Yes, graduation is upon me. After tomorrow all that is left is the formality of a ceremony, and I will be freed from the bonds of Truman State University. I have enjoyed my time here, but you’ll find no sentimentalism in these pages. Should you desire that, I encourage you to follow me to my new blog, Sometimes a Great Blog, where you can keep up with the occurrences of my new life. The Hip-Hop Hour was a great moment for me, and I hope that you, my loyal listeners, enjoyed the ride. Thank you KTRM for allowing me to work (barely) for my scholarship, thank you Ira, and all other guest hosts, but especially thank you listeners, for this show would never have become what it did without your support and love.
peace.
I slept on this interview for a long while, but while procrastinating during this finals week I finally decided to check it out, and guess what? It’s fascinating. I’m not the hugest DOOM fan, but I have a huge amount of respect for him as an artist after reading that interview.
Second to last show (tear). An era is coming to a close folks; from our humble beginnings as the legendary Trill Train to the super official Hip Hop Hour, we’ve been bringing Kirksville only the finest rap music. Maybe the Rythm Rug can take the reigns, but I can’t help but feel as though KTRM will never be the same again.
Big L & Jay-Z- “95 Freestyle”: How hungry do these two guys sound on this? Can you imagine hearing that live on the radio?
Ghostface Killah- “The Champ”: Since I’m not on the air right now, I can issue as many call to actions as I want. That being said, go get Fishscale. Then throw Supreme Clientele in the cart, and max out your card with Ironman. If you don’t have those three albums you’re doing yourself a disservice.
Nelly- “Ride Wit Me”: Why did Franklin want to hear this? Not sure.
ODB- “Got Your Money”: This was practically a staple on the Trill Train, and this is the first time the Hip Hop Hour has ever played Dirty solo. My former colleague Daniel would instruct you to go watch the video for this song, and I agree.
Bone Thugs-N-Harmony- “War (w/ Henry Rollins, Tomo Morello & Flea)”: This song sucks. Don’t ever listen to it, except ironically. It’s from the Small Soldiers soundtrack.
Kanye West- “School Spirit”: I’m not going to waste your time saying something about this. Actually, I will. OverthinkingIt is having a discussion about Kanye as a lyricist, and they want your input.
E-4o- “Tell Me When to Go (ft. Keako-da-Sneak)”: Confession: I don’t know anything about the hyphy movement besides the phenomenon known as ‘ghostriding the whip.’ And that it’s from the San Francisco Bay area or something. What did this song teach me? Well the first verse was pretty good, but everything else was unimpressive. Is that what hyphy is all about?
Goodie Mob- “Black Ice (ft. Outkast)”: I don’t remember enough about this song to offer any sort of criticism. What I do remember is that whoever was music director when this single came in thought it was worthwhile to write a large note instructing djs to play song 1, even though there were no other options.
Skyzoo- “Stop Fooling Yourself”: Just go see what I’ve written the past few weeks about Skyzoo. What it amounts to is that you shouldn’t sleep on him.
EPMD- “Pioneers”:
Eminem- “My Name Is”: Dogplaypoker already wrote about this, but will someone please tell Eminem that he can stop with the silly joke single at this point in his career? “We Made You” is stylistically (even in the video) just like “My Name Is,” except I’m not young enough to be entertained.
GZA- “Beneath the Surface”: Apparently he has a record by the same name. Who knew?
MOP- “Ante Up (Robbin Hoodz Theory)”: I found this on vinyl, and I knew MC Chris Barnes loves the song, so I played it in tribute to him. Fittingly, it was unedited. Still fucking up the show Chris, whether you’re in the studio or not.
Pacewon & Mr. Green- “She Can Be So Cold”: Sampling the White Stripes is pretty badass, even if the song your write around it isn’t all that.
Jadakiss- “Put Ya Hands Up”: Jadakiss (or Jadakisso as my keyboard would like me to spell it), just put out a new album, called The Last Kiss. This isn’t from it.
Hi-Tek- “How We Do It (ft. Snoop Dogg, Talib Kweli, & Slim Thug)”: What a lineup huh? That’s what I though too, but it turns out that Hi-Tek just isn’t a great enough producer to really make a track like this work.
