Damn It Feels Good To Be A Gangsta

"On Thursday (July 19), sources confirmed that Kanye West's Graduation LP has now shifted from September 18 to September 11. You might remember that, not too long ago, Interscope Records pushed 50 Cent's album Curtis back one week from September 4 to September 11. Let the games begin." - MTV News

Sweet! Clearly Jay-Z's playing "chess not checkers" at Def Jam and going all in to knock Fif' off his pedestal. Curtis has always used his superior sales to claim that he runs hip-hop, so it's a put up or shut up type of situation. If 50 "loses" by selling less than Kanye, by his own standards, it'll mean 'Ye's more of a big deal and could officially mark a decline in his relevance.

Kanye doesn't have the same pressure to sell, as his bragging tends to relate to the quality of his music more than to his album sales. Also, unlike Curtis, his 1st couple of singles have generally had a positive response.

Whatever happens, it should be interesting to hear how Curt tries to undermine his opponent in the next few weeks. Don't know if it quite qualifies as irony, but the 'Assacre was the last new album I bought - put me off paying for music - while in this case I'm hoping the boy gets egg on his face. Will defo kop Graduation, if only for that purpose.

Royce da 5'9 - Ding Ding
Canibus - 2nd Round Knockout

"...your main objective out here is to do nuttin' but eat eat eat eat MC's, for lunch, breakfast..." - Iron Mike to Canibus

The hip-hop's been a bit quiet for a minute, but there's still plenty of goodness to go around:

Sa-Ra are the future as far as I'm concerned and their "Hollywood Recordings" (which is only meant to be the album before the album) is as good as anything I've heard this year. Glorious is arguably the standout track.

Back to the old school with Stevie's funky-as-hell "You Ain't Done Nothing", addressing Nixon I believe, but universally applicable to dodgy politicians everywhere. Genius.

Got into Stereolab after hearing Pharrell mention them in an interview and I'm sure glad he did. Wouldn't class them in any particular genre other than good music. Les Yper-Sound from "Emperor Tomato Ketchup" is poppy, infectious and sublime when it's sunny.

Madlib's "Uno Esta" is another great summer tune, this one an instrumental off the 1st Yesterday's New Quintet album.

Fade by Joe Beats is another great instro; real mellow and chilled out.

And to close it out with a bang, I'll end on an afrocentric tip with some Kwaito music from South Africa; ideal for the rumpshaking:

Hip-hop Pantsula - Lefatshe Je (Kentphonik Mix
Pitch Black Afro - Matofotofo (I like to think of this as Woohaa meets Kick in the Door)
Kabelo - Pantsula for Life (Cadillac music for folks that don't drive cadillacs).

Camp Lo's "Uptown Saturday Night" mixed R.D./In My Lifetime-era Jay-Z production (courtesy of Ski, who produced Dead Presidents) with Wu Gambino stream-of-consciousness raps and flows Pun'd be proud of. In short I liked it, with Sparkle my favourite track. They've leaked a new single: Black Hollywood & I'm looking forward to the comeback.

Big Narstie v Coldplay - Spun A Web remix is a beautiful example of what happens when you mix grime and piano rock, taken from Narstie's "What's the Story Brixton Glory", where he also raps over the likes of Oasis, The Verve and (gulp) James Blunt.

j_dilla-say_it_feat_taraach_and_exile is from duke's mostly instrumental "Jay Loves Japan" EP. Like James Brown and Ray Charles in recent times, I had love for Dilla while he was alive, but sadly didn't fully appreciate how important he was until he had passed on. Phat Kat's "Nasty Ain't It" has another sick Dilla beat. It's from his new Carte Blanche album, which along with Black Milk's Popular Demand shows Detroit repping in '07.

Mobb Deep's "The Illest" was off their "Free Agents" mixtape in 2002, which for me was 1 of their better efforts this decade. Like too many rappers these days, P and Hav seemed more comfortable here, making the songs they wanted to make, than on their albums 2nd guessing what record buyers want and ending up producing mediocre common-denominator music. It's an epic song that, played loud, has a similar impact on me to "P.S.A." and "What U Know": makes me feel like I'm THA SHIT. A great quality for any song to have.

R.Kelly feat Snoop - Double Up. As recently as "Chocolate Factory" and "Happy People" I enjoyed Kells' albums, but since then either he's fallen off or I've outgrown him (my favourite Boondocks episode might have something to do with that) or both. Still, this track, though predictable, picks up where "That's That" left off and is hard to hate.

Some new ish, starting with the reigning monarch. Great beats, great hooks and the flow's impeccable. Shame about the verses though. Sonically, I think this album's dope, but the content never roams far from how good it is to be Cliff right now and/or how lame it is to be any other rapper/hustler/whatever. No rhymes that blow your mind, but it's fun.

The split personality theme worried me going into the album, but it doesn't sound too fragmented. Would say though that I enjoyed the TIP songs more than the TI ones.

If this guy's the Jay-Z of the South, then the last couple of albums've been Vol. 2/Vol. 3 level fare: very good, but I'm waiting on the Blueprint.

My favourites:

Help is Coming. Reminds me of the title track from Kingdom Come, not least for the epic Just Blaze beat.

Tell 'em I Said That. Timbaland can take a break if Danja's going to be producing tracks that bang like this on the reg'.

Respect This Hustle. Another Danja track, but on a laid back tip here. (Didn't intend that pun).

Slept on Dizzee's first 2 albums - schoolboy error (I'm on a roll!) - but fortunately appreciating this 1; perhaps too much. Started listening to this 4 or 5 times but only ever gotten about halfway through. 1st half's so good I'm gonna assume it doesn't lose momentum and call this a dope album.

