50 Cents Does More Shit On NYC Radio That I Don't Give A Fuck About.

Who gives a fucking shit if 50 cent kicked The Game out of G-Unit or if Fat Joe throwing a hissy fit over getting dissed by the marketing kingpin of this rap game. Lloyd Banks is boring as fuck but some how 50 has managed to get people to buy this fool's shit. Some how 50 cent has been able to keep G-Unit relevant. The motherfucker still sells free yayo shirts. No one has ever even fucking seen Yayo. Didn't Yayo get out of jail years ago and then 50 cent him back just so they could sell some t-shirts? Then the guy puts Young Buck on and starts banking off the popularity of the south. Not to say Young Buck isn't talented but the motherfucker wouldn't be selling as much as he is if it wasn't for the south blowing the fuck up. G-Unit is more of a advertising agency that a crew. Fuck now 50 has NYC rap gossip circles in a fury with this bullshit about him dissing various rappers and to top it off he is trying to put The Game in his place.

Who gives a fuck about The Game getting checked. You fucking morons who bought this idiot's music are the ones who should be getting checked. The Game straight up sucks, that's a fucking fact. He cannot rap for shit. 50 cent writes his shit and then they slapped this half ass westcoast is back marketing plan together. I don't give a fuck how many names he drops or how many hot beats he buys. The guy fucking sucks and I don't want to hear his boring ass voice rap about how westcoast he is.

Then we have all those fucking dumbasses at Hot97 cumming in their fucking pants over this bullshit. This shit is so retarded. Can someone tell me why Funkmasterflex has even had a career? The guy's commentary is worthless and I don't care about hearing what the fuck he has to say. Why in the hell is he interviewing people? Fuck everyone at Hot97, shit fuck new york radio. Those motherfuckers think they are the goddamn cnn of this rap shit. As if because they say or do something that legitimizes it. Those fucks are so slow and all the bullshit that the westcoast complained about them back in the day is still going down. Those fucks ignore all the shit going down in the south. It takes almost a full year for a song to break on that shit. It's all a bunch of goddamn bullshit. NYC has it's head so far up it's goddamn ass they can't see hiphop that exists pasts New Jersey.

New York hiphop radio is fucking worthless. They are the Ricki Lake of this rap shit. I have no idea why the fuck either of them are still on the air. I don't give a shit if Jay-Z stole Nas' ham sandwich during 4th period. I don't give a shit if JaRule has hissy fit over no one listening to any of his music . I don't care if Angie Martinez picked up the latest copy of Rapping For Dummies. Stick to playing music you fucking cocksmokes. Dump all these stupid ass radio personalities who think that their opinion actually matters. I don't want to listen to a bunch of idiots who think a radio show is a fucking beauty parlor, leave that shit for Rush Limbaugh.

Hot97 can suck my motherfucking dick.

dear mama

"Happy birthday mom. Happy birthday."

Serg posted three great tracks, but you HAVE to check this shit "Angel" from the new album - it's dedicated to his mother and its a classic UGK production style, that slow rolling country-funk with double time hi-hats and Pimp C's stories about coming up, before-and-after, the best of times and the worst of times: he was hooked on promethazine; he used to get sick a lot, he had pneumonia as a kid, he sold crack, he smoked too much and then his mom saved him from the "devil's door." Now he's rich and on rap-a-lot and has fresh cars and he's been rapping since 16, and "I'm her baby, and that is my only momma." Then the chorus - "I found my angel...angel in my eyes." Don't stop, get it get it.

The Sweet James Jones Stories

FREE PIMP C

This album is suppose to drop on the first but we'll see if Rap-A-Lot actually comes through with that shit. I managed to get the album because Pimp C is my best friend and we got together for a round of tennis the other day. It's more of them country raps over slow beats that you've come to expect from Pimp C. He covers topics such as his prostitutes, cocaine, the rap game, and how his mama always had his back.

"Hogg in the Game" is the lead single off this album and it's on that synth shit that everyone been jumping on lately. That's pretty much the only track like that on here. The rest of the songs sound like standard UGK shit. He's got few guest like Cory Mo, Z-ro, Trae, Twista, Lil Flip, Devin The Dude, and of course Bun B.

Slow Down featuring Cory Mo
Pimp C and Cory Mo rapping about how people are getting took by the street game and fall off. He proclaims his status in this game and how him and Bun have been able to maintain through all the bullshit. Pimp C warns all those young rappers to slow down before someone fucks you up. Cory Mo comes in on the last verse dropping about how he's on grinding in the studio and the booth.

