The People's Blog™

Wyclef ft. The Rock & Melky Sedeck - It Doesn't Matter
(From The Ecleftic: 2 Sides II a Book album; 2000)



Braggin' Writes go to whoever can tell me what specific thing It Doesn't Matter has in common with DOOM's Dead Bent.

WHO in the BLUE HELL honestly thinks that there's a song on The Miseducation of Lauren Hill that's as good as It Doesn't Matter by Wyclef & The Rock? Built on the bones of Slick Rick's Mona Lisa and Bad Manners' This Is Ska, Wyclef expertly used The Rock's main catchphrase to create a Don't Let It Go To Your Head in Pop-Rap's clothing. Combine the song with a video set in a mock-up of Latin Quarter which looks like an 80s prequel to Belly, and we have a very notable entry into the canon of Rap singles which were bigger hits in the U.K than they were in their native country of the U.S.A. Consciously or subconsciously, it woz the Slick Rick and Bad Manners samples wot charmed me and my British brethren.

It should go without saying that It Doesn't Matter is a billion times better than any wrestling themed/titled song by Action Bronson or Griselda. You know what else is a billion times better than any wrestling themed/titled song by Action Bronson or Griselda? John Cena's single with Freddie Foxxx. Cena convinced Freddie Foxxx to dress up as B.A. Baracus, and Foxxx convinced Cena to let him rhyme about dissolving faces in acid.

E's are good

"Emcees be suckin' like black holes
It's like their work was done at Habro
Tryna dog me out because they think my style is Alpo
But F**K NO!
Tell an enemy that I’m the pedigree
Feed him kibbles n bits until he dribble 'n' spit
Pitiful shit is what I am hearing on the airwaves
That stuff is soon to die out like that jheri curl hair phase"

Edan - Eyeblink (2nd version)
(From no idea where; 200?)


Here at The Martorialist we don't approve of jheri curl disses, but we do approve of this Edan song. Eyeblink is a Top 3 song on Edan's debut CD-R album, but here's a 2nd version of it which is even better. It's the same beat and lyrics, but with re-recorded vocals where he delivers his lines with more boldness. Song is that vintage super-scientific smartarse Percee's Boutique type Edan shit where he says "as a syllable spitter, I kill a bullshitter/my rhymes are skull-grippers which frustrate ya like dull scissors". Lewis Recordings or one of youse boutique raer materialz labels to stop effin' around and give Artchitecture the deluxe remastered reissue treatment on CD with this song and Drop Some Smooth Lyrics as bonus cuts. Make it happen like Ultramagnetic.

My copy of that thst book about independent Rap circa 1995 to 2005 arrived a few days ago. Alas, the author doesn't argue the case why Edan & his m8 Eric "Skillz" Ferguson were a better Rap duo than Mos Def & Talib Kweli. And on that note, I let the facts float: Mos Def & Kweli have two killer tracks together, while Edan & Ferguson have three killer tracks together.

Sorta late pass: Coi blimey

Coi Leray - Players
(From Players single; 2022)


Ladies - rub on ya titties if you love Real Hip-Hop! The Message is truly timeless because Duke Bootee created a hot track which makes each successive generation melt like hot wax. Coi Leray's Players is the exact sort of nostalgia-bait pop-Rap I can't resist, the exact sort of nostalgia-bait pop-Rap I wanna hear when I'm out drinking in a generic high street bar, the exact sort of nostalgia-bait pop-Rap I hope inspires JayQuan to drop his full 40th anniversary of The Message documentar.

The Producers (no Mel Brooks)

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Another reason why Seiji Oda is a cool breeze of fresh air: most rappers nowadays can barely be bothered to credit their producers, but Seiji is up on Instagram creating special videos featuring cameos from all the producers who contributed something to his latest single Aero3. He even lists their favourite scran on some "look at all this beautiful food" type shit.

