And I...

Heard 'Em Say.

It's the first time I've seen this version of the video for my favorite tune from 2005's Late Registration. It helps that Bill Plympton does the fantastic animation and I've got to hand it to Kanye West for bringing in the guy responsible for the 1987 Oscar winning short Your Face (which is incredible), to do his video.

I was never really impressed with this other version.

Midnight Marauder

It's only right.

Speaking of the classic that is Midnight Marauders, as part of Smirnoff's Signature Mix Series, Q-Tip teamed with Cool & Dre to update "Midnight" and give it a 2008 reworking.

I think it's clock radio speakers.

Q-Tip: "Midnight '08"

Pete's Treats

Pete Rock's NY's Finest in your area on Tuesday. Meanwhile, I've been listening to some PR treats of the past and it's ridiculous the amount of incredible tracks he's put together in his distinguished career. Although the new album isn't as quite as good as I'd expected, it's still a solid effort and I'm glad to hear new material from him. Even the lukewarm joints.

Here's a couple of the more impressionable Pete Rock tracks from way back. Thorough indeed...

The U.N.: "Long Time Coming"
Deda The Original Baby Pa: "Press Rewind"
Pete Rock & CL Smooth: "Lots Of Lovin' (Remix)"

Bonus:

Pete Rock and "Dilla Day", courtesy of Cocaine Blunts

Belated...

It's been way too long between posts but fatherhood affords no rest for the weary...

I meant to post some Valentines goodies last week but just didn't get a chance to.

...I see you me lady...

Look Mom...No Hands!

Okay, shameless excuse to throw a picture of my daughter up. It's not enough that I've already posted it here. Anyway...

I've been meaning give shine to a couple of Madlib tracks that I throw on whenever I need a little inspiration or a slight knudge in the ribs to wake me from whatever stupor I'm in. Since I've been deprived of comfortable, quality shut-eye these few weeks, I've needed an extra jolt to accompany my morning coffee.

Wildchild's (of the Lootpack) "Hands Up" and Vast Aire's (of the mighty, now defunct, Cannibal Ox) "Look Mom...No Hands", both produced by Madlib (the other guy who never sleeps, peep his catalog), exhibit the sonic punch I so desperately need in these babyraising times. "Hands Up" is a leaner, more stripped down track compared to "Look Mom's..." more chaotic and frenetic boombastics. They both serve their purpose in their own distinct ways. It's sonic crack-rock-motivation when you need it.

Wildchild: "Hands Up"
Vast Aire: "Look Mom...No Hands"

Bonus Madlib:

Go figure, there was actually a video for Madvillain's "Accordian"...

The PR

Pete Rock is, without a doubt, my favorite producer of all time. There was a time I teetered between PR and DJ Premier but PR's sound, anchored by such soulful undercurrents, puts him at the top. Besides, Premier's work has been more uneven as of late and he's not nearly close to matching the quality of his output of the mid-late 90's. Termanology's "Watch How It Goes Down" is the last Primo track that I was feeling and I still think he could of brought the drums a little harder.

If you haven't already heard, Pete Rock's got an album dropping February 26. There are a few projects worth the anticipation this year but New York's Finest is most worthy. I've heard five cuts from the new album and they're not really mind blowing. "The PJ's" featuring Raekwon and Masta Killa and "914" featuring Styles P and Sheek Louch were already in rotation last year. I'm still looking forward to hearing how the rest of the album comes together. After all, a subpar Pete Rock track beats most of the garbage floating around these days.

Check it. Courtesy of Nahright.

Jingle Jangle

I'll probably be low key until after the holidays so Merry Christmas folks!

