I promised I would try to give everyone some more “substantial” music throughout this Gorrila Zoe Challenge, well here is a new joint, Window Seat from Erykah Badu from her album, New Amerykah Pt.2: Return of the Ankh which is supposed to drop March 30th. This song has a really good vibe to it. Miss Badu is definitely going to have a great 2010. Check out Window Seat, then get back on the Gorrilla Zoe Challenge
If you have been reading my site for any amount of time, you will quickly realize that I talk A LOT of shit. Most of it is backed up, with what I feel is “truth, fact or educated opinion” but I figured this time I would get off my high horse and sacrifice my time, ears and taste in order to be more open to all types of “hip hop.” In an effort to do so, I took the Disposable Arts post to heart, and myself, along with a few comrades, are going to listen to ALL 28 of Gorilla Zoe’s mixtapes. I figured that it couldn’t hurt to devote an entire month of my life to an artist who I care nothing about right???? I started listening on Saturday and so far, I am 2 and a half mixtapes in. I listen to the LONG Crack Addiction first. Honestly, it was horrible but not as bad as I anticipated. The next mixtape was Diamonds, Dope and Dimez and it was atrocious. A LOT of autotune on it. The third one, Zoe Montana, although I’m not finished, is shaping up to be the worst one yet. I will give my full report tomorrow. So, I am going to apologize ahead of time for featuring all 28 Gorilla Zoe mixtapes on my site but it is to prove a point. I am a hip hop fan first and foremost, so I listen to music as so. Secondly, I make music, so seeing and hearing things makes me feel a certain way. I will try to include some good music to balance it all out so you are not all overwhelmed like me. I welcome and encourage any and all of you to join in the Gorilla Zoe Challenge by listening to ALL 28 of his mixtapes, starting from the beginning. The challenge is in full effect and I will share my thoughts on two more tomorrow. In the meantime, here are the links for Crack Addiction and Diamonds, Dope and Dimez.
Classic shit Fridays is back in full effect!!!!!! I almost listened to the radio on the way in to work because nothing in my CD booklet quite fit my mood but I decided on Rza’z album Bobby Digital. I know all the Wu fans will appreciate this post. It has seriously been years and years since I have listened to this album so it almost felt like the first time(word to IMX). I remember some weird shit but this time through, the album is SICK. I love it. The production is crazy and Rza as an emcee is very entertaining. Dude is nice on the mike if you can get past his offbeat, jumbled raps. The guest appearances are very ill as well. I think Rza hit the nail on the head with this project for sure. Another very solid album in the Wu Tang catalog. Did ya’ll know Rza has ben studying under Quinton Tarrantino and is planning to direct a movie??????? Dude is mad talented. Anyway, happy Friday and here is a nice cut from the album to tie you over until you dust off your copy of Bobby Digital and let that shit ride. Cheers
Dude on the first verse is nice.
In light of some recent news I just read about Gorilla Zoe, I wanted to share some thoughts about this whole situation. Rapper Gorilla Zoe, who I would place in the category of “who the hell cares” is releasing a new mixtape every day of this month. In his defense he did choose the shortest month of the year, so it will only be 28 mixtapes in 28 days but one must ask, what is hip hop coming too???? Ever since rappers started blowing up via the mixtape circuit, Lil Wayne, 50 Cent, Papoose, wait maybe not Papoose, artists have thrown albums to the wind and started dropping mixtapes. If you ask me, a mixtape should be a rare occurrence if you are a major rapper who can get free beats from COUNTLESS producers but whatever. Not only have rappers started dropping mixtapes instead of albums, thanks to the internet and the blog world, they drop brand new shit every day. Now, some rappers are able to put out pretty solid material time and time again HOWEVER, we don’t need to hear absolutely every lyric, every thought and every song, EVERY rapper makes. Everyone thinks that because Lil Wayne’s formula to success was quantity over quality, that they need to follow suit. I do understand that any press is good press but it has gotten out of control. I have seen artists drop a new song every day for a month but this shit is getting ridiculous. With the nature of the blog world, artists are “forced” to drop new material every day to stay relevant. That is where the quality versus quantity