2011's Most Anticipated Albums- #9: Lasers

Lupe Fiasco is without a doubt, one of the most gifted MCs in Hip Hop. However, like many MCs that favor substance over style, his latest album Lasers was shelved by Atlantic Records without a release date in sight. However, after over a year of push-backs, Atlantic has announced that Lasers will hit store shelves on March 8th. Lupe's word-play and storytelling is truly ahead of the pack, and it's great to see him get a chance to continue to show the world his immense talent. "Kick, Push," "Gold Watch," and "Streets On Fire" are always in rotation, and if you haven't listened to his first two albums, that should be on your to-do list. Three songs have been released to promote Lasers, including the Neptunes-produced "I'm Beamin'," "Shining Down," and his most recent single, "The Show Goes On." For now, enjoy the video for "Paris, Tokyo," off of his last album, The Cool.

Throwback: Dr. Dre feat. Snoop Dogg- "Lil Ghetto Boy"

Dr. Dre has released numerous classics throughout his career. Everyone knows his hit songs like "Still D.R.E.," "Nuthin' But A 'G' Thang," "Dre Day," and "The Next Episode," but one of his greatest songs tends to get overlooked. "Lil Ghetto Boy," off of his first album, The Chronic, is one of my all-time favorites. The beat is absolutely incredible, and the story that's told about getting stuck in the hood is legendary.

Throwback: Q-Tip- "Vivrant Thing"

Q-Tip, the frontman of "A Tribe Called Quest," is without a doubt a Hip Hop legend. With "Tribe," they managed to release three of the greatest albums of all time with People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm, Low End Theory, and Midnight Marauders. If you haven't heard these albums, you're missing out on some of the best music ever made. For example, Rolling Stone named Low End Theory as the #154 greatest album of all-time, on their "500 Greatest Albums of All Time List." As a solo artist, "Tip" has released three albums to acclaim and success. His 2008 album, The Renaissance was rated as one of the best of 2008, and received a grammy nomination for "Best Rap Album." However, my favorite Q-Tip song is his 1999 single, "Vivrant Thing," which was co-produced by J Dilla. It's extremely funky, and never gets old.

2011's Most Anticipated Albums- #10: The Greatest Story Never Told

It's been a long time coming for the upcoming release of Saigon's album, The Greatest Story Never Told. It has long been one of my most anticipated albums, right up there with Dr. Dre's Detox, and it's lookin' like it will drop in stores on February 15th. Hopefully they mean it this time, but I'm still keeping my fingers crossed that it won't get pushed back (again). You may remember Saigon from his cameo appearances in Entourage, when Turtle tries to manage his career. Sai is much more than a gimmick, or spin-off of a TV show... he's talented enough that Just Blaze signed him as the first artist to his record label, Fort Knocks. "Just" oversaw the album, and produced 9 of 16 songs. With additional production from Kanye West, Buckwild, and Red Spyda among others, and features from Jay-Z, Swizz Beatz, Q-Tip, Marsha Ambrosius, and Faith Evans, The Greatest Story Never Told is sure to be one of the best Hip Hop albums of 2011. Check out the link below for the title track off the album (which is fire), and the tracklist below...

Saigon- "The Greatest Story Never Told" (prod. by Just Blaze) [props to illRoots.com for the DL link]

Tracklist:

1) Station Identification (Intro) feat. Fatman Scoop (prod. by Just Blaze)

2) The Invitation feat. Q-Tip & Fatman Scoop (prod. by Just Blaze)

3) C'mon Baby feat. Swizz Beatz & Jay-Z (prod. by Just Blaze)

4) War (prod. by Scram Jones)

5) Enemies (prod. by D. Allen)

6) Friends (prod. by Just Blaze)

7) The Greatest Story Never Told (prod. by Just Blaze)

8) Clap feat. Faith Evans (prod. by Just Blaze)

9) Preacher (prod. by Just Blaze)

10) It's Alright feat. Marsha Ambrosius (prod. by Kanye West)

11) Believe It (prod. by Just Blaze)

12) Give It To Me feat. Raheem DeVaughn (prod. by SC)

