If You Asking Why Is Hip Hop Dead There’s a Pretty Good Chance You’re the Reason it Died

For old school hip hop fans we don’t need Nas to tell us that Hip Hop Is Dead as we have know for some time now that it was. For proof look no further than the recent Grammy nominations where there were no rappers represented in the big four categories (Album, Song, Record, New Artist). The big question is who killed it: Was it Eminem who made it socially acceptable for thirteen year old suburban white chicks to listen to the genre? Or Nelly who took a step further and recorded a song with the very un-hip *NSYNC (and later with Tim McGraw)? Maybe it was Nas himself who sampled In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida not once but twice recently here on the title track of Hip Hop Is Dead.

But throughout the album Nas doesn’t call out names of who is responsible, even on the track Who Killed It?, instead he throws a blanket of blame over the commercialization of the genre and even hints at his motivation during the title track when he raps, “Nas rap is compared to legitimized crap.” The rest of the album plays out like a eulogy even giving love to those who never got the commercial success, most notably on the James Brown sampling Where Are They Now?, unlike their excessive bling wearing modern day counterparts. This is even though they laid the foundation that enabled the current stars to gain an embarrassment of riches that they are more than happy to show off on Cribs.

On Got Ur Self a... off of Stillmatic, Nas started one verse by say “My first album had no famous guest appearances, the outcome, I’m crowned the best lyricist” which was more than you regular boisterous rapper claim as there was plenty of truth in that statement. In early stages of this album, Nas suggested that his next would be without any guest and would be solely produced by D.J. Premier of Gang Starr but Hip Hop Is Dead ended up with a few guest appearances along with plenty of big name producers. Premier is conspicuously absent which makes me wonder if that album was just put on the back burner.

What hurts Nas the most is when he when he brings in those guest because rarely do they usually pale in comparison to one of the best lyricist. This most evident with The Game on QB True G who spend most of his verse blowing smoke at Nas and Dr. Dre who produced the track. This is also evident on Play on Playa with Snoop Dogg, but the track itself is not up to par thanks to the blandest producer in recent memory, Scott Storch. Ironically Nas opens up the song by ripping on the Hilton sisters when it is Storch who we can thank for Paris’s train wreck of an album. Another producer who couldn’t provide Nas a decent beat was Chris Weber for Blunt Ashes. And yes, it’s that Chris Webber.

But after a few boring guest spots and a mediocre comeback album, Nas’s onetime nemesis and current boss at Def Jam, Jay-Z seems revitalized on Black Republican a song that samples Marcia Religiosa from Godfather III, by far his best effort since coming out of retirement. Kanye West produces and gives a verse on Still Dreaming though doesn’t live up to their collaboration on We Major form West’s latest album. West does a much better job with the other song he produces on the disk Let There Be Light but it is the unknown Tre Williams that steals the song with his soulful hook.

And even though I ripped on it in the intro, the will.i.am produced title track is a stand out track that uses more than the Iron Butterfly sample including the go to sample for old school cats, Apache by the Incredible Bongo Band as well show stopping ending with Nas rapping over a crowd shouting “Hip Hop.” But no high priced producer was need for the closer Hope where Nas goes acappella for most of the track. Although like with every Nas album not named Illmatic, this one is uneven at times, but as long as there are rappers like Nas and his ilk, there is still hope for a hip hop resurrection.

Song to Download - Let There Be Light

Hip Hop Is Dead gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.

Been a Dogg, Smoke You Like a Menthol

Over the past decade or so Snoop Dogg has become more than a brand than a rapper staring in movies, commercials, his own variety show, even lent his name to a porno, wrote a book, started up his own clothing line including a pet accessory line, hosting his own satellite radio show, starred in video games, and founded the Snoop Youth Football League. But the biggest impact was giving new slang for suburbanite white dudes everywhere to annoy their parents. But among all the extracurricular sometimes his music gets overlooks; most casual music fans probably can’t named any of his songs between Jin & Juice and Drop it Like it’s Hot. Even Snoop’s son fully respects his dad’s rapping because when the elder ask him who his favorite lyrist, the Bigg Snoop Dogg wasn’t on the list.

