Ghostface Killah - Kilo (Remix feat. Raekwon & Malice)
Fat Joe - Kilo (feat. Clipse & Cam'Ron)
... and do the John Wall.
Showing posts with label Ghostface Killah. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ghostface Killah. Show all posts
Saturday, July 17, 2010
I Weigh with Kilos
Ghostface Killah - Kilo (Remix feat. Raekwon & Malice)
Fat Joe - Kilo (feat. Clipse & Cam'Ron)
... and do the John Wall.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Do Em All Over Again
Back around '06 when I was in my CD collecting prime, I made sure and copped Hi-Tek's Hi-Teknology 2: The Chip on the strength of the guest features plus Reflection Eternal's classicness. It remains one of my absolute favorite gems of a CD. Unfortunately, I think it turned out about 17 times better than Hi-Teknology 3. That one kinda made me sad.
Tek's production was so perfectly refined. Every song created a highly unique atmosphere to go with perfect selections of guest emcees. And featured singer Dion lent his chamelion-like crooning to a few of the cuts keeping subject transition smoother than anything you could ever imagine. It's so hard for me to choose a favorite track off the project. "So Tired" comes on the ridiculously laid back tip with Bun B and Devin the Dude lending their expertise. "Where It Started At" is one of the few believable NY anthems featuring a crazy collective of Kweli, Jadakiss, Raekwon, and then-relevant Papoose. And "Keep It Moving" has my favorite suprise deal emcees with Q-Tip and Kurupt perfectly complementing each others' 180 degree style differences.
But I think my favorite is churned out by the collaboration of Tek, his father, Wu-Tanger Ghostface, and the unknown Pretty Ugly. It's one of the most genuine chick joints I've ever heard. It's so much more than the usual "girl gone wrong" tracks that are prevalent in hip hop nowadays. Maybe the immense production sets the metaphorical and aural tone immediately. This story makes me feel like I actually knew Josephine. Maybe I actually do. Maybe I know a couple of her.
Hi-Tek - Josephine (feat. Willie Cottrell Band, Ghostface Killah, & Pretty Ugly)
It's the acoustics. It's the gentle, but excited, piano keys. It's the chord progression highlighted by synth touches and choral portions of the bridge. It's the chemistry between Tek's older generation father singing the chorus introducing a woman's story that's picked up by the younger rappers. It's just a really nice finished product. Too many songs have a certain aspect of it that's great, but you're disappointed by the whole thing itself not living up to its potential. This song fulfills. As does the rest of Tek's second magnum opus.
... put 'em both together and you got yourself a super spork.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Classic: The Craft
If you know where your radio rappers come from, then you've prolly got Oakland pinned down. If it ain't E-40 or Too $hort making up words or reusing a certain 5 letter word, then it ain't the Bay Area.
... sorry, I just slapped myself. If the SoleSides collective isn't in your music library, then you're definitely missing out on a highly distinctive and brilliant encapsulation of what Oakland music can be on the other side of the radio. [Shouts to Hiero, too. I'm not forgetting them.]
While I have to admit that Lyrics Born may be in my top 10 of all-time if you remind me, Gift of Gab is one of the most poetically inclined emcees ever and represents the other-side-of-the-tracks kind of music that SoleSides can offer. With DJ Xcel weaving enthralling journeys of sound through decades of genres, Gab is trailing with such lyrical verbosity that you can't help but be dazed at times. Every type of poetic device you learned in high school, Gab has mastered it and intriguingly reminds on a bar-by-bar basis that you can actually say something all while impressing hip hop heads and having fun at the same time.
I made a quick skimming of these internets we got going and found that the album from which "The Craft" came from, um ... The Craft, got reviewed rather poorly by a lot of sites. This irks me to no end. Allow me to scootch over this soap box real quick. I absolutely hate about 98% of all music reviewers, regardless of genre. The majority of them are mired in that egregiously bitter TA (teaching assistant) kind of mind state. They're usually not in the position they wanna be, so instead of focusing on what good they can do in the position they're doled out, they are firmly entrenched in negativity just looking at any hint of imperfection as their way to exert dominance over their underling subject being "reviewed". Or maybe that's just my Physics Lab TA Gururaj who is the devil incarnate. Hmm ... naw, it's music reviewers, too.
