In light of the mad amounts of press Jay Z has been getting lately, it seemed fitting that we give him a post. Hova’s been on tour in Canada lately, and has been wowing people with his new album.
One of the better moments in the career of Jay Z has to be the opportunity to perform at the World Series. He and Alicia Keys got to perform their track Empire State of Mind at Yankee Stadium (the new one, obviously) and that resulted in the Yankees beating the Phillies. Well, maybe not resulted, but it’s a nice coincidence that a song about New York pride accompanied a Yankee victory. That must have pissed of Phillies fans everywhere. Still, the Phillies can probably dig the line that Jay “made the Yankee hat more famous than a Yankee can”.
Speaking of that (like that segueway?), that Beanie Siegel (a Philly resident) is unimpressed with the jigga man. Apparently Beanie released a diss track called "What You Talkin Bout (I Ain’t Ya Average Cat)".
According to Pitchfork, on the track Beanie talks
“about how Jay allegedly "snitched" on him and basically won’t return his calls. Unlike most Jay-Z disses, though, this one isn’t just petty and attention-grabbing. Beanie is clearly torn up by the falling out, as shown by a long, ranting outro during which he seems to be near tears.
Check out the video for Empire State of Mind, (via and )
If you’re curious about the diss track, check it out here:
Back on October 12, the BBC and others decided that it was Hip Hop’s 30th anniversary. It’s a bit of an arbitrary day, I’d say, but at least it’s drawing attention to a neglected art form.
If you , the BBC has a pretty interesting short video with a guy who was present on the day hip hop was ‘born’. An amateur photographer, he captured some of the most iconic photographs of the movement I’ve ever seen. has put his work up online as well so you can see some of these amazing images and wax a little nostalgic.
So, hip hop, happy belated birthday. You’re a spry young person, and have many years ahead of you. I still maintain that rumours of your death are greatly exaggerated.
Sites all over the internet have been going crazy for this new mixtape. Okay, definitely not new, since it came out back in Feb of 2007. But somehow I, and many others, slept on this.
J. Sands of fame decided to lay down a bunch of tracks over some Dilla beats. The mixtape, entitled Mrs. Sands.
You can stream some of the tracks off Sands’ if you want a taste. Not bad, check out the track “Love feat. Rashad“. It’ll give you a good idea of what the album will sound like.
Joe Farrell is a saxophonist who produced a track called Upon This Rock back in the 70s. Not normally that big a deal, I’d say. Except for the fact that this song was sampled in everything. Some of the biggest hip hop groups have used this sample to make some killer hits
But now there is trouble. His daughter has brought a suit against Kanye, Common, Method Man, and Redman. Also their labels. She’s alleging that they used the sample without permission.
It’s a sad story, and Pitchfork has a bit more of the details.
“Those tunes? Kanye’s “Gone” from , Common’s “Chi-City” from (incidentally, also produced by Kanye), and Method Man and Redman’s RZA-produced “Run 4 Cover” from 1999′s collaborative LP Blackout! The lawsuit claims that the tune was used without approval, a familiar story in the annals of rap history.”
I guess I understand the desire to protect your father’s work, and no one likes being “ripped off”. But everytime something like this comes up I always get that brief flash where I assume it’s a money thing. The fact that the daughter is only suing for 1 million would, at first, belay that suspicion. But then again a mil is a lot fo money, even if these guys are worth a lot more.
XXL Magazine has with good old that paints him in a less than stellar light, at least from a political perspective.
Seriously, I’ve never been a big fan of anything DMX stands for, or really any of his work besides some of his short lived acting stints in various bad action movies.
Are you following the presidential race?
Not at all.
You’re not? You know there’s a Black guy running, Barack Obama and then there’s Hillary Clinton.
His name is Barack?!
Barack Obama, yeah.
Barack?!
Barack.
What the fuck is a Barack?! Barack Obama. Where he from, Africa?
Yeah, his dad is from Kenya.
Barack Obama?
Yeah.
What the fuck?! That ain’t no fuckin’ name, yo. That ain’t that nigga’s name. You can’t be serious. Barack Obama. Get the fuck outta here.
You’re telling me you haven’t heard about him before.
I ain’t really paying much attention.
I mean, it’s pretty big if a Black…
Wow, Barack! The nigga’s name is Barack. Barack? Nigga named Barack Obama. What the fuck, man?! Is he serious? That ain’t his fuckin’ name. Ima tell this nigga when I see him, “Stop that bullshit. Stop that bullshit” [laughs] “That ain’t your fuckin’ name.” Your momma ain’t name you no damn Barack.
So you’re not following the race. You can’t vote right?
Nope.
Is that why you’re not following it?
No, because it’s just—it doesn’t matter. They’re gonna do what they’re gonna do. It doesn’t really make a difference. These are the last years.
But it would be pretty big if we had a first Black president. That would be huge.
I mean, I guess…. What, they gon’ give a dog a bone? There you go. Ooh, we have a Black president now. They should’ve done that shit a long time ago, we wouldn’t be in the fuckin’ position we in now. With world war coming up right now. They done fucked this shit up then give it to the Black people, “Here you take it. Take my mess.”
Right, exactly.
It’s all a fuckin’ setup. It’s all a setup. All fuckin’ bullshit. All bullshit. I don’t give a fuck about none of that.
We could have a female president also, Hillary Clinton.
I mean, either way it doesn’t matter. I don’t care. No one person is directly affected by which president, you know, so what does it matter.
Yeah, but the country is.
I guess. The president is a puppet anyway. The president don’t make no damn decisions.
The president…they don’t have that much authority basically?
Nah, never.
But Bush pretty much…
You think Bush is making fuckin’ decisions?
He did, yeah, he fucked up the country.
He act like he making decisions. He could barely speak! He could barely fuckin’ speak!
Can’t be serious. He ain’t making no damn decisions.
Well Barack has a good chance of winning so that might be something.
Good for him, good for him.
Seriously, I quickly lose patience for people with such a pessimistic view of things. It’s just so…boring. And how eloquent that DMX can ramble on for minutes about how he can’t believe his name is Barack.
Plus, I can’t really even understand half the stuff he’s been saying. Even the most uneducated or uninformed person in the US has some semblance of understanding of the election. You can’t walk 10 feet without seeing Barack’s face on something or hearing his name being broadcast, even if you’re a somewhat celebrity like DMX.
So yes, I think it’s safe to say that Mr. Rough Rider himself is a doofus.
