If you ever find yourself having to explain to an alien what exactly gives Hip-Hop its distinctive voice, all you have to remember is that the power is in the words. Unlike nearly every other genre of music where melody and vocal influxes play a huge factor on the quality of song, a rapper’s biggest assets is what they say and how creatively they can say it. Read the rest of this entry »

Words By K1NG

“I’m the product of a cheap condom, accidents happen
My dad never knew he had a bastard kid rappin’
Sad when I met the man, imagine him laughing
Saying I wish I could’ve wiped you off the mattress with napkins
To him, my whole life is only worth a lame joke
To me, him and Marvin Gaye’s father are in the same boat Read the rest of this entry »

50 Cent once teased Cam’ron for his nonsensical rhyme schemes. True, there’s times when Killa Cam sounds like he’s the narrator for his own line of Dipset nursery stories but if you listen closely, you’ll notice Cam’s rhyme book isn’t always easily made the butt of a punchline.

In the closing days of the release of Cam’ron’s fifth solo album Crime Pays, here’s a brief look at some of the Harlemite’s brainiest bars. Putin computers and boogity boogities need not apply.

Lyrical Gangster Read the rest of this entry »

“Sweatpants and Bo Jacksons,
Listening to Pac ‘Teardrops & Closed Caskets‘
Story got told that was oh so tragic
Everyday in the Crescent the same shit happen
Nigga get clapped & retaliation follow
Homey killed whoadie,
Whoadie homies gone kill homey tomorrow
Oblivious to it, I ride in my Monte Carlo Read the rest of this entry »

“IT’S THE reincarnation of Raekwon in an apron
Lou Vuitton printed and coke scented
Windin’ through the flow cause it’s so vintage
Nothin’ like these timid gimmick, prepaid rappers with no minutes
The real niggas live it, they mimic
They H-O-V lane it and don’t get it
The difference, the Blue Magic ain’t in it Read the rest of this entry »

I know most of you hear us mention artists & tapes. You read but think “Hmm…yeah, I’mma just grab this old Beatnuts & K.I.M.” I know I’ve made it a mini-mission to push certain artists, but only because I fully believe these dudes have material worth listening to. I listen to it myself. I spent the majority of Tuesday listening to Testimony Of Gemstones, leaving this track on repeat several times.

So imagine my glee when FSD linked this joint. Dedicated to Gem & Lupe’s man Chilly, Gem speaks from the heart regarding past transgressions in life & in his lyrics. I’m one of those that if you can give me a solid opening track, I’m hooked. Gem did that early on in our relationship. Him giving straightforward, often repentant rhymes & me listening with an open ear. I’m glad I did.

Perhaps you should give it a try, too.

Previously Posted — Notable Quotable – Gemstones On “Free Chilly” | Gemstones – The Testimony of Gemstones Mixtape

Loosies

Lil Wayne – Best Thing

Drake & Lykke Li – Little Bit (Remix)

Jim Jones Feat. Lil Wayne, Noe & Twista – Jackin Swagga From Us

Mikkey Halsted – Who Am I? (Prod. by Kanye West)

GLC – I’m The Shit

EPMD Feat. Raekwon – Puttin’ Work In

Gillie Da Kid – Get Down On The Ground (Prod. by Bangladesh)

Loosies

Reupped out of sheer arrogance & ignorance…

You know, when Kanye shouted out “ConcreteLoop, in my paa-jaammaaas…”, I had to listen to it four times.

I was on I-24, about to hit the I-40 split. I almost wrecked. It’s still that vivid in my memory.

“Oh no shit! This aggin did NOT just shout out CL!”

I hit Angel. Spazzin’. A major label artist shouting you out in a huge song? You made it…or at least you did something right (even if it’s just naming your site the something that fits easy into rhymes). When the song dropped, that was some major shit because ‘Ye did that before rappers were admitting they even peeped the net.

So when TC & David started hittin’ me about “Check the intro to Luda’s album.” Read the rest of this entry »

“Your style is unoffic’

Niggaz like you stay on my wanted list

Pun and Prince, we walkin’ on kings, like a son of a bitch

Fuckin’ with this is hazardous to amateur battlers

Average niggas get lost in the course of embarrassment

Of course you don’t have a chance, I’m the boss in your eminence

Get tossed in the ambulance with the force of an avalanche Read the rest of this entry »

Ayy man it’s Sticky

F-I-N-G-A-Z the crazy cajun blazin’, bullets for dayz and dayz

and grazin’ amazin’, I’m the guy that’s lacin’

Purple-hazin’, hard-to-be-phasin’ LORD all this hell that I’m raisin’

God of the underground, I’m gunning ‘em down with a thunder pound

We gonna [SHUT 'EM DOWN!] Read the rest of this entry »

I love beats that are hardcore, dirty and raw

I love takin’ niggas burners when they scared to draw

I love plottin’ on my enemies, I love to attack

I love beatin’ niggas down when they rhymes is whack

I love! Read the rest of this entry »

