I'm gonna break my usual attempts at prose and go full-on 1st person: this used to be my shit! If you live in the tri-state area and are a real hip-hop fan - ie an alumnus, not finishing up your 4-years or worse, just beginning - then you were a fan before the internet got big and are thus properly acquainted with the great staple in rap radio that is Hot 97.1 And one of the objects of my 11 year-old affection was 97 personality Angie Martinez, who back in 2000 randomly decided to release a rap album and called in her whole rolodex of industry connects to help out. My favorite song, of course: the bi-lingual hood rom-com back-and-forth dialog between her and Young Hov. Nothing short of classic. It was on the radio way before the album dropped, and again this was before downloading and iTunes. Talk about agony. Fortune favors the patient though. Ended up getting a signed album and other shit through Dad's connects. Enjoy:
"Love having my cake plus eating it too/Shit, I got cake, what the fuck I'm 'sposed to do?"
*If you haven't seen Game of Thrones 1st season in full turn around. Massive Spoilers ahead*
If you're like me, and immediately got sucked into HBO's latest TV tour de force Game of Thrones, but never read the source book series, A Song of Ice & Fire, then the season probably didn't play out how you expected it to. The inevitable showdown between the show's two coolest characters, standup-guy-surrounded-by-unscrupulous assholes Lord Ned Stark and ultimate badass conqueror Khal Drogo they teased all season long? Welp, by the time the finale came around, Ned had been beheaded in what will go down in TV history as one of the most unexpected deaths of all time, and Drogo had been rendered a vegetable and euthanized by his hot underaged wife. The madness of mercy indeed. Apparently fans of the show but not the books have abandoned ship, whining that they identified Ned as the protagonist and now that he's gone there's no point to watch, which is fucking stupid; this is a series full of rich and interesting worlds and characters. But that did make me sit realize...everybody left standing for season 2 is a dickhead! Amidst all the back-stabbers, schemers, and otherwise unpleasant people, who can I even root for? Here are the remaining "real" dudes I can get down with when we return next year:
Tyrion Lanister - He may be on Team Lannister Douchebag, but the imp was always the most interesting character. I can at least count on him to have the line of the episode and keep the bitchass-ness of his family in check, particularly that little fuck King Prince Joffrey. Just peep the clip above where he stands trial and confesses his "sins."
Bronn - Just like the rest of us Bronn was won over by the little Lord during his monologue above and has since served as his personal bodyguard. The title for best one-liner of the night is usually fought between these two. Plus he's probably the illest dude alive with a sword at this point.
Arya - Unlike her stupid older sister, Ned's youngest daughter and tomboy always knew the Lannisters were bitch-made and was always down to ride for her family. Her sword game is crazy too; after witnessing her pop's beheading I'm counting on her above her five siblings to be the one to get revenge.
Jon Snow - Always a cool character but his storyline at the Wall was my least favorite all season. That Rangers are a buncha fake ass Green Lanterns if you ask me. Hopefully next year gives him something more interesting to do than be a bored badass and befriend fat people.
Direwolves - They prevented not one but two assassination attempts on their masters. Best. Pets. Ever.
Runners Up: Robb Stark for transforming from punk entitled kid to worthy successor of his father; Jorah Mormount for at least having an allegiance on a show packed with duplicitous people.
This is the year of R&B freestyles remixes. Now that the whole industry practically ran a train on the "Marvin's Room" beat, is this song next? YMCMB hottie (oh, and singer) Shanell lead's the pack with her own version of boss Wayne's latest single "How to Love." This is quite honestly the best her voice has ever sounded. If I sound harsh, go skim through We Are Young Money and you'll see what I mean. She does the beat so much more service than Weezy that one wonders if he was wrong not to gift it to her in the first place. Probably would've cleared up that whole obscurity problem. See for yourself:
Did you ever think you'd be this excited for a fourth Mission: Impossible? I didn't. The genius of J.J. Abrams combined with director Brad Bird, making his first live-action film (he directed The Incredibles) gives us Ghost Protocol. Whereas the last one was positively low-key, this looks like it's taking the series back to it's over-the-top basics. In a good way. Co-starring the great Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Sawyer Josh Holloway, Paula Patton, and Ving Rhames, of course. Trailer below:
Action sequences filmed with IMAX cameras. Coming to a theater near you this Christmas.
Talk about better late than never. Peep the much delayed but still welcome video for the 4th single from Slim's triple platinum 6th album Recovery, starring porn queen Sasha Grey, below:
Cool concept, great visuals. This was always one of my favorite songs on the album, delayed or not this should help push the Recovery sales to even bigger heights, by 2011 standards at least (to date it's scanned 3.9 million copies and maintained a spot in the Billboard Top 100 for a full year). On an unrelated note, Hollywood's loving Sasha these days, huh?
Unsigned rappers take note: the Based God is stylin' on you. That's right, that Wonton Soup nigga you laughed off last year is now laughing slowly but surely to the bank - and to fame infamy. Here are the top three reasons why Lil Brandon isn't going away any time soon:
He's Keeping His Name in Your Mouth
Did you hear about Lil B's album title?! Of course you did. Titling your album something as incendiary and divisive as I'm Gay is about as attention whore as you can get. It's a bold move, and while he's lost some fans as a result, he also may have even more eyes watching him now. (More on that later.) Plus, he's staying on his current events grind:
He's Gaining Big Supporters
Sometimes rap is like politics: you're only as legit as the people backing you. Some way, some how, the Black Ken's co-signs are growing at the same pace of his buzz. First there was a song with non-mainstream but still highly respected rappers Phonte and Jean Grae. Then GLAAD came through to support the album title (of course they did). Since then Brandon's got a dizzying, mystifying list of collabs and co-signs in the pipeline:
- beats from Just Blaze and 9th Wonder
- a collaborative EP with Jay Electronica (Watch the Throne indeed)
- a feature on the upcoming Weezy mixtape
- performing at festivals like Bamboozle, Coachella and SXSW
- cameos for and from Puffy
- a touring deal with Live Nation
Meanwhile, disses from the likes of Rhymefest and Freddie Gibbs just get brushed off. When CyHi Da Prynce jokes about the G.O.O.D. team cooking during studio downtime and Justin Bieber randomly yells "Swag!" on the Grammy's red carpet, you know you're doing something right.
He Continues to Prove That He's Actually, y'know, Intelligent
Allow me to take credit for calling early on that Young Based, despite songs like this, is actually smart as hell. Knowing full well that this is his moment, Brandon is displaying more and more intelligence with each interview. Dude got on CNN Radio for Christ's sake! Peep that interview plus his guest spot on Rapfix for his suprisingly intellectual take on his album title, what it means, and why he's doing it.
The simplicity behind a lot of The Bawse's hooks on Self Made (the compilation album released to showcase the starting five of Maybach Music Group) has for some reason given people short-term memory loss, instilling doubt in the former C.O.'s lyrical ability. "Devil in a New Dress" was only seven months ago people. As a reminder of why Ricky Rozay is one of the hottest rappers out today, here's a song that went under the radar a few months ago. Released as a part of Swizz Beatz's weekly, now defunct #MonsterMondaysfake ass G.O.O.D. Friday free music initiative, this is "The Transporter," complete with a random but still awesome Biggie intro, no hook, and more dialog from foreign, hot sounding chicks:
Did Swizz Beatz really produce this? It doesn't sound like a typical Swizzy beat (which is the highest compliment).
