Showing posts with label straight dope. Show all posts
Showing posts with label straight dope. Show all posts
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Tonight: Chance the Rapper


Chicago sensation, Chance the Rapper, is blowing into Buffalo tonight, Thursday, November 7th at Town Ballroom. It seems like overnight that the twenty-year-old Chancelor Bennett rose to fame. It was pretty much overnight that he burst out of hip hop's womb with his mix tape 10-Day, released April 2012, based off his ten day suspension from school back in 2011.

After catching the attention of Childish Gambino, Chance's career exploded and he continues to drop wildly inventive tracks, via singles and his new album, Acid Rap. The new album bears all the classic elements of gospel and soul with the interlaced modern style of thin, pulsing synth-cymbals. As far as singles go, a special favorite is his collabo in James Lake's "Life Round Here", first heard courtesy of Straight Dope, right here on buffaBLOG.

Catch Chance the Rapper at Town Ballroom for $20 in advance and $25 at the door, 7PM.


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Straight Dope: October 28th


The Alchemist ft. Action Bronson - "Diagnosis"

 Fashion designer Dr. Romanelli is not a doctor. We know this because he is a fashion designer and not in any way associated with the medical profession. He is known primarily for collaborating with popular brands to create articles of clothing carefully priced at the lower end of abject madness. His impressive resume includes collaborations with Nike, Converse, Pete Wentz and his penis, and now Coca Cola.

To showcase the symmetry between fashion, marketing, and hip hop, Dr. Romanelli has enlisted the help of dope producer Alchemist to construct a beat comprised entirely of Coke jingles. You will recognize some of these from your childhood and immediately crave McDonalds. Action Bronson, a man who surely knows a thing or two about high fructose corn syrup, drops in to spit a few bars and then quietly exits. The result falls somewhere between grotesque and inappropriate, which puts it in the vicinity of "fun" on my scale.



Run the Jewels - "Get It"

 When you logged into your Myspace page back in August, you were no doubt excited to learn about 'Music Video Collaborations With Artists We Like', the new program designed to produce music videos with handpicked artists and labels.

 My top eight are huge fans of El-P and Killer Mike, having been big supporters of Definitive Jux back in the day, and won't stop blabbing about the new visuals for the "Get It" single released earlier this year on Fool's Gold Records. It was shot on the road during their recent tour of North America that definitely didn't have a stop in Buffalo and looked like a great time none of us got to have. Look for special cameos from Despot and Kool AD who still owes me an apology for breaking up Das Racist.

Ab-Soul - "Dub Sac"

New one from 25% of Black Hippy leading our weekly Top Dawg Entertainment Round-Up. "Dub Sac" lacks a single line as brilliant as "I'm a fucking genius/gripping my fucking penis" from his early work, but there are some Tekken references in there. It's also refreshing to hear him using cuss words again. Not a lot of meat on these bones, honestly, but the beat from Tae Beast and Dave Free goes hard.

Put your eye meat on the new video for Schoolboy Q's track "Banger" when you're done.



Childish Gambino - "Worldstar"

 Mr. Glover's new record Because The Internet is scheduled to hit December 10th, and here's a rather appropriately titled leak to get you in the mood. Worldstarhiphop.com is, of course, one of the worst places on the entire internet, an aggregate of shitty music and videos of people committing acts of felony assault that celebrate the darkest parts of human nature. Naturally, I read it every day.

 "Worldstar" doesn't delve as far into blatant mockery as I'd have liked, but I think Gambino would shoot me a knowing wink if I asked him about it before having me removed by security so I don't kill his vibe by being poor within fifty feet of him. Homie gots that TV money.



Drake Being Drake

Drake the type of dude to shove birthday cake in his own face. So soft.

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Straight Dope: October 21st


Has Pusha T made more money selling cocaine or selling records? It’s a question worth asking, particularly when you consider all of the success he’s had as an artist, first as one half of the duo Clipse with his brother No Malice (which must look awesome on a birth certificate), and later as a disciple of Kanye West. My Name is My Name offers an answer, but it’s hard to discern if a line like “I sold more dope than I sold records, you niggas sold records, never sold dope,” is hyperbole or a straight up lie.

Eliminating the use of a time machine to go back and actually watch Push move powder, we’re just going to have to take his word for it. Even if he’s spinning a yarn, it’s a compelling story, and there aren't many emcees in the greater rap topography as indelibly street as Pusha T. People seem to be responding to the sudden hustler injection, with MNIMN selling somewhere in the area of 75,000 first-week units. That’s good enough for second place on Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop albums, placing him just behind Wheelchair Jimmy, a dude with the entire Young Money empire behind him. It’s also two spots ahead of indie rap all-star Danny Brown, another emcee of remarkable ability blowing up as a result of his ability to write songs instead of pop rap radio hits.

