Maganda Girl Rock

I've been bumping this the last few days. Shoot I even put it on our playlist for our hoops runs haha. It's not quite the classic that Knock you Down is, but it's on a tier below. I've just been replaying and replaying, mostly for these 4 bars:

but the only thing I need to know right now/
what a pretty girl like you doing in this part of town/
with a city girl swag and a country girl smile/
I mean - you demoralizing b****s with your style


.

My Last

This track is getting mad spins from me - I even shouted it out on Twitter. If you like shallow raps Sean, and mediocre voiced Chris, and a past-his-prime NO I.D. with a late 80's New Edition Sample, this is right up your alley.



Damn, I still owe you guys a 2010 Music in Review. Ahh...still letting the Q4 stuff soak in. See - I have an excuse for everything!
.

I Hate it When...

I remember in my blogging prime I used to comprise lists of things I hate. Nowadays if something comes to mind, I'll just send off a random tweet. Twitter won. Anyway, since I am completely useless at work, I'd figure I'd compile another list. This was inspired by a recent tweet too:

- I hate it when packages take like 2 days to arrive cross-country, but take 3 days to get sorted and delivered. I want my IIIs already!

- I hate it when you look up a word in the dictionary, then the definition has another word you don't know the meaning to. I swear them mothereffers do that on purpose. Look up "sycophant" and you know what I'm talking about.

- I hate it when you click on a top 100 or top 50 list, and you gotta keep on clicking "next" to get to the following one. I understand pageviews and ish, but damn that's annoying. Can't they just keep it on one page? Or maybe 5-10 items on a page as a happy medium? For reference: Complex's Top 50 Bay Area Rap Songs

- I hate it when ninjas announce they're gonna defriend people on Facebook. "Oh no - there's about to be a purging!" Just go ahead and do the damn thing. These are probably the same folks who get butt-hurt when they find out they got defriended too haha.

- I hate it when I see a half-empty ream of paper near the printer. Do you not realize the whole stack can fit in the tray? I think I voiced this sentiment somewhere before.

- I hate it when PDFs are from scanned copies and not converted from Word or whatever. You totes can't use the Crtl+F option. I just had to scan a 100 page agreement for a little clause for our auditors. Bastards.

- I hate it when you do your laundry and you wash your towels. Then you're halfway asleep during your morning shower and you realize you have no towels in the bathroom. Then you gotta run to your closet all dripping wet to retrieve one.

- [from MethodMik's twitter] Hate walking into a smelly ass bathroom and everyone thinks u did it cause you're the only 1 there

- I hate it when you see ish on clearance, but they only have like XXL's and XS's left. In abundance. Yall need to allocate better. [Or maybe I should've bought it when it was regular price lol].

- I hate it when fans of teams hate on a rival squad for beating them. Case in point: the Spurs beat the Lakers last week on a tip-in at the buzzer. Countless "I hate the F^$*king Spurs" posts ensue. Yall should've hated on your team for not boxing out!

- I hate it when folks be hating on Justin Beiber and the Black Eyed Peas. Obviously their music is not my cup of tea, but they stay in their lane. Justin had a photoshoot with Kim, and the BEP are more hip-hop than me and you. They inject some positivity into the culture, so I can't hate that.

I just can't hate on this, but I have to applaud him!

.

It's Dior Homme, not Dior Homie

Probably my favorite G.O.O.D. Friday track, and I'm kinda glad it was left off the album.  Funny anecdote: Pusha and 'Ye performed this song on a radio show, but they had to read the lyrics off a telestrator lol.  At least it wasn't in front of a crowd.  I guess that shows you have quickly these ninjas churn out music.

Listening to this song makes me want to get a pair of jeans.  And John Legend should mimic Nate Dogg and release an album with just him on the hooks - that would be an instacop.

2K10 Music Year in Review post coming next week!
.

The Blogger's Soundtrack

The title alludes to Skyzoo's "The Shooter's Soundtrack" which was one of the top hip-hop releases of the year.  Straight up gully beats and lyrics - no guest spots and nothing radio friendly about it.  However rather than making a traditional 2009 Music Year in Review, I just want to recap my personal playlist of 2009:

Keri Hilson/Kanye/Ne-Yo - Knock You Down - Fell in love with the track after the first leak. "Til I met this pretty lil missile that shot me out of the sky"

Kid Cudi - The Sky Might Fall/Soundtrack 2 My Life - The Emo Hip-Hopper's Anthem. "I got 99 problems, and they're all b!tches"

Alicia Keys - Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart - hahah don't look too much into this, but this is a jam, as Al, Ar and Rol can attest to. I think we listened to it like 15x straight. Too bad the video is freaking weird.

