Born To Audiomack: Cousin Fik Quinary Of Quality

Fellow #MicTerrorHive member JMil swerved by my comment section to link a 2018 Cousin Fik & DJ Fresh loosie he claimed is Fik's best song since Bay Area 51. I agree it's a slap, but I disagree that Fik didn't drop slaps that are saucy like Prego in the intervening years. Lest we forget these Cousin classiks from the Sick Wid It gene pool industrial slapper complex.

1. Cousin Fik - Knocka N*gga Down (2012)
2. Cousin Fik ft. DB Tha General - Sickest N*gga Healthy (2012)
3. Cousin Fik - An I Pull Heauxs (2014)
4. Cousin Fik ft. E-40 - Go Ape (2014)
5. 22nd Letter - Blunt On Me (2015)


Alas, ya boi couldn't include my #actual favourite Cousin Fik song No Gravity on here because it comes from the same tape as Bay Area 51. In the Sic Wid It pantheon, No Gravity is It's Goin' Down for the Thizzler.com age. A personal classic from the blog-era that's a whole 'nother type of Cloud-Rap.

Generic list post: September 2023

Paul Hardcastle - King Tut
(From Paul Hardcastle album; 1985)


Obligatory wrap-up post of those songs I've played most during the month when muggins here found out that Paul Hardcastle has Legit Choonz™ other than Rainforest, 19 and The Wizard. I was in it to win it, but general consensus fronted and said "sorry, Marty, he's a Bob James type 3 song wonder."

Andre Nickatina - Awake Like An Owl (2000)
Poe Whosaine - You Bad If You Thought Different (2022)
TREE - I Usually Say How I Feel (2023)
Mic Terror ft. Gzus Piece - The Titty Song (2023)
Sexyy Red - Shake Yo Dreads (2023)
Coyote ft. Shaquille O'Neal - 3 Lokos (2023)
Homeboy Sandman - Then We Broke Up (video) (2023)
Paul Hardcastle - Central Park (1985)
Mall Grab & Real Lies - End Credits (2023)

Other notables: I made a playlist of some deep cuts by some of my favourite rappers.

Thnks fr th Mmrs (no Fall Out Boy)

Mic Terror ft. Gzus Piece - The Titty Song
(From The Titty Song single; 2023)


Mic Terror and Gzus Piece have dropped so many songs in 2023 it's difficult to keep abreast of their output. For real, bra - it's tough to focus on two things at once. To misquote Kool G. Rap, The Titty Song is a jugs love story. Mic & Gzus went from the bounce of Thot Boiz to the bump of Tity Boiz with this legit speaker knockerz of a track. Only youz Homeboy Sandbags type lads could front on this one. No shotz, but I need to get summat off my chest: the Rap industry is a buncha suckas because they've boobed big style for not supporting The Titty Song and helping it blow up. Remix coming soon featuring Ganksta N-I-P-S and Milk DD.

Smoke Some Kill

Mic Terror - BLDYMRDA
(From BLDYMRDA single; 2023)


File this under 'songs which are one long hook.' Some Bone Thugs-N-Mic T type shit I'm jamming in the hope its frequency will power up Krayzie Bone. Nowadays everybody always fronts like they became instant Bone fans the first time they heard Thuggish Ruggish Bone. Me, I was unconvinced until MTV started playing Foe Tha Love Of $, and then it was on like Donkey Kong and I copped Creepin' On Ah Come Up like it was T.I.'s 4th best single.

Bone Thugs-N-Harmony ft. Eazy-E - Foe Tha Love Of $
(From Creepin' On Ah Come Up EP; 1994)

Da Head Banger

Sexyy Red - Shake Yo Dreads
(From Shake Yo Dreads single; 2023)


Gangsta Boo didn't die, her spirit just moved into Sexyy Red. Her coochie Britney, her bootyhole Whitney, this song wild like Bobby. Red got Katie flow by the gallon, bitch just took over the lane which belongs to Duke D.

