Walk like a Jansport

Lord Sko & Statik Selektah - Wish Upon A Star
(From Elevator Music album; 2026)

Lolz. Third song I've liked by this lad after Pimp Socks and Girbaud Talk with Grand Puba. One thing New York backpack-rap has always been good at is making wistful piano choonz you can pound the pavements to at dusk, and Statik Selektah conjured up the sundown vybz with this one. We outside while you in the house like LL listenin' to tuneless dirges by Earl Sweatshirt's m8s.

Been very partial to the odd Statik Selektah production ever since Animal by AZ. That JOMO song by Jim Jones from last year was annoyingly good.

I Cudi Been A Contender!

Kid Cudi - Maui Wowie
(From A Kid Called Cudi mixtape; 2008)

Kid Cudi · Maui Wowie

After the ridiculousness of Jim Jones claiming he's responsible for Kid Cudi's Day 'n' Nite blowing up, Cudi is entitled to whip up a viral duck tale of his own. So lemme suggest this: he should claim that his beatjack of Grind Mode's She's So Fine (I'm So High) is responsible for the original blowing up. Who cares about posting the truth anymore in the post-truth era? That's one of the two Cudi songs I fuxwit because the kid accidentally took a trip offshore on the wave on that shit. His music got wiped out totally afterwards, but Maui Wowie is a notable entry in the canon of Shinola Songs By Shitty Rappers.

I feel like I was the only person who rode for the Jim Jones & Statik Selektah single last year. For those of us who enjoy Jones at his most ridiculous when he's putting the Cap into Capo, that song was an absolute treat. There was no better piece of unintentional comedy in a 2025 Rap song than when Jones said "I been in court, the DA's looking like he seen Gotti" on that shit.

Jim Jones - JOMO
(From From The Church Steps album; 2025)

Jim Jones Capo · Jomo

09 til Infinity (part 3)

BunnaB - Free Him
(From Sweet Lick album; 2025)

BunnaB · Free Him

BunnaB's best song since Mad Again IMHO. That production sounds like the most evil beat Drumma Boy never made. Free Him is Bunna's impassioned plea for her boyfriend to be set free from prison. Is it poetic license or actual factz? I have no idea, but the lass puts forth such a convincing and compelling argument that she could successfully moonlight as a lawyer. In fact, if BunnaB hadn't been 6 years old in 2009 she coulda/shoulda represented Max B in court rather than that hack Gerald Saluti. Fingers crossed the only reason this one hasn't been blessed with a video yet is because they're gonna go all out and shoot the best courtroom-set Rap video since Case Dismissed by Pretty Tone Capone.

Fly, pelican, fly

Jim Jones, Max B & Mel Matrix - Anniversary
(From DukeDaGod's Dipset: More Than Music Vol. 2 compilation; 2007)


Nowadays Anniversary is my de facto choice for the best ByrdGang song ever. Million Dollar Baby contribution from Max B, Gym Bore Jones in peak sulky-arse tweenager mode, Mel Matrix dependable as ever as the ByrdGang henchman, and soaring production by someone called Bear One of The Control Freaks which sounds like the greatest King Geedorah era MF DOOM beat never made. Prepare for the pop-off, turn your speakers up and let this song blow your bloody top off.

A while back I said I could live without any new Max & French songs. After hearing this snippet, I've changed my mind. Now there's a song which sounds like it needs Pain In Da Ass on the intro doing a Pachanga from Carlito's Way impersonation.

Late pass!

G. Dep - Stay Up
(From The Hiatus Deponomics mixtape; 2008)


A G. Dep single I'd never heard before. That liquid introspective shit a la Reflections or the Everyday remix which sounds like a message in a bottle from the 2008 New York mixtape era in the best way possible. Plus, Dep rockin' the bald dome & moustache combination lookin' like Kase2 in Cope 2's graffiti documentary. Hat tip to the DVD Couture Instagram account for this one.

cOWWWWWabunga

Max B made good music in prison, so it's not inconceivable that he can continue to drop good music when he gets outta prison next month. In a perfect world, Max would have the best post-prison comeback streak since Mac Dre. Alas, rappers fall off all the time, the world's an imperfect place and that's word to John Bender. The reality is we're probably gonna have to contend with a whole lotta dross just to get a few good choonz. Since ur boi Martavelz is the chairman of the British (surf)board let me offer The Wave God a few suggestions in who and what he needs to avoid when he gets back in the studio. The top 10 things Max B needs to steer clean of when he touches home turf:

1. Auto-Tune
2. Drake
3. Any kind of Atlanta influence
4. Anyone or anything associated with Griselda
5. VladTV, Joe Budden and the whole pathetic Rap gossip industry
6. Paul Couture beats
7. New York Drill flows
8. Alchemist collaboration albums
9. Posting gym-bore workout videos on Instagram
10. Musical collaborations with French Montana

Listen, I luh Coke Wave as much as the next Max maven, but the only time I wanna hear Max & French together in the future is if they're talking shit about Hell Rell again. Instead, let's have some more Max B & Styles P songs on a par with the Kill That Faggot remix and Hawaii 5.0.

