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Hiphop Track of the Week | Nice & Smooth – Sometimes I Rhyme Slow (Audio)

Tuesday, August 4th, 2009

Greg Nice and Smooth B (Nice & Smooth) flow nicely on this 1992 hit from their sophomore release Ain’t a Damn Thing Changed.

nice-and-smooth-aint-a-damn-thing-changed

Nice & Smooth – Sometimes I Rhyme Slow

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[Chorus]
Sometimes I rhyme slow, sometimes I rhyme quick…

[Greg Nice]
Sometimes I rhyme slow sometimes I rhyme quick
I’m sweeter and thicker than a chico stick
Here’s an ice cream cone honey take a lick
Or go to Bay Plaza and catch a flick
Wore my Timberland boots so I can stomp ticks
Scandalous get a whiff of this, miss
Just left the Yar, Boys, now I’m blissed
I feel good per say good state of mind
Drive a red Sterling and the seats recline
I love it when a lady treats me kind
Go to Tavern on the Green and have a glass of wine
He say, she say, I heard it through the grapevine
No static, got an automatic
Too much of anything makes you an addict
Teasin, skeezin, all so pleasin
Don’t ask why I got my own reasons
Smooth B, Greg Nice, Slick Nick clique
Sometimes I rhyme slow sometimes I rhyme quick…

[Chorus]

[Smooth B]
Sometimes I rhyme slow sometimes I rhyme quick
I was on 125 and Saint Nick
Waiting on a cab, standing in the rain
Under my heart three clouds of pain
She got the best of me
What was her destiny?
Maybe I should lick her with my nine millime…ter
My mind is in a blur
Cause you could never pay me to think this would occur
Me and this girl Jane Doe was living together
We were inseparable, no one could sever
At least that’s what I thought
But later I fought with her substance
And almost ended up in Supreme Court
When I was on the road doing shows getting ends
She was in my Benz getting sniffy with her friends
And even when she crashed my whip I didn’t flip
My man Slick Nick said Smooth you’re starting to slip
Time went on I started noticing weight loss
Then I had to ask her was she riding the white horse
At first she said no, then she said yo Smooth I’m sorry
But I keep having visions of snow, I need blow
And I said whoa, little hottie
I’m not DeLorean, Gambino or Gotti
I don’t deal coke, and furthermore you’re making me broke
I’ll put you in a rehab and I won’t tell your folks
And what do you know
In 18 months she came home and I let her back in
And now she’s sniffing again…

[Chorus]

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Hiphop Track of the Week | Hieroglyphics – You Never Knew (Audio)

Wednesday, July 29th, 2009

I’m gonna take it back to ‘98 this week with Hieroglyphics.

hieroglyphics-3rd-eye-vision

Hieroglyphics – You Never Knew

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[together] Hiero, y’all…

[A-Plus]
It’s not a wrong thing
to be addicted to the microphone like a heroin fiend
I’ll tell you one thing:
You’ll never catch me fronting
As I proceed to give the people what they wanting
[Opio] You’re making some green…
[A-Plus] But not for drama or fashion
I’m stacking cash until I can get Moms a mansion
[Opio] All from rapping?
[A-Plus] Nah, man, there’s many plans
Like investing in land
It started all from impressing the fans
With brand new flows
And you know
All the way from gangsta clones to weirdos
Fools used those
But we ain’t tripping
Give respect when you see this
You need us,
or your raps underdevelop like a fetus

[Pep Love]
Those that know not doze
And it shows
When we broke out the knock
Hos hopped out they clothes
That’s positive feedback
Yep, The Prose
I’m poised, we never pose, you’ll never know
From ‘93 til infinity we’ve been inventive
Creating the bump is our only incentive
And it’s been a long time since I feel I’ve been felt
But the only thing I fear is fear itself
So you know what we gots to do
Maybe could we keep it within the crew
Like it should be?
Never givin’ out
We’re livin’ out our dreams
If there’s something I can’t live without,
That’s my team
You never knew…

[Phesto]
Hieroglyphics
Hip-hop is vintage
Underground like silos
Launching long-range ballistics
World-renowned, we ground-breaking
Musical boundaries
Runnin’ circles around emcees