Petey Pablo- “Raise Up”: Why did I like this when I was much more juvenile? I think it’s because it raised the idea of a woman taking her shirt off, which at the time was incredibly titillating for someone such as me.
Re-Up Gang- “Cry Now”: This is one of my favorite beats of all time, and I probably never would have heard it if not for the Re-Up Gang. It comes from an Obie Trice song (yeah, who’d of guessed?). Malice and Pusha-T go so hard on this track (what I was hoping for out of “Kinda Like a Big Deal”), that I had to hear another one.
Ruff Ryders- “Jigga My Nigga (ft. Jay-Z)”: Apparently both Jay-Z and the Ruff Ryders released this on albums, and the studio just happens to have a single that credits it to the RR.
Re-Up Gang- “20k Money Making Brothers on the Corner”: I told you I needed to hear another Re-Up Gang track.
QB’s Finest- “Oochie Wally”: This is the infamous song in which Nas’s body guard’s verse is allegedly better than his own (credit Jay-Z). I had actually never heard this song before the studio, so I do not feel qualified to weigh in on that discussion at the current point in time. What I do know is that the song was pretty weak overall.
Blu & Exile- “My World Is…”: What do you want out of me? It’s my show and I’ll play what I want! “I’ll be sinking with my penmanship,” he says at one point, at that line is dope.
Slick Rick- “Frozen (ft. Raekwon)”: I don’t really know Slick Rick, but I really enjoyed him and Raekwon trading bars on this one.
Kid Cudi- “The Prayer”: He’s not retiring.
Eazy E- “24 Hrs. To Live (ft. MC Ren)”: I don’t know how I feel about Eazy E. Maybe it’s his voice, or the fact that I’m never all that impressed with his lyrics, but he seems to me to be getting the dead-rapper-that-is-not-as-good-as-people-like-to-pretend-they-were treatement.
Mikkey Halsted- “Can’t Tell Us Nothing (ft. Ken Rock & KT)”: Everything about this song is awesome. Why don’t more rappers use the phrase ‘have-nots’ to describe the poor? It’s clever and opens up a lot of potentially rhymes.
Murs- “Better Than the Best”: Nottz does a good turn with this sample, and Murs treats the beat all right. Why wasn’t this on Murs For President?
Somehow I missed it when this dropped, and I’ve been too busy to get around to letting you all know. Anyway, the Clipse single I’ve been talking about forever leaked last week, complete with Kanye verse and all.
Beat’s pretty crazy, and what you’re listening to might not even be fully mastered. It’s good to hear Kanye rhyming again, but I’ve got to say that lyrically I expected more than this from the Clipse. Maybe the Cam’ron collabo will do it for me.
As always, NahRight is an invaluable resource.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: 4/20, Afroman, Cypress Hill, playlist, weed
Last night’s show turned conceptual in the second half (post-midnight), let’s see if you can figure out the concept!!!
Clipse- “Young Boy”: When the fuck is that new single coming out??? ME WANT.
Dead Prez- “It’s Bigger Than Hip-Hop”: Have you ever listened to a whole album by these guys? They possess both the fervor and rationality of Ron Paul supporters (google him).
Edan- “Promised Land”: Chris is totally gay for this guy, just look at his past three profile pictures. Fortunately for Chris, the guy makes pretty good music so they should have a wonderful life together.
Talib Kweli- “Going Hard”: I’ve never heard The Beautiful Struggle. So far, not impressed.
Ludacris- “Get By”: I watched Tropic Thunder on an 8 hour flight back from the UK, and the only part of that movie I enjoyed was being caught off guard by Tom Cruise dancing to this song for no apparent reason.
Mos Def- “Fear Not of Man”: I didn’t realize the first 2 minutes of this song was just Mos Def talking, followed by 1 short verse and three choruses. It probably won’t get played again.
Jay-Z- “Brooklyn’s Finest (ft. Notorious B.I.G.)”: I would kill to see a live version of this song.
AZ- “Gimme Yours (ft. Nas)”: I heard that AZ puts out a new album every year, but this raises the question: who listens?
