Golden Tracks

1. ras kass - anything goes remix
http://www.zshare.net/audio/118204016bb407c1/

I had this on an old tape. It turns out that it was not on the actual “Anything Goes” single but as a b-side on the Jack Frost 12”. Something about that flute.

Knnye West - Goodnight (Graduation Bonus)

This is such a gem and should have been on the record. He talks about the idea of finding comfort in loss through the act of sleeping as in when you lose someone close and you dream of them.

He tells it by talking about his grandparents. I think his mother died after having recorded this but seen in that context this song foreshadows one of his coping mechanisms, confirmed at the Grammy performance Hey Mama remix (”Last night I saw you in my dreams…now I can’t wait to go to sleep…”)

Mos Def provides the chorus (sung). There is some other rapper on there but I did not pay attention.

http://www.zshare.net/audio/34801496cab225

Right now I can see it so vivid
Like it was just yesterday like I could relive it
Me and my grandparents on a field trid-ip
And I’m the little kid tryna touch the exhibits
But it’ll fade before I get to get a hold of that
Man I wish I could stop time like a photograph
Every joke that they told I’d know to laugh
Man, man I wouldn’t let a moment pass
What do it mean when you dream that you fallin’
What do it mean when you dream that you ballin’
What do it mean when you never dream at all then
And you don’t really know cause you can’t recall them
It’s sorta fly you get a chance to say hi to
People you never got a chance to say bye to
Maybe you could pull em up outta your dreams *
Into real life, if you try to
So close, but so far
And so far, no cigar
We can’t dwell on the past all we got is today
So I’mma live like there’s no tomorrow
No goodbye

—-
As usual his phrasing is one thought/one bar (except for asterik). with a rhyme change every four (except for the last four). This is one of his most straight forward in terms of flow/cadence/rhythm (maybe the reason why he didnt put it on the album?). Also notable is the use of the word ‘photograph’ as pseudo-rhyme to “a hold of that”. It has that effect I like where we feel taken out of the rhyme but also strangely still seated in it. The series of four questions is a nice choice also recalling the whimsical questions of a child, yet with a resonance that still affects due to the natural way in which we can’t answer those questions and still wonder today.

“But it’ll fade before I get a hold of that” — Isn’t that the cinematic convention of dreams? I imagine the source is literary…the ghostly appearances/dissapearances, but we’ve been undoubtedly served the image cinematically (Ghostbusters?).

List of Jay-Z Luxuries

1. Audemar Piguet (wrists) off “Allure” and “Upgrade U (Remix)”
2. Mr Chow’s off “Success”
3.Breitling off “Dead Presidents”

On Jay-Z’s Gangsta

“Feelin’ It”

To all the girls I bought a girdle to conceal my bricks
No doubt, they can vouch my life is real as shit…

The ganstaness in this line comes from the originality of the gangsta motif. To speak of the act of smuggling by women friends/lovers, specifically the girdles they have to wear.

“Allure”

Say hooray to the bad guy, and all the broads
Putting cards in their name for the stars of the game
Putting ‘caine in their bras and their tomorrows on the train
All in the name of love
Just to see that love locked in chains and the family came
over the house to take back, everything that they claimed
Or even the worst pain is the distress
Learning you’re the mistress only after that love gets slain
And the anger and the sorrow mixed up, leads to mistrust
Now it gets tough to ever love a-gain

—Yet another reference to friends/lovers who transport cocaine across states. This time he goes deeper and describes the emotional ties, even drawing out a possibly dramatic situation (”Learning you’re the mistress only after that love gets slain” How dramatic!).

But the allure of the game, keeps callin your name
To all the Lauras of the world, I feel your pain
To all the Christies in every cities and Tiffany Lane’s
We all hustlers, in love with the same thang

–That mention of Charli Baltimore’s government name probably goes largely unoticed. But for those who notice, it further mythologizes Charli who was once rumoured to be Biggie’s ride-or-die chick.

Correcting Ohhla.com lyrics

Jay-Z - “Success”

Faulty:
All of this ace of spade I drank just to piss out
I mean I like the taste coulda saved myself 6 hours
How many times can I go to Mr. Childs, taos mobu (???)
Hold up, lemme move my bouwls
I’ll shit on y’all niggas

Correct:
All of this Ace of Spades I drink just to piss out
I mean I like the taste, coulda saved myself 6 thous’ (thousands)
How many times can I go to Mr. Chow’s, Tao’s, no bull
Hold up, lemme move my bowels
I’ll shit on y’all niggas

“taos mobu”…??? what the f…?

