Martorial elegance : the Boosie edition # 2

Lil' Boosie - Mind Of A Maniac (2009)



Blatantly swaggerjacked from RealN*ggaTumblr (again), but these FREE BOOSIE beanies are even better than those Waka Flocka Flame Halloween masks because you can actually wear this when you're out picking up your sunday shopping in M&S without security guards thinking you're trying to rob the place :





Now that's Streetwear and they've apparently used a specially treated blend of Biella Yarn Merino wool which'll turn whatever hairstyle you sport into Boosie's hallmark fade within minutes everytime you wear it. Available to pre-order now from IMNOTATOY.

On the subject of Boosie Bad Azz, is there any other song which displays the confusing contradictions of rap music in all their glory quite like Fuck The Police does :

"Wonder why I look at your ass undereye
I get a billion I'ma hit you bitches from the sky.."

Lil' Boosie ft. Webbie - Fuck The Police (2009)



Complaining about police harrassment while bragging about having guns in high school, running various illegal contrabands, and keeping hundreds of thousands of dollars of untaxed money in your crib is some real which-came-first-the-chicken-or-the-egg? type shit, huh? This is one of the best songs of Boosie's apogee as a solo rapper, though, because the menacing tone of his voice gives me the chills like the creepy gypsy 'yatch in the opening segment of At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul does, and the combination of that harpsichord melody with those mushroom clouds of squelchy bass is just too immaculate. If we can't free Boosie on the grounds of him releasing tons of great music or allow him recording equipment in his jailcell, can't we just try and get him off by framing some tedious hack like Freddie Gibbs for killing that Nu$$ie dude instead?

Related : Martorial elegance : the Boosie edition # 1

Another Curren$y post

So, this new Curren$y & DJ Hektikt Community Service 3.5 mixtape then; a thoroughly New Orleans release which commences and concludes with songs by C-Murder, which has a new Mannie Fresh joint at its centre, and which then features a grip of random Curren$y tracks including everything from old No Limit-era recordings right up to the original Monsta Beatz demo version of Famous before its Sade sample was replayed by Ski's studio band, albeit now titled Now I Am. Here's its two previously unheard (by me, anyway) highlights :

Curren$y - HotSpitta (200?)



Geez, and here was me thinking that Get Back by the 504 Boyz was the cheapest 'n' nastiest Neptunes reduplication Curren$y was involved in for No Limit Records. I've been tryna find one $pitta solo cut from his tenure with Percy Miller ever since I succumbed to his particular charms and, for once, the sound I had in my head of this mythical early material where dude was thuggin' out with his ornate flow over regionally ambiguous minimal synth beats which anyone from Mystikal to Fabolous to T.I to Philly's Most Wanted would've sounded comfortable rhyming over in 2001/2002 has been fully realized.

Mannie Fresh ft. The Show - We Gone Talk (2011)



Umm, so why didn't Curren$y get this beat since this is, y'know, his mixtape and a $pitta & Mannie Fresh track is long overdue since they were the briefest of label mates back in 2005? Bar the odd great single like And Then What and Front Back (which I've always contended was a much better single than What You Know) Mannie's production skills seemed to deteriorate after he was cast loose from Ca$h Money's safety net with his oodles of so-so album cuts throughout 2006, 2007, and 2008. Gingerbread Man, thankfully, was a return to form and We Gone Talk here is a banger if you fancy a contemporary variation on his vintage sound at its most Mantronix-esque. This The Show kid is alright here, but there's something a wee too Jay-Z-ish about his flow at times for my liking and I'd have prefered this as a Mannie solo cut instead since his much underrated Mind Of Mannie Fresh platter in 2004 saw him finally manage to synthesize the surreal flossin' of his Big Tymers persona with the humourous everyman relatability of DJ Quik and Diamond D into a persona which could carry an solo album.

BONUS POSSIBLY CURREN$Y APPROVED LINKS :

Oh shit, it's Skateboarder Magazine's Video Days 20 years reunion shoot with Gonz, the gawd Guy Mariano, Jason Lee, Rudy Johnson, and Jordan Richter : part 1, part 2, and part 3.

