When new-school boom-bap producer Statik Selektah got the gig for re-producing one of the more coveted tracks of golden age hip-hop “Gimme Yours” for legendary AZ’s 15th anniversary edition of Doe or Die (forthcoming, Nov. 23, 2010), he must have felt the opportunity was all at once an honor, a dream come true, and maybe most of all, scary as hell.
People talk about the chemistry between AZ, Nas, and Pete Rock with near-godly reverence. Even without discussing the MC cred of Nas an AZ as NYC rap giants, Pete’s beat of the original “Gimme Yours” alone has all the characteristics of golden era hip hop: the analog static, the wide dynamic range that characterized Rock-era productions, and of course there’s the sample-oriented patchwork sound palette, which in this instance borrows from Minnie Riperton’s “Here We Go” (hello harp arpeggio). Messing with this kind of perfection can incite “Sacrilege!” calls from the masses, but the thing that saves this remix is that Selektah would be the first one to call it. As a rightly-so self proclaimed student of the East Coast boom-bap school of beat-making, the most striking differences in Selektah’s 2010 production of “Gimme Yours” are not stylistic departures but technological ones: the 2010 version sports a much more even-leveled and forward mix with more sterile sample quality due to the precision of the digital equipment he uses. Otherwise, the spacing of the arrangement and the way the beat just flows is a commendable period-revival achievement.
And I have to say, AZ is still on point though much more full voiced than he was fifteen years ago partly due to the way he is more forward in the mic, and partly because this mafioso rap pioneer is even tougher in his old age. Without Nas by his side, maybe he has to be. This 2010 rendition reminds that to say “Gimme Yours” in 2010 may sound different than it did in 1995, but the meaning remains: doe, or die.
[audio:https://thecomeupshow.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Gimme-Yours-2010-ft-Josh-Xantus-produced-by-Statik-Selektah-1.mp3|titles=Gimme Yours 2010 ft Josh Xantus (produced by Statik Selektah) 1]
Download: AZ – “Gimme Yours” (2010) ft. Josh Xantus (prod. Statik Selektah)