Archive for the “Playlists” CategoryIt’s been a long time/I shoudn’a left you… I Know You Got Soul – Eric B. and Rakim Hot Pants – Hank Carbo
A Bitch Iz A Bitch – This song represented the first time I’d heard a woman really cuss hard on a record. I was actually quite shocked. That aside, ABIAB was the prototype of what I once called the “definition” record. Where some records have misogynistic content based on the actions of the characters in the songs, this one and others of its ilk try to distinguish what makes a woman a bitch. The ad-libs are pretty good too. Straight Outta Compton (extended mix) – I just like the extended version better. Straight Outta Compton was the joint. Period. That’s all. I Ain’t Tha 1 – The companion song to ABIAB, only with more radio-friendly lyrics. One of my more frequently-used phrases, ’spell girl with a B’ comes from this record. Oh, and the classic, ‘they get mad when I put it in perspective/ but let’s see if my knowledge is effective.’ That’s a GREAT line. Oh, and the other killer, ‘I’ll tell a girl in a minute, yo: I drive a bucket.’ Natural Born Killaz – If Cube and Dre were only gonna have one post-NWA song, I’m glad this was it. This was back during the era when we knew Cube was starting to slip, but it was like being with Dre returned him to his prime. Even though the song was as nihilistic as it wanted to be, it was hot fire. I can still remember the first time I heard it. I almost jumped out the car. It Was A Good Day (remix) – It Was A Good Day was already a great song, but using “Let’s Do It Again” as the backing track put it over the top. Way over the top. In a way, Cube’s opening lines to the song, “Just wakin up in the morning, gotta thank God” seem to go with the track even more than the lyrics of the original song. Jackin’ For Beats – The St. Ides commercial got my attention first, but this joint was ridiculous. Ice Cube rapping over other artists’ tracks was pure genius. He crushed it. In a way, it was like he pre-dated what The Roots and The Fugees would do later, performing other groups’ songs. He performed his song on their beats. And again with the line, “But I don’t party and shake my butt / I leave that to the brothers with the funny haircuts.” A Bird In The Hand – Cube was good about writing about things from the everyman perspective, and A Bird In The Hand was an excellent example of that. While I don’t now, and didn’t then, think the character was as stuck as he seemed to think, I thought it explained the situation very well. The Product – Speaking of which, if I was going to use a song that illustrated exactly what I thought early Ice Cube was about as an emcee, this would probably be it. This was Cube at his everyman finest. Telling the story of a young man from conception to incarceration, it sounds like something everybody can get next to. Particularly ironic is the tone of the song and the fact that the sample driving the song is “You Can Make It If You Try” by Sly & the Family Stone. Once Upon A Time In The Projects – Cube’s storytelling is on display here. What impresses me so much about this record is his attention to detail. The unstable couch, the messed up black and white TV, the child with the runny nose and stinky drawls…this song doesn’t even need a video. You can see it exactly as it is. Dopeman (remix) – Come on. Fuck Tha Police – Among the whole crew, Cube’s verse stands way out because it puts the whole question of police brutality into a larger context. While Ren and Eazy are primarily focused on the “I’m-so-bad” element, Cube actually spends a couple lines looking at it from a systemic perspective fuck the police comin straight from the underground / a young nigga got it bad cuz I’m brown / and not the other color, some police think / they have the authority to kill a minority That pretty much summed it up for a lot of us, especially in the early 90’s. Dead Homiez – Was this hip-hop’s first elegy? Whether it was or not, one of the lines that has stuck with me for the last 19 years is I look at this shit and I think to myself / and gotta thank God for my health / cuz nobody really ever know / when it’s gonna be they family on the front row / so I take everything slow / go with the flow/ and shut my motherfuckin mouth if I don’t know…” Those are some words to live by. What They Hittin’ Foe – Again with Cube as everyman, but this time, he deliberately casts himself in that role. “Fuckin around in a crap game, niggas think I’m soft / cuz now I’m in the rap game and I don’t / hang out as much / bang out dope cuts / standin on stage and I’m grabbin my nuts/ No Vaseline – For my money, this is still the king of the dis tracks. Nowadays, people say so-and-so got “ethered,” referring to Nas’ track about Jay, but neither Ether nor Hit Em Up nor any of the 10000 other dis tracks that have been recorded are really fooling with No Vaseline. Cube straight eviscerated NWA on this track. And then he had the nerve to go and be right? It was crazy. Parental Discretion Iz Advised / The Grand Finale – I count these two together because they’re kinda like the bookends of the full NWA team, with DOC actually rapping on the tracks instead of just writing for Eazy or Dre. As good as Ren