Sales are perhaps not the best indicator of success, but there’s clearly an audience for this kind of dealer-as-rapper storytelling. It would be too easy to write Pusha T off as a one-trick pony, no matter how frustrating his coke metaphor laden raps initially seem, because the alternative is sixteen bars of bullshit. Push knows who he is and what he represents, and he raps his ass off all over MNIMN to make sure you know, too. You can’t ask for more from a solo debut, and his singular focus on the drug game has left plenty of room for growth. If he fails to meet those expectations going forward, who knows, he might still be dealing.


Top Dawg Entertainment - "2013 BET Hip-Hop Awards Cypher"

King Kendrick, Schoolboy Q, Ab-Soul, Jay Rock and recent TDE signee Isaiah Rashad could probably level a city block based solely on the ability of their rapping alone. This cypher is a goddamn wrecking ball, and high fiving hasn't looked this good since Top Gun. BET should create a new award specifically to honor it. Kendrick Lamar has a couple of the year's best verses already and has two full months to round out the top five.

It's hard to imagine an emcee even attempting to match Kendrick's firepower at this point. We're one more diss track away from Drake releasing a full-length consisting entirely of his desperate sobbing.

Peep the shitty censored youtube embed, then go check it out at BET.com. Their video would appear in this space if it didn't refuse to autoplay in an enraging act of unrivaled stupidity.


 Eminem - "Rap God"

It’s fashionable to talk shit about Eminem, because when you grow up you put away childish things. Slim Shady is a reminder that you used to guffaw at a dude who made his money rapping about killing his wife and whoever occupied the top spot on Total Request Live. In spite of a few bright spots in his recent discography, Em hasn't done much to advance this conversation in the direction of credibility. “Berzerk” didn't do the job, and “Survival” sure as shit didn't help things. Is Eminem, as frequently cited, one of the best lyricists of all time or an emcee who got boring around the same time he got sober? “Rap God” does its best to convince us it’s the latter, and he spends over six minutes showing off his world-beating rhyming ability to great effect. If you’re flatly tired of his shit, you aren't going to like this track. But when you look at the hip hop landscape, with Drake at the top of the charts and Jay-Z falling way the hell off, this is maybe as good as it gets for rap’s elder statesmen. Good enough, in this case, ain’t bad.


Quelle Chris - "Loop Dreams"



Isaiah Rashad ft. Jay Rock & Schoolboy Q - "Shot U Down Remix"

 As a wholly owned subsidiary of Top Dawg Entertainment, Straight Dope is obligated to post about any new releases until Kendrick Lamar becomes so powerful he undergoes fusion and engulfs the globe in burning hellfire. He’s not even on this track, but that didn’t stop it from being dope to nth power. This remix pulls double duty, showcasing Isaiah Rashad’s preternatural rapping talents, while also showcasing Schoolboy Q’s ability to deeply hurt me by sneaking in an admission that we might not see Oxymoron until next year.



Archie Bang - "Apollo Creed"


Kathy Griffin terrifies me. I don’t know why this happened, but it will ruin your day. I could actually feel my lifeforce circling the drain the longer I watched it. Recommended for any diehard Lisa Lampanelli fans out there, it’s more or less twenty minutes of these two talking about their fictional-yet-no-less-disturbing sexual relationship. Always good to end on a high note.


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Straight Dope: October 14th


This interview with Eminem, supposedly his first, is one of the worst goddamn things I've ever seen. Can you imagine what type of human being he must have been in 1998? He obviously knows he's about to be famous, which is the only possible explanation for his decision to act like a caricature instead of an actual rapper. It's like he binged on a few seasons of Yo! MTV Raps and this was the most reasonable approximation of an emcee he could come up with. "This is real. I put my feelings on wax!" He's also wearing exactly the kind of thing a cop would put on to blend in, infiltrate the club, and taze the hell out of a drug dealer. Shit looks like a disguise. 1998 Slim Shady was a buffoon.

Shaquille O'Neal ft. ShaqIsDope - "Karate Chop"



Oh yeah, this is happening. Big Aristotle has returned to rapping. While Shaq was never very good at it, his massive size offering no clear advantage in the studio, that didn't stop his first record from going platinum. Shaq Diesel was followed by Shaq Fu: Da Return in 1994 with contributions from both Method Man and RZA, because the universe is random and unfair. His third release, You Can't Stop the Reign, even featured appearances by Jay-Z and The Notorious B.I.G in a hilarious mockery of established laws and traditions.

