More change...

The Great White Hope
written by Doesn't Matt R'

Everybody have a good day today? Good. Me too. Last night—I won’t even try to put it into words. Plenty of things are going to be written about the events of 11/4/08. I don’t need to add my two cents in. So back to hip-hop.

This holiday season looks like it will be a historical month for hip-hop releases. I pray to Jam Master Jay that Dr. Dre drops alread-ay (I didn’t plan how that sentence was going but by the time I got to the end of it, I couldn’t help myself). And Eminem is coming around again. Okay, so I lied. I’m going to tie this in to the presidential election. Our first black President. I’m down. I don’t care that Obama is black. He would have had my vote anyway. But it’s clear enough that it is this man’s time and it’s about time that we got over all this racism and sexism and let the right person lead, at the right time, regardless of physical appearance.

But as a white diehard fan of hip-hop, will I ever get my Obama moment? If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, well then you just haven’t been paying attention. A white rapper will some day be the hottest M.C. in the game. And I don’t mean like underground, backpack, illest flow but no deal. I mean Jigga man, music mogul, King of the game.

Now I know what you are saying. It’s obvious. Marshall Mathers. This is my election inspiration speaking, Gordo. The kid could obviously not forget about Eminem. Notice one paragraph earlier, Julius. The boy wonder calls himself a diehard fan. And a white one at that. What kind of a white fan would forget about the great white hope? I’ll tell you who. The kind of Johnson Rod, Johnny, who rocks Roc-A-Wear to the next Limp Bizkit reunion tour. But that’s not your faithful narrator, Newman. Slim Shady, my friends, is Colin Powell. Ya dig?

Here’s my P.O.V. on the sitch (point of view on the situation, Howard). Colin Powell was the most respected African American in politics after Gulf War I (from here on in GW I). That is until George Bush Jr. (GB 2, keep it moving, Kim) brought him into that whole yellow cake uranium ordeal back around Iraq 2, Electric Bugaloo. But for a short amount of time, Colin Pow was considering a run at the highest office in the land. He might not have won, but who knows. And what happens instead? CP3 goes AWOL. Gives the game back. Disappears to his mansion in Detroit, puts on a few lbs., and only comes out to give the occasional verse for Trick Trick. Oh, wait, Walter, that’s that other fellow that I’m confusing him with. Catch the connection?

Now Em is dropping again. Well his last effort left something to be desired. I mean it was hot, for a Weird Al Yankovic LP. So who will it be? A new day for America, is a new afternoon for the world, and a new evening for all of us to go out to the club and bounce to MC Alex P. Keaton, the hottest rapper in the game—white boy.

Front row...

Live
written by Doesnt' Matt R

So check it, I went to see Jay-Z last night. It’s probably the tenth time I’ve seen him live in the last twelve years. Also at the show, D-Block, Neyo, and Lil Wayne. Normally I would give a song-by-song recount of the night’s events. But for most of the night, I was kind of bored. And that bothered me.

I go to a lot of concerts. Within the last year, I’ve seen Jigga twice, Kanye and Summer Jam. That’s actually a slow year. There was a time in my life when the thought of going to a show was an exciting event. I wondered if any special guests were going to come out. I pre-planned set lists in my head. Well, if Busta Rhymes is gonna be there, and Diddy, maybe they’ll do Victory. The idea of showing up late was maddening. How could I risk not seeing Cam’ron run a sound check and bust out 357? These were major concerns of mine.

All of that has changed in recent years. I’ve found that Jay-Z more or less puts on the same show. Always entertaining. All the hits I want to hear. I leave with no voice and a headache from screaming, But I was there the night he brought Nas out. No show is going to live up to that, short of him bringing Biggie out for Brooklyn’s Finest. But at least HOV realizes people pay good money to see him. I’ve never left disappointed, even if most of the shows have blurred together into one big memory.

