Better Than Butt Sex

Now It Is Official!

2008-12-04T18:08:00.002-04:00

BTBS is back, bitches!

(but not here, so click the link above....... bitches)

Goodie, Goodie Gumdrops

2007-08-02T11:11:00.001-04:00

[Deleted, 'cause that shit don't work no more.]

Hovstradamus: The 5 Best Lyrical Jokes Jigga Had on the World

2007-07-30T23:11:00.000-04:00

So, I had myself the beginnings of a piece that was going to do nothing but take cheap shots at Straight Checkin Em and proceed to actually attempt an argument at why T-Pain was better than KRS-One. Perhaps I'll still finish and publish it one of these days, but for the moment, I'll make myself content by assuming that Straight was joking as much as my original post that flared him was. I just finished the Harry Potter book, so to try and take that kid seriously is more fantasy than I can deal with. Besides, like Jay-Z, I'm doing best just to stay hater-free*, so I'll leave it for another day.

HEY!

Speaking of Jay-Z, the more I listen, the more I'm inclined to think that certain lines have to be the biggest practical jokes over. Like, dude could look into the future, then he laid out those lines. I mean, it's either that or the man was an unfortunate victim to immediate ironies and uttered some of the most humorous contradictions/predictions ever. You decide.

1. Jay-Z & R.Kelly-"It Ain't Personal"

Man, they go and tell me, like
You never know who your true friends until you, ah umm,
Both got a little bit of money.
I mean cause y'all both broke,
Then there's no strain on the relationship, y'all both broke.
And if you got money and he ain't got no paper
He still needs you so you'll never know how he really feel about you.
When y'all both get some paper, you'll see...

Taken from the first collaborative album with R. Kelly, Jay-Z must've penned this verse as some sort of crazy caveat concerning their relationship if they were to make another album. When they did, and this occurred, it was as Jay had predicted. Just replace "broke" with "pretty damn rich" and "got money" to "stanky rich," and you've pretty much got the tale of the Best of Both Worlds Tour.
The best part? The two haven't done anything together since then. Try and tell me that "it ain't personal."

2. Jay-Z-"So Ghetto"

You see I live for the love of the street,
Rap to the ruggedest beats.

Maybe he thought no one would notice? Or maybe, just maybe, Jay knew that he would shirk off the Primoes and Skis completely for Pharrells and 'Yes. Maybe he knew that he would record the intro for that Fallout Boy album. And maybe he even knew that, somehow, four years later one of the hardest songs he'd do would be made by the guy who scored the Dixie Chicks a grammy this year. And just by the time his fans got the joke, they got "Umbrella" stuck in their head and forgot all about it.

3. Scarface feat. Jay-Z and Memphis Bleek

We'll get right into the proceedings this evening

0:00-the track begins
0:07-the above mentioned line is stated
0:45-Jay-Z stops talking and actually proceeds with the rapping

4. Jay-Z-"Momet Of Clarity"

Truthfully I wanna rhyme like Common Sense
But I did five mill' - I ain't been rhymin like Common since

Unless, you know, you count spitting weak bullshit rhymes over whack-ass Kanye West beats rhyming like Common. But he couldn't have seen that coming...could he?

5. ~~Memphis Bleek feat.~~ Jay-Z-"Dear Summer"

Gimme couple years, shit I might just sneak in,
A couple words and like peaches and herb,
We'll be reunited and it feels so hood.
Have the whole world saying "How you still so good?"

Funny, that's exactly. what . the . critics . said.
Or Jay-Z, with all his silly dry humor, decided to make Kingdom Come flop, just so we could appreciate that line of his a little bit more...

Food for thought. You know, mull it over for a bit.

*But still, watch what you say to me.

I Keeps It Really Real Like My Last Album

2007-07-26T14:23:00.000-04:00

Just a little somethin' somethin'.

I know it's just some a capellas matched with a different beat, but this fits too damn well (I wonder if there's an mp3). While I won't even try to compare this to the original version of "Ha"--which has an entirely different appeal--I will venture to say that this is far better than either of the "Ha" remixes from Juvenile's first album. Not that that's a hard threshold to reach. This beat's 9 years old and I could still listen to it over and over again every day, no matter who's on it.

And man, this makes me wish that we could get an actual Grand Puba, Mannie Fresh collabo... strange as that would be. (Clearly the song would be about pussy.)

Musings on the state of the city in which I live, among other things I suppose.

2007-07-24T00:39:00.000-04:00

Fresh's real talk made me do some thinking, and no I'm not referring to the fact that I've been by far the least prolific contributer to this blog, though calling me out definitely made me at least get started on this post. Anyways, I've had a few thoughts rattling around this noggin of mine, and I've decided to voice them here, let's see what I can shake out of the cobwebs:

First of all, by far the most interesting aspect of what was otherewise one of the year's bigger disappointments (I'm referring of course to TI vs. TIP, though the album was by no means bad...you may have heard this opinion before, but I digress) is that it, hopefully not temporarily, resuscitated two MCs who I had believed to have fallen off considerably just a year back. Listen to these guest spots:

The first one I have here is actually more important than the second, but both are significant. Both Jay-Z and Busta Rhymes released thoroughly underwhelming albums in the year of '06, and both were in places that seemed distressingly telling of them loosing their once prodigious talents. Busta had found himself in some gangsta rut, while Jay seemed content to rest on his laurels and not even try to earn the title that he had already assumed would be bestowed upon him when he returned. This is why Jay's story is also more interesting, because this verse is the first where it is apparant that the backlash against the Jigga Man has set in, and he isn't thrilled about it. What it seems to have done is, rather than simply make him defensive in a "washed up rapper" kind of way that happens often, has actually rescucitated, if even if just for this song, the swagger. The one he never really lost but had become stale with the "mature" steps he had taken on Kingdom Come. What impresses me most is that the prospect of Jay swiping back at his detractors is still thrilling, especially when he makes such mentions in this verse, and those rappers (you know who you all are) better be ready, I don't think he's gonna let you guys off easy with another Brooklyn High (at least I hope not).
Busta's isn't as compelling, but it shows that the man can still spit a wicked double time, and if he wants to rap about beating people up, I find that to be much more believable than hearing about all those coke deals he never performed. Hopefully he'll approach his new work with the same vim, and maybe I'll wanna listen again. I think I"m allowed to be at least a little optimistic.

While on the subject of New York Royalty, Saigon finally released his first single, and god bless it's better than fucking Pain In My Life was ( though Elijah brought up the good point that most people will probably be listening for that Just Blaze production moreso than any sort of rapping that Saigon will be doing, though I enjoy hearing him on the mic). Also, I would find it eternally amusing if the crown of the city was placed not on all of these aforementioned guys vying for the throne but upon this head instead:

The video is up because the only really good evidence of Lil Mama's talent is in the accapella section that is only in the video. Now, I'm not saying that she doesn't have some growing up to do, certainly the city of New York is not gonna be brought back by a song about a women's cosmetic product, but she's got the raw skill that other young guns on the ups around here (Mims, I'm looking at you) seem to lack. She's also only seventeen, girl's got some time, and I know I'll at least keep an ear open in her direction for a while. Also, the pure delicious irony of a woman winning the much-sought title of "King of New York" is far too entertaining for me not to at least hope for, however distantly.

Of course...there's still hope that the real rulers of this city will return, and I know we'd all welcome them back with open arms:

That's right bitches, players only beyond this point.

Beef, What A Relief

2007-07-22T12:49:00.000-04:00

You know what you need to learn?
Old School artists don't always burn.
You're just another rapper who's had his turn.

Oh, it's on now... or something.

Personally, I generally feel that rap blog beef is about as unworthy of my time as anything. I mean, online arguments are already just about the height of dorkdom, and all that sets an argument on a couple of rap music blogs apart from a bitter disagreement over which Final Fantasy is the best, or whether Superman or Goku would win in a fight, is that rap bloggers feel a need for a veneer of street toughness that usually isn't there. After all, you're still bitching someone out over the internet.

On the other hand I, like most people, don't really like to let someone talk shit without giving some kind of a response. I know that Nazty Fresh is probably gonna jump all the fuck over this shit, but I'm gonna put in my two cents first.

So, apparently going against the grain and being willing to appreciate a newer artist is "ignorance," ya'll. News to me.

Now, I don't necessarily agree with everything that Nazty Fresh says, in fact, I've been a major fan of KRS-One's for quite some time now. Chances are good that I've listened to Edutainment, Sex & Violence, I Got Next, and other lesser Kris albums more times than most of the people who still defend the man's crazy actions today. But shit, man, I even bought Spiritual Minded, and listened to it, (more than once!!) and yet I still haven't quite gotten around to listening to Hip-Hop Lives yet, even though I'm sure that it's a better record. I think this says enough about what KRS has done to his own image of late to prove that he ain't infallible.

While we're on the subject, have any of these angry men actually listened to a T-Pain record? And anyone who says "I don't need to hear it to know it's shit" is clearly ignorant--in fact, I think that's the definition. I mean, come on ya'll, even Phonte likes T-Pain! (Do... do ya'll still like Little Brother? I know I do, but I always lose track of what the angry purist crowd is into.) Sure, T-Pain's funny as shit, but is that a bad thing? Man clearly knows he's a goofy motherfucker, whereas KRS-One takes himself too damn seriously.

Not that a comparison between the two of them is really something that merits too much discussion anyway. Apples and oranges. I'm pretty damn sure that Nazty Fresh was making a joke about how disparate they are; not something worth getting oneself into such a little bitchfit over.

But I'm already giving this shit way too much attention. I'm one of those few idiots who thinks that the internet can be home to actual conversations, and people discussing their differing opinions. I'm a dreamer. So now I'm gonna just step away from it, and it's whatever--the Fresh One can take it from here. Besides, if I really wanted to be an asshole, er... Checkin, I would repost your comment with the grammar and punctuation fixed for greater impact. But I'll be nice.

You Should Rap Like This, You Should Rap Like That

2007-07-15T22:16:00.000-04:00

Talib Kweli - "Hostile Gospel"

Talib Kweli - "Country Cousins" featuring UGK

Talib Kweli - "In the Mood"

Talib Kweli - "More Or Less" featuring Dion

Talib Kweli - "Oh My Stars" featuring Musiq Soulchild
Eardrum, 2007

I know I’ve been gone awhile, and the game’s been missing me (just play along, ok?) so I apologize. I guess there just hasn’t been much in rap music that’s really grabbed me recently—sure, I’ve liked the odd single here and there (can’t get “Krispy” outta my head) but shit, I haven’t even gotten together the energy to listen to T.I. vs. T.I.P. yet, or even that new Kardinal mixtape that I’m actually excited about. The problem is, as shit piles up I end up feeling less entitled to listen to whatever’s new before I plow through all that other stuff. But, when I… copped (yeah, that’s it) the Eardrum advance the other day I just decided fuck it, I’d listen to it right away and stop burying myself under a gang of “to-listen” lists.

I hadn’t even been particularly excited about Eardrum, as the heroes of my old backpacker days had been pretty steadily disappointing over the last few years, and my own tastes have moved on real far. But I tried to give the new Kweli a chance, and it ended up surprising me a bit. On "Say Something" he spits "They say I’m back, but I ain’t go nowhere"... uh, Kweli, yes you did, but thankfully Eardrum is a return to form… but I'm not sure it's a form I care about anymore.

"I smack internet MC's and beat bloggers"? Eh, better than being smacked by a ho at a G-Unit party. Ok, that was too easy, but I've got it out of my snarky, internet-addled system now, so let's move on.

It’s hard to go back to a past version of myself that would hate who I’ve become insofar as music tastes are concerned. If my high school, backpacker self could see my current Weezy-jocking, “Wipe Me Down”-singing, immensely-annoyed-by-Mos Def self he would be shocked and appalled. But I decided to try to channel that version of me a little bit, because it was back then that I loved Talib Kweli. Truth be told, I was a major stan.

I’ve changed alot since then, but I do still bump Black Star, Reflection Eternal, and Kweli’s first album a good deal. So the question becomes, can Kweli do anything for me without the nostalgia factor involved? Short answer: yes, but I didn't like this album anywhere near as much as I would have a few years ago. His beat selection's improved, and he's still doing that "unfocused but conscious" thing that Noz hates so much, but he's doing it well again, in my opinion. The record didn't make too big an impression, but it was a good listen.

Things start off with the unsurprisingly low-key "Everything Man" where he laments how he can't be everything to everyone... thank God, this means he's back to his niche. But things really start to pick up with the Just Blaze produced "Hostile Gospel". The song's got some nice bombast and isn't particularly about anything, and it works. It's also an example of the album's main problem--in beats and rhymes the song's good, but there's nothing that'll really stick in your mind either. You won't be singing the hook, you won't be quoting the lyrics.

"Country Cousins" brings in a bootleg Pharrell singer to spice things up, along with UGK of course. I make no secret of loving UGK, but I think this is actually one of Kweli's best performances on the record. Maybe having the southern trailblazers there helps to even out the nostalgia so it doesn't turn into "grumpy old man rap" (which is its own sub-genre). A chill guitar driven, country-ass track doesn't hurt either.

Kweli, of course, goes deep into some conscious rap territory. I would've eaten up the "feed the kids" laced "Eat To Live" once upon a time, but now it all comes across as a little tired. Could be worse though. It's followed by "In the Mood", which picks up the pace a good deal. I liked this track, actually. A good vibe. But then after that comes "Soon the New Day", which has to feature motherfucking Norah Jones. Sigh. This story of one night stands and their upsides and downsides still would've worked, despite the added singer, if Talib hadn't felt the need to put in some fucking ridiculous cultural references here and there. Larry the Cable Guy, Kweli? Really? Is that what's up in the streets right now?

The major highlight of the album's second half comes in the form of "More Or Less", which is a reunion with Hi-Tek. It has some similarities to the earlier mentioned Just Blaze track though... so that probably says something. It's followed by "The Perfect Beat" which features KRS-One. Goddammit, why couldn't these two have made a song seven years ago when I was a cornball and they were my favorite MCs? It's not a bad collaboration, but the title is awfully strange for a pair of rappers whose major failing in recent years has been beat selection. Of course, they're not actually talking about the beat... to talk about the actual track is far beneath such men. (That only happens on, gasp, dance songs!)

"Hot Thing" is ok, but loverman never fit Kweli that well... oh, and bootleg Pharrell is back. But then that leads to "Oh My Stars" featuring Musiq Soulchild. Even with Blake's favorite on the hook, this is, unsurprisingly, the corniest shit ever. So I've included it for ya'll. I could see being into this if I was in just the right mood... but there are better such songs. Thankfully, the record ends on a good note with "Listen!!!" (regrettably missing a DJ Khaled cameo). I thought that Kwame had been dragged out of retirement to produced this, but a Wikipedia search showed that he's been racking up production credits recently--few of them good. Nonetheless, he brings a good track with a well-used vocal sample (those always get me).

All together, a good listen, a nice reminder of the Kweli of old, but nothing that will really stay with you. You might see me walking down the New York streets in a nostalgic backpacker-ish mood, with a fake beard and dark glasses... and when that time comes, I might just be bumpin' this.

If You Say "Real Talk," I Probably Won't Trust Ya (Unless You're Nazty Fresh, Naturally)

2007-07-14T11:12:00.000-04:00

If you're wondering why the ATL is runnin' shit, you clearly haven't been on a dancefloor in years.

(That's all for now, but I'm comin' back real soon.)

Whatsamatta me? Whatsamatta You?

2007-07-12T21:01:00.000-04:00

Rap elitists, hip-hop purists, old men and people with opinions can suck a dick at this one.

Real Talk for the Summer 2007

1. T-Pain raps better on this one track than KRS-One did for most of ~~his career~~ Hip Hop Lives.

T-Pain-"Mr. Downtown"

Maybe it's because I'd take a good-old fashioned sex rap over some political nonsense any day, or maybe it's because T-Pain is the best Singer/Rapper/Songwriter/Producer/Entertainer this side of Prince.

2. Since that UGK album's never coming out, Curtis is still poised to be the hottest thing this summer.
Think about it. You may be afraid, but you know it's true.

3. In a summer ravaged by Hurricane Chris, why haven't enough people been talking about really fucking good Southern songs like this?

Juvenile feat. Mannie Fresh-"Who Can I Run To"

(Ex) Cash Money is running this rap shit.

4. The only track where T.I. sounded remotely non-comatose on T.I. vs. T.I.P. was that one with Nelly.
You know, that one with the wannabe Neptunes production.

5. Rappers are saving their best shit for R&B (gasp!) songs these days.

Lloyd feat. Lil Wayne, Big Boi & Chamillionaire-"Get It Shawty (Remix)"

Other examples include the remixes (take your pick) to "Last Night," Ludacris's and Huey's guest spots on Double Up and

6. If it wasn't for Slick Rick, "Hip Hop Police" would've been pretty shitty.
While we're on the subject, "Ridin'" wasn't even that great of a Chamillionaire song. Gotta love Krayzie though.

7. These days, I'm beginning to think Scott Storch can do a better Dr. Dre than Dr. Dre can.

Papoose feat. Snoop Dogg-"Bang Out" (Prod. Scott Storch)

Where you at, Dre? The answer better be 'working my ass off on making Detox the most mind blowing shit ever.'

8. Kanye West is slowly turning to shit. "Can't Tell Me Nothing?" Shit. "Stronger?" Shit. The "Can't Tell Me Nothing" and "Alter Ego" Mixtapes? Shit. His guest verse on T-Pain's "Buy U A Drank (Shawty Snappin')" Remix featuring UGK? Shit.

