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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Comeback #6: Roto-Rooter/Plumber

After a short (read as: forever) intermission on "The 3000 Tour", it's back. Today's reminiscence comes due to, what I can only assume is, Andre's dabbling in charity work for his fellow southerners' music. He extended beyond his ATLien reach all the way over to Alabama and hopped on the official remix of 2006's summer jam out of nowhere. I thought the "Walk It Out" thing was completely crazy and unexpected, but chalk this up as an even bigger surprise. I just wish Jimmy wasn't a tag-along for a second time ...

Rich Boy - Throw Some D's (Remix feat. Andre 3000, Jim Jones, Nelly, Murphy Lee, & Game)

Ain't a hood aggin but a aggin from the hood
See mama stayed on me so I turned out pretty good
But if you wanna try it sucka, Nike, we can do it
Ha ha sleep, Tylenol PM if I pull it
Sh-sh-sheep, count em for the rest of ya life
Yeah yeah ya partner got away but now he vegetable-like
So so I sent his mom and dad a whole case of V8
He could die, any second, how much long it's gon take?!
Gon get it over with, oh what if, you were in my loafers then
You might be the dope and I would flush it down the toilet
Like the boys in blue, when they come through with them boots
And they kickin down the do', and they don't care who they shoot
But we do care who they shoot, so we do what we must do
So we act like we run track, then we run straight to the back
But they comin from the back, so we run back to the front
They say "get down on ya knees". We say "what the f you want?"
They want cheese, they want bread, they want dough, they want mo'
Than I wanna give em but if I keep talkin they won't know
That my cousin in the back, and we call him Roto-Rooter
Slash plumber, cash runner, and he fire on them computers
Log out!

No one else could get away with this. Dre's verse has absolutely nothing to do with anything involving throwing anything, much less D's. But he does tell a darn good story, whether rooted in his own personal history a couple decades ago or just to write just for the sake of dopeness. It's not the usual Andre musings of life the he's given since the new millennium, but it's very witty, humorous, and even a standard of perfection if you're gonna compare it to any of the crap verses that follow. I don't know why the St. Lunatics took two minutes out of their eternal irrelevancy, but they did. And then Game decided to wrap the whole deal up by spitting the most recyclable throwaway car verse of all time. There's literally no redeeming moment in the song after the genius intro involving a certain Lil' Jon and Dre's ensuing demolishment of this song's purpose. So that results in me having spun back this first verse prolly a hundred times while the song itself maybe has like 3 plays on my iTunes. That V8 line is one of the greatest ever, I ish you not.

... but do take my word for it.

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Comeback #4: If Ya Say Real Talk, I Prolly Won't Trust Ya

Then my world was rocked.

I remember first catching this on the once formidable Spine Magazine site. On paper it looked like one of the most random and uncalled-for collaborations ever. Hand-in-hand with that I thought it might even be a blend of an old verse or something. I know Unk is from Atlanta, but would both of the original ATLiens really jump on the most annoying dance track of the summer along with the newest crap NY trend rapper, Jim Jones? Turns out ... yes they would.

Unk - Walk it Out (Remix feat. OutKast & Jim Jones)

Walk it out like a usher
If you say real talk, I prolly won't trust ya
If you want to go to war, the gun's my pleasure
Even Jesus had twelve disciples on the level, trigger, whatever
Peyimmmmp, you don't want nah dayuh Three Thou
I'm like jury duty; you're new to this part of town
Your white tee, well to me, look like a nightgown
Make your momma proud, take that thing two sizes down
Then you'll, look like the man that you are, or what you could be
I can I give a damn bout your car, but then I would be
If it was considered a classic befo the drastic change
In production, when cars were metal instead of plastic
Value, is what I'm talkin bout, take two of these and walk it out
You'll be the reason they chalk it out, you can't be the king in the parkin lot
Forever. Not sayin I'm the best but til they find somethin better
I am here, no fear, write me a letter. Til then
I walk it out, I walk it out, I walk it out, I walk it out
I walk it out, I walk it out, I walk it out ...

Y'all could catch me in the middle of a dead sleep and I'd still know every half syllable of this verse. This song defined high school for me. It was already my favorite dance song for a full year up to that point, but it was cemented as such since this was the very first song that was played once I walked out onto my prom dance floor. And my legs still hurt from those couple minutes of losing it.

But even if you flipped this song off the very millisecond Dre's verse it over to avoid Jimmy's bullish verse, you still had to pay attention to how powerful this joint was. From the opening bar, Andre blew the doors off the feature game from then on out. Lil' Wayne was no longer the sole poster child for when people thought, "you know what ... I really wanna hear _____ go over that song." And while everyone knows the weight was held on the opening, Big Boi still dropped a solid closing verse to wrap up. I walk it out like that last shot of 'gnac at the club ... ain't nothing to mess with, either. So while this was a formality engraving into your skull that OutKast wasn't breaking up, it also served as a statement by the South's G.O.A.T. that he wasn't letting the A-Town become a complete hip hop punchline on his watch in the new millennium. And it wouldn't even remotely stop there.

... but do take my word for it.

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Expectations

This pretty much goes hand-in-hand with the previous Kanye post, but I've been thinking recently about what people expect from the rappers they listen to. I think that's mainly where hip hop gets its bad rap. Hmmm ...

Why would I listen to Young Jeezy unless I was in the mood to hear nursery rhyme paraphrasing from a self-proclaimed non-rapper? Why would I listen to 50 Cent unless I want to hear him going at another hip hop figure with more talent than him, threatening to murder his siblings, household pets, and the family doctor's entire patient list? I mean, the easy counter to that point is the fact that thugged-out mother goose rap is forced down our throats as the majority representation on any urban or pop radio station. Even worse on your frequent offender TV music video channels.

But that's pretty much a moot point in that radio-intended music moves the most numbers, in turn receiving the most promotion, and furthering the watered down intentions of many musicians to cease creativity and fit in a radio-friendly brand. But for the most part, I've solved that issue in my life. It's two things mainly:

1) equipping your internet's "favorites" bar

2) having a transportable car setup for your iPod

I should write a self-help book. Goodness. I see all these rapper interviews all over the place and the most retarded question ever (and one that is always asked) is what they think about the state of hip hop. Everyone asks questions they already know. Do you really need Obama to tell you during the Stat of the Union that the economy is on par with a Lil' Wayne toilet metaphor? Radio sucks and the underground scene is whiny. What other insight do you think they have that everyone else hasn't already said? But even with all of that, there's still about a hundred dead nice emcees, vets and newcomers alike, who consistently make dope music. It's that simple.

Who are you listening to? What blogs are you hitting up? Do you leave comments in support of quality artists? Do you big up rappers on their MySpace pages? You ever try to contact an indie-type artist you actually enjoy? Too many people straight complain on end like their cries for revolt will change the music industry. But it won't. Any machine driven strictly by money will remain corrupted. But individual souls aren't corrupted.

I control the playlist on my headphones. I cop the albums I think are worth my money. I bothered brandUn DeShay and Praverb enough until they musically hooked up with me. That's what I can control.

If Lil' Boosie comes on, I expect a chalk board-pitched spelling marathon. If Lil' Wayne comes on, I expect a dope line or two sprinkled in with ish jokes and autotuned moaning while people sweat it regardless. But I'll tell you what I don't expect. I don't expect to bump Gucci Mane or Jim Jones or Birdman or a multitude of others and actually feel a passion for quality, fulfilling music through their sounds.

So lastly, I ask you ... what did you ever expect from anyone?

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

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