Category Archives: Monthly Top 10

Top 10 Songs June 2018

03 Tuesday Jul 2018

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MAKE ME SAY UHHHHH LIKE A MIX OF MASTER P AND RICK ROSS (Pause! Pause!)

Here’s my top 10 songs from the month that first brought us… this?

ALLBLACK ft. 03 Greedo, Prada Mack – Florida Gator 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWZ0Tfe-xEIhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWZ0Tfe-xEI

The ALLBLACK and Greedo tag team take the crown for June, from the original post…

“Here ye here ye, your host is hereby temporarily abstaining from the Martorialist-issued embargo on listening to rappers with septum piercings, which as you know, I usually strictly adhere to as they are wise words to live by, but ALLBLACK has me breaking the embargo. (Plus, ALLBLACK actually looks pretty badass with his, unlike some rappers who get them and just end up looking like bratty kids that hang out at Hot Topic.). I originally came here for 03 Greedo’s chorus but left as a new fan of Oakland’s rose-gold-grilled ALLBLACK. (I’m definitely feeling this rose gold grill).

ALLBLACK is certainly a character, and he links up with another big personality here in 03 Greedo in this ode to Florida Gators of an entirely different nature (and nothing to do with Tim Tebow or Aaron Hernandez). ALLBLACK mixes that old school, Oakland/Bay Area attitude with the newer vibe of these Soundcloud era type guys that dress like punk rockers. I fucking love what he’s saying here in his verse… “Y’all want ALLBLACK to be like James Stacy, wouldn’t stop running if the doctor amputated my legs… grinding like Chris Cole cause I gotta keep Maxine fed… take the pedals off the bike and I’ma hop on the pegs”. (By the way I feel like Chris Cole and James Stacy are two of the most random/unexpected references ever in a rap song and here they are basically in the same line). ALLBLACK’s verse and whole flow/vibe have grown on me very quickly and now I’m blasting his verse all the time. His song Canadian Goose is a flamer as well.

Could Greedo’s hook here possibly be any more flammable? 03 Greedo on auto tune is on a whole different level. God Level perhaps? It’s just a short cameo from him here on the hook and no verse but it sounds heavenly. My only complaint is I wish they looped it in a couple more times at the end or something.

ALLBLACK is definitely adding his own spin and style to the Bay and really out of nowhere is turning into one of my new/recent favorites and this and Canadian Goose are turning into two of my most heavily-played songs of this young summer so far. FREE GREEDO!

Jeno Cash, FMB DZ, Peezy – Dog Food

The 03 Greedo/ALLBLACK combo is pretty serious but Peezy and FMB DZ is a formidable pairing in their own right. Saw this on Ray Garraty This beat is crazy. I like the idea of Peezy as a hook guy more people should start using him for that. I’ve been on a big Peezy grind for months and it’s always good to hear new stuff from him especially after his near death experience over the winter when he got shot. By the way is it just me or does Peezy’s shirt look like something some flamboyant Italian tourist would wear in the 80s? But when you’re Peezy you can pull it off. Overall it was nice to hear all these guys together on a track and this is so far one of my favorite songs to blast out of the whip in 2018.

ALLBLACK – Canada Goose 

Me and Icebergsweater have been rocking out to ALLBLACK heavy, and Canada Goose is another banger from him. He looks comfy AF in that fleece too I respect it.

“ALL MY BITCHES GOT ON CLEATS, THEY DON’T TRAP IN HEELS”

Freddie Gibbs – Weight / Freddie Gibbs ft. 03 Greedo – Death Row 

I probably haven’t listened to Freddie Gibbs as heavily as a lot of other bloggers or readers and I’m not super familiar with his back catalogue but I gave his new project Freddie a spin and definitley enjoyed it. I mean come on how could you not be down with this album cover. My favorite song was the opener, Weight and I also loved the fairly ridiculous ‘FLFM’ interlude and of course, the 03 Greedo-assisted Eazy-E homage Death Row. I’ve obviously been listening to a ton of Greedo but I wasn’t  expecting to hear him on this album so this was a pleasant surprise. We haven’t even gotten into God Level yet and there’s already 2 songs on my June top 10 with Greedo just on the hook or as a feature.  (P.S. listening to new albums by Freeway and Freddie Gibbs this month has me feeling like it’s 2008 out here).

Waka Flocka Flame – Flava / Waka Flocka Flame – Smoker 

Two songs from Waka Flocka Flame’s fairly unheralded comeback ‘Big Homie Flock’ clock in here too…

“I didn’t realize how much I missed Waka Flocka until I decided to give his new tape Big Homie Flocka a couple of spins over the last week. There’s a couple of bangers on here, including Flava and Smoker.

https://open.spotify.com/embed/track/7ji40oy9LRWpZ41vnMOodo

Flava 

Flava brings forth that classic Waka Flocka sound, like a mix of trap music and just straight up mosh music. “I’m doing shows selling bails at the same time, I’m taking business calls and trapping off the same line.” I love the almost gleeful way he croons about taking business calls and trapping on the same phone, clearly relishing his niche he’s carved out as a businessman who can get paid to do obscure EDM shows in Europe while still having a foot in the streets. I love the ridiculously long, overstated ‘B-rr-r-r-r-r-r-r’ phone ring ad lib after it.

“Hot Boy like I’m BG, broad day you can meet me at the BP”. Flocka has never been a lyrical wizard or anything but there’s just something about his lines like these and the way he delivers them that still make them memorable. Also, in case you haven’t noticed, I’m always a sucker for rappers that post up trapping at the gas station and tell you to meet them there.

“I put Christians on wifey she a walking blessing”

Smoker 

https://open.spotify.com/embed/track/5fewe9dkYD7jjbUfIPhIEV

The chours for this one goes hard as fuck…

“Ay my smoker cooking dope for me, they say there ain’t no hope for me, white folks got the rope for me, my shooter bought a scope for me”

I’m loving these over the top Waka ad libs in the background after not hearing them in a couple of years. You’ve also got to respect Waka’s efficient utilization here; having one of his customers cooking for him and a shooter on his payroll gifting him an expensive scope. That’s what I call getting the most out of your investments.”

03 Greedo – Fall Off

God Level certainly lived up to the hype and is a pretty legitimate masterpiece for Greedo as his last album before he begins his prison sentence. There’s a good 10-12 legitimate bangers on here which is pretty ridiculous when you consider that a lot of artists are releasing albums that are 7 songs now. Fall Off is my early favorite from the album but really any of about a dozen of them could be on this list. This is a six minute tour de force by Greedo and a good message of resilience and determination about refusing to fall off or give in before starts his prison term. This one is almost hypnotizing with the beat and chanting, recurring chorus.

03 Greedo – Gun Bucc 

Another selection from God Level. This beat is sick and Greedo kills it as usual.

Kanye West & Kid Cudi ft. Pusha T – Feel the Love 

Kanye West & Kid Cudi – Reborn

Kanye West – Ghost Town 

I wasn’t expecting to be into this string of Wyoming albums that Kanye has been putting out, and there were certainly plenty of misses to go with the hits, but curiosity got the better of me and I’ll be the first to admit that I surprisingly really enjoyed Kids See Ghosts, which is weird since I’ve never been a Kanye fan one way or the other, and I’ve never gotten into Kid Cudi, and have found them to be fairly self-indulgent artists, but this album was pretty epic. The ‘I Can Still Feel the Love’ chorus being shouted out is dope and I love the part where Kanye spazzes out making the gun sounds at about 1:07. I thought it had to be Desiigner at first!

Reborn was another highlight of this string of projects to me. Sort of a similar sentiment to Greedo’s aforementioned Fall Off. 

Ghost Town was my favorite song off of Ye, the album preceding this one, and seems like it could easily have fit into Kids See Ghost as an honorary eighth track. It was pretty out there compared to what I’m usually looking to listen to but it’s another gem from Kanye’s recent slew of Friday releases. A quick side note is that while I wasn’t really into about half of the material that came out from this weekly spate of releases and while complaints about them being only 7 songs certainly are understandable, I have to give this guy credit because it built up a lot of excitement and it really made each release seem like an ‘event’ and something that everyone was talking about, which I don’t feel like we often get to say about album releases anymore in this streaming age so I have to give credit for that.  (P.S. I still wish he used that picture of the doctor as his album cover and really called it Love Everybody becasue it would have just been so over the top and troll-y but alas it wasn’t to be).

