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Say what you will about Gangsta Rap; sometimes it hits the spot, and nothing else kicks quite as hard as a menacing bass line over fast and furious bars recounting the countless drama filled nights of someone living on the streets of Compton as a soldier. Continuing from where former Compton street legends Dr. Dre, DJ Quik, and WC left off (and where The Game currently blazed a new trail for new school West Coast music) comes an artist that is generating quite a buzz on the West Coast: Nipsey Hussle.
Click for huge resolution picture of album art
His former two mixtapes, creatively named Bullets Ain’t Got No Name Vol. 1 and 2, features copious amounts of gang banging, West Coast street dropping, and references to the wildness of the RSC (Rollin’ 60 Crips) over meandering beats with just the right amount of synths. Delivery is on point, and one can imagine playing this album front to bank while riding in a drop top 67 Chevy Impala in the California sun. If you like his album, buy it! However, Nipsey Hussle did release it for free with the intent for his fans to listen to his new release:
The world of music can be frightening for young rappers who are just starting out in the game today. It is a cutthroat environment and even rappers with a huge amount of talent can sometimes fall between the cracks. How can somebody stand out from the crowd? One technique that has existed since the early 90s was the “featured rapper.” Here are a few observation that I made about this phenomenon:
1) New rappers may establish themselves and gain fame, notoriety, and buzz by rapping a strong verse on an established album by a veteran. Some notable examples in recent memory include Lupe Fiasco, who got a significant amount of buzz by killing his guest verse on Kanye West’s “Touch the Sky.” J. Cole had his career boosted with a guest verse on The Blueprint 3 (a mediocre album, by the way) and on Wale‘s album Attention Deficit. Likely the most famous example of all was AZ’s historically fierce cameo on Nas’ Life’s a Bitch.
2) Conversely, established rappers can jump into new micro-niches of the hip hop culture with guest appearances on tracks that may diversify their portfolio. Lil’ Wayne fueled his rapid ascension to hip hop stardom not only with the incredible amount of mixtapes he put out, but also with cameo appearances ranging from Destiny’s Child to Wyclef Jean. He ensured that his music was constantly heard in both the streets and the radio.
3) Rappers can also form a cohesive group of sorts in which they can feed of each other’s styles and energies. One of the earliest examples of this was N.W.A, which consisted of Arabian Prince, DJ Yella, Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, Ice Cube, and MC Ren , all of which became solo legends in their own right. In the early 2000 era, conscious hip-hop merged with the native tongue movement and inspired rappers Common, Talib Kweli, and Mos Def. When you listen to an album like Black Star, you can hear the chemistry between them, the common sound they share and the lyrical ideas that they seem to effortlessly create today. This still continues on to this day (Young Money, for better or worse).
Rapper "Crews" Can Be a Very Good Thing
Just like how transcendent talents in the tech industry often make sweet music together by combining their energy, efforts and ideas together in the start up world, rappers can help each other reach levels that they can otherwise not achieve by themselves as long as the sound is cohesive, the chemistry is sound and (perhaps most importantly) they all actually like each other.
I found this website called http://www.hiphopinspires.us which specializes in dishing out bite-sized inspirational lyrics from songs ranging from 2Pac, to T.I., to The Roots. One of the reasons why I love hip-hop so much is that the lyrics can really tell a story or convey emotion in ways that other genres of music cannot, because of its lyrical density. Here are some of my favorites:
Sometimes before you smile you got to cry
You need a heart that’s filled with music
If you use it you can fly
The Roots – Sacrifice
I refuse to be concerned with condescending advice
‘Cause I’m the only motherfucker that can change my life
Immortal Technique – Leaving the Past
To everyone out there, who’s a little different
I say damn a magazine, these are God’s fingerprints
You can call me ugly but cant take nothing from me
I am what I am doctor you ain’t gotta love me
Brother Ali – Forest Whitiker
Any inspirational lyrics that hit you in the right spot?
To celebrate a (surprising) year of running this blog and to hopefully kick start new posts, here is a word cloud that graphically displays some of my most commonly used phrases.
