Yo You Got One Homie!

In this case, the homie is Justin Timberlake. Check the promo video that incorporates Justin's new song (with Jamie Foxx and TIPPORD) with an NBA theme then check the song out afterward.


LISTEN HERE (link hosted at XXL.com)

I've been feeling this song since the day it leaked and I am convinced that this will be getting shoved into your ears consistently on the radio within about a week or two (if it isn't already).

Insert into rotation...

NEW MUSIC!!!!

Wale (feat. Brother Ali) - 2nd Time: Brother Ali's (click this link) verse is sick.


TI - Message to the Government: TIPPORD is killin' stuff right now and this is no different.


Junior Reid (feat. Lil Wayne) - Ghetto Youths Rock: Surprisingly, I like this.


Shawty ELLO (feat. Trey Songz and Lil Wayne) - Supplier: This ELLO guys is hilarious! I'm entertained.


Young Jeezy (feat. Pharrell) - Rumor Has It: I read that this was a throw-away track from Jeezy's first or second CD. I've heard the verses on a couple mixtapes but the appeal in this track to me is hearing these two on a track together. Not bad.


Jay-Z (feat. MC Lyte) - BK Anthem: Better than that Brooklyn We Go Hard joint.


The Game (feat. Lil Wayne) - Red Magic: FIRE! "We in the HOUSE!"


Nina Sky (fine as hell) (feat. Pitbull and Ross) - Curtain Call (remix): Ross kinda kills his verse with a nice flow.


J. Holiday (feat. [Officer] Ross) - Wrong Lover: Again, Ross kills his verse. You might not want to like this guy but he can kill a feature verse. J. Holiday got a smooth banger on his hands.


The Game - Show is Over: Smooth! Game puts on his Shyne voice and goes in on this joint.


Just for posterity's sake I also through these in the playlist. I might have to do a post dedicated to Brother Ali's verse on the first song.

Video Thoughts: Yung L.A. (feat. Young Dro and Tippord) - Ain't I (Remix)

Mr. PineyApple Suckers (Dro) stays showing us all how to rock colorful clothing. Not that his attire is flyy, but just off the strength of him not caring about his affinity for pastel I have to give Dro some respect. It's almost like when Kanye hit the scene.

But my real point in this post is to say how much I enjoy and am entertained by Dro's swag, how much I respect Tippord's swag, and how lame Yung L.A. appears to be. Is it because I'm older now and I refuse to rock tight jeans with skull belts and colorful sneakers that I just don't get it? Is it because my head is beginning to bald and I can't grow a true mohawk that I am hating? Is it because I truly believe that Yung L.A. thinks he's Pharrell? Maybe I'm the problem. Maybe I just don't get it. But you know what, if this what I should expect in the future, I don't want any part of it.

Seriously dude dresses like Pharrell and raps like an older Soulja Boy! How is that HOT? Secondly, why on God's green earth is TIP affiliated with this dude? I could understand Drizzle being affiliated with him because Dro just seems a bit off like that, but TI? I even think Yung L.A. is on Grand Hustle for crying out loud! Not that that means much because we saw what happened with the P$C and Big Kuntry KANG albums. At least Dro went gold. I guess my point is that while I love this song, seeing the video made me immediately think "who is this BAMA muffuga".

And overall....TIP verse > Dro swag > the entire video > Yung L.A.'s presence at the video shoot for the remix to his own song.

I'd prefer more Young Dro lines that include things like sour-apple colors, pineyapplesuckers, and other colorful stuff than to have to listen to another half of a bar from Yung L.A.

Video: TIP - No Matter What

I like the way TIP kept the video simple. It reflects the sense of solitude and introspection that the song has.

It's amazing to me to see how TIP is rebounding from his case, shaking the haters (Shawty LO and all those who are accusing him of snitching, and managing to still be true to who he really is in the midst of what has to be an extremely difficult process of trying not to say the wrong thing or do the wrong thing when you've got a year to be on your best behavior before you head to the bing. You have to assume that there's a lot of pressure on him to convey a more positive and less-violent image after all that's taken place in the courtroom. But he's managing to straddle the fence of staying true to who he is (which is a street dude) while also putting out music that can still sell without seeming to formulaic, pop, or contrived. Kudos to TIPPORD!

