I cheer pretty hard for Big K.R.I.T.. Sincere, creative, hard working and really thoughtful about making rap music. Not a bad video either.
Category Archives: hip hop
MF Doom on graffiti
I was dubious when I saw the link. But it sounds like DOOM.
Left and right hemispheres of the brain engaged.
Thanks to Okayplayer for the link.
Filed under communication, graffiti, hip hop, learning
Gucci Mane and Yogi Bear
Thanks to Retronaut for the astounding verse by Yosemite’s gangsta bear from outer space.
Filed under hip hop, juxtaposition, representation
Dapper Dan: Respect
You think you know about roots of hip hop? Get correct.
Thanks to Nah Right for the link.
Filed under art, fashion, hip hop, representation
Who won the BET beef battles?
Photo from Missinfo.tv
The other night Rick Ross and Young Jeezy bumped into each other at the BET hip hop awards and had a scrap. Who won? Gunplay.
Wait, what? Oh yeah, that was the other ruckus where Rick Ross’s rising MMG star Gunplay apparently fist fought most of G-Unit until pepper sprayed. The couple of days after the awards show we are seeing Gunplay everywhere.
Who else won? Gucci Mane.
The battling of Jeezy and Ross might bring Ross and Gucci become more closely aligned.
Today we get the visuals for Gucci’s forthcoming Trap God mixtape. Featuring Ross. Yowzas. Bland beat and recycled rhymes. C’mon Gucci!
For those who want a better video featuring Ross and Gucci, you gotta go back to the Burrprint 2 (completed while Gucci was in jail): “Do that shit again.”
Filed under hip hop, propaganda
Curren$y – Leaving the dock
Curren$y Spitta aka Spitta Andretti is a good rapper to watch for if you are patient. Just hang out a little bit and he’ll drop a mixtape or a ridiculously good video or song. This one ain’t bad.
Filed under hip hop
911 as Mitt Romney’s campaign song: Rick Ross and Jay Smooth
Freaking brilliant comparison. The Rick Ross strategy of simply lying to make yourself into a celebrity laid out next to the Mitt Romney campaign who, with the advent of VP candidate Paul Ryan, have take lying to a whole ‘nother level.
“Post-realness” indeed.
As someone who has read about the stories Gary Webb reported about the CIA selling cocaine to California gangs, the origin of the “Freeway” Rick Ross name, I’ve felt kind of icky about the linguistic hijack Rick Ross presents. Sort of like someone taking a mass murderers name (Jim Jones?) and re-branding it for sale to teenage pop fans, the choice to appropriate this particular criminal for a nom-de-tough-guy has never sat well with me.
When the real drug-dealer Freeway Rick Ross sued the rapper Rick Ross and lost, I was astounded. I remember ranting at that time that the rapper was impervious to reality.
Jay Smooth suggests the entire republican campaign is generating an inviting and fictional narrative. And like Rick Ross, one that will be resistant to suggestions that it isn’t factually correct. Some communications corrode against other communications.
In this sense, Rick Ross might be the best comparison to the Mitt Romney campaign. “Post-realness” means just making it up and then calling anyone who disagrees with you a bad name.
Since the G.O.P. is having a tough time finding any musician who will allow them to use any of their music, perhaps they should ask Rick Ross if they can use 911? I think it is as strong an ideological fit as Ted Nugent’s “Cat scratch fever.”
1. Explicit biblical reference to open the conversation? Check
2. Focus on wealthy people with explicit disregard for the poor? Check
3. Retaliatory ethics with encouragement of NRA gun violence? Check
4. Consumer identity presented as patriotism? Check
5. Pull-yourself-up-by-the-bootstraps bullshit? Check
6. Women included via objectification? Check
You may know that Rick Ross’s new protege Gunplay (the other guy in the video) has a swastika tattooed on the back of his neck. If Rick Ross’ Maybach Music Group did become more explicitly aligned with the Republican party, the value of Gunplay on the roster would obviously go way up. Not only is his name an NRA wet-dream, but the swastika tattoo would probably help get the votes of those die hard right-wingers who didn’t feel that the GOP showed enough visible Nazi tattoos.
Filed under communication, hip hop, juxtaposition, media, music, propaganda, representation
I hope Killer Mike lives to be really old
F’real. I think he is just the absolute most enjoyable emcee these days. I wish him a long life so I can listen to his political rant raps when he is like eighty years old. (For those wondering, I suspect that he’ll sound exactly the same).
Talib Kweli, Curren$y and Kendrick Lamar – Push Thru
In case you were curious I think Curren$y wins this one, but Kendrick Lamar is fan-freaking-tastic.
Filed under hip hop
I know rappers steal mics
Friday morning. What a lovely series of rap video treats in my RSS feed. First up Joell Ortiz, one of the finest with a fantastic a capella.
Stalley and Curren$y with “Hammer and vogues.” I don’t love the silly sexist chorus on this tune, but the rest is pretty legitimate.
Fridays belong to Killa Kyleon. I’m feeling the black T and Raiders cap (a nod of respect for this NWA instro). Waiting patiently for T.R.I.L.L. from Killa K.
There is something wonderful about enjoying rap music these days. For every tune that covers the predictable territory (guns, sex, drugs), there is another song that references Jason Seigel, teenage mutant ninja turtles, and is essentially about self-doubt. If you don’t know Gerald Walker, now you know.
Thanks to you heard that new for almost all these videos.
And of course, the news that Brother Ali went to jail to help #occupy a soon-to-be-repossessed home.
Props go out to Minneapolis artist Brother Ali for getting himself arrested a couple of weeks ago. No Ali wasn’t doing the Chris brown/ Drake number and tossing bottles in a club. He got arrested for standing up and helping Occupy a House that was scheduled to be foreclosed on by greedy bankers. That’s who we need to be tossing bottles at. bankers who have made record profits and yet still insist on fraudulently foreclosing on homes.
In this recent case, the Cruz family in Minneapolis attempted to make a payment online, which the bank refused. This triggered the bank to impose a two month fine, which the family couldn’t pay which then led to foreclosing proceedings. Such tactic are not unusual and in this particular case, lots of folks came out to help the family keep their home. One of them was Brother Ali who wound up being charged with trespassing when he refused to walk away and let the bankers keep the house.
Filed under hip hop, protest, representation
Life of refinement 