Final warning - poll

Don't forget to vote in our Best MCs and Producers of 2004 poll; and remember, one lucky poll-voter will win a pistol pete 12". Deadline is Jan. 1st at 12 midnight (going into Jan. 2nd, so you have all New Years Day to figure your shit out).

Kanye West: A man of dubious ethics

My apologies in advance to those of you who are getting bored with this whole Kanyegate, but I'm sure there were a lot of people who felt the same way during the original Watergate, and we know how that turned out. Anyhoo, I thought I'd just let you guys in on a couple of other Kanye-related scandles I happened upon while doing research for my own.

Cap-Onegate: Apparently, Kon the Louis Vutton Too Good for the Ghetto Don sold poor little Cap-One some beats, and then resold the same beats to Jay-Z for The Blueprint, Alchemist-style. Cap-One obviously didn't appreciate that, and has recorded an entire CD going off on Kanye.

It's Only Famgate: And if that wasn't bad enough, it looks like he's being sued by by some group called I.O.F. (It's Only Family) for jacking the hook to their song "Straight Like That" for his and Ludacris' "Stand Up." They too have decided to take their anger into the recording booth and have produced a song enitled "Fuck Ludacris," which should probably subtitled ("And His Buttboy Kanye, No Homo")

Were you aware that Kanye has already been banned from one awards show this year? Yep, it's true. Some Gospel awards show was going to give him a trophy for "Jesus Walks," but then they realized how much of a douche he was and took his punk ass off the ballots completely. This is what can happen with the Grammys if enough of us speak out about it. Sign the petition today.

[Cross Posted]

Slump And Grind

THE BAY IS BACK! Jyeah boy and on some gas brake dip type shit too! Thankfully B-Cause and Ross Hogg have teamed up to bring you some of the dopest music out of the bay right now. Shit one look at the fucking tracklisting and you’ve got a pretty good idea just how champ this mix is. These boys are pulling records from all over the bay area it don’t matter if you 41fiving, 510, 408, 650, 925 or goddamn 707 they got someone up on this reppin for your area.

This mix reminds me so much of why I love and miss west coast hip-hop. The west has so much style and a distinctiveness that is hard to match. Whether you’re talking about the way Freestyle Fellow shit flips their shit(see emynd's mix) or the way that E-40 just manipulates his speech patterns it’s fucking obvious when it comes to style its hard to compete with the west. The emphasis on how you rapped over what you rapped about is a phenomenon that was developed and perfected on the west coast. Not to say the actual lyrics aren’t important but for me personally this concentration on style is what has made west coast hip-hop so much more interesting to me than say mediocre rappers from New York who all sound the same.

The first half of the mix is Ross Hogg and the second half is B-Cause. I like Ross’s half but my favorite part of his half is around track 8 when he starts playing some of the more hype shit. He drops “It’s Ah Slumper” which has Turf Talk and E-40 just rocking over some pounding drums. He follows that with Federation’s Hyphy, which if you pay attention to the bay you already know Rick Rock is on some next shit. After that you got Too Short’s Burn Rubber that is just full of hard handclaps and more of those loud crisp as fuck drums. It’s fucking great. Ross’ half tends to get more hyphy than B.Cause’s but B.Cause brings the heat with some slightly older joints that never really got the shine they deserved. He drops “Timing” which is E-40, San Quinn and Richie Rich rapping over the Clipse’s “Grinding.” I heard this song when I first moved to the bay about 2 years ago and I was fucking amazed that it wasn’t getting more play outside of the bay but I guess that’s the breaks when it comes to the regional raps form the land of the sideshows. Anyways, I need to say something about this J Official joint that B-Cause drops. Goddamn shit is dope, dude covers KRS-One’s “Love’s Gonna Get You.” On some straight “Getting money in Oakland, everything is fine, got myself an Uzi and my brother a nine.” It makes me smile everytime I hear it.

I’m really glad they made this shit because it is badly needed and right now bay area hip-hop is steadily building steam so it’s the perfect time to start letting fools know what’s going on out here. Especially since the south is so large right now I really think this is the good for Bay are music because it shares a similar aesthetic with the south. But be on the look out because the bay is definitely going to start blowing up.

Ross Hogg -Intro
B.Cause - Intro/Get High Inst. - Suga T
Too Short - Burn Rubber
E-40, San Quinn, Richie Rich - Timing

If you would like grab a copy of this mix up hit up italsection.com or 4OneFunk.com where you can email Ross Hogg (rosshogg@italselection.com) and B.Cause (bcause@4onefunk.com).

God Hates (the) Shrimp

God Hates Shrimp



Well The Shrimp hates god, fucking bitchass motherfucker trying to front on shrimps. The goddamn romans didn't kill Jesus, the shrimp did. That fucking markass bitch was fronting on shrimp so some fucking iodine poisoning had to go down on that bitchmade motherfucker's ass. You know the story about the basket of fish and bread. Well that shit was originally full of shrimp but because God had to be a fucking hater the shrimp got switched for fucking fish. FUCK FISH! With their dumb fucking fins and shit. We got motherfucking legs, fish ain't even evolved to our fucking level. We're on some next shit. Fuck a fish cause I ain't him.

Don't test the motherfucking crustaceans because you'll get delt with.

Damage Control Archive

Click This Shit

So Matt has some dude that wrote a book on the show and the guy start talking about how Ice Cube is such an entrepreneur and shit. Well I'm thinking to myself who gives a fuck cause Ice Cube can't rap for shit anymore so I IMed matt on their damagecontrol shit telling them so, "Ice Cube might be an entrepreneur but he can't rap for shit anymore. He needs to stop acting and start hating on motherfuckers again." Well Matt actually read my IM on the air and the author guy just said that I don't understand and I'm a hater. I say fuck that, Ice Cube needs people to hate on him. If he's going to be an actor and make lots of money fine but he better stop fronting like he still has the skills he once had. The guy is a fucking embarassment on Grand Finale. Homeboy has fallen off hard. The man was once the top of the game but now he's making movies for the whole fucking family. Yeah dude is real scary now fucking stomping in his big black loafers.

