Primetime: A Rap Fan's Guide to No I.D. -- By Trackstar the DJ
Over the last half-decade, Trackstar has established a level of consistency and quality in the mixtape game that would've made made him a legend if he screamed more and we lived in the days when we thrived off DJ compilations copped on Melrose and Venice Beach, and Canal Street. He is a friend, so bias is evident, but he is one of those friends who has never led me astray. When he drops a tape, it is meticulously curated, drops are thoughtfully laced, and the flow is fluid. They are things that you throw on your iPod and leave there. He doesn't just make an Organized Noize mixtape, he gets Big Rube to narrate. His Ghostface and Rick Rubin anthologies are similarly essential. Scroll through the archives here.
His latest culls the work of No I.D., the greatest producer to come from the Chi who has never told a lawyer in deposition that his residence was "Earth." It spans everything from his early beats with Common to "Control." Songs with Vince Staples, Bump J, and Nas and Jay. You can read the tracklist below, without this superfluous summary. Out of every producer from the 90s, No ID might be the only never to fall off. He alludes to it in the intro, about how he always wanted to stay a background dude and let stars be stars. He is the unselfish point guard dropping dimes and quietly getting back on defense. The type that they seemingly no longer produce. So sit back and stream or download. You can also get a physical copy if you order something from Track's Rap Fan website.
He also DJs for Run the Jewels, whose Killer Mike just dropped a verse for T.I. and Young Thug's "All About the Money." It's below the jump too and is predictably metallic and unalloyed.
Download — Trackstar The DJ – ‘Prime Time: A Rap Fan’s Guide To No I.D.’ Mixtape
Tracklist: 1. Intro/First Day of School 2. Common - Resurrection 3. Jay-Z/Nas - Success 4. Kendrick Lamar - Control 5. Jay-Z - D.O.A. (Death of Autotune) 6. Kanye West/Swizz Beats - So Appalled 7. Nas/Large Professor - Loco-Motive 8. Common - Kingdom 9. Twista/Raekwon - The Heat 10. No I.D./Dug Infinite - State to State 11. Jay-Z - All Around the World 12. Common Sense - Soul by the Pound 13. Common - Communism 14. Common/Canibus - Makin a Name for Ourselves 15. Common - Sweet 16. Kanye West - Dark Fantasy 17. Jay-Z/Kanye West - Primetime 18. Killer Mike/T.I./Big Boi - Ready Set Go Remix 19. Nas/Rick Ross - Accidental Murderers 20. Ghostface Killah - Metal Lungies 21. Bump J - Letter to My Competition 22. Beanie Sigel - Man's World 23. Nas - Daughters 24. Common - Invocation 25. Mikkey Halsted/BJ The Chicago Kid/Freddie Gibbs - Field N**** Blues 26. Common/Nas - Ghetto Dreams 27. Jay-Z - Fallin’ 28. Rick Ross/Cee-Lo - Tears of Joy 29. Pac Div - The Greatness 30. Rhymefest - Stolen 31. Mikkey Halsted - Karma 32. No I.D./Dug Infinite - The Real Weight 33. Pusha T/Future - Pain 34. Rhymefest - Chica Go Rillas 35. Common - Hungry 36. Kanye West/Kid Cudi - Gorgeous 37. Naledge - Broke Diaries 38. Big Sean - 10 2 10 39. Kanye West/Charlie Wilson - Bound 2 40. Killer Mike - God in the Building 41. Infamous Syndicate - Here I Go 42. Big Sean - I Do It 43. GLC/Really Doe - Success 44. Jay-Z - Thank You 45. Vince Staples - Turn 46. Slaughterhouse - Get Up 47. Common/No ID - In My Own World 48. Common Sense - Breaker 1/9 49. G-Unit - Smile 50. Cocaine 80s/Common - Six Ft. Over 51. Common - Rewind That 52. Common/Lauryn Hill - Retrospect For Life 53. Common - I Used to Love H.E.R.