On February 23, 1995, Jay-Z and Big L visited the Stretch Armstrong & Bobbito Show to promote the “In My Lifetime” singleand Lifestylez ov da Poor & Dangerous, respectively. They dropped a legendary 9 and a half minute freestyle and the full recording has only just surfaced. This moment in hip-hop history is especially surreal considering the paths that lay ahead of the two rappers, who at the time were peers on the NY hip-hop scene. Big L was murdered in 1999, blocks away from his home in Harlem. Jay-Z recently had lunch with billionaire investor Warren Buffet.
Play this for a friend whose knowledge of Jay-Z begins with “Roc Boys” and ends with “Empire State of Mind.” They might be surprised that Jay-Z could once hold his own against one of the most dexterous rappers ever.
The CMJ Music Marathon is upon us next week. New Yorkers have an endless supply of shows (“showcases,” they call them) to chose from, so ML filtered out the interesting ones. If you know about something we don’t, let us know. Check back because we’ll be updating this post as more comes to our attention.
NYC, pay attention. Something on the extra-special, low-key, cooler-than-your-friends-because-you-know-about-it tip.
A jazz trio called Stray Phrases is performing J Dilla’s Donuts from beginning to end this Sunday (10/17) at The Local 269 (269 E Houston Street). No breaks and no cover, so come get your drink on and build some good water-cooler conversation for Monday morning.
ML will be in the house. You’ll likely catch me a sipping a John Daly.
Shout out to my homie Storm, the drummer, and extra props to GonCreative for the flyer.
Each Z-Ro/Beanz N Kornbread track is better than the last. Lately, it’s become standard procedure to just heap guest verses on a remix (Just Blaze explained why in a recent interview). The “One Night Stand” remix takes the opposite approach with a new beat and the same lyrics as the original. If you appreciate Z-Ro’s grown man ish, peep “These Days.”
Here’s the new single from Jessica Kaya, who is actually the sister of Toronto rapper Eternia. On “Heavy,” Jessica murmurs to a neosoul beat courtesy of Rich Kidd who also contributes a verse.
I might be trying to wife MNDR. She and Q-Tip get down like long lost siblings on the Late Show stage. Neither acknowledges the awkwardness of their pairing, but the song is so dope that it almost never occurred to me that the guy who produced “One Love” is on David Letterman with an electro-dance-pop Brooklynite who looks like she could be a Charlie’s Angel. Like I said, I might be trying to wife MNDR.
The video for Raheem DeVaughn’s “The Greatness” showcases the lovely ladies of DC. Sharp-eyed viewers will notice ML’s DJ01 rocking a limited edition Washington Capitals fanny pack.
Two days after hinting that his supergroup with Pharrell and Lupe Fiasco is still in the cards, Kanye releases the second ever Child Rebel Soldier song (third if you count the “Everybody Nose” remix).
Why does every Kanye track need a terrible verse from Swizzy or Pharrell?
Bad pacing ruined Terrace Martin’s latest project, but there’s some classic material once you strip away the filler. Terrace and friends picked a sunny day in the park to shoot the video for the Curtis Mayfield-inspired “The Makings of You.”
