Album Covers: Post 2

I forgot to mention it in the initial post, but these series of posts were inspired by a comment from "Anonymous".

Anonymous noted that Lloyd Banks pilfered his album cover for The Hunger For More 2 from Sauce Money. I don't know if he "stole" it, but there are notable similarities between the the two.

Every Record Label

A lot of people ask me about my opinion on Odd Future and their music. I'm kind of partial to it. They have better production and lyrics than the majority of their contemporaries. And I can f*ck with that, but content wise what they're doing isn't is new. Horrocore, shock rap, whatever you label it as, has been out before the Odd Future members were born. Plus their whole schtick seems forced, just on some rebellion sh*t. What kind of clout you got when you eating ice cream in Samoa?

Now RA the Rugged Man's persona was no facade or front, dude is/was flat out crazy. Crustified Dibbs was RA's handle in his early days and Night of the Bloody Apes was the title of his shelved album. The scruffy caricature of RA holding a bloody meat cleaver on the album cover hinted at the type of content that was on the album.  The tentative release year was 1994 and a memorable songs from that album was "Every Record Label Sucks Dick." It was produced by Buckwild and features a sample of "Capricorn" by the Cannonball Adderley Quintet. 
        

Cannonball Adderley Quintet - Capricorn

Crustified Dibbs - Every Record Label Sucks D*ck

prod. by Buckwild

Album Covers

This a new type of post called "Album Covers." An album cover that is covered by another album. I couldn't come up with a clever name for these posts, so if anybody can help me out, respond in the comment section.

The album cover for He's Coming by Roy Ayers Ubiquity inspired Dah Shinin' by Smif-N-Wessun.

 

Let It Knock Like!

In the year since Clear Soul Forces was covered on Product of My Opinion they've hit the stages of A3C and SXSW, unveiled a dope website, and shot a video for "Gon' Get Em" from the Departure EP. The six track project was released in October and displays the four man crew's lyrical dexterity and ability to spit over bouncy, fast-paced production. The bonus track, "The Greatest" might be favorite from the EP, produced by Ilajide, it utlizes a sample of "Phire" by Charles Earland. I hear a video for the song is on the way....

 Charles Earland - Phire

 Clear Soul Forces - The Greatest 

prod. by Ilajide 

Greater Than The Sun

The rising of the sun signals a new day. A new beginning. Time to rise and shine and break that fast of the night before. There's nothing like waking up to a beautiful sunrise.

"Greater Than The Sun"  is a great song to start the day with. The duo of Zo! and Phonte team up to show their talents on this smooth number.

Fat Cats, Bigga Fish

People talk to me about the Illuminati, selling souls to the devil, and a boatload of other stuff they saw on a YouTube video and it goes in one ear and out the other. I don't doubt that there are hidden messages and ulterior motives in the way mass media is presented, but I'd rather spend time focusing on real issues.

"Fat Cats, Bigga Fish" features underrated storyteller Boots Riley of telling his homies about street level hustles that he's done. Over a funky bassline sample from "The Rub" by George and Gwen McCrae he details the time he used stolen bus passes,  to pickpocketing, to flirting with a girl to get a free hamburger. The last story (verse) is a gem, he slyly makes his way into a function with bigwigs of Oakland and eavesdrops on a conversation between the mayor and an owner of Coca-Cola bottling.Watch the exchange:




Gentrification, political corruption, and under the table deals are happening all around the country. While we're worried about Jay-Z selling his soul to get millions of dollars, we really should be worried about the aforementioned issues that hit close to home.

Boots' story shows that everybody feels like they're hustling harder than the next man but in the end we're being played on level larger than we can imagine. I'm not knocking anybody hustle, get money the way you know how, but it's time to get informed about real issues and be PROACTIVE.

George & Gwen McCrae- The Rub

The Coup- Fat Cats, Bigga Fish

prod. by Boots Riley

Nah they 10's...

 

"They nice tho!"

C.O.L.O.U.R.S.

