Friday, October 31, 2008

Window Bussa


Just made this remix tonight when I should've done my chemistry homework due at midnight. Oh well. It's worth it for a Remix Part Three!!! teaser. Also finished the intro song to that album which is a banger with me actually freestyling my verse. I swear, I swear, I swear. Prolly the only time you'll ever hear me freestyle when you finally get your hands on that big ole zip file.


For Brooke. =)

... and so concludes another masterpiece

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Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Poetic Heartbreak in Acapella


There's technically a space in "A capella" and an extra "p", but I didn't want it there cuz this is how I've misspelled it my whole life! Thanks to Ern for the amazing album cover again, again, again! She only charges me a free-ninety-nine for each one. This picture to the right is slightly updated from the zip file that's linked, so you can drag this one to replace the artwork on iTunes or whatever.

Now to explain it. The base of the photograph is of course my journal. It's actually opened to the original scribblings of my song "In My Mind" that's gonna be on Vol. 2, A Laptop Chronicle. Passing the torch above it is my previous journal from junior year in high school. The two pictures are me with Shihan and Black Ice, the two greatest spoken word poets EVER, who I've both gotten to see perform in the last couple months worth hours of goosebumps and enlightenment! It was more rewarding for me to meet and talk to them than about any other famous person because they were so down to earth and deep. I love those pictures.

My ear buds are gently wrapping themselves up in my notebook. That's my inspiration giving way to the writing that the pen's manifesting. Also, the top left corner actually has a Steven Wright comedy album poking in the picture. The part of that cover shows an abstract perception trick on the pictured flat, checkered floor, so it's kinda just an artsy things-aren't-always-what-they-seem message. But Steven Wright himself, though out of the picture, is the sideways hint of comedy even in serious situations tinged on my album as a whole. It's deep stuff, but some of it's just as fun as it is thought-provoking.

Lastly, the bottom ribbon coming out of the notebook represents that this is all a reminiscing experience. A lot of the poems were situations that arose in my past, but each has lessons that pertain to even today. But eventually, though I enjoy all the good and bad parts of my past, I gotta flip back up the the held spot of the present. And I gotta write my way into the future.

Download it and tell me whatcha think!

... and so concludes another masterpiece

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Monday, October 27, 2008

G.O.A.A.A.A.T.


Just to be slightly more elaborative, the greatest of any and all applicable time.


To quote myself from a verse that'll never see the light of day cuz the ensuing bars sucked, "Everybody claimin' to be the best rapper alive/Answer me one question, 'When did Rakim die?'"

And that's my general thought process on that. I laugh off LL Cool J saying it. Weezy's just intentionally buffing his bigger-than-the-game persona by saying it. 50's frickin' remedial, so you can't blame him for maybe accidently saying it. And whoever else, uff outta here. (c) Charles Hamilton

I believe (and who'da thunk it?) that Andre dealt with the question best in his line from "Mighty 'O'" saying, "I'm not sayin' I'm the best, but till they find somethin' better/I am here, no fear. Write me a letter." He ain't saying it, but he's saying it. Ya know? So here is my best rapper list. Of course it's subjective ... but trust me on it. I wouldn't lie to you.

5) Lupe Fiasco
4) 2Pac
3) Cee-Lo
2) Rakim
1) Andre 3000

I'll reserve my heartfelt reasoning on individual posts highlighting these monsters' careers so far. But for now take the song appetizers as proof. Gimme your list.

.... and so concludes another masterpiece

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Saturday, October 25, 2008

Post-Lyricism My Post-Rear End


I should be writing my lab report right now, but I just spent way too much time reading way too long entries about way too much of nothing. If you think you can handle it, read this then this then this then this to wrap it up.


This blogger spends paragraph upon paragraph labeling as many aspects of rap as he can think of within the contextual and ideological confines of whether or not it's "post-lyrical". Now let it be known I got a B in college art and an A in college music by two very impassioned teachers, so I can vaguely parallel the historically defined "pre-" and "post-" era garbage. But what kills me here in reading every single word of these pieces is the author's lack of any point. He stretches the notion of this all-encompassing "Nas formula" that has the wrath of God in the judgement of any given rapper today or yesterday.

Here's my point. We all want to judge it, but the whole purpose of anything deemed "art" in this world is to achieve a level of sacredness in which the product simply is. While any given "industry" can and will destroy every bit of sanctity in the process, intentions can be used as a substitute basis of comparison.