[Del]
Del — been rhyming for more than a decade
Onto the next stage, while emcees need aid
Stay paid, I’m still grade-A
None of that tomfoolery
As you can see this shit ain’t nothing new to me
Utterly hovering over other things material
You’re stuck in the here and now
Plus you’re sweating profusely — here’s a towel
Your fears are now reality
When I take your dream states
And elaborate on how your team’s fake
With phony IDs, but sometimes I feel like
Only I see through the charade you’ve made
In today, but hey, tomorrow it’s played
And then they got a new fool in your place to be okayed

[Phesto]
Hieroglyphics
Hip-hop is vintage
Invented in days back
Rekindling in ways that many thought was lost
In this contemporary maze of methods to floss
We finding trees and trails to blaze
Boundaries to cross
We can be found beyond the bounds of reason
Or earthbound, heatin’ up the Coliseum

[Opio]
They rushed the stage full-throttle in Chicago
Our brains interlocked
Where fakin’ emcees get caught with the 40-bottle
Or get their chains snatched, pronto
We unstoppable, droppin’ flows in Toronto
Maneuverin’ through Vancouver and on to Japan
where they put major grands in my hand
Follow…

[Phesto]
Straight from the heart we set apart from the rest an’
Our perfection on the microphone was predestined
World-renowned, we ground-breaking
Musical boundaries
Runnin’ circles around emcee

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Hiphop Track of the Week | Aesop Rock – Daylight (Audio)

Tuesday, July 21st, 2009

Aesop Rock from Definitive Jux is probably one of the most abstract emcees in the game which is probably why a lot of cats dismiss him on first listen. But once you get over that initial bump his music actually becomes quite enjoyable because of the fact that it’s so different than the rest.

The hiphop track of the week is from his 2001 album Labor Days which is dedicated to the discussion of labor in American society and the concept of “wage slaves”. I know this dude isn’t for everyone but you can’t have fast food all the time. Take a listen and try to decipher the message!

aesop-rock-labor-days

Aesop Rock – Daylight

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(Yes, yes, y’all, and ya don’t stop, keep on, to the break of dawn) (4x)

Yo…
Put one up for shackle-me not clean logic procreation
I did not invent the wheel, I was the crooked spoke adjacent
While the triple-sixers’ lassos keep angels roped in the basement
I walk the block with a halo and a stick pokin’ your patience.
Y’all catch a 30 second flash visual
Dirty cooperative med platoon, bloom, head-trip split ridiculous
Fathom the splicing of first generation fuck-up with trickle-down anti-hero smack–
Crackin’!
I pace me game for zero hour completion greetin’ splash
Duke of early retirement, pick a dream, American nightmare hoggin’ the screen
I’ll hold the door open so you can stumble in
If you’d stop followin’ me ’round the jungle gym.
Now it’s Honor and I spell it with the H I stole from Heritage
Merit crutch stolen wretched refuse of my teaming resonance
I promise: temperance towards breed with a leaning conscious
See, the creed acts sense responsive, but my sports supports the wattage, and I’m sleeping now! (Wow!)
Yeah, the settlers laugh,
You won’t be laughing when your covered wagons crash!
You won’t be laughing when the buzzards drag your brother’s flags into rags!
You won’t be laughing when your front lawn is spangled with epitaphs! You won’t be laughing!
And I’ll hang my boots to rest when I’m impressed
So I triple knot ‘em and forgot ‘em.
This origami dream is beautiful, but man, those wings’ll never leave the ground without a feather and a lottery ticket,
Now settle down.

All I ever wanted was to pick apart the day,
Put the pieces back together my way,
All I ever wanted was to pick apart the day,
Put the pieces back together my way. (2x)

(Yes, yes, y’all, and ya don’t stop, keep on, to the break of dawn) (4x)

Slacker bounded intimate tabloid headline with a pulse
Shimmy cross the centerfold, and a dead time engulfed, divvy crumbs for the better souls
With seven deadly stains, adhere the blame to crystal conscience,
The result’s a low life counting on one hand what he’s accomplished.
Ok, link me to activism chain, activate street sweep
Plug deteriorating xenobit Pendragon
I hock swords cores for the morbid spreading of mad men (Alley gospel)
Sinking yer Lincoln-Log cabin and Charlie Chaplin waddle
I could zig zag and zig ‘em again for the badge dream sparkle in my brick wall windows
Another thick installment of one night in Gotham without the wretched “Houston we have a problem
Attached to the festive batch of city goblins”
Who split holiday freak on a box-cut cinema high road bellow
Head gripped! Watch red bricks turn yellow
Sort of similar to most backbones at camp Icarus
We’re all feeling crimes congregating at pamper for bickering
Life’s not a bitch! Life is a beautiful woman
Your only call her a bitch because she won’t let you get that pussy.
Maybe she didn’t feel y’all shared any similar interests
Or maybe you’re just an asshole who couldn’t sweet talk the princess.
Kiss the speaker wire; Peter Pacifism pagan thresh hold
Stomach full of halo kibbles
Wings span cast black upon vigils
Here to duck hunt ticker tape vision and pick apart the pixels
I got a friend of polar nature, and it’s all peace
When I seek similar stars but can’t sit at the same feast
(Metal Captain) This cat is asking if I’ve seen his bit of lost passion
I told him yeah, but only when I pedaled past him.