It’s funny that one of the best concerts I ever attended was Cash Money / Ruff Ryders back in the day. That was the last time I enjoyed Weezy live. It was also the last time The Lox put on a solid show for me. Back then, Jada, Sheek, and Louch were so happy to finally get off Bad Boy, that they rocked the house. I’ll never forget the feeling of the stadium shaking as 30,000 Tims all stomped at the same time for Wild Out. It was the loudest noise I’ve ever heard at a show. Cash Money had the hottest songs of the summer at the time and were living it up on stage, bringing girls up and having them Drop it Like it’s Hot and Backing that Azz Up.

Now, Weezy is lucky to be able to get through a set and have people comprehend him. He pulls out his guitar, bangs on one chord, and humps the ground with no shirt on. I’ve seen Youtube of him storming off stage, getting things thrown at him, and generally underperforming. I’ve yet to see D-Block get through an entire song in the last ten years. They bring out their entire entourage and do one verse from a couple of recognizable tracks. In all fairness, I’m a huge fan of these acts. But they just don’t rock the mic live. Is it that I’ve seen too many shows? That I’m jaded to these experiences? Or has the art of live performances become a lost art? I know Weezy is grateful for his fans, he thanks us enough in his live show, but I’d much rather him actually entertain me like I was out in the park, circa ’83, Bronx.

New directions..

My Kanye Conundrum
written by Doesn't Matt R

As Kanye’s singles start to leak out for his new album, I’m stuck with a dilemma. Do I want to hear him sing? In full disclosure, I’m a huge fan. After I listened to College Dropout for the 400th time, I swore that I’d get down with whatever Mr. West put out there. So far he has not disappointed me. It’s all been hot.

It took me a few listens to get down with Love Lockdown. I wasn’t feeling The Coldest Winter, but I feel like this was never guaranteed to be on the album. Artists make a lot of songs, and sometimes the ones that are sub-par and wouldn’t make the final cut can leak too. I’m really feeling Heartless, but he only really sings the chorus of that. The verses are more hip-hop than R&B. So it’s not even that I don’t like the new stuff he’s playing around with.

I guess my major questions would be: Is this what we need from Kanye right now? is this a vanity project, like Eddie Murphy or Bruce Willis doing an album because they got so big in one entertainment genre, they feel like they could cross over to another. Rappers start to act. See Will Smith, Ice Cube, Ludacris for major successes. Actors sing and can make it. John Belushi and J Lo. Singers act (Elvis), actors rap (Brian Austin Green…yuck), and sometimes singers do stand up comedy (John Mayer). So it’s not like jumping between genres is rare.


It’s proven that you don’t need a great voice to have a hit record. With Britney’s production team, you could probably make a hit record with the tracheotomy guy from the TRUTH about smoking commercials. As a matter of fact, I think that’s where T-Pain got his early influences. But Kanye is arguably the hottest all-around act in hip-hop (because his verses and beats are so high in demand). Weezy may be a hotter rapper at the moment, Polo da Don may be a hotter producer. But nobody does the full package, puts on a show, sells albums, and sells his image like Kanye. So yeah he’s maybe talented enough to pull of an R & B album.

Michael Jordan is probably one of the most talented all around athletes of all time. And maybe if every swing he took, every ball hit his way, every base he ran wasn’t being watched by every media outlet, he may have turned out to be an alright baseball player. But at that time, he was the BEST basketball player in the world (not counting that kid, in that park, who never got a break). Yes, I understand why Jordan had to do it. Yes, I understand why Kanye would want to try this. Yes, I’ll probably listen to it, and yes, it may be as hot as Kanye claims it to be. But that doesn’t mean I won’t be wishing for the rest of my life that this was Valedictorian coming out instead. So that’s just the truth of the matter.

I gotta ask...

SENSELESS CENSUS
written by Doesn't Matt R

doesn’t Matt R.’s turn to ask questions:

Why is there a 15:1 ratio of Tupac to Biggie posters available for purchase?

Where did LL Cool J’s eyebrows go?

If so many of the hottest M.C.’s give props and name drop Kool G. Rap in their rhymes, how come they never get a verse from him on the album?

Why has every artist that is supposed to be the next Biggie turned out to be the Harold Minor to Michael Jordan?

