Foe Tha Love Of Money Boss

Things done changed on the Rap Internet when I'm findin' out about a new album of unreleased/rare Money Boss Players songs via Bobby Dee rather than Robbie Ett. Minnesota should just release a double CD Money Boss discography that retails for no more than $20 and isn't some stupid limited edition thing which you only have a 5 minute 3 a.m window to cop. Buying a new Rap CD - can it be all so simple again?

30 YEARS, MANG!!!

Conclusive proof that Humpty Hump put the fun into funky via Digital Underground & 2Pac's performance of Same Song in the long-forgetten Dan Aykroyd movie Nothing But Trouble. Highlights include 2Pac in his very first movie appearance pretending to sing the hook, lowlights include Aykroyd as a decrepit Scottish judge who looks like a melted Xmas candle.

Nothing But Trouble is categorically not a good movie. It is, however, a pretty bizarre movie, so a performance of Digital Underground's other song from the soundtrack would have fit right in; Tie The Knot is a song that nobody other than Digital Underground could have ever made and plz believe that's nuttin' but a compliment.

Both Same Song and Tie The Knot later appeared on Digital Underground's This Is An EP Release, which was one of young Marty's favourite tapes of 1991. Bugs me out that EP came out 30 years ago this summer because it's older than some of this blog's readers. Shout out Norma Desmond - I'm not old, it's the people that got young.

Generic list post: February 2021

Team Toon ft. Ya Boy Big Choo - My Hot Girl
(From My Hot Girl; 2016)


Obligatory wrap-up post of those songs I've played most during the month when Ricky Powell, Prince Markie Dee, and Blaza Da Beat Contractor all went back to the essence. You probably ain't familiar with Blaza but he was the New Orleans Bounce producer behind the boards for Ya Boy Big Choo, ReUp Reedy, 5th Ward Weebie's Club Luv, and Team Toon's R&Bounce classic My Hot Girl. R.I.P to the lads.

Foxx - Friends (2011)
CeeFineAss ft. MoneyBagg Yo - Payback 2.0 (2020)
Cellski - Clappin' (2021)
Devin The Dude - To Each His Own (2021)
TREE - For Y'all (2021)
Cookiee Kawaii - Rather Be (2020)
A Guy Called Gerald - Bad Boy Ride (1994/2012)
Real Lies - Boss Trick (2020)
Years & Years - It's A Sin (2021)
Other notables: Mouse On Tha Track's Knees Like Megan is more TikTok bait than track but still a step back in the right direction for him; nothing on Duke Deuce's new album is really stickin' for me - very disappointing since he's made a handful of my favourite songs over the past couple of years; Jim Jones is such a gym bore now that even his music videos are just extended work-out clips; it was inevitable that two dirtbag saltines like Yelawolf and Caskey would make an album together.

Bonus reading: had fun reminiscing about 2011 Rap and live performances on The Word.

Rum, Artillery & The Lash

"When I roll one deep, got the pistol in my drawerssss
When I roll four deep, not a pistol at alllllllll"

TREE - For Y'all
(From Soul Trap album; 2021)


Loadsa Rappers can make smash-a-face bar fight music, but only a select few can make shitfaced pub singalong music. As Schoolly D nearly said, this ain't Soul Trap... this Pogues Trap! FRESH FOR ST. PATRICK'S DAY 2021, YOU SUCKAZ!!!

Previously: TREE of life.

Generic list post: can you believe 2011 was a decade ago?

'Twas the year of Drake becoming inescapable, Nate Dogg's death, Camel & KanYe's Otis, J. Cole's rise, Tyler The Creator's Yonkers, Heavy D's peaceful journey from the house to the hearse, Big Sean blowin' up, Azealia Banks' 212, Yelawolf's album on Shady Records, and the A$AP Rocky okie-doke... but let's not hold any of that against 2011 eh?

2011 was the peak year of the blog-Rap era, which was both a gift and a curse: on one hand, I found so much quality music via blogs; on the other hand, the Rap internet was awash with terrible blogs by delusional Wavery lads desparete to ride Yams' coattails. Whateva, man - variety is one of life's spices rather than one of its vices, so 2011 is a Helluva enjoyable Rap year to turn into a list.

