Happy Born Day Illmatic

Photo retrieved from http://www.amazon.com/Illmatic-Nas/dp/B0000029GA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1398023750&sr=8-1&keywords=illmatic

"I woke up early on my born day, I'm 20, it's a blessing..."

20 years ago today, Nas released his debut album, Illmatic.  Among hip-hop fans, especially fans of New York hip-hop, the album was considered an instant classic.  The Source magazine gave Illmatic its coveted 5 mic rating (check out The Source’s review at this link http://bit.ly/1jjGjLe).  Today, Illmatic is in my top 10 favorite albums of all-time and depending on my mood, it sits at the top sometimes.  At the time though, I have to be honest, I didn’t understand the hype around the album.  Back in ’94, I didn’t have access to mixtapes and the Internet didn’t exist for me, so what I heard from Nas had been limited to his verse on MC Serch’s Back to the Grill and the first two singles from Illmatic, Halftime (which first appeared on the Zebrahead soundtrack) and It Ain’t Hard To Tell.  When I first heard the album, the beats seemed dark and dense and I wasn’t so quick to deem it an instant classic.  Life’s a Bitch was probably my favorite track from the album, but it took awhile for the rest of the album to grow on me.  I didn’t fully begin to appreciate Illmatic until my sophomore year of college in ’96.  I don’t know what changed, but I listened to it one day and it just clicked.  I finally realized why Illmatic received its high praise.  The album clocks in under 45 minutes and is only 10 tracks long, but 9 if you remove the intro.  It featured production from some of the best producers of all-time including Primo, Large Professor and Pete Rock.  The lyrics were top notch and have stood the test of time and the album was perfectly sequenced.  I’m getting older and all of my favorite albums are reaching these milestone anniversaries.  It actually makes me feel old as hell, but seeing albums like Illmatic get celebrated with re-releases and hip-hop sites giving in-depth stories about these albums lends credence to the fact that these albums are timeless classics.  There’s been plenty of websites covering the 20^th anniversary of Illmatic, so I’ve included some links before for you to check.  So in closing, happy 20^th birthday to Illmatic and thanks to Nas for blessing us with the album.

Large Professor Reminiscing on Illmatic

Billboard's Track By Track Review of Illmatic

Miss Info On Her Review of Illmatic 20 Years Ago for the Source

Cop Illmatic XX from Amazon

Soundtrack Bangers

Back in the day, movie soundtracks were as popular if not more popular than the movies they were created for.  In the 90s, some soundtracks such as Menace II Society and Above the Rim were considered hip-hop classics while others such as Who’s the Man? and Deep Cover introduced us to emcees whom would later become legendary.  These days, soundtracks aren’t as popular, but if you came up in the 90s, soundtrack releases were anticipating as much as any albums.  In honor of these soundtracks, I’ve decided to give you 26 bangers that appeared on soundtracks.  There’s no particular order and I’m sure I missed some so let me know.

1.     MC Eiht – Streiht Up Menace (Menace II Society)

2.     Nas – One On One (Street Fighter)

The Street Fighter soundtrack had 3 or 4 gems on it and this one from Nas was probably the best one.

3.     Outkast – Phobia (Higher Learning)

4.     2Pac – Pain (Above the Rim)

My favorite Pac song of all-time.  This song was only available on the cassette version.

5.     Method Man & Redman – How High (The Show)

6.     Ice Cube – How To Survive In South Central (Boyz N the Hood)

7.     Tha Dogg Pound – Big Pimpin’ (Above the Rim)

My boy Brian put me on the clean version of Above the Rim soundtrack and the clean version of this song was just as dope as the dirty version.

8.     Outkast – Benz Or Beamer (New Jersey Drive)

9.     Tha Dogg Pound – Just Doggin (Sunset Park)

This song was playing in the background from a scene in Above the Rim which came out before Sunset Park, but for some reason it wasn’t on the Above the Rim soundtrack.

10. A Tribe Called Quest – Hot Sex (Boomerang)

11. Common – High Expectations (Soul in the Hole)

Soul in the Hole seems to be a forgotten soundtrack.  It had a lot of dope tracks on it.

12. Naughty By Nature – Uptown Anthem (Juice)

13. Digital Underground – Same Song (Nothing But Trouble)

Introduced us to Pac

14.  The Notorious B.I.G. – Party & Bullshit (Who’s the Man?)

15. Eminem – Lose Yourself (8 Mile)

16. DJ Quik – Dollaz + Sense (Murder Was the Case)

17. Master P, Young Bleed & C-Loc – How Ya Do Dat (I’m Bout It)

18. Jay-Z – This Life Forever (Black Gangster)

19. Dr. Dre & Snoop Doggy Dogg – Deep Cover (Deep Cover)

20. Eric B. & Rakim – Juice (Know the Ledge) (Juice)

21. Warren G – Regulate (Above the Rim)

22. 2Pac – Definition of a Thug N**** (Poetic Justice)

I forgot about this track until a couple of years ago when I came across the Poetic Justice soundtrack for some reason.

23. Mobb Deep – Back At You (Sunset Park)

24. Mic Geronimo, DMX, Cormega, Ja Rule & Fatal – Usual Suspects (How to Be a Player)

A young DMX and Ja Rule.  Mic Geronimo before he messed up and got with Puff.  For some reason I really like this track.