Another thing Max should avoid is sobriety. Turning straight edge has claimed the musical-mojos of rappers as diverse as Gucci Mane and Homeboy Sandman, and is as deadly a rapper curse as cosmetic dentistry. Obviously Max shouldn't develop a raging coke habit or become an alkie or start popping opioids. Instead, get him on the 'shrooms and let's see what see the psycheVelzic era has in store. Strawberry Fields forevOWWWWWWWW.

You're outta luck like a dead leprechaun

G. Dep - Reflections
(From unreleased; 1997/Head Over Wheels album; 2025)


This is the only song on the CD collection of G. Dep's 1990s recordings I'd never heard before. Which is a pity because "you're outta luck like a dead leprechaun" would have been part of my daily lexicon. Reflections is that good ol' late 90s wistful N.Y Rap which sounds of its time, but what a time it was. Timeless music is all fine & dandy, but songs should also sound like messages in bottles from the era they were recorded.

Another reason why the G. Dep CD is essential: it features the no-DJ version of Dollar Bill which was previously unreleased. Great to hear even tho my brain is conditioned to hear D. Dot & DJ Ashknuckles yelling over it. YEA BOI!!! THE TEAM IS CRAZY, BOI!!!

Just To Get A Dep

Highly recommended to all Martorialist readers comes this CD of all the songs G. Dep recorded in the late 90s before he signed to Bad Boy Records. You can cop the CD here and you can hear 6 of the 9 songs on my G-Dep deep cuts playlist. CDQ versions make me scream like I struck gold, that's cold. Addicted to CDs like I'm addicted to blue cheese and TV shows from overseas.

Hat tip to Gentleman's Relief Records for releasing this shit, and to the Martorialist reader who hipped me to this release a couple of weeks back. You are appreciated like 2Pac's mum. The great irony of Head Over Wheels is that it's an even better song to walk to than drive to.

Something I learned today: the Baby Powder lass Jenevieve recently dropped an R&B homage to Head Over Wheels. What THE f*ck!?! Is she my long lost twin-sister or am I her secret A&R?

Jenevieve - Head Over Heels
(From Head Over Heels single; 2025)


Oi Jenevieve - you ever listen to Mic Terror, baby?

Hanging on the telephone

LL Cool J - 1-900 L.L Cool J
(From Walking With A Panther album; 1989)


What's an LL album track beloved by you and seemingly only you? I'm a 1-900 L.L Cool J type of guy, meself. Uncle L used the 1-900 number concept before The Convicts or Roc-A-Fella, and hit the same Watermelon Man loop as the Dolly My Baby remix before Super Cat, Biggie et al. And LL did it while sounding effortlessly smug in a flow which probably made MC Shan real mad. In a perfect world 1-900 L.L Cool J woulda been the 4th single from Walking With A Panther instead of the nauseating ballad One Shot At Love.

Shit's got me thinking about what the first Rap song to start with a phone call was. Earliest I can think of is Spoonie Gee's The Big Beat. If not, The Big Beat was definitely the first Rap song to feature a "freak this" breakdown with the sound of squeaking bed springs. Insert your own Puffy joke here ----> _________.

Late pass!

G. Dep - Dollar Bill
(From DJ Ashknuckles' The Underground Railroad Part 1 mixtape; 1998)


Discovered via Instagram, a kinda proto-wavy pre-Bad Boy G. Dep deep cut. Apparently Black Rob was a big fan of this track and it lead to their link-up. One of those boutique reissue labels needs to drop a CD EP of all Dep's pre-Bad Boy jams; alas boutique reissue labels with good taste don't grow on trees like palm leaves. So, for now, you can catch this song where it currently makes the most sense - in my G. Dep deep cuts playlist, natch.