A Liberal Decalogue

By Bertrand Russell:

"Perhaps the essence of the Liberal outlook could be summed up in a new decalogue, not intended to replace the old one but only to supplement it. The Ten Commandments that, as a teacher, I should wish to promulgate, might be set forth as follows:"

1. Do not feel absolutely certain of anything.

2. Do not think it worth while to proceed by concealing evidence, for the evidence is sure to come to light.

3. Never try to discourage thinking for you are sure to succeed.

4. When you meet with opposition, even if it should be from your husband or your children, endeavor to overcome it by argument and not by authority, for a victory dependent upon authority is unreal and illusory.

5. Have no respect for the authority of others, for there are always contrary authorities to be found.

6. Do not use power to suppress opinions you think pernicious, for if you do the opinions will suppress you.

7. Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.

8. Find more pleasure in intelligent dissent that in passive agreement, for, if you value intelligence as you should, the former implies a deeper agreement than the latter.

9. Be scrupulously truthful, even if the truth is inconvenient, for it is more inconvenient when you try to conceal it.

10. Do not feel envious of the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise, for only a fool will think that it is happiness."

Boogie Down Productions: "You Must Learn"
KRS One: "Higher Level"

Best Albums 2007

GOLD. Radiohead: In Rainbows - "15 Steps", "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi", "All I Need", "House Of Cards", ("4 Minute Warning" and "Up On The Ladder" from CD 2 are excellent as well)... All worthy of top twenty song status for this year but "Reckoner" is amazing and stands out as my favorite track on the album. In Rainbows is a moody record. I mean, it's got a winter quality to it. It's very bass and drum driven and it seems that they decided to simplify their sound for this album. The only time the electric guitar is prominent is on "Bodysnatchers". The rest of the album is less assertive. I think it plays to their strength.

SILVER. Common: Finding Forever - I've come to expect great albums from Common. He simply knows how to put a well rounded album together and get the most from his producers. Kanye's best work seems to go Com's way. "Start The Show" was a huge surprise in that I knew Kanye could put together some diverse sounds but this track blows me away. I think Com could do better on the lyrical side of things, but this Kanye production just bangs. The only track on Finding Forever that I have a problem with is "I Want You", a Will.I.Am production no less. Should've titled that one "Skip"... Otherwise, it's the best Hip-Hop record of 2007.

BRONZE. Various: Electric Soul: Twinight's Lunar Rotation Compilation - It's 40 songs deep and they're all quality soul cuts. Most of the artists I've never heard of. There are a lot of soul comps floating around out there but this is the most solid I've heard. "Yesterday's Mistakes" by Jimmy Jones and "To Love Somebody" by The Kaldirons are just two of the more esquisite soul tracks from this compilation. The fact that this comp has 40 tracks with each song as good as the next is an accomplishment to say the least. Solid from beginning to end.

The Lucky 7:

4. Feist: The Reminder

5. Band Of Horses: Cease To Begin

6. Kanye West: Graduation

7. Arcade Fire: Neon Bible

8. Alicia Keys: As I Am

9. J. Sands/J-Dilla: Mrs. Sands The LP

10. LCD Soundsystem: Sounds Of Silver

The Good Revolutions 2007

1. "All My Friends" - LCD Soundsystem
2. "Start The Show" - Common
3. "Reckoner" - Radiohead
4. "Keep The Car Running" - Arcade Fire
5. "No Ones Gonna Love You" - Band Of Horses
6. "Teenage Love Affair" - Alicia Keys
7. "Pedigree" - Brother Ali
8. "All I Know" - DJ Jazzy Jeff feat. CL Smooth
9. "Flashing Lights" - Kanye West
10. "Someone Great" - LCD Soundsystem
11. "The Limit To Your Love" - Feist
12. "Success" - Jay-Z feat. Nas
13. "Going To Acapulco" - Jim James & Calexico
14. "Sailing Away" - Anthony Hamilton
15. "In The Mood" - Talib Kweli feat. Kanye West
16. "Gilla House Check" - Redman
17. "I'm Not Gonna Teach You..." - Black Kids
18. "Paper Planes" - M.I.A
19. "Rec-Room Therapy" - Ghosface feat. Raekwon & U-God
20. "Now That I'm Free" - Outlines feat. RZA

You know you're getting old when your favorite song of the year is a song about growing older.

