Trai'D's X-Pill

man -- this beat is on some pretty x'd out shit. Trai'D pulls this off on some obviously-not-grown-man sex talk -- "I'm too young to be doin what i do!" is the most honest thing in this song. His raps are like if you take the 'pimp' from Pimp C & reincarnate him as a dude who's barely past 20. but he is also a likable rapper & the whole serotonin-boost-cloud the song floats by on is just sensually perfect.

the video is also beautifully shot.

the song is refreshingly autotune-free.

dj premier on the late night hype

I was checking that list Premo came up with for ego trip back in the day & thought it was real interesting that he picked "late night hype" as a cmw track -- as you can see Premo keeps it pretty trad & NY, which is cool cuz you always know where he's coming from & it makes it that much more interesting when he does start talking about other shit hes feeling.

Basically I thought it was real interesting which CMW song he chose to represent (& of course CMW and Premo go back so its not like picking Eiht over some other West Coast artist is much of a surprise); "Late Night Hype" isnt really any more NYC than their other tracks. But Premo's nothing if not consistent, & it really does share a vibe w/ a certain style of chill Gang Starr spliff music album tracks like somanyshrimp classic:

CONTROVERSIAL POST!!! #1

Ghetto Mafia - Downtown Glory >>>>>>>>>>>>> Kurious - I'm Kurious

f**kin' all the teachers, all the teachers wanna f**k me

Gucci Mane's "Sun Valley" video feat. Frenchie

This was originally on the Mr. Perfect mixtape under the title "ghetto supastar," and could easily have been on some shit before that I missed -- only 4345728301324382 Gucci mixtapes dropped in '08 so

Hope yall checked the OJ Da Juiceman album -- more on Gucci soon I swear ....

Don't need a drank I'm eatin Frosted Flakes

Trap Squad Cartel - "Pop Tags"

Trap Squad Cartel are from Dallas. They are called Trap Squad Cartel and they have a song called “Pop Tags” and another called either “Icey” or "So Icey", which you can request at your local radio station. Their mixtape is called On My Grind Vol. 1. The whole thing should be the most generic rap exercise in the universe, yet “Pop Tags” is, uh… completely bewildering and the most exact opposite of tedious.

Basically, I think dudes infiltrated my brain cells since four of the five verses on here are from guys that sound like Lil Boosie, Fabo + AutoTune (yes), Gorilla Zoe + Autotune and Gorilla Zoe again. Then on top of it someone cooked up this fucked up beat of Mannie Fresh snare rolls, Trill Ent synth blasts and keyboard drip-drops and this dagger of a sample that sounds like a millisecond snip of the “Still Tippin” violins. The chorus — I POP/ THEM TAGS/ SO THEY JOCK/ MY SWAG — is straight rap-libs shit but it ends up scraping the anthemsphere last entered by “Pop Champagne”.

Then as if it couldn’t get any better, the Gorilla Zoe dude tries to one-up “Wipe Me Down”:
JEWLERY, GEAR, NOTES
CHECK
MONEY, WHIP, HOES
CHECK

He fails of course, but only barely.

Beer And Rap Podcast #1!!

Posted this on my own blog but I'm also putting it up here so feel free to peep game.

Ok so I finally got around to recording a little Beer And Rap podcast show. I'd been meaning to do this for a while, just do a recording of songs, not a mix or anything but more like a radio show. Just wanted to play songs and throw in a little commentary. I'm going to try and keep this going at least once a month. If I can pull it off more than that great but I'm trying to be realistic. It's about a 1.5 hours, maybe should have played shorter songs but I didnt. The mp3 is kind of big so if you're still using telegraphs to communicate you may be waiting for a minute. Anyways yeah peep game, to subscribe to the podcast just use this url for the feed: http://beerandrap.com/atom.xml If you're not to smart just go in to itunes and under Advanced you have the option to subscribe to podcasts. Select that and add the feed url so that it will update on it's own. I have dumb friends so I need to explain unnecessary bullshit to people.

If you can't do that then just download it here directly

The tracklisting is listed under the lyrics of the file if you're curious

dogg pound '09

This is sorta like Prodigy sampling Pac for 'mac 10 handle' but fuck it, this track is banging -- go to Daz Dillinger's myspace and check out "On & On" (currently track 2).