discussion comes to play. At what point are artists, fans, bloggers, producers, publicists, deejays, etc…..going to stop letting this happen??? Maybe this is just how music is going to be consumed from now on and the hottest artists won’t be the most talented with the best songs and albums but those who can consistently get on every website day after day after day. In my own, worthless opinion, this formula takes away the value of the music. There is no anticipation. Anyone that knows me, knows how big of a Wayne fan I am but I really lost interest about the time of Carter III and leading up to it because he had new songs every single day. Now, someone has to force me to listen to Lil Wayne. It has turned from “grinding” to over-saturation to just out of control. Maybe I am just an old head who remembers waiting years to hear new material from my favorite artists and I am having a hard time adjusting to the times but all those albums that I used to wait in line at Best Buy to get, I STILL bump. How many of the songs or mixtapes from today’s artist will you be bumping 10 years from now? Maybe fans are just changing and what more and more and more but I think we are creative a breed of “artists” who will sacrifice quality for quantity. I can just hear the arguments now……”How many songs you put out last week????? I dropped 32 new tracks Monday, 27 Tuesday, 14 Wednesday, 19 Thursday and 42 on Friday.” Is this really the type of artists we want????? Like I said, maybe I’m just an old head who is scared to let go of the “good old days” but I think this shit is getting out of hand. I challenge everyone to download every Gorilla Zoe mixtape this month and honestly tell me that was a good look.
Disposable Arts………..
I wanted to share a really dope video/song called We Gon Go from one of my favorite artists, Kardinal Offishall. Kardi is one of the most talented and consistent cats out there. He has been around for a while and drops heat every time. He is one of those cats that will never really get there props but still has a solid enough fan base to do this music thing for a long time. The video for We Gon Go is really cool as well. Shout out to all the shout outs in the video and to Kardi to always keeping it fresh.
I know I am a few days late with posting this project but my people at FlawlessHustle.com just released a mixtape on Monday titled Stay Flawless. The first couple singles they released were posted everywhere and now that the mixtape has officially been released, it can be found on all your favorite sites. Oh yea, and I have two new, exclusive records on the mixtape. I have a track called See Me which is produced by my homie Parker who previously produced Stop Me Then. Parker and myself have been working together since Stop Me Then and the second joint we made is See Me. The second feature on the mixtape is a song I have with The League of Ordinary Gentlemen’s own Dre Day. The track is called Check What. Dre sent me the joint a while ago and graciously let me kick a couple verses. The outcome is an infectious joint. I will release these joints as singles in a couple weeks but for the time being I encourage everyone to download the whole mixtape because it features a lot of dope artists. Shout out to FlawlessHustle.com for the opportunity. Here is the track list artwork and the download links. Enjoy
FlawlessHustle.com presents Stay Flawless
Sorry I slacked yesterday on updating everyone with the weekly numbers. It will NEVER happen again. I promise(singing Jagged Edge’s song). Anyway, here are the weekly numbers. Not really anything exciting happening except Hope For Haiti now is still moving units. Corraine Bailey Rae debuted selling just over 50K, Michael Jackson’s This Is It is still sitting up top and Alicia Keys is ALMOST platinum. Here is the top.
| Rank | Artist | Album | This Week | Est. Total |
| 2 | Various Artists | Hope For Haiti Now |
143,000 | 314,000 |
| 6 | Michael Jackson’s | This Is It |
55,000 | 1,404,000 |
| 7 | Corinne Bailey Rae | The Sea | 53,000 | 53,000 |
| 10 | Black Eyed Peas | The E.N.D. |
40,000 | 1,929,000 |
| 11 | Alicia Keys | Element of Freedom |
37,000 | 965,000 |
And for the bottom.
| Rank | Artist | Album | This Week | Est. Total |
| 28 | Young Money | We Are Young Money |
19,000 | 270,000 |
| 40 | Jay-Z | Blueprint 3 |
14,000 | 1,578,000 |
| 41 | Eminem | Relapse |
14,000 | 1,805,000 |
| 85 | Kid Cudi | Man On The Moon: The End Of Day |
6,600 | 289,000 |
| 86 | 50 Cent | Before I Self Destruct |
6,600 | 379,000 |
I look forward to seeing how many units Sade can next week. Her new album Soldier of Love drops February 9th. Until next week stay tuned.