Atmosphere- “The Woman With the Tattooed Hands”: I have nothing interesting to say about this pick.
The Roots- “I Don’t Care”: Blu is apparently recording a track with these guys, which makes this man very happy.
Skyzoo- “A Day In the Life”: I really need to give him a close listen, because even after my last post bemoaned how little attention I’ve given him, I still feel like I’m sleeping on him.
Beastie Boys- “Pass the Mic”: Feel better Ira.
Kool G Rap- “Streets of New York”: I go back and forth on Kool G Rap. Hip hop heads love blowing him, but Wanted: Dead or Alive (his supposed classic) just has too many corny/dated flows. The potential is there, but I’m listening to wrong album I think.
Cam’ron- “Hey Ma (ft. Juelz Santana, Freeky Zeeky & Kay Slay)”: I’m going to try to start using the term ‘dome‘ much more frequently than I do.
Afroman- “Because I Got High”: I’d like the record to show that this track was directly preceded by a Narcanon PSA.
Afroman- “Because I Got High”: You see, I had a whole second half to my show planned out, but then I started getting requests from a nasally male calling himself Chris Burns. Being that I always honor the requests of my loyal listeners, I had, in effect, a great portion of my show hijacked.
Johnson & Jonson- “Half A Knot”: I did manage to get one song off before he could call again, and sensing something was amiss, I made sure to give my boy Blu some more airplay.
Snoop Dogg- “We Just Wanna Party With You”: Though he did request Afroman twice in a row, I thought it may have just been a simple childish prank, but when he again started calling, I realized that Chris was perhaps engaged in some behavior that neither I nor KTRM can endorse, but again, I always honor my requests, no matter how frequent or immature.
Cypress Hill- “Hits From the Bong”: When young Mr. Burns called to request this song, I could hear in the background a distinct bubbling sound, almost as if a child were blowing through a straw into their soda.
Wu-Tang Clan- “As High As Wu-Tang Get”: I believe Chris Burns may have become embarrassed, because this song was requested by a nasally voice donning a (clearly) faux-rasta accent. Look ‘mon’, I’m not stupid.
Canibus- “Get Retarded”: Although by this point I was quite annoyed with the young gentleman, in retrospect I must respect his dedication to such a stupid and pointless game. I mean certainly he could have just played these songs for himself, right?
Blackalicious- “Green Light: Now Begin”: Now this is a bit of a stretch, don’t you think?
The Pharcyde- “Pack the Pipe”: I asked Chris what the point of this whole experiment was, and do you know what he said to me? He said, “it’s Four Twenty, duuuuuuuuuude.”
Pacewon & Mr. Green- “Children Sing”: Again, he was clearly grabbing for whatever he could reach at this point.
Snoop Dogg- “Pass It Pass It”: I think our friend may have had a little too much fun last night, because while this was playing he called asking for two extra large supreme pizzas. However, he quickly recovered from this embarrassing mistake and barely had to think about what song he desired to hear next.
Memphis Bleek- “I Get High”: You know, even from just our short interactions, I really feel as though I got to know this faceless Chris Burns. While his prank was annoying and childish, I feel that overall he is a good person. He has some growing to do, but don’t be surprised to hear this name in the future.
Juvenile- “I Got that Fire”: I don’t think he had ever heard this song before, because from what I could tell it wasn’t what he thought it was going to be.
Parental Advisory- “Dope Stories (ft. Noreaga, Big Gipp & Pimp C)”: He clearly ran out of steam here towards the end, which is why I’m ashamed to say he had to resort to…
Cypress Hill- “Stoned is the Way of the Walk”: Two Cypress Hill songs in one show? This was the last straw. If he called back again I promised to myself that I would refuse to honor his request, and maybe even give him a short lecture while I was at it.
Asher Roth- “I Love College”: With five minutes left to go, the last call I answered was simply the voice on the other end of the line yelling “I LOVE COLLEGE” repeatedly into the receiver. I took this (for obvious reasons) to be a request to hear Asher Roth’s debut single. By the way, the dude’s album is out today, somebody tell me how it is.
Well, it wasn’t my best show, but learn from this listeners, because you too might be able to run the Hip-Hop Hour by proxy. Just please, no more Cypress Hill.
