Interstella 5555 Poster

At 1 AM, I didn’t realize that I would end up watching the whole movie before going to sleep. … It was worth it though.

T-Pain, Thr33 Ringz album cover

Am I the only person that was feeling the T-Pain album? I mean despite the fact that half of the album has the same sound, I’m feeling it. Idk.

Yo, I definitely just had a random flash-back to that one track by Da Backwudz (yea, think about it for a while and try to remember them…) that had the insane Willy Wonka, Oompa Loompa sample – “I Don’t Like the Look of It.” I remember hearing that joint randomly on Rap City and thinking that it was such an insane banger. I don’t know how other people felt about it, but that joint definitely went hard. Anyways, you can find it below.

But on the low, Da Backwudz had that other track, “You’re Gonna Luv Me.” Another insane sample. You already know. That track went so incredibly hard. The only thing I didn’t understand was the Fake Scarface that dropped about 8 bars talking about how he’s got “a million dollar company to run…” … … … so why are you wasting verse-space with corny rhymes, riiiiight – “We don’t believe you, you need more people.”

Sorry, I’m so cynical nowadays. But I’m wondering how they can have two insane tracks, and still have gone nowhere. Have you heard from them, recently?? I hate the rap game sometimes. It’s a damn shame how two dudes can come out so hard and fall off so quickly. The wonder of one-hit wonders.

(Taken in a roundabout manner from http://www.hiphoproll.com/ – Good looks)

Yea, I heard this leaked Jay-Z track a while back, but I had to listen to it again. It’s called “History” and the first verse is the most poignant verse for me.

In search of Victory, she keeps eluding me.
If only we could be together momentarily.
We can make love and make History.
Why won’t you visit me? Until she visit me,
I’ll be stuck with her sister, her name is Defeat.
She gives me agony, so much agony!
She brings me so much pain, so much misery.
Like missing your last shot and falling to your knees,
As the crowd screams for the other team-
I practice so hard for this moment, victory don’t leave.
I know what this means, I’m stuck in this routine
Whole new different day, same old thing.
All I got is dreams, nobody else can see
Nobody else believes, nobody else but me.
Where are you Victory? I need you desperately.
Not just for the moment, to make History…

-Jay-Z

That’s straight up bars. Interestingly enough, not many rappers, or black men, or men, can admit their foibles quite like this. That feeling of despair and hopelessness resonates pretty strongly with me at least. i know I’ve had those moments where I feel like I keep missing the clutch shot – and there are not many worse feelings than that, ya know?

The rest of the song goes quite hard also, I must admit. Despite the fact that Jay is getting old (i.e. 30 being the new 20 – I guess I’m 12), that dude still brings the heat. Rappers definitely need to step their verses up because this one track probably outdoes most albums and mixtapes. I mean, hard not to argue that one.

Here’s a link to the Google search for “History” by Jay-Z. I’m not sure about WordPress’ policy on posting leaked tracks.

“Lissssssteeeeeennn!”

“We the best! Nigga, we the best!!”

“…And I won’t stop ’til I see them devils. And I won’t stop ’til I defeat the devils…”

I strongly dislike DJ Khaled. At first, I was gonna say that I hate DJ Khaled, but hate is a strong word that I tend to not use. But I will say that I hate 1) his voice and 2) what he says. Those two things make me dislike him, ya dig?

Let me explain by starting with his voice. The man’s voice is simply grating against the ear and it’s not improved because he’s always yelling loud on the track. I can remember when people disliked DJ Clue because he was notorious for yelling something on a track. But who knew that Clue’s adlibs would spawn DJ Khaled?? His voice is too high-pitched, too loud, and too… disturbing. I mean, DAMN, am I the only person who feels this guy on a track is the hip-hop equivalent of nails on a chalkboard?? At least vocode his voice since e’rybody else is vocoding lately.

Moving along, I hate what this guys says. First, he liberally uses “nigga.” I’m black and I don’t care what anybody says (including Nas), black folk don’t need to be using that word. But it’s so damn entrenched that I wonder if it will ever disappear. But, if African-American usage of the word is questionable, how does DJ Khaled get to use it?? And these rappers be yelling it on the track with him! Not knocking the Palestinian people, but DJ Khaled, as a Palestinian-American, should definitely not be saying the word. I know that apparently Latinos have license to use the N-word, which I think is even more objectionable to black folk using it, but DJ Khaled is well beyond that ethnic classification.

Second, when DJ Khaled speaks, he says nothing, nothing at all. Nothing of significance, nothing that is worth listening to. For instance, when I listened to his “We The Best” album and I heard him say this…

“Tryin to talk to ‘em… When there’s no more music left, and the lights go out, all you hear is silence – I’ll be that voice”

…I immediately looked to the guy on the right of me with the “WTF” face like he heard DJ Khaled just then. That’s how bad it was because “We don’t believe you, you need more people.” But this guy doesn’t just stop with one or two sentences. No – he feels compelled to go on and on and on and on and on with the nonsense. Did y’all hear what he had to say on his interlude on Rick Ross’s “Trilla?” Damn – stop it! In comparison to this, I wish we could bring DJ Clue’s concise and meaningful adlibs back.

I won’t knock the dude for the work he facilitates because he did drop some gems (although he didn’t produce these joints according to the ever-authoritative Wikipedia) like “Grammy Family,” “We Takin’ Over,” “I’m So Hood,” “Brown Paper Bag,” and “‘S’ on my Chest.” Some bangers. But yea, this dude is just not the business. Call me a hater, but somebody needs to put a muzzle on DJ Khaled.