Left coast legend gets it right
03:00PM ET September 29, 2009
Contributor: SLM
A Rocky Williform Company
Rating:
West Coast Icon, Warren G, one-third of the Cali group 213 and stepbrother to super producer Dr. Dre, first captured mainstream fans' ears in 1994 with his classic debut single, "Regulate" and album, Regulate...G Funk Era, perfecting the medium between G-Funk and West Coast Gangster Music. As one of the Coast's most prolific and consistent artists, his laid back flow and smoked-out production created the perfect soundtrack for any California day.
His subsequent albums haven't always lived up to the promise of the first, but every time Warren G has taken the independent label route, classic songs have never been far behind. From "Do What It Do" or "Walk These Streets" off of 1999's I Want It All to "Gangsta Love" and "You Never Know" from 2005's In The Mid-Nite Hour, the production and features have been on point. Now, here we are in 2009 with G releasing his sixth solo album, The G Files, on E1 Music (formerly Koch Records).
Warren doesn't waste any time introducing the best song of the album. After a brief intro, "West is Back" comes through the speakers and instantly you find yourself nodding your head, and singing along to the song you’ve just heard for the first time. Even if you hail from another coast, the smoothness of this track, featuring Halla and Mr. Lucc, will have you throwing up the West Coast sign and proclaiming the return of the Left. Also worthy of multiple replays is "Lets Get High," featuring Black Nicc & Travis Barker and "100 Miles and Running." The former is definitely made with rolling paper in mind. The high from the production's elevated quality will have you reminiscing over easier times. On the latter Warren fits tight beats around the flow of Raekwon and Nate Dogg, and hitches a catchy hook to make this song a win.
On certain parts of "Skate Skate", Halle sounds like he doesn't hear the beat, but once the hook comes along and the song's title is repeated over and over, you get caught up. It's one of those you will hate to love, but will jam to anyway. Seriously speaking, if you have forgotten how good Warren is at producing, this whole album is a testament.
The beat on "True Star," featuring BJ, the only one Warren didn't produce, is a fail. It is immediately annoying, the chorus makes it worst, and being sandwiched in between "West is Back" and "Lets Get High" doesn't help any. The lead single with Snoop Dogg and Cassie Davis, "Swagger Rich," is a thinly-veiled attempt to get the attention of the younger generation, but unfortunately the word "swagger" has already been over-abused, and the Snoop feature does nothing to help the song. "Drinks Aint Free" and "Ringtone" have all the symptoms of typical filler songs, but would have made okay interludes that last about 2-3 minutes too long.
Bottom line: the missteps are minimal.. The Hip Hop legend has added another worthy album to his catalog, and will hopefully give the unusually-quiet West Coast a much-needed boost.
Looking ahead to this weekend's football action
03:00PM ET September 28, 2009
Contributor: Larry "Word" Thomas
A Rocky Williform Company
What's up, hip hop? It's your best man on sports "Word" Thomas ready to crack you upside your head with more games with that hip hop twist. But "Word" is going to do you differently this week by making some bold predictions, instead of reporting what happened last week in sports. Why you might ask? Well, because I've been so good at making predictions… So let's go!
Leading the way is college football. It already has been a season of upsets. Teams in the top 10 have been falling off every week. Schools like USC, Penn State and Oklahoma have felt the wrath of the upset juggernaut. Well, one of those teams may just feel it again! The No. 8 Oklahoma Sooners must go into Florida to battle the No. 17 Miami Hurricanes. The "U" has had its share of ups and downs, but "Word" predicts the team that ran Florida State ragged a few weeks ago will show up and pimp slap the Sooners all the way back to Oklahoma.
Think that was an easy prediction? Try this one: No. 25 Georgia Tech has to travel into hostile Mississippi to face the unranked Mississippi State Bulldogs, who have been known to shock a crowd. Tech better be careful because they are officially on "Word's" upset alert.