We've come to a point in pop culture where it is stereotypical to try to not be stereotypical. So whether any given artist follows a "Nas formula" because he wants small-circle respect, or uses "nonsense" metaphors because he wants to create a bigger-than-life persona, or glorifies violence because he wants to be known as "real", or whatever any aspect of anything could be deemed a gimmick ... I don't care.

I'm just passably smart enough to realize if the music that I listen to is the product of a loving creator. MF Doom raps different not because he's clichely trying to be different, but because he is different. Kanye does not use auto tune because it's the current industry fad and he's trying to attain some conceived level of higher artistical genius, but because the usage of that technology emotionally and audibly manifests the feelings that have come over him since the death of his mother and his called-off engagement in a way his normal voice can't. Andre 3000 does not utilize any facade of intelligence or message or metaphor. He writes rhymes and what comes out comes out. Why is it impossible for the multitude of self-described intellectual rap listeners to comprehend artistic integrity that's non-intentionally meant to be any sort of way? It just is. And people either like or not. The fans that they may or may not have been "aiming for".

I just got pissed reading all those essays cuz I love to analyze any and every detail of life. Nothing's above questioning to me. But why try to contain the souls of the few well-intentioned lyrical and musical artists who actually have talent by imposing this B.S. notion of any pre-condition? It's like someone just walked up to me and told me my mother doesn't love me. Rather she simply gave birth to me under the condition that that is what was expected of her and she raised me accordingly to the status quo forced upon her and her only satisfaction of the process was that some cliche attainable goal was achieved.

And I don't like the idea of that.

And I know I immersed myself in the whole intellectualist plot to explode everyones' brains by writing out my response to it, but whatever. I hated what I was reading. Hated it. But I'll get over it.

And if that location isn't sacred, what's left that is? (c) Me

... and so concludes another masterpiece

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Waiting for What?


So here's your first taste of me doing good old acapella spoken word poetry if you've never seen me perform live before.


Chris Campbell - Waiting for What?

I wrote it rather recently and it's a track off my upcoming Simply Poetic. The intro to the album'll warn you, but the content is heavy on some of the poems. You gotta take each piece for what it meant at the exact moment I wrote it. So don't worry about me on the sad ones, cuz there are saaad ones! I'd rather you pray for me in getting through future troubles instead. But there are positive hopeful musings, too. Everything's a balance.

... and so concludes another masterpiece

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Friday, October 24, 2008

The Cipher: Bittersweet


In its short three years of existence, the "Cipher" series has gained quite a bit of recognition as the solely reserved non-industry segment on the BET Hip Hop Awards. On the surface that's all quite apparent. While it's sad that grouping legitimate emcees in a celebration of the true foundation of rap is relegated to a few two minute segments yearly, I'm obviously happier that BET puts them together rather than not. And all praise for DJ Premier scratching every year.

BET Cipher Series - feat. Everybody

But I still feel I'm watching an eerily sold out product even though I enjoy every single addition to the series. It seems that BET makes this the annual equivalent of "Saturday sinners, Sunday morning at the feet of the father." (c) Talib Kweli

It's like the producers are trying to make up for all of the garbage they flood the masses with every single day by putting together a cut that'll have all the hip hop heads celebrating. Here are a few reasons why I so strongly get that vibe in elaboration after I've just got done bobbing my head and cheering.

1. Rappers are prominently featured that BET could absolutely not care any less about.
There was a big debacle that I remember awhile back about a Little Brother video being blacklisted from the station because their video was, infamously quoted, "too intelligent." Fans were in a big ole uproar over it, especially since The Minstrel Show was just such a monstrously dope album altogether. But when the next year came around, Phonte got a lead spot in a cipher. A more recent and even quicker-responding example is Q-Tip, whose video was also disgustingly quoted as being ... "different" as a reason for why it wasn't on online polls to be put on 106 & Park. And guess who gets a closing cipher appearance before his album even drops?

2. Nothing wrong with international rappers, but interlingual?
There's just something about a rapper spitting in Japanese while the dudes around her "ooh" and "uh" as if they're hanging on every punchline. For me personally, it's hard enough to pay attention to Dizzee Rascal's heavy accentuation, much less the aforementioned Hime or the French Flo or K'naan slipping into Somalian. Unless Fuse TV is on the brink of buying out BET, these artists have no chance of ever getting another two milliseconds on the station. And I'm serious, Willy Northpole was sweating Hime's tanka usage.