Blah whatever, Gritboys make an appearance, Matt plays some exlusive Old Dirty Bastard tracks that are pretty cute. They get a cutesy freestyle going and then play some new Terrorist track and a bunch of christmas shit. Oh yeah Matt also plays some fucking Crew X- Santa Rap that David posted up last week, straight repping for the Shrimp.

Fuck Your Early 90's HipHop Mix

I wrote this post for my own blog, Beer And Rap, but David thought it was pretty funny so he asked me to post it up over here. I figured I'd just post up a portion of it and if you still want to read the rest well then you can take your lazy ass to my fucking site. I'm not sure how many folks are going to hate on me for this or if they even will, but I figure the keep it real fools will get sand in their pussies so fuck'em.



Hey shitbags those early 90's hiphop mixes that you think are so fucking original well guess what. They fucking aren't. No one wants to hear you mix a bunch of fucking reissues that you bought 3 years ago. People have been making early 90's mixes since the goddamn early 90's. Just what in the fuck do you think makes you goddamn version or T.R.O.Y. so fucking original? As much as I love that style of hiphop I'm fucking sick and tired of these redundant bullshit mixes. Fucking stop with the Black Sheep already, enough is enough goddamnit.

The early 90's are not coming back. Nas will never make another Illmatic no matter how many wet dreams you fucking have. Pete Rock and CL Smooth will never make another good record. Remember their latest project? Because I do and it fucking sucked. Ultramagnetic is not going to make another Critical Beatdown because Kool Keith has lost his fucking mind. The Pharcyde will never make another Bizzare Ride because no one actually gives a fuck about the Pharcyde without Fatlip and Slimkid. Shit do you even know the other two dudes names cause I bet you don't. The fucking point is that all your heroes have fallen off and you need to fucking accept that shit already.

Click here to continue hating on early 90's hiphop mixes

So some of the tracks on the "Blade: Trinity" soundtrack are pretty good...

RZA – “Fatal”
RZA reminds us that he’s a rapper too and soldiers through with decent results. The strings are too grandiose for the Wu general but the choked sample works.

Lil’ Flip ft. Ghostface and Raekwon – “I Gotta Get Paid”
Bouncy rubber bass over grime clicks. Sounds like Wiley snuck into the studio and took over. At gunpoint. Lyrically, would have expected a bit more from these three.

WC, E-40 and Christ Bearer – “The Guns Come Out”
Highlight. Dub-dancehall beat. E-40’s highly enunciated verses are the best here.

Ol’ Dirty Bastard and Black Ke – “Thirsty”
Dirty sounds restrained, at his most coherent… while rapping about vampires. Appropriate somehow.

Most of the rest of the songs are pop-dance and sound about 10 years late, DJs what, trance who, etc etc etc. The two Ramin Djwadi cuts (one with RZA) are both good, though.

Young Jeezy Video Feat Bun B

Young Jeezy Feat Bun B - Over Here Video

I've posted about Young Jeezy before and I do like this song but man the guy really needs to stop making himself look like such a T.I. dickrider. Its bad enough he sounds like TI but now he's copying his videos. How the fuck you going to end that shit showing a video where you're biting the You Don't Know Me video? Fuck the only difference is that his is the car and its shot in black and white. Even with all that bullshit I still like the song but this just isn't a wise career move.

Vote motherfuckers

Pistol Pete - yeah, the cat who remixed Ghostface's "Run," Dead Prez's "Hell Yeah," and Missy's "Gossip Folks" for Fluxblog and was mentioned in Spin - has hooked the shrimp up with some hot shit. One lucky random person - maybe more if I'm in a good mood - who votes on The Shrimp 10 Best MCs of 2004 MC and Producer Poll by December 31st gets this free 12" of all three of Pistol Pete's internet remix mini-masterpieces sent directly to their home, in plenty of time for Valentines Day. So go vote. Now.

Some people think swizz beats is all that

Those people are wrong.
I never thought much of the Ruff Ryders shit was all that when I was younger and I still don't now. RRII had some moments, and DMX had his shit together obviously at some point, before he started becoming a parody of himself and dreaming of Aaliyah. Anyway, for christmas my friends thought it would be funny if they got me a swizz beats instrumental CD. Hilarious.


Yeah this shit is just grand. We had this "electronic music" class back in high school and when the students werent online looking at porn, they were busy making cash money-junior keyboard beats that didn't sound as horrible as you would think. Anyway, no matter how lazy they got quantizing that shit, it never sounded as bad as the drum breaks from Swizz' masterpiece "The General (Remix)," presented here in instrumental form:

Swizz Beats - The General (Remix) Instrumental

Those drum breaks are fucking killer. To be fair, Swizz has the occasional shining moment. I think my favorite beat of his so far is that Yung Wun track "Tear It Up," which does that whole Destiny's Child marching band steez, except better. I like that T.I. single OK, and "Money Cash Hoes" is pretty hot for a dude messing around with a casio. But seriously, compare this tinkly late 90s NYC beats to any of the crazy-ass bounce-bling-house shit that Mannie Fresh was doing in New Orleans and it just comes up empty. My friends used to download Swizz instrumentals in the days of Napster just to laugh at them, no joke.

Seriously, if you're looking for a good time, check out this mixtape shit here, it's worth the money because these beats are pretty entertaining. I can just see dude sitting at his keyboard hitting the drums all out of sync and having the computer quantize that shit on the wrong beats.
Here's another track for fun, this was the instrumental to Cam'ron's "Glory." It's pretty weak as well.

Houston So Real

Houston So Real

So now Matt Sonzala has a blog. Matt hosts a radio show on 90.1 KPFT in Houston. It's called Damage Control (the one I keep uploading). He also writes for MurderDog and some assorted magazines. Surprising that he's just getting into this blog game since every other goddamn hiphop music writer has a fucking blog. Dude has been grinding for Texas hiphop for quite sometime. His blog should get real cute when he starts posting up music. So yeah, check that shit fools.

