Metal Lungies

If I haven’t been posting too often lately, it’s because I’ve been really busy with exams. That picture at the top of the post shows what my posture is like now from too much studying.

So I’m going to take a break from posting for a few days and I’ll be back after the 25th, the day of my last exam. Meanwhile, the rest of the ML fam will keep it moving, keep it moving along. If there are some ML features you want to see when I get back, let me know in the comments.

Busta Rhymes (ft.Rampage & Leaders of the New School) – Keep It Movin’

I was listening to some Curtis Mayfield over a lonely dinner (that’s right ladies, I’m a big, sad teddy bear) and I heard a line that I had to go back and listen to again.

On the title song of his 1973 album Back to the World, Curtis (not that one, silly) drops this none-too subtle jab at the teen sensation:

Soulja boy ain’t got no job.

Download: Curtis Mayfield – Back to the World

I’d hesitate to say that Soulja Boy will be out of a job anytime soon. He’ll host a reality show or two before he’s out on the street. He’d also be a fine candidate for Dancing with the Stars. Though some may argue that Curtis Mayfield passed long before he could watch and respond to Soulja Boy’s YouTube shenanigans and that Back to the World is about GI’s returning from Vietnam, I think the evidence speaks for itself.

Diss or not, this gives me an excuse to post a classic song from one of my all-time favorites. Curtis Mayfield was funky as hell and still smooth enough for soul audiences. His distinct voice can be heard over some of the finest compositions ever, many of which are heavily sampled in rap music. Listen to any Curtis Mayfield album (especially Short Eyes) and you’ll hear a lot of familiar music. Aside from having a classic sound, he was exposing the perils of the hood long before N.W.A. On Pusherman, he assumed the role of a dope dealer – a convention that’s as much a standard in rap music as saying your own name during the intro of songs.

Rap music owes a lot to Curtis Mayfield. And if he doesn’t like Soulja Boy, nobody should.

As a side note, there have been far too many posts about Soulja Boy on ML these days.

Oliver Wang runs a stellar site called soul sides and he recently had an interview with Jeff Mao, one of the co-founders of the late Ego Trip Magazine.  Its a great read; Mao gives some insight into one of the most interesting and important magazines in Hip-Hop (we’ll just forget about Miss Rap Supreme). 

White Denim has been getting some serious ass pats from the blogosphere over the last few months, and I’m happy to join in on the lovefest. Their last two eps have been ball crushing psych rock filled with yelps and jumps and noise. I had heard only good things about the live show, so I ventured out into a lovely Montreal evening to see White Denim with Tapes n’ Tapes at the Cabaret Music Hall. Heres how it went down:

When I first heard White Denim’s music I half expected to go the show and see huge dudes with Abraham Lincoln beards, swigging bottles of red label. Thats not exactly how it turned out, but close. The trio (Steve Terbecki (Bass), James Petrelli (Guitar), and Josh Block (Drums) came on stage to a pretty thin crowd. The lack of enthusiasm did not nothing to quell the bands fury. All three members shredded back and forth. Steve initially looks like the kind of guy that’d be great at dungeons and dragons, and while thats probably true he also busts lines on the bass like no ones business. Josh’s talent comes off in their recordings, but what I really liked about his live show was that he looked like he was in serious physical pain. Really, like he was about to explode from too much syncopated madness. James is as good of a frontman as I’ve seen in a while. He reminded of Justin Harris from Menomena. Singing rawkusly, whilst thrashing the guitar and looping licks left and right. All the guys had their own thing going on, but the sound came together tight, and the effect was a wall of tripped out rock that had me mesmerized all the way through.

Songs like “Mess Your Hair Up” only became cooler when played mind numbingly loud. Understandably, not everyone felt that way (i.e. the girls standing next to me who spent the whole set coming to the conclusion that the band playing was not, in fact, tapes n’ tapes), but the people who weren’t turned off by the booming onslaught were seriously into it. Enough for the crowd to chant “one more song” when the set ended. The band obliged and everyone continued to rock-the-fuck-out.

James was kind enough to hook ML up with an interview. That and some tracks after the jump.

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Many of us can (and will) bicker over what might be gained and/or lost by Nas’s upcoming controversially-titled album (so much for December, ay, Def Jam?), but few can argue with the statement he made on “Where Are They Now?”, possibly the stand-out track from his ’06 publicity stunt album Hip Hop Is Dead. There is no pension plan in hip-hop. If you’re lucky enough to get some fame, invest in it wisely. Those early ’90s accolades aren’t worth much more than a spot at Dan Majerle’s Super Bowl party. (Who’d have thought Thunder Dan to be the “block party” type?)

Large Professor’s name was nowhere to be found on “Where Are They Now?”. In a sense, it may not have been out of place on the song — outside of the occasional instrumental LP, production credit and DJ gig, Large Pro doesn’t pop up too often nowadays. And, his claims to fame stem from that same late ’80s/early ’90s golden era of hip-hop that the majority of artists mentioned in “Where Are They Now?” got their names from. If you were to ask Soulja Boy about Large Pro, he’d probably take a break from applying white-out to a pair of black sunglasses to suggest that he drop “Crank Dat Large Pro”.

But, Extra P’s contributions to hip-hop are simply too timeless to warrant him being remembered by future generations based on a name-drop. (“Played out like Kwame and them fucking polka-dots”? Never that!) Large Pro was, and always will be, an integral part of Queens’ never-ending legacy. He was the Main Source back when the Main Source was the Main Source. He let an unknown teenage MC get on record and talk about snuffing Jesus (and, to think, a T-shirt with one word on it had folks up in arms!). Many hip-hop producers (not that I’ve talked to any of ’em) will tell you that they’ve learned something from DJ Premier, but how many could tell you that they taught him something? Actually, scratch that… how many could truthfully tell you that they taught him something?

