Category Archives: rap

Shut Em Down. Seriously. Do it.

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Seven years ago, while the DNC was here in Boston, I got to meet a childhood idol at my workplace – Chuck D. I’m not lying. I met the man. The man that, back in ’89 and ’90 while listening to Public Enemy, helped me learn who people like Huey P. Newton were. Who helped me understand what it was like to actually sacrifice to gain ground. I work in a restaurant and walked up to the table he was at and, as politely as I could, simply said hello and thanked him. He was very gracious and shook my hand, and it’s still a source of pride for me.

Years later, I’ve re-learned those lessons, as I’ve certainly become a hell of a lot more selfless. It’s something I certainly don’t like to say so publicly, but for the sake of this post, I think there’s a need for it so that people understand who I am.

Now, my own feelings come from not just a musician, of course. His lyrics certainly resonated within me and made a difference. It was really only that way because of my upbringing, which I understand fully. The two people that laid that foundation in me internally at such a young age are unfortunately no longer with us, any more, but it doesn’t lessen the importance of the lessons they taught me. The music was simply a vessel to launch it into another area of my life – that of equality issues.

Last week, we witnessed Congress – namely Tea Party backed Republicans that strongarmed the rest of their party – nearly shut down our government within the House of Representatives. Now, when I blast Republicans, I have to say that I know that blame isn’t 100% on one side or the other. It takes two to dance. In this instance, we nearly had a shutdown of our government over a distorted moral agenda led by Tea Party backed Republicans. The supposed 11th hour deal that was made is simply stripping more social programs, but the Tea Party is still not happy.

Now, Planned Parenthood is there for a reason. To help a certain cross-section of our society with what is a difficult decision, but also to help provide other resources for women that are simply not available otherwise due to what is still a more subversively sexist society. The fact that we have Senators like Jon Kyl making misinformed statements about the role of Planned Parenthood in abortions is even more disgusting. He made the claim that “over 90%” of what they handle are abortions. Don’t believe me? Watch for yourself:

Disgusting. Which makes Stephen Colbert’s take even better. Take a look at a small part of it:

And that, people, was the sticking point for the budget. A bunch of lying politicians distorting numbers just so they could get a little facetime and suck up to the morally twisted far-right. And yes, that group is led my many involved in the Tea Party. Now, for those saying, “Well, thank God that’s over”? Nope. We have more coming. Hell, perhaps today, even.

Check out the news about how the “debt-ceiling” can affect you.

Why are we even in this mess, to begin with? The fact that a lot of Republicans – Tea Party or not – are willing to basically refuse to let our country to function normally because of a bill that passed – legally – in the Health Care reform bill should frighten all of you. Seriously. These are grown men and women. Stomping their feet and throwing a temper tantrum. One that started over lies about Planned Parenthood and abortion and is ending with people simply throwing words like “ObamaCare” around and continuing to be allergic to facts. One of those facts? Our taxes are historically low. Maybe not for you or I, but for the rich, they are. Taxes are how we pay for everything! And we’re in this mess because a bunch of puppets – and they’re on both the left and right – have pandered to the rich and culled their favor for far too long. Maybe they should have shut down.

Click to Play Public Enemy – Shut Em Down

Don’t Get It Confused

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2Pac

Rap music is the only vital form of music introduced since punk rock.

– Kurt Cobain

I am sitting in the car with The Little One. She’s driving for a change and I am playing with my iPhone. It started with her and I trying to remember the title of a particular song we heard at the Brand New concert.

After the song Archers, the band paused to reset, and Vinnie began playing a riff that we all recognized. It was just a tease though, as they never played more than that riff.

The next day I was trying to figure out what that riff was from. We decided it sounded like Lit and I jumped on Pandora to try to listen to the song. Pandora doesn’t let you pick a song to listen to sadly, so then I had to go to the iTunes store to play the preview of My Own Worst Enemy. After getting a second opinion we confirmed that was definitely the riff. Mystery solved.

Then, moments later I was giving props to TLO on recognizing another song with just a few notes. Testing her I reopened Pandora to see how good she was. I would pick a genre in Pandora and let it randomly choose a song to play, then TLO would have to guess the song title.

