Allow Me To Re-introduce Myself

Welcome back.  I started this blog in January of 2014 as a requirement for a social media class I was taking.  My intent was to continue the blog after the class was completed, but life and laziness made me slack off and the last blog post I had was probably in April or May of 2014.  I've decided to bring it back and I could say it's only because I want to share my thoughts and feelings about hip-hop with the world, but that's not entirely true. Part of my reasons for bringing the blog back are for selfish reasons.  I enjoy hip-hop and I enjoy talking about it.  The blog provides a release for me.  I know that everyone won't agree with me and that's cool.  This blog is just my thoughts and feelings.  If you can relate, that's cool.  If you can't relate, that's cool too.  I welcome any feedback whether positive or negative.  Also, while my focus will be on hip-hop, I have other interests too and I've decided to, incorporate them into this blog.  I have opinions on a bunch of things, so every now and then, my blog may be something that isn't really hip-hop, such as my hatred for Duke University.  I don't plan to stray too far from hip-hop though because that is the basis for this blog.  I also want a light-hearted blog, so I won't really discuss too many serious issues.  While I do have my opinions on serious subjects, social media allows for those subjects to be discussed in depth.  I want to enjoy what I'm doing with this blog and discussing every serious issue that comes up takes away from my enjoyment.  With that said, I hope that my blog will provide some sort of entertainment to you and please feel free to contact me with any comments, criticisms, suggestions, etc.  One last thing, for those that don’t know, the title of the blog was inspired by Common’s song from 1994 titled I Used To Love H.E.R.  With H.E.R. standing for “Hip-hop in its Essence is Real”.  Peep the video.

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)

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***