All I ever wanted was to pick apart the day,
Put the pieces back together my way,
All I ever wanted was to pick apart the day,
Put the pieces back together my way. (2x)

(Yes, yes, y’all, and ya don’t stop, keep on, to the break of dawn) (4x)

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Hiphop Track of the Week | One Be Lo – Hip-Hop Heaven (Audio)

Tuesday, July 14th, 2009

The hiphop track of the week goes to a track off of One Be Lo’s 2007 album, The R.E.B.I.R.T.H. (Real Emcees Bring Intelligent Rhymes To Hip Hop) which any fan of great lyricism is sure to love. The song is called “Hip-Hop Heaven” and it’s a track with an amazing concept. Just listen. It won’t disappoint. :)

one-be-lo-the-rebirth

One Be Lo – Hip-Hop Heaven

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Last night it was dead
I fell asleep early
Woke up this morning
Right side of the bed
The rest of the fam was asleep
I didn’t want to wake ‘em
I’m in the mood for making some music
And so I hit the basement
When it comes to writing this song
I’m not as patient
More like a doctor performing an operation
In this particular day I’m hearing dope beats
The lyrics was steady coming
Combination so sweet
I’m not trying to eat
So I skip breakfast
I’m in the zone like Jordan
When the clock ticks seconds
Two songs later, One Be Lo is getting hotter
Than thermometers and monitors
I’m just getting started
I hear the kids upstairs
They didn’t even bother
To interrupt their father
Cause they know that I’m an artist
And I be working harder than most
I got a daughter to boast
They learn a lot, cause they follow me close
Still early, it’s 10:30
I tried to call Majestic
His phone didn’t ring
I didn’t leave a message
I need to keep writing
So I didn’t even stress it
I finished another record
I’m in Hip Hop Heaven

Record pace
I was running through the pages of my notepad
Excited but my heart ain’t even racing
Progress I was making
in the best times
Working like I’m getting closer
to my deadline
I guess it’s just another day in the life of One Be Lo
Five hours of work
An hour’s worth of material
Like what I’m hearing
So I’m turning up the stereo
Neighbours usually complain
The noise was unbearable
But something about today was different
Everybody was doing their own thing
Can’t wait to give’em this shit
I’m feeling so alive
Thank god for the blessing
Heart and soul of my profession
Give you Hip Hop Heaven

And now it’s time to switch directions
I end the session
My young ones, usually by now
They’re getting restless
I float upstairs
Their face is glued to the TV
I walked to the kitchen
Guess they didn’t even see me
I wasn’t even looking for a meal anyways
Kinda strange
Cause I didn’t drink or eat all day
In the sound booth
Standing on my feet all day
I’m dead tired now
Maybe I should sleep all day
On my way to the room
I hear my lady on the phone
She moan, crying and dying inside
Feeling alone
Almost finished packing
Said she gotta get going
Need a change
and she can no longer live in this home
I stand looking confused
With boxes before me
I called her name three times
She only ignored me
She held a newspaper in her hands, it read
“Local rapper, One Be Lo, age 30, found dead”
I’m in Hip Hop heaven

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Hiphop Track of the Week | Buddy Wakefield – Convenience Stores (Audio)

Monday, July 6th, 2009

For those who aren’t familiar with the name, Buddy Wakefield is a slam poet signed to Sage Francis‘ label, Strange Famous Records. I first got introduced to his album, Run on Anything, a few years back in 2006 through a forum I used to frequent. I remember that I really loved this one track called “Convenience Stores” and I still vividly remember the powerful lyrics that embedded images in my head. I was recently cleaning out my hard drive and I came across the track so I’m here to share it with y’all. I know it might not be for everyone but definitely give it a listen.

buddy-wakefield-run-on-anything

Buddy Wakefield – Convenience Stores

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We both know the smell of a convenience store at 4am like the backs of a lot of hands.
She sells me trucker crack. Mini Thins. It’s like Vivarin but she doesn’t make me feel awkward about it.
She can tell it’s been a long drive, and it’s only gonna get longer.
Offers me a free cup of coffee, but I never touch the stuff.
Besides, I’m gonna need more speed than that.