Flo-Rida/Ne-Yo - Be On You - last year's camping song was Weezer's Heart Songs, and this was the dilly this year

Angels & Airwaves - Everything's Magic - because we rock out to this on Rock Band. Evokes memories of Sugarcult's 'Memory'. It's a hard-hitting Alt-Rock joint

Beyonce/Kanye - Ego Remix - I fault Mr. West for increasing the size of my ego, as well as every urban kid under 30, errr 35, for thinking that they posses mad swagger.  For real though, I need to have humble pie for dessert once in awhile.

Jay Sean/Lil Wayne - Down - Only because my lil godson Isaiah goes bonkers when this song comes on haha. He made Fel replay it like 10x in a row once.

Drake - Best I Ever Had - Las Vegas July 2009 - where a group of men became legendary.

Jay Electronica - Exhibit C - Helped me believe in hip-hop once again and cemented Just Blaze's legacy in the pantheon of beatmakers.

Jay-Z/J-Cole - A Star is Born - To continue with the Jay theme, this song probably got the most play from me on BP3. I like nostalgic verses.

Trey Songz/Ma$e - I Need a Girl Remix - I never really was a fan of Mase in his heyday, but he came through on his few guest spots this year.

Mayer Hawthorne - Just Ain't Gonna Work it Out/Maybe So, Maybe No - these pretty much personifies my 1st half of 2K9, and they're back to back tracks on the album!

Ne-Yo - Easy/Move Along - you didn't think I would leave out him yeah? But these were 2 unreleased joints retrieved from 2DopeBoyz weekly R&B post. I *heart* them.

So here is what's been dominating my earwaves in 2K9.  Maybe I'll come back with the traditional categories later on.
.

Giving 'em Eargasms With My Mellow Accent

Ever since my Bose earbuds died on me [note to readers: Bose doesn't make good earbuds], I've been half-heartedly looking for a new set of either earphones or on-ear headphones.  While there's way too much information on the web, I scoured head-fi.org and decided I was either going to cop the Klipsche or Sennheiser earbuds.  They tested the best, had the most bang for the buck and most importantly, were available at the Apple Store since I had credit there.  If you've seen the Beats By Dre buds, they're obviously an upgrade, but we all know how overpriced Monster products are and you could get equal if not better quality for a fraction of the price.  Being a financially shrewd person, these were definitely not an option.  Besides, I only had $40 store credit, while the buds I wanted ran around $80 for a total OOP cost of around $40 for the math impaired.

So I perused to the Union Square location and I mess around with the various headphones on display.  I checked out the Sennheisers, and yeah they sounded clean.  The overpriced Beats By Dre Solos were right next to them, and almost had a certain glow to them, so I just peeped them too - I had to ensure my due diligence was complete.  It should be noted when Norm visited last week, I tried on his BBD Studio editions, but those were too heavy and fragile for my sake.  Plus they were $300! Anyway the Solos had recently came out at a much more modest $180 [it sounds a lot by itself, hence the comparison to the studio editions lol] and once I put them on, I felt like this dude here:


They sounded clean. I primarily listen to Hip-Hop, R&B and Glee V1 and V2 so these are optimal for those genres. However I told myself I wouldn't fall for the hype. Cons included sound leakage [but for real, I would be the ones wearing them, so that's almost moot.  I remember when I got Sen-Dog, and a con was rear seating. I'm not gonna be sitting back there ya heard.]  My OOP budget was like $50, and these would run an additional $150, so the Klipsches are looking more promising.  I probably spent more time at peeping how I looked in them rather than the actual acoustics, but it only took me one song [Cudi/Ye/Common's 'Make Em Say' - the selections were limited] to know that I wanted them. If I were to cop the Sennheisers, I would've settled. And Reeg doesn't settle. And Reeg gets what he wants. And these were what I wanted, so I got them.  It seems like I need to justify my purchases, but the bottom line is that I dig it. Once a hypebeast, always a hypebeast.

.

Underrated in Hip-Hop Goes To…

Babyface! I had this blog for some months in the making, but dude comes hard [pause] since I first heard him bless hip-hop laced tracks. Let's rewind to peep the hip-hop section of his resume:

- This Is For The Lover In You - both the original and remix. "Yo 'Face, on the real was the honey looking laced?!" And if you can have a remix with Ghostface to have a 'Face and 'Face collab [just missing Scarface], then it is indeed official.