 

 

Top 10 Songs May 2018

02 Saturday Jun 2018

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Guys sorry I’m late with this May top 10 and posting it in June, and have been MIA for the last week, I’ve been holed up in a cabin in Wyoming, wearing wierd clothes, working on my next album…

Kevin Gates – Change Lanes

Gates is really baring his soul on this one. Right from the opening bar this one hits you…”Been through a lot of pain in my life and I pray the Lord take it all away. I’ve got family doing life that’ll never see the sun shine again and I pray it all away. Gates touches on a lot of heavy, real topics in his life in ‘Change Lane’s, including his time in prison in Illinois, incarcerated family members, wanting to pull back from public life/fame, and, also, McDonald’s salads and rocking Islamic fashion out in Paris. This is off Gate’s 3 song ‘Chained to the City’ EP, his first work after being freed, and I’ve got to say, Gates is back in a big way because that EP was ridiculous. Not to mention the work he’s been putting in and posting the snippets of on Instagram; I almost want to include a couple of those as my top songs of May as well but I feel like that would be cheating a little.

Kevin Gates – Vouch

As much as I love ‘Change Lanes’, ‘Vouch’ might be even better. The singing, warbling Gates might be my favorite type of Kevin Gates. “I do for me I feed myself my crew not willing to help me, we either die or go to jail so what the fuck could you tell me. Fully loaded Mac 11 when this pressure get applied; got a brand new Glock 90 and I keep it by my side. That part starting at around 2:15 just sounds absolutely heavenly; “”I ain’t never change up, let’s get that understood, I’m in that 70805 they don’t show love in my hood.”

Lil Baby ft. Drake – Pikachu 

Damn it feels like this came out a year ago instead of a few weeks ago, what with all the sniping back and forth between Drizzy and Pusha T just completely usurping everyone’s collective attention span, not to mention Drake announcing his ‘Scorpion’ album and then of course the new .

From the original article…

While I wouldn’t have gone as far as to call myself a Drake ‘hater’, I think the old, healthier but less enlightened me would have perhaps best been described at the very least as a ‘Drake skeptic’ or a ‘Drake nonbeliever’. I wasn’t that into his early stuff when he first started blowing up and later on I really couldn’t stand most of his hits over the last few years like Controlla and One Dance. More than anything I kind of just considered him to be bland elevator music. But I’ll be the first to admit, and as someone whose been critical, I feel responsibility to give credit where credit is due; I’ll be damned if Drake’s last couple of songs haven’t been absolute bangers. He’s had a good 3-4 songs or more in a row (this one with Lil Baby, his song with Trouble on the ‘Edgewood’ album, ‘Look Alive’ with Blocboy JB, and I’ll admit I was even down with Nice for What even though that was definitely shamelessly pandering to the ladies. I also didn’t mind God’s Plan.) that have forced me to mention them with the same disclaimer every time, ‘I’m not a big Drake fan but…,’ so I don’t know if he’s actually getting better or if I’m just going soft in my old age but I’m slowly…becoming a fan??? That was hard to type!

Whether you love him or have him, (or should I say – whether you’re siding with him or Pusha T in the new World War 3?) the man has a pretty unassailable ear for great beats, and if he retired from rapping he would make a great A&R he has an eye for up and coming talent. He has a penchant for working with hard, down south rappers like Blocboy, Trouble, and now Lil Baby. Drake is like the 2018 version of 2017 Berner to me.

Enough about Drake though, Lil Baby is actually the real headliner here. His verse/flow is crazy. He’s another artist I was kind of tepid on at first, not that I disliked him but just none of his songs really jumped out at me, but I loved this song, and ‘I Remember’ with Quando Rondo, and ‘Day in my Hood’ with Sherwood Marty were pretty solid jams so I’m starting to become more and more of a fan. I’ve also warmed to his hits like ‘A-Town’ and ‘My Dawg’. ‘Trap Star’ while delving into his previous work in preparation for ‘Harder than Ever’.

Drake is doing his best Hoodrich Pablo Juan impression on this one. Side note on the Drake verse – he says ‘my shorty a goodie’; most of my friends have been calling bad bitches baddies have they been doing this all wrong? My favorite part is where Lil Baby sings, ‘Waaah waahhh waaahhh bitch I’m the Baby’.

Another side note – apparently on the album this song is called ‘Yes Indeed’ but when it dropped on Youtube they were calling it Pikachu and I’m still calling it that.

YELLOW FERARRI LIKE PIKACHU, CARTIER LENSES I WON’T EVEN PEEK AT YOU

All Star Lee – Cash Money Flow 

Flammable song by All Star Lee out of Detroit. I’m loving the throwback Orlando Magic jerseys and the soulja rags in this Cash Money homage.

Lil AJ, Joe Blow, Lil Frost 

Dope song from two workmanlike Bay Area stalwarts who don’t get as much love/hype outside of the Bay as some of the bigger names from out there, but who are pretty much always reliable for solid, real music. I’m starting to like Lil AJ’s stuff more and more over time. “Lash Money burning bridges nigga, see an opp slipping in traffic and them niggas get the business nigga, rest in peace Boss Nuge and the nigga Jack, catch me out in traffic riding with the mini MAC”.   I didn’t realize Lil Frost had passed away until I saw this video; and it took me a minute to realize what was going on. His verse being overlaid by old clips of him rapping interspersed with the scenes from his funeral, since he wasn’t here to shoot the video, was straight up heartbreaking and actually hit me pretty hard since I wasn’t expecting it. RIP to Frost man, gone too soon.

Pusha T ft. Rick Ross – Hard Piano 

Some people are mad about the album cover, some people love it. Some people feel like Drake bodied Pusha with his diss track, and other people feel like Pusha ended Drake with his response. Regardless of all that, there were some straight up slaps on ‘Daytona’ (I love that name by the way), my favorite amongst them being ‘Hard Piano’. Kanye really did work his magic on the beats on this one, regardless of his recent controversies and what some would call his subpar rapping on ‘Ye’, the guy is in the zone right now on the boards, this album had some of the best beats/production I’ve heard in a while. I like the combo of Pusha and Rozay. If Ross is sounding like this, I can’t wait for his comeback album.  It’s funny I didn’t realize how much I missed prime Ross until I heard this. Yeah he’s another artist with plenty of questionable moves/songs over the years but at the end of the day he’s still here, he’s been through a lot, he has a lot of dope songs over the years throughout his catalogue and I’m looking forward to what he has to say on his next album.

“The Warhols on my wall tell a war story.”

“Chilling in a condo full of ready rock”

As much as I like my rappers and their music to be ‘real,’ sometimes some straight up luxury/over the top drug kingpin rap can be dope too, if it’s imaginative and really paints a picture for you, which I feel like Hard Piano does.

Mannie Fresh & Birdman

This was uh… unexpected… and ridiculous. Man I love Mannie Fresh. Such a classic Mannie Fresh type beat! I could have lived without the 3 minutes of vignettes that randomly interspersed throughout the song that kept interrupting it but on the other hand I loved the video itself with the New Orleans mardi gras band in the street with them. Any time you get Mannie actually rapping on a track is always a good thing; he’s just so happy and jovial – “$100,000 in a brief case, orange Lamborghini yours with the dealer plates… Bricks, pounds, scales, weed, went to Hiroshima came back speaking Japanese.” The chorus for this one is super menacing; ‘Note around his neck saying get right with the Lord.” I don’t know if Big Tymers is back but if we could get some more stuff from Mannie or even a full Big Tymers project that would be a pretty nice surprise.

Pusha T – If You Know You Know 

Another dope song off of Daytona. The production is so good. ‘If You Know You Know’ is going to be big this summer. I bumped Daytona so many times over Memorial Day weekend.

Quando Rondo – Paradise

I put ‘Paradise’ up in April’s top 10 but I only heard it at the end of the month and I really bumped it much more in May so I’m kind of cheating here. Quando Rondo is dope I’m starting to get into this new wave of Atlanta guys like him, Lil Baby, and Gunna which I wasn’t expecting.

Lil Reek ft. Brodinski – Rock Out

I’m surprised this hasn’t blown up actually. Maybe it’s just because it’s a change of pace but I love this kid’s voice!

And that’s my top 10 for May but here’s a couple of bonus tracks for ya since this month was one of the best in a long time…

03 Greedo – Fortnite 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSpo_iFpI_0

FREE GREEDO!

Q Money – Countin’ Up a Check 

 

Tee Grizzly – Colors 

Sherwood Marty ft. Lil Baby – Day in My Hood

Playboi Carti ft. Lil Uzi – Shoota

P.S. I usually follow the Martorialist’s embargo on rappers with septum rings but I’m not going to lie this one with Lil Uzi from Playboi Carti’s new album was just too catchy not to mention here.

