Here’s a nice little pre-weekend music freebie: Evidence, one-third of L.A. indie-rap group Dilated Peoples, released his Beatles-sampling mixtape I Don’t Need Love this morning, and it is — despite the fact that any full-length album concept predicated on Beatles remixes is a dicey proposition in a world when one can always queue up The Grey Album — pretty dope. Credit the manner of usage for the (wildly, gloriously unauthorized!) Fab Four samples: Evidence lets the instantly recognizable choruses flit through, but the grooves are built on snatches of notes from the verses, elevating the project beyond novelty status into something much more constructive (there’s also the requisite but still-great samples from Beatles interviews; “We were smoking marijuana for breakfast,†etc). This next part is said in all seriousness: On the secret track, Ev raps over “Hey Jude,†and that turns out to not at all be a terrible idea! “Jude†is transformed into a woozy slow-burn beat, punctuated with automaton hand-claps and bits of McCartney’s voice, tweaked nearly beyond recognition. It’s the perfect platform for some stellar broke-dude rap: “Debt collectors keep calling me in bed / I talk to ‘em, the system can’t beat me / can’t lend a grand then at least re-Tweet me.†Help the dude out, why don’t you.
Download I Don’t Need Love [Facebook]