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.

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G.O.O.D Music Cypher

Somehow the BET Awards outdid themselves on this year's incarnation of the Cypher series. No one else in the world, nor I, thought they could one-up the Mos Def/Black Thought/Eminem viciousness, but they did. I'm gonna start by going in on the world renowned G.O.O.D. Music cypher. BET definitely owes Kanye big for wanting to push his collective through their channel's otherwise crappy award show. And just to add a little flavor, I'll rank the performances of the emcees in each one.

Kanye West - Cypher 2010 #5 (feat. Pusha T, Big Sean, CyHi Da Prynce, & Common)

5. Common - Sorry, OG. The sucky thing is that I thought he performed an insanely great verse for seeming to be out of his element amongst these youngsters. The main thing he gets graded off for is the painful "the incomparable ... remarkable ... articles ..." dictionary reading in the early going. Ugh. But then he picks it up even with a recycled ESPYs bar. He personally struck a chord with the hardest with the "cold to myself" line. He ended it as strongly as possible "Requested from the the years I invested/Arrested, developed, addressed it, enveloped/the body of the black party from Farley to Bob Marley/Go home or go hard, at home is life hardly."

4. Pusha T - He did all he could, throwing around effortlessly smooth movie references (Book of Eli, Street Car Named Desire, Jerry McGuire) as well as slickly fluid song weavings of Bone Thugs, Michael Jackson, Mariah Carey, and even his new label head. But the competition was just that sick. He kinda left it hanging though without that one stand-out punchline that cypher audiences so sickly crave. And it also doesn't help that he was the first to be introduced and everyone else after was able to eclipse him. Newbies first, I guess. "With good company, and better jewelers/to the good life, we G.O.O.D. Music ..."

3. Big Sean - Even though I wholeheartedly disagree with his LeBron-related championship ring prediction, Big Sean killed it as Pusha's follow-up. At that point, I was feeling like Sean was going to go down as the champ, hands down. That's how dope this cypher event was. He even through in a little change-of-pace on his goofy motorboating line, and that's especially notable because Sean is famous for never switching up his flow ever. Add that into his shock "wet dream" opening, his sick banana clips/guerrilla warfare line, admitting he watched last year's cyphers on his couch, and his Mercedes 700 CLK nastiness and you got yourself some pre-debut album hype "I'm Big L, Notorious, Big Pun/Shawn Carter, Sean Combs, and Connery all in one/Whoever told you sky is the limit is lookin' dumb/Cuz I'm 22 and I'm moonwalkin' on the sun."

2. CyHi Da Prynce - While he started off a little too simple with the bread/Quiznos line, he destroyed every bar from there out. Major ups for referencing himself as "MJ with the big nose", making a dually hilarious hanky/lanky rhymed, the "can't bleep it out" genitalia line, and the run-off of eight straight bars of rhymes starting with "flexible" and ending with "federal". Intrinsic rhymers, take notes. This was as big a coming-out party as you could get for a slick street spitter like CyHi. I'm sure 80% of the audience had never heard of him before. Mission accomplished. "Let me stop it, I forgot this was a big show/If bein' dope made ya broke, I am piss po'/I'm Big Poppa plus I'm 2Pacalypto/My mind is a weapon, what I need to pop a clip fo'?"

1. Kanye West - Could it be anyone else? Even though he cheated by spitting a freestyled intro and a sick closing verse (assumingly one from his new album). Just focusing on his closer ... it was perfect. There's not a guy who can put together such relatable and sick sounding bars like Kanye does so consistently. I don't know if it's because he has such gifted lyricists around him again such as Mos Def and Pusha replacing slackers like Jeezy and Wayne, but whatever it is happens to be working. He sets up the sickest childhood metaphor to his life remarking on him being an only child lost in the world, asking where the lonely kids go when the bell rings, and saying if he didn't have ends then he wouldn't have as many imaginary friends. His deeply thought reflection as well as vocal inflection play up the performance to an unimaginable degree. It's not the normal cypher braggadocio, but it definitely is Kanye West. And there's nothing out at the current moment better than that. "Fresh air, rollin' down the window/Too many Erkels on your team that's why your wins low (Winslow)/I sold my soul to the devil, that's a crappy deal/Least it came with a few toys like a happy meal."

... and Free Enes.

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Kweli vs. Kanye

In Kanye's College Dropout outro, "Last Call", Ye says the following about Talib Kweli:

"My relationship with Kweli I think was one of the best ones to ever happen to my career as a rapper. Because, you know, of course later he allowed me to go on tour with him. Man, I love him for that."

