Hip Hop Connection

The Visualiza

2006-10-24T16:48:00.000-04:00

It's been over a decade since AZ first came on the scene with what is arguably his most memorable verse in "Life's A Bitch" off of Nas' debut Illmatic (1994). But sadly where his career should've been at the level of Nas or Jay-Z, this man was barely hanging on the top 100 with his latest release A.W.O.L. and probably won't do much better with November 7th release, The Format. His 6th solo album to be released. Unlike most rappers, its not that AZ's material gets worse and eventually causing his sales to go down, its just lack of promotion and exposure. Back in the late 90's and maybe even up to 2001, you may be lucky enough to catch AZ on MTV or BET (usually the "Phone Tap" video). Today, the only time he will get noticed is on a few hip-hop forums that are around, praising him as the most under-rated lyricst. Which is the title he rightfully deserves. As a rapper that emerged at the same time as Jay-Z and Nas, he has maintained his talent uncompromised. And being that he has yet to establish himself in the mainstream, he seems to be just as hungry as he was back in '94. This is a true sign of a rapper doing it for the love of music. It must be, because after 12 years he still isn't seeing that Jay-Z money.

His failure of tapping the mainstream audience is good news for us. AZ may not know what the MTV crowd wants to hear but he does know what the true hip-hop fan wants. This is why his sound has stayed consistant with that New York style that made him who he is. Producers DJ Premier, Heatmakerz, and Emile have merged with AZ's flow perfectly in constantly and consistantly bringing satisfaction to AZ fans. In his latest effort, AZ once again has dropped a gem. That unfortunatley probably will go undiscovered.

Even though I think everyone should go out and buy the album, tracks have already leaked. What I got here are my favorites of what I heard so far. "Life" is a track produced by Heatmakerz but I'm not sure if it will be included in The Format. If anybody knows, let me know. After you hear it, you can always download it from zshare. By the way this may be the only place you can get "Life" on mp3.

Pre-order your copy of The Format at Amazon.com (below)

The Hip-Hop Honorables

2006-10-23T00:36:00.000-04:00

Last week VH1 aired their annual Hip-Hop Honors. This is one show I always look forward to because they always manage to get the true hip-hop legends back on stage, even if it is for just one night. Of those honored I was looking forward to see the Beastie Boys, Rakim, and of course Wu-Tang on stage performing their classics. Others honored were Ice Cube, Eazy-E, Mc Lyte, and Russell Simmons. The whole show was great and I definetly look forward to next years show.

For anyone who has missed the show, I have uploaded my three favorite performance on YouTube for you to check out. Here they are:

Wu-Tang was definetly the one I was excited about most. They performed "C.R.E.A.M." and "Triumph" and the very end of the show. I was disappointed that Ghostface Killah wasn't with them though and I still haven't found out why he wasn't there.

Beastie Boys finally got an honor that night and came out and performed their classics over the original beats and Mix Master Mike sampled some others. It's good to see that the Beasties are still giving it their all when they perform.

Finally, I have here the legendary Rakim. A week before the Hip-Hop Honors aired, Rakim was here at a local D.C. club where he performed what apparently is gonna be his first single off his album slated to be released early next year. According to a Washington Post critic at the show, the single is called "It's Nothing" and a verse was performed at the Hip-Hop Honors. I've been trying to get my hands on this song but still can't find it. If anyone out there can help me out, I'd appreciate it.

I'm Back

2006-10-22T01:49:00.000-04:00

It's been about half a year since I lasted posted on this blog and to be honest I never planned on coming back. When I first started this blog, I had high hopes of creating a place where someone can come and visit to get the latest mp3's, video, and performances, along with my opinions and views on certain aspects of hip-hop. In the short time I was posting, I recieved a few emails requesting me to send them tracks and complimenting me on being the first to post some videos. But as time went by, I was losing interest in hip-hop and couldn't find anything to write about or anything to post. This summer really didn't bring anything worthy of even mentioning so I thought of just forgetting the whole blog deal and finding something else. But lately I've been seeing that hip-hop is getting back to how I like it. How I've been liking it. Jay-Z is back, Nas is ready to drop a new album, Lupe Fiasco finally released his great album (although nobody is buying it), and alot more is to come this year and onto the next. So I'm gonna try this again and hopefully get more visitors to keep me motivated to post as much stuff as I can.