I'm just bumpin my music

As usual, I'm listening to a rack of different stuff during the day. Just sharing these and giving a few random comments on each.

Hot Stylz - Lookin' Boy Remix (feat. Yung Joc, Kellz)

Kellz crazy azz murked this joint. You might have seen my original post for this track a while ago where I predicted that it would blow. Now that Kellz has jumped on it (no 12-year old girl) I think the probability of that happening just went up even more. We'll see how long it takes...



Lupe Fiasco - Cold World

Unreleased joint that most definitely should have been released. No Johnny Gill. I wonder if this is a Kanye beat. Definitely one of the dopest beats I've heard Lupe over in a minute. I'm feeling the piano and the Wu-Tang "Cream" sample in this one.



Lil Overrated/Overhyped Wayne (feat. Bobby V) - Mrs. Officer

This is my shyt! Period! Weeee-oooooh-weee-ooooh-weee! Like I said, I'm a closet Bobby V. fan.



Lloyd (feat. "Lil See Reference Above") - All Around the World

Seriously, Lloyd sounds like a friggin' girl. With that said, why do I like his daggon songs so much! I guess it's me getting in touch with my feminine side (shut the fock up Dane). The Paid in Full rip on the beat and Lil "Verse Recycler's" verse pays nice homage to the original Eric B. and Rakim track.



Wale - The Crazy

Wale is next up!

"You're crazy!"

"Am I? Or am I so sane, that you just blew your mind?!"



Lil "Syrup Sipper" (feat. the G.O.A.T. Jay-Z) - Mr. Carter

The song on C3 that most people are/were eager to hear. One of the best 3 tracks on the album, EASILY.



Lil "Put the Vocoder Down" - Dr. Carter

This is real hip-hop right here. Wayne should stick to songs that are this creative, and lyrical. Not all that cookie-cutter radio crap.




Alfamega - Uh Huh

"This a Nitti beat!". Alfamega (who I first heard on TI's "Hurt" where he dropped a mean azz verse) comes with a club joint heavily co-signed by TIPPORD. It might be a good look just to get Alfamega on the map. Like Bloodraw, I've been feeling Alfamega since day one and I'm hoping some of my favorite up-and-coming artists start getting some shine like Ortiz, Drizzle, Bloodraw, and Alfamega. There are others but these are the first few I thought of off the top of my head.

The Carter 3: Thank God the Hype is OVER!

...At least I hope it is. Better yet, it should be!

It appears that while I was in Boston last week Lil Wayne's so-called "classic album in the making", The Carter 3 (C3), leaked. Whooptie-do! No really, thank goodness it did. Now people can listen to it and then hopefully get over it because it'll never meet expectations. I'm pretty sure this isn't the exact same album that'll be released in stores but I'm even more sure there's enough overlap for me to make my purchasing decision.

I have been tired of hearing about this album for about the last 6 months. My prediction was this was gonna be way more hype than actual product. After Yeezy dropped Graduation it was no way Wayne was gonna be able to make anything close or as creative. So why care about the Carter 3 anyway? Oh, I forgot. Wayne has flooded the market with guest verses and a litany of mixtapes. Wayne has had some great guest verses on several songs and his appearance has been the only reason to listen to some songs. I can't argue with how he kind of demands your attention once he gets on the mic.

But at the same time this guy has flooded the market with mixtape after mixtape after mixtape for the last umpteen months. All the while, his followers have been hyping his album as if it was going to be best thing since Graduation American Gangster sliced bread. I'm sure a lot of people expected C3 to be just that with all the steam Wayne was building with his mixtapes and guest verses. But at a certain point, I entered the zone I like to called "Waynundation".