3. Hurricane Chris got a spot in there ...
Yeah. I know everybody's waiting for next year's Rakim-Lady Sovereign-Soulja Boy spit down.

Now I just gotta say it again, I absolutely love these cipher segments! But you know when something seems a little too good to be true and you just know the motives behind it are in no way honorable? I can't complain about the final aired product, though. I'll suffer through an I-don't-know-why-everybody's-bigging-upping-him Ace Hood verse if it means there's gonna be a Lupe, Rhymefest, or Jadakiss to come correct afterwards. Maybe if BET replaced Rap City with some form of a Cipher show that actually showcased real talent on a regular basis then I'd shut my mouth and actually enjoy the thing.


They say the game got the belly of a beast ... (c) Lupe Fiasco

... and so concludes another masterpiece

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Thursday, October 23, 2008

It's What You Expected, Ain't It?


This post is dedicated to any and every song out there that made you pray on your pillow that night a collabo album would be in the works and be released at least in the next ten years by the artists that just got together. These are in no particularly symbolic order of any kind. These are automatic download links!

Nas - Black Republicans (feat. Jay-Z)
Why it worked: This was the result of one of those beefs that made you question the get-over-ability of any given hip hop beef. But it was so timely. I was one who got goosebumps the morning I checked all my rap blogs and they each had headlines involving Jay's concert where he brought out Nas announcing to the world that NY's golden children were putting aside their differences. After the obligatory Def Jam joint album rumors that neither exactly shot down, this track finally made its way to the world. The epic-ness of any supposed-to-be epic track can quickly be achieved by an epic sounding beat, and the kings of NY milked it for everything it's worth back and forth for an entire 58 seconds before the actual lyrics come up. And this is one of those that actually felt like it was jointly birthed between the artists as each rapper chimes in with adlibs and doubled-up chorus vocals. Success. As was the pun-intended follow-up.

Jay-Z - Renegade (feat. Eminem)
Why it kinda worked: Back in '01 you'd be hard pressed to find any two more commercially viable rap artists with as dedicated a following and critical love. And on the unfortunate release date of 9/11, Blueprint was pushed further into a realm of cultural lore. The main detraction is ... um ... why did Em so insist on being behind the boards for a long stretch and why did Jay chose to take that beat that he didn't exactly outstandingly shine on? It became the prodigal "killed on your own ish" punchline example. And the original had Royce in Jay's place, so why exactly didn't he come harder? Truth be told, neither was too impressive lyrically on those awkward snares and depressing back orchestration. But epic is what epic does. Whatever that means.

50 Cent - I Get Money (Forbes 1-2-3 Remix feat. Diddy & Jay-Z)
Why it didn't work: Did anybody really like the original? It just happened to be the least worst of the fourteen pre-album singles that Fiddy dropped around the same time and it had a semi-respectable Audio Two sample. And plus, no one exactly praises 50 or Diddy for either they or their ghost writers' lyrical prowess. Even Jay-Z seemed bored when it got around to his verse, only quipping "in case y'all forgot, New York is still mine" to spark a bit of controversy amongst an all NY cast. But ... it's just not enough for anyone else to really care about. I kinda actually did want it to turn out alright. Kinda. I shoulda known better.

CRS - Us Placers
Why it worked: Because it came almost literally out of nowhere! And off a pre-Graduation Kanye mixtape that would have been a virtual throwaway without it. And while I'm not always the biggest fan, Pharrell went in on the closing verse. This brings up dreams of the old Jay, Ja, and DMX super group talks (that I kinda don't wanna hear thinking back on it). And the Thom Yorke sample just fits. I'm not asking any hip hop heads to convert to indie rockdom, but it just feels good and every "uh" and all of Lupe's "and they love it" achieve a real atmosphere. If the album ever makes itself for real, who knows what could happen? I don't.

Bun B - Swang On 'Em (feat. Lupe Fiasco)
Why it didn't work: With all the talk of the glasses-toting Chicago emcee about how he came up more on UGK and NWA than A Tribe Called Quest, this was the chance for Lupe to let his performance speak for him. He was getting a track on a huge album by a Houston legend to exercise his gangsta, South-tinged material. But what came out of it was a chopped and screwed pile of uninteresting. It just wasn't any fun. It wasn't any kind of intelligent. It wasn't any kind of hood either. It dwelled in the middle land of Lupe not knowing how to write balancing either extreme of rap, equalling an unappealing verse to either side. Bun was Bun, but not enough to rescue it.

