In case you missed it, Westcheddar recently unearthed this monumental 1999 footage of Jay-Z and the Roc-A-Fella click performing at The Tunnel. I’m just sitting down with it now. Highlights include a Beanie freestyle, Jay breathlessly rocking the first verse of “Jigga What? Jigga Who?” with no hype man and an early performance of “So Ghetto.” It’s almost surreal to think of these guys, a bunch of sweaty dudes in t-shirts and beanies talking about murdering you, were seen as “jiggy” in this era. This was what a concert performed by one of the biggest pop stars in the world looked like. Imagine Kanye or 50 or Wayne playing such a relatively small capacity venue (and to an almost completely black audience) in New York City in 2009.

You can’t. Because Jay-Z destroyed that. He made rappers turn corporate, made rappers tabloid fodder, made rappers interested in anything but rapping raps for rap fans. And now all we have are these youtubes. More after the jump. (more…)

Rap battles are usually built on myths, the most vicious barbs tread closer to fiction than reality. Like Pac’s probably imaginary affair with Faith, for example. But once in a while on record beef can get particularly personal. Here are a couple such instances.

Kingpin Skinny Pimp & 211 – “Lil Arm Dance“

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from Controversy (Underground, 2000)
T-Rock – “My Little Arm“

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from The Myth Of Reality (Secret Service, 2003)

DJ Paul of Three 6 Mafia was born with an atrophied right arm. This is one of those hip hop facts that most listeners are aware of, but still seems to shock someone every time it comes up in conversation. Paul has rarely, if ever, gone on record on the topic and, in fact, seems to go to some lengths to conceal it with braces and loose fitting, long sleeved outerwear and such. Really, you’d think he’d be more open about it. His success despite this disability is pretty damn impressive, especially given his history a party DJ. Dude must have been the Jim Abbott of the turntables. Obviously though, the tiny arm is something of an achilles heel to diss hungry rivals, specifically scorned one time Hypnotized Minds affiliates. Skinny Pimp even turned it into a dance. (more…)

Vibe.com is running a short bonus q&a that I did with Charli Baltimore about the planned Commission (her, Jay & Big) album as part of their “51 Albums That Never Were” feature. The article itself running in the current issue (TI Cover) and is definitely worth a read.

I don’t often write much about the New York legends because it so often seems that their legacy is already engraved in stone tablets. So it was nice to find a relatively untold pocket of the Jay & Big story. I mean shit, two of the best rappers of all time nearly cut a full length together and it only warrants a passing mention in both Ro’s Bad Boy book and Coker’s Biggie joint? I guess an aborted could-be-great record is not quite as glamorous as car crashes and shoot outs and illicit affairs. This is probably why my Notorious screenplay was rejected. Shouts to Charli who was very kind and forthcoming about all this. You can really hear her love for Big just in her speaking voice.

A few other loose things I’ve written recently: Gorilla Zoe Interview and Themselves Review @ DX.

It’s that time of year when I usually tell you that everything is gonna be alright, when i massage your swollen fingers so you little Dillites can tap your pads again. But this year I am struggling. I want to tell you that it’s all good but it ain’t. Rap is hurting. Not creatively, of course. In the opinion of this attic dwelling cracker, 2008 may have been the best year for rap since Boots knocked down the towers. But only the inner circle is paying attention to all that great rap. Commercially and in the eyes of a very confused media we are lost like Zoe said it. Last year our biggest concern was who was snapping their fingers before they disappeared. Now the best rappers are not rapping, going to jail, and just sucking. Now that Wayne has officially evolved into the hip hop personality sphere occupied by such irrelevant recording artists as 50 and Snoop Dogg we have no true rap stars. Kanye is leading the pack, but off the cliff.

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Michael A. Gonzales tells the story of 1520 Sedgwick.

On paper Bleuprint 3 is actually sounding pretty good. Well, except for the part about Jay rapping on it.

Baby’s younger brother and original Hot Boy Terrance William is blogging from prison. It’s mostly personal talk, but this post goes into the early days of Cash Money some.

Devin The Dude on Slick Rick @ Rhapsody.

I reviewed Paper Trail over at NPR. Brief summary: it’s pretty great, except for the songs that are bad.