- Always be My Sunshine - off the underappreciated In My Lifetime Vol 1. I know Jay made the song, but without 'Face singing the hook, ish wouldn't be the same.

- There She Goes - a Neptunes beat at their peak, and tells the story of a dude falling for a chick. Definitely relatable and one of my fav 'Face songs ever.

- Stressed Out - not of the ATCQ or UNLV variety, but another Neptunes laced song. Not as dope as the aborementioned one, but a decent track anyway.

- Comfortable - yes this track was circulating for awhile before finally officially appearing on the Carter III. But 'Ye + Wayne + 'Face= my favorite song off the best selling rap album of 2008.

Okay maybe his sample size isn't as big, and maybe I'm biased because before there was Ne-Yo, there was Musiq. But before Musiq, there was Babyface! "The Day" got constant spins on the discman. Peep the songs dude has written: Top 100. Ne-Yo has awhile to get to his song-writing level. Anyway, bottom line - more hip-hop artists should utilize Babyface. If I needed an R&B dude to do my hook, I wouldn't call Justin or John L or definitely not Akon, but it would be Kenneth Edmonds for sure.
.

I'm Still Alive

Damn since I have nothing pressing to do at work, I'd figured I'd recessitate this piece. Sorry Reegspeak, you've been treated like the redheaded stepchild these past few months. Not sure what to blame it on - I guess you can place it on the gol-gol-gol-golf. And Facebook too…them are primary time killers.

So let's see…what have I been doing the first months of being 30?? I guess the same crap I was doing in my late 20s, except blogging less lol. Anyway here's a rundown of the past couple months sprinkled with some random thoughts:

- I'm not yet packed for PHX, and I leave in like 18 hours. Got my list ready though.

- Monterey was awesome. Pics are found here:
From Edward
From Gerald
From Henry

- I saw a band live whom I knew virtually nothing about - The Virgins. Kinda Strokes-ish? I'm not too good with my rock comparisons.

- The 2 music acts prior to that were Blu and JEW. I think I need to alternate my black and white music.

- Just created my summer schedule. If you want a piece of me let me know already. Dates are getting filled.

- Thanks to you guys to still visit this page.

- RIP Wayman Tisdale and that Dolla dude who got gunned down at the Beverly Center. That's why I shopped at Fox Hills Mall when I resided down there.

- Kanye coming correct in the 2K9. Sounding hungry like his pre-College Dropout days. The Ego Remix, the Knock You Down song, the Kinda Like a Big Deal verse, Maybach Music II, Flight School, Poke her Face remix and the years not even halfway over!

- Now if Kanye appears on any track with J-Mac aka Jesse McCartney, I think I'ma spaz out.

- And last Kanye blurb - I still want a pair of them Air Yeezy's [the blk/pnk as featured in the Knock You Down vid], but I don’t have $700 laying around. FML.

- Here goes the FML copy-cat site of the week: My Life is Average. Actually some pretty funny stuff there.

- Anybody want to go camping this summer? Was recently looking at pics from last years trip - good times like JJ Evans.

- It seems the 5th dimension bloggers are in another dimension, since it surely isn't the blog zone.

- Fighting the Twitter urge. Sike.
.

The World You Love

In honor of the JEW concert like a month ago, here goes something that captures my mindframe:

The World You Love - Jimmy Eat World

I'm in love with the ordinary;
I need a simple space
To rest my head,
and everything gets clear.
well I'm a little ashamed for asking
But just a little helps,
It gets me straight again;
Helps me get over it.

It might seem like a dream
But it's real to me.

Don't it feel like sunshine after all?
The world we love forever gone.
We're only just as happy
As everyone else seems to think we are.

You should see the canals are freezing,
You should see me high.
You should just be here,
Be with me here.
It doesn't seem there's hope for me,
I let you down.
But I won't give in now,
Not for any amount.

Don't it feel like sunshine after all?
The world we love forever gone.
We're only just as happy
As everyone else seems to think we are.
.

Year of the Gentleman Tour

I'm tryna knock out blogs like I'm a boxer. So obviously this blog is about a month past due, but oh well. Roland, TiffanyBlue, Michelle, G and yours truly attended his show in Oakland a few weeks ago. None of us really venture out to the 'town so we drove through a hood part to get to the Paramount Theatre. Once we got there, it was pleasantly nice, since it was near Lake Merritt around their downtown area.

