Pete Rock Interludes Looped and Extended
Looking back on the mysterious, quarter century old release 'Soul Brotha Beats.'
If you want to support Micro-Chop you can follow me on Spotify and subscribe to the newsletter and YouTube channel. You can also contribute to Micro-Chop through Buy Me A Coffee, Cash App, PayPal, and Venmo.
It’s a feeling many people who read this newsletter can probably relate to. You hear an instrumental intro or outro from a Pete Rock & CL Smooth classic like Mecca and the Soul Brother or The Main Ingredient. Or maybe one of the interludes from Pete Rock’s excellent solo album Soul Survivor. The intermission is incredible but fleeting. It helps tie the album together perfectly and gives it a personal touch, almost like a hidden easter egg on a mixtape from a close friend. You wish you could extend it into a much longer, fleshed-out track.
25 years ago someone decided to follow that impulse and create the white label/bootleg record Soul Brotha Beats. I remember being intrigued by this album and having it on my record wish list, but I can’t remember if I actually heard it at the time of release. It’s a mysterious recording and it’s unclear from the Pete Rock interviews I’ve read and listened to if he approved of the album or is even aware of its existence. Whatever the case, this is an essential listen if you’re a fan of Pete Rock’s production.
I understand the power in leaving your audience wanting more and his decision to keep his interludes nice and truncated. That said, there’s no denying how good some of these beats sound when they have a chance to breathe a little bit. I’d love to see Pete Rock get behind an official release of extended interludes. He could even add some new, short interludes to the project to take it to the next level.
You’ll find the track list and YouTube upload for Soul Brotha Beats below. Let me know what you think in the comments.
‘Soul Survivor’ Intro
“#1 Soul Brother” Intro
‘The Main Ingredient’ Intro
“Searching” Intro
“Escape” Intro
“All The Places And Spaces” Outro
“On You” Intro
“Respect Mine” Intro
“I Get Physical” Outro
“Worldwide” Intro
“Basement” Intro
“Carmel City” Intro
“It's About That Time” Outro
“Tru Master” Outro
Dope, Pete Rock interludes always added extra flavor to those albums. Thanks for sharing!
I always loved these! Figured he didn’t have time or clearances to make them into tracks at the time, but wanted to show his fellow crate-diggers what he had in the chamber. The Kid Daytona did a dope mixtape project based on this concept, where he rhymed over reworked interludes.