That would be the point where I stopped downloading his sometimes good, sometimes bad, only great like once mixtapes and got tired of hearing about him, period. I also got tired of hearing him drop subpar verses on other people's songs. I got tired of hearing him stay stupid shyt in interviews. And I got tired of hearing him use that friggin' vocoder thing too! Most importantly, I got tired of people acting like everything he did was so great. If it was, I'd admit it. I'm not a hater, he did *some* great things in the past umpteen months. But he did a lot more average (if not mediocre) shyt too!

Then he dropped Lollipop, which I have maintained from jump was a shyt-sandwich, radio-friendly track. It's obvious he was looking for spins when he put this together and (good for him) he got them. Not only did he get them, but he got his FIRST #1 single on Billboard. Whooptie-do! Then came the announcement that his album would finally be dropping in June which made me immediately think, "Wake me up in July."

Now we're in June and the album has leaked because this syrup sippin' fool can't keep his mouth shut and likes to disrespect the DJs that helped him garner all this "popularity" in the first place. And after I "happened" across a copy of C3 I have to say it's a lot like I expected it to be...

The product of a lyricist with great potential, too much of an ego, not much to talk about, and lots of syrup sippin.

I've listened to it a few times now and I am pretty firm in my opinion that it's just an average CD. Perhaps good, but definitely not great or classic. This reminds me a lot of 50 Cent's last couple CDs. That is, an attempt to please one's personal tastes while also attempting to make music one thinks will be radio-friendly or club-friendly. This album is a testament to the fact that Wayne may be on his way to being a good artist, but really hasn't figured it out yet. He's still just a rapper. Not even Yeezy (who by the way, has dropped at least 2 classics in his first 3 albums no matter which 2 you pick) couldn't give Wayne enough help to push this CD into great status.

Let's talk about the tracks...

Lollipop (feat. Static Major...who?), Tie My Hands (feat. Mr. Paula Patton...Bastard), Comfortable (feat. BabyFace...how in the fock did these two link up?), and Mrs. Officer (feat. Bobby V, which I like a whole lot but I admit I am a closet Bobby V fan) are all examples of Weezy trying to figure out the radio-friendly hit single. Notice the trend/formula of grabbing and alleged crooner to jump on a track? Except Lollipop where he attempts to be the crooner. He got one hit with Lollipop and I wouldn't be surprised if he has another that just might blow-up on radio as well. People really do fall for these types of tracks if you shove them down their throats (read: ears) enough. IE - Lollipop, which I can now withstand listening to in the club but pretty much nowhere else. By the way, I'm not saying that those other songs are bad because they are not. But they're not great either. They're boilerplate/formulaic tracks that rappers throw on their CDs because they think they'll eventually become radio singles. Think outside the box.

Examples of Weezy trying to please his own tastes would be Mr. Carter (feat. Jay-Z, which is a classic hip-hop track though the beat might be greater than Wayne and Jigga's verses), 3Peat (which I can't stand to listen to because he is on his ignorant shyt a little too much and he doesn't have the creativity of someone like Jay-Z to really pull it off in a smooth way), Nothing on Me (feat. Fab and Juelz, where Fab drops one of the best verses on the album, let alone the friggin song), A Milli (what happened to Corey Gunz verse?), Playing with Fire, and Let the Beat Build. I'd rather listen to an album with just these songs and Dr. Carter than what he appears to be dropping as his album.

The best track on the album is easily Dr. Carter in my opinion. That is closely followed by Mr. Carter. It's tracks like Dr. Carter where you see Wayne's prowess as a lyricist, ability to be creative, and overall potential to become a truly great hip-hop artist.

Then he finds a way to disappoint you with other joints where you realize that Wayne needs to lay-off the promethazine (Phone Home and La La). And I don't even have an opinion on Got Money (feat. T-Pain). I'd say it's an attempt at a radio-friendly single because of T-Pain but it really just sounds like they got a left-over beat from DJ Khaled and borrowed Khaled's go-to-guy (Pain), and said "Hey Wayne, just talk about whatever and let Teddy Pinned-her-Azz-Down do his thing on the hook."