The disrespect from Lil’ Snoop is the catalyst for Snoop Dogg’s latest album Tha Blue Carpet Treatment. The title naturally comes from his affiliation to his former gang the Crips who get their own song on the Neptunes produced 10 Lil’ Crips. To give his advisories equal airtime, Snoop brings in The Game, a Blood to spit a couple verses on Gangbangin’ 101. Longtime producer Dr. Dre shows up behind the boards on four songs and Dre’s old running mate Ice Cube drops a couple verses on LAX. And no Snoop album would be complete without a hook from Nate Dogg who lends his trademark baritone for Crazy while Tha Dogg Pound also show up on the album. New collaborators the Neptunes actually deliver a banging track Vato, one of the few this year, and is only heightened by having B-Real of Cypress Hill on the hook.

Snoop Eastwood embraces the new school too as he brings in Akon, who seems to show up on all rap songs lately despite having a voice that sounds like nails on a chalk board, for two songs but he’s not as bad as the sorry Jamie Foxx appearance. Damien Marley brings some dancehall to the Timbaland produced Get a Light, another stand out track. Snoop also brings in a catchphrase maker in his own right E-40 for Candy but the two can do much better than the over obvious double entendres that show up in the song. And regardless of his falling out with Jay-Z, tha Doggfather still collaborates with R. Kelly, finally out of the closet, for That’s That (Expletive Deleted) which humorously samples the best line from Coming to America.

Tha Blue Carpet Treatment though is way too long at seventy-eight minutes. Plenty of mediocre tracks could have been cut to make a much more complete hour length album. Then they stuck some of the best track at the end including the introspective Imagine which sees Dre step out from behind the boards and takes the mike and D’Angelo on the hook. For the closer, Snoop brings in the legendary Stevie Wonder to rework Have a Talk with God into Conversations. So many rappers sneek in a religious song at the end of their albums, imagine is one would fill up a album with songs like this instead of re-treading the “G” that has overtaken the genre for over fifteen years.

Song to Download - Conversations

Tha Blue Carpet Treatment gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.

Best Mash-Ups of 2005

One of the coolest musical innovations in recent memory is the mash-up. For those that may not be familiar with the term, it is when you take the vocals from one song and place them over the instrumental from a different song. This technique was popularized last year when a DJ by the name of Danger Mouse took Jay-Z’s The Black Album and mashed it up with the Beatles White Album to create the Grey Album. Since then the art form has exploded with DJ getting more creative and sometimes mashing up five or more different song at the same time. So to honor the brilliance of this new art form I decided to list the best mash-up I have heard for the first time this past year. I tried to give credit to the creator of the mash-up, but due to some poor labeling, some have gotten lost and I even had to create a name for a few mash-ups that I discovered nameless. Please do not ask for me to send you any of these songs because for legal reasons I cannot confirm or deny that any of these songs actually exist not that I would illegally download copyrighted material even though that material has been altered from any version that could be bought. If you want the unaltered album version, I will list some of the songs featured in the mash-ups in parentheses.