Anyway the show started with this group called Electric Red or something. OMG they were horrible. They were like 4 Adina Howards, except with a 1/4 of her talent. You know how JJ Fad had that 'Supersonic' song? "The S is for Super and the U is for unique...?" They had a song called 'P***y" I think, that went like "The P is for Power and..." blah blah. OMG they were horrible, both vocally and visually and content-wise. We came too early.

Grammy nominee Jazmine Sullivan performed next, and some the crowd was feeling her. To me nothing really differentiates her from the countless other Neo-Soul artists out there. Yawn.

Then came the headliner! Woo-hoo! Thanks to Share-Bare for clarifying an exclusion I initially missed on my playlist. Anyway since I'm old now, my memory may be a little fuzzy, so if I might have some in the wrong order. His lineup for the day was:

01. because of you
02. lie to me
03. nobody
04. single
05. so you can cry
06. so sick
07. mad
08. stop this world
09. do you
10. irreplaceable*
11. spotlight*
12. take a bow*
13. let me love u*
14. make it work
15. go on girl
16. sexy love
17. miss independant
18. closer

We all bet what song he was going to open with, and Roland actually won. What he won, I'm not sure haha. After a few songs in, it did seem like he was gonna sing the whole YOTG album! Yes, he even performed the latter 1/3 of the joint, of which I don't really play. He had a lil storyline to preface most of his songs, and I pretty much knew what he was gonna sing!

However the more he talked about girl problems, the more I questioned his heterosexualness. I mean I'm sure he's had GF's in the past, but so did Lance Bass. He went on to sing some songs he wrote, which I already knew [duh!]. If you're able to pen "Irreplaceable," how straight can you be?

Then he came with his hits, and his closer was obviously "Closer." Take another look at the list, and I was deeply saddened that he didn't do "Can We Chill!" Grrrrr! I mean he even made a video for it! Considering it was one of his faster paced songs, and he did "Do You" and "Make It Work" from the same album, I was certain he was gonna perform it. But no he didn't =(

But regardless, it was a dope show, like a 100x better than Musiq's. Unfortunately I couldn't boogie as much as I wanted to, since a few rows back my sisters and female cousins [and Lorilie!] were sitting directly behind me! Oh well, at least I came out of there with a free Ne-Yo poster hahaha.
.

First Post of 2K9!

My bad readers, I've been pretty busy @ work and don't wanna blog when home, but once I saw this picture I had to post it:



Haha so many things wrong with this picture. First off, he's singing the National Anthem at a NASCAR event. Secondly he actually isn't wearing a hat. He's rocking not only a Louie scarf, but a Louie scarf with a short-sleeve shirt on a seemingly sunny day. Plus he got on a Gucci belt. And why is there a beanie in his pocket??

Haha but despite all this, Ne-Yo remains a Man-Crush. And I'm bout to get tickets to watch him in Oakland on the 6th! Who else is down?
.

2008 Music Musings, Part II

I like how artists just had part IIs rather than a remix, hence the inspiration for my blog title. Anyway I did my post last night half-asleep [wait, is that a pessimistic term? I should've said half-awake] so upon hitting the "post" button and reading RB's, SB's, and TB's list [darn, i'm the only non-B surnamed] I have a few more awards to hand out:

The Chris Isaak Award [meaning you only watch the video because there's a dime in it and don't sweat it if it comes on the radio, word to Wicked Game]



Kardinal Offishall feat Akon - Dangerous. That chick gets the nod for Video Vixen of the Year, but I'm sure King Mag already bestowed that honor to her.

The "When Did That Drop?" Album of the Year
The Large Professor - Main Source. Had this been 10 years ago, I would've been all over this. But I only realized it released last month upon scouring Best of 2008 lists. While his last release was underwhelming, Extra P always has a spot in my hip-hop heart. I'll cop it soon.

The "When I rejoin Columbia House I'll Cop" Album of the Year
Keane - Perfect Symmetry. Only because that's how I obtained their last albums haha. But no joke Hopes & Fears is probably my fav Emo album ever.

Unreleased Song of the Year
Ne-Yo - Together. So I did sone research on this one, and I concluded it is him on the track and Stargate did the music. I have no idea why it wasn't on YOTG, since it gets play than any other song on there, except maybe for So You Can Cry.