This Blog Fucking Sucks

I hate this motherfucking blog

sweet crap it is the stupidest wshit on the fucking internet, I might be drunk but I don['t fucking care. That fudcking dickface asshole Sergdun is the worst fudcking bloger ever, anf motherfucker David he suck,s and done'snlknow shit ahbout tthe internet fuckk this place so fucking hard I had fucking mac's and there soft ass keyboards made for lady fingers fuck the inspot

wow toph's mom just asked me why I was on the internet, I feel bad, she asked me if I was writing a letter to my mother, and now I wish i was

I'm sorry mom


I'm a stupid drunk and the internet knows but she doesn't

I should delete this posty but I['m too drunk to care

Kimmie Fresh And The People!

Yeah another 75 Girls release, this time its Kimmie Fresh. She was a young lady from Oakland who released a record in 1988 as a rebuttal to Too Short's Freaky Tales. I guess the fucking ladies wanted to check the dudes for thinking they could get their dick sucked at the drop of a dime. She never released anything after this record dropped so who knows what the fuck happened to her. I don't really know who the fuck produced this record either. The back says its produced by Dean Hodges, Jerry Hodges, Kimmie Fresh and Kenneth Hollywood Houston. But then in the liner notes she shouts out some dude Verndell Dodson as her "number one Beat Master." There doesn't seem to be much info on her and I don't know anyone who knows anything about her besides that she released this record so yeah if you want more info on her you're fucked.


"Cold buggin in the place to be '88 style!"
That is the last line in Kimmie's liner notes and that pretty much sums up her whole sound. This shit is about tight as fuck acid wash jeans, custom leather jackets, 15"s in the back of your Suzuki Sidekick, and rocking your new pair of British Knights with some brand new fatty hoop earings on the way to some fucking mobile dj party.

mp3's for that ass.

I Love My Microphone
The Crowd Be Loving Me
The Real Freaky Tales The Girl Story
Don't Let That Be The Reason

Ban Kanye West from the Grammys

Readers of The Shrimp,

Myself and members of The Mindset Army have drafted a petition to have Kanye West's name removed from consideration in the 10 categories in which he was nominated. Please read the petition and, if you agree, sign it. If you're a blogger, I'd also appreciate it if you linked to the petition. But either way, let as many people know about it as possible. This is our chance to finally take that ass clown down a notch.

Sincerely,
Byron Crawford

Damage Control Archive

Click This Shit

After playing "On Fondren" Matt gives a shout out to CocaineBlunts for posting up about M.U.C.H. Posse. The Shrimp also gets a shout.

I Wonder If Your Mama Let You Play That Stuff

In 1985 Todd Shaw released a record called Don't Stop Rapping. It was a 5 song EP on 75 Girls, a label out of Oakland, under the moniker Too Short. 75 Girls didn't last very long but they did last long enough to put out a few records and bank off the hype that Too Short had built by slanging tapes out the trunk with Freddy D. As far as I know the extent of 75 Girls releases were mostly Too Short releases but they also put out records by Kimmie Fresh and Cassadine. I don't know much about the history of 75 girls but when the deal folded Too Short left the label and started putting out music through his own label and then later Jive. I don't think 75 Girls ever released anything after 1988, but I could be wrong.

Anyways here's some mp3s off that EP

Don't Stop Rapping
Short Rap

Ten years later Too Short released Cocktails. I use to listen to this album rolling in my friend Erik's mom's Toyota Camry. We put some 15" in cerwin vegas in the trunk and use to bump the fuck out of this shit as we drove around the streets of Phoenix trying to act hard. One of my favorite songs off that album is Paystyle but for some reason most people don't even fucking remember this goddamn song. Shit the song proves just how much a prophet Too Short was talking shit about rappers who roll with their backpacks tight.

The beat is pretty simple just a rolling bass, short bits of synth and like one or two hits of a piano key that drops every once in a while. Short just rides this shit dropping knowledge that even though these newjacks want to hate he understands because he's been in their situation before. Too Short knows what its like to day dream about being great so don't hate on him because you are more like him than you'd like to believe. But just because you have some similarities he doesn't want you to think you can front on his grind. He's a true blue westcoast pioneer and he wants you to remember that the west didn't create rap but when we made it we made it phat.

Paystyle

EL-P & Ghostfac

Yeah when I saw the link I just thought "HOW IN THE FUCK"

but yeah click this shit before it's gone because its hot as fuck.

El-P and Ghostface Killah- H.Y.F. - The el-p mix version

word on the street is that the original was a Prefuse73 version and it will appear on his album. I guess El-p recorded this version. You'll have to excuse the sound quality the song was recorded off an internet radio stream.

editted for Anonymous Correctness

Merry muthafuckin Xmas

So my friend E hooked me up with some songs from this ridiculous album that apparently someone he knows got from a truckstop. It came out in 1990 and it is some of the most badass christmas jams you've ever heard. Shit is fucking off the wall.

Crew X - Deck the Halls

OK "Deck the Halls" is pretty much a completely straight-ahead rendition of - guess which song - deck the halls. Except, you know, rapped over what passed for a "beat" back when they dreamed this shit up. Oh yeah and he raps about his "gay apparel," how neat is that.

Even better yet -

Crew X - Santa Rap

Then E sent me this track and I was amazed - I heard this song back when I was a kid because we had this tape that had all kinds of weird-ass christmas music on it and I remember banging this when I was like 7 and i thought it was sort of dorky but it was the closest thing i had to rap back then. Until I bought my Kris Kross tape but thats a post for another time. Anyway this song is fucking fantastic and if you get one christmas song this year make it this one.