"D12's Proof, Shot and Killed"

2006-04-11T21:40:00.000-04:00

I know I've been away for a while and haven't had the time to post anything for a while, but today there was the unfortunate news that D12's Proof was shot and killed this morning over a dispute that occurred the Triple C club in Detroit around 4:15 a.m.

Proof has been widely recognized as Eminem's hype-man and was seen everywhere Eminem was at, he was even Eminem's best man in his recent wedding. He also appeared in movie 8 Mile as the character Lil' Tic, who first battled Eminem's character in the beginning of the film.

As sad as it is to say, Proof, along with all of the D12 members other than Eminem, has not received much attention when it comes to sales. But in fact, Proof was noticed before Eminem by critics as winner of The Sources 1999 Unsigned Hype Award. Proof was also recognized as a battle rapper when he almost won the popular Blaze Battles aired on pay-per-view and HBO. Unfortunately, Proof's style and creativity was diluted by the time he debut with D12 on their first album Devil's Night. Efforts in releasing his solo album were halted many times, resulting in two mixtape releases, "I Miss the Hip-Hop Shop" (reference to the club D12 was first founded) and "Grown Man Shit". It wasn't until last year that Proof release his first solo album Searching For Jerry Garcia, which peaked on Billboard charts at 65.

What I expect to see now is people praise the dead, even though they weren't appreciated while living, which is usually done in the world of hip-hop. I also wouldn't be surprised if people all of a sudden praise him as the best rapper to come out of Detroit. As for Eminem, I'm sure he will write a song or two about his friend and make a hit about it and soon Proof will probably be thrown in the list of dead rappers mentioned at the end of each song.

Another thing I want to mention is that many people may see Royce Da 5'9" as a suspect behind the murder because of the on-going beef between D12 and Royce and the things seen on the Beef II DVD. But remember that what you see on these DVD's are always over-exaggerated and not to be taken too seriously. Even though their might be personal tension between both sides, the murdering a person is a move that few are willing to make. It takes more than words to make someone kill another man and Royce and Proof are both more responsible than that. Remember that Detroit is the most violent city in America so it could've been just about any guy out there with something to prove.

George Mason Goes To The Final Four

2006-03-27T00:53:00.000-05:00

I know this is a hip-hop forum for discussion and I promise I'll keep it strictly for hip-hop but being that I'm a student at George Mason University, I want to congratulate the team for making the impossible, possible. Critics said that Mason wasn't even supposed to be in the tournament but they have made history and beat last year's Final Four team, Michigan St in the first round. Then they managed to shock everyone by beating last year's champion UNC. And today, they beat UConn, the number 1 seed of the region. Mason has never even passed the first round of the NCAA tournament but now have become a true cinderalla story because none of you reading this have probably even heard of George Mason until this last week. Now that they are in the Final Four, I believe anything is possible.

The Never Forgotten--Eazy-E

2006-03-27T00:51:00.000-05:00

Whenever you hear rappers praise the dead, you usually hear the names: Biggie, Pac, occasionally Big Pun, and rarely Big L. For some reason, I never hear "Rest in peace Eazy-E" in any tracks.
Other than Bone Thugs-N-Harmony and sometimes, The Game, nobody really seems to care for Eazy-E. I guess it could be said that none of today's rappers ever worked with Eazy so don't really know him. Other than Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, today's rappers only knew Eazy through their music. Biggie, on the other hand, worked with alot of today's rappers, so did Pun. Tupac, for many reasons, is placed in a whole different level when it comes to being praised, as if every rapper has some kind of attachment to him, or at least wished they did. Yesterday marked the 11 year anniversary of his death from the AIDS virus and as a fan of his music and for what he did for the world of hip-hop, I will remember him even though he has been forgotten by many. After all, if it wasn't for this guy we probably wouldn't have Dr. Dre or Ice Cube. The image of hip-hop itself changed with the presence of Eazy-E and N.W.A.

Eazy-E's son, Lil' Eazy-E released a domcumentary about his father entitled The Life and Times of Eric Wright and is expected to release his own debut album sometime in the near future.