The Autotune Song of the Year
Young Jeezy feat Kanye West - Put On. This was the song that gave me false hope for Kanye's joint, but alas I wasn't feeling 808's too much. Anyway this song still gets the spins from me.

The Redundancy Award
Pandora.com. Imeem over Pandora all day for me! And I have a pretty diverse selection of artists, but they seem to play the same 5 songs from any given artist.

The Breakup Song of the Year
Murs - Break Up [The OJ Song]. I was surprised to see him all over MTV and I've only heard this jawn on the radio, but its pretty dope. Past winners include Burn by User and Take a Bow by Rihanna [that was '07 yeah? don't know if it was on the original release, the re-release, or the re-re-release lol]. Anyway this award leads to...

The Stripper Song of the Year
Dream - I Love Your Girl. You get to the club, scour the chicks then identify the one who's tuition payments you want to support. And you know someone's gotta be doing the pipework here, and it's not you. Oh well at least you got a dance.

Freestyle of the Year
Fabolous - Brooklyn [We Go Hard]. Okay I'll admit that I don't listen to too many freestyles, but I've always liked Fab's peripheral releases [mixtapes, freestyles] moreso than his actual albums. This didn't disappoint, but calling it a 'freestyle' is probably a misnomer.

Comeback of the Year
Journey! And it's only because of their new Filipino lead singer hahaha. I really do wish I went to their concert a few months ago. I think Wal-Mart sold the remakes of their old songs exclusively with that dude with the lead vocals. And you probably thought I was gonna say NKOTB!
.

2008 Music Musings

Well Sylv just passed the baton to me, so I'm coming with my 2 pesos about the sound of music, version 2008. I thought about this for a couple weeks, since I've done annual reviews before. But this year seemed more difficult than before. I probably listened to more R&B this year than any other genre. So without further adoodoo, here we go!

Disappointment of the Year
Usher - Here I Stand. Not a good sign when the best song is the first single, and the second best song is the remix of the first single. Album had no replay value whatsoever. If there was still a Justin and Usher debate, this release should've ended it. I know it was hard to follow-up Confessions, but damn he gotta breakup with his girl or something to revive his career.

Remix of the Year
Common feat Pharrell - Punch Drunk Love Remix. Lovely upon first listen and easily outshined the original featuring Mr. West. It's just a smooth beat. Too bad its only found on the UK release of the CD, so I had to bootleg it.

R&B Song of the Year excluding Ne-Yo, John Legend & Musiq
Ray J feat Young Berg - Sexy Can I. Even though this featured rapper is wack, this song got mad play from me. Yeah so what, I'd rather listen to Ray J than watch him apparently haha.

Ne-Yo Guest Appearance of the Year
Plies feat Ne-Yo - Bust it Baby Part II. And I hate Plies! It has that Janet Jackson sample and just one of the dopest choruses of any song this year. "She got me speeding in the fast lane pedal to the floor mayn..."

Rap Single of the Year
Nas feat Keri Hilson - Hero. Damn I haven't got stoked off a Nas song upon first listen since Nas Is Like. Polow da Don channeled his inner Preemo and delivered a similar hyped track. Unfornately the album is on too much of a Black Power tip so I haven't spun it much, but probably will on MLK day.

Obligitory Musiq Soulchild Ballad of the Year
Musiq Soulchild - Someone. He basically says what he wants in someone. And its not much, just like me! Another joint I fell in love with first listen. Rol knows about this one haha.

Annoying Lil Wayne Song of the Year
Lil Wayne - Lollipop. Damn I never liked this song, and I'm not even going to link it! I never let it finish either. If its on the radio, I'd change the station. I have the Carter III on my iPod, but this has a zero times played count. Surprisingly, I listen to most of his subsequent singles though. Hmmmph.

The "Oh Yeah I Forgot they dropped an Album" Award
Gym Class Heroes - The Quilt. Well the sophomore slump was expected, especially after the caliber of their debut. They got bigger names on their joint, but I totally forgot about it. That tends to happen a lot. Cookie Jar is dope still though.

The 2007 Album that I Hella Bumped in 2008 Award
Blu & Exile - Below the Heavens. I almost predicted this based on my 2007 Year in Review. This album still gives me hope for Hip-Hop, as it was my favorite indy release in quite sometime. Which leads to...

Album that I Really need to listen To
Blu & Mainframe - Johnson & Jonson. Drake and Wale get all the hype of the next MC but I prefer to wait until someone delivers an album. I'll take Blu.

