"Power of Music" by Vinnie Paz

 

This isn't a song, just a short yet very powerful video I saw today that really brought my own feelings about music to life. If music is as important to you as it is to me I know you'll feel the same way. Check it out.

"Dumb" by Hyperaptive

"They think they're living in original ways/

When their life is programmed in every individual stage/

As well as thinking they have freedom of speech/

When someone sits above em with a script, feedin' em sheets/"

LOL YES. This is how I feel about the majority of the people in this world. Everyone seems so dumb. I'm guilty of it myself sometimes, and I don't do much to change things. But regardless, this guy put it all into perspective. The beats a lil soft sounding, and the video's kinda weird, but it gives it that 100% underground hip-hop feel. This was a kind of random find, but sick nonetheless. Check it!

"Paradise" by Rittz ft. Nikkiya

"Everything's starting to make sense, I wish that I could shake the hand/
Of every fan whoever bought my shit and showed love, truly thanks again/
Cuz this must be paradise."
 

Paradise. The place we all wish to visit, or occupy one day. That was the case for Rittz at least, and this song right here is an anthem to the long-awaited success he's been feeling lately. As the newest member of Tech N9ne's Strange Music empire, it's only right that Rittz would decide to make a video for such a song. I was kinda disappointed with the video though. It's pretty boring and doesn't really reflect the song itself. Unless his idea ofdope. paradise is riding around in his car all day in a mainly rural community. Maybe that's the case, but I feel like this song deserves a better video. Check it anyways cuz the song's dope.

"Won More Hit" by Brother Ali

"Sing when you're worshippin', sing when you're workin' and/

See if you can sing yourself outta that hurt you're in/

Please, oh please, give me just one more hit/

Make it extra special, and you might not get the whip/"

I don't know about the rest of this crazy world. But all week I've been itchin' for today to come. And it's only Tuesday. Today was the release of Brother Ali's latest album, "Mourning in America and Dreaming in Colour", so it was only right that I went and bought the ONLY copy from my local CD store. All of the songs off the album are worth sharing. He kills all the verses, and the Jake One production is sooo fucking sick. It's a crazy album, so imma share one track with you to show you what I mean. This one's about the relationship between entertainment and the people oppressed through slavery to bring this entertainment to powerful people. History class in the poetic words of a legendary emcee. This is that real hip-hop yall!

For previews, or to purchase this album, click HERE.

"Get On My Level" by Iron Solomon

"Wanna put they pretty pussies on my chubby little smile/

Wanna fuck me, wanna hump me, wanna hug me for survival/

Doesn't matter if they black or white, they love me like I'm Michael/

And the teacher told my parents I was just a different child/

Gotta A in all my classes, never studied for the finals/"

Shiiiiit. This guy's a beast. It's crazy enough that he kills the whole fucking song. But what's even more impressive is that he made this very sick beat as well. I really like this track, and the video has a lot of cool effects with parts in slo-mo while others are perfectly normal. You'll see what I mean. It makes skateboarding seem like such an intense thing to do while this guy's killin it on top of a ramp lmao. Anyways, this is some heavily lyrical shit, listen close.

Check out the album this song's from HERE.

"I Ain't Wired Right" by Twista

"Better be scared of my legacy, homie, you won't diminish mine/

Finna curse, win with a verse, like a nigga first to cross the finish line/

Who woulda ever thought a nigga in the game 20 years would still be in his prime?/

I eat up that new motherfucker you finna sign/"

This video's fuckin jokes. I was expecting Bob to pop out and make an AK47 with Glitch to murk the fuck outta Megabyte (if you didn't watch Reboot as a kid, your parents hated you). But yea. This not-so-futuristic music video wasn't why I shared this. Usually, I'm not a huge fan of Twista, but I really liked this track right here. He switched up the flows sick and had a bunch of nice rhymes that I was feeling. The chorus was kinda clever as well to go along with the title of the song. The beat's fuckin sick as well. The track's from Twista & Don Cannon's recently released mixtape, "Reloaded".

"I'm Already Kreased" by Kutt Calhoun

"Since the beginning it's been dedicated hustle/

My loyalty ain't never been up for discussion/

But niggas lie, and bitches scheme/

That's why it's money over everything yadidamean?!/"

One of the members of Strange Music that I often overlook is Kutt Calhoun. I'm not sure why because I like his verses in a lot of collaborations with his label members, but I've never looked deep into his solo shit much. Today I found a song that was just released from his upcoming EP, "Kelvin", which drops on the 2nd of October. The sinister sounding beat along with Kutt's catchy chorus and "money over everything" attitude, make this track a good anthem for the independent hustlas lol. Check it out.