Top 10 Songs April 2018

04 Friday May 2018

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03 Greedo ft. Drakeo the Ruler, Fenix – Wake Me Up in Traffic 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxJNQftgsnw

I usually like to joke around on this site and keep things light/entertaining (or at least I hope!) but on a very serious note, please pray for Greedo as he is facing some very serious time in prison in Texas. The circumstances are particularly unfortunate as he got hit with this big sentence just as he was starting to blow up and create a huge wave for himself. In the same month that Meek came home, we sadly lost one of the most creative and innovative, truly interesting artists to come out in a long time. I’m glad that apparently he has tons of unreleased music still in the vaults that we can enjoy but sometimes real life and whats at stake for the artist facing all these years just feels bigger/more important than the music itself. Originally it was being reported that it was a life sentence but now it seems like places are saying it’s 20 years… maybe he can appeal or get out early.

‘Wake Me Up in Traffic’ featuring him, Drakeo the Ruler, and Fenix from Shoreline Mafia is my top song for April; from the original article…

Even 03 Greedo’s unreleased loosies are better than 95% of other current artist’s best material that they would choose as the singles for their new album. This guy really is on a different level. Almost reminds me of an in-his-prime Gucci Mane with all the vaults upon vaults of quality material he has laying around. I really hope this one doesn’t get taken down from Youtube! This is going to be a dope summer driving song.

“And I got my mask and my gloves, dead presidents chasing bank do some drugs, every day I repent but I keep fucking up, only my God can judge me, too rich for a judge…Unless I get paid I don’t go to clubs.” This line was so dope and mind-blowing to me because it was so braggadocios but also simultaneously so humble, which you would think would be impossible but Greedo pulled it off.

03’s cohort, Drakeo the Ruler, who if not for Greedo would almost certainly be the most dynamic rapper in L.A. right now, also contributes a dope verse as does, according to Youtube, someone named Fenix of Shoreline Mafia. Let’s keep our fingers crossed/prayers up that Greedo and Drakeo both beat their cases and we can keep getting awesome collaborations from them for years to come.

03 Greedo has easily usurped the Dos Equis guy as ‘The Most Interesting Man in the World’ at this point.

This post was too sad man…

https://www.instagram.com/p/BiBL7Fpnxa6/?hl=en&taken-by=03greedo

Kooda B – Walking Through the Ville

From yesterday’s post…

Man fuck Hot 97 and the current headliners, Kooda B should be on center stage getting the star treatment at Summer Jam this year. KOODA B FOR SUMMER JAM MAIN STAGE!!! Or else I’m boycotting.

The Kooda GOAT is ridiculous. I wasn’t sure if I had ever pondered the concept of whether someone could rework Vanessa Carlton’s ‘A Thousand Miles’ into a foreboding message to potential foes warning them not to run up on them in his neighborhood or risk becoming a victim of gun violence, but Kooda certainly comes about as close to achieving that odd task as humanly possible.  But more importantly, his heartfelt ode to gun crime is also undeniably catchy as fuck.

Tekashi’s bodyguard(/wingman/handler/subject of the song ‘Kooda’) has quite a bit of charisma and even some star power of his own. He reminds me a bit of a Sonniebo in that while some of the songs are clearly trolling and made for comic value, they also stand up on their own as songs that whether you want to admit it or not, just straight up slap.

Favorite part: About 0:40 to 0:45 in – ‘I was walking through the Viiiillllllle, fans ask me how I’m doingggggg!” I also love when the beat ‘drops’ at about 1:00 like in the real song and he goes ‘TONIGHT – we gon get you… we wont’ miss you!”

I don’t know how he pulled off driving that piano around through the streets of Brooklyn. Also – he DEFINITELY picked up those two girls at Starbucks and asked them to be in his video, and let’s be honest, how could they have resisted?

Quando Rondo – Paradise

A late entrance to the list, ‘Paradise’ is an amazingly catchy song by rising young artist and apparently aspiring herptologist Quando Rondo out of Savanna, Georgia (the home of Camoflauge! RIP!). There are so many new rappers out of Atlanta and the surrounding areas all the time right now that it’s hard to keep track of them and to be honest a lot of them are kind of generic/blend together but this young bol Quando Rondo is different and has an absolute gift for creating catchy, anthemic songs as well as deep, introspective ones. This is one of my favorite choruses of the year so far. Paradise should definitely have more than a million views!

Jim Jones – Never Did 3 Quarters

These recent posts about Cam, Lil Flip, etc. have got me feeling like it’s the mid-2000s and that’s definitely not a bad thing in my book. Jimmy brought his A-game on his new album Wasted Talent and after multiple listens through it this week ‘Never Did 3 Quarters’ stands out as my favorite track off of it. You really can’t go wrong with the capo, or really any Diplomat, over a soulful Heatmakerz sample like this one. Jim gets introspective and reminisces on this one, creating a narrative that goes perfect with the reflective vibe of the beat.

“Gotta look both ways before you cross the street, you’ve got to watch out for them strays from across the street. In my day I was clapping at all the beef; start beefing now these rappers might call the police. I grew up in a country that rather war than peace, in my hood there’s always war so I wore the piece.”

If it’s possible for an artist who got as popular as Jim did at his height to be ‘underrated’, I’d say that Jim Jones is criminally underrated, especially from a lyrical standpoint and from the perspective of how impactful he was on the rap game and the culture. Between his material with Dipset, his solo work, and things he was working on with Max B and Stack Bundles, Jones has compiled a pretty impressive catalogue and almost 20 years in the game.

Drakeo the Ruler – Big Bank Uchies

I’m a little late on this one but I’ve been bumping a ton of Drakeo over and over again all month, probably more than any other artist. I love his guttural flow and his unique lingo. Him and Greedo have the West Coast rap game on lock right now. Unfortunately like Greedo he’s also in the midst of some questionable at best legal troubles; I’m not sure what the exact status is right now but hopefully he’s home and can get back to living his life and making dope new west coast music; I hope we can still get that Greedo/Drakeo collaboration album one day.

Drakeo the Ruler – Flu Flamming

I’m a Flu Flammer

Jim Jones ft. Mozzy – Bangin’ 

Another highlight from Wasted Talent. One of my favorite rappers from the mid to late 2000s linking up with arguably my favorite rapper of 2016? I didn’t expect to ever hear them on a song together but sign me up. And the results weren’t disappointing at all as they often can be in these types of collaborations.

Capo really crushes both the chorus and his verse on this one and it’s also nice to get a little bit of a look back at a different time in history from him…

“I loved the gang I even banged when I was famous… I put the city on my back, had my biddy screaming blatt, all the main events with 40 niggas in the back. I was bicking back booling, skipping all the schooling, small .22 in the Timbs to get my tool in…They called me Billy the Kid, Sex Money Murder we was killing as kids, I send a missile and get you killed on your bid.”

“I used to rock a vest cause in my streets no love, I was the first to hit the West and show them East Coast Bloods. Everybody screaming gang but nobody put in work for it, my whole gang was putting bodies in the church for it.”

It looks like there may also be a video coming out for this at some point soon which I certainly wouldn’t be opposed to.

Quando Rondo – My Motivation

Another nice melodic jam from Quando Rondo as he gets his Rich Homie Quan on. This is off of his Life B4 Fame mixtape which I definitley need to finish listening to the rest of. I love introspective songs like this, he really gets a lot off his chest and takes you through some heavy things that he’s been through. “RIP Quafee 3 times, and my niggas they with it we just buried about three 9’s”. I also always love videos where rappers walk you through their hoods that you’ve never seen before, like Savanna here.

Drake – Nice for What 

Your humble host must be getting soft in his old age, because I used to be known as a bit of a Drake hater but lately I’ve been oddly at peace and down with pretty much each one of his latest string of singles. Is Nice for What clearly pandering to female fans? Probably, but the song and sample are both fire so I can’t complain.

Cam’ron – Harlem Streets

From my post earlier this month…

With the passing of Steven Boscho earlier this week I kept hearing the ‘Hill Street Blues’ theme song on the news radio that I listen to for traffic info etc. in the car and I kept thinking to myself damn this song is so smooth, where have I heard it before? It’s sampled in one of the all-time great (and dare I say underrated?) Killa Cam songs, ‘Harlem Streets’. I love when the saxophone (or trumpet?) kicks in. We need more rap songs over these type of samples like Cam sampling Hill Street Blues or Peezy (and others) sampling Herb Alpert’s ‘Making Love in the Rain’. I loved the classic Heatmakers sound/beats that the Dips usually rapped over but they sounded so dope over these more jazz/soul-infused samples too. So many Cam quotables here…

“And I get it cheaper, I cop bricks like sneakers, and if the cops come I just hit amnesia, but i give them an earful, it’s tearful, told my mom I hustle and she said be careful.”