Jesus Walks = Ghostwritten

BREAKING NEWS
I have it on good confidence from my Indianapolis Bureau Chief chiseven that Kanye West's Grammy-nominated hit single "Jesus Walks" was actually written by an Indianapolis MC (originally from Chicago) back in the mid '90s, who then sold it to Kanye. Now obviously, there are all kinds of implications with regards to Kanye's Grammy eligibility if this turns out to be true, but, of course, my main concern is with the integrity of the music business. If Milli Vanilli had to give theirs back (admit it, you liked that song), then Kanye shouldn't get one in the first place. My next step in this investigation will be to contact Kanye's mother, whom I correspond with on a regular basis, for a statement, and also to try and track down the guy who's the actual writer. If the information I have turns out to be true, then I guess my next step would be to contact the American Society of Recording Arts and Sciences to have Kanye's name removed from eligibility, perhaps even permanently, and to get in touch with Suge Knight about getting our buddy in Indianapolis his fair compensation for his work and, of course, a little bit for myself.

DEVELOPING

You could've read this yesterday on my site.

The 10 Best MCs of 2004

I’m gonna rock the mike till you can’t resist

Best MCs and rappers of 2004
A lot of MCs told us they were the best this year and they can’t all be right. Before any fights broke out, the Shrimp volunteered to determine the winner by asking the true voice of hip-hop – Internet blog readers – to name the 10 best.

Any MC or rapper who was active this year – singles, albums, mixtapes, whatever – is eligible. All genres - Grime, reggaeton, dancehall and of course hip-hop. Send your votes to: MCPoll2004@gmail.com
If you have any questions about how this works, post them in the comments area below.

We’ll send a gold-plated shrimp to the winning MC. Well, not really, but we totally would if we had the cash.


making beats, getting high, chasing freaks

Best producers of 2004
It would be a shame to recognize the MCs and ignore all the hot beats that paved their road to success. So while you’re at it, let us know who the top five producers of 2004 were. Best beats, best remixes, best trademark exclamation over the intro – however you wanna throw it.

If it isn't put in any particular order, we'll just number it 1-10 (or 1-5 for producers) from top to bottom.

Just send it all to MCPoll2004@gmail.com
DEADLINE: DEC 31

The Mudkids

The Mudkids were a group of out of Indianapolis that consisted of cHoc Sorreal and DJ Elp Mass. Apparently they came together in 1993 but their first release, 4trackmind, didn't drop until 1998. I forget why I brought the album, it was 98 and there was all kind of indie shit dropping. I remember on fridays I would ditch class and head down to the record store to cop all kinds of cds I barely knew anything about. As long as they were in the rap section I was willing to peep.

The cover is pretty fucking lowbudget and overall just looks like total shit but whatever. cHoc Sorreal has this low voice but he raps with a lot of vocal fluctuations. You can totally tell that he has been heavily influenced by Freestyle Fellowship. The album has a very laid back feel to it, at moments it sounds like they've borrowed some sounds from the Roots' "Do You Want More?" album, specifically the track Mash It Up. A majority of their topics are on the whole third eye awarness of hiphop spirituality shit, which in 98 wasn't played out as fuck yet.

The Mudkids followed up 4trackmind with "Upwards." I never listened to their second album though. The title just sounded to Jesus rap to me and I wasn't about to chance it. 4trackmind has some "spiritual" tones to it but I can deal with it.

Rap Can Do
Serpents Inna Mi Garden feat Arrange & Kontent
Water To Earth

The reason I posted this is because in 1998 I really like this album but I lost it some years back. Only reason I got to thinking about it again was because I came across it on soulseek and decided to download since I hadn't heard it in a while. It has been like 5 years since I've played the album and its cool but its not anything special. Well not special to me anymore. The sound and style has been done to death and I don't really give a fuck about rapping about third eyes anymore. 98 doesn't feel as though it was that long ago but when I go back and actually think about what I was doing and listening to then it seems ancient times. Back then I was still trying to hold on to the 4 elements true hiphop bullshit ideology. Goddamn you KrsOne, your preaching still haunted me even then. It pisses me off that I bought into that shit because it made my waste my goddamn time and money listening to fucking crap ass artists like LMNO because they were "real hiphop."

oh well, fuck this bullshit.

Southern Smoke 15

Get this shit here. Or at some other site, who cares.

Hosted by Slim Thugggggaaaaaa its better than his album I guess but not as good as I was hoping. Slim drops some great verses, some average verses over the hottest beats of the year, plus a couple remixes, an inexplicable Shaq traq, and some hot cuts from this year's hot albums.

3. Make Way For The Boss - DJ Smallz & Slim Thug
Hot opening, Slim Thug sounds really genuinely happy to be where he's at; everything's starting to pay off. I'm gonna guess this is Serg's favorite Houston rapper and this song makes it sorta easy to see why.

7. Easy To Scare (The Lil' Flip Beef Explained) - T.I.
"I'm finna show ya the meaning of game's over when me and this flame throwa will aim at ya range rover/ ya friends turn their faces and playin' like they don't know ya."

T.I. comes hard yet again at Lil Flip and I'd be sort of annoyed at how its like beating a dead horse at this point, but ... god damn he really came hard at Flip and as long as it keeps him creative and then I guess I'm cool with it. "You're career be as long as the rest of this song" BLAM. But seriously like every fucking T.I. song on mixtapes could have (T.I. Dissin' Lil Flip) as a part of the title.

8. Supa Man (Remix) - Bone Crusher & Shaquille O'Neal
Why? But seriously, he's better than Ron Artest.

11. I Don't Give A Fuck - David Banner & Busta Rhymes
Busta Rhymes is here for some reason but its a great song despite this, and he pretty much does the hook. Cool marching band-like David Banner beat (I think) but David Banner's verse is pretty fucking killer. Its too bad they seriously fucked up the timing between releasing his two albums, but his timing may have been pretty good afterall because he's not gonna be all overexposed like Lil Jon. Although not being a caricature probably helps too.

14. Do The Damn Thing - Fabolous & Young Jeezy
"Yeah I made crack grams but ain't a damn thing funny/ I keep a pocket full of do-the-damn-thang money." This song is kinda good.

