So after a long day at work, the Bus ride home, some visiting with my incredible neighbors, and dinner, I sit down to watch TV before dinner. As I flip through, I find myself watching the BET Hip Hop Awards just in time to see Pharrell and Common perform Universal Mind Control. I'm absolutely hooked on this song. Does anyone else think they should do an album together right after Common does the Album with Q-tip and CRS finally drops an album?!
So as I am about to shut the TV off and go to bed, they announce the "Lyricist of the Year." The nominees are Jay-Z, Lil' Wayne, Nas, Kanye West, and T.I. The winner you ask? Lil' Wayne, officially making the award, not necessarily Lil' Wayne, a joke. Lil' Wayne is a great many thing but a lyricist, at least in what I would consider the classic sense, he is not (especially when you're against the likes of NAS).
Now I'll say what you're thinking, "HATER!"
On a lighter note, it was great that BET focused on voting and giving back to the community. They also had some DOPE world wide cypher sessions which you can see below
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Lil' Wayne Takes Home BET's "Joke of the Year" Award
Q-Tip Update
The blog needed something fresh and new so here's a quickie before I finally leave work.
A new Video from Q-tip entitled Move. With a beat by J Dilla and a video reminiscent of Michael Jackson's classic Rock with You, what's not to love?!
Enjoi your weekend everyone!
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Q. Tip is Makin a Comeback!
Lately I have been falling back in love with music (especially hip hop). Some of it is slowing down and enjoying the things I used to love and some of it is the recent purchase of these cans (there's thing I never heard before!) Regardless of what music I've been into in the past, one thing has stayed consistent, if I couldn't decide what to listen to, Tribe ALWAYS sounded fresh to my ears. Their use of timeless Jazz samples mixed with their command of the English language created classics that, fiascogate aside, continue to influence all styles of music today (and don't think fiascogate was anything more than internet bull, peep the Paris, Tokyo Remix).
As Tribe's prominence slowly died out and music trends changed, many of the individuals tried to make it on their own, most successfully Q-Tip (If you don't remember Breathe and Stop, don't TELL me you don't remember the bass line from Vivrant Thing!). Tip's solo excursions were not as successful as his days with Tribe but he has been staying around and producing ever since.
Lately though Tip has been making a comeback. A couple months ago while listening to Giles Peterson's radio program online he dropped a new Joint from Q. Tip called Gettin' Up
I think I replayed it 3 times that night and have been doing so since. Then along came Rock The Bells in August and Tip came out and did a 30 min set of solo stuff, new and old, with Mos Def as back up and absolutely killed it (can we say Blackstar 2? A guy can dream...). Long story short, Q-Tip is droppin his new album The Renaissance on election day so I know what I'm doing right after casting my vote for Obama!
I'm sure we will be hearing more from the Abstract Poetic but until then, here's some vids to keep your interest
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He Who is Lil Wayne
Now lil Wayne's success is nothing new, he's been well known for almost a decade now (remember Cash Money Millionaires?) but let's be honest here, the man is HUGE right now, larger than life. Personally, I am not a big fan oh his music (go ahead and hate) but I have to admit that it is oddly infectious. There are more people rockin out to A milli than you would ever expect (not to mention everyone and their mom is remixin over the beat). When trying to sum up Lil Wayne, my homie put it best, "he doesn't rap about anything, but he does it so well!"
Now I didn't doubt Weezy's album was gonna be big, but I did not foresee the influence and success he would have (with one song alone). It's one thing to have Jay-Z hop on a remix (that's big), but when you have countless remixes including one about Obama, you are the musical guest for SNL's first episode of the season AND the daily show finds a way to work you into one of their reports, you have transcended "urban music" and become a mainstay of pop culture (if not for just a couple months). Hate him or love him, you can't hate his hustle, and I have a feeling he's gonna just get bigger and bigger.
(Go to the 3 minute mark to skip to the scene)
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Nas : The Jones Experience (feat. Talib Kweli)
Sup people. its been a while! First off... Thank you Nas for making me love hip hop again. could it have been because ive been faded off my ass or you are just the bomb... id like to think just a mixture of the two and being in the beautiful House of Blues of Chicago. Im not gonna lie, ive been rather dissapointed as of lately with hip hop shows. but seeing Nas live changed that all. i do remember seeing Nas a few years ago but nothing like when i saw him at the House of Blues.
