ced hughes: and the technicolor sound wave

CED HUGHES made a mixtape, and it's pretty much better than anything you're going to hear from 50 Cent or Kanye West.

I recognize that this is a heavy claim to make, and I will say at the very least...this mixtape is better than Kanye's. Seriously. Can we raise our standards music bloggers? I mean, dude defecates all over Peter Bjorn & John and bitches are flipping their shit over it? I deleted that mp3 seconds after you told me how awesome it was.

Ced takes a variety of hype-worthy artists including (but not limited to) Amy Winehouse, Daft Punk, Justice, Mark Ronson, Interpol, Sa-Ra, and Stereolab and raps over their songs. And the result is often mind-blowingly great. These songs don't seem to be chosen for their hype-factor, so much as the sheer appreciation of the other artists' music. Dispersed throughout the mixtape we have a few of Ced's original songs, which provide evidence that he doesn't only sound good on other people's music...and talent beyond his rapping. Three of these songs are original productions by Ced himself.

But don't let me convince you that he needs talent beyond his skills on the mic. Upon first listen to this mixtape, I immediately drew comparisons to Lupe Fiasco, 7L & Esoteric, Pigeon John, Black Thought of The Roots, Common, etc. Ced is a talented emcee. He's not just some guy who thought it'd be cute to rap over "We Are Your Friends".

He's also not 50 Cent. Holy crap, he's such a shitty rapper. I once read on some obnoxious kid's space that "Fiddy rap like he got a dick in his mouth". Originally I found this extremely offensive and homophobic, but that kid may have been on to something...

If you feel compelled to go out this September 11th and purchase Curtis or Graduation...do yourself a favor. Stay home. Just download Ced and the Technicolor Sound Wave.*

TRACKLIST:

1. Greetings from the Firing Squad (Interpol mix)
2. Say Hello and Make Sure You Applaud (Sneaky Soundsystem mix)
3. Friends Don't Let Friends Use Protection (Justice vs. Simian mix)
4. Polyphonic Prostitution (Mark Ronson & Kasabian mix)
5. The Juke Joint (produced by Ced)
6. On My Lean Casually (produced by EJ and Steve)
7. My Cool is the Envy of Iceman (produced by Ced)
8. Jus Move (produced by Nick Speed)
9. Ced Can't Hold Her (Amy Winehouse mix)
10. Instead of U and I, It Could Be Us (featuring Kid A, produced by Gabe Niles)
11. Moonlight TigraRhymeKiller on the Misty Planes of Neptune (Justice mix)
12. ReWorked Angles (Justice vs. Daft Punk mix)
13. Nething U Want 2 Do (Sa-Ra mix)
14. Blame It On Ced (Phoenix mix)
15. Simple Addiction, Boy Meets Girl (produced by Ced)
16. We Don't Care. Really We Don't (Mark Ronson & Daptones mix)
17. Are We Gonna Give Up Umm No (produced by Flying Lotus)
18. Sunset Round Up the Galaxy (Stereolab mix)

-- DOWNLOAD ENTIRE MIXTAPE --

dl: CED HUGHES f/ KID A - Instead of U and I (YSI)
dl: CED HUGHES - ReWorked Angles (Justice vs. Daft Punk mix)** (YSI)
(two hip-hop mixtape tracks)
- space it - virb it -

* Okay, so neither of those other albums are seriously as bad as I'm making them out to be. But Ced's shit is free. You honestly can't lose anything but a minimal amount of space on your hard-drive.
** I honestly swear that posting two Daft Punk mixes in a row is a coincidence. I can't resist the "Guitar Hero" solo on this song.