Edan - Beautiful Food
(From Sprain Your Tapedeck EP; 2001/ YouTube; 2012)


True story: it was this fan-made video which finally made me a fan of Beautiful Food after all these years. Thus, it's gotta be one of my favourite fan-made clips alongside this video for Max B's Where Do I Go?, this video for The Pharcyde's Officer, these two videos for both parts of Ice Cube's Gangsta's Fairytale, this video for Agallah's Crookie Monster, Donal's video for Rated X's Be Cool To Your Girl, and the classic spoof of Juelz & Cam's Dipset (Santana's Town).

In hella random fan-made video news, someone recently created a fully animated clip for Cougnut's Scandlous from the second I.M.P album. Like Terry in the first Final Destination movie, I didn't see that one coming.

While you was playing Duck Hunt, we was hunting ducats

Tisakorean - Pocket Fulla Ducks
(From 1st Round Pick EP; 2022)


Rap music to make the birds drop dead from the trees. Kinda feelin' Tisakorean's Pocket Fulla Ducks because it sounds like Yungstar made a song in a Peruvian cave with Don Lope de Aguirre's personal panpipe player. Can I get a toot-toot?


Between this and Yuno Miles' Road To Riches, ramshackle zoomer shitpost Rap seems to be floating my boat this week. Or maybe I'm just in a daft mood generally because I had Edan's Let's B. Friends on repeat a few days ago. Davy DMX chopped the record down to the bone so Edan could flip it and bounce it into the most wholesome Rap bro-out ever.

Edan - Let's B. Friends
(From Sprain Your Tapedeck EP; 2001)

EDAN · Let's B. Friends

True story: Lil B's I'm Gay (I'm Happy) album was an unsubconscious swagger-jack of Let's B. Friends whole vibe.

Keep it in the Fam-Lay

On one hand, Fam-Lay retired from Rap without having a hit single even though he had a handful of singles which shoulda been hits. On the other hand, Fam-Lay sorta has a 2021 hit single by proxy via that BIA lass he discovered/mentors. I ain't tryna suggest his writing hand was behind BIA's rhymes on Whole Lotta Money, but her nonchalance and flow on this one sound like they were trainedtogo by him.

BIA - Whole Lotta Money
(From For Certain EP; 2020)



Related: while I was playing Duck Hunt, the DMCA treated my Fam-Lay playlist like a sitting duck. A best of Fam-Lay without either version of Rock N' Roll? That's like thinking of Lee Harvey without thinking of a Harley.

Fam-Lay ft. Lil' Flip & Kelis - Rock N' Roll (remix)
(From Rock N' Roll (remix) single; 2003)

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. The E's Have It ft. Skillz Ferguson (1999)
2. Migraine (O.G mix) (1999)
3. Drop Some Smooth Lyrics (2001)
4. Adrenaline Rush ft. Skillz Ferguson (2001)
5. Dope Rhymes For Sure (2001)
6. Clinical Rhymes ft. Skillz Ferguson (2002)
7. Schoolly D Knew The Time (2002)
8. Emcees Smoke Crack (remix) (2002)
9. I'll Come Running Back To You (2002)
10. Rap Beautician (2002)
11. Funky Rhyming (2005)
12. 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?

**Sean Price voice** Edan white but Edan nice

"Look up in the sky, it's a bird..
Yo, that's played out!
..I was gonna say it's a birdbath
That's way out!"

Homeboy Sandman & Edan - Rock & Roll Indian Dance
(From Humble Pi EP; 2018)


Grim Seasons is a Homeboy Sandman song which just happens to be produced by Edan; #NeverUseTheInternetAgain is an Edan song which just happens to be rapped by Homeboy Sandman; The Gut is pretty much what you'd expect a Homeboy Sandman & Edan song where they both rap would sound like; and Rock & Roll Indian Dance here is like a lost Edan & Skillz Ferguson pass-the-mic song where Homeboy Sandman just happens to plays the role of Edan's former favourite token blk m8.