pr-pr-pr-pr-premier

Maybe all we need for Premo to sound hot in '06 is GRIMEY-ASS RAPS, like this track from Born Unique, a rapper from the M.O.P. school (also outta VA) and I've never really heard before. The beat does sound an awful lot like Got It Locked. But fuck it, this dude rips it, and as a certified Premier dickrider who still manages to be disappointed every time he hears Premier talk about rap like a eugenics experiment, I think this is a banger.

Born Unique - DJ Premier Exclusive

(b-b-but who's this?)

Start A Fight With The Thickest Click

Fuck That Shit

My favorite track off Three 6's Da Unbreakables album although "Let's Start A Riot" and "Dangerous Posse" are real close. Shit now that I think of it there are a gang of songs on that album that I really like but "Fuck That Shit" really sums up that don't give a fuck tear da club up shit that the triple six does so well. My neighbors really hate when I play this record because I always blast it super loud. Sometimes I think I should be considerate and turn it down but then I think what would Three 6's response be to my annoying neighbors. That's when I realize that I need to Fuck That Shit even louder. This song pretty much reps everything that people who hate rap music hate about it. It also reps a lot of what I love about this hiphop shit, rowdy as fuck and unapologetic about it. Sometimes I feel like an immature little kid for loving that dudes are just yelling fuck that shit but then I say fuck that shit and realize this is so fucking great.

Get Ya Hustle On

So Juvenile's new video for Get Ya Hustle On (also here) has made the rounds the past couple days, and it's pretty good.


Filmed on location in New Orlean's 9th ward the video's eerie post-apocalyptic backdrop is significant, although in many ways the formula is nothing new. This is what so much of rap music says daily, track to track - we're here and we're discounted and no one is going to help us, so do the shit yourself, get ya hustle on, sell crack if neccessary. The video's political statement seems almost softened to me by the masks/indictments of 'leadership,' a comfortable message to liberals of all stripes who want an easy charicature to demonize, to see a few people alone responsible. Fuck that - the responsibility is this country's, all of us, and to me the most significant footage isn't the 'empty promises' symbolism but the ruins themselves, a stark montage of the extreme devestation caused by the American abandonment/containment pattern that reproduced itself in urban and rural areas across America, shunting poor and minorities via systematic racism and classism, self-perpetuated divisions that were dramatically unveiled by Katrina. Today the hurricane represents a moment when people acknowledged the injustice. This is what it represents. The projects, we can ignore, safely isolated, popping up on TV in dramatized cop shows and the occasional rap video only to be disdained, 'ghetto' music for ghetto people and those who fetishize blackness. Katrina though was black folks starving and abandoned on national TV and no one dared look away.

Juvenile's look is stripped down, no obvious signs of wealth ("lost it all in Katrina"), bitterness seeping through the lyrics, dark shades covering his eyes rapping through New Orleans' hurricane hangover. No grins to show off his grill, no playful goofy Juvenile smile. More people will be listening to him now and he knows this, and even though Dick Cheney masks will get more of the attention it's really about how he aims at Mayor Nagin for faking the funk in the lyrics and his solution, pyrex pots and crack sales-as-relief, not so subtly hidden beneath the crisp atmosphere of political righteousness.

Legendary Traxster

There's plenty of shit about the Chicago press to be mad at; one of the most frustrating things is how backpacker-focused much of the rap coverage is. I mean I like plenty of backpacker shit don't get me wrong; Diverse is dope in an underground-Jeru sort've way, and I like jazz, I like rap, jazz rap sounds hot in theory. Still, the coverage of Chicago hip-hop is utterly segregated.