Also, Cee-Lo has a hot viral song out – it has gathered over 3 million views on YouTube: Cee-Lo Green – Fuck You Music Video. I highly recommend as it is a beautiful juxtaposition between gospel music and southern hip hop themes.
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone, and I hope that everyone has a safe holiday with their families (as safe as you can get with the amount of food that some people are eating!) I thought that it would be fitting to list ten things that I am thankful for about hip-hop.
1) I am thankful for music that anyone can relate to, and has such a huge range of passion and creativity. The same can be said for any genre of music, but hip-hop is one that I connected with.
2) I am thankful for artists that make music for the love of making music. I’m sure Brother Ali did not release his new album for fame or glory.
3) In an industry where a complete lack of skill and originality can result in big profits, I’m thankful that many artists are taking huge risks with their art.
4) I am thankful that producers are now getting a lot of attention – you have to thank Timbaland and Kanye West for that. They are influencing a new generation of RZAs, Pete Rocks, and DJ Premiers.
5) I am thankful for the Internet – it fuels the vibrant underground scene and allows for massive distribution of mixtapes.
6) Speaking of mixtapes, I’m thankful for mixtapes helping artists increase visibility and getting their product directly to the streets.
7) I am thankful for the iPod and the Digital Revolution – instead of everyone consuming the same mass produced megahits, we can enjoy increasingly niche bites of what we really want.
8) I am thankful for the increasing mainstream coverage that hip-hop is getting – I was surprised at seeing the universal accolades for Only Built for Cuban Linx…II
9) I am thankful for the Internet blogging community and their intelligent, hard-hitting coverage of the hip-hop world.
There are always some times in life that shit gets you down, ranging from family issues, arguments with your girl, or when that last Butterfingers bar gets stuck in the vending machine and you are out $1.25. In times like these, I find that the best medicine (besides copious amounts of drinking) is usually music.
While it is easy to find drug slanging anthems, songs about banging, or ballads about keeping ladies of the night in line, it may take a little bit of digging to find songs that everyone can relate to. The ballad of the vending machine malfunction, if you will. Here are some that immediately come to mind:
Slippin’ is a rare song in the fact that it sounds better when it is censored. DMX laments about his broken childhood, the struggles that he had to go through in the street, and recalls his recovery from his dark place. Broken into general terms, the lyrics of Slippin’ speak volumes to those who are forced to be independent a bit too early, and to witness the realities of life a bit too much.
See to live is to suffer but to survive
Well, that's to find meaning in the suffering.
Before 2Pac became a T.H.U.G life puppet of Suge Knight’s now defunct Death Row record label, he was a socially and politically conscious rapper with raw emotion in each and every verse. He is mentioned among the greatest rappers of all time not because of his incredible mastery of the mic, but for this ability to reach everyone with his music. Keep Ya Head Up is an ode to the broken woman, a common tragedy in African-American culture. His lyrics serve not only to highlight this tragedy, but to uplift any shattered spirits.
Cause I think we can make it, in fact, I'm sure
And if you fall, stand tall and comeback for more
Atmosphere has been traditionally known for fiercely introspective and dark lyrics, but took a radical departure in their latest album with symbolic stories about a variety of other people, including the daughter of a drug dealer, an alcoholic, and a homeless man who sees his daughter at a diner. Dreamer contains the classic American theme of “pull yourself up from your bootstrap” and visits the life of a gutsy young woman as she navigates through countless obstacles, bad male influences, and raising two children while succeeding. When you listen to this song, you think to yourself “if she can succeed, so can I. And my shit isn’t half as bad.”
Those are just three examples – do any of you have any songs that hit the spot during a bad time?
It’s here – after 14 years, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx…Part II has been released.