They also just uploaded a song that features Maroon 5 which is one of the weirdest fucking tracks I've had the 'pleasure' of hearing.

EDIT: reposting cuz this dude found a zshare for it & says the beat is a soopafly/daz collab.

Spark Dawg - All On Me feat. Tum Tum, Hoodboss, Supstaar and Fat Pimp

Beat Flippaz did this track. That high pitched submarine sonar noise is pretty hot esp. when he starts fuckin with the rhythm of it, or if you open the Beat Flippaz myspace at the same time yr playing the song & it starts doubling up and echoing all over the place like a pinball. Shit would be a lot of fun to DJ with if u had doubles bcuz you could just fuck with the instrumental/chorus a whole bunch, flipping back & forth between the records and messing with the delay to drive folks crazy with that beeping noise.

Its good to hear Tum Tum is still killing it too.

I wanna be your coool thaaaang

So this new Skyzoo joint uses a sample that has been worked a few times already, including my favorite Potna Deuce joint "Cool Thing" <-- Free download there. Potna Deuce was three rappers, Chezski, Ruby Rascal and Baby Beesh -- better known nowadays as Baby Bash. LOL.

For real though Welcome to da Hilt is a pretty classic bay area record. It was largely produced by Johnny Z, a real underrated producer in the game pictured here rollin in his 6-2:

He got a production deal with Profile records for N2Deep in the early 90s & this was one of his projects. Had a big role shaping the bay area mob sound. The dude that does rapreviews.com has a good rundown here. Honestly i think it deserves 1-2 more 'lyrics vibes' though.

And for kicks here's the video for their single "Dats my Partna"

D4LOL

Yeah this beat is pretty hot & I would like to see a meaningful remix, but D4L without Fabo is not the same as D4L without Shawty Lo -- and I dig Shawty Lo alright on a limited basis -- however this is like the beatles without john lennon or some shit. There's even a big space before the chorus in the middle where Fabo's verse was supposed to be or something. Not really sure what these dudes are hoping to do here.

mistermiyahhhgi mistermiyahhhgi

Gotta give it up to muzikfene for consistently upping some great rap music & keeping with a consistent perspective on new street rap (meaning no blogger hype rappers or keeping it dilla etc). But best of all he threw up "Mr. Miyagi," probably the best new rap song I've heard this year.

Although I can't find an production credit for "Mr. Miyagi" Playa Shaw seems to be working primarily with Nitti of ITS A NITTI BEAT renown. "Boo Boo" has an insistent hook & some harder-than-usual steel drums; "In Da Kitchen" is solid too (9th Ward Gucci has a nice verse).

In Da Kitchen ( 2oo8 ) - Playa Shaw Feat. Nitti

He only has 307 Myspace friends, get on the bandwagon now dudes.

im still repping for trance rap

This is good enough. I dont think it really complements Keak's style too well but im not mad at it either, it's very of its time.

Couple of randoms I've want to put out there

I'm throwing up a couple of joints older joints that I've been bumping in my headphones lately and was thinking they should get out there. All these tracks are on some macho ass going hard shit so if you like to be a bitch and listen to kanye's tears dripping down your balls then maybe you shouldn't check these; if not then jam these motherfuckers.

CIN - Jocin My Team
This one is the leading track off of C.I.N.'s 1996 Richmond Roulette album. It's got that mid 90's bay sound, laced with pianos and that gfunk squeal running throughout. That classic bay area flow, stressing those vowels between bursts of fast raps with a little bit of the east bay twang.

Prophet Posse - Orange Mound ft Kelo & K-Rock
Angry memphis rappers with chants, threats, repetitive yelling incorporated into the beat and a chorus laid over some s&c'ed vocals. Yeah that's a fucking winner. It's off that The Return pt 2 mixtape they dropped like over a year ago. The mixtape had a whole mess of bangers but fools just slept on that shit hard.

Bottom Tenn - Whoop Ya Ass
Some dudes out of Black Haven going hard on a Sleepwalker track. I don't think I really need to bother explaining what the point of this song is, the title is pretty self explanitory. Al Kapone put it out on that Memphis Drama 4: Crunk Roots.