The most frightening thing about this cover is how much Kanye looks like another notoriously shitty-rapper-slash-pretty-good-producer, Timbaland. And not like I need to tell you- but Shock Value? Shit.

9. Crime Mob needs to get some respect.

Crime Mob-"Circles"

Brandon Soderberg's post on Crime Mob's "Circles" was on-fucking-point. Good work, bro.

10. Professor Nazty Fresh is the only nigga keeping the lights on with this blog.
Petro?
Elijah?
Y'all there?

Better Grab Your Umbrella...

2007-07-07T11:13:00.000-04:00

Fat Joe Strikes Again

(Thorton) Family Circus (Lord Willin' Edition)

2007-07-02T17:09:00.000-04:00

Crack rap this.
Crack rap that.

It sucks.
It's unimaginative.
It's not good for the children.

In a world where my say is always right, I think they call that reality, all three of those opinions are wrong. The problem is people just aren't looking at it in the right way.
But words and logical arguments are on a level of pedantisim I chose not to take today. Instead, I'll show you how the magic of crack rap can turn the most painfully uninteresting and wholesome piece of (midly retarded) Americana, like the Family Circus, into a dark, brooding slab of one-panel drama and intrigue. Enjoy.

"Ego"

Note how cool, collected and midly frightening Billy becomes as he tells his weed-carrying buddy about some sucker who met his end when he got greedy.

"Comedy Central"
More than good for cheap laughs, using the words of The Clipse enable readers to really feel Dolly's pain as she has no one left to lament to but the bird on the window about all the smack-riddled dead bodies she's accountable for.

"Virginia"

This panel pairs both Billy's love for threatening one's mortality with Dolly's nihilistic acceptance of violence. She smiles as a way to show the futility of fighting death.

"I'm Not You"

A strip dealing with the crippling effects of Postpartum Depression, Thel's conflicted nature in poisoning the fudge Billy unrelentingly demanded is evidenced in her internal dialouge. The juxtaposition of Thel's tall stature and Billy's stout constitution helps play into this. As does Jeffy's position in the middle. My money's on he knows too much.

"Young Boy"

A little backstory development, this strip helps establish the twisted characters of Dolly and Jeffyby explaining the character of Grandma, a woman who nurtured her children with tea, buttered english muffins and glock nines (resting on her lap).

"When The Last Time"

Incest, clearly.

I Can't Forget Today I Shot That Bad Bitch Down

2007-06-27T15:09:00.000-04:00

Johnny Cash - "Cocaine Blues (live)"
At Folsom Prison, 1968

Damn ya'll, sorry I just haven't been around. For some reason I just haven't been too motivated to write much about music recently... it might be because there's not alot going on (and what there is has been getting covered plenty well as is). It might also be because myself and the rest of the gang here have been getting out most of our snarky complaints in person--we need to work on that. (Real life's also been getting in my way recently... bitch, bitch, bitch.)

Anyway, since I don't have anything too interesting to write on my own at the moment, I'll point your attention to a very interesting and well-written post by Brandon Soderberg at the newly-revamped hiphopmusic.com.

Rap & Country

As a rule, I really don't listen to much white folks music. Dunno why, the bulk of it just never spoke to me (even though it maybe should). That said, I've been a Johnny Cash fan since way back in the day. (Granted, when it comes to Cash my own "back in the day" is still pretty late in his career, but it is years before he died, so that should be something.) Anyway, while the Soderberg post is good because it goes beyond comparing rap and country in terms of the old "Johnny Cash talked about killing people!" argument, I'm still posting one of my all-time favorite songs, because I feel like it.

I know, I know, it's already a classic album and I'm not exactly presenting you with something obscure, but the Man In Black dropped the b-word way back in the 60's........

uh, bitches.

I'll Make You Hit A Note Like Minnie Ripperton

2007-06-19T19:42:00.000-04:00

Missed us?

Under the pleading of Elijah, who requested the next BTBS post contain good music lest we lose the respect of our readerbase (the three out of the eight that aren't personal friends anyway), I racked my brain for quite some time as to what could be posted to follow up Whistle Week.

Mojoe, a duo repping San Antonio, Texas, seemed like a logical choice. Consisting of Easy Lee and Tre, they describe themselves as "The Roots meet Outkast over dinner with Marvin Gaye at D'Angelo's house," a line-up of hip-hop and R&B that, if true, I couldn't be mad at. Of course, their debut classic.soul.ghetto is not the promised musical medley. I'm sure if they were I would've have found out about them based off the strength of something more respectable than the cool colors of some online banner.

But they are damn good to listen to.

Mojoe-"Gumbo Groove"

The appropriately titled "Gumbo Groove" is the kind of effortless funk Mojoe was meant to do, four minutes of smooth guitars, 70's bass, porn bongos, sung hooks and fun raps. Though neither Lee nor Tre are the best rappers, singers or lyricists they put all of what they've got together to create something that most artists today lack- style. classic.soul.ghetto is front-to-back cool-as-hell jams. Good to vibe to, good to get down to.

Mojoe-"3rd Coast Anthem"

What's most surprising about Mojoe is how unSouthern the group sounds, particularly considering the success it has received recently. In fact, "3rd Coast Anthem" 's buzzing bassline, piano keys and slighly Parliamentish chorus sound more akin to the left. The shit's still crazy dope though.

Mojoe-"Funky Lac"

Whatever sound they're behind though, their drawls still keep the affair below the Mason-Dixon. And the content often reveals their down home roots. "Funky Lac" finds Mojoe trading lines about their whip of choice, "Gold Tooth Diva" and "Voodoo Coochie" (goddamn I love that title) talk about those southern ladies, and "True Jewels" reminisces about lost legends like Marvin Gaye, Curtis Mayfield and DJ Screw.

So, yeah.
There you go. No sarcasm. No rapper bashing. Just good music y'all should peep.

Whistle: The Saga Begins

2007-06-11T14:25:00.000-04:00

Whistle - "Rest In Peace"

Whistle - "Just Buggin'"

Whistle - "Barbera's Bedroom"
Whistle, 1986

Whistle Week concludes!

What better way to end a week that began with a Star Wars parody then back at the beginning? Today we cover the self-titled Whistle, otherwise known as where it all started. (No idea what "it" is, though.)

Since I was the first one of us to think of downloading a Whistle album, I was the one lucky enough to get the first, and by far most tolerable, of their records. First of all, it has the utterly bizarre "Just Buggin'" which I elaborated on before, and which is most assuredly the highlight of their catalogue.

But don't get it twisted, these fools were churning out softbatch R&B from day one, apparently. The 10-song album breaks down like this...

Tracks 1-3: rap, tracks 4-5: R&B (with love in the title of both), track 6: nonsense rap, track 7: weak instrumental, track 8: R&B, track 9: 12" version of previous R&B track, track 10: 8 minute reprise of same R&B track that ends with a skit where a chick punches one of the rappers in the mouth.

Yeah, that's a recipe for a classic right there.

Anyway, the album starts off with "Rest In Peace" which is the hardest Whistle ever gets. I guess it's their attempt at mid 80's shout-rap, because they yell over a shitty guitar riff about how:

"And if you don't like the party and you start to beef,
Then we'll make sure you REST IN PEACE!"

and...

"Attention! Let's face the facts,
And if you don't want to listen we'll break your back,
'Cause we're Whistle (goofy-ass whistle sound) and we're that bad!"

Well, they are from Brooklyn, so can their yelling threats of violence over a guitar be seen as an M.O.P precursor maybe? I suppose anything's possible.

But if you think the lyrics to that one are lackluster, good lord you should hear the lone rap cut of the second half, "Just For Fun" (which still has a sung chorus).

"We like to go to the beach and eat peanut butter!
Then we wash it down with some pina colada!
If the temperature rrrrises we won't get hotter!
If we do we'll jump in the water!"

Now, granted, this sounds like it could be some fun silly shit, but trust me, these motherfuckers yell it with serious, almost angry, conviction. It's really, really strange.

Oh, but that's just the rap my friends, as my colleagues have already made plain, these fools sing too. Thankfully, this first record only has one syrupy, painful ballad, which is the mercifully 4 minute long "Chance For Our Love". I won't subject ya'll to it, don't worry. The album's real centerpiece is, of course, "Just Buggin'", but I feel like if Whistle had had it their way it would've been "Barbera's Bedroom". The whole thing is basically "holy shit, I fucked this chick, but don't tell her that I told you!" and so it comes across real pathetic. It's kinda bouncy though, and rather fun to laugh at what a fucking loser the guy is being.

Did it need three versions? Hell no, but it is fun to hear a rapper who started the album threatening to make you "rest in peace" get punched in the face for spreading stories about a woman who he probably didn't even sleep with in the first place. Oh, and let's not forget that he (or one of them) spends the album's middle cut begging "pleeeeease love meeeee."

So, what did we learn from Whistle Week? What great lesson did this specific concentration of ours teach us and, by proxy, you the reader? Umm, there's always been shitty rap songs, and rappas ternt sangas have always been a bad look.

Oh, and Whistle sucks. I promise ya'll some good music next time.

Herein lies the legacy of Whistle's "Transformation"

2007-06-11T12:30:00.000-04:00

"Best" Track-Hello Skeezer

Worst Track-Mirror of Love

Bleh. This whole Whistle Week thing was a fun idea when we were simply bandying it about and making fun of the shitty music we were casually skimming over. But now that I have to actually delve into this shithole that is their second album, I find myself regretting constantly for going along with all this. However, I have an obligation to fulfill, so dammit I'm gonna do it.

So here we are at Whistle's second album, which is entitled "Transformation". I'm assuming the album title is in reference to the group's movement towards R&B and away from hip-hop, which is strange for a couple reasons:
For one, the album is a split between this "new" R&B Whistle and the "old" Hip-Hop Whistle, though there is actually more time spent on the album doing Whistle's equivalent of Hip-Hop rather than the R&B crooning that makes up the first five songs.
Secondly, I'm pretty sure they were doing this stuff on the first album too, though I'll have to wait on Eli's review to be certain, so I don't know how much of a "transformation" was taking place, especially since none of the lyrics on the title track make any reference to any of this, but more on that stuff in a minute.

First, let me tell you now that none of this shit is any good at all. The album divides itself into two halves, which I would call "Bad and Worse" if the worst stuff wasn't actually at the beginning. All of the R&B joints suck rightous testicles, whether they are more uptempo like Falling in Love or Is this Love (notice a trend in these song titles) or ballads like Right Next to Me, Still My Girl, or the especially heinous Mirror of Love, they all exemplify the same thing. These guys aren't especialy good singers, and their songwriting is glossy schlock of the most pussified variety. The worst offender of this lot, and therefore of the album, is certainly the aforementioned Mirror of Love. All the ballads were excruciating, but this one makes it worse by bringing in an especially shitty female singer to "duet" with whoever is singing on this song that is actually from Whistle (that's another thing, as far as I can tell these guys, as indistinguishable as they are when rapping, just sound like one damn person when the singing is going on), and some truly atrocious synth lines are added to the mix, which only make the lyrics about how "the mirror of love is cracked" pour salt into the open wound that is this song. Good lord.

So, nothing else really to be said about the other R&B tracks other than that they are minutely more tolerable than Mirror of Love, we move on to the Hip-Hop half of the album, and...Surprise! It sucks balls too. It's all bunch of sub-Run DMC style brag rapping about how good either they or their DJ (who gets his own tribute song on One and Only) are, or just talk about trying to get with chicks that will later do them wrong on the R&B joints. It all blows, but more in a "god this is really fucking boring" kind of way rather than the "writhing in pain and tearing at my eardrums" kind of way the first half did. It also seems like the band ran out of material, since all of the songs run between 4-5 minutes until last two songs, which run at two-and-a-half and one-and-a-half minutes respectively, the final track And This is True (what is true you ask? That they are Whistle apparently, since that's all I was told in this song), just features one of the rappers (maybe Doobie, which was the only name I could pick out, they're all just as bad as each other) giving a terribly stilted rap about his idea of what rap is, over a track that is a mesh of horribly awkard soul singers, an especially loud snare drum, and some random electric guitar lines put in for no discernable reason.

Which brings me to the production, and I think you know by now what I'm gonna say about it. Let me just say this: with one exception, there is an loud, incredibly dated snare drum sound in every song, no matter what kind it may be (the one exception is Right Next to Me, which has enough vomit-inducing string sections to make up for it), the DJ-ing, in spite of what the boys might tell you, is not impressive. These are all mostly your typical old-school rap stuff, with some bongos thrown in on B-Boy, which I would say would be the best production on the album, though that's not saying much. I guess the best track would have to be the two-and-a-half minute Hello Skeezer, which is just the guys talking about these women (who are the skeezers here), but it gets best track because it's shorter than the others without being insufferably annoying like the final cut is.

Look, I've already written more on this album than I did on Outkast's infinitely better debut, and that's just a waste. It sucks, don't buy it, Whistle is a horrible group that will hopefully never see the light of day again. I'll give this bitch the 2 out of 10 she so richly deserves, it'd be a 1 but the second side isn't quite as heinous as the first.

Whistle Wheek Episode 1: The Empire Strikes Whack

2007-06-10T14:28:00.000-04:00

Tell me, what's your biggest complaint about Andre3000?
Alright, what about Lauryn Hill?
Cee-Lo Green?
T-Pain?

Exactly, they were all phenomenal rappers who have all but abandoned the form for singing (although reports tell me T-Pain is planning a move back to rapping, so fans worry not).

Bring in Whistle.

From all accounts, the group had been rather conflicted about whether to sing or rap since their debut, but Eli could probably tell you more about that. As their career moved further and further along, their ties with rapping became greatly lessened. Always and Forever, their third studio album released in 1990 reads like a textbook on how to make an incredibly forgettable r&b album. When your lead single, and album title, is a direct cover of an already popular song -Heatwave's 1978 single "Always and Forever,"-one can quickly guess how enjoyable the rest of the album will be.

Whistle-"Always and Forever"

To be fair, "Always and Forever" is easily the best song of the front half of the album. Whistle lacks both the ability to write a catchy song and to sing well, so aping someone else's melody is a good look. The first half of the album, literally the first 5 tracks out of the 10, are all painfully slow love ballads, or "love" ballads I should say. Songs like "Whatever Happened 2 Us 2" and "Do You Still Care" show how inept Whistle can be at holding down a woman.

Whistle-"Bad Habit"

The sixth track on the album, "Bad Habit" kicks off the "New Jack Swing" half of the album. Just about as unremarkable as the first half, I at least found these upbeat numbers to be a little more listenable than as they don't really rely on Whistle's ability to be skilled singers. Much like the first half however, asking me to distinguish one song from the next, with a few notable exceptions becomes quite the daunting task. "Bad Habit" distinguishes itself from the rest of the tracks by containing the only rapped verse on the whole album, one of the tracks samples Flavor Flav and "Geesed" gets points for introducing me to a new slang term.

Whistle-"Geesed"

Ultimately though, the back half falls victim to the same ills of the fron half. Whistle is still a group of lousy singers, and their songs are mad soft. "Acting Like You Love Me" and "Geesed" still show how women always manage to get the better of Whistle, and honestly, that's not what I really want to hear from my R&B.
In a year of monster R&B hits like "Real Love," "Rhythm Nation," "It Never Rain (In Southern California)" and um..."Poison," such mediocre, unimportant drivel is highly inexcusable and unforgivable.

Considering the lack of reviews on this site, scoring this album would be arbitrary. but I'll put it like this: out of the 10 tracks on this album, I would make love to 1 of them, and that's only because I've misplaced my Best of Heatwave at the moment.

You Haven't Experienced Real Player-Hatin'!

2007-06-08T23:05:00.000-04:00

Sorry 'bout that big build-up to Whistle Week and then nothing... personal shit (like laziness and the uniform awfulness of Whistle's records) has delayed the supposed reviews slightly. But they will happen, rest assured.

Anyway, here's a strange nostalgia trip for ya'll. A series of corny-ass Sprite ads, clearly from the late 90's due to everyone wearing goggles on their foreheads, featuring a pretty strange fucking lineup of rappers as Voltron. I kinda don't wanna tell you who's in this, because it'll be better as a surprise. Unless, like me, you actually remember these goofy things.

Beware... Whistle Week Begins!

2007-06-05T12:36:00.000-04:00

It's theme-week time here at Better Than But Sex because... well, we decided.

So here's the deal. Your boy Elijah is currently between apartments, and so for the next week or so I've in fact been living with Petro and Nazty Fresh, in what may have now become the Better Than Butt Sex house. (Ummmm, no... homo?) Last night we were doing what we often do; which is talk incessantly about rap music while flipping through Music Choice channels in the background to see what random fucking songs that shit decides to bless us with. Fresh decided to check the Old School channel.

We were greeted by Whistle's "Just Buggin'". Now maybe we're just new jacks, but lord knows none of us had heard of motherfuckin' Whistle (certainly didn't seem notable enough to have a "best of" album, which is what the song was credited to) and the track itself was a frightening barrage to the senses, constructed by one of the strangest riffs ever put down. Here is said song, and the video (which we mercifully didn't discover until later, otherwise our brains would have melted).

Dayum. And here I thought UMC's "Blue Cheese" won the award for Strangest Video In Retrospect. Personally I found "Just Buggin'" oddly compelling in its utter strangeness, but Nazty Fresh simply couldn't take the damn thing after too long.

Anyway, Petro did some research, but almost all he could discover about Whistle was that, apparently, their later albums were on some smoothed out R&B shit, which we simply could not reconcile with the--ahem--sound of "Just Buggin'". So eventually the three of us decided to head on over to ~~Albumbase~~ our local record shop and each, er, cop one of Whistle's three (count 'em, three) records. I think I lucked out by laying claim to the first, and probably most overall hip-hop, album of the three. It also has an eight minute opus titled "Barbera Punch Em In the Mouth" that I just can't wait to get to.

