Jumping in Headfirst

...What on Earth just happened here? Let me go over this, so I know I got it all right. Drake, one of the hottest new talents in the game. Teams up with Wayne, one of the older hot talents in the game, along with Eminem the returning legend, and "super prod-I mean super rapper" Kanyeezy? And its NOT a single for somebody's album, its just on some DVD for Lebron James' BS made-for-TV story? HOW DID THAT HAPPEN!? Something that has the potential to be one of the biggest rap tracks of 2009 has basically slipped under the radar. This should be on BET, MTV, VH1 (and they don't even show rap), and everyone that listens to the radio should already be sick of it. I...don't know what they're playing instead of this, but until this gets the attention it deserves, right now this symbolizes the stupidity of the industry right now. And none of these (save Kanye) are even my favorite rappers--I just know a potential SMASH hit when I hear one. Whatever. For those...

"Dope beats, dope rhymes, nigga that's hip-hop." Truer words have never been spoken. Big Pooh and Phonte hop on a track with Mr. Carter and manage a "new classic". (Am I maxed out on my oxymorons for this month? Hope not, 'cause that's a pretty big one.) Weezy actually manages to drop a pretty hot verse on this one, much like on Hollywood Divorce. I gotta say, if you can't respect either this verse or the other, you're just a hater. Come to grips with it, and go hit up the next Haters Ball. That said, he's outshined by LB who both KILL on this track and drop some cold, hard truths about relationships. Never doubt LB's skills, 'cause THIS: "Mama was like baby now I hate to see your tears But I been with your daddy for 'bout thirty-five years And in my day I had to turn a blind eye to cheating But I ain't never have to wear no black eyes from beatings As long as he doin right, by you and the kids How you gon' ex...

Greatest rap group of this decade, off the greatest album of this decade. Fuck these blurbs, hit the jump and listen. Little Brother Ft Joe Scudda - Lovin' It Uploaded by yuu2006 . - See the latest featured music videos. I still can't figure why BET wouldn't show this video. Although I gotta admit, they went hard at pretty much ALL the major groups of black culture in music right now with the parodies.

For a bit of variety, we're back to m-flo, as the last song was basically an example of how misogynstic hip-hop can get, even when well-written. (Doesn't stop it from being a good song though.) Still, this right here with its laid back beat, sweet vocals from Lisa, backed by one of the smoothest flows you've ever heard from Verbal or nearly any other rapper should be a sharp enough change to keep the sensitive people from getting upset at me.

Heh-ha. My FAVORITE part of this song is when all the rapping is over, actually. Ya'll know what I'm talking about. Right at the tail end, when Snoop Dogg hops on and says, "I'm sitting back, watching Montel Jordan's video, and I see the same bitch, who was in, the home boy Nate Dogg's video. Then I flip the channel, I'm checking out my homeboy Tupac video, and I see same bitch, who was in MY video. And then, what make THAT even more fucked up--I'm watching Million Man March, and I see the same bitch in the Million Man March, that was in the homeboy Warren G video!" Shit had me in tears.

Speaking of back when hip-hop was cool, just a bit of Mr. Thug Life for you. Does anyone else notice that really popular rappers have really distinct voices? Like, who CAN'T tell a Tupac song if you heard even a couple of dude's songs?

Gotta love m-flo. Verbal and Taku (and Lisa!) from their early days hit us up with a track that took my 2005 self, when he heard it, straight back to the 90's. ...Y'know, back when hip-hop was cool.

This song is so pretentious. I see that now. ...Doesn't stop Substantial from being a nice MC, and these being some dope lyrics though. And yeah, I DO Think Different. All of us should, in some way.

Blame YouTube. I was going to do something intelligent and respectful to show you more of hip-hop's "conscious" side, but they wouldn't let me embed that video, so I said fuck it and threw some D's on that bitch. Hit the jump. "I couldn't really tell you if Halle's really real, but I'ma let you know soon as I get a chance to feel." Kanye wilds out on this track, no joke. And he MURDERED whoever did the original version of this. Kanye West throw some D's remix Uploaded by superyanel . - See the latest featured music videos.