Triple 6 - Walking Assassins
Triple 6 was a group that Dre Dog was involved with in the early 90's. This is off this short 5 track ep/tape called Nothing But Reality. All the beats are pretty basic and stripped down. The rhymes are nothing to crazy but fuck it. There is something to be said for cut in choruses, simple raps over a steady break and some bass with a blessing of tape hiss.

404 Soldierz - Swang On A Nigga ft Mannish Mann
This is the last one for today. I don't know why this never made it to Hard As Fuck 4, it was sitting around but yeah it's got all the elements of hiphop: headbusting, swanging, throwing thangs, banging, never being scared, guns, fists, simps, whats, yeahs, beams, and yelling. It's got all those positive vibes and conciousness that kufi lovers everywhere support.

This new Fabo

Here's the mp3: Fabo - "Spaceship Man"

Cherish new rap's original weirdo streamlining his outlandishness into an actual song, a kind of rap/kind of singing thing that's more in the vein of quicksilver modern r&b like Janelle Monáe or John Legend's "Green Light" (an André 3000 feature) than snap or post-snap or whatever. Just as much as we love Fabo wilding over empty spaces in his schizophrenic hyena howl, it's just as nice to hear him doing a fully-formed song that doesn't sacrifice that singular personality and vision. Pray for reign.

David also posted about the song here and got sad when no one commented

FREE THIS BEAT

I get the point of mp3 blogs, duh: post mp3s, get linked, maybe a bad rapper will hit you with an exclusive track or if you're the luckiest maybe an exclusive mixtape. But still, how is the whole internet gonna post this new Juelz track without admitting — no contrarian Dipset hate here, by the way — that Juelz is a. no longer a good rapper and b. that he's completely ruined this incredible beat.

For one, I'm surprised that people are still checking for new Juelz verses, but beyond that, did no one think by the time that Juelz was dropping played out napalm and BAPE references ten seconds into his first verse how much better it would be if a good-in-2009 rapper was on this beat? Something this vintage, this creeping and grimey (yet still elegant) deserves better than a dude who jumps on and implies that he sticks his whole head inside vaginas. Where is the clamoring for Jada or Freeway or Twista? Imagine Big L or Mobb Deep. I can't believe that people actually think he went hard on this beat, so why hasn't anyone said it? I know, I know. But, still.

In order to end this post on a positive note, I'm posting this classic Rap City freestyle from the Big Tigger era of The Dips blazing the "My Block" beat. Jones and Juelz are WEARING THROWBACKS and Cam is in all pink and raps his verse while counting money. The good days.



Here's another dope Juelz freestyle over that Lloyd Banks song "The Cake". Lol @ Juelz saying I Can't Feel My Face was coming soon. In 2006.

JUELZ SANTANA ON RAP CITY
Uploaded by lemalfrat

Bombs over Baghdad

When yr named after an Outkast song, like to play guitar & have some genuinely creative, kinda out-there instincts, drop an acclaimed mixtape and know how to mix it up, sometimes it can be very easy to veer a little too close to the sun.

I'm not gonna link to it cuz it is very WHAT. EVER. But the new B.O.B. single is such an epic Angelous maneuver that it can't be anything but disappointing. It just feels so stale and heartless, so safe. A real disappointment in my opinion but I guess it was inevitable Andre 3 stacks would inspire Andre .3 stacks --

(That's not all dude is, to be fair -- check the A+ Curtis chopping on this joint for some real lyrics.)

But u know who really knows how to carry the spirit w/out the forced sense of pledged allegiance, is FABO. The passion & fun & spirit of some classic 'Kast right here. Explosive up-tempo real nu-hip-house without the pretense, and with a massive injection of energy and real love. This isn't his "Hey Ya" but its as close as he might get. Good way to avoid getting your wings burned by the sun is to say 'fuck wings' and grab a spaceship.