Despite much trepidation, reviews are coming soon. And Whistle Week rolls on...

Aaaaaand... Revisited

2007-06-04T21:04:00.000-04:00

Ok, so I know everyone's already posted this, but with all the goddamn coverage we gave to this song in our first fledgling weeks I figured I really had to throw this one up here.

That, and it's a genius fucking video. The fact that it starts with a wedding, not so surprising... but that it continues with that motif the whole way through is some kind of wonderful. I believe Petro, who was watching over my shoulder, was the one to remark "Pimp C probably would tell a story like that at a wedding reception." Of course, they coulda just been rushed and lazy; note that everyone has only one outfit. Amongst all the great cameos, a newly-beardless David Banner going crazy in Bun B's passenger seat is definitely a real fuckin' highlight.

Oh, and Andre represents for all the Black Scots out there--word to Samuel L. Jackson and Nazty Fresh!

King of New York Alternate Reality (AKA Elijah's worst nightmare)

2007-06-01T17:14:00.000-04:00

Going through my entire itunes library on shuffle the other day, something I seldom do (I'm a sucker for playlists), I came across this song.

Prefuse 73 feat. Aesop Rock-"Sabbatical With Options"

An interesting song, if you don't mind Aesop Rock "delivery" or Prefuse 73's "hip-hop production," one line in particular caught my attention. At the 1:59 mark, Aesop spits "Tigers and bears who will hold down New York/ I will be back to reclaim if I'm bored."

This got me to thinking, what if Aes Rock really was the king of New York? What would that entail? How would it shape the rap game?

To start this admittedly bizarre argument, we'll need a referrence point. So, we'll compare Aesop's hypothetical success to once, or possibly current if that's your thing, New York king Jay-Z, who now carries all the mainstrream appeal of Mr. Lif or Slug from Atmosphere, who themselves now carry the success of Method Man and Redman respectively.
A parallel of albums would further justify the comparison; both released crtically acclaimed albums in '03 before taking a previously unprecedented hiatus from recording. Though Aesop Rock's Kingdom Come, None Shall Pass, has not come out yet, the first single, also the album's title track, will shed some light on what the new sound of New York would be.

Aesop Rock-"None Shall Pass"

Icy, dark and stripped-down, it is decreed that this is the new party sound under the rule of Rock. "None Shall Pass" would be the kind of jam one would be drooling over before it was even heard just by looking at the line-up: another Aesop Rock/Blockhead collaboration. To all you underground, backpacker nerds, think of it like when Hov and Just Blaze make some of that dull, horn-ladened, "get up and move" tediousness. Weak. Fast cars, women and booze don't make up a party anthem. I mean, a party song about partying? How trite. Where's the political conspiracy? The ironic pop culture referrencing? I'm pretty sure "Show Me What You Got" doesn't even use the word "laser" once. Yawn.

A king is only as good as he is versatile. So what should the King of New York do to show that he can roll with any style? How about get behind a beat used by up-and-coming New York group Wu Tang Clan and then do a track with the king of the West Coast, Del Tha Funkee Homosapian. Now that would be fire.

Aesop Rock & Del Tha Funkee Homosapian-"Preservation"

But of course, the King isn't all serious. I mean, anti-party party tracks and coast-to-coast chest thumping (Just listen to how proud they both sound on "Preservation." They're both so used to the crown that they don't have to sound interesting or even awake anymore!), takes a lot out on the greatest spitting for the East Coast. So, what do you do for fun?

Aesop Rock feat. MF Doom & Slug-"Put Your Quarters Up"

Tracks about video games. Forget about pimping, fellas, Aesop's got a whole new kind of game you can spit: high scores. And can we discuss that MC dream team? Number one, it's refreshing to hear cats like Doom on the mic. All this underground hubbub about MCs that can switch flows and styles and completely "destroy" tracks (Busta Rhymes I'm looking at you) is just so corny. I think it's great that Doom can rhyme with the same style and voice over anything you give him. That shit's skill. And Slug, where do I start? Number one, that whole northern Midwest region is blowing up these days. I mean, Eyedea's coming out hard. My man Brother Ali's doing it real big and my homey P.O.S. has definitely got next. And of course Atmosphere is doing their thing. I don't know who this "Lil Wayne" character is, but I bet he can't spit about his personal drama like Slug can. I bet he can't open up and reveal how he's feeling like Slug can. And I know he can't make an esoteric referrence to the 80's like Slug can.

Bonus Thought: If Aesop Rock is the Jay-Z of New York, that would most certainly make El-P his Kanye West. And just like Mr. West, El-P's a "progressive" enough artist to get down and work with artist's that aren't as popular as he is. As evidenced here:

El-P & Ghostface Killah-"Hide Ya Face"

The Party Post

2007-05-25T15:54:00.000-04:00

As I'm sure most of our readerbase is well aware of, or anyone that took a moment to peep Elijah's dedication, good friend Noah Waterman is leaving for the Freshcoast and shall never be seen as regularly as liked. And I can't be mad at a brother, he's gotta do what he's gotta do, so instead I'll give him my best blessings, with 100 party jams to get busy with now that he's moved to the left, to the left.

Thr tricky part, since Noah always provided the party 'pod, was to craft a list of songs I don't think he has, or the very least hasn't considered for a party yet. Unforch for all you bay-heads out there, this rules out a large chunk of hyphy and West Coast in general. But it's about time. Anyway, the songs are available in their sets of five. Download what you like and bitch about what you don't.

So here we go. This one's for you, bro. A BTB5 mega post for everyone's favorite party starter: Noah Waterman.

5 Old School Misogony Jams

N.W.A.-"A Bitch Iz A Bitch"
Stingee-"Take Dem Panties Off"
II Nazty-"Pussy Whipped"
MC Brains-"Oochie Coochie"
2 Live Crew-"If You Believe in Having Sex"

5 Bad Boy Party Jams

Notorious B.I.G. feat. 112-"Sky's the Limit"
Craig Mack feat. Notorious B.I.G., Puff Daddy, LL Cool J, Rampage & Busta Rhymes-"Flava in Ya Ear (Remix)"
Black Rob-"Whoa"
Harlem World feat. Ma$e & Kelly Price-"I Really Like It"
G-Dep feat. Ghostface Killah, Keith Murray, Craig Mack and Puff Daddy-"Special Delivery (Remix)"

5 R-O-C Party Jams

Clinton Sparks feat. Memphis Bleek, Beanie Siegel & Joe Budden-"Roc Cafe"
Cam'ron feat. Ludacris, Juelz Santana, UGK & Trina-"What Means the World"
Freeway-"Where You Been"
Memphis Bleek feat. M.O.P.-"First, Last, Only"
Young Gunz-"Friday Night"

5 Native Tongues Can Throw a Party Like Your Favorite Rapper Jams

Black Sheep-"B-Boy's Theme"
A Tribe Called Quest feat. Erykah Badu-"ICU (Doin' It)"
The Beatnuts feat. Method Man-"Se Acabo (remix)"
Brand Nubian-"Brand Nubian"
De La Soul feat. Busta Rhymes-"I C Y'all"

5 Other Coast Rappers Trying To Sound West Jams

Method Man feat. Redman & Snoop Dogg-"We Some Doggs"
Jay-Z feat. Dr. Dre-"Watch Me"
Ludacris feat. DJ Quik-"Spur of the Moment (remix)"
Fabolous feat. Nate Dogg-"You Can't Deny It"
Jadakiss feat. Snoop Dogg & DJ Quik-"Shine"

5 Ladies Turn Jams

Lil Mama-"Lipgloss"
Missy Eliot feat. Ciara & Fatman Scoop-"Lose Control"
Lauryn Hill-"Doo Wop (That Thing)"
Will.I.Am. feat. MC Lyte & Fergie-"Mash Out"
Platinum Pied Pipers feat. Invincible-"Detroit Winter"

5 British Jams

Lethal Bizzle feat. Fire Camp-"No!"
Kano-"Remember Me"
Low Deep feat. Kano & Doctor Ghetto-"Get Set"
Wiley-"Reasons"
Dizzee Rascal feat. Marga Man-"Girls"

5 Midwest Jams

Bone Thugs-N-Harmony-"Thuggish Ruggish Bone"
Nelly feat. Murphy Lee, Freeway & Beanie Siegel-"Rock the Mic (Remix)"
Lupe Fiasco-"Tilted"
Hi-Tek feat. Talib Kweli, Slim Thug & Snoop Dogg-"The Nati Streets"
Slum Village feat. MC Breed-"Do You"

5 Tennesse Jams

8Ball & MJG-"Ridin' High"
Crunchy Black feat. T-Rock-"Don't Trust 'Em"
Project Pat-"Good Googly Moogly"
Three 6 Mafia feat. Trick Daddy, Slim Thug & Project Pat-"Stay Fly (Still Fly Remix)"
Young Buck-"Shorty Wanna Ride"

5 Florida-Squeezed Jams

DJ Khaled feat. Lil Wayne, Paul Wall, Fat Joe, Rick Ross & Pitbull-"Holla At Me Baby"
Dre feat. Keiysha Cole-"Be Somebody"
Trick Daddy feat. Slip-N-Slide Allstars & Trina-"Take It To The House"
Rick Ross feat. Dre-"Blow"
Will Smith-"Miami"

5 Timbaland (Produced Only, Don't Worry!) Jams

Cee-Lo feat. Timbaland-"I'll Be Around"
Petey Pablo feat. Bubba Sparxxx-"Get On Dis Motorcycle"
The Game-"Put You On The Game"
Ludacris feat. Timbaland-"Phat Rabbit"
Jay-Z feat. Sean Paul-"What They Gonna Do"

5 A-Town Jams

Lil Jon feat. Bun B, Jadakiss, T.I., Nas and Ice Cube-"Grand Finale"
Ying Yang Twins feat. Trick Daddy-"What's Happenin!"
Dungeon Family-"Crooked Booty"
TLC feat. Lil Jon and Sean Paul of the Youngbloodz-"Whatcha Gon Do?"
Yung Wun feat. DMX, David Banner & Lil Flip-"Tear It Up"

5 Lone Star Jams

Devin The Dude feat. KB-"Party"
Trae feat. Three 6 Mafia & Paul Wall-"Cadillac"
Z-Ro feat. Devin the Dude & Juvenile-"The Mule"
Slim Thug feat. Bun B & T.I.-"Three Kings"
UGK feat. T.I.-"Hit the Block"

5 Philly Jams

The Roots feat. Dice Raw & Malik B-"Here I Come"
Will Smith-"Wild, Wild West"
Freeway feat. Peedi Crakk-"Flipside"
Cassidy feat. Swizz Beatz-"Get 'Em"
DJ Jazzy Jeff feat. Chef-"Shake It Off"

5 Slightly Older Than The Next List West Coast Jams

Kokane-"Bakin' Soda Free"
Black Eyed Peas-"Tell Your Mama Come"
Cali Agents-"Take It Back Home"
Dr. Dre feat. George Clinton & Snoop Dogg-"Let Me Ride (Remix)
Warren G-"This Is The Shack"

5 Slightly Newer Than The Previous List West Coast Jams

Tha Dogg Pound feat. Snoop Dogg-"Cali Iz Active"
Blackalicious feat. Gil Scott-Heron-"First In Flight"
Snoop Dogg feat. Jamie Foxx-"Psst!"
DJ Shadow feat. Keak da Sneak & Turf Talk-"3 Freaks"
Suga Free feat. Blaqthoven-"Person 2 Person"

5 Remixed R&B Jams

Janet Jackson feat. Jermaine Dupri-"Someone to Call My Lover (Remix)"
Missy Elliot feat. Nas, Lil Mo, Eve & Q-Tip-"Hot Boyz (Remix)"
R. Kelly feat. Sean Paul & Akon-"Slow Wind (Remix)"
Wayne Wonder feat. Elephant Man & Bounty Killah-"Got Somebody (Remix)"
Michael Jackson feat. Eve-"Butterflies (Remix)"

5 Instrumental Dance Jams

RJD2-"Iced Lightning"
Cut Chemist-"A Peak In Time"
Mark Ronson feat. The Daptone Horns-"God Put A Smile Upon Your Face"
Praful-"Moon Glide"
Gary Wilson-"She Makes Me Think of Endicott"

5 Petro-Approved Party Jams

T.I. feat. Young Jeezy, Young Dro, Big Kuntry & B.G.-"Top Back (Remix)
Cypress Hill feat. Redman & Method Man-"Red, Meth & B"
Ying Yang Twins feat. Wyclef Jean-"Dangerous"
R. Kelly feat. T.I. & T-Pain-"Ima Flirt (Remix)"
Redman feat. Ghostface, Ludacris & Icarus-"Future Thug"

5 Party-Closing Jams

Sa-Ra-"Bitch"
Lil Kim feat. Lil Cease & Notorious B.I.G.-"Crush On You"
T-Pain feat. Trick Daddy & Youngbloodz-"I'm Sprung (Remix)"
Terror Squad-"Take Me Home"
Will.I.Am-"Tell of Tales (Tell Me When You Need It Again)"

Party on, playboy. Party on.

Play Ya Like the Government and Give Ya What I Think Ya Want

2007-05-24T11:09:00.000-04:00

Jungle Brothers - "Jungle Brother (True Blue)"

Jungle Brothers - "Black Man On Track"

Jungle Brothers - "Brain" featuring Black Thought

Jungle Brothers - "How Ya Want It We Got It (Native Tonuges remix)" featuring Q-Tip & De La Soul
Raw Deluxe, 1996

So awhile back I threatened ya'll with the possibility of a look at one of the J. Beez underappreciated later records (and the last one to not deserve underappreciation) and so here we are at 1997's Raw Deluxe. This was their last record as a trio, and came out at the tail end of the mid 90's attempt at a Native Tongues renaissance, which saw a more subdued and less fun sound come to the crew. Overall, it really didn't succeed. Ah well.

The thing about Raw Deluxe is that, while it isn't quite as much of an obvious departure from the classic Jungle Brothers sound as, say, 1993's bugged out J. Beez Wit the Remedy (I'm still heavy on the prowl for those original Crazy Wisdom Masters versions, by the way) in a way the '97 record is even more divergent because it's really a pretty standard rap album. Although that isn't necessarily a bad thing. To their credit, Mike G and Baby Bam still hadn't quite taken on the grumpiness of De La's Stakes Is High at this point, nor the... I dunno, whatever it was about Beats, Rhymes and Life that everyone didn't like. (I enjoyed both those records, so sue me.) As I'm writing this I'm finding it hard to pinpoint what it is that I really do like about this album--I mean, it doesn't have the creativity of their earlier shit, and it is darker than what we normally want from the J. Beez... but as I look over the tracklisting I just don't see a weak point. I genuinely enjoy every song, and that's something, ain't it?

"Jungle Brother (True Blue)" pretty much gained a second life for the crew in its many, many remixed-for-techno-clubs forms, getting them huge in the kind of crowds that I honestly couldn't care less about. (Not that this was anything new for them.) The album ends with the Stereo MC's mix, and I believe the real famous one was the Aphrodite mix, (which was apparently on the soundtrack to some shitty Marlon Wayans vehicle) but it's not my area of expertise (what up, Peet, help me out here!) so I could be wrong. For my money the original version is by far the strongest. What do you want from me, I'm a rap fan after all. Besides, it uses that "children grow and women produce etc etc" sample that we I love. The many remixes would go on to, I'm pretty sure, shoulder the blame for the J. Beez next couple albums, where they courted that particular fanbase way too damn much. But who knows, maybe it was the departure of the DJ, Sammy B, that made them 75% leave behind hip-hop. (We can hope that Mike G's appearance on one of Nas' excellent "Where Are They Now" remixes will do something good.)

"Black Man On Track" is, I think, a good example of the overall sound of the record. Kinda fun and catchy, but kinda dark and East Coast-ish at the same time. Some good horn samples (the record is full of those) and a certain undercurrent of frustration--quite likely due to not really having had a hit in the rap game since '89. Hmm, maybe I can't blame them for turning to the electronica-or-whatever club crowd, at least someone was feeling it. "Brain" is probably the album's most mellow moment, it's listed as "produced by The Roots" although I'm not entirely sure if that just means ?uestlove or what. It's got Thought on the hook though... um, singing, but that's ok, I guess. I'm pretty sure any regular reader is already clear on the fact that Elijah loves him some chill shit, so of course I like this one.

And then we come to, by far, my favorite moment amongst these twelve tracks. The little Native Tongues reunion may have ended up going nowhere, but at least we essentially got a "Doin' Our Own Dang" part two out of it, so that's something. I love this track. I seriously do. Roc Raida came through and brought a gritty-as-fuck beat, and somehow a bunch of guys who last rhymed together dancing around wearing neon colors fucking rocked that shit.

So yeah, Raw Deluxe is not Straight Out the Jungle, nor is it Done By the Forces of Nature, but it really is a solid record worth giving a real listen to. (Plus you can buy that shit for, like, three bucks now.) It's a darker sound, sure, but the fact is that the J. Beez can put together some great rap music when rap music is what they're trying to make. Here's hoping we can get them back someday. But, of course, I'm an unabashed Native Tongues stan, so what do I know?