 Biggie Smalls is dead now, so you get Toronto rapper ShaqIsDope instead. I'm told he's a real person.

 Main Attrakionz - "International"

Oakland cloud rap geniuses Squadda B and MondreM.A.N. have a new mixtape set to drop this month, a collaboration with Sacramento producer Tynethys that promises to do something good to your earholes. Main Attrakionz last collaboration with Tynethys ended disastrously when their completed material was lost in a hard drive crash, likely an indicator that one of these dudes looks at weird stuff on the internet. Instead of re-recording the lost tape they decided to write a new one, an inspiring decision shrouded by terrible inefficiency.

 At just over two minutes in length, "International" is the fun sized candy bar of rap songs. If you haven't sampled Main Attrakionz yet, now seems like a pretty good time.

 James Blake ft. Chance The Rapper - "Life Round Here"

English OG and electronic music king of men James Blake has a fresh take on his single "Life Round Here" from the album Overgrowth released earlier in 2013. He's recruited Chance The Rapper for some hot rhyming action, and that's damn sensible. Chance is beating rap's ass like he just finished a video game and got to start over with all of his special abilities and inventory intact. There are few up-and-comers as promising as Chance, having been featured in XXL and Complex as a rapper deserving of your unwavering affection and eternal devotion. Probably.

I don't read XXL or Complex.

Pusha T ft. Future - "Pain"


Your weekly reminder that My Name is My Name is out now, going hard for hip hop album of the year.


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Straight Nope: September 16th


Look, I'm not going to sit here and pretend I didn't just pre-order Grand Theft Auto V and I don't have other shit on my mind right now. Drake's got a new song called "Wu-Tang Forever" we could be kicking around, but I'm having a hard time going in on the dude when I've got complex murder fantasies playing out in my head. When I can bomb Wheelchair Jimmy in a stolen military fighter jet I might be more open to having that conversation. Drake is the kind of dude that would give your kids the rest of his tickets at the fair so they can go on the bumper cars again. So soft.

Azealia Banks - "Count Contessa"

I don't know how I'm supposed to feel about this track, which I guess represents a sort of success, because there's no way they put this out expecting anyone to have a good time listening to it. The best thing it has going for it is the beat, and I don't want you to take that as an endorsement. I simply mean that if you ever wanted to hear a usually decent female emcee spit over what sounds like a beat from a level in a Japanese fighting game that they cut during the development process, here you go. It also sounds like there was probably some hardcore vougeing going on behind the scenes, and I'm pretty sure I've seen montage cooking shots on the Food Network playing this exact same track. Azealia is on some Barefoot Contessa shit and, oh my god, the song is called "Count Contessa" and I am only now putting this together. We'll now pause here for a shot of the hardest liquor within arm's reach.



Nelly ft. T.I. - "Rick James"

Nelly has undergone a spectacular transformation from a chart-topping radio success during the early aughts into a man who thinks it's okay to rap like Country Grammar just came out, like, yesterday. You know how some of your friends still make Rick James jokes and you laugh out loud every single time because there's no expiration date on pop culture references? Well, now Nelly is that friend, and he's seemingly built a song around the premise that you probably watched a pretty funny episode of television almost ten years ago.

I don't even know what T.I. is contributing here other than to remind everyone he isn't in federal prison anymore. This song ticks every box on the terrible rap single checklist. Are they in the club? Check. Are they rich? Check. Are they drunk? Check. You'll have to listen to it yourself to find out if they're drinking vodka, Hennessy, or Patron.

Damn it. These two are the worst.


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Straight Dope: September 9th


Boy, there’s just so much to talk about this week. Football is back, DMX has been wielding his penis in a threatening manner, R. Kelly’s got a release date for his new album (it’s November 11th), 2 Chainz is releasing a goddamn cookbook, and Lil Wayne sits down with Katie Couric again later this afternoon on daytime TV.

 RE: Lil Wayne and Miss Katie, I must confess to some seriously hardcore ambivalence. I think if you see Lil Wayne during the day you should get some kind of prize, or at least a handshake from a supportive father figure to remind you that life is tricky and it does get better. For a long time, I wasn't sure he actually existed. I thought of him as a type of ghost story a bunch of rappers would recite to each other as a cautionary tale with each emcee adding their own personal embellishments to try and scare the shit out of everyone in the room. Like, if the Scooby Doo gang were chasing Lil Wayne, they’d pull the rubber mask off and it’d have been Kanye the whole time.