In the NFL, "Word" talked about some surprise 3-0 teams last week, but this week we go to the 0-3 teams that will either win to take some heat off or lose and sink a little deeper into playoff oblivion. As of right now, there are six teams sitting at 0-3: the Dolphins, Chiefs, Browns, Titans, Rams and Bucs. The Dolphins and Titans were playoff teams last year. The Titans lost three games all last year, but both should get a win as the Dolphins get the Bills at home and the Titans go to Jacksonville.
As for the rest, they will be staring at 0-4 because the Chiefs will lose to the Giants, the Rams will get smacked by the 49ers and the Bucs don't have a chance with the Redskins. The Cleveland Browns may be in the worst shape as many are calling them the Lions of last year (You remember, the team that lost all 16 games?!). The Browns get the Bengals at home but these aren't your momma’s Bengals; they are fresh off a win over the Steelers and no longer look like an easy W. As a matter of fact, the Browns may not win until Week 11 when they play the 1-2 Lions. They also play the Chiefs and Raiders, so there is some hope for a victory this season for the Browns.
And finally, in baseball, the playoff picture is shaping up as the New York Yankees look to have their swagger back as they clinched home field advantage throughout the postseason. The Boston Red Sox and the Anaheim Angels look locked in too. There is a big series coming up between the Detroit Tigers and Minnesota Twins that will settle the Central division. I see the Twins taking over very soon.
In the National League, the Los Angeles Dodgers, St. Louis Cardinals and Philadelphia Phillies look official for the playoffs. The wild card will come down to the wire as the Atlanta Braves are "wahoo chopping" their way into the playoff picture and making the Colorado Rockies sweat a little bit. "Word" predicts the Rockies will hold them off, but all that effort and emotion spent this week will make their playoff time very short.
The Clipse's Malice talks new CD and new outlook on life
06:00AM ET September 25, 2009
Contributor: DeMarco Williams
A Rocky Williform Company
Malice, the elder of the bar-bashing brotherly bunch better known as The Clipse, is beaming from ear to ear. We can totally understand why he's smiling right now. He and his brother, Pusha, are in the most comfy of spots. Their recording situation with Columbia is nice. The Virginia natives are also on the eve of releasing another action-packed CD of street-approved antics and flashy-label braggadocio called Till The Casket Drops.
"Life is good," confirms Malice, who dropped Hell Hath No Fury with Pusha in late '06 to a critical reception few releases that year received. "Ain't nothing to complain about. Got God. Got my health. We out here. Me and my brother we together on the road, out here doing shows. It's rough out there so things could be a lot worse."
When Mal speaks of his accomplishments, his haters or his outside ventures, he's still all grins. Who can blame him? There's probably nothing anyone can say or do to get the former dope dealers off their natural high. And honestly, HHB is pretty geeked just to be around Malice for some of the contact buzz...
I know you all have been traveling out west lately. What's the vibe in Cali? Enthusiasm. They're ready for us, every time, every place, every venue we been to. We have dedicated and loyal fans. We‘ve seen a swarm of new fans. Clipse fans are very passionate. It's feeling good out here.
Define these fans for me. Most of the Clipse fans are hipsters. A lot of the street, a lot of college kids. Definitely our fans are fashion conscious, real fly, serious about their hip hop.
In your eyes, who's serious about their hip hop right now. Who do you respect in the game? Honestly, I respect anybody who takes what they do and share it with the world and they prepare to be judged, criticized or even praised. To put something that you love or are passionate about and that's real and near and dear to you and have people comment on it takes a strong person. So, I respect anybody who shares their craft with the world.
You all have definitely had your share of criticism over the years. How have you and your brother dealt with it? It's not a problem. It's really not a problem. We take it well. Reason being is because we're confident in what it is we do. I can even remember when we were shopping for deals with The Neptunes, before [our debut] Lord Willin' came out. When we played our music for people, if they didn't get it or they were uncertain about it, we thought that they were absolutely crazy. It's not like we went back home and started over, ya know, back to the drawing board and tried to do something different. We'd be like, "They were stupid. They didn’t get it." That was very seldom the case. Most of the time people really took to what it was we were doing and saw that we were passionate about it. Basically what I'm saying is, you have to know who you are because, if you don't, criticism will conquer you and toss you around like clothes in a dryer. You gotta stand firm.
