April 2013
1 post
3 tags
The horror
Reposted from my Facebook wall. Even though it might be a bit too self-promotional, I think it’s important enough to spread love in these moments that I’ll put my self-awareness aside.
Hope it gives you some comfort: Patton Oswalt and Mister Rogers have said similar things about Boston, but the thing I find most comforting to hold in my heart at moments like this is that this stupid...
February 2013
1 post
5 tags
Listen Up - Rockboy K9: Team Dope →
Check out my piece on an excellent new track by Chicago/L.A. rapper Rockboy K9. For fans of lightning-fast flow and great soul sample flips (Mayer Hawthorne’s cover of “Thin Moon” by James Pants, in this case).
I’ll probably be doing a lot more linking than writing from now on, since I started writing for Passion of the Weiss in January.
BUT YOU SHOULD READ PWEISS CUZ...
January 2013
2 posts
5 tags
This is a Thing - D'Angelo record will allegedly...
I’ll believe it when I hear it. Call it Chinese Democracy or, in FACT’s words, “that new My Bloody Valentine record,” or the Arrested Development of R&B: I call it a rumor ‘til it’s real.
(via FACT Magazine)
December 2012
7 posts
4 tags
New Mixtape - SpaceGhostPurrp: Black Man's Wealth
At probably the worst possible time (i.e., during end-of-year list season), Black God/alleged racist/certifiable nutcase SpaceGhostPurrp has dropped a new mixtape entitled B.M.W.
Since Purrp can really only rap about getting his dick sucked or, if we’re lucky, god delusions, this shit lives and dies by his production, and what I’ve heard so far doesn’t reach the heights of...
2 tags
Read this Now: "George Lazenby" on Sandy Hook and...
Not really *that* Lazenby of course, but Married Bond spits some gold bars about the tragedy in Connecticut and the ensuing idiocy.
Read up.
lazenby:
Yeah, listen so so close:
It is not possible to politicize an event when your cause has no opposition. Trying to prevent murder is a cause that nobody opposes. Political activity requires two sides who are opposed.
What does that make the...
9 tags
This is a Thing - Danny Mufukin Brown has a new...
thefatraps:
[News]
Danny Brown Confirms New Album Title, Names Guest Features and Producers
http://fatraps.com/news/danny-brown-confirms-new-album-title-names-guest-features-and-producers
“The producers he’s listed for Old include Skywlkr, Oh No, Darq E Freaker, Purity Ring, Paul White, and Rustie…[and] as for the guest features, we’ll hear Danny trade vocals with A$AP...
9 tags
Old Head - DJ DMD: 25 Lighters Feat. Fat Pat and...
For some reason, it’s just feels like a “25 Lighters” kinda day.
If you’re new, “Lighters” is the song that all the hot young thangs, from it-boy Kendrick Lamar to (of course) Southern classicist Big K.R.I.T., seem to be referencing.
“Chopped and screwed” (RIP to Screw) seems like kind of an idiotic studio fumble, until you hear it applied to the...
8 tags
Listen Up - Trinidad James: That Turn Up, Prod. By...
As if Trinidad James wasn’t already about to blow the fuck up, the release of this monster Mike Will-produced banger basically ensures a seven-figure signing bonus for the ATL native.
The December 24th release of Mike Will’s Est. in 1989 2.5 also caps off a fucking mindblowing year for the 23-year old producer, a year that saw him miraculously saw him leapfrog Hit-Boy as the...
3 tags
So Watch, You Want - DMX does Rudolph the Red...
I was gonna write about the new Captain Murphy (aka Flying Lotus, to the surprise of no one) mixtape, Duality (short answer: dope), but I got busy at work, so I’ll just give you this. Probably more fun than listening to me try not to sound awkward saying the word “ratchet.”
DMX’s new album is out bahahaha seriously who gives a shit.
tokidokifresh:
Merry DMXmas.
November 2012
11 posts
1 tag
Read this Now: Yes, Still With Chris Brown
“Chris Brown stays stuck on terrible because he is allowed to stay stuck on terrible and because no one gives enough of a damn about him to get him the help he needs…He deserves our compassion but he also deserves our criticism.”
Preach.
roxanegay:
To sum up:
1. Take a hard look at yourself and your vilification of Chris Brown. Is racism involved? If yes, fix that.
2....
3 tags
20 tags
New Mixtape - Action Bronson and The Alchemist:...
Passion of the Weiss writer Barry Schwartz demonstrated the greatness of a DJ Premier instrumental by sketching a brief scene, in which the hip-hop head who’s never tried his hand at creation attempts freestyling for the first time. That’s how dope Premier is: he drives even the no-flow blog troll to try to spit gold bars.
I have a similar “I wanna do that” reaction to...
