Tag Archives: Memphis

Daddy Found Out I Was GD Damn Near Knocked my Chest Off

10 Wednesday Jul 2019

Posted by in Memphis, South

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Duke Deuce – Yeh

This is my new favorite/most fun song since Waka, and I’d say up there with Waka if not surpassing it for best choreographed group dance moves as you’ll see around the 0:59 mark or so. Seriously this sideways strut/spin thing they’ve got going on is fucking fire. (I’d say don’t try this at home but helpfully, Duke has a really comprehensive, easy-to-follow tutorial video on it that walks you through it step by step.)

Memphis’ Duke Deuce is kind of reminding me of a 70th Street Carlos but more of an evil twin/more sinister 70th Street Carlos. On ‘Yeh’, Duke pulls off the difficult task of making a song that’s hard as fuck that’s ALSO simultaneously fun and something you’d want to throw on at a party.

I’m absolutely loving the blunt and relatable self-assessment and flow on “Smoking weed at the school getting in trouble with the law, hard-headed ass nigga mama said your ass off, hard-headed ass nigga down their knocking heads off, Daddy found out I was GD damn near knocked my chest off.”

I’d also like to take a moment to salute the eclectic collection of sportswear in this video ranging from the New England Patriots to the more obscure Xavier Musketeers and even the fictional Los Angeles Knights from Like Mike, not to mention even a D Generation X t-shirt.

Definitely one of the songs of the summer so far.

P.S. first saw this on the ole’ reliable DGB.

 

‘Niggas Turned Hippie They Want Peace, Hit ’em with the Iron get ’em Creased’ A Couple of Memphis Quick Hitters

15 Thursday Feb 2018

Posted by in South

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Your humble host has been too dormant for the last week or so but now I’m back out here in the trenches with y’all. I’ve noticed that unintentionally, I’ve been listening to a whole bunch of releases by Memphis artists in a row over the last week or two, in between some Tupac while I was in nostalgia mode after my birthday and randomly New Edition’s ‘Gold’ greatest hits collection (I can feel my street cred instantly plummeting as I type this) so I wanted to put up a post rounding up some of my favorites from some of the new stuff going on down there with some quick-hitting thoughts on each.  Between all the love Blocboy JB is getting, the new Moneybagg Yo project that just dropped, and new mixtapes from both Key Glock and Jay Fizzle, Memphis is on fire right now – they’ve got me feeling like a Memphis Grizzly right now. A hibernating Memphis grizzly, but a grizzly nonetheless.

Moneybagg Yo – Black Heart 

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‘.

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I Bang the C, Half a Circle

30 Tuesday Jan 2018

Posted by in South

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Blocboy JB – Rover

“Killas in the motherfucking circle… I bang the C, half a circle”. Blocboy JB has got me feeling GRAPEY with this one.

Something tells me that this is one Santa Clause that you don’t want to end up on the naughty list of.

I first heard Blocboy JB on Somanyshrimp’s end of year top 50 list with ‘Shoot’ which was a great song in its own right, and ever since then I seemingly can’t get away from him, with the dance from Shoot blowing up and now his followup Rover which is an absolute monster.

The Memphis rapper goes hard as fuck on Rover and people are already starting to go nuts about it. A recent cosign from Drake will only push this to higher heights even though it didn’t even really need it to grow into a behemoth in its own right. (I’m not a big Drake fan but I have to say, the man knows good music when he hears it and certainly knows which waves to hitch his wagon to. It looks like they also recently caught a Grizzlies game together, and the Grizzlies are absolutely terrible this year so I’m sure Drake was there more for recruitment/getting his A&R on as opposed to that he was dying to see Mario Chalmers’ NBA return tour).

The dope Tay Keith-produced beat (same guy who produced Shoot) and Blocboy’s menacing flow make this the perfect song to blast in the whip. Even if you’re just driving around in a falling apart 2007 Nissan Sentra like me, this song is the perfect cure for driving a lemon because you can still feel like you’ve got a decent amount of sauce when you pull up at the light bumping ‘Rover’.

Between Blocboy JB and Jay Fizzle, it seems like Grape Street Crip rappers from Memphis are having quite the moment in the sun right now. I also love the fact that in true Grape Street fashion JB’s EP on Spotify is called ‘The Purple M&M’ a la the similarly awesomely titled ‘The Blue M&M’ and ‘Blue M&M King Sized’ by Peewee Longway although regrettably there’s no ridiculous cartoonish purple gang-banging M&M posted up on the cover. Maybe for his next tape! The tape was good but it was short, and since this guy already has two absolute bangers in such a short time I’m definitley  looking forward to hearing more.

Berner ft. Young Dolph, Gucci Mane – ‘Knuckles’

11 Friday Aug 2017

Posted by in Bay Area, Berner

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Ohhhhhhh yeah. Stop the presses, stop the presses! We interrupt this broadcast to bring you good tidings and news of Berner’s new collaboration with Young Dolph and Gucci Mane, ‘Knuckles’. Seriously could there be any better news for an erstwhile, newly out of the closet Berner fan such as myself than news that not only does he have a new song with The King of Memphis and Wop, but that he has a whole EP coming out with Dolph? (Berner is carving out quite the niche market for himself with these ‘collaboration’ albums/mixtapes he’s got projects out with everyone from Cam’ron to The Jacka, including his most recent ‘Vibes’ project with Styles P which was a very solid release). I feel like Big Bern’s stock is at an all-time high right now. Ask the rap gods for new Berner material and ye shall receive. Honestly at this point I may need to make a new category on this blog for Just Berner. At this point it’s too early to say but Knuckles may be my favorite Berner song, and you’re talking to a man who listened to a good 4 Berner albums on a long drive last night.

According to Dirty Glove Bastard, the upcoming project with Young Dolph, entitled ‘Tracking Numbers,’ will have features from Gucci Mane, Peewee Longway, OJ Da Juiceman, Juicy J, Philthy Rich, and more. I can’t wait to hear the one with Project Pat. I loved DGB’s tepid/noncommital reaction to news of the Berner/Dolph project – “Berner & Young Dolph were probably the last 2 people you’d expect to collab for an entire project, but here we are.” You’ve got to love the ‘But here we are’ as the way to end your thoughts on something that you’re just not sure what to make of. Also, are the ‘Tracking Numbers’ referred to in the title referring to shipments from the Cookies clothing line that this hard-working fashion entrepeneur is senidng out to his customers, or to ‘cookies’ of a more illicit nature? Only time will tell when the album comes out.

I was excited enough just to see an unexpected collaboration between these 3, but the beat by TraxxFDR (who has collaborated with Berner previously  and whipped up some magic with him on my previous favorite Berner song) is absolutely delicious and takes this song to a whole different level. I’m curious who made it and what the sample is from. It has me feeling like I’m at a roller rink in the 70s with Berner, Dolph and the crew just casually skating around, smoking some cookie, chatting up the roller girls. If I do a ‘beats of the year’ type article at the end of the year this one has staked a strong claim to the top of the list.

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