Sunday 6 February 2011

DB, or not to be



DB Tha General - Murda (2010)



I've remained tangled in Murda's web ever since I first heard it in the dusk of 2010, and 3 weeks after copping the Young O.G II 'tape it's taken from, I'm still struggling to digest the whole thing since it's a whopping twenty six tracks deep and there are so many uses of early 80s rap and r&b and late seventies disco classics to process that I've only just decided that B Aware is the second best joint on there :

DB Tha General - B Aware (2011)



Random Husalah shout-outs apropos of no particular reason other than he's Husalah are always welcome 'round these parts, and, although it appeals to the Rap nerd in me when these new Oakland rappers get busy over mid eighties joints, it's always preferable when they use the influence of that era to create something a little more contemporary and carve out a niche for themselves instead, with those icy synths on this being archetypal Livewire. I love that DB is so brazen in his adulation of one Torrance Hatch esquire that he just comes straight out and refers to himself as "The Bay Area Boosie", and I'm imaginging the Blu-ray release of Menace II Society in late 2009 accounts for why a new generation of rappers have been so eager to namecheck it over the last year or so; never a bad thing since that's the one of the few nineties 'hood flicks which still holds up today, and the Pocket Full Of Stones remix is probably my favourite soundtrack-only cut ever as well as the most crucial southern rap song of the nineties.

... or, at the very least, the one which is closest in importance to Face Down, Ass Up by 2 Live Crew :

2 Live Crew - Face Down, Ass Up (live on Donahue, 1990)



I bet Piers Morgan wouldn't have Uncle Luke 'n' the lads on, unless he could guarantee that Brother Marquis would start blubbing after admitting that he regrets how 2 Live Crew stereotyped all AZN hoes as prostitutes who can only communicate in broken English via samples from overrated Kubrick movies.

14 comments:

d said...

cot damn! i have to get that db tape, murda is amazing cheers, b awares great too the 40 quote is used to great effect. in my opinion the boosie similarities goes beyond just his voice and delivery, hes great at makin that dramatic world-weary rap too.

he has better films but i dont hear you at all. its no 2001 or dr strangelove but its up there for me even just for the drill seargant alone. i never got the fuss over eyes wide shut tho, i think it just got that tupac/james dean/jeff buckley sympathy vote. like those dudes it wasnt terrible, but still. bit of a mess in my opinion.

Kelvin Mack10zie said...

He reminds me of Bizzie Bone too at times.

Eyes Wide Shut is an absolute abomination and I'm not much of a fan of 2001 either.

d said...

ah now, i know the singles were overplayed but you cant front on xxsplosive or some LA zaggins.

smoke big green call it bruce banner

i gave eyes wide shut a go after i heard mark kermode praise it but shoulda known better than to listen to someone rockin a quiff. fuck morrisey too, that clown gets too much love.

Kelvin Mack10zie said...

Kermode is okay, but his Rambo reboot review was some softbatch shit.

d said...

yeh for someone who supposedly loves gorey horror films he can be a bit bitchmade.

he needs to stop with the "comedy" youtube blogging too, some of that shits cringeworthy. he is responsible for this brilliance tho:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1ytCpxLA8c

ah danny. you seen his programme where he interviews various "hard men" and is visibly scared of them throughout?

Kelvin Mack10zie said...

I purposefully avoid everything Danny Dyer.

d said...

actually the shows appeal is derived entirely from despising the fackin little kant. i find it hilarious watchin him switch between over compensating geezer shite and being really obviously intimidated by some past-it pub fighter or whatever.

id imagine its harder to watch if your actually english tho

Kelvin Mack10zie said...

Indeed. Mockney actor cunts are our equivalent of the dumb American plastic paddy a la Everlast.

d said...

yeh theyre the worst. i like boston oirish slaine tho (yes he of the dreaded whites only la coka nostra. id rather he was in anticon.)

iv been listening to the db tape, its really brilliant, ha but i really get the impression he might of heard the nht tape first. the throwback shits like every other song (theres a biz remake!) its sounds really natural tho, and not calculated nostalgia like lil brother and cool kidz. he also actually did some of my dream beat jacks with sideshow and welcome to the ghetto. think there should be a rule that nostalgias limited to the bay and the sms/burn one camp. oh and the bay sure love larry smith huh?

oh do you know what the title track samples/reinterpolates? its been annoyin me all day, feelin its a zapp song sampled by some old bay area rapper. anyways, cheers for puttin me up on it, definitely my soundtrack for the next few months.

Kelvin Mack10zie said...

I dunno, I recognize that beat too but I just can't place where it's from. Probably somewhere really obvious too.

Mr Bozack said...

Not subtle but amusing nonetheless:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FOJaq6qt9s&feature=channel

Kelvin Mack10zie said...

Arf.

d said...

funny but no one parodies him as well as himself:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5h9ZPBuBEs

"iv never seen no stars before"

after 2 minutes its just nick love but he might actually be worse

"we got cunted" was nice too.

Kelvin Mack10zie said...

Awwwwwwww man.

Nick Love might have surpassed Dyer in the delusional mockney cunt stakes.