Metal Lungies

The Diplomats’ music isn’t what it used to be, recently lacking in both quality and quantity. (Seriously, a Freeky Zekey solo album? Was anyone anticipating that?) And the fact that the whole Jim-Jones-signing-to-G-Unit rumor had been picking up steam lately — it’s been deaded by 50 Cent, so take that for what it’s worth — isn’t likely to smooth anything over between Cam’ron and Jim. With Jim Jones looking for more than a future deal with Koch from here on out, he’s clearly wise to exploit the mutual respect between he and arguably the best hit-maker in hip hop today. Besides, nowadays, if you’re not respected by 50, you’re likely to get disrespected by 50 — shit, you could stand next to him on stage and be told that you suck.

We might as well accept that the Diplomats’ future is hanging on by a thread, and just make sure that we remember the days when that wasn’t case — the dope albums they were dropping 3-4 years ago (i.e. the 1st Diplomatic Immunity, Purple Haze), their rampant self-contradicting, and the sizable dent they’ve left on YouTube. I could to refer Cam’s classic appearance on The O’Reilly Factor alongside Damon Dash, but I’m sure that’s old news to everyone. Instead, here’s some footage of the formerly-close trio of Cam, Jim (who is HEAVILY intoxicated) and Juelz Santana being driven around London by Tim Westwood (the 1st 3 minutes is radio interview stuff, freestyles that you’ve heard on retail albums and what not, the real fun starts after that):

If you’ve never seen this before, here’s 5 reasons why you should (you’ll understand after watching it):

5. “KUFI SLAPPER!”

4. “You see my bitch right here… Don’t be mad, you my BITCH!”

3. “WHAT’S THE PLAN?!? … Alright, I’mma call you back.”

2. “THEY LYING ON MEEEE!”

1. “And the bad thing about it was she thought she was DOIN’ IT! But she wasn’t DOIN’ IT!”

I’ve never seen this before, but I can already call it classic.

Word to PD.

Respect to The Basketball Jones, the greatest podcast known to man — at least, until (oops!) unless ML gets its own podcast — for pointing out the cameo appearances of NBA players Corey Maggette and Baron Davis in Common’s new video for “Drivin’ Me Wild” (I would’ve missed it otherwise as I wasn’t really digging this song, although the video is helping it grow on me a little).

Corey’s appearance comes up as Common rhymes about a female who thinks she’s bagged a “ball player for the Clippers” (the team C-Mags plays for). As for Lord Baron, well, he’s clearly not new to this rap shit. So, these NBA player cameos aren’t all that “random” (not like, say, Jeremy “Ari Gold” Piven mean-mugging the camera). You know what is random, though? Jalen Rose’s appearance in Styles P’s video for “Good Times (I Get High)”… (at the 2:41 and 3:06 marks)

Not random because it’s Jalen Rose — after all, he did pop up for a quick second in the video for “We Gon’ Make It” — but random because he’s behind turntables with headphones on, looking as if he’s (*gasp*) DJing! Maybe Jalen’s actually got some turntable skills on the low, or perhaps his appearance is just meant to fit the theme of the video, with SP seeing things while he’s blazed. Shit, I can’t recall the number of times I’ve hit up a party, under the influence of something-or-other, and thought to myself, “Am I losing it or is that Jalen Rose on the 1s and 2s?”

Wow, who would think Screamfest would be such a spectacle?

Had a little birthday celebrating to take care of but now we are hitting you with the trifecta. Chapter 18, 19, 20 all in one!

Ch. 18

• Dykin=awesome term.
• Award winning green screen work in the car.
• Verizon with a RAZR? God damn it that phone is like 343242 year old why won’t people stop using that played out shit.
• Why do I think the Pastor is inspired by R. Kelly’s Happy People video?
• After seeing this Reverend scene I hope Eddie Murphy is getting royalties from this.
• Was it beyond R. Kelly to sneak in a white person into this church?
• R. Kelly singing a graphic conversation gay back and forth gets him street cred right?
• Rufus may be gay but at least he doesn’t have a pink RAZR.
• Wait Chuck is in a hospital so maybe he’s not really crying, maybe it’s just saline solution OD?

Ch. 19

• Not expecting the church? Umm.. for what all we’ve seen it’s not really shocking.
• “You can do it Pimplooscious” will be humming in our heads for weeks.
  Chech? I hope that’s not a subliminal at Don Juan/Snoop.
• I hope Pimplooscious is a gay pimp.

Ch. 20.

• Package? It makes me think Randolph would be a good drug peddler.
• What is the purpose of a hot water bag??
• Man I’m kinda disappointed by Randolph… he is liquoring up in a church AND he snitches?
• Is it me or have you see better fat suits than the one “Randolph” has at your local 5th grade Halloween party (not that we still attend those, kthxbye)?

You’ve been waiting and here is the don of all don’s, PD:

Chapter 18:

• R., starting to get a bit homophobic and/or lonely in the screening room.
• This looks like a real chapter.
• “Phone is staticin’.” That was unnecessary suspense. 
•  Oh, he flipped the script! Goin’ to chuuuuurch!   
• Isn’t Rufus the pastor? Should he be getting up and walking out of the service like that? I don’t know, maybe that’s normal.
•  Chuck is in rough shape, man. 
• Rufus, re-establishing the fact that he’s married to Kathy. Thanks for reminding us.
• Haha! What a choker. He tried to hang up and accidentally put it on speakerphone?                                                                                                                     
• Rufus looks like he’s getting ready to leave life on the down low…            “‘Cause I’m in a hospitaaaaal….” C’mon Rufus, it wasn’t that much of a shock. People go to the hospital sometimes. Just ask him why he’s there.