Common Performance at Hard Rock Live

2006-03-20T00:03:00.000-05:00

I don't really have anything to post today so I just decided to post up some performances of Common at Hard Rock Live aired on MTV2 back in December. Common definetly did it big last year by significantly coming to mainstream's attention with his album Be. Now that he is signed to Kanye's Good Music label, his career will reach the status that has been overdue.

Unfortunatley he didn't pick up any of his four Grammy nominations but I know he is gonna come strong on his next album.

No word yet on when his next album will drop but I did hear that GOOD Music compilation album or mixtape will be released next month. If anyone knows if it will be an actual album released in stores, let me know.

Here is "The Corner" performance at Hard Rock Live for download.

Here is "Faithful & Testify" performance at Hard Rock Live for download.

If you don't want to download them and just watch, check them out at youtube.com

The King of '06

2006-03-15T12:24:00.000-05:00

Just like 50 Cent's name was everywhere last year with a successful album, (sales-wise at least) movie, video game and seen on every magazine; the self proclaimed King of the South, T.I. will have a very similar year. With an album due out in two weeks (March 28) as well as his big screen debut in the film ATL that very same week, you are gonna be seeing and hearing alot of T.I. His role in ATL wont be just any regular part, he will play the lead role. The film tells the story of a group of four friends who have just graduated from high school in Atlanta. 'ATL' spotlights the city's famed Jellybeans skating rink, a popular hangout not only for the teens in the film, but for T.I. as he grew up in Atlanta. The film was directed by music video director Chris Robinson and also stars Big Boi of Outkast, both also from Atlanta. If you haven't seen the commercials or trailers, go to the ATL official site and check it out. Based on what I read and seen from this movie, it might just be a typical story of a kid or group of kids who try to do something succesful to overcome the life of poverty and drug deals. Nothing special if you ask me, especially when it has been done hundreds of times. But maybe I'll be proven wrong.

As for T.I.' s fourth album, King will feature an elite cast of rappers such as Bun B and Rakim. His single "What You Know" is heavily rotating on radio and the video, which is also directed by Chris Robinson can be seen on MTV and BET.

T.I. has already been on the cover of XXL's April issue, featured on King magazine's May issue, and will be all over BET and MTV the next coming weeks. If you want the specifics on when you catch him on tv, check out the T.I. official fan site. Mobile provider Sprint has also partnered with T.I. to offer images, downloads and exclusive ringers from his upcoming album before it hits stores.

It seems like T.I. will be everywhere this spring, who knows maybe later this year we'll be seeing him on cover of GQ as Man of The Year like 50 was (just playing).

Check out his first single What You Know.mp3

Behind the Death of The Notorious B.I.G.

2006-03-09T23:04:00.000-05:00

It has been 9 years since the passing of the great Notorious B.I.G. and thanks to all the fans, both in and out of the industry, we can hear his music till today. BIG was for sure one of the greatest to ever do it. Only releasing two albums while he was alive, he made an impact in the game of hip-hop unmatched by many. His life is celebrated everday by the millions of fans who play "Juicy" or "Big Poppa" out of their systems, yet his death remains to be the attention grabber. Who murdered The Notorious B.I.G. and why?

Theories, rumors, lies, and suspicion all surround the answer to this question, along with what has now been 9 years of little progress. RollingStone magazine published a 26-page story this past December, outlining the whole night of the murder along with exclusive information regarding Biggie's murder. According to the article, L.A.P.D. corruption and ties with Suge Knight and Blood gang are all responsible for B.I.G.'s murder. To be more specific, Suge Knight ordered corrupt cop, David Mack, to be in charge of the murder. David Mack, in turn hired gunman Amir Muhammade to do the killing. Also involved is Rafael Perez, better known as the police officer who stole cocaine from the evidence room and in exchange for immunity, testified against 70 officers accused of corruption.

To protect themselves from scrutiny, the L.A.P.D. have taken extreme measures to protect Mack and Perez by witholding information regarding the murder and have done little with the investigation. According to the article, it wasn't until after a month after B.I.G's murder that they started investigation. Since the murder, many credible informants have come out and directly accused Suge Knight of being responsible for the murder. Among the many informants, the most credible of the sources, Mario Ha'mmond has said that while in prison, Suge Knight has admitted and even bragged about to killing. Ha'mmond himself was even asked to carry out the murder but declined. The murder of Biggie is not the only murder informants have linked to Knight. An orchrastrated act involving Crip member Orlando Anderson and Knight has also been circulated by informants. Snoop Dogg himself has even told the L.A. County Sheriff that Knight was behind the murder.