Young Bleed - Stamp On It
E-40 ft. B-Legit & Stresmatic - Rear View Mirror
Juicy J - Who Da Neighbors
Mic Terror - Chief Sampson
Hollywood Holt & Million $ Mano - The Show
Meek Mill ft. Young Chris - House Party
Gunplay - No Arm And Hammer
Lady - Pussy
DJ Quik ft. Suga Free & Ty Dolla $ign - Nobody
Tyga - Rack City
Danny Brown - Lincoln Continental
Bo Deal ft. Mello G Blanca - Safe Sex
Husalah - Da Mob
The Jacka ft. Laroo & J. Stalin - All We Do (Remix)
Joe Blow - The Dopest
Sir Michael Rocks ft. Shorty K & Tris J - Too $hort Back
Max B - South Wave
French Montana ft. Charlie Rock - Shot Caller
Chinx Drugz - Superlight
Treal Lee & Prince Rick - Shoes Up
Kreayshawn - Gucci Gucci
DB Tha General - Upgrade Em 2
N.O.R.E - N.O.R.E Shot Somebody
Fam-Lay ft. Project Pat - Money Makin' Trick
Rich Boy - All I Know
TREE - Trouble
A-Mafia - Foldin' $100 Billz
Mouse On Tha Track - Swagger Fresh Freddie
Foxx - Friends
Webbie ft. Lil' Phat - What's Happenin'
Lil' Phat ft. Mannie Fresh - Talk Some Mo Shit
Boosie & B.G. - 187
Black Rob - Up North
Mysonne - In Jail
Jackie Chain ft. Bun B - Parked Outside
King Louie - We Like To Party
Travis Porter - College Girl
Rich Kidz ft. Young Thug - $100 Autograph
Fat Trel - Rolling
LoveRance ft. IamSu & Skipper - UP!
Roc Marciano - My Persona
$tarlito - Rather Be With You
Yo Gotti ft. Zed Zilla - Bang Bang (video version)
Pac Div - Posted
Waka Flocka Flame & Slim Dunkin - Twin Towers 2 (Intro)
Wooh Da Kid - I Prefer
TKO Capone - Louis Gucci
Ike Eyes - Blue Roxies
Katie Got Bandz - I Need A Hitta (O.G video version)
Rittz ft. Yelawolf & Big K.R.I.T - Fulla Shit
Kendrick Lamar - A.D.H.D
Soulja Boy - Zan With That Lean Part 2
Boldy James ft. Tennille - Concrete Connie
HD Of Bearfaced - 40 Glock USA (Remix)
Future - Same Damn Time
A$AP Rocky ft. A$AP Twelvy & A$AP Nast - Trilla
Giggs - Monster Man

Bonus thoughts: one of the many great things about Young Bleed's Stamp On It is that you can have the edited low bitrate video version in your 2006 list and then put the explicit CDQ album version in your 2011 list; of course, you could have Young Bleed's Holla At Uh Dog in your 2011 list instead and it'd be an equally great selection; Trilla is the ONLY song which justifies A$AP Mob's existence as rappers although 80% of that song's appeal is the beat & the hook; I don't care that King Louie's We Like To Party is still officially unreleased a decade on because I first heard that song in 2011; Giggs' Monster Man absolutely deserves to be on this list because it's as good as any American song and it's a song no American could ever make; I'm annoyed to learn that Cousin Fik's No Gravity is #actually from 2010 because I love that song like Frank Bruno loves Harry; the saddest song of 2011 was Dhat Fam & Mista's Expose One since both members of Dhat Fam were murdered for making it.

