I Hate Myspace rappers!

For reals I do.

DO Believe the Hype

I hate having to Jump on the bandwagon of a myspace/blogosphere-hyped band but fuck it, good music is good music. And Vampire Weekend makes good music. The hype surrounding this band reminds me of a couple of years ago when the Arctic Monkeys made their debut in the U.S and the internet and all music mags went crazy only to stop talking about them a couple months later.


But, this is a REALLY great band. Their sound is very refreshing just check it out for yourself:

Walcott - http://www.zshare.net/audio/70472487a6a954/Cape Cod Kwassa

Kwassa - http://www.zshare.net/audio/704731359d490b/

The Kids Don't Stand a Chance - http://www.zshare.net/audio/70473607c50487/

Didn't I tell you??! The kid knows how to jump on bandwagons....shit, I go with the flow like nobodies business. I first read about them in an issue of GQ ( Yeah, I know. I read it at my barbershop) and couldn't get over the name or their image, they are all ivy-league preppies. But their music is dope and the name grew on me. They take some pretty gay pictures though (google them and you'll see what I'm talking about). I'll be looking for their album this weekend cuz I get payed tomorrow.

Yes, another Blu post

This is from his next project with Ta-Raach--C.R.A.C. The album is called The Piece Talks and should be dropping soon. Yeah, it sounds different from his pevious work but I think it's pretty dope.



Buy Me Lunch

http://www.zshare.net/audio/7045079b5e28b6/

Love Don't
http://www.zshare.net/audio/704503431eeb29/

Crack Is Wack

What's poppin's suckas?So I was blogging it up and came across the now infamous video of Amy Winehouse smoking crack and decided to finally watch it. DAMN! Bitch is crazy! Watch for yourself.


Man, I remember when I first heard the remix to 'I'm No Good' with Ghosface, prior to knowing of her, I didn't know they were live vocals--I thought it was a sample. I was completely shocked when I saw the video! At first I thought she was kinda hot...in an ugly way. But now...eeeesh! She's ugly in a really ugleee way!

Then


Now

Damn, what a shame. It will make for one hell of a Behind The Music episode. This has actually convinced me to buy Back in Black. Winehouse made a big splash in the U.S because of her Motown-esque throwback style but I guess she hasn't done her homework...60's soul singers used heroine not crack to destroy their careers. Because as we all know....





In Other News...

For all you fans of free music here is what's supposed to be an unreleased song by Talib Kweli entitled "Momma Can You Hear Me" Produced by Kanye West.

http://www.zshare.net/audio/7029740dbcad66/

New Music Tuesday!

Pacific Division-Women Problems



I was sleeping on these kids for a minute but I gotta admit they're nice.

Erykah Badu-Honey


I love this song...and video! Shit is amazing! See if you can name all the albums/artists she references.

I also found this version of 2pac's "Got My Mind Up" with Inspecktah Deck on it. I forgot how the story goes but I now it was originally not a Pac song, he had heard it and wanted to jump on it. For whatever reason Deck's verse was left out but here it is now. Enjoy.

http://www.zshare.net/audio/6930711f0d86b8/

Happy Birthday to the God

The man born William Michael Griffin turns 40 today. There really isn't anything I need to say about this man that already hasn't been said in the 20-plus years he's spent in the music business. The man is a legend.

And if you are unfamiliar with Ra or don't see why he's such a big deal then you're really not a true hip-hop head. Without Rakim there would be no Nas, Tupac (even 50 said Ra was his favorite rapper) or the hundreds of rapper's that were influenced by them.

It's kinda hard to explain why his lyricism was so great back then (shit, I wasn't even born in '86) but if you understand then you will appreciate his greatness. Rakim pioneered the art of emcceing by incorporating poetic sensibilities into his lyrics, creating internal rhyme schemes, utilizing multi-syllabic words and creating a mystique around him that seems unpenetratable to this day.

It's been over 8 years since his last album and the much-anticipated "Oh My God", which was supposed to be executive-produced by Dr.Dre and released on Aftermath, was scrapped along time ago. "The Seventh Seal" is supposed to drop later this year, not much has been said on the project. Whatever happens true heads will know that his legacy will remain in tact.

Insomnia is a bitch!

Yeah, I know. My Blu stannery is pretty blatant around these parts fuck it. I found this dope video from before Below The Heavans came out. Enjoy.

Blu - just another day

Add to My Profile More Videos

You know what pisses me off? Myspace rappers. I feel like venting but I think I'll write more about that tomorow. Or should I say later on today.

You know what else pisses me off? How corny Fresh Prince of Bel-Air was. For reals. Sick Intro though.

It's on right now by the way.

You know what else pisses me off? Being broke and wanting to but music.

Talk to you guys later.

peace.

