This must be the week of remixes, because I got a message from my dude Max Tannone letting me know he had a new project out. For those not in the know, Max was the man behind Jaydiohead, Mos Dub, and Ghostfunk. Each project paired a Hip Hop artist with Radiohead, Dub, and African Funk respectively. This time, Mic Check 1234! hits close to home for me. As a young youth, Hip Hop and Punk Rock were my thing. I thought I was a bad ass listening to the Sex Pistols, Clash, Ramones, DK’s, Black Flag, and some new band called the Beastie Boys. After I discovered Bad Brains, well, life changed with more PMA for the rest of my life.

“ Great rap and great punk both make you want to affect change, to rebel against the status quo, or to simply just get up and move. This project pairs my favorite emcees’ most socio-political material with some of the best punk bands ever. ”

Pairing influential socio-political Punk and Rap artists together, Tannone brings back a golden age of Punk Rock/ Hardcore and Hip Hop’s most outspoken artists together. By lacing the riffs from The Dead Kennedys, Adolescents, The Clash, X, Reagan Youth, Black Flag and Operation Ivy with bands like The Roots, Black Star, Tupac Shakur, Nas, Public Enemy, M.O.P. and Dead Prez, giving the word rebellion a new meaning. Both genres were at one time raw, supercharged, and full of power at one point, and the energy is captured on Mic Check 1234!.

If politics, fast guitar riffs, rebellion and standing up for what you believe in are how you like your music, this project is for you. DJ Z-Trip may have put Young MC over Nirvana and made it hot, but Tannone takes it to a new level, hitting you where it counts, your angsty youth. For all you new Jacks out there, these beats may be Punk Rock, but they are Hip Hop to the core. Learn your history, and let Uncle Max take you on a tour through CB’s, when Punk and Hip Hop were brothers from other mothers and hung out on Sunday afternoons. Here’s my only question: Max, when are you going to get the Bad Brains involved in one of your remixes? File this mix under awesome.

Read more about the samples used to make this project here.

Download Mic Check 1234! here.