 C.O.L.O.U.R.S.

Everybody knows Fonzworth Bentley as the parasol-toting, bowtie wearing, (former) personal assistant to P. Diddy. But do you know him as a rapper?  A few weeks back he dropped his mixtape C.O.L.O.U.R.S., a project I had been waiting on since 2007. That screenshot is from from the title track that leaked summer 2007. I heard him on "The Art of Bowtie Pimpin" with Dreamer and was like "damn this dude can really rap."Originally slated to be an album in 2007 or 2008, the sounds of C.O.L.O.U.R.S. have aged quite well. The Atlanta native isn't the most gifted lyricist, but he sounds comfortable over the jazz tinged production as he raps about his affinity for fashion on tracks like "Take It Back" and life experiences on "Believe It."  Features on the mixtape include UGK, Lil Wayne, and Andre 3000.


Four years later and it was well worth the wait!


Standout Tracks: Runaway, Take It Back, Believe It, C.O.L.O.U.R.S, Venice Beaches, Everybody

EDIT July 7, 2011: Fonzworth tweeted that only 3 of the 17 tracks on the mixtape are from 2007.

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised...

...Or broadcast live on the net

-Talib Kweli

Outside of their 1998 album Mos Def and Talib Kweli didn't release many songs under the Black Star moniker. There were appearances their separate projects, but not too many that you could call a "Black Star track."

"Little Brother" is one of the few non-album Black Star songs and it was featured on the soundtrack of the 1999 film, "The Hurricane."  The duo drops inspiration to their little brothers of the world and leaves the listener with a sense of enlightenment and empowerment, as all Mos Def and Talib songs do. The J Dilla produced number, samples "It's About Time" by Roy Ayers Ubiquity.

 Roy Ayers Ubiquity- Ain't Got Time

Black Star- Little Brother

prod. by J Dilla

The World

"Like a 7 foot center, Spitta don't gotta crossover, I just stay in the lane, show off dunks and hang..."

 -Curren$y on "Sail On"

It was important to include that Curren$y quotable, because it's something everybody can live by. Be yourself, do what you do, and mind your own business.

Smoke DZA is a rapper who knows his lane and play's it perfectly. The subject matter, the production he chooses, and the features on his songs are perfect complements. All of his projects stay in constant rotation (see what I did there?) and his latest release The Hustlers Catalog is no different.

"The World," track 3 on THC samples "Chanson D'Un Jour D'Hiver" by French jazz group Cortex.

If the sample sounds familiar, it was also sampled in "Diamonds & Maybachs Pt. 2" by Triple C's

 Cortex - Chanson D'Un Jour D'Hiver

 

Smoke DZA- The World

prod. by V. Don

Almost Famous

Will- Almost Famous

I found out about Will's Stoned On Marta in November from Maurice Garland’s site. This whole tape has replay value. I’ve played it at the crib, on my phone/MP3 player, and it was a road trip soundtrack as well. So, a post about a song from Stoned on Marta is overdue.

Growing up we all had our aspirations to be “famous.” For some youngsters it was becoming a pro basketball player, only to find out they would only grow to 5’9” and not have the skills. For others it was dreams of becoming a singer, but they couldn't hit all the notes. Sometimes we aren't good enough and other times we just don't do what it takes to be successful. “Almost Famous” is Will’s rejection of mediocrity over a smooth instrumental by production duo Instrospective Minds.

A dedication to your crafts gets you far as Will spits on the hook: “We don’t scribble through all those pages just to be almost, almost, almost famous, we in the studio while yall out playing, cuz hard work today enables you to ball out later”

Will makes his mission clear as he states:

"Nigg*s ain't in the game for what I'm in it to accomplish/revive Atlanta music and get rid off all the nonsense"

We live in a microwave society where we want success, fame, and money overnight, with as little work as possible. Sometimes we settle for mediocrity but as “Almost Famous” states, you still have to work a little bit to reach your desired level of success.

Head over to Will’s Bandcamp page to download Stoned on Marta.