and DOC came off on these tracks, Cube showed why he was that man. On The Grand Finale, he actually busts out one of the greatest forced rhymes I’ve ever heard, bordering on lyrical impressionism: “because I’m gone, you say I left you all/ but I stay in your ass like cho-les-tre-ol” Got the idea for this from Blackink (as usual). Most of these are prolly songs I ain’t go no business listenin to. Some are just songs I could be embarrassed to admit I like so much. But here they go: Alone Again (Naturally) – Gilbert O’Sullivan. One time this joint came on when I was in the middle of a bad break-up. It got quite misty out there. Bitch Betta Have My Money – AMG. Actually, in this case I’m probably talking more about the album than the track. For whatever reason, and I’ve never been sure exactly what it was, I LOVE this album. I can play it from cover to cover with very little skippage. And I know good and well… Bitches Ain’t Shit – Ben Folds. If Dr. Dre’s version ain’t bad enough, this one’s even worse. Lyric-for-lyric faithfulness, meaning that you got a white dude sayin — no, singin the word ‘nigga,’ on top of the whole rest of the song. It’s truly a mess. And I liiike it. Infamous Prelude – Mobb Deep. Even though I never believed a word of the superduperkillanigga raps, this little speech? I dug this joint right from the get-go. Findum, Fuckum, & Flee – NWA. Horrible, horrible, horrible song. But Dre freaked that beat right! And the way he dropped the bass during Ren’s verse? Come on. That’s production right there, yo. Good Morning Heartache – Ol’ Dirty Bastard. Only reason this is here is because I think it’s my favorite version of this song. Across the board. Like, if you asked me, ain’t nobody messin w/ this song better than Dirty. And it shouldn’t be that way. But it is. Sing Song – Buddy Baker. The Beatnuts got their samples from everywhere. This song proves it. When you listen to it, it’s like they’re singing a list of the signs they see on the way home. It’s really absurd. Not absurdly good, just absurd, like somethin you’d think of when you’re good and high. Let alone to make a song off it. But then, about 2/3 of the way through the song, you hear that sample and then they flip to a jazzy walking bass and it’s like…okay, this joint got some traction to it. Prince Ali – Aladdin Soundrack. Yup. Inspired by a post by Esquire, this weeks playlist is simply gonna be my most-played songs (as of just now) since I first signed up for last.fm. It’s not a completely accurate count, since my non-ipod mp3 players don’t sync up the play count the way the ipod did, and I’m not always connected to the internet with my laptop, so it can’t scrobble, but this gives a pretty good idea. 1 Stevie Wonder – Superwoman (Where Were You When I Needed You) 552 This one’s for laying back in the cut. Soaring (At Dawn) – Les McCann Ain’t That Heavy – The Soul Searchers
While I don’t really consider Biggie to be top-5, I think that, in terms of lyrics and flow, he definitely belongs in the GOAT conversation. I can’t necessarily see him passing Kane, who’s probably number 5 for me, but Biggie’s flow was magnificent. Magnificent, I tell you. But let’s stop the rappin and make it happen. 10. Story To Tell – This is one of my favorite Biggie tracks for a whoooole lotta reasons. The rhyme itself is good business, and the track is lovely, but what puts it over the top for me is the memories that are attached to it. Some of y’all that know me in real life, and maybe one or two of y’all from online know about one of my research projects when I was in undergrad. Suffice it to say that this was the theme song of that research project. 9. Who Shot Ya – For pure lyricism in the battle/bragadocio vein, this is probably my favorite Biggie record. Here, Big flexes the whole package, the figurative language, the vocabulary, and of course, the flow. 8. Kick In The Door – First of all, I’m down with ANYTHING that references the great, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins. Secondly, this dude was vicious. 7. Dreams – Terrible, terrible, terribly good song. While I can’t necessarily cosign everything he said on the record, in most of the cases, it’s not like they’re all foreign thoughts. 6. Ready To Die – I don’t know that thre are a whole lotta people who like this joint as much as I do, but I’ve always gotten siced offa this. This was a staple at about the 15-20 minute mark of my running tapes, when it’s easier to get tired and stop going. At this point, it’s hard to order. But I’ma do my best. 5. Warning – I’m a sucker for one-verse songs in the first, and as many people have mentioned, one of Biggie’s strengths was his storytelling acumen. We’ll talk about that more on a later song, but this joint put it right out front. 