She is fantastic at 80s and 90s songs. She never missed a Journey song! She falters a little in other catagories, but overall did fantastic. Until I choose the Rap/Hip-Hop category.Jay-Z

I was starting off easy I thought. Dear Mama by Tupac.

She says “Oh boy, this is that..um…Carter…Lil’ Carter…Wayne…er…Jay-Z!”

I shake my head slowly.

I get it. You are not into Rap and Hip Hop. I get it. I don’t love Country, but I know the difference between Kenny Rogers, Johnny Cash, and Garth Brooks!

Even if you don’t listen to rap music, you need to know the difference between Jay-Z, Tupac, and Biggie Smalls. Period. End of Story.

This post is for The Little One.

Tupac Amaru Shakur (or 2Pac or simply Pac) is my favorite. A poet. He could weave a tale into a song. His distinctive voice, lyrical style, and untimely death made him one of the best-selling music artists in the world. West Coast Rap is defined by 2Pac. The East Coast versus West Coast rap fued probably gets its start with Tupac claiming that Biggie Smalls and Puffy Combs facilitated him getting robbed and shot five times.

Tupac released 5 albums while alive and another 6 released after his death.

Download Tupac – Loyal To The Game (DJ Quik Remix)

Christopher George Latore Wallace (aka Biggie Smalls or The Notorious B.I.G. or simply Biggie) is often believed to have brought East Coast Rap to the masses. Signed by Sean “Puffy” Combs and then released Ready to Die which went Platinum 4 times and puts Brooklyn back in the the rap spotlight.

His unmatched style and ability to make multi-syllabic rhymes sound smooth and easy make him a hit in the rap scene.

Life After Death goes to number one after Biggie is shot outside an award show. Many believed this shooting was in retaliation to the shooting of Tupac in Las Vegas. Either way, another rap legend ends up dead.

Download The Notorious B.I.G. – Suicidal Thoughts

Shawn Corey Carter (or more commonly known by the stage name Jay-Z) is a Grammy award winning artist and a business entrepreneur that made his way from the Marcy Projects in New York very much on the backs of the success from Biggie and Tupac.

Jay-Z has released 11 albums and has appeared on countless other albums as a collaborator. He owns the New Jersey Nets and is the current holder for the record of most number one albums by a solo artist on the Billboard 200.

His style is diverse, able to rap fast or slow and always making it look easy.

Download Jay-Z – Run This Town

These three legendary artists are very different, yet form the backbone and voice for rap and hip-hop for much of the 90’s and even up to current day. Although there are many other amzing rap acts that you should know about, these three artists you must know… and know well.

Bizzare Ride

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Everyone here remember the Pharcyde? You’re talking about a group that put out one of the top hip-hop albums of the 1990’s in Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde. I remember back in early 1992, I bought this on cassette along with a Run DMC tape. This one certainly stuck around with me for years.

There was one cut that stuck out besides “Passin’ Me By”. The track “Soul Flower” was originally done with the Brand New Heavies on Heavy Rhyme Experience, which is how I even found out about the group. Well, I lost my tape, and bought it later on CD, and suddenly, the version of “Soul Flower” had changed! It was still good, mind you, but very different from the original. Well, I am simply going to showcase some of the other remixes of this song here today.

First, the version off of the CD that was such a big change from the original Brand New Heavies version. This is such a good party song for folks to just play in the background. Awesome track that for people like myself? Brings back a lot of memories.

Download The Pharcyde – Soul Flower

Next up are three remixes off of a remix and rarity album of Pharcyde tracks. The highlight of the three here is the “Dogs B*ll*cks Remix”, for sure. The other two are certainly good ones, but really can’t hold a candle to the first one. A big winner of a track.

Download The Pharcyde – Soul Flower (Wrong Tree)

Download The Pharcyde – Soul Flower (Dogs B*ll*cks Remix)

Download The Pharcyde – Soul Flower (2 Tha 3 Mix)

Last up is a much more recent remix. It’s the Gutter remix, and most of the song is strong…….until they add some other MCs by the name Verb and Wale. Seriously, if you’re going to make a remix? Don’t taint it if it’s a classic. Good remix, but horrid addition of other MCs.