16. Fuckin' Around - Trick Daddy Feat. T.I. & Young Jeezy
One of the best songs on one of the best albums of the year what more can I sayyyyy. Oh yeah, T.I. disses flip again.

23. 26's - Chingy & Lil' Wayne
dlk talks about this song here but I don't really like it. The beat is annoying and it has an absurd chorus, bad absurd not Cam'ron lyrics absurd. And Lil Wayne does a great job mixing his newish flow with the classic lil wayne sing-song thing but crap this song is gonna be a hit isn't it?

26. Anything (Remix) - Devin The Dude Feat. Rick James
I like the original but I thought it was an odd choice for a single. This version is fucking ace though. I'm not really overly familiar w/ Rick James but I assume this was a sample that couldn't be cleared for the album so it was used here. Or maybe he was dropping mixtape exclusives right before he died. Whatever this song is fucking great.

27. Spend Some Time - Stat Quo Feat. Eminem & 50 Cent
This song is too rock'n'roll for me with a standard blah Eminem goth-beat. Stat Quo has a goofy verse. One of the better 50 verses this year - it sounds all conversational and as usual he doesn't really sound particularly invested in it, hiding his feelings behind an aura of cool. Lots of people hate "Disco Inferno" but to me its just pleasently treading water, a cool track with a pretty nice beat. Eminem's singing is fucking annoying.

29. Package Of Power - Lil' Flip & Pharrell
When does the moratorium on Pharrell hooks start? Getting the Neptunes is such a money thing now, like you get your label deal, you get your chain, then you call up Chad and Pharell, then you buy some new fronts.... As anyone who's heard the Slim Thug album knows, the less Pharrell in H-Town the better.

31. So Incredible - Slim Thug Feat. Jazze Pha & Cee-lo
Best Slim Thug verse on this whole mixtape (more clever lines than any of the others anyway, "You can catch me in the shopping mall, ridiculous bags/ check my restroom trash, all I do is pop tags/.../slim shows and tells so these hoes know me well/ i been closing candy doors since pac was in jail") over classic-sounding Jazze Pha beat with organs and blues-y guitar licks and a hot chorus. Such an incredibly feelin, in this past year I done made me a million.

33. Doin' It - King Terra & Young Bleed
um this beat is fucking great. Random-ass No Limit inclusion (Young Bleed is from No Limit and his voice is the second verse, slow, slurred and grainy sounding.) I assume this beat is by Kenoe? I have no fucking clue. Whatever this beat is hot. Oh and I don't know much about King Terra except that he has a website and his verse seems decent enough.


Other tracks. How weird is it to hear Doug E. Fresh on a southern smoke mixtape? There's also a Pac track from Loyal to the Game, a bunch of tracks from Crunk Juice...this was sort of average on the whole. Why didn't slim thugga get a "Like a Boss" remix or something on this? The verses on "Texas Stomp!" weren't as good as I was hoping, bun-b on autopilot (although he's had enough great veteren verses this year to fill up an entire mixtape of his own), Mike Jones reminds us about his phone number, etc. Anyway I spent way too much time typing about one of the more average Southern Smoke releases, go get the one w/ Chamillionaire or Bubba Sparxxx.

"Hip-Hop Giants" on the bbc

Go here and check out streams of Grand Wizard Theodore, Cash Money, Jazzy Jeff and DJ Premier spinning records live in the UK. Hot shit.



--------------

At 21 son was readin' him, mesmerized, respect, not jockin' him...

I know Gov't Names is like a "group blog" but it seems like its turned into dlk's blog - with all respect due to Al - because that kid is just killing shit day in day out. I mean, me and the guys here like to talk about songs we like, say shit like "this song is dope" and just try to highlight stuff most people don't talk about (its kinda ironic that I'm posting this along with a Premier mix but whatever fuck you) but I have a lot of respect for dlk, who has become one of my favorite hip-hop writers. Not to ride his jock but he knows what he's talking about and more importantly - cuz fuck authenticity - he knows how to translate his enthusiasm through his writing better than I ever have. I mean, I'm all excited about Lil Weavah now and I haven't even heard him yet.

All that said and done you know the shrimp is still number one.

The Game = A less charismatic 50 Cent

Talk about manufactured hype! This kid's album is not even coming out until... Shit, I'm not even sure when this kid's album is coming out. But he's already got all kinds of features in magazines and on MTV.com (where I snagged this gay looking photo - put a shirt on, bitch!), hell, he's even got his own cell phone commericial with my two other favorite rappers right now, Kanye West and Ludacris. I'll admit his first single is pretty dope, but would it have been any less dope if it was Bol featuring Dr. Dre and 50 Cent? I'm not saying the dude's completely untalented, I'm just saying.

(C) 2004 PenceFo Industries. All Rights Reserved.

Killa Cam = The Devil!

The Rap Music = Misogyny, Homophobia, Racism, Anti-Semitism, Meanness, Cheating, etc. debate just refuses to die. This exo kid is working that whole, "I'm from the ghetto, damnit!" thing a bit too hard, no? I mean, who gives a shit.

(C) 2004 PenceFo Industries. All rights reserved.

What it do?

For those of you hitting us up for the first time cuz of the East Bay Express article, you can still check Emil's fancy west coast mix right herrr. Once you're done with that, get your fat ass back to the shrimp, we have a bunch of hot shit up right now.

Bunch Of Fucking Grime Shit

Yeah I'm pretty clueless when it comes to this grime stuff. David sends me some random shit sometimes. I got these tracks from Matt over at damage control and he wants me to post them online so that's what I'm doing. Government Names has that dude Sean Downes who posts up about Roll Deep and a bunch of other UK fools I know nothing about. Sometimes I peep that shit but really I'm only vaguely familiar with any of this shit. The only artist I know out of these songs is Dizzie Rascal and that's only because magazines thought he was going to blow up but then they found out that kids in the US weren't shitting their pants like they had anticipated.

