50 Cent = Hilarious!

I know its hard to detect sarcasm over the internet, but my post title is in fact sarcasm. I found this clip yesterday.

It is a clip of 50 Cent and his reaction to Fat Joe's latest album titled J.O.S.E. 2 (Jealous Ones Still Envy). Like me, you are probably wondering "what have hip-hop beefs become?".

Hello World

Two quick things.

One, check this track. Its a bonus track from Kanye's Graduation album only released in the U.K. apparently. Why was today the first day I've heard of this? Its a nice mellow track with Mighty Mos.

Second, to all the rude boys out there, my friend Kellen directed me to a video link that shows a collaboration between Nike and Dizzee Rascal in light of his latest release titled Tongue N Cheek. Dizzee will be getting his own Nike Air Max 90 colorway, which looks like a white and grey sneaker with some Cheeky themes. The Air Max 90 is a timeless Nike shoe that has been prevalent in hip-hop culture since its release in 1990. Check out the clip.

Check Out: Ready to Die

During the early 90's hip-hop was dominated by the West coast scene. From N.W.A. to the Digital Underground, and everything in between. 1994 was a critical year for the East coast as the some of the biggest names in hip-hop emerged out of New York City. Nas released the instant classic "Illmatic", along with breakthrough albums from Jeru the Damaja, Gang Starr, and one of my favorite albums of all time - Ready to Die from the Notorious B.I.G. (born Christopher Wallace). New York City quickly became the Mecca of hip-hop and all eyes were on Biggie.

Ready to Die hit the shelves on September 13th, 1994 under Sean "Puffy" Combs Bad Boy label. The album is said to be autobiographical and relies heavily on storytelling, like many B.I.G. tracks on other albums. The albums lyrical content is generally loose in the sense that he raps with no regard to censorship. Some tracks are extremely vulgar while some are deeper and more personal (example: Juicy). Regardless, his delivery is sharp and to the point. The Notorious B.I.G. is also praised for his ability to rhyme numerous words throughout very few lines, exhibiting one of the best flows in hip-hop. The albums production was also generally well acclaimed. Handled mainly by Sean "Puffy" Combs and Easy Mo Bee, who brings a more funk(ish) element to the albums production. The beats merged with lyrical content make this album a true East coast classic.

Ready to Die enjoyed strong commercial success going quadruple platinum and receiving generally rave reviews and later praised by critics as one of the best rap albums of all time. After listening to the album once in entirety it isn't hard to understand why. Some of the tracks on the album are truly compelling stories revolving around drug dealing (Everyday Struggle), homicide (Warning, Gimme the Loot), suicide (Suicidal Thoughts) and struggle (Juicy) - just ignore the sex skits.

Singles off Ready to Die include: Juicy, Big Poppa, One More Chance

I also recommend: Warning, Machine Gun Funk, Gimme the Loot

Bonkers

Dizzee Rascal is one crazy bastard. His latest album, titled "Tongue N' Cheek" was released in the U.K. yesterday (no idea when it hits the Americas) and has been pretty well acclaimed. From the three singles I've heard off the album Dizzee takes a small shift from his standard U.K. grungy garage style and throws in some house/electro music in the mix with some songs produced by Calvin Harris and Armand Van Helden. The first single off the album was released a few months back titled "Bonkers"... The Rascal isn't for everyone, but I sure love this guy.

"Super Lyrical"

XXL compiled a list of Jay-Z's best verses. That probably wasn't easy considering his eleven studio albums and an excessive number of features. Check out the list and song samples. A nice read indeed.

"Super Lyrical"

More 'Ye and Swift Stuff

So by now everyone knows about Kanye's mishap at the VMA's. Everyone is digging into him pretty hard. Although I don't agree with what he did, I'm sure he is sincerely sorry for doing what he did. We shall talk about it no more.

I did come across this on YouTube, assuming its 100% real, I got a nice kick out of it.

For all you up and coming rap stars, stay away from the Hennessy at award ceremonies. You might make a drunken mess of yourself.

Boombox, V5

Outkast - The Art of Storytelling Part4

Big L - Holdin' It Down (Feat. Miss Jones, A.G., Stan Spit)

Black Rob - Can I Live (Feat. The LOX)

Geto Boys - Still

Wu-Tang Clan - For Heavens Sake

People Under The Stairs - The Next Step II

Enjoy some classics.

For the Children

This one is way better, and ahead of its time. Ol' Dirty Bastard in his prime.

If you're gonna interrupt the show, have the courtesy to do it pre-speech.

Kanye at the VMA's

My friend Kellen told me about this... It just happened about 20 minutes ago, I'm sure more will materialize, but for now check this link and video.

Kanye & Taylor Swift

Damn man!

Enough Beef... V2

Could you imagine hip-hop without any feuds? Now-a-days rappers are verbally attacking each other like it was about to go out of style. As a result, I'm going to post some beef diss tracks and explain them further for y'all.