Wanted dead or alive: dirty Tattoo

"A big butt freak with a butterfly wing on each butt cheek to cover her behind
When she pull her Prada pants down to pop that thing it look like the butterfly be flyin'"

Twista ft. Legit Ballaz - Tattoo (remix)
(From Tattoo (remix) single; 2002)


Anybody got an unedited MP3 of the Tattoo (remix) by Twista & Legit Ballaz? A dirty version exists because I've got it on 12", but I still don't know how to rip records to MP3. This song really should have been on Kamikaze because it's one of Twista's best singles of the noughties. Twista earned the Vividest Author™ of 2002 award with those lyrics quoted up top, huh? Champagne booty-chatter, exquisite freaky tales: words that'll paint a pretty picture in your mind's third eye and turn your penis into a third leg.

PS: also looking for an MP3 of the extended remix of Timbaland & Magoo's Clock Strikes with Mad Skillz. That's another song I can't find anywhere on the internet which only exists on the 12" (I think?)

Born To Audiomack: lesser-celebrated faves by Martorialist faves

A caveat: lemme cook even tho youse lot probably know these songs and I've posted most of them in the past. Basically, ya boy wanted to spread love to some songs I absolutely love by some of my favourite rappers which well-meaning middlebrow Rap fans will be oblivious to.

1. Spoonie Gee - Spoonie Gee (1987)
2. Mac Dre - Mac Dre's The Name (1989)
3. Devin The Dude - Yo' Ho (2002)
4. Dru Down - Gangstafied (2002)
5. TREE - The 3rd Floor (2010)
6. Gucci Mane - Ring The Alarm (2013)
7. Max B - Phenomenon (2020)
8. Nef The Pharoah - What Do You Like (2023)



1. One of the handful of tracks Spoonie Gee & Marley Marl recorded together. Some seats-pushed-back Rap for 1987 Audi coupes AND 1987 Skoda hoopes. The first Rap song to use the Ohio Players sample later made famous by Mary J. Blige & Grand Puba's What's The 411?.

2. Of course every Mac Dre maven knows and loves Mac Dre's The Name. But because it's never appeared on any of his albums and never made it to DSPs the song has been overlooked by everyone else. We can't have that because that Vaughan Mason sample is the reason why it's the one Mac Dre song every boomer-bap dinosaur can't front on.

3. A true Kazaa klassic: the Dr. Dre track from the advance version of Devin The Dude's second album which vanished from the retail version. **DJ Kay Slay voice** ONLY DEVIN COULDA DONE SMUT LIKE THIS, YO!!!

4. The best song Dru Down recorded in the 2000s: some Slapp & Roger-core which Suga Free coulda/shoulda guested on.

5. It's a pity most folks TREE fandom begins with Sunday School because his earlier releases are stuffed with gems. Take The 3rd Floor here which is both my personal highlight of TREE's first LP and the birth of his Soul-Trap sound.

6. The last Gucci Mane song I truly loved: one of the final and finest examples of tubby wildman Gucci, taken from a peak Livemixtapes-era Zayyoten compilation. True story: Gucci's Ric Flair "WOOOOO"s on this body every wrestling reference by Action Bronson and all those charmless Griselda nerks.

7. I'd pretty much given up on Max B's new music after his awful Wave Gods and House Money tapes. And then he reconnected with Dame Grease for this song tucked away on his best of Wave Pack album and Biggavelz was back like he left his car keys. Max mania like it's 2009 all over again.

8. A good example of a nostalgia-bait beatjack which I prefer to the song it begets: Nef The Pharoah's blappification of Da Brat & Tyrese's What'Chu Like. Also a good example of how the Kid Cuddy Nef is an old soul in a new Rapper's body.

My Mind Spray 12

You know how Doja Cat is a big Homeboy Sandman fan? Is it possible that Paint The Town Red was inspired by Sandman's beatjack of Dilla's Walkinonit? If so, she should go a step further and flip Sandman's Waiting On My Girl next but record it from the perspective of the girl making the guy wait.

