"Ghetto hero - I'm hood rich/Fuck rap! I got dope money bitch/And I bet you can't catch me, I bet you can't catch me, I bet you can't catch me/I won't let 'em catch me." Is this off the unreleased album "The Rehab" or some newer project? Whatever it's from I can't catch that either although Buck himself says "I'ma run this bitch hot homey, just give me a minute/If my album don't drop, you can go ahead and send it." I have no idea if it will or not, but Young Buck sings his way through these bars with a minimum of audio manipulation (no obvious Auto-Tune) and seems to be narrating his real life when he spits "You never seen a Phantom with so many stash spots/Bought a crib in Atlanta cause the 'Ville is gettin hot." Stay out of trouble Buck, we'd like to see that long awaited album in stores.
Artist: E.S.G. f/ Chamillionaire Title: Soldier Label: Screwed Up Click
As a Southern rap pioneer E.S.G. deserves accolades and props. As the artist behind misleading mixtape releases he deserves none. Where does "Soldier" fall between the two? Well the producer on this leak isn't credited, but the sound is akin to something you'd hear on a major label Chamillionaire release, and that's a good thing. Speaking of Cham, he brags on this track that he's got a "Presidential black card like I'm Barack" and his competitors "act as fruity as a strawberry banana smoothie." Not everybody could get away with these lines, but the charismatic Chamillionaire makes it work and even sings the hook. E.S.G. plays to Chamillitary by spitting some actual armed forces rap: "Now look how many soldiers in Iraq die every day/While we whip the Coupe with two hands, they dyin in the Sudan/This song ain't for ringtones, this one for my true fans!" Well congratulations E.S.G., you won one back with this rap.
Artist: E-40 f/ B-Legit, Young Jeezy Title: Get Money Label: Sick Wid It Records
The leaks from E-40's forthcoming album "Revenue Retrievin'" have already begun, and the first joint to land at RapReviews.com is "Get Money," produced by Drew Money. Coincidence? Probably not. The song IS money though. E-40 is at his pimptastic best, saying he'll if you get in his way you "get smacked with the K" and he'll "cook you like Bobby Flay." I wouldn't doubt him for a second. The song is heavy on the electronic organ sound often heard from DJ Khaled tracks or productions by The Runners. Coincidence? Definitely not - they do all of Khaled's hottest best tracks. If Drew Money is styling himself after them, he at least picked a good role model. Young Jeezy and E-40 is a natural collaboration uniting Atlanta with the Bay Area, and it's only surprising they didn't do it sooner. This one should burn up mixtapes soon.
Samson is advertised as 'one of the UK's most anticipated grime/hip-hop artists' and "Call Me Samson" 'is predicted to be a club banger and a staple anthem in the grime/hip-hop scene whilst warming up his fans for the eagerly awaited "Black Magic" album.' Maybe it is time for these and/or 'grime/hip-hop' semantics to go away, because musically "Call Me Samson" isn't so much one or the other as it is safe, standardized urban music. Slightly stuttering drums that move along at a moderate pace, lots of synths to create what apparently is perceived as 'anthemic.' It's highly conventional from a contemporary dance music point of view, and that's putting it mildly. The rapper himself is a bit stiff compared to the UK's premier league, but he has the authority and attitude to match the assertive beat. The major stumbling block, however, is the song itself. Samson is also known as Black the Ripper. (It says so in the hook.) Why he now wants you to call him simply Samson (with an album entitled "Black Magic" on the horizon, nonetheless) is explained nowhere in the song. Singles should be self-explanatory, but this one raises more questions than it answers. Too bad, because the lyrics suggest that Black hasn't watered down his content for 'his most commercial record to date.'
Hip-Hop Shop Episode 48 features 30 minutes of hot new music from Bekay, Kam Moye, Wordsmith and Akir plus much more! If you would like to sponsor Hip-Hop Shop please send an e-mail to dj.flash@rapreviews.com for more information. Hip-Hop Shop features podsafe music, so distribute the show and tell your friends to check us out every week at RapReviews.com!
Adam B: "September's edition of The Adam B Experience is jam packed with great new songs from some of your favorites, like Sketch Tha Cataclysm, Homeboy Sandman and Vinnie Scullo. In addition to the artists you may already know, you'll also want to check out the podcast debuts of Plus and Logic. Finally, I also have a throwback joint from an NYC underground legend that's gonna get you REALLY hyped. Hit me up with feedback at AdamB@RapReviews.com." The Adam B Experience is 100% PODSAFE and TOTALLY FREE for listeners at RapReviews.com - no worries about downloading or sharing this show. Tell your friends to check out ABX right here at RapReviews.com!