Including perhaps, gun to my head, my favorite Cam sequence of all time…

“And when I rap it ain’t no punchlines. I be on the highway, dirty, crunch time. No timeouts homeboy, just one time, if they find that stash box just one time? Shit, they put the dogs in the trunk, side of the road, holding you up, cold as a fuck, they want that button, lunge it and push it, as soon as they lunge it and push it, I run in the bushes. That’s how I play mine, jump over the grapevine, take my chances one on one with the canines, steel and a clip for anyone squealing their lips, fuck y’all if y’all ain’t feeling the Dips.”

Got me feeling all nostalgic right now. KILLA!

Bonus 

Not really a song per se but to celebrate Meek being free I’m also throwing in this clip by the Hoodies celebrating the news with this great freestyle snapping over the ‘Monster’ beat

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bh_yE_uAwwh/?hl=en&taken-by=thehoodies_

Top 10 Songs March 2018

29 Thursday Mar 2018

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03 Greedo – Baytoven 

It was a hard choice between this and Never Bend but Baytoven is my favorite song for the month and overall my favorite song off of Wolf of Grape Street, which is my favorite project of the year so far. From the original post…

“Another ridiculous banger off the new Greedo album. The drums on the beat hit hard AF as Greedo melodically yells about how he’s quick to dog a bitch like Beethoven (presumably the sloppy but lovable St. Bernard from the 1992 movie Beethoven as opposed to the more famous 18th century composer by the same name, although it’s certainly plausible that that Beethoven would also similarly ditch a female companion) and then gives a nice homage to one of his main producers Ron, Ron, comparing him to Zaytoven (and also favorably compares his other producer Beat Boy to Metro Boomin’).

“Dog a bucket head bitch like a cocker spaniel, 03 Greedo got it lit just like a Roman candle”. I’m not entirely clear on what a bucket head bitch is but presumably it’s not a desirable trait and the line flows nicely. So many other wild rhymes and rhyme schemes in this one; “Dog a little bitch like a Pomeranian, I’m in Dubai, hair-tied like Arabian, tryna know if niggas pulling triggers all my bitches gradient I be on some player shit”. I would pay to see 03 Greedo exploring Dubai and the Middle East.

I can’t get this one out of my head and I keep blasting it in the whip. I hope 03 makes a video for this one, for some reason I can picture it having an awesome dance to go with it. 03 Greedo is playing above the rim right now.

NO LOW RIDER BUT I’M MOBBING AND JEFFING!

03 Greedo – Never Bend

From the original post…

“03 Greedo has me feeling grapey with Never Bend, the monumental nightcap off of his ridiculous new Wolf of Grape Street album. 03 has about as much charisma and star power as anybody in the game right now and keeps things interesting with his unique, larger than life personality, adept lyricism, and dope production.

Greedo produced the sick beat for Never Bend himself on a laptop while he was laying in a hospital bed after being shot. I really can’t compare him to any other artist right now; the closest analogy I could make would maybe be a more experimental Sada Baby, but if you ask him, he wouldn’t compare himself to any rapper at all, but iconic figures like Prince and Michael Jackson and he describes his sound as “emo music for gangbangers.”

I love the droning, self-produced beat for Never Bend, with that recurrent noise that interrupts it intermittently, and I love its resolute, defiant message of the chorus; “I’m thanking God, I could have died in the pen, you haven’t been against the odds like I been, you haven’t been where I been, I never fold never bend.” Greedo also briefly alludes to being shot by someone he loves and being betrayed/snitched on by family members. This is definitley one of the most compelling figures in rap and we’re only beginning to scratch the surface of his backstory.

The entire album is filled with amazing songs, and I don’t want to overreact/be too hyperbolic as bloggers often can be, but Wolf of Grape Street is an instant classic in my book and an early choice for Album of the Year for 2018. After listening to it a couple of times front to back this weekend, there really are no tracks that are skips, which is saying a lot for an album with 21 full-length songs on it (and keep in mind this is only half the length of previous releases like Purple Summer. Sitting down and listening to full 03 Greedo album is making a commitment but it’s a worthwhile one). If I were to name my favorite 3 tracks on it so far I’d go with Never Bend, Baytoven, and the Yhung T.O-assisted Bacc to Bacc, but it’s hard to narrow it down. What would it take to get a collaboration between 03 and his fellow Grape Streeter Blocboy JB?

Don Q ft. Desiigner – Trap Phone 

Favorite song off Don Q’s new, all-too-short Don Talk project. The beat is just so triumphant; it sounds like something you’d blast as you ride through a city you just conquered. A lot of people are saying they don’t like Don Q rapping over trap beats but he sounds dope to me on this one and a lot of the other ones on this tape. I didn’t expect to be rocking out to a Desiigner feature in 2018 but this goes. Ultimate song for the whip.

03 Greedo ft. Yhung T.O – Bacc to Bacc 

Yet another banger off of Wolf of Grape Street. SOB X RBE is everywhere right now and Yhung T.O complements 03 nicely on Bacc to Bacc.

Fat Tone – Juicy

Kick back, put your feet up, and soak in the nostalgia! Obviously this song isn’t actually from this month but I found myself bumping it over and over again this month after initially hearing Fat Tone thanks to the Martorialist last year. I love the ‘Sprewells on my car’ in the chorus. Fat Tone’s take on ‘Juicy’ is now up there with the one with Fat Pat and DJ Screw as my favorite of all of them. RIP Fat Tone!

Rich Homie Quan – Fuck Wit Me

RICH HOMIE BABYYYY! Here’s one I didn’t see coming. Rich Homie Quan seems to be making a nice comeback for himself in 2018 with his new album ‘Rich as in Spirit’. It may seem like a long time ago now but it was just a few years ago that Rich Homie could basically make an undisputed claim to the title of hook god. I remember listening to some of the earliest, pre-Rich Gang Quan songs like ‘Can’t Help It’ and ‘Where Were You’ (probably still my two favorites by him) and feeling like this guy was on a whole different level at the time.

Obviously he had some success thereafter with Rich Gang but it seems like while Young Thug’s career catapulted from there, Rich Homie just completely fell off the map. I’m not sure what he was up to or what he went through in the time period since he was last a marquee name, but from listening to Rich as in Spirit you can tell he’s been down in some dark places and bounced back/worked his way out of it and is eager to perfect his craft again. ‘Fuck Wit Me’ was probably my favorite song off of Rich as in Spirit but there were plenty of other contenders, like ‘Achieving’, ‘Foot Soldier’, and ‘Changed’. Honestly the whole album was really good and there were no songs you feel like you have to skip on it, which is saying something for a 19-track album.

I’m interested to see what Rich Homie does next, I feel like he’s almost comparable to a post-hype high NBA draft pick that doesn’t live up to his lofty draft position, than people write him off, but then he comes back in a new role on a new team a couple of years later and is a force to be reckoned with again. A lot of new guys have come in and set up shop in his lane that he carved out but he can definitely reclaim his spot amongst them.

Trouble – My Boy 

“I AIN’T EVEN ATE YET, DRINKING LEAN WITH MY BOY”

Substitute Lean for Coors Light and I’ve been there before with you Trouble, I know that feeling.

Speaking of Atlanta rappers of the early 2010s making a comeback, Trouble just released a really solid project called ‘Edgewood’; produced entirely by Mike Will Made It. ‘My Boy’ was the highlight of ‘Edgewood’ in my opinion. I remember bumping his stuff 6-7 years ago and then kind of losing track of him/not keeping up with him anymore but it seems like he’s back. He’s in a good spot for himself here working with Mike Will Made It and getting features from Drake, Quavo, Boosie, etc. ‘My Boy’ seems like one of the more unassuming tracks on the album at first especially given some of the superstar features, but it’s stayed in my head for weeks and has become my favorite.

AR-Ab ft. Lik Moss – Blood Brothers 

You know the old saying; hell hath no fury like an AR-Ab scorned. Ab is in fine form here on Blood Brothers as usual. This is quintessential Ab – Ab being provoked brings out the best in him, as he mixes hilarious bars with brutally violent threats and just a downright sneering mockery for all who dare oppose him. Those who have read my ‘homage to AR-Ab‘ from last year know he’s one of my all-time favorite artists and a rapper who I feel truly embodies the gritty spirit of Philly.