Jay-Z - “Lucifer”

Faulty:
So, curse the day that birthed the bastard
who caused your church mass, reverts to crash
The first to blast then reverse the curse
The first to date and there you are, Bobalob

Correct:
So, curse the day that birth the bastard
who caused your church mass, reverse the crash
Reverse the blast and reverse the car
Reverse the day and there you are, Bobalob

I like the ending here: ‘…and there you are, Bobalob’. As if the series of reverse’s were meant as guidelines to conjure up Bobalob.

Jay-Z - “Feelin’ It”

Faulty:
I keep it realer than most I know your feelin it
Cristal on ice I like those toes I keep spillin it

Correct:

I keep it realer than most I know your feelin it
Cristal on ice I like to toast, I keep spillin it

—Why would he ‘like those toes’? Who says that?

Jay-Z - “Pray”

Faulty lyric:
Treat shame with shamelessness
And stainless at anuses

The real words are:
Treat shame with shamelessness
Aim stainless at anuses

–An obvious mistake because it does not make sense. If he says “Treat shame with shamelesness AND stainlesses at anuses”, the operative AND implies the presence of a second object to the verb ‘treat’. And “to treat stainlesses at anusses” does not make sense. However, one can see how “Aim stainlesses at anuses” follows the logic set forth by the previous line. The previous line communicated a type of advice (to treat shame with shamelesness). Thus it is natural that the line that follows it communicates the same (hence the presence of an active verb in the imperative tense).

Now when the rules is blurred
As they is and were

The real words are:

Now when the rules is blurred
As they is you were

—
‘As they is, and were’ — doesn’t make sense. Why would he point out the consistent everpresense of ‘the rules’ ? ‘The rules is blurred’ he says, he follows, ‘As they is…’, and brings up the comparable element ‘ [as they is], you were‘. Makes sense, right?

Nas - “The World Is Yours”

Faulty lyric:

“Walk the blocks wit a bop, checkin Danes plus the games people play
bust the problems of the world today”

No clue why someone would think Nas is checking out Denmark tourists…In Queens?

The real words are:

“Walk the blocks wit a bop, checkin’ dames, plus the games people play
bust the problems of the world today”

That’s more like it.

Nas’ “It Was Written”: A Revisionist’s Classic

I’ve written before about Illmatic’s status as a major literary work. In my eyes, it is as rich as the best of Shakespeare. And I know Shakespeare. You can read RHS’ article on Illmatic where his words are more studied and his reflexions more well articulated than mine.

“It Was Written” didn’t fare as well critically when it first came out. Why? Because it came at a time where hip hop was changing. There was a larger sensitivity towards creating a sound that would be more attuned to market forces. ‘Mafioso Rap’ was one of the popular trends and Nas had no reservations about borrowing from and adding to it. The result: a striking departure from the more introspective and deeply personal work of Illmatic.

Of the few things that changed about Nas’ sound, the most obvious would be his production. Gone were the crisp percussion, dusty samples and filtered basslines of Illmatic. Working with new producers, the music of this album has a richer, multi-layered, and professional studio sound. The structure of some songs is much closer to pop music than the hardcore rap of Illmatic, with melodic choruses and bridge sections which although present on his first album are much more overt this time around (notice the sing-alongy choruses on ‘Street Dreams’ and ‘Watch Dem Niggaz’ and obviously ‘If I Ruled The World’ with Lauren Hill).

To be continued..

To be continued…

Kyu’s Top Hip Hop Albums

THIS IS A DRAFT

Alright, here’s the definite Kyu list. Those who know me know I like my music intelligent. That means smart but it could also mean ignorant. But if it’s ignorant it has to be self-conscious ignorant, unless you’re an autistic genius like Biz Markie.