Noah In the City of Angels

2007-05-19T12:14:00.000-04:00

Makaveli (or 2Pac if you prefer) - "To Live & Die In L.A."
The Don Killuminati (The Seven Day Theory), 1996

Tha Dogg Pound - "Big Pimpin'" featuring Nate Dogg, Snoop Dogg & Big Pimpin'
Above the Rim: The Soundtrack, 1994

DJ Quik - "Inside Out" featuring Suga Free & AMG

Elijah is on some personal shit today. You see, in about two weeks the gleaming, smog-enveloped streets of Los Angeles are set to claim my best friend of 20 years (and for the record, I'm only 23). Noah and I grew up together on the northern side of the Golden State, and then somehow both found ourselves in New York City, but the acting world calls and so my boy is going (going) back (back) to Cali (Cali). He is not only moving to the land of silicone titties and broken dreams, but also to the ground where much of the best rap music originated--so he needs a proper, BTBS send off.

I opted, for this little dedication, to not even try collecting the best or most important pieces of L.A.'s many, many contributions to hip-hop because, well, you've all heard that shit, and it would be a hard fucking decision. So instead I'm goin' with a few of my own favorites; two of these are lesser known, and all double as pitch-perfect summer songs real easy. Most importantly, however, is that I went with tracks that I can fucking picture Noah gettin' on down to.

Ignore the Dr. Dre diss at the end of "To Live & Die In L.A." and you've pretty much got exactly the Los Angeles anthem that 'Pac was clearly trying to make. One of the few more serene moments on an otherwise compellingly dark and disturbing record, he manages to channel the breezy feel of the City of Angels while still speaking on more than just low-riders and weed. "We'll burn this bitch down, get us pissed."

Death Row's soundtrack album to "Above the Rim" is overall an incredible time capsule of mid 90's L.A. rap and R&B, and I recommend getting your hands on the whole thing if you can. By far, though, the highlight is Tha Dogg Pound's "Big Pimpin'"--you may remember part 2 from Dogg Food, but this one is that shit. Blah, blah, blah, rap and misogyny, yadda yadda. Whatever, this is the most relaxed, fun song in the world. Marvel at Nate Dogg at the height of his wonderfulness, and then prepare yourself for the best spoken-word pimp wisdom that you have ever heard!

I got "Inside Out" off of So Many Shrimp about a year ago, and I still don't know where or when it's from. What I do know, is that it's just about the most perfect shit for dancing to or just chilling in a lawn chair with a beer. Really, it was summed up best by David on the Shrimp: "'Inside Out' with the underrated Suga Free and almost-as-underrated AMG, driving bass-heavy handclap pimp funk with this great sing-song hook that sounds like some 80s pop song, like the chorus to a Police track or something." Yup. (P.S. DJ Quik & AMG are comin' out soon with a record as The Fixxers, that shit'll be fire!)

So, Noah, this one's for you. Whenever you throw parties in your new home on the edge of Compton I hope to God you play at least one of these tracks. Stay in touch, you motherfucker, and never stop screaming "Oakland".

A Little Less West and A Little More...West?

2007-05-16T12:35:00.000-04:00

Word on the street, or Billboard.com, says that Kanye West's next album, Graduation, is coming out sometime in September. As usual, Kanye' been rather tight-lipped about the guest spots I actually care about (i.e. the good rappers that will probably kill their spot), yet he still assures me that he's working with Jon Brion and has Chris Martin on "Homecoming," which will probably be the first single. How...done before.
In my search for anything of interest about the album, I came across the full version of "Can't Tell Me Nothing," a track where West shares production with DJ Toomp. This alone made me curious enough to want to take a closer look.

Mehhhhhh...

To be fair, the track sounds much more like College Dropout than it does Late Registration, which, for the moment, silences my worries that this album was going to try and out-grand his last effort. But several things about this track bother me. I don't really need those Jeezy adlibs throughout, the threat of a Jeezy verse just around the corner is not the kind of four minute anxiety attack I really need. The production is...not really the finest either. You can most certainly here Toomp's influence all over the track. However, with all the "emotion" and "soul" that Brion and West respectively program overtop of the track really water it down. Additionally, it should be noted Toomp really only makes two kinds of tracks-angry or loud, sometimes both, always really fucking good. Oh, and this. I'm not really feeling this marriage of styles. The only reason it doesn't bother me more is that plenty of leaked tracks got flipped and changed up before Late Registration. My two largest gripes with the song I blame squarely on Mr. West. The hook is bad, rivaling that one from "Hey Mama" for worst 'Ye hook. Second, I'm tired of the modestly superstar, humbly corrupted, wonderfully flawed schtick that Kanye's been working since he started wrapping. It made a good point on "Breathe In, Breathe Out," but now he's effectively managed to make it a part of his emcee character to the point that he can utilize it and still say nothing on a track. Think Blackout! but for just this song.

What Kanye needs to do is a take a page out of another Mr. West who has an album coming out soon: Cornel West. Never Forget: A Journey In Revelations, is scheduled to be released June 19th. Now, I recognize this album will be far from perfect, and probably too preachy for me to really enjoy that much save for a few cuts (no disrespect to his writing though, West is a genius). However, Cornel has the right formula. Get some ill like minded MCs to come in and make an album you really believe in. I'm sure "Mr. President" featuring KRS-One and M-1 is going to pure fire. I'm certain Killer Mike is going to destroy his guest spot. The joint with Prince, which you can stream here (click "Dear, Mr. Man") is pretty nice. And I most certainly ain't gonna be mad at the line-up: Rhymefest, Kweli, Black Thought, Rah Digga and Tavis Smiley. I'm also extremely curious to see how the deja-vuish "Chronometrophobia" featuring Andre3000 sounds.

Ideally, these two albums could merge into one super "power to the people" album. Kanye handling the "black people are imperfect" part, Cornel handling the "white people are imperfect" part until everyone (somehow) feels good.

Just a thought.

What's That BHS Without the High?

2007-05-10T20:15:00.000-04:00

Mod Squad - "Stroll"

Mod Squad - "B-Town Theme"
People's Park, 1992

I'm not sure how well received my retrospective on the works of Richie Rich was, but one way or another I'm going to go in a very different direction with my Bay coverage today.

It's a real pity that I didn't discover a fun little rap group from my own hometown until I'd moved across the country and saw them on another blog. When scanning a list of obscure albums that I'd never get to listen to on Bust the Facts (because that's what I usually do there) I came across a colorful cover that caught my eye just long enough for me to realize that the album was named after a rather famous park in the land of my birth, and so I had to download it. Awhile later I bought the actual CD for a cent on Amazon in hopes of finding out something, anything, about the group. All I discovered was that one's a white boy, and their names are Sam and Julian; though I have no idea which is which, nor which is the rapper. Needless to say, if anyone knows anything about these fools, speak up in the comments.

You can kind of guess this from the cover, but People's Park is in that psychadelic, hippie-ish vein that some hip-hop was going through in the early 90's. Think Arrested Development, P.M. Dawn, short dreads, neon clothing, and circular tinted glasses and you're there. Thing is, there's not really any place I can think of where such a sound would more naturally originate than Berkeley, California. See, Berkeley's kind of like Oakland's burnt-out-hippie little brother; a strange, almost too eclectic, and almost too leftist college town. I'll stop here, 'cause really you'll have a pretty good feel for Berkeley soon enough.

"Stroll" is the kind of thing you'd expect from such a group. It's a chill, surreal kind of a song--very good when it's what you're in the mood for. If you're walking down the street on a sunny day it feels great in your headphones, but it doesn't exactly fit every occasion. Our rapper (Sam/Julian?) comes across kinda like Speech rapping in a sometimes-Brotha J voice, not that I'd quite put him on the level of either. This shit is definitely all about the vibe--just pretend it's the early 90's again.

"B-Town Anthem" essentially sums up the Berkeley that I grew up in. I first heard this song about a year ago, yet upon hearing it I was immediately struck with a fucking wave of nostalgia for my childhood. It is dead on. Even though the rapper's teen years were clearly a good deal before mine, his reminiscences describe my high school days shockingly well--and I wasn't even one of the fools smoking up in the park. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but I think he perfectly pinpoints the feel of living in a place that, despite its cosmopolitan atmosphere, is still really a small town where there isn't that much to do--especially for teenagers stuck in a city geared towards college students. So yeah, much as I love all that mobb and d-boy shit that I grew up hearing, fact is that this song is what the Bay really was for me.

A fun album if you're into this sort of thing, Mod Squad capture a specific time and place almost frighteningly well... and that time and place being especially close to my heart doesn't hurt. Besides, far as I know the only other rap group to come out of my high school is The Pack (who I also like, despite the opinions of my fellow Better Than Butt Sex bloggers) and we need our hometown pride too.

Butter Than Butt Five Week 4!

2007-05-07T22:59:00.000-04:00

Since, I've had quite a few songs that I've wanted to comment on/share, it really seems only right that I turn it into what is an already horribly delayed week 4 list. So here we go:

Better Than Butt Five Week 4: Songs I Would've Made Seperate Posts on Anyway Edition

1) 50 Cent-"Amusement Park"
So, 50 makes it big with "In Da Club." Not surprisingly, his follow-up album's first single, "Disco Inferno," is laughably bad like the Billy Baldwin this song was. However, he strikes big again with "Candy Shop," and here we are an album later with a song that lets us remember just how magical a year in rap 2005. However, I won't call this rehash, as, somehow, this song is both better and worse than "Candy Shop." Of all my "Candy Shop" related gripes, the largest one was that the song, save for the first two seconds, didn't remind me of a candy shop at all. At least this single manages to conjure up images of Curtis riding the merry-go-round (I'd assume some bullish, dull-witted animal like the Tony Yayo) while dropping gems like "I smile when I speak, but I'm being sincere/ And your pass is valid all summer my dear." I can already tell this is going to be the best summer of my life.

2) R. Kelly-"Rise Up"
Good move, Robert. Let's face facts: playing "I Believe I Can Fly" at graduations is about as cliched as that Vitamin C song these days, so why not update it and make it a little more topical? Corny as it may be, "Rise Up" is probably the best thing I've heard from the hip-hop community in response to the Virgina Tech incident...which means it beats out that Jin freestyle. Now, don't get me wrong, Nazty Fresh loves him some of that real raunchy Kels, but it's refreshing to be able to listen to an R. Kelly song every once and a while that I know I could enjoy with my moms.

3) R. Prophet-"Run Tell the DJ"
A little while back, Eli and myself got drunk and did what we do drunkenly best-talk about rap. Now, somewhere along the way, we got on the subject of this obscure joint, and I promised a posting of it. Recorded sometime after Wooden Leather, I believe this track was supposed to be the first single off the solo R. Prophet album. Rewind: For those of you not sure, R. Prophet was that funny sounding MC from Nappy Roots. You know, the one not actually from Mississippi. I think he's from...Oakland, maybe? I don't know, one of those places without much of a rap scene. Anyway, this track really should've been fire. With Mannie Fresh on the boards and Prophet doing a much nimbler Juvenile, I really should not have been disappointed like this. Alas.

4) Common-"The People ft. Dwele"
A few weeks back Kanye mentioned how his production style for Finding Forever, an album dedicated to Dilla, was going to actually emulate, or the very least try, the chopped up soul style he was best known for. Well, if this track is anything like the rest of the album, my hat's off to 'Ye for doing a pretty damn good job. The drums, while not as sloppy, smack like a Dilla track, as does the frantic yet reliably repetitive horn and soul singing. Not to mention that beat's good too. Now as long as Common doesn't rhyme like he's on an album produced by Dilla, than we'll be good.

5)DJ Jazzy Jeff-"She Was So Fly ft. Kardinal Offishall"
Now here are two brothers that really don't get the shine they deserve. I could've picked any track off The Return of the Magnificent, but I'm really feeling this one at the moment. Listen and love.

All Night, I Think Of You

2007-05-06T19:21:00.000-04:00

In the bigger version of this picture you can see Simon, Noah, and what I think is the right eye of your elusive author.

Due to internet issues my own output on this wonderful space will be a bit limited for awhile, but I'mma do my best.

Anyway, the following is a public service announcement:

If you live in NYC, and you're over 21 (sorry, my fellow Better Than Butt Sex-ers) you need to go to The Rub. No, seriously, you do. The first Saturday of every month, at Southpaw in Brooklyn, is the best party I've experienced in the five boroughs. And that's coming from a man who's been to some crazy shindigs in Brooklyn warehouses with shit like torch juggling, stilt-walkers, illicit substances, and people fucking underneath paper-mache demon heads.

The Rub is, technically, just a club night. DJs, drinks, music, dancing, but it's just the best damn thing ever, and I make it a point to go every month. Let me put it this way, when I walked in last month they were playing X-Clan's "Funkin' Lesson" and people were real into it. During a dancehall set later on they teased us with the first few bars of Sister Nancy's "Bam Bam" about five times before finally playing that shit and driving everyone nuts. Last night there was "Ante Up", "P.S.K. What Does It Mean?", "White Gurl", "Soul Clap", and motherfuckin' "My Boo"!! That's just the smallest sampling of what I can remember off the top of my head, and not even getting into funk and 80's shit that they played. They also aren't too elitist to mix in some of the big current club hits either. Also last night, Stretch Armstrong came through, and yes the man crowd-surfing in the above picture is in a banana costume.

What's really great though is that it always attracts an eclectic crowd that can really appreciate the varied musical selection... plus the girls are fine as hell. Up on the official website there's also a bunch of mp3s and a link to The Rub radio, which I haven't listened to yet, but I'm sure it's some fuckin' quality. So if you can, whoever you are, you should come through. Always. How can this not look like a good time?

Go Ninja, Go Ninja, Go

2007-05-03T20:03:00.000-04:00

The Smoking Section has a great little article up today on why Vanilla Ice is more hip-hop than you. The list of reasons is pretty brilliant stuff, and I just wanted to give it some shine.

A World Gone Mad

2007-05-02T10:33:00.000-04:00

Unkut.com has a very nice little rundown of news concerning older rappers making comebacks. The Rob Base and Fu-Schnickens thing is pretty funny (I haven't decided yet if it's good or bad) but can we please ruminate on something here?

X-Clan and Insane Clown Posse touring together.

X-Clan and Insane Clown Posse are touring together!!

What the fuck? Why is one of hip-hop's most militantly afrocentric crews touring with that aggro white boy bullshit? I'm all for racial unity, but Insane Clown Posse? Really? And that's not even getting into the talent gap between them... I mean, I'll admit I didn't hear the new X-Clan record, but that first single gave the impression that Brother J's still got it. I just don't understand.

Busta Phree... (Richie Rich Part 2)

2007-05-01T19:15:00.000-04:00

Richie Rich - "Half Thang"

Richie Rich - "Busta Phree"
Half Thang, 1996

Richie Rich - "It's On" featuring E-40

Richie Rich - "Check 'Em"

Richie Rich - "Do G's Get To Go To Heaven?"
Seasoned Veteran, 1996

When we last left our hero he was in lock-up and his old crew 415 had gone on without him... today we pick up with his release in the mid 90's.

Richie Rich came back real hard in '96, with Half Thang, which was followed almost immediately by Seasoned Veteran. Any fears that he wouldn't be able to fit in with the changes that had come to the game in those intervening years were put to rest pretty much immediately. I'd say he sounded even more comfortable over mid 90's style g-funk beats than over the old 415 shit.

On Half Thang's title track he explains what got him sent to prison in the first place. Then on "Busta Phree" he goes on to take a shot at his former 415 crewmates. Damn, I could listen to that voice over slow-rolling funk for hours--what else needs saying?

Seasoned Veteran is probably Richie's best, it's got the big guest shots (2Pac, E-40), pitch-perfect production for Double-R, and loads of charisma. This record sounds like 90's Oakland, straight up. "It's On" and "Check 'Em" are just two of the best examples of what I'm talking about; Rich's cold menace is in full effect. "Do G's Get To Go To Heaven?" might get a bit corny, but at the same time I find the whole part about seeing a man die incredibly poignant. Rap gangstas are usually the ones killing, it's interesting to see the bystander's take.

So there you have the incredible influence of a Bay legend summed up in a rather large nutshell. Richie Rich is a man who goes under appreciated most of the time, so hopefully this will get at least one person to take notice of him. And I mean damn, look at the number of songs you got, don't say I never did nothin' for you.

Purple Ribbon to Hit the Stage!

2007-05-01T15:32:00.000-04:00

Since everyone else has come with some sort of Outkast-related post, I thought I'd do the same.

Everyone be sure to clear their calendars for April 10th-13th next year for:
An adventuresome, exhilarating evening featuring the world-renowned musical
artistry of Big Boi of Outkast as well as artists of Purple Ribbon
Entertainment. Daring, progressive, and soulful, these very talented artists
perform a stunning collaborative piece, LIVE on stage with Atlanta Ballet's
exquisite dancers. Pure Innovation.

Featuring Big Boi of Outkast as well as artists of Purple Ribbon Entertainment
Choreography by Lauri Stallings

I'm personally hoping for a solo from Killer Mike-and I don't mean no song either...

Excerpt comes courtesy of the Atlanta Ballet website.

To Help Ya'll Deck the Halls

2007-05-01T14:28:00.000-04:00

OutKast - "Socks & Drawers"
1993

So, as an addendum to Petro's in-depth look at Southernplayalistic... I thought I'd give ya'll a wonderful little present. It may not be quite the season for such a gift, but oh well.

Who knew that the version of "Player's Ball" on the album wasn't actually the OG? Until a few months ago I sure as hell didn't. Turns out it was originally "Socks & Drawers", which was made for a 1993 LaFace Records Christmas compilation of some sort.

It's kinda crazy: the sleigh-bells at the beginning make sense now, as do a few of Andre's lyrics from the first verse that got strangely cut off on the "Player's Ball" version. Hearing Sleepy Brown croon "On Christmas Daaaaaaaay" is kinda great.

