Metal Lungies

The trusty Allmusic weighs in. Here’s a excerpt:

Like the series, this isn’t an easy swallow and it’s not supposed to be. The fact is, though, that it carries its own punchy swagger. It’s not sequenced for approval; it’s sequenced as art — low, high, popular, "edgy," whatever you want to call it. It’s art man, period. It stands on its own, apart even from its obvious referents in the dialogue snippets. This is what radio used to be like back in the day; you never knew what you were gonna hear from one minute to the next. What was radio at one time? It was the soundtrack to life, and in that sense, at nearly 80 minutes, this whompy, unwieldy, unlikely wonder of a mixtape is a representation of that same thing for characters in The Wire.

Read the whole thing here.

Is anyone picking this up or already heard it? I just got into The Wire recently, so give me about 5 late passes. I’m only on season 2 and I’m hooked.

Bonus: My man Jesse from the Sound of Young America interviews The Wire actors Andre Royo (Bubbles) & Wendell Pierce (Bunk).

Listen below or download an mp3 of the interview here.

The Sound of Young America: The Wire’s Bubbles & Bunk

Just to clarify, “not-favorite” doesn’t mean that I didn’t like these albums — I actually liked most of the albums I’m about to mention, just not as much as the albums that made our top 10. Some, however, I didn’t much care for… speaking of which…

50 Cent – “Smile (I’m Leavin’)” (off Curtis)

The fact that Curtis contained the number of average-at-best songs that it did, while this track was held off as an iTunes bonus track, shows how seemingly out of touch 50 is with his fanbase. Hearing 50 talk about meeting Al and Tipper Gore, express his unhappiness with Interscope, and touch upon the criticism he’s received from the likes of Oprah and Bill O’Reilly is much more captivating than hearing about how his gun goes off, how he’ll still kill (though I actually did like that song a lot), and how he’ll murda dem.

Read the rest of this entry »

I’d love to go to this, might even head up to NY for it. Jeff says he puts on the best live shows in the business. Thanks to GRANDGOOD for the hookup, that’s a dope poster.

Bonus: Edan’s infamous “Johnny the Fox” routine being performed at North Eastern University.

My own personal list for 2007 consists of the producers who put in amazing work this year and deserve some props.

Listed in no particular order, with the artists they did the best work with this year.

Alchemist (Prodigy, Pharoahe Monch, Evidence, Styles P)

The Hitmen (Jay-Z, Ghostface, Pharoahe Monch)

Kanye West (Common, Talib Kweli, Consequence)

DJ Premier (NYGz, Termanology)

Jake One (50 Cent, Turf Talk, Bishop Lamont, Young Buck, Freeway, Evidence)

Nottz (Royce The 5’9″, Scarface, Kanye West, Little Brother, Boot Camp Clik)

Entire Albums

Marco Polo – Port Authority (also produced for: Boot Camp Clik, J-Live)

DJ Jazzy Jeff – Return of the Magnificent

Statik Selektah -Spell My Name Right

Showbiz -Live Hard (as Show & A.G.)

Waajeed- The War LP

Exile -Below The Heavens (as Blu & Exile)

Sabzi – Bayani/Joe Metro EP (as Blue Scholars)

Black Milk – Popular Demand (also: Pharoahe Monch, Phat Kat)

Dope Instrumental Albums

Large Professor – Beats Vol.2 (also: AZ/Styles P)

Madlib – Beat Konducta in India (also: Talib Kweli, Percee P, Strong Arm Steady)

Oh No – Dr. No’s Oxperiment (also: Wildchild, Lifesavas)

The ARE – Dem Damb Jacksons/Manipulated Marauders

Blockhead – Uncle Tony’s Coloring Book (also: Aesop Rock)

Via Cocaine Blunts

I’ve posted about Killer’s label woes before that led to his followup to his debut Monster, Ghetto Extraordinary, being shelved indefinitely. Now that’s been signed to SMC (home of Wu-Tang, Pharaohe Monch, and others), Killer Mike is teaming up with Hip Hop DX to offer the album as a free download.

The album has features from M.O.P., Ice Cube, Jagged Edge, Big Boi, Three 6 Mafia & 8 Ball & MJG, among others. Production is by Organized Noize, Andre 3000, David Banner, Three 6 Mafia and more.

