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kanye west – power.

By • On • In hot spit, music videos, scott • 1 min read

Kanye, performing live on SNL.

It’s easy to miss how hard it actually is to rap live at that volume without a crew to yell words in key places, as is the common practice, which actually helps you catch your breath and keeps you from having to shout to make a point. These verses have a fairly high degree of difficulty, especially in terms of breathlessness, and by performing alone he has no safety net whatsoever. He kills it.

It seems Ye’s rock star self-importance manifests as him surrounding himself with beauty. He chooses art direction over an entourage.

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runaway.

By • On • In music videos, scott, the band wagon • 1 min read

Everyone has probably seen it by now, but I wanted to share it here anyway. The first time I watched it, I was going to watch it in parts since it is 34 minutes long… 34 minutes later I’d watched the whole thing. I just never wanted to turn it off.

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The Rap Map

By • On • In brian, everything else, hot spit • 1 min read

Ever wondered about all those places, people, and events that are referenced in that new Cam’ron joint? Well, don’t bust your dome thinking too hard because there is The Rap Map to solve all those hard to figure references.

The, uh … geniuses over at Rap Geniuses, a site which “explains rap lyrics”, have devised the Rap Map to further help the listener find out exactly what/where the fuck Lil Wayne (et al) are talking about. The map includes the cities of New York, LA, The Chi, New Orleans, Detroit, and a handful of others … each place or event is marked by a handgun (how sad) … 2pac’s elementary school? That’s there … Lil Wayne’s boyhood home? That’s there too … as well as a shitload of other useless information, but holy shit, is this site addicting! It’s like a thug nasty version of googlemaps.

"Mapping the Gangsta Terrain of the Planet"

I might have to start listening to terrible hip hop just so I can use the resources available to me at Rap Geniuses … but then again, maybe I should just stick to, you know, awesome shit. And there’s always Girl Talk.

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your emcee dream team.

By • On • In hot spit, scott • 2 min read

Who would be in your emcee dream team?

I recently watched a video on YouTube featuring an interview in which Mos Def talked about an idea he had to raise money for charity by having an epic hip hop battle. In said battle, the masters of Hip Hop culture, in its varied forms, would be crowned by actual competition as opposed to vague and baseless bragging, or by trademarking yourself as “The Greatest Rapper Alive.”

The showdown would have a battle of marching bands, followed by a battle of the breakers, a battle of the DJs, and then a battle of the beats (Kanye anyone?). The finale would be a Battle Royale in which two emcee dream teams competed to see which team was the best.

Since the idea was also a way to call out Lil’ Wayne, Mos said he would captain one team and Wayne would captain the other, with each captain being able to assemble the team out of whoever he chose. Mos Def said the other four members of his team would be Doom, Nas, Jay Electronica, and Black Thought.

This got me to thinking, it would be fun to see who people came up with for their own dream teams.

If you had the chance to win a million dollars if the team you formed could defeat all comers, who would be your five emcees? I’m really hoping to get feedback on this, I really want to see who everyone picks.

My dream team is as follows, in no particular order (I know, it is really close to Mos Def’s, but that is part of what got me so excited watching the video. Brian and I instantly mentioned Doom and Black Thought the moment Mos said “Dream Team”):

1. Mos Def

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2. Doom (aka, MF Doom, aka, Mad Villain, etc.)

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3. Black Thought

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4. Q-Tip

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5. Childish Gambino

This is clearly the most controversial pick. I very well may regret it, being that Gambino has been on the scene all of ten minutes, and his inclusion on the list means leaving off guys like KRS-One and Nas.

Yet, for now, I stand by the pick. It’s always good to have new blood on the team, and I have never been as impressed, as quickly, and as early in an emcee’s career as I am with the young Mr. Glover. He hearkens back to when Hip Hop was supposed to make you smile. I laugh out loud at his turns of phrase consistently, even though he isn’t some sort of novelty act, he’s just really clever. See that, there I go singing his praises, that should be saved for another post.

So, there’s mine, who is on your team?!?

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cudikanyecommon.

By • On • In scott • 1 min read

I know this song and video are old news, but I like the song and the video is so clean and bright and nice to look at. Plus, this blog will never be shackled by the tyranny of the moment, we are going to post what we like, whether it was released yesterday, or six months ago, or in the 60s. We might as well make that clear right off the bat, we will not be timely… in part because we just can’t afford that.

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