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.

The new beginning.
The truth is speaking.
You should listen:

Juelz and Just Blaze: "The Second Coming"

Just and Mr Crack really killed it with this one. Recorded for a cheesy Nike NBA commercial, I hear it and I have the strongest urge to..go play basketball..in slow-mo, with Kobe and Nash and 'em..not gonna make me buy ugly basketball kicks, though.

This is my favourite kind of song that I like: the type that I'm initially skeptical about, but within a few days has become my internal theme music. No dope albums yet, but I've heard a couple of tracks in this mould so far in '07:

R.kelly: "don't let go" Nothing amazing, but what can I say; I've got a bit of a soft spot for ya favourite dirty old man.

DJ Khaled and a bunch o' niggas: "We Takin' Over" Nothing new, but a bouncy T.I. verse and catchy Akon hook make the first minute or two worth a listen (skip it when Ricky Ross starts rhyming, though.)

3-6 Mafia ft. Chamillionaire: "Dope Boy Fresh" Dope beat, dope flows, dope video. No complaints here, the Academy Award winners keep it rolling.

M.I.A.: "Bird Flu" Infectious sickness. The title says it all.

Saigon ft. Game and B.G.: "Pain in My Life rmx." Looking forward to the album and this doesn't disappoint. Another solid feature from Jayceon.

Common and Kanye: "Southside"-Superbowl version This has got me excited. Sounds like The Corner, but with added bonus of Comm and 'Ye back-and-forthing like R.A.G.U. or Red and Meth in their prime...Finding Forever and Graduation are gonna be so big-like if it was '05 again!

Having posted these, in hindsight, I don't really like these songs all that much..only a couple I'll still be feeling in a year. Still, fingers crossed, when Dre, Rae, GhostDOOM, GOOD Music, Black Milk, Redman etc (pretty impressive lineup, in theory) start dropping, it should be on and popping. Will put up a few more '07 bangers in my next post.

P.S. Also in hindsight, I realise the picture I've put up with it kinda turns this post into a plug for nike basketball stuff, but heck, I felt uneasy going for the 2nd coming of Christ angle. Chuuch.

Weezy F's taken homoeroticism to anotha level. U gotta love it!

disclaimer: in hindsight the rest of this article has very little to do with Birdman Jr and I reference him merely because, like Lloyd Banks, he makes me smile..NOT.

Mostly went with the major releases, as there wasn't too much of note from the UG (not like anyone sells anymore anyway-it's all about Koch). Also, I was actually starting to agree with Nas on the HHID tip until the 4th quarter cavalry sorted me out. I appreciated that shit:


1. Clipse-HHNF
2. GFK-Fishscale
3. The Roots-Game Theory
4. Nas-HHID
5. Game-Dr's Advocate
6. Lupe-Food and Liquor
7. Jay-Z-Kingdom Come (for old time's sake)
8. Snoop-Blue Carpet Treatment (surprisingly good)
9. Diddy-Press Play (made it OK to dance again)
10. T.I.


Honourable mentions to Jay Dilla (God bless the dead), Rick Ross (sick beats and comic value), Weezy (his '05 album's surprisingly good and his mixtapes rocked), More Fish, Hi-Tek, Busta, Kidz in the Hall, Amy Winehouse, Murs and 9th Wonder..buncha people.

Just been looking at random best of lists my mate made. Included his best of 2000 and I've concluded my best of '06 is better..maybe hip-hop isn't on life support, and with the likes of KanYe, Rae, Common, GhostDoom, Game (not sold enough for a two year hiatus), Lupe, Dre, 50, Ja (I've a soft spot-no "Yayo bring the condoms"-for emo thug rap), T.I. etc to look forward to, '07's looking rosy to me.

Granted there'll be more shitty snap and jigaboo rap, and I'll prob'ly guiltily enjoy some of it, but as long as I don't turn on the radio (or the idiotbox) and avoid small children, I'll be able to keep it out of my life, while I bump H.E.R.