Didn't like grime production and this previously put me off, but I'm acquiring a taste for it with help from Stretch Nav the G.O.D. Beats, hooks, flows, rhymes...all there and really sick:


Old Skool




Sirens



"Stand up for something or for anything you'll fall
But definitely know when not to lose your cool
Cause it ain't what you show its what your conceding
Put a smile on the deepest negative feeling
Stand tall even when they're hating and they're scheming
Yeah watch your money rise right to the ceiling" - Dizzee Rascal

Nuff said.

Been a busy week and not posted in a minute so thought I'd put up several at once.

This one consists of a few of my favourite remixes, starting with the 9 Milli Bros. Went to see them last night and it didn't disappoint...Meth stagediving, GFK threatening the scallies in the crowd, GZA filming a documentary and a Bob Digi DJ-set consisting of tracks from the forthcoming "8 Diagram" were some of the highlights for me. As such, Wu's been my theme music the last 24 and I'm feeling Da W remix right now.

The crowd was rowdy as hell, which was no surprise. Not too many producers bring the ruckus like the RZA, but Marley Marl's NY Shit remix is some virtuoso elbow-throwing music.

More mellow, but still pretty sick is Kwame's remix of Lauryn Hill's Lost One...miss them good old days before she was just another rapper with a wack live show.

Also got mad love for Dangermouse's version of It Ain't Hard to Tell. I know it's blasphemous, but I think I like it more than the original off Illmatic.

"How can hip-hop be dead if Wu-Tang is FOREVER?" - Good question, courtesy of The Abbot.

"The general who thoroughly understands the advantages that accompany variation of tactics knows how to handle his troops." - Sun Tzu (The Art of War)


So not only is the Unit kinda dead, but Fif's pushed back his album, having realised that young folks have outgrown him as well as his crew. It was inevitable, as the mainstream market's always looking for something fresh. He applied a "don't fix what ain't broke" mentality for a few years and had a lot of success with it, but now he's got so repetitive that listening to his new records gives you déjà vu:

Fully Loaded Clip. Here he disses every rapper he can think of in the hope somebody with thin skin responds and and gets him some buzz (see Piggy Bank).

Amusement Park. Magic Stick/Candy Shop style fare where he cleverly compares his sexual prowess to a fairground ride (as opposed to a stick or a lollipop). He could create a whole subgenre here, based solely on crude references to anything with a passing phallic symbolism...so many fruits and vegetables he could work with!

Straight to The Bank. Dr Dre club banger with infectious hook, a la In Da Club/Outta Control rmx. Unfortunately, Yayo's contribution to the chorus here is infectious like syphilis.

So far he's tried controversy, sex, money...none of them have grabbed people's attention and I can't see anything Curtis can do that will. He's destined to flop and after the numerous occasions he's dissed rappers for having wack sales, I look forward to dude eating humble-pie in September, October, Nevuary...whenever the album does drop. Dude might have to stick with the movies after that. Don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed some of his music, but one-trick ponies do tend to get boring, word to Ja.

Jay Smooth keeping it all the way Holyfield with regards to Russell Simmons and negative lyrics i.e. harsh poetic realities.



"Music is a mirror, and hip-hop is a reflection of the environment that we grew up in. It's the harsh realities that end up in the music." - Courtesy-Curtis Jackson.

Would probably like it more if I saw the "making the video" to get the gist of what's going on, though. Looks like a mish-mash of In Da Club [surgery], Boy (I need you) [Tokyo], Promiscuous [wall posing], Toxic [motorbikes]...and random Japanese folk protesting summat or other.

My favourite walking-around-with-a-sick-tune-blasting-in-ma-earrrphones music right now are the leaked tracks off Finding Forever and this vid increases the anticipation. Makes me wanna holla at the good folks of Bradford as I pass them by; give 'em pounds, cuddle their babies...but the likelihood of assault litigation, paedophilia incarceration and eventual deportation put me off slightly. Still, a bangin' single.

This is my favourite one of the leaked tracks: "Misunderstood". Great Nina Simone sample, produced by Devo Springsteen who did the beat for Diamonds on Late Registration. More power to him.

"Nobody believe, until I believe me"-Common, The People

I'm an optimist, hence the comparison of rap music to rock, as I quite enjoyed '90s rock, from the grimy:



to the...not-so-grimy-&-kinda-wack...



...though not as wack as what happened to jazz. Comparing rap to soul would be difficult, as whether that story had a happy ending or not is largely dependent on where you stand on disco and cupcakin'...so I stick with rock'n'roll.

To my mind, rock's recovery from hair-metal needs to get mirrored by some of the urban music folk..but who'll drop the rap equivalent of Nevermind? Who'll play captain save-a-hip-hop?

...probably not him.

Can't be certain who'll spark it, but with a few good, new, preferably New York (-sounding) producers and a few good, new artists who can pull off the miracle of being original and commercially successful (so the sheep bite rappers I actually like)...



...we'll be back like cooked crack...or the Smashing Pumpkins.

To conclude, I've failed to come up with any concrete solutions to the fight against lyrical wack juice, and to quote Kurt Cobain:

"We have no right to express an opinion until we know all of the answers."

However, it's been a lovely exercise in (cerebrally) interfering with myself and made me feel quite perky.

Willie Hutch-"I Choose You"
(UGK-"Int'l Playas Anthem")



Edwin Birdsong-"Cola Bottle Baby"
(Daft Punk-"Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger")
(Kanye-"Stronger")



Al Green-"Wish You Were Here"
(Consequence-"The good, the bad and the ugly")

“I did a whole concert in Atlanta with my fly open, and I had a black suit on and a white shirt. My white shirt was protruding from the fly.”-Al Green, keeping it all the way real.