Kanye West - Barry Bonds (feat. Lil' Wayne)
Why it didn't work: Why does Kanye let anybody else in the world get a beat on his own tape? Especially a plodding, yawn-inducing one from Nottz? Unfortunately we've found that Wayne often brings the worst out of Yeezy (though I don't exactly hold that judgement on the "Lollipop Remix"). He becomes trapped into a monotonous cycle of swagger braggadocio that's redundantly redundant. It happened on "Swagga Like Us", too, enough that it has the world praying that the Nas & 3K variation exists just to save the mess. Was anyone that excited to hear Kanye out-do Wayne on his own braggy punchline lane that he's made popular?

Jay-Z - Hello Brooklyn 2.0 (feat. Lil' Wayne)
Why it didn't work: Why this track about this subject? Wayne on an ode to Brooklyn? Why couldn't they wait the tiniest bit longer to allow "Mr. Carter" to be the one and only Jay-Wayne collabo? I like the bass it rattles off in my car, but the song isn't convincing in any other way whatsoever. Honestly, it's a humungous blemish on American Gangster as a whole. And the Beastie Boys yelling at me randomly? Sigh.

OutKast - Mighty "O"
Why it worked: While this may seem out of place, let's not forget the always persistent break-up rumors by Georgia's resident rap legends. Especially those that were coming out in the way-too-long gap between Speakerboxxx/The Love Below and Idlewild. This song was the first leaked single from the latter album and featured crazy intricate 32's by each rhyming partner. Both were up on their lyrical hardness and differential cohesiveness. Both unapologetically insulted those in the media and the fans for keeping up rumors that both parties denied. Whether or not you liked the Prohibition era'd movie (if you ever went and saw it) and it's accompanying soundtrack, this track yelled from the mountain tops that Andre was not to be done with the art of rhyming and he would stay bar for bar with Big Boi on his own terms.

Obviously I can't hit on every major joint venture between timeless artists, but what are your favorite hits and misses with big time collaborators?


... and so concludes another masterpiece

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Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Classic: Get By


I enjoy all meaningful hip hop music more than I could ever explain to you, but never did I know an incredibly intelligent track could be so fun. I guess that's what you get with an always lyrically on-par Talib Kweli when he had an old Kanye beat tape before he was a household name.


With Quality, Talib punned his name into the title and provided every bit of it literally with every song in the album. After two undeniably classic duo albums, the Brooklynite ventured completely solo to create another. And I'm not ever gonna say he didn't.

The album comes to a explosive high point early on once "Get By" breaks into your auditory system. Nina Simone Sinnerman's her way through the intro as the looped key sample joyfully creeps its way in simultaneously with Kweli getting straight to it. "We sell crack to our own out the back of our home, we smell musk the musk at the dusk in the crack of the dawn ..."

Short, pointed verses refrain with the sing-alongable chorus and keep you knodding the entire time. You can feel how immense and hopeful the lyrics are, yet you can't help but nearly get lost in how easy the track plays. And just extending on its level of perfection is a more radio acknowledgeable remix creating an ultimate posse cut with the addition of Black Star partner Mos Def, fellow Brooklynite Jay-Z, an early rhyme from Kanye West, and Busta Rhymes rounding it out. Even if you're not crazy familiar with Kweli, you prolly already have stored in the back of your head Jay's big-up Black Album "Moment of Clarity" line, "If skills sold then truth be told, I'd prolly be, lyrically Talib Kweli. Truthfully I wanna rhyme like Common Sense. But I did 5 mill, I ain't been rhymin' like Common since." Calling out both my "Classic" series emcees? Yup.


This mornin', I woke up, feelin' brand new and, I jumped up ...

... and so concludes another masterpiece

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Monday, October 20, 2008

Here We Stand

So before the worst-day-of-my-life-Sunday, I had an awesome Saturday with Ern and made a bunch of new music and refixed some old stuff. Can't ask for anything better than that.


Brand new song from nothing to share with youz guys:


We each wrote our own verses as we went. Kind of a 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. process if ya know what I mean. Well ... um, it means we finished the song at 5 in the morning ...

Most beautiful voice ever. Ever.

Ever.

And so much more, but the main theme for this post is how she's my favorite singer I've ever heard.

... and so concludes another masterpiece

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Classic: I Used to Love H.E.R.



