MP's Track of the Day

Reality Check (feat. Black Thought) - J Dilla

J Dilla - Reality Check (ft. Black Thought of The Roots)

This is the jam. The whole Jay Stay Paid album is very good, and actually plays like an album rather than a mixtape like other, new albums that have come out recently. There really is no excuse for this music being released so late. We can all hope that Dilla made thousands of time capsules with beat CDs in them so that we can continue to rock to his incredible creativity. Or, seemingly less likely, maybe someone will come with his type of innovation and do something both different and enjoyable in Hip Hop.

Happy - Sad: Rock the Bells 2009

Happy: Rock the Bells, an international Hip Hop festival that leans toward more authentic artists, seems to have become a staple of the yearly summer music festivities.

Sad: With the absence of De La Soul from the bill, the only guarantee audiences have about the performances is that the entire lineup will have prepared a grand total of 30 seconds for their sets. Live Hip Hop - The Roots = AHHHHHH!!!!!!!! STOP!! STOP!!!

Ecstatic about The Ecstatic?

No matter what Mos Def does, he will be an underground God. Though he all but turned his back on hip hop, put out one remarkably weak album in comparison to his first solo effort and another "album" that was a glorified piece of plastic, most who truly love rap music simply cannot put the man down. Black Star and Black On Both Sides are to this day two of the most complete and satisfying hip hop albums ever created, due in large part to the creativity and lyricism of Mos Def. He's done almost everything he could to alienate his fan base (Common recently took the cake as far as former hip hop artists are concerned) and they still wait patiently for the next single or album.

I am probably one of those fans - as far as I'm concerned, there isn't a more perfect flow with the lyrical content to match out there - but that doesn't mean I didn't have my reservations coming into the release of his newest effort, The Ecstatic. I was worried that he would let me down yet again, let hip hop down, but continue to hypocritically leach off his "hip hop" status in the media.

Well, The Ecstatic is certainly not a let down, but it ain't perfect. There are some moments of greatness on the record, and I thoroughly enjoy many of the tracks, but it lacks the coherence of his early work. Without comparisons to the past, it leaves something to be desired. Pretty Dancer and Workers Comp are interesting both sonically and lyrically, and signal the return of Mos the Rapper. In fact, I can't really complain about the specific songs on the record (except No Hay Nada Mas - I'm never really a fan of non-Latinos singing in Spanish). But songs like Quiet Dog, which is a great direction for experimental hip hop, should be just that - an experiment. Other tracks, like Twilite Speedball or Life In Marvelous Times, would have been good singles to leak before an album is dropped, and show the exploration necessary for a great album, but sound out of place in the album format.

And while I love the songs, it doesn't help this feeling when Oh No and Madlib are both giving Mos Def recycled beats (is anyone else tired of this?!?!?! Stop it Madlib, Oh No and MF DOOM!!!). What I feel is that the album is not an album - it is a collection of the hip hop equivalent of a jam session - no collaboration, but pick the best beats off a beat CD and record. The Ecstatic has a bunch of good songs on it, and suggests a good direction for Mos Def's music. But in the grand scheme of music and into longevity, that's all it is, which is an issue for an artist like Mos Def.

Seriously Though, BG Is Old Enough To Remember What This Was Like

In an interview with VIBE, BG talks Hot Boys reunion, and as with most rappers who haven't released an album since before the recession, reality continues to elude him. Regarding the potential reunion, Gizzle (ew) had this to say:

What can you tell me about [the reunion]?

It’s going to be bigger than The Beatles. It’s going to be bigger than The Beatles. [laughs]

So you’re excited about it?

Most definitely! Because you know, at one point in time, you couldn’t get me to talk about it. I wasn’t open for it, you know what I am saying? But as I grew and then I got older and as I started just understanding life in general, things happen, and things happen for a reason. You know, people go through things, family go through things, but they sit down, talk it over, be real about it, acknowledge their mistakes and move on.

That's right, people; it doesn't matter if you were cheated by your business partners and later accused them of being embezzling homosexuals with no street credibility who should be afraid of you. THINGS HAPPEN. Things like recessions, and failed record labels, and signing to labels run by artists who have over a decade less of experience than you, and solo albums that get pushed back because even your fans are kind of starting to forget who you are, and a case of the uglies that makes Sam Cassell look like Tyson Beckford. Those kind of things!!!

Suge Knight Bodies the "New West"

How do I know that the "new west" is officially D.O.A? Well, let's just say that having the endorsement of a man who managed to put out…um…ONE without the name "Shakur" attached since he released an unauthorized Snoop CD in 2000(Dead Man Walking…which, oddly enough, was pretty good in comparison to Snoop's recent work) doesn't exactly inspire heights of confidence.

Seriously, ask Crooked I about Suge's role in the "new west." Dude was supposed to be the answer to Snoop's "betrayal", and now he's part of a "super group" (the ultimate example of speaking something into reality if I've ever seen it) with Joell Ortiz (who?), Royce 5'9" (I just lost $5 on a bet that he was dead) and Joe Budden (I really wish he'd release one album entitled "excuses for why I'm not a success yet" and get that theme out of his system).

While we're on the matter, maybe I'm crazy, but is there ANY good reason to get all hopped up about the "new west"? I've listened to the major players (Nipsey Hussle, Jay Rock, Glasses Malone…) and they all seem like clones of The Game, who was pretty much a less enjoyable version of 50 Cent to begin with. Color me bored until further notice.

50 Cent Declares Victory With Rick Ross's #1 Album

Whoo Kid, in an interview with MTV, announced to the rap public that boss 50 Cent is officially finished with his beef with Rick Ross. According to Whoo Kid...

"The Rick Ross sh-- is outta here. It's over, he's done his promo — 50 promoted his album very well, so Rick Ross is outta here. Now he's worried about his own shit. They got the Tia book out there. That should be the last level of anything that has anything to do with Rick Ross."

Yes, you guys really showed him. You buried him all the way down to an album that was number one on the billboard charts for two straight weeks. Maybe for your next trick you can shame him into being a multimillionaire, or break his spirit until he sleeps with your wife. Honestly, you guys did such a bad job with this that I thought maybe Ross had honestly paid you to do promotions for his release.

When will rappers be able to admit that something didn't work out the way they thought it would in a funny, self effacing way? Five years? Ten?

You People Continuously Disappoint Me

650,000 units in hard copies in its first week? Are you people kidding me? I joked yesterday that dignity was no longer gangsta. Apparently, hacky comedy is SUPER GANGSTA AND EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMAN.

Who the hell is responsible for this? At least Lil' Wayne was coming off of a blistering string of features and collaborations that tricked us all into thinking he was the best rapper alive. If he had pulled this crap...well, he IS pulling this crap, and Rebirth is being pushed back to Neveruary 31st.

More disturbing still is that the material that has been released is either the worst (in terms of both sound and creativity) or the most offensively dark. Jokes about sexual abuse toward women told in a kooky voice? Is that where we're at? Nick Cannon needs to be the voice of reason for Hip Hop?

Un. Effing. Believable.