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Cham, Sean, Ali, Rza and a Hard drive. · by Sach O
Wrapping paper pattern soon to appear on an imitation BAPE hoodie.
Hope y’all had a happy and safe Winter Solstice. We’re still reeling from the passing of Brother James (Gerald who?) but we wouldn’t be honoring his spirit if we didn’t aim to be the hardest working men in the blog business. Year End stuff coming soon: for now, here’s some thoughts on assorted leaks from the past few days…and some random photo-blogging that didn’t warrant its own post.
• Chamillionaire really kills his new Mixtape Messiah tape/download. It’s pretty rare nowadays that an emcee outshines his beats, but Koopa shreds his selection apart like hash, every syllable perfectly placed. Much like his album, some of the beats are inconsistent (never need to hear Zoom again please…) but other choices (The Format, Game Belongs to Me, D-Swang, Show me What you Got, a Riding Dirty remix with Akon and tape highlight Hip Hop is Dead) are positively inspired. He’s proved repeatedly that he can kill verses, write hooks and sell records and with Dre, Kanye and The Runners scheduled for his album, hopefully it can all come together. The free X-Mas mixtape certainly won’t hurt his already rock-solid cred.
• While Cham will probably benefit from big budget production, Sean Price is busy making gold on the cheap. P Body featuring his partner Rock is uncontestable Brooklyn hellfire with some of the hottest opening bars I’ve heard from New York in a while. Combining Sean’s newly apparent personality with the intensity of his 90’s verses, the song is an excellent harbinger of things to come from the BCC’s new leading man. While 9th Wonder is the definition of hit and miss, Ruck usually gets the man’s best work and his grimy demeanor is uniquely suited for 9th’s simple soul loops. Definitely stands as one of next year’s most anticipated for anyone who’s still fiending for New York boom-bap.
• If that wasn’t enough, Brother Ali also dropped the lead single off his upcoming Undisputed Truth album. The A-side Truth is here is getting a lukewarm reception but serves its purpose as a Roots-inspired party rocker. It’s the B-side Freedom ain’t free that’s the real hook as Ali rips apart an atmospheric dub beat with his usual blend of ferocity and depression. For those of you who haven’t gotten on the Ali bandwagon yet, now’s the perfect time to get familiar with an emcee I can only describe as an albino cross between Freeway and Joe Budden.
• Rza dropped a few joints off his upcoming Afro-Samurai soundtrack which seems to be an excuse to release a non-Wu compilation of his material. While Rza’s my pick for greatest producer of all time, his recent material has been wildly inconsistent. Cameo Afro featuring Big Daddy Kane and Gza and Jus a Lil Dude featuring Q-Tip and a random Jay-Z imitator are real nice though. Think we can get a preview of the now official Wu-Reunion next? And what’s up with a new Kane album? Even when he’s recycling 20 year old lyrics dude is magnetic on the mic and unlike most emcees, age has only sweetened his voice.
• Fuck Black Friday, I gotta deal with Boxing Day and I’m usually still drunk from the night before. I had to pick up a portable hard drive this year (too much music+pr0n) so I braved the masses and hit up an electronics store for some low-low prices. Here’s a detailed account.
The place was a fucking tomb. There was more dust in the air than in Cage’s bloodstream after a bad day.
Check the bird’s eye view if you don’t believe me: I’m surprised we haven’t gotten fed up and turned commie yet.
My homie and I tried to bust through the crowd…
Until we got to the back of the damn place to find…
Cheap flat screens…
...And the damn Hard-drive seen here in my grubby lil mitts.
Of course then we had to wait in line to pay. This lady has been there since 1925 and found the time to memorize the Vedas.
200$ for 500 Gigs or not, I’m never doing that again.
Comments for "Cham, Sean, Ali, Rza and a Hard drive."
THAT SEAN P TRACK IS FIII-YAHH! Thanks for posting that. I’m eager to hear the Brother Ali jawns next—and your description of his as the “albino Freeway meets Joe Budden” is dead on.
— Rap Jack Bauer Dec 27, 04:44 PM
What HD did you cop? I saw a 500GB one on sale at Circuit City made by Western Digital that I was thinking of copping.
— ian Dec 27, 06:20 PM
I/O Magic Gigabank 500GB
Usually retails around 400CN and I copped it for 200.
Working like a charm as we speak.
— Sach Dec 27, 06:40 PM
The only song I’ve heard from Chamillionaire is that annoying single.
Ruck and Rock are still the shit together. Most underrated rap duo?
I still haven’t gotten into Brother Ali. He’s talented, I’m just not feelin him like that.
I like the RZA joints, but when I hear him make good non-Wu album tracks, I am disappointed because his brethren could have used them.
— eauhellzgnaw Dec 27, 07:34 PM