Mixed in the corruption, the Los Angeles Times has, for some reason, printed several articles attempting to stray the murder from the L.A.P.D. and Suge Knight. There is yet to be any real evidence linking the L.A. Times to either the L.A.P.D. or Knight, but they continue to claim that they are nuetral in their position regarding Biggie's death. The article that has stood out the most as proof that the L.A. Times has done a poor job of reporting the case is it's 2002 article claiming that B.I.G. was in Vegas the night Tupac Shakur was murdered and paid Crip gang members to carry out the murder. This article was later disproved and made uncredible, forcing the paper to publish a new story.

The article also makes mention of Sean "P.Diddy" Combs comment on not involving himself in helping the investigation and reportedly telling employees of Bad Boy that they'd be fired if they names appeared on a witness list. To this, B.I.G.'s mother, Voletta Wallace, has says, "If Puffy has been threatening people with the loss of their for cooperating with the police, I want that made public... IF he did that, then I think he is lower than low."

As of July 2005, the Estate of Christopher Wallace won a major victory against the city of Los Angeles, after it was learned that the Los Angeles Police Department withheld evidence that could have linked two police officers and Death Row Records co-founder Marion "Suge" Knight to both murders. In a dramatic turn of events, an unnamed tipster told the court that a significant amount of evidence had not been given to lawyers of the estate. The unnamed source offered evidence that disgraced LAPD officers David Mack and Rafael Perez worked in cahoots with Knight to gun B.I.G down. U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper declared a mistrial in the case, after Detective Steve Katz allegedly "forgot" about critical documents pertaining to the trial that were found in his desk drawer after a search of his office. The city of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Police Department were ordered to pay the legal costs the family of Christopher “Notorious B.I.G.” incurred during the trial, for withholding the evidence about the rap star’s murder. (Allhiphop.com)

The conspiracy and corruption behind one of the most greatest and most popular rapper has become something that you would see in a movie. But instead his life rather than murder will be celebrated in a movie that is in the works. Antoine Fuqua, the director of Training Day, will direct the film. The film is being produced by Wallace's mother, Voletta Wallace, and by his former managers, Wayne Barrow and Mark Pitts. Mrs. Wallace has stated that the movie will be based around the personal life of Christopher Wallace.

Lupe Fiasco: The People's Rapper

2006-03-08T18:39:00.000-05:00

If you don't know who Lupe Fiasco is, then you probably haven't heard Kanye's "Touch The Sky" or seen the video. As soon as Kanye West dropped Late Registration, Lupe Fiasco's name has been buzzing all over both the internet and streets. Although Kanye helped with the jump start of his fellow Chi-town rapper, Lupe has already been here. In fact, Lupe Fiasco (real name Wassulu Muhammad Jaco) has been in the game for a few years now and has already done work with Fort Minor on "Spraypaint & Inkpens" and has dropped three mixtapes under the Fahrenheit 1/15 title. Lupe is even the VP and co-founder of his own label 1st & 15th Entertainment whic has inked a deal with Atlantic Records.

Now that you got a jist of what he has done, prepare for what he is about to do. Liquor & Food, his debut album is to be released this year and is executive produced by none other than Jay-Z. As for what what kind of sound we will be hearing from Lupe, is anybodies guess. Lupe is no doubt a skilled lyricist but many I've talked to have doubt that his persona will be accepted by everyone. First thing that makes him stand out is that he is into skateboarding. Something hip-hop has not really been associated with too heavily. Second thing may be his reputation as being somewhat a "nerd", a characteristic about him that he told Allhiphop.com, "everybody is a nerd in a certain aspect. You'll be surprised who you'll walk with, smoking his weed, smoking his gun, toting this 20 rim, [is the same guy who has] the whole collection of transformers at the crib."