Do you think rappers regretted giving some of their best songs to movie soundtracks rather than keeping them for their own albums? Specifically thinking of songs like Big Daddy Kane's Nuff Respect; Grand Puba's Fat Rat; Pete Rock & CL Smooth's One In A Million; Digable Planets' Little Renee; Biggie's Party & Bullshit; Tha Dogg Pound's What Would U Do? and Just Doggin'; Mobb Deep & Rakim's Hoodlum; and Slick Rick's I Sparkle.

From Definition Of A Thug N*gga to Never Had A Friend Like Me, 2Pac also gave a handful of his best songs to movie soundtracks. But he came across as a rapper who relished spreading his legit jams far and wide.

Some songs rappers probably didn't regret giving to movie soundtracks: Ice-T's Colors, UGK's Pocket Full of Stones (Pimp C Remix) and OutKast's Benz Or Beamer. Why? Because those songs were their introductions to an (inter)national audience innit. Certainly, those songs were my introductions to Ice-T, UGK and OutKast.

Hijack's Godawful new single proves my long-held theory that you can't spell UK Hip-Hop without UKIP.

So whatcha 'saine?

"Runnin' n*gga you ain't never been no boss
Talkin' real reckless when we know you soft
Boy, you a lame dude, shit knock off
And never pop out when the shit pop off"

Poe Whosaine - You Bad If You Thought Different
(From A1 Gone Sell Itself album; 2022/YouTube; 2023)


Another good random find: this is like Calvin-T's long-lost brother from Detroit or Sada Baby's funky-uncle from Oakland. Beat on this is so boingy you can bounce on it like a trampoline. All things considered, this shit deserves a place in my canon of favourite non-2023 Rap songs I've discovered in 2023. Dial M for Martorialist if you feel me, ya hear me?

Fab Five Freddy - Sucker M.C's freestyle (1983)
MC Lyte - I Cram To Understand U 1990 (DJ DOC remix) (1990)
Tung Twista - Back 2 School (1992)
Children Of The Corn - Fair One Part 2 (1994)
Big Pokey - Hardest Pit (1999)
Drama - Big Ball (2001)
Dizzee Rascal - Street Fighter (CDQ) (2002/2023)
Big Scoob ft. Celph Titled - Floss Filthy (2003)
Day Day Sustaaa - B.A.N.P (2022)
Lebra Jolie - What Kinda (2022)

2-3 Break

"We would get lost together
Floss together
Watch The Office
Smell each other’s armpits
Share each other’s art
Share each other’s hearts
Smell each other’s farts
THEN WE BROKE UP!!!"

Homeboy Sandman - Then We Broke Up
(From Rich album; 2023)


It wasn't the end of the world, just the end of him & a girl. A break-up song you can breakdance to: live out your Rock Steady fantasies to this shit even if you're no longer going steady. Homeboy Sandman has become insufferably puritanical in 2023, but he's still capable of amusing Reality-Rap for lovers between that awkward age of 17 and 70. In the Sandman relationship song canon, Then We Broke Up is the delayed acceptance stage following the immediate aftershock of Alone Again. Some relationships just come and go, and that's just how it go. Couples split up everyday, b - you tuff, you be aiiight.

Woo-Hah Tribe

"They think I'm on the brink of my insanity
If he aint spittin' like this for the money then what can it be?
Momma managed me, Papa was in the military
I come from The Bricks where the only option is just the cemetery
I get in the mix opposite of Ben & Jerry's"

Coyote ft. Shaquille O'Neal - 3 Lokos
(From 3 Lokos single; 2023)


If Z-Ro's recent single with Shaquille O'Neal wasn't a big enough surprise then howzabout this: Pro Club clobber-sponsored cholo hard-rock Rap featuring Shaq. Flabbergasted that Siccness.net haven't posted this because it's the most Siccness.net song of all time. LMFAO @ 3:34 where Shaq asks for a high five and one of the Coyote blokes awkwardly slaps Shaq's wrist because he can't reach Shaq's hand. Poor fella left lookin' and feelin' like Skee-Lo in his own damn video.

