March 2007 Archives
The White Rapper Show
Paul Wall's new album, Get Money, Stay True (Swisha House/Atlantic), leaked this week - in stores next Tues. Def the South's favorite white boy (not that there's much competition - what up, Lil Wyte?!?), and gotta say, the album's got some shit on it. Wall's taken a slightly different approach to his flow - sounds richer, more confident, and a lil bit more tight-lipped. Makes his raps sound frozen, which to hear him tell it, they just might be. Anyhow, more to the point, Paul Wall will always be Paul Wall (there's only so far that he'll go, or even needs to go, in terms of subject matter and such), not that that's necessarily a bad thing. And there's some equally cool production on this album, largely provided by Mr. Lee, tho JD comes through with some fire as well. So lemme cut the critical crap and just deliver the goods that have kept the album knocking doors down in my office ever since it came over the 'net:
"Get Your Paper," f/ Yung Redd, prod by Mr. Lee
"Call Me What You Want," F/ Yung Redd, and, unfortunately, E Class, prod by Mr. Lee
"Bangin' Screw," album standout to me, prod by Russell "Aaddict" Howard
Back 2 Da Basics: Reading is Fundamental Edition
Mentioned this book (Cormac McCarthy's The Road) back when this whole blog thing started, but now that Oprah's made it the next selection for her book club, maybe a whole bunch of other folks are gonna pick it up and check it out.It's an impressive piece of literature from one of America's most impressive living authors. Hearing rumors of a Pulitzer Prize. It'd be deserved. I'd say enjoy, but the story's one hell of a downer so let's just go with: appreciate.
Comin Out Hard (Again)
I’ma keep this one short for once. Just got a press release reminding me that this year marks the 10th anniversary of Master P’s monster 1997 project, Ghetto D (No Limit/Priority) - a beast of an album (tho not his best-selling, at least according to the RIAA – that goes to the following year’s MP Da Last Don (No Limit/Priority), with four million sold, tho credited twice since it was a double album), that pushed P’s far beyond the Bayou and the Southeast and into the national consciousness, largely thanks to the single above. All sorts of arguments can be made here – without Ghetto D there’d be no $30 million Cash Money deal, no talking doll, no Lil Romeo, no Lil Wayne "just might be the best rapper alive," and no classic moments on ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars” – but I’ll just leave all that alone and for you to debate. Truth be told, I never really F’ed with P like that. But you can’t deny the Army and I gotta give it up to him for a few reasons – the first work I ever got was reviewing Silkk the Shocker’s Made Man for BLAZE back in ’99 (good looking, NCB), I always respect a man who’s on his grind, and I bumped plenty of records coming outta the camp, a few of which I’ve included below (unforuntately I don't have my C-Murder ish at the office, so we'll just have to go with a trimmed down list). Oh, and the anniversary, deluxe, super special reissue edition of Ghetto D drops May 8, and featuring a few previously unreleased tracks (including "Weed and Hennessy" w/ C-Murder and Silkk and the "Make Em Say" instrumental)... as if any of you were still buying albums.
Working the Track:
P was always channelling Pac, but he sounded good doing it.
Master P, "We Riders" (also off Ghetto D):
Pac sounding even better, because, well, he was the original.
2Pac, "Pain":
No Limit's most criminally slept on artist.
Young Bleed, "Pull It Off":
Young Bleed, "Lil Poppa Got a Brand New Bag":
And the Medicine Men had a good production run.
Mystikal, "I Rock, I Roll" (produced by the Medicine Men):
David Banner, "What it Do" (produced by KLC of Medicine Men):
Back 2 Da Basics (bonus points):
Cause I also used to skate, Jamie Thomas is the shit, and the clip goes with today's theme.
Heading back to the M in three weeks. Can't wait.
And one last thing, Wendy Williams will be interviewing C-Murder, I believe today. Shameless self-promotion, VIBE recently published his book, Death Around the Corner, and I hear it's much better than you would ever think (tho I ain't had a minute to read it myself). You can check out the website here: www.deatharoundthecorner.com, or on the blog list here.