Now if reading comic books and watching cartoons makes you a "nerd" then doesn't every hip-hop head have some nerd in him? Of all the people I know who are really into hip-hop, it seems that things people would consider "uncool" and hip-hop enthusiasm go hand in hand. The average hip-hop fan doesn't live the lifestyle of the stereotypical rapper so for a rapper such as Lupe Fiasco to come out and rap about what the average fan can relate to will easily make Lupe a fan-favorite, you can even go as far and say he is a rapper for the people. He is so relatable to hip-hop fans that you can be his MySpace friend and read up on all his latest blogs.

Thats enough hyping him up for now. Check him out for yourself, download "Kick, Push" below (through yousendit.com), it's a hot track about finding a place to skate:

Kick, Push.mp3

Also, check out this Lupe Fiasco fan site with everything you want to know about Lupe.
http://www.squidoo.com/lupefiasco

Three 6 Mafia Make History

2006-03-05T19:41:00.000-05:00

For the first time ever, hip-hop was seen and heard on the Oscar stage tonight as Three 6 Mafia performed their acadamy award nominated song "It's Hard Out Here For A Pimp" from the film Hustle & Flow. The performance was alright, except for the interpretive dance going on in front of Three 6 Mafia as they performed. Right after the performance, the award for Best Original Song was announced and awarded to Three 6 Mafia. This being the second rap song ever to win this award (Eminem's "Lose Yourself" being the first).

If you didn't see the performance you know I got it here for you to download, along with Three 6 Mafia accepting the award.
You Know It's Hard Out Here For A Pimp performance at the Oscars

Beyond The Beef: Jay-Z & Nas

2006-03-03T22:04:00.000-05:00

As you may know Jay-Z and Nas has had the second interview relating to their beef and their recent partnership. BET aired "Beyond the Beef" tonight and it seems like the interview originally took place the same day Jay and Nas did MTV's "All Eyez On: Jay-Z & Nas" interview because they got the exact same clothes on in both interviews. But, as usual MTV has beat BET to it and aired it first.

This interview didn't reveal anything different from MTV's interview and just makes BET seem lame for airing the same interview 3 weeks later. Anyway, here is the interview if you missed it, just remember where you get these videos first.
BET's Beyond The Beef: Jay-Z & Nas.wmv

Are Dilated Peoples "Back Again"?

2006-03-01T11:42:00.000-05:00

Last week Dilated Peoples dropped their fourth album, 20/20. Unfortunately it seems like it is just another Dilated Peoples album and nothing more then that. For some that consistency is what they love to see in music, but for me the Dilated Peoples sound can become repetitive, especially the fourth time around. Their first album under Capitol Records The Platform was a definite classic because of its original sound, but it could only them so far with time. With 20/20, I was hoping, but not expecting, for a bit of tweaking on their rhymes and production to make this album standout from the rest, instead I'll just sit and wait for something better the next time around. Although, their single "Back Again" is without a doubt a great track produced by The Alchemist. As for the rest of the album, it's just so-so.

Dilated Peoples performed "Back Again" on Last Call with Carson Daly last night and I got it here if you want it (download through Rapidshare). "Back Again" performance

Ghostface Killah Returns With Fishscale

2006-02-26T13:12:00.000-05:00

This is the fifth solo album from Wu-Tang Clan member Ghostface Killah and may be the most anticipated. On March 28, Fishscale will hit stores everywhere and for me, this album might be his career best. This album will be released under Jay-Z's Def Jam and will include production from Pete Rock, Cool and Dre, the late J Dilla, and MF Doom. The tracks produced by MF Doom is what I'm most excited about. He has produced 4 or 5 tracks on the album and the combination of Doom's sound and Ghost's style seems like it was meant to be. Both have a traditional hip-hop style to them that fit together perfectly, not to mention they both have based most of their person off of Marvel characters. The two rappers have been working together for a while now on a collaborative LP that has been highly anticipated yet with no word on a release date.

Fishscale will also feature fellow Wu-Tang Clan member Raekwon and Wu associate Capadonna along with others. The album will also feature up-and-coming R&B singer and songwriter Ne-Yo on the single "Back Like That". Another single, "Be Easy" has already reached 91 on the US hip-hop charts. This album will hopefully follow a similar formula to that of Ironman. As for Ghost's lyrical content, he plans on taking a storytelling approach on this album, as he explained for MTV.