Swing Down/10 A Key
The first half of the song is Swing Down and has Pimp C rocking that "swing down sweet cherry stop" for the chorus. This song is the most unorthodoxed of all the tracks. It doesn't sound like what you'd expect from him. It's got that funk but the drums are kind of unusual for you would assume him to rap over. The drums are more noticeable at the very beginning of the beat but then these strings come in and you don't really notice them all that much. Pimp gets a little cut with the punch ins but it works with his flow on the song.
The second half(10 a key) of the track goes back to that UGK style you're familiar with. As you can tell from the title the song is about buying cocaine from homeboys coming up from the border. Pimp C doesn't rap about watches and the bling bling, he's about candy cars and that cocaine.

Young Ghetto Stars featuring Z-Ro & Trae
Young Ghetto Stars fucking high class broads, big body cars, and hitting titty bars. You eating chicken wings we eating shrimp. You're broke and Sweet Jones is rich. What else you need to know you dumb bastard.

go here and you buy

The Low End Theory

The Low End Theory is this new music blog started by Dj Haze, Lou, and Fluent. I don't know who these boys are but they are getting their fucking blog on and throwing up a gang of DITC mp3's. They also throw up a variety of other shit like Cortex, Sun Ra, Roy Ayers, and Marvin Gaye so yeah check that shit and get your download on. They just started on wednesday and already have like seven posts.

Fat Joe on drama hour

Fat joe talking about 50 on drama hour (boring beef alert)

The best part is when he says Lauren Hill or someone should do a "we are the world" and 'get this dude out my face.'

Here's one of my favorite DITC joints with one of the hardest Joe verses ever:

DITC - All Love

Pitch Wack

uh, my bad I mean Pitch Black. Yeah they were one of those mediocre rap crews that DJ Premier drops his most ridiculous beats on for no good reason; their album dropped last year and I bought it and sold it right back. I know lots of people are sick of Premier, shit I am most of the time these days, I don't really listen to The Ownerz much at all (although seeing Gang Starr live a couple years ago was pretty nice). But like a lot of other people who still love that banging classic nyc sound I can't stop listening to him, and I still listen to Jeru and Gang Starr and even fucking Group Home to this day. The reason people copped this stupid album was because that leadoff single "It's All Real" was one of those classic premo chop-loop deals that you just can't get out of yr head, full of dramatic strings and hard mid 90s drums. Well there was an even better track on it that was better pretty much because it had Foxy Brown (now signed yet again, thnx to Jay-Z) and not just the mediocre Pitch Black cats. "Me and Preem the unbeatable team/ fox five cocksucka respect me in this BITCH/ when i come thru bitches gotta bow to the queen bitch of rap cocksucka i'm BACK." Standard NY braggadocious heat.

This cut sounds a lot like my image of New York, and I've only been to NYC a couple times but this captures that mood, no joke. I remember I think it was andre 3000 was talking on that VH1 30 years of hip-hop special about how much more sense NYC beats made to him when he visited the city for the first time he went there (insert rattling premo banger sound clip) and i agree. Probably an even better example (and a much better song) is DITC's "Thick" (one of my favorite hip-hop trax evah) which you should cop ASAP if you dont know it already.

Anywhere here's what yr looking for.

Pitch Black feat. Foxy Brown - Got It Locked

Next time on Premo, wtf are you on we'll have the NYGz. "WE GIANTS TA THIS!!!!"

Mr. Lexicon

Mr. Lexicon is "the foreign rap sensation" from some unknown country where everyone rocks mustaches that may or may not be made of real facial hair. The group consists of Tex Binder, Ron Pipes III, and DJ Ice Grille. They came to America on a boat full of flies to chase their dreams of being rap superstars even though all their rhymes are written in broken english. It's hard to actually figure out what country they are from because their accents sound like some strange forgotten eastern block shit.