...Irony...too great...can't comment without making a joke about her marriage. Just...listen to the song.

I didn't realize until I read it on another site that today was the eight year anniversary of R&B singer Aaliyah's death. I still remember hearing about it in school--it came as such a shock because she was so talented, and so young--she was super popular, and there wasn't a single person who didn't know that popular as she was, she was just getting started. Check the jump for the song.

Man, I hate this song. I really really do. This was the song that first made me realize that Li'l Wayne ("in Hollywood its Little Wayne") isn't completely garbage. And because of that, even though this is one of Outkast's greatest tracks, I'll always be a little pissed at it. But anyone who didn't like Idlewild the movie (I thought it was good, but I'm a sucker for Prohibition-era stuff) has gotta give the group a pass when they hear this song. Andre and Benjamin, along with Li'l Wayne and Snoop Dogg spitting some of the coldest verses you ever heard. For Wayne haters, you have to give Wayne props at least for, "The Hurricane came and took away my Louisiana home/And I'll I got in return was a durn country song". Also? For the people think 3000 is a sell-out or not "hard" or whatever? "A is for Adamsville B is Bowen Homes See (C) if I give a fuck if you like me you know I don't If she ain't got a good h...

I hate to do the whole, "I was an Outkast fan before it was popular!" thing, but I kinda was. Everyone jumped on the group when they released "Mrs. Jackson" (OOOH!), and they became mainstream when Andre 3000 released "Hey Ya", but I was listening to these cats way way back. Back when they dropped Rosa Parks as a single, and was showing a young cat like me Da Art of Storytelling with Slick Rick. These guys have always been capable of bringing the heat, back then, and even now that there are housewives who know the tune to Mrs. Jackson.

One of the coolest singers m-flo worked with during their m-flo loves project, melody. is one of the more famous J-Pop/J-Urban artists. Very classy lady. Of course as an optimist I'm obligated to post a song called HOPE first. Enjoy.

A little more of "street" Namie. This reminded me of some 1999-2000-era hip-hop/R&B kinda stuff, when I first heard it. So Crazy is an awesome song, but looking at the video, I guess Namie was trying to channel J.Lo with the looks and dance moves.

I start humming this song around older folks and the first thing I hear is, "Boy what you know about that? That's way before your time!" ...Which, it is. This song was recorded 15 years before I was even BORN. But so what? On the very subject my boy Jamie Foxx got in trouble for--is the music of today, better than the music of yesterday, a lot of people want to say, "Don't you think our parents said the same thing about our music when we were growing up?" ...Yeah, they did. But see, here's what something like the Stylistics proves: It doesn't matter. Good music today, will be good music 30 years from now. Good music of yesteryear is good music NOW. And any REAL fan of music can vibe to good music, no matter what era its from. The Stylistics' Betcha By Golly Wow, Hall and Oates' I Can't Go For That, Warren G's Regulators, Jay Z's 99 Problems--it doesn't matter.

YouTube songblocked me out of the video I wanted--they all had embedding turned off, so I just said screw it. You get this. Its not a bad song, but I overlooked it at first because, normally I don't really mess with either of these cats, 'cause while I love R&B, most of it is garbage. But this had a kinda 90's R&B vibe (we all know this "new millenia" R&B don't compare), so when I first heard it I dug it. ...That said, unless Usher has something to tell us (that he goes looking for dates at playgrounds), it really ain't no way in the world he and Kellz was messing with the same girl. And after the brick he dropped last time (Moving Mountains!), I doubt he could avoid going to jail like his partner on this song did.

If you listen to the last track I put up of MURS', you might think that Nick Carter is just another underground gangster rapper, but that's just not the case. Nah, Mr. Carter (the real Carter) is definitely way more versatile than that. Here he is flowing over what I call a "nostalgic" beat just rapping about the changes one can go through life. Displaying excellent storytelling skills, he first takes you through the life of a reformed gangster, then tells us a story about a first love, and wraps it all up with an uplifting message to us all. It could be kinda sappy if this was the only kind of music he did, but on this particular album it comes right before L.A. and Dreamchaser, which is a far darker story, so it works pretty well tone-wise, to me.

