David Axelrod tribute

by Tokyo Cigar

Genesis ( produced by Tokyo Cigar ) 00:00 / 02:45

1. Genesis ( produced by Tokyo Cigar ) 02:45

2. Day ( produced by Tokyo Cigar ) 01:59
3. Afternoon ( produced by Tokyo Cigar ) 01:56
4. Sunset ( produced by Tokyo Cigar ) 02:02
5. Night ( produced by Tokyo Cigar ) 02:10
6. Midnight ( produced by Tokyo Cigar ) 01:33
7. Ante Meridiem ( produced by Tokyo Cigar ) 01:56

about
When i found out David Axelrod had passed away, I was hit with some ill depression. This was a man I
considered easily one of my top musical idols. Being a hip hop head I was introduced to him via
samples of songs i loved before i even knew who he was. Reading an article in the source about the art
of sampling he was given a special section and the way the writer wrote about his compositions I was
intrigued and further investigation revealed that i was already in love with the songs that he provided
the heavy musical backbone for. The first song i heard that sampled him came from Show and AG from
the DITC crew. Other members of the crew would later come out with songs that sampled him ( Fat
Joe, Buckwild and most of all Diamond D who Axelrod would honor by partially naming a track after
him ).
Hunting down his records with my homie G.C. led us to Songs of innocence and Songs of experience
and after plundering numerous samples from the records we would both vibe out and just listen to the
records themselves. Axelrod had away of injecting drama and emotion into his songs. Everyone that
would be around me as i played his songs would always ask "Who is this?" and when i told them who
it was and his contribution to hip hop they would always take it upon themselves to find out more about
him. His music was that good.

In this era of "relevance" ( one of the wackest words ever ) few can understand how someone made
music that was not only great for his generation but was so timeless that it inspired people damn near
30 years after their creation to make other timeless songs with them. Think about the fact that
EVERYONE from Rza, Primo, Dre, Diamond, Madlib, Pete Rock, Showbiz, Q-tip, The Beatminerz,
Beatnuts, Diamond D, Buckwild, VIC, Domingo, DJ Shadow and tons of others considered to be the
best sample based producers of Hip hops most revered era all went to one man's songs for their joints at
one point or another and that puts it into perspective how amazing his music was. Even Swizz Beatz
who had a strict no sampling rule used Axelrod for a song he produced for Lil Wayne. Side note: My
favorite Axelrod flip of all time came from Diamond D for the "Soul on Ice" remix. That joint is one of
the most bone chilling beats i have ever heard in my life and was so incredible that Axelrod himself not
only complimented it in an interview but he also ended up working with Ras Kass, who Diamond made
the remix for.

I was so saddened by his death that i lost my appetite and couldn't even bring myself to listen to his
music. The best way that I know how to deal with tragedy is by making music and I made all 7 of these
beats in one day ( "Midnight" was a remake of a beat I made for Kebo a couple of years back and i just
redid it for this cause i didn't feel like digging through hundreds of my beats to find one ). Ironically
that Day was the birthday of fellow beat making Aquarian J Dilla. ( he was born on Feb. 7th, I was born
on Feb. 3rd ) I used the vocal samples from earth rot to kinda narrate creation and death in a
metaphorical way, God created the earth and from the earth we came and to the earth we shall all
return. The titles reflect the idea of life having different sections like a day. Axelrod had a spiritual
religiousness to his music, naming songs "Holy Thursday" and such so I felt this was a fitting tribute to
him. After you listen to this PLEASE do yourself a favor and dig up his music and check it out for
yourself.