P.S., some necessary listening for B-Boys and Girls. '79 to '06: A hip-hop Odyssey. 800 tracks over 48 minutes; nice

Failed to follow up the fresh as funk first entry, initally through a combination of needing to study (exams in 11 days!), laziness and creative block and, earlier today, because I forgot my username. Thankfully, I didn't forgot that resilience is my middle name (touché!) and I've sorted that out.

Felt driven to 1-up my last blogosphere outing...such a cool word...and if I've learned anything from my favourite bloggers it's to recycle, recycle, recycle. I woke up this morning from a supercool dream and had to write it down, so i posted it on Facebook and now I'm posting it here. It refers to my Irish med-student-guru-brethren James and came to me like a song I wrote:

"Woah! Just awoke from the funniest (in hindsight) dream evarr!! Jimbo, you became an insane composite of Kevin Bacon in Hollow Man (lame Invisible Man ripoff, but with Elizabeth Shue looking hot to trot) and Jeff Goldblum in The Fly (gruesome Cronenberg horror...very funny, though...with Geena Davis looking strangely '80s goofy-hot) in which you were disfigured nastily, but capable of turning invisible...and lost your mind as a side-effect...you were cool with the disfigurement and only seemed to do the invisible thing when you tried to use it to sexually assault the hot defenseless love interest...sure it was someone we/I know, but don't remember. Goldblum made a cameo as a worried friend. Crazy ish!

"Ended with me attempting to restrain your crazy ass (now strangely transformed back to normal Snoop Doggy Jimbo...think I might've forgot to keep you disfigured, or that, subconscious of my subconscious, wouldn't let myself touch dude in icky Fly-looking form). I was forced to let go as you began conversing with the dean of the Uni who handed you a diploma and (this shows your utter insanity-but peace and love to Swindon) made reference to you going off to teach in Swindon...ended there...this'd make for a super low budget flick...on Youtube or summat...could make you a celebrity overnight...and I know that's what you need in your life."

Once I get my exams out of the way I'll shoot a low budget youtube video and use the leverage gained from my subsequent internet infamy to get a movie deal, or (bit of a stretch) A & R gig, or something.

Anyway, in the spirit of rehashing, I'll jump on the bandwagon everyone else was on and big up my fave '06 albums (a week into '07) with my next post. Like listening to Ja Rule, the knowledge noone else is on it anymore adds a refreshing new appeal. Sionara.

That's a Jimi Hendrix quote. I know this because I picked it up off a music quote website 5 minutes ago, while searching for a profound title for this blog. Suffice it to say I gave up on the pretentiousness and, titlewise, went with what I know...kind of. I hail from Malawi and I'm no gravy afficionado, but my little cousin Yorkshire-boy (a clever alias I thought up) is Northern and, though he doesn't love gravy, it would be real funny if he did. Thus the merits of "Northern Boys.." are undeniable.

I hope that makes as little sense in writing as it does in my head. It was important to me to have a cool blog name (if only in my own head) for aesthetic purposes and so I have something to salvage from the experience in the eventuality my verbosity (good word), incoherence or general lack of entertainingness make for poor blogging. I don't expect a huge following, but I'm the worst kind of lazy and will be sorely disappointed if I've gone to the bother of starting a blog and it turns out to be crap.

I'll need a minute to work out how this works, as (doing Economics, Maths and Law) my writing over the last few years has mostly been limited to regurgitating lecture notes and I'm as yet unsure whether to write in journal form (like this) or for an audience, to wit, minus the rambling and giving myself points for usage of big words.

I'm sure as soon as I get past this intro and have more interesting subject matter than me, the posts'll be bringing fire and ice (in a good way). Big ups to anyone still reading this slightly confused inner monologue. Anyway, you need to move onto the next post which I assure you is crazy, sexy, cool, supersuave and supersuccinct. I'm done, peace, 1.