HipHopSite.Com » amp live

Amp Live – “Penny Nickel Dime” (feat. Anya & Prof) (Video)

Pizzo — Thu, 26 Jun 2014 11:11:46 +0000

Official video for “Penny Nickel Dime” by Amp Live feat. Anya & Prof from the new album, “Headphone Concerto”.

Eligh & Amp Live – "Beautiful Addiction" (feat. Grieves & Blake Hazard) (Video)

Pizzo — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 03:14:48 +0000

Here’s a brand new video for a song from Eligh & Amp Live’s album “Therapy At 3.” “Beautiful Addiction” features Grieves and Blake Hazard and is directed by Dahveed Telles for Detail Shoppe.

Eligh + Amp Live – "Therapy At 3" – @@@1/2 (Review)

Matt Wright — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 02:23:16 +0000

These days, most underground artists do not tour nationwide, let alone, worldwide. With the changing musical landscape, fickle fan bases, and the rising costs of touring, most East Coast clubs seldom see their brethren from the West roll through their towns. Zion I and the members of the Living Legends defy modern touring conventions. Both groups continue to put out music below the mainstream’s radar that allows them to constantly tour. Therapy At 3 by Eligh & Amp Live is another album that may lead members of each of these crews to gas up the vans and hit the road.

Eligh, best known as the Living Legend member with a rapid-fire flow and a member of the popular duo he forms with Legend emcee Grouch (G & E), pairs up with producer extraordinaire Amp Live of Zion I fame. This album kind of came out of nowhere with little build, but it is definitely worth a listen for people who are unfamiliar with both artists, and will not disappoint longtime fans. The team-up seemed inevitable since Grouch has appeared on Zion I’s albums since 2000 and they have released two albums together as a unit. Eligh was definitely waiting in the cut to spit over some Amp Live beats.

“Beautiful Addiction” (feat. Grieves & Blake Hazard) definitely is the most accessible song on this album with straightforward verses, a poppy beat, and female-sung chorus. For as much as songs like this could easily miss the mark, this one hits it right on. “Ego Killer” (feat. Inspired Flight) also uses the female-sung hook to open up accessibility.
Another standout track, “Metronome” sounds like a vintage Zion I beat, one that would have fit perfectly on Mind Over Matter. The beat switches up, but the metronome continues throughout. This displays the type of production a fan of Amp Live has come to expect over the years of Zion I-related releases.

“Tattoo Song” rides a bouncy beat, and deals with Eligh’s reason for all of his tattoos, which is based on his idea to “Transfer my inner pain to my outer frame.” An official video for this song is available online and a viewing is definitely recommended.

The thing that stands out most about this album is its cohesiveness. Between the intro and outro, each song features lush musical backdrops, beats that often switch on a dime and Eligh’s top-notch emceeing. Most of the songs bleed into outerludes that go all over the place and prepare the listener for a completely different listening experience to come on the next cut.

While not every song on this album is easily accessible to a fan of modern pop rappers, due to some of the abstract qualities of the lyricism and beats, there are plenty of gems to checkout. After you have taken the album in, be prepared to have your neck snap next time these members of The Living Legends and Zion I hit your town.

Eligh + Amp Live – "Destination Unknown" (feat. The Grouch + Zumbi)

Pizzo — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 00:36:52 +0000

Eligh & Amp Live’s “Therapy At 3″ album release is quickly approaching. On November 15th, fans will see the worldwide release of the album which pairs two legendary West Coast crews, The Living Legends and Zion-I to come together with their respective members, Eligh of Living Legends and Amp Live of Zion-I.

Today, enjoy the free mp3 download of the song “Destination Unknown” featuring The Grouch and Zumbi of Zion-I. Amp Live, who handles production on the entire album, states this is one of the ‘hardest’ songs off of the album, which is confirmed by a fan reaction video of random street dwellers listening to the song.

Not a Crystal Waters cover.

Eligh + Amp Live "Therapy At 3" Sessions: "First Contact"

Pizzo — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 20:59:29 +0000

Eligh & Amp Live continue to push for their upcoming collaborative album “Therapy at 3″ being released on November 15th. Fans of the Living Legends crew and Zion-I will love this album, as well as folks unfamiliar with their near legendary status on the West Coast.