Johnny Come Lately The Foxx

"I remember when I couldn't get a ride, befo' I learned how to drive
Soon as I got a whip, n*ggas was ride or die
I really ain't have no money, hoes was actin' jive
Gave me the wrong number, hurted a n*gga pride
Now I'm runnin' across 'em and givin' 'em the same line
Givin' 'em the same number, knowin' it ain't mine"

Foxx - Friends
(From I'm Better Than Blessed mixtape; 2011)


Foxx single which passed me by back in 2011. Solo dolo Rouge Blues in the vein of Stressed Out, I Wonder or Man In The Mirror. It's a damn shame Foxx didn't get to release a 2nd album for Trill Entertainment back in 2012 or so, especially since the label continues to drop increasingly shitty Webbie Savage Life albums from 05 'til infinity.

God bless YouTube: I Will Survive

YAY: an amazing clip of Melle Mel & Duke Bootee lip-syncing their Electro Vérité classic Message II (Survival) on some German TV show in 1983.

NAY: hang on - that's not Duke, it's Rahiem from the Furious Five just like in the video for The Message. Yet more shiesty Duke Bootee erasure by Sugar Hill Records or wot?

AYO: word around town, Melle Mel's Zed from Zardoz lookin' outfit was the tipping point which forced Run-D.M.C to flip Rap's whole sartorial script with their Adidas tracksuits, Lee jeans, and Double Goose bomber jackets.

MAYBE: was Melle Mel's outfit the inspiration for 2Pac's infamous studded leather vest? 'Pac thought he was Mob Piru but looked more like a Crippendale in that thing.

TREE of Life

TREE - Floatin'
(From Soul Trap album; 2021)


Son, as long as the talent and spark is there, son, MC TREE G is gon' grow, God. MC TREE G is gon' grow like a sapling.

TREE really floated ova da wudz with this one. Proper evergreen pulp diction pre-order from the new MC TREE G stock right here. Lookin' forward to the album sprouting 4 real next week.

Let me find out you thought this was EPMD!

CeeFineAss ft. MoneyBagg Yo - Payback 2.0
(From Welcome To My City album; 2020/YouTube; 2021)


Very rare modern instance of a remix ya host prefers to the original. Nothing to do with the presence of MoneyBagg Yo, everything to do with the More Ounce To The Bounce pressure lettin' Miss Cee go full 69th Ward Ceebie.

(Actually, that's a tad unfair to MoneyBagg Yo since "bring your luggage and your phone but no feelings in here" is a great line on the hotel, motel, Holiday Inn tip.)

Homeliss - that's my homepiss

"Now this is just to get some thoughts out there
And f*ck who's offended because I just don't care"

Homeliss Derilex - F*ck You!
(From Homeliss Derilex cassette; 1993)


Unpopular but undeniable opinion: Homeliss Derilex are the ownerz of Rap's best F*ck You song. I don't dig them jokes and, yo, I back up my quotes so lemme explain why - ig'nant west coast underground Gang Starr was a difficult steez to pull off but Homeliss Derilix nailed it here like Chris & Snoop.

God bless YouTube

A long time ago on TV sets here in the U.K there was a ramshackle yoof show called The Word. Filmed in Manchester on friday nights it benefitted hugely from Yank artists being in town for live shows and consequently ended up featuring the British TV performance debuts of Generation X big hitters like Cypress Hill, Snoop, The Pixies and Nirvana.



Factor in the performances by EMF, 808 State & MC Tunes, Public Enemy, Snow, Blur, Rage Against The Machine, Shabba Ranks & Marky Mark, D:Ream, Huggy Bear, Jamiroquai, L7, Mary J. Blige, Oasis, Goldie, Dog Eat Dog, Gravediggaz, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and The Word's archives amount to a warts & all snapshot of the early nineties musical zeitgeist.

Naturally, yours truly had a compilation VHS tape of the show's best live clips which got rocked until the tape sadly popped sometime in the early noughties. Thankfully, in the years since all the performances have turned up on YouTube - all except The Pharcyde's rendition of Ya Mama, that is. Well, guess what I've just found on the 'Tube, lads!


Bonus beats: the two greatest performances in The Word's history were Oliver Reed's shitfaced rendition of Wild Thing and Onyx's barnstorming version of Throw Ya Gunz, the latter of which is essentially an extended stage invasion by the Moss Side mandem.