I first came to know of Mr Lexicon through this video store I worked at. You see some dude use to come into the store and rent shit. The guy tended to come in late and rent some random shit but on the average he got good movies. When you work at fucking Hollywood video anyone who rents shit that's even slightly above being total crap is a standout. One day dude comes in with some shit like a week late and tells me how he's got a huge late fee and would like to break a deal. He then tells me the reason was because he was out of town at cochella at which point we start some small talk about music. The guy asks me if I like underground hiphop to which I say yes and then he informs me that he's in a rap group. I kind of just brush it off because I'm suspect of anyone I just meet on the street, much less a video store, that says they are a rapper. He tells me he has a show at Kimo's and it's free. Well Kimo's is a block from my house and we didn't have shit going on so we decide to roll. I got home and checked their website where I found out about this whole foreign sensation shit. I started thinking I'm about to make a big mistake going to this show. Little did I know how real these boys were with it. Their live show is pretty fucking incredible. Their rhyming wasn't the best but they more than made up for it with all their fucking energy. I was surprised how real they were about their characters. Like I talked to the guy working the merch booth and he keep busting out with the whole Ukrainian speak shit. As far as comedy raps go there are very few who can do it well and have you laughing your ass off the whole show. One group that comes to mind is Grand Buffet.



At some point during the night the guy who knows me from the store breaks me off with a CD. It includes many of their hit songs such as "Shit Tunnel," "Boat Full Of Flies," "Skruffneck," and "Never Happened Before." If you need some foreign rap in your life (and I'm not talking about that European bullshit) then hit up their website, Mrlexicon.com. They got videos, cds for sale and all that other cute shit. They've got some new CD for sale too.

I can't seem to find the case for this CD so fuck it you don't get any song titles to these mp3's.

track 1
track 3
track 8

lil keke - platinum in da ghetto

There's so much southern rap to explore i feel like every time i pick up an album it is just another piece of an impossibly large puzzle, and I'm trying to create some sort of story of southern rap in my head and realized after awhile that it's near impossible. It's a massive network of influences and styles and artists and just when you think you have a grasp on it you get a curveball that makes you look at the whole system in a new light.



But whatever enough analysis bullshit, because in the end its just about the music - trying to explain it is nowhere near as fun as just listening to it and it makes trying to get it to fit into one narrative structure seem pointless. Not that Keke is exactly an obscure part of the southern rap lineage or anything, (in fact I copped this album from a bargain bin on name recognition alone. 3 n tha morning part 2 has been my shit for a couple months now, but thats another story) and it's sort of uneven, jumping from dreams for the future and stories about life and staying on yr grind to these big southern party jams over some low-budget bass-rocking beats. I'm not as big a fan of the party tracks, and maybe i'm just a sucka for newer sounds and the dated production just doesn't really do it for me. For me this album is much more about Keke as an MC and he comes across a lot better relating the everyday experiences and love for life in general than as a rowdy party guy. Not that those always contradict - but in this case tracks like "Cowgirl" just aren't as great as, well:

The real gem comes near the very end, it's called "What I wanna Do" and it comes right before the final party cut "Let's Get Fucked Up," and its got a corny-ish R&B chorus but it is striking; keke talks about his 16-year-old-love-life with so much personality and heart-on-his-sleeve emotion in his voice that its impossible not to identify on some level; "it ain't nothin but love and ain't a damn thang changed." The final verse to his son: "you my heart, you my soul, you my pride and joy," but the beautiful part isn't the general sentiments like these that lend it such an affecting feel, it's the specific details, the little things, "you throw your dukes up like you ready to fight," descriptions that make it all seem so personal and specific. If you think its corny i say go away. Check out the song, and buy the album at half.com, apparently there's a mint copy for less than five bucks and Amazon might have a used copy pretty cheap too.

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog. Sucka.

Even White Preachers Got To Shout

Baby Got Book

I hate jesus rap but shit this made me laugh

Don't get plugged up to the machine yeah

Beanie Sigel f. Peedi Crack - Flatline

{cop that}

(link via hiphopgame.com)

happy birthday dr dre

Dr. Dre is 40 years old today.

Straight Out The Rich

Ok so R. Kelly Left and Locksmith are The Frontline, two salty yet hungry rappers from Richmond (aka the Land Of Coach Carter) who with the help of E-A-Ski have been making some very romantic music. They've had some 12"s floating around and I'd seen them around but I passed them up each time. I didn't really know anything about these dudes and didn't feel like chancing it. Then their song with E-A-Ski, "What Is It", started getting some play. It's a cool song but I still didn't cop their shit. Then I heard that Ross Hogg and B-Cause mix with some of their other songs on it and decided it was time to man up. After hearing their album I think they went a little soft on the singles. Don't get me wrong the singles are cool but fuck they got some bangers that I would have prefered to hear loud as shit in the club. They've also got a couple guests on this shit such as E-A-Ski, Balance, and San Quinn. I've got some plans for a post about Balance in the future too.