8 tags
New Album - Roc Marciano: Reloaded
Previously noted that Marci was on some “haunt your ass”-type shit. Reloaded appears even more gully than Marcberg, at least on first perusal: here, he keeps with that old-school Mathematics lean, outfitted with searing prog rock guitars courtesy of the Alchemist and his stylistic descendants (mostly Roc himself). My favorite track so far is “Flash Gordon,” produced by...
13 tags
Read this Now: My essay on Chicago rap, violence,...
Is it gauche to recommend your own piece? Eh, I’ll go with it, ‘cuz I think it’s a pretty important subject. And I think hip-hop fans, Chicagoans, and not-fans of violence should read it. And I’m suuuuuuuuuuper proud of it. It might be one of the most important things I’ve ever written.*
If you’re of the TL;DR ilk, the point is this: white hip-hop writers...
2 tags
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This is a Thing - Lisa 'Left Eye' Lopes could join...
Blaaaaaaaaaaaarg.
zap2it:
Lisa ‘Left Eye’ Lopes could join TLC reunion tour as a hologram
“The hologram is something we talked about and thought about years ago. Obviously timing is everything, but we’re definitely talking about it,” Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas tells the U.K.’s Metro newspaper. “It will be hard on us, but I certainly think our...
9 tags
And I Learned Something Today - Archie Bunker is...
The radio edit of Rick Ross’ titanic Lex Luger-produced 2010 single “B.M.F.”* makes an interesting censoring choice in the following bar:
I got that Archie Bunker
And it’s so white, I just might charge you double
Now, TV references have long been used as drug slang. I’d guess that some post-Chappelle’s Show Googling is how most people learned that Sherman...
2 tags
October 2012
11 posts
7 tags
And I Learned Something Today - Jay Z Really Does...
Apparently the first four lines of the last verse of Jay-Z’s “99 Problems” are copped from UGK’s “Touched,” from their classic 1996 album Ridin’ Dirty (which I’m actually taking my inaugural spin through this afternoon).
(Sidebar: I’ll admit I’m not as familiar with southern hip-hop as I’d like to be, but I am a big fan of...
9 tags
Can I Just Say? - A$AP Rocky and SpaceGhostPurrp
Can I just say that the A$AP Mob and the Rvidxr Klvn need to bury the fucking beef already?
Purrp: Okay, so Rocky copped your line about college girls writing names on toes from “My Enemy” for “Goldie.”
Dude. It’s hip-hop. It’s a genre built on re-purposing other peoples’ material. And seriously, “Enemy” is pretty dope, but...
10 tags
Old Head - Battlecat Tribute Mix by DJ Mike Biggs
As I’m wont to do, I’vespent most of the morning perusing old rap lists on Passion of the Weiss. It’s a good way for the sorta-neophyte hip-hop head to educate himself on the history of the genre. Also, Jeff Weiss is probably the best hip-hop writer working today, and the lists give dude a chance to flex his technique. After all, what’s better for a writer than to...
6 tags
So Watch, You Want - King L: Val Venis
Lacking the appealing, grubby adolescence of a DGainz production, the long-awaited video for King L’s semi-breakthrough “Val Venis” doesn’t depart radically from what we’ve seen before. Though this time, we get both a riding through the hood section - making it rain on the children was a nice touch* - AND a bank robbery, complete with MUBU jackets.
This is only the...
4 tags
Read this Now: Andrew Noz of Cocaine Blunts slams...
I think I use Rap Genius for the reason they say it’s a sensation, but Noz is right in claiming it’s an SEO scam.
Too bad. I do appreciate not having to tab between a lyrics page and Urban Dictionary.
You think I know what that slang means? If it wasn’t on The Wire, I’m not up on it. And all that shit was made up anyway.
tumblinerb:
Lately there has been a lot of talk...
3 tags
This is a Thing - A$AP Rocky Pushes Debut Album...
FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK.
whoismartymar:
When “Fucking Problem” dropped, many assumed that A$AP Rocky‘s LONGLIVEA$AP might be getting released on time (well, as of the most recent date). A new interview reveals that this isn’t the case, as the album will probably not see the light of day until early 2013. As Rocky explained:
The issue with my album is I got things on it that’s so out of this...
3 tags
Listen Up - The Weeknd: Enemy
The Weeknd’s Abel Tesfaye flips The Smiths’ “Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want,” transforming the original’s tortured, sophomoric plea into a desperate come-on. This time, it’s less whiny schoolboy with a crush and more strung-out sex fiend.
And excelsior! It works!
Dude is putting out his pretty-great run of free mixtapes from last year (House...
6 tags
8 tags
Listen Up - Danny Brown: Witit
In which “it” appears to be the trap as conceived by robots who don’t fucks with no brostep shit. Here, Danny follows up his absolutely stunning XXX mixtape and a string of amazing singles and videos by expanding his aesthetic universe - which already comprised Hawkwind samples - to include vintage Pen ‘N Pixel album art.