"Don't Tweet This" by Tech N9ne

"Baby I would hate ta, kick it and then erase ya/

Cuz you wanna go to one of those social networks and go state the/

Facts about my nature, I gave ya "see you later"/

OOOOOO this bitch is shaking the tamer!"

 

Oh my fucking god, I've never been more jealous of Tech than I am after checking out this song and video. I so wish I had mad bitches comin over givin up their phones to me so they can't reveal all the naughty stuff I'm gettin em to do, despite if they got mans or not lmao. Anyways, that's about all I got to say, this is a pretty sick party song. I love how he keeps the lyrics pretty tight too and wasn't just getting ridiculous like Tech sometimes can. Check it out!

"Spill My Drink" by Obie Trice

"Block that thought out, but at times I lose perspective/

No disrespect, but I was forced to think reckless/

In and out of courts for using illegal methods/

Guess them poor choices left us disconnected/"

This seems like a different vibe from Obie. The beat is fuckin sick, but the mellow kinda classy feel is something I'm not used to hearing from him. One thing I appreciate about Obie is how he's been able to consistently stay as fresh lyrically as he's always been. In this track, Obie outlines a bunch of negative thoughts that he has no choice but to overcome in order to succeed with his goals. The video to match this inspirational track from "Bottoms Up" has a kinda weird video, but I still liked it. Anyways, check it.

"7 Minute Brooklyn Freestyle" by Crooked I

This is why Crooked I is the greatest lyricist of all time.

"Only Life I Know" by Brother Ali

"Get a little job or a shitty apartment/

Or a sub-prime mortgage in a failing house market/

After a life of dedication and hardship/

You die just as poor as you was when you started/"

Awww yeah. Today's a good day for this blog because we keep on finding more ill shit to share with you. Today I found another video from Brother Ali, and it's awesome. This track's from his album "Mourning in America and Dreaming in Colour", which comes out on the 18th of this month. So far all of the previews and solo tracks that have been released for this album have got me anxious to hear what the whole thing sounds like. This one visits different situations of life that people all around the world face. Outlining the bullshit within society these days, Brother Ali manages to turn painful situations into poetic lyrics on top of a feel-good beat. This shit's gonna be on my iPod fo sho.

"Bad Guy" by Horseshoe Gang

"No cape but I'm flying, ape and a giant, racing and climbing/

I'm hot, sizzlin', grillin', I'm baking, I'm frying/

Snatch the belt off the waist of Orion, and strangle you lying/

Rappers, your flow ain't new, your shit is ancient like Mayan/"

One of the best kept secrets in Hip-Hop is Crooked I's group of homies, Horseshoe Gang. We've featured a video of them before in the COB Cypher 2012 video. These guys are lyrical machines, as each of them maintain a consistent series of multisyllable lines and sick wordplay. I don't know much about these guys other than the fact that they kill pretty much everything I've heard them spit on. This track is from the EP they released yesterday entitled, "#TrueStory", which can be found here.

"Quality of Life" by Joe Budden

"So how could we end up trustin' each other/

When our bond started out with us judgin' each other/

Both frontin' like yea, we just fuckin' each other/

But nobody gettin' fooled while we bluffin' each other/"

Now this is the kinda shit from Joe Budden that I've been waitin' on for a while. His shit with Slaughterhouse is cool sometimes, but nothin compares to his solo music. I found this video today, and it's weird because the video ends before the song does. These fuckers don't bowl long enough! But the portion of the song that we do get to hear is pretty sick. Check it!

"Difficult" by Eminem

"This might sound a little strange but I'mma tell it, I found that jacket that you left at my wedding, I picked it up to smell it/

 I wrapped it up in plastic until I put it in glass and hung it up in my hallway so I can always look at it"

 

So when I was a little younger I was a huge fan of Eminem, I had all of his cds and diss tracks, even his stuff from Infinite and I was sure I'd almost heard every Eminem song there ever was. But the other day a friend showed me this song and I was like what the hell is this, I've never heard it. It's a couple years old now but this song is a tribute to Proof and it's pretty heavy. After some searching around there's a little speculation whether Eminem ever actually wanted to release this track because it was leaked. And as you can tell its sort of an uncomplete song with weird sound effects and a kind of raw skeletal feeling. But I've heard the song "You're Never Over" from Recovery which is also a tribute to Proof and the songs are like night and day. "You're Never Over" was a great song but this one had so much more pain and emotion in it and really felt like Em just using the mic for therapy to ease his own soul. The reason I shared this was more for how passionate it was but even on a hip hop level Em still keeps the rhymes tight and the beat has a simple, chilling feeling. Check it out, and R.I.P in Big Proof.