That's enough for me to compile a "Favors" segment on them. From Quality to the aforementioned College Dropout to as recent as Ear Drum, this one-time underground duo traded bars. They have extensively more stuff together, but it's all Kweli over Kan beats on albums and unreleased compilations alike, like on "Young Man", "I Try", "What I Seen (Lonely People)", "Get By", "Good to You", and "Momma, Can You Hear Me". But I decided to just link up when they were both vocally on the same joint. You just gotta deal with it. Or utilize Google.

2002
Talib Kweli - Guerilla Monsoon Rap (feat. Black Thought, Pharoahe Monch, & Kanye West)
Talib Kweli - Get By (Remix feat. Mos Def, Jay-Z, Kanye West, & Busta Rhymes)
2004
Kanye West - Get 'Em High (feat. Talib Kweli & Common)
Consequence - Wack N****s (feat. Kanye West, Common, & Talib Kweli)
2005
Kanye West - We Can Make It Better (feat. Talib Kweli, Q-Tip, Common, & Rhymefest)
2007
Talib Kweli - In the Mood (feat. Kanye West & Roy Ayers)

... and do the John Wall.

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Jigga vs. Talib Kweli

This one's a little more hypothetical, but I love the premise. Every Black Album aficionado should immediately recognize the line:

"If skills sold, truth be told, I'd probably be, lyrically, Talib Kweli."

And any Black Star aficionado should immediately remember the lesser known response in "Ghetto Show" where Kweli says:

"If lyrics sold then truth be told, I'd probably be, just as rich and famous as Jay-Z."

This all happened after Kanye helped to bridge the gap between these two Brooklyn emcees on the remix to Kweli's own Ye-produced single. And now you got enough music for a new "Favors" segment on this blog right here.

2002
Talib Kweli - Get By (Remix feat. Mos Def, Jay-Z, Kanye West, & Busta Rhymes)
2003
Jay-Z - Moment of Clarity
2004
Talib Kweli - Ghetto Show (feat. Common & Anthony Hamilton)

... and do the John Wall.

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Snippet #1: Put On?

This is just a super short styled entry I might make a series if I have enough random interesting questions. Nothing like how extensive the Drake post went, though.

Question: How many crazy big features and co-signs can you get without ever hitting mainstream whatsoever?

I mean, I'm sure he's over it by now, but if you ever find out then I think Phonte would like to know. Here's a random assortment of some of dude's musical collaborations on his and their albums:

Kanye West, Lil' Wayne, Drake, will.i.am, Talib Kweli, Mos Def, AZ, Blu, Royce da 5'9", DJ Shadow, Pete Rock, 9th Wonder, DJ Jazzy Jeff

The Alchemist, Buckshot, Consequence, Cormega, CunninLynguists, Elzhi, Hi-Tek, Jean Grae, Kardinall Offishall, Masta Ace, Murs, Rhymefest, Sean Price, Slum Village, Witchdoctor, 88 Keys

A-Trak, Akrobatik, Anthony David, Darien Brockington, DJ Khalil, eMC, Eric Roberson, Evidence, Fakts One, Flying Lotus, Oddissee, Joe Scudda, Kenn Starr, Median, Kev Brown, Supastition, Kidz in the Hall, Playaz Circle, Stat Quo, Jake One, Chaundon, Wordsworth, Skillz, Statik Selektah, Tanya Morgan, Yahzarah, United Soul, 4hero

... but do take my word for it.

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Ruining a Good Thing

Question: Is it possible that simply by becoming the "in" thing, that someone could lose all credibility and likability?

That's what I've been struggling with the last few months as a certain former teen-drama star has become the new Lil' Wayne in hip hop. Drake. Right then you either fawned to near fainting, began awkwardly singing "Best I Ever Had", said "that boy's the future", or you all the sudden got a bad taste in your mouth. I happen to now fall in the very last category. When I intro'd dude for the first time on my blog, he was catching stride but not yet even close to a household name. Now he's ... a household name. Somehow his mixtapes completely transformed without ever being touched in my iTunes. Three efforts by an up-and-coming artist, only known to teenage girls as "Wheelchair Jimmy" on Degrassi, used to be overlooked and darn near underground classics. The guy could throw around a metaphor pretty hard and then later came on with a little bit of singing to balance this catchy, well-rounded approach to his music that could possibly hit a target demographic pretty effectively if given the right lane.

Apparently the right lane was a bunch of songs with Lil' Wayne. The tattooed gremlin freak who has been inauspiciously running commercial and internet rap music since a garbage feature on the Destiny's Child comeback single, "Soldier", had a new lil'er bro who he wanted the world to hear. A few featured autotuned moans and poop metaphors later and the entire world now had a face to the future of hip hop! A dying genre was now renewed and the balance of power was settled as insurance just in case Kanye stayed eight-oh-eighting while his heart kept breaking. He had a brand new revolutionary sound that would push rap into the next decade and provide the next generation of dudes a role model and girls a heart throb.