About smart. That basically means that I want my rappers to have some kind of advanced technical knowledge of either lyrics, flowing, or songmaking. Take Goodie Mob for instance. They are average rappers flow-wise. But they craft, or crafted, incredibly harmonious songs, and had the most earnest lyrics, that means a conscious avoidance of catering to whatever standard the market had established. Earnestness is always a win…it means you unavoidably create an unique aesthetic, which they did. Soul Food has a heartfelt concern for family, brotherhood, and positive change. They could never remake an album like this one. They just changed as people. They were intuitively dope. Later, they tried to be, which killed the honesty and spontaneity. See Nas.

Please excuse the lack of pre-93 albums…I wasn’t around then.

1. Nas - Illmatic
2. Goodie Mob - Soul Food
3. Outkast - Aquemini / ATLiens
4. 2PAC - 2PACalypse Now
5. A Tribe Called Quest - Beats Rhymes and Life
6. Nas - It Was Written…
7. Bone-Thugs-N-Harmony - E.1999 Eternal
8. Company Flow - Funcrusher Plus
9. Cypress Hill - Temples of Boom
10. De La Soul - Stakes is High
11. Snoop Doggy Dogg - Doggystyle
12. Fugees - The Score
13. Genius/Gza - Liquid Swords
14. Wu-Tang - Wu-Tang Forever
15. Ghostface - Ironman
16. Jay-Z - Vol.3 Life and Times
17. Mobb Deep - Hell On Earth
18. Black Star (Mos Def & Talib Kweli) - …is Blackstar
19. The Pharcyde - Labcabincalifornia
20. Raekwon - Built for Cuban Linx

Ice (Mother Song) - Buck 65

Buck 65 - ICE

I ordered this album from hiphopinfinity.com when it had just come out. I was impressed by the instrumentals. I was never truly turned off by his rapping because despite the obvious lack of flow/swag, they were so sincere that they simply connected.

Ah my soul, my head and aching tummy
Why in world was my mother taken from me
Up until the last minute Ive been looking for the answer
Hard as tried she couldnt out run the breast cancer
What am I supposed to do, I need at least another year,
It comes time everyday I need to have my mother here
I need to talk to her its important,
it seems to be
I got to make sure that she understands how much she means to me
Who will be there to pick me up by the wasteland
Plus I promised one day I would take her to Graceland
There is things she needs to see
For instance I planned on building a family of my own
She’s never had grandchildren
She always helped to make my work around the kitchen painless
I want her to see when I am finally rich and famous
Who will I ask my stupid questions when they come up
My first impulse is that I want to call my mum up
But then I am standing there
Holding the telephone wishing this headache would leave me the hell alone
The last thing I need now is for pain to fill my empty spaces
And right now I feel pain in plenty of places
I need to make her laugh more
I want to have pictures taken
She always told her friend about the music her son Richard’s making
I need to listen to her stories and tell her my own ones
I want her to watch when I hit lots of home runs
For a few things I need to say I’m sorry
And blame me instead of yourself
As for Lori and Amy
Ill make sure they’re ok
And that they always wear a seat belt
I promise to ease back whenever the heat’s felt
I want to go home and show off this weekend
But I cant and it feels like I might go off the deep end
Its painful being here
But its unfit and there…
My mother’s gone away, its not one bit fair

Andre 3000 - Better Than Jigga?

http://www.zshare.net/audio/5040759cd8c5f4/

Is Andre 3000, the rap Bob Dylan? He could be. In this verse here he seems to be driven by intention of expression first, eschewing conventional rhyming until the 5th bar. In the verse, he offers excuses for his down to earth approach to subject matter, as if he feels the need to justify his anti-party rap rhymes. What’s interesting is that he relates his verse as an answer to a question posed by a woman he had a casual date with. There’s a tradition in songwriting, and Bob Dylan passed through it as well, where women evoke the expression of sentiments. The difficulties of love married to the difficulties of writing.

But rap is more than writing, especially today when most rappers reveal that they don’t write but instead think up their verses as they record the song. I dont know if Andre does this, I would assume that he doesn’t exactly, as he appears to be more cohesive and ‘together’ in his verses than say Lil Wayne of Jay-Z, two write-less rappers. But regardless of his technique, he still delivers his vocals filled with unexpected inflections, unique rhythmic sections, and flawless breath control.

