Hasan Insane Strikes Gold Again; Jay Electronica – “Exhibit C” Remix Shines Bright

There are remixes…then there are Hasan Insane remixes! Here, again with a rework of Jay Electronica’s “Exhibit C” (beat by Just Blaze), Hasan’s beatwork manages to come close to outshining the original, while reinforcing the rhyme and bringing a new mix of the rapper’s voice to the forefront. Indeed, I listened to both Just Blaze’s send up of Billy Stewart’s “Cross My Heart” and Hasan’s work-over of the same jewel, and for me, Hasan Insane’s reconceptualization rivals—but doesn’t quite surpass—the original in both feel and scope (modest as the programming is).

First time I heard the original “Exhibit C,” I thought it was decent, (really more than anything I was more drawn in by the flow and density of Jay Electronica’s verses). Cue in Hasan Insane, who I imagine like all of us beatmakers, schemes on how he would flip a decent joint and make it doper. Fortunately for fans and supporters of Hansan’s work, he doesn’t hesitate when he knows he can fly the original to a new dimension. As is the case with his current remix, which helps unpack and showcase some of the better lines that Jay Electronica drops on the original.

Finally, whether or not Jay Electronica and/or Just Blaze reached out for Nas to swing by on the track, we may never know, perhaps they did. But, thankfully, Hasan “reached out” to Nas and got ’em on one of the best remixes I’ve heard in 15 years. And the crazy thing is, this ain’t even my favorite Hasan Insane remix (at least not yet). That distinction probably belongs either to “New York” featuring Jay-Z and Raekwon (off of Hasan’s An American Gangster The Mixtape), or his rework of Jay-Z’s “Fallen” (currently only available at Hasan’s myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/hasaninsane.

All in all though, this Hasan Insane joint gets me thinking: There was this one cat who was known for coming up with remixes that always managed to rival the originals it reworked. True indeed, I can’t help but to believe that Marley Marl would be proud of Hasan Insane’s latest remix…

Jay Electronica feat. Nas – “Exhibit C;”
remixed (new beat) by Hasan Insane