Raekwon’s Only Built 4 Cuban Linx…, which was released in 1995, took the hip-hop world by storm. It took popular gangsta rap material that was popular at the time and dressed it up with a pinstripe suit and fed it Italian food. The result? A cohesive, dark, and brooding masterpiece of audio cinema, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… painted a picture of sophisticated Mafia-style organized crime with complex, rapidly delivered lyrics. Immediately afterward, Nas, Notorious B.I.G., Jay-Z, and other storied rappers from that era retooled their image to fit this new “Mafioso rap” genre. What does this mean for the listener? We had something different to digest – instead of tales of Gangsta riding around town with a smoking blunt (which of course has its own merits), we had story lines, characters, and tales of intrigue, dodging the law, and honor amongst thieves. The influence was similar to how the Godfather revolutionized how people though about crime movies.
How does the sequel match up? Pretty damn well – I would have to say I am impressed.
To describe the hip-hop community’s anticipation for this album would be difficult. On one hand, you have a group of people longing for a successor to one of the best albums of the 1990s. On the other hand, you the classic setup for a mammoth, Kayne-West-styled sophomore jinx. After bumping the CD in my car, at home, and at work while going through my new CD listening habits, here are my conclusion:
Near-classic. 4.5 out of 5.
What surprised me most about this album was how accurately it managed to capture the atmosphere and cinema-quality feel of the first album, even with long time Wu-Tang producer RZA producing only three songs, a deceased producer (J. Dilla) crafting the beats for another three, and a producer best known for West Coast bangers (Dr. Dre) producing two tracks as well. Raekwon and his cohort Ghostface Killah are lyrically ferocious and attack the bars looking to prove themselves worthy opponents in an increasingly tired and mainstream hip-hop world. Concise, relevant skits and movie quotes are dispersed at the right intervals in the album, never becoming distracting and adding an extra dimension to the listening experience that sets the scene for the next song as well as injecting classic Wu-Tang flavor notes into this well-constructed cocktail.
The album starts off with a straight banger by deceased producer: J.Dilla.
This opening track highlights one of the strengths of the album: although a variety of different producers with intensely differently styles worked on the album, it managed to keep a coherent feel with true Wu-Tang flavor. Once you listen to the climatic violins in the background, the melodic chanting, and four of the Clan’s most dexterous lyricists pump out lines such as this:
Deep pockets with the eight on me, sleep with the safe in the wall
The cameras on with the make-up and all
Swap six 45′s, twist reefer in the flicks, papi whoadie ride
Bolt his gun off, from know your horse, she lied
Fly criteria, bury me in Africa
With whips and spears, and rough diamonds out of Syria
Then you know you have a Wu-banger. The next track (Sonny’s Missing), produced by Pete Rock, kicks off the album’s Mafia-themed storyline with Raekwon’s trademark introspective, narrative style spinning a tale of a deadly drug deal gone wrong. Other standout tracks include:
Gihad – produced by one of the most unlikely producers (death rapper Necro), this track actually fits in perfectly with the rest of the album. The melodic chanting reminds me of monks chanting in the 36 Chambers as Ghostface and Raekwon spin a Cosa Nostra tale of a father trying to teach his son a valuable lesson about women and his role in a modern day crime family.
Penitentiary – with its suspenseful melody which never lets up in sneaky intensity, Penitentiary graphically outlines the tale of two prison mates scheming to break out of prison with an elaborate plan fit for a Prison Break episode.
10 Bricks – a true gem of a J.Dilla beat, a Chinese violin is is plucked mercilessly throughout the track as if the strings are going to snap at any moment, and for some reason this beat from the late producer’s archives fits perfectly with the motif and lyrical content of the song – Raekwon, Cappadonna, and Ghostface go hard and do the beat justice with razor sharp precision.
CONCLUSION: After more than a decade, Raekwon shows no signs of slowing down. Even with a huge array of producers and some guest stars sprinkled all over the album, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx…Pt II keeps the Wu-Tang Clan relevant with its timeless combination of sharp rhymes, unforgettable stories, and uncanny beat selection.
Sometimes, a mixtape can be a wonderful thing. An unadulterated mixtape often consists of raw, emotional bars over (often) stolen beats. Some of the best mixtapes (a la Drought 3) often draw critical acclaim, press coverage, and are more listenable than full featured studio albums.