 I eventually found out how wrong I was and had to come to terms with the concept of filthy rich adult men mixing prescription cough syrup with Sprite for recreational purposes. Remember when people would just get drunk as hell? On a more positive note, this is not the CBS Evening News’ Katie Couric of years ago. As her star continues to fall, we inch that much closer to these two eventually dropping a single together. Matt Lauer diss track? Matt Lauer diss track.

 Alright, let’s listen to some rap.

 Freddie Gibbs & Madlib - “Deeper”

 Freddie Gibbs really is the best rapper from Gary, Indiana. Deeper (the album) is the third collaboration between Mr. Gibbs and his presumptive BFF Madlib, and here you have a title track to pass through the canal of your ear directly into your brain. What happens next is up to you.

 Deeper (the album) comes out 9/14. Their next collaborative effort, Cocaine Piñata, is expected 2/14/14 with guest spots by everyone good.

 But really. A cocaine piñata. I just… Man.

Eminem - “Berzerk”

 And then Eminem came back on some vintage Slim Shady shit. I’m not saying it’s good or bad, but it does make me feel like it’s 1999. I could do without the extended Kevin Federline diss, but Em more than makes up for it by insulting both Khloe Kardashian and her disturbed husband Lamar Odom. I know the song was recorded before Lamar Odom’s awesome drug use was made public, so yeah, I guess, suck it nerd. Shady got yo’ ass with that perfect timing.

 I never thought Khloe looked exceptionally terrible; however I learned a valuable lesson about how the public feels about her appearance when I told an ex-girlfriend I thought she kind of looked like her. I get that she’s clearly the Kardashian sister still in beta, by which I mean that someone did not work the bugs out before they released the software, but goddamn. Apparently she’s the Jack’s Links Beef Jerky Sasquatch and I had no idea.

 MMLP2 is out 10/5.


You only get two songs this week, because when I go on hiatus apparently so does the entire rap industry. You don’t want to hear Eddie Murphy’s new single with Snoop Lion, Weezy’s 29 song Dedication 5 mixtape, or Meek Mill’s soft as hell Kendrick Lamar diss track. During a national survey, 9 out of 10 Charmin bears chose Meek Mill’s track as their preferred toilet tissue over other leading brands.

By the way, did you hear about Kim Kardashian wanting to pose for Playboy again? Kanye West is reportedly enthusiastic about the prospect, and I don’t even have a punchline for this joke. I just really want his ego to lead him to take over the shoot, eventually throw out all the pictures of Kim, and become the first male entertainer with an issue of Playboy showcasing his nude body on every page.

You're next, Hov.

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Straight Dope: August 19th


Big Sean ft. Kendrick Lamar & Jay Electronica - "Control"

I'm usually homeboys with the same niggas I'm rhymin' with/But this is hip-hop and them niggas should know what time it is/And that goes for Jermaine Cole, Big KRIT, Wale/Pusha T, Meak Millz, A$AP Rocky, Drake/Big Sean, Jay Electron', Tyler, Mac Miller/I got love for you all but I'm tryna murder you niggas

Kendrick Lamar basically shit on everyone last week and took over the world with his extended verse on a Big Sean track that won't even make it to his album Hall of Fame. The official story is that clearance issues with the sample forced them to cut it, but if I were Big Sean and Kendrick Lamar put me on blast on my own song, I'd keep that shit as far away from my record as possible. The only reason he released it at all probably has as much to do with typical hip-hop hubris as it does with the dread hanging over him while considering what K-Dot might do if he threw it out.

Threatening to murder his peers (in a non-violent rap way) is just the tip of the iceberg, so terrible is Kendrick's fury. The entire song is a critique of modern hip-hop culture. Offer Kendrick pills and he'll pop you. No more designer clothes. No clubs. No pictures. No Instagram. We're not listening to a diss track, this is coliseum music. The emcees that should take the greatest offense to this song are the ones he didn't mention. Everyone else should step their game up.

Having his verse book-ended by Big Sean and Jay Electronica is a perfect illustration of that notion. Big Sean's bars are like the unskippable FBI warning on a DVD. Then you finally get Actual Rap Music and have to sit through the credits as read by Jay Electronica hoping your favorite character will pop up again at the end. When he doesn't you've officially listened to "Control" from start to finish for the last time. Jay Electronica's career might already be over. At this point, he doesn't even get a syllable out before I hit stop.

To date, a handful of emcees have released response tracks dissing Kendrick. They are mostly terrible but indicative of the current level of competition in hip-hop. Call yourself the King of New York when you're from Compton and people are going to get upset.