Here’s the tracklisting from Hip Hop DX.com:

1 Get Em Shawty f. Three 6 Mafia (prod. by Three Six Mafia)
2 Gorilla Pimpin (Ghetto Extraordinary) f. 8Ball & MJG (prod. by Mello)
3 Bad Day / Worst Day (prod. by Beat Bullies)
4 Mama Said (prod. by Organized Noize)
5 Gonna Go to Ghana (prod. by Andre3000)
6 Niggaz Down South (prod. by Beat Bullies)
7 Shot Down (prod. by Organized Noize)
8 Chose Me f. SL Jones & Scar (prod. by Ron Browz)
9 My Chrome f. Big Boi (prod. by Mr. DJ of Dungeon Family)
10 Leave This Hood f. Jagged Edge
11 Aye-O (prod. by David Banner)
12 Speak Lord (prod. by Organized Noize)

Bonus Tracks:
13 Push Back f. M.O.P.
14 Bad Day / Worst Day Remix (Clean) f. Ice Cube (prod. by Beat Bullies)

Download it here (Sharebee Mirror)

First off, if you haven’t already, check out our all-ML ’07 wrap-up post — some have wished death on us because of it.

And now, a quick recap of just who Marco Polo is… he released (and fully produced) Port Authority in May of last year on Soulspazm/Rawkus to critical acclaim, including an “XL” rating in the May 2007 issue of XXL Magazine. He was also featured in Urb Magazine’s “Next 1000” (in the March 2007 issue) and Scratch Magazine’s “Boiling Point” section (in the Jan./Feb. 2007 issue). And, he’s the motherfucking man.

We asked MP for what he considered to be the “Best Of 2007”, and he cut out the fluff and got straight to the point. He also gave a quick hint at a future project of his which is in the works. His words are after the jump.

Read the rest of this entry »

At the Red Bull Music Academy website, there are lectures in the form of interviews with a variety of hip hop luminaries, mostly producers. The lecture series started in 1998 in Berlin, with its most recent lecture in Toronto earlier last year The interviewers consistently ask great questions, and Jeff Chang, author of Can’t Stop Won’t Stop, even does a few of the interviews.

The interviewees range from legends like DJ Premier, DJ Red Alert & Hank Shocklee to future legends like Just Blaze, Black Milk and ?uestlove. This site is a goldmine for any real ‘head, definitely worth your time. Lectures are available in text, streaming video form and audio via podcast .

I’ve only watched the Oh No & Black Milk lectures so far, and they’re great.

Here’s a brief explanation of the the Academy off the site itself.

In a nutshell, what is the Red Bull Music Academy?
The Red Bull Music Academy is an event that travels the world. A yearly celebration of all the journeys and breakthroughs, all the dreams and intricacies that go into the music we love. In between checking gear, chatting on tunes, and spinning in clubs, you’ll get a rare glimpse into local musical hybrids in different countries each year. Believe! And in your free time, you can talk to people from around the world who started revolutions in sound. They’re the people we look up to, and they’re looking to you for a fresh perspective in turn.

(Props to Dart at Poisonous Paragraphs for pointing this out to me)

Chances are, what you’re about to read is the latest 2007 wrap-up amongst the hip hop blogosphere. And I don’t mean “latest” as in the “newest”. I mean “latest” as in everybody has done this before we did, and as a result, we’re late. Like how you wouldn’t want your girl’s period to be.

To that, we say this — how could you truly wrap up 2007 when 2007 is still going on?

Here’s how we’re wrapping up 2007 ML-style, in this, the first of several “Best of 2007” posts. First, each of us here at ML — DJ01, HangoverMonkey, DSuper, Aaron M, and yours truly, Buhizzle — compiled our own personal list of the top 10 albums of the year. Then, on some quasi-NCAA-poll-type shit, we compared lists and compiled a (somewhat) comprehensive top 10 list based on all of our picks. Here at ML, we pride ourselves on having 5 different contributors with 5 different personalities and unique tastes in music generally, and in hip hop specifically — after the jump, peep how our personalities and tastes overlap.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tony Yayo:

The release of Curtis was my best moment. The worst was the day that my mom’s crib got shot up. –

This shit had me on the floor, sorry.

There’s some mildly interesting commentary on the year ’07 in there from people like 9th Wonder, Method Man and Cormega.

But the last comment just stood out to me, I guess. Call me an asshole.

Just got this in the mailbox, might as well put this on The Carter III “leak ” album now. Feeling the track heavy, Weezy continues his awesome way of pronouncing celebrity names. First it was Lindsay “Lohanh” on USDA’s White Girl remix, here it’s Kevin “Federlin”.

MP3: Lil Wayne-I’m Me (Produced by DJ Nasty & L.V.M Of Nasty Beatmakers).