Bonus bonus beats: the most underrated Rap performance in The Word's history was Craig Mack doing the Q-Tip remix of Get Down during Mack & Biggie's Bad Boy U.K tour of 1995 - specifically, underrated by me since I've only come around to accepting the remix is better than the original in recent years.

In hindsight, The Word's head honcho Terry Christian probably regrets booking Mack instead of a Biggie performance of the One More Chance remix. But the reason The Word was so very special™ is that it's the only TV show on Earth to have performance clips of Ya Mama, Throw Ya Gunz and the Get Down remix in its archive - singles which weren't the respective artist's largest hits but are still legitimate classics.

Much like Big Poppa, we'll always miss The Word here at The Martorialist. That said, since The Word went off air in 1995 appearances on U.K TV by The Charlatans have dropped by 70% - silver linings eh?

C-Ski Beatz

Cellski - Still Clappin'
(From Uncle Cell album; 2021)


Bona fide Dope Fiend Beat blues courtesy of Cellski - some proper mogadon mob music slap. It's a pity Uncle Cell doesn't produce more beats because that man has BEEN knowin' how to construct a Slap Classico since the Young Cellski days of Streets Of Frisco. Lest we forget that man was also behind the boards for Won't Be Right.

The Jacka ft. Cellski - Won't Be Right
(From Tear Gas album; 2009)


If you can listen to Won't Be Right and not end up shirtless and screaming "I JUST WANNA CLAP ALL MY ENEMIES" by midway through the first chorus then are we listening to the same song, bro?

Bonus beats: 2 Sticks was too lowkey to be the lead single from Cellski's new album. However, if you flip it and bounce it into the B-side for Still Clappin' then its Quiet Storm subtleness hits hella different.

Cellski - 2 Sticks
(From Uncle Cell album; 2021)

Homeboy throw in the towel, ya flick got took by Ricky Powell

Damn! Smoke an invisible Jazz cigarette for Ricky Powell. Those mutton chops he sported in later life made him resemble Vassily the Meerkat but it's all pumpernickel because he's the only man to ever look fly in Pony kicks. If a picture is worth a thousand words then the Rickster's best pix were on some Moby Dick type shit. Here's ya host's top five favourite Ricky P flickaronies.

Bonus snap: Rickoi even shot the most quintessentially Edan pic of Edan ever.

One 4 the Britz: Boyz-n-the-Club

The Streets - Weak Become Heroes
(From Original Pirate Material album; 2002)


Not a lotta people know this but ya host is a big fan of Weak Become Heroes by chirpoi Brummoi c*nt Mike "The Streets" Skinner. It's the one thing Skinner ever recorded where I found his inherent cringe-factor endearing rather than embarrassing, and the song struck a perfect balance between British kitchen sink melancholy and Balearic dancefloor magic. The latter can also be said of Real Lies 2020 single Boss Trick, thus it's the true heir to Weak Become Heroes in the canon of Everything But The Pet Shop Boy-core.

Real Lies - Boss Trick
(From 2020 releases bundle EP; 2020)



Definite hint of classic London Trigger flow on this. In fact, if Giggs had grown up as a so sensitive North London sad lad then he might have recorded Boss Trick.

Generic list post: January 2021

Obligatory wrap-up post of those songs I've played most during the month when I 'ave mostly been listening to Operation: Doomsday and Black Bastards.

KMD - Scrambled Eggs (1991/2021)
Perfection ft. Snoop Dogg - Understand Perfection (1992)
Andre Nickatina - Nickatina Says (2000)
Hellboy Rodd ft. Rio Da Yung OG - Talk Yo Shit (2020)
Flo Milli - Roaring 20s (2021)
Stack Dough - Chicken (2021)
Cookiee Kawaii - Vacation (2020)
Jazmine Sullivan ft. H.E.R - Girl Like Me (2021)
Vybz Kartel - Yami Bolo (2020)

Other notables: I'm not particularly fond of Sauce Walka or drumless Rap songs so I'm surprised R.I.P Buddy made its way into my rotation; the Max B & Giggs song should have happened in 2009; listened to Duke Deuce's Soldiers Steppin' and came to the conclusion that I'm bored of his Crunk revival songs now; I'm assuming Kap G wrote Lil Nas X Holiday because the first time I heard it I genuinely thought it was a new Kap song; Thirstin Howl III's Return Of The Polorican is a better #Menswear advert than song imho.