The unmastered leak of this album is circulating around the internet but I suggest waiting to hear the finished product.

Here are the first two released singles off Fishscale if you haven't heard them yet.

Be Easy.mp3

Back Like That.mp3

Three 6 Mafia To Perform at Oscars

2006-02-22T17:10:00.000-05:00

A few days ago, telecast producer Gil Cates of the 78th Acadamy Awards announced that Three 6 Mafia will perform their nominated song from Hustle & Flow, "It's Hard Out Here For a Pimp". In the Acadamy Awards press release released February 17, Jordon "Juicy J" Houston, Paul "DJ Paul" Beauregard and Darnell “Crunchy Black” Carlton of Three 6 Mafia, along with the actress who sang the hook in the movie, Taraji Henson. This will be the first time that the Acadamy Awards will hold a rap performance. When many hip-hop fans first heard this, there was alot of criticism towards Three 6 Mafia, mostly because having them represent hip-hop as they perform for middle-aged white america on Oscar night is not the best first impression hip hop should make.

When it comes to hip-hop, it seems that whatever is fun to listen to but has no substance behind it is what these award shows like to expose to those who are uninformed in hip-hop. These older conservative crowds will always think of hip-hop as the image that keeps being shown to them, the champagne popping, iced-out-wearing, sex driven image. Now I'm not saying that Three 6 Mafia fit this stereotype but they do lean towards the "crunk" style that isn't exactly what many would categorize under the truest form of hip-hop.

As for me, I agree Three 6 Mafia isn't exactly the best embassador of hip-hop but it will get someone listening on Oscar night, and for those few people who have been blinded by the tainted image of hip-hop they may see or hear something they never seen or heard before and give hip-hop a try. After all, expanding hip-hop for everyone to hear is a good thing right?

If you haven't heard "It's Hard Out Here For A Pimp", I suggest checking it out along with the movie Hustle & Flow. The song itself isn't really anything special but it does have that Three 6 Mafia sound to it even though it has actor Terrance Howard rapping over it, but it fits the movie perfectly. Check back on Oscar night for the performance I'll have uploaded.

It's Hard Out Here For A Pimp.mp3

Remembering A Lost Potential: 7 Years Since the Death of Big L

2006-02-17T21:45:00.000-05:00

With all this recent Jay-Z and Nas interview that everyone has been talking about the last 2 days, I did not have a chance to remember the 7 year anniversary of the death of Big L. A rapper who has definetly made his mark in hip-hop without ever reaching mainstream attention. Big L made a name of himself with his strong freestyling skills and and clever word play such as "I cook the mic like a beef steak cause my techniques great/ And I'm the nigga police hate in each state" from his 7 minute freestyle with Jay-Z. In his short career, Big L has managed to release two albums, his critcally acclaimed debut, Lifestylez Ov Da Poor & Dangerous and his final album released after his death, The Big Picture. He has also worked many big name rappers such as fellow Harlem rapper Mase, Jay-Z, and former group member of D.I.T.C., Fat Joe.

Unfortunatley Big L was shot and killed in Harlem because of a rumored debt his imprisoned brother was in. The legacy he left speaks for itself but to say that he is one of the greatest rappers is over doing it a bit. Lyrically, he is definetly a good rapper but based on the material he left us with, it is an exaggeration to say he is in the ranks of Tupac or Nas. When I hear people praise Big L as a G.O.A.T. it makes me think that they only say that because it's safe to rely on Big L as a potential great but not for what he really was, just potential that has left us all in debate.