Fuck New York
Some song about how these rappers in the UK hate Yanks. I think its cute that dude is trying to act hard while telling you he's not a Fud. If you're going to use soft terminology just go soft all the way and just say fuddy duddy. Whatever though, this song is like the UK version of Rodney O and Joe Cooley. Homeboy also calls Tony Blair a homosexual.

Sway & Wonder - Call My Name
"Try and understand it even if you're too short to understand it at all." Yeah ok, I don't know who the fuck these guys are either. Actually the guy Sway was in the first song I posted. The song is about a dark dark place with a dark dark man. Maybe its about molesting or something, you never know with these Europeans but the Madonna sample makes me smile.

Dizzee Rascal - Arms House
If you can't tell by now I don't really know shit about any of this music. I've heard like 3 Dizzee Rascal songs, ever. My girlfriend has some two-step and garage records so I kind of understand the sound. Actually that's fucking bullshit, I don't know fuck about any of this weirdo British rap dance shit. Although I do know I'd rather hear them rap like this than copying generic ass NYC accents.

Dizzee Rascal - Respect Us
Another Dizzee Rascal song. About respect and stuff, you know the standard shit rap songs are made of. There are gun shots in the beat and that's pretty hard. I should probably listen to the song again and actually try and figure out just what in the fuck he's rapping about but I'm going to be lazy and not. Oh by the way I was just informed that this is a Bone/Tupac beat but since I think Bone Thugs fucking sucks ass and I don't really give a fuck about Tupac I didn't know that, so yeah there you go.

Damage Control Archive

Clickity Clack this shit and if that one doesn't work try this Link

I didn't really get a chance to listen to much of the show because I was busy getting drunk and watching Trailer Park Boys. But yeah Matt couldn't make the show so you get 3 hours of non stop DJ Chill. Excuse the first ten minutes, its just some dude talking about saying hi to Midge, but yeah download that shit fool.

The Lil Jon backlash continues

I couldn't make much sense of this article, but then I only have a bachelors degree. Seriously, try reading it. It's like hieroglyphics.

(C) 2004 PenceFo Industries. All rights reserved.

We ain't scaaaared

Bling Dawg - Yeah, Yeah (Bubble Up Riddim)

Pretty new riddim from lenky marsden (of diwali fame) and it could easily be the next diwali or coolie here in the states. And if they use this hot fucking voicing from Bling Dawg they won't even need Sean Paul or Nina Sky this time. The Elephant Man and Chico voicings are also pretty great - the riddims are changed up a bunch for each dj - but Bling Dawg's is definitely my favorite. Fast riddim, smooth keys and trombone-like bass grumbles over handclap bounce. Get this shit right now. (thanks to Dave Stelfox on Dissensus and my real-world jamaica connect Q for keeping me up on this shit - this riddim is just bananas.)

Ol' Dirty Full of Grace

The results of Ol' Dirty's autopsy aren't out quite yet, but it was reported in today's New York Post that he died with a baggie of white powder in his stomach and that the bag popped and the, let's face it, coke had seeped into his body. Damn. All the more reason to legalize drugs. Also, I've been reading all kinds of other shit about Dirty, like his wife beefing with his other babies' mothers, her having his body cremated so that they couldn't do paternity tests, and her forming a record label with that bloodsucking manager of his so that they can kick their posthumous cash-in effort into full gear. Damn again, Icelene is the gulliest jig in the rap game since Suge Knight. At least we might get some new Ol' Dirty material out of all of this still.

Oh, and here's the actual article:

December 8, 2004 -- Even after death, wildman rapper Ol' Dirty Bastard is full of surprises — the Wu-Tang Clan founding member died with a white powdery substance hidden in his body, a law-enforcement source said yesterday.

During an autopsy of the 35-year-old rapper, a doubled plastic bag containing a white powder was discovered in his stomach, said the source.

ODB, who was born Russell Jones, collapsed and died on Nov. 13 in a Manhattan recording studio.

The cause of his death remains a mystery as the Medical Examiner's Office awaits the result of toxicology tests.

But a source said the white powder leaked from its plastic container and seeped into the rapper's body.

The amount of the leak is not known and it is not confirmed yet that the substance is an illegal drug. "But what else would he be swallowing a plastic bag of? " said the source. "He wouldn't be swallowing sugar or salt."

ODB — who changed his moniker frequently and also went by the names Big Baby Jesus, Osirus and Dirt McGirt — had done time in drug rehab and went to prison on a 2001 drug charge.

Just a day or two before his death, ODB had reportedly flown back to New York from Colorado. He died two days shy of his 36th birthday.

Meanwhile, family members are squabbling over ODB's estate. The rapper has at least seven children — four of them by four different women other than his wife.

Last week his widow, Icelene Jones — whom he apparently hadn't lived with for years — was granted control of his estate by Brooklyn's Surrogate Court.

(C) 2004 PenceFo Industries. All rights reserved.

Ludacris - The Red Light District: Album Review

Ludacris, The Red Light District (Def Jam, 2004)
I haven't heard much about this new Ludacris album at all in the blogosphere, which, at the very least means that the dude doesn't have much buzz in the overeducated 20-something white guy community. I thought you guys liked Southern rap! But at least it's actually got a video for it that comes on TV unlike, say Cam'ron. It'll probably come close to selling as much as that last garbage he put out to people who don't know any better, but it's clear that the music is no longer Luda's number 1 concern.

INTRO

Not that I can blame him. If I had 4 houses and who knows how many cars (peep this months issue of Complex magine), I wouldn't be sweating trying to put out good rap albums either.

NUMBER ONE SPOT

But I guess he's gotta put out something to keep his stack growing and to make sure all of the random ass people who work for him have something to do next year. But I wish he'd stop frontin' like his shit is that good.

GET BACK

The "hit" single. I guess this is supposed to be like a cross between "Lean Back" and "Move Bitch Get Out the Way." I can't remember what the single from his last album sounded like, but I'm sure it was similar. Dude's repeating himself.