Born To Audiomack: G. Dep deep cuts

G. Dep - G. Deep Cuts
1. How (1995)
2. Blak N*gga (1996)
3. Automatic (1996)
4. Head Over Wheels (1996)
5. Blow More Spots (1996)
6. Dollar Bill (1998)
7. Everyday remix (ft. Faith Evans) (2001)
8. Gametime (2009)


Throw ya hands in the freakin' air and keep 'em there, G. Dep just got outta the box that's square. Celebrate the Deputy's release from prison with this playlist of G. Deep Cuts where he makes the gutter sound butta. Truthfully, this used to be my best of G. Dep playlist from 2015, but all the songs from his Bad Boy Records album have long since been DMCA-ed into oblivion and these seven songs are what's left. Regardless, this is still a playlist so hot it'll make you scream like you struck gold, that's cold.

**EDIT** added Dollar Bill which I've just discovered.

Operation C.O.C Block

"I had a fight with a 7 footer, he wouldn't drop
Pulled the glock, left him frozen like a pudding pop
My laughter couldn't stop"

Children Of The Corn - Fair One Part 2
(From the vaults; 1994/Welcome To The Dangerzone CD; 2023)


Ya host had totally slept on Fair One Part 2 until I copped the recent deluxe remastered Children Of The Corn CD; a big mistake on my part because it's far superior to Fair One Part 1: better beat, slightly different lyrics, and Murda Ma$e all up in the mix not sounding like he was auditioning to join Onyx. The USP of C.O.C's best songs is that they were the rawest Harlem group since Mob Style, and Fair One Part 2 definitely ranks alongside A Star Is Born, I Remember When, American Dream, and Harlem U.S.A (Harlem version) as one of C.O.C's best songs. If I ruled the world, all 5 woulda dropped together on one killer EP in 1996.

Fair play to Dope & Dust Recordings for the job they've done on the Children Of The Corn CD. Sounds great, looks great, and the two booklets feature contributions from the Rap Internet's Werner Von Wallenrod and Big Sleep.

Cam'Ron sure loved that Schneider's One Day At A Time line of his during the C.O.C era, huh? He used it almost as many times as Busy Bee kicked his line about the stickball bat.

Cam Du

Cam'Ron ft. Lil' Cease - Hustler
(From The Rough, Rough, Rough album promo CDr; 1999)


Sum shit I just found out: Cam'Ron had a Hard Knock Life-core song on the promo version of S.D.E. Flipping So You Wanna Be A Boxer from Bugsy Malone with Lil' Cease bouncing the hook. Easily the best Hard Knock Life-core track which wasn't produced by The 45 King.

Craig Mack and Big Scoob went to the 45 King for The Wooden Horse and Can Du respectively, and while neither of those tracks blew up, they were far better Hard Knock Life-core choonz than Jay-Z's own hard knock-off Anything or whatever Busta's shitty song with The Ugly Duckling sample was called. Latter song is such a quack it was the first flop single of Busta's solo career.

Duality of man: R.I.P Dezzie Dez AKA DJ Kay Slay

Biiiiiitch, stop talkin' that shit and trick Dezzie Dez his outfit
He wants some plaid Levi's like Lil' Slim told ya.

Belated rest in peace to Harlem's (drama) king of tartan turn-ups DJ Kay Slay AKA the artist formerly known as Dez. A legend in two games like Andrey Arshavin or wot? Or rather, a legend in two entirely separate lanes of Hip-Hop in two entirely separate eras. Personally, I can't listen to Duke Bootee & Melle Mel's The Message without hearing/seeing Dez and Kase2 rapping the song to each other on the train platform in Style Wars. Similarly, there's songs I first heard on Kay Slay mixtapes which would later sound incomplete without his ad libbed bellowing on them. To paraphrase the big man himself ONLY KAY SLAY COULDA DONE THAT, YO!

Kay Slay's own compilation albums often tended to answer questions which nobody had ever asked, questions such as what would Papoose, Yung Joc & Chamillionaire sound like on the same song? But wedged between the mismatched posse cuts of rappers who should never share song-space there were always exclusive gems. Here's ten nuggets of gold from them there DJ Kay Slay compilation albums.