Life's A Beech

"I peep shit, I beep shit, this Rap shit that weak shit
My kids they don't need shit
My broad she a vegan on the ocean with the pole and what we catch she don't eat shit"

TREE - I Usually Say How I Feel
(From FREE TREE album; 2023)


Mentioned this song a while back but it really deserves a proper post dunnit? I Usually Say How I Feel is what happens when TREE grabs the crispest snare from his sample kit and reimagines some 1996 Busta Rhymes type shit in the Soul-Trap stylee. A good example of why TREE is less a Rap moniker and more a Rap modus operandi: Milk T's music stays rooted in the past but keeps branching out in subtle new directions. Or sumfink lol. 2nd best song on FREE TREE after 10 Mac 11's IMHO.

Generic list post: August 2023

Obligatory wrap-up post of those songs I've played most during the month when nobody's top 20 songs of all time lists featured M.O.P & Kool G. Rap's Stick To Ya Gunz. It's better than any of M.O.P's big singles and bodies their song with G. Rap on Rawkus, I'll be one blogger clappin' but I ain't applauding you motherf**kers... or, indeed, myself. Shame on us all.

U.T.P - Don't Start (2004)
Myaap - HTS (2023)
Kaliii ft. DJ Smallz 732 - KToven (2023)
Homeboy Sandman - Then We Broke Up (2023)
Lil' Ricefield - Him Burton (2023)
Foul Play - Open Your Mind (Tango remix) (1993)
Tinashe - Needs (2023)
Naked Raygun - Rat Patrol (1984)
Turnstile - Dance Off (2021)

Other stuff: me talking about the time Kool Herc played Liverpool, and paying tribute to the dearly departed Magoo, and making a playlist of original versions which are better than official versions.

20 with plenty

My m8 suggested I do the 20 songs which bring you instant joy viral challenge. I'm not a requests guy, but I am a songs list guy so that's an offer ya host can't refuse. 10 songs by rappers, and 10 songs from Other Genres™. I went with my gut on these choices and I've been eatin' mad kimchi recently so I trust my gut like South Central Cartel trussed 'n gatz. Evidently 1987 to 1992 were the peak of all music for me - I say evidently but I really mean categorically because if you didn't experience those years first hand then you missed out big time, and when I say big time I ain't talkin' about Peter Gabriel's magnum choon, boiiiiiiiii.

Al Green - Simply Beautiful (1972)
Madness - Night Boat To Cairo (1979)
Spoonie Gee - Love Rap (1980)
ESG - Moody (Spaced Out) (1983)
INXS - Need You Tonight (1987)
Guns N' Roses - It's So Easy (1987)
Eric B. & Rakim - Lyrics Of Fury (1988)
Slick Rick - The Moment I Feared (1988)
808 State - Pacific 707 (7" mix) (1989)
Too $hort - The Ghetto (1990)
Brand Nubian - Step To The Rear (1990)
The Family Stand - Ghetto Heaven (Soul II Soul remix) (1990)
Nirvana - Breed (1991)
Ice-T - New Jack Hustler (1991)
SL2 - Way In My Brain (1991)
Geto Boys - My Mind's Playing Tricks On Me (1991)
L7 - Shitlist (1992)
MF DOOM ft. DJ Cucumber Slice - Rhymes Like Dimes (1999)
Mac Dre - Feelin' Myself (2004)
Max B - Where Do I Go? (BBQ Music) (2009)

What sorta basic bastard came up with the idea that 20 songs is a satisfactory number tho? Call me Marte Blanche because I'm breakin' the rules like Danze & Fame, switching it up to 25 songs, and including this quinary of legit 10/10 jams. John Peel was a nonce, but he was right about Teenage Kicks being a G.O.A.T choon.

The Undertones - Teenage Kicks (1978)
Talk Talk - Life's What You Make It (1986)
Master Ace - Me & The Biz (1990)
T.I. - 24's (2003)
Todd Terje - Inspector Norse (2012)

Everybody should do one of these as a personal canon. Don't be givin' me no "oh it's so hard for me to choose 20 songs, darling" excuses either. Ain't it funny how the folks who pull that melodramatic shit tend to be middlebrow melon-farmers who only listen to music made between the late 1980s and the early 2000s? GTFOH. No shotz, just factz.

