Having recently scraped myself off the floor, with a barely functioning liver and severely depleted bank account after a two-and-half week birthday/Christmas bender, I thought I should perhaps make a half-assed attempt to assemble 40 rap songs that didn’t induce nausea or feature any of Lil Wayne’s weed carriers. Basically just a lot of stuff that I posted over the year and a few things that slipped under the radar. Complaints to the usual address…
There was only one rap album that mattered in 2010 – and it wasn’t by anyone who felt the need to show their dark twisted appendage to the world. That project, Roc Marciano‘s Marcberg, was critically untouchable, the most unadulterated example of the potency of New York rap in a good half decade, and even ended with a good old fashioned shout-out track. More importantly, it contained the most comprehensive batch of food references since an Ironman-era Ghostface was found being seduced by a temptress’s baked macaroni and turkey wings and lauding the virtues of a fish and salad-based diet. Whether used figuratively, literally or descriptively, there’s not a track on the album where Roc Marcy doesn’t get gastronomical. So in the grand tradition of the Dean & Deluca Cookbook’s Master List of Dried Legumes, here’s the complete guide to the food references liberally sprinkled throughout Marcberg’s grand grooves. Enjoy shrimp! (more…)
I’m going to assemble my picks for the Best of 2010 over the next couple of days if anybody gives a crap. What were your Top 5 albums or songs that you’re still fucking with as we wind down for the holiday season?
If you’re a fan of D.I.T.C., Screwball, Infamous Mobb or Smiley the Ghetto Child then you’re no doubt familiar with the work of E. Blaze. Here’s a new collection of some of his finest instrumentals for you to drink to over the holidays…
When I interviewed Mr. Starks before the release of his R&B album, I asked him if we could expect him to rhyme over raw breaks anytime in the near future:
Robbie: Would you ever do an album of just goin’ over breaks being cut-up, like that ‘Last Night’ skit you had?
Ghostface Killah: Yeah, yeah, I like that. There’s gonna be more of that, I love that. That’s the best.
Apollo Kids feels as close to that kind of concept as we’re ever going to get….cop it now here.
The second bonus track from the 2xLP re-issue of Marcberg, due 1st Feb. 2011. Not to be confused with Marcberg: Reloaded, which is still without a release date but seems to evolved from a free mixtape to a street album of all-new material.
At long last, here’s the first single from Trem One’s debut solo album For The Term Of His Natural Life, which is due early next year. Produced by Prowla, with visuals courtesy of Josh Davis, Heata and Discourse, this is a perfect introduction for those of you unfamiliar with one of the finest MC’s that Australia has yet produced. Available now on iTunes and limited edition CD single.
‘We’re putting the band back together…’ Doo Wop re-unites with Snaggapuss and Aul That to bring some new improved Bounce Squad shit, with a liitle help from Jadakiss. If 2010 had produced 99 more songs on this level, I’d actually be able to write-up a Top 100…
Been off the air for a minute since my modem blew-up last week so I’m playing catch-up… just caught DJ Eclipse‘s Dec. 5 edition of the Rap Is Outta Control radio show, which featured the one and only Neek The Exotic playing rough mixes of three cuts from his new album due next year, as well as this dope freestyle session over Grand Daddy I.U./Marco Polo‘s ‘Hard To Kill’ beat.
Here’s something I wrote about Neek for Canada’s Pound magazine a couple of years ago:
Neek reminds me of a thinking man’s NORE, bringing the same kind of belligerent attitude but exchanging Swizz Beats/Neptunes ‘Tunnel bangers’ for crunchy Large Pro beats. Ever since his super- amped Yo!MTV Raps performance of ‘Fakin’ The Funk’ with Xtra P, Neek has been snapping ‘backs ‘ necks’ with a series of highly entertaining indy 12″s sporting bugged-out titles such as ‘Rip ‘Em Flip ‘Em’ and ‘Money, Thugs’. Whether it was the fact that he uttered the line ‘I keep it moving like Soul II Soul’ on two different songs on his album with little concern, or his boast of being willing to ‘straight piss on bitches”, Neek never fails to endear himself to the listener. His quotables are seemingly endless, whether he’s reminding us that ‘Me and rap stick together like hookers and patent leather’ or hipping us to the fact that ‘I skate on niggas like the Icecapades’. It’s hard to pin down what exactly sets this Wastelandz resident apart from the pack, but N.E.E.K.’s combination of excitable ‘Shout Rap’ delivery, unique timing and occasionally ignorant content over banging tracks is a good combination in any situation.
“Rap Is Outta Control” 12/5/10 Playlist and Download links: (more…)
The second half of my conversation with Mario, who speaks on some of the more technical aspects of engineering and mixing, as well as working on Ready To Die and winning a Latin Grammy.
Robbie: How many songs that were left off Hell On Earth?
Mario Rodriguez: There were a lot of song that weren’t used n the album that we did. We worked on that album for a long time – we must have taken eight months to a year, and it wasn’t like, ‘Let’s lock ourselves up in a room and work on it non-stop’. There was 22, maybe 23 songs that were recorded, and not all of them made it to the album, but a lot of that stuff they released on mixtapes. I think most of it, if not all of it, made it to the streets somehow.
Were you hanging out with the crew outside of the studio?
No. Never. My nature as a human being is not one of being somebody that likes to hang-out a lot. However, when you’re in the studio the process of being in the studio is hanging out. When your doing a session you’re basically getting together with a bunch of guys and exchanging ideas. During some sessions it’s a party, during some sessions it’s serious business. People that are not in the industry go to clubs to hang out and be surrounded by music – I didn’t have to go to the clubs
because my business was being in the place where club music is created. But in order to work with an artist I never felt the need to socialize and do anything outside of the studio. The music does the talking when it comes to that. (more…)