Today marks the first of many videos where Eligh & Amp Live break down each song of the album, “Therapy at 3,” starting with the “Intro” and the first song “First Contact.” In this video, Eligh discusses how the album ‘concept’ came together, as both members didn’t want a set concept for the album, which entailed Eligh to approach his writing as free-form, which in turn became a source of therapy for Eligh. Eligh continues to talk about maturing over the years and “reconnecting” with one’s self, facing his various addictions, while trying to appreciate life for what it is. Amp Live, who handles production on the entire album, talks about making the beat on his MPC 3000, how the zip disk became corrupted, and how it was all recorded off of just a two-track.

Eligh & Amp Live – "Tattoo Song"

Pizzo — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 20:06:32 +0000

Single from Eligh + Amp Live’s – Therapy At 3 album. The therapy session is scheduled for 11.15.11.

Eligh + Amp Live – "Therapy At 3" Cover Artwork + Tracklist

Pizzo — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 20:50:36 +0000

On November 15th, Eligh of the Living Legends and Amp Live of Zion I team up to present a collaborative album titled “Therapy at 3.” With Amp Live handling all production duties, Eligh was able to focus solely on his lyrical content, which he often viewed as ‘therapy sessions’ discussing his various personal struggles with smoking cigarettes, past relationships and the meaning behind his wide array of tattoos. Together, Eligh and Amp Live have created an album that will satisfy their existing fan bases as well as new fans unfamiliar with their respective legendary histories.

Tracklist:
1. Intro
2. First Contact
3. Guides
4. Destination Unknown ft. The Grouch & Zumbi
5. Stethescope ft. Basik
6. Devil’s Medicine
7. Beautiful Addiction ft. Grieves & Blake Hazard
8. Metronome
9. Tattoo Song
10. Ms. Meteor ft. Steve Knight
11. Stop Running
12. What’s In A Name
13. Ego Killer ft. Inspired Flight
14. L.A. Dreamers ft. Busdriver
15. Outro

Amp Live – "Differ.e.n.t." (Video)

Pizzo — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 15:23:07 +0000

From Amp’s You Are Not Human: The Love EP, which you can download for free, here.

Zion I – “Atomic Clock” – @@@@ (Review)

D.T. Swinga — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 00:00:02 +0000

The Bay Area’s Zion I crew, made up of producer Amp Live and emcee Zumbi, have always been known for their incredible consistency and diverse musical palette. While they got off to a rough start, over the course of the group’s career, they improved with time, gaining a loyal following, perfecting their sound, never afraid to think outside the box. Although the last project released from within the crew, Amp Live’s Murder At The Discotech, went a little too far left field and was panned by critics. Had Zion I finally fallen off?

Atomic Clock is proof that everything is fine within the Zion I camp, with Amp’s experimental solo release a mere chink in the collective’s armor. As the group’s seventh LP, it once again shows remarkable consistency, with full-bodied, intelligent music that works as a much needed break from the norm.

Without sounding cliche, Zion I’s music doesn’t necessarily condemn today’s rap scene (thankfully), instead it exists within it’s own universe, almost as if the other stuff doesn’t exist. Songs like “Always” and “4U” find Amp Live providing lush sonic backdrops made up of 808 basslines, with live instrumentation and full choirs on top of it. Drawing influence from a number of sources, we hear elements of Parliament Funkadelic on “The Sealing” or Fela Kuti on “Signs of Light”, but the closest rap comparison would be Blackalious, which can be taken as the highest compliment possible.

Zion I doesn’t really break new ground musically, but that’s not a bad thing, as they deliver their same brand of consistency we’ve seen from them in albums past. One spot where they do pull the curtain back is on “The History”, which offers a behind-the-music look at the journey the group as taken thus far.

Zion I may not be a sales juggernaut, and they may get strange looks from today’s younger, uninformed rap generation, but they’ve always made honest, quality music that goes beyond the standard boom-bap blueprint. Hopefully this Atomic Clock keeps on ticking.

Amp Live – "Murder At The Discotech" – @@ (Review)

D.T. Swinga — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 13:36:38 +0000

Bay Area producer Amp Live has always been one to think outside the box in terms of his beats, from lacing his Zion I partner Zumbi with the freshest of tracks over the years, to remixing Radiohead to great critical acclaim. Unfortunately, his official solo debut, Murder At The Discotech, does not deliver like many of his previous works.