I recently got the opportunity to be a part of DJBooth.net’s project, Rhymes and Rhythm for Relief in support of Haiti and the devastation the earthquake has caused. I recorded a song called Daily News with producer SLOT-A, submitted it for the project and DJBooth.net chose Daily News to be featured. This is a very important opportunity for me to be a part of a project like Rhymes and Rhythm for Relief and to be involved with a site such as DJBooth.net. This song precedes the release of my 5th music video, The Rain. The Rain is from my project, Love Potion Number 9th: The Hangover, which all beats borrowed from 9th Wonder. The Rain will released February 10th and is dedicated to my cousin, John Mills Neiswanger who just recently passed away. Here are both the download links for Daily News and Rhymes and Rhythm for Relief. Enjoy and happy hump day.
I want to share an important event with everyone. One of my good friends is having a fundraiser/party to do their part to support Haiti. It is on Thursday, February 4th at the Red Canary in Chicago and we all need everyone to come out. Here is some more information about the event.
Ladies Aiding Haiti is a group of Chicago based women, working together with Save The Children to provide assistance to the people of Haiti. Our efforts begin with social fundraising and community outreach beginning with a fundraiser taking place at The Red Canary, on February 4th 2010. This will be one of several fundraising events taking place over the next several months and will ultimately result in a volunteer team making the trip to Haiti to assist in rebuilding efforts and advocacy work.
We sincerely appreciate any and all donations and believe that any amount, whether it be large or very small can help change the world…
“We are aware that day to day life can often be stressful and sometimes draining and we ask you, for just a minute to imagine that horrible day, week or even month… Maybe you went on a bad blind date, broke a nail, couldn’t talk your way out of that speeding ticket, he never called, you got a bad haircut, you didn’t get the raise, forgot your umbrella, broke a heel, ripped your tights, missed the bus, the washing machine broke – again, your husband is asleep on the couch -again, the babysitter cancelled at the last minute or maybe your car got a flat tire…
Now imagine this… Maybe almost everyone you know was just crushed to death in their own homes, every hospital was destroyed leaving nowhere for anyone to seek medical help, there is no food, no clean water, you and your family have nowhere to sleep, not only because you have no home but because no where is safe, your son is sold into slavery due to poverty, the blasts from tanks and machine guns go on for hours almost every day all around you, canals of raw sewage run at your feet, almost every woman you know, even your 6 year old daughter- has been raped, you make 2 U.S. dollars a day, which is barely enough to cover the cost of transportation to and from work, bodies rot on the street because the morgue is full or maybe you are stuck in traffic, and on top of worrying about being late for work, you also are fearing the good chance of an arson attack taking place…”
– Vanessa Ursina Kuhlman –
Ladies Aiding Haiti
This is the harsh reality for almost every person living in Haiti. Please take a minute to consider how truly blessed you are and take advantage of the fact that you have the ability to aid, change or even save the life of somebody living in Haiti.
So please everyone come out this Thursday, February 4th to Red Canary.
For more information please visit:
http://www.firstgiving.com/ladiesaidinghaiti
Cheers to everyone and Happy Groundhog day. I am sure the little rodent saw his durn shadow because it is snowing like a bitch in Chicago. As if I needed another reason to stay in bed today. As if I need to to tell anyone, LA was amazing. The show at The Mint was crazy. Everyone can expect to see my face in LA a couple more times this year. The Krizz Kaliko show in Kansas was really dope too. Today it’s back to the daily grind. I got another special video for ya’ll from Chicago’s own Mic Terror. Fresh off the feedback of On My Own with Freddie Gibbs and Mikkey Halsted, Maja 7th and Mic Terror drop the second video from Maja’s album, The Breakout. Once again, in case you are wondering why I am posting these videos, I am featured on The Breakout with a song called Going For Broke. I look forward to everyone hearing this joint. Check out the video, I’m Famous. It’s pretty funny. Mic Terror punches a few chicks in the video. Stay tuned this week for brand new Mike Schpitz music as well.
