Beat-Off (or Beat Down)

Went to Apache Cafe last night to witness my boy Blake "mistro P" German take on some of Atlanta's "best" producers. It was a beat battle, where two producers go head to head in a three round battle, the crowd votes. Needless to say it was a good time.

The bar was set high in the first round. These two guys, whose names escape me, really brought their A game. The guy who won played some shit that could have been a hit with the right MC on it. When it finally came time for Mistro to go, hours had past, but he brought some real original beats, and took out the other guy in two rounds. One beat had a sample from The Wiz, only Blake would have that shit. I have a J.O.B. so i had to go home around 1. But if you in Atlanta on the first Tuesday of the month and want to hear some dope Producers, and a few wack ones, play their shit... Then go to the Apache Cafe.

C'mon Kanye... Please Win

So yes... I'm playing into the Kanye vs. 50 beef. And guess what, I'll say it... I hope Kanye sells 3 million more records than 50... first night... That's how tired I am of 50 and his damn Vitamin Water. Sure, the beat on "I Get Money" is fire, but nothing else about it is.

I only have room in this brain of mine for two types of rap: Good rap and ATL rap.

Therefore, all I care about right now is Kayne and Common, Crankin That Soulja Boy and the Shop Boyz new single, "They Like Me". And maybe a little "Coffee Shop". BUT THAT'S IT.

In honor of Kanye, here's a leak.

A leak to show how great Graduation hopefully will be. The way I know it'll be good is if I don't like the album at the first listen, and fall in love the second listen (The way I reacted to both The College Dropout and Late Registration).

http://www.zshare.net/audio/3350325c6316c1/

Thoughts of THAT Dude, Vol. 2

Ok, I'm going to be honest, I don't have anything angrily insightful today, but all I know is this video is hilaaaaarious. All I have to say is Spiderman and water hose... Enjoy...

Army Boy - Crank Dat Army Boy

50 Knows how to stay in the damn news

Now if I wasn’t trying to be an upstanding black man, I would call 50 Cent certain derogatory names including a female canine and female genitalia, because he always has to do something trick-made to keep his name in the news for his album to sell. On the first album, he beefed with Ja Rule for attention; on his second album, he beefed with Jadakiss and Fat Joe for attention; now on his third album, he’s incited a beef with Kanye West.

So far, Kanye is the only smart human being who refuses to play into his little ‘please look at me’ game. To keep eyes on him, 50 now goes so far to say that if Kanye outsells him after their Sept. 11 release date, then he will stop making solo records (PLEASE WIN KANYE!!!!). I will be ashamed if people buy into what 50 Cent is doing right now, because it is overly clear that he is trying to play ‘puppet master’ on his fans (meaning YOU stupid) in order for you to support his latest turd sandwich.

I’ll tell you one thing though, it seems like his own staff is trying to sabotage his moves, because his single “Follow My Lead” already leaked to the internet in song and video form waaaaay before he wanted to release it. Now he’s throwing bit… excuse me, female dog tantrums at his own staff because he’s realizing that the only good move he might have left just got ruined. Tisk tisk tisk, you’re right Curtis; nobody wants to see you win anymore, and that’s because you suck.

P.S., if you can drop anything somewhat resembling Guess Who’s Back then I will recant all of my statements and call you master, but I know you won’t and can’t, so I win…

50 Cent is Scared of Kanye

It’s been well documented that 50 and Kanye are both dropping their respective albums Curtis and Graduation on the same day (Sept. 11 for all ‘living under a rock’ idiots). While “I Get Money” and “Ayo Technology” have been doing better than 50’s previous two atrocious singles “Amusement Park” and “Straight To The Bank” none of them still have a leg up (hello ladies) on Kanye’s “Stronger”.

Now think about it like this, Kanye has dropped two singles, the aforementioned “Stronger” and “Can’t Tell Me Nothing”, and has a bigger buzz then 50 does with FOUR SINGLES!!! 50 even went on to say that he’s probably going to drop two more singles, “Come And Go” featuring and produced by Dr. Dre, and “Follow My Lead” featuring Robin Thicke. Now my Tufts degree leads me to the calculation that this fool is dropping SIX SINGLES before his album even drops.

Common sense tells you (shout out to Common for grabbing the number one billboard spot) that if people were interested in your music right now, then you wouldn’t need to drop that many singles, but you can’t tell 50 that, because he’s in denial about his rapidly dropping interest. This is why he spends his time in interviews claiming that Kanye doesn’t have a chance and that they should move Kanye’s album date, all that just shows that he is scared that somebody is FINALLY going to shut him up and deflate his ego.

But knowing him, when he loses on Sept. 11, he’ll probably find another excuse to explain why his music sucks right now. Now mind you, I’m a 50 Cent fan, he just talks to damn much. When you’re that annoying, the minute you start dropping doo doo material, you become THAT much more annoying.

50, just make music and shut up!!

I Hate NY

You know what bothers me more than the fact that Silkk The Shocker had a career? All these little carpetbaggers that claim that they are bringing the East Coast or New York back. It would be impossible for me to sit down and name how many scoundrel MC’s have ALL made that same stupid claim.

Look, it’s really simple. New York is losing because everybody is trying to be number one and fight amongst yourselves (too many beefs to name), you guys hate the South then turn around and make similar sounding songs with similar sounding beats (anything by Fat Joe in the last 2 years), and on top of that, there’s like A MILLION OF YOU. Not only are there a million of you, but you all rap about the same thing: my block is hard, I got madd crack money, madd guns, madd female dogs and gardening tools (I’ll let you think about that one), I’ll kill you, etc, etc, etc. First off, we don’t believe you, you need more people (including Jay-Z, according to Calvin “Klein” Bacote), and your songs don’t generate ANY interest.