Sorry for the delay yall, but to make a amends for the tardiness, I got not 1, BUT 2 episodes of "SS Instros" this month for yall! First up is this special mix assembled and arranged by the homie J. Nota. It features a gang of unreleased dopeness from the likes of producers such as Ski, K-Def, Damu the Fudgemunk & even me! J manages Damu and has always shown love to myself and Panacea, so i decided to return the favor and let him fulfill a dream he wanted to do by doing a guest mix! Listen below and feel free to download it through my Soundcloud page or through this MediaFire link. Oh yeah, special shouts to the legendary artist, Joe Buck... not the sports commentator, lol, i'm talking about the brother who helped design some of De La Soul's most memorable cover art (namely THIS ONE)!
SAIGON TEAMS UP WITH IN ARMS REACH, INC. FOR HARLEM CHARITY EVENT
(NEW YORK, NY) – Rapper SAIGON will once again be participating in a charity event for IN ARMS REACH on September 29th at City College in Harlem, U.S.A.
SAIGON and IN ARMS REACH will be empowering kids of incarcerated parents with Art and Music to help them develop new skills and realize their full potential. SAIGON will sit down with the kids and gives them guidance and show them how to deal with issues differently through outlets such as music.
IN ARMS REACH, INC. is a non-profit art, music, prison visitation and educational mentoring organization that exclusively services children whose parents are or were formerly offenders of the criminal justice system. IN ARMS REACH, INC. works in conjunction with City College for the City University of New York in partnership with the Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education. Programs and workshops are run on the City College campus. This September event will be the Orientation for the First Class of the year. SAIGON will be introduced as the instructor and he will give an intro into the course.
This nonprofit event, gives SAIGON the opportunity to give back to the community and inspire kids suffering from neglect.
Who: SAIGON & IN ARMS REACH
What: Non-Profit Organization empowering kids of incarcerated parents Art and Music to develop new skills and realize their full potential
Where: City College (Harlem), 160 Convent Ave, New York, NY 10027
When: September 29th 5 -7 PM
In Arms Reach Inc. recruits through after-school programs, group homes; foster care agencies, NYS and federal prisons, community-based youth and social service organizations. Members are required to attend regularly and present their report cards in order to remain in the program. Other artists who have worked with In Arms Reach are John Forte and Remy Ma.
SAIGON’s new album, “Warning Shots 2,” will be released on October 6th, 2009 on Amalgam Digital/E1 Music.
E1 Entertainment (AIM: ETO) is a leading independent entertainment content owner that acquires film, television and music rights and exploits these rights in all media in more than 190 countries.
The company currently operates in Canada, the U.S., the UK, Holland and Belgium through its four primary businesses units: E1 Television, E1 Films, E1 Music and E1 Distribution. These businesses collectively represent E1’s extensive expertise in film distribution, television and music production/distribution, Kids content, Licensing and Distribution.
E1’s content library includes more than 3,700 feature films, 2,700 hours of original television programming and 15,000 music tracks.
About Amalgam Digital, Inc
Amalgam Digital is hip-hop’s first genre specific digital retail store and record label. The objective of the digital retail store is to offer an easy-to-use platform with a unique relational database to allow users to conduct searches by artist, album, track, label, or producer. Along with offering content from a catalog of the top independent artists and labels, the company also boasts its own label brand of artists that symbiotically promotes the web site brand. The company offers digital distribution services and recently announced a new User Generated Content module, which enables independent artists and labels to set up a vendor account and directly upload content making it immediately available for purchase in the Amalgam Digital store.
Hollis, Queens has been home to a number of hip-hop’s legends. From Run-DMC to LL Cool J, the small section of NYC has always seemed to produce great emcees. J.Monopoly has spent his entire life in Hollis. Want to take a guess at what he’s great at? Yeah, he can rock the mic. For J.Monopoly the obsession started early and he pushed all other potential hobbies and distractions to the side to focus on music. “When I did well in school,” he remembers, “my pops would reward me with a trip to Tower Records and I got to pick out anything I wanted and for Christmas I always got CDs and cassettes.” Now, at the ripe old age of 21, J.Monopoly is poised to be one of the leaders of the next generation of NYC hip-hop artists and this week I caught up with him to find out more about his music, his history, and if there’s anyone in the game that the “Right In The Kissah” emcee would like to give a “boom, pow” to.