All the rappers mentioned by name in "Control" have remained silent.



Eminem ft. Liz Rodrigues - "Survival"

 Eminem is back with a new anthem to listen to while kicking open your ex-wife's front door. This is not the best song you'll hear all year, but believe me when I say that you will hear it. This has sporting event playoff banger written all over it. Even when Em is dropping irrelevant "ain't never gonna' stop me" radio hits, the man still has flow. Give it a listen but skip the hook.

Danny Brown - "Hand Stand"

New Danny Brown is new Danny Brown, even if it's a relatively low quality radio-rip of a song that would comfortably fit into a genre of music we can safely refer to as twerk rap. That is, music to twerk to.

We are still waiting for an official release date on Old, Brown's follow-up to the masterful XXX, but all signs indicate it happening in the future. Like all things do.


Earl Sweatshirt ft. Frank Ocean - "Sunday"

Young rap prodigy Earl Sweatshirt will at last debut Doris, his first album after returning from the foreign shores of Samoa, on August 20th. That's tomorrow. If the anticipation is corroding your flesh as though a delicate acidic mist is drifting through the corridors of your ancient castle by the sea, you can stream the entire thing over at the Odd Future Tumblr. And you should.

"Sunday" is a straight up relationship song and features fellow Odd Future world-beater Frank Ocean actually rapping, a secret talent he's been suppressing since he last spit on OF track "Oldie" a hundred years ago.



The next time you think about putting off writing the next great American novel or finally learning how to play the guitar, recall that Earl Sweatshirt is only 19 years old.

 And Kendrick Lamar is watching you.

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Straight Dope: June 17th


Kanye West is in the news again this week after his record Yeezus, set to hit shelves tomorrow, mysteriously appeared on the internet for everyone to steal. I suppose this would be shocking if we weren't living in 2013 and I didn't just teach my dog how to torrent, but we are and I did. Even 'Ye appears to be taking it in stride. The usually brash MC was reported to have been seen handing out copies of the album from the trunk of his sports car over the weekend in Chicago with the help of a beautiful phoenix from the far edge of the galaxy. There has been no word from the Kardashian camp regarding West's alleged infidelity, and since very little of what you just read actually happened, that is expected to remain the case.
Elsewhere in the Wide World of Hip Hop, Jay-Z (Kanye's friend from that one song) has announced his 12th studio album with an anticipated July 4th release date. The title? Magna Carta Holy Grail. We are fast approaching the dual reveal of Kanye West and Sean Carter as angels of the highest choir, wielders of terrible power and boundless compassion, nurturing whole worlds from their breast while destroying others in the same instant with their flaming swords. Expect them to throw back the curtain on their next joint album, No For Real, Though. We’re in the Bible sometime soon.
Chris Brown feat. Aaliyah - “Don’t Think They Know”
Chris Brown has a song with Aaliyah, the singer best known for her work in the vampire masterpiece Queen of the Damned. Unquestionably one of the finest movies of the last twenty years, Aaliyah’s turn as the vampire queen Akasha proved to be the film’s greatest achievement, somehow outshining the contributions made to the soundtrack by Korn’s Jonathan Davis.
Of course, she’s dead now, so that makes her the perfect candidate to put out a song with the undisputed champion of remorseless dickheads, Chris Brown. If you’re a woman and you absolutely have to make a song with this guy, it’s probably in your own best interest to make sure you’ve already died before you do it. Good on her, I guess. I listened to a very respectable ten seconds of this song before I threw my laptop to the floor in a fury. Let me know your personal score in the comments section. If anyone can get through the whole song, find me and I’ll apologize to you in person.

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis - “Stay at Home Dad”
I was going to savage this song. Reading the title, I could smell blood in the water. I was so excited to type “Macklemore takes his first steps toward irrelevance,” but this track is Officially Not Bad. It’s actually pretty funny, and Mr. More (not his name, probably) has done a fine job building on the success of "Thrift Shop" in a way that hasn’t made me want to uppercut him a single time.


Pusha T feat. Big Sean & 2 Chainz - “Who I Am”
If you want to know who Pusha T is without listening to the song, spoiler alert: he’s a drug dealer. Which is too bad, because Pusha T would be a hell of a rapper if he could ever stop talking about selling drugs. There’s no hope at all for 2 Chainz, however, and it’s always nice to hear Big Sean rap down to everyone else’s level.