Fat Joe VS. 50 Cent - In 2004 Ja Rule released "New York" featuring Jadakiss and Fat Joe. The song subliminally dissed 50 Cent which led him to retaliate with his song "Piggy Bank", which dissed Ja, Joe and Jadakiss along with Shyne. I am in fact kind of amazed that 50 responded so harshly to this, talk about being a real shit disturber. The release of Piggy Bank led Fat Joe to respond with his track called "My Fofo", which down right attacks 50 Cent, no filler. In the song Piggy Bank 50 attacks his targets with multiple violent threats and also says "Got a hundred guns a hundred clips, why I don't hear no shots, that fat n*gga thought Lean Back was in the clubs, my shit sold 11 mil, his shit was a dud. Jada don't fuck with me if you wanna eat, because I'll do your little ass like Jay did Mobb Deep." That's basically as direct as it gets. Check out the tracks for yourself, its not hard to assess what is going on. The dissing gets more malicious as time goes on.

T.I. - I'm Talking to You - Produced by Just Blaze, easily one of the best T.I. songs that actually display super-sick flow. During this time T.I. and Ludacris were beefin', but I'll get into that later. T.I. specifically mentions rappers that he is not dissing. "I ain't talking to Jigga because thats my n*gga the real president Carter", which seems like a blatant Lil' Wayne diss (Wayne's last name is Carter). He also says "In the video wearing a white tee that don't make you no dope dealer", which could apply to Rick Ross, Wayne, and Lil' Flip, who all rock white tee's in videos and the fact that Rick Ross is a self proclaimed massive drug dealer... sure. Listen to the track for yourself and you'll know what I mean - Wayne, Flip and Rick Ross do not get name dropped on T.I.'s "cool" list. As for the Ludacris dispute, check out Young Buck's song titled "Stomp" where T.I. and Ludacris diss each other during their parts. As a result this version was canned from the album and T.I. was replaced with the Game on the album version.

That's all for now. I need to get back to some school work. More to come in time.

Recent Releases

In the past week or so there have been a lot of big names putting out new albums. Many of them being overshadowed by the hype of Jay-Z's Blueprint 3. I feel obliged to let you guys know of a few other releases that have caught my eye, and in my opinion hit harder than the Blueprint 3.

For the Wu-Tang Clan fans out there check out Raekwon's "Only Built For Cuban Linx... II", easily his best work since the first OB4CL. The album features hip-hop legend Slick Rick along with the likes of East coast heavyweights Beanie Sigel, Jadakiss and Styles P. The album also features the majority of the Clan, minus U God, RZA and O.D.B. (R.I.P.), but adds Wu-affiliate Cappadonna to the albums roster. The album, to me, ventures into the Wu-Tang I fell in love with. I'm talking about the Wu-Tang "Forever" style, flow and beats. The album is executively produced by the RZA (big surprise) and features a handful of beats from J Dilla's (R.I.P.) catalogue along with Dr. Dre, Marley Marl, The Alchemist, Erick Sermon, Pete Rock and more. I urge you to pick this album up, it is, to me, what 2009 hip-hop needed.

Check out these tracks: We Will Rob You, New Wu, Kiss The Ring (which samples Elton John's "Yellow Brick Road")

Also, fresh out, is Beanie Sigel's "Broad Street Bully". I've only went through the album no more than twice, so I cannot really give much of a critique. I wasn't disappointed though. Check it out for yourself and let me know how you feel about it.

Finally, the Blueprint 3. I've heard so many mixed emotions about this album. The leaks and singles don't do the other songs on the album justice. Jay still delivers solid lyrics (on some questionable beats), sometimes I feel like he ran out of things to rap about, but for a man approaching 40 this year he is still putting out some decent material. I can honestly say that I love his track "Empire State of Mind", however, I can't say that any of the other songs on the album have struck me like Blueprint, Reasonable Doubt, or the Lifetime series Jay-Z has, but hip-hop has changed and Jay has aged. The direction of the BP3 is not meant to be like any old Jay-Z, and I think that everyone was hoping for old Jay-Z, and under Kanye's direction I doubt that Jay-Z would be moving backwards. That is my two cents.

What's Good?

Sorry for the lack of updates, I went the past week without any internet or anything and I am also busy with getting back to school and so on.

I promise more updates to come, however, for now enjoy this link that Jon Sparks sent me.

Simpsonized Rappers

Speechless

I came across this article on the Hypebeast forum yesterday... I was left somewhat speechless.

Kanye's quote about Soulja Boy kind of made me cringe.

I really don't even know where to start. I never thought I'd even have to say both Kanye West and Soulja Boy in the same sentence, let alone say that they are exchanging work. Admittedly, Soulja Boy has had some decent beats, however, none of which were produced by him. Comparing the bunk ass "Crank That" beat, which was produced by Soulja Boy himself to a beat like "Kiss U Thru The Phone" produced by Jim Jonsin who also produced T.I.'s "Whatever You Like".

If this news is true and Kanye's final product ends up pushing some Soulja Boy inspired work then I feel hat Kanye's credibility in the hip-hop world will drop significantly, stooping to Soulja Boy's level. The only thing Kanye can offer to Soulja Boy is an album with top notch production. The lyrics and flow are still going to be repetitive, boring, and all-round terrible.

September 3rd

With the release of the Blueprint 3 a week away and the fact that it already leaked has made Jay-Z the talk of the town this month. It is no surprise that he has an interview in the upcoming XXL mag, due to hit shelves September 15th. You can read he interview RIGHT HERE. Real talk from Jigga Man.

Also, Beanie Sigel's "Broad Street Bully" and Raekwon's "Only Built For Cuban Linx II" are out (or leaked). I'll let you know how those go once I listen to them enough.