I did say Namie Amuro was once a pop star, and this is one of her first songs from back when she was a member of the girl group Super Monkeys. Very catchy, so hope you love it. You have to admit, they're quite energetic. She was cute back then, too! (Of course, back then I was like, 9, but still!)

Namie Amuro, for those that aren't aware, is an artist with a long, storied career that dates back to the early nineties when she was just a teen. She was once called the Teen Queen of Japan, and long before Ayumi Hamasaki hit the stage, the Queen of Japanaese Pop. ...And for this particular album she said "Fuck all that", and decided to hit us with a mix of R&B, a little hip-hop, and even a bit of rock with the track As Good As It Gets. Personally, I loved it, and while I believe not many espouse this opinion, I found this album to be a whole lot better than her second, more popish outing, Queen of Hip-Pop. (Something totally not attractive about any girl in any song talking about "popping her coochie"....could just be me. Whatevs.) Namie's Style is the first track off Style, kinda reminds me of some Missy Elliot stuff from the late 90's with the beat and the way she's singing.

Lotta R&B coming through this place lately! Maybe I'm just in a real romantic mood, I don't know... ...Not really, I just felt R&B could use a little bit of shine on this site since it hasn't been getting it. Y'know, I really love this song...but SOMEBODY has gotta explain to me why, right at the end of the song, Sisqo suddenly says HIS OWN FUCKING NAME. Really nigga? Why your OWN name? If that doesn't seem odd to you, think about how weird it would sound if somebody called out they own name during sex. This dude getting hard looking at his own self in the mirror, what kinda bullshit is this.... Then again, I'm still trying to figure out why he thought wearing an unbuttoned coat to show off his chest in the video was a good idea, so maybe I'm the wrong person for this...these R&B cats have always been kinda questionable to me image-wise.

Usher's hilarious to me. Ever since that one Boondocks episode , I can't really take dude serious. (Shut the fuck up, Tom! ROFL.) That said, this track is actually a pretty hot one, in my eyes. There's at least ONE girl we've all dated that this song applies to. I know that's true for me (I apologize for the video blatantly beating you over the head with that before the song though)--just listening to the song makes me think of her. Still. I already realized like my man said in the song "she ain't ever coming home" and have moved on. Past is the past, you know?

Like a cold summer afternoon, like the snow coming down in June...like a wedding without a groom, I'm missing you... They say music can transport you back to different time periods...I know that's true because when I listen to music I always feel like I'm right back in the era where I heard the song the most. This song right here? Takes me all the way back to eighth grade. Back when you thought you was the big man on campus in that punk-ass middle school with just two grades in it, before you went to high school and got reminded that you wasn't bout shit. Back when (in my town) the only difference between a seventh grader and a eighth grader...was that you went upstairs for your classes. Back when dudes was fingerbanging girls in English class. (More on that later.) I know I ain't the only one who recognizes this song...so what time period does it take you back to? (Sorry for all the BS on the screen.)

Okay, need to slow it down just a little, so I'm going to hit you with this. Just, relax and let this wash over you.

Hah. I had actually forgotten this song until a minute ago, while I was listening to this track from Gerald Levert (the "L" in LSG) called Casanova. Decent song, so I figured I'd hook you up with the video. (Casanova will pop up later, if I find it...) ...Is Keith Sweat still alive? He ain't homeless, I can tell you that--he begs too good. I know he was hot back in the late 80's and had a sorta-kinda comeback in the late 90's, but I ain't really heard from the dude since. I'm sure he dropped a chart-bottoming album in 2005-2007...everybody from the 70's and 80's seemed to put an album out then.