Is Jay-Z Kobe?

How many young fans will be confused that Biggie died in ’97, but refers to 9/11?

How many future 2Pac fans will believe that BIG died first because Pac shouts out his death so many times on wax.

If you choose the name C-Murder and then actually get convicted for a homicide, do you wish you went with C-Rainbows instead?

Is the flattop really making a comeback? Does that mean Horror-core rap is next?

Who is going to be the next hip-hop duo to make a buddy-comedy like Kid N’ Play and Meth & Red?

Which crew of a famous artist would win in a Royal Rumble: Junior Mafia, The Outlawz, D-12, St. Lunatics, Flipmode Squad, or USDA?

If I pray hard enough, will Eminem make a lot more albums, but never have another one sound like Encore?

How did Eve go from looking like she did when she first came out, to what she looks like now?

Nowadays when artists only have a handful of hot songs on their album, if they’re lucky, why aren’t more people talking about how amazing Capital Punishment and Yeahhhh Baby are?

Has anyone had a worse career collapse, other than ending up dead, than DMX?

Will Jadakiss somehow be a part of every major label near its peak popularity until hip-hop is really dead?

Does anybody aside from me remember Dana Dane? Nightmares?

Chew on that for a while.

Hip Hop Canidate...D Matt R'

Master Debater
written by Doesn't Matt R'

I just finished watching the Vice Presidential debate and it put me in the mindset to call out some general (and specific) ideas that I don’t agree with. So as they all start off, let me say first that I respect everyone’s right to have, hold, and speak their opinions. I just can’t help it if mine happen to be more right than everyone else’s.

The idea of the rich, white kid that listens to hip-hop is a very bad and overused cliché. Rich, white kids didn’t ruin hip-hop. Their father’s did. I say blame the corporations that bought and sold the culture as a commodity. The listeners are there because the music is good. And it used to be authentic. It is just as ridiculous to be a rich, black kid, or a millionaire Eskimo and claim the hood. And where did so much of the original hip-hop swagger actually come from? The obsession with Ralph Lauren’s Polo, Nautica, Burberry, Cadillacs, and fancy champagne. People who didn’t have this stuff saw these old rich white men and emulated their taste for fancy and expensive goods and services. So instead of hating on your wealthy, white friend for his attempted inclusion into the culture, you should give him a break, because the father he’s trying to rebel against, actually influenced the influencers he cherishes so much. Irony has its own beauty. Although I agree, no white guys should ever wear a doo-rag (and that includes you Marshall Mathers).

Plus, I heartily reject the idea of blaming your fans. The culture of hip-hop today (and for a while has been) putting sales numbers as the biggest priority. But you can’t go platinum and choose which million people are buying the album.

I have to disagree with a statement my boy JusHH (sorry to single you out, but I’ve been thinking about this all week since you said it) made on here last week. He said, “Hip-Hop is one of those rare musical genres that are tied to a specific cultural, socioeconomic background. Because you have the music but you also have the culture behind it.” I disagree with this not because hip-hop isn’t tied to a specific cultural, socioeconomic background, but because this isn’t a rare occurrence. I submit to you that every musical genre is tied to a culture and class of people in the beginning. Punk Rock—take your pick, British or American, came from a poor, disassociated youth as a countercultural movement against a specific economic and political force. Reggae, Jazz, Country, the Blues, the list goes on and on. And it’s not all poor economic backgrounds either. Look at Opera, which was deemed the epicenter of so-called culture for a couple of centuries. The problem is that within each one of these music genres, there occurs a certain amount of cultural elitism. It is unfortunate that one of the many things these art forms have in common is a feeling of superiority. That the issues that face us are new and original, when in fact musicians have been selling out or accused of doing so since the first drum was ever drummed. People are searching for authenticity, which isn’t bound by the man made diversions of race, sex, or wealth. Everybody wants to be a part of something and those who don’t want to be a part of that with other people.