Bonus beats: Edan deep cuts playlist.

Late pass! 8 Crip Walks to perfection

Perfection ft. Snoop Doggy Dogg - Understand Perfection
(From the Please Pass The Mic compilation; 1992)


Perfection is perfected so now I finally understand what Snoop's line on Nuthin' But A "G" Thang meant. Pre-The Chronic Doggy Dogg from the L.A Gangsta-Rap cassette tape netherworld. Same Grover Washington sample as Played Like A Piano but with a tad more tinkling of the keys. Fun fact: the "one n*gga who decided to leave and get his rap on elsewhere" Snoop is throwin' salt on during his first verse was none other than Domino.

MP3 here for anyone who wants it like this, like that, and like this and uh.

It was all a dream, I first heard Get Retarded on Ego Trip's The Big Playback CD

MC EZ & Troup - Get Retarded
(From Just Rhymin'/Get Retarded 12" single; 1988)

MC EZ · Get Retarded

What if Get Retarded was the A-side of Craig Mack's one 12" as MC EZ and it became a big golden-era hit, consequently changing Mack's whole career trajectory? Crazy visionz, check it out, BOOM: Fresh Records then had MC EZ & Troup record an album in 1989 and the duo begin rollin' with RUSH management alongside fellow Fresh roster groups EPMD and Nice & Smooth. Thus, EZ & Troup follow EPMD and Nice & Smooth over to Def Jam when Fresh Records folds in 1990 where they release another couple of successful albums in the following years. Fate conspires that Mack still records Flava In Ya Ear, Get Down etc, but they're MC EZ songs on Def Jam songs rather than Craig Mack songs on Bad Boy - ergo, the Flava In Ya Ear remix features Redman in Biggie's place and Making Moves With Puff is now titled Making Moves With Russ.

In this parallel trajectory, Puffy still signs another former Fresh Records roster member who's spent the early 90's in Rap's wilderness - Stezo who has now rebranded as Stephen Williams. Hmmm not sure that woulda worked out for Bad Boy tbqh.

Lord knows

"Nah, now I ain't on your level
But can I ask you a question - why you make the Devil?
Me, I wouldn't make my own enemies
And for every fatal disease I'd make remedies
Switch George W. with John F. Kennedy
He in the drop-top enjoying the weather
POW!!!
Laura Bush got brain on her sweater
I like that pic a bit better"

Mic Terror - If God Was Mic
(From the internet; 2008)


Much like Hoopty Music, If God Was Mic is an early Mic Terror song which really shoulda been a single. In a perfect universe it woulda been the If I Ruled The World of the late-MySpace/early-blog Rap era; in my universe it's a #MicTerrorHive classic. Slick Rick-level songwriting which contains multitudes and my personal favourite use the Go On And Cry loop courtesy of Gzus Piece who was a producer before he started rhyming. How much do I love this song? Like Tyson loves Cus D'Amato!

StackDoughnalds was mah spot!

"I go stupider
I ain't came from Mars, I came from Jupiter
I wanna Cupid her
Baby got them buns I'm bout to doop in her
I'm boopin' her
If she say she Blood then I'm Woopin' her
Gotta strap it up 'cause I ain't tryna leave no troop in her"

Stack Dough - Chicken
(From YouTube; 2021)


SF robo-slap by some breh with a NOLA accent and an IT mask. This shit coulda done with a hook but I fuxwit it regardless. Fed this song into the trusty old audio-to-image converter here at Martorialist HQ and this is what came out:

Rock (on the) Box

The year was 1985, ya host was eight & 1/2 years old, and Run-D.M.C's performance of King Of Rock at Live Aid on TV was one of the pivotal moments where Rap music went from being something which was vaguely within my orbit via Roland Rat and Herbie Hancock to being the centre of my cultural universe alongside BMX bikes, amusement arcades, and Cadbury's cream eggs. Run-D.M.C & Jam Master Jay were a leather tracksuited star-shaped peg in Live Aid's hexagonal hole of stone-washed earnestness: they sounded like nothing the kid Marty had ever heard before and they were even cooler than the hoodlums in Michael Jackson's Beat It video. That was the night everything changed...