First heard of Hall and Oates when I was looking at I Love the 80's on VH1. Was such an odd little video, but the song was kinda catchy, so they got filed away in my brain, which meant when my uncle asked me to find him a Hall & Oates album, my interest was finally peaked enough to check these guys out. If you're interested, get the Looking Back (The Best Of) album. SO many classics on that one. This would be one of said classics:

We're back, WBUN radio stations, with the perfect slow jam for everybody out there trying to get a woman to let you put the tip in. ...Whatever happened to Freddie Jackson, anyway? Does he still make music? He's not popular right now, but that ain't a big shock--all this autotune stuff crowds out people capable of actually singing, especially males.

Comin' at ya with a little J-Rap for Wednesday. Its not Illmatic-level (then again not much is), but don't sleep; this is still a great track, done in almost all English by Zeebra  and his cousin SoI.

Nasty Nas in ya area, about to cause mass hysteria...Nas, why did you do it? You know ya got the mad fat fluid when ya rhyme, its halftime! Man, this song is SO cold. Nasir Jones did his thing on this track, and I wasn't even a big fan of Illmatic when I first heard it. But a classic is a classic. Pay attention to the intracacies of this track, but don't ignore the bass this beat got, its the heart of this song. (Edit: The video is lost to the annals of time.  Or, y'know...whoever owns Nas' record rights.)

I'm from L Dot, A Dot, Cal-lif-for-ni-a, hot.... Nick Carter (AKA, MURS, which stands for Making Underground Raw Shit) has been dropping the heat for a good bit of this decade. I got into his music when I heard him on Big Pooh's (of Little Brother fame) album, Sleepers. Guest verse was pure fire, so I got his 2007 album, Murray's Revenge. To me, just that album propelled him into awesome status, and this is a song off it to show you what I mean.

Kicking the week off with a little bit of J-Rock from the best band in the world. This was one of their concerts post-break-up (Are they together again? Or do they just get together to do concerts for the fans? Either's good.), doing one of their later songs, Honjitsu wa Seiten Nari. Enjoy.

And, following that up with installment #8. Lots of new stuff in here, so I hope you brought your reading glasses. Turbine Powered Hybrid Car Torchwood S4 Confirmed [ CinemaSpy ] New Futurama Episodes Confirmed, Cast Isn't [CinemaSpy] Record of the Agarest War In North America [ RPGamer ] White Knight Chronicles Sequel, Update for Original [ RPGFan ] 100 Things Your Kid May Never Know About [ Wired ] Broadband Stimulus Plan Passes [ ARSTechnica] Mother Installs 100 Inch Screen In Son's Ceiling, I Grow Just Slightly Jealous [ ElectronicHouse ] Invincible Iron Man writer Matt Fraction talks "World's Most Wanted" [ ComicBookResources ] Writer Sterling Gates talks All Things Supergirl [ Newsarama ] Spectacular Spider-Girl! [Newsarama] R.E.B.E.L.S. Writer Tony Bedard discusses "Starro the Conqueror" [Newsarama] I Finally Say "No" To A Trend In Japan [ Japanator ] Gotta Get Me One Of Those: Down, Right, Punch SF Caps [ TheSmokingSection...

This took too long, I know. I'd apologize for slacking, except panel reports were still trickling in as late as mid-last week, so what can you say? G.I. Joe and Transformers Panels [ ComicBookResources ] DC Universe Animated Super Powers [CBR] CCI: WildStorm Panel [CBR] Marv Wolfman's Write Stuff [CBR] CCI: Dynamite Panel [CBR] Torchwood: Children of Earth Panel [CBR] Darwyn Cooke Panel [CBR] Spectacular Spider-Man Panel [CBR] Doctor Who Panel [CBR] Marvelous Women of Marvel Comics [ Newsarama ] Family Guy Panel [CBR] Fabletown vs. San Diego [CBR]

Here's your walkin' papers--sign 'em! And take a walk! As the Kane starts to talk... First heard THIS song on BET back in 2002 or so. Right then, I knew all rappers out then was on some straight BS. This song was (obviously) from the 80's, and it was KILLING everything that was out at the time. Right then I knew the old-school was what I needed to keep my interest in rap music. So sit here, laid back to this nice mellow beat, and listen these smooth lyrics. Get transported back to '88, 'cause its time to set it straight, y'know what I'm saying. It ain't No Half-Stepping! Word. You Ready? Haha!