Some ridiculously good mixtape rappers: Papoose, Killer Mike, Chamillionaire, Canibius, Joe Budden, 50 Cent, etc…
The list goes on and on. These mixtapes help form an intricate underground buzz for artists both old and new, and can often represent a rapper’s true thoughts and feelings as they are not reviewed and watered down by studio executives who are thinking about the “target audience” and the “return on investment” of a typical studio album. Perhaps this is why studio releases tend to be so dumbed down, boring, or lacking passion. One of Little Brother’s recent mixtapes, they talk about working in a retail hell (i.e. Macy’s):
Smile at the management, wave at the white folks (Hi, Bob!)
Gotta meet a quota, but I don’t know how
And all these broke motherfuckers just tellin’ me the browsin’
Till around eleven, that’s when you see the soccer moms
Spendin’ they husband’s money, that’s how they roll up
Got three little girls, steady fuckin’ up my store
And an eight year old, still ridin’ in a stroller
Around one, the Mexicans come in the store
Coppin’ all the shit that rocked five summers ago
(Yeah, homes!) They gotta be the realest niggaz alive
Buy 400 dollars woth of Nautica and pay for it in fives
They also go on to stereotyping Middle Eastern people, as well as African Americans. It would be hard for me to see this type of free-flowing creativity coming from some of the label executives out there (I’m looking at you, Sony). Another reason why some mixtapes sound better is that some rappers just seem to function better getting blunted with their buddies, writing and recording with abandon, and not having to worry about popular guest rappers, sample clearance issues, and all the other red tape that can make rapping seem like work. Other rappers just like the freedom of repetitively trashing other rappers or discussing their favorite topics without having to think about anybody but themselves.
Let me know if you can think of any other reasons why some rappers don’t seem to go as hard on studio albums vs. mixtapes.
One of the most highly anticipated albums in the hip-hop sphere, Slaugtherhouse, was finally released amongst speculation of delays on August 11th. The Slaughterhousesupergroup, consisting of Royce da 5’9”, Crooked I, Joe Budden, and Joell Ortiz, an interesting collection of long-time rap veterans from different regions of the United States. All these rappers surprisingly have a few things in common:
They are both emotionally driven rappers, with a lot of diss tracks and battle rhymes to their fame.
They have the dubious honor of being popular on the Internet, which does not translate to album sales (ala “mixtape rappers”
They have been connected in the past to famous rappers or labels, in which they have had a massive and public falling out from.
Three are black. (I ran out of things to list for now)
Their first release, the self-titled Slaughterhouse (album), is an eclectic blend of old and new. The menacing beats, rapid-fire delivery, and the hard-hitting lyricism harks back to the days of East Coast Mafiaso rap where fierce battle raps formed the bulk of the material and lyrics, gasp, actually mattered as much as the beats. The new? Managing four diverse personalities and four rappers battling for the spotlight on every song has definitely never been done before. The promotion of the album was done mostly through word of mouth, which of course, meant grassroots level communications via tweets, forum posts, and Facebook feeds. Each artist, ala Wu-Tang Clan, is going to cross promote this album with their own efforts, mostly on the mixtape scene. What is the result of all this buzz, work, and speculation? A pretty damn good album.