PUT YOUR MONEY

I thought DMX was in jail for being a crackhead and stealing cars and taking people hostage and all kinds of wacky Steven Seagal bullshit. Is Swizz Beatz going around selling 5-year-old outtakes from back in the Ruff Ryders days?

BLUEBERRY YUM YUM

Because he's been known to do shit like that. I'm pretty sure he did that to Nas for that shitty Bravehearts song on Stillmatic. I should probably mention that this is the worst song on here so far. It's really bad.

CHILD OF THE NIGHT

This one's better. It features Nate Dogg and sounds like it was produced by Kanye West even though I wouldn't be surprised if it was just someone ripping off Kanye West's style. In fact, most of this album sounds like random ass kids trying to rip off either the Lil' Jon sound or the Neptunes sound.

THE POTION

Not that Ludacris couldn't afford to get whoever he wants, but I'm sure somebody at the label figured out that you could maximize profit by cutting down on production costs and it's not like anybody who would buy this would notice anyway.

PASS OUT

Get it? They think you're stupid. And if you buy this, you are, really. This isn't even music, it's product. I'm deleting this shit from my hard drive as soon as I get done reviewing it.

SKIT

Whatever.

SPUR OF THE MOMENT

LOL at DJ Quik being on this. I swear this is the same exact beat that's been on every single DJ Quik song I've ever heard since the mid '90s. Did you know that some people consider this clown a musical genius? I know, it's hilarious.

WHO NOT ME

Ludacris lets two of his weed carriers get a piece of this one. One of them sounds a lot like TI and the other one kinda sounds like Too Short. One of them is actually named Small World just like the theme park in Robin Harris' old "Bebe's Kids" routine.

LARGE AMOUNTS

I might've taken things a bit too far back with that one. A while ago, some kids complained when I brought up the great child rapper Jordy in a story about Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson.

PIMPIN' ALL OVER THE WORLD

See, it's like "Hoes in Different Area Codes," only now it's all over the world. It actually kinda sounds like a J-Kwon song. Need I say more?

TWO MILES AN HOUR

The chorus from this was actually borrowed from a Will Smith song. Otherwise, it ain't that bad for what is. I mean, it ain't that good either, but whatever.

HOPELESS

After a whole album of, "I got more money than you" and "I'm tired of people asking me for money," it's hard for me to buy this crap about how hopeless the world seems. Call me crazy.

VIRGO

This was on that Nas disapointment from a couple of weeks ago. I'm convinced that the fact that it seems like a better song at the end of this mess is only proof that this mess is a lot worse than that mess, if you know what I mean.

COMMENTS: Just scroll up the page again and look at the cover to this shit, and if you still feel like this might be a good album, then fuck you. You're obviously an idiot and the reason why companies like Def Jam continue to get away with shit like this. My bad if this review wasn't as amusing as some of my other ones. I couldn't even concentrate on typing with this shit playing. And I'm hungry too.

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT AND DISCUSS: I really can't stand listening to garbage like this. I'm about to put on some Gin Blossoms to cleanse my palate. Then I'm gonna go eat.

(C) 2004 PenceFo Industries. All rights reserved.

2005 Grammys swept by wave of violent violence

destructive wake: Kanye West
FEB 13, 2005 - STAPLES CENTER - LOS ANGELES -- Police are searching for answers after a whirlwind of violence rocked this year's Grammy Awards.
Capping a year of music that included wardrobe malfunctions, Ashlee Simpson's indigestion and Young Buck knifing some buster, the Grammys exploded like a powderkeg packed with explosive tensions.
Chicago producer/rapper Kanye West had previously criticized the AMAs after self-proclaimed redneck princess Gretchen Wilson snatched a handful of West's coveted awards. He was high off 10 Grammy nominations going into the 47th annual award show, but the tide seemed to turn against him as Wilson (best new artist) and a host of other competitors knocked him out in almost every category.

caught in the crossfire: Maroon 5
Moments after Maroon 5 topped West in the "best rap song" category, a clearly intoxicated West pushed past fellow rapper Twista, who tried to restrain him, and took to the stage. Saying Maroon 5 was "good, but not as good as Roc-A-Fella" West proclaimed he was "for the children" before sucker punching presenter Norah Jones.
Witnesses say he then fled through crowds to the back of the arena, comically dishelving a cross-dressing Eminem and clubbing an unsuspecting buffet-table munching Sleepy Brown in the back of the head before jetting in his Benz.

scarred for life: Lil’ Jon
"He was like an animal," said a sobbing Joss Stone; Lil' Jon, later found rocking back and forth in a corner, would only repeatedly say "Ok. Ok." He is now in therapy.
Fleeing on I-10, Kanye was stopped at an exit ramp and riddled with bullets by a group of gap-toothed Gretchen fans in a pickup truck. Early reports suggest Suge Knight was involved in the gangland slaying.
Jay-Z, at the funeral, Corleone-stylee: "Look how they massacred my boy."

Motherfuckers are stupid.

This is the worst album review ever.

Motherfucking Rap Music

Big Dinero Entertainment presents..... E.S.G. & Slim Thug - Getcha Hands Up
I first heard this song back when I was still living in Arizona and DJ Stef, hit me off with a link to her friend's radio show in Texas . I had heard the show a few times and thought it was pretty cute. I didn't know that I would start listening to it faithfully or that I would move to san francisco to live with Dj Stef. But yeah, that song bumps and it was also the first time I ever heard of some north Houston rapper by the name of Slim Thug. This song is the song that got people checking for the Boss Hogg Outlawz, well within the state of Texas anyways.

"When I smile hoes grin, they be like Mike Jones can you say your name again"
Mike Jones, Mark G, Lil Ken - who
Fast forward a few months later and I was tuning in one night only to hear some motherfucker who kept yelling out his phone number and name. This obnoxious bastard keep hollering about how his album was about to drop. Fast forward a couple years and we still haven't heard shit from that dude. But the following day I got on kazaa and found this cut with Mike Jones, Mark G and Lil Ken rapping over Busta Rhymes' Make It Clap beat. I love when Lil Ken tells fools they are feminine like a slow jam. They just rip the shit out of this beat. I fucking love it.