Thirty six years later and I still give Run-D.M.C half the credit that I've always preferred Adidas to Nike. The other half is down to Adidas Superstar tracksuits being the G.O.A.T #Athleisurewear. Wearing a slim-fit Adidas Superstar trackie to the pub on a Tuesday night to watch some Champions League football is an #AthleisurewearEra power move which makes you feel like King Cosy Boy (ask Valee!) Wearing a Nike Jordan trackie to the same pub on the same night to watch the same football, however, makes you look like you've just been to sign on the dole and makes you feel like you should be slobbing out at home on the sofa instead.

Related 80's: pour out a lil' Kraken for Ed "Duke Bootee" Fletcher. Who got the props? Alas, not Duke even though he was the Pumpkin of Sugar Hill Records, the genius behind The Message who then had his name scrubbed from the song's credits and his verses rapped by Furious Five members in the video, and the producer behind such tuff drum-machine era classix as Z-3 MC's Triple Threat and Word Of Mouth & DJ Cheese's King Kut and Coast To Coast. Credit is due.

Billie Eilish Ray Valentine

Flo Milli - Roaring 20s
(From Roaring 20s single; 2021)

Flo Milli · Roaring 20s

First good Rap song of 2021 IMHO. Alabama's hoodrat Angelica from Rugrats on a Trading Places life switcheroo. Seriously, if they don't spoof Eddie Murphy's G.O.A.T movie for the video to this one then it's a complete waste of the song's concept.

♫ I'm gon' send him to outta space to find another race ♫

Vybz Kartel - Yami Bolo
(From Yami Bolo single; 2020)

Vybz Kartel · Yami Bolo

The paradox of Vybz Kartel is that the Worl' Boss™ often sounds like he's from another planet: he's spent the past 7 years rotting inside a jailcell in Jamaica yet he's still sneakily recording new songs which sound like alien transmissions from Jupiter. If that reads like swanky-arse hyperbole to you it's only because this song sounds like a space-age riddim to me innit.

Hat tip to Dank for hippin' me to this one.

Just The Two Of Us

"If you give me less than 5 for a feature you gettin' a lazy verse
My n*gga Hell gave me what I want, I gave him a Slim Shady verse
12 racks for the Cuban, you n*ggas act stupid
Bitch, I ain't lookin' for no love, I'll whack Cupid"

Hellboy Rodd ft. Rio Da Yung OG - Talk Yo Shit
(From YouTube; 2020)


Top 5 reasons why this is ya host's favourite Rio Da Yung OG double-act track since Movie: cognisance of each other's presence on the song, genuine chemistry between both rappers, the impression that neither artist is just spittin' the first thing to spring to mind during their first take, none of Rio's gross rhymes about sex, a beat which slaps like bacon on a biscuit.

Can't believe I posted this one before Pink Chardonnay.

This is reality Jersey Club - I really go through it

Cookiee Kawaii - Vacation
(From Club Soda Vol 2 album; 2020)

Cookiee Kawaii · Vacation

File this under '2020 choonz which hit even harder during England's cold, grey, damp national lockdown of 2021.'

Not only is this the ultimate Winter of our Discontent™, this is the ultimate winter of my disconnection. Thus, I find meself washing up on the Jersey Club shore again searchin' for jams. Cookiee Kawaii's Vacation is my favourite J.C find to date: a JeR&Bsey ode to the soul-cleansing reset of a good holiday that's more song than track but still retains the brevity, booty-chatter™ and BPM of the other Jersey Club bangers which have tickled my pleasure centre. If Ryanair don't use this song to soundtrack one of their annoying "Get yer Covid vaccination jab and maybe you plebs can go on holiday!" adverts then the company's entire marketing department should be sacked, imho.