(image jacked from here)

One of the songs that goes hard as fuck is "Playin' With Fire" the beat has some dark tones to it but fuck man the drums on this shit don't fuck around. It's some fucking high school pep ralley stomping on the fucking bleachers clapping till your hands hurt screaming "we will rock you!" Frontline rapping about how you shouldn't try fucking with them cause they don't think you understand what you're fucking with. They got this other cut, "I Got..." featuring San Quinn that also rocks the blownout handclaps with this casio guitar dropping in over the beat. I'm usually suspect of some sythasized guitars but they work it right dropping rhymes about chopping shit up with Willie Brown and how the bay ain't on some punk shit. A number of the beats rock some guitar for a little bit of that harder edge to them. They even got this song Recognize that rocks that Ironman riff. It's hard but I've been burnt out on Trick Daddy's "Let's Go" to really be all that impressed by it although it does leave the song open for flipping some cutesy mixes.

Well shit I just noticed something, I started writing this post then stopped and started reading the liner notes of this album. Turns out the 12"s that they released were all produced by E-A-ski while all the other tracks on the album are produced by Left. I'm thinking since E-A-Ski and CMT were the executive producers on this shit then that explains why they went with the singles they did. I like E-A-Ski but I think Left is bringing some harder shit on the beats. E-A-Ski has more shit going on in his beats while Left's beats tend to be more stripped down but Left cranks out some bangers. I don't know how long Left has been making beats but you give this dude some more experience and I think he'll be dropping some serious heat.

Gangsta
I Got.... featuring San Quinn
Playin' With Fire


buy the album here

omg jay-z to return to rap (wtf!)

No shocker here really, and I doubt we'll actually see that album this year bcuz of an off-the-cuff "I will record again," but whatever i guess this is news.

lord quas video

this is sort new although I'm sure someone else has covered it by now but there's a new lord quasimoto video out.

You can get it here, it's called "Rap Cats" and the song is alright but what's really cool is all the old footage on some "we didn't start the fire" for hip-hop shit. I don't know what I think of the song, i guess it's passable but I can't imagine listening to it without wanting to watch the video as well. The Quas album is gonna be out May 3rd.

bludz no lie my mom used to drive a 1976 chrysler cordoba

lace up your stadias homiez we taking a walkzors down memory lane
shit was a fucked up silver and had the cracked red rich corinthian
leather interior hold up soccer mom in the cube next to me just handed
me a deviled egg sandwich un momento por favor damn this shit is bomb
except the bread is too dry okay bluds sorry anyway this car was a
piece of shit bludz no lie i remember having to pray no like literally
moms told us to really pray hoooard as she and my bro was sitting there
and we was struggling to pray like sweating that the car would start
and this would happen like every morning i mean i kinda forgot about
that shit until just now which is wierd cause TA got the steel trap
mind steezo like i am so tripping off that cordoba right now and then
thinking back to that i remember my step dads 67 nova which was all
raised up ughh raise up fooo in the back all muscle car steez and was
a sicc ass money green with metal flakes before people was doing 67
novas with money green metal flake paint jobs and that shit would cook i
mean straight short order chef you down 23rd no seatbelts cause fuck
thems for sissies and then also he also had a 46 oldsmobile primered
and bondo steezola but that just sat in the garage after his initial body
work until he sold it and smelled like wet dog youd think with all these
cars and mechanically inclined folkers that id be all sicc and into cars
but fuck that i was upstairs playing sega or looking at my step brothers
collection of hustler mags with the sports illustrated covers on thems any
way my biological didnt bother with that shit i remember he had a buick
regal and it was tan hellsa boring compared to step dads rides but yo my
biopops liked listening to click and clack on npr which is ironic anyways
these are the memories you have when you from a broken home blud also my
step sister had a cat named domino and that fucker weighed like 78 pounds
or some shit oh yeah also rap music is sicc too that opinion is thanks to
my step sister too she had a late 70s corolla with sheepskin seat covers
bird call

new Nas from Lost Tapes 2

Nas - New York

"New York" is all trad New York Premier-biting production, chopped samples with urgent pianos and pure descriptive Nas lyricism: "yo the trains are new york veins, the city's a psycho/ people are the bloodstream, mean and ice-cold." Lost Tapes had more personal, introspective shit and I loved it for that reason. On this track though, supposedly from Lost Tapes 2, Nas is direct, to the point, a bunch of little narratives built upon each other, lots of dark urban imagery and romanticized city drama. Its no new ground, and none of the personal style that he showed in Street's Disciple; just fresh classic Nas shit, the stuff that made me love Illmatic and "Nas is Like" like the corny old-fashioned Nas head I am.