Freddie Gibbs - “Freddie Soprano”
I’d be willing to bet Freddie Gibbs doesn’t really brush his teeth with Hennessy. The 30 year old Gary, Indiana MC (thug life) has a new one coming out on July 9th and in the grand tradition of Getting You Hyped, here we have one of the better tracks to feature a seamless Die Hard reference only seconds before rapid-fire murder threats and bit of fun at the expense of Kobe Bryant’s achilles tendon. You may find yourself involuntarily nodding your head to the ID Labs production on this one, what with the going hard and all that, so I strongly recommend avoiding the corners of coffee tables if you’re listening to this as a toddler.


Joey Bada$$ - “95 Til Infinity”
Remember when I said Joey Badass’ Summer Knights mixtape would be out on the 12th? I was wrong! Due to reasons I actually don’t know or care about, we should see it pop into existence on July 1st. Unless it doesn’t. As a consolation prize, "95 Til Infinity" does just fine. When Badass spits “I’ll do your girl like this beat, straight fucking it up/Ya’ll niggas nothing to us/This feels like nothing to us/Son, taught your daughter how to bust a nut for fun” you realize the rumors are true and he really is quite popular with the ladies. You have to figure that’s about as gentle a come on as can be expected from a young man who partially spells his name with dollar signs.


Schoolboy Q feat. Kendrick Lamar - “Collard Greens”
This dude is going to be so rich so soon. Schoolboy’s album Oxymoron fast approaches, and with “Collard Greens,” Q reminds us why he’s poised to blow up and have sex with our girlfriends. In fact, that’s basically the general message here. Kendrick Lamar has an extended verse with a few bars in Spanish, the essential point of which being that some sweet little thing is getting the D because her boyfriend sucks. Bummer! Listen to it fifteen times and then buy your lady a present. It may already be too late.



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Straight Dope: June 10th


Action Bronson feat. Wiz Khalifa - “The Rockers”

The most profound thing about this song is the threat of a Marty Jannetty dropkick. I don’t know who made Action Bronson angry enough to conjure up such terrible imagery, but I would not want to be in his shoes. He probably heard this song and left the country. I wouldn’t be surprised if Bronson got fined for this. You can’t just go around threatening people with violence so extreme in nature.

As you well know, Mr. Jannetty is formerly one half of the Greatest Tag Team duo in WWF history, The Rockers. He and his partner Shawn Michaels would never officially win the title during their three year run together, but whenever they shared the ring they put on a tag team wrestling clinic. Their relationship would eventually end, of course, and Jannetty would find himself exiled from the WWF for many years after beating up a cop. We'll probably never know if he deployed his signature move, the Rocker Dropper, or nailed the officer with a devastating dropkick, but I can't see any reason why he wouldn't have.

Did I know any of that before I heard this track? No. Am I sorry to know it now? Yes. But only because I realized I’ve been living a shell of a life for not giving Mr. Jannetty and his dropkicking prowess the proper respect. I wish he was on this track himself. But hey, Wiz Khalifa! He's a rapper! Suppose I ought to have mentioned that at some point.

Bronson’s Saab Stories EP is out June 11th.


Run The Jewels - “36” Chain”


I don’t have a 36” chain, so I don’t know what that feels like. I do know that this track is an absolute banger and El-P and Killer Mike are killing it 24/7 at this stage in their careers. I guess I don’t really know if that’s true, I suppose they could spend their downtime drinking lemonade while putting together jigsaw puzzles, but I just realized as I was writing this that drinking lemonade and doing puzzles is awesome. Like I said, killing it.


"36” Chain" is brought to us through the Adult Swim Singles Program, which runs every June in collaboration with their affiliated label Williams Street Records. Snatch it up at adultswim.com and check back every Monday for a new track all summer long.

Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire - Kismet Mixtape


The first track on Kismet opens with a sample from the Sega Genesis classic Altered Beasts and continues with eXquire reflecting on his troubled upbringing, his fear of losing his mother as a child, the decision to talk about guns for amusement without the intention of using them for violence, and the image of his dick floating in a bubble bath. I can do no further convincing.


Download Kismet at Audiomack.

Wu-Tang Clan - “Family Reunion”
After I listened to "Family Reunion" for the third time, I became acutely aware of a strange creeping discomfort making its way up my spine. I had noticed it before but dismissed it, after all, there was a new Wu-Tang song in my headphones. As this feeling intensified, the lyrics became clearer in my mind, and I had to brace myself from slipping into a terrible frenzy as I heard Masta Killa spit about barbecuing and chasing potato salad with shots of 40 proof Ciroc while kids played happily around them.

I was powerless to untangle my thoughts, so powerful was the rage and confusion clasped about me, dragging me beneath the waves of hysteria. What the hell was he saying? These dudes made 36 Chambers! Someone slap him! Get him away from that mic!