Finally, let’s not be so harsh to judge those that don’t fit the mold that we have created. Twenty years ago, 50 Cent would have been M.C. Hammer. A rapper with a gimmick and several endorsement deals, who seemed to spend way too much of his money on material possessions and put all of his boys on, while seemingly starting off with unprecedented popularity, they slowly dropped off with each new album. Hammer was deemed a sell out and his career quickly evaporated. 50 has trademarked himself into a multi-billion dollar brand. It’s a strange time to be a hip-hop fan. So let’s not falsely glorify back in the day as “ the glory days.” We need to keep a realistic view that things don’t change as much as we think they do. And while we can’t tell where were going from looking back, we can always know where we have just come from.

You sucker mcs...

“D” is Never Dirty, “MC” is Mostly Clean
written by Doesn't Matt R'

Run DMC was added to the ballot this year for the Rock ‘N Roll Hall of Fame. If they are voted in, they will be only the second hip-hop act after Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five to be inducted. Obviously, this is a big honor. It’s nice when people finally get their due. I hope they get in. I wish them nothing but success. Hopefully, they sell a ton more of their records and some kids will know “Dumb Girl” without having to learn it from Jigga. But is this as positive as it seems at first glance?

Nowadays the idea of Run DMC seems pretty tame. After years of gangster rap, their shtick may seem soft. Every group from that era tried to get in on the new gangsta attitude (including Hammer) and their “Never let a punk get away with murder, gunshots, gunshots, all you heard-a—OOOH, whatchu gonna do” was a far reach from their classic tracks. But these guys were the sh*t. Today, Run is not known as the bad motherf’er whose house we’re always in, rockin' Adidas, and Walking This Way. He’s the semi-goofy, reverend/reality show Cosby carbon copy, who is constantly engaged in some sort of shenanigan. He’s a good role model, so let him stay on TV and make his money. But hip-hop is a counter-culture. Or was one.

Is there anything more mainstream than a Hall of Fame? The very essence of it revolves around the approval of so-called experts. The problem with experts in these genres is that they mistake the ability to catalog music (or movies, or art, etc.) with the idea that their taste is more valid than somebody else. Yes, it is impressive that you can commit facts to memory, but it does not make an opinion any more valid on an aesthetic level. I’d much rather listen to an album myself, than listen to someone else’s reaction. Especially since these days it is common practice for reviewers to “skim” an album for their review. But that is a story for another day.

Hip-hop’s initial appeal was that it didn’t have the mainstream approval and didn’t seek it out. It gets very sad when in later years it can appear that the only reason it didn’t care about approval was because it wasn’t getting it, whereas had it received a thumbs up immediately, it would have been a lot more forgiving of Hammer’s actions (aka Selling Out). It seems like there are more and more artists who are celebrated for the same practices that Hammer was crucified for. Endorsement deals, getting paid vast sums of money for “popular music” over true hip-hop, novelty soundtrack songs. And don’t tell me that it’s a quality issue, because there wasn’t much change in the overall quality of his music before and after. It was just easier to like him before the mainstream reaction was to reject him.

Where is the artist who is going to stand up to the approval and not be afraid to look ungracious? Some of these guys aren’t afraid to look ignorant, uneducated, perpetuate a criminal lifestyle. So why is it so hard to say, “f- you mainstream. I’m not being ungrateful here because I worked damn hard for this. And I’ll be damned if I let you make my art form a commodity. I’m still gonna get paid, but not on your terms.”

Punk rock started off the same way. It was a counter culture that became an industry. And what happened? People sold out, others “bought in.” The true artists declared it dead because it no longer stood for the values of which it was formed. A new generation took over, uneducated in its true meaning and corrupted it to their own agenda (racism, hatred, neo-Nazism). Now today, it isn’t totally gone. There’s a small underground scene and every once in a while a new band will come out with “punk influences.” The new hip show will make it cool for high school kids in 2008 to listen to 70’s punk, totally invoking the spinning in graves of anyone involved in the actual original scene. Is this where we are heading? Are we there already?