13) What The Lovers Do feat. Devin The Dude (prod. by Red Spyda)

14) Better Way feat. Layzie Bone (prod. by Just Blaze)

15) Oh Yeah (Our Babies) (prod. by Buckwild)

16) Bring Me Down (prod. by DJ Corbett)

Throwback: Slum Village- "Raise It Up"

I've always thought Slum Village was way too underrated. Their first album Fan-Tas-Tic Vol. 1, is an underground classic, and the follow up, Vol. 2, is excellent as well. J Dilla (who back in the day was known as Jay Dee) was long considered to be one of the best producers in the Hip Hop world before his untimely passing in 2006. Never to be outdone, T3 and Baatin always brought the rhymes to properly support Dilla's thick basslines and slightly off-kilter drums. If you're not familiar with them, I urge you to do a little research because you won't regret it. In the meantime, I wanted to leave everyone with one of my favorite SV jams from back of the day- "Raise It Up."

The Making of 6'7'

Shondrae "Bangladesh" Crawford has been tearing it up ever since he produced Lil Wayne's smash hit, "A Milli." He has since gone on to do records with Beyonce, Kesha, Gucci Mane, and he is currently working on Pusha T's new solo album. However, a lot of people don't know that he got his start as Ludacris' go-to producer for his first album, Back For the First Time. Most notably, he produced the now legendary single, "What's Your Fantasy," and the cult-favorite, "Ho." Most recently, he produced the lead single "6'7'" for Lil Wayne's upcoming album, Tha Carter IV, and it's a certified banger. While he was in the studio, he shot a video showing the making of Weezy's newest single. It's always cool to see the process of putting together a chart-topping song, so take a look...

This Time I'm Really Goin' Off, Fireworks

Although it took a while to grow on me, Drake's album, Thank Me Later, has since become one of my favorite albums of 2010. One song in particular has struck me like no other, and that would be the album intro, "Fireworks." The lush piano chords, along with Alicia Keys' beautiful voice really helped set the mood for an absolutely beautiful song. A few months ago, a U.K.-based remixer named, Deadboy, created a House edit of "Fireworks" that really does the song justice. I've been bumpin it non-stop lately, and I urge everyone to give it a listen... you may find yourself doing the same.

Let It Ride

Billionaire Boys Club

Since the age of 17, Pharrell has been living a dream. It was at this age when he wrote a verse for Teddy Riley to use for Wreckx-N-Effect's 1992 hit-song, "Rump Shaker." The song went double platinum, and Skateboard P's career has been off and running ever since. Together with production partner, Chad Hugo, The Neptunes have won numerous grammy's, produced multiple #1 hits, and have an estimated net worth of $155 million. Recently, The Selby, posted photos of Pharrell at his pad in Miami. The place looks absolutely incredible, and it's definitely fair to say that the fruits of P's labor paid off.

Pharrell's Miami Loft

Coming Out With Gunz Blazin'

Fresh out the pen, it appears Wayne is wastin' no time to start promoting his upcoming album The Carter IV. Earlier today, Funkmaster Flex premiered the first single off the album, which is called "6'7"." Wayne and upcoming battle-MC, Cory Gunz, spit fire over a rawkus Bangladesh-produced beat. The result is one of the hottest songs to come out in a while. Unfortunately we only have a radio-rip for the moment, but hopefully the CDQ version will be out soon.

Lil Wayne feat. Cory Gunz- 6'7"

Emerging From The Depths

Deep within the abyss of Aftermath's studios, some of the most talented producers in Hip Hop work every day to create music worthy of the Aftermath/Dr.Dre-approved name. Many of the world's greatest producers- Scott Storch, Hi-Tek, DJ Khalil, Mel Man, Mr. Porter, and Mike Elizondo among others, have all worked under the Aftermath umbrella. The label's newest signee, Dawaun Parker, has put in a lot of work on recent albums, most notably Busta Rhymes' The Big Bang, and Eminem's Relapse. On the side, Dawaun has been workin on an EP of his own called The Decision. With the exception of Kanye, Pete Rock, and to a lesser extent, Pharrell and J Dilla, I'm always skeptical of producer-rappers. For whatever reason, something doesn't seem to translate properly from working behind the boards to gettin' busy in the booth. That said, Dawaun's first single, "Lost," is pretty dope and is absolutely worth a listen for the production alone. Dawaun and Dr. Dre take care of the production, and to his credit, Dawaun sounds legitimate with the mic.