Dr. Carter and Mr. Carter are classic hip-hop tracks. Those are the only two I put on repeat. Ok, I'm lying. Mrs. Officer cranks. LOL. But a lot of those radio cuts are going to have to grow on me (if possible) and I am 100% sure that there are a few songs I'm never going to like.

All-in-all, I'd give this album 3 of 5 stars. But just off his ability to throw in so many wild/sick metaphors and punchlines amidst half-azzed verses I'll bump it up to a 3.5. You can't deny this guy has talent and potential. But will he blow it all drinking syrup, making retarded comments, and having sex with any woman with a heartbeat?

TIPPORD does a far superior job as a southern rapper (notice I had to confine this statement to southern rappers) of covering all of his bases (street, radio, club) than Lil Wayne. Until Lil Wayne can develop that type of versatility and consistency that artists like TIP and Kanye have, then he'll never be a true great, just a self-proclaimed great. And just to clear it up before the discussion starts, I am saying that Kanye is great, TIP could very well be on his way there, and Wayne still has some exams to take before passing the class.

I'm still trying to wrap my head around why Hov gave him the biggup of calling him his heir. If he's Hov's heir, then I feel bad for the throne. Hov sold Yeezy out on that shyt..

UPDATE: Diddy disagrees with me...(You might as well not listen until about 2:30 in where he talks about who's hot right now. Up until then he tries really hard to convince you that the Carter III is a classic)

TIPPORD: No Matter What

No Matter What

TI/TIP/TIPPORD dropped this track on Tuesday to a little bit of fanfare on the InterWeb (read: bloggers got excited). I am really feeling this track. He get introspective on this one, responds to some of the stuff Mr. Got Em for the L-O has been saying, tries to motivate the listener, and ends with a shot out to God.

This might be the realest track T.I.P./T.I. has ever wrote (that Pac quote is timeless). Or at least the realest thing he's written since "I Still Luv Ya", "TI vs TIP", or "Still Ain't Forgave Myself".

I Still Love You (Trap Muzik album)


TI vs. TIP (Trap Muzik album)

This is one of my favorite TIPPORD songs eVar, as noted before.

Still Ain't Forgave Myself (I'm Serious album)

Check the lyrics to "No Matter What" for yourself...

Never have you seen in your lifetime/
A more divine souther rapper with a swag like mine/
Facing all kinda time but smile like I'm fine/
Brag with such passion and shine without trying/
Believe me, pain's a small thing to a giant/
I was born without a dime, out the gutter I climbed/
Spoke my mind and didn't stutter one time/
Ali say even the greatest gotta suffer sometimes/
So I huff-and-puff rhymes, lyrics so sick widdit/
Set the standard in Atlanta how to g-g-get it/
So you up-and-coming rappers wanna diss just kill it/
I'm officially the realest, point blank period/
Whether I still live in the hood or just visit/
Whatever you can do in the hood I done did it/
That's why the dope boys and the misfits feel it/
This still his city long as TIP living listen/

[Chorus]
I ain't dead, I ain't done/
I ain't scared, I ain't run/
But still I stand/
No matter what people here I am/
No matter remember/
I ain't break, I ain't fold/
They hate me mo', so/
Yeah I know/
Here I go/
No matter what shawty here I go/
No matter what shawty/

You let the blog sites and the magazines tell it/
I'm sure to be in jail till 2027/
Rather see me in a cell in, 'stead of this new McLaren/
God'll take you through hell, just to get you to heaven/
So even though it's heavy, the load I will carry/
Grin and still bear it, win and still share it/
Apologies to the fans, I hope you can understand it/
Life can change your direction, even when you ain't plan it/
All you can do is handle it, worse thing you can do is panic/
Use it to your advantage, avoid insanity, manage to conquer/
Every obstacle, make impossible possible/
Even when winning's illogical, losing still far from optional/
And, yeah they want to see you shot up in the hospital/
But, one life no punches, block your counter like a boxer do/
Been locked inside mi casa too long, I did a song/
To make it known the king lives on, pimpin/

