If you haven’t yet noticed, most of my day-to-day hulkshare coverage has been taking place over at Tumblin’ Erb. Still sometimes things get backlogged and that’s when the old New Rap Music column rears its head. Which is what is happening now, right before your eyes.

E-40 f/ Beeda Weeda & Work of the DB’z – “In The Morning”

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

from Revenue Retreivin’ (Sick Wid It, 3/29)

Trying to pick a single track to feature out of the 40 that 40 is about to drop next Tuesday is like trying to choose your favorite member of the Dungeon Family (it’s not necessarily Andre goddammit). Minus a few very minor missteps the second round of Revenues is two and a half solid hours of impeccable spittums and blink and you miss it imagery Ooooh sinister mob shit / choppers all in the closet / hydrogen lamps in the attic / warm broccoli spinach and cabbage / vacuum sealer on the counter / right next to the money counter / that’s right next to the scale / for weighing nuts and fruits not yayo / that’s my excuse if they take me to jail. I went with “In The Morning” for that open, in part, (Beeda and Work hold their own here too) but also that. Goddamn. Beat. There’s one song on Overtime Shift (which, on first listen, is feeling like the superior sibling) that opens with an approximation of the THX deep note test sound. Not the most original conceit – Dre did it (and was later sued) – but it seems like an apt metaphor for 40′s production selections right now. Every song has me feeling like the goddamn Maxell man. Wig blown completely back. This ties into what I was saying about Pharoahe Monch a few weeks ago – with age the most technically effortless rappers have the curse of becoming predictable in their unpredictability. The best way to combat this staleness is by continuing to expand the production palette. As out as 40′s beats get he’s still miles ahead, but new sonics bring out the best in him.

Freestyle Fellowship – “Welcome“

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

I had perhaps unfairly written off the impending Freestyle Fellowship reunion project too early. The LA quartet is comprised of some of the greatest breathing raw talents that rap has ever produced but they also have a chronic streak of underachievement. Much of their recent solo output has been a far cry from their heyday and this is their third reunion in about twelve years, where the two previous ones haven’t quite delivered and they aren’t getting any younger. The few crew tracks that have leaked thus far have been passable but frustratingly conservative and far from awe inspiring. But over the past few days Jupiter has been leaking very lo-fi rips of their recent recordings (96kbps is the new Maxell hiss – though weirdly the files I downloaded were actually ripped at like 400+ kbps?) via his Soundcloud page and it turns out these guys are still outstanding rappers when they want to be and, more importantly, masters of setting an atmosphere. “Welcome,” with its upright bass and endearingly rambling styles upon styles raps, recalls the mystical shamanic vibe of their very underrated late ’90s Shockadoom sessions. The crew fell apart before that album was ever completed. Hopefully they can keep it together this time around.
(more…)

Wale – “BASEhead“

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Wale picks up on the rolling double time flow that folks like Meek have been popularizing in Philly. For a short while it seemed like Wale would be stepping in as a remote member of State Property. Or at least Young Chris’ new Lil Neefy. So it’s no surprise that he’s been paying attention to rap trends in the City of Brotherly Gun Similes. He’s snapping too. This is produced by someone or someones going by the name Basshead which is strange because there’s virtually no bass on the record. Just church bells and 8 bit blips. That drum programming seems a little complex for a NES game though, I wonder if Basshead is rocking Nanonloop or something similar.

Kurupt f/ DJ Quik, Terrace Martin & Snoop Dogg – “Bounce, Rock, Skate“

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

from Streetlights (Penagon, 2010)
So Kurupt still hasn’t quite figured out how to hold down a solo album, no news there. Too often on Streetlights he either falls into the trap of mathematical hypothetical lyrical spit or that of his recent completely confusing directional obsessions. “I’mma take the top and put it where the bottom drop / then I’mma reverse it and make the bottom touch the top / see this what they all call the top spot / then I’mma show the top where the bottom stop.” That’s an actual quote, sounding like a particularly twisted game of Simon Says. Anyway, the real Streetlights highlight goes to his Blaqkout partner demolishes this bonus cut, delivering purposely clunky insults with calm malice. “You’re the color of money / and your weed looks like autumn / and the pockets on your jeans look like they did when you bought ‘em.” (more…)

When it was announced that Snoop Dogg would be taking over as “Creative Chairman” at Priority Records it seemed like another meaningless label job for a rapper, an excuse to get a long forgotten labels name back into the press for a split second. As it turns out Snoop is actually doing something for the label, overseeing a series of back catalog reissues. Three of these represses – Eazy-E’s Eazy Duz It, Master P’s Ghetto D & EPMD’s Strictly Business* – dropped last week, billed as “USDA Editions**” and marketed as “Snoop Dogg Approved.” As if Snoop Dogg, the man who released Tha Doggfather is some sort of bastion of quality control. He is, apparently, writing the liner notes, which could be interesting but probably not interesting enough to justify the purchase of an album you already own.

And that’s the thing. This is just another shallow grab by a seemingly rosterless label to get you to repurchase the NWA catalog. This time with garish artwork. In fact Eazy Duz It and Ghetto D have both seen the full reissue treatment in recent years. And I’m sure if we see anything else from this series it’ll be another EFIL/100 Miles combo pack or something similarly redundant. Still, I’m going to take this moment to suggest a few good nominees for the series, many of which have been legitimately unattainable for years. Because Snoop Dogg might read this blog. (more…)

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

from A-Town Rush (Arvis, 1992)

Seagram f/ Gangsta P – “Straight Mobbin“

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

from The Dark Roads (Rap-A-Lot, 1992)

I finally managed to grab a clean mp3 of Kilo’s proto-futuristic tongue twister “The Piz”, which appeared on the original Arvis Records release of his second LP but omitted from the more commonly found Wrap/Ichiban pressing. The Atlanta rapper was toying with the izz suffix more than a decade before Snoop Dogg introduced the speech pattern to a generation of awkwardly ironic soccer moms. As were Oakland’s Seagram (who we’ve talked about before) and Gangsta P. This NYT article recognizes neither. Both are better than “Double Dutch Bus.”

Gucci Mane f/ Snoop Dogg – “Awesome” FUCKWMG
It’s really smart the way Gucci uses the word “awesome” on this song. It might be his smarterest song yet. He’s way smarter than anybody who was ever on Rawkus (except for maybe Big L because he was a drug dealer). Snoop Dogg, on the other hand, is not so smart. Maybe I will make a list of rappers smartest to dumbest. Gucci will be #1. #2 will be Azie Faison.

DJ JS-1 f/ Pharoahe Monch & OC – “Ridiculous“

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

from Ground Original 2 (Fat Beats, available June 30)

OC and Pharoahe Monch think they’re so smart because they use the word “ridiculous”. But Monch went to art school and listened to Sting and probably never sold drugs so I remain unimpressed by his vocabulary. Did OC ever sell drugs? If so maybe he is smarter than Monch. But probably not Gucci, who is the smartest. Either way this song kind of bangs. (via Nahright) (more…)