“I’m purple-hearted I done been to war; you kill one of mine I kill ten of yours. Ring his bell than I riot pump through your door, then I try to stomp your head through the fucking floor.”

“Tell my brother if you spot him get brutal with him, my only problem is deciding which shooter to send.”

“I watch Instagram I seen what you said homie, now I’ma fill your whole page with your dead homies.” (P.S. I love the idea of Ab reluctantly joining the social media age).

You’ve got to love Ab’s ever-present charisma and how expressive he gets with acting out his lines as he raps them, like how he jumps down and stomps the floor when he says about stomping his opp’s head through the floor, or when he motions to his homie behind him holding the pool stick like a rifle when he says his only problem is deciding which shooter to send. Or when he acts out throwing a no-look pass. (Not to mention his illustration of ‘stab you with both hands like Wolverine’ at the 2:55 mark).

“They was on the Gram talking murder, I was no good, now I declared martial law on your whole hood. I heard your corny mixtape, did it go wood? My plug pass me the brick with the no look.” This sequence is classic Ab – deftly maneuvering from threatening violence on his enemy’s whole hood, to mocking his mixtape and gloating about how he’s sold more copies than him.

While Ab’s brother Lik Moss doesn’t get as demonstrative as him, he brings a lot of raw bars and the self-assured veneer of someone who knows they’ve earned their stripes over the years and earned the respect of their hooddd, sneering as he raps lines like ‘Call Moss and see if he scrimmage, but I ain’t leaving off the field until the evil is finished’ and ‘They don’t try me here and they don’t try me there; niggas try me anywhere there’ll be a body there.’

“I’m laying dirt broke before I compromise what I stand for, these niggas laying down they manwhores… keep my foot on the gas as soon as they slam the can door, right back to putting niggas out like a landlord.” Steadfast would be a good way to describe Lik Moss.

AR-Ab – Glory Road

The booming opener to AR-Ab’s new ‘Protocol Volume 4’ mixtape is textbook Ab; in 3 short minutes he discusses the ups and downs of selling dope to his uncle, seeing his old head become a junkie, his murder trial, and having to take Percocets to fall asleep at night. Alright admittedly that sounds like more downs than ups but Ab made it through it all to tell the story, and now he’s cruising around town in his luxury vehicle, literally and figuratively looking down on the girls that used to curve him for having holes in his sneakers as they comb through the trash. Other highlights from the tape include ‘Biggest Fear’ which has a pretty dope chorus, his remake of Pac’s ‘Hail Mary’ and ‘Come Home’ which has a beat you wouldn’t expect to hear Ab rapping on.

Yo Gotti ft. 8Ball & MJG – Walking in Memphis

Another blast from the past I found myself bumping all month, something about the start of spring has your humble host here feeling nostalgic. I’m not even really a big Gotti fan or that into most of his recent hits but his remake of ‘Walking in Memphis’ where he links up with Memphis legends 8Ball and MJG and repurposes the hook of the famous song of the same title is a personal classic of mine; they just use that sample so flawlessly. My favorite part is 8-Ball coming in at the end and just knocking over everything in his path; “Boys hatin’ cause their hoes be so in love with it, that pussy might jump off a bridge if he knew I hit it. That’s why I keep my pistol closer than my boxer drawers, handle my business without ever getting the law involved. Fake niggas get the Ruger to their fucking chin, mama don’t raise punks I ain’t gonna say it again.” 8Ball manages to be both chill and intimidating in the same time in that way that only big dudes are able to. Hotbox Social just put up a dope tribute to 8Ball with a big collection of his best features on his site a week ago.

Top 10 Songs February 2018

01 Thursday Mar 2018

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It’s been a wild month over here, and this month’s top 10 will reflect that. I went down a lot of different wormholes whether it was a Tupac nostalgia trip brought on by my birthday and feeling old, to randomly bumping a lot of 80s R&B which rarely happens either, to a journey through the new Memphis to exploring a bunch of stuff I missed from the Griselda label and ultimately checking out a bevy of quality new releases from Nipsey Hussle, Kodak, Ralo, 6ix 9ine, and more. Hey any month that you can headbang to 6ix 9ine and slow dance to New Edition in the same month is a month worth living if you ask me. So here’s my February top 10, we’re a day late but let’s do it…

Benny the Butcher – Fat Dom 

https://soundcloud.com/gxfr/7-fat-dom?in=gxfr/sets/benny-x-dj-green-lantern-butcher-on-steroids

Benny’s got me feeling like throwing on a Buffalo Sabers jersey (the red and black one with the evil-looking buffalo, of course) with all this fire he’s releasing.  I posted about Benny last week after seeing a really nice freestyle from him and this song ‘Fat Dom’ is my favorite song from his ‘Butcher on Steroids’ tape with Green Lantern that came out in November. Between Green Lantern shouting out his name and ‘Invasion’ over the tracks, to the flashy coke raps and the next-level lyricism, this tape (and song) really brought me back to another time and place, like the mid-2000s Dipset golden age and that is a very good thing in my opinion. Benny is like an Upstate NY, modern-day Diplomat.  I’m going to feel like an idiot, but a grateful idiot, when one of my loyal readers points out to me what this beat is from since I know I’ve heard it before and it’s probably something obvious but I just can’t remember what it’s from, but in any case Benny kills it. This tape was great, and his project that just came out about a week or so ago entitled ‘Stabbed & Shot’ with his fellow Upstater 38 Spesh was really good as well (and features one track with Benny & 38 trading bars with Styles P and Jadakiss in typical Styles and Kiss fashion)

6ix 9ine ft. Tory Lanez, Young Thug

Much to the chagrin of rainbow-grill haters from coast to coast, the 6ix 9ine debut album (mixtape?) finally came and while it was short, it was economical in that it packed a lot of bangers into just under a half hour. Everyone already knew Kooda, Gummo and Keke which were amongst the best songs on it, but perhaps the best of all of them was a new song called Rondo. Rondo features a trio of collaborators in 6ix9ine, Tory Lanez, and Young Thug that is as unexpected as it is potent. I feel like Young Thug basically was the 6ix 9ine of a few years ago, with people up in arms about him wearing a dress and having a nose ring so it’s perhaps only right that these two kindred but very different spirits came together to bring some serious heat. I’m usually not really down with Tory Lanez but I have to admit his vocals on the chorus here were sick and really brought the whole song together. Like most of 6ix 9ine’s other big hits so far, especially Keke, really the only problem with ‘Rondo’ is that it’s way too short for such a dope song especially when you have 3 different guys of this caliber on it. Whether you love 6ix 9ine or hate him, or fall somewhere in between, I challenge you to bump Rondo at top volume and not get amped up about it.

Nipsey Hussle – Grinding All My Life

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hujv7zlY_6I

I actually posted this song in my top 10 a while back probably in September or October, but after appearing on Nipsey’s highly-anticipated ‘Victory Lap’ it’s back in this month’s 10. Nipsey was talking about Victory Lap for literally about a year and a half and it finally came out for All-Star weekend in Los Angeles. There were a lot of dope tracks on it and I have to say, I don’t think I’ve seen an album get this much love/anticipation both from the internet whether it was blogs, social media, or forums AND people bumping it outside in real life in quite a while, so good for Nip. There were a lot of good songs on it and it’s a nice, cohesive album where he really hammers home his vision of entrepeneurship and empowerment, but Grinding All My Life is still my favorite after all this time. I like his flow and bars better in the first half of the song than in the second, but either way it’s a banger.

“Don’t know a nigga like myself. I say self-made meaning I designed myself. County jail fade you could pull my file yourself. Spot raid, swallowed rocks I’m getting high myself.”

“Damn right I like the life I built, I’m from West side 60s, shit I might got killed, standing so tall they think I might got stilts. Legendary baller like Mike like Wilt, ’96 Impala Thug Life on wheels. Up against the wall, squabble at Fox Hills. Like a motherfucking boss ask me how I feel, successful street niggas touching their first mill.”

“Look I’m married to this game, that’s who I made my wife. She said I’d die alone I told that bitch she probably right. One thing that’s for sure, I’m not a stranger to this life, got a safe that’s full of Franklins and a shoulder full of stripes.

Nipsey Hussle ft. Kendrick Lamar – Dedication

Another highlight from Victory Lap. I’m usually not crazy about Kendrick but this song was incredible and it was cool to see him and Nipsey on a song together. Nice beat, great verses from two of the biggest modern-day LA/West Coast rappers, and furthermore it’s actually a pretty uplifting/positive song. Favorite line… Nipsey – “This ain’t entertainment. This for niggas on the slave ship. These songs are the spirituals that I swam against the waves with; made it to the shore to their amazement.” That line is so real it legitimately sent a chill down this old jaded blogger’s spine.