"Justus Where Are You" by The Jokerr

 

So Jokerr just released a new diss to this guy Justus, I don't even know if that's how you spell the other guys name cuz I've never heard of him but whoever he is Jokerr merked him. I don't know anything other than what Jokerr says in the songs but his lyrics are crazy. So many sick punchlines and metaphors and the end of the song gets pretty intense. There was so many lines and mutlti syllable rhymes in this that liked I couldn't pick out any parts to put the lyrics to. I'll just let the track speak for itself. Check it out!

"Bitch Bad" by Lupe Fiasco

"Couple of things that's happening here, 

first he's relating the word bitch with his Momma, comma/

And because she's relating to herself as most important source of help and

mental health, he may skew respect for dishonour/"

The first time I heard this song, I had a hard time listening to it. Not because of the content or anything, simply because of the tone and choice of words Lupe was spittin'. It was until I seen the video that I realized how sick this song really is. The whole song is a deep analysis of the portrayal of women in urban media. The first verse covers how young men could perceive "bad bitches", the second how young women could perceive "bad bitches". The last verse kind of confused me because he said "bad" and "bitch" so much, and I kinda got lost in it the first few times listening to it. But it sums up to both male and female having different ideas of what qualities to look for in a person of the opposite gender. It was more focused on afro-american people, and I think Lupe was trying to point out how there's still forms of blackface stereotypes in modern day media. This is some deep shit, and the video's sick. Check it.

IM KILLIN THESE BITCHES!

"Napalm" by Xzibit

"Homeland security, false insecurity/

Fuck your intentions and big plans for my community/

I ain't afraid to die, fuck you gon' do with that?/

I'm comin' to find you and whack you off the FUCKIN map!/"

This track was released last year on Travis Barker's mixtape, "Let the Drummer Get Wicked". I just heard it today, because I seen a link to the video. The beat produced by Travis Barker includes heavy guitar and very loud drums. I thought it was a great idea to get Xzibit over the beat, cuz he does have a powerful voice. The rhymes aren't that spectacular, but the energy in the song makes up for it. The chorus was kinda cool too. As it states at the beginning of the video, the footage was shot during Xzibit's tour in Iraq. Kinda gave the video a suitable environment to go along with the topic of the song. But I'll shut up. Go crank the volume and break your neck to this raw shit.

"5 Fingers of Death Freestyle" by Brother Ali

"I ain't never lied about what my skin is, it's obvious/

I'm just so obsessed with seeing power for the powerless/

I insist, I will never operate on cowardice/

Rather chop my wrist than be afraid to take this kinda risk/"

God damn. This video is a reminder to anybody who ever thought Brother Ali isn't killin' every beat he touches. It was sick hearing him over these beats as opposed to the kind he usually spits over. I'm a huge fan of his albums but it'd still be sick to hear him rap over some harder beats, like the 2nd one (which he absolutely destroyed). Every verse he dropped was awesome though. If you like consistent rhymes, check this shit.

"Words" by Caskey

"I'm my own evidence, everybody wanna stay relevant, always gotta fuck, nobody remain celibate/

All about who white? who black? who is heaven sent? who the Devil advocate? well who the fuck intelligent?/

Cuz all I see is dumb ass hoe shit, they say we all sinners, I say no shit/

My mama been broke since like '06, but some name brand shit what I'mma go get/"

 

So I did not know who this guy was this morning but saw his videos getting advertised on worldstar so I checked him out. To be honest he was kinda lucky I saw this song first cuz some of the others I saw would've ruined it for me. I'm not gonna hate or nothing, some of his other stuff just wasn't my taste. However, this one song stuck out from the rest, he kicks up the flow, rhymes and actually brings up some cool ideas about how stupid all the bullshit is that people argue about. I saw some things on the internet about this guy signing with Cash Money Records, and I just hope he stays inspired with his music and real to his heart cuz this one was pretty sick.

