track like 9th Wonder’s.

A similarity between the songs was having a hook/chorus instead of utilizing the sampled vocals to create bridges between the verses, which are equally fitting for both songs. And having a hook didn’t sound necessary in either instance because of the prominent vocal samples.

Ultimately, the strength and flip of the vocals is what made this choice for me. Slimkat78 was able to uphold the soulful vibe of the Windy City sample, matching it with the perfect drums to keep things sounding slick. “Off The Late Night” is that flavor of instrumental that makes you want to hop in the ride and cruise around under the city lights on a late night tip.

Winner: Diamond District, “Off The Late Night” produced by Slimkat78.

So who ya’ll got on this one? And don’t forget to drop me a line or send a Tweet about who you would like to see square off on Who Flipped It Better. 

Windy City: Let Me Ride

Actual Proof: Let Me Ride

Diamond District: Off The Late Night

Related posts:

1. 9th Wonder: 9th Invented The Remix… AGAIN
2. Charles Hamilton vs 9th Wonder
3. Wale: Word Play [prod by 9th Wonder]

Phonte pranced last Friday at L.A.’s Key Club. With 9th on the 1s and 2s, they performed ”Dancing In The Reign”, “Tigalo For Dolo” and “Everything Is Falling Down”. Charity Starts At Home and The Wonder Years in stores now.