Fuck Valentine's Day

Serg is gonna call me softhands for this shit, but this wack day is going to be a hard one for me. Fuck this fucking day.

I stand in solidarity with all my lonely peoples on this day.

Fuck this fucking day.

-e

Edit: And this day is so fucking wack, I don't even care that the middle finger picture is fucking up the screen. You fucks better leave that finger that big. It NEEDS to be that big. You fucks.

Action Packed Gangsters

I mentioned APG before but now I'm actually going to post about them.

The Action Packed Gangsters were:
Mello - Mar & J-Cutt
Cold Coming Up ( Professor T & DJ Pause)
MC Red & DJ Red Slice ( The Red Connection)

The members of APG were mostly from Oakland (incase you couldn't tell from the fucking title of the tape). The name APG actually comes from Apgar Street out in Oakland. They released this tape in 1991. It's got some of your standard early 90's type production; horns blasting through drums, soul to soul type piano stabs, some of that uptempo bass rolling though, and high pitched sirens coming straight out of oakland. I miss that high pitched siren shit, it was the easiest way to make the hype track on an album. Just put some hard drums under a loud screeching sound and everyone was ready to perform a beatdown on any video camera in site. This needs to make a comeback. Fuck all these fancy videos with hoes and shit. The posse is where it's at.

APG doesn't really sound too much like the standard bay area shit of the time which sounded more like Too Short and those affiliated with him. It's more uptempo and seems to be more influenced by that early 90's NYC sound. Not to say that they don't sound westcoast because they do but the tape just has some of those tones to it. These guys were saying "punk police" just as much as everyone else from the west did after Cube said it.



So yeah because there really isn't any way to cop this tape unless you dig it up somewhere and because I doubt it's ever going to be released ever again I've decided to upload the entire album for you people. It's a zip file so you'll need winzip or something to open the shit but unless you're fucking retarded that shouldn't be that hard.

APG - Oakland's Finest

yo bludz can i talk about kobe soz on hurr

yo so check it bludz you might know me or you might not
but anyways im TA from the sco okay and im gonna drop
some serious physics aka science on you right now like
thomas dolby meets that newton dood okay stay with me
lets take a ride down south okay schmobb a right on
mission and head southbound through daly city then colma
then okay stop at lucky chances ughhhh and get something
to eat cause this is a long drive okay try the TAsilog (named
after yours truly ask Mel B or Steve if they sorving you they
know whats up) okay get back on mission (now called the elco
short for el camino okay its not rocket science here blud) then
you hit south city then san bruno then millbrae then you
arrive in sozzyland aka b-game aka burlingame hold up there
playbwoy dont get it twizted okay you think you in some soft
ass burb hell naw homie this is the home of my main shit stain
sozzy aka kobe soz yes ward you hurd me right what looks
like asleepy upper-upper-middle class burb is home to one of
the thuggest rappers i know okay bludz if you dont know sozzy
you may have seen his commercials on BET (no im dead fucking
serious i seen it there) or seen him at tower records signing
posters or whatever okay sozzy class is in session okay lets get
to chapter 1 of our text aka track 12:



creepin in da hood



only foolish dudes be packing
all my people vibe to this
my freethrows--i never miss
yes im the thug in the family
yes i slang crack in the industry--not! (unn uhh)


my man soz continues:



there aint no projects here in my town
but i claim i run the streets
and own the city
ballin it up
with the hustla committee
to all the hoes on the strip
check my tight whip
and dont trip
when you see the hustla click
cruising down the block


if this isnt street poetry i dont know what is homiez okay i could
go all day but the greatest thing about the new soz album the
initiative is all the fresh guest appearances sozzy got the hottest
names in the game rioght here from 50 cent to snoop to keak to
e-40 i mean hellooooo can anyone else see the hawt potential for
sales sales sales here anyway mad respect to JT the bigga figga
and all the other hawt producers selling this guy beats and guest
tracks and picture poses and all that yes mad respect to them
all for keeping it real and not soiling they names like i soiled
myself when i first heard this sophomore release from kobe soz
way to keep it real players TA totally respects you for not selling
out ward anyways if you can catch sozzy at the next burlingame
intermediate school dance or at the next burlingame high basketball
game i highly recommend it bird call

Sozzy has the crowd at Burlingame High School in a trance

MC stands for Move da Crowd

UGHHHHHH! Keak never guests on albums!