[Chorus]

Even in solitude, there's still no hotter dude/
I showed you how to do what you do, you ain't got a clue/
All you do is follow dudes, sound like a lot of dudes/
I weather whatever storm, make it out without a bruise/
I understand why, now when my hands tied/
They take shots cuz if I'm out there it's a landslide/
But revenge is best served as a cold dish/
And suckers will get served, better know this/
Guess it was understood for me it was over with/
But I don't quit, if you ain't notice yet/
They couldn't wait to say goodnight shawty/
So they could try to rhyme, act, and look like shawty/
Go get a beat from Toomp and make a hook like shawty/
For you know it I'm back, what it look like shawty/
I lost my partner and my daughter in the same year/ (philant, miscarriage)
Somehow I rise above my problems and remain here/
Yeah, and I hope the picture painted clear/
If your heart filled with faith then ya can't fear/
Wonder how I face years and I'm still chillin/
Easy, let go and let God deal with it/

[Chorus]

If you've been following TI as an artists since before his arrest on those weapons charges I don't think you can read the lyrics, listen to the track, and then tell me this isn't a good song.

Be A Ni99er Too...What the Fock is NaS Talking About?

Maybe I'm just slow and I need to think more like NaS is suggesting in the picture above
After listening to NaS's new track, "Be A Ni99er Too" a couple times I couldn't help but find myself trying to figure out exactly what the hell is his point. What is he attempting to say in this song? Is there some sort of cohesive, sensible message that he's trying to convey? I swear I can't tell.

So I figured the best way to attempt to figure out what he's saying would be to transcrib the song and read the lyrics. And that's just what I did...

NaS - Be a Ni88er Too

Turn your radios up. You are now allowed to listen to the radio. The real ni99ers are back, on the radio.

No slacking, no beggin, no asking, no fasting/
No disrespect to Islam no Imam or pastor/
No answer to questions the media's asking/
Why we fight each other in public/
In front of these arrogant fascists/
They love it/
Putting old ni99ers verse the youngest/
Most of our elders failed us/
How can they judge us, ni99ers/
There's verbal books published by ni99ers/
Produced by ni99ers genuine ni99ers/
So I salute my, ni99ers/
Not mad cuz Eminem said ni99er/
Cuz he my ni99er, wi99er, cracker friend/
We all Black within, ok/
We all African, ok/
Some Africans don't like us no way/
A killing happened in Johannesburg(?) yesterday/
Slain artist name Lucky Dubai(?)/
Hijacked, some say NAACP keep us sidetracked/
But I don't buy that, I buy Aston Martins/
Faster cars than, NASA causing, sparking while riding/
Critics, eat a d*ck! Journalists see I'm rich/
With this N-Word jargon I'm just starting, b*tch!/

[Hook]
I'm a ni99er, he's a ni99er/
She's a ni99er, we some ni99ers/
Wouldn't you like to be a ni99er too/
To all my k*ke ni99ers, sp*ck ni99ers/
Guinea ni99ers, Ch*nk ni99ers/
That's right, ya'll my ni99ers too/
I'm a ni99er, he's a ni99er/
She's a ni99er, we some ni99ers/
Wouldn't you like to be a ni99er too/
They like to strangle ni99ers, blaming ni99ers/
Shooting ni99ers, hanging ni99ers/
Still you wanna be a ni99er too/
True

Wake up in the morning/
Shake my third leg in the toilet/
Uzi on the nightstand/
I'm the man you go to war with/
Not the man you go to war against/
Patience, I get you/
If that means I can't sleep a whole year/
Imma get you/
I'm official not a tisket or a tasket/
I put you in the casket, with biscuit or the ratchet/
The smoke of biscuits that plants your trees/
Advance shyt weed (?), don't forsake us/
Ya'll all are fake bloods like movie make-up/
I flow tight as Tootie braces, who he hating us/
I'll be on the state bus in shackles if my 8 bust/
Cause ya'll some tellers, opposite of bankers/
I'm the shyt for ages, my clique still real cubie gangstas/
Clique still moving like Free Masons/
So if I'm on the flow from the law/
It's lodges all across the nation/
NaS is bred for the plan/
To hold a Grand Dragon's head in my hand/
Come and get me here I am/

