Got around to recording another podcast after getting back from SXSW, it's a bunch of rap as expected. Extra rambling in this one too. I'm going to record another one later on once this box of records shows up that I had to ship back to myself. Check the lyrics in itunes for the tracklisting or just check the bottom of this post.
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.
01 UGK - Hi Life 02 Killa Kyleon - Ain't I Freestyle 03 Tim Tum - I'm Bad 04 Lil Boosie - Please 05 Attitude - 1st Things 1st 06 Numskull - 40s In A Brown Bag (Produced By A.D. Future) 07 HD - All I See 08 Da Bangaz - Yeah 09 Project Pat - Bang Smack ft Gucci Mane 10 DJ Paul - Just Like That 11 M.O.P. - Put It In The Air ft Jay-Z 12 Intoxicated - Walk It 13 Young Jeezy - Circulate 14 Gorilla Zoe - Georgia 15 Kingpin Skinny Pimp - TV's ft 8 Ball, Yo Gotti 16 Gucci Crew II - Truez & Vogues 17 Ice Cube - The Wrong Nigga To Fuck Wit
1st off Im so sorry about the corny title of this post ....
but more importantly,
I dug the last Twista record & found it kinda underrated -- "Creep Fast" was criminally slept on and should have been a single -- but the new one is basically my most anticipated record this year. Above is the vid for the leadoff single "Wetter" which is a classic Traxster midwest pimpin track, slow rolling beat & doubletime flows. But my favorite leak so far, the "Trigga Gots No Heart" switch up "No Love" which at first I thought would be a cover of the Do or Die classic but no complaints here -- except theres no spice 1 guest verse !!
Even otherwise weak tracks like "She Got It" have some nice raps, but I do hope dude drops the generic club joints. Everyone wants to sound like fuckin Flo Rida.
This reminds me, I've been meaning to link to the philaflava blog for a minute. Theyve uploaded a gang of hot shit lately including Twista's forgotten '94 record Resurrection which you can check out here.
THE BAD: Generic generic generic beat rote lyrics, just a lil bit of that slurred style but none of the dimension, no funny punchlines, a few tossed off bars. This kind of shit better stay far the fuck away from his eventual album release. This would be a SHITTY MUSIC OF THE WEEK post if it wasnt so boring to write about.
The Porsche porcelain the rims are gorgeous the earth went skrrt it got so many horses an all-white chain same color yo forces an ounce a what i smoke cost double your mortgage so icey entertainment ima explain it see when we come in niggas tuck in they chain, and - i lost my train of thought bitches callin me brainless i cant buy a burger cuz im too fuckin famous my whip on a donk, give my chevy a facelift my 28s so shiny make it look like a spaceship my rims look big like the lips on fantasia my paint drips wet like activator you playin with yaself you a masturbator ya play with so icey i have to spray ya dont waste all ya life bein a couch potato after awhile crocodile see ya later, hater its guc-ci
Classic verse, classic chorus. This shit knocks, & I gotta say Project Pat's done a pretty good job of keeping up his quality control lately. Altho i dont really agree w/ Tom that Real Recognize Real is arguably his best record (never mind that the best Project Pat record would only be a 7.7 wtf), I do think hes been doing some consistent shit these days. "Stacks will rise or somebody gonna pay the piper / I just want the stash, dont make me put you in a diaper!"
Another thing Gucci does better than most folks is these trade-off traxx with female rappers like Nikki Minaj & Mac Breezy ... this is old but the final version of "White Girl" with Esther Dean leaked recently & its funny and the Polow beat is nicely minimal & grimey instead of going for flatline-pop (take a hint Nitti). Esther Dean also sounds fuckin rough in the best way, like her voice gets this real grating quality towards the end of her last verse. There's something real great about the humor & originality in this track (esp. considering the generic-as-fuck name for it). I dig that Gucci's never too cool to play the guy getting fucked over in his own tracks, even if it is a double entendre for cocaina "I think I love her!" "My name is Suzyyyy and Gucci think I love him / that sucker think im loyal but I fucks with all the hustlers."
Gucci's last verse is classic:
Two jobs, she get cheese, her dates are my treat how neat! she loves to eat! we eat! bon appetit!
THE PROBLEM: how can anyone be excited about the way 3-6 has been treading water since Unbreakables which is now a 6-yr-old album! & yet here we have another soul sample wedded to thunderous 808s, the down south version of a Bink track & as exciting now as Blueprint 3 will be.
INITIAL DEFENSE: This stands out -- sample is real affecting. But ... its not quite there. It needs something. The vitality is missing.
Solution: Gucci Mane on the remix!!
It's weird, over the last few weeks I've done severalreviewsexcoriating old rappers for, superficially, the same problem; with all three its the same old shit. It feels like I'm being a little unfair; how much better can u expect a Freeway LP to be in 2009?? How can someone be critical of E-40, seeing as the guy has basically mastered the art of rapping & is one of the most significant figures of his generation?? What would I rather be listening to, & which artists are actually bringing that dimension, that vitality & relevance that is missing in the releases from some of my favorite rappers? & the answer is always Gucci. The fact is he's straight-up raised the bar, that even a tossed-off 25 second verse makes something worth hearing. How better to revitalize "30 Inches," a perfectly produced record that suddenly no longer needs to justify its existence?