My loyal listeners may be alarmed to see that I’m posting a playlist, and wondering how they could have missed a show. Well I had to fill in for the Deep Cuts show on Tuesday night, and I had a little bit of late notice, so I wasn’t able to post a warning. You missed out, but don’t worry, cuz I’ll be back on tonight! 2 Hip-Hop Hours 1 week. Lovely.
Blu & Exile- “My World Is…”: I finally got around to listening to Below the Heavens, and look what happened. The rest of the album isn’t quite as good as this, but Blu is fucking sick. Seriously, this guy puts the rest of his ‘up and coming’ peers to shame. Also, something about this beat keeps making me thinking of Ghostface, anyone know why?
Kid Cudi- “Is There Any Love? (ft. Wale)”: Kid Cudi and Wale are pretty nice, but playing this after “My World Is…” made me realize how far above these two dudes Blu is. Yeah, I’m in one of those phases right now.
Nas- “What Goes Around”: Nas wants you to name his baby. Make sure you listen to the end of Stillmatic, because if you don’t you’ll miss this track, and I think it’s better than it’s given credit for.
Ghostface Killah- “Daytona 500 (ft. Raekwon & Cappadonna)”: This beat is awesome. I thought this or “Apollo Kids” might be the source of that familiar feeling I got when listening to Blu’s track, but I don’t think it’s either. Oh yeah, this is on Iron Man.
Pacewon & Mr. Green- “Who I Am”: I had never heard of these guys until HipHopDX called their album The Only Color that Matters is Green one of the most slept on from 2008. They were right, it’s good. Not only is this track naturally clean, but it nicely captures an era of hip-hop I never experienced (sigh).
Common- “Drivin’ Me Wild (ft. Lily Allen)”: Harry can probably tell you more about Lily Allen than I can, but she does this hook all right. Finding Forever.
Murs- “Road Is My Religion”: How do I feel about Murs For President after having listened to about 1/3 the album throughout the semester? Meh, which is about the way I feel about his whole career. As far as neo-alternative west coast hip-hop goes, Blu is killing Murs at his own game.
Mikkey Halsted- “Can’t Tell Us Nothing (ft. Ken Rock & K.T.)”: I forgot how good this song is. MC Chris Barnes can tell you how I feel about the original version (arguably the best beat on Graduation, and definitely the best overall song), and these younger Chicago dudes do it justice. I really need to get my iPod up and running again, because that Uncrowned King mixtape really deserves a few more listens.
Lupe Fiasco- “Gotta Eat”: Whoever was Music Director when The Cool came out listed this as the first recommended track. I wouldn’t go that far, but it’s okay.
Hi-Tek- “Where It Started At (NY) (ft. Dion, Jadakiss, Papoose, Talib Kweli, & Raekwon)”: How about that line-up? Jadakiss just put out a new album the other day, and it’s getting mixed reviews.
Slaughterhouse- “Fight Club”: Finally got me a Slaughterhouse track in the studio. It’s not their best, but its also not 8 minutes long like most of the others. Does anyone else wish they’d kick Royce da 5’9” out of the group and replace him with someone interesting?
Jay-Z- “I Just Wanna Love U (Give it 2 Me) (ft. Pharell)”: I can’t believe he wasted this track on Dynasty: Roc La Familia. What do you, my 2 readers, think is Jay-Z’s better party track: I.Z.Z.O. or this? (write in answers are okay).
Nappy Roots- “Awnaw (ft. Jazze Pha)”: I like this song.
eMC- “EMC (What It Stands For)”: I’ve been mentioning these guys every time I play that Masta Ace song in the studio, so I finally got some songs to play for you. This one is off The Show, and does one of those things where they take an acronym and rap three words that could make it up after saying it.
The Pharcyde- “Ya Mama”: Do hipsters over-hype anything more than mid-90s non-gangsta rap? No offense to The Pharcyde or ATCQ, because they’re both good, but seriously…
Outkast- “So Fresh, So Clean”: One might even throw Outkast into the discussion from the previous song. Though it seems to me the real over-hype is coming from the hip-hop website commentators who love to put Andre 3o00 in their top 10. Stankonia.