Getting even more stoked for ODB, Brown’s...
May 2012
1 post
6 tags
A Premature Ending
I’ve realized that, despite my foolish conviction that this time would be different, I will always be afflicted with generic ADD. The hip-hop phase that began last December and culminated in me starting this Tumblr - which did give me the chance to air my various rap-related grievances for a few weeks - ended about a month ago. Since then, I’ve cycled through electro, country, jangle...
March 2012
5 posts
8 tags
New Mixtape - Drank and Dank: Dripped Up
Ascendant hip-hop blog Drank and Dank has a rather striking aesthetic: lurid, fluorescent green and purple text splotched on a sloppily-tiled background that reads, what else, “DRANK AND DANK,” in all caps.
But even if their design is closer to a spliff-rolling 14-year-old’s Geocities page than the subtle black-and-white of Ruby Hornet, dudes know how to bring the goods: their...
9 tags
This is a Thing - TDE and Black Hippy Ink Deal...
Sometimes I worry that this is more a Black Hippy fan blog than an actual hip-hop blog. How many steps away from Black Hippy fanfic am I really?
Top Dawg Entertainment Founder Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith has announced that future albums by L.A. crew Black Hippy - Kendrick Lamar, Schoolboy Q, Ab-Soul, and Jay Rock - will be released jointly through TDE and Interscope. Lamar’s...
6 tags
New Album - Ski Beatz: 24 Hour Karate School...
NC producer Ski Beatz - sometimes just Ski - has been in the game seemingly forever. Though his airy, retro-chic productions are responsible for launching the careers of both Curren$y and DC mainstay Tabi Bonney - who I honestly forgot about until I saw him on this album’s tracklist - Ski’s been busy since the early ’90s, when he was producing for none other than S. Carter...
6 tags
Listen Up - Roc Marciano: Poltergeist
Roc Marciano’s a scary dude. And not “take your shit” scary: Marci’s straight-up “haunt the shit out of you” scary. At his best, he’s a weed-head ghost, lacing his blunts with rat poison. The Long Island MC has a voice that cuts like a dagger, and a gift for vivid, bone-chilling wordplay. On last year’s Greneberg, he collaborated...
6 tags
New Mixtape - Big K.R.I.T.: 4evaNaDay
The home-cooked Mississippi rapper/producer extraordinaire dropped his new mixtape, 4evaNaDay, this morning. K.R.I.T. doesn’t produce new material at the same alarming rate as former tourmate Curren$y, but, considering that all - all! - of his material is self-produced, that he puts out at least one excellent mixtape a year is truly impressive. This one’s not only self-produced but...
February 2012
6 posts
6 tags
New Mixtape - Curren$y and Styles P: #The1st28
The absurdly prolific Curren$y drops yet another in a stream of mixtapes, full-lengths, EPs, and collaborative albums. This one hits 3 of the 4: it’s an EP-length collaborative mixtape with Ruff Ryder-affiliate Styles P, who I primarily know from his guest verse on Rick Ross’ “BMF.” This one’s hot on the heels of Curren$y’s Here, a 5-song treat that let the...
7 tags
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This is a Thing: The 2012 XXL Freshmen Class
XXL just released its always-controversial - but usually on-point - annual list of the best and the brightest new faces in hip-hop.
I’ll admit I’m not totally familiar with most of these dudes, though the inclusions I am familiar with seem sound - love Danny Brown, not quite sold on French Montana - even though I just can’t stand bone-simple R&B robot Future. And while...
6 tags
Read This Now: The FADER's cover story on Black...
The tightest, most forward-thinking crew in hip-hop revitalizes the left coast scene and gets a profile from the magazine Complex wishes it was.
Check out the FADER’s cover story on Kendrick Lamar, Ab-Soul, Schoolboy Q, and Jay Rock - aka Black Hippy.
And, if you haven’t yet, pick up Schoolboy Q’s recent Habits and Contradictions and Lamar’s Section.80. Both are well,...
3 tags
New Mixtape - Boldy James, "Consignment: Favor For...
Boldy James’ 2011 mixtape Trapper’s Alley: Pro’s and Con’s appears to have been slept on by most of the hip-hop blogerati, which is perplexing if you, you know, listen to the thing: hard-bitten tales of ‘ye slinging - delivered in a neo-Prodigy croak - over a staggeringly good collection of heady, soul-drenched beats.
I’ll admit that I was one of said sleepers,...
3 tags
The water thing was a tad obvious →
But I’ll go with it.
Any chance to e-hang out with Frank Ocean is one I’ll take.
(General note: I decided to start a Tumblr where I can offload my rantings about rap music/some things that aren’t rap music. Hope you enjoy.
