WAX POETIC: 2PAC- "TRAPPED"

Everytime I hear this track...it reminds me of the hood I'm trapped in.

THE INFLUENCE: DIGABLE PLANETS' "BLOWOUT COMB"

Blowout Comb, the sophomore effort from Digable Planets, is an album that I have had for over the last several years, thanks to a friend of mines. The reoccuring issue though, is that I have always ignored it for some odd reason. Then when it came time around to finally listen to it, it just did NOT have the impact that I would have wished for it to have. Perhaps at the time, and me still being so close-minded in regards to what I listen to, it was just too mellow for my liking. Then just recently, over the last two days, I decided to give this another listen and this time listen to the songs more thoroughly.

For the last few years that I have had this album, I have always wondered to myself as to whether or not there has always been some sort of subliminal message in Blowout Comb, because this is Afro-centric to the core. Also, you can take into account, that I have never listened to the Reachin' album as well.

A couple of days listening to this album, I have realized that this is just plain smoothed the fuck OUT!!! The experimentation of the live instruments (see A Tribe Called Quest, The Roots, Jazzmatazz) provides grooves that simply calms the soul and the vocals of Ladybug Mecca and Butterfly are more lush and subdued, instead of the loud and confrontational deliveries that more hardcore hip-hop provides. Even if you are lost in the overall message of these songs, the bottom line is, everything just comes together, allowing a more comforting and laid-back listening. I feel that for this album, I spent way too much of my time overanalyzing it and trying to dumb it down, where I feel I should have done the entire time is just letting it be what it be. For it being the time it is, as I am writing this review, with temperatures high, people out and about, this is the perfect album for that relaxation I yearn for in this stressful world I reside in.

Favorites: The May 4th Movement, Black Ego, Dog It, Jettin', The Art of Easing, 9th Wonder, For Corners

THE INFLUENCE: WU TANG'S 36 CHAMBERS

There are only a few perfect albums in the rap game, One of those for me are Illmatic , the other is Enter the Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers from the Wu-Tang Clan. I have been one of those people that have said that the Wu are known for having the best intros in the game. "Bring Da Ruckus" is no different with the infamous "I'll let you try my Wu-Tang style" sample with RZA defiantly screaming "BRING DA MOTHERFUCKIN' RUCKUS!!!" while Ghostface Killah kicks the album off commanding us to "catch the blast of a hype verse" and declaring he "blows up spots like Waco, Texas".

The standout elements of 36 Chambers are RZA's innovative, rough, and rugged production, creating that dark and murky soundscape tied together by Kung-Fu samples, hilarious skits, and soulful piano loops. It is almost as if you are trapped in the deepest darkest alleyways or sewers of the Shaolin.

This is of course the peak of where the Wu bring all of their individual styles to the forefront and deliver every single time. Whether it be Raekwon's grimy storytelling, Method Man's charisma, GZA's complex wordplay, Ghostface's "don't give a fuck" attitude, or ODB teetering the line between animated and manical, everything comes together for better or for worse.

From the boom-thump, boom-thump of "Da Mystery of Chessboxin'" to the neck-snapping "Protect Ya Neck" and of course in the middle is the timeless cut known as "C.R.E.A.M.".

Skipping one track on this album would mean that you would be missing out on something special. When I started out digging into the Wu's catalog, I took the bitch way and started with their greatest hits. The irony is that most of the songs that I was feelin' the most, ended up on the 36 Chambers album. But it is safe to say that 36 Chambers is a landmark for East Coast Hip Hop and what became the catalyst for a legendary run of classics, that I have yet to see ANYONE duplicate. I feel as if though I discover something new when I go back to this album, something that I don't get nowadays from this newly harvested crop of rappers. Like that saying goes before "Can It Be All So Simple"...."Everybody's talkin' 'bout the good 'ol days"....maybe then, I would've learned then....wait for it....wait for it.....WU-TANG CLAN AIN'T NUTHIN' TA FUCK WIT!!!!!!!....WU-TANG CLAN AIN'T NUTHIN' TA FUCK WIT!!!!!!!!

Favorites: "Bring Da Ruckus", "Can It Be All So Simple", "Da Mystery of Chessboxin'", "Wu-Tang Clan Ain't Nuthing ta F' Wit", "C.R.E.A.M.", "Protect Ya Neck"

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I'm not even gonna try and defend myself in this case...Ill let you ponder whatever it is you think I was doing or looking at and that'll be that. lol. Man....I ain't ever safe from cameras.

MAD STATIC - "UNTHINKABLE"

The story behind this is simple. I had got into a serious argument with an ex-girlfriend of mines. Someone who is seriously intent on making my life hell and has tried over and over to come back into my life and build communication with me. I simply ain't havin' that. To me...what's done is done, not in ALL cases, but the thing is..she is someone that I don't necessarily see myself having any kind of communication or bond with, because nothing extended out of a physical connection. Sorry...but its true.

So I wrote this right after the conversation was over. Took about a couple of minutes. Then I went to sleep, woke up, and I recorded it. The quality could use work (the hissing in the background) but its definitely a step up then all of the other stuff that I recorded at home. It's gonna improve as I go along.

So for right now...here it is.

JAY-Z AT ROCK AM RING!!!!

This is why no other rapper with the exception of Kanye or Eminem will ever be obn the same level of Jay-Z. What other rapper do you know can rock a crowd like the one at Rock Am Ring in Germany....a primarily rock festival at that? First Coachella, now this....IT'S THE ROC!!!!

TYPE O NEGATIVE LIVES.....

I believe it was two months ago where Peter Steele the lead singer of Type O Negative had passed away from heart failure. I had found out about a couple of weeks ago however. These two songs have been in my head for the last 24 to 48 hours and suddenly became instant inspiration for this song I am writing for "AWAKENING PT. 1".

Since to me putting up album versions of songs are becoming so last year...I decided to put up live versions of these songs.

The one up above is for "Christian Woman" off their debut album Bloody Kisses.

The one below is "My Girlfriend's Girlfriend" (a strip club classic imo) off the follow-up "October Rust".