Any hip hop heads should already know this track. By heart, actually. It's 101 type stuff and quite possibly the most perfect representation of all the potential any rap song could ever have with its creativity, delivery, presentation, hook, and reminiscent yet prophetic message.

Common is a legendary MC. But he suffers from delayed-appreciation syndrome with the public. We'll forgive him for his 1992 debut with his voice cracking, but let it be known, all six records since then are essential. Even Electric Circus. Don't believe the hate hype on that one.

"I Used to Love H.E.R." is the song that every rapper in history wishes that he wrote before Common. But no one did and no one ever will match the level of perfection in which he orated it. The "yes, yes, y'all" refrain is hauntingly brilliant and so raw that you can't help but go along with it between verses. And producer No I.D. pushed all the right buttons production-wise to create a thoughtful, yet attention-keeping atmosphere. Fittingly, he's making a grand return to the forefront of world-scope production by helming all of Jay-Z's The Blueprint 3 with Kanye West. The song even started one of the greatest (and unexpectedly) lop-sided beefs of all-time, ending with Common lyrically demolishing the then gangsta-of all-gangsta-rappers Ice Cube and his Westside Connection crew.

I can never recreate the level of jaw-dropped amazement I had when I very first sat down with this track and hung on every word til the climactic end. I swear I prolly spun it back five or six times in a row once I understood it. I had a cultural lens to look through simply from Common pulsating through my ear buds way back then.

I met this girl when I was ten years old, and what I loved most ...

... and so concludes another masterpiece

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Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Just a General Update


Just wanted to let you all know about all my projects and those upcoming.


The Laptop Mixtape
Download the whole thing for free right HERE!!! This is all pre-college Chris, so jump on it! It's already vintage by now! Features the smash single "My Life" with accompanying features of Aaronn Ralph and the special album-only version with Steven replacing my chorus vocals. But if you have something against Shtee, then you can download the single-only version off my MySpace! And let's not forget the song that started it all, "School's Almost Over"!

Vol. 2, A Laptop Chronicle
I've posted a lot of the songs I've finished from it on this blog, but even those have mostly been tweaked for my sophomore effort. It currently stands at 11 completely done tracks on my iTunes, but I got at least 6 completely untouched brand new (produced by me) beats sitting in GarageBand. Plus the two brandUn tracks. Plus about three or four other instrumentals I wanna go over if they come out right. So yeah, it's shaping up. I have no idead when it's be completely zipped and out in the world, but it shouldn't be too long. Oh, and I just finished this quick ditty. "Brett Favre" (downloadable link). A hilarious sample flipped to an an important concept. An ode to Ethan, of course. Ha! The whole thing'll be out soon enough. Has less features than my first (whether that's a good or bad thing) and some original Chris Campbell production. Lead single is the Andre and Norah featured "Take It Off".

Remix Part Three!!!
In case you're not Tyler or not a retentive Busta Rhymes fan, this title is a tribute to his screaming at the beginning of the sloppily compiled internet remixes of "Touch It" a couple years back. But it's my crazy big remix project of all the recent hit singles in which everybody and their mom dropped a freestyle verse or remix to. I compiled 'em all, mixed 'em, dropped a verse on 'em, and let the world have the product. Currently 100% done with 6 songs off it, and it'll prolly end up being 10 or 11 deep. Commercial product, but one with integrity. The Alicia Keys remix that I did is DOPE!

Simply Poetic
A spoken word album. This is where the heavy stuff will be. A couple poems have been featured on some of my tracks, but this is where they'll be performed in all their acapella glory. Not much else to know. I just need to sit down hard on this and I could get it done crazy quick. But, you know ...

27 Point Me
This is following the concept started in my second mixtape's interludes. Chris Campbell will have taken over a radio station and provides you with the latest and greatest songs as well as exclusive interviews with legendary musicians and comedians. Robin Williams? Dane Cook? Lauryn Hill? Dave Chappelle? Frank Caliendo? I'm not telling. It's a comedy concept CD obviously. Only one track into it, but the mental construction is all there! And the radio station is 27.ME, hence the title. Dumb, but you'll get over it.

That's everything currently in a nutshell. This is prolly why I never get any sleep, cuz I for sure don't have any free time to be composing all of this!

... and so concludes another masterpiece

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Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Charles The Hedgehog


I'm late on writing up this mixtape since its follow-up already dropped today.