Figgidy Fresh Friday

So, I just found out the name of Common's next album.

Questlove gimme a drum roll

Get ready...here you go:

"The Believer"

(insert applauds here)

Guess he's a big fan of the Ryan Gosling movie.



Or he's a big fan of the magazine of the same name.




Either way it's a pretty cool title. He's supposed to release an album with Q-tip this year entitled "The Standard". Or I think the group is called that? I don't know. Whatever, it's probably not gonna come out. Same thing for CRS ( Child Rebel Soldier). That's Kanye, Lupe Fiasco and Pharrell.

Hip-hop supergroups rarely ever pan out.

Shit, I've been waiting for Helter Skelter for over a decade! That's the alleged super-collabo between Ice Cube and Dr. Dre.

That rumor had been around since they did that one song together back in the day. What's it called? Somebody post the name of the title cuz I forgot.

Or the new N.W.A album featuring Snoop Dogg as a member. I've been waiting for that since that one song on the Friday sountrack came out...1999? Chin Check? That was when the west first made a comeback. Ahhhh, the early 2000's.


Did that Golden State Project album ever come out? It was Ras Kass, Xzhibit (pre-Pimp My Ride) and Saafir.

Come to think of it, it's mostly just west coast groups that never work out!

Shit, I think the only TRUE hip-hop supergroup is The Firm.

I say TRUE because I am not counting The Jay-z/R.Kelly bullshit nor that weak Omarion/ Bow Wow album.

Blogging in the Rain

To Buy List-

• The Velvet Underground and Nico


• The Shins (any of their stuff)


• The Beach Boys- Pet Sounds


• The Roots-Phrenology


• Daniel McDanields-Headless Horsemen of the Apocalypse


• Atmosphere-Overcast (only Atmosphere I don't own)


• The first Raekwon (yeah, yeah, I know)


• The first Wu!!! ( For whatever reason I don't own this yet I know every single lyric)


• The newer De La Soul stuff


• The second Interpol ( only one I don't OWN)


• Old Radiohead ( just bought In Rainbows)


• The Beatles- Sgt Pepper...


• Mos Def-Black on Both Sides ( same as the wu album)


• First Jay-Z and The Black Album
  
• alot more stuff

Things I will do:

• Tally up all the namedrops on The Game albums and write an article about it.


• Write more


• Excercise after I'm done writing this


• Go to Amoeba and buy all those cd's and more

I'm bored at the moment but I felt like typing.

I would like to go music shopping this weekend but I'm pretty sure I will get too lazy to go.

Here's a pic of me and Murs! He smelled like sweat! No diss to the guy, I mean, I love his music but I'm guessing the 8 hour time-limit on his deodorant was up 'cuz dude was smelling like armpit. He was really cool though, real appreciative of his fans. MC's like that make me proud to be a hip-hop head. My homie Danny owes me a copy of Murs 3:16 The 9th Edition. He borrowed it like 2 years ago and well, you know the rest. I remember it was the day before Rock The Bells 2005.

Time to go to sleep. Or watch The office on DVD.

"Yo, you guys got that 'Nigger' CD?"

Word on the streets, or blogs, is that Def Jam will drop Nas if he doesn't change the title of his album, tentatively titled "Nigger". It doesn't really look like that title will come to fruition. Can you imagine if it does?

Your Local FYE
"Yeah, I'm Looking for a CD."-Average run-of-the-mill white suburban hip-hop head
"What's it called?" Middle-age white sales associate
"Nigger."

Or imagine if he's black.

Or imagine if Al Sharpton is in the store as well.

Or imagine if they have to do a price check over the intercom system:
"Larry, can I get a price check on 'Nigger'? I repeat, price check on 'Nigger'.

Oh, the hilarity.

I can just picture all the whiteboys getting their asses kicked over this album, 'cause you know lots of people ( I shouldn't single out white folks) are gonna use this as a license to use the word freely (like I'm doing so, but hey it's serving a purpose).

Who knows what's gonna happen!

Whether you like the title or not you gotta applaud Nas for his balls. Nas is catching alotta hell for this...but fuck it. The truth of the matter is that this word is always gonna create a hot debate between people, of all colors. It's always gonna spur discussion. Does Nas have the right to spark such a discussion? Yes and no. This issue is bigger than Nas, it's bigger than hip-hop. But, as a black hip-hop artist Nas does have the right to address any issues within his community that he feels he needs to address. Plus, I'm pretty sure he just wants to piss off people.

Is he giving his albums controversial titles just for the shock value and attention? Maybe. Nas as always been at the front of the pack when it comes to lyricism and conceptuality in hip-hop so in my book he could name his album whatever he feels. He's earned that respect.

Plus, he made Illmatic.

