I just came back from an unventilated apartment full of drunk chicks and douchebag guys bellowing Bruce Springsteen. This track by singer/producer Slakah the Beatchild is exactly what I needed: an easygoing, relaxing neo-soul jam. Slakah’s album Soul Movement Vol. 1 is a great way to dead all your stress for an hour.
Linking up with Terrace Martin for an entire album is a step in the right direction for Murs. Terrace Martin produced one song on Murs for President which was by far the best song on the album. Murs’ quirky, nerdy rhymes and Terrace’s unique brand of West Coast funk seem mismatched, but the two mesh strangely well. Their album The Melrose can’t come soon enough.
“Just A Word Or Two” is Pete Rock’s way of reminding you that he’s still better than your favorite producer. Not sure where this track is from, but I need more.
The title track off Finale’s debut is a good indicator of his album’s quality. Finale raps swiftly and his flow never falters. Oddisee provides the grandiose beat complete with trumpets, saxophone, flutes and piano. The soulful hook has a gospel twinge which befits the song’s subject: the adversities facing an aspiring artist. This Detroit gem should not be missed.
I always appreciate when big brands have good taste in music. Scion hooked up Wale and 45 King, Rockstar Games has enlisted Oh No and Statik Selektah to lace their games and Smirnoff has been making hits with their Signature Mix series. This track is a remake of Black Moon’s classic underground single. I dig this version, it doesn’t have much in common with the Mr. Walt-produced original which is NY hip-hop at its finest.
We really thought TI’s MTV series Road to Redemption was inspirational, but it wouldn’t really help the delinquent team behind ML. However, Lil Duval’s Road 2 Destruction most definitely would.
The tracks I’ve heard off Blackout 2 thus far have been fairly consistent, but Raekwon’s recent myriad guest appearances are not a good look. At this point, I have more faith in Blackout 2 than Only Built 4 Cuban Linx 2. With that said, it warms my heart to see these four on a song together. The beat is plain, but everybody drops a worthy verse, especially Ghostface who wraps up the song with a passionate, aggressive 16.
A beautiful sample, expert cuts, great verses from two New York veterans and he reps ML. “The Thrill is Gone” is the first single off Statik Selektah’s third album The Hangover,which is coming this summer. According to Statik, the album will feature Bun B, Fabolous, Raekwon, Souls of Mischief, Bahamadia and many more. Statik continues to hold NY down because no one else will.
How’s this for random? DJ Scratch provides a beat filled with old school arcade sounds for Busta and Lil Fame to spit their hardest rhymes. I would expect something this random from Busta, the most erratic rapper of all time, but not DJ Scratch. The beat sounds more like something by Oh No. I wasn’t sure about this song until I heard Fame drop this bracelet:
Prominent, dominant Been through all kinds of shit Respect my conglomerate I ain’t even know what that word means
Fame just jumped up a few spots on my list. Between this song and “Blow The Horns” (included below), Busta and Fame seem to be a winning combination as of late.
