Not "The Blow Up"

The original Roc Nation signee (who's now amazingly flanked by Jay Electronica and ... Will Smith's daughter) dropped his Friday Night Lights mixtape this last week, discontinuing his The Come Up/The Warm Up/The Blow Up potential mixtape trilogy. [I was originally going to put "The" then all the different words of those three tape titles slashed together and then "Up", but I got grossed out as I was typing it.] Oh well. The music's still killer. Cole's flow may be somewhat formulaic and his subject matter falls back on old rap cliches, but his style is all his own, his lyrics are always on-point and rewindable, and his beat are ear-catching. He's one of my favorite artists out and I, along with everyone else, am crazy looking forward to his proper debut under Jigga's tutelage.

J. Cole - Friday Night Lights

Tracklisting:
1. Friday Night Lights
2. Too Deep for the Intro
3. Before I'm Gone
4. Back to the Topic
5. You Got It (feat. Wale)
6. Villematic (Devil in a New Dress Freestyle)
7. Enchanted (feat. Omen)
8. Blow Up
9. Higher
10. In the Morning (feat. Drake)
11. 2Face
12. The Autograph
13. Best Friend
14. Cost Me a Lot
15. Premeditated Murder
16. Home for the Holidays
17. Love Me Not
18. See World
19. Farewell
20. Looking for Trouble [Kanye West feat. Pusha T, Big Sean, CyHi Da Prynce, & J. Cole)

... and Free Enes.

Read More...

Summary only...

G.O.O.D. Fridays

I'm gonna bring this post back up to the top for however many new G.O.O.D. Friday joints Kanye has left. This is pretty much the best thing to happen in commercial hip hop in a minute. Ye basically releasing posse cuts with a random combination Jigga, Mos, Wu-Tang, and the entire G.O.O.D. Music roster every single week? Keep it going. But why can't Swizz Beatz keep away just spend more time with his wife?

14. Kanye West - Chain Heavy (feat. Talib Kweli & Consequence)
13. Kanye West - Looking for Trouble (feat. Pusha T, CyHi Da Prynce, Big Sean, & J. Cole)
12. Kanye West - The Joy (feat. Pete Rock, Jay-Z, Charlie Wilson, & KiD CuDi)
11. Kanye West - Don't Look Down (feat. Mos Def, Lupe Fiasco, & Big Sean)
10. Kanye West - Take One for the Team (feat. Keri Hilson, Pusha T, & CyHi Da Prynce)
9. Child Rebel Soldier - Don't Stop!
8. Kanye West - Christian Dior Denim Flow (feat. KiD CuDi, Pusha T, John Legend, Lloyd Banks, & Ryan Leslie)
7. Kanye West - So Appalled (feat. Jay-Z, Pusha T, CyHi Da Prynce, RZA, & Swizz Beatz)
6. Kanye West - Lord Lord Lord (feat. Mos Def, Swizz Beatz, Raekwon, & Charlie Wilson)
5. Kanye West - Good Friday (feat. Common, Pusha T, KiD CuDi, Big Sean, & Charlie Wilson)
4. Kanye West - Devil in a New Dress
3. Justin Bieber - Runaway Love (feat. Kanye West & Raekwon)
2. Kanye West - Monster (feat. Jay-Z, Rick Ross, Nicki Minaj, & Bon Iver)
1. Kanye West - Power (Remix feat. Jay-Z, John Legend, & Swizz Beatz)

... and do the John Wall.

Read More...

Summary only...

My Concert Catalogue

This is from MY OWN CAMERA

There are really only four kinds of people in the world: musicians, comedians, poets, and presidents. And I just wanted to throw together a post I'll update randomly whenever I see a new one of those kinds of people. Alphabetically, of course.

And I enjoy my list, but you gotta cut me some slack. I have the disadvantage of living in Kentucky ... who wants to come to the neutral Civil War state? I'm exaggerating, of course, as I've missed Weezy, Jeezy, Macy Gray, and Mike Posner shows recently between Louisville and Lexington that I can think off the top of my head. And then there's the unfortunate misses such as the fact that Wale should be in there, but he was stupid and performed at the BET Awards last year instead of fulfilling his portion of the Jigga show at Northern Kentucky University. Hopefully UK can keep up its stellar scheduling to add to the Drake and B.o.B shows that I was able to attend across the street from my dorm. But the real hype comes after the second week of November 2010 when I'll really have a significant comedy list as I got tickets for Jeff Dunham and Dane Cook with my girlfriend. So yeah ... that's all.