Everybody download Staff Development. I've been big-upping Charles Hamilton since I first heard his "Stutter" song that remixed a Charlie Brown piano sample. Absolute genius! But Staff Development sealed the deal for me on dude. While it's more a group album featuring a bunch of contributions from his supergroup/label/whatever Demevolist Music. Not that he needs one, but he made his niche on that tape. The production's brand new and inventive, but you just know that he belongs on those beats. And Charles absolutely cemented his way of creating a catchy chorus. He openly admits not being able to sing, but you just gotta experience how it doesn't bother you in the slightest once you appreciate how he goes about presenting his voice.

And maybe a brand new contender into the ranks of my all-time favorite songs, "Air Conditioner" is just as dope as it gets for me. I've played that track back so many times that the mp3 of it is prolly melting. Get on it!

Charles Hamilton
-Mixtapes
-Individual Songs

I'm in the process of listening to his 2dopeboyz drop, It's Charles Hamilton, right now, so I'll get back to you if that matched the level of amazing that his 2 week old release did.

... and so concludes another masterpiece

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Sunday, October 12, 2008

#3: X-Factorial


They killed off my Leona Lewis post. So, just in case you missed it ...

Numba 3 is ... Leona Lewis!!!

Yeah. Don't feel like flippin' typing everything up and linking again, so let's just say that she closed the Olympic ceremonies in China as a British woman. And she won the British equivalent of American Idol, The X-Factor. She's British and gonna be giving the world amazing R&B ballads for years to come. She's from Britain. Don't know if I mentioned that. Brit.

And she's gorgeous.

... and so concludes another masterpiece

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Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Remix Part Three!!!


So I changed the title of my remix project to Remix Part Three!!! That one's to Tyler. Hahahaha!

I redid both my previous big ole remixes and got a new one for y'all to marinate on.

[EDIT: Better versions available here. Download those instead.]

Chris Campbell

I really love making these and inserting what little influence I can have composition-wise and by adding my own verse on each one. I just really, really like it. The only thing is the cursing. I'm not trying to be all holier-than-thou on the subject, cuz I'm definitely not, but I just never want me cussing to be on wax. I don't like it and I don't want it. Every rapper has to make the decision on their own if they waste bars on filler swears, use cursing for important emphasis, or just simply and creatively write around them. I choose the third. So saying all that, I just had to make this a side project, cuz any of my personal Laptop series mixtapes are gonna be me and my features and my scratches all one hundred percent clean for urbody's ears. On that Chamillionaire tip since Mixtape Messiah 3 (downloadable link).

So be looking for that tape for all the hip hop freestyle junkies in the world. Expect maybe a "No One", maybe an old Jay-Z song or two, definitely a "Put On", most definitely a "Hero", and a few others prolly to finish up the tape and for me to have it zipped and downloadable this month.

And since got musical ADD, I'm making a fake radio station interview comedy album, too. It'll be in the vein of the two interviews I have already, but with different guests including famous musicians and some crazy stand-up comics. If it comes out even remotely like I'm planning, it'll be flippin' hilarious. I'll keep ya posted and updated.

Enjoy the mega-remixes and spread em to your friends!

... and so concludes another masterpiece

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Monday, October 6, 2008

Tryinna Cash His Microphone Check


Here's another one for your ear drums.



I'm a name dropper. I can't help it.

So I'm pretty confident that I'mma have a side project going while I'm working serious of Vol. 2, A Laptop Chronicle. It's gonna be called Remix Your Ears Out and feature blends of all the crazy big songs that everybody and their mom drop a freestyle to. Stuff like "Swagga Like Us", "Incredible", "Let the Beat Build", and, of course, prolly a forty minute "A Milli"-fest.

And some awesome news, even though it means I'm gonna have to start from scratch on the "Whatever You Like" remix, "Weird Al" is dropping a T.I.-authorized parody of it tomorrow entitled ... "Whatever You Like". No joke! I'mma be on iTunes breakadawn downloading it!

... and so concludes another masterpiece

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Saturday, October 4, 2008

The Second Interview

Make sure you listen to the first one from the other post before you download and listen to this one.


Future spots are gonna have addition characters in em. Can't wait to make those back home. I might have to end up making a whole parody radio station LP if this keeps up.

... and so concludes another masterpiece

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Friday, October 3, 2008

Not Quite A Love Lockdown


Y'all please take this lightly! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!


I wanna make a serious remix version of completely different subject matter with Aaronn singing the chorus, but until that's possible, this parody of sorts will have to do. Leave me comments on it! I beg of you! HA!