We notice each others’ smiles immediately.
It’s our favorite thing for people to notice – our smiles.
It’s all either one of us has to offer.
You can see it in the way our cheeks stretch out like arms
wanting nothing more than to say “You, are…are welcome here.”
She shows brittle nicotine teeth with spaces between each one.
Her fingers are bony. There’s no rings on them. She’d love to get her nails done someday.
One time she had her hair fixed.
They took out the grease, made it real big on top, and feathered it.
She likes it like that.
She will never be fully informed on some things just like I will never understand
Who really buys moon pies, or those rolling, wrinkled, dried-up sausages, but then again, she’s been here a lot longer than me.
She’s seen everything from men who grow dread locks out of their top lips to children…who look like cigarettes.
I give her my money. I wait for my change. But I feel like there’s something more happening here y’all.
I feel like a warm mop bucket and dingy tiles that’ll never come clean.
I feel like these freezers cannot be re-stocked often enough.
I feel like trash cans of candy wrappers with soda pop dripping down the wrong side of the plastic.
I feel like everything just got computerized.
I feel like she was raised to say a lot of stupid things about our color.
And I feel like if I were to identify myself as gay,
This conversation…would STOP.

It’s what I do
I feel.
I get scared sometimes.
And I drive.

But in 1 minute and 48 seconds I’m gonna walk outta here with a full tank of gas, a bottle of Mini Thins, and a pint of milk while there’s a woman still trapped behind a formican counter somewhere in North Dakota who says she wants nothing more than to hear my whole story.
All 92,775 miles of it.
I can feel it though y’all.
She’s heard more opinions and trucker small talk than Santa Claus has made kids happy, so I only find the nerve to tell her the good parts; that she’s the kindest thing to happen since Burlington, VT and I wanna leave it at that.
Because men – who are not smart – have taken it farther; have cradled her up like a nutcracker and made her feel as warm as a high school education on the dusty back roads, or a beer in a coozy.
Y’all, I feel like she’s been waiting here a long time for the one who’ll come 2-steppin’ through that door on 18 wheels without makin her feel like it’s her job to sweep up the nutshells alone when she’s done been cracked again.
Who won’t tempt her to suck the wedding ring off his dick, but will show her – simply – Love.
She doesn’t need me or any other man, but she doesn’t know that either, and I’m just hoping like crazy she doesn’t think I’m the one.
Because the only time I’ll ever see North Dakota again is in a Van Morrison song late, late at night.
I Promise. Y’all, I feel like she’s 37 years old wearing 51 badly, dying inside like certain kinds of dances around fires to speak through you, a forest, if you weren’t so taken with sparks.
But she was never given those words. She has not been told she can definitely change the world.
She knows some folks do, but not in convenience stores and not with lottery tickets.
So, I finally ask her what I been feeling the entire time I’ve been standing there still getting scared like I do sometimes, really, really ready to drive, I ask…

“Is this it for you? Is this all you’ll ever do?”
Her smile – collapsed.
That tightly strapped-in pasty skin. It went loose.
Her heart – fell crooked.
She said, not knowing my real name, “I can tell, buddy, by the Mini Thins and the way you drive…
We’re both taken with novelty.
We’ve both believed in mean gods.
We both spend our money on things that break too easily like – people.
And I can tell that you think you’ve had it rough,
So especially you should know:

It’s what I do.
I dream.
I get high sometimes.
And I’m gonna roll outta here one day.
I just might not get to drive.