Congratulations to Run DMC though. It’s just important to keep in mind that there is always more than one way to look at any given situation. We write the history of these events after they have already unfolded, once the outcome has been established. Then most of the other plausible outcomes slowly drift out of memory.

Salute..

The Hottest Track of All
written by Doesn't Matt R'

I’m sitting around watching my daily dose of sports television and PTI (Pardon the Interruption) has a story about a basketball player, Josh Howard, making some comments on a camera phone about how he doesn’t celebrate the national anthem. “I don’t celebrate that sh*t. Cause I’m black.” I’m not even going to take the time to argue with him about his views. Free country. Free speech. Free thought. That’s a pretty good deal. Yeah, this guy makes his living playing a game. He earns more money in a year than most do in a lifetime. He has openly admitted to smoking weed. He got arrested for drag racing. And he threw himself a birthday party after a playoff loss in the middle of the series. This is not about being black. It’s about being stupid. Not to insult anyone’s intelligence. Stupidity is a relative term. For example, it is not a smart move to say things you may or may not mean on a camera phone. It’s also not a good idea to come off as another spoiled athlete when the country is hurting financially. Yes, the video is old (from July), but gas prices were up, mortgages were being foreclosed upon, and the people who buy the tickets to see these NBA players were certainly hurting in the wallet way before the stock market hit today’s low.

This isn’t about Josh Howard. With all the talk on here about craving intelligent music. About the importance of lyrics. Of taking the time to think out your concepts and write your rhymes, I just wanted to take a moment to salute the hottest track of all. The Star Spangled Banner is like listening to Grandmaster Flash’s The Message. The beat is a little old fashioned. The performance is slightly outdated. And today’s audiences have probably heard it, accepted it as a classic, and never paid much attention to it after that. But it stands for something real and important. The birth of a new era. A proclamation that no matter how bad the times are, we will make it through the night. That although we may be close to the edge we’re not there yet, but don’t even try to test that. So while we can argue about politics, personal beliefs, injustices (and yes, there are plenty of those), or whether or not tracks based on dances should be hits, one thing is for certain: the intelligent ones amongst us in society can be thankful that we have the rights to do so, even if other people take them for granted.

Remember when...

Am I That Guy?
written by Doesn't Matt' R

Recently there was a posting on PTM that dealt with certain fan characteristics in the hip-hop community. Now normally it can be dangerous to group a large bunch of people together based on stereotypes. But everyone seemed to be able to relate to one of them, or at least know somebody who fit that mold. That got me thinking. Back in the day there was always some older cat telling me how good things used to be. “Rakim was the greatest M.C. of all time.” “The music was better before it was about all that flashy Bad Boy, 90’s jiggy nonsense. “ “Wu-Tang ‘s got nothing on the original Juice Crew.” Etc.

So, yeah, in my opinion 97-98 is my all around favorite year for hip-hop. Life After Death dropped in March, but Biggie was dead and Puff turned his album, No Way Out, into a tribute to his homeboy and it was ill.. DMX put out two classic albums in under 6 months. Volume 2 dropped. Doc’s da Name, Moment of Truth, Aquemeni, Capital Punishment, N.O.R.E. The list goes on and on.

Back then you could still buy a CD single in the stores. For 99 cents You could have an entire album sent to your email, track by track, on AOL from a chat room. And they weren’t suing you for downloading it. I think if you got caught, your account got suspended. Concerts weren’t filled with 12 year-old girls from Long Island. Man things were so much better back then.

Oh sh*t. Am I that guy now? Putting the industry on blast. Guilty. Talking about how great things used to be. Guilty. Doubting anyone who feels today’s music. Guilty. The messed up part is that things really aren’t that bad. Could be hip-hop is on the rise again. American Gangster blew my mind. Kanye’s 3rd album was the only thing I listened to for months. Weezy’s new joint showed you could still have a hot album that sells like crazy. Bun B put out a classic. Nas did it again. T.I. killed it before getting locked up. Legends and up-and-comers all put out killer tracks. The Cool Kids look like the future. Big Sean has a buzz. There’s new talent out there. And yeah, I Walked it Out, watched the girl’s Pop, Lock, and Drop It, and put my shoulder bounce on when Soldier Boy started playing. But I feel the same way when Lord Tariq and Peter Gunz comes on. Uptown Baby, Uptown (* doesn’t matt r. raises roof).

