Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Young Girls, Hipsters & Special Announcements

The characters shown above would be a perfect example of what you would classify as "hipsters". My question is, when did this all become so cool??

I touch on the subject of hipster rap, and also discuss the apparent need to find women at a young age (or, women of a young age).

Also, I share a very special, exclusive announcement...



Shout out to Nick V. and LU.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Throwback Thursdays: Baby feat. Clipse - What Happened To That Boy (2002)


"UGGHHH! Another soul lost/ Had to make his shirt match my ox blood-colored Porsche"
I remember this beat being pretty addictive at the time when it came out. Ironic that Clipse was featured on this record, considering that it was basically the Southern version of this. Of course, the Neptunes produced both of them.

Baby, who by all accounts is a terrible rapper, decided for whatever reason to feature two brand-new, hungry rappers on his lead single. Of course, he had the worst verse. The third verse was the best one, no doubt, and Pusha T's verse also had the most memorable lines (or is that Malice? I can never really tell those two apart).

A few funny things about this video. First off, besides the completely head-scratching Roy Jones, Jr. cameo, did you guys see Lil' Wayne? I forgot he was even in this video, but it was definitely a welcome surprise. Forget the fact that he had probably half the tattoos he has now, and that he didn't yet have that ridiculous lip stud. Seeing him in a throwback Hawks jacket and fitted was a wide contrast to the way he dresses now.

Another thing is, after the song ends, what the hell is Baby Birdman talking about?? He says something along the lines of "Aye Pharrell, dig this shit, nigga. A thousand pieces, puzzle, a hundred, you know. Let's get this money." I have no idea what that means. It kinda reminds me of his random adlibs in this Lil' Wayne song in which he instructs Weezy to "put your feet down and your nuts on the concrete, and let's roll."

Speaking of Birdman and Wayne, they currently have this song out, which I this is dope, but I was told that it's like a year or two old, and that is was some dated mixtape material. Whatever... Baby hasn't had a song in years. He's not even in Wayne's videos anymore. I wonder if they had a falling out...? Or maybe Wayne just got tired of "kissing his daddy." Who knows.

Sidebar: This is probably the most homoerotic cover for a hip-hop magazine I've ever seen.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

South Beach, Wedding Rings & Paying It Forward

I'm back, lovely people.

I know I said it'd be a two week break, but luckily for you, it was only one week. My trip to Miami was fun, but now it's back to business.

In today's blogcast, I share an interesting story from my South Beach escapades from last week. I also touch on the topic of paying it forward, and raise a few questions regarding wedding rings.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Throwback Thursdays: Kanye West feat. Syleena Johnson - All Falls Down (2004)


Remember back when Kanye West used to rap?? (shots fired.)

This is hands down my favorite single from Mr. West, no question. I remember the first time I heard this song, too. I was in the senior cafeteria at MVHS (Shout outs to Vernon!), and one of my friends had the spoken word version of this song. I thought the lyrics were pretty awesome, and at the time I didn't even realize it would become a hit rap song. I think that's why this song stands out so much to me. Besides it having a beat that knocks, the lyrical message about materialism is particularly refreshing, in my opinion.

The original version of the song, as a matter of fact, is even more amazing than the version featured above. That's because the original features the one and only Ms. Lauryn Hill, who is pretty much a legend despite dropping only one LP (Unplugged albums don't count). Unfortunately, Kanye couldn't get the rights cleared in time for his album release, so he had to call Syleena Johnson at the last minute and have her fill in.

The video is an interesting one, and I liked the idea of having the entire thing in first person. The part at the 2:50 mark where he goes through the metal detecting machine and his X-ray starts rapping was a bit corny in my opinion, but overall, I thought it was executed well. I'm personally more a fan of videos that depict the song, so I would have liked to see maybe a visual story of the people he's rapping about in each verse, but I guess that would have made too much sense. On the bright side, the video features the ever-beautiful Stacey Dash.

Miss Dash, who is 43 and was 38 when this video came out, still manages to look like she's 25. In fact, she was 29 when she played a high school student in Clueless. Stacey is actually a relative of Dame Dash, who was an executive at Roc-A-Fella at the time. I assume he hooked this up for Kanye. Of course, it would be ludicrous to even mention Stacey Dash without mentioning how ridiculously hot she is. Of all the celebrity Playboy pics I've seen, hers have to be the best (NSFW, clearly).

Now, five years later, Kanye is putting out songs like this, and Dame Dash is no longer with the Roc. Instead, he's backing Jim Jones and making ridiculous statements like this. My, how times have changed.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Twitter, Ladders & Followers

What exactly is the point of Twitter? Does anyone know, or is it just the new cool thing that everyone does without knowing why they do it??

Today's post discusses the art of "twittering", the Ladder Theory, and a phenomenon I like to call "blacks following blacks."

No blogcasts for the next two weeks, so soak this one up and enjoy.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Throwback Thursdays: Jadakiss - Put Ya Hands Up (2001)


"And y'all scared, I can tell/ And I'ma get Bucks like Milwaukee, cuz like Sam, I Cassell (can sell)"
I told you I was sticking to this era...

This song was Jadakiss' first solo single ever, as he was originally a part of the L.O.X. triumvirate. Actually, the group is still together, but they all decided to put out solo albums, and Kiss was the first to do so. Unfortunately, L.O.X. hasn't put out a group album since their 2000 classic We Are The Streets. The hood needs a new one, fellas.

This video has a number of mentionable things in it. First off, we get an open view of breast and nipple within the first minute of the video, which is always fun. And if you think that's bad, check out the super-NSFW uncut version of his second single, "Knock Yourself Out."

He does this in all his videos, but it still makes me laugh when he cheeses with that ridiculous smile directly into the camera. Maybe it's because you don't see rappers smile that often, or maybe it's because he seems so elated, but it just cracks me up every time. Also, we get a glimpse of that little dance that he does at the 2:37 mark, which he resurrects in the clean version of "Knock Yourself Out." (Melyssa Ford is in the clean version, if that's any motivation to watch it.) Speaking of dances, we get more of the Harlem shake during the third verse, which, like I told you, was the hottest dance out.

Sheek Louch and Styles P. obviously pop up in the video to support their L.O.X. brother. Other cameos include Eve and Swizz Beatz, who became Jada's labelmates after the L.O.X. left Bad Boy for Ruff Ryders. I know I mentioned this before, but Double-R was really like the biggest movement at the time. Roc-A-Fella kinda took over after that, but Ruff Ryders were absolutely huge from like 1998-2002. Speaking of cameos, did you all notice Cassidy at the 2:33 mark?? Homey looked like he was fresh out of homeroom. He was a nobody back then, but it's nice to see that he and Swizz stuck together after all these years.

Me posting this video was no mistake; everyone knows I'm an L.O.X. stanley. Jada hasn't had an album since Kiss of Death in 2004, but he's finally dropping something new this Tuesday (March 10). It's called The Last Kiss, so go pick that up.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Underground, Mixtapes & Cheating

On today's blogcast, I give my reviews of two albums I listened to last night: Drake's So Far Gone and Joe Budden's Padded Room. I also pose some interesting questions about cheating in today's society (I'm looking at you, ladies).