Well, there’s at least one in Large Professor. Granted, Wikipedia isn’t always the most trustworthy of sources, but there’s a direct quote from Extra P saying so — and, like they say, you can always trust a man with glasses.

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Four twenty is here again, breath easy my friends.  On this holiest of holy days, we pay respect to the fine gentleman who spread the gospel of the buddha day in and day out.  

Nas-Lifes a bitch and then ya die/thats why we get high/cause you never know when ya gonna go. 

Az- Life is a bitch, you do die, and you never know when you’re going to go. So why not get lifted once a week/day/hour or so?

Redman-I can do what the fuck I feel is real/blaze the pook with D don.

Devin the Dude-Twist a Philly, Zig-Zag, brown or wide/I don’t give a fuck just put some killer in side. 

Bone Thugs- We havin a celebration to stay high.  

People Under the Stairs-Locate a shady spot so we can circulate the stress/Mary Jane invades my brain now I can’t complain/ I’m sayin what else is there to do besides relax/ Let the problems in your mind become ancient artifacts.  

People tell me smoking makes you dumb.  I say most people are dumb to begin with; you decide what you make of your life, pothead or not.  But really with all the fear/violence/hate/lil wayne/selfishness in the world, passing a doobie to da left hand side may be the most productive thing any of us can do.  Stay up.

Devin the Dude-Doobie Ashtray

Bob Marley-Easy Skanking   

Today the Wizards may have been barely beaten by the Cavaliers but there is a bigger story brewing, the feud of DeShawn Stevenson vs. Lebron James. It’s already starting to bubble with the pre-halftime confrontation between the 2 teams.

First Stevenson said this in March:

DeShawn was obviously holding back in that session with reporters around his locker. When he was leaving the building, Mike Lee was chatting him up and mentioned LeBron again. DeShawn has obviously heard enough of that.

“He’s overrated,” DeShawn told Mike. “And you can say I said that.”

Lebron responded with this:

“With DeShawn Stevenson, it’s kind of funny. It’s almost like Jay-Z [responding to a negative comment] made by Soulja Boy. It doesn’t make sense to respond.”

What a horrible analogy. And by using the analogy isn’t that some sort of response anyway?

What does DeShawn do?

In fact, Stevenson responded to James’ comments by inviting Way to an upcoming playoff game. Stevenson promised to have Way at courtside in a Wizards jersey. Way said he will accept the invitation. He is expected to attend either Game 3 or Game 4 in Washington.

Watch, to make it harder to hate on him, Soulja Boy will become the Wizards lucky charm as they’ll beat the Cavs in 7.

“I’m all for it,” Way said. “He invited me out, and I don’t have a problem coming . . . I’m [cheering] for whoever backs me. I can’t go for whoever’s going against me.”

It really is amazing that Soulja Boy is still getting any sort of mention at all here at ML.

Last week, I went to Coney Island which will soon be redesigned and cease to exist as we know it. We ate at Nathan’s and rode the Cyclone. On our way to the Ferris Wheel, my friend exclaimed, “Look it’s 2Pac and Biggie!” I turned expecting to see a fat guy standing next to a guy selling Thug Life t-shirts. Instead I saw a finely painted mural of 2Pac and Biggie on Astroland’s Polar Express ride.

It always warms my heart to see Frank White and Makaveli get that recognition.

Watch a video of the ride

Got all of these via email. It’s about 1/20th of  what I have yet to check out.

Mp3: Nakim-I Get It In

Produced by the Runners, Nakim is a new artist from Mickey Factz’s GFC New York.

Mp3: Three 6 Mafia-Lolli Lolli

Ok track, the hook is painful though with a T-Pain knockoff.

Mp3: Tay Dizm Ft. T-Pain & Rick Ross-Beam Me Up

Production by Bangladesh, If you need one reason to listen to this song, its for an incredible Alien sound.

Mp3: Shawty Putt Ft Lil Jon-Dat Baby

This is being posted strictly on the strength of the Maury Povich Show sample (I kid you not, best use of sample since using A.I.’s practice rant).

Mp3: Rick Ross Ft. Triple C-Ridin Thru The Ghetto

Itunes Bonus track from Trilla.

Some others:

Mp3: Young Buck-It’s Not OK

Mp3: Hawk Ft. Flo-Rida & Brisco-Where Da Breat At (Produced by Cool & Dre)

Mp3: Trae Ft. Lloyd & Rick Boy-Ghetto Queen sidenote: does Trae have the deepest voice of any rapper ever?

Mp3: Stat Quo-Double Bubble This has to be some gum commercial, right?

Mp3: Pitbull Ft. Young Boss & Trina-Go Girl.

“Just trying to pay tuition/liar”

Never thought there would come a time when this site would be covering multiple cooking shows hosted by rappers. It’s been a while since the premiere, so let’s check in with Mr. Jazze Phizzle and see what he’s cooking.

Romance To Dance Chicken (with fruit roll-ups & peach rings):

Bologna Omelet:

Jazze’s got a frickin’ DJ on his cooking show! For my money, Coolio’s show is funnier and focuses more on actual cooking. But I’m still definitely checking this just to see what kind of dishes Phalon will come up with.

Is this rapper cooking show coverage excessive, ML readers?