Slaughterhouse
Slaughterhouse starts the fire with Sound Off! (lyrics), which combine triumphant trumpets, a Voltron reference (again, sparks of Wu-Tang), and a tempo that starts off slow before it blows the lid wide open. Each rappers follows the same template for this song: slow, then bursting into a Twista like explosion – and no one rapper outshines the other – a feat that is impressively shown throughout the album. The One (lyrics)exemplifies some of the experimentation that the album tries – a rolling guitar riff and a grungy, saccharine hook do not detract from lines such as:
I love these freak women
Something in my demin need a KISS, call it Gene Simmons
They wanna ban me like Marlyn Manson
For all the whores in my Baltimore, Maryland mansion
Not exactly poetry, but exactly what you expect from an album titled Slaughterhouse! Microphone’s (lyrics) beat has a distinct Detroit flavor that Royce absolutely kills, and while Lyrical Murderersmay have a meandering hook, the ominous piano keys mixes well with every member of the supergroup, with Joe Budden spitting his best:
Hello hip-hop, I am here, you dyin yeah and I’m aware
A beast so at your wake I’ll cry lion’s tears
And that’s no disrespect to the pioneers
If we ain’t who you tryin to hear
Somethin either wrong with your eyes and ears
Another favorite is Salute featuring one of my often overlooked favorites: Pharoahe Monch. Gotta love that slow, smoked out beat with the organ accents and sporadic bass line:
I judge albums by a myriad of factors, but the Slaughterhouse album is a solid 4/5 and deserves your money. Although you won’t find a huge range of lyrical subjects, for those who appreciate raw lyrics, a cohesive and gritty sound, and the sound of four mixtape legends at their best – Slaughterhouse definitely fits the bill, animal rights activists aside. I am definitely surprised by the chemistry that all four rappers managed to have.
What do you think of this album? Opinions welcome!
Has there ever been a rap artist in hip hop history that has generated as much buzz, animosity, or praise as Lil’ Wayne? The former Hot Boy credited with inventing the word “bling bling” is now an international superstar, with 3 Grammy wins and the often argued, self-claimed, and nearly always disputed title as “Best Rapper Alive.”
Lil' Wayne: GOAT or MOAT? Pic by Ryan_For
Fans seem to divide themselves into several camps:
1) Fanatic and newly minted fan-boys/girls – You know the type. They think he is the greatest but have not yet heard of any his mixtapes, been raised on “Lollipop,” and have not listened to the Carter II yet.
2) Jaded Wayne fan – used to love him, but now not “gangsta, G, southern, hard, etc etc” enough now
3) Hater - thinks Wayne is the worst thing to happen to hip-hop. Commercialism, drug fueled antics, and lack of meaningful lyrics makes Weezy the musical equivalent of a shitty reality TV show on housewives.
4) Simple fan – appreciates his good qualities and wary of his bad. I would be in this camp.
So what makes Weezy the GOAT (Greatest of All Time) or MOAT (Most Overrated of All Time)?
Here is my attempt at an intelligent answer:
Why is Lil’ Wayne a great rapper?
Let’s digest his technique and flow. He definitely established himself as an unique brand. If you have taken any marketing classes before, you need to find a way to make your product easily identifiable. Like it or not, his signature “wheezy” voice, tendency to change pitch and speed randomly, and rapid fire delivery made him sound different from everyone else. Sorry, but a lot of rappers sound alike. The Game and Jay Rock sound exactly the same for example (Am I the only one who thinks this?)
Lyrically, he doesn’t have the poetical dexterity, beautiful imagery, or socially conscious lyrics like Common, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, etc. But he isn’t trying to emulate them, he is a Southern Rapper. If you look at his songs, they are actually very complex in its usage of double ententes, double meanings, intentionally mispronouncing words to fit unorthodox rhymes schemes, and creativity. It’s like being an absolute God at trash talking. And who doesn’t want to be able to knock somebody down 5 pegs with rhymes? I wish I could do that in the supermarket on a daily basis.
What is Lil’ Wayne’s downfall?
Obviously, songs like “Lollipop” has shown he is willing to sell out to get album sales. It was one of the worst songs I’ve ever heard in my life. I appreciate the fact that he is experimenting with new sounds, but it was a Monster Java energy drink type of failure – a noxious blend of incompatible sounds. It worked with the “fans,” however – Carter III went triple platinum so you can’t blame him that much. Using the auto-tuner when you can’t sing well in the first place is not a smart idea, nor is taking up the guitar when you are mediocre. I do understand that he felt like he conquered the rap world so he is trying to branch out, but few artists do that well (look at Mos Def). Lastly, he is spewing out way too much material too quickly. Earlier mixtapes which used to be solid gold are now mediocre, stuffed with featured artists, and nowhere near the same quality. For example, Dedication 3 was lacking hunger, innovation, and energy, and Prom Queen just sounds terrible.