Six degrees of seperation between Video Days and Curren$y, anyone? Easy : Guy Mariano was part of Blind's Video Days team in 1991, Watermelon Man by Herbie Hancock was used as the backing track for Guy Mariano's section on Girl's Mouse video in 1995 and as the main sample in Pocket Full Of Furl by U.N.L.V & B.G on the Uptown 4 Life album released on Ca$h Money Records in 1997, Curren$y then signed to Ca$h Money in 2005 after an unsuccessful stint at No Limit.

Beef Curtains

Curtains' Unsigned Hype feature from The Source spotted on and shamelessly jacked from RealN*ggaTumblr's Twitter page :



Ayo RNT - since you and Curtains apparently go way back, you got any of those demo joints mentioned in this you could maybe upload? I remember reading that but I didn't come across any of his music until 2006 with the Know The Ledge remake plus them 12" cuts like That's What It Is and It's The Shoes, and I've never been able to find any of his earlier stuff besides the 12" with his flip of Chuck D & Sister Souljah's Buck Whylin' from the first Terminator X album on the B. side. Speaking of which, I might as well wheel out That's How It Is and It's The Shoes again, since the last time I posted these was back in 2008 when this blog had as many readers as The Source has nowadays.

Curtains - That's What It Is (2006)



It wasn't until I read a Curtains interview last year talkin' about how Trap Or Die and Thug Motivation 101 were some of his favourite releases of the last decade that I cottened on to his ad libs on here being pure Jeezy. Love this joint, though, because it has the feel of a noughties version of one of those Big Daddy Kane or Big Scoob cuts which Easy Mo Bee did like The Beef Is On or N*ggaz Can't Hang.

Curtains - It's The Shoes (2006)



Possibly the song which best captures the kicks game at it apex of ridiculousness in 2006. Pretty weird how the rappers who made the most notable sneaker-related tracks back in 2005 and 2006 like Curtains, Soulja Boy, Lil B, and Big Krit went on become darlings of the 'net, huh?

I finally need to learn how to rip my wax in 2011 so I can upload BuckWillin' which still doesn't appear to have popped up on the internet. That displays the more cognizant side of Curtains, and when he's on form he reminds me of a young Grand Puba because he can pull off the ol' Step To The Rear-to-Wake Up trick of flitting between flagrant braggin' jams like Exodus and conscious records like Black Folks with relative ease.

Lil B - the Criterion Collection # 2

Lil B has yet to opine that wenches of questionable morality are swinging on his winky due to the uncanny physical resemblance he shares with David Bowie's Jareth The Goblin King character in Labyrinth, but if he's not going to take my advice on quoting Based God-friendly Klaus Kinski lines from Aguirre, The Wrath Of God or rapping over its ethereal Popol Vuh soundtrack, then may I suggest he uses 2011 to further indulge his blowjob fixation by referring to himself as The Gobbling King when propositioning damsels with requests for fellatio in his songs from now on instead.



The first installment of Lil B's Criterion Collection where I tried to round up all of his songs which had received video treatment into an open-ended post of Youtube videos is now officially closed for business because I could watch the full director's cuts of Once Upon A Time In America AND The Thin Red Line in the time it takes me to scroll down to the bottom of the page when editing it to add his latest vids. But because I feel that B is basically me in the body of a 21 year old black dude (though, his culinary skills are clearly far superior to mine since the last chicken stir-fry I made caused untold havoc with my gastrointestinal tract) here's a follow-up post which'll act as a frame for all his viral singles in 2011. If nothing else, the original post is an incredibly useful device when trying to convince doubters about the charms of Brandon and that in B's catalogue there really is a song for every situation and everyone, so here's hoping this one'll serve the same purpose :

Lil B - Bonafied Hustler



Lil B - Exhibit Based



Lil B - I Cook



Lil B - My History



Lil B - Dr Phil



Lil B - Exhibit 6



Lil B - Motivation



Lil B - The Growth



Lil B - I Still Can't Sleep

B-B-Byrd Gang is the word # 2

At some point soon there should hopefully be a The Martorialist X another certain blog mix based around songs which took the whole synth-noir sound of old Ice-T shit like Squeeze The Trigger and Drama and ran with it, but since I promised someone a Byrd Gang compilation after this post, here's my first foray into the realm of themed compilations with a rar file I'm titling ‘Should've Been The Byrd Gang Album’.