But, if you think it's just a publicity stunt to garner more attention then you might be wrong. There will reportedly be a song entitled "The Fear", which is short for (get this) 'The Fear of the Black Man's Dick'! And, if you're feeling a little excluded from all the broo-ha-ha because of your race then look no further than the soon to be smash hit "You're a Nigger Too"!

I'm not kidding. Those are actual song titles.

Oh, and I almost forgot the icing on the cake:

It's coming out in February.

Black History Month.

Please, don't shelve this Def Jam. If 'Homeboys in Outerspace' can be on t.v and "Soul Plane" was released then you guys can drop this album.

Rants from a Disgruntled Rap Fan

Although I love going to hip-hop shows I vowed to never attend a 'Big rap Show' along time ago. By that I mean those all day hip-hop festivals were a bunch rappers perform and all that good stuff. Why you ask? It's simple: $$$$$$. Last time I attended one of those shows was in 2006, It was the We The People Festival. Don't get me wrong it was ill--Immortal Technique ripped it! But, for it being a revolutionary minded festival that was meant to uplift, inform and support underground hip-hop I sure did spend alot of money. $7 to take out money from the ATM. $5 can of Coke. Nasty $5 burrito. I don't mind spending the loot, if I have it, but there's something hypocritical about advocating revolution and denouncing capitalism then turning around and charging 5 bucks for a 75 cent soda. Coke no less.

Then there's the fans. Psycho Realm was performing that night and well, there were bunch of bald headed cholos. Needless to say, they weren't trying to hear all that revolutionary shit. While a clip of Maxine waters played on stage talking about hip-hop the crowd went crazy and started throwing shit on-stage.

Psycho Realm came up and all hell broke loose. My point is that when you have a diverse set of artists then the crowd will be diverse. I'm all for diversity but sometimes, at rap shows, I could do without it. That sounds kinda stupid and ignorant but...

Take the time I went to Rock The Bells for example. The year was 2005. I really wanted to see Nas that year and I got there early. The temperature was about 105 degrees so not alot of people were actually near the stage around the afternoon, which was cool for me because I got to see Guru, Sage Francis (heard him for the first time and blew my mind) and Hiero up close with no problem.

So nightime hit and Redman was supposed to be up. The crowd waited for him for an hour--he was in the back getting high and forgot.


If you were a Redman fan you would have loved the set. But, if you weren't ( and alot of people in the crowd weren't) then you were just killing time to see the next act. The crowd wasn't really hyped so Red decided to jump into the crowd. They didn't catch him. Dude was pissed and called the crowd boughi. Well, Red ended up winning the crowd over with a little help from his hypeman but, I was really dissapointed with the crowd. The knew Ill Biil's Lyrics but not Redman's?? Get the fuck outta here! Underground rap fans are really black and white...by that I mean they think if you dig a certain type of hip-hop then you can't dig another type. Maybe i'm just getting old and adjusting to the whole downloading thing but whatever.

At least I saw Nas rip it.

It's Been A Minute

But the kid is back with a few treats.

First off, here's a pic of me and my girl at the Blu video shoot I mentioned last week.
We're the ones right in the front.

Also, here's a free download of a new Blu song entitled "Bad News Barnes"
http://download.yousendit.com/1DC8335925DDFCFC


Raise your hands if you bought "The Big Doe Rehab"--oh, shit. Don't let Ghostface see you with that burned copy. Dude sounds pretty irrate. Where's the love?

Shit, is pretty funny and sad at the same time. Ghost is supposed to be one of those dudes with a loyal fanbase--what happened? Over-saturation of the market. In about 2 years dude released 3 albums (Fishscale, More Fish, Big Doe Rehab) a Wu-Tang album (8 Diagrams) and a best of unreleased material album ( Hidden Darts). That's like $60 on Ghost related product! Sorry Ghost Deini.

Hold Your Head Lil' Weezy

Dude got caught up on drug charges in Yuma, Arizona last night on three felony counts: possession of dangerous drugs, possession of narcotics and possession of drug paraphernalia!
What the fuck you doing in Yuma, Arizona? You think you're Kurt Russell? Christian Bale? Get the fuck outta here! Look at his mugshoot--i'm suprised he's not arrested more often.

New Jean Grae

Check out this new track off of Jean Grae's highly anticipated 9th Wonder produced album Jeanius. The track is entitled "Love Thirst" in is one of the many songs that was re-done with live instruments...and no samples!! Sounds pretty fresh--I always love when Jean sings.

http://www.zshare.net/audio/651353504b353a/

New Mos Def

After the weird release of Mos' last album True Magic his fans have been eagerly awaiting a new release...wait no longer. Oh No posted these 2 videos on his blog of Mos performing tracks off his album "The Ecstatic", slated to be dropped next month (fingers crossed). The sound quality is a little shitty but I'm glad Mos is pairing up with producers that are mnore on his level. Hopefully the actual songs will be released in the upcoming weeks. Word has it that Kweli should pop up for a guest appearance on the Madlib produced joint (fingers tightly crossed), hopefully this is true because it's about time for a Mos/Kweli collab. Shit, it's been like 5-6 years since they teamed up on a joint! That's too freaking long!

