Damn It Feels Good To Be A Gangsta

Just when I was getting down about the lack of new flavour, them good folks at Nike save my ass again with a throwback repping hip-hop past, present and future. Another coupla thinly-veiled sneaker promos like this (word to Rakim Allah "In the fresh pair of Air Force One sneakers") and I just might go pick up some kicks.

"Classic"-Kanye, Nas, KRS-1 and Rakim over a Preemo beat..yes!

link to the superfresh vid

Pre-uni, I had no access to early 90s rap (apart from all the 2pac stans), so I was happy to let the likes of Mobb Deep, Snoop, Raekwon (most of Wu-tang come to think of it) and the like wallow in mediocrity, because as far as I could tell, that's all they'd ever done.

Only relatively recently have I turned into a grumpy old KRS-type dude, pissed off at the lazy cunts as they drown in iniquity, putting out 2 or 3 star albums that get 4/5 in XXL and Vibe when (10 years ago) they could do so much better.

Was enjoying the sales figure slump (shitness of the music had to catch up with them eventually) until I realised we're 2 months into '07 and noone's had the balls to drop an album yet. Should we be worried? Not sure whether I prefer no hip-hop or loadsa shit hip-hop; good philosophical question.

[If they're that scared of going triple wood, everyone should just go the Koch route ($7 an album, baby!)]

Out of curiosity, do you (dear reader) prefer Hip-hop is Dead to Streets Disciple? I know a lot of people didn't like all the emo ish on SD, but I feel like it had more dope beats and I liked the introspective ish. To me:

Thief's theme > Hip-hop is dead
Just a moment > Can't forget about u
UBR > Who killed it,

and generally

Salaam Remi > Will.i.am

I wonder because I've noticed people seem to think HHID's a bit of a triumph. Is that just the "controversy" and "debate" sparked with sensitive Southern rappers?

With regards to Esco, I have a different view to most fans/stans as (blasphemy), living in my mud hut in my little African village as I did, I didn't get my hands on a copy of Illmatic until 1st year uni ('04), so right up to Streets Disciple I judged his albums on their own, rather than their relative merits.

I consider Stillmatic (the version after MJB mercifully made Nasir remove BH Party because she didn't want beef-by-association with Hov) and The Lost Tapes classics. To me, God's Son, SD (disc 1, Thief's Theme and that Maxwell track I always boogie to: "Sly's back again, for the laaadies! Doooin' it!"), and to a lesser extent, It Was Written are pretty solid.