So what do we have here? It is not the simile-filled free-associative rhyming of Jay-Z and Wayne. Although both those rappers are probably the best in their league. Andre is another kind of poet. He is situational in his approach, rooting the listener into a situational reality. He sees the verse as an unified element for one urge when others have more of a cut+paste approach, and pastiche conventional tropes. Not to say that Andre doesnt use those tropes, because he does, but their nature is always subservient to the expression of the primary urge in his subject matter. In other words, Jay-Z has punchlines with similes because he wants them to stand out in the verse; Andre uses them simply as literary devices to convey a primordial intention. It is another kind of rapping intelligence, very unique in the industry. My guess is that it has its roots in the storytelling blues songs from the South of which Andre (I’m sure) is a huge fan.

Artist: Outkast
Year: 2007
Title: The Art Of Storytellin Part 4

[Andre 3000:]
Verse One:
So I’m watchin’ her fine ass
Walked to my bedroom, and thought to myself
That’s the shape of things to come
She said, “Why you in the club, and you don’t make it precipitate?
You know, make it rain when you can make it thunderstorm”
I’m like, “Why? “
The world needs sun
The hood needs funds
There’s a war going on and half the battle is guns
How dare I throw it on the floor
When people are poor
So I write like Edgar Allen to restore, got a cord?
Umbilical attached to a place they can’t afford
No landscaping, Or window draping
This old lady told me,
“If I ain’t got nothin’ good, say nathing”
That’s why I don’t talk much
I swear it don’t cost much, to pay attention to me
I tell like it is, and I tell it how it could be
The hood be
Requesting my services, Oh don’t get nervous it’s
Step yo game up time, These ain’t them same old rhymes
Designed to have you dancin’ in some club
Niggas write to me
Woman be up in they tub
Exfoliating with hey pom poms
Yellin’ “GO 3000! “
I’m in my whatever bumpin’ what?
A 100 miles in
Runnin’ Runnin’ Runnin’ Runnin’
Summon
Woman
Come in
Sit down, heard you need some plumbing
Done and
I’m in
A swell mood
A rather swoll mood
Until she told me that she told dood
That’s she’ll be back, she’s going to the store
I didn’t know she had a boyfriend, so the door
I pointed her too
I said, “Call me when ya’ll break up
I don’t fuck nobody bitch”
And never owned a Jakob, know what time it is
Nigga just tryin’ to live
Like a Nigga suppose to live
If I still drink that malt liquor
I pour that beer
On the ground for niggas not around
I started out starvin’
Now they got me out here Brett Farvin’
Try’n to see if I still got it… (got it…)
I guess it’s like the right thing about it… (’bout it…)

Bamboo (Rapper)

ii put heart, soul, in the matter/ sharp as the mould of dagger/lord will hold the data/ co-shatter/ cuz my flow fatter/ roll with dough snatchaz on the ‘lo/ befo’ the po’s grab us/ for my people livin’ in a lethal illegal dominion/ even in the millenium i break down your feeble equilibrium/ i’m the true definition/ they payin’ dues with recognition/ thru the desperate mission/ it’s the guru–finesse the written/ emergin from the urban culture/ determined on burning your sculptures/ to the ultra/ in return my main concern is to insult ya/ living unfortunate/ brought up like a kid from an orphanage/ i’m buck/ not giving a fuck/ and just can’t get off this shit/ On the mic I’m life threatenin’/ so write the tight checkin’ in/ i’m nice fight wrestling to write the trite testament/ the category/ collab in the labatory/ newscast flash the story/ cats that pass us half the glory/ losing my sanity/ due to the rules of humanity/ choose to pursue fantasy/ recruit family for crews that can’t stand me/ pop the clip in/ for crews that aint got a pot to piss in/ for heads that’s locked in the system/ never plottin’ stuck in friction/ im supposed to reign/ some yet overcame/ the will to kill and sober pain/ instead of fillin bills with novacaine

Bamboo. This guy fell off the face of the earth. The only information I could dig up is that he’s from Queens and is portorican. He first appeared on Domingo Presents: Behind the Doors of 13th Floor and he created quite a buzz. What I transcribed above is a lot of words thrown together for their multi-syllabic assonance more than for their deep message. OF course nobody really gets the holy grail of multi-syllables AND depth. Regardless, he knew how to put words together and his breath control was incredible. He had a commanding presence. He’s been compared to Canibus minus the raspiness and punchlines.

- From The Get Up

Not The Ones To Sleep