Mixtape Reviews

Big Mike: Cruel Summer 2k4 Pt 3
Standout tracks:
Mobb Deep ft Jadakiss:"One of Ours": Jada delivers a scorching guest appearance verse, as usual.
Remy Martin:"Rapid Fire":Remy spits venom with a vintage down south flow. This should have been on the Terror Squad album.
Jay Z:"The Game Is Mine": A Green Lantern-produced freestyle to promote the S. Carter Tennis line. Hov replies to Fat Joes jab on "Lean Back" with the following lines: "I'm the proud new owner of the Nets/ No diploma, no regrets/ Dont even talk about a Ruckers motherfuckers, I am set".
Nas:"U Know My Style": It seems like the new Nas album Streets Disciple will have and old school vibe. With this track and "Thiefs Theme", he's 2 for 2.
Joe Buddens vs Game:"Big Shot vs 200 Bars ": Buddens roasts the G Unit rookie in the latest round of this lyrical mismatch. Buddens' real target,Fiddy, must be saving his response for his new album.
Aasim freestyle:Puff personally introduces us to Bad Boys latest savior.
Saigon freestyle: Political freestyle from a promo(?) for Warning Shots.

DJ Kay Slay:Certified Troublemakerz Pt 3
Standout tracks:
Mobb Deep:"Win or Lose": Murder music you can cruise to, if u can imagine that.
Young Buck ft TI & Ludacris:"Stomp":Atlanta's version of Jay Z vs Nas plays out on the first intra-song dis record since LL and Canibus beefed on "4,3,2,1".
Nelly ft Jaheim:"My Place":What is this doing on a Kay Slay tape? I'll pick up a Hot 97 mix if i want to hear stuff like this generic hip-pop track.

DJ Doo Wop:Wop News-Thugocracy
Standout tracks:
Doo Wop freestyle:"Why": Doo Wop's got some questions for Bill O'Reilly;I suggest Bill give some answers. For those who dont know, Doo Wop spits better than a lot of rappers in the game right now.
Shyne:50 Cent dis: 50 dissed Shyne back in December;Shyne replies seven months later,just in time for the release of Godfather Buried Alive. A coincidence, I'm sure.
Wu-Tang Clan:"Spotlight": Method Man,Inspecta Deck,Capadonna, and U-God unite on a track hot enough to make me a believer in the Clan again.
Mos Def ft Minnesota:"Grown Man Bizness": A breath of fresh air;I hope this means Mos has an album on the way.
Cam'ron,Dipset,& Lil Wayne:"Push It": A possible explanation for why Cam's album hasn't dropped yet. And yes,this song's as bad as you're imagining.

Beneath the Surface

With everyone buzzing about Grafh being on the Roc now, I decided to highlight  three MC's that should be on everyone's radar:

1. Saigon-An Unsigned Hype alum that blends political insight with vivid thug rhetoric, Sai's prepping his debut LP "Dear Black America" with production from Just Blaze and Alchemist. He's got the cover interview in this months Murderdog, and his mixtape/album "Warning Shots" is a must-cop.

2. Jae Millz- You should already recognize this Harlem representative from the first season of Making the Band 2 and the mixtape heater "No,No,No". Pick up his Big Mike -hosted mixtape "Once Upon A Time In Harlem Vol 2" for his latest material.

3. Ali Vegas-He started with Trackmasters and now he's the marquee MC on Tommy Mottola's new label Casablanca. He's mastered numerous flows, as demonstrated on his best-of by DJ On Point.

Wednesday updates

The world of luxury timepieces is Damon Dash's latest takeover target; he's partnered with jeweler Daniel Lazar to bring out a line of high-end watches called Tiret New York.

P Diddy announced some strategies for his political non-profit Citizen Change on Tuesday. By incorporating street team tactics, political t-shirts, and the endorsements of a celebrity "coalition of the willing", Puff aspires to get the hip hop generation out to the polls in record numbers this November. The power of harnessing the Black vote to sway major elections is something Malcolm brought to the forefront in his classic speech "The Ballot or the Bullet" back in '64. Read it here if you're not familiar.

Saturday Recap

Mad heads are talking about the new Grafh and Rocafella situation; people seem excited about the news, mostly. The most voiced concern was that Grafhs project will end up on the back burner, chillin with MOP and Dirt McGirt. My guess is that Rocafella bought whatever material Grafh recorded under Epic, similar to when they bought Cam out of his previous deal. Add on a couple of guest appearances from some Roc artists (he already has some joints with Kanye) , throw in some Jus Blaze tracks, and faster than Dame can say "cakeaholic"- Grafhs Rocafella debut will be on store shelves. Time will tell, though.

Quick news before I hit Richmond

The monopolist luddites that run the music industry have been blocking attempts by filesharing services such as Morpheus and Grokster to go legit, it seems. Apparently holding a grudge is more important to these guys than making money, considering iTunes sold its 100 millionth song  earlier this month.
 
Grafh is the newest member of the Roc. His mixtape with Green Lantern is fire; u can cop it here.
 
 
 
 

Back in Town

I managed to catch the last few minutes of Damon Dash's appearance on Tavis Smiley yesterday,click here for the transcript.

There's an editorial praising Cosbys recent tirades in the current issue of The Economist,surprise surprise. I'd dedicate some space to how I feel about Bill's grandstanding,but this guy has covered most of those bases already.

The latest MC in Bill O'Reilley's sights is Jada,check out his venom here. Cant wait to see D-Block pay a visit to the "No Spin Zone".

Just a lazy Saturday

Nothing major today,just some of my favorite sites.

Fifty dollar button-ups not doing it for u? Get familiar with:
RyanKenny,
Paul Smith,
Ben Sherman,
Thomas Pink,
and the always classic Ralph Lauren

Check one of the most thorough site for kicks at Uptowns.net

Visit the hottest chick in the game at Melyssaford.com

Get a dose of pure comedy at Rocascenes.com

Today's rant and observations

I'll start off with my two cents on the mainstream medias favorite hip hop commentator of the moment:Toure. If the name doesn't sound familiar, just think of the skinny bohemian looking cat with the uncombed afro that you've seen on MTV's Spoke N Heard or any interview with a Black artist in Rolling Stone. Or just check this article on him from fortwayne.com.Two questions came to mind after reading the article,though:1)when/how did he become the designated authority on hip hop?and 2)why is there always one go-to guy to represent the opinion for all things related to hip hop? It's like he's the human soundbite machine for the culture! Remember when the "chosen one" was Kevin Powell(of Real World and Vibe fame)? Its obvious the White media is just too lazy to consider the opinion of more than one person when it comes to hip hop (like we all think and act as some monolithic,Borg-like entity), so I'm declaring my candidacy for the post of "Mr Black Culture" the second Toure retires from the job.Yeah right.

Attention early adopters: Motorola unveiled its latest "must have" gadget last week at an exclusive launch party in New York.Expect to see the Motorola a630 in somebody's video any day now.It looks cool - part 2way,part camera phone.Theres a couple on eBay,so act quickly if you've got a spare thousand laying around.

Puffy made an impressive power move when he launched the political non-profit "citizen Change" on Sunday.Check the Citizen Change homepage here. He promises a groundbreaking announcement later this week-what could it be? His candidacy for mayor next term? A free CD of unreleased Biggie material at the polls in November? Or maybe the nations hottest election after party?(His birthday is November 4th, two days after the election). Hmmmmm. All jokes aside,its good to see Puff involved in the political scene. Anybody else notice how he manages to promote himself in the logo for Citizen Change,though? You gotta love it.