Excuse my absence of late – life is crazy. Anyhow, when talking to the Needle long ago in the process of conceptualizing this blog – the topic of love songs came up. Being the hip-hop head I am, I insisted that hip-hop loves song do exist, and no they don’t all include the word bitch. To start, I’d like to post not a song, but a poem from one of my favorite rappers, Blu. This was posted on his MySpace on Valentine’s Day of 08, forgive the formatting and the length, Blu is weird like that – but it is completely worth it.
I really don’t want to mess that up by adding commentary – I just love that poem.
Common – “The Light”
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Now onto more classics. Erykah Badu has had famous relationships with a plethora of rappers – dramatically altering their artwork in the process. One such case is “the Light” by Common. Produced by J. Dilla, “the Light” was one of those songs I knew I loved the first time I heard it. The line is filled with ‘cute’ lines and really could appeal to girls as easy as guys in a generally misogynistic genre.
Method Man – “All I Need” featuring Mary J Blige
Just another great song. Not nearly as adorable as “the Light” – “All I Need” is revealing of the sensitive side of the typical ‘gangster’ rapper, in this case Method Man. Despite its grittier nature, the message is still the same.
The Roots – “You Got Me” featuring Eve & Erykah Badu
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I’ve fallen in love with this song over and over again – each time I’ve heard it performed live not only by the Roots but covered by multiple bands as well. Featuring a younger Eve and Erykah Badu, Black Though speaks to the long distance relationship aspect of being an artist, but also the necessary trust within a relationship…pretty sweet stuff.
Jay-Z – “Song Cry (Unplugged)”
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Unfortunately, relationships don’t just consist of the great times – they end as well. Jay-Z’s “Song Cry” is a tremendously soulful record rehashing his mistakes in a past relationship and getting caught up in money and women. The live version from MTV’s Unplugged is even better, as he’s backed by the Roots and adds some commentary towards the end.
Hope these songs could change some perspectives out there.
Since the Needle and I started this blog, I’ve been meaning to post about my favorite local band, The Urban Sophisticates. Based out of Greensboro, NC Urban is officially composed of six members, two on vocals, and others on trumpet, trombone, drums and bass guitar. Brothers Benton & Aaron James perform the vocals – Benton tackling MC duties, while Aaron brings an R&B and soul influence to the tracks. Due to the sound and size of the group, they naturally gain multiple comparisons to the Roots.
The Urban Sophisticates – “3 Minute Promo Video”
At a Talib Kweli show my senior year of high school I was able to catch the group open and was captivated by their unique, professional sound. Live, the group brings incredible energy and enthusiasm to their performance – some songs are outright dance parties, others become much jazzier, smoother and mellow. After the performance, I picked up both a cd and a t-shirt – in large part because I was hooked by their song, “Chapel Hill.” As a proud Chapel Hill/Carrboro native, I loved the song dedicated to marrying a girl from my hometown.
The Urban Sophisticates – “Chapel Hill”
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On disc, their sound is much more laid back and darker – but equally addicting. The album I picked up, “Coward’s Anthem,” is my favorite output of theirs and truly deserves acclaim. Each song fits well within the sound of the album and its completely void of filler. Refreshingly, Benton’s lyrics are not laced with arrogance and anger like stereotypical hip-hop lyrics – but rather speak to insecurity, struggles, and topics more relateable to a wide-spectrum audience. Since being put on to the group I’ve tried to make the majority of their concerts at the Cradle – and traveled to Greensboro to see them open for Talib Kweli a second time.
The Urban Sophisticates – “We Can Watch It All”
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By far the most impressive part of the band to me is they are truly great people. I don’t know them at all personally – though I did have a run in prior to a show. I had shown up much earlier than the band was supposed to perform, early enough that the club they were performing at was still serving dinner. Recognizing I was out of place and there for the show, the band invited me to eat dinner with them before they performed. Needless to say, their hospitality was much appreciated. Its obvious from their shows that this large group of diverse musicians truly just loves making music together – and the crowd definitely feeds off it.
The Urban Sophisticates – “I’m Feelin’ It”
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I’m not going to post too much of their music – as you can buy it on iTunes – so I greatly encourage you to pick it up. Also, for local readers – they’ll be playing a show February 17th with other local hip-hop acts Inflowential, Kaze, & the Beast.
Allow me to do my best impersonation of the Needle for this post, as I it pertains nothing to hip-hop. For those unaware, I’ve spent the last 12 days doing research for my senior thesis in India. As impressive as it might sound, it really isn’t as nothing substantial has come of it yet – but that is besides the point. I have traveled outside the country before, and been away from home for similar periods of time – but never have I been incapacitated by, for lack of a better term, “culture shock”. Perhaps it was the fact that I was all alone, travelling by myself, or maybe it was the first time I had witnessed true, depressing poverty… but I really struggled making myself comfortable in a city of 5.5 million (Ahmedabad), where I didn’t know the language and didn’t look like anyone else. After the first 2 or 3 days, I became accustomed to the way I would go about living, and the shock, homesickness, etc subsided. Fortunately, I had internet the majority of my stay – so staying connected to a very supportive network of friends and family was relatively easy. To be honest, I have tons of friends who had traveled to developing countries before and I hadn’t spent much time thinking about it… but man, my respect has grown for them infinitely. So now as I begin my 27 hour journey home to Carrboro – two songs that have been favorites of mine forever seem the most poignant.