... and so concludes another masterpiece

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Out in Wis Kansin

My dude Marcus put it straight when we were talking way long time ago when I worked at UPS what single Wayne should put out after "Lollipop" and "A Milli" ran their course. I was all for "Playing With Fire" cuz I think that's a banger beyond all bangers whether it interpolates the Rolling Stones or not! And I still think it has the greatest music video potential of any Tha Third Carter song. But Marcus quickly reminded me, "Come on, man, you know he's gonna put out 'Got Money'. White people love T-Pain." And there ya go. He put out "Got Money".

I do got a soft spot for the master of the vocoder. I ain't going all out and saying the guy's the greatest musical genius since Bob Dylan or something, but I will say both of his albums are certified classics in my iTunes library.

And Tha Third Najm ain't shaping up too badly either. Officially to be known as Thr33 Ringz, "Don't Believe It" grew on me and the leaked potential singles hopefully will do the same. And so pops up this brand new one today:


If it worked on a Lil' Mama track, why not pair up again? And here's some solo bonus favorites that haven't gotten shine from the hook king of the last three years.


And, no, T-Peezy is not my third wifey. You were thinking it if you were counting every other post you nasty.

... and so concludes another masterpiece

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Thursday, October 2, 2008

The Greatest for Forever Ever, Forever Ever


In case you don't know a single thing ever about the guy that is Chris Campbell, then learn that OutKast is an emotional mainstay for my well being. In my opinion, the men known legally as Andre Lauren Benjamin and Antwon Andre Patton are the most important and greatest artists to ever be associated with hip hop culture. Ever and always. Period. Fact.

Nothing could be more solid in my eyes. Just simply naming the album titles sends rejuvenating and inventive chills up my spine.

Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik. Coin your own word for your genre when you come out on the scene in 1994. Especially when rap is only accepted if you're the hardest out of a New York burrow or dominate gang wars in Los Angeles. And make sure you bring an entire crew with you consisting of then completely unknown Cee-Lo as a member of Goodie Mob as well as hit production crew Organized Noize who was about to break into mainstream with TLC's "Waterfalls". History is made from the opening gong that transitions into the G-Funk-filled traded bars between Big and Dre on "Myintrotoletuknow" commenting on all the hardships of Atlanta on your way to gaining a reputation all while acknowledging nobody yet can "comprehend that it be deeper than Cadillacs." And, oh, would it get deeper.

ATLiens. Straight from Atlanta to the depths of another universe all in the course of two years. Dre became became dedicatedly sober yet spaced out further than ever before. Big Gipp's then-wife Joi immediately touches your soul in a different language over an intro of musicality never explored before by any rap act. That minute and six seconds of heart-tugging strings push you towards ridiculously perfect after ridiculously perfect capsules of orated stories dedicated to the streets that never had a voice like this before. Whether it's just riding with "Two Dope Boyz" or being warned of the fate of a "Jazzy Belle" or praying to make it through all personal struggles in "Babylon" or exploring every facet of a "13th Floor" that doesn't exist with Big Rube as we prematurely are "Growing Old", my life changed with this album's soundscape. This is the single greatest LP in music history.

Aquemini. Maybe the duo was back on earth, but their aspirations were still in the stars. But Dre had to remind you as soon as 4.0 told you to "Hold On, Be Strong" that even though he never left, 1998 would mark the "Return of the G". Proving that since it's like that now, "we just shoot game in the form of story raps now." Continuing a traditional of run-on word titles that approach your ears unconventionally, "SpottieOttieDopaliscious" brought spoken word poetry to a trumpeted triumphal forefront. But yet they could still go straight to the soul to find "Liberation" in whatever way imaginable with unimaginable instrumentation taking you there in conjunction with the amazing lyrics. You can only follow up classics with classics.

Stankonia. OutKast always was too much to simply just dwell on the surface. They had to travel 1,200 light-years below sea level to find their next medium. "Bombs Over Baghdad" was politically ahead of its time while "Ms. Jackson" became everyone's favorite chorus even though the message wasn't to be taken as so comfortably catchy. But even be taken by the fun and games could never distract from the investigation into the primal urges and non-existant inhibitions of man in the appropriately-titled one and a half minute "?". Social commentary never was so presentable and funkified, maybe because no two authors were ever "So Fresh, So Clean".