Emo Artists Who's Previous Releases were 10x Better than their 2008 Albums
3 way tie: Jack Johnson's In Between Dreams >>> Sleep Through the Static; Coldplay's X&Y >>> Viva La Vida and Death Cab for Cutie's Plans >>> Narrow Stairs. I haven't listened to FOB or AAR but I have a feeling they'll follow the same pattern.

The Happy Song of the Year
Chris Brown - Forever. I just start cheesing when I hear this! "I'ma take you there, I'ma take you there." Funny that past winners include Take you There by Blackstreet-Mya-Mase and Memory by Sugarcult.

Emo Song of the Year
The Killers - Spaceman. I liked Human right away, and I really liked Spaceman faster than that! I wasn't expecting too much from this album but its pretty dope, as it probably got the most spins out of my Q4 album purchase.

Guilty Pleasure Song of the Year
Leona Lewis - Better in Time. When my windows are down and this comes on the radio, I roll them back up and turn it louder. This song is dope and so is she.

Hip-Hop Album of the Year
Kidz in the Hall - The In Crowd. So this is my most prestigious award I can give it, but these kidz deserved it. Album was fresh beats-wise and rhymes-wise, and it solved a few "where are they now" questions [Camp Lo, Masta Ace]. Paper Trail is probably my favorite song off the album, even though I *heart* The Driving Down the Block Remix.

R&B Album of the Year
Ne-Yo - Year of the Gentleman. I don't have to say much more. Its probably his 3rd best album, but still good enough to win this. Kind of like Jordan winning the MVP after a so-so year. Did I just compared Ne-Yo to MJ? Man I must be on something haha.

Damn I'm sleepy. I'll try to link some more songs later and maybe have another supplement list. Go Taft your turn!
.

Kanye West Appreciation

This goes to the only Louis Vuitton Don. I used to be hate on you also [please see my July 2004 boycott blog], but you kept delivering music that I felt. I thought the self-comparisons to the #1 Soul Brother Pete Rock were asinine, but now they are very legit. I saw the passion in your work in a time when a lot of established rappers were one-butt-cheeking [half-assing] their songs. Hip-hop hit a flatline until you injected the culture with some life. You transcended the genre and showed that you don't always have to be hood to make it as an emcee. Pink polos didn't hurt the Roc, but it just expanded your fan base.

You kept it true to the roots of hip-hop by pushing boundaries and expanding on your musical horizons, essentially representing what it is all about - creativity and expression. When Pac left and Jay delved into other business ventures, you inherited that torch and kept it about the music. You helped bring Lupe to the scene, revitalized Common's career and truly defined what having swagger is about.

We all know you're a prick and a douche, and I'm sure you know that too. You're an egotistical maniac - like a Tiger, Steve Jobs, Trump - but that's what makes the great ones great. I'm glad you speak your mind, as you keep your name in the media creates all this free advertising! You're probably the face of hip-hop of the 21st century, for better or for worst. But us heads wouldn't want it any other way. Your "Thank you and You're Welcome" book is a permanent fixture on my toilet, but that is a compliment despite how it sounds.

They say if they hate you, then you must be doing something right. So big ups on that.

Keep up the good work, but next album please retire the autotune.

"I ain't play the hand I was dealt, I changed my cards
I prayed to the skies and I changed my stars" - "Last Call" - Kanye West
.

The Greatest Karaoke of All

Man, I know most of my audience has seen this video, but this is why you never ever battle Nick to a singing competition. I'm not sure if this was after 1 or 2 40s haha. Who needs Magic Mic after all? Here it is for your viewing pleasure. Who knows, maybe you'll make a cameo in it!


.

Comroon5oulChild

And I thought last week's double dose of The Killers and Kanye was a treat! Look what next week's releases bring forth. The last time I remember 3 legit records dropping the same day was back on September 29, 1998 when my roommates and I went to MorningGlory Music in SB, and I got Jay-Z's Vol 2 Hard Knock Life, Norm picked up ATCQ's Love Movement and Eric swooped Outkast's Aquemini. Which was really ironic, since all of those respective artists are right up our respective allies.

Which reminds me of another story. My theme song for us was "City Town to the LBC", by JT The Bigga Figga featuring The Gov and Young Swoop. I was JT, since I repped the City of SF, Eric was The Gov, since he repped the 'Town [even though he is Oakland Hills] and Norm was Young Swoop, being from Long Beach and all. It was like the perfect song tailored for us! Of course I never told them this haha, but I think of them every time I hear that song.