I've narrowed down the song list to 20 because I found that ranking them past that is an exercise in futility.

Ghostface's "Rec-Room Therapy", from his bulky Big Doe Rehab album, would have been higher on the list had it not been for U-God's inept verse at the end. Rae and Ghost united would've sufficed.

I purposely left off a couple more Radiohead songs from In Rainbows for obvious reasons. If it's not obvious to you, you'll see why in my next post.

I Slept

Spin just did a review of Arrested Development's Since The Last Time. I don't know much about the album since I haven't really kept up with where the group has been. Speech did a solo project some years ago to lukewarm reviews and didn't firm up much of a career on his own. Since The Last Time kind of flew under the radar and, from everything I've read up to this post, it was released last year. I have to admit that I was a little skeptical that it'd be even worth giving attention but after a couple of listens it's actually pretty good. They didn't pull a Black Eyed Peas and morph into some ridiculous eye and ear sore of a pop group. The group kept the formula simple and preserved the qualities that made their debut so enjoyable in 92' - tastefully soulful and with subtlely funky undercurrents.

This is the title track from the album and my favorite of the bunch. It's got a fantastic, celebratory feel to it with great lyrics from Speech. I slept in 2006.

Arrested Development - "Since The Last Time"

"...notes upon notes of my catchiest quotes..."

As you know, with the year's end comes with it lists upon lists upon lists. Do I have my obligatory "Best of 2007" lists? Absolutely. But I love reading other's thoughts on the past year's great moments in music, movies, news...

My favorite list thus far comes from Junichi over at Poplicks. His "Best Quotes Of 2007" is hysterical! Here is a snippet of some of my favorites from his exhaustive list:

"Did you see Britney Spears at the Video Music Awards? I don't want to say that that performance was a disaster, but after the show, I saw Rudy Giuliani having his picture taken standing on her."-Bill Maher

"Go, Raiders."- Robert Comer's last words before being executed in Arizona

"Yeah, well maybe next time, you will estimate me."- Michael, to Jan, who said she underestimated him, on The Office

"People use music as a utensil to better themselves."- Jessica Simpson

Read his complete list here.

Oh yeah, and he just posted his "Best Songs Of 2007". All 100 of them.

Audio Visuals

Beirut - "Elephant Gun"



Menomena - "Evil Bee"



Lupe Fiasco - "Superstar"



Dave Chappelle in London

"The Hardest"

AZ's next full length The Undeniable is set to drop February 19.

In the meantime, "The Hardest" featuring Styles P, produced by the Large Professor, is the heat for your cold winter. It's unclear as to who's track it actually is as it's also on Styles' new album Super Gangster. I don't blame them for keeping the track for their own respective albums. The Large Pro hasn't produced anything memorable in a long time but this track is superb and he's even got a cameo in this exclusive OnSmash presentation.



AZ feat. Styles P/Styles P feat. AZ - "The Hardest"

More Slop

Dilla Busta. I know it's gonna be hard to endure Bussa Buss for an albums worth of material but hey, it's unreleased J-Dilla tracks.

Mick Boogie & Busta Rhymes do it with Dillagence.

Miss Info presents: Inside The Rappers Studio with Big Ghost as he breaks down his latest enstallment "The Big Doe Rehab", in stores December 4.

5 Albums you need (in no particular order):

1. Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, 100 Days & 100 Nights

2. Aretha Franklin, Rare & Unreleased Recordings From The Golden Reign Of The Queen Of Soul

3. Radiohead, In Rainbows

4. AZ, The Memphis Sessions

5. Band Of Horses, Cease To Begin

Delegation, The Promise Of Love (Shady Brook Records, 1976):

If you're unfamiliar with this group, there's really no reason to get familiar. The short of it is that Delegation was an R&B group of three members from the UK that released The Promise Of Love in 1976. I only mention this album because it boasts the ultra-soulful "Oh Honey", one of my all-time soul classics. There's a 6-minute 12" version floating around out there that I absolutely need but for now, marinate.

