Saturday 29 February 2020

Generic list post: February 2020


Obligatory wrap-up post of those songs I've played most during the month of thee grandest Fury since Lyrics Of Fury. All the G.O.A.T British sportsmen are somehow #problematic: Tyson Fury, Eric Bristow, Geoffrey Boycott, Sol Campbell.

DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince - A Nightmare On My Street (video) (1988/2018)
Duke Deuce - Bad News (2020)
79rs Gang - 79rs Bout To Blow (2020)
Boldy James & The Alchemist - Pinto (2020)
RichCityD - All Eyez On Me (2020)
Tailor Made - Fast Lane (instrumental) (1985)
Archers Of Loaf - Raleigh Days (2020)

Other notables: can't decide whether the video for Casanova's Knock Knock makes me give DJ Akademiks a smidgen of grudging respect or makes me loathe him even more; Nef The Pharaoh's ABC is the most fun song I've heard by him in a while; I'm looking at the tracklist of this new posthumous Jacka album with trepidation - can't I just have a properly mastered MP3 of Heavy Rain instead?

Bonus beats: 2010 nostalgia session.

Tuesday 25 February 2020

Bounce (For The Juracán)

79rs Gang - 79rs Bout To Blow
(From YouTube; 2020)



Injun rain-dance Alpoko Bounce? Divine, darrrrrling. Big Chief Jermaine from the 7th Ward, Big Chief Romeo from the 9th Ward & their band of native shamans summon up ancient Bayou spirits of Juvenile and Lil' Slim. Don't get it twisted, though - any ponce who tries to tie this into "Hauntology" will curse themselves to spend eternity tormented by Mark Fisher's weird voice.

Saturday 22 February 2020

Chief Queef: Make The Music With Your Mouth, Duke

Duke Deuce - Fat Mac
(From Memphis Massacre 2 mixtape; 2020)



Ladeez & germz, it's 2020's first song to feature a fat Rapper doing fanny-fart noises, and when I say fanny I ain't talkin' in the American sense, boiiiiii. Fair play, the Yeh guy ain't half bad at Project Mack-core here.

Duke Deuce - Bad News
(From Memphis Massacre 2 mixtape; 2020)



Another thing the Yeh guy ain't half bad at: condensing Big Memphis Energy down into placid Valee exoticness. It's nonchalant but still hardbody as f*ck.

Tuesday 18 February 2020

And you gotta watch Tommy because Tommy be schemin'

Coolio - Aw Here It Goes (Kenan & Kel extended Theme)
(From TV show; 1996/Fantastic Voyage: The Greatest Hits album; 2001)



Following on from the last post, it also blows my mind that Tommy Boy never released Coolio's full Kenan & Kel theme as a single. Granted, it featured a buncha lyrics recycled from 1,2,3,4 (Sumpin' New), but it jammed way harder than that song so who cares? O.G Mountain Climber Who Plays An Electric Guitar™ and Tommy Boy CEO Tom Silverman was hardly shy of releasing a plethora of 12"s in the hope one would stick, so it makes no sense why this never got released as a single.

Never forget the Coolio vs. Tina Malone beef in Celebrity Big Brother.

Saturday 15 February 2020

The Fresh Prince Of Bellend A&Rs

DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince - The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air (full version)
(From the TV show; 1990/Jazzy Jeff & Fresh Prince Greatest Hits album; 1998)



The biggest mistake Them crackers at Jive™ made wasn't continually delaying The Clipse's Hell Hath No Fury, it was not releasing the full Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air theme as a single back in 1990/1991. A no-brainer global hit in waiting, that shit coulda been as big as Summertime and made the world a more fun place in the process. Instead Jive came up with the bizarre decision to only release it as a Netherlands-exclusive and not even in its original form. Whichever A&R came up with that idea should have been fired - into space.

Thursday 13 February 2020

Ten Four, we have an AZN droppin' N Bombs!

"All eyez on me, freaky hoes up in the backseat
Hurt the block how I run them backstreets
Gotta keep a 40 in case he try to clap me
And when it get to bustin' turn you n*ggas into athletes"


RichCityD - All Eyez On Me
(From Thizzler's YouTube channel; 2020)



I love the sound of random slaps in the morning. Come for the #problematic AZN, stay for the Happy Perez chords and haunted house synths.

Sunday 9 February 2020

Generic list post: can you believe 2010 was a decade ago?


Yes I can/no I can't because 2010 simultaneously feels like a lifetime ago and five minutes ago. Very much an annus horribilis for anthems because some of the worst big Rap choonz of the decade dropped in 2010: Eminem's Not Afraid, Drake's Over, Young Money's Bedrock, Nicki Minaj's Super Bass, and KanYe West's Power. Tbf, 2010 wasn't quite as much of a lost wasteland as 2009 but so many of the songs in this list deserved better fates. Thus, 30 faves from the year of Gudda Gudda's Grocery Bag™ punchline:

Young Dro - Freeze Me
Beeda Weeda - Bassrock Babies (O.G version)
Rick Ross ft. Styles P - B.M.F (Blowin' Money Fast)
Sean Price - Figure Four
Lil' Boosie - Top To The Bottom
Webbie - My People
Mouse On Tha Track ft. Trill Fam - Turn The Beat Up
Curren$y - Michael Knight
Wiz Khalifa - The Kid Frankie
Dru Down ft. The Jacka - Hello Hello Hello
A-Mafia - 1000 Grams
Lil B - Good Morning
Young L - Young L-E-N
Grip Plyaz ft. Slick Pulla - Stuntman Mike
Roc Marciano - Ridin' Around
E-40 ft. Clyde Carson & Husalah - Lightweight Jammin'
Gucci Mane - Normal
Waka Flocka Flame ft. Kebo Gotti - Grove St. Party
$tarlito - Alright
AZ - The Calm
NhT Boyz ft. The Jacka - U Ain't From
YG ft. Ty Dolla $ign - Toot It And Boot It
HBK Gang - She Ready
Travis Porter - Make It Rain
French Montana ft. Curren$y - So High
Young Jeezy ft. Yo Gotti - All White Everything
Keak Da Sneak & DJ Fresh - Maxi Pads
Max Minelli - Louisiana Sky
Treal Lee & Prince Rick - Throwed Off (F*ck Everybody)
Mic Terror - My Bitch Tonight

Bonus beats: nostalgia lists for 1990 and 2000.

Sunday 2 February 2020

Yo home to Nightmare!


DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince - A Nightmare On My Street
(From He's The DJ, I'm The Rapper album; 1988/YouTube; 2018)



Damn, nobody told me that the banned A Nightmare On My Street video finally turned up online in 2018. Banned because New Line Cinema had it pulled from circulation in 1988 to use The Fat Boys' Are You Ready For Freddy? as a promotional tie-in for the 4th A Nightmare on Elm Street movie instead. Lord knows why because the Fat Boys song was shite, and there couldn't have been any tricky image rights issues to negotiate when the Freddy of Jeff & Will's Street looked nowt like the Freddy of Elm Street. One, two, Freddy's evil Muppet Billy Idol's coming for you...



Let's be honest here, this video resurfacing and Jimmy Wopo's two Elm Street songs were the only notable things Freddy's Franchise™ produced last decade.

Rap music - three, New Line Cinema - nil.