Is the Game out of his mind? The 50 Cent/Game beef is back on, this time with the Game trying to pull some Jay-Z-like antics at Summer Jam by taking some swipes at 50. Believe me, I'm not rooting for either side exactly - both artists aren't exactly handling their business that wisely but in this case, Game might as well walk up to an ATM and withdraw a beatdown on himself. Didn't he read this month's new XXL?
Mark Anthony Neal reviews Common's Be. I respect the good Dr. Neal but I have to differ: while I admired what Common was trying to do on Be, song for song, the album never hit the right stride until the end. I loved "Be," definitely was into "The Corner," but "Go" is just plain terrible - a corny song with a corny hook and corny beat. Period. Both "Faithful" and "Testify" had great production but weak lyrics and "Love" isn't nearly as inane as "Go" but it comes close. "Chi City" was surprisingly dull and I don't know why they replaced the studio version of "The Food" with the tinny, lo-fi live version recorded on The Chappelle Show. Big disappointment. The last three songs were fantastic: loved "Real People," "They Say" and "It's Your World Pt. 1" was great but "Pt. 2" (with Pop's rap) was unlistenable. That's 4.5 great songs vs. 6.5 that I'd sooner skip past. Not exactly Illmatic.
Joe Schloss on why hip hop doesn't suck. He also makes this statement: "Anyone who calls themselves a "hip-hop intellectual" should be both hip-hop and intellectual. That means minimal proficiency in at least 2 hip-hop expressive arts (Since I’m a nice guy, I’ll even count writing as one) and the ability to address reasonable counter-arguments to any statement you make without getting pissed off, frustrated and/or shook." (Just for the record, I've never identified myself as a "hip hop intellectual" - it always struck me as a way to pigeonhole yourself unnecessarily. Even the most ardent hip-hop fans I know have interests and pursuits outside of the music and culture. I do, however, aspire one day to call myself a "Katamari intellectual.")
Davey D offers up his Top 10 list of hip-hop's greatest albums in twoparts (so far. He's only up to #5). Nothing too left-field though his #8 is Lauryn Hill's solo album which I don't think deserves to chart that high. And Tupac wouldn't be on my Top 10 in any position. He's an artist whose career and impact may have been transcendent but his albums rarely were.
My man Joey passed this along to me - it's about Music For Robots (the audioblog) and their new CD. I'm biased of course since I consider the MFR folks colleagues (even if their daily hits squash Soul-Sides.com) and it's instructional to see how their CD is moving since I've been planning on dishing out some mix-CDs of my own.
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