Nas f/ Mary J. Blige – “Reach Out” (Def Jam, 2012)

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Life Is Good is definitely a 21st century Nas album. It’s exactly the type of record he has been making since Stillmatic – 12% good enough, 63% whatever, 25% completely embarrassing. And yet it will still get hailed as a classic (because it’s Nas, yo) for three weeks before fans forget it and forever and go back to longing for him to make another album with DJ Premier. [1]

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It’s been a while since we’ve brought the Posse back but in light of Kanye’s recent leak out/freak out I decided to revisit this short post about my years as a teenage bootlegger and the two most memorable leaks of those years. This was originally posted at that other site on September 27, 2006, around the same time Lupe, irrelevant, was facing leakage issues similar to what Kanye’s been going through. Nullus, natch.

So I’ve been told that the commercial version of Lupe’s new after school special album pales in comparison to the original internet leak. Not being a bootlegging thief anymore, I wouldn’t know. But I wasn’t always as pure of morals as I am now. Like Lupe Little himself, I have a shameful criminal history that predates my days as an honorable member of the hip hop media. And it’s about time I come clean (no Jeru).

I was once… a bootleger.

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Spinning off from the Mikah/Carmen Carter post. A while back I had intended to do to do an entire week dedicated to classic and random R&B/Rap collabs but then I got distracted. Also I think you guys would be about as interested in a week of R&B collabs as you were a day of rare Project Blowed tapes. So I compressed it into a single blog post. Some of this is vaguely web attainable, but you know for damn sure you weren’t looking for it.

Alicia Keys f/ Nas & Rakim – “Streets Of NY“

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unreleased (200?)
How many self-remakes does that make for “New York State Of Mind”? Alicia thinks she’s slick the way she flips up the piano line here. I’d think she was slick even if she didn’t. I forget which of her albums this got left off of, sometime around the early 00tsiirc. (more…)

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This is the most important album of my generation. Rest in peace.

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…)