Archive for Video

Black Milk – Deadly Medley (ft. Royce Da 5’9,” Elzhi).

Black Milk told us at the listening session that he originally intended to have Jay Electronica on this as well, but couldn’t get a hold of him. I think the song works well as a Detroit affair. Video after the break. Album of the Year drops September 14.

Download: Black Milk – Deadly Medley (ft. Royce Da 5’9,” Elzhi)

via 2dopeboyz

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Freddie Gibbs – Something New (ft. YP).

While he was in Chicago this past July, Freddie Gibbs hit the studio and made excellent use of “Bumpy’s Lament” by Isaac Hayes, best known as the sample from Dr. Dre’s “Xxplosive.” Instead of trying to match the mercilessness of Kurupt’s legendary verse, Freddie smooths out his version, but still keeps it distinctly Gibbs.

via Ruby Hornet

Watch the making of the song after the jump

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Bun B – Trillionaire (ft. T-Pain), Video.

Cars, girls, and a dramatic “To be continued” populate the video for Bun B’s single. Now that’s a proper rap video.

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Strong Arm Steady – Chittlins & Pepsi, Video.

Call it Food Network rap. Strong Arm Steady’s In Search of Stoney Jackson is out now and amazing.

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Freddie Gibbs – Do Wrong, Part 2, Video.

True story: the kitchen scene was filmed in my apartment by Devin Chanda and the fine people at Scheme Engine. If you pause at 1:07 you can see my Tupperware container!

“Do Wrong” originally featured Pill and first appeared on DGK Stevie’s Vol. 1 mixtape and more recently Freddie’s Str8 Killa No Filla. “Part 2” is an iTunes bonus track for Freddie’s new EP. Produced by Atlanta brethren DJ Burn One.

I was indifferent toward Freddie until he oh-so-casually dropped this line:

I flirt with death; on the day that I fuck the bitch,
Bury me with my zipper down so my haters can suck my dick.

via The Smoking Section

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Janelle Monae – Cold War, Video.

If you’ve ever wanted a naked Janelle Monae to peer deep into your soul for three and a half minutes, her video for “Cold War” is for you. I’m convinced Leonardo DiCaprio helped Janelle steal this idea, because I’ve had this exact dream dozens of times.

via Pitchfork

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Quotables from the new Bangs Interview.

Sudanese rapper/producer Bangs stole our hearts last year with “Take U To Da Movies,” a bullish use of a green screen that seized the online audience not unlike rising star Antoine Dodson. Aside from dropping a new smash, “Meet Me on Facebook” (above), and appearing in a Honda ad, Bangs recently gave a blowout interview where he broke down his creative process. Prepare yourself.

On “Take U To Da Movies”

I just make the beat, ya know, and I listen to the beat. Put pen on paper and listen to it for a while and I said, “Let me make a song about the movies.”

On the video

It was free for free ’cause I work with someone he’s a director. He got his office with green screen and all that so he told me, “I want you to do a short movie for me like two minutes or three minutes. I tell him, “Okay,” I did the movie and I told him I want to shoot a video clip ’cause I got a song. He tell me, “Okay, alright, we see how we go.” I let him hear the song and all that we shoot “Take U to Da Movies,” he edit it and I did the rest.

On 50 Cent

He called me last year, December or so. He tell him I want to shoot video with him, “Take U to Da Movie (Remix).” I tell him, “Okay.” Since that day, ya know, he ain’t call back yet.

On influences

Chingy, Sean Kingston, ya know, who else…?

On using the word “Thurr”

I’ll be singing it, “Shawty right thurr. I say right thurr, when I say right thurr it feel like it’s a better mix with the beat to be kinda good to make it hip-hop. Right thurr.

Girls he wants to take to the movies

Raven, like That’s So Raven. Or Eve… Keri Hilson, Jordin Sparks. Good kinda girls I go to movies with, if I go to the U.S. and collaboration [sic] with them.

Bangs is like the rap version of the crazy American Idol reject. Talking to a viral sensation is usually awkward, because you don’t know if the person understands why he’s so funny. See also our interview with Mr. Chi-City.

via XXLmag.com

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Royce Da 5’9″ – Vagina, Video.

It’s getting to the point where vagina needs its own category on ML. I mean, vag rap almost constitutes a subgenre. “Vagina” speaks to hip-hop’s ability to laugh at itself. Royce is one of the most talented rappers alive and here he is blacking out about lady parts. Off The Bar Exam 3.

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Mayer Hawthorne – Your Easy Lovin’ Ain’t Pleasin’ Nothin’, Video.

Mayer Hawthorne’s music videos consistently kick ass. When I saw the wobbly cam in the opening shot, I feared for a second that it would be on some discount video bullshit. But then the video launched into a choreographed, minimally edited, one-shot pageant of sunbathed happiness that made me wish I grew up in the 60s, back when everyone was happy all the time. For more fun, see the videos for “One Track Mind” and “Green Eyed Love.”

Update: Here’s a behind the scenes clip and some pictures.

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Capone-N-Noreaga – The War Report 2, Review.


When I talked to Capone-N-Noreaga last February, Capone tried to justify their Ron Browz-produced crossover single:

Music today — they censor music so much that you have to make the thuggest record commercial to some extent. To get your albums in certain stores, your shit gotta be squeaky clean, because that’s just where music is at right now.

“Rotate” had a lot of people looking at CNN askew, but The War Report 2 is completely free of such unfortunate compromises. Intended as a sequel to their debut, The War Report 2 looks to duplicate the success of Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… Pt. II, the only commercially successful throwback rap album in recent memory. Raekwon, who appears on three songs, actually acts as executive producer on WR2, lending CNN his excellent ear for street ballads.

The album is refreshing because CNN stick to what sets them apart: their glorious lack of subtlety. No facades. In a welcome nod to early New York gangsta rap, Capone and Nore romanticize life on the streets without any excess theatrics. Besides the intro, which ascribes audio from a war documentary to life on the streets, the only real exception is “The Oath,” whose mafioso concept makes it sound like Rae passed them Cuban Linx leftover, but not in a bad way. The street single “Thug Planet” turns a “Planet Rock” sample into the soundtrack of an urban nightmare. Capone-N-Nore’s dynamic works better than ever as Capone is a surprisingly proficient technical rapper and Nore manages to be a street rapper and a parody of a street rapper at the same time (“Big loads of a fishscale / Guns from Israel / Dude named Ishmael / Told me that his shit sell.”).

The closest they come to a radio track on their new album is the Faith Evans-assisted single “Hood Pride,” which despite the sung hook and anthemic beat, doesn’t make any overly gimmicky stabs at radio play. Chalk it up to Raekwon’s influence or a legitimate desire to keep it all the way gutter this time; either way, The War Report 2 is this year’s raw, uncut New York rap album.

Download: Capone-N-Noreaga – The Oath (ft. Raekwon, Busta Rhymes)

Download: Capone-N-Noreaga – Dutches vs. Phillies vs. Bamboo (ft. Raekwon)

Also: the “Thug Planet” video.

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