THIS is cheesy and corny as hell..but am lovin' it! 3 singles deep I'm pretty sure Graduation won't disappoint, whether or not it tops his 1st 2 albums. I know Comm'll bring heat and if Fif' and T.I. maintain, maybe '07'll be a good year (by my shallow standards) for mainstream hip-hop.
Bone Crusher - Round
..."Let a choppa go PLOOOOOOWWW! to yo melon
Now the plasma is oozin outta yo cerebellum
AttenSHUNNNNN! Fuck nigga, now you swellin"-Bone Crusher (Never Scared)
..."It was all good just [4 years] ago"-Jay-Z (A week ago)
Just playing, Duke looks so happy it's hard to hate!
Although I hate most of them, I must acknowledge that reality shows are a great way to market yourself, especially when you're as quirky-yet-gangsta as the Three 6 Mafia. I loved "Most Known Unknowns" and their reality show has made me even more of a fan.The extent to which "Adventures in Hollyhood" is actual reality is up for debate and, like Noz, I find some aspects of it disappointing, but their humour and honesty is endearing and definitely won me over. So much so that I've been bumping their back catalogue the last few days; a few highlights for me:
Sippin' on some syrup (ft UGK) This was my intro to the group and the video sparked a sippin'-from-baby-bottles trend at my boarding school...of course I was too cool for that.
Ridin Spinners (ft Li'l Flip) "They don't stop!" In a word, infectious. With this blowing up just as Crunk and Dancehall were, it was all rims, grills, plane-signalling and 2-stepping in '03...feeling a little nostalgic like the old man I am.
And something new, like they never left: Like Money
This is more like it...but is this T.I. or T.I.P.?
0 comments Posted by Randy Watson as Bob Digitech at 12:05It is Clifford Harris feat Wyclef (looking very Isaac Hayes), I'm sure "You Know What It Is"
Transcript of a funny conversation about the distinction between T.I. and T.I.P., courtesy of Narrowcast:
Al: http://nahright.com/news/2007/05/21/june-xxl-covers/
TIP WEARS A HAT
TI DOES NOT
Senor Pants: TI makes pop records like why you wanna and TIP makes pop records like what you know
Al: lol
Al: TI scowls and wears an expensive watch, TIP scowls and wears an expensive watch
Al: it should've been "T.I. tilts his hat to the left, T.I.P. tilts his hat to the right"
Senor Pants: TI dances like an idiot in young dro videos and TIP dances like an idiot in TI videos
Al: lol
Senor Pants: lolol
Al: T.I.P. makes songs like "Big Shit Poppin'," T.I. makes radio edits like "Big Things Poppin'"
Senor Pants: i hope 50 cent reiterates his remarks about studying "split personality albums" and how they don't sell
Senor Pants: hahaha
Al: 50 Cent is shirtless and covered in baby oil, Curtis is just shirtless.
Rambo 4 Trailer
Got to hand it to my namesake for pulling off a Rocky and a Rambo picture in the space of a year at his age. He apparently got caught with a bunch of steroids while filming the Rambo picture, though. I can imagine the 'roid-rage might have got the better of him while working on the action scenes...pretty graphic stuff!
"I don't think you understand. I didn't come to rescue Rambo from you. I came here to rescue you from him."-Troutman (First Blood Part 1)
On a completely unrelated note...Weezy-"Did it before" (Prod. by K.West)
Don't show 'em, don't tell 'em, just do it...
0 comments Posted by Randy Watson as Bob Digitech at 13:59
Dude's 2 and 0 on the Graduation singles:
Can't Tell Me Nothing took a while to grow on me, but I admire dude for stepping out of his comfort zone and still killing it. Lyrical storm akin to Diamonds on the last record...shame about the video, though!
Stronger is a lot like Golddigger in that it's just irresistable as a dance record and is destined to get muchos overplayed...I'll probably still like it, though! Heard Daft Punk will feature in the video and I'm looking forward to it.
"I'm still the nigga that you love to hate-but can't because you love what I make"-KanYe West
UGK ft Outkast: "International Players' Anthem"
0 comments Posted by Randy Watson as Bob Digitech at 15:22
I've longed for years to stumble across my purpose in life and dedicate myself to it. If it's not coming to me, I might aswell create it, by way of an entity separate from self that will exist purely to achieve the goals set by the movement. Sounds like a crock of shit, but bare with and I think these plans are going to achieve successful fruition through shear force of will.
I can't be specific at the moment as things are still being thought through at this stage, but I'm quite excited by the prospect. To quote Ra's al Ghul, "If you make yourself more than just a man, if you devote yourself to an ideal, you become something else entirely."
More Than Music-Dipset
"Alone"-Ja Rule ft Irv, Ashanti, 7 and Harry-O (who!?)
The Inc. was one of my favourite guilty pleasures circa-3:36/Pain is Love...matter of fact, I'd say that of most generic gangsta-rap with great beats and catchy hooks (I see you Curtis!), so I'm glad to hear this throwback to "Down 4 u" style smoothness.
The song's littered with Imus-level mysoginy, but after clever and extensive analysis, I've concluded that it's necessary to the track's core existence as a cryptic work of social commentary re the paradox best expressed by Eve and X on "why do good girls like bad guys?".
why is this the case?
why the masochism?
well, to put it in layman's terms: Pain is Love...genius, bravissimo!
I don't believe that anymore than you do, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it. the crux of the matter is whether Jeffrey's set to come back like Jordan, wearing the 4-5. It's a certified banga to my educated ear, but it's all down to whether the laffy taffy generation can appreciate it's subtlety. I hope they do.
The end of Uni signals an end to my school boy era and the requirement on my part to take on the mantle of responsible manhood with mouths to feed. Game needs to be stepped up and I'm both daunted and excited by the seemingly limitless possibilities. Time is on my side-for now-but I don't want to sit around and waste it. No more free meals, so no standing still.
Push-Pharaohe Monch
Just finished what-potential resits permitting-should be my last exam evar! Done with the School of Social Sciences and on to Postgrad at the School of Hardknocks. Gives me more time to post and to go find a J-O-B.
stronger-kanye (a.k.a. golddigger '07!)
southside-common ft. kanye (more G.O.O.D. music)
return of the hustle-fabolous ft. swizzy (just blaze is incredible!)
keeping me going.
Think I'll leave this one short and sweet and catch up on some sleep.
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.
Not that I don't like the album. Great concept and the sequencing of the title track followed by "Who Killed It" and then "Black Republicans" gave me goosebumps. Just that I don't lurv any of it. Gives me the kind of enjoyment I get from Corrinne Bailey-Rae...in a bad way
nas: "thief's theme"
nas: "hip-hop is dead"