Producer compilations are usually a mixed bag, and at times can be hard to listen to as a cohesive album. In the case of Murder At The Discotech, we find Amp experimenting with different sounds and styles than he’s ever used before, employing a wide variety of artists on vocals. Unfortunately, this leads to a disjointed sound that plagues the album throughout, as many times it feels like he is just trying out the different features of his keyboards and drum machines.

Catering to the ever-finicky hipster scene, we find him incorporating all the elements of trendy Hype Machine worthy tracks, from autotune (“About To Blow”, featuring K. Flay) to B-More femcees (“Dropp” featuring Hot Tub) to blog house (“Blast Off”), yet not pulling it off as well as the artists that run the respective scenes. Songs like “Ugly” (feat. Yak Balz) and “Mad Man” strive to emulate the Def Jux sound, while other tracks just prattle on aimlessly (“Blast Off”, “Chick Pop”) searching for identity.

There are a few saving graces here, largely in part to collaborative artists that seem to know exactly what they wanted from Amp. Trackademics take control of “Gary Is A Robot”, a quirky electro-pop jam, while indie-chick rock song “Money Back Guaranteed” (feat. Rebecca of My First Earthquake) is the most professionally executed thing on the album. The massive posse cut “Hot Right Now” (feat. Dude Royal, Grouch, Fashawn, Eligh, Bambu, Zumbi, Chris Young) is as experimental as it gets, but the long list of guest emcees come correct sticking to the subject.

We’ve seen Amp Live prove himself time and again throughout his career with Zion I, always looking to go beyond the requisite formula of hip-hop music. It’s unclear exactly where things went wrong with Murder At The Discotech. Maybe it’s that these guests lack the chemistry that Amp shares with Zumbi, or perhaps he just ventured too far out into foreign territory and lost his way in the process. We haven’t given up on Amp Live, he’s always done his thing, but this one just simply missed the mark.

Amp Live Readies Release Of "Murder At The Discotech" For May 11th Release On Om Records

Michelle McDevitt — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 21:37:30 +0000

Amp Live, innovative DJ/Producer of legendary hip-hop crew Zion I, continues to break new ground with the release his solo album Murder At The Discotech. Though he’s known most widely for being a key defender of socially conscious hip-hop, Amp Live has always dabbled in hip-hop’s sister genres of dubstep and electronic music and melds both influences into a cohesive cybernetic journey with his new album, which will be released on May 11th, 2010 via Om Records.

With an unrivaled talent for crafting moving soundscapes, Amp Live’s approach to the current trend of the electro/rap hybrid (which certainly harkens back to hip-hop’s golden age) is so well executed that it just may be the spark that starts a new trend among rap producers. To some, this album may seem like Amp Live is sticking his toe into unfamiliar waters but longtime fans recognize that Zion I’s first 12” from 1998 featured a drum & bass remix, a first for an American hip-hop group. “Every few years I do an electro series called ‘Electrowonderland,’ that is basically my stamp on the electronic music scene at the time” explains Amp Live. “[The first album] was released in 2007 and consisted of mainly drum ‘n bass remixes of artists I had worked with. This new album, Murder At The Discotech, is a hip-hop, dubstep, rock, dance hybrid album with all original production.” The album’s 8 bit blips, washes of distorted synth leads, and chopped vocals serve to enhance the thunder of 808 kicks and complement the elite list of vocal guests. “Gary Is a Robot,” the first single is a scorcher featuring Trackademicks & Mr. Micro that conjures feelings of Devo meeting indie hip-hop. Radio ready tunes like “Money Back Guaranteed” are equal portions of dubstep, hip-hop and electronic music, demonstrating a side to Amp Live capable of impressing even the most stoic hip-hop purist.

Amp Live collaborated with a number of hip-hop heroes and for many, inclusion on this album marks their maiden voyage into electronic music mayhem. “Hot Right Now” featuring The Grouch and Eligh of Living Legends, Chris Young and Amp’s Zion-I partner, Zumbi feels like it was hand delivered from the future. “Turn It Up” featuring Mickey Factz does just that, pushing the wow factor of the album up a few notches. Other hip-hop notables including the legendary Myka Nyne (“Get Served”) and Yak Ballz join the party each making great use of Amp’s lush production.

