The Audacity of Dope

LOL @ the jar of Cinnabon frosting.  And no, I didn’t flip through Jilly’s rhyme book.

(big in Japan)

See, this pains me. I love Slum Village, pause, and not just in a “J Dilla Changed My Life” t-shirt wearing, never heard of them before he died kind of way. Nah, I’m talking about wearing out the dusty cassette tape of Fan-tas-tic, Vol. 1 and then the classic “official” debut, Fantastic, Vol. 2. Sure, there have always been some ehhhhh lyrics here and there in SV releases, but these days, T3 is doing the best writing of his career and Elzhi might be the best rapper in the game…at least bar for bar.

So it hurts that when I was driving home from The Roots & Erykah Badu show last night (more on that in the days to come), I was bumping Elzhi’s ridiculously dope Euro Pass mixtape and heard:

“You never cease to surprise maay/So I, had to go like a worker on a Friday”
–T3 (of Slum Village), “Save Ya”

Well, it’s Friday so I suppose it fits. Sorry T. That song is still an instant classic and y’all make great music, but WLotD can’t play favorites. Gotta call ’em like I see ’em.

Cot damn, Blu is dope. On another level dope. Here are two new joints he posted on his MySpace, and since his YouSendIt links always die real quick, props to 2 Dope Boyz for reuploading them. Download these immediately.

Blu – “The Classy Man”

Blu – “Departing Flights”

Both produced by Godlee Barnes, aka Blu.

You just can’t go wrong with Dwele and Slum Village.  Every one of their collaborations has been dope, and this joint is no different.  T3 and (the rhyming god that is) Elzhi hop on Dwele’s new single, “I’m Cheatin’.”  I would have liked some longer verses, and perhaps a remixed beat…you know, like “remixes” were meant to be…but this is still the jam.

Dwele ft. Slum Village – “I’m Cheatin’ (Remix)”

The D, and the entire midwest region, is really on fire right now…

 

(Kanye & Consequence trying to feign interest)

Today’s wack lyric is simply:

Anything that DJ Khaled has ever screamed over his tracks, especially his annoying catch phrases and his gratuitous use of the n-word.

(“said i was a nerd, but i ain’t a punk” – Skateboard)

Chyea. I’ve been looking forward to the new N.E.R.D. album, Seeing Sounds, for a while and it’s finally here. In Search Of… is a personal classic to me, and while Fly or Die didn’t hit me as hard, it’s still real dope. The day before the Glow In The Dark Tour kicked off here in Seattle, Pharrell, Chad, and Shae came through Sound Session for a little listening party for material off this album (what up Blaze!). Ish sounded dope then, and it’s even better now. It drops this coming Tuesday, June 10th, and if you have any sense in you, you’ll cop this over Wayne’s Carter III disaster. Support good music from artists who put their hearts and souls into their art, painstakingly analyzing every frequency and note they create…not someone who wastes his talent by getting trashed off every drug imaginable, mumbling his way through disjointed rhymes, and slapping the auto-tune effect on it. Hmm, perhaps that was a bit much. Maybe I am a hater. [Mavado] Anywaaaaaaaaay [/Mavado]

Since I interviewed N.E.R.D. right before I launched this blog, here’s a clip of Pharrell explaining the meaning behind the album’s title in case you missed it. Be sure to download the full version of the interview as well, right here.

And a hilarious bonus clip of Pharrell pushing this kid off the stage that’s been all over the net this week. The dap + shove move is clutch.

Remember: Cop the N.E.R.D. album on Tuesday!

Most days, my inbox is filled with some of the worst music ever created…no hyperbole.  Tonight I was happy to see a new Nappy Roots joint, and then even more excited for it to be real dope.  That second verse is ridiculous.  Smooth beat too, with a nice usage of Greg N-I-C-EEEEEEEEEEE.  Peep it:

Nappy Roots – “No Static”

With all due respect to my current favorite MC’s, Elzhi, Phonte, Wordsworth, Lupe, Kanye, Budden, Royce, etc., and the all-time greats like Jay, Nas, Andre, Common, Pac, Eminem, Biggie, Lauryn, and the rest…my favorite MC of all time is Lamont Coleman. Dude was way ahead of his time and his death was a tragedy. I still wonder what would have happened if he ended up signing with Jay-Z like he was bout to do. If you’re not familiar with him, read up real quick.

Most of L’s material has leaked to the net over the years, but last week an unheard joint named “Unexpected Flava” came out on the first volume Lord Finesse’s Rare Selections EP. Apparently this was recorded in 1991 and didn’t make the final cut on his classic debut, The Lifestylez Ov Da Poor & Dangerous. Unexpected flava is right…

Big L – “Unexpected Flava”

So dope.

Saw this in the NY Times today and I thought it was equal parts heartbreaking and infuriating. I generally prefer to keep sports and politics separate, but I really hope that the world uses the upcoming Olympics to put pressure on China’s government. Between their human rights issues and the intense censorship of the press and their own people, something has to change. Sheer economic numbers won’t make China the super power it wants to be. At some point, its ethics need to catch up with the times.

When the final numbers are in, this earthquake will have killed over 100K people. We always think less of these tragedies when they happen abroad, but just imagine if we lost that many people here. To put it in perspective, Hurricane Katrina killed less than 2K. It’s insane.

Also, the audacity of the Chinese government to “have begged parents to quiet down and accept financial compensation for the loss of their children” is unbelievable. They don’t want money. They want their children back. And since you can’t provide that, you damn sure better give them some answers.

Chinese Stifle Grieving Parents’ Protest of Shoddy School Construction

DUJIANGYAN, China — Police officers here on Tuesday surrounded more than 100 parents protesting shoddy school construction and mourning the deaths of thousands of children during the recent earthquake.

The police dragged away several crying mothers and removed some journalists trying to report on the event, according to witnesses and photographs of the protest.

The attempt to snuff out the protest was the strongest sign so far of the government’s growing impatience with public airing of grievances over unsafe school construction.

A standoff between the parents, many carrying framed photos of their dead children, and the police officers, dressed in black uniforms, lasted for several hours. In the end, the parents walked away.

Read the full article describing the protest in detail and all the censorship these people are facing here.

“Watch my booty shake like a fat lady’s belly”
–Missy Elliott, “Bootylicious (Remix)”

uhh…ugh.