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Hiphop Track of the Week | Company Flow – 8 Steps to Perfection (Audio)

Sunday, June 28th, 2009

Company Flow’s 1997 debut Funcrusher Plus is a groundbreaking album no hiphop fan should be without. Emcees El-Producto (El-P), Bigg Jus, and DJ Mr. Len (aka Space Ghost) make up this progressive group who emerged during a time when hiphop was reaping the benefits of artistic commercialism. Company Flow helped opened the doors for alternative rap music which led to the “underground” scene we’re all familiar with today. The lyrics of El-P and Bigg Jus paint vivid imagery over Mr. Len’s production which is dark, futuristic, and alien. I liked these cats because they were intelligent, creative, and abstract without any of the pretentiousness we often hear from “weirdo rap”. It’s a shame they had to break up due to the happenings at Rawkus. I still listen to this album every now and then and each time I catch something new I haven’t heard before.

company-flow-funcrusher-plus

Company Flow – 8 Steps to Perfection

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[Verse One: Bigg Jus]
Rugged like Rwanda, don’t wind up far or get chopped up
Quick to rush the spot like baby urine get mopped up
Tags that spray your hall with rap aerosol
Organized graffiti lectures in can control
Or level with the devil racing uptown first to Fort Apache
I’m much too much for any demon style to master me
From the thought’s next bridge to the hell’s gate, lyrically detonating
Sparking M-80’s and bottle rockets it’s a nigga chaser
Downtown graffiti deface a heroin debaser
Open up your eyes and clean out your nature
Wide open like the grand canyon
Emcees couldn’t hang if they was lynched by the Grand Dragon
Searching for my styles like Job-Corps
Coming home on work release shoplifting at the rap store
But sabotaging me ain’t easy
I’m crooked like Nathan Wind starring as Cochese
With a big baseball bat you get robbed like DeNiro
A sandwich still ain’t nothing but a hero
Just a small sample of the abstract
When the rhyme gets crazy hot and lyrics don’t know how to act
Whether shooting joints or wax
I go all out and attack crabs and herbs that’s crazy wack
We all can’t be pimps, and we all can’t rap
You got to get your dollars on cause it’s on like that
Here’s what I want you to do
Niggas with the green axe and burgundy Forerunner, inhuman like Blade Runner
When I’m rhyming all summer just listen to the drummer
Transistor blister feedback freak the impeders
Funk flow we expose frequencies in sequence
Napalm gets dropped long range like fiber optics
Check the rhyme activity your skills is microscopic
Peace to my crew and my nigga El-P
Who’s here to spark it causing all these crabs to flee

[Verse Two: El-P]
Check it and I inflict it quattro nine fifty lungs misty
Color me Maxmillian cause I’m that crazy robot
Teetering on the edge of outer space
Spitting buckshots till black holes surround me, you found me
As far as I’m concerned I’ve got your ashes in an urn
Big up, the temperamental hold none barred kid
What’s your confunction? Tracks is type dusty
Drinking water out the well of life and I’ma piss it back rusty
Flesh and phonics, you’re god damned right
I’m on ‘em like aeorta pacemakers hooked up to clappers
Clap OFF (*clap clap*) welcome to my free-form jubilee, look at me
The witness to the shit you wanna be
DBA lyrical P known as a simp and I’m a sycophant
Feeding on fats passed and dipped
In and out of my invisible state
Forerunner rep tyrannical
Wrecks like tecs bust mechanical
Rusty goner weasel painting beats on an easel
Shoot a head up, what bitch you’re boxing shadows
Look out my way you pull your breath out to battle
Breaking your double helix, and now the shit is single
Not mono, I burn the needle out your vinyl
El-P the third gunner on the grassy knoll
Stroll, keep the seventh seal of heaven in my pocket
You’re faggot like sprockets, motherfuck the Houston Rockets
I’m so sick of recycled metaphors
Bet but I’d fuck Laura Ingalls only when she’s done with her chores
Got rappers tip toeing on a Highway to Heaven
Got manners like Bruce Banner when he’s stressed
I’m sick of your corny beats and your crowd-involved hooks
Cause I’m a thinker
Evil anus letting off stinkers

[Bigg Jus]
Eight steps to perfection
The sum of each part forms an octagon
Let rhyme styles get sparked

[El-P]
Eight steps to perfection
The sum of each part forms an octagon
Where rhyme styles get sparked

[Verse Three: Bigg Jus]
The holy terror, last moves you never won’t win
Playing taps on a violin
You can never comprehend the rhyme origin
I rate one like a Chinese, Jamaican like a chin
Hot rocking corduroy, Ballys that’s so fitted
Niggas came and assed out my tracks and left ‘em shitted
Fuck the movement, lubricate the smooth shit
Just to letcha know, never do I use it
Strictly the blueprint for the ghetto music in my cipher
Shorty the sniper Jeep like Cherokee
When I take aim handling wall to wall emcees
Mr. Madman attract lyrics like magnets
They fuck up speaking cavernous when I’m stabbing it
Like the Juice, then go Bronco busting loose
That’s my word, you couldn’t shoot or try to compute the math
To kick any type sport like the vandal
I manhandle, emcees get murdered like tennessa
Or trapped in the bedroom with the +Texas Chainsaw+
+Massacre+, +One Two Three+, +The Taking of Pelham+
Eastwick underground New York be the dwelling
I keep telling ‘em the state of the mind be the mentals
If you murder up in the ghetto you murder in a temple