Download The Pharcyde – Soul Flower

As an added extra bonus? I’ve also tossed in the Hot Chip remix of “Passin’ Me By”. Enjoy all the cuts!

Download The Pharcyde – Passin’ Me By (Hot Chip Remix)

And go buy stuff! If not, Barry Bonds will rub cream on you. And it won’t be steroids!

Will Not Lose. Ever.

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As many of you know, I’ve been preparing to release an exciting mixtape this summer called Southerngold. Basically, me mixing my favorite Southern rap vocals over remixed samples of my favorite Santigold influenced samples and tracks.

However, as I am about to release my mix on the internet tonight… literally, I am sitting at my desk in Brooklyn uploading the mix to YouSendIt.com, I get a cease and desist from lawyers at Santigold’s label, Downtown Records.

I’m not selling this, I’m not making a dime. I’m encouraging everyone to BUY Santigold’s album and I’m helping to expand her fan base to new markets. In addition, none of these songs are as they would appear on her actual album. EVERYTHING is remixed and redone so there is no competition with her actual in-stores album… It’s ironic that Downtown Records biggest group was signed due to a project with similar ambitions, Gnarls Barkley’s Danger Mouse with The Grey Album.

–Terry Urban

I love mixtapes. They tend to be fun and interesting, and are crowd pleasers if you throw one on at a house party or on a road trip. There is a creativity in this idea of creating a mixtape that is usually rendered illegal and never a viable product to the paying masses.

I am not just talking about the compilation of love songs you recorded to tape for your girlfriend, although, this is also illegal if you try to sell that compilation.

A “Mixtape” is usually an album mainly made up of Remixes that are mainly made by DJs, and are released to promote the DJ, and all the other artists that are featured on the Mixtape. These mixtapes normally use music sampled from other artists’ songs, which are not normally cleared for use, but are overlooked by most music authorities, including those who’s music is sampled.


Rarely found on tape anymore, most mixtapes come packaged up in a .rar or .zip file.

The first mixtape where I ever heard of this stifling attempt by a label was The Grey Album. The Grey Album was DJ Dangermouse’s attempt to create a mixtape compilation between the lyrics from Jay-Z’s Black Album and the Beatles’ White Album. The label who lost their shit was EMI, who owns the rights to the Beatles music. Inadvertently, EMI shined such a bright light on this mixtape that it endsed up becoming an internet phenom.

Back when this was all going down with The Grey Album, the RIAA was taking college students, kids (some as young as 12), and the parents of file sharing children to court. I was generally digusted with how the label approached people sharing music, and when I heard about Dangermouse and his mix tape, I took it upon myself to share The Grey Album with all my friends. I even made CD liners and CD labels, using my own money to make the mixtape I was going to give away look good.

That was my personal FUCK YOU to the record label.

Earlier this month, Terry Urban, the man we quoted at the beginning of this post, was preparing to unleash his latest mixtape Southerngold which basically takes Santigold’s debut album and mashes it up with some popular rappers from the Dirty South. Santigold’s record label, Downtown Records, issues a cease and desist order and officially shut the project down.

Music Bitch reported that “Santigold herself declared that she supported the mixtape culture and she would like it to be released.”

While sitting down to a delicious lunch of Jack in the Box with TLO I ask her what she thinks about this mixtape drama going on. She asks the perfect question: Who is Santigold’s label? I have no clue, so I google it up. Oh shit. She’s on Downtown. Downtown is the label that picked up Gnarls Barkely, which is the brainchild of Dangermouse. See how we came full fucking circle?

Then TLO continues to drop knowledge. As I begin to rant about how fucking hypocritical Downtown is, she explains the simple truth. Downtown knows all about hype and mixtapes. They are shining the spotlight on purpose. They know the end result is more sales for Santigold.

Tricky bastards, yet, at least it’s a record label that gets it. Right?