#1 Engineer in da biz, D-Wiz says 'Triple Platinum Nigga!'

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/kobesoz2

http://www.kobesoz.com

John Legend

Some people think R&B is soft but to them I say: yes it is and that is why I like it. John Legend is that soft shit you need in your life.


Classicist take but nowhere near as cloyingly dull as yr standard neo-soul blahs, at least most of the time. Production is slinky soulful sexiness, the weird, pop-ready modern take on sampling that Kanye introduced, thick, fat sampled basslines, low-key drums, sparkling philly-soul style production. Legend's voice is pretty great too. I've uploaded "Live It Up" which is celebratory and lush, and shows how great Legend works within this old-fashioned soul template.

John Legend - Live It Up

Buy this shit here if you think it's hot.

Instrumental Music for Saps like Me.

02.07.05

So, the past few weeks I've been too busy ruining shit with this girl I really really like to post anything worthwhile. I apologize for that... not that anyone REALLY cares. But, now that this whole girl nonsense has run its course and reached its logical conclusion (i.e. not a Hollywood ending), I'm back to trying to keep myself busy and remembering what my life was like before it was focused on her. Anyway, so here's some sappy instrumental music that I've been working on. Hope you likey.

But click this thumbnail real quick and check out my T-shirt first. Shit is hot.



Next one in the works is (for obvious reasons): I guess a twinkle in her eye is just a twinkle in her eye.

"You Can't Hold What Doesn't Want To Be Held" by emynd

"A Nameless Dread" by emynd

(I like how I don't post here for months at a time, then when I come back, the first thing I post is some "me" shit. I'm a selfish fucko.)

-e

Where My Team At?

Ok so this album dropped last year, I think November but I'm not sure. After jamming some of their mp3's on the regular I've been meaning to pick it up for a while now. Last weekend I finally swooped this shit up and it's been rocking my headphones all weak. If you don't know The Team is from the bay area. The group consists of Kaz Kyzah, Clyde Carson, and Mayne Mannish. Homeboys are rapping about scrapers, the city hats, gas brake dippin, being all fitted out in some fucking A's gear and mobbin to clubs on some town shit.

On the track All For The Team they rap about how they got started. Now what is cute is that they call out a bunch of bay area rappers but the first is Action Packed Gangsters (APG). APG is some early 90's bay shit and according to the song Red from APG was Clyde Carlson's cousin and got him started rapping when he was like 9 years old. Now I'm not sure who Red was because there was an MC Red and a DJ Red Slice. The two of them were "The Red Connection" which was this subgroup within APG. Oh and peep this, I just found out my damn girlfriend use to date DJ Red Slice back in the day. After high school Clyde hooked up with Chilee Powdah who was actually down with No Limit back in 89 when Master P was still in the bay. I never really paid much attention to Chilee Powdah until he moved to Arizona and then I was pretty muched forced too. I'm not really a fan of his shit but whatever dude at least puts it down for his and is putting on some Arizona rappers so I respect him for that. Apprently Clyde spent sometime in New York where as he says in the song updated his style and then came back to the bay with a new plan. Out of the three guys in the Team he does sound the most eastcoast but he still has that east bay style. Clyde seems to be the most experienced of the three rappers. Mayne Mannish raps about how shit didn't jump off till he hooked up with Clyde.

Like some of the other emerging bay area artists The Team seems to be a bunch of young dudes who were kind of breed and nurtured by some of the bay's older artists. Now these guys are all putting out music but with the knowledge and guidance from older artists being the watchful eye to make sure they got their shit right. The Team is on Moe Doe which is Keak Da Sneak's label.

There is this track called I'm On One that is champed out but what annoys me about the song is the chorus because they chant "I'm in the scraper sitting on the wheels, nigga I'm one one, Five Fifty Barneveld, nigga I'm on one...." The reason this shit bothers me is because 550 Barneveld is this club, Space550, out in the Bayview and the club fucking sucks. This is the type of club that has mixers that only have fucking knobs on them. The goddamn ravetron3000xlm mixer. If you don't believe me go look for yourself, the ravetron3000 is in the upper level danceroom. It's a big space and they get some cool events but its mostly shit music and the club itself is so fucking lame. It looks like it was designed for a scene in back 2 the future II. I fucking hate going there because the risk of being around a bunch of cheesy trance listening motherfuckers is too high. Oh and another part of the song they shout out Mission Rock which isn't as bad as 550 but the bullshit top 40 hiphop shit tends to attract more retards than anything. Also if you're looking for some Filipinos then mission rock is for you, they straight represent like a motherfucker up in that bitch.