Killer Mike- “Can You Hear Me?”: Still can’t get over this song.
Lil Wayne- “3 Peat”: Look at all this dirty south shit! And you thought I didn’t know shit about them southern boys (I don’t).
Notorious B.I.G.- “Juicy”: I played a new music liner before this song. Psyche!
Kidz in the Hall- “Snob Hop (ft. Camp Lo)”: I’ve been loving this song since last summer (which is the perfect time for it), mostly because the second verse promises “oral spasms.” Very Nice.
Jake One- “The Truth (ft. Freeway & Brother Ali)”: I could honestly listen to just this beat all day long. My god is that soulful.
Rhymefest- “Dynomite (Going Postal)”: Haven’t played any Rhymefest in a while. He just put out a new mixtape (I wasn’t impressed), but this is from Blue Collar.
Skyzoo- “Stop Fooling Yourself”: I always forget that I like Skyzoo a lot because his laid-back flows never really grab you. Don’t overlook him though, he’s got some great lines. The Three Day High.
Grand Buffet- “We’re Into This”: Ira or Clint should tell you the story about these guys, but I don’t have any problems with them. Especially when they make catchy songs like this one. Pittsburgh Hearts EP.
Big L & Jay-Z- “’95 Freestyle”: Go find this track on the internet and download it. 7 minutes of Big L and Jay-Z spitting rhymes you’ve never heard before??? Yeah, it’s that good. I’m pretty sure this happened either just before, or just after they put their debuts out, which means that this is as much a historical document as it is a freestyle.
Mobb Deep- “Front Lines (Hell On Earth)”: This is a single we have in the studio. Not bad.
Sage Francis- “Water Line”: I needed a short song to fill up 2 minutes, and this is a good one. For some reason Chris hates all of Human the Death Dance, even though this is probably the most emotionally affecting and scathing political rant Sage has ever written. Is that too much praise for the song? Maybe a touch.
Johnson & Jonson- “Bonus Track”: Yeah, I’m playing Blu again, get over it. Cool sample of a John Lennon song, and for some reason this track just speaks to me (you will only get that joke if you’ve heard the song (the sample is “hold on John”) (get it?))). This is sort of like that Skyzoo thing I was talking about earlier. It’s lazy to write off songs like this as ‘boring,’ because it probably means that you didn’t listen to it as closely as you should.
Filed under: Uncategorized
They don’t call it a specialty show for nothing, folks. This week I decided to attempt to connect every song to the one preceding it and following it, either by guest appearance, producer, label, etc. Surprisingly it worked, thanks in great part to a few artists who have no bones about working with anyone. I’ll explain how these all link up in the post. Anyways, it was a fun show, and you never know, I might just do it again ;).
Camp Lo- “Regulate (ft. Yahzarah)”: You may remember me blogging about this song a few weeks ago, well now I got to play it on my show. I love pretty much everything about this song. They just dropped a new album with this on it, Stone & Rob: Caught On Tape, which I’m planning on checking out soon.
Aesop Rock- “Limelighters (ft. Camp Lo)”: Do you see how this is going to work now? Anyways, I’d rather have played Kidz in the Hall’s Camp Lo feature (“Snop Hop”), but for now this will have to do.
Cannibal Ox- “Ox Out the Cage (ft. El-P)”: Ever heard of a label called Def Jux? Well El-P founded it, and both Aesop Rock and Cannibal Ox are on it. That is if Cannibal Ox were a group anymore. I originally thought that El-P might have produced “Limelighters” because he did something else on Bazooka Tooth, but I was mistaken. Anyways, this was the second song in a somewhat lengthy Def Jux period as I tried to figure out a way to escape the corner I had painted myself into.
Cage- “Hell’s Winter”: Another Jukie, as they call themselves, and produced by El-P, who oversees a lot of what Cage does. Album is called the same thing.
Mr. Lif- “Brothaz”: Yeah, yeah, another Def Jux track, but at least it was produced by El-P (who I’d like to thank for keeping me afloat for such a long time).
Various Artists- “Protective Custody”: This is from that Rawkus EP I talked about a week ago, and this too helped me with some interesting connections because so many diverse artists are featured on it. El-P raps on this track, as does Talib Kweli (keep that in mind).