Tell Her Make Like the Motherfuckin' Duke Boys and Crawl Thru the Motherfuckin' Window

2007-04-30T18:44:00.000-04:00

That cover doesn't really scream "gangsta originator" does it?

415 - "41Fivin"

415 - "Snitches & Bitches"

415 - "Side Show"
41Fivin, 1991

I think it's safe to say that most people don't realize just what a fuckin' OG Richie Rich is. So since I haven't done a Bay post in awhile, I've got a gang of shit to let you know. I got you so many tracks, in fact, that I'm splitting this into two posts, part two tomorrow.

Richie Rich's original group, 415, was some of the first gangsta shit outta the Bay, and really some of the earliest d-boy raps I've heard from anywhere. (See, to those of us from the Bay, crack raps aren't ironic, they're nostalgic.) It ain't Richie Rich, but on "41Fivin" it's plainly stated:

N***a, be down to astound the world,
You won't be shit if you don't pimp the white girl.
Sellin' dope is basically what I'm sayin'
I'm comin' up 'cause motherfuckers keep payin'.

I don't remember too many portrayals of the crack dealer persona before 1991, so understand when I say that 415 were groundbreaking. Really most of the credit goes to Richie, I think. Far as I know the group was his brainchild, and he had that real chill and relaxed flow, which wouldn't become the norm for Cali gangsta rap until the rise of Snoop.

Oh yeah, and Snoop has fully admitted that he ganked that shit from Richie Rich. Ok, ok, my words not his, but still he said "a major influence" or some such. It's nice to see him admit to stealing Bay swagger for once. (Not that I don't love Snoop.)

What's more, "Snitches & Bitches" expounds on some shit that you may have heard a bit about in the news lately. I dunno, they say there's been some bru-ha-ha over the words "bitch" and "ho" and about the phrase "stop..." something or other. Again this song's seventeen years old.

One last 415 gem, Richie went solo on "Side Show" and it is, as far as I know, the first song made to elaborate upon one of the Bay Area's most long-lived and endearing traditions: the sydeshow. Otherwise known as a bunch of fools getting together and doing crazy tricks with their cars... what, you thought ghostriding just popped up outta nowhere? Know your history. (Plus it uses the same sample as a classic Arrested Development song.)

Richie also released a solo record back in that 415 era, Don't Do It, which is fun but not really what I want from him. It's a little too nice and not very West Coast.

But then Richie got locked up and 415 made a new album without him, which I never even bothered to listen to. But what of Richie Rich? Would he manage to get out of prison and successfully come back into a radically changed rap game that he helped shape? Part two tomorrow.

(Oh, and the answer is yes, yes he would. Very, very well.)

southern playa-listic

2007-04-30T14:26:00.000-04:00

Score: 7/10

Best Song: Player's Ball

Worst Song: Funky Ride

So the story of Outkast begins where stories tend to...at the beginning. This particular debut comes along back in '94, before any movies, crossover successes, potential singing careers, name changes, Erykah Badu, period. This was back when, if you can believe it, Outkast was nothing but a couple of guys from Atlanta who could spit pretty damn well. Apparantly they also smoked a lot of fucking weed, because if nothing else, this album should be a dedication to the practice of gettin' high, since they rap about it in almost every song. And by "they" I don't just mean Big Boi and Dre, since they brought along a few friends as well...namely the entire Dungeon Family. Unlike the album that came out in 2001, there is no mistake who the star players are here, but that doesn't mean we don't see plenty of their buddies making guest appearences on multiple tracks. How do I feel about this? Well, I understand that this was the first album, the boys were probably really excited and wanted to get all their friends in on this shot at success, but it does hurt the album as a whole. For one thing, a lot of these songs are way too damn long, especially with the unimaginative subject matter that's being dealt with. Songs like "Call of Da Wild", "Git Up, Git Out", and "Funky Ride" are all too fucking long, even though I like the beat in "Call" and "Git Up, Git Out" actually has the best verse in the entire album, including anything Dre and Big Boi contribute, and that would be Cee-lo's impassioned first verse. Man, even back then Goodie Mob were damn talented, and the only members of the Family I would say really justify their appearence on this album, though nobody really sucks. Despite that best verse nod(the song winds up going on for almost 8 mintues, which it has no business doing), I'm gonna have to give the best track to an obvious cut, and that would of course be "Player's Ball", which is the first song to follow what I like to think of as the "Classic Outkast Single" formula: Big Boi or Dre lead the song off, the other does the second verse, they alternate a third verse (optional), add a catchy hook. They would prove in subsequent albums that this always made for a hot track, even if they were doing other things that were a bit more outside the box. Special credit goes to Sleepy Brown, who does the hook on "Player's Ball" as well as his extra singing on the otherwise useless "Player's Ball (Reprise)" which closes the album. In fact, for the most part, in spite of the stellar Goodie Mob contributions, Outkast is at their best here when they keep it (relatively) brief and simply with the two of them, such as with the also very good opener, "Myintrotoletuknow". If you want to see where inviting their friends to the studio was probably not the best idea, I'll take you right over to the aforementioned "Funky Ride". There are a number of things wrong with this song: firstly, it runs at about 6 and a half minutes, which is too fucking long for the kind of songwriting on display at this point, the guy singing on it sounds like a child molester and makes the proceedings really uncomfortable, and, most importantly, where the FUCK is Outkast? They aren't on this song at all. On an album that clearly states it is by a group calling itself Outkast. This is inexcusable. The rest of the album I haven't talked about consists of solid but overlong tunes like the title track, "Ain't No Thang" and others like it, the only thing worth noting about them other than the rapping on hand being consistently good is that the hootie-hoo call in the appropriately titled "Hootie Hoo" is pretty annoying. Still, a good start for a group that would fix a lot of their shortcomings very quickly and already have the competition beat by a significant margin, worth a listen, especially if you wanna hear Outkast with a few growing pains left to do.

New Show & A... Wait, New Show & A?!?!

2007-04-29T10:46:00.000-04:00

Showbiz & A.G. - "Business As Usual" (cuts by DJ Premier)
(found at Nah Right)

It figures that the very day after I guiltily leave them off my top 25 I hear a new song by Showbiz & A.G. of all duos. I gotta admit, I really never expected them come back, I mean none of their post Runaway Slave shit got very big, right?. I can't figure out how much of my liking this new song is due to the song itself and how much is due to the fact that I actually have a weakness for older rappers coming back and talking about how long they've been around. ("Blow the Whistle" was similar fire.)

Anyway, to those new jacks who don't know why a return of these two means so much to me:

Elijah Gives In, Here's His Top 25

2007-04-28T11:58:00.000-04:00

As you may or may not know, the world of hip-hop blogging has recently been swept up in a list-making fever, courtesy of Straight Bangin's request for everyone's top 25 Hip-Hop albums. Now, despite being pretty heavily obsessive compulsive myself, lists like this have always been hard for me to do, I'm no good at deciding what's better than what, because I generally believe that different things have different merits and that that can't be put into an order from "better" to "worse". On the other hand, as I've been reading everyone else's lists I've started to seriously itch to do the same, and so now I'm caving in to pressure (that only came from myself in the first place) and hittin' ya'll with my own take.

Of course, these are not necessarily the greatest hip-hop albums of all time, and not even written in stone as my favorites, they're the 25 I thought up as my favorites right now. Ask me on a Tuesday and we'll see what I say. Also I have plenty of high-ranked favorites that I left off, so don't go getting mad that such-and-such isn't there. Lastly, this is my personal list, it does not represent the opinions of anyone else here at Better Than Butt Sex.

I wish I could post a song from each record, but I don't have the energy, so here goes:

25) Cali Agents - How the West Was One
Yeah, I'm probably the only one with this on here, but I'm really trying to go for records that I appreciate and enjoy the most. As you'll probably see throughout this list, I love shit that sits between two extremes. Rasco and Planet Asia are vicious battle rappers here, but despite coming out independently in 2000 they are not on backpacker shit at all on this record. Just good boasts, good rhymes, and the ability to be without weapons and still sound hard as fuck.

24) Slum Village - Fantastic, Vol. 2
Not the best rappers, of course, but as Barrington Levy would say, the vibes is right. More importantly, this is musically one of the most immaculately put together and outright beautiful records of all time. Not to disrespect his later work, but in my opinion this is Dilla's masterpiece.

23) Lord Finesse & DJ Mike Smooth - Funky Technician
A friend and I (what up, Simon) once discussed transplanting the brains of Oscar Wilde, Groucho Marx, and Lord Finesse into a robot body, thereby creating a cyborg that would be the wittiest being to ever walk this Earth. The slick brotha with a fade and a half moon took punchline rap to a whole new level of art, and it is not hyperbole when I say that this record sounded ahead of its time.

22) Saafir - Boxcar Sessions
I swear this isn't a concession to the part of me that wants to be different, nor the part of me that wants as much Bay shit on here as possible. Saafir is a lyrical genius in an entirely different vein than the aforementioned Lord Finesse--not necessarily better, but entirely different. The epitome of using one's voice as an instrument, the vocals here twist themselves in and out of the sample-driven tracks in ways that I couldn't imagine before I heard it. Yet with all of the jazzy beats and iconoclastic lyrical dexterity, Saafir manages to keep shit sounding very Left Coast somehow.

21) Gang Starr - Moment of Truth
As I was making my list I slowly realized that there wasn't any Gang Starr on it. Part of me is mad that I put them so far back on the list, but I almost forgot about them entirely, so that should automatically keep them from being too high up. Don't get it twisted though, I love Guru and Primo with a passion. I've always felt that, until The Ownerz, they just kept improving on themselves, so by that logic Moment of Truth is my pick. It didn't have that jazzy feel anymore, but just about every other song is certified classic, and you can get lost in the production.

20) E-40 - Tha Hall of Game
I consider E-40 to be one of the greatest and most inventive lyricists of all time, but picking a "best" album of his was incredibly difficult for me. Nothing on this album is quite fucking with "Captain Save a Hoe" or "Sprinkle Me", but all in all I'd put this as his most consistent. He starts off the album by dissing Rasheed Wallace, what more could you want?

19) Slick Rick - The Great Adventures of Slick Rick
Yes, yes, this should be higher. I was about five when this came out, so it's not like I felt its impact at the time. I love all classic 80's rap, but this and the other pick from the era are the only ones that had enough of an impact on me personally to make it here (no disrespect to Kane, G Rap, Lyte, Rakim, etc.). Much has already been said about this record, so I'll just add that when you can have "Hey Young World" and "Treat Her Like a Prostitute" on the same album and not seem like a hypocrite, you are a genius.

18) Souls of Mischief - '93 Til Infinity
Maybe not the best or most influential Hiero record, and maybe my backpacker is showing right now, but Souls were fucking ill back in the day. Alot of people think lyrical=East Coast, so I always love anyone who can be intricate and complex with their words and still come across very west. Plus, this album could just be the title track being played over and over again twenty times and it'd get on here.

17) Jungle Brothers - Done By the Forces of Nature
Already been covered.

16) 2Pac - All Eyez On Me
Yeah, I grew up right next to Oakland, so 'Pac has to be on here. It's just a rule. Me Against the World is great, but his intensity on this record is unrivaled, and most of the production is pretty fucking spotless. If it had been edited down to one disc it would be much higher on the list, but nonetheless "Ambitionz As a Ridah" might be the greatest opening track ever.

15) Black Star - Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star
People pretty uniformly hate on these two nowadays--with Kweli I kinda understand it, and with Mos I entirely do--but this is them at their best. At the forefront of that late 90's indie boom, and much more in my vein than any Company Flow or Juggaknots type shit, they combined the best of that Rawkus MCing ideal (back when that was a good thing) with a kind of soul and consciousness that really spoke to me at the time. This may be one of those records that only means so much to me because of where my life was at the time, but if so, so be it. Also they showed the right way to pay homage to the classics with their "Children's Story" cover, and the use of "P Is Free".

14) Wu-Tang Clan - Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
I know, I know, this is way to far back on the list, but I'm really trying to go by my favorites and not by how influential something is. What can I say about this that hasn't already been said? Nothing really.

13) Too $hort - Greatest Hits, Vol. 1: The Player Years (1983-1988)
Yes, I'm cheating. I couldn't chose a favorite $hort record, but at least I didn't pick something all-encompassing either. This may be before "Freaky Tales", "Don't Fight the Feeling", and a gang of other greats, but all that early shit on 75 Girls was so classic and influential. Not only did he popularize cussing and the word "bitch" back in the early 80's, but alot of these old tracks showed their non-rap influences by essentially being seven minute 80's synth funk jams with a few minutes of rapping--and I mean that in a good way. "Blowjob Betty", "Invasion of the Flat Booty Bitches", "Girl (Cocaine) That's Your Life" the list of Oakland classics that I've been hearing as long as I've been alive goes on and on. When he said "I don't stop rappin'" he meant it.

12) Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth - Mecca and the Soul Brother
Alot of people making these lists have been picking Main Ingredient instead, and I can understand that. It was a hard choice, but "Straighten It Out" decided for me. Again, is there really much new that I can say here?

11) OutKast - Aquemini
I definitely feel that 'Kast not cracking the top ten is purely a matter of how I feel at the moment. This record has the perfect balance of OutKast's different phases--from the early trap rap of "Slump" to the slow funk of "SpottieOttieDopaLiscious"... not to mention every other single track here. Damn, this is making me want to listen to that shit again right now.

10) Common - One Day It'll All Make Sense
My personal favorite Common record, but it only beats out Resurrection by a slight margin. Like Aquemini, what I love about this record is how perfectly it sits between the different extremes that the artist went to. Common started going conscious here, with some incredibly heartfelt songs, but he doesn't sacrifice bangers like "1, 2 Many" or stories like "Stolen Moments". The last of his albums with his in-house producers, and man did they pull out all the stops here. Also, this was the only CD in my discman on one of the most long, important, stressfull, and ultimately giddy and life-changing days of my life, so it will always be impossible to separate it from personal experience.

9) UGK - Ridin' Dirty
I admit that for the longest time I was one of those people sleeping on UGK. When I finally got around to hearing the opening notes of "One Day" and faux-Ron Isley "well, well, welllll" voice I almost wanted to cry once I realized what I'd missed. For everyone still talkin' shit about Bun and Pimp; if you can honestly listen to "Murder", "Diamonds and Wood", "Fuck My Car", and the title track and still not recognize a giant in the game, and a classic album, you obviously know nothing about rap music.

8) Notorious B.I.G. - Ready To Die
Yeah, yeah, yeah, this is here.

7) Nas - Illmatic
Duh. And yes, I did just put these two next to each other because it was easier than really picking spots for them. We all know they're classic, and I love them just like everyone else.

6) Dr. Dre - The Chronic
Again, nothing needs to be said here. It's a classic and I'm putting it with the classics. I will note, however, that it's in front of the last two records for a reason. Growing up on the West Coast this was far more ubiquitous than the other two, and pretty much shaped our day-to-day life throughout all of the 90's more than anything else.

5) The Pharcyde - Bizarre Ride II: The Pharcyde
How many rappers would admit to picking up a chick who turned out to be a guy? Also, "Ya Mama" is one of the greatest songs ever made.

4) Boogie Down Productions - Criminal Minded
My other 80's favorite, and no it's not this high up because I think that's what people want. I heard this album about ten years after it had come out, and it hit me almost as hard as it would have if I'd heard it '87. KRS is a beast here, and he became my idol even throughout a good portion of his current crazy period. Technically speaking there is filler on this album, but it's only filler in comparison to the real standout tracks--shit still stands head and shoulders above almost anything else. Could you imagine the current KRS-One doing "Super Ho"? Shit, and "9mm Goes Bang" might be one of the most gangsta songs of all time... he just sounds so happy on that chorus.

3) De La Soul - De La Soul Is Dead
My favorite De La album is one of those things that fluctuates with my mood, the weather, if I've got a chick or not, what I've had to eat, the day of the week, and any number of other factors. But for the moment, I'll go with the sophomore outing. If they had made another record in the feel of 3 Feet High and Rising they would've become self-parody... so instead they quite consciously parodied themselves, and made a masterpiece. This record has much the same structure and energy as its predecessor, yet it's twisted and distorted, turned into something new and horrific. Yet even that horror is goofy and fun, until the record hits its tragic centerpiece of "Millie Pulled a Pistol on Santa"--a funny title to a haunting track. What's more, instead of just being little interludes between tracks, this album's skits did the incredible job of predicting all the criticisms that fans would have for the album as they themselves were even thinking them. Oh yeah, and there's a bunch of incredible production and genius rapping.

2) A Tribe Called Quest - The Low End Theory
For the longest time this would have been my number one. Midnight Marauders is surely enough fire from end to end, but this record is so incredible. If you told me to recite a certain song from Low End Theory chances are good that I wouldn't be able to... but if you told me to recite the whole album, I probably could. Despite no real theme, and no skits or anything, this record feels more like a whole than almost anything else I've ever heard. Every song is perfect, from the ridiculous stripped down and spare production to the massive talents shown by both MCs. If you aren't hooked by that first bassline you have no goddamn soul. And if you aren't nodding your head and singing along to "Scenario" you have no taste. I may actually prefer De La to Tribe overall, but this record is perfect.

Drumroll....