I always said that i wouldnt spend any money on any hip hop shows ever again. Actually i didnt even pay for this ticket as well... as i was a guest of Mr. Kweli and his manager (Thanks Big John) but what a treat! Talib opened the show doing a VERY brief 20-30 min performance of course hitting all his hits and some blackstar stuff.. etc....to tell you the truth it was ok... but then Nas came on and made me remember what hip hop was all about... its very hard to explain what i witnessed but if you have a chance go see him live.. and just see the range of hits he has.... he did it all.. and he was an amazing performer.... and when you are ultra faded to the max you gotta see ONE MIC performed live.... its something to see before you die.... SRSLY...
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Is Hip Hop Going Back To Its Roots?
Not at all, but there has been a recent surge in socially conscious and political hip hop lately. It's not that odd that NAS's new album is full of some good joints like Hero, Sly Fox, and Black President, especially when you have production and writing help from the likes of Dead Prez. But yesterday as I was flipping through the channels, I caught a new Big Boi music video ft. Mary J. Blige, Somethings Gotta Give.
Not that I don't expect Big Boi to put out good and thoughtful music, but I was surprised to see BET giving it some air time and trying to push it on 106&Park (granted the people were cheering more when they heard who he was doing his club joints with). It really shows a difference (no matter how long it might last) in the music industry lately, musicians in the mainstream are starting to actually care and try to take action about the state of America
We saw something similar 4 years ago when diddy started the Rock The Vote campaign, but that was pretty useless. More people were interested in picking up a shirt than actually voting. I think the difference now,besides the fact that our situation is even WORSE than 4 years ago, is that there is a presidential candidate that our generations can believe in. In 2004, many people were voting for Kerry because he was the lesser of the two evils, not because he was n amazing candidate. Now, with a new "hope" for "change" (with Obama), many people see the opportunity for a better future. Even thought I know Marco Polo will beat out Big Boi's new joint on the charts, I just hope that the good music keeps coming!
But never burn the bridge,
Each one teach one,
If you lend a helping hand,
You may never need one
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The GAME x WENDY WILLIAMS : "Im the big spoon!"
Ok So ive been meaning to make a post about this for a minute. a few weeks ago THE GAME, was on the Wendy Williams Experience and just letting it all hang out. (NO HOMO) well me and mike probably spend every other day fighting and discussing about the current state of hip hop and how we are either just bored with it, tired of it, or dont give a damn.
and after listening to The Game on the show it had me thinking again.. wow these dudes are seriously just some regular people... now hold up.. yea i know duhh right.. but not really because i guess im always expecting to be entertained by rappers and hip hop that i forget that in the end of the day they just some regular ol people... and no one else made me remember that faster than the game... click to see why...
Well first of all the game was just putting it all out there, from sex, to beef, to just hanging out, i mean he was really on the show letting it all hang out (no homo). and i respect him for that...
1. ON BEEF
well its no secret that GAME is beefing with 50 cent, does he care that people know... nope.. he even tells them where they can see him if they have a problem, now dude is straight wild for that.. haha.. but hey.. what can you do in the end of the day.. he even had some choice words for DR DRE. and when WENDY and co. brought up accusations of DR DRE being gay, GAME neither confirmed nor DENIED IT... saying stuff like "IM NOT SURE" and "HEY IF THATS WHAT THEY DO" hahahahahah... wow...
2. ON CHILLIN
well like mentioned before its been known that THE GAME just plays regular pick up basketball games from VENICE to LA ( now i didnt realize that the game was like 6"5" 220 or something) and he doesnt roll all crazy deep with an entourage of like 20 either...so if you wanna see the game chilling just find the court he at and you can prolly either get stuffed by game (no homo) or pull some redic fadaway 3 pointer on him
3. ON RELATIONSHIPS?
now what made me really wanna post about this was when dude was talking about how he has a new girlfriend and wendy williams asked him if he SPOONED... now at first THE GAME was like "wtf is spooning???"... and then when WENDY explained it all to him, he was like "OHHH FUCK YEA" "HELL YEA A NIGGA SPOONS, IM THE BIG SPOON TOO"
well with a comment like that and being 6ft + and 200lbs + i really hope you are the big spoon
feel free to leave a comment and tell me ...which SPOON ARE YOU??? THE BIG ONE? OR THE SMALL ONE???
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