Just Blaze Appreciation: Jay Electronica - "Exhibit C"

"Exhibit C" by Jay Electronica was consistently rated the top Hip Hop song to come out of 2009, so it should come as no surprise that Just Blaze was the man behind the beat. It should also come as no surprise that the beat he created is an absolute BANGER, proving once again why Just Blaze is still one of the best Hip Hop producers in the game.

As soon as the song begins to play, we already get a sense that we're listening to something special. But when the beat truly kicks in at the 28 second mark, it becomes quite clear why this track was such a smash hit within the Hip Hop community. Of course, a track doesn't become the song of the year from the beat alone. Jay Electronica brought his "A" game as well, spitting some great rhymes and showing everyone why he's the one to watch in 2010. So now, without further adieu, "I present, Exhibit C"! JUST BLAAAZE!!!

Favourite line: "They call me Jay Electronica. Fuck that! Call me Jay ElecHanukkah, Jay ElecYamaka, Jay ElectRamadan Muhammad Asalamukah Rasoul Allah Supana Wata Allah through your monitor!"

Premo Appreciation: Joell Ortiz - "Project Boy"

This is a fresh new joint from DJ Premier and Joell Ortiz that dropped only hours ago. Ortiz goes crazy over the Premo beat, which will appear on Joell's upcoming album, Free Agent.

Song Of The Day: "Shook Ones Pt. II"

There's not much I can say about this track, other than it's one of the greatest Hip Hop songs of all time. Mobb Deep hit the height of their career with this track, mixing the perfect beat with their classic rhymes to create a song that no "Top 10" Hip Hop list could be without. It's definitely on mine, so give this song a listen, or I'll "rock you in your face, stab your brain with your nose bone!"

Kanye Appreciation: Kanye West - "The Glory"

For today's entry into Kanye Appreciation, I wanted to post a Kanye West track with a Kanye West beat. I've chosen a song off his 3rd album, Graduation, called "The Glory", which I only heard for the first time last week. I can't believe I slept on this song for so long as it demonstrates everything I love about Kanye West. The beat starts off great, but when the bass kicks in at around the 38 second mark, the song is taken to a whole other level. Kanye also spits a few hot verses that sound right at home on the beat, and I'm left wondering why this track was never released as a single. I could have loved this song YEARS ago! Oh well, at least I'm loving it now. Enjoy!

Favourite line: "I guess after I live I wanna be compared to Big; anyone, Big Pun, Big L or Notorious!"

Just Blaze Appreciation: Jay-Z - "Public Service Announcement"

Time for another banging beat from Just Blaze. Jay-Z has the honour of providing the vocals for this track off The Black Album, titled "Public Service Announcement". The song starts off with a gentle piano and some introductory words from Jay-Z, leaving no indication that we are listening to a Just Blaze production so far. Suddenly, as the song hits the 20 second mark, Jay-Z shouts out "Allow me to reintroduce myself, my name is HOV!" and Just Blaze unleashes hell. The beat kicks into top gear and doesn't let up until the end of the song, while Jay-Z turns in an impressive performance of his own. A great song off a fantastic album and another classic beat from JUST BLAAAZE!!!

Favourite line: "Whenever there's a drought, get your umbrellas out because, that's when I brainstorm!"

Song Of The Day: "Notorious Thugs"

It's time to introduce The Notorious B.I.G. to my blog, a Hip Hop legend taken from the world long before his time. In fact, if he were still alive today, Biggie would only be 38 this year. To put that into perspective, Jay-Z has already hit 40 while Eminem is turning 38, the same age as Big would have been. Imagine all the great music he would have made in the 13 years since his death. But this post is about the great music that he DID make, and today I've chosen one of my favourite songs called "Notorious Thugs" featuring Bone Thugs-N-Harmony.

This is one of the first Hip Hop songs I ever loved, and it also introduced me to Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, who I became very obsessed with because of this track. Bone Thugs are all about their rapid-fire, machine-gun flow, and they demonstrate that very well in this song. The great thing is that Biggie changed up his own flow to suit the Bone Thug style and the result was one of the greatest sounding verses of his career. This song is in my top 10 most played tracks on iTunes because I used to listen to it on repeat for hours at a time. Do yourselves a favour and give it at least one listen, in honour of The Notorious B.I.G., one of the greatest emcees to ever pick up the mic. Enjoy!

Favourite line: "Squeeze your clip, hit the right one. Pass that weed, I got to light one. All them n*ggas, I got to fight one. All them hoes, I got to like one."

Kanye Appreciation: Teriyaki Boyz - "I Still Love H.E.R."

If there's anyone in the Hip Hop world that needs a bit more appreciation, it's Kanye West. It seems that all the controversy surrounding the man has blinded people from the fact that he's actually a musical genius! Now when I say musical genius, I'm not referring to his skills on the mic, but rather the many wonderful beats he has produced over the past 10 years. Apart from producing all of his own albums, he has also made beats for the likes of Jay-Z, The Game, Lil Wayne, Lupe Fiasco, T.I. and Talib Kweli just to name a few.

For today's entry into the Kanye Appreciation feature, I've picked the track "I Still Love H.E.R." by the Teriyaki Boyz. Although more than half the song is in Japanese, you won't mind because Kanye's beat is the real star of the show. In fact, I love the beat so much that I wouldn't care if they did the whole song in German! But to be fair, the Teriyaki Boyz do sound nice over the beat, and even Kanye comes on at the end to do a verse of his own. I heard that even Taylor Swift loves this song (nah, I just made that up), so let's stop hating on Kanye and just enjoy the music that he makes so well.