The criteria :

1. To create an album in the vein of Diplomatic Immunity without the multitude of irritating Freaky Zeeky interludes which behooves how good a group Byrd Gang were (unlike the actual post-Max B and Stack Bundles Byrd Gang retail album) with songs taken from the original 2005 - 2008 Jim Jones, Max B, Stack Bundles, and Mel Matrix line-up era.

2. To only use real songs instead of freestyles (their version of Black Superman works as a remake a la 'Bout It, Bout It Part 3 so that gets a pass) which came from mixtapes and compilations, rather than any of Jim's albums.

3. And under no circumstance would it include We Roll with Pete Rock because this is also intended as a sort've primer compilation for people whose only exposure to Byrd Gang is that very song.

Byrd Gang - Should've Been The Byrd Gang Album

1. Anniversary
2. New York Minute
3. Sour Diesel
4. Life's Like A Movie
5. Fire Flow
6. Bury Me In My Gucci
7. Prolific
8. Deez My Streets
9. I'm Paid
10. Black Superman 2006
11. Dope Game, Coke Game
12. Whenever I'm Around (with NOE)
13. Which Way
14. Different
15. Ya Dig
16. Hawaii 5.0 (with Styles P)
17. Cold Rocking It
18. 2 Blocks (with NOE)

~~~> DOWNLOAD HERE <~~~

18 tracks is about the right length for an album to burn to a CD-R, though I might've stretched to 19 if I could find the original version of Man Down with Max B on the hook plus the 2nd verse before it became a Mel Matrix & Jim Jones song. Pour out a little snapple for another song which vanished from the 'net when Murdoch snuffed out Imeem.

"Since the kid was a misfit
I ain't have no best friend, just me and my biscuit.."

Mel Matrix ft. Jim Jones - Man Down (2009)



Kudos to the Kentucky Kid™ for hippin' me to some of the Byrd Gang mixtapes back in '07 when I was a square who was only checkin' their appearances on Harlem : Diary Of A Summer and Hustler's P.O.M.E.

Future fear

After last year saw promo clips for Planet Thug, Canal Street, Feel My Pain, and Figure Four all appear within the space of a few months, I joked that we'd probably end up seeing great new viral video singles by Snagglepuss and Black Rob before 2010 was done 'n' dusted. Lo and behold, Snagglepuss reappeared out of the blue upon the mention of his name like Candyman with the reformed Bounce Squad on 2 new songs including the sterling Jadakiss assisted The Bounce Is Back (still needs a vid', though), and it transpires that B.R's No Fear cut which was floating around last summer was afforded a video a few months back, although I didn't see it until recently when I was perusing his Twitter to see if there was any juicy gossip about G-Dep on there :

"So people throw your hands up and show me where the cash at
matter-of-fact, put 'em down, I might catch a flashback.."

Black Rob - No Fear



Nothing quite says 'hood viral video for WSHH.com more than the the lip-syncing being slightly off from the song at times and and the clip itself being some ol' entirely-too-darkly-filtered Christopher Nolan Batman movie lookin' ass shit. Good joint, though, because lyrically and production-wise it picks up where the likes of Help Me Out and Smile In Your Face from the last B.R album left off and, I dunno who laced it but it definately has that D-Dot or Nashiem Myrick feel to it, no?

By my reckoning, Black Rob has a 10 month window of oppurtunity left to release another mixtape and album before he winds up getting sent back to the bing again for stealing toasters from Wal-Mart, so his Twitter page reveals potentially excellent news for 2011 betwixt his general "'sup, fam?" tweets to Jadakiss and Styles P with the proposal that they record a sequel to the unquestionably classic 24 Hours To Live :



A 24 Hours To Live Part 2 which wouldn't feature the presence of DMX could surpass the song which beget it in theory, but the curse of every Duck Down release since Monkey Barz bar the Heltah Skeltah reunion album (Goldust's entrance music would've been one of the last WWF themes I'd have would ever get sampled, but it sounded mad imperious on That's Incredible) inevitably rears its ugly head to extinguish one's expections :



Sonofabitch. The only way this could ever be welcome news would be if 9th Wonder had finally woken up to the fact that the only great beat he's ever concocted was M.O.P's Instigator.