Chapter 19:

• Pimps go to church?  
• “You want to stop pimpin’ aaaaaall these hos.” “Shhhhh!”
• Pimp Lucius shows no signs of change. The “Ho…me ghost?”  
• I guess if pimps can go to church, so can hos.
• To everyone who thinks R. is taking himself too seriously, watch the end commentary. Kind of disappointing. I sort of wish he was taking this seriously.

Chapter 20:

•  Back to Rosie.  
• Old ladies always want to know what’s going on with the holy man.
• Haha, he’s just singin’ while he’s cleanin’.  “Yes, Lord….yeeees, Lord.”
• YES!  Someone got back in the closet!
• How did Randolph hear what Chuck was saying?
• You know, there was some actual plot development in this chapter.  Thumbs up.

One of our favorites from the south. Grindtime Bang! Bang! Bang!

“‘Shalom’ is ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye’ in Hebrew, right? Yeah, that pretty much sums up your career.” — Colin Quinn (not verbatim, but close enough), to someone at the Artie Lange Roast on The Howard Stern Show

… pretty much sums up my blogging career, as well.

On August 20th (Monday), I will start my first year of law school. So, needless to say, my presence at ML will be missing for a while. Will it be missed? Well, I guess that’s for y’all to decide. I’ll still drop by every now and again for the occasional Beat Drop (Hi-Tek’s is up for those that might not have seen it — Lethal’s been a one-man-blog-man lately), or whenever something gets me in a posting sort of mood. But, if I attempt to stay current with the daily goings-on of the hip hop world and balance that out with a time-consuming law school schedule, I’ll most certainly fail miserably in both areas — I’d be behind in class work, and you’d be reading my reviews of the Curtis and Graduation sometime in 2008 (assuming their release dates don’t change anymore).

So, in closing, I’ll see y’all when I see y’all. ML for life, ’til the casket dips and the death certificate reads, “Cause of Death: Iodine poisoning from eating so many shrimp.”

Easy,

Buhizzle

P.S. As one last goodbye-for-now, peep my guest post on Souled On (complete with MP3s if you’re not up for the long read).

Wow, After all that Chapter 16 is sort of a letdown. Here’s hoping its like a slow 24 episode that just leads up to a lot of crazy shit, because this chapter didn’t do much.

• It looks like Twan doesn’t cause  high blood pressure, but rather some pimping smacking turrets syndrome spinoff  to kick in.
• Sylvester is a good life coach.
• Will Sylvester’s cigarette start an inferno?

Of course here is PD:

Chapter 16:
 Roxanne says, (sound)
 Tina busting out the twitchy eye…not exactly Oscar-worthy.
 I don’t have any idea where this whole epic is going right now. I mean, I never really did, but now? Even less.
 A pimp hit her in the eye and that made her develop a nervous condition? You sure that’s not a physical condition, Roxanne?
 Within 20 seconds, Twan is convinced to leave the streets behind and start a new life with Tina. But then Roxanne drops the bombshell.
 This was probably, no, definitely, the worst chapter in the whole series so far. I hope R. starts stepping his game up after this. If it’s just going to be this kind of ongoing argument, I might as well go watch Maury.

Over the Years Ashanti (more her producer Irv Gotti) has ripped the beats off a good many classic rap tracks for her songs. Now, I know a lot of other artists do this too. But Ashanti does it a lot. A lot. Some examples.

Ashanti- Foolish:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAPOtmqio1k&eurl=[/youtube]

Notorious B.I.G. (One More Chance Remix):
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHDRkO_UmXY&eurl=[/youtube]

Thats kind of an easy one. Lets Step it Up.

Ashanti- Baby:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMI2d4HaFRQ&eurl=[/youtube]

Scarface- Mary Jane:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UB5hZUvNiVk&eurl=[/youtube]

Damn! She even jacked the video!!!! Wow. Lets Move on….

Ashanti- Rain on Me:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfXN9JCiv-M&eurl=[/youtube]

Jay-Z- Can I Live:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JC7MJ8l73SQ&eurl=[/youtube]

I mention those because Irv Gotti produced both songs. Back when he produced Can I Live he was known as DJ Irv. They both sample The Look of Love by Isaac Hayes. Moving on…..

Ashanti feat. Black Child- Breakup 2 Makeup (Remix):
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIjWo24wZe8&eurl=[/youtube]

Notorious B.I.G.- Dreams (Just Playin’):
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4cYoDVRB9E&eurl=[/youtube]

That Ashanti video kinda started out like the Video for the Flava in Ya Ear Remix. I didn’t think you could make a sucessful RnB song with a song about raping RnB singers. And you can’t. Moving on…

Ashanti Feat. Paul Wall and Method Man- Still on It:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ity9YwE_QQI&eurl=[/youtube]

Masta Ace Inc.- Born To Roll:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjxBPZfvEdE&eurl=[/youtube]

I gotta thank MTV Jams for that last one. I knew that Ashanti song was taking a great old song, but it was on the tip of my tounge. They played these back to back and it was awesome.

So thats it for now. But Ashanti is working on a new album and that means there is plenty of room for some throwback beats.

No hate though. I would have never been listening to Masta Ace Inc. after all these years if it wasn’t for her.