Moneybagg Yo – Black Heart 

Wrote about this one earlier this month during my audio trip through Memphis…

The intro to Moneybagg Yo’s new project ‘2 Heartless’ goes hard as a mother. It’s under a minute and a half long but it packs quite a punch. I wish it was a full-length 3 or so minute song because it ends right as he’s really heating up. The beat is harsh and I’m always down with rappers starting mixtapes with clips about themselves/their crimes/shootings etc. from the radio/news. I’m also down with Moneybagg including a clip of a guy yelling ‘Man, fuck Moneybagg!’ on his own tape. “Niggas turned hippie, they want peace, hit ’em with the iron get ’em creased, hottest nigga moving through these streets, all in my shows with the heat, dealt with more crosses than a priest, I ain’t let it break me with the lease.” The ‘niggas turned hippie they want peace, hit ’em with the iron get em creased’ is one of my favorite rhymes in a while it’s so simple but so effective. The hippie line has me picturing Moneybagg Yo’s opps in Memphis walking around with bell bottoms and tie-dyed shirts and something about hit ’em with the iron get ’em creased just sounds so brutal. I love the way he says ‘iron’ with that Tennessee drawl; ‘eearun‘.

Blocboy JB ft. Drake – Look Alive 

From original article…

As I predicted a couple of weeks ago, Drake wasn’t down at the FedEx Forum taking in a Grizzlies game with Blocboy JB because he wanted to take in Mario Chalmers NBA return or to see one half of the Harrison twins. Drake knows exactly what he’s doing – while it may look like he’s trying to help out a less famous up and coming artist, he actually needs Blocboy more than Blocboy needs him – he sees the hype Blocboy JB is getting and the love he’s getting on the streets, so he jumps on a song with him and rides the wave with him. I’m not even hating on it it’s actually a great business strategy and as much as I’m not usually a big fan of Drake as a rapper I will say he does have a great ear/eye for talent in terms of a lot of the guys he’s co-signed over the years and would make a great A&R.

I’m down with the Jordan jumpsuit Drake is rocking in the video; I’d be in full favor of clothes like that making a return instead of the women’s jeans and designer man-purses that a lot of rappers are sporting today.  Drake’s dance actually isn’t bad in this video, but it’s no surprise that he’s upstaged by Blocboy, the guy who has all kinds of college and pro teams copying his dance from Shoot. And speaking of the fashion in this video, anyone of you readers out there know what the cargo pants w the orange stripe on the side that Blocboy is sporting are? Those are pretty fresh. P.S. I think he’s also wearing a Green Day ‘American Idiot’ shirt?

The ‘blow you like a flute’ line was kiiiiind of suspect but hey for the guy that made ‘Rover’ and ‘Shoot’ we’ll let it slide, Blocboy has earned himself a few slip-ups. He gets back into more typical excellent Blocboy form shortly after with this dope line – ‘Came a long way from sitting in the nosebleeds. Now a nigga on the floor talking to the ath-letes, man I’m so close to the game that I could steal the stat sheet.”

Drizzy is feeling grapey after his Memphis Vacation and who can blame him?

6ix 9ine – Billy

‘Billy’ is just so, so aggressive. It’s almost more of a hardcore song than a rap song. Apparently the video shoot for this got shut down in NYC today. I had thought there was a clip or version of this with Cuban Doll in it but I guess it didn’t make it to the album? I don’t know who is giving the speech in the beginning but it definitley sets the tone for the rest of the tape. A lot of high school kids are going to get punched in the face at parties with this song on in the background. I kind of want to make a mixtape with this, Kooda, and Knuck if You Buck just on a continuous loop.

Top Dolla – Set Trippin (C Mix)

Wrote about this one the other day…

Even 6ix 9ine’s harshest critics have to indirectly give him credit for at least getting Casanova to make ‘Set Trippin,’ one of the unfriendliest songs out of NYC in a long time, which then indirectly caused a wave of Set Trippin remixes all over the city and beyond, my favorite of which may honestly be this OG ‘Top Dolla’ trying his hand at it. I don’t know much about him and he only has a couple of songs over the last few years but I’ll take him over half the rappers out here these days, the man has charisma and stage presence.

I love the skit at the beginning. To summarize; Top Dolla and his boys are cooling out on the block when an erstwhile Blood is unlucky enough to stumble across their path. Top Dolla disappointedly asks him when/why he turned Blood and chides him for turning Blood in jail when he didn’t even have a long bid. Top Dolla’s henchman also takes his flag out of his pocket for wearing it on the wrong side. But then ultimately in a surprise twist, Top Dolla acts fairly magnanimously and decides to spare him because they grew up on the same block, their moms know each other, and he basically watched him grow up. Knowing he’s no match for him, he lets him cross the street and leaves it to the Damus down the block to deal with him.

The navy blue and gold Pelle Pelle jacket he’s rocking looks sick and goes well with his standard Yankees hat, always a timeless classic. There are a lot of dope clothing choices in this video amongst his crew, whether it’s his boy in the Seattle Mariners pullover from the skit, or the guy with the New York Islanders jersey. Perhaps best of all is the rarely seen Minnesota Wild hoodie.

I like the raw aggression/energy and just sheer gravity Top Dolla brings to his version of the song, you just feel an added weight with some of the lines since you know he’s lived what he’s rapping here in his unique take on the song. He mainly talks about being in the minority as a Crip at Rikers Island and the NY State prison system, and standing tall whereas many other Crips were afraid to claim in jail since they were vastly outnumbered.

I love his spin on the chorus; ‘Throw your hood up, nigga bang, on Rikers Island a lot of niggas they was scared to claim, Neighborhood nigga that’s the gang.’

‘Young top Dolla a known threat; 18 Years, Neighborhood, only been one set. They tuckin from the streets to the jail, nigga I bang mine, the Six is like kids around tax time, I claim mine. What I hate is tuck and tell, knowing well, they get in a spot with some Crips, they claimin’ other jails.’

‘Some niggas pick and choose when they rep, we gotta fix that, if you reppin over there adn not over here, you gettin’ bitch slapped…on Rikers I was making it known, they can’t forget that, and up north, I was keeping it funky like where the Rips at?’

SOB X RBE – God 

Amazing song from SOB X RBE. Only caught this at the very end of the month but this is so good. ‘God’ is off their new album Gangin, which is apparently being called a debut album – I thought that last year’s self-titled one was their debut album but I guess that was a mixtape. Last year’s album/mixtape was one of the best projects of the year; I have to really get into the rest of this album and listen to it in full while I have time but so far it sounds great. SOB X RBE is definitley one of the top groups in the game these days and individually these guys all have some great solo stuff too. After being on the Black Panther soundtrack I’m sure they’ll blow up even more and they certainly deserve to. It’s too early to say because this was a last-minute change right before I put this article up but so far I’d go as far as to say ‘God’ is one of my favorite songs from the SOB X RBE camp so far to date.

Kodak Black – Why You Always Gotta Go

The new Kodak Black album was kind of hit or miss to me but when you really try to try some new things and push the envelope some things are going to miss so I can’t fault Kodak for that. I almost feel like this new album HBK was him going avant-garde. I picked ‘Why You Always Gotta Go’ as my top song from it and my 10th song for the month after a couple of listens of the album but really it was a close choice between this and the couple of other songs I liked from HBK, namely Acting Wierd, Laudy, Running Outta Love and When Vultures Cry. I loved the ‘I made my first $100,000 in my Soldiers’ line.

Top 10 Songs January 2018

01 Thursday Feb 2018

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OT Genasis – Too Blessed 

From the original post…

The big cuz O.T. Genasis hitting us with some surprisingly wholesome fire here. This is some inspirational ‘chicken soup for the trap star’s soul’. ‘Too Blessed’ is too inspirational and too catchy to ignore.

O.T. Genasis is Belizean but it looks like his hood pass is good in Haiti. Best music video shot in Haiti since Kodak and French Montana went down there for Lockjaw?

Is that O.T. Genasis considering buying a painting of O.T. Genasis at 1:05??

That ‘Haitian Veteran’ hat is intense. The floral Adidas shirt the other dude with him is wearing has got me jelly too. There are a lot of things to love about this video, from O.T.’s dance moves and how happy the kids are breaking out theirs, and the smiling old lady, and when O.T. points to the sky as he yells ‘My lil nigga coming home soon.’ This is O.T. Genasis’ best song of his career so far in my opinion, and very early on my favorite track of 2018 so far.