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Hiphop Track of the Week | The CMA (The Grouch & Luckyiam.PSC) – Windows (Audio)

Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009

This album is one of the top Living Legends albums to date in my opinion. Luckyiam.PSC flows incredibly and The Grouch is…well superb as always with his delivery and poetic imagery. They call these guys the Living Legends for a reason I guess. Other stand out features from this album include Brother Ali, Slug, MURS, and Del Tha Funkee Homosapien.

the-cma-all-over

The CMA (The Grouch & Luckyiam.PSC)

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…and she walks nothing’s moving
It is timeless in the corners
And the sound of shutting doors
You chase the sunlight so you kick down the door
And the window holds no sight

[The Grouch]
I remember the rainy days
Mom would drop me off at school in a bucket
It was around the 3rd grade
Meltin’ crayons on the furnace, playing heads up seven up
Boy I was learning and I felt great
I had an Incredible Hulk lunch box
A Michael Jackson jacket, three-striped socks
Right before the first pair of Jordans came out
Every year I had a Valentine, she would shoot my game out
To work that pain out I’d eat a gang of candy
Cherry clan, zots, lots you understand me?
My teeth were rotten always at the dentist
My dad played the Police, I was his music apprentice
He drove a Cutlass, a 7-deuce dropped
Didn’t know what he had though, I’m tellin you pop
If I could take it back to 80-something
I’d let some sun in, but you made us toughen

[Hook]
You chase the sunlight so you kick down the door
And the window holds no sight (x2)

Mom said tough love, dad drank the bottle up
Sixth grade and candy’s not enough
Mom bought me a snare drum
I beat it but I didn’t get it yet
When they split, I was prepared
In school I failed mathematics
Grids made sense still
Couldn’t get the girls but I had some status
Commodore computer literate a little bit
Moved to the east to the ‘O’
Now I can feel a little grid under my toes
None of my woes were too large
But through any bit of hardship, character grows
Hip Hop’s staring me in the nose
This block’s preparing me for what was chose
A rose out of concrete’s real
I’ve seen it happen before: traded my speech for a meal
Traded in raindrops for sunrays
Turned in ‘no ways’ into ’some ways’

[Hook]
You chase the sunlight so you kick down the door
And the window holds no sight (x2)

[Luckyiam.PSC]
Little Tommy lived on Victor
??? little sister
I used to be an only child, now you see me jealous
I was one of the nappy-headed, sports-playing fellas
Couldn’t tell us nothin unless you was a coach
I had a roach a few but my parents wasn’t broke
But broken in the union so I guess I got some hopes
So I guess I had support from that double income
Mama went to school to be a nurse and bring funds
Into the household like pops did
While she was taking classes at El Camino College
While I was extra baggage
The extra mouth to manage and the Christmas gifts to package
For a latchkey kid who never thought he’d make it happen
The 80’s started crackin, my neighborhoods was blastin
So my folks moved us out of that zone to face the challenge of change
Without a damn, I doubt it’d be the same
But I’d probably stand the rain til the sun shined again

[Hook]
You chase the sunlight so you kick down the door
And the window holds no sight (x2)

So it’s bye bye Inglewood, hello mid-city hood
The colors done changed now
I really wanna spree how
Corduroy’s, Fila’s, & snakeskin belts, got bellbottom girls in the Sergio Takini’s
I went to John Purvis first, girly was a meanie
Cheated on me with a dude that used to go to UNI
My confidence was puny so I let this cutie do me
Ruined me, trust in females and such
I never really bounced back from that
So it’s rough on any relationshop I’ve had since that day
Or any hesitation of why not to play
Or reasons it’s cold-hearted deperate frays

[Hook]
You chase the sunlight so you kick down the door
And the window holds no sight (x2)

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Hiphop Track of the Week | Deltron 3030 – Madness (Audio)

Tuesday, June 16th, 2009

Once again I’m late on posting the hiphop track of the week due to working late into the night finishing up work for clients. My mind’s all over the place these days and I’m just hoping one day all this hard work pays off.