Cookiee Kawaii's Vibe (If I Back It Up) seems to have been the biggest Jersey Club song of 2020 and was bestowed with the musical mark of Cain that is a Tyga remix. If Vacation ever follows a similar trajectory then let's hope someone more suitable gets to hop on the remix - someone like Flo Milli.

Born To Audiomack: Edan Deep Cuts

The super scientific smart-arse Jewish Percee P with scatological jokes - not a particularly tempting notion on paper, but Edan's music is undoubtedly thee dookie when banging through ya speaker. Edan found his niche in Rap's ecology with top quality even though so many of his best songs weren't included on either of his official albums, so I've made a compilation of my personal favourites. Effortless emphasis on the retro-futurist auteur tip, this playlist is designed to piss on a pessimist. Basically, don't front on the Portnoy!

Edan - Deep Cuts
1. Migraine (O.G mix) (1999)
2. The E's Have It ft. Skillz Ferguson (1999)
3. Drop Some Smooth Lyrics (2001)
4. Adrenaline Rush ft. Skillz Ferguson (2001)
5. Schoolly D Knew The Time (2002)
6. Clinical Rhymes ft. Skillz Ferguson (2002)
7. Emcees Smoke Crack (remix) (2002)
8. I'll Come Running Back To You (2002)
9. Funky Rhyming (2005)
10. Real Bad Promo (2018)



It's a pity Edan & Skillz Ferguson only recorded three tag team tracks together innit? Edan dubbed himself the One Man Arsenal on some Robin Van Persie circa 2008/2009 type shit, but his back-and-forth chemistry with Ferguson was always pure Double Trouble energy.

Plz excuse the slightly tinny sound quality of those first two tunes. The petition to get a remastered reissue of Edan's 1999 debut CD-R Artchitecture starts here! Mike Lewis, where ya at?

Kwest Tha Madd Ladd hit it first

Kwest Tha Madd Ladd - I Met My Baby At V.I.M.
(From This Is My First Album LP; 1996)


Wait a motherf**kin' minute, true facts presented: Kwest Tha Madd Ladd's I Met My Baby At V.I.M. beat DOOM's Red & Gold to the Shoot 'Em Up Movies sample by a couple of years. The best Rap song about falling in love with a shop assistant at the mall? Possibly. The best Rap song to detail the embarrassment of having a fat hole in your sock when you're trying on kicks in a shop? Definitely. Shoulda been a single because they coulda brought the song's story to life with a lotta lotta laughs in the video.

That intro skit where Kwest and his m8 are arguing about the best song on Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde tho eh? C'mon now, lads - the #actual answer is Officer.

Generic list post: December 2020

"The tick-tock up in my watch froze like Eskimos
Oh yessir, we up in China eatin' egg-a-rolls"

Dude 'n Nem - Watch My Feet
(From single; 2007/Tinted Incubators album; 2009)


Obligatory wrap-up post of those songs I've played most during the month when we say farewell to the year China's diet went from egg-a-rolls to infected bats. I suffered through the year and sat through so many Tiers. Happy frigging NYE.

Da Kamp - We So Ghetto (1999)
Mic Terror - Hoopty Music (2008)
Attitude ft. Jackie Chain - Money (2009)
AZ - Different (2020)
Yung Cat - Ya Know (2020)
Cuzin Jiggy - Cadillac Slidin' (2020)
GetEmTree - Look Stupid (2020)
ZelooperZ - Tryna Figure Out Where My Phone At? (2020)
Psychotropic - Hypnosis (SL2 remix) (1992)
UNiiQU3 - UNiiQU3'S Groove (Get Down) (2020)
The Attraction - She's A Girl (1966)
Beabadoobee - Care (2020)

Other notables: very pleased that Homeboy Sandman's Waiting On My Girl got blessed with a video which is as good as the song; Mac J's OnaSet makes a decent B-Side to Sparky; sad to say that Kurupt's voice sounds totally shot on NHale's new single.

Bonus beats: best songs of 2020 and best late pass discovery songs of 2020.