In the past few days since Gucci was released folks are catching up & the buzz has really hit the internets, but Im not really quite convinced everyone 'gets it' yet, at least on a musical level; His rise isn't just about hustle or just releasing a million records (Project Pat signaled in a Fader interview that the reason Gucci was hot was because he was everywhere -- which misses the point, but its inspired Pat to release tons of new material so Im not exactly complaining). His rise is also about how his music sounds, how fresh it is when compared with the status quo.
I was never really completely on board with Lil Wayne post-Carter II, the mixtape buzz never really resonated with me; I didn't enjoy his style any more because it seemed like he had become less lyrically oriented, more concerned with that lazy croak and being perceived as 'weird'. Im not convinced that Wayne really changed the game, musically, in a way that will influence future generations of rappers. Sure a gang of folks are going to imitate his style, & he'll inspire 9th Ward to bite, the way Andre's getting jocked by the talented but utterly confused 'artiste' B.o.Bobby. When folks bite them, it feels like posturing, an attempt to reference a self-conscious 'authentic' artistic stance, or even worse, they use Wayne's flow like its autotune -- an easy route to move up a few extra spots on billboard just because its what is hot at that moment, a crassly empty gesture that misses what makes Wayne work.
But the real achievement Gucci's made here is that he's raised the bar for rap artists to hold their audience, and done it in a subtle way, one that is much more difficult to define than Wayne's enunciated croak; it's natural, inherent, multi-faceted evolution; he's made that quantum jump that makes other rappers sound ... pointless. When I hear Gucci it sounds like this is where rap is going right now, this is what rap is supposed to sound like; that a real & relevant rapper in 2009 has to be a multi-threat performer, this perfect blend of NWA-descended rawness, a uncompromisable 50 Cent-style ear for a pop hook, his own lane that works outside of the predominant sound & pulls that sound to him (& producers working in that lane), true lyrical creativity -- not being a 'lyricists lyricist' but actually shifting rap's vocabulary into his gravitational pull -- & developing a firm, unique persona. Young Dro was like this, on a smaller scale, a huge subconscious influence on rappers after him. Its not like OJ raps about calamari because he wants to be perceived as a rapping genius like Dro, the way B.O.B. is making sure folks know he was raised on "Rosa Parks." OJ & Gucci both reference Dro because that what folks rapped about after Dro -- he shifted the language of his era. Gucci's changing the game in the same way, but on an even larger stage.
This isn't even close to his best verse but I've rewound it maybe 40 times.
Girl please! Chevy so high baby do you see the trees? Crawlin down the block 30s slidin like skis look so sweet gucci mane can roll weed 71 caprice taller than my hum vee fine red bone, best friend back seat and then with double daytons make them both hate me 30 inches, chains makin haters hate me east Atlanta day everybody looking flashback triple gold d’s 17s chickens on the scene I was just 15 big car, big rims all mounting on somethin clean, somethin yall ain’t seen.
Haven't heard the whole Zoe album yet (do I want to?) but I was naturally HIGHLY INTRIGUED by the Gucci/OJ collaboration. It's about the fifth best Zoe/Gucci song that exists in the world (and about the 1,800th best Zaytoven beat), and it's really only notable for OJ's verse, made possible by the fact that Gucci appears to not be trying and Gorilla Zoe is now apparently incapable of not singing. OJ's verse packs the vitality that all his verses seem to have, and it's almost the quintessential OJ verse in a way because he rides along shouting as he does (actually starts off the verse biting Gucci's Michael Jackson diamonds line from "Light Show") not saying much but commanding attention, but he hits this line where it's almost like he should be taking a breath except he goes "YOUNG JUICE MAN/ GODDAMN I'M A HUSTLA" and it's an almost unexplainable "aahh" moment, like all the gears in his verse finally locked into place. It's the kind of thing that seems tossed off until it's chopped and screwed on an "anthemic chorus", except with OJ the anthemic part is completely instant.
Tomorrow I'm going to post this video of Zaytoven that's probably old news but dude is basically my favorite producer doing it right now and it shows him fucking around with a keyboard to get the burbly bleep noises that are almost his trademark so it will be a cool nerdy thing at least.
Saw this on soulstrut and I can't stand this kind of shit, it's not cute and it's not funny. It's a fucking insult to the music in the first place. Like oh look at this bullshit rap music but when we do it with shitty acoustic guitars it's elevated to pretensious white wall gallery art. Fuck this shit, it's annoying as fuck and stupid internets eat it up because they think this bullshit is cute.
