KISS, Busta Rhymes and Swizz Beatz- “New York Shit”

After the Drake/Karate Kid mashup “Best I Ever Had Around” hit the net last week, an old friend of mine, Ev Boogie (who, on the low, is one of the originators of the Evil Empire mixtape series, and has a pretty deep resume himself) sent me a youtube link for this song, “New York Groove,” from Ace Frehley‘s (KISS’s lead guitarist) 1978 self-titled solo LP. The song it just hit me a certain kinda way. I put it on repeat and played it non-stop for three days straight. It was that infectious.

Being the music nerd that I am, I consulted the official paper of record, Google, for some history on the tune. That lead me to the greatest web site ever created, wikipedia, which told me that the song was originally recorded by the glam rock band Hello, in 1975 (listen to Hello’s “New York Groove” here). Ace Frehley’s version, although similar, has a different swing to it. When those power chords drop on the hook, that’s the “hit” right there. The hit record is literally bottled up in those 8 bars.

There are a ton of rap songs about New York. In my opinion, a lot of them are pretty depressing. And that’s ok, New York is pretty depressing, especially for a rapper. I thought the only recent hip-hop track that jibed with the KISS tune was Busta Rhymes “New York Sh*t” ft. Swizz Beatz. Both songs are chest-beating odes to the big apple, so why not combine the two? I dare you to find a more high-energy pairing than KISS with Busta and Swizzy. Busta’s also been known to rock some… ahem… questionable fashion during his career, like KISS. And he’s definitely donned the face paint as well.

“New York Sh*t” (KISS version)- Busta Rhymes, Swizz Beatz and KISS (mixed by Gooch and DJ Bailey)

Download it, post it, play it, share it, love it, hate it, dis it… it’s all good.

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