1. Boulevard of Broken Songs - Dean Gray (Green Day - Boulevard of Broken Dream; Oasis – Wonderwall)
2. Spending One of These Nights with Kelly - Aggro1 (The Eagles – One of these Nights; Kelly Clarkson – Since U Been Gone)
3. You're The One I Want in the Next Episode - Artist Unknown (Songs from Grease; Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg – The Next Episode - 2001)
4. Behind These Immigrant Eyes - Aggro1 (Led Zeppelin – Immigrant Song; Kelly Clarkson – Behind These Hazel Eyes)
5. Karmastition - Artist Unknown (Alicia Keys – Karma; Stevie Wonder – Superstition)
6. It Takes a New Sensation - Big Ruckus (INXS – New Sensation; Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock – It Takes Two)
7. We Will Rock and Roll You - DJ Matt Hite (Joan Jett – I Love Rock and Roll; Queen – We Will Rock You; 50 Cent – In da Club)
8. Yoshimi Battles Snoop Dogg - DJ BC (Snoop Dogg – Song Unknown; The Flaming Lips – Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots)
9. Make Love in Ohio F*** War - Aggro1 (Public Enemy – Make Love F*** War; Crosby Stills Nash and Young – Ohio)
10. Somebody Rock Me - Party Ben (The Clash – Rock the Kasbah; The Killers – Somebody Told Me)
11. Rock wit Hurt - Aggro1 (Johnny Cash – Hurt; Ashanti – Rock wit You)
12. Behind This Summer Madness - Aggro1 (Kelly Clarkson – Behind These Hazel Eyes; Kool and the Gang – Summer Madness)
13. Drop When The World Ends Freak - Aggro1 (Snoop Dogg – Drop it Like it’s Hot; Dave Matthews Band – When the World Ends; Missy Elliott – Get Ur Freak On)
14. Feel Like Making La-Di-Da - FiDELSKi – (Bad Company – Feel Like Making Love; Slick Rick – La-Di-Da-Di)
15. Left You a Closing Lullaby - BigBadBaz (Avalanches – Song Unknown; Semisonic – Closing Time; Shawn Mullins – Lullaby)
16. Oblateeth - bass 211 (Obie Trice – Got Some Teeth; The Beatles - Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da)
17. Nothing In It's Right Place - DJ BC (The Roots – Don’t Say Nothin'; Radiohead – Song Unknown)
18. How We Do Cocaine - DJ Spenny (Eric Clapton – Cocaine; 50 Cent – How We Do)
19. Tipsy Bros - Artist Unknown (J-Kwon – Tispy; The Blues Brothers)
20. Thundertrain - DJ Over-EZ (AC/DC – Thunderstruck; Quad City DJ's – C’mon ‘N’ Ride It)
21. Somebody Told Me to Feel Good - Aggro1 (Gorillaz – Feel Good Inc.; The Killers – Somebody Told Me)
22. What I Got is Two Turntables – Artist Unknown (Beck – Where it’s At; Sublime – What I Got)
23. Dope Man Stew - Listen up! (N.W.A. – Dope Man; Green Day – Brain Stew)
24. Hey Ladies Night - DJ BC (Beastie Boys – Hey Ladies; Kool and the Gang – Ladies Night; Cyndi Lauper – Girls Just Want to Have Fun)
25. I Ain't Got Daughters - c.h.a.o.s productions – (Alicia Keys – If I Ain’t Got You; John Mayer – Daughters)

Best of Holiday Music

With Christmas only week away, it’s officially time to break out my mix tape of my favorite holiday songs. I really try to avoid Christmas music more than a week from the holiday because it always seems I get burned out from it if I start listening to it after Thanksgiving, which most department store start to play them. Even today as I listened to my personalized Yahoo radio station (see the link in my sidebar to listen to it yourself) I heard three different versions of The Christmas Song. But anyways. Hear are my favorite holiday tunes that easily fit on a single CD and feel free to leave a comment letting me know some of your favorite holiday tunes:

1. Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town – Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
2. I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus – John Mellencamp
3. Run Run Rudolf – Bryan Adams
4. Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer – Harry Connick Jr.
5. Christmas in Hollis – Run-DMC
6. Santa Baby – Keith Murray, Mase, Onyx, Puff Daddy, Reverend Run, Salt-N-Pepa, Snoop Dogg
7. All I Want for Christmas Is You – Mariah Carey
8. Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) – U2
9. Merry Christmas Baby – Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
10. Let it Snow – Harry Connick Jr.
11. The Christmas Song – Hootie and the Blowfish
12. Children Go Where I Send Thee – Natalie Merchant
13. Little Drummer Boy – Bob Seger
14. Silent Night – Stevie Nicks
15. O Holy Night – Tracy Chapman
16. Winter Wonderland – Eurythmics
17. I Saw Three Ships – Sting
18. Christmastime – Smashing Pumpkins
19. The Christmas Song – Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds
20. Christmas – Blues Traveler
21. The Chanukah Song – Adam Sandler