Also fuck shitty comedians who can't come up with shit so they want to do a rap song and mean mug a live audience for shit giggles. I don't want to see cornballs laughing it up because natalie portman making shitty funny with sitcom raps. That's not funny, that's fucking lazy. It's like the Grandma on family matters doing the wiggy wack while Eddie Winslow drops a hot 16 of shit. Fucking cockaroach was a better rapper than these fucking dipshits.
whatever this shit is stupid and people need to stop doing it, all that can come from it is a shitty youtube tour anyways. do the world a favor and leave rap alone. It's 2009 anyways, this shit tired.
I think the thing about OJ is that, emerging from Gucci's shadow, its hard to see him as an amazing rapper, but I do enjoy a lot of his shit -- he's real distinct & stylized, something otherworldly about his strained holler like hes trying not to shout, a quiet dude who had to learn to be loud when he first rapped & then had to learn to rein it in. The effect is unsettling, like he's a chill cat who will flip the fuck out on u at a moment's notice, eyes bugging like buggin out from do the right thing. There isnt the same aura of possibility around him as their is w/ Gucci, who has about a million diff approaches he could take to a track, but thats OK & I hope he keeps on dropping rough-edged street raps & never crosses over, just like my man here.
With the recession looking like rap's new AutoTune, the game straight-up needs Boosie. His rap is basically blues music at this point, and I don't think there's anyone cutting through bullshit quite like him right now. His sad, mournful tracks— "Dirty World" from last year's Da Beginning or "Life of Crime," which Noz posted a few days ago— are pretty gut-wrenching, so much so that I wonder if dude's actually doing alright. His songs about girls, cars, money, killing etc. sound to me to be borne out of so much anger and pain, like Boosie really wants to make a dude who can't rock as much Coogi as him feel like the biggest pile of shit because of it.
This Streets Made Me tape isn't as strong as Da Beginning (what mixtape is though, right??) but it has some really really serious tracks. I don't have production credits on these, sorry.
"So Tired"
The back half of the tape really leans on his depressive shit, and "So Tired" is the most immediately arresting of these. To me, Boosie's biggest strength is how soulful he is, and when he raps softly and calmly like he does on "So Tired" his voice sounds so weathered and emotive. When he starts singing he could almost be mistaken for a classic Delta blues singer, which really puts the AutoTuned emotion of Wayne and Kanye and Zoe (endeavors which i support, btw) into perspective. The beat here is this really dreary organ thing, just perfect.
"Got Something Fast"
For all everyone says about Boosie's voice, I've never really heard anyone mention how versatile it is. If he could only rap in a seething rasp it would kind of dull the effect, and on "Got Something Eat" he kind of strikes a balance between the laconic drawl of songs like "So Tired" and the fire-spit of songs like "Wipe Me Down". Backed by this sad, jazzy horn sample Boosie talks about shit that happens when you're running around as a kid.
"Out Da Way"
There's a line here that maybe goes along way towards explaining what's going on with Boosie: "Niggas talkin shit but I just lost my grandma/ Bout to introduce you bitch-ass niggas to Rambo". When this leaked a few weeks ago I was struck by how angry he sounds— "Thugged out and I love it, dawg/ Fuck around, Boosie turn your face to a Chuckie doll". Gotta say as well that these reggae songs really vibe well with him.
"Please" Apocalyptic is probably an overused adjective, but Boosie's violent tracks really have that feeling to me. It's hard to listen to them and not get this feeling like they're fighting for their life down there (which I guess might be true)— when Boosie raps about violence he makes it sound like a necessity not a luxury.
Got a new TEAC dual tape deck in the mail this weekend so yesterday I started going through old tapes and shit and just recording joints. Decided to up this RipOne tape because Eons reminded me of how dope dude was with his posts over at Ripped Open by Metal Explosions. They've got the Rippin Shit Up tape over there so I didn't bother ripping that one. I tried to up Stef's copy of The Essence but the fucking tape is blank, I don't know what the fuck is up with that shit. Anyways here's Turntable Expressions.
Man I fucking love tapes, they are just a dope medium, small and with personality. Beat up, fucked up tapes still has character and almost added to the listening experience. Yeah they were a pain but you could treasure a dope tape. Mp3's aint shit to me, I can't treasure a fucking file. I can't hold that shit in my hand and look at the artwork. It's not collectible, it's just a bunch of shitty bleeps on a hard drive. I got stories about tapes, mp3's don't have stories other than defunct websites and nerds I don't remember sending me horrible quality mp3s.
The worst part about tapes was fucking loosing them. So many tapes that got lost in moves, melted in cars, crushed, eaten, stolen, or just staight up worn the fuck out. Fucking sucks man, I lost shoeboxes of stuff when I moved to the bay. Coming up the 5 the tapes got blown out in the wind and I had no idea until I noticed this 20 foot line of magnetic tape flying out of the back of my truck. Shit was fucked and I couldn't sit there on the side of the freeway all day turning pencils inside reels so I just had to toss the tangled mess of memories in a fucking rest stop dumpster.
Anyways I'm currently trying to digitize all my tapes so I'll be posting more shit soon. Next up is probably the 1200 Hobos Tapes, Skills, Techniques tape. Got some miami bass tapes and stuff I want to get up too.
