Hip Hop/Rap Fanatics Unite!

[oxymoron]

Either of you guys Logic fans? Under Pressure is amazing.

I haven't heard him yet, but was reading about him and he cites some really good influences. I'll check him out when I get the chance.

You haven't heard Logic all together or Under Pressure?

[Frag Mortuus]

I have not. Is it a freestyle you're talking about, or is it the song that came out from the upcoming Shadyville album? Either way, I haven't heard it. Honestly I USUALLY skip hearing tracks early and wait to hear full albums. Usually.

Says it's a freestyle, but I can't confirm that.

Its seems to be freestyled to me. If it were written before hand, I wouldn't think he would stop after just a few lines.

Eitherway I loved it and thought it was hilarious.

[noiseredux]

De La Soul - Buhloone Mindstate - 1993 - Tommy Boy
While De La Soul Is Dead attempted to kill off the entire image of the group's first album, Buhloone Mindstate further goes off the deep end without hitting you over the head. Instead you've got the image of a group dealing with gaining a rep but having to fear failure - "it might blow up, but it won't go pop." Once again Prince Paul is brought in to create the sonic backdrop, and now friends from both the hip hop (Shorty No Mass, Dres) and jazz (Maceo Parker) worlds will help fill in the cracks. The live instrumentation that gets weaved into the samples is a great fit, and also helps make everything feel like a cohesive album even without the narratives found in the first two records. Note how "I Be Blowin'," an early instrumental track featuring Parker's fine horn playing is later referenced in the full on (and brilliant) soul-searching song "I Am I Be." Or how about "Ego Trippin' (Part Two)," which nods to Ultramagnetic MC's original song, and is basically built out of cut-n-paste lyrics from a bunch of other classic hip hop songs but also attacks the gangsta rap that was so popular at the time? Later, Paul pulls together an incredible rearrangement of Michael Jackson's "I Can't Help It," for "Breakadawn." It's a shame that Buhloone Mindstate seems somehow less adored than other albums in De La's catalog. This is an album that is just as emotional as anything on De La Soul Is Dead, yet manages to trump that album in focus and sincerity.


Mobb Deep - Blood Money - 2006 - Interscope
Amerikaz Nightmare seemed to leave Mobb Deep and Jive Records disenchanted with each other. So when 50 Cent came around offering them a new deal, it seemed like a good idea. And why not? G-Unit was still at the top of their game, and the Mobb was looking for some newfound relevance. To some degree this worked. Certainly a younger generation was introduced to the group thanks to G-Unit. But the end result sounds like the duo was far more strangled out of their own creativity than even on Amerikaz Nightmare. The best way to put it is that Blood Money sounds like a pretty average G-Unit album, but a mediocre Mobb Deep album. That's no surprise skimming through the liner notes. Ten of the album's sixteen tracks feature G-Unit members. Less than half are produced by Havoc. Even one of the bonus tracks is actually a 50 Cent song featuring Mobb Deep, rather than vice versa. It really comes off as a wasted partnership. There are a couple of standout tracks here, though. "Pearly Gates" is actually a great collaboration with 50 that focuses on religion. Though it's somewhat ruined by the fact that several of Prodigy's lines are edited out of the label's reluctance of the content-matter. It's baffling why they kept the edited lines instead of writing new ones. The lone Alchemist production "The Infamous" rides an awesome sample of Grandwizard Theodore that sounds far better than any beat on the album. And speaking of beats, while many of them are paint-by-numbers G-Unit, "Creep" is borderline annoying. Fans of either group will be curious to hear this one. And ultimately it's not a terrible album. It's just definitely not up to the greatness that Mobb Deep is capable of.

[Luke]

Eitherway I loved it and thought it was hilarious.

Overall I loved every performance besides the Alabama Man.

Hard to call anything freestyling when there is a production crew involved...but whatever. Freestyling hasn't been what is was in a long time.

[noiseredux]

Jay-Z - International Gangster - 2008 - Starz Music
Considering American Gangster received an official acapella release (much like The Black Album), it's not shocking that bootleg remix albums will pop up. This one doesn't seem to have a whole lot of reason to exist, however. Which is not to say that the remixes are bad. They're all perfectly fine. But the original versions are just so good. And oddly, a lot of the remixes here seem to use the same pallet of sounds - 70's organs, jazz-funk guitars, and the likes. So the result comes off as lesser versions of similar songs. In fairness, a couple step out of that mold slightly. "Hello Brooklyn" actually sounds a lot more like the rest of the album than it did on American Gangster proper, for instance. For the most part this album is a decent listen, though there are some perplexing choices made. For instance - and I know this is nit-picky, but if you're going to keep Jay's adlibs about riding out the horns ("Roc Boys"), then you should probably have some horns on the backing track, less it just makes no sense. Also, there are five bonus tracks, literally listed as "Bonus 1" through "Bonus 5," that as far as I can tell are nothing but the first five songs on the album played over again. I have no idea. But I will give Big Mike props for choosing to not yell DJ drops over all the tracks. That at least makes it feel more like an album than a mixtape. Ultimately this is a serviceable remix project, but not one that would earn repeated listens.

[fastbilly1]

I dont typically do this, but a good buddy of mine is making a documentary about how Hiphop is changing Senegal:


Some of yall might be interested it.

[TSTR]

Thanks to noise's gentle, loving prodding, I experienced the wonder of Mobb Deep's The Infamous yesterday. Ended up listening over and over all day long. So amazing.

[jp1]

Shook Ones ftw! I haven't listened to "The Infamous" though so that is my ignorant biased opinion.

[noiseredux]

Mobb Deep is vastly, vastly under-appreciated.

Like Nas' Illmatic, The Infamous is one of those records that has unfairly put them in a career-long situation of "yeah this new album isn't The Infamous." But man, I love Mobb Deep so so much. They are audio nihilism. Or as Prodigy said, "hypnotic thug life."

If y'all ain't heard The Infamous and Hell On Earth - you have no idea. I feel like Mobb Deep is to NYC what Three 6 was to Houston.

Some stray tracks from stray albums y'all need to check out:

"Right Back At You" from The Infamous - a slow, dark, moody one that takes a Les McCann guitar sample and turns it into horror.

"GOD Part III" from Hell On Earth - has a super creepy intro skit. And the sample from Scarface score is just horrifyingly dark. Amazing track.

"Quiet Storm" from Murda Muzik - it's like the scariest New Age music ever.

"Got It Twisted" from Amerikaz Nightmare - the Alchemist figured out a way to make Thomas Dolby sound eerie.

"Taking You Off Here" from The Infamous Mobb Deep - released this year, and still awesome. (Yes, The Infamous and The Infamous Mobb Deep are two diff albums).

[Frag Mortuus]

Overall I loved every performance besides the Alabama Man.

Oh man, that's Yelawolf. I'm a huge fan. I didn't necessarily like the subject matter of his freestyle, talking about his money or whatever. But, I liked the style, how it sounded kind of like talking but also rhythmic enough to tell he was rapping. To each their own, though.