Larry Heard 'Em Say

Do my eardrums deceive me here or has Vic Mensa just made the first legitimately great 100% Hip-House song ever with Down On My Luck? *Kay Slay voice* ONLY A CHICAGO RAPPER COULDA DONE THIS, YO!

Vic Mensa - Down On My Luck
(From FakeShoreDrive; 2014)


You lads & lasses all pissed & moaned about the fake Chris Brown X real Chris Brown X DJ Mustard song but it may have accidentally beget a whole new era of non-shitty Hip-House redux to soundtrack the summer of 2014.

AYO! @ Down On My Luck being produced by someone called Stefan Ponce, tho. Never change, America, never change.

Generic list post: april 2014

Foxy Brown - Cruel Summer
(From the Ill Na Na 2: The Fever album sessions; 2003)



Wake up, wake up, it's another end of the month obligatory list post of songs that've ruled my roost these past 29 days.

King Los - Woke Up Like This (2014)
Ezale - Foreal Foreal (2013)
Lil' Chris - Keep Your Head Up (2014)
Mobb Deep - Get It In Blood (1994)
Wiz Khalifa - We Dem Boyz (2014)
Legit Ballaz - Tattoo (2002)
Future - I Be U (2014)
DB Tha General - Say Dat (2014)
5th Ward Weebie - Let Me Find Out Part 1 (2013)
Doe B ft. T.I. - WHY (2014)
Iggy Azalea - Pu$$y (2011)
Lil' Boosie, Webbie & Foxx - Pray For Me (2014)
Mouse On Tha Track - I Mean That (2014)
Sen City - Cloud Surfin' (2014)
Intuition & Equalibrum - Ain't The Blues (2013)
Young Thug - Ew (2014)
Smoke DZA & 183rd - Flair For The Gold (2014)
Young Money - Senile (2014)
Katie Got Bandz - Chiraq freestyle (2014)
Snootie Wild ft. K Camp - Made Me (2014)

I wouldn't say I *like* that new Bandman Kevo single where he sounds like ZMoney with constipation, yet I feel the need to acknowledge its existence.

Previously: january, february, march.

Here's a Sen City track that probably sounds like Le1f

Thought I'd give Sen City's new mixtape a toot after enjoying his Faxsimile B work on Cam's Instagram and Jim's Go DJ last year. The cut that's currently garnering the most rewinds is the one where Sen gets polytonal on datazz by simultaneously sounding like Max Biggavelz and Money Boss Players. Throw in an oodle of shit-talking about ya girl and a bit of self-mythologising about Sen's place in the pantheon of Dipset weed carriers, and you have Cloud Surfin':

"Sound like Max, but far from a Stacks"

Sen City - Cloud Surfin'
(From Schemin' & Dreamin' mixtape; 2014)



On a Harlem-related note, R.I.P to DJ EZ Rock. I think I summed up the enduring appeal of It Takes Two quite well in this blurb for Complex.

Morncore

"Fell asleep trappin', woke up to the bread
Shout out my n*gga Marty woke up in the feds"

King Los - Woke Up Like This
(From Zero Gravity 2 mixtape; 2014)


In a parallel universe, Los wouldn't have left Bad Boy (again) and this would be the biggest & best single from the house that Puff built since Ass On The Floor. In this same parallel universe all music criticism will be conducted via pictures of 2$hin, so Woke Up Like This's review would go a lil' somethin' like dis:

Bubba Sparxxx in the Ugly video.JPG

"I can see them haters talkin' but they do not phase me
'Cause I done got it out the mud, that's that shit that made me"

Snootie Wild ft. K Camp - Made Me
(From Traps N Trunks; 2014)


This is way better than current-Westwood staples Yayo and Cut Her Off (though not the STILL insanely-underrated Oh No, obviously!), but I'm mainly posting it today because it presents me with the perfect excuse to blawg about that similar rumination on aspiration by Box & Mouse On Tha Track:

"I need a shovel and bucket
WHOOOOOOOOO
'Cause I'm gettin' it out the mud"

Box & Swagga Fresh Freddie - Get It Out The Mud
(From All Options Open album; 2011)



_________________ <~~ insert attempted joke about Box's SEO-unfriendly name here insert somethin' about Mouse being an O.G of 8-bit beats here ~~> _________________

"Screwed vocals are just Auto-Tune for Tumblr rappers nowadays"

Quick reminder that the only people officially sanctioned to put Screwed vocals over non-Screwed beats are Texan rappers. Plz take note Lil' Ugly Duckling Mane, SparkMaster Tape & all other music college production project-soundin' ass Tumblr rappers still lingering on the internet in 2014:

"One thing and then on another
I pull mo' stunts than the Ringling Brothers"

Lil' Flex - Freestyle
(From Yungstar & Den Den's Crooked Profit Vol 1 compilation; 2002)



Thank u Texa$ rap for blessing me with trivia about American circuses that I've been able to put into use during the local pub quiz. Also see: Paul Wall's verse on N Luv Wit' My Money.

Generic list post: lyrics of furry

Let's talk about lyrics from rap songs you initially misheard during your first listen. Preferably from the last 3 or so years, but get at me, dog, with all your dogberryisms no matter their vintage. Some examples from ya boy Mac Malapropism right chea:

"Just a young 'hood n*gga, Screech raised me"

"My young bitch blow up like a tampon"

"It's goin' down like celery, there's nuthin' you can tell me"

"18 shots I don't need no aim, cops roll round our emo slang"

"But I swear with these liquor shots Ill shoot it out with 5-0"

"She get on that dick and stay on all night like Porsche lights"

"I feel like faithful, I feel like faithful, I feel like faithful, I feel like faithful"

"I'm the stink, you the baloney"

"I'm so fancy, can't you taste this chode?"

Started seein' saltines on Bankhead

Left, Right: T.I. = Eazy-E, Iggy Aztralea = Tarrie B, Tiny = Michel'le.