And just what did this new musical savior bring to the game that wasn't being brought before? On his breakthrough street single, "Brand New", he sang in autotune while questioning if any of his sexual advances and techniques were of different quality than his woman's past experiences. It's just what the world needed; a rapper using the T-Pain voice to sing about sex! Oh, but it didn't stop there! How did the prodigy follow up his magnificent foray into the spotlight? He dropped a guest verse on the Young Money posse cut, entitled "Every Girl", in which the chorus is "Cuz we like her, and we like her too ... I wish I could f*** every girl in the world, I wish I could f*** every girl in the world, I wish ..." and he asks the given girl he's met at this party to remind him of her name because he's exceeded his quota of alcoholic beverages, passing the threshold of sobriety, and can't separate her from the multitude of sexual playthings he's met at that given party/club/bar/orgy. I don't know about you, but I think the music industry has sorely been depraved of misogynistic binge-drinking anthems. And with such lyricism that hasn't been seen in ages, I can't wait until the Kidz Bop version has been unleashing to fully tap this song's teaching potential to a broader audience. But Drake wasn't content with simply tearing down these two previously unapproached walls in rap music; he had a third single as a clincher to cement himself in legendary, boundary-destroying hip hop lore forever.

"Best I Ever Had" is his current radio-dominating hit, a groundbreaking love story of a successful man who has an amazing relationship with a woman whom he cares for very much. Their relationship is so well founded that they skip all other antics and get straight to the Fred Flintstone (... bed-rocking). She's so proficient in the acts in which they partake that the man passionately indulges to her that she is "the f***in' best, you the f***in' best, you the f***in' best, you the f***in' best, you the best I ever had." But that's where the plot thickens to a level of unparalleled genius. The woman gets hounded by her best friends because, though the man cares for her deeply, he seems to be eerily unreliable in how much he's actually there to spend quality time with her. And on top of that, there are ... rumors going around. Is it possible? Could he in any sense of humanity actually be unfaithful? A successful entertainer who only shows up for physical favors and could possibly be doing the same with other self-respecting, strong women ... how could that be? And that's when it hits you! Spoiler: This story is not only about the individual woman in verse one! The man tells every woman that he has sexual encounters with that she is the best he has ever had! Do you get it? Oh, the irony. This Drake fellow is on some other level of musical ingenuity that simply cannot be touched or even fathomed by anyone in the game right now. It's quite remarkable. And that's not even speaking of the video he and Kanye dropped for it (which I'll let this parody video explain).



Now let me do my clean up on this smidgen of a column I got going right here. I have no problem with Drake's music. He defined his sound before the radio spins came into play, so I can't exactly call him a sellout as the music that's becoming popular was made prior to everything. Now while he's sonically inseparable from a Trey Songz/Weezy ripoff to me, that's beside the point. I respect his catchy song-constructing ability and the fact that he's taken full advantage of the connects that he's assembled in the industry. He has all the right in the world to become a huge artist and get more money than any other new rapper going. I mean, I still sweat his joint "Successful" with Songz, regardless of everything I just wrote. But what I don't respect is the average unintelligent music fan who puts Drake on a pedestal above anyone else in the game. Do not act as if he's the only emcee out there who can hold a tune. Cee-Lo, Phonte, Andre 3000, Mos Def, and plenty others should burn down your house if you do. Do not act as if dude's spit game is actually that nice. He goes for easy punchlines with an actual, respectable eye-opening line sprinkled in every third verse or so. And while he's going to be getting features on everybody's singles approximately for the next two and a half years, do not claim that he's doing something to change the game, no matter how Jay-Z, Mary J, or Jamie Foxx would tell you differently to coercively promote their personal ventures pending on dude's buzz. My God. I will personally shoot you in the face with a Nurf gun full of appropriately shaped glass shards if you do.

Alright ... I'm done. Go back to humming along with that stupid song on the radio with your idiot bandwagoning friends. You're the reason I can no longer enjoy that stupid So Far Gone mixtape that I used to actually play on repeat. Ugh.

... but do take my word for it. iTunes Drake "Best I Ever Had" link

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Another Message from a ...

Apparently I missed another New York emcee who really thought that the world needed another interpolation of "Message from a Black Man".

Mos Def - Undeniable

This one comes from his much maligned True Magic album. I liked it. Screw everyone else.

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

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Real Respect

I couldn't believe it when I first saw it. Mos Def is off on MF Doom like none other. This video is absolutely classic material. Mos spits the masked man's bars like something else. Please watch this. It might double up your respect for both emcees. And Lil' Wayne better watch out if Doom ever picks up on the challenge that's thrown out there.