90's music to wrap the week up. They connected Check Yo Self to this for a full ten minute video, so you know. Eventually I'll put only the first half up, along with the "partner" to that song, Bizarre's Bad Day. It'll be worth it. Trust me.

Oh, my...Its a mirage! Telling you all, its a...SABOTAGE! ...And that's totally not this song. But that line from Futurama always gets me. Still, if you GOTTA have it... NO! SLEEP! TIL BROOKLYN!! Beastie Boys were kicking ass on the half-rap, half-rock thing WAY before most of these posers out today were, and they were getting mad respect from both camps, something these new dudes generally can't manage. Gotta give the boys their props for that.

Shalala...I sing for you....shalala...fight for myself... Ah, this song is awesome. I should see what else Veltpunch has done--this particular song I found when Nabari no Ou came out last year. Pretty lame anime, but the opening stuck with me so the moment I was able to find the single, I did. BANANA to BUTTERLY, Crawl's B-Side, is also a pretty infectious song.

So gimme an A! R-I-A-N-N-A! My friend gave Second Saturday's Welcome to Mount Rushmore's album when we were Juniors in HS. Great band, and I kinda wish a lot more people knew about them, since they're one of the first rock groups I ever got into and its weird to only be able to talk about them with like one other guy--the one who got me into them in the first place. Sage Fact: The first concert I ever went to was one for Second Saturday. They held a concert at this tiny venue that was like, barely a walk from my grandmother's, so I figured why not? I stood out like a sore thumb, being the ONLY black guy there. The guy at the door (one of the band members) looked at me like, "Are you sure you're in the right place"? Haha, I love that feeling. (Just like one loves the feeling of popping a really sensitive zit...or ripping off a band-aid....or, ah, you get the picture.)

...Unexpected. Got behind on my Back-On music, but this is pretty good. Click the link for the video. And I'm off to go find this and other Back-On songs; maybe find out what they've been up to since "Chain".

These rappers today don't know squat about having range. Tupac could do a track like I Get Around, then turn right around and write Dear Mama like it was the natural thing to do. Truly representative of the myriad sides of the human spirit, make no mistake, Tupac is still the greatest rapper alive. Yeah I know people talk about Biggie Smalls and Nas and even Rakim. And those dudes got the wordplay, make no mistake, but in the few years Tupac was here he blessed us with a catalogue of quality songs that its taken other artists mentioned on his level over a decade to match up to, if they ever got the chance to match up to it at all (RIP Christopher Wallace). Somehow I doubt I'm the only one that can identify with this line: "No love for my daddy, 'cause the coward wasn't there He passed away, and I didn't cry 'Cause my anger, wouldn't let me feel for a stranger. They say I'm wrong and I'm heartless, But all along, I was looking for a father he...

I'm just another black man, caught up in the mix, trying to make a dollar outta fifteen cents... We could do with a hip-hop classic around these parts, so I thought I'd hit you guys with this.

I spent my last eight checkses/On a neckalace/So I better get some sex for this... This is for all those that say Kanyeezy can't spit the heat. Its ALSO for everybody dealing with someone (man or woman) that don't know what the deal is and think you really wanna "date", but I'll let Yeezy spit the truth on that.

Not posted on Tuesday, but I wanna keep things organized. Also: no Sunday and Monday because I'm reserving those for worthwhile gospel songs. I was going through looking for a new J-Music site and I ran across a section on Daichi Miura's former boy band, Folder5. Made me think about this one Daichi song I was rocking pretty hard back in High School. Its a little poppy, but so what? Song of the Day will balance it out. Man, honestly seeing these Japanese cats wearing the B-Boy clothes and whatnot kinda makes me laugh, but in a good way! Sidenote: ...Is that a brother as one of the background dancers? Also: The little kid they got is almost an even better dancer than they are. Hilarious.