1) The Coup - Genocide & Juice
That's right, I had to go back to The Town for this one. But while my being from the Bay certainly helps me in appreciating such an intrinsically Bay thing as g-funk-laced, extremely witty, afrocentric Communists, I like to think that I'd love The Coup no matter where I was from. How can you front on Boots? The man manages to make every song actually be about something, with no normal MC braggadocio, and every track is political and conscious without ever preaching or getting boring. Even Chuck D didn't manage to do that every time. The tracks on this record are all beautifully gritty and minimal Oakland funk, and the raps are just plain ridiculous. Boots weaves detailed stories and expresses unmatched anger, all in complex rhyme schemes spoken in a calm Bay drawl, and E-Roc plays the dependable and grounded Phife to his Q-Tip. The fact is, even if eleven of the album's tracks were wack (and in point of fact they're all classic) it would still be one of the greatest of all time due to the opening three part tale explored in "Fat Cats, Bigga Fish", "Pimps (Free Stylin' At the Fortune 500 Club)", and "Takin' These". We're drawn into what starts as an especially well-told hustler tale, and then it evolves into something entirely different. Right out the gate you realize that, even though Boots had proved his ability to be straight-up and convincing on the last record, here he's mastered an entirely new kind of subtlety that is so nuanced it's almost painful. How can anyone be that good?

Reasonable Doubt, Uptown Saturday Night, Reachin' (A New Refutation of Time and Space), A Wolf In Sheep's Clothing, and Warriorz would probably been 26-30 on this list (not in that order). Also I basically fought myself into not having different entries by the same extended crews (with the exception of Native Tongues, obviously) which explains my lack of and Stunts, Blunts & Hip-Hop and Runaway Slave. Also, to justify myself I've come to the conclusion that my top 25 hip-hop tracks would look very different, both as far as the artists and regions represented (shit, "I Got 5 On It" would at least be number two).

But there we are... more East Coast than I expected, but good stuff. I hope someone enjoyed it.

Ain't a hustler on the street could do a whole community.

Speaking of the Chocolate Boy Wonder...

2007-04-26T20:10:00.000-04:00

Floodwatch Music has put together an incredible, 42 minute mix of Pete Rock instrumentals. Put this on, sit back, and feel your problems melt away.

The Featurings Game Round 1: R. Kelly and Pete Rock

2007-04-26T16:23:00.000-04:00

Gee, guess which one I'm the bigger fan of.

So, in case you're not up on what the Featurings Game is, here's the original explanation. Anyway, Nazty Fresh gave me one that honestly shouldn't count, since R. Kelly isn't a rapper, but I figured what the hell, let's do it.

Now, the hard part about this one is that these two obviously travel in different spheres, plus according to my own rule it doesn't count if the rapper doesn't actually rap on said song, which rules out alot of artists who Pete Rock has worked with. What I've got helping me out, however, is that both of these guys have been recording for over a decade. So I took the Chocolate Boy Wonder to the Chocolate Factory in three steps (I get the feeling alot of them will be three) but once again this is off the top of my head, 'cause that's more fun for me. It's possible it could be done in two if I seriously researched it, but that's not the point. If anyone else has a better, or interesting, connection, by all means comment.

Step 1: Fat Joe - "Make It Rain (remix)" featuring R. Kelly, Lil' Wayne, Baby, T.I., Ace Mack & Rick Ross
2007

So this is the one I'm putting up today that everyone's heard; a fun posse cut if you're in the mood for that kinda stupid mainstream shit (and I actually don't mean that in a bad way). Can I just say that Kelly's verse is the perfect example of how having a good voice lets him say whatever dumb shit he feels like? "Don't ask me what my name is, stupid bitch I'm famous" shouldn't sound that beautiful.

Just shot a video with R. Kelly, but no homo, though,
Really didn't wanna do it, but I fuck with TS and Fat Joe-Joe, though.
- Lil' Wayne, "Dipset" (otherwise known as "Reppin' Time")

Step 2: Big Pun - "Twinz (Deep Cover '98)" featuring Fat Joe
Capital Punishment, 1998

Proof that 1998 was longer ago than it feels to me: can you imagine a big, video single from a record being a cover of a pre-Chronic Dr. Dre track? (I wonder if the snitch in that video is supposed to look like the Beastie Boys in "Sabotage"?) Anyway, it obviously isn't hard to find a song with Fat Joe and Big Pun on it, but this one is a favorite of mine partly because of the flawless source material, partly because Pun fucking kills it ("Little Italy" is all I'll say), and partly because Joe's voice seems tailor-made to say "yeah, and you don't stop!" Although I wonder why a guy who supposedly speaks Spanish pronounces the "g" in Cartagena like a dirty American. Too bad this song wasn't engineered to take out all of Pun's horrific fat-man-breaths... disgusting, and also tragic in light of his death.

Step 3: Pete Rock - "Verbal Murder 2" featuring Big Pun, Noreaga, & Common
Soul Survivor, 1998

And now you see why I was making the connection by way of a detour through Terror Squad. This is a great track, it flips the same sample from BDP's "Illegal Business" and manages to fit a Common who was sliding towards consciousness into a pretty damn hard song (for some reason the back of the CD listed him as "Common aka Willie Stargell"). Dunno about "pack clips between my nuts and my fat dick" though, that sounds dangerous.

So there you have it, round one is finished. If you enjoyed this, or felt that this idea has the potential to be enjoyable, please leave me a pair to connect in the comments... or just comment. See ya next time, fools.

I'm Dedicating This Bitch To The Bitch In You

2007-04-25T01:20:00.000-04:00

Friday, April 13th, 2007:

Comparing Don Imus' language with hip-hop artists' poetic expression is
misguided and inaccurate and feeds into a mindset that can be a catalyst for unwarranted, rampant censorship.

Thoughts on quote one: I agree. After blaming hip-hop, the next-step is clearly to change it "for the better." I've got some problem with a complete differentiation of the language of two groups of people. If you want me to get real controversial, I'd talk about my stance on the whole white/black use of the term "nigger." But, for another day. Right now, is it completely fair that we should hate on Imus and not say...Devin the Dude.?

Monday, April 16th, 2007:

People who are angry, uneducated and come from tremendous struggle, they have poetic license and they say things that offend you. You have to talk about the conditions that create those kinds of lyrics. When you are talking about a privileged man who has a mainstream vehicle and mainstream support and is on a radio station like that you have to deal with them differently.

Thoughts on quote: While, I still hold the same problem with this quote as with the previous one concerning whether the "angry, uneducated" really have more "poetic license" than the "privileged man." At least this one addresses the idea of forum, public versus private discourse. It is easy to believe that both quotes came from the same person.

Monday, April 23rd, 2007:

We recommend that the recording and broadcast industries voluntarily remove/bleep/delete the misogynistic words 'bitch' and 'ho' and the racially offensive word 'nigger.' These three words should be considered with the same objections to obscenity as 'extreme curse words.

Thoughts on quote three: Here's the subtle, logical "next-step" in action that the first quote warns about. This quote was clearly not issued by the same man of the first two.

But wait? It was? In fact, you might've heard of the gentleman before. Russell Simmons sound familiar?

You know, brother to that dude on Run's House. Yeah...that guy.

Alright, Rus. Real talk time:

That's a bitch move for your hoe ass to make, nigga.

You brought that abrasive hip-hop to the homestead. You didn't work this hard to bring that in-your-face attitude to a lot white people, to take things a couple steps back because of white people. Someone who acquiesces like that, sir, is what we here in the Hip-Hop community like to call a bitch.

You think I didn't notice that book deal you had going on, Russell? Coincidence that you should completely flip your entire opinion the day fucking before your new book comes out. More importantly, if you after publicity like that, don't go pimp out hip-hop with your greasey shit. Rap made you what you are, and you gonna flip it for a few minutes on television. If music was your sugar daddy (and let's not act like it isn't), then you, sir, are a straight hoe.

Don't even think this is about you, nigga. Five dollars said Don Imus never listened to a hip-hop song in his life, save for "Hot in Herre" and "Drop It Like It's Hot," because no one could avoid those. You don't need to get all self-righteous and do something. Can we discuss something for a minute? Is Don Imus an idiot? Yes. Should he have been fired? No. I'd even go so far as to say he had a point. Did you see those chicks?

Tell me this shit ain't nappy. Good lord.

Anyway, Russell: Stop being a fuck.

Hip-Hop: For as many times you've been blamed, you'd think you'd realize it isn't always about you.

Don Imus: Go buddy up with Michael Richards. Take that shit on the road or something.

Oprah: Suck a dick and cut a check.

Rutgers' girls: Seriously, ain't they got some salons up in Jerz?

Take Out Your Rubber and There's One More Inside Her...

2007-04-24T20:57:00.000-04:00

I've kept pretty quiet on all this Imus bullshit and its fallout, but this shit is just nuts. I mean how you gonna start shit with someone just because he didn't rebuke someone else five years ago for a song that was made almost twenty years ago? Good God.

A Tribe of Fingers All On One Hand

2007-04-23T21:46:00.000-04:00

So I promised ya'll some New York rap, and here it is. You know the deal: complex rhyme schemes, vivid pictures of life in the projects, painful, overwhelming, grimy, claustrophobic...

Oh... oh wait no. I'm givin' ya'll some fun danceable shit. Whoops.

Proto stunna shades?

Jungle Brothers - "Acknowledge Your History" featuring Vinia Mojica

Jungle Brothers - "Doin' Our Own Dang" featuring Q-Tip, De La Soul & Monie Love

Jungle Brothers - "Kool According To a Jungle Brother"
Done By the Forces of Nature, 1989

Jungle Brothers - "Promo No. 2 (Mind View)" featuring Q-Tip

I do love dark, complex New York-style hip-hop as much as the next guy, but I just haven't been in the mood lately--I go in phases. But no matter what my mood, there's one thing I always love:

Native Tongues.

Whenever I have a white person who needs to be upped on rap music, this is who I use. Yes, the Native Tongues, that wonderful conglomeration centered around De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, and the Jungle Brothers. Without a doubt one of rap music's best extended crews, the Tongues were playful, friendly, and creative, without sacrificing skill, braggadocio, or afrocentrism. Now, I could write so very much on De La or Tribe, and probably a good deal on Latifah, Monie Love, Black Sheep, and even Chi-Ali--but today, it's all about the J. Beez.

Of the mighty Tongues triumvirate they are definitely the most under appreciated, even if they were also the first to drop a record. There's a reason for this, of course, I mean fact is they aren't as skilled as De La or Tribe. But they make it up with fun and loads of swagger... not to mention that they aren't exactly lacking in skills either. But while 3 Feet High and Rising, The Low End Theory, and many others are often held up as classics, I don't know what the overall hip-hop head consensus is on 1989's Done By the Forces of Nature. (Best believe if I was making a top 25 list for Straight Bangin' this'd be on there.)

I wonder if generally this or 1988's Straight Out the Jungle is considered to be better. Because Jungle's got all the singles ("Straight Out the Jungle", "Jimbrowski", "Black Is Black", "I'll House You", and of course "Because I Got It Like That") yet Nature is, I think, one of the most cohesive rap records ever... and it only came a few months after 3 Feet High and Rising essentially created the cohesive rap record. What's more, while perhaps not the most technically astounding piece of work, Nature just makes me feel good in a way few albums do.

The intrinsic problem with a cohesive record is that it gives me a gang of trouble in picking just a few songs to post. But "Acknowledge Your History" is a good example of the J. Beez dropping some real knowledge. The "red's for the blood" refrain at the end is one of my favorite things ever. "Doin' Our Own Dang" is one of the best posse cuts, and a great picture of the Native Tongues at the heighth of their little era. "Kool According To a Jungle Brother" is the kind of track you only get on a record that is specifically not a collection of singles, and it closes the album beautifully. That's all I need to say.

Nice guy that I am, I put up one of the Native Tongues rarities I've got. "The Promo" on the Jungle Brothers' first record was just what the title said, a promo for the next act, showcasing Q-Tip as he rapped about how great the upcoming Tribe record would be. A great song. I found "Promo No. 2" in those old glory days of Napster (when it was the only file-sharing around, and I pretty much just used it for obscure b-sides) and so I have no idea what it was originally a b-side to. But who cares where it came from, it's 80's Tongues shit.

So there you have it... that came out much longer than intended. Maybe sometime in the future I'll write a post about why 1997's Raw Deluxe is actually pretty good, even if I'm the only one who thinks so.

I know this brother, smoooooth like a cat.
So I looked in the mirror, and I patted him on his back.

Yo, Give Me Some of That Hurricane Ethel!!

2007-04-23T13:25:00.000-04:00

Ol' Dirty Bastard - "Shimmy Shimmy Ya (Studio Ton remix)" featuring E-40 & MC Eiht

Between the recent posts of ODB songs, and the huge bevy of unreleased Wu-Tang I thought I'd share one of my more obscure Wu joints. Being from the Bay myself I idolize E-40, so this is a beautiful thing. I also really like hearing Big Baby Jesus over such a West Coast track by way of Studio Ton, plus there was even a video of this remix. Damn, I really wonder how this all came together, and why hardly anyone seems to have heard of it.

So this probably ends what somehow became "ODB extended weekend". As I promised, my next in-depth type music post will really be some East Coast shit, for once (this one's kinda halfway).

The Wu is coming through, the outcome is critical...

2007-04-23T13:11:00.000-04:00

Who said they wanted some unreleased Wu-Tang tracks?

Better Than Butt Five: Week Three

2007-04-22T11:27:00.000-04:00

One of these days I'll start a post not mentioning how I've been a bit busy the past few days, I promise.
But until then:

The Better Than Butt Five: Week Three (Reasons Why ODB Should Be On Any Cover You Make To A Song Ever Edition)

1) Ol' Dirty Bastard-"Cold Blooded" [A Cover of Rick James's "Cold Blooded"]
Let's start with the basics. Nigga Please is rife with odd moments, some more successful than others, but you're not fucking with a Dirty album until he croons something vicious. "Cold Blooded" is a whole lot of that. Fortunately, ODB had the grace of covering a song from a man who didn't necessarilyhave the best voice (R.I.P. Rick James...and Dirt McGirt for that matter), so this cover is much more forgiving than some of the others.

2) George Clinton-"Flashlight (ft. Q-Tip, Busta Rhymes & Ol' Dirty Bastard)" [A Cover of Parliament's "Flashlight"]
Back in the day when the thought of seeing any of these three rappers on a track got me geeked, seeing all three of them together with George Clinton was damn near the best thing to ever happen to my life. Times have changed and the only rapper from that line-up that still gets me remotely excited isn't even alive anymore. But as far as this track goes, it came during those glory days before one of them could do more than make up stories about slinging drugs and back when the other one still sounded half-excited to be rapping.

3) Ol' Dirty Bastard- "ODB, Don't Go Breakin' My Heart (ft. Macy Gray)" [A Cover of Elton John & Kiki Dee's "Don't Go Breaking My Heart"]
There are certain songs where I don't need to say a damn thing because the title speaks for itself: this is one of them.

4). Ol' Dirty Bastard-"Sussudio" [A Cover of Phil Collins's "Sussudio"...sort of]
This is another one.

5)Mark Ronson-"Toxic (ft. Ol' Dirty Bastard & Tiggers)" [A Cover of Britney Spears's "Toxic"]
I think I really love this song, but I'm not sure. Ronson comes through with those swanky horns he's been big on lately with Amy Winehouse. Tiggers, who I've never heard of before, does a good job with giving the song a new interpretation than the previous pop version. Sure the Ol' Dirty verses, which some of you may recognize from the version of "Lift Ya Skirt" without Missy Elliott on it, have been used before, though perhaps not on anything that isn't bootleg, I'll listen to ODB say "Fuck a pussy 'till it's orange like Ernie and Bert" every day of my life.

Bonus Track: Rhymefest-"Build Me Up (feat. Ol' Dirty Bastard)" [A Cover of The Temptations' "Build Me Up, Buttercup"]
As the track was originally written by 'Fest for ODB, it's only fair that this gets mentioned as well. Sure Mark Ronson's flipped pop songs before for a better performance, but you can't really fault this too much. It's cheesy and campy, yes, but once again, Dirt Dog proves that no one will be able to murder a classic like he does.

And for Eli: No m4a's, I'll go back and fix those Mafia joints too. And umm...Pete Rock and R. Kelly-go!

On Our Way

2007-04-22T01:17:00.001-04:00

We got mentioned by Oh Word, bitches!!!

The Featurings Game: Explanation

2007-04-20T15:10:00.000-04:00

Nobody ever mentions it, but I'm pretty damn sure that rap is the most collaborative genre of popular music, at least insofar as collaborations between separate acts/entities/whatever. You never see a rock record where a third of the songs has some other random-ass singer on them (unless it's some kind of ridiculous Duets album). In fact, collaborations are SO commonplace in rap that we hip-hop heads are actually so spoiled as to complain about albums that have too many guests on them. I mean, I complain about it too, but you've gotta admit it sounds silly when you think about it.

Anyway, ya'll know the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon game, yes? For quite a long time (longer than I'll admit) I've been toying with the idea of a similar game, where two rappers are named and then I see, through features/groups/etc, how many songs it takes to connect them. So I thought it'd be a fun little thing to do here.

The rules are as follows: First of all, no connections because one rapper produced a song for another, they have to have rapped together. (The exception is if it's said producer's actual album, because the other rapper is still a featured guest.) It also doesn't count if one rapper's voice was sampled on another rapper's track, or if one rapper did a cover of another's track. Just collaborations or groups... maybe members of the same extended crew, we'll see as we go. I'll do my best to make the connections just off the top of my head, without researching it, but there are a few tiny gaps in my knowledge, (mainly involving rappers I really don't like) so we'll see.