Check out these tracks if you are unfamiliar with Big L's music:

Flamboyant.mp3
Put It On.mp3
M.V.P..mp3

A Foolproof Deal

2006-02-13T00:14:00.000-05:00

From the moment Jay-Z called out for Nas to join him on stage at the Power 105.1's "I Declare War" concert , I knew these two would work out a deal to get Nas on Def Jam, but then again, so did everyone else. Once Nas inked the deal with Def Jam it officially became apparent that all the "what ifs" would become reality. Of course seconds after the announcement was made, hip-hop forums all over the internet filled with 14 and 15 year old hip-hop know-it-alls began to take this incredible reconciliation of two hip-hop greats and made it into a who "won" and who "lost" argument. I just want to make this point clear; Nas won, Jay won, and we as hip-hop fans won.
All the talk about who did what with who and how can Nas forgive Jay is a whole different matter that we shouldn't get involved in, and shouldn't even care about. As hard as it is for me to believe, there are people who are actually against the two rappers coming together mostly for the same reason that has been blown up by 50 Cent saying,

"Jay-Z slept with his baby's mother! There is a difference between writing a punchline and being competitive, from running into an artist's daughter's mother and having sex with her. That could never be fixed, that can never be repaired. For the rest of his life, every time he looks at his daughter, he has to see Jay-Z. No way in the world would I sign...But at this point, Nas' career is so damaged that he's desperate."

Surprisingly, even Fat Joe feels the same way 50 does,"I don't even really respect what he did. How do you become a friend to a person who disrespects your baby's mother? It's too much ugliness. I almost died, as a hip hop fan, when I heard they were together."

Regardless of what 50 and Fat Joe say, we shouldn't look down on Nas for making this deal with Jay. Whatever soap opera drama they had between them has obviously been resolved, either through the motivation of money or just a genuine reconciliationation. Why would anyone not want to hear the two together on the same track? And to be honest, this may be the smartest move Nas has done in his career. Def Jam will only bring Nas to an even higher status than before. The only real problem I see is that Nas is signed to do four more albums. This might not be a smart move on his part only because I'm sure his first album under Def Jam will will be hot, maybe even to the point that there will be no where to go but downhill from there. Only time will tell whether Nas did the right move and this year will be the start of his new chapter. If you ask Nas, he would say "I'm ready to kick ass". as he recently told MTV in a sit down interview with both Jay-Z and Nas.

Here is the sit down interview with MTV which aired yesterday: All Eyez On: Jay-Z & Nas

If you guys need a refreshment on why these two started beefing in the first place, check out this video MTV aired a few years ago. Jay-Z vs. Nas

Hip-Hop At The Grammy's

2006-02-11T16:14:00.000-05:00

Last Wednesday I saw the Grammy's in hope that I would see Common walk out with at least one Grammy. Unfortunatley of the four nominations he recieved, he didn't win any. As for Kanye West he only won 3 Grammys (Best Rap Album for Late Registration, Best Rap Solo Performance for "Gold Digger" and Best Rap Song for "Diamonds From Sierra Leone") which is not that special considering he was nominated for 8 Grammys and that he didn't improve from his 3 Grammys from last year. Of the 8 nominations, Kanye's Late Registration was nominated for best album of the year which he lost to U2's How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb. This was my personal biggest disapointement of the night because of all the nominees for best album, Late Registration was with out a doubt the best album of the year. Although U2's album is definetly a good album, it did not have the same impact Late Registration had. For me, U2's album was just another U2 album, which is not a bad thing but nothing that would make me say be in aww. I was pretty sure that Gwen Stefani and Mariah weren't gonna win it because both albums lacked that meaningfulness to the album that the Grammy is looking for. As for Paul McCartney's Chaos and Creation In The Backyard, I never heard any tracks from it and to be honest, I never even knew about the album prior to Grammy nominations were announced so I can't say much about it.

Musically speaking, Late Registration showed Kanye and rap music in general in a whole new light. It had a whole new sound to it but maintain the fundamental sound to clearly keep it at hip-hop. I'm not saying that Kanye's album is the best hip-hop album or anything but it definetly will fall in everyone's top 10 list for years to come. It's an album that can be respected by fans of street bangers, hip-hop heads, and even by the 14-year-old white girl living in Minnesota. Definetly the album of the year.

Not all of the hip-hop community left disappointed from the Grammys, there were the performances that highlighted the show. Gorillaz opened the show with their hit "Feel Good Inc." featuring De La Soul.(Click here to see 'Feel Good Inc.' performance) It was good seeing those guys come out on a Grammy stage for once. Later in the show, Jay-Z and Linkin Park performed their hit mash-up Encore Numb(Click here to see 'Encore/Numb' performance) which was pretty hot especially when Paul McCartney came out to close the performance. I would've never thought I would see Jay-Z, Linkin Park, and Paul McCartney on stage together but it happened. Towards the end of the show, Kanye and Jaime Foxx performed the expected "Gold Digger" hit and ended with about 15 seconds of "Touch the Sky". Kanye's performance has been said to be the best of the night but I have to disagree. Probably because the song has been played to death and because the university themed performance with costumes and step team battling was a bit corny for me.(Click here to see the 'Gold Digger' performance)

Enjoy the videos I uploaded through Zshare.net.