Blocboy JB – Rover 

So Grapey. Blocboy JB is hitting so hard right now he’s got Drake down in Memphis taking in Grizzlies games. Rover is an absolute monster and has me abusing the grape emoji on my phone keyboard.

Ray Mula ft. Dave East, Don Q – Wassup with the Wassup Remix

This is what NYC rap should be sounding like nowadays. Done perfectly. The original Wassup was great but the remix takes it to a whole nother level. All 3 guys kill it…

(Original post here)

Ray Mula:

“Shorty sleeping on the hookah so we made her pay for refills. I’m still taking her home, but if she throw me on the Snap than I’m breaking her phone.”

“Used to wake up for the count now I wake up just to count.”

“8 Ball rolling, nigga no pool, trap house jumping more scales than Whole Foods”

No homo but I love Mula’s voice it’s perfect for this type of song.

“I was fucking all these hoes way before I started trapping, looking like a rapper way before I started rapping. Yeah I’m from the 8 talk about it make it happen, we could get it poppin, we could get it crackin… Harlem world AKA money making, hoes started liking, niggas started hating. Tried to keep it funky, niggas started faking, grip on deck but we can still get it shaking.”

Dave East:

“I was on some broke shit, roaches by the mattress, on some Loc shit way before I started flagging.”

“All this double G be on me got me fucking nigga’s wives. Came home without a scar, could give a fuck about your life.”

Don Q:

“I be walking through the fire when the smoke clear. Tell my niggas open fire when the coast clear. Yeah that block was on fire but I post there. Don’t stand by that car tire we got coke there. Fuck a prince nigga I got king status. Stuffed $200,000 in a queen mattress. All my ice bright nigga I done seen darkness, my lawyer got pistol cases looking like weed charges.”

I almost want to include the original version with just Ray Mula as another one of my top 10 songs but I feel like that would kind of be cheating.

Cookie Money

Heartfelt and hard-hitting song from Oakland hustler Cookie Money. You can really feel what he’s saying here. I’m not going to say much here because I’ve been meaning to give this it’s own post which I’ll put up in the next couple of days.

Continue reading →

Top 10 Songs December 2017

30 Saturday Dec 2017

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It almost feels crazy to write a ‘top 10 songs of December 2017’ after just doing a top 50 songs for the year 2017 but there’s just too much going on right now to skip it. This month had new albums from Shy Glizzy and Lil Boosie, a new mixtape from Lil Wayne that was more interesting in theory than practice, a couple new albums from some of Detroit’s lovely ladies like Molly Brazy and Cuban Doll, and was capped off with ‘The Gift’ from FMB DZ. As you can see below I’m still on my Detroit grind right now with a couple of tracks by longtime favorites making some heavy, profound music (and an unexpected rainbow-haired interloper) mixed in.

Sada Baby – Free 80’s

“Real nigga look me in my eyes, I ain’t fake at all.”

While December was an amazing month for new music with new albums from heavyweights like Shy Glizzy and Lil Boosie to Sada Baby’s fellow Detroit native FMB DZ, I don’t think I listened to any song more times on repeat this month than ‘Free 80s’. There’s just something about the swagger and veneer that Sada brings to the track that makes this song compelling, more so than any specific line or lyric. Taylor Greer of Fake Shore Drive described it best, saying “The truth is, Detroit is in a league on their own, and has been for some time. The artists and music that you hear in the city, provide a glimpse into a culture surrounded by ingenuity and preserved by the hustle. So when you hear artists like Sada Baby or 80’s spit, just know you’re not just hearing lyrics over a beat — you’re actually hearing the ingenuity of the artist’s hustle.”

I love the cameo from FMB DZ in the video when Sada Baby mentions him (making multiple appearances on this songs of the month list even when he’s not actually in the song!) supporting his fellow Plymouth Road rapper, as well as the cameo from Tee Grizzley’s chain.

The vest with no shirt under it combination does not work for most people and I certainly wouldn’t dare try to pull it off but Sada just has so much swag he’s able to pull it off and override any concerns that the average person would have when rocking that look. (Now I’m not saying I want this to spark a trend, let’s keep it to just Sada for now).

“I won’t talk about no shit that I don’t know bout. If that chopstick ain’t on me I don’t go out.”

“I’m an east side nigga with a roll on me. I can’t say none of my niggas ever told on me. They won’t ever let no other niggas roll on me. Big face (???) type of niggas never fold on me. Tooda Man gon do what’s right if you act wrong on me. He done killed a nigga if he swung on me. Know I kill a nigga if he swung on me. Bang bang close range I got blood on me. Step on the work like it’s a motherfucking rug. I can’t talk to nobody unless I’m off my drugs.” (I love the look that Tooda Man grills the camera with when he’s mentioned in the verse).

“I’m in Cali you niggas at home want to trade places? I’m just out here facing, stacking, yelling free 80s!”

“Burberry shirt cost an ounce of cookie, young Skuba Steve different type of rookie. Monkey nuts everywhere the wop look like Jumanji.”

The ‘Free 80’s’ title and chorus are in reference to Eastside 80s, an imprisoned Detroit rapper. All of the current wave of Detroit rappers go hard but Sada Baby also adds in a twist of personality and humor along with some wierd flows and wordplay to give him a style all his own. No one else besides him could pull off a red ranger Power Ranger tattoo and actually make it look kind of dope. I’m in the middle of listening to his new mixtape ‘Dat One Nigga’ right now and should have a couple of highlights from it up here soon. Sada Baby already ‘blew up’ in 2017 but I think we’re going to be seeing him everywhere in 2018.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bcag_fDlI0g/?hl=en&taken-by=sadababy

 

FMB DZ – All the Smoke

I’m tempted to say that no rapper had a bigger/better 2017 than FMB DZ or burst onto the scene with more of a bang.

A perfect Yuletide gift indeed from a gun-wielding, Buffs-sporting Santa Clause…

“Nigga ain’t my man if he ain’t riding with me, I fuck with the BandGang I got Mas with me. My nigga (?) got a sleeve and a 550, I got popped I could have died I had God with me. A nigga gotta die if a nigga want beef. Free my nigga 80’s I’m good in the East. You know this bitch a classic with Ant on the beat. Niggas know that I’m gonna shoot so they pass it to me.”

“You’ve got guns I got guns we can shoot it out. I’m aiming for a nigga’s head I ain’t killing clouds. Lord forgive me always been a wild child, two FNs and two chopsticks cost me five thou. Nigga telling me I’m next bitch I’m up now, I’m in Houston making plays bitch I feel like Yao.”

“Put a nigga on your block so we can find the house, firebomb will chop y’all down while you’re running out”

I ended up lazily forgetting to put together a top 20 mixtapes/albums to go along with the top 50 tracks of 2017 that I did a couple of posts ago, but it’s safe to say FMB DZ would be on the list twice this year; once for The Gift and once for Washington DZ.

Shy Glizzy – Take Me Away

From the previous post…

The Glizzy Gang head honcho has a knack for these heavy but melodic songs like this that focus mainly on death and what people will be saying when he’s gone/what type of legacy you leave behind, i.e. this one and 2015’s ‘Funeral’, which was previously Glizzy’s finest work in my opinion. ‘Take Me Away’ is the standout track from his recent ‘Quiet Storm’ album and may challenge Funeral for his career best so far.

I love the montage setting the mood in the beginning of the video, with the random, dispassionate shots of Glizzy’s hood (the overgrown back alleys behind apartment buildings, clotheslines, staircases, the D.C. skyline off in the distance, a police helicopter circling overhead, guys posted up on the corner) interspersed with him walking in the rain and waiting in his house with police sirens outside the window. The cold, sobering beat goes perfect with it. I’m certainly no expert on this type of thing but the intro is A+ cinematography. It really feels like the calm before the storm.Even the title ‘Take Me Away’ goes perfectly with this vibe.

From a fashion perspective, I’m not sure if I’m feeling the Supreme umbrella but those Georgetown Hoyas shorts are fire. Bonus points since he’s representing DC AND because I looked for them online and couldn’t even find them so a rare gem indeed. (Another side note – Lightshow also had a song called ‘Burberry Umbrellas’ recently. What’s with these DMV-area rappers and high-end designer umbrellas?).

