I knew Kendrick’s new joint, The Recipe was dropping today and that Dr. Dre was involved somehow. Looks like Dre drops a couple of Kendrick-written verses and some hook-work. I got to say, this shit is smooth as hell. Makes me want to head to LA this weekend. Anyway, dope record from Kendrick and Dre. Kendrick’s new album is going to be bananas if Cartoons and Cereal and now this is how it is starting off! Shout out to Scoop Deville!
Aside from having a cosign from Dr. Dre, working with Organized Noize and Nottz, Tito Lopez is nice. I like this record!
In honor of the NBA All Star festivities this weekend in LA, me and my buddy, Todd, held our second Beards, Beats and Brews Battle at the house on Saturday. To serve as a backdrop for the Three Point Contest, Skills Challenge and Dunk Contest, we both compiled playlist consisting of nothing but West Coast music. It was pretty awesome listening to nothing but West Coast bangers all night. I had a great time compiling a playlist of some of my favorites and hearing them on the loudspeakers. I decided to keep the party going into Sunday and today and trimmed my 130 song playlist to around 30 songs so I could listen in the car. Needless to say, I’m still West Coastin’ all day despite the snow falling in Chicago. I figured I would share a few of my favorite joints from my playlist/CD. Check out some of my favorite West Coast songs of all time. The playlist is still a work in progress but it has some unbelievable songs on it right now. Happy Monday.
Maybe Detox is actually coming out. Kush kind of jams. Dr. Dre’s jacket looks a little tight though. Shout out to Dr. Dre!!!!! Give us Detox already!!!!!!!!!
Guess it won’t play on my site. I don’t have permission. Click anyone and watch it on youtube. The video is pretty sick!!!!!!!
It’s day of new music week. This time the album comes from former Aftermath emcee, Stat Quo. Statlanta is Stat’s first album and has been in the works and rumored to be coming out for god knows how long but like most of Dr. Dre’s artist, it found itself on the shelf for years forcing Stat to release it on his own. I think Stat Quo was on a lot of people’s radars for a while but seem to fall into obscurity after the Aftermath situation. Finally, Statlanta sees the light of day. At this point, I can’t say I was checking for Stat Quo for I figured it was worth a listen. After a full run through, I figured the album would have been a little better after YEARS in the making. I like dude’s voice but I am just not too impressed with the album. I am happy that it finally came out but at this point, I don’t see it making any noise or anyone really caring. I might give it another spin and see how it sits with me after a second listen. Shout out to Stat for pushing through and finally releasing the album. He should have linked with Toomp and just BLOWN the doors off that shit.
The last several years have been a relatively dormant for GREAT hip hop albums. Off the top of my head I can only think of a few that I listen to on a regular basis. Clipse dropped Hell Hath No Fury in 06. Blu and Exile dropped Below The Heavens in 07. Elzhi dropped The Preface in 08. Other than that, off the top of my head, I can’t think of any other great albums. Graduation was dope but it had a couple mishaps, same with American Gangster. After having this conversation with a few people, I got an instant message from one of my buddies with a link for Raekwon’s Only Built For Cuban Linx II. If you recall my post about sequels, I didn’t have high expectations for this project especially after 8 Diagrams. However, After running listening to the whole album yesterday, I was really, really impressed. It felt like an old Wu album but still fresh and still relevant in 2009. None of the features are questionable and the rhymes never disappoint. I was a little worried about production as well but I literally didn’t even think about skipping or fast forwarding through one song. I’m not going to call the album a classic just yet because I want to listen for a couple weeks and come back to it in a couple months but this is a really dope album and perhaps the best album/mixtape of 09. The album features production for J Dilla, Rza, Dr. Dre, Alchemist, Marley Marl and Scram Jones. Even though it took SEVERAL years in the making, the wait for Only Built For Cuban Linx II was well worth the wait. The video for House of Flying Daggers is worth the wait alone. I’m not going to provide a download link because you should BUY the album, especially with album sales the way they are now but I am sure you can find it somewhere. In case you didn’t catch the video for House of Flying Daggers, here it is along with a couple other of my favorite cuts.
![Kurupt_-_Tha_Streetz_Iz_A_Mutha_-_Front[1]](http://mikeschpitz.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/kurupt_-_tha_streetz_iz_a_mutha_-_front1.jpg?w=300&h=297 "Kurupt_-_Tha_Streetz_Iz_A_Mutha_-_Front[1]")
For your Monday listening pleasure, I got some theme music for all the fellas this morning. I’m sure we have all been through it but Kurupt, Dr. Dre and Hittman(where is Hittman?) shed some light on our optomism. I know it seems like you might be the one to tame her but “you can’t make a ho a housewife.” However, I think Musiq Solchild and Lil Wayne might disagree(see You and Me and Prositute Flange). They must have found them an EXTRA bad one. I’ll just cross my fingers and say it MIGHT happen. Enjoy Ho A Housewife from Kurupt’s Tha Streetz Iz a Mutha and Chronic 2001 and as a bonus, Callin Out Names. This joint is one of my favorite Kurupt joints because he is talking shit on a few folks. Kurupt can spill in case ya’ll forgot.
With all of the hype around Jay-Z , Blueprint 3 and now with 50 Cent dropping his album on the same day(I still thinking it is a marketing ploy by labels to sell records), two important questions must be asked: Who will sell more records and more importantly who will have the better album? I touched on this topic briefly in an early post but I wanted to officially ask the question and provide an example. Case and point. Which song is better and which song is a bigger disappointment, Crack A Bottle or Swagger Like Us? Crack A Bottle was the first leak from Eminem’s HIGHLY anticipated return, Relapse and it featured production AND a verse from the legendary Dr. Dre and a verse from 50 Cent. Em even says “the platinum trio is back on you hoes.” How do you feel about the “three headed monster’s” return to hip hop? Was it as dope as those three are capable of or was it a disappointment and a tragedy? More importantly compared to TI/Jay-Z’s “single” Swagger Like Us, is Crack A Bottle a better song or a bigger disappoinment? Swagger Like Us was originally for TI’s album, Paper Trail until Jackin Jay-Z stole it for his album that eventually got pushed back and retracted as a single. SLU, as some like to call it, features the 4 hottest rappers in the world, Kanye West, Jay-Z, Lil Wayne and TI over a Kanye West produced beat with an MIA sample. Is SLU as incredible as these 4 emcees are capable of or is the song a failed/lazy attempt by 4 of the most overrated emcees in the game? Who shined and who failed? I want to hear everyone’s thoughts about which song, Crack A Bottle or Swagger Like Us is better as well as which song is more of a disappointment. I have my own thoughts but I will save them for another time. Just in case you need a refresher, here they both are.
And hopefully for good. Talib Kweli and DJ Hi Tek are Back Again and not a moment too soon, with their first video from their “reunion” album, Back Again. It is always dope and refreshing to hear cats like this coming back together for the sake of hip hop. Their first album Train of Thought is a classic. Hi Tek’s first album, Hi Teknology is really dope too. It’s good to see that cats can take time out from their busy schedules to give the people what we’ve been waiting for. Did ya’ll know Hi Tek has been working with Dr. Dre on Detox. Real recognize real seems to be true. I will keep ya’ll posted with anything new from Reflection Eternal. I’m really looking forward to their album.
