Friday, November 30, 2007

Singers get bootlegged too, ya know

Click the album covers to download.


This chick does her best impressions of Lauryn Hill, India Arie, and Angie Stone through 14 tracks. Not really, but picking up on her influences is far from difficult. That doesn't mean the album sucks, cuz it definitely doesn't. It isn't great either though. There are definitely good songs: "Walk In My Shoes", "U & I", "Moon", "Never Be Lonely". Some not so good: "Color Blind", "Alright". It's an alright album to clean the house to. And yeah, she's racially ambiguous. And oh yeah, she can sang.


I know. It's old. You should already have it by now, but in case you don't. Toma.


I don't even think I downloaded this, but maybe you want it.


Give it a shot. I did. Album's old. If you liked Feist, you should dig this. It's hot. She's Russian.

Cool, Cooler...

For the people


Duly noted, DK.

And yes, my heart wept gently looking at that picture below.

The Heart Gently Weeps


On Da Drought 3 he said he "keep a bad bitch skating like NuNu" but I aint believe him...

Speaking of the heart weeping... apparently the WU vs. RZA beef was all too real.
Ghost added this to the fray...

"RZA ain't listening," Ghost revealed. "He wanted to make [8 Diagrams] how he wanted it and it ain't come out right. He wanna always do the whole thing himself, produce the whole album. We're like, let's bring in some other producers too. Bring in Kanye, bring in Pharell. You ain't gotta do the whole thing yourself. He wanna make his own instruments and s**t and it sounded real horrible."

"So now it's like when fans come up to me like, 'Ghost, why you let them put that out,' it's like nah, we ain't taking the blame for that," Ghost continued. "That's what Rae was saying. We ain't co-signing that. It's like, the game is different. It's not how it was 10 years ago. We're trying to tell him, you can't just put a Wu-Tang album out and just think it's gonna sell just because. We been gone for what, six years? It's hard to win new ni**as. A lot of the fans now was in f**king diapers when we first started doing this. That's why a ni**a like me drop every year. I stay relevant."

Grease you need to find that Big Doe Rehab album and post, post haste!!!

We in the house


click the album cover.

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Broken Record

Until Wale wins a Grammy, a Source Award, and is a 106 &Park/TRL mainstay, expect to be updated every time he coughs, sneezes, or makes the cover of a magazine. Read it. It's a very well-written article.

Long live hype.

P.S. I'm definitely jealous of his Supreme hoody. I need that.

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Bootleg for life

It's officially Christmas Time, so I dropped a rack of music for yall and re-upped the playlist. The Player is too big for the space, but oh well, we keeps it bootleg like that.

P.S. I'll be happy when November is over. Me and November never got along quite well.

Start the season off right


"Elevators" - Wale

"Kiss Kiss" (Remix) - Chris Brown ft. T-Pain and Wale

"Welcome to DC" - Mambo Sauce

"Get Into the Party Life" - Little Beaver

'Tis the Season



I listened. 3000 Miles and Running. An album with all Dre verses.



Art of Storytelling Part 4 is off this album.

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Good Morning

Yo I dont know whether to blame 'Ye or Murakami for this joint... what do u think?

What Kinda S-Type Donda West Like?

Apparently Dr. West, was the Hip-Hop Mom, because everyone is really taking her passing to heart... even the kids at Cal-Riverside...

Sunday, November 18, 2007

Billy GOAT Gruff

Anyone who asks me who is the greatest rapper of all time is usually shocked to not hear me immediately shout "Jay-Z" or put the Roc-a-fella diamond in the air. The truth is, Jigga is my favorite rapper, but I've never been completely comfortable giving him the crown as the greatest. That doesn't mean I don't consider him the GOAT, but it does mean that I'm open to changing my assessment when a good argument is made for other greats like Biggie and Rakim. Biggie made "Somebody's Gotta Die," "Suicidal Thoughts," "I Got A Story To Tell." Rakim's lines have been bitten so much that they've become hip hop cliches. Do you understand the lyrical power of creating a catalog of cliches?

But those aren't the only artists I feel are worthy of the throne. (There's, of course, Weezy F. Baby--please say the "Baby". Sike nah!) But really, Andre 3000 may be quietly taking the scepter for himself. Think about it. Homie has done everything every great rapper has done. Lyrical? Heck-muthaphreakin-yiggidy-yes-yes-yall. Stories? Yezzir. Thuggery? That too. Charismatic delivery? And you know this. Flow? Heavy, like a period gone bad for a fat girl. He even went psychedelic and made The Love Below. Other great rappers did the same thing, just not to much acclaim and with such cohesion. (Electric Circus anyone? Cee-Lo Green and his Perfect Imperfections? The Soul Machine was fantastic tho.) Andre went left and we still couldn't help but follow. Blond wig, hammer pants, bird chest and all, we were double-clappin' to women shaking like a polaroid picture.


Remember when Jay went left? Oh, that's right, he went right and made Kingdom Come, the album where he flew to Mars in his G-4, cigar in hand, and left us behind. He said he wanted to expand the scope of the music. He did, but so did Andre, to much more artistically gratifying results. I'm not advocating for 3 Stacks here, nor am I turning my back on Hov (pause), I'm just presenting a case. My biggest gripe with Jay is not that he doesn't have the capability of artistic genius, but that he doesn't live up to it. In fact, he refuses to. His egocentricity does not allow him. He was comfortable with being recognized as the greatest. He didn't feel the need to go 72-10 or 16-0. The championship ring was enough for him. He views each of his accomplishments as something that trickles down to the common folk of the hood. He is the carrot in front of the horse, the pool beneath and the branch above Tantalus; the unattainable goal. His brand of altruism is about self-indulgment first, which is itself a contradiction. "I do this for my culture/ To let 'em know what a nigga look like when a nigga in that roadster." Thanks Jay. We appreciate it. The hood needs that. Black people need that. :-|

I contrast that to Andre 3000's first lines from "Da Art of Storytellin' (Part 4)":
She said, "Why in the club you dont make it precipitate?
Ya know 'make it rain' when you could make it thunderstorm?"
I’m like, "Why? The world needs sun. The hood needs funds.
Theres a war going on and half the battle is guns.
How dare I throw it on the floor when people are poor?"
So I write like Edgar Allan to restore. Got a cord,
Umbilical, attached to a place that can't afford no landscaping or window draping
This old lady told me if I ain't got nothing good, say nathan
that's why I don't talk much
I swear it don't cost much to pay attention to me...