Ask and You Shall Receive

There were a lot of complaints last week of MTV/VH1’s coverage of the Live 8 concerts as they cut from performance to performance, sometime cutting off an artist in mid-song. Well today, they did an alright job of righting their pervious wrong as both channels show five hours of uninterrupted and commercial free performances. It still wasn’t perfect as they didn’t give full performances of some artist like Stevie Wonder and Dido. Not too mention the laundry list of performances that were left off that I pointed out in my original Live 8 post (World Keep on Turning, Cause it Won’t Be Too Long), none of those artist were given a slot today. So, alas, the best place to see the concerts until the DVD comes out is at AOLMusic.com. Here are some additions of interest that I saw on today’s broadcast that I didn’t mention in my last Live 8 review:

- What was with all the gratuitous Gwyneth and Apple shots during the Coldplay performance? Although I have to admit that Apple gun-range type ear plugs the cutest thing.

- Even more questionable gratuitous shot was of Paula Abdul during Stevie Wonder’s performance. Seriously why?

- MTV and VH1 repeated many of the same performances like U2, Coldplay, Madonna, Mariah Carey, Robbie Williams, The Who, Pink Floyd, and Paul McCartney. Let’s play a little game of “Which One of These is Not Like the Others?” If you guessed Robbie Williams, go get yourself a cookie. Very few people on this side of the pond could even name one of songs. But at least MTV showed his performance of Angels, unlike VH1. And for anyone who thinks that’s a Jessica Simpson song, please do yourself a favor and download the original Williams version.

- Did I seriously hear Rob Thomas start to sing Steve Miller Band’s The Joker in the middle of 3 AM? Worst placement of a song ever.

- Now I the biggest Snoop Dogg fan out there but I MTV didn’t show his performance because all they did was edit out every third word. It got unbearable to watch even for me. As I was flipping through the channels until Snoop was over I happened upon the WNBA All-Star Game. I didn’t even now they started their season yet, let alone are halfway through it.

- VH1 actually showed a performance from Johannesburg while MTV showed the same performance and a second one to boot. Yet nothing from Rome, Barrie, Paris, or Moscow.

- I wonder why Alicia Keys only got one song. And how did Linkin Park get four songs plus an extra three song with Jay-Z? Do people really need that long of a bathroom break?

- During my last Pink Floyd post (Money, It's a Crime), I wondered if there was some sort of hug at the end of their performance and it turned out there was. I’m really beginning to think there will be a full reunion show (yes show, not tour) in the near future.

It was also telling what each channel chose as their post-concert programming. MTV showed a MTV News report dedicated to Live 8 that included many of the segments that were showed multiple times during last week’s show. It also included a segment featuring the detractors of Live 8 who made counterpoint, many of which I agree with. While VH1 decided to show a mini marathon of their Fabulous Life Of… series. Nothing better to follow up five hours devoted to eliminate poverty in Africa than having a show devoted to the life of excess. Do we really need to know that Justin Timberlake has about eight cars that cost a total of approximately two million dollars? Hey but at least he snapped his fingers in the One commercial. Way to contribute JT.

Also it was announce recently that the leaders of G8 have pledged to give $50 billion by 2010. A great step in the right direction, but one major obstacle is that many of the African countries are lead by ruthless dictators. There needs to be regime changes in these countries as some of the economist pointed out during the counterpoint in the MTV special. And unlike Iraq, a change in government would not be met with such opposition as the African people have nothing to lose and everything to gain by such a change. Yes Saddam was as horrible as his African counterparts, but Iraqi’s, for the most part were well off under Saddam (sans the Kurds), just as long as they didn’t cross him or his regime. So the Iraqis had much to lose by an invasion and met it with much resistance. This would not be the case in Africa, as it was not the case in Afghanistan either. So once these oppressive regimes are changed and a true democracy is put in place, then, and only then, will the dream of making poverty history will be achieved.

