Soulful, Lyrical, Authentic, Hip-Hop Music.

10 MP3 Songs
HIP HOP/RAP: Hip Hop, URBAN/R&B: Soul



Details:
A LONG TIME AGO IN A GALAXY FAR FAR AWAYâ¦â¦â¦â¦â¦O.K. maybe not that long ago, and the galaxy is Philadelphia. In the section of the city called Germantown, an emcee who goes by the name of Shaun Abu touched ground. Some people are under the impression that âShaun Abuâ is my actual given name. I can see why, itâs not the kind of colorful alias rappers usually give themselves, and Iâve been told that I look like the word âAbuâ, about as much as someone can look like a word, I guess. The name the folks gave me is âShawnâ spelled with a âwâ, and my last name is âWitherspoonâ. âAbuâ is something I called myself in a freestyle rhyme back in 1997 that stuck. People started calling me âAbuâ, it was short, I thought it sounded catchy, and itâs a good practice to go with what works.

Before that I went by âSpoonâ but I realized that my older brothers and all my uncles owned the monopoly on the nickname âSpoonâ. Anybody calling the Witherspoon household looking for âSpoonâ during any given holiday was often in for a long wait until just which âSpoonâ they were looking for was sorted out. I never thought of using just plain âShawn Witherspoonâ because when I grew up the only performers who used their actual name were R&B singers, and Iâm an emcee son!

Iâm from a musically inclined family. My mother and father both sing (I remember pops sounding eerily like Eddie Kendricks of The Temptations) and there was always music playing at home. I got into Hip-Hop through my older brother Paco, who could regularly be found playing good music on his personal radio and making tapesâ¦(yes, tapes). The first rap song I ever memorized was âApacheâ by The Sugarhill Gang. My two older brothers and younger sister and I would do that song as a routine and I had the Master Gee âKimosabeâ part.

Basically, Iâve been seriously writing lyrics since about ten years old, battling sucker mcâs since twelve, and making beats since about seventeen. This is my thirty third winter. I make rap music in the tradition of those who were/are creative and inventive.

TAKE A LOOK AT YOUR REMIXES


This album is a collection of remixes from my 2003 hand distributed album âCOME IN AND TAKE A LOOK AT YOUR MINDâ. About 2,500 copies were handed out in Philly, New York, and London at record stores, concerts, open mics, and other avenues between 2003 through 2007. I started remixing some of those songs while I recorded the new album, âMOONSHINEâ THE BLACK JAMES B(EY)OND FROM OUTER SPACE RETURNS TO BASE..... which is kind of sci-fi, abstract, and like the first is self produced. Anyway, Iâm always working on lyrics or an instrumental or something. I donât consider it to be work; itâs something I find myself doing naturally, but for this remix album I collaborated with some talented friends of mine. Hereâs some background info about these tracks. Peace!


SPACE CADET (Planet Earth Remix)â¦â¦.. Remixed by Shaun Abu
I call this a remix from back in the future, and yes that muffled chorus is intentional. I tried to recall classic 80âs big sounding hip-hop production with some definite nods to Run-DMC (R.I.P. JMJ) and âPlanet Rockâ by the Soulsonic Force.


OPEN AIR (Fresh Air Remix)â¦â¦â¦.Remixed by Shaun Abu and Pontus (PHWG) Gunve
This is a collaborative remix with my friend Pontus(PHWG) Gunve from Sweden on bass guitar, electric guitar, and that electronic moog sound. With me on vocals, drum programming, things playing backwards, and mixdown.

ACTION PLEASE (Extra Skrilla Remix)â¦. Remixed by Boney Bennett and Shaun Abu
This beat is 100 Sam (Bones) Yohannan from a file of MP3âs he let me check out. I took this one to my lab, extended it, recorded vox, and there you go.


8TH COLOUR (Rain In Spain Remix)â¦â¦â¦Remixed by Boney Bennett and Shaun Abu
This is the track that initially gave me the idea to remix these songs. Bones put this beat on in the studio lounge while we were waiting to do some vocals for one of the âCOME IN AND TAKE A LOOK AT YOUR MINDâ tracks. I bugged him to let me use it ever since. Meant to be a rugged wedding song.

PHOTVOLTAIC (Sunshine to Electricity Remix)â¦â¦.Remixed by Boney Bennett and Shaun Abu
This is another one of Boneâs beats from that file of MP3âS. I just extended it, added vox, and mixed it down. Shout out to Earth Science class.


PAR EXCELLENCE (Reconsidered)â¦â¦.Remixed by Boney Bennett and Shaun Abu
What can I say but that Sam has some tracks that work perfectly with my lyrics. Compared to my mellow original version, his beat turns this song into an epic. That Middle Eastern flute reminds me of a song you hear around Christmas.

THAT SIMPLE (Simple As That Remix)â¦â¦..Remixed by Shaun Abu
This is a remix of a song I wrote as a collaboration with a group called â Steady Diggin Workshopâ who are based in London. For this version I hooked up some congas, turned some strings on here and there, and also added a chorus. That Simple. (Original version appears on the âSteady Diggin Workshopâ album âLetâs Go Steadyâ.


COOL WATER (Agua Frio Remix)â¦â¦.. Remixed by Shaun Abu
A classical Hip-Hop remix.

ABORIGINAL (The Boom Bap Strikes Back Remix)â¦â¦â¦Remixed by Shaun Abu
This is a beat that I made when I first started using the MPC2000XL. I revamped it for this remix. An excercise in battle emceeing.

ICE PALACE (TWENTY THOUSAND LEAGUES INSTRUMENTAL)â¦â¦Pontus (PHWG) Gunve and Shaun Abu
This one is not a remix; itâs an original instrumental collabo between Pontus and me for this release that turned out pretty good. We both thought that the vibe of this feels like water, but came up with two different titles. His was âIce Palaceâ and mine was well, the other one.


*(Footnote) Not every song on âCOME IN AND TAKE A LOOK AT YOUR MINDâ was remixed.

*(FootnotepartDEUXdeux) The hi-fi:broadband sounds more like it's supposed to sound, and writing liner notes takes too long.