Jigga vs. Big Boi

It's interesting to me that only 1/2 of OutKast has properly collaborated with Jay-Z and it's not the one of the "Hey Ya" variety. Back in 2002 and 2003, the Jigga Man and Big Boi swapped featured on each others' The Blueprint 2 and Speakerboxxx albums. And even more interesting is the fact that pre-Purple-Ribbon-beefing Killer Mike tagged along for both of the joints. Twista joins in to make "Poppin' Tags" a full posse cut between the four of them. The original Slaughterhouse, anyone? Down below in the "Izzo" video, Big and Dre both actually make a 2-second appearance at the 2:07 mark where I conveniently have it starting. I figure if you're going to take a couple songs off from rhyming with the greatest rapper of all time, why not go with the second greatest? Sir Lucious Left Foot knows what he's doing.

2002
Jay-Z - Poppin' Tags (feat. Big Boi, Killer Mike, Twista, & Sleepy Brown)
2003
Big Boi - Flip Flop Rock (feat. Killer Mike & Jay-Z)
Bonus Mrs. Jay-Z: Beyonce - Hip Hop Star (feat. Big Boi & Sleepy Brown)



... and do the John Wall.

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We Run This

I know I'm like a week late on this joint, but I just gotta say that if I'm ever stranded on a desert island without my iPod, this is the type of song that I wanna hear on the sandy radio provided to me.

Jay-Z - Run This Town (feat. Kanye West & Rihanna)

Obviously, this song was intended to be single material. But it's respectable, though. And that's rare. While Jay almost comes off sounding a lil' uninspired, he still kills it with that trademark Hova presence that has built his legendary persona over the years. Rihanna's voice is perpetually boring, but I've gotten used to it. If you've put up with "S.O.S." or "Shut Up and Drive" or "Don't Stop the Music" over all these years, then you can definitely manage this one. It's very anthemic. And then there's the Kanye factor. Production-wise, he pulls the same trick that he did for the Twista track "Alright" and throws down a choppy super-repetitive and dull vocal loop. Yet, somehow, it comes off catchy and not the least bit as annoying as it should be given the adjectives I just used to describe it. The icing on the cake is how hard Kanye lays down his verse. The man has straight been on a hip hop mission since 808s dropped. I keep saying it over and over again. He musta got pissed that someone called him soft for singing a bunch of autotuned R&B joints, so then he came back with like 25 of his old school (un)writtens to kick those accusing hip hop heads down a notch. I just really like this song. And I hope it runs as a radio staple til the rest of Blueprint 3 drops. But only if I can't have my iPod plugged up, of course.

Bonuses -

Run This Town Freestyles by J.Rocwell, PUSH! Montana, & Cymarshall Law

Twista - Alright (feat. Kanye West)

... but do take my word for it.

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