I know it’s fun to reminisce on the good old days, but we can’t get too caught up in the past. It’s never going to be what it was for whatever reason. Maybe it was newer then. Maybe we cared more. Maybe the music really was better. Who knows? I’m just trying to make sure I’m not that guy, all us “young kids” hated to have around.

Go cop son, cop...

CONsumerism
written by Doesn't Matt R'

Back in the mid-90’s I don’t recall how I ever had money in my pocket. I didn’t have a job. I didn’t have an allowance. I didn’t have an older girlfriend who bought me things. I guess my parents must have been giving me lunch money here and there. Or maybe birthday gifts just add up a lot more when you don’t have any bills to pay. Either way, every Tuesday, I was at the Wall in Bayside, Queens for the newest album drop. Later on, Bulldog Records on Francis Lewis Blvd. would put out the Tuesday releases over the weekend, so you could really be the first one with some new stuff. I didn’t hear about downloading until 1997, so there were a lot of years in there where Tuesday was THE day. And it was these years that made me the wizened consumer that I am today. For every Ready to Die I bought, there was a Junior Mafia- Conspiracy. For each Legal Drug Money there was a Bootcamp Clik album. And for every Power of the Dollar, I had the Mad Rapper LP. Shoot, I even bought Jay-Z’s Streets is Watching on video tape. But then again, I also bought Master P’s I Got the Hookup.

I tried to cop all of the Jordan’s when they came out. But then I went overboard and got a pair of Team Jordan’s. And so today there are many new ways to try out products before we put money down, especially when it comes to music. Certain big websites will play entire new albums as long as you listen to them straight through. There’s downloading and satellite radio, and the ever classic: straight up stealing from your boy who had to cop it the first day. I don’t always buy the albums that I like. But I’m going to try to, so I can support the artists. And because I need my rappers to push nice whips and rock ice. Not for them but for me. In case I ever go to Japan, they will think I do the same, and treat me like royalty for just one week. But I will not pay money for any of that whack sh*t, ever again.

Recycling...

Bite Me
written by Doesn't Matt R'

Originality. Doing something that hasn’t been done before. Sometimes you’re ahead of the curve and people just don’t get it yet. You pave the way and make the road a little smoother for the next one up. Other times you hit the mark. The world happens to be ready and you’re lucky enough to blow up. Timing is everything and it always has been. But once upon a time in hip-hop there was a strict policy that everyone tried to follow. Before the days of “player hating,” there was a sign on the door that said, “No biting allowed.” It’s one thing to be influenced by the ones who came before you, but in previous days, biting would a crime punishable by excommunication. You didn’t jack an M.C.’s rhyme. You didn’t bite a writer’s tag, and if a b-boy crew was performing, you couldn’t recreate somebody’s move.

Lil’ Wayne recently spit, “And that was called recycling/or rereciting/ something cause you just like it/ so you say it just like it. / Some say it’s biting/ But I say it’s enlightening." Now I’ll give credit to Weezy, cause even in his repetition of others, he still puts an original spin on things. But more and more these days I’ve been hearing the same lines on repeat. Wayne also spits, “we are not the same, I am a Martian.” A month later, Game starts a verse the same way. Before Jay-Z could do no wrong, he was severely criticized for having at minimum one Biggie line per song. Now, he’s just biggin’ up his brotha.

Whose to say any of this is wrong? I’d just like to know where the “no biting” ethic went. What happened to the mentality that no matter what, no other man’s lines would show up on your track? Nas was the first to declare that hip-hop is dead. And that shook the community. But now you got multiple artists spitting those lines. Perhaps it wouldn’t even be a debate if artists spent more time coming up with their own concepts and not recycling what somebody else did.

Flicks...