"What They Don't Know" by DMX

"That's yo man faggot! He know, go hard and get down/

Whenever dog hit town, I shut shit down/

If I want it now, I see it, Imma take it/

And you better hope I don't want it all, cuz I'll leave you naked/"

X is back mothafuckas! First Method Man releases a track to remind us he isn't fallin off, now DMX has proved the same. I haven't heard something this good from DMX in a while. Usually he seems cracked out and washed up lol. But the combination of his attitude in this track, along with the Swizz Beatz production, duplicates that classic sound we all know from X. This track's from DMX's upcoming album, "Undisputed", which releases on September 11, 2012. This one track's just another hype anthem to lose your shit to! Below, I'll post some other leaks from the album that I thought were dope. Anyways, Open ya Earz!

other tracks from "Undisputed"
Frankenstein

Head Up

"Gun Bluffin'" by J-Love ft. Method Man

"You run ya mouth with ya gun in ya house/
Till them wolves come out, pull up ya skirt, and put one in ya blouse/

Now who gon' vouch when they chokin' you out/

And while you biting ya tongue, where all them guns you was talkin' about?/"

Fuckin' right. Method Man killllled this shit. Kinda reminded me of how he was spittin' on Blackout! 2 with Redman. The heavy beat was really sick as well, but I wasn't a fan of J-Love's verse. I think it's crazy that it's been almost 18 years since the release of Meth's first album, and he's still writing great lyrics. This one was a kind of random find lol but check it anyways.

"Questions" Throwback by Tech N9ne & Rittz

"Can you wait a minute? Can you slow it up a little bit Nina so I can get up in it?/

But did you really wanna dabble in fanatical, supernatural, lyrically radical mili-minutes, I'm about to begin it/

Can I get some? Can I spit some? Which one? When am I gonna get off this trip?/

Can I take another pill, why do I feel, like I'm a sick individual in the room poppin' off at the lip"

 

So I was actually listening to this song this morning and then saw on Facebook that Rittz did a remix of this song after Tech asked what was the first Tech N9ne song you remember hearing. This song is pretty old but it's some really on point flowing and rhyming from Tech for the time he released this. I believe it's on the album Calm Before The Storm. Anyways, after I saw how sick Rittz was killin this old school beat I thought it'd just be sick to give the Tech throwback as well. 

"I really thought you was black when I heard you on Box Chevy, really I never checked on it to see who you was/

I see you on tour with Wolf now, you think you could sign this, you think that we could sneak on the bus?/

Can I bust a freestyle for you, me and you are just alike, listen to me I rap fast like you/

Me and my homeboy, cuz I produce beats and I think that you would like some of the tracks we do"
 

Rittz is rolling with Strange Music now and I think the label fits him like a glove. Ever since I first heard Rittz I been loving his music. I can't wait for his first album off Strange that I can actually buy just to support him cuz White Jesus Revival was really sick. It's great seeing him get to kill a really old Tech N9ne beat right in front of Tech N9ne loving it himself.

"7 Fires of Prophecy" by Vinnie Paz ft. Tragedy Khadafi

"Y'all don't wanna see the heat melt/

The strap go click, and I ain't talkin' bout a seatbelt/

Y'all could never feel the pain that we felt/

Pops died, watched my mother cry, think how she felt/"

This intro is a muhfuckin' long one. But once it gets to the actual song, both Vinnie and Khadafi spit some pretty sick verses. This track's the second release from Vinnie's upcoming "God of the Serengeti". I was kinda disappointed that the song was so short, cause I wanted to hear another Vinnie verse. But for what it is, it's alright. Anyways check this shit out!

"Congregation" by Talib Kweli ft. Black Thought & Ab-Soul

"Weakening niggas with fever, it's sweeter than diabetics/

Get deaded tryin' to said it, They'll tie you up like a fetish/

They'll gas you up like unleaded and let it off, Till you wetter than spaghetti sauce/

And lettuce, chopped up with your body left in the crevice/"

This track right here is from Talib Kweli's recently released mixtape, Attack the Block. It features Black Thought of The Roots, and Ab-Soul of Black Hippy. The beat for this track is absolutely crazy. Its got a chillin, yet kinda twisted feel to it, and 3 of the emcees brought their a-game over top of it. To check out more from the Attack the Block mixtape, click here.

"E.B.A.H." by Tech N9ne

"Liberate me lord, I'm an angel and on this wicked planet nobody understands my angle is love/

I was sent from above, but I've landed in blood/

Psycho bandit, I've become a frightful, damagin' skud"

 

So Tech's E.B.A.H is right around the corner and he's officially transformed into the Evil Brain Angel Heart Tech. It is a new kind of sound from Tech and I could see some not appreciating it. But I'm glad Tech has kept it fresh for so long, trying to bring new sounds and innovations instead of pumping out albums that sound the same. I have a bunch of Tech albums and each one has its own flavour that separates em from eachother. Anyways this song bangs, the beat is weird but really intense and has some killer drums. And of course Tech brings a lot of sick bars always switching up the flow like no one else. Check it out!