Where have you seen the biggest improvements in The Clipse since Lord Willin'? I think we've become very accustomed to the business side of things, ever since the beginning, especially with all the label setbacks, if you can call them that. I count everything as a plus. Most people call them label setbacks. We learned how to take things upon ourselves and don't just sit back and wait for the label to motivate it or move out, to move with the swiftness that they should or the diligence that they should. Hence, the [We Got It For Cheap] mixtape series. All work that we put out on our off time. We came up with our own [Play Cloths] clothing line that's been very successful. Four seasons with four sellouts! I think we pretty much know to get a move on things and don't wait on the next person, the label, the execs, that don't have the same passion that you may have for your work. You have to do things yourself. I think we're great for that.
So, for the cat out there who's on the recording grind, you'd suggest he go the indie route? What I would suggest to anybody who wanted to do -not just hip hop or music or whatever- is I would ask them to reevaluate their reasons for wanting to do it. Now if you got a bullshit reason, whether it be to have a fly car and a bunch of hoes, you better know that even if you dope, you're not gonna keep it long. But if you got those that are trying to provide, take care of family and have a good quality of life and maybe even help out somebody along the way, I think you have a very great chance at being successful- if you're good at what you do. That's real, man. As real as I know it.
What makes Pusha special? He's serious about his business. He's mastered what he does. He will not be outdone, not just on records but not in life. What you see is what you get. Nothing fake.
You guys have famously worked exclusively with The Neptunes over your career. Why are you seeking outside beats this third time? Yeah, it's a couple other producers on the project. We got DJ Khalil and Chin. They’re known for a few things back with Kanye and 50, if I'm not for certain. I wouldn't quote that one. But definitely you can [quote that] 'cuz I seen all the 50 plaques at his crib. Shawn & LV from American Gangster notoriety [also produce on the album]. Then The Neptunes came in and cleaned up.
What about rumors of Swizz Beatz and J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League providing beats? Nah, they're not on this album.
A question I've always wanted to ask you is about industry beefs. You guys have stayed relatively clear of the drama. How? It's a testament to who we truly are as people. There's no need to step on anybody’s toes even if you don't' agree with what someone else is doing. We're basically about ourselves. We've got too much real business to even get caught up in the melee of beefing with this person or that person. How do you get in beef with people that you don’t even know? Like, I've never understood that. The Lil Wayne situation was unfortunate, but even that was frivolous. Nothing can ever come out of those things.
What else do you do besides rap? Just wrote a book entitled Wretched, Pitiful, Poor, Blind and Naked. Writing has always been second nature to me. I've always been able to express myself real good and this book is nothing short of phenomenal. The book is about life. It's about things that went on with the Clipse and the industry, and it's a very personal inside look at my personal life and family and how you have to have your head about yourself coming into such an industry like this. I think it'll be very informative to anyone who's pursuing such a career. I'm thinking top on the year after the album. The album is out in October so maybe January. I think it'll be a perfect way to start off the new year.
You said October for the album. So, it's definitely ready? Album is 100% finished. The work is out of the way. We're good. The sun is out. We're alright.
Some NFL Surprises at 2-0
06:00AM ET September 23, 2009
Contributor: Larry "Word" Thomas
A Rocky Williform Company
What's happening, hip hop head bangers? It's your man you all know and love, back again for that sports rap, baby! With this week's sports, we're all about the comeback and the "come from out of nowhere." Check it out!
Last Saturday night Floyd "Money" Mayweather returned to the boxing ring after an almost two-year lay-off. "Money" put a beat down on the weaker and much smaller opponent, Juan Manuel Marquez. Don't take anything away from Mayweather because even though Marquez came up two weight classes, he was still considered one of the top five in the sport. Even still Mayweather landed almost 60% of his punches thrown- amazing! Looks like Floyd didn't miss a beat. Mayweather must be hanging with never-left-my-thrown Jay-Z.