The Wackness: A White Boy’s Hip-Hop Dream
written by Doesn't Matt R'

So this is a hip-hop site and I figure in a summer full of huge blockbuster movies, I’ll give a quick shout out to a small little flick that may have gotten lost in the shuffle. Mostly because it has one of the sickest hip-hop soundtracks in recent years, but also because I just saw the damn thing about 2 hours ago, so it’s still fresh in my head.

Part of the reason the soundtrack is so hot is because it sounds like the illest mixtape would have made in ’94, when the movie takes place. Yeah, it’s about a white, middle class drug dealer in Manhattan. And yes it does seem to glorify the business. We’re not talking the Wire here. But what good is nostalgia if you can’t look back at an important time in your life and only remember the good parts?

Alright, alright. So in the summer ’94 I was only just recently graduated from elementary school. But I had The Box, so the music was there for me. Go check out this movie. You’ll have all the same flashbacks I did, regardless of where you’re from; the awkward high school parties, the first time you were alone with a girl you really sweated, throwing a up a shitty tag on some wall for the hell of it.

It’s worth it just to see Method Man (as the kid’s supplier, with a HORRIBLE Jamaican accent) throw on Biggie for the first time. It’ll give you chills to hear what song this guy is acting the scene to, 14 years later. Remember the first time you heard Ready to Die? But mostly it’s worth it to see Ben Kingsley playing his wildest role yet. The laughs are there. Plus he makes out with an Olsen twin, about 50 years younger than him.

If you need a break from all the CGI-heavy flicks, and it’s playing near you (it’s got a small release right now) go check it out. I guarantee you’ll come home and wish you still had a tape deck to throw together a Tribe heavy mix, with Wu-Tang interludes.

"I leave you riddled with basics..."

“He Just Said What?”
written by Doesn't Matt R'

As hip-hop heads we all can stand on common ground despite the differences of race, wealth, geography, gender…all the factors that serve to keep us a part. But a love for the culture brings us all together. Sometimes it’s the only thing you have in common with someone. Bonds are formed and friendships reaffirmed over the shared appreciation of a hot track. You know the scene. It’s high school and you’re sitting in someone’s basement, with a bunch of friends of friends and acquaintances. Some mixtape is on, pumping the current hot tracks—Biggie, Busta Rhymes, early Eminem, DMX, or some Big Pun. Then all of a sudden DWYCK by Gangstarr comes on and your head jerks up. You look around the room and nobody seems to notice. But then there’s one person in the opposite corner of the room mouthing out, “You say Muhammad Ali, I say Cassius Clay. You say butter, I say Parkay.” And that’s that.

It’s a real slice of heaven to throw out some obscure track and have someone eavesdropping fill in a line. I thought I was one of three people who was on to Smoothed a Hustla’s Broken Language until JusHH started spitting lines from it back in the day.

So here’s a few of those tracks that brought people together in my life. Maybe you heard them before.

Cunninglynguists - 616 Rewind



This may be the hottest underground track I’ve ever heard. You want to talk about lyrics, these guys have punchlines like Tyson’s competition in the 80’s. “I make headlines like a courderoy pillow” Come On?

Eyedea - Pushing Buttons



I first heard of this kid right when Em first got signed and I found out what a hip-hop battle was. This was the only track he had out.

Del tha Funkee Homosapien - Mr. Dobbalina



I bought the Source that had the 50 greatest albums of all time and tried to buy all of them. Del’s was on there and this track stood out like Dan Quayle at a spelling bee.

And for those of who never heard it before:

Smoothe da Hustla - Broken Language



These aren’t top 10 tracks on any list except songs that are important in my life. So enjoy and shout em out if you know them.

The Rappin' Duke...

Lyrics, lyrics, lyrics
written by Doesn't Matt R

Here at PTM, we love to preach the importance of lyrics. Smart rhymes can make or break a track, an album, and an MC. But as a fan, do we always know what it is we are bouncing our heads along to? Raekwon and Ghostface seem to speak to each other in a language only twins understand. The mainstream had a field day when they found out what “Skeet, skeet, skeet” meant. And everybody’s favorite hip-hop scapegoat added a new term to America’s catchphrase dictionary with the concept of trying to “Superman” a lady.

