Homeboy Sandman appearances are a great treat when he has room to just rap his ass off. Such is the case on “Rebel Nation,” which appears on Jah C & Jaison Spain’s Conception. Boy Sand raps in double time dropping nerdy gems like “I’m on the cover of Forbes in the fourth dimension.”
And I would be remiss not to mention his show-stealer on Rapping with Paul White. He tells a fish out of water story about traveling to England over what sounds like a Dr. Dre beat performed on an MPC. You can download “A Weird Day” for free here.
Exile’s greatest strength is quaint, jittery loops set to the ruminations of a talented niche of local rappers, but he takes a few excellent detours on his new mixtape, a collection of new and old tracks. The unexpected Bun B feature is one such excursion, a helping of syrupy, buzzing funk and “Mic Jackson” by Dag Savage (a collab rapper Johaz) is huger and more anthemic than usual for Ex. There are reliable appearances by Fashawn, Co$$ and of course Blu. The sooner that Blu realizes that his most memorable work is with Exile (and vice versa), the better. Intro to the Outro is an hour-long reprieve from the usual deluge of crap.
OK, this is [Young Jeezy’s and my] daily routine: Smoke weed on the way to the city we’re driving to. Get to the city. Get chased by groupies tryin’ to flag us down and find the hotel. Do radio. Eat. Get a haircut. Smoke some more weed–well, we smoke weed while we’re doin’ all of this, anyway. Get dressed for the show. I do my show, he does his. Then we do the afterparty or go to a strip club. Then we pour champagne on bitches.
Irene knocked out my power for a full seven days. This meant a week of roaming between relatives’ houses and walking to Starbucks for Internet access. My family and friends are safe, for which I am thankful, but that didn’t stop me from hating the Long Island Power Authority as much as the Taliban for a week.
I don’t know how Hempstead was affected by the Hurricane or if Roc Marciano was even home last week (his Twitter suggests he wasn’t), but I can easily tie this track’s beautiful David Axelrod loop to my week long sojourn in the dark, sitting around hoping my lights would turn on soon.
Sacramento’s Chuuwee rapped over two minutes of haywire jazz sounds from producer Rufio’s new beat tape. The video captures a picturesque bedside studio session plus rhymes that might have been penned on the back of a Chinese takeout menu. Fun over frills hip-hop.
I remember watching youtubes of last years Fool’s Gold Labor Day party with Yelawolf rocking the hell out of his set, well this year I will probably doing the same with shaky cell cam videos of Juicy J & Danny Brown rocking. Danny Brown’s live set impressed me so much at SXSW, that I became a believer, dude is just great on stage. Of course, you can’t forget the rest of the Fool’s Gold fam including, A-Trak, Dave1, Araabmuzik (mpc vibez!!) and Nick Catchdubs who are sure to have gems to drop. If you are in NYC, I can’t think of a better way to spend your Labor Day, ok now close the Safari window and go get in line.
Fool’s Gold Day Off
Juicy J
Danny Brown
Just Blaze
Brothers Macklovitch (A-Trak & Dave1)
Araabmuzik
Cubic Zirconia
Party Supplies
Nick Catchdubs
+ Special Guests
City Winery Backyard
155 Varick St
(Entrance on Spring btwn Hudson & Varick)
2-8pm / All ages
XXX makes for a nasty listen. It’s a death spiral of drugs, alcohol, and sex and yet the title actually refers to the roman numeral. Danny Brown just turned 30. Inebriated fornication is hardly a new topic for hip-hop, but XXX takes a startlingly dark tone. “Die Like a Rockstar” is the album’s thesis. Brown compares himself to deceased entertainers, his cartoony cadence making him sound truly deranged. “Bruiser Brigade” is the backdrop to a night of belligerent drunkenness and “Lie4” is the same, but with hallucinogens. The project requires cracked, this-is-your-brain-on-drugs beats and Skywlkr, Brandun Deshay, and Paul White rise to the task magnificently. XXX is an outburst from an artist who can’t call himself a young man anymore and one of the best rap albums of the year.
“Purple Thoughts” will appear on P. Watts’ Element of Surprise. It also appears on KD’s Trill Azz Essentials and Scotty’s Summer Dreams mixtape, the latter of which is produced entirely by DJ Burn One.
Yeah, that’s a lot of mixtapes and a lot of Burn One. And between Summer Dreams and The Ashtray (Burn’s instrumental album), it’s been A LOT of guitar lately. “Purple Thoughts” has the effusive, organic vibe that has become Burn One’s trademark, but I wouldn’t mind more beats in the vein of “Renaissance Gangster” or even “High Five,” just to keep things interesting.
I expect underground producers are attracted to the live band setup because it’s a privilege not available to every kid with stars in his eyes. But the first Burn One beat I ever listened to was “What Was I Thinkin'”. It was great because of the juxtaposition of a Wu-Tang beat and a Cash Money expat, not because of any feat of beatmaking prowess.
But here I am rambling while I probably should be honoring the days of summer by blasting “Purple Thoughts.”
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