Musicians
Audio Adrenaline
B.o.B
Big Daddy Kane
Dana Dane
Doug E. Fresh
Drake
Francis and the Lights
J. Cole
Jason Derulo
Jay-Z
k-os
KJ-52
N.E.R.D
P.O.D.
Playboy Tre'
Reliant K
Slick Rick
Tanya Morgan
tobyMac
Trey Songz
"Weird Al" Yankovic
Whodini

Comedians
Sarah Colonna
Dane Cook
Jeff Dunham
Chris Franjola
Zach Galifianakis
Tim Meadows
Robin Williams

Poets
Ken Arkind
Black Ice
Shihan
Panama Soweto

Presidents
Bill Clinton

... and Free Enes.

Read More...

Summary only...

J. Cole: Ode to 3000

"This is my story, this is my song
If you ain't got the heart, don’t attempt to try this at home
It’s just a poem from a man once living wrong
Now I’m in the zone, tell the world I’m coming home ..."
-J. Cole from "I'm Coming Home (Demo)" in 2010

"Yo, this is my story, this is my song
And to them rudy poots, don't attempt to try this at home
It's just a poem until y'all learn right from wrong
Know when to bless a situation, when to grab the chrome ..."
-Andre 3000 from OutKast's "Chonkyfire" in 1998

I think all the hip hop heads in the world can agree that up-and-comers tributing legendary emcees is a great thing. So when I heard Cole spit start off a verse old school Andre 3000-style on his Diddy reference track, I got the hint that hip hop wanted me to start a new segment on here. And here we have it. I'ma keep it super simple.

Look Ma, no pics ...

... and Free Enes.

Read More...

Summary only...

Bobby vs. Charles

Bob was prolly the only guy that Charlie wound up not getting pissed of at from the '09 Freshman Class. And Asher, too. I guess no one else wanted to hop on the "Change Gonna Come" joint with 'em. Regardless, you prolly already know that B.o.B and Charles hold high honors in my book as some of the freshest newcomers possible. And as soon as I type that I regret it and wanna throw KiD CuDi, J. Cole, and (most of the time) Wale in there. Dah ... the painstaking choices of doling out tips of the hat ...

Moving beyond the XXL cover, B.o.B and Charles shared some studio time and came up with "Fool for Love" off Bob's pre-Adventures mixtape, May 25th, plus CH's loose "Paperboy" joint back when he was temporarily playing the whole scarcity card. Now all that's come to the forefront of my mind due to the first incarnation of All City Chess Club being released on the masses with the newly minted "We Beamin'" remix. Enjoy.

2009
B.o.B - Change Gonna Come (feat. Asher Roth & Charles Hamilton)
2010
B.o.B - Fool for Love (feat. Charles Hamilton)
Charles Hamilton - Paperboy (feat. B.o.B)
All City Chess Club - We Beamin' (Remix with Asher Roth, Charles Hamilton, Lupe Fiasco, The Cool Kids, Blu, Diggy, Dosage, & B.o.B)

... and do the John Wall.

Read More...

Summary only...

Cross My Heart

Here's a follow-up to the original "Exhibit C" post. Turns out Just Blaze wasn't the first one to mess with this sample. Exile and J. Cole beat him to it. In terms of when the songs were released, at least. And if you're familiar with these guys' production styles, you'll find what you expected in that Exile's rendition is crazy busy and over-layered to where you can envision how heavy he was destroying those MPC pads and Jermaine's is the most smoothed out to were he just flows mellow and sings out the hook. Find out which beat chopper you prefer.

Billy Stewart - Cross My Heart

Exile - It's Coming Down
J. Cole - Get Away
Jay Electronica - Exhibit C

... but do take my word for it.

Read More...

Summary only...

BP3 Tour Footage

I meant to write about this like the day after. Man, I've been terrible on the interwebs recently. I saw the Jigga Man last month at Northern Kentucky University. It just made it perfect that though NKU is a pretty little-known school, I got an amazing friend who goes up there. This show changed my life. There's no two ways about it. I've always been pretty tough on where I hold Jay amongst the all-time greatest in rap, but now it's crystal clear to me. He's number two behind Andre on my list now. This man's staying power is unparalleled and he put on the greatest live set I've ever had the privilege of seeing in my life. Beyond epic. Wale skipped out on us for the BET Awards, but J. Cole and N*E*R*D held it down.

... but do take my word for it.

Read More...

Summary only...