Traxster at the Grammys

One of the most talented rap producers in Chicago is the Legendary Traxster. Depending on when/where/how you got into his music, you probably know Traxster even if you don't. He produced one of the best tracks on Mariah Carey's last album, "One and Only" featuring Twista; it sounded like a Hendrix ballad with better singing, plus Twista, and he got a grammy nod for it. But Traxster's probably most well-known for producing some of the best Chicago rap music from the last decade plus, starting with early Do or Die ("Po Pimp" was his) as well as D.O.D. and Twista's Kamikaze. He also did the entirety of Twista's Chicago classic Adrenaline Rush. Speaking of - all the Cam fans (and I know there are a lot of y'all out there) one of the best tracks on Purple Haze was "Adrenaline" which was a redone version of the old Twista track. I like when Cam talks about dealing on Pulaski; local color via west side streets named after our Polish heroes. Anyone could sound hard over this beat though, even a rap blogger.

I should note that Traxster's brother, the rapper Dun D, passed on earlier this year. I don't really know the details although it was scooped by Matt Sonzala. Chibangin.com still has a link up to a Dun D Mega-mix up which you should check if you get a chance; he was a talented cat. They also recently added this new cut from Traxster's upcoming album The Return of Gangsta Music. I've YSI'd it here too, its a familiar Al Green sample, and painfully beautiful. RIP Dun D.

Traxster, E Dubb and Dun-D - Love and Happiness

The Return of Gangsta Music was supposed to drop along with a Dun D solo debut EP on the 21st, but I imagine Dun's passing may have offset that. I haven't checked any local record spots yet but there hasn't been any word on it in the usual channels. Its definitely one of my more anticipated records this year though.

The last major project Traxster really worked on though was E.C. Illa aka Whitefolks' 2005 album, Whitefolks. Honestly over the course of an album sometimes Traxster-style beats can sound samey, dry/generic mob-style shit, but on the whole this album is fresh throughout. In one interview, Traxster gets the inevitable "are you EC Illa's Dr. Dre?" and his answer is key to understanding Illa's appeal; he dismisses the suggestion, arguing that EC Illa is less of a lyricist in the Biggie lineage, more influenced by Pac emotive side, representing his hometown.

EC Illa kicks off the album by clowning Kennilworth, IL, which deserves to be clowned. E.C. Illa is from the north side of Chicago (uptown) so he knows my area; this song is called "Thanks" and he shouts out the Fish Keg on Howard! What y'all know about the Fish Keg or the Dairy Queen across the street, everyone's 90+ degree summertime sweat destination? The parking lot is packed in the summer, kids outside and Young Jeezy and Mariah Carey oozing through car windows. (And a couple blocks west you've got the 24hr IHOP which has so much community energy at 4AM considering how much weed people smoke before they go, where I'm guaranteed to see folks I knew in high school, tobacco clouds over the smoking section, drunk kids tripping over their own feet following the waitress to their seats.) Back to Illa: "I feel like Ashanti in this mutherfucker!" And "Respect" is with Dun D and has them shouting out the CWAL mob (Traxster's crew); beat is the dark g-mob mid-90s shit Traxster is known for, one of the harder tracks on the album. Listen to the squirming bassline rumbling around underneath - this is music made for trunk speakers, groundswell bump. The production is very clearly labored-over, pristine and precise.

Ultimately what makes this different, what makes it notable is the dearth of Chicago street rappers with any sort of profile, street rappers with the kind of access to the Chicago press given indie bands and backpackers, guys who bring the G shit that became the blueprint for grassroots rap nation-wide in the mid-90s. Traxster and CWAL Mob fill a void, repping Chicago, rapping from 71st street to (ultimately) streets nationwide, and (ideally) the world. His music deserves it.

EC Illa in Murderdog.
Traxster in Murderdog.

Oh and one more mp3, thanks to Chibangin:
Traxster - New York (Remix) where Traxster breaks down the problem with Chicago's NY dickriding. "It took Cam'ron to redo Adrenaline Rush...thats fucked up."