Remembering a G.O.A.T.

2006-02-08T00:23:00.000-05:00

Christopher Lee Rios "Big Punisher"
November 10, 1971 - February 7, 2000

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Big Pun is quite possibly the most underrated rappers of the 90's, even at the commercial level. The word play in his rhymes is unmatched by any rapper that I can think of except for maybe Eminem at his early years. Not only did he assault the mic with the complex rhyme scheme but he could keep it fast for all 16 bars without losing a breath. Every time I put on one of his tracks, even if I've already heard it hundreds of times, I can't help but sit back and wonder how he cleverly chose the right words at the right time in each bar. Even though his lyrics were executed perfectly, they sometimes times lacked content but he always found a way to make up for it with charm and charisma, a trait that was lost in hip-hop during the that period of hardcore rap.

From working with Digging In The Crates Crew to being a Grammy nominated solo success, Pun has put his all into everything he has done and his music is the proof. Success did not change who Pun was, it has only helped the growth of Fat Joe, The Terror Squad, Cuban Link, open the door for Latino's in hip-hop, and hip-hop in general. It's So Hard (Pun intended [so was that one]) losing a G.O.A.T. but he will live on through his music.

The Future of Hip-Hop...Papoose and Saigon

2006-02-05T01:52:00.000-05:00

Being that this is my first post on this blog, I thought what better than to talk about where we are going from here in terms of hip hop. For about two years now, I've been listening to these two New York rappers spit on various mixtapes and what makes these two standout from other upcoming rappers is their versatility and aggressive delivery. When I say versatility, I mean their ability to avoid keeping their lyrical content consistent. Nobody wants to hear a rapper rap about the same thing on each of their tracks (usually either drug or money or both depending on the rapper). With Papoose, doing a whole track based on a theme is what first caught my attention. "Sharades" may have been the track that helped introduce Papoose to many people because he takes on the role of the "hip hop police" which may confuse listeners at first with lines like "Gimme the keys to Shyne Po' handcuffs/Gimme the keys to Lil' Kim's handcuffs/Gimme the keys to C-Murder handcuffs/So I could tighten' em and let the cell slam shut". Saigon on the other hand raps about socially critical issues such as Blood/Crip relations or questioning societies constraints with songs like "True Story" where you can find lyrics like "Why the media players portray us as crack weighers?/Why is it gonna take black mayors to turn mac sprayers into tax payers?".

Both rappers have that identifiable New York style to their flow which is a good thing since a lot of NY rappers seem to have lost that style in the heavily Southern driven rap influence of today. But unlike that of Jay-Z and Nas relaxed sounding flow, Papoose and Saigon offer an aggressive and angrier sounding tone to their flow yet maintains lyrical quality. If I had to compare each rapper to another rapper's sound I would have to say that Papoose sounds like a raspier version of Big L with loud punches at the end of each bar. Saigon flow reminds me that of Big Pun's delivery with a fast paced word play.

To say that these two rappers are the future of hip-hop is not farfetched. Both have been considered the best mixtape rappers for a while now and have slowly been making their way to mainstream listeners. Saigon has already had exposure on MTV, BET, Source, Rollingstone, and has been named one of the top 10 people to look out for in 2006. His album The Greatest Story Never Told will hit stores sometime early this year with production by Just Blaze and Kanye West. There is no doubt that Saigon will commercially be a larger success then Papoose but Pap also has received recognition from what might be just as important, the streets. Papoose has continuously earned credit for his battles, mixtapes, and big name collaborations. Both rappers are coming at us from different directions but both have same destinations. What we're seeing right now is the resurrection of NY hip-hop by the next generation's Nas and Jay.

If you're just hearing about Papoose and Saigon I recommend checking out these tracks:

Papoose:

Saigon: