Song Of The Day: "2nd Time Around"

Simply put, Brother Ali absolutely KILLS this track with a single verse of flawless rhymes and raw passion for Hip Hop. Just about every second line that comes out of his mouth is a quotable as he unleashes a lyrical assault for over 2 whole minutes. This is unfortunate for Wale, the other emcee to appear on the track, who spits 2 strong verses of his own, but is completely overshadowed by Brother Ali's powerful rhymes. Not bad for the only white, albino emcee in the game. Enjoy!

Favourite lines:
"You really got the guns you claim in the track? Then my question to you is who you aiming 'em at!?"

"Y'all are all safe n' shit! Y'all are not sayin' shit! You just snap your fingers and dance n' make your label rich!"

"This is your chance to say somethin' and your wasting it! People are starving, you talking 'bout balling."

"80% of kids are listening to your shit. I heard that statistic, I almost cried. Never wanted so bad for 2Pac to be alive!"

Kanye Appreciation: Miri Ben-Ari - "New World Symphony"

Back in 2005, Kanye West got together with Pharoahe Monch and Miri Ben-Ari to create an epic track titled "New World Symphony". The track appeared on Miri Ben-Ari's album, The Hip-Hop Violinist. As a violinist, Ben-Ari doesn't rap on any of her songs, which means that the album featured many guest appearances such as Akon, Lil Wayne, Styles P, Scarface, Fabolous and Kanye West just to name a few.

This particular track features Pharoahe Monch, who is one of my favourite emcees, and has Kanye West in charge of production. The result is an epic orchestral beat led by the great violin of Miri Ben-Ari, and Pharoahe Monch just killing the track with his amazing flow. You've got to agree with Pharoahe Monch when he says "Kanye did it again!" Enjoy!

Song Of The Day: "Hard Knock Life"

Yesterday, I watched the Jay-Z documentary, Fade To Black, which revolved around his "retirement" concert and the making of The Black Album. I really enjoyed the movie, and as a result, I've been listening to Jay-Z tracks all day, so the next few posts may revolve around the Jigga Man.

Therefore, today's Song Of The Day is the title track from Hova's 3rd album, Vol. 2... Hard Knock Life. This track became Jay-Z's most commercially successful single at the time of release, and was nominated for a Grammy in 1999. "Hard Knock Life" shows Jigga rapping about his life in the ghetto, but the greatest element of the song is the brilliant hook, which is actually a sample taken from the Broadway musical, Annie. The sample fits perfectly with Jay's lyrics and the simplistic beat, which is all credit to the producer of the track, The 45 King. This song is just classic HOV, and essential listening for any Hip Hop fan. Enjoy!

Just Blaze Appreciation: Joe Budden - "Pump It Up" & "Fire"

When it comes to creating Hip Hop club bangers, no producer does it better than Just Blaze. In 2003, for Joe Budden's self-titled debut album, Blaze produced not one, but two great Hip Hop bangers, which both became successful singles and featured in several Hollywood films at the time. Just Blaze gave Joe Budden a great start to his career by supplying two banging beats, which y'all can now listen to right here. Enjoy!

Joe Budden - Pump It Up


Joe Budden - Fire (feat. Busta Rhymes)

Premo Appreciation: Limp Bizkit - "N 2 Gether Now"

I never thought I'd be posting a Limp Bizkit song on my blog, but this track deserves to be heard for two main reasons: 1) It features a solid performance from Method Man and 2) DJ Premier produced the beat. Not surprisingly, Method Man outshines Fred Durst (the lead vocalist for Limp Bizkit), and luckily for us, Meth actually spits more bars on the song than Fred does. It also goes without saying that DJ Premier produces another classic beat, which even makes Fred Durst sound like a decent emcee. "N 2 Gether Now" is a great Hip Hop song from a crappy rock band. Who would've thought? Enjoy!

Kanye Appreciation: Lil Wayne - "Let The Beat Build"

It's about time I posted a Weezy track on the blog, and this one's probably my favourite song off his super successful album, The Carter III. Kanye West creates a magnificent beat on "Let The Beat Build", and Lil Wayne just can't go wrong when the production is this good. Check it out and enjoy!

Favourite line: "Gotta get it clear, suck my dick with red lipstick and don't let it smear!"

Wu-Tang Financial

The previous blog entry reminded me of this classic clip from Chappelle's Show, starring GZA and RZA:

Chappelle's Show - Wu-Tang Financial from Masta Killahhh on Vimeo.

Wu-Tang Clan Ain't Nuthing Ta Fuck Wit!

Parks and Recreation is the Wu-Tang of Comedy - watch more funny videos

Kanye Appreciation: Jay-Z - "Encore"

I wanted to post the original "Encore" on my blog for those of you that have been poisoned by the whole Jay-Z/Linkin Park mash-up crap, where Kanye's great production was thrown out the window and replaced with some emo, rock 'n' roll bullshit. In fact, the whole Collision Course album was a complete massacre of Jay-Z's music, and a real stain on the history of Hip Hop. That's why this one goes out to all the true Hip Hop fans, so they can hear the original "Encore" in all it's glory. Enjoy!

