Swizz Beatz - "I'm Cool" (mp3)
Day26 f/ Jermaine Dupri - "Need That" (mp3)
Here's a couple new signs of Baltimore club's increasing mainstream presence in 2009: a new Swizz Beatz track over Debonair Samir's classic "Samir's Theme," and a Jermaine Dupri-produced Day26 song that's unmistakably influenced by club music. Swizz ain't the greatest rapper so obviously he doesn't add a lot to the track, and "I'm cool like some ice cream with them cherries on the top" is a pretty dumb hook, but hey, it's good to know there's another hitmaker who's got club music on his radar. I asked Samir if he'd been approached about clearance to release the track officially, and he said he hadn't, so it's probably just gonna be a little mixtape track. Samir recorded the original beat in 2002, and it's been remixed countless times by other Baltimore producers (Say Wut's "Horn Theme," Chris J.'s "Chris J.'s Theme," etc.), but just in the past few months it's been used for a Claire Hux track and for a Mr. Vegas track on Samir's own B-More Club Crack album. "Need That" is on the new Day26 album that's out this Tuesday, and J.D. takes full production credit, which I guess is alright since it doesn't sound like a direct bite of any specific Baltimore track, but since he recently jumped on "I'm The Ish" it's pretty obviously he's listening to the stuff and decided to get some of that vibe himself. None of this is as exciting as Kanye on a club track or anything, but it's still pretty interesting.

Labels: Baltimore club, Debonair Samir, mp3