Martorial elegance # 42 : N.O edition

Ayo Fiend : either Percy Miller needs to explain to you that basketball and tennis are entirely seperate sports, or you need to fire your current graphic designer and hit up Pen N' Pixel again (the gawd Shawn Brauch would've never let such a blatant faux-pas slip past) because a Jordan Spizike doesn't count as a "tenniShoe", bruv :



Okay, so the Luvin' Life track with Curren$y off this new Fiend 'tape continues their so-far stellar partnership (though Fiend needs to stop allowing $pitta's weedcarriers like Trademark Da Skydiver on his releases, because that guy is a plague on Curren$y songs let alone anywhere else), James Bond Benz lives up to its title even though it doesn't feature enough rapping for my liking, and Absolutely makes him sound like he's in the process of assimilating into a cyborg like Quik did on Jupiter's Critic And The Mind Of Mars (hoes on our dicks 'cause we feel like Maria in Metropolis?), but I remain stuck on the previously leaked Cross The Atlantic because it has that grandiose feel of the J.U.S.T.I.C.E League productions for Rawse which are instantly vitiated for me the moment he starts rhyming on them, and because I enjoy when people rap over full songs a la the 2 Curren$y & Fiend Menahan Street Band songs from last year, Ice-T's Soul On Ice, or Holla and No, No, No by Ghostface :

Fiend - Cross The Atlantic



Speaking of Curren$y, a few words on his Frost freestyle over Young Dro's Freeze Me from the otherwise relatively mediocre Return To The Winner's Circle mixtape :

Curren$y - Frost freestyle



As someone whose entry-point for $pitta was Reagan Era in 2008 (I thought he sounded like Kweli-ized Lupe-lite sap on most of the Ca$h Money-era material I'd heard) who then became a firm believer with Scared Of Monstas in 2009, I'd like him to rap onsome more southern sounding synth production again in 2011. Partially because it's on beats like this where he can have the most fun with his flow by letting his intricate rhyme-patterns do the Dougie, the Harlem-Shake, and the Peewee Herman, but mainly because it might finally stop some of these twerps out here calling him a weed-rapper and comparing him to Devin when Big Boi, Fiend, Young Bleed, Posdnuos, Q. Tip, and Camp Lo are all better reference points. Really not sure about that "listenin' to Dizzee Rascal" line in this, though. Ayo Curren$y - FYI, black ppl abandoned Dizzee Rascal entirely when he dropped this

White man's burden

Who knew that copies of Young Bleed's My Balls And My Word CD had replaced Air Jordans and Starter jackets as the top answer on Family Fortunes during the "things white ppl in Louisiana get relieved for by ethnic gentlemen" round, huh?



Can't imagine the HMF Presents.. Welcome To Mobville Volume 1 compilation which featured a handful of Bleed tracks stimulated the same response from da streetz, though, because I've never seen or heard anyone mention it and I only came across it myself during one of my once-every-few-months perusals of the Amazon mp3 store to see if Bleed's Put Your Stamp On has appeared anywhere yet. Unfortunately it hasn't, but I'm glad my search led to the discovery of this comp' as I'm diggin' the joints of his with Suga Free and 8Ball on there, and Top Back is so catchy that you'd swear it was written by Bernie Taupin, Cathy Dennis, or Max B :



Suga Free & Young Bleed - Baby Brother (2009)



Young Bleed & 8Ball - Top Back (2009)



Also found on Amazon when searching for a CDQ version of Heavy Rain by The Jacka recently was this Rain cut from one of the myriad of local Bay rappers who get Jacka to do a couple of features with them and then pretend they've done a full project with him who've dropped an official mixtape or album with Jacka :

The Jacka & Kel of Western Conference ft. No Gottie - Rain (2008)



Gonna have to consider this one as noncanonical to the Mob Figaz's precipitation-related catalogue since it doesn't have any downpour or thunder sound-fx on it, and rather than resemble anything by the Mob themselves, it reminds me more of when NY thug-rap mixtape dudes were going for the whole low-budget version of College Dropout-era KanYe sound, best typified on Peep Game by Stack Bundles & Riot Squad :

Stack Bundles ft. Riot Squad - Peep Game (2005)