World Keep on Turning, Cause it Won't Be Too Long

Amazing day yesterday as I spent over ten hours glued to either my TV screen or computer screen watching the Live 8 concerts. I was a little disappointed in the MTV/VH1/ABC coverage as I was under the impression that MTV and VH1 would be doing two separate broadcasts with maybe one focusing on the Philadelphia concert and the other focusing in on the London concert. Instead we got one solo show just showed on two separate channels. What a waste of airtime. And being that it was MTV, what we got was small snippets of some the performances instead of full one or even full songs in most case. They rarely went outside of London of Philadelphia stopping into Paris once (Shakira), Berlin three times (twice for Green Day, once for Audioslave), Japan once (Good Charlotte), Canada twice (Jet, Simple Plan), Africa twice and they never went to Rome once. And there is a good list of great performers that didn’t even make it to TV:

Sarah McLachlan (with some dude named Josh Groban on Angel)
Brian Wilson
Snow Patrol
Ms. Dynamite
The Cure
Sheryl Crow
Crosby, Stills and Nash
Duran Duran
Barenaked Ladies
Byran Adams
Pet Shop Boys
P. Diddy
Lauryn Hill
Neil Young
Rob Thomas (Well that wasn’t much of a loss actually)

And the song selection was poor sometimes too. We had to sit threw Will Smith’s Switch when they could have let us see the classic Summertime or the cheesily entertaining Theme to the Fresh Prince of Bel Air. So I found myself watching more and more from my computer thanks to AOLMusic.com. Here are some of my highlights.

Goosebumps moments:
- Paul McCartney with U2 in doing Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band live for the first time ever with some faux Beatles in Pepper outfits playing french horns
- U2’s set including their version of Unchained Melody
- Coldplay bringing out Richard Ashcroft to sing Bittersweet Symphony
- Black Eyed Peas with Stephan and Rita Marley to sing Get up Stand Up
- Kanye West backed by a Sting section
- Dido joined by Youssou N'Dour during Thank You
- The opening to Dave Matthews Band's Dreamgirl
- Robbie Williams singing Angels they way it supposed to - without Jessica Simpson
- Green Day covering Queen’s We Are the Champions
- Stevie Wonder and Adam Levane of Maroon 5 doing a duet on Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours
- Pink Floyd whole set, extra Goosebumps at the beginning of each song
- Maroon 5 covering Neil Young’s Rockin in the Free World
- Alicia Keys’ tribute to Luther Vandross
- Jay-Z backed by Linkin Park who did a faithful Public Service Announcement

Tear Jerkers:
- Bob Geldolf bring out an African Girl who, at the time of Live Aid, was only given ten seconds to live
- Annie Lennox playing Why over a montage of AIDS victims
- The finale in London with everyone singing Hey Jude with Paul McCartney

Other interesting tidbits:
- Snoop Dogg was able to get 5 F-bombs pass the MTV censors (and the N-word once). Granted he mumbles some and they weren’t part of the song. The bigger slip was they Pink Floyd let the blatant word in Pink Floyd’s Money or maybe they let it slip because it Floyd.
- Beyoncé wore a skirt that was as short as it could have been without showing off her Kootchiepop.
- I was a little disappointed that no one pulled a Phil Collins this year.
- The only American acts in Rome - Tim McGraw & Faith Hill?
- UB40 were introduced saying they were going to perform a medley of their hits. Shouldn’t it been a medley of other people’s hits?
- Who invited Randy Jackson? I had to laugh when I spotted him playing a tiny keyboard when Mariah Carey already had two keyboarders on stage with two large keyboards themselves.
- What was up with Stevie Wonder’s moustache/beard thing around his mouth? Who let him out of the house like that?
- There were a lot of lyric changes to reflect the festivities including U2, Sting but my favorite was Kanye West switch the line in Jesus Walks into, “And George Bush gets paid off of all of that.”
- When I saw you could download Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club from the concert on iTunes, I thought the whole concert would be available, but alas the only other song available (for now hopefully) was The Long and Winding Road. Click on the links to get them for yourselves.