Song Of The Day: "Renegade"

This entry into Song Of The Day requires a bit of storytelling first. Once upon a time, Eminem and Royce da 5'9" (my two favourite rappers) formed a rap group called Bad Meets Evil. They made a few great songs together, one of which was titled "Renegade". Unfortunately, the partnership didn't last very long as Eminem and Royce had a falling-out, which led to a long rap feud between Royce da 5'9" and Eminem's "band", D12. I'm happy to report that this feud officially ended last year, so hopefully we'll be seeing Em and Royce back together and making some great music in the near future.

Anyways, back to the story. Fast-forward to the year 2001 now, and Jay-Z is in the process of making his 6th studio album, The Blueprint. He decides that he wants to make a song with Eminem, so he arranges a meeting. Eminem comes in and presents a little track he produced himself called "Renegade". He tells Jay-Z that the track is relatively unknown, so the verses from Royce can be removed and Jay can record his own verses instead. Jay-Z does exactly that and the song becomes one of the best tracks to come off the entire album. The end. So now that you know the story, here's the song:

Jay-Z feat. Eminem - "Renegade"


I've also added the original "Renegade" from Eminem and Royce for you to hear. I prefer Jay-Z's version better, but I still like the original version as well.

Bad Meets Evil - "Renegade"


And here's an interesting fact: Jay-Z released The Blueprint on September 11, 2001.

Premo Appreciation: AZ - "The Come Up" & "The Format"

So far in their careers, DJ Premier and AZ have only made 2 tracks together, but luckily for AZ, both of those tracks have been classic Premo productions. "The Come Up" was their first creation back in 2005, and a year later they got back together to make "The Format" in 2006. Here they both are for your listening pleasure. Enjoy!

AZ - The Come Up


AZ - The Format

Just Blaze Appreciation: Jay-Z - "Kingdom Come"

"Kingdom Come" is a fantastic track, if only for the fact that Just Blaze took a ridiculous sample and made it work brilliantly. Everyone's heard "Super Freak" by Rick James, and will be quite familiar with it's catchy beat. If you need a quick reminder, here it is:



Well Just Blaze took that beat, chopped it up, added his own little flavour to the production and turned it into the best track to come off Jay-Z's 2006 album, Kingdom Come. This is another classic Jay-Z/Just Blaze collaboration and it only gets better with every listen. Enjoy!

Slaughterhouse!!!

In my opinion, Slaughterhouse is the best rap group in the game right now. This Hip Hop super-group consists of Joe Budden, Crooked I, Joell Ortiz, and my personal favourite, Royce da 5'9". They've already made one quality album together, and a second album should be dropping sometime this year, hopefully in the coming months. Although they're very serious and professional when it comes to their music, they also have a "softer" side, which they display here in an hilarious video that cracks me up every time. Check it out:

The Slaughterhouse Rules from jeff on Vimeo.

Also, here's a track from their debut album called "Not Tonight". This one's a real banger:

J Dilla Appreciation (R.I.P.)

J Dilla was one of the most respected and influential Hip Hop producers that ever lived. He worked with many great artists and received much critical acclaim for the wonderful beats he created in his short lifetime. He passed away 4 years ago at the young age of 32, so I thought I'd dedicate this feature to him and share a few of his songs through my blog. May he rest in peace.

Common - Love Is...


Jaylib - The Red


Steve Spacek - Dollar


Q-Tip - Move

Kanye Appreciation: Common - "Be"

Kanye West produced 9 of the 11 tracks on Common's 2005 album, Be, which is probably the reason why I enjoyed it so much. Here, witness how Kanye produces the perfect intro track to a Hip Hop album, creating a beat with a great build up and a strong finish that gets the listener excited about hearing the rest of the album.

"Be" starts off with some random plucking of guitar strings, but slowly turns into a nice rhythm. A second instrument is layered over the guitar and suddenly comes the realisation that the beat is building up to something. Then the piano kicks in, and it adds a whole new dimension to the beat. Finally, the whole orchestra begins to play, the track is now in full swing, and Common begins his rhymes, completing one the greatest Hip Hop album intros I've ever heard. This songs leads right into another great Kanye-produced track, "The Corner", but that's another blog entry. For now, here's "Be":



Speaking of great Hip Hop album intros, here's another one I came across just the other day, off Black Milk's 2008 album, Tronic. The song is called "Long Story Short", and it's produced by Black Milk himself. The track begins with an alien-type sound but soon turns into a soothing piano. The piano sounds great, even though it doesn't quite represent a typical Hip Hop beat. Suddenly, the alien sound picks up where the piano left off, the drums kick in at the same time, and another great Hip Hop album intro is born. The fact that Black Milk rhymes about his journey through the Hip Hop game thus far is just the icing on the cake. Enjoy!