Okay back to 2008...I thought this was gonna be a down year for music releases but it looks to finish strong. Keep CD's alive!


I heard 'Punch Drunk Love' and that was fresh. With the exception of The Electric Circus, he always comes through for me. I expect yet another love-rap album.


Peep the credits. Premier. Pharrell. Cool Kids. Ali Shaheed Muhammad. ?Love. Mary J. I'm mad that I didn't know about this earlier!


I don't care how wack his show was, Musiq has at least 2 bangers on all his joints. And besides his first single, I remember a new ballad he sang during that horrendous performance that sounded decent.

I think its time for me to host another iPoddy!
.

Emo Song of the Day

I can't front, this is one of my fav songs, as it holds a place on the prestigious Top 25 Most Played songs on the iPizzle. It's really poignant and it pretty much speaks to me. Shoot I didn't even know Switchfoot was a Christian rock band until recently, but I've been playing this since I first heard it on Smallville circa 2005. I swear every time I get contemplative it gets a spin.



Yesterday is a wrinkle on your forehead
Yesterday is a promise that you've broken
Don't close your eyes, don't close your eyes
This is your life and today is all you've got now
Yeah, and today is all you'll ever have
Don't close your eyes
Don't close your eyes

This is your life, are you who you want to be
This is your life, are you who you want to be
This is your life, is it everything you dreamed that it would be
When the world was younger and you had everything to lose
.

My Legend Has Just Begun...

John Legend – Evolver

Legend’s are born, not made. But with the case of John Stephens, he created himself [with the help of Kanye] into John Legend. I probably first heard him on Slum’s “Selfish” and thought he had a dope voice, but not much more since I probably can sound fresh on a Kanye track. Okay maybe not, but anyway that still is one of my favorite tracks this decade. Fast forward is sometime around Q3 of 2004, and your boy Reeg is going through problems. Right then JL releases “Used to Love U” and bam, that captured how I totally felt, so fluidly and succinctly over a dope beat. This dude definitely landed on my Man-Crush radar. “I realize…that I just don’t love uuuu, not like I used to.” So then I’m going through some ish, realizing that I’m just an ordinary person, then Ordinary People drops! Damn he has good timing for releasing songs that parallel my feelings. As a result “Get Lifted” won the prestigious reegsta.com R&B Album of 2004. [How did I overlook The College Dropout for Album of the Year?! - shame on a ninja!]

Anyway JL releases Once Again in 2006, and dude is just sprung. His beats were more melodic, as Kanye was pretty absent from these tracks, but they were still dope. Even if you never heard this album, song titles such as “Heaven” and “Each Day Gets Better” and “PDA” pretty much sum up the mood of his album! Happy, he found Maxine and its all good. 2006 ironically was also a happy year for me – see this dude customizes his albums for me haha. But towards the end of Once Again, my fav song is “Where Did My Baby Go?”….hmmmm, maybe its not all blissful as it was in the beginning. Duh, even John Legend is human.

So its now 2008, and the artist has changed – thus the Evolver title. His first single “Green Light” is a jam you all have heard…its always good to see Andre 3K rapping again. It sounds like John is ready just to get back in the game, so I’m not sure what happened with Maxine? He’s definitely more mature now, since its been over 4 years since I Used to Love U, which tells me he knows what homie wants. He vows to do things differently on “This Time.” But the jewel of the album is definitely “Everyone Knows” – “one day you’ll see, no one has it easy…” Rol already summarized this song here, which pretty much I agree wholeheartedly. Songs resonate with us pretty similarly…its kinda scary lol.

And true to form, JL again mimic’s my feelings with the last song on his album – “If You’re Out There”…that shouldn’t be too hard to interpret. Go get this album...shoot I paid full price for it and got my money's worth!

4 Acura Legends out of 5
.

Saturday Night in the South Bay

So the Prince of the Ville, the King of the Sunset and the Duke of Ulloa went to the Roots/GymClassHeroes show in hella far San Jose. Why did I leave SF with less than a ¼ tank of petro? Anyway I was debating about going probably 2 minutes after the Musiq concert finished. I may have even blogged about it. Anyway presale tix would’ve cost me $45 individually, but Modest Mark sold his set to me and Al for $25 each. Not bad. But when we get there people were scalping their ish….first it was $20, then $15, then $10…then there was a dude who thought Rol was cute or something and he gave him a free ticket! I mean there’s breezies in line for tickets and he straight up gives it to him haha. Or maybe he just paid homage to these OG’s at Al’s alma mater, like why are these old dudes just posted outside the Events Center? For some reason though, being on a college campus transforms us into straight up beastmode, red level of alertness. And this is just an average looking campus too!

