Music To Drink To

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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.

The Greatest Wu Solo Albums

The Wu-Tang Clan is probably one of the greatest hip-hop groups of all-time and when they entered the hip-hop scene in 1993, the nine man collective changed the face of hip-hop.  The group released their debut album, Enter the Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers, in November 1993 on Loud Records and at the time, the group’s contract with Loud Records was considered unique because it allowed the individual group members sign solo deals with other record labels.  As a result, a year after the release of their debut album, Method Man would be the first of the individual members to release his solo album Tical, and multiple members would follow.  What follows is my list of the top 5 Wu solo albums.  Remember this is my list, not your list, so if you disagree, give me your top 5.

#5 Method Man – Tical

 I know a few people that didn’t like this album.  One of my boys hated the album so much that he was going to return it to Camelot Music and he said if they didn’t take, he was going to throw it at them and tell them to keep it.  Another one of my boys said he was never buying another Wu solo album, even though he changed his mind when Ol’ Dirty dropped his album next.  Call me sentimental though because the album holds a special place in my heart as being the first Wu solo album.  I also thought it epitomized the griminess that Wu-Tang represented at that time with the dark, hard beats of songs such as Bring The Pain, P.L.O. Style and Mr. Sandman.

#4 Ghostface Killah – Ironman

Most Wu fans should know this, but the original pressing of this album included a joint called The Soul Controller, but due to sample issues, the song was removed from later pressings.  I actually had the original pressing, but the CD got scratched and then I lucked up and found it in a used CD shop for dirt cheap. 

#3 GZA – Liquid Swords

I believe this was the fourth solo album from the Wu and it came out in November 1995.  It was my freshman year of college and I didn’t have a car, so my boy Shun who was at Michigan State, copped it for me and sent it to me.  I remember the back cover telling a story with the song titles, but nowhere in the CD were the song titles in order, so you had to guess the title of the songs.  In my opinion, GZA is probably the dopest lyricist in the Wu and while I think most people appreciate the album, I don’t think it gets its proper respect.  On some days, I could probably put this album at #2 on the list.

#2 Ghostface Killah – Supreme Clientele

Out of the sophomore solo albums from the Wu, this is easily the dopest one.  It came out in January of 2000 and I remember it spent the entire semester in my Walkman.  I can still put this album on today and play it straight through.  I love this album.  If it were a woman, I’d probably waive my “only marry Oprah” rule.  I think Ghost probably has the best solo catalog among the Wu and this album is the crown jewel.  This album is one of my favorites of all-time and if you call yourself a Wu fan and don’t have this album in your top 5, you might want to reconsider giving yourself the title of a Wu fan.

#1 Raekwon – Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… 

The purple tape.  This album came out August 1, 1995.  Up to this point, we had gotten solo albums from Meth and Ol’ Dirty which were both dope, but this album, it changed hip-hop.  I consider it the apex of Mafioso rap.  I still remember when I got this album.  I rode down to the mall with my mom to cop the album from Camelot Music and then I went to the laundry mat with her.  In the ride over, I remember ripping off the packaging and reading the tracklisting on the back of the CD.  The Wu members had given themselves Wu-Gambino names and I was studying the back of the album cover trying to learn their Wu-Gambino names.  While this was Rae’s solo album, it was billed as Raekwon the Chef guest starring Ghostface Killah, so it was almost like a group album.  This album also featured one of Nas’ best verses on Verbal Intercourse and it also featured the interlude Shark N****s where Rae and Ghost took shots at Biggie by accusing him of biting Nas’ album cover.  A couple of Christmases ago, I began giving my acknowledged nieces and nephews a classic album and I love this album so much that this was the album that I gave them last year. 

***Picture of album covers from www.amazon.com***