Run This Town

Three days ago Jay-Z's second single titled "Run This Town" from the Blueprint 3 dropped featuring Kanye West and Rihanna. The track is pretty solid. Produced by Ye himself Mr. West spits harder than Jay. Atleast D.O.A. was harder than hell.

Run This Town

Weekly Top 5

I haven't seen Chris in a few weeks, nor have I received any Top 5's from him for last week or this one, so I guess I'll do one.

5. Dr. Dre - Keep Their Heads Ringin'

4. Wale - Hot Shyt (Featuring Black Thought, Peedi Peedi, Tu Phace & Young Chris)

3. Dru Down - Can You Feel Me

2. The Fugees - Killing Me Softly

1. Wale - Life's A Bitch (Featuring Talib Kweli & Joell Ortiz)

Ps. Listen to all those analogies in "Hot Shyt".

Check Out: From the City of Compton

"The worlds most dangerous group," N.W.A. rose to fame in the mid-to-late 80's and are credited as the godfathers of gangster rap. The group comprised of Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, MC Ren, DJ Yella, Eazy-E, D.O.C. and Arabian Prince (although only for a few a short period of time) and hailed from the mean streets of Compton, California. In 1988 N.W.A. released their second and most successful studio album "Straight Outta Compton".

There is little reading between the lines with N.W.A., they used excessive profanity and their lyrics revolved around the social struggles of those around them in South Central Los Angeles. If you need examples check out the tracks "Fuck the Police" and "Straight Outta Compton". The album was also praised for its quality production, which was handled by DJ Yella on the turntables and Dr. Dre. "Straight Outta Compton" revolutionized West-coast hip-hop and influenced a generation of rappers from southern California.

"Straight Outta Compton" is an essential album to anyones music collection. The album redefined West-coast and gangster rap and also shifted attention from New York to the West-coast scene. In 1991 the group disbanded after a dispute between Eazy-E and the rest of the group (with the exception of DJ Yella). A series of bitter diss tracks were released between Eazy-E and Dr. Dre but surely ended once Eazy-E passed away due to AIDs related illnesses. Hostilities between the group members came to a halt multiple collaborations between old members of N.W.A. were released.

"Because you my n---a Doc, and Eazy I'm still with you.

Fuck the beef, n---a I miss you, and that's just bein real with you"

-Dr. Dre - What's The Difference

Straight Outta Compton

Gangsta Gangsta

Express Yourself

MCA

MCA, one of the Beastie Boys frontmen, announced the other day that he has cancer in his salivary glands. In effect the Beastie Boys cancelled all upcoming shows and delayed their upcoming album titled "Hot Sauce Committee". Thankfully, he is expected to make a full recovery and his voice shall be unharmed. This means no Beastie Boys at Osheaga this year, which in my opinion is a major blow to the Sunday portion of the concert.

Osheaga's website.

New Roots, Baby!

I hate to basically copy my buddy Kellen's blog, but The Roots put out a new track for their upcoming album titled "How I Got Over," which is coincidentally the name of the song. Check it out. Maybe they'll play it live for since I'm seeing them in not even two weeks. The album also drops on my birthday. Must be a sign.

The Roots - How I Got Over

Get some.

PS. Check Kellen's blog that I linked in the post and read his C-Note article and try and figure out which quote is mine.

Today Was A Good Day

This is awesome for two reasons.

Check Out: Through the Wire

For those that didn't know, Kanye West did not start his hip-hop career as a rapper. West emerged into the game as producer, known for his classic R&B and soul sampling. His first major single was on Jay-Z's "The Blueprint" titled Izzo (H.O.V.A.), which was a tremendous success for Jay-Z and Kanye himself as the track basically became Jigga Man's anthem and enjoyed a nice chart performance. Kanye also produced the song "Ain't No Love (In the Heart of the City)", which samples Bobby Bland's classic "Ain't No Love" and also the "Takeover," which appeared on the Blueprint. By 2002 West was a renowned producer, but not recognized as a rapper.

In 2002 West was involved in a car crash that almost took his life. This fueled his first ever rap single titled "Through the Wire", which Kanye raps with his jaw wired shut (and basically hardly sounds like the Kanye that we hear in any other songs). The song sampled Chaka Khan's "Through the Fire" and spent a significant amount of time on the charts. Kanye's dedication and surprising lyrical talent led him to get a studio album released by Roc-A-Fella records in 2004. This, of course, was "College Dropout," which went triple platinum since its release. The album received positive reviews, getting an "XXL" rating from the magazine XXL, which is the best rating possible and was also praised by critics like Rolling Stone, Time Magazine and Pitchfork, to name a few.

The albums production was handled solely by Kanye himself. The album contains a high percentage of tracks that were sampled from older songs, which is a trademark of West. The lyrical content of the album ventured away from the gangsteresque style and focused more on wordplay, metaphors, fashion, religion and struggle amongst African Americans - a style that remained consistent through West's later albums.

The most successful single off of the album was "Jesus Walks," which was praised by critics for its bold lyrics that pushed the limits on what was really said on singles that made the radio/music videos. The song was used in numerous movies and commercials over the years and received a Grammy for Best Rap Song. This album proved Kanye's skill and his dedication and willingness to rise to the top and do things his own way. Now look how far he has come.