As for your part, try to pick two who are very divergent either in terms of eras, geography, subject matter, etc, so that it'll be a challenge. But don't go picking some little underground person who only made one single and never collaborated (although, Kid Hood's single verse on record is enough to connect him to anyone) 'cause that ain't fair, but most anyone is allowed. Be creative, the more wild the combination the more I'll probably enjoy it.

I'm going to allow anyone, even someone who isn't on Blogger, to comment--hopefully we won't get a shitload of spam. So just sound off in the comments with any good pairs you can think of, I'll try to address any that are worth addressing, but if there are already a bunch maybe hold off for the next post and comment then. For today, I'm gonna just do a simple example to get the ball rolling, so without further ado:

T.I. and Big Daddy Kane
These two have been in my mind because of Noz's recent comparison, I'm not sure I agree, but I see his point. Both are good looking, charismatic rappers who can get the female audience, but they can also each be lyrical monsters. One's from Atlanta and one's from Brooklyn, and their respective eras are very different, so I thought it'd be a neat little challenge at least for a start. I connected the King of the South and King Asiatic in three (off the top of my head that is, it's possible it could be done in less).

Step 1: T.I.P. & Beanie Sigel - "Two Glock 9s"
Shaft Soundtrack, 2000

Before his first record, when he was first called T.I.P., a young T.I. did this fun, violent song with Beanie Sigel (originally found here) on the Shaft soundtrack. I wish I knew what brought about this collabo in the first place.

Step 2: Jay-Z - "Where Have You Been" featuring Beanie Sigel
The Dynasty: Roc La Familia, 2000

Obviously it isn't hard to find a track where Beanie Sigel and Jay-Z work together, but this incredibly personal and haunting song from that Roc-A-Fella showcase album is by far my favorite example. When Sigel gets so overcome with emotion that he has trouble getting through his bars, the effect is incredible. Not every song with kids on the hook has to be "Hard Knock Life" or "I Can".

Step 3: Big Daddy Kane - "Show & Prove" featuring Big Scoob, Jay-Z, ODB, Sauce Money & Shyheim
Daddy's Home, 1994

From one of Kane's not so successful attempts at a comeback album (although with a great cover) this posse cut features a pre-fame, pre-slow flow Jay-Z who pretty much jacks Das EFX's style. The future "greatest rapper alive" doesn't come off very well, but maybe that's why Big Scoob opens the song--to make everyone else look good.

So that's that, comments please.

Get It? Two 'Pacs.

2007-04-19T12:26:00.000-04:00

Fans of any genre or medium are always making top 10 lists of something or other, and usually they're pretty negligible, but this might be my new favorite ever rap list...

Pause Tape. It's a list of rap's best uses of the verbal pause. Very good stuff, plus number one is one of my favorite songs of all time--no exaggeration.

(Spotted via Oh Word.)

Kickin' It Old Skool: Better Than Butt Five Week 2

2007-04-18T13:06:00.000-04:00

Alright, so ya boy been's a little behind on things lately, I'll admit that. But no fear, the good Professor is back with another week's BTB5, and probably week three's tomorrow.
For a new, exciting twist, this week's list (and probably most if I'm clever enough to think of one) will be themed. Also new, links will just be provided for each song if you don't need the whole packaged set.

So because I can't let a good discussion die down, I bring you
The Better Than Butt Five: Week Two (Three 6 Mafia Produced Songs That Leave [Relatively] Unaltered Willie Hutch Samples Running Through Them Edition)

1. Three 6 Mafia-"Stay Fly (ft. Young Buck, 8ball & MJG)" ["Tell Me Why Our Love Has Turned Cold"]
Sampling Willie Hutch is not something new for the Triple 6, but doing so with relatively little chopping or screwing is. From what I can tell, it began with Project Pat's "Choose U." Even "Testin' My Gansta" was played around with a bit. Anyway, I'm sure y'all heard this before, but this is easily their biggest (read: most commercially successful) hit, and furthered their use of Willie Hutch samples. While I enjoy the remix, especially Trick Daddy's killer verse, the original gets props for making it "A Tennessee Thang," as DJ Paul would say.

2. Project Pat-"What Money Do" ["Brothers Gonna Work It Out"]
An interesting use of a Hutch sample, it's chopped up for the chorus and left alone for the verses. It's interesting to note how well the beat is built around such a laidback sample to create such a bouncier, more aggressive song. Points too for talking more obscure portions of this song. I'd talk about Pat, but it'd be nothing new...at all.

3. Three 6 Mafia-"Poppin' My Collar" ["Theme from The Mack"]
The spiritual brother to "Choose U", or "International Players Anthem," if that's your thing, the song works in very much the same way. A swelling Hutch sample builds up to dizzying fanfare before Three 6 smack it with some drums and flip it all over again. Once again, I'd imagine everyone's heard this by now, but if not, peep it now.

4. Project Pat-"You Like" ["I'm Gonna Hold On"]
If you can get past the very bizarre and very blatant racism that pervades the song, then you're in for one of the finest cuts from Crook by da Book: The Feds Story. The production is, if you've heard the three above this one, really no surprise at this point:sample, drums, little bass kick, and the rapper. However, Project Pat bounces around the track in a way he normally doesn't do: adeptly. Don't get me wrong, I love Pat as much as the next man, but you'll hear the difference on this one, trust me.

5. Three 6 Mafia-"Don't Cha Get Mad (ft. Li'l Flip)" ["Sunshine Lady"]
Play "You Like" in reverse, and you've pretty much got this. Breezy little song, with not too much to say that hasn't been said about the other songs. Except for the fact it's kinda strange to hear Three 6 Mafia do a real laidback song like this.

Bonus Track: Daz-"Boyz in da Hood (ft. Nate Dogg)" ["Brothers Gonna Work It Out"]
For being late with it, I bring you this bonus track. Daz spitting his Left Coastisms, Nate on a nice double time hook, and that sweet flute sample flipped to perfection. Highly recommended.

I Don't Drink Cristal No Mo', I Just Pour It On White Bitches' Heads

2007-04-17T17:46:00.000-04:00

Do ya'll have any idea how hard it is to find a good picture of Weezy with his shirt on? Props.

Lil' Wayne - "We Takin' Over (remix)"

Lil' Wayne - "Get High Rule the World"
Da Drought 3 (bootleg), 2007

I'll save my "why free mixtapes are great (other than that I like free shit)" speech for another day. I'll also save the dissertation on how I went from Lil' Wayne's biggest hater to a major fan for when Tha Carter III drops this summer. (For awhile I wanted to just call him "the guy who stole Hollywood Divorce", but I don't think Petro would like that appelation.)

The point is, the much anticipated Da Drought 3 mixtape has been leaked. Personally I wasn't even aware that Droughts one and two existed, between my recent discovery of this and the Sqad Up mixtapes (can someone, probably Nazty Fresh, please enlighten me on the deal with Sqad Up?) I'm now realizing that the man's mixtape output isn't simply prolific... shit's ridiculous.

But Uncle Elijah? Is Da Drought 3 any good?

Well, young one, technically this is a bootleg: DJ Khaled insists that it's unofficial and that there's plenty of finalizing to do, etc, etc. But yes, yes it is very good. Now I certainly don't condone bootlegging (because that would be wrong, even when it's a free mixtape) and I do plan to up myself on the real thing when it hits... but that said, I've gotta say that said real thing being hosted by Baby and DJ Khaled, as opposed to the bootleg's straight run of tracks with no interludes, isn't the world's biggest draw.

Anyway, as of the bootleg version, Drought 3 does have some stuff we've already heard before--like Weezy and Juelz Santana's freestyle over "Black Republicans" (sans Juelz's second verse), the freestyle over Jay's "Show Me What You Got" (off of last year's most bumped by Elijah mixtape--if you do nothing else, listen to "Famous"), and the same verse from the Rap City freestyle that I posted recently, except this time it's over "Shoulder Lean". Also from the "we've heard it before" file is the "We Takin' Over" freestyle (oddly shown on the tracklisting as a remix) that I've posted up above. It's Wayne at his most ridiculously frantic, as well as the best showcase of his "who cares" attitude concerning "OMG HES GAY" rumors, which is by far the best way to deal with it. He says "damn right, I kiss my daddy" for fuck's sake.

Throughout the mixtape (and shit is two discs!) we get rhymes over "This Is Why I'm Hot", "Upgrade U", "Throw Some D's", and "Top Back" to name a few. Plus he absolutely kills "Walk It Out", but I don't have access to the file right now, so I can't put it up. What I am giving you is his take on Nas' classic "If I Ruled the World". It's always nice when someone uses an older track on their mixtape (a certain Jay-Z classic makes an appearance too). So IF I were the type to condone the downloading of music, I'd say get that shit.

Next big post, with music and info and such, I'm going to give you New York hip-hop. I don't know what it'll be, but I just realized that (excepting this, which didn't count) I haven't posted any east coast rap yet.

Well... That's Surprising

2007-04-17T15:28:00.000-04:00

Like most people my general opinion on MIMS' "This Is Why I'm Hot" is that it's a pretty fucking dumb song. (Although, whenever it's come on in the club I've gone nuts anyway.) So question: How does one make "This Is Why I'm Hot" well... hot?

Answer: Junior motherfuckin' Reid.

Ok, so this only really redeems the first third of the song, but whatever.

Real post coming later today.

Um, Holy Shit

2007-04-15T16:46:00.000-04:00

In case you really can't wait for Desire, here is every single Pharoahe Monch non-album track and guest appearance ever. Goddamn, huge props for this shit.

We Can Go To the Flat and Get Tantric

2007-04-15T13:33:00.000-04:00

The Roots - "Thought @ Work" (unreleased version)

Big Daddy Kane - "Raw" (1987 demo version) featuring Kool G Rap

So last night the esteemed Nazty Fresh and I were drunk as shit, and somewhere in the inevitable ramblings about rap music we got to talking about "Thought @ Work", and as he had not heard the OG version I thought I'd post it up here.

I kind of feel like I should dedicate some time to the '88-'90 fast rap style of G Rap, Kane, etc... but at the same time it isn't as though that shit hasn't gotten major, major blog love already, so we'll see. The main point is just that on The Roots' 2002 Phrenology record there was "Thought @ Work" which perfectly emulated those older songs, and which I enjoyed very much. Sometimes throwback rap goes too far, but I felt this one was just right. Black Thought continued his love affair with the style on a few songs from The Tipping Point (a record I actually kinda enjoyed) and even got to perform with Kool G Rap and Big Daddy Kane in "Dave Chappelle's Block Party", but that's another story.

The thing is, "Thought @ Work" wasn't originally going to be a Roots song at all. It was originally meant for a (now scrapped) Black Thought solo album, and so the OG version is actually a more traditional sample-based rap song, without live instruments. It could never be officially released though, because it samples The Beatles ("Hey Bulldog" specifically) and that's a kiss of death to any rap song. Michael Jackson will not let those rights be used for anything but many, many, many commercials.

While I was writing this post I remembered another unreleased fast rap song, this one from the beginning of the style. Everyone knows Big Daddy Kane's "Raw" (or goddammit they should!) but this demo actually has a guest verse from Kool G Rap when he was unknown but about to blow up. If you're a rap nerd like me this is the kinda shit you love (tinny quality and all)... if not, you should still give it a listen.

Odds & Ends, Plots & Plans, Pots & Pans, Stocks & Grands

2007-04-14T13:02:00.000-04:00

So here's a little wrap-up of a few things I want to share:

~~T.I. - "Big Shit Poppin"~~
T.I. Vs. T.I.P., 2007
(Edit: I'm afraid the powers that be have removed the above T.I. song from my divshare
account. I'm all for fighting the man, but I pick my battles, and a sneak peak off an album I'll probably buy anyway isn't worth it.)

(Found at The Smoking Section.) Sure there's been a snippet of our first glimpse at T.I.'s next record floating around, but here's the whole song. It's produced by Mannie Fresh, and is pretty much what I'd expect from both parties involved (in a good way). I have to say I'm not sure how excited I am about T.I. Vs. T.I.P., I mean on the one hand it's T.I., and King was a great record. On the other hand, in interviews he's making it sound like there's way too many guest stars, and I'm scared he'll get bogged down too much in the whole "concept" thing. But "Big Shit Poppin'" sounds like a basic T.I. song, so that's good. (Then again, I remember getting all hopeful when "Mighty O" sounded like a basic OutKast song.)

Rap City Freestyles (from OnSmash of course)

Bun B

Sometimes I feel like this site is dangerously teetering towards UGK fan-site, but who can blame us? Underground Kingz, May 8th! (Ok, probably not, but sometime this year, I hope... damn, I can't wait.)

Li' Wayne

Some other time I shall elaborate upon my incredibly fast transition from Wayne hater to Wayne stan. For now I'll just say that alot of people are still fronting on him, and I guess I can sort of see why... but I dunno, swagger, delivery, wordplay, etc. go a long way for me.

The Wake-Up Show

This is apparently from the L.A. days, but The Wake-Up Show (which I know as a Bay thing) was like the west coast Stretch & Bobbito show. Here's a song they did that, I assume, was really just a bunch of rappers who were together on the show one day. Lauryn Hill, Nas, Pharoahe Monch, Prince Po, Ras Kass, Shyheim, Saafir... damn. It'd be great if this was actually released as a track on something, but I assume that they'd have to pay too much to Nas and L-Boogie for it to be worth it. I'm guessing this is from '97, or so, judging by the fact that Lauryn isn't a crazy recluse yet, but she isn't rapping either. Anyway, if anyone knows who the rappers are whose verses sandwich Shyheim's I'm very curious to know. The youtube page says Saul Williams is on it, but I sure as hell don't hear him.

Whom?
One last thought: Jim Jones and Mike Jones should do a collaborative album. Now I know it sounds silly, but that's why it's perfect, because neither of them shy away from goofy shit. Now think about it, they both have real simplistic rhyme styles, but the gruff voice and the nasal voice would contrast perfectly. Just imagine: they could call it Keeping Up With the Joneses and the cover would show them all flossed out in front of a huge mansion, on a beautiful lawn with a white picket fence, and some hot chick would be pushing a lawnmower behind them.

EDIT: Someone chopped and screwed that Wayne freestyle (the video too) and I though it was worth adding here.

Y'all Niggas is Pussy, Poonani, Vagina, Your Monologue's Getting Tired

2007-04-13T14:42:00.000-04:00

Everyone close there eyes, and go back to 2004.
Remember that time?
Swizz Beatz suddenly came back to help T.I. bump "Bring 'Em Out," and Kanye was winning people over with "All Falls Down."
Everybody there now?
Now let's take it to New York. You're coming out with a single, named after said city. Give me your three choice MCs for the cut. Anyone, you can get Hov, Nasty Nas, Monch, bring back the old like Kane or KRS, maybe even a Wu drop or two. You pick:
Jadakiss-Not bad. Homeboy can spit pretty gutter.
Fat Joe-Umm...alright, I guess he can make people remember Big Pun.
Ja Rule-Word, nigga? It's gonna be like that?
Alright, well maybe you can bring it back with that production.
I'm sorry? Did you just ask for Cool & Dre? But...those kids ain't even from New York.

And so became, strangely, what was the best single Ja Rule ever put out. Cool & Dre put out some straight grime for that beat, and the verses became a roaring crescendo of pure East Coast braggado-Joey even took a shot at Ma$e...crack!

Now, three years later, with the release of "New York is Back" DJ Khaled forces us to ask the question, "Can lightning strike twice."
The answer:
Sweet Jesus Ass-Fuck No.

No one likes sequels.
Cool & Dre are running out of tricks. (Speaking of which, where the hell were they on The Game's last album?)
Jadakiss & Ja...haven't really done much since the last time the gang got together, and Fat Joe's currently on vacay in Miami.
AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, DJ shout-outs that would make Funk Flex blush are not necessary at all. If you wanna get on your album, try producing something.

P.S. Hate to break it to you fellas, but until Desire gets dropped this summer, New York ain't coming back.

"New York" by Ja Rule feat. Fat Joe and Jadakiss
"New York is Back" by Ja Rule feat. Fat Joe and Jadakiss

(EDIT:sorry for the Zsharing, but DivShare's acting goofy)

New Project: Falls From Grace

2007-04-13T13:24:00.000-04:00

Ok, so here's how it's gonna go. The music business is a notoriously fickle one, and if that holds true for the industry as a whole, it goes double (or perhaps triple) for hip hop. An artist can be utterly inescapable one moment and the next completely forgotten, callously tossed aside in favor of whatever the new flavor of the month is. I will be dedicating my next several updates to looking back at the catalogues of artists who we may have never thought would find themselves victims to this fate, but lately seem to have fallen hard. The first, and it truly pains me to do this, is Outkast. How is it, that just a few years ago these guys sold 10 million copies of their last album, scoring several inescapable radio hits and becoming not only rap icons, but people who seemed to lord over music in general. They didn't seem poised to take over the world, they had already done it. Now we hit 2006, and dual flop of a movie and an uneven album (Idlewild) sees Andre 3000 trying to hack it as a rapper again and failing, and Big Boi suddenly seems to have been sapped of all energy, which is doubly a shame since he practically carried the duo in recent years. All they do now is slum around on guest verses of lesser rappers (UGK excepted) and generally phoning it in every time. The worst of all this is that nobody cares...nobody bought Idlewild, they have all moved on and left our favorite ATLiens by the wayside. That is why, to remember better days for the group and hope for the future, my next post(s) will chronicle the fine catalogue of these two artists, and maybe I'll be able to amend this in the future with a note saying how they are on top again...but somehow I doubt it.

The Fuck?

