Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Game vs. Nas
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.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Snippet #2: Obamamania?

Question: Everyone knows that every rapper and their momma hopped on the Obama bandwagon come election time, but do you know the very first artist to lend bars in support of our current president?
Hint ... it's not will.i.am or Jigga or Crooked I or Ludacris or anyone who put out a mixtape tribute to the man recently. What if I told you it was all the way back in 2004?
"Why is Bush actin' like he tryinna get Osama?
Why don't we impeach him and elect Obama?"
That couplet is from Jadakiss' remix to his (only?) smash single "Why". And they come from Common. This was Com just months after Kanye single-handedly resuscitated his public perception with a feature on The College Dropout while Be was still just "under construction". How many people actually followed politics close enough in 2004 to know who the newly-nominated United States senator from Illinois was? Certainly not me. Barack didn't gain national steam until well into 2007. I just wanted to let you know who started the movement in case ya didn't already know. Hidden sneakily in between references to his ex-boo Erykah Badu, religious ponderings, and Britney Spears dissing while also in the mix of Jada, Styles P, Nas and Anthony Hamilton, it could have slipped by anybody.
Jadakiss - Why (Remix feat. Styles P, Common, Nas, & Anthony Hamilton)
... but do take my word for it.
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.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Chester Connects

I don't know what the did to get straight on the inside of the hip hop industry, but Chester French did something. This line-up for their new mixtape (rock bands have mixtapes?) is like a nightmare The Game name-dropping track.
Chester French
Jacques Jams, Vol. 1: Endurance
They're more indie-pop than anything. Maybe I'm just dumb blind to the connection, but for all I know Biggie prolly bumps em in his grave. Maybe Jedi Mind Tricks already samples them extensively. Maybe Heltah Skeltah has been writing punchline references about these white dudes.
- Solange
- N.O.R.E.
- Kardinal Offishall
- Cassie
- Pusha T
- Bun B
- Talib Kweli
- Mickey Factz
- Janelle Monae
- Common
- Diddy
- Jadakiss
- Wale
- Pharrell
- Jermaine Dupri
... put 'em both together and you got yourself a super spork.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
New New: Cory Gunz
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.
... and so concludes another masterpiece