Dawaun Parker- "Lost" (co-prod. by Dr. Dre)

Better Late Than Never

The Clipse has long been one of my favorite Hip Hop groups. Even though their last album, Till The Casket Drops, didn't quite live up to expectations (sales-wise or critically), it was still better than the vast majority of albums released in 2009. To be fair, the album did have some jams- "Door Man," "Popular Demand," and "Never Will It Stop" knocked real hard. However, one of my favorite songs was the last song on the album, "Life Change." The beat was so dope, and rather than talk about their standard coke-dealings, Pusha and Malice came with some introspective lyrics that really showed how much they've grown as artists. A year later, which is incredibly late by most standards, we've now got the official video for "Life Change," which features Pharrell and Kenna. The vid is pretty cool, and the song is fire so check it out.

OutKastic

Thanks to my brother Andre, I really got into Big Boi's Sir Lucious Left Foot album this summer. It may have not been everything I expected and hoped, but Big Boi did his thing. Maybe 80% of the songs are too creative and well-produced to press the "next" button on them.

Here is the video for the song The Train Pt. 2. It was recorded in 2008 when Big Boi had unexpectedly linked up with the Atlanta Ballet for the production of Big. The track features Sam Chris on the chorus and is somewhat of a sequel to the original The Train, which featured Scarface, Sleepy Brown, and obviously Andre 3000, from Kast's underrated project, the Idlewild album.

The Train (ft. Sleepy Brown, Scarface)

The Train Pt. 2

Testify

I can never pass up posting a mash-up done as well as this. The dude, Xaphoon Jones, who is better known for producing for Chiddy Bang, put this together, mashing up Kanye West's Touch The Sky featuring Lupe with Radiohead. It is a welcomed Kanye-centric break from finals and my steady rotation of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.

Kanye West vs. Radiohead - Testify

Put A Little Dub In Your Step

For those of you who are looking for a little something different to listen to, let me introduce you to Benga. Benga is one of the premier Dubstep artists from Croydon, South London, and alongside his partner in crime, Skream, he's helped bring Dubstep out of the dark corridors of South London and into the mainstream. I've become a pretty big fan of the genre due to its fusion of Hip Hop, House, Two-Step, Grime, and other types of electronic music. Recently, Benga teamed up with British singer Katy B to remix his song "Man On A Mission," giving birth to new version known as, "Katy On A Mission." The song and accompanying video are a great introduction to one of the fastest growing genres of music.

Forgot About Dre

Everyone knows that Dr. Dre's Detox album has attained a nearly mythical status due to its numerous delays since 2002. Year after year Dre has promised that the album "was coming soon," but finally, it looks as if it is ready for release in February of 2011. For the skeptics that are saying, "yeah right, I've heard that before," you would probably be right except for the fact that we now have the official video for the first single, "Kush." When I first heard it, I was rather underwhelmed. My thought process was, The Chronic had "Ain't Nuthin' But a 'G' Thang," as a first single 2001 had "Still D.R.E.," and Detox has "Kush?" It just didn't live up to the classic status of the first singles from his previous albums. That said, the song has really grown on me and I've caught myself bumpin' it multiple times the past few days. The video is dope, and hopefully Detox won't disappoint.

He's Baaaack

The first signs of B.o.B's next mixtape have come to light. He recently released the video for the song Beast Mode that is set to be on his No Genre mixtape, which will be released December 7th. I hate to say it, but I may be more excited for this than I was for the album. Don't get me wrong - the album was dope. I even purchased it, but there is a certain freedom Bobby Ray is granted on mixtapes versus albums that he has always utilized to his fullest potential.