Kid Cudi :: Man on the Moon: The End of Day Dream On/GOOD/Universal Motown Author: John-Michael Bond
"Whether "Man on the Moon" catches on with music listeners or is the biggest hype bomb since Canibus doesn't matter in the realm of art. Regardless of this record launches Kid Cudi into the stratosphere of hip hop royalty that makes him the next Kanye West or if he ends up hustling mix tapes on the corner in another two years broke as hell "Man on the Moon" is an artistic high water mark for a genre where musical evolution happens as often as Fox News says something nice about Obama."
Boo :: 48 Minutes :: 404 Music as reviewed by Susan 'susiQ' Kim "With his continuous exposure on R. Kelly's albums, Boo's popularization began to increase as he caught the attention of Jermaine Dupri and was featured on his single "Get Some." Subsequently Boo was then featured on Ja Rule's "World Wide Gangstas" and was soon offered a deal with Cash Money Records. After signing with them in 2001, Boo was featured on yet another single with Big Tymers on "Oh Yeah" and then decided to venture out on his own project with his close friend, Gotti. The two paired up for the Cash Money Records album, "Perfect Timing" which included the popular single, "Ain't it Man" which featured Lil Wayne. Despite all of his opportunities, Boo sought out his goal of releasing a solo album and turned to 404 Music while signing with Mob Boss Entertainment for his debut album "48 Minutes.""
Drake :: So Far Gone EP :: Young Money Entertainment as reviewed by Steve 'Flash' Juon
"Originally released as a promotional mixtape earlier this year, Drake's release could have maintained that unofficial status had "Best I Ever Had" not blown up to a RIDICULOUS degree. Knowing that a full-length release was still a long way off but wanting to capitalize on the marketability of the song, "So Far Gone" was shortened to an EP containing five of the original mixtape tracks and adding two new songs - the Needlz laced "I'm Goin' In" featuring Lil Wayne and the DJ Khalil produced "Fear.""
King Cannibal :: Let the Night Roar :: Ninja Tune as reviewed by Steve 'Flash' Juon
"Dylan Richards a/k/a ZILLA has what might be called the prototypical background for an experimental house/techno/hip-hop/trance/dub artist - unsatisfied art school student by day with a side gig making music at night. His Ninja Tune bio sports phrases guaranteed to make his meteoric rise sound impressive, describing his sound as "the link between [the] party starting crunk of Lil' Jon and the dancefloor destroying sonics of The Aphex Twin." Surely this is high praise given the large number of records the artists named have sold, not to mention how their sound has shaped the musical landscape as we know it. In fact reading it one would hardly think this was his DEBUT album for Ninja Tune - you'd think it was the 10th in a series. ZILLA sounds like he's been using his revolutionary uptempo electronica to break people off on the dancefloor for years, and possibly break a few ankles too as people try to keep up in vain."
KRS-One & Buckshot :: Survival Skills :: Duck Down Music as reviewed by Steve 'Flash' Juon
"Buckshot and KRS-One are the latest in a long series of 2009 dynamic duos to drop an album together. To be perfectly fair they were one of the first to announce their collabo' and leaked out the single "Robot" to radio and mixtape DJ's well before most of the other all-star team albums came out. Whether music industry politricks or the relentless perfectionism of the two artists on "Survival Skills" are to blame for the delays is up for debate, but as the critic reviewing this album I choose the latter. The two artists involved are known more for their longevity in rap than for being in a hurry to do shit. Two albums in one year, or one album in four years, it doesn't matter. Whenever they drop a project, it's worth the wait to their fans, and "Robot" was the kind of song that told you "Survival Skills" wouldn't be a disappointment."
Lil Boosie :: Superbad: The Return of Boosie Bad Azz :: Trill Entertainment/Asylum/WBR as reviewed by Steve 'Flash' Juon
"Despite what previous reviews may have indicated, I don't hate Lil Boosie - I'm just totally underwhelmed by his releases. The Baton Rouge native does have a few things going for him including a very distinctive high pitched flow and Louisiana drawl that stands out in the commercial rap scene. He's also proven an ability to coin catchphrases, create chart-topping singles, and generally speaking when he makes a guest appearance on a track his 16 bars make it more interesting. Given all of those factors it's quite perplexing that Boosie's albums have been so boring. He offers nothing but tired platitudes to being the "Bad Azz" that he is nicknamed, proclaiming how hard and how real he is to the point I'd happily accept it at face value if he'd shut up about it."