Here we go. The track of the week goes to a favorite of mine – such a favorite in fact that I based an entire t-shirt design off of it. Deltron 3030 is a hiphop power group made up of producer Dan the Automator, rapper Del tha Funkee Homosapien, and DJ Kid Koala. The line up alone should tell you this group can do no wrong and such is the case in their first and only album – Deltron 3030.

Deltron 3030 is a concept album describing the dark life in post-apocalyptic earth in the year 3030 where huge corporations rule the universe. The album is a pure masterpiece (written in less than two weeks) and I seriously had a hard time picking just one song from the bunch since all of them mesh so perfectly. I wish I could just throw the whole album up on here.

deltron-3030

Listen to this shit!!

Deltron 3030 – Madness

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Yo!
In the year three thousand and thirty everybody wants to be an emcee
In the year three thousand and thirty everybody want to be a DJ
In the year three thousand and thirty everybody want to be a producer
In the year three thousand and thirty
Everybody want to tell ya the meaning of the music

Yo
I must appeal to you people with your faculties
Cause everybody else is gonna laugh at me
People try to get over and take a crack at me
The universe is one and I see what rap can be glorious
Put in the Smithsonium my podiums for holy hymns
But you see who’s controlling them
Fuck myself off cause of the egotistical mode I’m in
No I can’t slap you no five
When you and your cutty is talkin shit about me outside
People take pride in what they have no hand in
Sorta like a phantom holographic handsome
But deep inside he wants to do what his man done
Just because his peers jeer and clown
And when you’re six feet deep no one hears you now
They say we’re not compatible like deers and cows and owls
So many rules and regulations say you’re not allowed

I’m caught in the grip of the city – Madness (X4)

If I had to describe the way I survive it’s like vice squeezin
The reason I’m black and still breathin
Heathens will breed heathens so
Everybody’s suspect I must check your ID
Cause you lookin sheisty you might be intelligence
Someone that Del’s against
Opposite or positive
When I drop the laws against nature be faithful
Why should I hate you we ain’t that different
We may act different in some ways
But we still grouped together like a fuckin survey
Sufferin and fuck em all’s the motto
I’m trapped in a bottle
My music’s gettin hollow
And that’s what happens when humanity you follow
Where every leak or info is hard to swallow
Sell your Marlboros and car insurance
Put niggas on the moon and can’t pay for your burdens
I smoke herb and rock a turban
Meditate on the world and what’s occurrin
A lot of white boys like the style and copy
Dig in something deeper and you’ll peep that we’re not free
It’s not about separation it’s about the population

Simple minded people always point the finger
To bring it to a close as if life is their role, their path
When all paths are intersections
It depends on the person’s perception
When I’m mad as fuck you get shot
And to some it’s bad luck
I believe you held something back for too long
It grew strong
And energy got its own will
And people think they make music still
But music is there without you or me we just manipulate
For better or worse so let it situate
I get to make records and dough
Paid out the ass hole
And still seen as another face on the totem pole
Conquer, my sponsors are monsters
And everybody thinks that I’m on one
I’m glad I love music and life
Cause it’s easy to see the pain and strife and end it all tonight

I’m caught in the grip of the city – Madness (X4)

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Hiphop Track of the Week | OutKast – Wheelz of Steel (Audio)

Tuesday, June 9th, 2009

This week’s hiphop track of the week is dedicated to Andre Benjamin and Antwon Patton better known as the almighty OutKast. OutKast is probably one of the more consistent groups out there and they have been on the scene for nearly a decade and a half now. These two dope boyz won a gagillion (well-deserved) awards and are one of the most successful hiphop groups of all time. Pretty good considering their start in the rap game might have been somewhat of an accident with “Player’s Ball” being a throwaway track for the LaFace Christmas album.

outkast-atliens

ATLiens is an album you can listen to without skipping any tracks much like a lot of their other albums but this track in particular always stood out to me.