Better use yr nikes bro

T.I. - What You Know video
When I first heard this single on the radio the other day I kinda lost it; it didn't help that the girl I was riding with at the time was just complaining about how the radio all sounds the same, which made it stick out even more to me, thinking but this is what exceptional sounds like. With that baroque synth climbing and cascading, overloaded punch-ins and ad libs, Tip's flow slowed down and grainy, showing all these other dudes how to sound regal because no matter how worried we are that it hints at T.I. doing Jeezy when it used to be the other way around, about T.I.'s disavowel of "ASAP," the release of "Bounce Like This," and the possibility that TIP's spoilt-milk "Sunshine" is around the corner, "What You Know" makes T.I. really sound like The King.

Video - bringing back front-lawn weightlifting like old Dre videos, standing solo with a split-screen, rollerdisco, slowwww rollin autos. It doesn't move much because it doesn't have to; the momentum is all in the royal persona, the myth, the song.

Poppin My Collar Video

Three 6 Mafia - Poppin My Collar Video

I came across that link on soulstrut which is also where I found this dude Delay's pyschrock and southern rap mix. Check that shit.

Fuck U! Pay Me!

I got this Tum Tum cd in the mail a couple weeks back, threw it in the work truck and have been listening to it pretty nonstop. Tum Tum, who also goes by O-Tumma Tumladin (my personal favorite tumtum name) or Tum Zilla, is from Dallas and a member of DSR (dirty south riders). It's a crew that started out with Big Tuck (old post), Fat Bastard, Double T, Lil Ronnie and Addiction. They have since grown and if you don't know about them you'll probably start hearing about them. Big Tuck's album, Absolute Truth, is going to be dropping march 28th some time in June. The entire DSR camp got signed to Universal and if shit works out for them then they will probably be the first crew out of Dallas to really blow. Dallas is kind of a strange place, there has been good music coming out of North Texas (someone needs to get me an old SkwoodX tape) but it never seems to get the recognition that Houston does. I think what I like about DSR the most is that they are a little more confrontational that your standard Texas rappers. They like to rap about fighting and getting buck. Not to say they don't rap about cars and ballin but they like to tell you that you are a hoe and/or bitch and I approve of this.

Whoop Ur Ass ft TBG'z
This song represents Tum Tums personal battle with depression and his new found self worth. I don't know who the second to last dude is but he accuses you of being a pussy like that franchize group so take that snap music.

Get Ur Paper Up
There is a moment in this song where Tum Tum says this line about about how you can't do it like him and then follows that with a punch in of him yelling "OOOHHH!" It's like that Chappelle skit with that one dude freestyling in the barbershop thinking he's ripping it. I think I like that moment in the song more than Tum Tum telling people to quit fucking boo hooing and get their paper up.

t-town music

Jay Dee, cont'd

I wrote an RIP piece on Stylus for Jay Dee which can be found here. I only hope I did his work justice. At the bottom you'll find a link to a great mix of his music - "Dollar" is a new one to me, and it beautifully channels Marvin Gaye.

RIP Jay Dee

Grammys

Why does anyone who listens to hiphop actually give a fuck about paying attention to the grammys? All this hype that kanye got off that shit, yeah he was a crybaby last time around but why the fuck would anyone, even him, think that the fucking grammys had any say in giving awards to some remotely legitimate shit. They are nominating bullshit like that shitass BEP songs and the fucking "candy shop." I always viewed the grammys the way I view my parents talking about rap music; bunch of clueless people who don't know shit about any of this music trying to pretend they have some legit opinion. These are the people that gave awards to Arrested Development. Who cares who should have been nominated, the grammys are irrelevant as fuck.

yeah I know, why post about it if I don't care? I just think it's weird to see kids on the internet or whatever talking about it as if the grammys hadn't picked the corniest shit for awards every year so you get a shitty paragraph. Also I think it's lame as hell to care about a grammy. It's like sucking up to get approval from people who don't matter anyways, on some "thanks for noticing me whitey" shit.

touch the sky

The video premiered last night. I think the song is pretty good although I'm a Curtis superfan so that shit will not top the original in my book. Still I am hooked on Lupe Fiasco now (according to lastfm the only artist I listen to more is Papa Reu) and this video is fun. Fuck I liked the Kanye album a lot and I haven't listened to it in like two months so I am about spent on talking about his music, just watch the video. It is dope. I promise my next post will not link to YOUTUBE.