Big Boi & Dre Present ... Even in giving their greatest hits catalogue, they couldn't rest on their laurels. Andre straight prophesied in 2001 that "I'm out here knowin' hip hop is dead. The average [sucker] on my corner yellin' 'what the [heck] you mean?'" on "Funkin' Around". Coupled with the comparative circus-juxtaposing anthem "The Whole World" and the bluesy pre-project "Movin' Cool (The After Party)", nothing could stop these two from breaking the mold of already broken molds.

Speakerboxxx/The Love Below. The magnum opus of all artistic intentions if there ever was one. "Hey Ya" and "The Way You Move" were about the 7th hottest track on each member's respective half of the double LP. It's absolutely impossible to beat this musical value of 39 tracks of pure personality of essential innovators. Big's "Reset" and Dre's intentionally inverted "A Life in the Day of Benjamin Andre" serve as genuine tales of introspective success quandaries. Who else even attempts those kinds of songs? Jay-Z even pays his respects on "Flip Flop Rock".

Idlewild. Wow. Not enough people have seen the movie. You're missing out. Unrestrainable creative juices applied towards a Prohibition-era movie concept. And they pulled it off in every nonconventional way possible while still reeling in Wayne and Snoop for a "Hollywood Divorce" warning. While riding on the exuberance of "The Train" or Broadway stylings of "PJ & Rooster", nothing delves further "In Your Dreams" or majestically retains the rhyming throne like "Mighty O". "God don't make no mistakes." "You ain't said nothin' slick to a can of oil." Real talk.

And that catches us up to the present with Big Boi's "Sir Luscious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty", an as-yet unnamed Andre 3000 project, and a brand spanking new 100% OutKast LP on the close horizon. My musical soul jumps just at the thought. The duo's latest offering of terminal non-disappointment is the single "Royal Flush". You can't beat it.

Here's a zip of every single song I just mentioned. I beg of you, buy one or all of their albums or just get up on OutKast in some way, shape, or form. This is only an iceberg tip of an entree of their music.


OuKast has the three most important artistic characteristics there are: talent, intelligence, and hunger. You can't name many other artists that have all three at the same time. Even remotely. "Styles will change." But one thing always remains: willingful outcasts. Did you remember that it's actually spelled with a 'c'? Ha!

... and so concludes another masterpiece

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The Wiz


Something new is all I ask of any rapper. I don't expect every release to be the new Rakim, to reincarnate Illmatic, or to be half the quality of any OutKast release, but at least bring something to distinguish yourself.


And that's how you do it. Come with a techno-influenced banger before Kanye even thought up "Stronger". No, you shouldn't, but Wiz did. And you specifically gotta come original like that if you're out of Pittsburgh, not exactly known as a rapper hotbed at the moment. Make no mistake, as long as you can put it to something, swagger/money/party rap can survive. It's when you get recycled the hundredth time by your own dang self that it gets frickin' boring and redundant. Anybody got fifty cents I can not borrow?

Hip Hop started as a braggadocio rhymes to dance tracks. I ain't forgot that yet. I got nothing against the mainstream. I got something against the untalented stream.

That's why Wiz Khalifa stands out against other rappers of a slightly similar style. I'm all good with you telling me why you're better than somebody. Just make sure you tell me why you're better than everybody ... better than everybody! Then make a mixtape called Star Power (downloadable link) to try and prove it. That's why I'll let you pass even if you put out a second-trick pony in your follow-up techno single.


But it's still good! So say yeah.

... and so concludes another masterpiece

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Wednesday, October 1, 2008

#5: Not the Creek


So my computer's been down for a while cuz I left my power chord back in the Ville, but I'm good now. And none of my posts got deleted while I was gone! So here's the first ode to my favorite women on the planet.


Numba 5 is ... Rosario Dawson!!!

She's every bit of Puerto Rican, African, Cuban, Irish, and Native American! Woooow! Can't beat that. She coulda got like $500 billion in scholarships!

She's in movies like He's Got Game, The Rundown, Clerks II, Alexander, and Men in Black II. But my favorite contribution of hers to my life comes in the form of a "feature" of sorts in an Andre 3000 song! So you know she's legit!


She's just big time all around, getting role in movie after movie as well as sequel after sequel. She's got a voice. She's non-partisan (OH MY GOD!). She's involved in about a thousand organizations and charities. She's a producer. And she does comic books. Now that's a woman. I mean, I'm not big into comic books, but nothing replaces that kind of variety.

And she's gorgeous.

... and so concludes another masterpiece

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