Download Southerngold
Tracklist
1. M.I.A. Artistes (Ft. Pitbull & Ying Yang Twins)
2. You’ll Find A Way Player (Ft. Andre 3000 & Bun B)
3. Still Tippin’ It (Ft. Slim Thug & Mike Jones)
4. Can’t Say It (Ft. T-Pain)
5. Creating Kryptonite (Ft. Purple Ribbon All-Stars)
6. Fire Superman (Ft. Lil’ Wayne) [Prod. By Mike Cash]
7. Hustlin’ With The Lights Out (Ft. Rick Ross)
8. Shawty Is Starstuck (Ft. The Dream)
9. Unfreakable Girl (Ft. Gucci Mane)
10. Nann Lady (Ft. Trick Daddy & Trina) [Prod. By JKhan]
11. Anne’s Plan (Ft. Chip Tha Ripper) [Prod. By Mike Cash]
12. You’ll Go Crazy (Ft. Young Jeezy) [Prod. By Mike Cash]

I will share TLO’s favorite track off the mixtape:

[Download Rick Ross- Hustlin’ (Santogold vs. Rick Ross)]

Also, there are some great mixtapes out there. Another one I like is another Terry Urban effort of mixing up Coldplay and Jay-Z called Viva La Hova.

Here is one track off that mixtape:

[Download Jay-Z – Know My Place (HOVA vs. Coldplay)]

Support Terry, Jay-Z, Santigold, Granrls Barkley, Dangermouse, Downtown, Coldplay by spending your money on their shows, albums, and merch.

Brim full of Asher on the 45

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How was your 4/20? Did you get nice and high? Did you smoke 2 joints before you smoked two joints? Did you get an ounce of the kind buds?

Maybe you were too stoned to realize that Asher Roth released his album “Asleep in the Bread Aisle” on that haze filled day.

In case you have missed all the hype around this kid, let me fill you in real quick. White, skinny, suburban kid who is fresh outta college.

…and he can rhyme and rap with an easy and intelligent flow.

Apparently his label was too dazed and confused to be ready for his release date, and under delivered CDs to the music outlets. With all the extra promotion that was on MTV leading up to the release, you would think the label woulda been on top of it. Maybe the label was too busy removing the leaks on priatebay to properly plan?

inALLcaps.com to the rescue! You could go down to your closest music store and…WHAT!? They closed their doors? Oh. Fuck it. Go to iTunes or Amazon and download the album while you still can!

It’s a hot little album, reminiscent of Eminem’s first album, The Slim Shady LP. Asher hates it when I do that though. Comparing him to Eminem. (See the song As I Em below.) I mean, they look and sound the same, so the association is easy to make. Asher is right though, even though Eminem may have opened the doors to someone like him, Marshall he is not. Eminem even gives Asher Roth some props!

[Download Asher Roth – As I Em]


From XXL magazine:

“Asher Roth, I haven’t had a chance to, like, really get into everything, like, really get into what he’s about, because I’ve only heard a couple songs. There was talk about people saying he sounded like me, and he was doing this and that and, you know, trying to take what I do and do it. You know, shit like that. I’ve heard things. But the stuff that I’ve heard from him honestly, which certainly isn’t enough for me to make my own opinion and say, ‘Yeah, he does sound like me’ or ‘No, he doesn’t.’ But the couple of songs I’ve head, I don’t really think he does. You know what I mean? He’s doing his own thing. I can respect it, too, because at the end of the day, I think he’s dope.”

Roth is more party/college/tech savvy/funny than Em is. The beats, collected from many of the top producers, help to make this release a trunk rattling affair.
I get the feeling that I might be out of the loop on Asher. Maybe he doesn’t get the respect he deserves, and is scoffed at by any self-respecting fan of hip-hop and rap because he is white, preppy and appears to have sold out? I have watched his freestyles though, and he has the skills in and out of the studio.

So, forget what you have heard, and trust me. It’s a good album that sounds refreshing in the recently stale categories of rap and hip hop.

If you want more proof than the track we share above, then check out this mix tape (torrent) which is freely available across the interwebs.