To the NFL, have you hip hop fans checked the records of a few teams at this early part of the season? You know "Word" is on it and a few teams stand out right now.
It appears rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez is following in the footsteps of last season's successful rookie QBs like Baltimore's Joe Flacco and Atlanta's Matt Ryan. Sanchez has his Jets at 2-0 and he has made plays with his arm when he's had to.
Speaking of Flacco and Ryan, the Ravens look super again now that they have an efficient passing game to go with that ferocious defense led once again by Ray Lewis, who won Sunday's game with a huge 4th-and-short stop of Darren Sproles of the San Diego Chargers.
Matt Ryan is leading the Dirty Birds into a showdown this weekend with the New England Patriots. With the help of his new toy, tight end Tony Gonzalez, Ryan has the Falcons soaring high at 2-0.
High is not even enough to say about the New Orleans Saints who have been marching –no, better yet steam-rolling- to a 2-0 record with big wins over the Lions and the Eagles. Quarterback Drew Brees has thrown nine touchdowns to just one interception and looks darn near unstoppable. Can the man do any wrong at this point?
The one team "Word" is most proud of is the one I told you about right here first and that is the return of the San Francisco 49ers, who sit at 2-0 as well. Yeah, the wins were over weak opponents. True, they were "ugly" victories, but did anyone have them at 2-0 when the season started? They were supposed to be the weak opponent, not the team beating them.
Finally, in baseball, I'm going to tell you your winner of the Cy Young award for the American League. Ready for this? Zack Greinke of the Kansas City Royals. Yep, I said it. Don't believe me? Check out these numbers. He has come out of nowhere to record a 15-8 record, get 225 strikeouts and a league-leading 2.08 ERA.. IN KANSAS CITY! Let me add that he is 3-0 in his last few starts and has lost or received a no decision in at least five games where he gave up one run or less. He would and should be a 20-game winner, the "holy grail" for pitchers each year.
The sky is truly the limit with this young MC
03:00PM ET September 18, 2009
Contributor: Nadine Graham
A Rocky Williform Company
Rating:
Skyzoo has to be supremely confident in his lyrical skills in order to call his latest offering The Salvation. The Brooklyn-born lyricist is all about disproving the belief that younger rappers are detached from the essentials of the hip hop culture, wandering aimlessly in the void of gimmicky tracks and regurgitated ideas. So, it's as if Skyzoo named his body of work Salvation- with a wink. Based on the sound of the album, he's apparently a true student of the game, and has no desire to forget what he's learned.
The LP begins with the reiteration of the spiritual theme through music. A small group of women expressively sing "Jesus On The Mainline" during "The Opening." From there, Skyzoo dives right into the revival, so to speak. He flows effortlessly over the Just Blaze-produced "Return of the Real," vowing to "remind" us of what genuine rhyming feels and sounds like. Without much disturbance, he moves between the tracks that boast boom-bap beats, as if they came from a recording session in the mid-90s.
There's an abstract theme of hopeful optimism amid all the quick-fire wit and bravado too. On "My Interpretation," produced by Best Kept Secret, Sky insists, "I follow the aroma and the aura of what it might be is bringing me closer/ Higher than I ever been/ Caught it while I'm catching it/ And tryna keep it caught takes precedence..." He has the same sort of poetic introspection on "For What It's Worth," where he talks about being "lost between Plans A and B... Tryna be what I can be/ But it feels like time keep walking away from me..."
With talented producers behind him, including 9th Wonder and Black Milk, Skyzoo succeeds at single-handedly providing inspiration on the lyrical side of things. Sure, he occasionally falters on the album (the noticeably lackluster "The Shooters Soundtrack"), but overall, Skyzoo's created an appealing body of work that organically yields the spirit of salvation.