Masta Ace & Edo.G :: Arts & Entertainment :: M3 Music as reviewed by Steve 'Flash' Juon
"It's the season for supergroups and collaborations. We've already seen Slaughterhouse bring four popular underground rappers together for the better, Del the Funky Homosapien & Tame One will be dropping "Parallel Uni-Verses" in just a month, and in the latest development Masta Ace & Edo.G have joined forces to form A&E, short for Arts & Entertainment. Cleverly their name also implies their membership - Ace & Ed. Okay, perhaps that's not so much "clever" as it is "obvious," but it still beats the pants off Cool C and Steady B claiming to Count Endless Bank. The potential of the group is unlimited regardless of how the name is received. Both rappers have dropped timeless classics over the years, but have had a hard time achieving commercial success equal to their stature amongst hardcore hip-hop purists. Joining forces unites both their incredible talent and their loyal followers, so it would seem to be a no lose proposition"
various artists :: New Jack City Soundtrack :: Giant Records ** RapReviews "Back to the Lab" series ** as reviewed by Emanuel Wallace
"In 1991, following in the footsteps of his famous father, independent film director Mario Van Peebles released his first theatrical film, "New Jack City". Considering the relatively small budget, the film was a box-office success making nearly six-times the production cost. For those too young to remember the movie or just never saw it for whatever reason, "New Jack City" starred Wesley Snipes and Ice-T in the story of a drug kingpin's rise to, and ultimately fall from power. Chris Rock, Allen Payne, and Mario Van Peebles also had supporting roles. The accompanying soundtrack contained original material from many of the stars of the era including Troop, Christopher Williams, and Color Me Badd. Much like the other urban films that would follow ("Boyz N The Hood", "Menace II Society", "Above The Rim", etc), members of the cast also contributed to the soundtrack. In this case, it was the aforementioned Ice-T, Christopher Williams, and also Keith Sweat"
Sunset Terr :: A Prelude to Sunset Terr :: Nightbreed Entertainment as reviewed by Eric Sirota
"Throughout Sunset Terr's debut, "A Prelude to Sunset Terr," this DC Metro hip-hop foursome, comprised of producer/rapper LK and MCs Tilden, Dexter, Jay Biggz, and Aapex, brag about the fact that they don't curse. I don't think anything is wrong with cursing. I fucking curse all the time. For no reason. Cock. Nothing's wrong with swearing. And usually, I wouldn't take well to this sort of petty moralizing. Just last week, I panned Khalil's debut for its self-righteous piety. The point is, I should hate this album."
Teleseen :: Fear of the Forest :: Percepts Records as reviewed by Patrick Taylor
"When a critic is given material outside his/her comfort zone to review, they have four options: pretend like they know what they are talking about; trash the album for not sounding like what they're used to; write a cop-out "if you like this kind of music, you'll like this" review; or own up to their complete and total ignorance. I'm gonna go with option #4. This is RapReviews.com not ExperimentalElectronicReviews.com, so readers will have to forgive the fact that I know little about the genre that Teleseen is working in. Not that I'm totally clueless about electronic music; I've listened to my share of it. Still, it's hard for me to know where to start with an album like Teleseen's sophomore effort, "Fear of the Forest," which combines electronic music and dub."
Trick Daddy :: Finally Famous: Born a Thug, Still a Thug :: Dunk Ryder Records as reviewed by Steve 'Flash' Juon
"Unless I missed something, Trick Daddy Dollars was a famous rap star when he droppedwww.thug.com and only got MORE famous when he released his Book of Thugs album almost ten years ago off the popularity of songs like "Boy" and "Shut Up." Since then Trick Daddy has been an icon of hip-hop success, a legend in the Southern rap scene, and the stepping stone for a bevy of Floridian rappers from Plies to Rick Ross to Trina to get to the next level. It's fair to say that without Trick Daddy the entire history of rap in the 21st century would have to be rewritten. He's not "Finally Famous," he's finally BACK. After a three year hiatus and an unceremonious split from Slip-N-Slide, Trick Daddy has finally returned and it's good to welcome him back on the scene."
Time :: Naked Dinner :: Dirty Laboratory as reviewed by Justin 'Tha Shiznute' Chandler
"The third album from the underground artist Time is a dark and brooding album that makes no effort in seeking commercial appeal. That's a statement most evident by the cover – a dead cockroach lying on its back atop a dinner plate... "Naked Dinner" indeed. Maniacally the album ensues with an ominous synth-driven beat on "End of the Fork." Guest Damon Jevon offers a melodic little bridge to Time's rhymes on the track, which is pleasant but completely abandoned as it continues forward until the very end instead of carrying it out as a chorus. The listener will quickly realize if Time for them upon hearing his choppy flow."
![[Capture the Sun]](coverart/illogic-Capture.jpg)
Superheroes of hip-hop!