25. Public Enemy – Fight the Power (Do the Right Thing)

26. Main Source – Fakin the Funk (White Men Can’t Jump)

Music To Drink To

Retrieved from http://www.egotripland.com/gallery/irish-st-patricks-rap-album-covers/8-u2pac-all-irish-eyez-on-me/

St. Patrick’s Day is finally here…March 17^th is to drinkers what 4/20 is to smokers or what Halloween is to kids.  It’s that one day that people can indulge in their vices without fear of being judged or reprimanded.  While green beer and Irish whiskey may not be for everyone, if you choose to participate in the drinking festivities, I encourage you to get in touch with your inner Irish-ness and drink one of the two.  At the very least, you could at least wear something green.  While you’re enjoying the day, I’ve compiled a list of hip-hop songs for you to drink to so that you can properly enjoy your day.  Sláinte!

2Pac – Thug Passion

One part Alize, one part Cristal.  Pac wasn’t trying to turn y’all into alcohols...alcoholics…just into thugs.

Gucci Mane featuring Plies – Wasted

This is the guilty pleasure song.  I don’t want to admit that it’s kind of catchy and might be somewhat likable, but after you’re a few drinks in, you don’t worry about the judgment of the hip-hop elite.

Mobb Deep featuring Q-Tip – Drink Away the Pain

This song is actually kind of sobering.  Prodigy saying he loves her (liquor) her more than living.  Q-Tip’s verse was dope as hell though.

Busta Rhymes featuring Puff Daddy and Pharrell – Pass the Courvoiser Part II

If Drink Away the Pain sobered you up, this joint will get you back to being um…as the kids say these days…TURNT UP!!!!!

DJ Quik – Tonite

Don’t sleep on this ode to drinking from Quik’s debut album.  By the end of St. Patty’s most of you will be feeling like Quik, “To the man up above to whom thanks I give, I’ll never drink again if you just let me live.”

D12 – 40 oz.

I’m not a beer drinker and if 40s get you in this much trouble, that’s probably a good thing.

NaS – Drunk By Myself

This falls in the same category as Drink Away the Pain.  Hopefully you’re not by yourself on St. Patty’s.

Kendrick Lamar – Swimming Pools (Drank)

I get this is supposed to be an anti-drinking song, but the chorus makes you think otherwise.

The Click – Hurricane

“Hurricane, but you can call it Slurricane.”

Tha Alkaholiks – Only When I’m Drunk

I mean the title says it all.  Just a bunch of things you’re prone to due when you’re inebriated.

Snoop Doggy Dogg – Gin & Juice

Possibly the greatest ode to drinking.

House of Pain – Jump Around

This isn’t a song about drinking, but it is St. Patty’s Day’s and they were Irish.

Since this is dedicated to drinking, as a bonus, I've included this YouTube clip featuring a promo tape of St. Ides commercials.  If you were watching Yo! MTV Raps or Rap City in the mid-90s, I don't even have to tell you about the St. Ides commercials.  If you have no idea what I'm talking about, you need to go to YouTube and search St. Ides commercials.

The Greatest Rapper of All-Time Died on March 9th...

From http://keepittrill.com/online/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/notorious-big.jpg

This past Sunday marked the 17^th year anniversary of The Notorious B.I.G.’s death.  If you’re reading this blog, I imagine you’re familiar with B.I.G. and already know his story, so I won’t waste time going over those details again.  In honor of his passing (you might not call it an honor after reading), I’d like to tell you about the time I saw Biggie in concert.

The year was 1995 and it was my senior year of high school.  I believe the concert was in April and it was supposed to be B.I.G., Craig Mack and Mobb Deep.  B.I.G. and Craig Mack had just released their debut albums in September of 1994 and Mobb Deep was getting ready to drop their second album, the soon to be classic The Infamous.  When I bought the tickets for the concert, my mindset was that as long as B.I.G. and Craig Mack showed up, I would be alright and because they were label mates, I figured they would both show up.  I had only heard Shook Ones from Mobb Deep, so while I wanted to see them, I wasn’t too pressed about it.  The concert was in Grand Rapids and I can’t remember the venue, but I believe it was a smaller venue.  Anyway, the concert came and we come inside and the sign says Craig Mack and Mobb Deep won’t be appearing, but it was still cool because Biggie would be there and he was the main attraction.

From that point, there was just a slew of opening acts.  Bad opening acts.  None were memorable.  I have no idea how long we were waiting for Biggie to come out, but at some point, the emcee that night had to try to settle the crowd down because the crowd had started to become anxious and was chanting Biggie’s name.  After what seemed like forever (it was probably two or three hours), B.I.G. finally hit the stage…for what seemed like five minutes.  I swear it seemed like he only did 3 or 4 songs.  Of course there was Juicy and Big Poppa.  I think he might have performed Warning.  I do remember that at one point he threw a bunch of dollar bills in the crowd and my boy Mike actually caught one of them and said he would never spend it.  At the time, this was only the second concert I had been to and it failed to live up to the hype of the first concert I had been to (Method Man, Gravediggaz, Keith Murray, etc.).  I’m not sure why B.I.G. mailed it in that night.  Maybe it was because the other acts hadn’t shown up or maybe it was because it was in a small venue and in a city he had never heard of.  Regardless, I have to say I was pretty disappointed after that concert and it’s probably the worst concert I’ve ever been to.  Despite this, I still love B.I.G. and he’s one of my favorite rappers of all-time and Ready To Die is one of my favorite albums, so I’m not telling this story to bash B.I.G.  I just wanted to share a story that I know most of you haven’t heard before.  In closing, I leave you with a video of Biggie performing at the Apollo in ’96. 

R.I.P. B.I.G.