Talib Kweli- “In the Mood (ft. Kanye West)”: See why I told you too keep that in mind? 🙂 Kanye was another real lifesaver this week, in part because of the copious guest appearances on his albums, but also because of his rather prolific production track record. This is from Ear Drum.
Kanye West- “My Way Home (ft. Common)”: A free link, and you don’t even have to hear Kanye rap! I actually used Common a lot too, thanks bud.
Various Artists- “One Four Love pt. 1”: Yeah I’m back to that Rawkus EP already, but it was because having Pharaohe Monch as a link was too cool to pass up. I mean really, in that radio station what are the odds? Common is featured on this song too, if you didn’t guess.
Talib Kweli- “Guerrilla Monsoon Rap (ft. Black Thought, Pharaohe Monch, & Kanye West)”: And we’re right back to Kweli/Kanye. Surprise surprise. I really just wanted to play this song, so I created a weird little path to get here, since I easily could have just from that first Rawkus song.
Kanye West- “Gone (ft. Consequence & Cam’ron)”: Yeah yeah, I know, but I was just working my way into it, and I was terrified of screwing it up. Besides, do I even need an excuse to play this song? Killa who?
Cam’ron- “Welcome to New York City (ft. Jay-Z & Juelz Santana)”: So do you think I’m going to use this to go into a Jay-Z track or Juelz track? You might be surprised. By the way, some shit about Jay-Z/Cam’ron stealing the “I.Z.Z.O.” and “Oh Boy” beats from each other hit the internet this week. Apparently Jay-Z even recorded a verse for “Oh Boy,” but Cam’ron cut it because it sucked (but probably because he was pissed). Anyways, full details in this post/video here.
Jay-Z- “Takeover”: Fooled you! Like I was going to play something else with Juelz Santana on it… By the way, the following transition is that which I am most proud of.
Mobb Deep- “Eye for an Eye (Your Beef is Mines) (ft. Nas & Raekwon)”: From the song in which Jay-Z goes at Mobb Deep and Nas to a song that features both of them??? If you don’t like that little play then get the fuck out of here.
Raekwon- “Verbal Intercourse (ft. Nas & Ghostface)”: I was just so in the zone at this point. Plus I got to play two really really good songs in a row. Everyone wins.
Ghostface- “9 Milli Bros (ft. Wu-Tang Clan)”: You’ll see, but I really could have ridden this Wu-Tang thing for a lot longer than I did. I think that shows maturity.
Jedi Mind Tricks- “On the Eve of War (ft. GZA)”: This was a little bit of a curveball wasn’t it? I hadn’t even heard this song before, but I saw a hole and I hit it hard (that’s supposed to be a football metaphor).
Hi-Tek- “Music For Life (ft. J. Dilla, Nas, Common, Busta Rhymes & Marsha Ambrosius)”: Huh? Hi-Tek is on the same label as Jedi Mind Tricks? I know it was weak, but I really wanted to mix things up. How about that mix of people? Lots of places I could have gone with this one, so naturally I went with…
Busta Rhymes- “Don’t Touch Me Remix 2.2 (ft. Reek Da Villain, Spliff Star, Lil Wayne, Nas, The Game & Big Daddy Kane)”: This mix of emcees is even more random. Also, Busta totally beat Lil Wayne to the punch at the inevitable shit-toilet joke he was going to make.
The Roots- “Boom (ft. Big Daddy Kane & Kool G Rap)”: It’ s pretty cool because onthe album version of this song Black Thought just imitates BDK & KGR, but for the live version on Dave Chappelle’s Block Party they actually join him. Now there’s a fun fact.
The Roots- “Somebody’s Gotta Do It (ft. Devin the Dude, Jean Grae, & Mack Dub)”: I know I know, two Roots songs in a row, but it’s okay because they are the link to themselves. That feels like cheating I know, but I guess I justified it because BDK was the link into the first song. Look this is hard, so cut me some damn slack!
Jean Grae- “Don’t Rush Me (ft. 9th Wonder)”: Doesn’t this make up for it anyways? It’s not like I used the Roots to get back to Jay-Z or Kanye or someone easy like that.