Delegation: "Oh Honey"

Cosmic Slop

There's been a lot of hosility within the Wu-Tang camp lately. Apart from Ghostface's early grumbling about the Wu-Tang hierarchy, Raekwon has expressed his frustration with RZA's production choices for 8 Diagrams. RZA got on Tim Westwood's show to shed some wisdom on Raekwon's recent rants, in true RZA form (courtesy of Nahright).

I agree. STOP WITH THE CHRIS MARTIN COLLABOS! Two is two too many. "Beach Chair" and "Homecoming" are terrible. I doubt that featuring Coldplay's lead on a Hip Hop track will get their fans to buy your albums.

Oh Word! is giving away Lord Finesse's whole production catalog, practically.
Merry early X-mas.

Yes, Yes Y'all!

...And one of my favorite songs at the moment from Radiohead's In Rainbows.

Old American Gangster

The album is pretty run-of-the-mill production-wise with a couple of gems sprinkled in between. By now you've probably had your fill of the circumstances surrounding the idea for Jay-Z's American Gangster. The hype machine has been in full gear before and after the release of both the movie and album of the same name.

Some observations:

1. Jay-Z really embellishes on his hustler days. Saying he was inspired by some scenes in Ridley Scott's film that took him back to his hustling days, invoking those "raw emotions", sounds a little trite to me. After all, he was a small time drug dealer. It's not like he was even on the same level as Frank Lucas who upped his self worth to the hundreds of millions (in the 70's!) through a heroin dealing empire.

2. His tastes for beats is beginning to dwindle save a couple of exceptional moments like these:

"Roc Boys" - Produced by Diddy's Hitmen. Amazing interpolation of these horns. And the video is as gully as it gets...And the live horns just makes this cut exponentially ridiculous...

"Success" feat. Nas - Produced by No I.D. Now you've got to understand that this is the same producer who worked on the majority of Common's earlier work so No I.D. has got an impeccable catalog. He hasn't produced anything memorable in years, until now. The organ vamps are incredible and the way he chops this up...you've got to wonder why he's not getting more work.

3. Despite his recent shortcomings, he's arguably still one of the best rappers alive still recording. Definitely top 5. He still manages to stay relevant even though he's not really re-inventing himself. The skill he displays, even on the more lackluster production he jumps on, is undeniable. He's got the clever punchlines, the effortless delivery and style, and he's as charasmatic as they get.

"Drink A Heineken..."

"...as we go inside the mind again."

Been a while but times are busy.

Very random. One of my favorite Method Man verses heard here. From the first Bob Digi album...

Bobby Digital feat. Method Man: "NYC Everything"

"Please Listen To My Demo"

Stretch does it again. He unearthed two gems from his tape collection and posted them on his site. Now remember, the cuts were digitized from audio tape so the sound is quite fuzzy, but still gems nonetheless...

O.C.'s "Step Into The O-Zone" demo is O.K. "O-Zone", which is the final Buckwild product, is far superior as it's my all-time favorite O.C. cut (and yes I dig it more than "Times Up").

I'm really disappointed that the Souls Of Mischief demo "Step To My Girl" never made '93 Til Infinity. It's breezy, nostalgic feel with horns is superb. I admit I haven't been up on much of what Heiro is doing these days. Much of their later stuff just hasn't done much for me, but their debut is on my top 10 of all time.

'Ol Time Killin'

I've been on a "classic Hip-Hop videos" kick lately. Kardinal Offishall's "'Ol Time Killin'" has been a long time favorite of mine. The video is pretty much a straight-ahead rap video but I like the look and feel of it.