I threw down my headphones and paced over to my window. Throwing back the curtains and pushing open the glass, I shouted profanities into the night. This track had broken me. It was so unapologetically, thoroughly feel-good that it made me question my own capacity for love. I pressed my fingers to my throbbing temples and took a seat on the floor. I could hear the muffled O’Jays sample seeping into the ether from my headphones and openly wept. What had Method Man said? Reunited, the whole world excited? Excited. Homie wore gasoline boots in hell, now that was exciting. This was toxic.

I held my head in my hands until I heard the RZA outro the song and slipped into unconsciousness. When I awoke, the name Russell Jones had been scratched into the floorboards beside me.



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Straight Dope: June 3rd


Kanye West and Kim Kardashian are expecting a baby girl. This news should not be exciting to anyone reading it, and under ordinary circumstances I wouldn't bother to help circulate the news outside of the celebrity stalker bubble surrounding whichever network carries their horrifying reality television program. However, given Ye’s close friendship with rap’s Most Likely to Succeed, Jay-Z, I feel it’s my duty to prepare you for the new face of internet fan fiction that will surely be kicking into overdrive any day now.

Just imagine: Blue Ivy and Kimye roll up to the club in Yeezy’s 2011 Murcielago. They’re holding hands now (they are always holding hands) because, as best friends, they are inseparable. Mama Knowles-Carter told Blue she had to be back before 2am, but looking into Kimye’s eyes on this night, she knew curfew would have to wait. They had reason to believe Rick Ross was inside with a briefcase full of Rohypnol and it was time for revenge...

The possibilities are endless. I can’t wait to see which one goes to rehab first.
Hodgy Beats - “Years”

I was going to open with a completely true story about Tyler, the Creator joyriding Justin Bieber’s car through a gated community in California before being stopped by former NFL superstar wideout Keyshawn Johnson. I refrained. After all, I wouldn’t want to seem like an Odd Future shill after featuring them so heavily in last week’s column. So, instead of writing my lead around Tyler, we’ll compromise with a brand new Hodgy Beats track. Does that make sense? Nope! But if I didn’t mention it, I wouldn’t get that delicious Golf Wang payout at the end of the month.

For real, though, I’m broke. Sponsor me. I like cats. I can wear Supreme. I’ll do it. I just want to eat.

Download Hodgy’s totally free new mixtape, Untitled EP 2, from the Odd Future website.

Joey Bada$$ - “Word is Bond”
Joey Badass has been casually blowing up since 2010, and he’s right in the middle of the deck with other formerly underground/now rich as hell/soon to be rich as hell acts like Kendrick Lamar, Action Bronson, A$AP Rocky, and Danny Brown.
"Word is Bond" features Badass’s classic 90’s flow over a stripped down Statik Selektah beat with cuts that I suppose you might be compelled to call “tasty.” Tasty cuts. That’s a thing now.
Look for the Summer Knights mixtape next week, and Joey Badass’ debut album later this year.


Run the Jewels feat. Big Boi - “Banana Clipper”
Killer Mike made his debut way back in 2000 on the OutKast track "Snappin’ and Trappin’" (which sounds like a grand ol’ time). Last year, he released his sixth studio album, R.A.P. Music, with production handled entirely by Definitive Jux founder and underground hip hop pioneer El-P. It was, in a word, excellent.
A week later, El-P dropped Cancer 4 Cure. It was his first release in five years, and received similar acclaim. It was even good enough to take away some of the sting of Definitive Jux going on hiatus as a traditional label in 2010.
Keeping this crazy romance they have going, the pair have united as Run the Jewels, and are collectively two of 2012’s Undisputed Hip Hop Champions. Joined by Big Boi, "Banana Clipper" finds the group dissing all comers while only occasionally stopping to verbally high five each other. It’s good fun.
When Killer Mike finishes touring with Big Boi, Run the Jewels are heading out on the road themselves with Definitive Jux rapper Despot and ex-Das Racist member Kool AD. Their free (free!) LP will be released through Fool’s Gold Records later this month.
Of course, the tour doesn’t come through Buffalo, so I guess we’ll just have to cry about it. But, hey, we got LL Cool J last year. Because that’s the same thing.

 Yep.


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Straight Dope: May 27th


Originating in New York City during the 1970s, hip hop is an undeniably American artform. It is certainly as important to the cultural fabric as apple pie and cheeseburgers, so if you find yourself celebrating this Memorial Day with a plate full of USA, you might also consider bumping the tracks I’ve meticulously sourced from the many corners of the internet for your listening pleasure.