The chorus is simple but hits hard – ‘If the streets take me away, a real nigga I die.” He’s come to terms with the fact that he can die any day in the environment he’s in and while he’ll survive at all costs at least if he dies he feels like he never caved in or folded and no one can say he wasn’t ‘real.’ It’s a steadfast but sobering message and I would imagine this song was probably influenced by the recent death of 30 Glizzy.

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Top 10 Songs November 2017

28 Tuesday Nov 2017

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The last month or so has had more good new music than any I can recall in a long time, so this top 10 list is stacked; I couldn’t even pick out an official #1 since there were so many good candidates. We really got a veritable cornucopia of new slaps for Thanksgiving, hopefully December is just as kind to us.

Joseph McFashion ft. FMB DZ – On Go

Detroit’s FMB DZ is starting to really blow up right now and clocks in with a late entry for one of the top songs for November 2017. Here he demonstrates why, doing some of his finest work over this SMOOOOOTH beat. I love the flow and the great lines coupled with all the Detroit-specific references…

“Oh you need a job nigga? Come and sell that cling cling. One spot 3 cell phones and they all ring, If it ain’t about no money bitch it don’t involve me. Had to change my number, weird hoes tryna stalk me, gotta keep that stick can’t let a nigga chalk me”

“Niggas really soft, FMB you fuckin with the boss, I be playing golf, down my way I be ducked off, at Asian Cornbeef tell them I need some more duck sauce, go to Au Corant ask them boys how much my Buffs cost”

Cam’ron – Lean 

One of many highlights off of Cam’ron’s new album ‘The Program’. From the original article…

“Rather than an ode to the purple, slumber-inducing concoction, ‘Lean’ is literally a rap song over a beat sampling the 1972 classic ‘Lean on Me’ by Bill Withers. I guess this should come as no surprise since Cam’ron has mastered this type of song and rapping over these types of samples more than any other artist, whether it was Journey’s ‘Don’t Stop Believing’, ‘Oh What a Night‘ by the Four Seasons talking about the night he got shot in D.C. and drove himself to the hospital, or improbably rapping about IBS over the all-too-short ‘Any Way You Want It’, or one of my all time favorite Cam efforts, his take on Rose Royce’s ‘I Wanna Get Next to You’

Killa is rattling off lines like he’s in the midst of a lengthy, multi-decade prime here…

“I grew up with Big L, all I knew was ebonics; jealousy, crack, greed, homicide and chronic, where niggas catch a body change their name like the Sonics. It was hot like Phoenix, I used to look up at the Lenox Ave sign, on my heart, and pledge allegiance.”

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Top 10 Songs October 2017

28 Saturday Oct 2017

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PC Tweezie – Really

Tweezie brings back that throwing ‘bos in the club type music and takes the crown for top song of October with ‘Really’…

“PC Tweezie opens strong and makes his presence felt right away, pummeling the opening verse, “I was really in the trenches with them wolves, I really tote a .30 hit the gas if I get pulled. I’ll really beat your ass run up on you like a bull, I’m really getting fat them hos say I’m getting full.” I love everything about this verse –  The hit the gas if I get pulled line just sounds badass AF, while in the days of rappers talking about their nose rings and desinger messenger bags it just feels refreshing to hear PC Tweezie rap about doling out a good old-fashioned beating and literally taking food off of other inmate’s plates. Lastly, I definitely respect that his hos are admiring his weight gain, because usually when I put on some extra pounds I end up just getting fat-shamed into jogging so he definitely has some serious clout.

In possibly my favorite rhyme of ‘extension’ and ‘extension’ ever, Tweezie deftly deploys it in two different usages and some pretty evocative imagery that shows he’s absolutely not fucking around: “I really keep a 40 glock that came with the extensions, I’m quick to bat a bitch and drag a ho by the extensions.” (Made even better by the ‘I’m silly’ ad lib right after).”

A big added bonus here is the headlines on the newspaper graphics in the video i.e. “Tensions Rise in Local Prison” with the byline “PC’s First Day in Lockup Didn’t Go So Well for the Other Inmates”

Ball Greezy ft. Mike Smiff, Kase 1, Major Nine – I Deserve it All 

Some more Florida smoothness from Ball Greezy and co., via Rapmusichysteria , the undisputed expert on Ball Greezy and Florida slaps in general.

From Rap Music Hysteria…

“Like Kodak Black, who combines new-gen meme literacy with older rap styles, Ballgreezy stands between movements but remains outside them, continuing in a post-jook mode while softening its Dionysian edges with grown-man world-weariness. At times he resembles one of the mournful songmen of today; this might be the case, and yet Greezy was crooning before Wayne and Kanye broke down the R&B doors and liberated moping for the kids of today.”

Ball Greezy kills it with a heavy but resilient verse, half rapping, half singing…

“Niggas wonder why Greezy don’t smile… I’ve been through the ups and downs, the back and forths the round and rounds. A real food stamp baby, born and raised in Little Haiti, I can’t lie the streets ain’t been the same lately. Niggas don’t keep it G no more, see they don’t make ’em like me no more. Red and blue lights behind me, where the heat gon go? Surrender or shoot it out? I heard they don’t care about you and I. I’m tired of even living like this. How the hell do you raise kids like this.

“They told me that I would never ever be shit, now my watch and my chain make them seasick”

Que ft. Sada Baby – 90s Baby

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Snqc5K7W7ZI

From my previous post…

“For whatever reason, I have to admit I’ve been sleeping on Que and have never really gotten into him/checked out much of his stuff. I guess I had heard OG Bobby Johnson back in the day and wasn’t super into it/didn’t see what all the hype was about and then kind of forgot about him. But let me be the first to say, I’ll be DAMNED if his Class Clown EP isn’t a great project with some nice slaps on it. Paramount amongst these was ’90s Baby’ which I’ve been playing over and over again all month. “I’m a ’90s baby, I keep a little .380, it’s hard to tell it’s on me, that boy thought I was naked,’ Que warns potential foes who may be debating whether or not to run up on him.  Even when he’s by himself he’s never lonely because he has his little .380 with him. Delving deeper I’m not sure what being born in the 90s has to do with keeping a hidden .380 but either way I love this song. ‘He got beside himself, and got to talking reckless, he must not got the memo that me and my niggas PETTY!’ Que continues. As one of the pettiest people you’ll ever meet, I can definitely get behind this type of message.

‘He said he don’t fuck with me, well nigga vice versa… said when he see me… said he was gon do what, to who my nigga? How? You just a class clown.” I like the idea of just telling people that don’t like you ‘vice versa’ and I love how ultimately dismissive it is, ‘To who my nigga how? You just a class clown.”

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Top 10 Songs September 2017

24 Sunday Sep 2017

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Berner & Young Dolph ft. Ampichino – Win Big

Big Bern stays winning on here as this blog’s unexpected champion of 2017 with my top song for September ‘Win Big.’ Whether it was Berner snubbing Yeezys in the first verse or a Trump reference from Ampichino that was as unexpected as it was edgy, or the heavenly beat, Win Big just stormed its way to the trophy. I wrote previously –

“This song has me feeling like me, Berner, Dolph, and Amp just won a big, hard-fought battle in an enemy city and we’re now realizing it’s over and it was costly, but we gave it our all, we won, and we’re all still here and we’re all good. We’re taking our masks/helmets/visors off and putting our guns down and we’re just triumphantly looking around and surveying the carnage and taking it all in, looking at each other and giving a knowing nod to our brothers in arms. Or we just won a championship and Berner hit the winning 3 at the buzzer against all odds and now we’re all just basking in the glow of knowing we achieved glory.

I was already singing the praises of Berner & Dolph’s collaboration project ‘Tracking Numbers’ because ‘Knuckles’, the first track they leaked from it, was already easily one of my favorite songs of the year. Little did I know that by the time this 8 track mixtape was over that another song from it would be right up there with Knuckles as one of my favorite songs, and beats, of the year. The beat for this one is so triumphant and honest and perfectly captures the ‘Win Big’ mantra. I have to find out who came up with this beat. Berner is like Jameis Winston right now; he’s been around for a couple of seasons but now he’s entering his prime and ready to take the league by storm.”

Lil B – Bad MF

If it wasn’t for Berner hogging the spotlight, Lil B very well could have had the top song for September with not only Bad MF, but Berkley, off his new Black Ken album.

“You can’t see me, even with glasses. West Coast motherf*cker and I’m smashin’. I don’t care if you play this on the radio, ’cause they love me from Oakland to Fillmoe.

Yeah I’m from the ghetto, where motherf*ckers will change your whole schedule. You can meet me at the sideshow, I’m a rap star b*tch I don’t drive slow!”

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