1 Year!!

It's been a year since the first post! 207 posts, upwards of 9,000 page views and counting. When I started this blog I didn't have any quantitative goals, I just wanted to inform and educate anybody who read the blog. I feel like I've succeeded with that thus far, due to the response I've read in the comments and people who have told me the same thing in person. I have some new features in teh works so be on the look out.

Thanks to everybody who has commented and read my blog in the past year, keep reading!

3 Blogs That Infleunced Product of My Opinion

This design that never really got off the ground*

I spend a lot of time on the Internet. I try to spend most of my time soaking up information instead of wasting time away on Facebook. Scroll down a little on the right side of the page and you'll see the "Check These Blogs Out"! widget, I encourage you to browse those websites. All of them are unique in my opinion and I try to read them a few times a week to learn something new.

Tomorrow will mark the 1 year anniversary of this blog. It's hard to believe that I've actually kept this blog up consistently and made more than 200 posts. Over the past year I've let everybody know about my favorite songs and their samples, my gripes about music, and a peek into my life at times. I feel now is the appropriate time to shine the spotlight on the blogs/websites that inspired this one and this "blogger."

Sunday Morning Plan My Day Out...

The Roots ft. Blu, Phonte, and Patty Crash- The Day

...whole new blueprint, brand new layout
Deep down still don’t know if it’ll play out
But for the first time, feel like I done found a way out

-Phonte

Three of my favorite emcees on one track. When I read that Blu and Phonte were going to be featured on HIGO I knew they wouldn't disappoint. When I actually heard them on the same track with Black Thought it topped it all off. Each verse describes the dawn of a new day and another chance to accomplish what you didn't the day before.

Personally, I've procrastinated on a few things the past couple days. It's about time I get those tasks done. Like Patty Crash states on the hook, today is gonna be the day!

Doe Doe And A Skunk

Suga Free spits some of the funniest lyrics I have ever heard. From calculating his age in dog years to telling a female he's going to drop kick her in her medulla oblongota, his creativity never ceases to amaze me.

Take a look at the video for "On My Way" and unsurprisingly, the image fits the lyrics. If you want a descriptive life of the pimpin business with a little hilarity included, listen to anything by Suga Free.

DJ Quik produced the majority of his 1997 debut album, Street Gospel, which features the song I'm highlighting today "Doe Doe and A Skunk."

The song samples "Nights of Pleasure" by Loose Ends.

Loose Ends- Nights of Pleasure

Suga Free - Doe Doe And a Skunk

prod. by DJ Quik

Jet Audio's Stand Alone Complex

 Jet Audio's Stand Alone Complex

There have been a good number of mixtapes that have come out the past two weks or so. J. Cole, Tom Hardy, Young Chris, Emilio Rojas, and The Kid Daytona all put out solid projects that have been in my rotation. Despite those recent offerings, I'm going to highlight a mixtape from the Summer of 2009, Jet Audio's Stand Alone Complex. The title track, "Stand Alone", is  the first leak I heard from the mixtape and it quickly became one of my loner anthems. If I had to give somebody a song that describes me "Stand Alone" would be one.

Jet Audio's production showcases the unique sound of the new breed of artists coming from NYC. Artists include, the aforementioned Kid Daytona and Emilio Rojas, and also two favorites of yours truly, Naledge and Outasight.

Standout Tracks: Stand Alone, Once Around The City, Only

Thanksgiving

Kendrick Lamar ft. Big Pooh - Thanksgiving

Today is Thanksgiving, but don't just use this one day to be thankful for what you got. Be appreciative of people in your life, things you have, and life in general EVERYDAY. That is all.

The Chips is Low, The Rates is High

Willie the Kid's debut album, Absolute Greatness, dropped in September 2008. The majority of the songs on the album had been interjected into numerous DJ Drama mixtapes in the months prior, which soured my reception of the album. I remember seeing a billboard promoting the album a few months before the release and it did reach #20 on the Billboard Rap Charts, so I guess it was success, but as a fan I wanted to hear more than just the rehashed songs.

For the majority of the album WTK decided to go with the drug dealing/money throwing/expensive clothes wearing lane. The lead single "Love For Money" is a great example of that.

"Splendid!" was a smooth lane change and was by far the best song lyrically and depth wise on the entire album. The lyrics had me on some revivalist type iddish (c) Median.

Cut the whores in my stable off/I'ma start reading like a used to do/I ain't talking Ozone/I used to go/hard study Pillars of Faith now i chase a broad

More books for me, less hoes.

The song features a sample of Ahmad Jamal's "Swahililand," which was famously sampled in De La Soul's classic "Stakes is High".

Ahmad Jamal- Swahililand

Willie the Kid- Splendid!
prod. by V12

I Ain't Sh*t

 
The main thing that endeared me to Big K.R.I.T.'s music the first time I heard it was the level I could relate to his lyrics. Songs like "Neva Go Back" evoked memories of my school days riding the school bus and the innocence of childhood. Now I have to worry about bills and everything else to survive.