Instead of appreciating music, they dissect it beyond the souls that created it. They complain of subject matter, lyrics, sounds, and structure all while discrediting attempts to push those boundaries in a positive manner. Ignorance is called out as such yet intelligence is labeled as "trying too hard" or "out of touch". Conformity is called out as such yet originality in breaking genre molds is labeled "too alternative" or "a failed musical experiment".
Informing me that all attempts at genuine, talented, good-intentioned music making will never live up to the standard of your favorite Atmosphere or Ghostface album is not productive in any way, shape, or form to anyone's life. That's one of the reasons no one buys albums anymore, cuz depending on which website you pulled up, "Welcome to Heartbreak" was either "one of the few genuine mirror-inspecting songs by a rockstar ever" or "a corny try at seeming to regret fame and connect with the audience". If somebody hates somebody else's favorite song off an album, others tend to lean towards the hate and label the positive reviewer a Stan. So then the blanket statement of any given album being "trash" is started.
Person A: "Hey, I was thinkin' bout pickin' up that new Kanye. For real, I don't mind that 'Love Lockdown' that much."
Person B: "Naw, that album's trash. Kanye can't sing. I won't even listen to it cuz I read he's straight emo the whole thing."
Person A: "Dang, I don't wanna hear no slit-my-wrist music. Forget that."
So what could possibly be your favorite album of the year if you went into it with an open mind has now been labeled and crossed off your mental check list. You ignorantly skipped out on an opus because you heard that somebody read something about it sucked. I'm all for criticism and honest opinion, but I am definitely NOT for getting back a 56% lab report just because my TA hates his life and thinks everyone else should be just as miserable as him. What am I talking about again?
"This craft, this beat, this rhyme, this vibe, this style.
They say music gives new life from a source inside that is forever flowin.
This stage, this mic, this crowd, this show, this life.
I've been given a gift tonight and for that, I vow to be a vessel."
So when I read that Blackalicious suffers from seeming "like a prick" for "taking a stagnating art like it's an important meeting with higher ups more than an indelible passion", I get thoroughly pissed. What Gab did was choose a subject matter and write the hell out of it, way more articulately than any CokeMachineGlow mentally incapacitated reviewer could exude his suppressed indelibility towards garbage in any given album review. Whatever. That's an impossible battle to take on. Cuz then I'd get called out by Pitchfork on some other type ish defending their write to say all music besides Wolf Parade or Of Montreal suck. And now's the time when I formally send out my apology to The Lonely Island. Sorry, guys!
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Classic: Biochemical Equation
To appreciate the legendary RZA as a rapper, you have to come to grips with his off-beat rhyming. And not off beat like in ... different. Off beat like in ... he fricking doesn't rap on beat. But there's an art to it, I swear!
I am pro-[Doom+Wu] in all situations. While Metal Face could never be legitimately compared to any rapper in history, he's mentally somewhere is a realm that possibly you could see the Wu-Tang's galaxy from if you looked really hard for it through a ridonkulous zoom telescope. Probably. Maybe. Whether he's producing for the whole Clan or allegedly prepping a duo album with Ghostface, it's definitely material to look for.
Who knows how the Wu-Tang Meets the Indie Culture album came about, but I'm glad it did. This beat is so far beyond amazing that I want it to be my life's theme music. Like from this very millisecond onward.
"I'm/ not/ givin/ mine/ a/way to Satan,
Al/though/ I/ know/ that/ he's awaitin."
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Classic: Deep Fried Frenz
I saw this on Charles Hamilton's blog and I was like, "aw snap, that's classic." So I clicked over to my blog to cement is as a Chris Campbell-authorized "Classic".
You'll prolly immediately recognize the Whodini vocal sample of, "friends ... how many of us have them?" Doom has always been a completely incomparable producer, so I always love his older material when he went over his own stuff. Now all his beats seem to immediately go to Ghostface Killah and the collabo album ain't even come out yet! But he rides this beat to perfection. And anyone who claims Metal Face goes completely rhymes nonsensical, catch this track and try to say the same. Everyone can relate to this cautionary tale. He's been missing for a minute now, but he's got plenty of material released in the first half of this decade for anyone to enjoy.
Though definitely not his first project to feature heavy comic book-sampled story lines, they're featured prominently as heard on the last minute of this track. It's an interesting take on interludes of sorts blended into the flow of the album. When you listen to enough of his various alter-egos and according albums, the story lines become natural and expected. So don't be scared the first time they cut in.
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