J. Period Reunites Pete Rock & CL Smooth On New Mixtape

(AllHipHop News) John Legend and The Roots have announced an official mixtape with DJ J. Period, in support of their collaboration album Wake Up!, which is due in stores next Tuesday (September 21st). The lead single on the mixtape is a song that features John Legend & The Roots called “Our Generation.”The remix to “Our […]

(AllHipHop News) John Legend and The Roots have announced an official mixtape with DJ J. Period, in support of their collaboration album Wake Up!, which is due in stores next Tuesday (September 21st). The lead single on the mixtape is a song that features John Legend & The Roots called “Our Generation.”The remix to “Our Generation” was produced by J.Period and features legendary MC’s Pete Rock & CL Smooth reunited on a track together for the first time in nearly 7 years.“These songs [are] so relevant now,” John Legend told AllHipHop.com in a statement. “On most of them, you wouldn’t change a lyric [from the original version.]  The passionate election [in 2008] represented change and hope, and awakened a new generation of activists who had never been inspired before.  “[Fast forward to today:] the intense brew of possibility [and] poverty, optimism and despair, activism and unrest, global connectedness and intractable global conflicts is the reason Wake Up! exists,” Legend stated.The album was inspired by artists like Marvin Gaye, Bill Withers, Nina Simone, and Donny Hathaway. John Legend & The Roots’ Wake Up! is an attempt to breathe new life into the soulful protest songs of the 60s & 70s, recalling an era when music stood at the forefront of the social movements that shaped America.“When these songs were written, people were more spiritually in tune,” says ?uestlove of 1960’s and 70’s political music. “It was fresh from the civil rights era and there was a feeling of hope that maybe, yes, someday we will all be free.  In 2010, not so much.”With John Legend & The Roots joining forces to propel political songs like Ernie Hines’  “Our Generation” back into mainstream popularity, it was only fitting for J.Period to reunite the Pete Rock & CL Smooth, who sampled Hines on their seminal 1992 single “Straighten It Out”.“Wake Up! represents a call to action,” proclaimed J.Period.  “Music can either be vacuous entertainment, or one of the most transcendent and powerful forces on this planet.  John Legend & The Roots are making an incredible statement releasing these songs at this moment in history, and I am excited to create a companion piece that helps keep that energy in circulation online for many months to come.”J.Period’s “Our Generation” Remix is available for free download today, September 14, at http://www.jperiod.com/wakeup