Rome's Rant #2: No Love For Gibbs

In my last post I let everybody know I was hitting up a show with Freddie Gibbs and Matisyahu, well I'm back already. Gibbs was the opening act and honestly there were only a few people in attendance that were feeling his whole performance. It wasn't because he's not a good performer, his stage presence was on point, it was just the crowd wasn't his demographic. Chants of "f*ck the police" and "make money money, take money money" never got off the ground. The most he got them to say was "f*ck Butler".

I'm Loaded

To use a Bay Area term, I must say this song SLAPS. I made my appreciation for Blvck Diamond Life and "I'm Loaded" in particular known last month. The mixtape has stayed in rotation. I wasn't expecting much lyrically from Droop-E, but he is a talented lyricist and a solid producer to boot. 40 Water hopped on this song with his namesake and showed us why he is the King of Da Bay Area.  "I'm Loaded" samples Sade's "War of the Hearts."

 

 Sade- War of the Hearts

Droop-E ft. E-40- I'm Loaded

prod. by Droop-E

Sidenote: Tonight I'm heading to a show featuring Matisyahu and Freddie Gibbs, I'll try to post a recap.

Nothing Move But The Money

People blame and associate so many negative things with the Internet now days that they forget the convenience and practicality that it provides. 20 years ago it would be very important to know how to balance a check book and keep track of your recent purchases. I don't know anybody my age that keeps a check book, all you have to is log on to your bank's website and with a click of a button you can monitor your purchases. What does the Internet have to do with this post? Well, if it weren't for the Internet we would never get our hands on songs that never made it onto studio albums for one reason or another. "Nothing Move But The Money" by Brooklyn duo Smif N-Wessun was originally slated to appear on their 1995 debut album Dah Shinin but didn't make it due to sample clearance issues. The sample that couldn't be cleared is "Star of the Story" by Heatwave. Thanks to the Internet this song gets heard and enjoyed by many. So stop complaining about that stupid Q&A game on Facebook and indulge in some music that probably wouldn't be here without the Internet. 

 

Heatwave- Star of the Story

Smif-N-Wessun-Nothing Move But The Money

prod. by Da Beatminerz

See I Done Came Down...

...on Cottage Grove done tipped on Stoney/sippin that Remy/bumpin that N.O.R.E./Hed (head) in the whip/ track number 6 girl suck and spit/ain't that a biiiiiitch?! 

-Naledge

Best Friend

The Steel City Stick Up Kid. Baby-Faced Killa. Gangsta Gibbs. Whatever you call Freddie Gibbs it fits. His vivid descriptions of street life of and the things he's seen always garner a listen from me. "Best Friend" isn't the usual gangsta rap tune that you would hear from Gibbs, but he still crafts a solid song about "f*cking with his girl's best friend."

The song is produced by Speakerbomb (1/2 of The Knux) and samples "I Wonder If I Take You Home" by Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam.

Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam- I Wonder If I Take You Home

Freddie Gibbs- Best Friend
prod. Speakerbomb

5 O'Clock

The Perceptionists ft. Phonte- 5 O'Clock

5 O'Clock. Friday. Quitting time. The weekend is here!

Before There Wuz Here (The Excavation)

Before There Wuz Here (The Excavation)

In lieu of posts for a couple days, I've decided to post Before There Wuz Here (The Excavation). It's basically an in depth look and commentary on the samples behind K.R.I.T. Wuz Here. I haven't posted as much about K.R.I.T. as I wanted to, but I have expressed how much I love that album. But, take a listen this is a good insight into which samples he used and the though process involved.

What sets Big K.R.I.T. apart from every other emcee breathing on a beat? Maybe it’s his voice: slow and low, drenched in drawl, refreshing as a glass of sweet tea. Maybe it’s his honesty; the kind that lets him write about his grandma, his contradictions, faith, relationships and fears without a filter. Maybe it’s those home-cooked canvases– born in his bedroom in Meridian, Mississippi– brimming with soulful samples, live instrumentation, and patience beyond his 23 years. Really, it’s all three.

It’s not often that an artist is responsible for every aspect of an album, but “Wuz Here” is 100% Big K.R.I.T. Knowing how rare a gift that was made me wonder how he got from inspiration to execution; from sketch to song; scribble to verse, and single to album. So I asked him to go back to source, to the wax, to those original grooves that he made into something new for his debut. Before There Wuz Here (The Excavation) is a product of that exploration, and a pre-cursor to K.R.I.T.’s next project, The Return of Forever and his so far untitled, Yourstru.ly presented, live collaborative EP with Grillade, coming soon.

Stream it at Yours Tru.ly

Hustle Blood

Big Boi ft. Jamie Foxx- Hustle Blood

Beware from TSS expressed his dislike for the song a few months back, but this was one of my favorite songs from Sir Lucious Left Foot. A Jamie Foxx hook usually equals a W.