Even though I don’t like all the music coming out of the South (but Andre 3 Stacks is still the man), at least they have their own identity. Right now, I’m ashamed to be from New York, because most of ya’ll are corny (that’s right, a Bronx dude is hating on his own city). Screw it, I’m moving to Atlanta…

P.S. People, can we please stop saying “go in” or “getting it in”. For a culture that glorifies the use of terms like “no homo”, and being some of the biggest gay bashes next to reggae (peep this Game fiasco), those might be the most questionable phrases. No forget the might, those ARE the most questionable phrases; it can ALWAYS be taken out of context. Thank you, and good evening brethren. Chuuch…

A newer age in purchasing music

Pretty soon computers will become a non-factor in purchasing music. Why do I say this? Well... today it was reported that AT&T has just signed a deal with EMusic, which is the second largest online music seller. The deal allows AT&T members to upload music straight on their phone. This is important news because it allows independent and big label musicians the opportunity to get their music out to the world more effectively. To read in detail about the deal click here .

Here are the winners and losers in this deal that will change the way we purchase music even more so (you heard it here first).

Winners

• Your cell phone provider-- Pretty soon your cell phone will be your everything, which is both scary and exciting at the same time. Why go through the hassel of uploading music off your computer when you can just get it uploaded straight on your phone.
• I Phone-- With E Music pushing forward buying music on your cell phone look for I Phones stock and use to increase.
• Those who can't afford both a MP3 player and computer--Pretty soon the same technology will be provided on most MP3 players and cell phones. Eliminating the great need for computers from those strapped for cash when purchasing music.

Losers

• Your computer-- No longer are computer a must have in order to upload music.
• The idea of the album--Making it easy to upload a song means that you simautaneously make it easy to just buy ONE SONG rather then the album.

Stop crying like little b... girls!!

So MTV decided to cause some more controversy with another one of their so-called “Greatest” lists. First it was greatest albums, then greatest artists, then greatest groups and now the "Hottest MC’s in the game right now". Now before I even continue, I want to emphasis a certain part of the time: RIGHT NOW!!! The reason why I have to do that is because after the list was finalized, I see so many people complaining like “how could they even put on the list Jim Jones instead of Nas? Why is Young Jeezy on the list? Why is Jay-Z so low even though they voted him number one on the greatest list?” You know why stupid? Because the list signifies RIGHT NOW, not of all-time, not of next week, of RIGHT NOW. Truth be told, whether you want to admit it or not, Jim Jones is hotter on the streets than Nas, does that mean he’s better than him, HELL NO, but he’s more relevant. All you people hating on Lil’ Wayne right now are the same ones who secretly look forward to all of his collabos and guest appearances. Hell, people even bought the Birdman & Wayne album JUST to listen to Wayne, so don’t tell me ya’ll don’t like him.

Even though T.I. vs. T.I.P. sucked big walnuts, you can’t deny that he’s probably the biggest overall rap star we got right now, so him being number two makes sense. Matter fact, the whole list makes sense if you just stick to the RIGHT NOW part. Your favorite rapper can still be your favorite rapper (hell, Nas is mine and he ain’t even on the list), but this list doesn’t down their overall significance, it just means that RIGHT NOW people ain’t checking for them like that, and if you really pay attention to the mainstream, MTV is actually right, so quit your bi… excuse me, complaining.

Good night ladies and gentleman...

Thoughts of THAT Dude, Vol. 1

First, I’m glad neither 50 nor Kanye are movin’ their release dates from Sept. 11^th. It’s good to see some competition, and I would have said that Kanye would ‘massacre’ (pun intended) 50 on that day easily if 50 didn’t release “I Get Money”, which is gainin’ him some cool points back in my opinion (screw the opinion, it’s fact). Granted 50 has been a record sale monster, I think he is underestimatin’ all the backlash against him, his wack crew, his wack music, his wack crew, his wack crew and even wacker Tony Mayo. Hopefully Kanye outsells him and deflate his ego.

Secondly, refrain (or simply put for my non-educated people, DO NOT) from tellin’ me about this Soulja Boy song “Crunk That”. I will not support this buffoonery, coonery or whatever other “oonery” you can think of. I swear if you attach a dance to a ‘turd in the toilet’ song, that’s like unleashin’ a yarn ball at a damn cat, all ya’ll mesmerized by the joint. That’s the only reason why “Chicken Noodle Soup”, “Two Step”, “Walk It Out” (even tho Andre KILLS the remix), “Aunt Jackie” and the whole damn snap movement even has ‘Willis McGahee in the Fiesta Bowl’ legs to stand on in the first place. Now don’t act like I’m some incense burnin’, snap my fingers at an open mic, conscious backpack dude (hell I think “I Get Money” by 50 is the hottest song out easy), but all those songs are complete trash and an ‘impress the master’ dance can’t save them.

Finally, I can’t get this song out of my head for nothin’.

Hip-Hop Ain't Dead, but what YOU listen to is WACK!!!

For all the shucking and jiving, "hello, yes master" music going on in rap music right now, people like Common keep my hope in rap alive and stop me from completely diving into techno music, dancing with glow sticks or something like that. With that being said, Finding Forever is definitely on par with Be as Common's 3rd best album. Now while that doesn't sound like a success, you have to realize that the 2 albums that precede those are Resurrection and Like Water For Chocolate, which easily make whatever music you listen to sound like Flava Flav's last album.

Kanye once again does his thing on production on songs like "Southside" and "Break My Heart", but the hero of the album is will.i.am (BEST producer out, yea I said it), with the song "I Want You".

This is grown man music people, so if you are the listener who thinks Jeezy is the illest alive, go sit in a corner somewhere and hopefully you will waste away to the nothing that you are (nah, i'm j/k, maybe).

Good night bit.... wait I can't say that, good night people...