If you ain’t up on Strictlycassette.com, you need to be.

Recently my partner Derek “D-Nice” Glass put me up on a fantastic website with a true appreciation for golden-era hip hop: strictlycassette.com. The content is almost a mirror of what we do here at Manifest, and as you might guess from the name and the EPMD-inspired logo, there’s retrospectives on that unbeatable 90s hip hop and today’s music that kids like us can appreciate- quality, new-millenial hip hop with traditional sounds and lyrics. There’s everything from behind the scenes looks at albums like The Pharcyde’s Labcabincalifornia to a collection of Golden Era J-Card (cassette art & liner notes) scans, to a Gallery of Ghettoblasters which I’m planning on contributing the Aiwa 440 to. SC’s just fundamental bookmark material. We’re going to be doing a collaboration with Mark & the crew pretty soon, so in the meantime I wanted to point y’all to his site- make Strictly Cassette your next stop. – Skylar Woodman

Fatlip explains the process behind “Passin’ me by” – The song, and the video

QD3 Rewinds with Fatlip to get the background behind probably their greatest song ever, Passin’ me by. Fatlip shares some fantastic anecdotes and little-known facts about the track- like how Romye came up with the concept that Fatlip ironed out, how originally J-Swift planned to make two different songs out of what was eventually the main beat and the hook, and how The Pharcyde got their record deal from the strength of this one cut. That last part is no stretch- this is an all-time top ten greatest hip hop song, ever, as far as I’m concerned. I will forever worship these cats. We’ll never see another album like Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde. -Skylar Woodman

Vibe magazine & DJ Quik break down 20 years of his production

http://vibe.com/photo-galleries/full-clip-dj-quik-breaks-down-his-catalogue-feat-jay-z-2pac-snoop-dogg-dr-dre-rakim-

One of California’s formative rap godfathers DJ Quik has actually been in the game a good deal longer than ’91- he often mentions “selling underground tapes” at swap meets and even slanging tapes and 12 inch singles from the trunk of his car. Vibe Magazine online chose to start at 1991′s Quik is the name, his platnum-selling LP debut. Each photo in the gallery chooses either one of Quik’s albums or a track he’s produced for another artist- his beats for everyone from AMG to Snoop Dogg and Rakim are in there as well. The interview isn’t strictly about production either, Quik sheds quite a bit of light on some darker periods like his battle with alcoholism, incarceration, and joining Compton’s notorious Tree Top Piru Blood Set. Especially interesting are the parts where Quik addresses his decade-long beef with MC Ehit and the role Quik played as part of Death Row Records during their run as rap music’s biggest and baddest record label.

DJ Quik indeed has an amazing catalog and has lived a fascinating life- go check it out over at vibe.com. -Skylar Woodman

Tags: DJ Quik, DJ Quik Interview, DJ Quik Production, DJ Quik Vibe interview