If you're familiar with nineties hip-hop, you're familiar with
Ski Beatz under the current variation of his moniker or as
DJ Ski,
MC Will-Ski, simply
Ski or maybe his birth name,
David Willis. He produced tracks for
Jay-Z like the classic
Dead Presidents and
Luchini AKA This Is It for
Camp Lo among tons of others, but he's currently getting his name thrown around for his work with
Curren$y on the
Pilot Talk album, for which he was responsible for all but three tracks. Overall, things are going so well for
Ski Beatz at the moment that he has just released his debut album,
24 Hour Karate School, on
Dame Dash's DD172 label, but like a lot of hip-hop records these days it suffered some serious growing pains. The exact reason for the maladies isn't clear, although some of the issue seems to go towards the fabulous
Mos Def who originally had a substantial role throughout the album.
Mr. Def has been suffering his own label woes over the last few years, primarily related to a fall out with his now ex-label,
Geffen, although he recently became part of
Kanye West's G.O.O.D. Music family so things seem to be back on track for him, except that something still derailed his work with
Ski, forcing his removal from five tracks on the
24 Hour Karate School album. It didn't help
Ski either that versions of six tracks from the twelve track album leaked early, another problem with modern hip-hop records that causes producers to go back and change what may have already worked rather well for the sake of keeping their product fresh. In the end,
Mos Def's presence was removed entirely from the album, and while MCs like
Jean Grae and
Curren$y still hold their ground, excellent tracks like
Taxi and
Cream Of The Planet were reduced to mere instrumentals. So, for your listening enjoyment today, I'm posting seven tracks meant for the original
24 Hour Karate School album before things caused changes and edits to the assumed then finished product. Everything here did make the album in one form or another apart from the excellent and funky title cut and
Aerials, a posse cut. It's really a shame when business politics can derail art like it did here.
Ski Beatz - 24 Hour Karate School Outtakes
UPDATE: Sorry guys, Universal had the files yanked and I know they'll do it again in a heartbeat, so no reups, but these tracks are around.01 24 Hour Karate School (feat. Mos Def)
02 Nothing But Us (Alternate Version feat. Curren$y & Wiz Khalifa)
03 Prowler 2 (Alternate Version feat. Jean Grae, Jay Electronica, Joell Ortiz & Mos Def)
04 Scaling The Building (Alternate Version feat. Currren$y & Wiz Khalifa)
05 Aerials (feat. Stalley, Curren$y, Whosane, Terri Walker & Mos Def)
06 Cream Of The Planet (Alternate Version feat. Mos Def)
07 Taxi (Alternate Version feat. Mos Def & Whosane)
