Hands on

DJ Nu-Mark | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 20, 2004)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sequence
• ASIN: B0001E5SKW
• Also Available in: Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #117,012 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #67 in Music > Dance & DJ > Turntablists

Track Listings

1. Intro

2. Eddy Senay - Down Home

3. Tony Luisi - Rubber Bumpers

4. Paz - Laying Eggs

5. Rex Brown Company & Wersi Electric String Orchestra - Hot Track

6. Organized Konfusion - Fudge Funk

7. Jeru The Damaja - Intro (Life)

8. Jeru The Damaja - Perverted Monks In Tha House (Skit)

9. Group Home - Intro

10. Beatnuts Skit

11. Blendcrafters - Melody

12. DJ Nu-Mark feat. Chali 2na - Chali 2na Comin' Thru

13. Vitamin D - No Good

14. Prophetix - True Urban Grit (T.U.G)

15. Viktor Vaughn - Saliva

16. Shurikon - Samurai

17. Schlechta Umgang - Crew Song

18. DJ Nu-mark - Hands On feat Key Kool of the Visionaries

19. Brad Strut f/ Bias B & Lazy Grey - A Good Thing

20. All Time High - 68 And I Owe You One

See all 23 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Here's a lounge-worthy compilation for hip-hop hipsters of all persuasions. DJ Nu-Mark, of Jurassic 5 fame, has crafted a mellow, smooth mix CD that successfully merges mid-'90s backpacker rap with its successor, the indie underground, and also offers an ambitious selection of foreign MCs the opportunity to snag some well-needed shine time. Nu-Mark sparks it off with a nice selection of slow funk burners before streaming into a run of artfully chopped up classics, highlights of which are an alternate version of Organized Konfusion's "Fudge Pudge" and a groovy Latin instrumental by the Beatnuts. Surprisingly, the underground rap that follows sounds pretty ho-hum in comparison. But Hands On regains momentum when Shurik’n, of the French group IAM, kicks off the international section of the disc. Nu-Mark and J-Live take it back Stateside and end things on a perfect note with a brand new tune entitled "Brand Nu Live." --Rebecca Levine

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Expertly bluring the lines between 'Funk' & 'Hip-Hop'......, June 1, 2004

By 

fetish_2000 (U.K.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hands on (Audio CD)

Considering that his fellow group member and Turntable partner `Cut Chemist' has released a handful of mix albums, it seems strange that Nu-Mark should take so long to come through with a solo effort of his own. Was it going to be a furious scratch-laded live mixtape like `Dj Shadow's' live mix performances, or a throw back to old school hip-hop `Grandmaster Flash' style???.....In the end, it turned out to be neither. Instead he's delivered an album akin to `Cut Chemist's' hard to find "Rare Equations" mix album, which pitches it's tent firmly in Funk & Rare groove, with elements of smooth hip-hop & Rhythm & blues part of the running order.

After the brief intro, `Eddy Senay's' 70's horn laded "Down Home", is something straight off a Shadow/Cut Chemist live mix tape, slow groove gives way to blaxploitation funk, it all moves in an agreeably slow hod nodding fashion, and starts and it means to go on. "Organized Konfusion's - "Fudge Funk" is a tightly woven piece of celebratory funk that ups the tempo and sounds vaguely familiar (undoubtedly sampled by other songs, for its superb piano/bass line). The relatively sedate pace of this mix album begins to gather steam here, and sounds reminiscent of `Funkadelic's' best work, those with an appreciation of funk, will revel in Nu-Mark's considerable years of obscure musical crate digging, that are so obviously on display here.

The introduction of smooth, old school referencing Hip-Hop is handled expertly, with several skits beautifully illustrating the change over from strong crossover funk, to intelligent hip-hop, before the track proper (the Nu-Mark produced "Chali 2na Comin' Thru"), with Jurassic 5 band member `Chali 2na', laying down tongue twisting rhymes & lyrical consciousness, for progressive rap, that the Jurassic crew are famed for, in fact such is the similarity of this track to Jurassic 5's carefree, freelwheeling old school rap, that this track could have been lifted from any Jurassic album, such is it's quality.