OutKast – Wheelz of Steel

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Intro: Big Boi

Uhh
As I sit in my b-boy stance
With flip-flops and socks, and sweatpants
We finna enhance your brain, check it out

Verse One: Big Boi, Andre

Once upon a time not long ago
When the playa from the Pointe didn’t have no flow
A nigga hit me for my tennis shoes, walkin to the sto’
Caught a nigga slippin, but now I lay it to the flo’
just like carbon, cuz I got the heat in my rhythm
Momma nay not, never braggin just to stay knot
Even when I was a younger lad I learned my lesson
Never talked to strangers in the trap and answered questions

The Pope and his folks got us under a scope
But for unknown reasons cuz we don’t sell dope
That you distribute, we don’t contribute, to your clandestine
activity, my soliloquoy, may be hard for some to swallow
But so is cod liver oil
You went behind my back like Bluto when he cut up Olive Oyl
Two things I hate liars and thieves they make my blood boil
Boa constricted, on my soul that they call

Chorus: Andre

Touched by the wheelz of steel…
Now show me how you feel…
Touched by the wheelz of steel…
Now show me how you feel…

Verse Two: Big Boi, Andre

It took your momma nine months to make it
But it only took a nigga thirty minutes to take it
Cut that kronk clean up I did, but I did so not safely
Don’t want no AIDS, *clapping* no claps, or no rabies

Yo, we take no shit, like ummm, stopped up commodes
Gotta collect call, they done locked up my folks
Low blow, hit me in the left ventricle
We won’t be able to ride out till two thousand fo’

But not for long cuz we got a better sack to serve
Tryin to take you other people for your rims at the curb
Fore you swerve and bust ya forehead, go head, go head
More head for me, while you ride to the beat

Drop, like Tears, like For Fears, you know
Shout Shout let it all out, just for my peers
And pupils who feel like it’s time to unwind
Like December 31st, on nineteen-ninety-nine

Chorus

Verse Three: Andre

Okay, like this, yeah yeah
One time for my boy doing King shit
Two times for Legit and it don’t quit
Three times for my folks in the drop top
Four times OutKast and it don’t stop
One time for my cuz doing Queen thangs
Dead fresh to the teeth eatin chicken wings
Three times for my guhls in the beauty shop
Four times OutKast and it don’t stop

*long interlude, Chorus again (fades)*

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Hiphop Track of the Week | Reflection Eternal – Too Late (feat. Res) (Audio)

Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009

Man, I just realized I haven’t posted for an entire week. Time really does fly by when you’re focused on your work and scrambling to get stuff finished for clients. Stay tuned by the way for a brand new logo for Senim Silla’s new band Ginger as well as an incredibly sick new Ginger Myspace design by yours truly. Also, Andrew of StreetwearXHiphop.com generously gave me some shine on his site. Check out the interview when you get the chance!

Now to the point of this post. This week’s hiphop track of the week is dedicated to probably my favorite track off Talib Kweli and Hi-Tek’s Train of Thought. I figured with their highly-anticipated sophomore album Revolutions Per Minute on the way, it was only right.

reflection-eternal-talib-kweli-hi-tek-train-of-thought

Where were you the day hiphop died? Is it too early to mourn? Is it too late to ride?

Reflection Eternal (Talib Kweli & Hi-Tek) – Too Late (feat. Res)

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Yo, when the bass thump, the place jump
Like it’s way crunk, yeah,
Fake punks get they face lumped
Sent to the most high, by the most fit
You gotta do, fuck that almost shit
The fam is close knit
You diggin’, know the clock don’t stop tickin’
Glocks still spittin’, the whole block politickin’
Like presidents with they minds dead on arrival
Leaving no evidence of a struggle for survival
Songs relevant to the times like the psalms read in the Bible
Stepping to this leaves thoughts in your head ‘it’s suicidal’
It’s the T to the A-L-I-B the deep rooter
Rolling with my wanna battle cats who chief buddha
And see through the overspecialized, underpressurized
No lie texturized, emcees who got the masses mesmerized
with empty rhetoric, they better quit
Niggas so hollow that they echo like sentiments

[Chorus]
Nowadays rap artists coming half-hearted
Commercial like pop, or underground like black markets
Where were you the day hip-hop died?
Is it too early to mourn? Is it too late to ride? [x6]

Kwa is chillin’, Tone is chillin’
What more can I say, we stay building
And make killings
Take children through the wilderness, by the hand
It’s a great feeling, show ‘em how to be a man
Exactly, pack trees in my khakis
My sound fat like a Neve while you thin like a Mackey
C’mon, shine so bright when I walk by
You gotta squint like the motherfucking sun in your eye
What! Say somethin, you stay frontin
It ain’t nothing, let off like I’m big game hunting
Me and Tek stay way blunted
Wave running on beaches with white sand
With a slight tan
Smack the mic stand with my right hand
When I’m excited
Leave you so far in the dust that you forced to bite it
On fire like property lost to riots
Yo, ain’t no stopping us when we all united

[Chorus]

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