1 more thing: 1 More Hit, a trailer for a new doc on J-Swift and his struggles with addiction. And some real talk about 'trap-hop' real talk from Jeff Chang:

i don't object to the fact that crack rap exists, nor that some of it is aesthetically, uh, dope, i object to critics or progressives praising or denouncing it like it doesn't intersect with reality.

Philly Freestyle Videos

While it may appear that Philadelphia has absolutely no underground hip-hop scene to your random backpacker observer, this observation couldn't be further from the truth. The "underground hip-hop" that is alive and well in Philadelphia isn't one that congregates at random showcases and open-mikes in trendy areas of town, and you won't see these dudes frequenting the Sage Francis and Aesop Rock concerts that pop-up every couple months. The Philadelphia underground rap scene is being dominated and documented by Freestyle DVDs that capture some of these up-coming folks on their blocks, or outside their studios, or randomly, coming out of Boston Market. Some folks have been kind enough to upload a bunch of this stuff to You Tube which is the best shit ever. Peep.

Hollow-Man
West Philly's finest. Dude is ridiculous.
By the way, if anybody can get me in touch with this dude, holler at me

* "I see birds like I'm downtown tossin out bread"

* "You can look me in the face and tell that I'm hungry"
(about half way in... stick around for Oschino, too.)

Peedi Crakk
NP's Puerto-Rican Allen Iverson.

* "Pussy, money and thugs what I'm talkin' about"
(Old shit from like '99)

* "From North Philly and you from Bumblefuck"
(Old shit from '99 with Freeway... Freeway kills it)

Sandman
"Yeeeeaaaah Cannoooonsss..."

* "Pussy, you don't know me"

Meek Millz
North Philly young bol.

* "Ni**a, are you kiddin? I got rhythm like a rockin' chair"

*"Lugers, lugers and uzis to move your body left and right"

-e

Now sing along

"Fuck you, I found me."

Oh you want something new?

Trae and ABN - Asshole/Storm Da South
"Who the fuck said the south ain't got no lyricists?!"
Get it in high quality here; you can also see a video of Trae and Chingo Bling premiering their new song together on some Houston radio station. And the 'big news' this week is that Trae inked a deal between his G Maab Ent., Assylum and Rap-A-Lot for his album. And make sure to cop Whut It Dew 3 for more of dude's shit.

gangsta city

We play on the internet posting songs and talking about how they make us feel. Usually it feels good, to talk about it and if there is one thing I love about music, especially rap music, isn't just the challenge to my 'musical sensibilities,' my eternal search for new sounds; the experience of difference constantly challenges me to engage with major problems in how I look at the world and how I engage with it. How I learn about myself and about other people and race and class and gender and struggle and how power is used to control and marginalize and feel uncomfortable and sometimes voyeuristic and sometimes like I am doing the right fucking thing. And sometimes there is no right thing.

This is difficult to talk about because, whatever challenges/struggles I've had in my life it doesn't compare, and you can grow up poor and live astride a giant metropolis and never understand what it's like to live in some neighborhoods and some housing projects; you can see them, the notorious buildings standing stark against a gray backdrop and force yourself to look out the window on the brown line as you pass it by, or on the Chicago ave. bus, or walking down halsted (during the daylight of course) but you can never really understand because you don't live there and you might meet someone who lived there, and talk, and you know the distance is far too wide, the gulf of experience too braod, and all your good intentions can't do shit because you are, perhaps, part of the problem. It is hard to do 'what's right' or know what's right. No one is above it. You're gliding past the Merchandise Mart and condos, then you count yr blessings and the train pulls past the reds and whites and again you see condos. I have trouble saying what I feel here, except that this is a history you don't get in books, a history that needs to be seen. And I certainly would feel overwhelmed by this task, to document some of the last years of Cabrini's existence. In their words and footage:

gangstacity.net

"Gangsta City is a full length, feature documentary film, filmed for over 5 years (2001-06) entirely at the Cabrini-Green housing project in Chicago, IL. The movie offers a unique perspective and in depth access into the lives of Cabrini's residents during their final years living in the complex. In addition, the film details the entire history of Cabrini-Green, from it's creation to it's demise. Not just the history that you might find in a history book, but the street history you won't find anywhere else.