"MF Doom" (under the alias "Viktor Vaughn"), hardens the Hip-Hop edge with a more contemporary Jazz-fused track with his impressionistic rhyme trails, and dazzlingly inventive lyrical flow, this although more confrontational, then the previous tracks, doesn't lose it's consistency throughout the mix as Nu-mark is skilfully able to reign in the track, before it has any chance to disrupt the flow of the album. Nu-mark even drops a little foreign language number in amongst all this with the, "Key Kool - Hands on" track that gives the album a little extra flavour & fleshes out the album, and is a excellently produced track in its own right, that more than justifies its inclusion on this album by laying down a strong beat foundation, for which the foreign rapper effortlessly freestyles over , and rather than filling the latter half of the album with obscure European tracks, Nu-Mark has wisely kept such tracks to a bare minimum, and feels more like a broadening of music styles, and shows that other countries of obviously listening closely to how American Hip-hop/Rap, has come on leaps and bounds of the last few years.

As this album appears to be an all-encompassing mix, the rhythmic drum compositions of "Barry morgan" and the Percussion of "Ray Cooper" close out the latter part of the album, with the wonderfully percussion/Drum instrumental of their "Impulsion" track will possibly leave a few listeners scratching their heads, with it's inclusion, but the fact remains, that it's a fantastically composed track that is bongo influenced jazz-style drumming that given the transition throughout the album, (funk/Hip-Hop), is quite staggering as to how Nu-mark has made the seamless crossover through the various styles.

Those looking to buy this album, should be warned that, this album is anything but a furious mixtape style workout, that replicates Nu-Mark/Cut Chemist's live performances. Instead this is purely suited to home listening, with the emphasis on a (Relatively) diverse set of music, its just as influenced by `Funk', as it is by `Hip-Hop', choosing to slow the tempo down, and focus instead on beat heavy, Chopped up tracks & instrumental groove, that are as much a part of 70's funk music, as is the implementation of funky Hip-Hop or intelligent Rap. Not a album that will immediately bowl you over with its prowess, instead this is one of those albums that greatly impress with subsequent listens, and It truly makes fantastic background music. And has a substantial longevity lacking in a lot of mix albums.....highly recommended.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Can't stop playing this disc., April 29, 2004

By 

William Miller "stizz" (Sherman Oaks, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hands on (Audio CD)

An admirer of turntablism in general an a avid fan of Jurassic 5. Hands On was a welcome addition to my collection of CD's I'm glad I bought . The album is very diverse with tracks ranging from funky lounge vibes to classic yes yallin throw your hands in the air type grooves. Track 12 with Chali 2na was in my opinion the most addictive, but it is hard to pick a favorite; too many good tracks to choose from. Also the showcase of international emcees was both refreshing and enlightening. Pure art and love on this disc, no commercial filler crap.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nu-Mark has got an interesting taste....., May 3, 2004

By 

DJ Benny (AKA Ben A.) (Boston Burbs, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hands on (Audio CD)

Being a big fan of j5 and after hearing Chali2na's solo track on the album I knew I had to pick this one up. Even though not all song are Nu-Mark's tracks, this is an awesome mixtape to chill to, with stuff on it that you won't know about until Nu-Mark exposes you to it. The first part of the CD are old funk songs that fit in with Nu-Mark's influences when he makes beats. The way he blends them together is flawless. He even took an old funk song, "rubber bumpers," from an NFL film documentary. Then you get to the second part of the album, the underground hip-hop part that you really got the album to listen to. It starts which Chali2na's solo track, which is just plain awesome, and then goes into awesome underground tracks, not only from underground American rappers, but from rappers from the U.K., France, Germany, and Austraillia. You never knew underground rap outside of the U.S was that crazy, but Nu-Mark exposes it to people and does it flawlessly. Along with a warm-up funk section in the beginning of the CD to just chill to.

If you understand how he makes Jurassic 5's beats, this is the stuff where it comes from, which makes it even better.