As can sometimes be the case with NaSiR, he seems to be all over the effing place with his content. But giving him some credit, there are other times when he can be pretty on-point (ie - American Way). But in this song, there are only a couple places where he seems to make some points that are cohesive: the hook and a couple bars in the first verse. Which is to say that overall, this song has no real cohesive theme other than exposing his desire to say ni99er as many times as possible. Now that's some ni99er shyt.

In the first verse, NaS goes from asking why we (by we does he mean ni99ers or Blacks or both...WTF?) embarrass ourselves by fighting each other in public and how the older and younger generations of Black people have difficulty understanding one-another. He even goes so far as to ask how can our Black elders judge us when they're ni99ers (in the eyes of whoever NaS wants the oppressor to be, he's not very clear on that either by the way) just like us. I interpreted this as a direct diss of Bill Cosby. But hey, that's just me. But after making those semi-thought provoking set of statements he goes on to make a couple statements that I'm not sure how to interpret.

When he says, "there's verbal books published by ni99ers, produced by ni99ers, genuine ni99ers" and then salutes his "ni99ers", is this something I'm supposed to embrace and be proud of? Or is it some form of verbal satire that NaS is entertaining himself with? I can't tell. After that, he goes on to let us all know that he's not mad at Marshall for saying "ni99er" which no one (myself included) ever really cared about years ago when it was dug up from some recording Em made when he was 16. But for some reason NaS needs to address it 4 years later but also call Em a wi99er and cracker in the same sense. Which I interpreted as a sort of ghey way of dissing Eminem. And last but not least, NaS stops to give the NAACP an indirect shot-out before talking about how he buys fast cars and is rich (again, is this part supposed to be satire or what?).

As I mentioned before, the hook is the only place where NaS seems to have all his thoughts together. Unfortunately, it comes with the price of listening to him run through a littany of racial slurs before poking fun at those who want to ridicule ni99ers while simultaneously wanting to be a ni99er (too). This is a point that has some validity to it but it would have been nice if he expounded upon it a bit in the last verse. But of course, he starts off the final verse with a description of some ni99er-esque shyt that he (and TIPPORD) would do followed by his plan to hold a Grand Dragon's head in his hand. So maybe that whole verse was about tooling up to battle the KKK and/or other white supremacy groups? Maybe. Or maybe it was just NaS prevaricating indirectly about a means toward Black supremacy/equality the same way he's prevaricated about being gangster-ish when everyone knows he watched all that shyt from his "Project Window". Ha, made you look!

I'll admit that I thought NaS was crazy for calling this album "Ni99er". I figure it's mostly a publicity stunt. But I don't mind that so much if he brings attention to some serious issues and suggest ideas for moving forward (not like dumb-azz Damon Wayans trying to trademark the N-word and use it to sell clothes). Bringing attention to racial issues and suggesting ways to move forward is what people were calling O'Drama courageous for when he made his speech on race (which by the way, has seemingly been all but forgotten about a little over a month later), right? Maybe NaS is gonna go off on some more Black Republican Democrat type ish.

But I'm starting to become fearful (after hearing this song) that NaS is going to have his heart in the right place but end up doing a horrendous job of conveying the points he's trying to make and thereby turning this opportunity into a fantastic debacle.

Think about it, NaS does have a history of building up momentum and then not living up to expectations.

But, time will tell.

---

UPDATE: It sounds like NYOIL and (gasp) Peter Rosenberg agree with me. Specifically in NaS not using this whole N-word album title to really drop some knowledge. I gotta admit that I'm not a fan of Rosenberg's interviews because he tries too hard. And NYOIL is of "Ya'll Should Get Lynched" *fame* so it's not tough to see why he might feel the way he feels.