Super Magic-Produced By Oh No


Auditorium-Produced by Madlib

Lupe Fiasco Live!

So I wasn't able to cop tickets for Lupe at The House of Blues but I was able to snatch up this live version of "Paris, Tokyo": http://zshare.net/audio/645186327f1113/

I actually caught Lupe live last summer at the UCLA Jazz and Reggae Festival but was looking forward to seeing hm again since he now has more music to perfrom. I guess I gotta wait 'til his next album drops.

Lupe Fiasco-Sunshine


One of my friends actually saw him ealrier this week at the Jimmy Kimmel Show but was kinda disapointed with his lack of attachment to the crowd and his fans ( I guess she reached out to him but he didn't touch her hand). Well, what do you expect after the way he treated his fans during the whole Tribe/Midnight Marauders debacle? Check this out if you don't know what I'm talking about...which you probably don't since you're not an internet troll like me. http://board.okayplayer.com/okp.php?az=show_topic&forum=5&topic_id=1528807&mesg_id=1528807&page=2


She's the one with the glasses right in the front

Aural Flashbacks Vol.1

Every now and then I tend to go back and re-listen to albums that A) I just haven't listened to in a while for whatever reason or 2) I didn't like the first time. Today I got out early from school so I decided to catch up on some seldon listened to music:

1. Broadcast-Pendulum


An extremely underrated British band that doesn't really have a big following--that I know of. This album happens to fall under the first category--I just forgot about it. It's quite short ( a 6 track EP) but pretty damn dope. I even had to change my default song on myspace after listening to the title track. The lead singer is pretty hot and so is her accent which you barely hear on this EP as only a few songs contain lyrics--the other are instrumentals.

2. Aesop Rock-None Shall Pass


I know that this just came out early in 2007 but I never really gave it a good listen to. This was the first Aesop LP I purchased and I kicked my ass over why it took me so long. The abstract lyricism on this is pretty ill--even though it doesn't make sense at all. Even though I thought it was pretty dope this is the type of album that i'll throw on when i'm cleaning my room or someshit. It's a little too dense for me to just sit down and enjoy it.

3.Interpol- Our Love to Admire


Booooooring! I kinda feel bad because my girl got me this after I couldn't find it anywhere and I only heard it once. First off, i'm a big Interpol fan, of there first 2 records at least, and this was utterly dissapointing. This makes me want to fall asleep. It's funny 'cause I used to play their first album at work when I used to work late and everybody would complain because they would get sleepy. Listening to it again I found it wasn't that bad but I'll probably won'y throw it on until next year.

You're My Boy Blue

So I'm gonna come out in a Blu video. On Wednsday night Blu invited his fans to attend a 'Party' him and Taraach from C.R.A.C Knucks were MC'ing--it turned out to be a video shoot for "Blu Colla Worker"! The shoot was dope as hell, Blu on the mic while Exile was on the 1's and 2's--hip-hop in it's purest form. The shoot then turned into the party that was promised but only for a few hours--the lights went out! I'm not sure what happened but I heard somebody say something about the fuse box blowing out. People were still partying afterwards but then the cops came and well you know the rest. All in all it was a good night despite the damn place blacking out after Exile's third song in his set (which was "Simon Says").

Soon as I get the pictures and video for the shoot I will post.

Until then peace.

P.S This is a pic from an older show

New Del Dropping on 3/11/08

Here's a sneak peak of the tracklisting off Del's new LP coming this March Entitled "The 11th Hour". Despsite the album dropping on El-P's Def Jux label there will be no production from El-Producto on this long-player. It's been 8 years since Del last dropped "Both Sides of the Brain"--his last solo album not counting the Dan the Automator assisted Deltron 3030 and subsequent Hiero albums, and the expectations are high. Here's to a new Del album Boo Boo Heads!

Check out Del's old-skool sounding lead single "Bubble Pop" on http://www.artofrhyme.com/

Del The Funky Homosapien Eleventh Hour track list:
1. Raw Sewage
2. Bubble Pop
3. Back In The Chamber
4. True Endevours
5. Situations
6. Naked Fonk
7. Hold Your Hand
8. Foot Down
9. I'll Tell You
10. Workin' It
11. Last Hurrah
12. Str8t Up and Down
13. I Got You
14. Funkyhomosapien