Favourite line: "Lick the black, get the cream, like an Oreo"

Just Blaze Appreciation: Ghostface Killah - "The Champ"

In the same vein as Premo Appreciation, this feature will pay tribute to the amazing production styles of Just Blaze, another one of my favourite Hip Hop producers of all time. In case you don't know, Just Blaze was behind such popular hits as T.I.'s "Live Your Life" and Kanye West's "Touch The Sky", so you may already be a fan of his work whether you know it or not.

I'm gonna start off this feature with a track that best demonstrates what Just Blaze is all about: insane, mind-blowing beats! "The Champ" by Ghostface Killah is exactly that. It might have something to do with it's Rocky-type theme, but if you don't feel like punching the nearest person in the FACE when you hear it, there must be something wrong with you. This is definitely my fight song, because it always gets me fired up whenever I listen to it. In fact, I'm getting fired up just thinking about it. JUST BLAAAZE!!!

Song Of The Day: "What You Know"

Today's Song Of The Day goes to Southern rapper T.I. for his Grammy Award-winning track, "What You Know". That's right, T.I. won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance with this smash hit, which is often ranked as the top song to come out of 2006. This song is a straight up banger, and that's mostly due to the amazing production by DJ Toomp. This is not T.I.'s most lyrical song, so his long-time producer DJ Toomp stepped in to provide a beat that turned what could have been an average track, into T.I.'s most successful song to date. Must be one hell of a beat right? Check it out for yourself. Enjoy!

Premo Appreciation: Reks - "Say Goodnight"

You may notice as I continue my blog, that I'm a massive fan of DJ Premier. He is responsible for making some of the greatest beats in Hip Hop history, and he continues to make instant classics to this day. That's why I've started a feature called Premo Appreciation, where I can post my favourite Premier-produced tracks for y'all to listen to. As I've already posted two of my favourite Premo songs on the blog already, with "Boom" by Royce da 5'9" and "Nas Is Like" by Nas (check those out if you haven't already), my third track will come from an up-and-coming emcee by the name of Reks.

Premo and Reks came together back in 2008 to create a song called "Say Goodnight," and the track turned out to be one of the hottest songs of the year. Premier blessed Reks with a magical beat and Reks matched it every step of the way with 3 verses full of raw hunger and passion. I bumped this tune for months after I first heard it and I hope you will all do the same. Enjoy!

Favourite line: "They want me to say, 'Fuck who in the game, if you the best rapper alive, then Reks INSANE!'"

Song Of The Day: "Hellbound"

The next instalment in my Song Of The Day feature had to come from Eminem, because he is definitely my favourite emcee of all time. Now most people are familiar with Eminem and know quite a few of his songs, so I dug deep for this one and pulled out what is probably the best Eminem song that no one has ever heard. I'm sure that die hard fans will already know and love this song, but the rest of you are in for a real treat.

The song is called "Hellbound," and appearing alongside Eminem are J. Black and Masta Ace. OK, so I'll admit, I have no idea who J. Black is (and I can't be bothered doing the research), but I am familiar with Masta Ace. In fact, Masta Ace is one of the main influences on Eminem's rapping style, and that's according to Eminem himself, but on this track, it is clear that the student has far surpassed the "Masta". Eminem turns in one of the best verses of his entire career, and his two guests follow up with solid verses of their own. The beat sounds like something out of a video game like Mortal Kombat or Street Fighter, which suits the lyrics perfectly. OK, now that I've got you all excited, time to listen to the song. Enjoy!

Favourite line: I can't pick one because everything Eminem spits on this track is FIRE!!!

Song Of The Day: "Hate It Or Love It"

OK, so I'm gonna start a feature on my blog and it's called Song Of The Day. Here's how it works: I post a song I like. That's it. Exciting, huh?

Now seeing as this is the first entry for my Song Of The Day feature, I wanted to start it off with a bang, so I'm posting one of my favourite songs of all time; "Hate It Or Love It" by The Game, featuring 50 Cent. This is my top played song on iTunes and for good reason. I LOVE this song, so much so that I know all the words off by heart. I'm a big fan of The Game, and this song is one of the main reasons why. On the other hand, there's 50 Cent, who pretty much sucks balls as an emcee, but as much as I hate to admit it, he actually steals the show on this song. 50 Cent has never sounded better on a track, and he never will. Now let's not forget the producers of the song, Cool & Dre, who do an amazing job with the beat, and the result is one of the greatest Hip Hop songs to come out of the last 20 years. That's enough from me though, time to enjoy the song ................

Favourite line: "'Pac is gone and Brenda's still throwing babies in the garbage"

DJ Premier: The Greatest Hip Hop Producer Of All Time!

What's up y'all? Let's get the bullshit out of the way. Yes, this is the first post on my new blog. Yes, it will probably be my last. But whateva, I was bored so I started a blog. Isn't that how all blogs start?

Anyway, today's topic is ........... DJ Premier, the greatest Hip Hop producer of all time. Fact! Now let me prove it.
Take this song for example; an obscure track by some guy named Marc Hannibal. You don't have to listen to the whole song (which is quite crap to be honest), but make sure you listen to the first 9 seconds very closely. In particular, seconds 6-9 (you might wanna rewind it a couple of times):

Now witness how DJ Premier took 3 seconds of music out of a boring song, looped it, and created an instant Hip Hop classic with "Boom" by Royce da 5'9":

Yeah, that's right, you can pick your jaws up from the floor now. And if that wasn't proof enough, here's another example. Again, just pay attention to the first 9 seconds of the song, this time called "What Child Is This" by Robert Way:

And from those 9 seconds, DJ Premier was able to make this classic track, for fellow Hip Hop legend Nas, with the song "Nas Is Like":

In conclusion, according to the facts presented here today, it is clear that DJ Premier IS the greatest Hip Hop producer of all time. I rest my case.