Little Brother- “Hiding Place (ft. Elzhi)”: 9th Wonder was actually a part of Little Brother when this album (The Minstrel Show) came out, and produced all but two tracks on that album.
Slum Village- “Tainted (ft. Dwele)”: From an individual to their group, twice in a row. Interestingly, had I gone with a different Slum Village record, this transition would have been invalid as Elzhi joined the group officially for this album. Also, this album is the first of theirs post J Dilla.
Common- “The People (ft. Dwele)”: Now how about that! Dwele as the link? I don’t even really know who he is. Also, and here’s another fun fact, Dwele is uncredited for this song. Does that make the link invalid?
Kid Cudi- “The Prayer”: Both Kid Cudi and Common are on G.O.O.D. Music. Get over it, it was the last song and I was tired. Let’s see you do better.
Anyways, I had a ton of fun doing this, and I may try it again. This is the type of brilliance you’re subjected to every week during the Hip-Hop Hour, so start tuning in.
Like you’ve never seen before.
I’m sorry it has been soooo long since my last post, but hopefully this will make up for it.
I was going to post all three, but wordpress is still in the embedded video stone age. Oh well, give RapRadar the hits, they deserve it.
Filed under: Uncategorized
A guest host on tonight’s show, Ira (MC King of the Castle), and he’s 1000x what MC Chris Barnes ever was (how’s it feel to be replaced Chris?). Anyways, I’ll put some notes about these songs later.
Public Enemy- “Don’t Believe the Hype”:
Big Daddy Kane- “It’s A Big Daddy Thing”:
Outkast- “Humble Mumble”:
Slum Village- “Get Live”:
Ghostface Killah- “The Champ”:
Asher Roth- “I ❤ College”:
Beastie Boys- “Shake Your Rump”:
AZ- “Gimme Yours (ft. Nas)”:
The Pharcyde- “Passin’ Me By”:
Jay-Z- “Renegade (ft. Eminem)”:
Mobb Deep- “Shook Ones pt. 2”:
Rawkus- “Protective Custody (ft. Dante and Main Flo (MOOD), Nine, Tiye Phoenix, Breezly Brewn’ (Juggaknots), Talib Kweli, Punchline, Imani Uzuri, El P and Mr. Len (Company Flow), Jah Born (Medina Green), What?What?, and John Forte”:
Gza- “Duel of the Iron Mic”:
Big L- “Da Graveyard”:
The Roots- “75 Bars (Black’s Reconstruction)”:
Cam’ron- “Oh Boy (ft. Juelz Santana)”:
Notorious B.I.G.- “Mo’ Money Mo’ Problems (ft. Ma$e & Puff Daddy)”:
Killer Mike- “A.D.I.D.A.S. (ft. Big Boi)”:
Kanye West- “Diamonds From Sierra Leone Remix (ft. Jay-Z)”:
DMX- “Where the Hood At”:
Nas- “It Ain’t Hard to Tell”:
Jurassic 5- “W.O.E. is Me”:
Mos Def- “Hip Hop”:
Cannibal Ox- “Ox Out the Cage (ft. El P)”:
Dr. Dre- “Forgot About Dre (ft. Eminem)”:
Kid Cudi- “Is There Any Love (ft. Wale)”:
Wu-Tang Clan- “Triumph”:
Analysis coming soon. Great show, first time I’ve ever had a co-host who could actually talk on the air without giggling (I still ❤ you though Chris).
Make sure you watch that shit in HD.
Ps: All of you aspiring rappers who would like to have your video posted on this prestigious blog, just make sure it has plenty of pretty bright colors and you should have a good shot.
I’m sorry that I’ve gotten away from the blogging lately, so I want to make it up to you all by telling you about an artist you may not have listened to. He’s from Chicago, and so his name is Mikkey Halsted (it’s a well known street). I’ve been listening to his mixtape from last year, The Uncrowned King, and it is pretty good. The song “Liquor Store” has a video out and is pretty good, but check out “My Life,” if you want to see what this guy is capable of.
PS: If you haven’t checked out datpiff yet, then follow that link for the mixtape, because that website is awesome and has pretty much every mixtape you could want.