The album produced five singles:

Through the Wire

Slow Jamz Featuring Jamie Foxx & Twista

All Falls Down

Jesus Walks

New Workout Plan

Back To The Feature

I read about an up and comer named "Wale" (pronounced wah-lay), from Washington, D.C., in a Spin magazine I picked up a few months back and didn't think much of it. However, Wale recently put out a mixtape called "Back to the Feature". The mixtape is free for download on Wale's website. I urge you to download it. Twenty-two tracks, all money. Awesome production, cameos, and hip-hop.

Chris Clements Top 5, V4

Chris sent me the 4th installment of his top 5's. He says that Fabolous is one of his favorite rappers of all-time, therefore, this list is in his honor.

1) Lullaby - Fabolous Feat. Alchemist
2) Throw it in the Bag - Fabolous
3) Diamonds - Fabolous Feat. Young Jeezy
4) Feels Like Im Back - Fabolous
5) Brooklyn - Fabolous Feat. Jay-Z

Check Out: New Jersey's Finest

I was thinking on my car ride home today what I could do for my next update. Surely enough I came with the idea to do a write up about an album that is either important to me or hip-hop in general. Pretty straight forward, right?

The first album I want to cover is "The Score" by The Fugees.

The Score was released in 1996 by my personal favorite rap trio, The Fugees, which consisted of three New Jersey residents; Pras, Lauryn Hill and Wyclef Jean. It came two years after their first album "Blunted on Reality", which did not receive nearly as much praise as The Score. The Score has sold almost 19 million copies world wide since its release over thirteen years ago.

The Fugees, alongside Wyclef's cousin, Jerry Duplessis, handled the majority of the albums production and direction. The style of The Score is much more unique than the standard hip-hop album in the mid 90's. The beats contain a more "jazzy" and "reggaeish" flow with soft drumlines and a wide variety of samples from artists like Enya to the Moody Blues. The album also contains two cover songs. One being "Killing Me Softly With His Song" performed by Lauryn Hill and the second being "No Woman, No Cry" by Wyclef. Putting two cover songs on a studio album seems like a pretty bold action, none-the-less, both versions are amazing, especially Hill's performance.

From a lyrical perspective the album ventures into storytelling, politics and social struggle. All three "Fugees" have their high points on the album, but as many of you would expect me to say, Pras does not deliver as consistently as Hill and Jean - it is no surprise that he gets the least amount of words in on the album.Wyclef Jean uses several different approaches on the album when it comes to flow and lyricism, just listen to his part(s) in "Family Business" and find out for yourself. And of course there is Lauryn Hill. She raps, she sings both so well. The album also features the likes of Omega, John Forte (who served 14 years jail time), Diamond D, Rah Diggah, Young Zee and Pacewon - all New Jersey and New York City natives.

The Score was a commercial success and was well received by critics. Unfortunately the success of the album could not keep the group in tact. They eventually split up and pursued solo careers (Lauryn Hill and Wyclef's was much more successful then Pras'). The success of The Score could easily be attributed to the wide array of samples used to create an incredibly unique sound complimented by three rappers that simply knew how to rip mics on the daily (catch the track reference there). In short, The Score is amazing. Its album sales speak for itself. The thirteen tracks and three bonus tracks make this album well worth the ten dollars it will cost you at HMV (or your local record shop).

The three singles that you might have heard or saw on TV:

Fu-Gee-La

Killing Me Softly With His Song

Ready or Not

...

Hey all, I don't really have anything to post right now, I've been busy with work and visiting some friends along with seeing Paul McCartney in Halifax yesterday. I'll have some new stuff soon. I'm thinking about starting a weekly routine of some sort relating to hip-hop. Check back soon.

Chris Clements Top 5, V3

I'm a day late with the Chris Clements Monday special, my bad. Here is this weeks top 5 from Mr. C who also urges you to check out the hilarious Ludacris video. Here we go!

1) The Lounge - Asher Roth

2) The Blast - Talib Kweli

3) So Far To Go - Common

4) One More Drink - Ludacris feat. T-Pain

5) Frontin - Pharrell and Jay-Z

Bad News Brown

I have a feeling this track is going to take the club/party scene by storm if it gets around. Montreal rapper Bad News Brown - Touch Her Body video with a cameo from my favorite french rapper, Booba, from Boulogne, France. I have mixed emotions about this one, but it sure is catchy.

PS. I also feel weird going from praising Wu-Tang's latest to showing the video to this track... whatever though.

Boombox, V3

Alright guys, I can't stress enough how stoked I am over Wu-Tang's "Chamber Music". Aside from the list I am about to give you guys go and get a copy of "Chamber Music" now.

OutKast - Flip Flop Rock (Feat. Jay-Z & Killer Mike)

Verses (LA The Darkman, Ras Kass, GZA, Scaramanga & Shallah)

I Really Mean It (Cam'ron & Jim Jones)

Westside Connection - Gangsta Nation

Chamber Music is Here

June 30th marked the release of the Wu-Tang Corporation's "Chamber Music". I managed to get a hold of it today and must say that this is what I have been missing thus far in 2009. The album features most of the Wu-Tang Clan with the exceptions of Method Man, Masta Killa and of course the late O.D.B. Its production is what you would expect from any Wu-Tang album, executively produced by the RZA himself - a nice mix of piano loops, action flick samples and a beautiful east coast feel (with a hint of jazz). On the album you can find guest spots by renowned artists like Sadat X, Cormega, Kool G Rap, M.O.P., Tre Williams, Havoc, Masta Ace and Sean Price. Therefore it is safe to say the album is New York born and bred. Get it and enjoy it.

Sound The Horns - Sadat X, U-God and Inspectah Deck

I Wish You Were Here - Ghostface Killah & Tre Williams