“Carolina In My Mind” – James Taylor
This song has long been a staple in my household, and when feeling homesick – I’m not sure much beats it. It was sung at my brother’s graduation from Carolina, and will always be very special to me.
“Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” – She & Him
She & Him was actually introduced to me by the Needle and their cd has been a favorite of mine ever since. The song, however, has been a favorite ever since I learned it in elementary school choral practice. The songs origins clearly allude to much more trying times than mine, but like “Carolina In My Mind”, this song always hits home.
I honestly cannot wait to be home, and hope everyone has a great holiday.
Long time no see….Well the figurative day has arrived in more ways than one. College basketball is back, thank the lord, and I managed to make it out to Carolina’s thumping of FIU. Should be an interesting season for Carolina, not a lot to prove… but a lot of potential. Anywho, it got me to thinking about my own playing days and the one song that allowed me to make it through my one miserable year at the high school level. “Til’ I Collapse” by Eminem, in a very similar format and style as “Lose Yourself” was that song for me. The song is filled with raw emotion and arguably my favorite pump-up song of all time. I thought about quitting basketball so many times during my freshmen year, and this one song had the ability to keep me at it. Corny, I know…but pretty powerful stuff.
Heels kick off season against FIU
Eminem – “Til I Collapse” featuring Nate Dogg
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Carolina football has been using another song of late, Roy Jones Jr.’s “Can’t Be Touched”…and in combo with their 4th Quarter highlight reel, this ish gets me pretty hype. The verses leave a little to be desired, but the hook is killer.
Roy Jones Jr. – “Can’t Be Touched”
And in completely unrelated news, Wale’s Attention Deficit comes out today (1AM as I’m writing this) and I encourage everyone to go buy it. Here is a link to download via iTunes - I’ve had it about a week, and my review is pending. If this album served better as a coaster than a cd I would still go out and buy it – simply because Wale has kept me optimistic about hip-hop for the past two years. Dude deserves everyone’s support, so pick it up if you’ve ever enjoyed one of his free mixtapes.
The summer after freshman year I was living at home in Carrboro but commuting daily to Duke for classes, so naturally cds that came out that summer got a lot of burn. One of which was Pharaohe Monch’s Desire, probably one of my favorite albums of the last three years. Monch first came to my attention years ago with the hit “Simon Says” – featuring a sample from Godzilla and a place on the Charlie’s Angels soundtrack. “Simon Says” has been a staple of nearly every DJ set I’ve ever been to prior to a concert. Unfortunately, because the sample wasn’t cleared, Monch was sued and his road to success came to a halt.
Pharoahe Monch – “Simon Says”
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Monch would go on to ghost write for Diddy – but wouldn’t release another album until 2007’s Desire, 8 years after his solo debut of Internal Affairs.Desire is heavily influenced by soul and gospel – and a stark contrast from 1999’s “Simon Says”. Fortunately, both are good music. The album’s single, “Push”, is a great track with incredible production – which was done by Pharoahe Monch himself.
Pharoahe Monch – “Push”
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The album delves into a wide array of content, all complimented perfectly by Monch’s wordplay, delivery and production. One of my favorite verses of the album comes on “Let’s Go”. The verse starts with:
They researched my stem cells, cloned ten of me,
Sent one of em back in time just to get rid of me,
Stop Pharoahe Monch from having verbal epiphanies,
Now that’s a new definition to your own worst enemy
-Pharoahe Monch “Let’s Go”
Monch continues his impressive use of word play, by putting in multiple references to cell phones (“You and your Sidekick get rid of that wack trio/Treo” – “Fire sixteen bars, wireless communication”). I just find the whole verse clever and indicative of Pharoahe Monch’s top level abilities – certainly not riddled with content, but enjoyable nonetheless.
Pharoahe Monch – “Let’s Go”
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The last song I want to mention is “When the Gun Draws” which was accompanied with a music video as well. In the track, Pharaohe Monch assumes the identity of a bullet as it tries to shed light on what he deemed “senseless violence” perpetrated by it. Both the song and the video are pretty powerful, and they provide a perspective that people don’t typically associate with hip-hop’s view on guns.
Crazy show – hope all of you caught it. I love taking these FlipCams to shows, best invention ever. J. Cole also confirmed he has a whole verse – not just a hook – on Blueprint 3 – crazy. This is the majority of their sets (all of J. Cole’s, Wale did “Nike Boots”, “Pretty Girls” and “Get Em Slump” in addition to these tracks).
In 2001 – HBO aired a special on Blaze Battle, an annual hip-hop battle competition. This style of rapping, popularized in the movie 8 Mile, is almost as old as the genre itself. Before rap was a wealthy profession and guys could elevate in the game with money and ring tone raps, respect had to be earned lyrically via rap battles. Watching rap battles on YouTube is always highly entertaining, though 8 Mile warped people’s mentality of how talented a freestyle battle rap could actually be. If a guy on stage is really freestyling, it is almost impossible to spit flawless raps – but its entertaining nonetheless. Blaze Battle was my first real exposure to rap battles, and my brother and I recorded it on VHS so I could watch it as many times as I wished (which was a lot). In it Eyedea (from Rhymesayers, Eyedea & Abilities, etc.) wins the whole competition – and to me was the clear favorite the majority of the time. Check out some of his better battles below.
