A Tribute to the Dead Rappers

I was youtube today and I came upon a pretty good mix of some of the dead rappers R.I.P
Eazy-E: September 7, 1963–March 26, 1995
2Pac: June 16, 1971 — September 13, 1996
Biggie: May 21, 1972 – March 9, 1997
Big L: May 30, 1974 – February 15, 1999)
Big Pun: November 23, 1971 – February 7, 2000
Proof: October 2, 1973 – April 11, 2006

also a dedication to…
Bob Marley: February 6, 1945 – May 11, 1981

T Dub’s Rant #1- Biggie Vs. 2pac

Psych!

This comparison is legendary and will never cease to be made. But is it really necessary or even legitimate?

Biggie and Pac were the driving forces behind the East Coast – West Coast hip hop war which started when 2pac claimed that Biggie and his crew didn’t help him after he was shot while visiting him. The war ended in both of the rappers’ deaths.

Now everyone and their mother is saying “Who’s better Biggie or Pac?” but this isn’t even a question worth wasting your breath for.

Biggie Smalls had one of the greatest albums ever in Ready To Die but the bottom line is, while he was alive Biggie only had one studio album. 2pac had 5 great albums.

I don’t know where you grew up but in my math class 5 > 1 all day, everyday.

There isn’t enough material to compare the two, it is a shame to think that such potential as great as Biggie’s was wasted but it was. Deal with it. 

2pac is incomparable to Biggie.

Chamillionaire: Mixtape Messiah 4

It’s finally here. Chamillionaire’s Mixtape Messiah 4. 

Track List (Disc 1):

1. The Horror Flick Intro
2. Go Hard
3. Fire Drill
4. Roll Call Reloaded (ft. Everybody)
5. The Real Thang
6. All Around The World
7. Do It For H Town (ft. Slim Thug & Trae)
8. Skit 1 (Roy Wood Jr)
9. Internet Nerds Revenge
10. Fire Featuring Famous
11. Hero
12. My Dream (ft. Akon)
13. Bay Area Skit
14. Gotta Be Playa (ft. Famous)
15. Not Your Baby
16. Answer Machine 3
17 The Greatest
18. Skit 2 (Roy Woods Jr)
19. On The Grind Homie
20. My Life (ft. Trae & Slim Thug)
21. Middle Finger Up

Download Disc 1 here

or here

Track List (Bonus Disc):

1. What The Business Is
2. Who Hotter Than Me (ft. Famous)
3. Lovin What Ya See
4. Killa Kyleon-Caddilac & Benz (ft. Koopa)
5. Put On For Houston
6. She’s Watchin Me Skit
7. I’d Rather Get Bread
8. Fire Drill Skill
9. Flow So Sick-Killa Kyleon
10. Top Down Money Up
11. Block On Smash
12. Never-Killer Mike
13. Diamonds Exposed Break
14. 2 Real -Lil Flip Feat. Chamillionaire
15. 2 Mph Feat. Bun B Paul Wall & Chamillionaire
16. This Isn’t Life Outro

Download Bonus disc here

or here

Big props to HHU2 and G Money for this

[New Video] Common feat. Pharrell – Announcement

This song is dope. It’s the first single from Common’s upcoming “Invincible Summer” album which is to be released on September 22nd. I see a lot of rappers have been using those new “Beats by Dr. Dre” headphones in their videos.

Check it out:

Hip Hop Beef, Vol. 1

In this series I’m going to look at and analyze hip hop rivalries that have happened in the past.

The first one I am going to look at is the Ice Cube vs. N.W.A beef.

Ice Cube vs. N.W.A

How did it start?

After the success of N.W.A’s second album, “Straight Outta Compton”, Ice Cube approached their manager (Jerry Heller) about the royalties that he was owed for writing a large portion of the album. A dispute ensued as Ice Cube was adamant that he was owed a lot more money than he was being offered and subsequently left the group on bad terms.

The Beef

The first time the beef became notable was on Ice Cube’s debut album “AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted” in 1990, as Ice Cube said “Think about it… fuckin sell out” on a skit titled “A Message to The Oreo Cookie”, which was possibly directed at N.W.A member Eazy-E. On N.W.A’s “100 Miles and Runnin'” EP later that year, N.W.A referred to Ice Cube saying “We started out with too much cargo, so I’m glad we got rid of Benedict Arnold”, referring to Cube as Benedict Arnold who was a traitor of the American Revolution. On the song “Real Niggaz”, they dissed Ice Cube by saying “How the fuck you think a rapper lasts, with your ass sayin shit, that was said in the past, be original, your shit is sloppy, get off the dick, you motherfucking carbon-copy”. There was also a small reference to N.W.A on one of the songs on Ice Cube’s “Kill At Will” EP on the song “Jackin For Beats” which implied that N.W.A were nothing without him.

On the groups 1991 album, “Niggaz 4 Life”, they had a skit titled “A Message To B.A.” which featured fictional phone callers dissing Ice Cube. This ended up fueling Cube to come back with a diss song on his next album. The diss song released was the legendary song “No Vaseline” from the album “Death Certificate” where Cube viciously attacked the members of N.W.A and their manager, Jerry Heller. The song contained a skit similar to “A Message To B.A” with phone callers dissing N.W.A and then broke into the main song. Cube alluded to one of N.W.A’s previous disses saying “I started off with too much cargo, dropped four niggas now I’m makin’ all the dough”. The artist that Cube focused slightly more attention on was Eazy-E claiming that he and Heller were screwing the other members out of money and had a homosexual relationship. This song was virtually the climax of the beef.