Jigga asked, “Do you fools listen to music or do you just skim through it?” Now I’m not claiming to be the fastest car on the track. I usually get the more obvious punch lines before the song ends. But today I just found out something that blew my mind. I heard “Juicy” by Biggie in 1994. I know all the words. I’ve sung along with it in the Club, in the shower, and on the subway. And yet, it is only today, fourteen years later, that I finally understand the line “Remember Rappin’ Duke, duh-ha, duh-ha.” Maybe I’m slow. Maybe I’m the only one left on the planet who didn’t know that this came from an old school novelty song where a John Wayne impersonator is rapping. Maybe it’s all a joke being played on me by the World Wide Web of lies? I don’t know anymore. But I heard this track today and it blew my mind. Listen:



Here are some of the things I thought this line could have meant previously.

First- That Rappin’ Duke was actually the name of an old school hip-hop artist. He was probably down with the Funky Four +1 or Newcleus.

Second- Biggie was asking someone (a family member, like pop-duke or mom dukes) if they remembered him rapping in the kitchen as a kid. They never believed that he would take it this far. HA HA.

So the mystery has been solved. And this piece of ridiculousness is indelible in the history of hip-hop through one classic line. If I was that wrong about what this meant, what am I getting wrong when I listen to a Cam’ron track? “I know it’s white but here comes the hot sauce.” Okay, I think I get that one.

And finally let’s all be thankful that Biggie knew what he was doing and didn’t spit “Aretha Franklyn, Aretha Franklyn, Aretha Franklyn, let me rock ya, let me rock ya, Aretha Franklyn.”

The Fist Pump...

Written by Doesn't Matt R

I’m listening to the Nas album for about the tenth time in a week in order to write my review. I got the lyrics in front of me to make sure I don’t miss a punch line, metaphor, or allusion. And on the first track he slips in there “Bring back Arsenio.” I didn’t think much of it at the time. But a couple of days later it hits me. What do I really know about Arsenio Hall? He’s classic in Coming to America as Eddie Murphy’s sidekick, especially in the club scene (“I want to tear you apart, and your friend too.”). Most people know about his talk show, but the only memory I have of it is the fist pump that the old white lady hits Wesley Snipes with in Passenger 57 and Bill Clinton coming out and playing the sax before he moved into the White House. I don’t even think I saw that last one live, it’s just been replayed so many times that I picked it up over the years. Most recently I flipped on a Harlem Globetrotters game and Arsenio was the “funny” announcer. So now I’m wondering why Nas is calling for this guy to come back 14 years after his show went off the air.

Now I know Arsenio broke ground but he had to be good to stick around for five years. Chevy Chase got a late night show and it didn’t make it to five episodes. So I checked around on that fantastic source for everything forgotten and found some magic for ya that relates directly to hip hop history.

Arsenio & Vanilla Ice

Did Arsenio just call him a “vanilla face?” And he accused him of pulling the George Costanza-one black friend move. If I had a time machine, the first thing I’m doing is going back in time and getting tickets to the show where Ice opens for Hammer. That’s the early 90’s version of Rocky 3.

Arsenio & 2Pac

The first talk show to put rappers on. This is real stuff here. We got this recorded forever, kids. Who wouldn’t have wanted to eavesdrop on a Mike Tyson-Tupac phone conversation? Pac talking his case the night before the arraignment. Clips from the courtroom? Arsenio is raw. Tupac is one in a billion.

Arsenio & N.W.A

I’ve never seen an interview on a talk show with these guys and never imagined I would. Damn, man, he’s giving “F--- the Police” a plug on national television. Nas was right. Bring Arsenio back now!

Seriously though, there are too many clips to watch. Actors, musicians, and politicians. I don’t know who’s in charge but we gotta get a best of Arsenio Hip-Hop Acts out on DVD, like they gave Johnny Carson. For real.