You lie, Andre. It does cost to listen. Would Jay make it rain in the club? Hecky nah, son, but for completely different reasons. "I gotta get mines, you gotta get yours," would undoubtedly be his reply to a chick asking him why doesn't throw his cash in the air for fans to grab. You get the feeling that Jay thinks that he worked hard to make this money, not to give it away. And if he is giving it away, better believe he's getting something for it. <>It's the hustler's mentality.< /sarcasm>

To be fair, an artist's worth and talent cannot be a derivative of his perspective. If it were, a 5 year old's crappy crayon drawing of the sun, flowers, and happy faces would be viewed as "better" than intricately detailed drawings of ugly ish. So I'm not saying that just because 3000 has a more community-conscious conscience, he's better than Jay. If that were the case, Talib, Mos, Common and every other rapper do-gooder would be the subjects of endless GOAT debates. (And sadly, in some circles they are.) It's really about the level of artistry. Most neglect to put Tupac in the list of Top 3 rappers for the simple reason that he wasn't lyrical. Yes, he could touch you in ways unimaginable (no homo/jacko), but he was often lyrically simplistic and metrically one-dimensional.

Jay and Dre are artistically heavyweights in all categories. However, you get the feeling that Jay has no problem being lazy when Dre cannot stand the thought of it. Where Jay can come up with a hot 6 lines and feel that's enough to coast through the rest of a song, Dre has to make sure the whole verse is hot. He wants you to quote the entire verse on your Facebook page, not just a hot couplet.

And that's why I'm ready to consider: Andre Benjamin > Jay-Z

Discuss.

(And yes, I said "Da Art of Storytellin' (PART 4)". Exclusive! *DJ Clue echo*)

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

It's a crew song


I'm butter right now.

Just discovered that Wale's "Nike Boots" is the iTunes Single of the Week. What that means (outside of the fact that homey is making waves) is that you can download it for free from iTunes. That is, if you didn't download it for free off the blog two months ago.

But even if you did get it, download it off iTunes just for good measure. It's free, and it will help promote an artist with actual talent. Win. Win.

Fuh realz.

Nobody know karate more bodies than "Kill Bill"

Sorry had to get that out. Word to Roscoe P. It's wild in the streets of Philly son. I heard that 2 cops got shot last night. In case you don't know, cop-killing is serious ish. No Scorcese. It approaches anarchy.

In other news, I went on (another) field trip with my kids today to the Franklin Institute. It was vicious son. I really like teaching in Southwest. Yup, that's all I have to say on the subject. Either that, or start droning on for another 2 hours. I don't have the energy; you're not that interested.

Lastly, I upgraded the music player (Audiophilia). Although the tape player looked cool, a lotta ppl had issue with how to pause it and all that jazz since the buttons were a little hard to find, so I went with a standard looking jawn. Also threw a new mini-playlist up with some mellow personal faves. It's getting colder, days are shorter, might as well let the music fit the mood, ya dig?

Cuz after Turkey Day, it's all Christmas music son!

Disfruta.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Can't Get Out The Game

Winter is fast approaching people. The day's are getting shorter, the nights colder, and my bank account, smaller. I've pretty much satiated my denim desires. (Still holdin' out on the PRPS and some grey levi's though.) The hoody game is deader than the dunk game. All I need is a plain grey zip jawn. I'm thinking old school Champion or Russell Athletic. Yeah nigga, Russell Athletic. The tee game is non-existent. I mean, it's bout to be winter, and I'm a nigga's nigga. I do not play when it gets cold. The less amount of skin visible, the warmer (and friendlier) I am.

Still, that nagging issue persists. Kicks. If it weren't for that cot durn swoosh, my life and bank account would be bursting at the seams like my closet or a fat girl in a cheap cotton leotard.

This Saturday's a big day too. For one, I have class from 9am to 4pm (kill me now). Secondly, two vicious Air Force 1's are releasing.




I need these ppl. It's not a game. Eff UPenn.

I'm an internet square



Word to Katt Williams.

Saturday, November 03, 2007


The soundtrack to the movie. Click the album cover.

And here's a very interesting article from New York Magazine. It's a conversation between Frank Lucas and Nicky Barnes about their past as drug kingpins, the movies coming out about them, and other stuff. Real talk. Pun intended.

Sweet.

Thursday, November 01, 2007

It's Only Entertainment!

Click the album cover to download.

This is the retail version of American Gangster. The first version was just the webrip. What that means to the bootleg-illiterate is that this is what will actually be in stores and sold online. The webrip didn't have all the songs and faded out many of the songs early. You thought AG was already dope? Guess what buddy, there's more.

And my (very) premature judgment of AG: Jay's 3rd best complete effort after Reasonable Doubt and The Blueprint. (For the record, I think both are tied for first place in any ranking of Jay-Z's catalog.)

Cool points to anyone who can tell me where Jay bit his first line from "Success."
I useta give a -uck, now I give a -uck less
What do I think of success? It sucks--too much stress.