Juice

OJ Da Juiceman: "Trap Work"

Working out why I like Gucci understudy OJ Da Juiceman hasn’t come easy to me. On one hand, dude is almost like an elaborate joke, just some ad-lib crutching no-name co-signed by the right ATL people to see exactly what we’re willing to accept in our post-Jeezy, post-snap rap landscape. Juice’s ad-libs sound like Chappelle’s Prince being punched in the gut, and his flow is so flagrantly one-note it’s basically celebratory. But on the other, Juice has emerged as a dude to watch in 09, another in a lengthening line of trap-not-rap stars reveling in the understated brilliance of post-D4L everyman rap.

If Juice is not a pure Gucci facsimile then he’s unabashed about copping style. He loops his raps in that same singsong playground cadence that Gucci settles into when he’s really got a foothold in a beat, but Juice’s flow is a little more stilted, and in a way it’s kind of got the same lockstep qualities of a marching army battalion — predictable yet dope. If anything, his songs are hypnotic in a way, at once because they all kinda sound the same and because Juice raps non-stop. The tape has a propulsive quality that basically every other mixtape lacks these days, and Juice raps his ass off like rap might get him somewhere, which I guess isn’t totally unique but it still jumps out off the speakers.

As far as the rapping goes, Juice doesn't stray far from trapping and its benefits (also touches on fucking), but he's got a trap star's flair for making the old seem just a little bit new again, or at the very least still (dope boy) fresh. And maybe most importantly, he sounds like he's having a great time rapping, and if that's not his most redeeming quality then it's eminently notable, cause I'm not getting tired of ATL good times rap anytime soon.

BONUS FOR BUDDING OJ DA JUICE FANBOYS: The FADER meets up with Juice at a French restaurant or something and let's dude speak his mind. He seems like a good dude. More people should do this.

new premo beats are still the hottest shit out!!

will never get tired of jocking premo --

1/9/08 edit!!
whats w/ the roided out tattoo/graf artist dj shadow lookin dude that raps 4th??

So Many Shrimp #1 rap blog in 2009

gucci mane was the rapper of 08

more on this soon ....

high note video

One of the best tracks off the legend's album is now in NSFW music video form (RIP BET Uncut). White Van Music, the album that dropped this year from "High Note" producer Jake One, was a solid album that I was feeling altho I never really got obsessed w/ it -- but this track was strong enough to make me want to give a new listen to the entire thing. Take a played out conceit like "sex moans over sex song" and tie it to a played out concept like "sampling classic soul" and somehow u have a ... classic track? I don't know it reminds me of my most-listened to album right now which is Juvenile's uptown nolia boy mixtape (more on this later). Many of the tracks are conceptually clever, not just generically 'banging' but actually unique in some regard. It's easy to get caught up in alliances towards/against different cliches and stylistic choices in rap music i.e. 'man do i hate that autotune!' but for the most part that stuff all falls away because there are so many exceptions to the rule when someone takes a particularly nimble approach. This is a track that really differentiates itself by being great -- transcending the stylistic cliches but not rejecting them.

That said, did not need shirtless Scarface winking @ the camera while ostensibly boning.

Betcha Can't Do It like We Do It in The D

This past weekend I finally got Trix Mixx 3 in the mail (off equalizer's myspace) and this shit is banging. It's a cumbia mix with some rap joints sprinkled through out. I'm kind of riding for this shit hard right now, twenty years ago I would never have fucked with cumbia, that was some ranchero shit that my drunk uncles would jam while they hated on me listening to rap but lately I ain't mad at it, especially when you put some Big Tuck on it. My mom might even like this shti. Anyways the Krunk Krew dudes are from Dallas and go hard for the cumbia/hiphop shit. One of the dudes in the crew, Dj Panik has a record out on Bersa Disco so peep game. The later part of the mix goes hella hard on the cumbia. Considering how many latinos there are in texas I'm not surprised to hear this stuff, but I'm curious if there are any s&c'ed cumbia mixes. This sound is kind of infiltrating the rest of the country within the last year but who knows what the possibilities are for it. I'm just glad that it's not reaggeton. Anyways here's a couple of joints to peep off the mix

Betcha Can't Do it

Tussle Cumbia

Muevete Negra RMX - Aniceto Molina

Get Mexican!

end of year list correction

Noz correctly pointed out that he had listed "High Powered." Replace with this Alfamega/Busta joint



lmao @ busta's part of the hook.