The Devil Made Me Do It
Three Six Mafia made their MTV debut last night with Three Six Mafia’s Adventures in Spring Break, a prelude/teaser to their upcoming reality series, Three Six Mafia’s Adventures in Hollyhood, which makes it’s debut in two weeks. For the Spring Break episode, they grabbed a few white cheerleaders from USC and headed down to somewhere in Mexico (I was only half paying attention, it’s been a long coupla weeks) to basically get drunk, try to get the chicks to take their clothes off, and act a damn fool – basically get their Memphis Walk on. Now here’s the thing, I love Three Six Mafia. As a Memphis dude, I’m pretty much down to support most anything coming outta the M that gives us shine. Hustle & Flow (MTV Films)? I supported it – even though plenty of Memphis folks I know, particularly rappers and other music industry types, thought the film made the town look real ass-backwoods. Three Six’s Oscar win? I supported it (seriously, in that category – Best Original Music From a Motion Picture – no other track played as significant a role in shaping the story of a movie as “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp,” so I thought it was no contest from jump), even though tons of folks, including Denzel Washington, thought the whole ordeal was degrading, both to women and the black community in general. And the Memphis Tigers? Well, they ain’t quite in the same category in terms of cultural shifts, but Texas A&M better get the F outta the way tonight (especially now that Wisconsin’s gone and busted my office bracket all to shit), and I’ll leave it at that. And Three Six getting a reality show on MTV? Well, hell yeah, I support that. I ain’t never had the apparent displeasure of making records with them (when an army of cats gets cut down to the two dudes who call themselves “Da Checkwriters,” it ain’t hard to guess what’s up on the frontlines), so I’ve got no reason to hate. Plus Juice and Paul (and even Pat) have always been cool to me – it’s Koopsta Knicca that I ain’t so high on – so I wanna see them win. But…
….The problem with watching Three Six do, well, just about anything, especially anything on television, is that it’s often hard to tell if they’re in on the joke. And the problem with that, either way it shakes down, is that you either get a corporate system that’s laughing at the black folks acting the fool, while egging them on to act even more the fool, or you get a group of black folks acting the fool because they think that’s what the system wants them to do – essentially playing into, and perpetuating, some sorta antiquated stereotype at both their own expense and at the expense of an entire demo (and if you wanna split the hairs of the demo even finer – it’s not just the black population that runs the risk of being damaged by the broadcasting of such imagery, it’s the hip hop, or even more to the point, southern hip hop that catches the bad one). But…
Here’s the thing: I thought the show was wild funny. On top of that, I’m looking forward to the upcoming series. Then again, as I like to say around the office, I do this. I mean, seriously. This is my job, but it’s also come to define my life. I’m a white dude from Memphis who’s spent damn near the last ten years working in, writing about, directing the conversation about and basically living with rap. I’m not just some record exec flying back to Connecticut on the weekends like, ‘Tell that black guy we’re not putting his album out until he poses with the gun. Alright, Jeeves, I’m off to see Muffy…’ I’m not friends with the artists I cover, but I do consider them peers. We’re all working to shape this culture – they make the music, I help make the magazines. And we’re all working to keep the culture alive and vibrant, both for all of you out there and for all of us, cause ultimately, we all love it and we all (you, me, Three Six) define ourselves by its very existence.
See, I’ve spent time around Three Six and while they might be hamming it up just a lil’ bit for the television crews, they’re legitimately funny guys who basically just like acting a fool because it’s funny and they don’t give a fuck. And just to tie it back to MTV, isn’t it the exact same thing that the Jackass and BAM crews are up to, and have been up to, for years? Technically, shouldn’t that simply be enough? Like Johnny Knoxville and Steve-O, DJ Paul and Juicy J simply like acting retarded. It’s not playing into some racist construct, it’s not detrimental to anyone but themselves, it just is. And that should be okay. But…
All the white kids, all the spring breakers, all the MTV viewers who don’t know shit about Three Six, who don’t know the history, who don’t know that they worked their asses off to get to a point where they could be lighthearted at every public appearance, basically everyone who’s about to get to know, or who’s just getting to know, Three Six off the Oscar and the new MTV show are just gonna think they’re a bunch of ignorant ass black folks. And they’re going to be laughing AT them, not with them. And it is/can be problematic. And that’s why Dave Chappelle quit.
Back 2 the Basics:
I went to California with my man, D. Scott, and stopped by Flight Club, my dude Damany’s great sneaker shop on Fairfax. Shouts to the team (below) for taking care of us. Look for the accompanying piece in our June issue. It’s ridiculous.
Rich Boy’s album has some shit on it. I love this record cause he raps like the mic just told him he’s not fresh.
"Hustla Ball Gangsta Mack":
Listen to the Boss Hogg Outlawz Serve & Collect and get familiar with Killa Kyleon. Some highlights.
Killa Kyleon, "Badge on my Neck":
Boss Hogg Outlawz, "Wood Wheel":
Boss Hogg Outlawz, "I'm Fresh":