Before we begin, a final word of caution; no matter what your friends tell you, you cannot bust out an elevated freeze on a flattened cardboard box if you’ve been pounding beef patties and fruit filling for three hours. There’s a reason you never see b-boys at BBQs.


Earl Sweatshirt feat. Mac Miller - “Guild”

Odd Future golden child Earl Sweatshirt, the junior hip hop prodigy banished to Samoa by his mom to protect him from jealous MCs looking to drink his blood and absorb his powers, gives us the third track to be released off his forthcoming album Doris, set to drop at some undetermined point in the future. If you’ve ever thought that rolling a blunt would be a pretty okay time, you might consider doing it to this song, as Earl and Mac Miller spend a fair bit of “Guild” celebrating that sweet, sweet marijuana.

The production on this one is what you might consider decent (or, “aight”) and I don’t particularly care for the pitched down vocals, but you won’t find a more talented set of dudes making background music for you and your pals to listen to the next time you’re facing an entire eighth.

Check these guys out when they hit the Outer Harbor on July 21st and try not to get caught with a pocket full of cannabis. Or maybe you want to get arrested, I don’t know. That way you can tell your friends you didn’t go to the Flogging Molly show because you were locked up. Everyone wins! Except you. Because of jail.


The Jet Age of Tomorrow feat. Earl Sweatshirt and Casey Veggies - “One Take”

Obligatory Odd Future bridge track. The Jet Age of Tomorrow, whose new mixtape you might as well be downloading, are otherwise known as Matt Martians and Hal Williams. Their beats are very good (or, “fresh”) and “One Take” is absolutely something you should be listening to a dozen times in a row. Earl Sweatshirt and Casey Veggies do good work here, but the beat is the main event.

Trivia bonus: Matt Martians and Odd Future member Syd tha Kyd make up the funk duo The Internet who will also be appearing at the Outer Harbor in support of Mac Miller. Snap!

Action Bronson - “Strictly 4 My Jeeps”

Former Queens, New York chef Action Bronson was set to appear last January at DBGB but ran into some trouble at a local Comfort Inn and decided to skip town instead. Since then he’s continued to blow up and any hope of him appearing at an Allentown venue has likely died entirely.

Still, this song is great (or, “ill”) and I’m going to listen to it twenty more times throughout the day. It’s one of the best songs of the week, which is why I’ve arbitrarily inserted it into the middle of today’s write-up instead of using it to finish strong.

Watch the video. If you don’t come away convinced this man should have his own cooking show, I don’t know what I can do for you.

Look for Bronson’s major label debut Saab Stories later this year.



Madlib - “The Mad March”


If you’re anything like me, you love a good marching band. If you’re exactly like me, you prefer those marching bands to be from the south either coming from or on their way to do a ton of drugs.


That’s the best I can do to describe Madlib’s new track, which you might get to own a physical copy of in limited release 7-inch vinyl form if you live in San Francisco, plan on hitting up his June 7th show, and 300 people haven’t beaten you to the punch.



Black Hippy - “U.O.E.N.O Remix”


Rape isn’t dope, and Rick Ross is wack, which is why it doesn’t surprise me he came under fire after spitting about date raping someone on the Rocko track “U.O.E.N.O” back in April. Stupid people do stupid things.


Now we have Black Hippy, essentially hip hop’s version of the Avengers at this point, putting their own spin on the track, and the result is one of the most exciting things I’ve heard all month. Kendrick Lamar, Schoolboy Q, Ab-Soul, and Jay Rock are staggeringly talented MCs, and you’ll want to put this one on your iPod immediately.


Maybe the next time Mr. Ross feels the urge to slip molly into someone’s drink, he’ll take Schoolboy’s advice and ask permission first.




Schoolboy Q - “Hell Of A Night”

Speaking of staggering talent, Schoolboy put out his own joint last week, and if the intended result was leaving the western world in feverish anticipation of his album Oxymoron, mission accomplished. You won’t hear a better rapper named Quincy today.

Produced by DJ Dahi, the beat goes hard, though I must admit to some level of confusion over the feelings these sounds stir in me. I imagine the call I hear deep within my soul is some early, prehistoric part of my brain urging me to dance, but as I am fearful of indulging that sort of behavior in a general sense, I drown it in beer and the desire passes. Feel free to nod your head like crazy, though.


 Alright, it’s Memorial Day, I won’t keep you any longer. Go forth into the world and dispense this new wisdom you have been given. Be sure to crack a forty and pour a little out for our fallen men and women in uniform, too. Or drink that whole thing as to not be wasteful. The choice is yours!



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