Boombox, V4

Here a couple of good tracks that you should know about, if you don't already.

Ghostface Killah - Mighty Healthy

Mystic - The Life

Ice Cube - It Was A Good Day

Jaylib - Raw Shit Feat. Talib Kweli

Gravediggaz - Bang Your Head

Chris Clements Top 5, V5

After a few weeks of being M.I.A. Chris Clements is back with a top list.

There has been a lot of buzz around Drake lately. A lot of love and a lot of hate. I am personally a fan and can't find a reason not to like him, and judging by this list, Mr. Clements and I are on the same page.

The "New Drizzieee"

1) Drake - Ignant Shit Feat. Lil' Wayne
2) Drake - Going In For Life
3) Drake - Congratulations
4) Drake - Uptown Feat. Lil' Wayne & Bun B
5) Drake - Throw it in the Bag (Remix) Feat. Fabolous

New Joints

Here are a few new tracks I came across. Check them out.

Beanie Sigel - In The Ghetto - A grim track. Horrific beat (I don't mean this in a bad way). The title speaks for itself. Sigel and the ghetto on this one.

Ghostface Killah - Baby Featuring Raheem DeVaughn - A slight shift in style for Ghostface. Although he does have some slow songs I've never seen him on a track with an autotune hook. Raheem DeVaughn can sing. Why did you jump on the autotune train? Atleast the beat still feels like a Wu-Tang head banger.

Slaughterhouse - Cut You Loose - In short this track is the groups view on the recent direction of hip-hop and some major players involved. All four parts explain it from different perspectives.

OB4CL... II & BP III

With the release of Raekwon's "Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... II" a few weeks away a few more tracks hit the world wide web. Check out "Catalina" featuring Lyfe Jennings and "10 Bricks" featuring Ghostface Killah & Cappadonna. Catalina was produced by Dr. Dre, 10 Bricks by J Dilla and also doubles as the album version of "The Red" on Jaylib's Champion Sound.

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On a different note, I found yet another leak, this time from Jay-Z's Blueprint 3. Brace yourself for potential disappointment in the beat and chorus, however, the lyrics aren't bad at all. I'll let you be the judge. I expected better production from Timbaland. This sounds like something amateur made in Fruity Loops.

Jay-Z - Reminder

Check Out: Brooklyn's Finest

Jay-Z is one of the most well known rap artists in the game, and arguably the most popular east coast rapper in the past decade. His first big break was being featured on a Big Daddy Kane track in 1994 and was featured on a few other songs before the release of his first album in 1996. That year (June 25th) he released "Reasonable Doubt" under Priority distribution and Roc-A-Fella records. The album featured production by DJ Clark Kent, DJ Premier, DJ Ski and more and also featured the Notorious B.I.G. This was the beginning of Jay-Z and Notorious B.I.G.'s positive relationship.

Lyrically, Reasonable Doubt depicted the life of a hustler, which was way more prominent in hip-hop in the mid to late nineties. Making money by all means necessary. Sean Carter's lyrics venture heavily into the street life - drug distribution, gun talk, women. Critic Steve Huey quotes "writing some of the most acrobatic rhymes heard in quite some time." Example? "My dough flip like Taek-won" & "I make you and your whack mans fold like bad hands" (Dead Presidents II), "Like short sleeves I bare arms" (Brooklyn's Finest), and...

"Yo, I'm making short term goals, when the weather folds / just put away the leathers and put the ice on the gold / chilly with enough bail money to free a big willy / high stakes, I got more estate than Philly / shopping sprees, coping three / deuce fever IS's fully loaded, ah yes / boucing like Lex Luger, tires smoke like buddha."

-Can't Knock the Hustle

Aside from astounding lyrics referencing the gritty realism of growing up in the projects of Brooklyn the production value of Reasonable Doubt raised the bar in hip-hop during the mid nineties. Clark Kent, Premier and Ski were all heavyweight producers at the time. There was also production by Irv Gotti, the Hitmen, Big Jaz, Peter Panic and K-Rob while some of the samples come from Isaac Hayes, Marcus Miller, Snoop Dog, O.D.B., NaS and The Ohio Players. Notably, Jay-Z was only known through the buzz he created in the underground rap scene. Needless to say, Jay-Z stepped up to the plate and impressed producers and the public alike.

Reasonable Doubt did not achieve immediate commercial success, however, it was acclaimed as an instant banger by critics. The Source and Blender claim it as one of the best hip-hop albums of all time and Rolling Stone magazine placed it as the 248th best album of all time. Jay-Z managed to live up to the hype. He rose from the New York City underground rap scene and hopped onto to Billboard with one of the best achievements of his career. The success of Reasonable Doubt and Jay-Z's passion and talent led to a contract with Def Jam, which earned him a spot as president on the label.

Singles from Reasonable Doubt:

Ain't No N*gga

Can't Knock The Hustle

Feelin' It

I also recommend:

Dead Presidents II

Brooklyn's Finest

Off That

Jay-Z released the next single off of the Blueprint 3 titled "Off That". The single features Drake and was produced by Timbaland. The beat is a typical Timbaland style beat and Drake only performs on the hook. Not your typical Jay-Z track. The Blueprint 3 is set to be released September 11th. Hype.

Jay-Z - Off That

Hip Hop History 101

As some of you might know, I am an avid skateboarder, and if you skateboard then chances are good that you know about and/or frequent The Berrics. It is a skateboarding mega-site that has numerous features. Anyways, one of them is called Hip Hop History with Dante Ross, who has been involved in hip-hop music since around the time I was born. The point of this post is to direct your attention to his clips on The Berrics that tell stories and give you all the facts of how it used to be. If you don't know, now you know.