Aftermath

Not long after “No Vaseline” was released, N.W.A split up after another money dispute with Dr. Dre being the first to leave. He and Eazy-E went on to record diss songs aimed at each other. But Dre, Cube and Eazy squashed the beef as soon as it was revealed that Eazy-E was suffering with the AIDS virus and was close to death. Ice Cube, Dr. Dre and MC Ren went on to record songs together again and a possible N.W.A reunion abum was planned but never surfaced.

Diss Songs Released:

N.W.A – “Real Niggaz” (YouTube link)

Ice Cube – “No Vaseline” (zshare link)

Who won the beef?

It is generally considered that Ice Cube won the beef with his former group mates. The song “No Vaseline” is believed to be one of the greatest diss songs of all time and it was this song that made Dr. Dre confront Heller and Eazy about the money he was owed which led to the group being disbanded.

The Mainstream Fan’s Guide To Underground Hip Hop Pt. 1

I hear a lot of mainstream hip hop fans saying that they want to get into underground hip hop but don’t know where to start. It’s a huge complicated sub-genre that is (implied by it’s name) relatively hard to access.

This is my step by step guide for mainstream fans to learn to listen and appreciate underground rap for what it is.

Step 1: Forgetting What You Know

The first step in learning to appreciate this kind of rap is to set aside what you know or what you think you know about rap music. After doing anything for a long period of time a certain way you develop the (Usually Wrong) concept that your particular method or type of music in this situation, is the best.

If you skip this step you are MF Doomed forever. (By the end of this series you will get that)

Step 2: Accepting Change

You have to realize that when you first start to listen to underground rap, I am 99.9% sure that you will not immediately go “Oh My God! This Is What I Have Been Missing?!”. It is more likely that you will think it is confusing and boring. That is why you should follow my instructions to ease yourself into it…

Step 3: Easy Start

Im not going to throw you into the deep end of the pool like an over zealous dad wanting to become the father of the next Michael Phelps. The rap equivalent of this would be introducing you to great underground music but no, you can’t handle that yet.

What I will do is start you off easy with a lyrical artist that you might recognize. Lyrical content is something that you are going to have to get used to if you are just getting into underground rap. See, the majority of underground has a higher lyrical content level than mainstream because people don’t want to have to really listen closely to their music. But we will get into that later.

Your introductory artist and first assignment is Lupe Fiasco.

Lupe is an artist you might recognize because of his singles “Kick, Push” and “Superstar” that gained radio play. He is a nice example of a lyrical artist that survives in the mainstream.

I want you to listen to the album Food & Liquor and really listen to it. If you don’t understand a line or verse, rewind it and listen to it again. This will get you prepared for the real underground rap to come.

Download Food & Liquor

T Dub

Underground Artist Review: MF DOOM

MF DOOM is one of the most respected & most active underground artist around. He goes by a lot of names like Zev Love X, King Geedorah, Metal Fingers, Viktor Vaughn. He has a discography full of gems. He is truly the undergrounds finest. MF DOOM is known for his mask, he is rarely seen without it.

He doesn’t talk about his personal life he did say on his myspace that he is married with 2 kids.

He is also known for using “fakes” at live performances
here an example on youtube.

MF is known for his eccentric wordplay & is influenced by American comic books especially Fantastic Four. He is also renowned for bringing comedy back into the sometimes overly serious world of rap lyrics and a unique, sample-heavy production style.

Here are some of MF DOOM’s Best Albums

1. Madvillainy

2. MM…Food

3. Operation: Doomsday

Click Titles for download

The Teacher Gives A Lesson

KRS-One and Soulja Boy have a discussion about hip-hop on BET’s Rap City.

I thought it was interesting. Check it out:

Recommended Album – Searching For Jerry Garcia by Proof

Searching For Jerry Garcia is the second official album by the late D12 member Proof in 2005. Proof’s first album hadn’t garnered much success so was still yet to prove himself and step out of Eminem’s shadow although he had previously shined on D12’s albums and mixtapes. This 2005 release is generally overlooked but I think it is a really great album. The album has an impressive guest list including 50 Cent, Method Man, D12, B-Real & Nate Dogg. And it features production by Mr. Porter, Emile & Fredwreck. My favorite tracks from the album are Purple Gang and Kurt Kobain. I highly recommend this album.

Track List:

1. Knice
2. Clap Wit Me
3. Biboa’s Theme
4. When God Calls
5. Forgive Me feat. 50 Cent
6. Purple Gang
7. Nat Morris
8. Gurls Wit Da Boom
9. High Rollers feat B-Real and Method Man
10. Rondell Beene
11. Pimplikness feat D12
12. Ali feat MC Breed
13. No.T. Lose feat King Gordy
14. Jump Biatch
15. Mom And Dad feat Rude Jude
16. 72nd & Central feat Obie Trice and J-Hill
17. Sammy Da Bull Feat Nate Dogg and Swifty McVay
18. Back Wrist Bro’s feat. 1st Born
19. Slum Elementz Feat T-3 Of Slum Villiage and Mudd of 5ela
20. Kurt Kobain

Download Searching For Jerry Garcia here

If necessary, password: albumhunt

DJ Premier: Beats That Collected Dust, Vol. 1

This was just released today. A compilation of unreleased DJ Premier beats.

Track listing:

1 Spin Live
2 Sing Like Bilal
3 Blow Horn Joint
4 Pee-An-Oh
5 Mysterious
6 Dadaa
7 Dink
8 B-Line
9 Trackhorn
10 Waaaaaa
11 Droop
12 Original Represent

Download here