Beast Mode

Lemme Hold Dat Beat

There is a trend in the industry to release freestyles for the fans for free through the internet. I think this could be one of the smartest movements in the music industry. You need to understand that listeners are downloading the majority of their music online for free. So why not satisfy them, keep them interested, and release some music for free.

Trey Songz is one of the newest artists to do this. On a track with Fabolous, he goes in over Right Above It. While this song is decent, nothing beats him going over Gucci's Lemonade a few months ago. Here's a taste of the best songs off his #LemmeHoldDatBeat tape.

Lemonade

Right Above It ft. Fabolous

And the mixtape: #LemmeHoldDatBeat

Jay Squared

Who would have thought that one of the most recognized of recent underground rappers and one of the most recognized hip-hop artists of all time would mesh so well together. Despite Diddy's best efforts to get Jay Electronica to his side over the past year or so, Jay-Z swooned the artist into recently signing with Roc Nation.

From this epic signing comes the duo's first product, Shiny Suit Theory. This song is just a great four minutes of hip-hop, blending the styles of two of the most talented people in the game. It also features the musical stylings of The-Dream and Charlotte Gainsbourg. This blend of raw underground skill and an established commercial medium has a lot of potential for the future.

Jay Electronica ft. Jay-Z, The-Dream - Shiny Suit Theory

Bonus: Jay Electronica ft. JFK - The Announcement

All Day

Girl Talk has just come out with his new album, All Day, the fifth album from this widely known mash-up artist. The album is a seamless play of 372 overlapping samples that did not disappoint. While the energy of the tape is consistent throughout, the variety of samples does well to keep your attention.

The best part about this album is that it came out of nowhere, but it seems that he has been working on it since his last album. Even with no previous news of this new Girl Talk project or rumors of it's release, the internet went nuts upon it's release.

Girl Talk told MTV:

The big feature of this album is giving samples a little bit more breathing room. There are segments on the new record that are extremely detailed and cut-up and, you know, 10 samples will go by in 10 seconds, but I feel there's less of a focus on that compared to previous albums. I'm really interested in the rate of change but sticking with the same source material for a bit longer. It's a little bit more patient, mostly because I've spent just about every day working on it, editing it, going over each segment. It's been a full-time commitment.

You can take full advantage of this capitalization of copyright and sampling laws below.

Girl Talk - All Day

Music On The Highest High

The duo U-N-I out of LA just released a video to one of the tracks off their album, A Love Supreme 2.0. The track was featured on their previous release, A Love Supreme, and the rest is the album is equally as dope. If you haven't heard anything from these west coast rappers, take a listen to the album, which features the likes of Bun B, Miguel, and Fashawn.

Download Windows

Devil In A Red Dress

If you have heard Kanye's Devil In A Red Dress already, you can expect a final album version with some fresh verses. Until then you may appreciate the freestyles utilizing this awesome track. J. Cole and Joell Ortiz are two very different rappers, but they are both very talented lyricists and give the track their own individual feel.

Joell Ortiz - Devil In A Blue Dress

J. Cole - Villematic

Cudder Is Back

Got myself a copy of Man On The Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager. My initial reactions have been very positive, with my immediate standout track being Ashin' Kusher. I know this is going to be in rotation for a while it's great lyrics from Scotty over a sick beat. While I would love to share tracks from Cudi's sophomore studio album, I know they would immediately be removed by the RIAA.

Whether you support the artist or save yourself some money, get your hands on a copy. Until then, you can enjoy this dope Cudi freestyle. He goes in off the dome for an On Da Spot freestyle and has fun with it, which are both something you don't see a lot these days with "freestyles."

On Da Spot Freestyle

Runaway

If you haven't checked out Kanye West's Runaway video, you might want to. This 35 minute long video features the track for which it is named, but it does not stop there. The video plays through the story of Kanye and his run-in with a fallen Phoenix and successfully utilizes other tracks from his upcoming album My Dark Twisted Fantasy to tell the story.

The video is entertaining to say the least and gives a great preview of what we are in store for come November 22nd, when Kanye releases his fifth studio album. From the tracks I have heard so far, the production is insane.