Majority of the album sounds like that whole "the bay is back" sound that has been jumping off lately. Overall I think the album is dope. I'm glad I picked it up, but there are a few tracks that get too feminine for me. I really have no desire to hear love songs because they all sound like shit. The album closes with the song The Cycle which the most sincere track on the album and it actually sounds kind of out of place compared to the rest but it's works well as the last song. The Team drops knowledge by telling some stories about getting caught up in the trap and repeating the same old bullshit over and over.

All For The Team
I'm On One
Moe Doe feat Keak Da Sneak
It's Getting Hot

Z-Ro

Z-Ro's rap-a-lot album is nearly a year old. Its great, so if you haven't heard it, make sure to cop it. "I Hate U Bitch" should have been a huge single, but I guess someone slipped up in promotions (...welcome to Houston, I guess) and it's had virtually no impact outside of the south/the internet. Now we've got a hot track off the In Da Beginning mixtape and Gel and Weave beat me to it but I'm gonna do you one better and throw it up here.

As Ethan Plum Drank sez, its a dream line-up: Z-Ro, Devin the Dude and Juvenile. Devin makes a mule noise. Just read gel and weave, dude basically described it the way I would minus capital letters. You can hear it transitioning into the new Geto Boys track G-Code at the end.

Z-Ro, Devin the Dude and Juvenile - The Mule

Buy Life of Joseph W. McVey here. Also make sure to check out the Z-Ro interview in the year-end issue of Murderdog.

Damage Control Archive

MORE RAPPER DRAMA! YAY!
(edit: changed the mp3 link to houstonsoreal)

so yeah on this weeks damagecontrol they had the ever so shy Willie D. Willie D had a problem with the positioning of his verse on a song. Apparently it had been changed and he decided to tell Cory Mo about it on the air. After they get off the air and go out into the parking lot yell at people. Matt attempts to defuse the situation a little but I don't know how well that went down. From the sound of things it just seems like there was a lot of yelling at people. Cops showed up but it was just to give someone a ticket.

A Healthy Distrust

I've been a fan of Sage Francis for a number of years now. The first time I heard his raps was sometime around the fall of 99. I was living in Bryan Texas, this shit town in central Texas. All I owned was my 89 crx, a desk, TV, bag of clothes, couple crates of music and a compaq computer my pops bought in 94. I had blown up my stereo years ago so the computer was all I had to hear music. My broke ass couldn't afford to buy too many cds but my 33k modem sure as fuck could download them. On the weekends I'd make trips to Austin and spend what little money I had to buy some of music I was downloading. I was trading mp3's with this kid from Rochester NY and he told me about this rapper from Rhode Island that I should peep by the name of Sage Francis. I remember thinking what in the fuck kind of name is that? That ain't a rap name but whatever I went ahead and downloaded some shit. I don't remember what the first song of his I heard but I was blown away and had to find more of his music.

What I like about Sage is that he's so fucking good with the wordplay and his references. I'm constantly listening to his music and picking up something new I didn't catch the last time. It makes his music just that more interesting and it doesn't get old for me because the songs take on new meanings each time I catch something. Oh and what's great about his clever wordplay is that he's actually goddamn hilarious. He is also dope at just flipping words but thing is that he does it in a way that it doesn't feel forced. And unlike other underground hiphop rappers Sage doesn't come off the like the type that uses big words just for the sake of impressing you with his glossarycock. He's not doing these things just to impress the listener with how fucking lyrical he is. Lyrical bullshit is what has ruined most of underground hiphop. You get a bunch of dumbass kids trying to flex their lyrical pocketknives when they can't even rap about anything that you might actually give a fuck about hearing. Being able to use five syllable rhymes isn't enough make you dope. Lyrics are important but so is not making yourself sound like a mountain climber who plays an electric guitar but you don't know the meaning of dope.

So yeah anyways, I like Sage Francis and this halfass post is going to be biased because I'm a fan. He has signed with Epitaph and his new album is going to be released on February 8th. I don't really know how this shit going sell. I mean I know it will sell way more than all his other album but is Sage going to be on MTV? I don't think he'll be on some TRL status but it's still weird to think that dude is on at that level now. I think the record is dope but I don't really know what people who don't know of Sage will think of it. I've heard about him getting play on kroq and shit which is cute even though I'd prefer to hear him on standard rap stations. Blah whatever though, I should probably say something about the goddamn record.

