Wale – The Cool (In The Studio)
I see Rap Radar is just gonna keep leaking snippets of the studio footage by the song.
A Quick Thought…
One thing that I probably won’t consciously do is add songs that were part of a mixtape but then had the DJ removed. It sounds like a movement, that, if allowed to continue spreading, could lesson the role of the DJ in ways that would be adverse to the progression of the art form (in my opinion). Not saying there’s no place for it EVER, but blatantly removed the DJ from songs during the cycle of the mixtape that they are promoting? I don’t know how that movement began, but like terms such as ‘DMV’ and adding the word ‘flow’ to whatever the hell you’re doing, I gonna try to avoid this one as much as I can.
Jim Jones – Capo (Release Date)
Jim Jones next album, Capo, will be out 9/28 on E1 records. I expect plenty of Dipset material, too (such as ‘Salute‘).
Rick Ross – Teflon Don (Review)
The main event, the album everybody been waiting for this summer, is finally here. The upcoming album from Rozay, Telfon Don, is the album I feel is the Florida emcee’s best work to date. To be honest, once I got word of the album and I heard the first single (‘Super High’ with Ne-Yo), I wasn’t feeling it that much. By no means am I saying the record was wack, I’m just more of fan of Rick Ross’ more hard hitting tracks and not the chill up-tempo ones. Regardless, Rozay had the streets fiending for Teflon Don with the release of his Albert Anastasia EP mixtape, which was one of the hardest mixtapes of the year and a very nice tune up for the album.
The second single was ‘Blowin Money Fast (B.M.F.)’ (which was originally on The Albert Anastasia EP). I’ll go out on the line and say this is the hardest record of the year, and it has the clubs going wild (like when 50 Cent dropped ‘In The Club’). Hov himself silenced everybody on ‘Freemason’, since for the past few years a lot of people have been accusing the Brooklyn rapper of being “Illuminati” (my personal opinion? in his own words, “we don’t believe you, you need more people”). Either way, both Jay and Ross delivered on the track, with Hov spitting his usual slick lines on the record (“Bitch I said I was amazing…not that I’m a mason”, “on my third six but a devil I am not”).
The third installment of Maybach Music might just be the best out of the series. The track features T.I, Jadakiss, and vocals from Erykah Badu. I promise the first time you hear the record you will be blown away. The ‘Tears of Joy’ record might be the sleeper of the album with NoID producing the beat and Cee-Lo singing the hook. That record just draws you in and you can’t get enough of it. ‘Live Fast, Die Young’ has Kanye sounding like a new artist that just got signed. Some other noticeable bangers on the album are ‘All the Money in the World (with Raphael Saadiq)’, ‘MC Hammer (with Gucci Mane)’ and ‘Aston Martin Music (with Drake & Chrisette Michele)’. Rozay has given us a dope ass album for the summer. Diddy wasn’t selling us dreams when he called the album a classic.
Elzhi – XXL Interview
Well, T3 gave his not-as-direct-as-we’d-like interview (before it was interuppted by Phat Katt, which brought more light to it). Well it appears in a XXL interview, Elzhi brings us closer to the truth. Read an excerpt below:
Let’s cut right to the chase; are you in Slum Village now or not?
Elzhi: Am I in Slum Village or am I not? As far as what’s going on… As far as, like, me not having any say so to any treatments to videos being shot, or me not going to do the interviews to promote this new Slum Village album, or [Barack Records and T3] not contacting me or my management, and… as you can see in the “Reunion 2†video, I would say I wasn’t in the group. And at the same time, them taking me off records, so now I’m on a minimal amount a records for the [Villa Manifesto] album, I would say I wasn’t in the group.
I’m just waiting for the full out conversation to bring some closure to this issue.
Janelle Monae Speaks On Bilal
Bilal’s strategy to sell an album: have random respected but not quite commercial artists promote you and your music. Yea, I don’t think that’s gonna work, either. Where are some concert dates, dude?
Source: bilal oliver on Vimeo.
Bobby Seale Speaks (The Speech Used On ‘Tears Of Joy’)
Rap Radar posted this, which is what Rick Ross used at the beginning of ‘Tears Of Joy’.
Ras Kass – Who Popped Ya?
Random Jon tidbit: Ras Kass is one of my favorite lyricists of all time. This lyrical exercise over multiple beats is an example of why.
Download: Ras Kass – Who Popped Ya?