Do It, Do It

I'm halfway crazy-hyped and halfway crazy-disappointed with this new Wale joint. The former because it features the vocally perfect Melanie Fiona and the moster-in-waiting J. Cole. The latter because I recognize the sample from Lupe's "Theme Music to a Drive-By", which I'm pretty sure wasn't placed on his debut album because they couldn't clear the sample. And "Theme Music" is easily one of my favorite songs ever, as detailed in this past post. Oh well. I guess Roc Nation has its privileges after all. The beats utilize the song "(Do It, Do It) No One Does It Better" by The Spinners.

Wale - Beautiful Bliss (feat. Melanie Fiona & J. Cole)
Lupe Fiasco - Theme Music to a Drive-By
Young Gunz - Future of the ROC

... but do take my word for it.

Read More...

Summary only...

And It All Comes Out

So it all leaked. All of it except for two bonus joints that are supposed to be Rhapsody exclusives. I'm talking about Jay-Z's album of course. And I'm sorry, but you'll have to look elsewhere for those links. Not on my site. But after maybe possibly sneaking a listen to BP3 myself, I'm definitely gonna buy it. It's (obviously) not as focused as the great American Gangster, but so many of the individual cuts are ridiculously dope that I'll be forced to support it. Every Kanye and No I.D. cut brought the heat, as I expected, and J. Cole's feature is super straight. Add in the powerful Alicia Keys hook on "Empire State of Mind" that got me all hot and heavy and you got yourself quite the repeatable iTunes selections. I could listen to that woman all day. Her voice even looks sexy, if you can conceive that. The album ends on a great cut too with Mr. Hudson singing over a "Coldest Winter"-esque beat on "Forever Young" while Jay gets back in full on "Beach Chair" mode. Oh, and ... my album's on Rhapsody, too, in case you forgot! Jigga can't hog all of that site.

But he sure can put together a commercial with them that gives me chills. If you don't realize everything going on then ... I don't know what to say.



... but do take my word for it.

Read More...

Summary only...

It's a Terrible Thing to Waste Your Love

Back-to-back. Kanye sampled this crazy old 1976 joint by The Masqueraders called "It's a Terrible Thing to Waste Your Love". But once wasn't enough cuz he kept a version for himself and gave another one to someone else. Ye originally dropped a song over his version of the beat and made a song called "Apologize" which contains one of my favorites hooks of any and all time. And it's Kan singing it pre-autotune. It's amazing and was only released to the public through the first of his Freshmen Adjustment mixtape series. But then he flipped it again (for money) by catering the instrumental for Monica's song "Knock Knock". The solo Kanye version is a hundred times better though with the sampled crying mixed in more frequent. It's one of those dead honest story-telling verses where he laces about his insecurities while doubling it with his self indulging ego. Either way, J. Cole's got a freestyle aptly titled "Knock Knock" that he kills it on, too, and I wanted to link it up as a pseudo double sample so you can here dueling emcees floss poetic over it. Check for yourself. Oh, and I don't wanna waste my love ... which happens to be that woman on the left.

Kanye West - Apologize
Monica - Knock Knock
J. Cole - Knock Knock Freestyle

... but do take my word for it.

Read More...

Summary only...

Wildflower

I'm always happy for lesser known dudes getting shine on epic releases. I can't lie, the first time I heard Lupe flow was him spinning Kanye's "Touch the Sky" over something crazy. I guess with The Blueprint 3's construction, Jay Hoffa decided he would take on that role in full force. The tracklist was just released yesterday and while it has some expected collabos for old times sake in Kanye, Swizz Beatz, Young Jeezy, Rihanna, and Pharrell, it also has relative newcomers Drake, KiD CuDi, Mr. Hudson, and newly signed Roc Nation man J. Cole. The difference in that latter group is that spitters Drake & CuDi have their hit singles "Best I Ever Had" and "Day N Nite" respectively that have put them into the mainstream conscious. J. Cole, though, doesn't even have a defining song that you can point to and say "that's him", yet. Consider him about to be put on.

I'll probably go full length on a post about him later, but for now, here's a double sampled joint between both Kanye's classic "Drive Slow" joint and Cole's mixtape fodder "Dreams".

Kanye West - Drive Slow (feat. GLC, Paul Wall, & Tony Williams)
J. Cole - Dreams (feat. Brandon Hines)

The original sample is a joint called "Wildflower" by an old jazz performer named Hank Crawford. It's gorgeous and has been re-churned for a couple other songs, but most recent and prominently as these two. Oh, and I just thought I'd mention that my wife Alicia Keys is also slated to be on The Blueprint 3. It's the first collabo between the two and I expect amazing things. And lastly, I got another double sample coming up later with the same two offenders. Except this time, it's old school Kan in what may be my favorite non-album cut ever from the man. And J. Cole chose another rip off beat. Ha.

... but do take my word for it.

Read More...

Summary only...