"I'm that nigga with my hand on my dick for the fuck of it, I'm that nigga bumping gangsta rap loud cause I love this shit"
Al Kapone - I'm Tha Nigga
I think it was like June of 2002 when I tuned into damage control and they had Al Kapone on the phone talking about getting signed to Sik Wid It. Al Kapone and E-40 collaborated on the song Gorilla Milk which damage control played that night and I thought about uploading but prior to the interview they played I'm That Nigga and fucking shit it doesn't get much crunker than that song. Oh and if you're wondering what Gorilla Milk is well its brandy and premixed mudslide mixed together to create one hell of a calcium packed drink.

Slim Thugga's "Like a Boss" video

Quicktime
Windows Media
Real Playa

'98 Dirt Bike

Mobb Deep – “Quiet Storm”

There’s an interesting strain of East Coast rap songs from the last few years that is so dark it goes beyond urban nihilism and into the apocalyptic – music that is fit for the end of the world.
Mobb Deep’s “Quiet Storm” is an example most have probably heard and sounds like a mix of desperation, futile hopefulness and nostalgia. “I used to bust shots crazy, I couldn’t even look because the loud sounds used to scare me (pow!…).” Anyone who heard the name “Quiet Storm” and expected Luther Vandross must have been disappointed.
The lyrics are inky tales of street survival, but it is the sounds that transcend the darkness of most street rap and recede into the night. The bass throb sounds like an unanswered beeper vibrating on a car hood under a big black sky or roiling storm clouds. The track is supposed to be optimistic – “I spent too many nights sniffing coke, yeah right, wasting my life, now I’m trying to make things right”) – and details a better life for the next generation (a constant theme in rap) – but how can anyone believe it will happen over that doomed beat?
I really only know Mobb Deep through singles and guest verses, so I can’t say if the song works differently in the context of “Murda Muzik.”

Mobb Deep, Ward 21, Bounty Killer, Dr. Dre – “Quiet Storm (Remix)”

There’s also a strange remix or mega mix out there. I couldn’t find much about the history of this track, but I like how it injects some extra creepiness into an already menacing song with Ward 21’s manic, jumbled appearance. It’s jarring at first, but if Ward 21 is the joker to Mobb Deep’s thief, it makes sense. The Dre/Snoop appearance, on the other hand, is unnecessary and breaks the mood.

Bleek and Free duckin' the cops

Freeway - Night Shift

Mixtape-only release from about a year or so ago, over some soulful 80s one track jack I should probably recognize but don't, Free and Bleek drop some straight raps about working the night shift drug pushing. Although I loved "What We Do" it was really this track that got me excited about the eventually disappointing Free solo album. Free has this Ghostface-ness about him, how his voice gets more intense and and excited but he's less abstract, running from cops, selling to fiends, all these ridiculous internal rhymes: "Fiends they be up and about/ en route / try to pick somethin' up they can trade for the base and uh/ that's bas-ically what its about / watch ya mouth when thugs talk/ late night when its dark/ release the park park up right on my pavement/ my patience wearin' down slowing down my payment/ they pay me, throw stray shots at the narcs in the dark..." This track epitomizes show-dont-tell rapping, a descriptive and inspired performance.

Ends with Freeway:

"...Now this lady trynna cop
got a lot in the middle
kicked out the line
don't need that shit on my mind
Another crack baby up in the spittle
crack put me in the 'lac
crack put me in the jail
crack that I flip gave me money for bail
but still had to go to court
crack got your boy caught in the system...."

This song is fucking great.

Dust off the mask.

De La Soul and MF Doom were on Carson Daly. In case you missed it:

De La Soul feat. MF Doom - Rock Co Kane Flow

De La Soul - The Grind Date

Download the mpeg of "Rock Co Kane Flow" here.

I ain't got punchlines I got kicklines

I don't know what happened to this post but here it is again.


Watch the video for Kano's highly kickass video "P's and Q's" here. Fuck yeah.

Damage Control Radio

Once again I recorded the last Damage Control show. I highly advise listening to DJ Keno's mix at the end(last 30 minutes or so). Dude throws down some classic bounce joints, it is rather hot. Keno also has a mix titled Vintage Bounce that is suppose to be loaded with that ShowBoys/Triggerman beat. The show starts off with diplo's rjd2 mix. If anyone out there actually knows where the fuck to cop that Keno mix fucking post in the comments or some shit and let a motherfucker know.

Click here to download the show

Bring some beef, you lose more teeth

Watch the music video for Lethal B's "Forward Riddim" by clicking here.

Here's the unedited version.

Fuck you Ice Cube

Who the fuck is that? It's Ice Cube motherfucka
He's a maniac, no I'ma fool motherfucka
Old school motherfucka, blow through a motherfucka
What you heard about a nigga so true motherfucka
See I'm ugly and prettay, I'm polished and grittay
Shoot better than that nigga that tried to kill 50
See, niggaz get shittay when I come to their cittay
When I hit the spot that bitch they like -- she cummin' with me
Cause I got an ego big as TO, but I'm not an Eagle
Bitch, I roll with Rigo 'cause gangstas don't dance we boogie
I told you motherfuckas Kobe didn't take that pussy
Get money, get paid, you can beat that shit
Even if the DA is a piece'a shit
Colorado got movatos, don't eat that shit
Another White bitch lyin' on thee Black dick
I keep it flippin' like flapjacks, pimpin' like black 'Lacs
Give niggaz flashbacks, they sweaty as ass cracks
When I hit the tarmac, it feel like a carjack
Niggaz get out and vanish like Star Treks
So fuckin incredible, I'm so fuckin' credible
No matter what happen, I'll never turn federal
And that's my report comin' straight from Cali
Ice Cube is the shit on this motherfuckin' Grand Finale