Nigos With Attitude

Drexl Spivey is one of the main antagonists in the movie True Romance.

Lil' Ricefield - Him Burton
(From Him Burton single; 2023)


Unfortunately, Seiji Oda has spent 2023 dropping wishy-washy singy Auto-Tune shit. Fortunately, his brother Lil' Ricefield just dropped his first new song of 2023 and it's a nice slice of "what would Dre say on some shit like this?"-core. He's a yellow boy with the weed, he's a taxi.

Juve know me, mang!

Juvenile - Ghetto Children
(From 400 Degreez album; 1998)


Ghetto Children as one of the best songs on 400 Degreez? For years I couldn't see it. Haterz tryna make me out as stubborn? I can't be it. That's my fancy way of saying that your musical taste should be ever-evolving and not forever fixed in stone inside your domepiece. You come up with them initial favourite jams, ha! You ain't gotta be stuck with them initial favourite jams, ha!

Unpopular opinion: I'll always prefer Follow Me Now to Back That Azz Up as far as 400 Degreez singles go. There's a Juvenile interview where he says Follow Me Now was the single which #actually propelled the album to multi-platinum status after it became big on Latino radio due to the Santana interpolation. If true, that's some Oye Como Whoa Na type trivia.

Bring that Beet' back

Kaliiii ft. DJ Smallz 732 - KToven
(From KToven single; 2023)


Johnboxxx shares like Sonny Bono, black and white keys, DJ Smallz lays Jersey Club Beats over Beethoven piano, the Area Codes lass sounds way better at a 145 BPM tempo. 'Boxxx reckons this song might be the best Ludwig von club version since Walter Murphy's A Fifth Of Beethoven and I reckon he's right.

Bonus beets: very different ambience, but we should always shout out Mobb Deep for takin' Ludvig to the darkest four cornered rooms of Queensbridge on If These Walls Could Talk.

Kool & The Lads

My one contribution to the 50 Years Of HipHip #content nonsense: the t-shirt I got Kool Herc to sign when I saw him DJ Liverpool back in 2000. This was not long after I'd read Style Writing From The Underground and become obsessed with 1970's New York tags, so it was worth sacrificing a fresh tee for. Herc was much shorter than he looked in Beat This: A Hip-Hop History and tried to fool us by playing Fusion Beats Vol 2 and pretending he was doing the mixing on it himself, but he put on a very entertaining show with loadsa classic breaks, and was a convivial raconteur on the mic with anecdotes about his old parties. Mercifully, for such a Real Hip-Hop™ night, we were spared the sight of a buncha annoying breakdancers homoerotically rolling round on the dancefloor together and gurning at each other.

Dan Greenpeace was the support DJ and played a blinder of a set. It woz the night I first heard Spoonie Gee's Spoonie Is Back, Kev-E-Kev & Ak-B's Listen To The Man, Mad Skillz' Ghost Writer and Big Scoob's Kryptonite. Add some classics like Special Ed's I Got It Made and The Beatnuts' Off The Books and Watch Out Now, and you had an upper-echelon Rap connoisseur experience in a Scouse backstreet bar. Greenpeace also played the Cage song his Bad Magic label released on 12" which is surely the only Cage song a DJ could play in such a set. All in all, one of the best No Fakin' club nights alongside Edan's first Liverpool show in 2002 or 2003.

It was a What Everyone Wants blank tee Kool Herc tagged for me and I would kill for a plug on that brand's deadstock t-shirts. Best blank tees in British high Street history or wot? Perfect fit for a lanky lithe bastard like me, sold for £2.99 a pop, and came in a multitude of colours. What Everyone Wants became a citizen of British high street Hades in 2003, but I'd copped so many of their blank tees on my travels that I was still rockin' fresh ones when Sean Price dropped Onion Head.