EL-P (aka: Jaime “El Producto” Meline) is, arguably, one of the most important hip-hop producers of all time.  I use the term “arguably” because, I’m personally willing to argue that fact, if anyone really wants to get into it.  In the 90s, Meline started the highly influential rap crew Company Flow and released the doom-laden classic Funcrusher Plus (an extended version of their independently produced Funcrusher ep), the very first album ever put out by the then-upstart “underground” rap label RAWKUS Records.  Eventually, EL-P told RAWKUS to eat a dick and bounced, opting to form Definitive Jux, with the intention of maintaining an artist friendly label, helping to develop the artists’ careers while making sure that they received both the credit and monetary compensation that they were owed (something that he didn’t feel was happening with RAWKUS).  Using DEF JUX, EL-P went on to help make household names out of artists like AESOP ROCK and RJD2, while releasing 2 remarkable and highly innovative solo albums of his own.

A little over a year and a half ago, we posted an article which included a statement from EL-P announcing his intention to officially and indefinitely place Def Jux on hiatus.  Part of his main reasoning behind the decision was to focus on becoming an artist again, because all of the time and effort put into producing albums for others and running a label was beginning to interfere with his abilities to do so effectively.  The silver lining for Def Jux fans is that EL-P has been making good on that promise.  Since the announcement, Company Flow has reunited to perform Funcrusher Plus in it’s entirely for ATP in London (plus, a few other select dates),  Producto has released another mixtape, and even produced and/or appeared on tracks for artists like Killer Mike and Das Racist.  Seeing as the rapper/producer hadn’t released a proper solo album since 2007‘s I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead, the main question for a lot of us was when that was gonna happen.  That answer came back in August with the news that EL-P had signed to Fat Possum records for a 2012 full-length titled Cancer for Cure, and the free download of the sample track, “Drones Over Bklyn.“  Now a remix of Drones has arrived with an extremely well-known and recognizable sample; one that Meline never bothered to disguise in the slightest.  What’s more is that he’s actually openly selling it -albeit for for charity (Mr. Dibbs hopital fees)- without ever getting the sample cleared and, thanks to a new service known as LEGITMIX, he may not even have to. Read the rest of this entry →