4. The What – Big and Meth went toe-to-toe on this joint. In some ways, I think that a lotta the credit people give Meth for his lyrics comes from this song. Meth always had flow, but on this joint? Going mano-a-mano with Biggie, and maybe winning? Yeah. 3. Hypnotize – Of all the Biggie joints they play at the club, this is my favorite. Actually, this is one of the few records that would automatically get me on the dance floor. Even when I didn’t like Biggie because of Puffy’s evil influence, I could not front on this song. 2. Unbelievable – Put it like this: My favorite biggie song in terms of lyrics. Period. Only one better than this is: 1. Niggas Bleed – This is about as literary a story rap as you’re gonna hear. Yeah, it’s a rap, but it’s a short story, told in cinematic detail. Aside from the fact that videos are basically commercials for albums, this song wouldn’t even need a video. The vision is so crisp and clear, it you can practically see it as he describes it. I know most people say that Slick Rick is the king of storytelling raps, but Niggas Bleed, despite its non-family friendly content, says that most people are lying. There is NO story rap fading this. There’s just not. Don’t just go line-for-line, go story element for story element. Nothing is coming close. Nada. And that’s even before you get to the twist at the end. While it’s not a record I’d play in front of my mother, this is approaching “As”/”Jesus Can Work It Out” levels of perfection. Singing In The Morning – Ohio Players. Jokers be sleepin on the Ohio Players’ Westbound years. While they didn’t get that Skin Tight, Fire-level monster hit, they was severe. I’m still amazed they didn’t blow up more than they did. I mean, I know Junie went to P-Funk, but the OP’s was vicious when he was there. They were a funk band that could take it back to jazz at will. Especially with Billy Beck on the boards. Hypnotize – Biggie For the most part, I can’t say that I’ve ever liked what I liked because it was popular. As much as I’d like to, I can’t front like I’m immune to media influence, so it’s not like something has ever been bumped up in my book because it’s popular, but I don’t think there’s ever been anything I’ve really liked because it was popular at the time. Come to think of it, I can’t think of too many things I’ve really liked that were at the apex of their popularity at the time I liked them. Maybe Public Enemy, but for me, PE was personal. The fact that everybody else seemed to like them only meant they had good taste too. At any rate, I bring this not-so-popular favorites business up because there’s this group, The Roots, that’s good. They’re really good. Real, real good, in fact. If you go by what’s popular, though, it’s possible to have never heard of them. Anchored by their drummer, the charismatic ?uestlove and their lead emcee, the infinitely underrated, understated, Black Thought, my general suspicion is that they’re probably better than most people’s favorite groups, regardless of genre. Keeping with the theme, my favorite 15 aren’t necessarily their most popular songs; they might not be popular at all. But I like ‘em. 10. You Ain’t Fly – ?uest’s verse could’ve been straight from my life. 9. The Next Movement – This could be The Roots signature song. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I saw them perform when they didn’t do this song. 8. What You Want – Because it came out during my caddish period, The Best Man was an uncomfortable movie for me to watch. The Roots addition to the soundtrack, was one thing about the movie I could enjoy. 7. Proceed – From the first actual song on their first major label release, I was good to go. Back when The Source was a legitimate arbiter of good records, I copped Do You Want More based on a decent rating (maybe 3.5 or 4 mics). Proceed made me glad I’d made the purchase. 6. Ital (The Universal Side) – I love this track. The watery sound of the keys is just mesmerizing. If I had an instrumental of this, I’d be a very happy man. 5. The Lesson, Pt. 1 – Dice. Raw. Period. 4. Boom! – Thought had me fooled. At first I thought Kane and G Rap were actually performing on this track. No. That’s Black Thought doing verses by two of his favorite emcees, sounding just like them. 3. Star – If I wanted to veer away from the usual list of “I would introduce somebody to hip-hop” songs, this is one I might consider. It walks the balance between classic emceeing and thoughtful, community-oriented lyrics. Plus, I’ve always liked Everybody Is A Star. 2. Clones – This could eeeasily be my favorite Roots song. Thought and Dice Raw came off on this joint. There’s not too much that’s really fading this. 1. Thought @ Work – This is that joint. It’s probably the one that gets the most play from me because it’s on a couple of my workout playlists. Aside from that, it’s example number one of why Black Thought is probably better than most people’s favorite emcee. |
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From about 1987-1992, O’Shea Jackson was near the top of the emceeing game. While his name doesn’t necessarily come up in the same conversation as Rakim, Kane, and KRS-One, he definitely deserves to be in the conversation. Look at his body of work during that time: He was the principal writer in NWA (with a big help-out from the DOC, I think), then he put out two classic solo albums, with a dope, dope EP in between. Then came The Predator which, while not classic, was still pretty good. As with Outkast, it’s hard to put an order on this, so we’ll just pull up 15.
Tagging in on a post from the dude, Blackink, the release of the film, Notorious is prompting a reassessment of 
