I don't really have much time to update the blog with anything remotely interesting or eloquent these days, but apparently Philly Freezer does. Please check out Freeway's Month Of Madness. He is uploading a brand new banger a day for the entire month of December. Back in the high school days, Free was my favorite rapper out for his one of a kind delivery, unorthodox bar structure, and fantastic ear for beats. While I haven't checked for him in a while, the Month of Madness proves ahk still got it. Don't sleep.
Freeway - Hustler's Prayer (Day 9)
(Philly heads... peep the Young Gunz, Jakk Frost and Tana cameos above)
It is November 11th and the impending political apocalypse has not set off with the anticipated rapidity (though fo sho Jan. 20th has not arrived yet). Thank God.
Therefore its as good a time as any to turn attentions to those musical matters that matter for getting through oft tiring and troublesome days. I've never been to Memphis, yet I bring the city wit me everywhere i go through the one and only Playa Fly. A former member of the incomparable Three Six Mafia, Fly left their fold in the mid 90s and proceeded to carve a niche so strange yet funky i've yet to meet a rap friendly fellow who don't feel it. Fly's rhymes teeter from pensive observations on the nature of spirituality and purpose to shooting 'sap suckas' and snorting coke in just a few bars. His production similar swings wildly between off-key, ominous bangers that seem to only sprout in the Ten and plucky guitared, off-key harmonized junts equally indigenous. If it all sounds confusing, that's cause it only makes sense through the miracle of flow. As far as I can find, this right here is the only proper music video he's ever made. The song is not particularly one of his best, and is actually much longer than the clip's play length. Yet in typical Fly fashion, the video is unique, erratic, hypnotic and utterly enigmatic all at once.
Of course, much mo to come on the King of Funkytown.
By now it's no secret that Slow Motion Soundz is the aural antecedent to unoriginality in modern rappery. Yet I realize that barring thefader and soundcircuit, most of the digital underground is still unawares of what they're missing. So allow me to further intimate you to the Block Beataz production team. For parallels sake, Mali Boi & CP are DJ Paul & Juicy J in RZA's Basement after a few liters of lean. For practicality's sake, just listen.
To kick this feature off proper like, I present two of their undisputed personal classics: Naturalz I and II. If you've been to 134 Cross or a passenger in my car, you've surely heard them at least once. Ice cold ig'nance over Crown Royal smooth knock. While you certainly can't go wrong with any "Moments In Love" sample, the flip is what makes each so thorough. Yet the jury is still out on which one hits harder. I'm more prone to say that they're like choosing favorite child - feasible, yet ultimately undesirable and unfair. But feel free to drop a verdict.
Most rap songs advocate some form of extreme response to life's travails. Be it mind-numbing materialism or nerve-busting violence, many emcees across all times and regions seem to advocate some form of indulgence/intensification as the bets way to navigate the day to day. Hustle harder, bust more guns, pop bigger bottles, drop more knowledge. Even aesthetically, it often seems hip-hop is the mantra of never enough, as bass is cranked beyond while more bells and whistles are whisked into mid and treble mixdowns. That's precisely what makes Young Bleed's "Give & Take" so refreshing. Nothing about is particularly spectacular nor particularly excessive. Rather Bleed's calm drawl brings the most keeping it real realism of all: that in-between space in which life's unavoidable joys and sorrows collide and the true tests of wisdom, experience, and characters are revealed through personal choices.
You win some, and you lose some
and then you spend some on em when you choose em
See it's a cold world, and it's a cold game
But if you learn to give and take, it ain't no thang
I caught this video once on Rap City and have been trying to find it ever since. I was still a youngin and didn't quite remember exactly what the jawn was about, but I knew it made me smile. And now I see why.
Also, this clip definitely sets a clear precedent for how today's hood videos should capture a community. Just like Juvenile's "Ha", it gives a distinct feeling of what the respective area is like in ways that greatly contextualize and enhance the music. Southern Louisiana definitely got that aesthetic on lock, which makes sense as it remains one of the most unique places on the planet (word to the fam).
All audio is for preview purposes only, so copyright holders don't start drawin'.
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draw: (verb) 1. to compose or create in lines or words. 2. to take out a sword, pistol, etc. for action. 3. [Philadelphia] to attract gratuitous or undesirable attention to a situation, person, or phenomenon.