2007-04-13T00:04:00.000-04:00

So apparently DMX thinks it's 1995 again for some reason. In an interview with the Ventura County Star Newspaper, when asked what the difference was between East Coast and West Coast rappers, X's answer was "talent." He then went on to elaborate:

"You know, there's talented rappers everywhere, and one West Coast rapper who I like and respect is Game, because to me, he has a New York style. But I don't like a lot of West Coast rappers. West Coast rap is too laid back, too focused on marijuana with all the blunts and lowriders. There's nothing honest. There's no trouble in it, you know? There's no hardship in it. Everyone in L.A. that raps has a lowrider and a fat blunt. Back here in New York, we're still walkin' and still smokin' dirt, you know? There's no hardship in their rap, there's nothin' to make you say, 'I can relate to that.'"

Well, someone's already responded, of course. But damn, there are NYC heads still hung up on this shit? I thought all those bitter types were channeling this rage towards the south now, what the hell? I mean, ok granted, DMX is fucking nuts these days anyway, and nothing that comes out of his mouth should be taken seriously, but nonetheless. Is the West Coast even a threat now? I mean honestly, there are very few big records coming out of my homeland these days anyway, but I guess they're not as relatable as "Ballin'" or "This Is Why I'm Hot" 'cause, you know, in New York we're still smokin' dirt. (Funny to hear from someone who smokes rocks... ok, that was too easy, I know.)

Smashing Like a Straight Fool

2007-04-10T21:34:00.000-04:00

Little Bruce - "Mobbin' In My Old School"

Little Bruce - "Footlocka Crew"
XXXtra Manish, 1994

So today I figured "how about some Bay rap?"

Hailing from Vallejo, Little Bruce is E-40's cousin, was a regular guest on earlier 40 and Click records (which makes sense, since I think most or all of The Click were cousins) and was also part of the Funk Mobb. According to an interview posted on Bruce's Myspace page it was records back and forth between himself and Mac Dre that started the infamous feud between Vallejo's Millersville and Crestside neighborhoods that lasted through a good portion of the 90's. In fact, there are a few jabs at Mac Dre throughout 1994's XXXtra Manish.

You don't have to look at Bruce's Myspace page for very long to see that that was squashed (before Dre died, of course) but according to that same interview Little Bruce is now beefing with his cousin E-40, apparently feeling that his career was mismanaged. The interview's only one side of things, of course, but it's an interesting read.

(If none of the names in the first two paragraphs mean anything to you you obviously need to learn more about my area, the Yay Area.)

Putting aside the beefs I can say that, mismanaged or not, XXXtra Manish is some vintage Vallejo mobb shit. Fittingly enough, it plays like a cousin to E-40 and The Click, and I mean that in a good way. I don't know if it's even still available to buy anywhere, but if it is I'd suggest copping it. "Mobbin' In My Oldschool" might be the album highlight (or it might just be the one that always gets stuck in my head) and it's an uber-west-coast riding song with, I think, an ingenious use of a tinny sample to mimic a car radio. "Footlocka Crew" is... well he might be trying to make a point, but I think he's just emulating that old Slick Rick, Dana Dane goofy shit in a 90's gangsta vein. I love it.

To Make Rap Nerds Salivate...

2007-04-10T15:10:00.000-04:00

I'm not really sure how familiar our (three) readers are with rap history, so for those who don't know who Stretch Armstrong is, here's a very basic primer. The point is that now he has a blog that's mostly recordings of old rap radio shows--in other words, it's the kind of thing that makes me curl up into a little ball of comatose happiness.

On the first day of our own most illustrious blog Nazty Fresh bemoaned the recent state of Rev. Run, and so one thing on Stretch's blog especially caught my interest: Run (without the Rev.) on Mister Magic's Rap Attack in 1987, doing a freestyle over the instrumental to "My Melody". Let me repeat that. Run in 1987 freestyling over "My Melody".

Holy shit. One doesn't come across such obscure 80's Run-DMC stuff very often, I mean even their early version of what became the Beastie Boys' "Slow and Low" has become pretty ubiquitous in blogworld by now. But this... man, this is the perfect reminder of Run at the height of his skill.

For Those Still Concerned With Canibus...

2007-04-10T02:28:00.000-04:00

...I'm sure you've already seen this.
For those who wish to see what effete rappers will do to prove they've still got it (honest!), click on the link below.

Poet Laureate Infinity

A beat that you can mix at different intervals with five seperate 11-minute vocal tracks.
Along side of just recording a lot of really long raps though, if you switch out any one track with another it'll still keep the same rhyme going.
~~Gimicky~~ Neato, right?

You be the judge.

White Chicks Are Always Hilarious

2007-04-10T00:30:00.000-04:00

Anyone who's spent five minutes on Myspace will appreciate this.
(Spotted via Oh Word.)

Last Post About "I Choose You"

2007-04-09T11:15:00.000-04:00

Cormega - "Rap's a Hustle"
The Realness, 2001

Mathematics - "Pimpology 101"
Love Hell Or Right, 2003

Ok, I know that I've already gone on way too long about this, but I got a little obsessed and I just had to hear every use of this song. So, for your comparative pleasure, here are the other two, rather early, uses that I know of Willie Hutch's "I Choose You". And honestly, I ain't really feeling either one too much. It's funny how, as "International Players Anthem" has taken hold, I've been seeing alot of talk in comment sections about how either Cormega or Mathematics was the one to really kill this track. Um, really now?

I mean I like both of these guys, but I don't think it's either of their best work. Plus I think both tracks are good examples of taking a great loop and not leaving it alone (or fucking with it well, like Hi-Tek). Cormega's version turns it into chipmunk soul, and Mathematics' version has those absolutely jarring drums that are just uncomfortable.

I know alot of east coast heads these days are real quick to jump to the defense of any New York artist and declare that they're the best at whatever they're doing, but even the lyrics of these versions really do nothing for me. (And that's where New York's supposed to shine, right?) No disrespect to 'Mega or Mathematics, because they've both done shit I felt, but I'm definitely handing this one to the south.

(My next post will have neither the word "Willie" nor the word "Hutch" in it. Hopefully not even the word "choose", but I can't guarantee that.)

Sunday Afternoon Odds and Ends

2007-04-08T15:50:00.000-04:00

Some things that make me happy:

Nine Inch Dix Album this summer! Wait...who? Snoop Dogg's R&B supergroup whose sole purpose is to sing about the nastiest, raunchiest, gutter sex you can imagine...in a horribly catchy manner. Their album, Cumming Soon, is essentially going to be a whole album of "I'd Rather Fuck With U"s. And if that isn't the greatest thing I ever heard, then I don't know what the fuck is. If you're not up on them, here's two cuts, each taken from Snoop's last two albums.

My boy Nicholas and his blog. If you'd like this site with less hood more suburb, and with a snarky veneer of intelletualism, then he's right up your alley. He also studies film. It's a good time.

This silly little number by Freeway and Sleepy Brown.

More?

2007-04-08T14:32:00.000-04:00

Termanology - "I Did It" (produced by Hi-Tek)

Ok, one last addition to the whole Willie Hutch discussion. So ARE we gonna have a month or so where this song is used by everyone? 'Cause I'd still be digging that. Gotta say tho, much as I'm often feeling Hi-Tek, (altho I haven't heard Hi-Teknology 2, so maybe I'm not feeling him anymore) this song proves that the best course of action is to just loop the song and leave it alone. Sure it's chopped real well, but wouldn't you rather just hear it straight up?

This marks the end of the bullshit

2007-04-07T23:28:00.000-04:00

I figured for my first post on this here blog I'd need some kind of statement of purpose. While our title pretty much speaks for itself, I figure some details are in order for my end, and believe it or not it's this simple:

Too many people with internet connections these days are fucking morons.

You need examples? If you do you've never been on a message board, or worse, read user comments like the kind that websites like hiphopdx tend to receive. These are but laymen however, they don't claim any sort of true authority, that's why they are just anonymous posters on larger websites, they don't have any reason for people to listen to them...and most people who remember that you don't need to type everything with your caps lock on will know better than to listen to it. However, there are things on this world wide web of ours that are far more insidious. These things would be professional websites that are, for some reason, still run by fucking morons, only now they are in a position of power, so people who don't know any better might actually buy into the information on it and waste their time and money or worse, they might actually delude themselves into having the same opinions as said morons. What can we do about this?

Well, I cannot handle the task of curing the web of idiocy, but I will offer my own, most likely better, opinions on all things music while here. If you want to look at those perpetrators I posted about, look no farther than here:www.pitchforkmedia.com (who are actually sometimes on point, depending on who's writing) and www.rapreviews.com (usually NOT on point, to put it politely, but since I don't give a crap about being polite, are a bunch of idiots). Now everyone has their opinion, and music is especially subjective...but there is a certain time when bullshit is bullshit, and giving fucking MIMS anything approaching a decent score on your rating system (seriously Mr. Juon, I don't care if he's your fucking father, there is generous and there is retarded) means you get to see me post something rambling and overlong like this, so get used to it. But for those times when I don't go on a rant, I'll be reviewing some music that I think you really ought to at least give your time, and then make up your own mind about it.

PS: If anyone involved with the aformentioned parties has a problem with the words here, they can take a long, hard, satisfying suck on my dick. For everyone else, nice to meet you all and enjoy the reading.

Music Is Good

2007-04-07T19:21:00.000-04:00

What, you may ask, is the super secret connection between San Francisco rap legend JT the Bigga Figga and French song and dance man Georges Guetary? Honestly, I just like them both alot, and figured this would be a good way to close out my posting on this first, most illustrious day of the Better Than Butt Sex blog. (You've gotta admit that title is a great way to keep out the "no homo" brigade.) Essentially, both "Game Recognize Game" and "I'll Build a Stairway to Paradise" rank (in my mind) amongst the greatest songs of all time, and repeat listenings have helped me get through all sorts of strange parts of my life, (they've been in heavy rotation this week, often one after the other) so I thought I'd share.

JT the Bigga Figga is, indeed, one of the biggest names in actual San Francisco (as opposed to Oakland, Vallejo, etc.) rap. Consider this song as the first in what I hope will be a bevy of jewels of Bay Area rap that I'll be posting here, although this one's pretty known and I plan to get a good deal more obscure in times to come. (What ya'll know about Little Bruce, Biaje, or Rappin' Ron & Ant Diddley Dog?) I'll see how long I can stay obscure before giving in and posting the "I Got 5 On It" remix... I'd say a month at best.

I don't really know anything about Guetary or the history of this particular George Gershwin song. But I do know that whenever I hear it I picture a man in a tux singing as he walks up giant art deco stairs that light up each time he steps on one, with girls in tux tops, stockings, and high heels dancing around him.

Enjoy.

Yo, Man. Let's take it back to that old school, storytelling shit!

2007-04-07T17:24:00.000-04:00

I know a lot of people aren't down with the whole grime scene, and it's all good. The things that make it "unique" or "interesting" to one can be reason to be entirely turned off to it for another.
And not that I'm real up on the genre, but I get hip to some Kano, Wiley and the whole Roll Deep Crew and Plan B.
And of course, Dizzee Rascal.
Now, hate him, love him or barely understand him, his new video "Sirens" is ill as hell. If you don't like the song, alright. But watch the video at least once, it'll do you some good.

I also wanted to get out my bit on Dizzee before the new UGK album comes out (once it stops getting pushed back) and the blogosphere starts like "Fix Up, Look Sharp" just came out.

Let's Hold a Caption Contest!

2007-04-07T15:47:00.000-04:00

Food Rap

2007-04-07T15:39:00.000-04:00

The "minstrel rap" debate is one that I don't even plan to get into right now (or maybe ever) but I do know that it's been mentioned how many of those songs are about food. Well, I'm proud to announce the next generation of food-related rap, which can't at all be mistaken for minstrelsy.

There's really nothing for me to say that hasn't been laid out in Serg's perfect introduction to this song, except that someone better get this shit up on youtube right the fuck now. (Ok, so there's a video up there of someone's best guess, but that's not the same.)

Just fuck and get it over with...

2007-04-07T15:02:00.000-04:00

So here's the deal:

50 Cent talks greasy about Koch records.
Cam'ron calls in and starts yelling, among other things, Fiddy's birth name: Curtis.
Cam'ron turns this into inspiration for more ho-hum diss tracks than you could beef with The Game over.
50, a man who likes to have the last laugh, has decided to name his upcoming album Curtis.
Cam'ron, a man who is probably clinically insane, is now titling his next album Courtesy Curtis.

Naming your album after a weird ass beef is one thing.

But, no homo Cam', naming your album after another dude...

Nah, fuck it, that shit's gay.

You're Fuckin' With My Loot When You're Late On Your Child Support

2007-04-07T14:59:00.000-04:00

My esteemed colleague Prof. Nazty Fresh (I'mma have to come up with a shorter version of that) already touched on "International Players Anthem" but I felt that it could use a second look, because why not. So first of all, I'm gonna straight-up bite the all-powerful OG of this music blog shit Oliver Wang by putting up all three versions of this most wonderful Willie Hutch masterpiece. (Ok, so I've read that there's also a Cormega song, and a Mathematics song, that use it, but I haven't heard those. Anyone feel free to enlighten me.)

Now, my esteemed colleague didn't seem to think much of Andre's verse on "International Players Anthem" and that is where I must respectfully disagree (altho I co-sign that Pimp C killed it). I definitely see how the gimmick of doing the whole thing without drums can make us like a verse more than it deserves, and can even be emotionally manipulative in this instance (with a swelling Hutch track behind it) but all in all I still feel like Andre captured a certain mood of love shockingly well: that strange sad/happy part of romance that rappers ignore and musicians in most other genres usually try and fail for. Soul music can often capture said mood... and that brings us right back around to Willie Hutch.

A large part of what made the UGK/OutKast song hit me so hard in the first place was really just Hutch's influence anyway. Now, alot of people throughout the internet ('cause, you know, we're the one's whose opinions matter) have been complaining because not only did Three-6 Mafia straight up recycle "I Choose You", but it was the second time they'd done it. Yeah, complaining about this song... I don't get it either. If absolutely every rap single released in May of '07 used the same loop of "I Choose You" I don't think I'd complain. Well, ok, I might once the Def Jux people got their hands on it... but who are we kidding, for that to happen they'd have to listen to black music.

So maybe it is lazy to use the same sample, but the fact is that when life's been difficult we aren't always lucky enough to be handed a UGK and OutKast song that's produced by Three-6 Mafia and sampling Willie Hutch. This is what makes life good.

(Dunno if it's fuckin' with Pat's version tho.)

History 202: Run DMC in the 2000s

2007-04-07T12:49:00.000-04:00

For those of you already familiar with the history, my deepest, most sincere apologies for making you relive, arguably, America's darkest hour.

On April 3rd, 2001, hip-hop legends Run-DMC released, from what this listener could discern, the sound of a group taking a 40 minute piss on their career. Replacing the DMC on most tracks with the likes of Fred Durst, Jermaine Dupri and...oh yeah, Sugar Ray, it was clear that the group had no business recording any more. This fact was furthered with the release of Rev Run's solo album, Mind on the Road, where he could only muster 26 minutes of material.

But I digress.

I bring up Crown Royal solely to present you with this track. "The School of Old" features none other than everyones favorite hillbilly "rap"-rocker, Kid Rock.

But Nazty Fresh, it was only one track. Why all the fuss?

Running with the Kid, is why all the fuss. In an interview on G4's website, Rev Run discussed his new full-length, collaborative effort with Kid Rock and describes it as being "sort of like what Clapton and BB King did with 'Riding with the King.'"
...
Most liberal use of "sort of like" ever.

Anyway, let this be a lesson in history. Learn it, live it, love it or else we'll keep gettin sure-shot shit shows like this.
And don't forget to watch the new season of Run's House this Monday!

The Better Than Butt Five-Week One

2007-04-06T11:25:00.000-04:00

BTB5-Week 1

1)UGK ft. Outkast-International Players Anthem
I know most people will already be up to this one, but hey, it's still good. Nevermind that Andre still isn't rapping well (yeah Three Stacks, I saw through that no drum shit). And I don't care if he starts talking about UFOs again, this is hardly a "return to form." What was nice though was to see Pimp C come hard on the song. Of course Bun and Big held it down, although Daddy Fat Sacks better step his game up for this solo release, but Pimp really kept it hot. Good for him.

2)Polyrhythm Addicts ft. Pharoahe Monch- Reachin'
I never peeped their '99 album, and the only member I heard of was DJ Spinna thanks to a few remixes (check his remix to Lyrics Born's "Changed My Mind"), but as Hip-Hop Principle #5 states: Put Pharoahe Monch on your song, and everyone will listen. Monch gives everyone their room to spit yet still remains a presence on the song. This is probably due to everyone in the group getting their mini-Monch on in their verses. Whatever though, I'll take that over...say...this.

3)Cam'Ron ft. Duke da God- Suga Dooga
I know, I know. It's Dipset. I'm not stupid. I'm not deaf. But this song just takes me back to a simpler time. Nostalgic for the early 2000s? Maybe. I can't front on that Li'l Fame beat, or most Li'l fame beats for that matter. Cam's always best over beats better suited for 80's sitcoms than rapping, and Fame provides the recipe. Duke's rhymes are also so retarded it merits being heard by everyone.

4)Sa-Ra Creative Partners ft. CNN & Lord Nez- Not On Our Level
Goddamn do I loves me some of that Sa-Ra, spaced-out, funky shit-especially when they sing on it too. Rapping...not so much. (Y'all remember "Thrilla"?) But when the mic handling is left to a more competent team, like Capone-n-Noreaga, well shit, you've got a hit without even trying.

5) Electric Light Orchestra- Shine a Little Love
Don't front. Shit's hot. Just listen to it and shut the hell up.