The GCH set was pretty fresh, as Travis aka mini-Joakim Noah even though he’s 6’6” aka Mr. Katy Perry kept the crowd hyped. Estelle only came out for that collab they did on their latest album, but its all good since I already seen her perform. Slightly disappointed they didn’t do On Our Own Time, but this was offset by their rendition of Prince’s When Doves Cry. This in turn made me think that a Prince show would be one fly concert, so he was catapulted to the most desirable to watch. Intermission went by faster after seeing this lil mohawked 5 year old breakdance, and you can tell he’ll be apart of ABDC circa 2023.

The Roots came up next and Black Thought’s style probably caters to the backpacker crowd more, so he wasn’t as amped. They highlighted the instrumental dudes more, as their new electric guitarist stole the show. Dude kept rocking it and even covered GnR’s Sweet Child of Mine. Mos Def had a free show in SF earlier in the day so he came down and made a surprise cameo appearance. If I would’ve known we could’ve carpooled together. Then Estelle comes back out to sing Erykah Badu’s part of You Got Me…but this song was teetering on Teachme length due to the number of solos over this beat hahaha. But he finally started rappin to The Next Movement as their crescendo.

So all in all it was a good show, worth the $25, but would’ve been even better if we paid $5 haha. Afterwards Al wanted to hit up this burrito spot but the line looked like a line outside Niketown the night before a hyped up release. We ended up eating at the 2nd most expensive JITB [1st is near LAX] next door, that had 2 tacos for $1.49 instead of 99 cents WTF?? Is that all Jacks now? We head towards my whip after first going in the wrong garage lol. My mileage indicator says I have like 45 miles left in my tank as we start heading north. Al and Rol doze off so I’m all driving about 85-90 on 280, since there’s no civilization or other cars on the road. BlackRunner is still a century club virgin. All of a sudden I see a DEER in the fast lane but luckily I was one lane over. WTF [W = where in this case] did Bambi come from? I mean there’s deer signs and all but I never ever seen them until now. But if I was one lane over I would’ve had deer blood all up in my grill. Whew…I’m taking 101 next time.

So my indicator is counting down…5-4-3-2-1 and finally to zero in Hillsborough, which is like ~15 miles away from the Chevron in San Bruno. I mean I put petro when my ish says 100 miles to go, so this is unchartered territory haha. Tell me why its freakin closed for renovation? And I haven’t put any other juice in the whip other than Chevron, so I go to the next one while passing up like 5 other gas stations along the way. I go to the next Chevron in SSF but its like $3.83 so eff that, I know it cheaper in DC. I get to the one on Hickey and pay $3.43 and that ish keeps chugging. I put in 22 gallons in a 23 gallon tank, which means I probably could’ve made it to one in the city haha.
.

Kanye’s Rhymes that Don’t Really Rhyme

There hasn't really been a polarizing rap artist in quite some time. So love him or hate him, here are some "rhymes" that I either love or hate. I think some are fresh, and I think some are wack. I guess we're all judges.

But I can't complain what the accident did to my left eye
Cuz look what an accident did to Left Eye

- Kanye West feat Jay-Z, J. Ivy - Never Let Me Down

With niggas masked up like Phantom of the Opera
Dreaming of the day they push a phantom to the operas

- Common feat Kanye West - Southside

Who killing them in the UK
everybody going to say you K

- Estelle feat Kanye West - American Boy

She from the N.O., but she never told me N-O, so

- Ghostface Killah feat Kanye West, Ne-Yo - Back Like That (Remix)

[FYI freaking The Official Hip-Hop Lyric Archive says this line goes like “She from the N.O., but she never told me, and oh so” – they need lyric auditors!]

A-a-and you be givin me my space
A-a- and you don't be runnin on myspace

- Pharrell feat Kanye West - Number 1

But they can't cop cars
without seein cop cars

- Kanye West feat Adam Levine - Heard 'Em Say

I'm sure there's a few more, but these were just off the top of my head. Man I wish I was a rapper. Or at least a ghost-writer.
.