Amp Live “Gary Is A Robot” (feat. Trackademicks & Mr. Micro) (MP3)

Radiohead / Amp Live – "Rainydayz Remixes" – @@@@

Pizzo — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 06:07:56 +0000

It started, more or less, with 9th Wonder’s God Stepson. That is, an artist with a lot of passion, but hardly a name to go off of, pays homage to another artist they honor and tribute, by remixing their album (without the original artist’s permission of course). 9^th did this for Nas, and when the acapellas for Jay-Z’s The Black Album surfaced, a whole slew of copycats got the same idea, and thus, all of the colors of the rainbow were illegally inserted into the title of Jay’s supposed swan song (along with a ton of lousy remixes). While entries from Kno of Cunninlynguists (The White Album) and Kev Brown (The Brown Album, of course) were notable, one remix LP rose to the top, DJ Danger Mouse’s The Grey Album, which combined Shawn Carter’s vocals’ with Beatles sampled beats. In both cases – 9^th Wonder and Danger Mouse – two relatively unknown names had catapulted the start of their careers.

Amp Live has been around for ten years as a producer in the hip-hop game, as one-half of severely underrated Bay Area duo, Zion I. It’s taken the crew a while to get the recognition they deserve, but with the release of 2004’s True & Livin’, they dropped their first truly solid record. Still, while Amp was the creative force behind all of these beats, he had yet to be mentioned in the same breath as his peers, such as Evidence, Chief Xcel, Cut Chemist, or hell, 9^th Wonder or Danger Mouse.

Amp realized it was time to go above and beyond the call of duty, and chose to remix one of his favorite groups (without permission of course), Radiohead. With the digital release of In Rainbows (a.k.a. the best record from Radiohead since Kid A) last year, Amp decided to get in on the action be remixing select songs from it, and offering it for free download, just like the group did with the original version. While this seemed like a good idea on paper, it didn’t exactly fly with Radiohead’s publishing company, Warner, who was still mad at the group for dissing them and giving away In Rainbows for free. The remixes were complete, and ready to be released into the Wild West that is the internet, when Amp got a dreaded cease and desist letter from Warner…. just like Danger Mouse got from EMI regarding The Beatles samples. Hmmm….

But there’s nothing better for your career than pending legal action, especially if your music is hot to boot. Amp got the ‘net on his side, pleaded with the group on YouTube, sent them the remixes, exchanged talks, and, in the end, actually got permission to make it happen! Only available for free download (right here, mind you), Amp broke new ground in the world of do-it-yourself music industry.

So how does Rainydays Remixes hold up? Incredibly solid, actually, which makes it easy to understand why Radiohead approved it. A tightly knit, eight-song EP doesn’t waste time with filler, and succeeds in two areas – it proves that Radiohead is brilliant sample material (watch Kanye and Will.I.Am start to rape their catalog for hit singles next year), and that Amp Live is a dope producer.

The EP begins with “Video Tapez”, which finds Del The Funky Homosapien getting loose over the original song’s raining pianos, and a choppy version of Thom Yorke’s original hook. The sensual sounds of “Nude” are re-imagined as an uptempo, vibey joint called “Nudez”, where both Too $hort and MC Zumbi (of Zion I) deliver inspirational verses. Various bits and pieces of “Reckoner” are rearranged to form “Reckonerz”, where Jurassic 5’s Chali 2na rides Amp’s head nodding rendition of the track with ease. The vocals on each of the three hip-hop songs have two things in common; 1) each present positive, self-examining lyrics for the listener; and 2) these are all original vocal contributions – no mash ups or borrowed acapellas.

“15 Stepz” is the only other track that features new vocals, as soul singer Codany Holiday sings over the original album’s opening track, lending a much different feel to the song than Thom’s more abrasive approach. Meanwhile, each “Faustz”, “Weird Fishez”, and “All I Need” are essentially instrumental remixes, which find Amp souping up the tracks with tougher drums, while having fun with the sampler. “All I Need” stands out among these, giving it a heavy, DJ Shadow/Blockhead-esque sound.

Aside from being a great accomplishment – that is, remixing something illegally, but making it so dope that the artist lets you release it, Rainydayz Remixes works as an essential companion piece to In Rainbows, as well as a standalone project even if you’ve never heard of Radiohead. – Pizzo