If you missed the concert, AOLMusic.com is still streaming Paris, Canada, and Philadelphia. London was stopped sometime during the 1st rebroadcast and Berlin was taken offline sometime last night. Hopefully there is a comprehensive DVD coming because, even after all I watch, there is still a lot I missed.

I Know You (Don't) Got Soul

When I was a young boy, A Florida judge banned 2 Live Crew for being obscene and ever since when anytime some one finds something morally offensive or corrupt, I eat it up. South Park is rude, I watched it. Grand Theft Auto is the downfall of Western Civilization, I bought it. Bush is the next Hitler, I voted for him. So when Soul Plane came out and everyone was saying it was the most racist movie ever, I knew I had to see it. So I finally broke out the old Blockbuster Card and gave it a spin on the DVD player. I think I may be getting old because I think the critics were right. The makers of the film claimed that Soul Plane was the black version of Airplane!. But they replayed funny one-liners with overused racial stereotypes.

The movie centers around a gentleman who sues an airline after it kills the dog, which was one of the few funny scenes in the movie (keep in mind no animals were hurt in the making of this movie). He takes the massive settlement to buy his own airline, which his cousin, played by Method Man, who makes some adjustments to the plane. So it now has gold rims, hydraulics, and every ridiculous accessory you would see on Pimp My Ride. And the racial stereotypes don't start there; every black stereotype is brought up. They like chicken - check. They are lazy - check. They like weed - check. They are, umm, well endowed - check. Then sprinkle the rest of the movie with other racial stereotypes. The Arab (alleged) terrorist. The token hot Latina chick (wow, she can dance and likes sex, and that's basically it). The gay guy. The corny, old white guy named Mr. Hunkee. Then there's Mr. Hunkee's son who thinks he's black. And Mr. Hunkee's daughter, who just turned 18. Cue up obligatory Kobe joke.

After an hour of making poor racial jokes (not too mention underutilizing D.L. Hughley and John Witherspoon), they finally get back to something that resembles a plot when pilot, Snoop Dogg, dies (remember it's based on Airplane!) and they need to figure how to land the plane. In the end everyone learns a lesson. And then they form a Soul Train line (sans Don Cornelius).

Soul Plane gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.

Car Mix - March '05

Every once in a while I like to make a CD to play in my car of recent music I'm listening to. Here my most recent CD.

1) Bold as Love - John Mayer (Taken from the Tsunami Aid: Concert of Hope which can be bought on connect.com)
2) Across the Universe - Various Artists (Taken from this year's Grammy awards. Proceeds, like the previous song, goes to Tsunami relief organizations. So don't say I didn't do my part, that's $1.98 right there.)
3) Sunday Morning (Acoustic) - Maroon 5
4) Trouble - Bonnie McKee
5) Breathe (2AM) - Anna Nalick (Along with Trouble, these were both former Single of the Week on iTunes. Most of them are really good so you should always check them out because you may find gems like these.)
6) Telescope Eyes - Eisley
7) Collide - Howie Day
8) Daughters (Home Demo) - John Mayer
9) Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own - U2
10) Existentialism on Prom Night - Straylight Run (I found this song free at mtv.com. Yet another steal.)
11) Chocolate - Snow Patrol (I was turned onto this band when their song Run was a Single of the Week. Solid album)
12) Work - Jimmy Eat World
13) Let Me Go - 3 Doors Down
14) Boulevard of Broken Songs - Green Day vs. Oasis (One of the best mash-up that I have heard in a while. It's built around the Green Day song and has hints of Oasis' Wonderwall and throws in some Travis and Aerosmith to round out the song. Highly recommended if you can hunt it down.)
15) Why [Remix] - Jadakiss, Common, Styles P and Nas
16) Jesus Walks - Kanye West, Common & Mase
17) Twisted (Remix) - Mobb Deep, Jae Millz, Joe Budden
18) Drop it Like it's Hot (Lil John Remix) - Snoop Dogg