Singing The Blues

You may know the name Bruno Mars from this summer's radio hit by B.o.B, Nothing On You. This young singer broke onto the scene through a popular feature, but his recognition is not undeserved. He recently released an album Doo-Wops & Hooligans, and while I've heard several songs that I enjoyed, nothing stood out to me like Liquor Store Blues.

This track was one of the digital singles released to promote the album and featured Damian Marley. They could not go wrong with this collaboration.

Liquor Store Blues

Black & Yellow

Hasn't even been half a day since my last post on Wiz, but I can't go without sharing a Rick Ross remix of the song which I figure is unofficial and well as a few decent freestyles over the track.

It seems like plenty of people have been flowing over this, but the only ones that remain in my playlists are from Wale and Donnis, both going at the beat very differently.

Wiz ft. Rick Ross - Black & Yellow Remix

Wale - Mike Tomlin

Donnis - Black & Yellow Freestyle

I Wanna Know Your Name

This song could be in the running for my favorite song of the year. Pharrell linked up with Swedish House Mafia to create some pure fire on the house groups first single, One. This track takes it to another level. The house offerings of SHM alongside Pharrell's crooning fits together flawlessly in an almost mesmerizing way.

Swedish House Mafia ft. Pharrell - One

I wanna know your name... or, better yet, stand there and just do that.

Young Guns

"Ironic you've been sleeping on the one that you've been dreaming 'bout."

The issue I sometimes have with posse cuts is that because of the star power the track has, artists tend not to go off as if they would on their own track or a track they are on with just one other artist. No matter the length and importance of your feature, artists need to understand that these tracks are showcases.

I definitely enjoyed the newest installment of G.O.O.D. Fridays. The track is called "Looking For Trouble" and has a line-up of Kanye, Pusha, Cyhi, Big Sean, and J. Cole. What first caught my interest on the track was the Cole feature. He is set to release his latest mixtape soon, but I'm glad he took the time to get into Kanye's weekly music movement.

Both J. Cole and Big Sean went off on this track. Not to take away from any one else's performance but there is a clear difference in these artists energy levels. You can see for yourself below.

Kanye West - Looking For Trouble (ft. Pusha T, Cyhi the Prynce, Big Sean, J. Cole)

“I don’t know what it is [when it comes to features]. What it comes from is fear, that’s why I go so hard [on guest spots]. I’m a real competitor. It’s just a fear of somebody besting me and dominating me with a better verse. Not every song is like that, but on a song like ‘Looking For Trouble’ it is. It’s that spirit of hip-hop: Let’s see who can come the best. I don’t know if I’m going to have the best verse, but I know ain’t nobody just gonna kill me.”
-J. Cole

Not Just A Fluke

I try not to love or on certain artists because of affiliations or common enemies, but the G-Unit situation has always been interesting to me. I was definitely into 50 when he was doing it big, I still regularly listen to The Game and Young Buck who I think are both talented artists, but with Lloyd Banks, I figured my interest had died with my last memory being The Cake off Rotten Apple.

With the resurgence of his popularity this summer with the joint Beamer, Benz, or Bentley, I figured it was just a small shot at something of a comeback - like 50 Cent has been trying to do for a while now. I may have been wrong, though. Since then, I have been hearing a couple real nice tracks that he put together, including a feature on a G.O.O.D. Friday track. You can be the judge for yourself with these tracks.

Finish Line

Celebrity (ft. Akon, Eminem)

Start It Up Remix (ft. Kanye, Swizz, Ryan Leslie, and Fab)

Free Wiz

It was bound to happen, but Wiz was busted in North Carolina for possession. I couldn't pass up any opportunity to blog about Wiz, but you can check the full story here.

In honor of Wizzle Man getting locked up, I wanted to share a track I recently discovered on an unofficial Wiz mixtape. The track is a mash-up of a couple Notorious B.I.G. verses over Kanye's say you will, with Wiz doing his best "Biggie flow." You can also check out another pretty cool mash-up with Wiz and Biggie here.

Wiz Khalifa ft. Notorious B.I.G. - Say You Will