Game vs. Nas

It's crazy to me that these guys got so many tracks together. The old school era-defining Queensbridge emcee with the cocky, name-dropping leader of the New West? Oh well. Their mic chemistry works crazy nice. Maybe it was their mutual hatred of 50 Cent that makes it work so well. Whatever it is, it started on Game's super long "Why You Hate the Game" cut and continued on the same Doctor's Advocate album with the monster "One Blood" remix. Then they just kept swapping cuts on every single release with Hip Hop is Dead, L.A.X., N***er, and most recently the Brake Lights project. They're apparently legally required by the Pac&Biggie Convention to collaborate on everything for the rest of their lives.

2006
Game - Why You Hate the Game (feat. Nas & Marsha Ambrosius)
Game - One Blood (East Coast Remix feat. Jim Jones, Fabolous, Clipse, Juelz Santana, Nas, Jadakiss, Styles P, Fat Joe, N.O.R.E., & Ja Rule)
Nas - Hustlers (feat. Game & Marsha Ambrosius)
2008
Game - Letter to the King (feat. Nas)
Nas - Make the World Go Round (feat. Game & Chris Brown)
2009
Busta Rhymes - Don't Touch Me (Remix feat. Nas, Lil' Wayne, Big Daddy Kane, Spliff Star, Game, & Reek Da Villain)
2010
Game - Street Riders (feat. Akon & Nas)

... and do the John Wall.

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Classic: Riot

I'm a Wyclef stan. While on The Score he pretty much just made me laugh with his crazy off-kilter and free barely-rhyming. But I loved it. While Pras was off ... um ... doing whatever he was doing every third verse and Lauryn was redefining the art of intrinsic rhyming, Clef played the role of the court jester who obviously had skills, yet seemed bored with any and all semblance of convention. And once the Fugees split, he's been on an absolute tear ever since in regularly providing his fans with new product.

Wyclef Jean - Riot (feat. Serj Tankian & Sizzla)

He's got six (and soon to be seven) solo albums to go with the two and a half Fugee records. And I proudly own a physical copy of every one of them. His latest offering from '07 was The Carnival, Vol. II and he capitalized on all his amazing music connections with this one. Don't hold me to it, but I'd say Clef's got a better collaborative posse than Wayne, Akon, or any other hip hop artist out there. Besides collaboing with those two titans I just mentioned, do these names mean anything to you: T.I., Shakira, Paul Simon, Mary J. Blige, Chamillionaire, Norah Jones, will.i.am, or Raekwon? That's just this one album ...

But this "Riot" song specifically, that's what kills me. I'm an undercover System of a Down junkie and I think Serj has one of the greatest voices in all of history. And when two musical geniuses come together like this who are 100% different stylistically and still produce a classic product, it makes me very, very happy. It should make you feel like that, too.

... but do take my word for it.

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That Does Make You Crazy

You were either enraptured by “Crazy” or you were annoyed at its come-out-of-nowhereness to prime super songdom. Gnarls Barkley has an immensely special place in my heart. First off, their music is doper than your favorite artists music, so I wanted to settle that right off the bat. But it’s just the back-story of it all.

You have to be a pre-Gnarls Cee-Lo fan to understand. Since ’94, dude has been one of the most doubly talented artists of any and all generations. That tiny little eight ball shaped man has more soul power in him than an army of … soulful things. Yet he can still out-rap any rhyme spitter from any region you pick out. With Goodie Mob, he was the vocal forefront of one of the most distinguishable rap cliques out preaching real life in the midst of the world’s fakeness. As a solo artist, he was the most daring singer emerging from a musical bouquet of every imaginable genre and facet of lyricism there was. As a featured chorus singer, he was adding elements to peoples’ albums pre-Akon and pre-T-Pain, still remaining true to himself while making bank. He had all the critical recognition anyone could imagine. But the masses didn’t really know him like they should.

Then Danger Mouse’s production came along. And suddenly with a little intense drum intro and some psychotic-questioning vocals, everyone knew him. “I remember when, I remember, I remember when I lost my mind. There was something so pleasant about that place. Even your emotions have an echo in so much space.” Just really deep stuff. Whether you acknowledge it or not, a rapper having to condense his normally long-winded rhymes into smaller singing segments can create some crazy intricate stuff.

Through all his struggles to gain mainstream acceptance through bringing straight knowledge to the world, it was a single pop-influenced effort that got him there. While “Crazy” sounded like nothing else out there, it didn’t really sound like Cee-Lo, either. But the fact that it wasn’t like anything else made it like Cee-Lo. But for whatever reason, “Cee-Lo” wasn’t the outlet to steal the public’s attention. The ingenious promotion of the “no-one-really-knows-what-or-who-Gnarls-Barkley-is” thing stole it. And the “Crazy” song.

So while heads whine about Cee-Lo seemingly laying down his mic ferocity, even going so far as accusing him of not being able to rap anymore, I just appreciate the two hundred and four tracks in the Soul Machine playlist on my iPod. Goodie, Cee-Lo, Gnarls, or a feature, the man’s more talented than whomever you think is talented and has been. And will continue to be. No matter what stylistics persona gives the next musical offering. And “Crazy” is a dope song anyway. Forget you if you don't like it.

... put 'em both together and you got yourself a super spork.

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Apology?

So Chris Brown channeled his frustrations into a little ditty. I could copy and paste all the rumors of his and Rihanna's situation on here, but I don't know if I have enough strength in my right-clicking finger.

Chris Brown - Cry No More

All I have to say is that I really hope that he wrote that. I scribe my life issues lyrically all the time, so I actually feel for dude if he painfully created this out of the emotional void of the last week. But I'm afraid of this as a publicist creation as Akon's "Sorry (Blame It on Me)" was. I hope not, though. Crazy sad story. Even more so if you realize that nobody would care either way if they weren't famous. It would simply be a discrete, accepted occurrence.

UPDATE: After seeing the picture of what he did to her, I don't care what he has to say for a looong, long time. He went absolutely dementedly primative. There is something so deeply wrong with any human being that could possibly lay hands on a woman in that way.

... put 'em both together and you got yourself a super spork.

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The Laptop Mixtape [The Originals]

I wanted to give you all a frame of reference for my first mixtape in case you didn't recognize all the instrumentals I went over.

Various Artists - The Laptop Mixtape [The Originals]

Here's the tracklist:

1. A Milli - Lil' Wayne feat. Cory Gunz

2. The Coolest - Lupe Fiasco

3. Brown Paper Bag - DJ Khaled feat. Young Jeezy, Juelz Santana, Lil' Wayne, Fat Joe, Rick Ross, & Dre

4. Heart of the City (Ain't No Love) - Jay-Z

5. Piece of Mind - The ARE feat. Truth Enola

6. Daydreamin' - Lupe Fiasco feat. Jill Scott

7. Building Steam with a Grain of Salt - DJ Shadow

8. Liberation - OutKast feat. Cee-Lo, Erykah Badu, & Big Rube

9. New - The ARE

10. Don'tGetIt - Lil' Wayne

11. Untitled - The ARE

12. Success - Jay-Z feat. Nas

13. Fallin' - Jay-Z

14. If I Ain't Got You - Alicia Keys

15. Never Let Me Down - Kanye West feat. Jay-Z & J. Ivy

16. Champion - Kanye West

17. We Takin' Over - DJ Khaled feat. Akon, T.I., Rick Ross, Fat Joe, Birdman, & Lil' Wayne

18. Mr. Carter - Lil' Wayne

... and so concludes another masterpiece

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