Virtually the entire film has been shot by the residents themselves, and virtually the entire soundtrack has been produced and performed by the residents themselves. This is a movie that is by Cabrini, about Cabrini, and for Cabrini. Something the ex-residents can look at to remember their past. Something non-residents can look at to view a world they've only read about or heard about, but never seen. Something political leaders can look at to view the mistakes that past political leaders or even they themselves have made, and the results that have come from those mistakes.

The portrait this film paints is both brutal and sad, yet it is 100% reality. This film is not meant as a glorification of gangs, violence, and street life, it is meant as an education on gangs, violence, and street life. Many Americans don't even know that places such as Cabrini-Green exist, and those that do know would just assume pretend it doesn't exist. Yet no solution can be gained by simply ignoring the problem. America must realize that there is 3rd world violence and living conditions in their own back yard. For the last 30+ years Cabrini-Green has stood tall as the national symbol for "ghetto" America. It is considered the pinnacle of all housing projects, and was once widely considered the most dangerous place in all of America. For the first time ever, Cabrini-Green will be seen from the inside looking out. This is Cabrini-Green's story, as told by the people that lived there.

Please note: The film is currently in post-production and should be completed by the spring of '06. This film has been produced with virtually 0 budget and no outside backing, funding, or help. This is a true independent film. This film has been shot with a Sony VX-2000, no other equipment has been used in the making of this film... 1 camera, 1 computer."

Lupe Lupe Lupe

If I had to pick one Chicago Rapper About To Blow from the list of Chicago rappers who probably won't, I would pick LUPE FIASCO and I thought this before the trailer to the new Kanye video feat Lupe leaked. And before Fader mag had a piece on the dude with (as usual) some great photos. I thought it because whenever I listen to his tracks he sounds profoundly confident, and it just seems so easy to imagine he's already a superstar. OK he's not even from my side of the Chi, but seeing as Diverse hasn't dropped anything in a minute I'll stick with the guy who actually has a chance to blow.

Lupe Fiasco - Pop Pop
This one is probably a non-starter outside of local shows, because as soon as those opening notes hit house aficianados will recognize Frankie Knuckles "Your Love" immediately. Here it's clearly being used as a crowd pleaser, because the production is cool, tripping like some Young Gunz beat or something (2nd YG reference in three days!) but not amazing, a few tones you recognize to get the (Chicago) audience moving. I thought it was cool a friend of mine thought it sounded kind of like a Ma$e track, because thats the kind of music Puffy used on Harlem World - early 80s dance classics, with smooth relaxed rapping on top. Lupe's verse: "Sent shots ten blocks, lift tops off red cops and bend blocks in Benz drops I've been hot now shake spot don't take shot like hen rock my grip lock on big glocks that miss not that'll tip yachts and flip drops so spit hot..." and I lose it there, probably got some of it wrong, but yeah he's talented, smooth internal rhymes, fucking me UP.

Comin From Where I'm From feat. Anthony Hamilton
Hamilton is an amazing singer, and it would be hard for any rapper to sound shitty spitting real talk over this track. But I think Fiasco makes his mark anyway, emotive performance, "Gotta reap what you sow, grow what you till here, your mama reaped what you sowed, cause you was killed there / Police put cameras on poles, too many deals there, How does it feel knowin innocence was killed here?" God damn this reminds me how much I think Anthony Hamilton kicks ass. If you like this cop his album here, one of the best R&B records of the past couple years.

And yeah like most other rap bloggers have said already Fiasco is the truth etc. etc. etc.

holy shit

Superbroker shuffle, this is outrageous.