Hip-Hop History with Dante Ross

Slaughterhouse

For those out of the loop, Joe Budden, Crooked I, Royce 5'9" and Joell Ortiz released an album on August 11th under the group name "Slaughterhouse", which is also the title of the album. I just picked it up recently and so far it sounds promising. Check it out, it features production by Alchemist, Streetrunner, DJ Khalil and more. Solid lyrics, solid beats. Detroit, Jersey City, Brooklyn and Long Beach unite. Do it up.

Slaughterhouse - Not Tonight

No Sampling!

In light of my recent post about sampling, my friend Kellen Barrett linked me to an article about 6 songs that never managed to get the copyright cleared. The link is here. The AZ track titled "You World Don't Stop" is a personal fave out of the six. Check em out and download them for free at the bottom of the article.

New York City - Back In The Game

In the recent years New York City has been in a hip-hop hiatus. 50 Cent even said that New York "fell off"... While admittedly, New York rappers have not enjoyed as much success as their Southern neighbors like T.I., Rick Ross, Lil' Wayne and so forth, it seems as though New Yorkers have been coming out harder than ever lately. Jay-Z preached "Death of Autotune", the Wu-Tang camp dropped a new, and solid album, and most importantly, New York rappers are working together after years of disagreement.

Here are three recently released tracks, all from New York rappers, featuring New York rappers.

Raekwon - House of Flying Daggers (Featuring Method Man, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck) - Produced by J Dilla, to be released on the highly anticipated "Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... II"... This track is 2009 hammertime.

The L.O.X. - Move - The L.O.X., consisting of Sheek Louch, Jadakiss and Styles P, have been heavily involved in hip-hop for over a decade, whether it be as the L.O.X., D-Block, or in their solo careers. Its nice to see the three team up on this track produced by J. Cardim.

M.O.P. - Bang Time (Featuring Styles P) - This is exactly what I expected from M.O.P., hardcore hip-hop featuring L.O.X. member Styles P. You might remember M.O.P. by their biggest hit titled "Ante Up".

Sampling

Ever since hip-hop music rose from the streets and block parties in the Bronx in the 70's and 80's, sampling has been used by some of the greatest producers and DJs. Grandmaster Flash contributed greatly to the popularity of sampling in the 1980's. In this day and age sampling still thrives in hip-hop music through artists like Kanye West, DJ Shadow, 9th Wonder and more. For those that don't know, sampling is when you take a portion, whether it be the vocals or an instrument from another song and alter it for use in a new song. Basically, if you ever hear a song that has a high pitched sounding voice or maybe you recognize the drum line or chorus from another song, chances are good it is a sample. This sound can be achieved with the use of a sampler machine or with computer software.

Though sampling often sounds good, one major downside is that the legality behind it is often questioned. Technically, rights to the song have to be given to the producer that wants to sample the song. There has been many sampling related lawsuits in hip-hop music, although it is often shrugged off.

Kanye West is often credited for his use of sampling, which appears on the majority of his beats. One of his most famous are "Touch The Sky" from his album Late Registration. Touch the Sky samples Curtis Mayfield's 1970 track titled "Move On Up". An attribute to Kanye's sampling is that he commonly uses old R&B and Soul jams to create a new age sound.

Here is a short list of some songs produced by Kanye West that use samples.

Common - They Say / Ahmad Jamal - Ghetto Child

Jay-Z - Ain't No Love / Bobby "Blue" Bland - Ain't No Love (In the Heart of the City)

Jay-Z - The Takeover / The Doors - 5 to 1

Kanye West - Touch The Sky / Curtis Mayfield - Move On Up

More prime exmples of sampling are from artists like DJ Shadow and his album titled "Endtroducing.....", which is 100% made from samples. The album is all instrumental and was praised by critics and fans alike. Although some of the samples on this album are more discrete than others, here is one of my favorites.

DJ Shadow - Organ Donor / Giorgio Moroder - Tears

Other classics that have been sampled:

DeBarge - Stay With Me has been sampled in numerous tracks such as "MVP" by Big L, produced by Lord Finesse, on the Notorious B.I.G.'s "One More Chance Remix" and more recently Ashanti's track titled "Foolish".

During live performances the Roots incorporate Curtis Mayfield's track titled "Move on Up" into their hit single "The Seed 2.0". Live version seen here.

De La Soul - Eye Know / Steely Dan - Peg

DMX - Ain't No Sunshine / Bill Withers - Ain't No Sunshine

The Fugees - Ready Or Not / Enya - Boadicea

Lil' Wayne - Receipt / The Isley Brothers - Layaway

Nas - Rule / Tears For Fears - Everybody Wants to Rule the World

UGK - International Players Anthem (I Choose You) / Willie Hutch - I Choose You

I'm sure by now you are thinking that sampling is more popular and common than you thought. Since the 90's sampling has been used often to create hip-hop music, whether it be a large and obvious sample, or a subtle sample using only a minor element of a certain song. Regardless, sampling was, and will continue to be popular in hip-hop music, even though they are saying that the art is dying out. I personally enjoy a nice sampled track.

Slacking...

Sorry for slacking off so hard lately. I just got back from a trip to Montreal with some friends. Saw The Roots and K'Naan among other artists. I can easily say that this Roots performance was the most energetic and lively performance I've ever seen in my life. Words cannot describe how amazing their stage presence and overall liveliness of their performance was. Anyways, I really don't have much of an update set for now, so maybe just enjoy these few tracks.

Wale - Night Life

Nas - Let There Be Light

Lil Wayne - This Is The Carter