Sage has a shitload of producers on this shit. He's gotten beats from a number of talented producers such as Alias, DangerMouse, Daddy Kev, Sixtoo, Controller 7, and Joey Beats. He's also got some lesser known producers like Reanimator(brings the fucking heat) and Varick Pyr. Varick surprised the shit out of me, this is the same guy who use to post on anticon's messageboard years ago and I fronted on that motherfucker so hard. I couldn't stand his shit but now he has produced Bridle for Sage and I have to admit that it's dope, the boy has skills. The beat is mostly based around this cutesy piano sample that just carries the beat. It's a short song with Sage trying to hold a womans reins but it's nothing like that sweet old song.

But yeah back to Reanimator, the album opens with a song he produced titled Buzz Kill. It starts building kind of slow but then the beat changes up and just smacks your face with Sage using some vocal affects to give his voice some distortion. I tend to have a soft spot for distorted effects like that. Some folks might not like that static in their ear but I can't get enough of that shit. Maybe it's from playing music too loud on blown speakers/headphones but that shit sounds great to me. Reanimator also produces Slow Down Ghandi which is Sage putting all you cutesy niave and overachieving activists in check. Remember that the ideals you have at age 15 are usually unrealistic as fuck. Oh yeah I'd advise you to peep Reanimator's site just to hear his Slow Down Ghandi remix, dude straight took it some where else on some goddamn Egyptian lover steez.

Now the next song is Sea Lion with Will Oldham and produced by Alias. Pitchfork and them cutesy boys were all jocking this shit. I have to admit before I heard it I was thinking it was going to be some lame indie rockrap shit but it's not and the two artists actually sound good together. Alias ends up contributing three beats and a half beats to the album (he adds guitars and drums to sixtoo's beat). He drops some cute shit with "Escape Artist" which has Sage getting all fucking giggity-got the pops with his flow. DangerMouse produces one song on the album, "Gunz Yo," which is Sage's version of the symbolic gun theme that rappers like to do. The song reminds me of Lloyd Banks' "On Fire." The beat has a bunch of gun cocks and this bass that gives it a darker touch for some cutesy g-unit drama. Actually the main thing that makes me think of Banks' song is Sage saying "I'm on fire" in chorus. If you think I'm talking out my ass so what but that's what I hear when I'm listening to this song.

When I first heard that Daddy Kev was producing a Sage track I just about shit myself. Daddy Kev's work Souldoubt is fucking badass. The way his beats fit Awol's style is just so fucking dope so I was excited to hear how Sage would sound with him. I figured it had to be dope considering Sage's gruff voice sounds kind of similar to that of AwolOne's. Anyways Daddy Kev's beat is for the song Dance Monkey which is one of the more aggressive tracks on the album with Daddy Kev coming at you with this beat that just stomps through you headphones. Sage raps about how he's such a private dancer shaking his money maker because you need to decide whose music will you turn to when the bomb hits.

Sixtoo produces two tracks on the album, Crumble and Ground Control. Crumble rocks the same piano that was used for something else but because my piece of shit memory has fucking failed my ass again I can't actually tell you what the goddamn song is and it's annoying the shit out of me because it's on the tip of my fucking tongue. Fuck song titles. Controller7 does the beat for Agony In Her Body and it's sick. The beat starts out mostly being a bunch of percussion sounds with some tones for atmosphere but then around halfway through the track he drops some guitars to change it up and bring a little more urgency to the track. It's a true thug love song. Play it next time you're getting your domestic violence on.

Now most people will compare this album to Personal Journals but it is a different type of work. I think the style of beats are more consistent on this album where as on Personal Journals they were more diverse to fit whatever emotions and themes he was trying to convey. A Healthy Distrust is a much more aggressive album than Personal Journals. It's a less intimate album that PJ's was but I think as far as more people being able to relate to the ideas he's presenting I think it works better than PJ's did. It's definitely going to fuck some shit up in this rap game and ruin some people's wetdreams of what rap is suppose to sound like. Which is fucking great, fuck sticking to tradition just for the sake of keeping it real. Go buy this record because it's will ruin your shit.

Buzz Kill

Sea Lion feat Will Oldham, Saul Williams And Alias

Cop that shit

Buy Jeff Chang's new book Can't Stop Won't Stop here.