Pic swiped from Fresh

“It’s hot like hell in the South
It feel like we like we in the devil’s mouth in the South
So white boys trippin cause we iced out
Cool as a cucumber hoppin’ out
A ’73 Impala with the brains blowed out
Let the robbers follow, swear to God
Fuck nigga, get your brains blowed out
Your baby momma followed or your man shot down
I’m from Martin Luther King, respect it it’s holy ground
Who’d a thought a nigga out a shotgun house
Would ever drive a car with an angel that bow
I’m the shit ’cause i come from the bowels
The guts of the city, ain’t a nigga fuckin’ wit me
Young player from the South, tell stories like Biggie Read the rest of this entry »

Words By David D.

When it comes to making introspective and vulnerable music, rappers turn to the common “my dad left, no girl, I shit myself sometimes” tracks that we’ve heard a million times. But how many artists truly look at their own craft and the inconsistencies perpetrated on their own tracks?

In case you haven’t met him, here’s Gemstones:

“First off, I’d like to take a moment before I get in your head
And apologize to every fan I ever misled
There’s a lot of things I rapped about, you shouldn’t have been fed
I’ve led people to destruction from the things I done said
I’ve glorified bustin women down, selling drugs, licking rounds
Anything negative you can think of to keep us down
Because when it’s positive people don’t wanna hear it
I wanted to speak the truth but I was afraid you wouldn’t feel it
I overcame and I’m not ashamed of it,
Untamed Beast was cool but I wasn’t talking about nothing Read the rest of this entry »

“A warrior walk alone
It’s one spot on his throne
Fake friends be off and on
But a man stands up on his own
I’m raised by a different code
Cut from a different cloth
Never been a follower
My mama told me to be a boss
Watch who you hang around
Don’t let nobody bring you down
Friends come and go like seasons, leaves turn to brown
And some only come around when everything is green
Be careful not to let a snake infiltrate your team
For every Jesus there’s a Judas
Every Caesar there’s a Brutus
If someone tells you to jump off a bridge, are you gon’ do it?
There’s two types of influence: either healthy or deadly
Keep your circle small and away from all the hate and the envy
Don’t come nowhere near me with it, I’m bullshit intolerant
My politic boss up, BE YOU black empowerment
I stay in my element, braveheart intelligent
Only associate with those for my betterment
I’m out for dead presidents to represent mines
Only click with my kind
My best friend is my grind
Everybody got big dreams, but few follow through
And it’s deep that the company you keep become a part of you
Don’t just be sitting round smoking weed, letting time fly
If your homies don’t inspire you to rise, tell’em bye
You better off dolo then rollin’ with a weak ass crew
I’m like Scarface, Who I trust? – Me, that’s who.”

Nas hooked up with stic.man on his latest mixtape to dole out some more of that RBG philosophy while speaking on the company one keeps. Stic keeps it Read the rest of this entry »

Pic Property of Ozone

“I’m grippin’ the nina, visions of 9-11
Visions of three sixes, no sevens
This is Bushanomics
George is a modern day Ronald Reagan
I pray to God in the mist of pagans
Niggas is just sayin’:
When do we stop playing? When do we stop pimpin’ and start sprayin’? Read the rest of this entry »

Now, I don’t throw the word “bitch” around carelessly, but this verse makes me be like “beeytch!” word to Rosebud c/o American Pimp.

It’s the second verse off the hard-flowing, chorus-less “Hell Naw!” from Slum Village’s self-titled album. All the verses on this track (and the entire album, really) are well constructed and entertaining, but Black Milk’s run is just dumb silly…

“I’m sayin – here we, here we, here we go,
Why the nother silly hoe?
‘Nother chicken that was lickin’,
Met her at a liquor store.
I beat it up when it came to sexin’,
Look at me, I’m recollectin’,
How I used to eff her,
To the fuckin’ Makaveli record.
Listen how the story started,
Cause she thought I was retarded,
Pushing up up on my mans,
Like a shopping cart in Target.
B-b-bitch, I ain’t trippin’,
Cause I heard it from my nigga,
But I told her
‘It’s all good,’
I already fucked her sister.”

Slum Village Feat. Black Milk – Hell Naw!

Stray Shots

H.A.P.H. (of The Ranjahz) – The Purge

Skarr Akbar-The Epidemic (Hosted by DNA)-2008

Skarr Akbar-The Machine Inside The Man

Busta_Rhymes-Bus_A_Bus_On_Top_Of_His_Game-(Bootleg)-2008

VA-Big_Mike_And_DJ_Thoro-Grand_Theft_Audio_2

Shawty Lo – The Feature Presentation

ArtDontSleep presents From L.A. With Love

Kam Moye aka Supastition – Self-Centered EP

The D-Nice Start of the Summer Mix: Classic R&B Edition

Chris Instrument- Places Everyone

Stray Shots