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Big L- “Put it On”: Yeah, I got in a minute late, and just sort of threw on whatever came first, but it doesn’t mean it’s not a great song.
Asher Roth- “I Love College”: A bunch of people heard this spiel tonight at dinner, but at this point I just sort of feel sorry for him. I mean it’s not his fault he has the exact same voice as Eminem, and he seems like a nice enough guy. I like this beat, and I’m not ashamed. His rhymes just seem juvenile, which means that he is certain to blow up among white, high school-age rap fans. Though when it comes to albums out on 4/20, I’d rather listen to his debut than Rick Ross’s new whatever.
Lupe Fiasco- “Go Go Gadget Flow”: It was a lazy show for me, I’m sorry. I like this song, and I’m trying to work my way back through The Cool to see if I can gain an appreciation for it.
N.A.S.A.- “The Mayor”- This features Ghostface and the Cool Kids, and maybe Scarface too. It’s the best I’ve ever heard the Cool Kids sound. I think they just need some beats that aren’t their own minimalistic, boring attempts.
Common- “Driving Me Wild”: I finally gave this album a chance, and it took it. Finding Forever has way more good songs than I realized. I bet if you put the album on you’ll realize that too.
Jake One- “The Truth”: I’m the host, and I play what I want. That beat is so awesome. I think Freeway and Brother Ali do it justice, which means they mostly just stay out of the way and avoid sounding stupid.
GZA- “Paper Plate”: When is 50 Cent going to respond to this? Clearly he isn’t half the MC GZA is, and I think he realizes that as well. Besides, would you go up against the Wu-Tang Clan?
Sage Francis- “Water Line”: MC Chris Barnes are you listening? Human the Death Dance is 9000000000X better than Personal Journalist. But seriously, this song is really really good.
Kanye West- “School Spirit”: 3 short songs in a row, but all of them are really good. This balances out the super long songs I play later in the show.
Masta Ace- “Soda and Soap”: This is a leftover from an MC Chris Barnes mixtape. It was okay. The EmC (EMc? EMC? I’m not sure how they spell it) album from last year is actually really good. I think it’s called The Show.
Cam’ron- “Let Me Know”: Samples the NFL song? Awesome. This guy has a new album coming out very soon.
Art Official- “Clockwork”: This song wasn’t as cool as the one I played a few weeks ago, but it was still pretty good.
Eyedea & Abilities- “Now”: I meant to get an LP by these guys for a long time, but I don’t really care anymore. Plus, this track didn’t impress me, so I’ll probably let it go. Eyedea has some pretty good freestyles on youtube though.
Nas- “What Goes Around”: This is one of the last tracks on Stillmatic, and so it’s really easy to overlook, but I think it’s one of the few examples of Nas putting together a song that has a beat, hook, and lyrics that are all pretty solid.
Wu-Tang Clan- “Triumph”: This is where I started playing long songs because I was worn out and lazy. Still a good song though.
Aesop Rock- “None Shall Pass”: I haven’t listened to this album yet, but Chris was right about this song.\
Mobb Deep- “Shook Ones pt. 2”: This beat really is classic, which I realized watching Eminem free-style over it in 8 Mile. More recently I heard someone else freestyle over it and realized it again.
Joell Ortiz- “125 pt.3 (Connections)”- Why do I push this guy so hard? Because I really like his debut LP The Brick: Bodega Chronicles, and I don’t think you’ve given it a chance.
Crooked I- “Creased Khaki Flow”: He just got shot at or something the other week, so I hope everything is all right in his life. I finally gave The Block Obama mixtape the attention it deserved, and it has some songs on there. This isn’t from that, but it is still pretty good.
UGK- “Real Women”: Good song. Talib is a talented dude, and UGK deserves more credit and attention than I’ve given them.
Ghostface Killah- “Daytona 500”: Speaking of classic beats… Listen to Ironman, because it is almost as good as Cuban Linx and Fishscale, but people don’t want to give it credit.
A short playlist, sure, but I was tired, and it still was an okay show, just a lot of replays. Next week will be better! I promise!
The Hip-Hop Hour 