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

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New New-ish: Drake

Now I wanna preface this by saying that Drake is about 2 or 3 years removed from being new, but he's flown just enough under the radar that the vast majority (including me) wouldn't know any different. But upon listening to pretty much any of his material, you can feel him immediately as an intense rapper with natural singing ability. I'm not talking Kanye singing. I'm not even talking Mos Def singing. I'm talking could-be-a-straight-R&B artist singing. Like a Trey Songz type dude, but backwards.

Speaking of Trey, they do plenty of songs together. Weezy, too, so listen to it for that if you have to. He doesn't have a for real album yet, but he's got three real strong mixtape efforts. The latest of which came out last night like CH's.

Drake -

Room for Improvement

Comeback Season

So Far Gone

Had no idea, but just checked Wikipedia and he plays somebody on "Degrassi: The Next Generation". All I know is my sister watched that show and if my sister knows a rapper that you don't, then you're in trouble. WHAT!? He was in Charlie Bartlett, too? I loved that movie ...

Plus he's Canadian. Which I'm pretty sure automatically guarantees that you're a crazy talented emcee no matter what. Except for Kardinal Offishall. He sucks. Oh no ... Joaquin Phoenix isn't Canadian is he ... ?

... this was whatcha all been waitin' for ain't it?

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Liiiiiiiifetiiime

Mos Def - Lifetime

Off the much-maligned, oft-ignored, and conspicuously-packaged True Magic. I just really like this song.

... this was whatcha all been waitin' for ain't it?

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Classic: Thieves in the Night

"'Give me the fortune, keep the fame,'

Said my man Lewis. I agreed.

Know what he mean, cuz we live the truest lie.

I asked him, 'Why we follow the law of the bluest eye?'

He looked at me, he thought about it, was like 'I'm clueless. Why?'

The question was rhetorical, the answer is horrible ..."

I was slack jawed the first time I got to this song on the Black Star album. I have to admit getting on the train of thought quite late, first hearing of Talib Kweli and being intrigued because of Common and his feature on Kanye's "Get 'Em High". At least I got on it, though.

Black Star - Thieves in the Night

Black Star is the ridiculously intense duo of the aforementioned Kweli and fellow Brooklynite Mos Def. Hip hop never got any more raw to me than the 13 tracks that blessed my ears on their first, and currently only, collaborative LP. This specific track featured eye opening and soul provoking verses along with a Run-D.M.C.-like back and forth chorus between the emcees. And it was quite impressively helmed production-wise by 88 Keys who took a track away from Hi-Tek, the main producer of the album.

"Hidin' like thieves in the night from life,

Illusions of oasis makin' you you twice."

If Mos ever wasn't fully engulfed in some other production show-biz wise, the world would be so much better off with a sophomore Black Star collabo LP over a decade after the fact.

... and so concludes another masterpiece

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Classic: Get By

I enjoy all meaningful hip hop music more than I could ever explain to you, but never did I know an incredibly intelligent track could be so fun. I guess that's what you get with an always lyrically on-par Talib Kweli when he had an old Kanye beat tape before he was a household name.

With Quality, Talib punned his name into the title and provided every bit of it literally with every song in the album. After two undeniably classic duo albums, the Brooklynite ventured completely solo to create another. And I'm not ever gonna say he didn't.

The album comes to a explosive high point early on once "Get By" breaks into your auditory system. Nina Simone Sinnerman's her way through the intro as the looped key sample joyfully creeps its way in simultaneously with Kweli getting straight to it. "We sell crack to our own out the back of our home, we smell musk the musk at the dusk in the crack of the dawn ..."

Short, pointed verses refrain with the sing-alongable chorus and keep you knodding the entire time. You can feel how immense and hopeful the lyrics are, yet you can't help but nearly get lost in how easy the track plays. And just extending on its level of perfection is a more radio acknowledgeable remix creating an ultimate posse cut with the addition of Black Star partner Mos Def, fellow Brooklynite Jay-Z, an early rhyme from Kanye West, and Busta Rhymes rounding it out. Even if you're not crazy familiar with Kweli, you prolly already have stored in the back of your head Jay's big-up Black Album "Moment of Clarity" line, "If skills sold then truth be told, I'd prolly be, lyrically Talib Kweli. Truthfully I wanna rhyme like Common Sense. But I did 5 mill, I ain't been rhymin' like Common since." Calling out both my "Classic" series emcees? Yup.

Talib Kweli - Get By

Black Star - Get By (Remix feat. Jay-Z, Kanye West, & Busta Rhymes)

This mornin', I woke up, feelin' brand new and, I jumped up ...

... and so concludes another masterpiece

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