50 Cent - 50 Shot Ya (2003)
Mobb Deep ft. Big Noyd - Get Shot The F**k Up (2003)
Cam'Ron ft. Chinky Brown Eyes - Harlem (2004)
LL Cool J - The Truth (2004)
Three 6 Mafia, Lil' Wyte & Frayser Boy - Who Gives A F**k Where You From (2004)
Three 6 Mafia ft. BG - Hood Drug Wars (2006)
Twista & Speedknot Mobstaz - Knock 'Em Out (2006)
Cam'Ron ft. Juelz Santana - Father Forgive Us (2004/2007)
Pastor Troy - Just Me (2007)
AZ, Raekwon & Ghostface - See The Light (2010)

Let's not remember Kay Slay's late-career for giving Papoose a second wind. Instead, let's remember Slay's late-career for being the only DJ to play A-Mafia songs on New York radio. Here's hoping Heaven got an easily accessible train yard packed with pristine wholecars for Dez to bomb. Here's also hoping Heaven got Black Rob waiting with a USB stick of unreleased songs Slay can bellow casual threats to bitchass DJ over.

Not over till the fat wavy plays the demo

Max B - Over (Intro)
(From Negro Spirituals album; 2021)

Max B · Over (Intro)

Always wanted to say that Max B has album intros which body other Rapper's whole albums and now I can. My man still makes good music, man. A lotta y'all favourites don't!!

Mountains is as close as this Negro Spirituals album comes to a Nu-Wave BBQ Music anthem, which is a pre-Christmas miracle since it's produced by that useless hack Paul Couture.

Max B - Mountains
(From Negro Spirituals album; 2021)

Max B · Mountains

Miraculously, Paul Couture also didn't manage to mangle the Picture Me Rollin' interpolation on Don't Make Me Cry. Bit weird having Raheem DeVaughn on this shit, tho - Max and a sanger on the same song is like having parsnips and potato wedges on the same plate innit?
Max B ft. Raheem DeVaughn - Don't Make Me Cry
(From Negro Spirituals album; 2021)

Max B · Don't Make Me Cry

"OH, WHAT JOU NEED HIM FOR????"

Max B? More like Maxi Priest amirite

Max B - I Wonder (Coco Mango)
(From the internet; 2021)

Max B · I Wonder (Coco Mango)

Like my Granddad always used to say, you can't keep water in concrete indefinitely because it'll leak eventually. Max B - the first New York rapper since Grand Puba to use patois on record without soundin' like Brad Pitt in Meet Joe Black. Free the Boss Don and the World Boss.

I'm waterproof when the rain hit

Max B - Bang Bang Boogie
(From Public Domain (Million Dollar Baby Radio) mixtape; 2006)

Max B · Bang Bang Boogie

Every time I wipe out after deep surfin' The Wave™ I come outta that water with a song I've kinda slept on. So, move over Deez My Streets because Bang Bang Boogie is ya host's new favourite song on Max's first Public Domain mixtape. Shoot, bro - Max over The O'Jays is like a waterproof suit, yo. That grown and Gore-Tex shit for the summer, for the winter, fourth quarter, whatever, owww.

And speaking of Donkeys...

"There's a genie in the bottle and she better be a model
Got a dollar to my name, Ima bet it on the lotto
We was playin' in the sand, now we playin' in the wind
'Cause if I can do it over ima do this shit again"

Max B - Revolution
(From Revolution single; 2021)

Max B · Revolution

As real Max mavens know, the snippet of this one had been around for donkey's years, and when I say donkey's I ain't talkin' about Yung Eeyore French Montana, boiiiiiii. Literal vintage Bigga here.

Max's camp have re-released 75 In The Can but addded a buncha stupid bell & whistle doodads. That Paul Couture bloke just can't help himself messing Max's shit up, and the sooner Dame Grease kicks him outta the camp the better.

Can You Hear Me?

Max B - 75 In The Can
(From 75 In The Can single; 2021)


75 In The Can? More like Recorded With A Coca Cola Can amirite? Nonetheless, Max having his wicked way with a cheap revamp of Dru Down's favourite song by The Fat Boys is right up my road.

It's New York treats friday with new Max and an album of unreleased Sporty Thievz songs. Dogz and Thief Thing are soundin' like some vintage Sporty X Ski Beatz to me.

To The Max (no Stezo)

"F*ck 5-0!
I was tryna get a bag on the ave but the slabs with 12 knocked down my do'
Had Show & Tell money, now I need bail money, man, 12 f*cked up my dough
Yeah, the trap was a crib so I stashed where I live, shoulda never had it there I know
Now n*ggas tryna take my flow, I blame 12 so f*ck 5-0!"

Nino Man - 5-0
(From No Turning Back EP; 2021)


Oi! Copper! Leave them dealers alone! New wave Harlem waviness for the Roddy Rich Homie Quan Durk-core generation. Conclusive proof that all New York rappers have at least one absolute CHOON in them when they take tips from the Max B manual to making music