Written by lupethefiasco on Wednesday, 20 of August , 2008 at 12:04 am
GZA is one of the most famous Wu-Tang members. He has also released the best solo albums from the Wu-Tang Clan (in my opinion), and this is no different. The self proclaimed “genius” really lives up to his humble nickname with his latest album. GZA is known for his lyrical mastery, but I couldn’t help but notice how tremendous his beats were on his latest album. They all had a similar vibe to them, but they all had their own personality. Oh yeah, and the lyrics were straight fire as well.
It’s really hard to outdo his masterful album “Liquid Swords”, but he came as close as you can with Pro Tools. I didn’t expect this album to be half as good as it is. I expected a piece of junk that was created to circulate hype, and get GZA a little bit of extra money. But that was rash and unfair of me to judge GZA, The Genius like that.
A few odd things I noticed on this album:
#1 No Kung-Fu movie samples
#2 half of the album is under the alias “GZA” while the other half is under “GZA The Genius”
#3 Many of the songs revolve around the theme of “Cinema,” or “Movies”
Anyways, here are a couple of standout tracks.
GZA The Genius- Paper Plate
GZA- Columbian Ties
GZA- Cinema
Category: Albums, Hip-Hop, Reviews
Written by lupethefiasco on Sunday, 10 of August , 2008 at 9:47 pm
Words and pictures by Tristan and Willie.
Yesterday we headed down to the middle of nowhere to catch Rock The Bells in Los Angeles. We would first like to say that it was a monumental day for The Tape, as it was the first time we had enough press credentials to receive press passes. We would also like to take a moment to thank LeToya Jackson and TC for being awesome. Huge post with pictures and videos after the jump.
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Category: Concerts, Hip-Hop, lupethefiasco, pistachionut
Written by lupethefiasco on Friday, 8 of August , 2008 at 1:05 pm
When Nas came out with Hip-Hop Is Dead in 2006, I agreed with him. But now more than ever it seems that there is this influx of new, young, intelligent rappers talking about stuff besides girls and money. You know… The Cool Kids, Kid Cudi, Lupe Fiasco, Cadence Weapon, etc. Add Jaboy Fry to this ever growing list.
Born in Charleston, West Virginia Aaron Fryson was surrounded by music at an early age. He started rapping early on as well, on a political level at NAACP conventions. Aaron (Jaboy) sights his influences as R&B/Soul icons Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, and Marvin Gaye. He also says being a drummer for 15 years has also helped his rapping career. He has teamed up with producer Bone 40 who was born in a small town in The Netherlands, to create Jaboy Fry, a fantastic up and coming rapper.
Jaboy is fun, smart, and has a ton of energy that is apparent in everyone of his songs. He often moves back and forth between silly and serious. In “Crazy Gurl” he raps about dealing with a girl who has gone off the reservation. He uses sound samples of a guy screaming “Take the money woman, just leave me alone,” which I found very entertaining. But he also turns serious on his song “Doc Take Me Back” which is a song about love for old hip hop, and the trash being produced now. He has one really smart line that goes like this: “Take me back before black on black, before crack hit the blacks, and now blacks hate blacks.” But then he switches up and says something like “Rap ain’t what it was, rappers claiming they’re thugs, these raps as gay as gay love, gay as Cam’ron rolling on pink dubs.” These are just a few lines of the witty, smart, lyrics of Jaboy Fry.
Jaboy Fry- Crazy Gurl
Jaboy Fry- Doc Take Me Back
Category: Hip-Hop
Written by lupethefiasco on Thursday, 31 of July , 2008 at 1:03 pm
A ton of new hip-hop singles and such have been released through the internets, so we have brought them to you.
What I assume to be a single off the up and coming Clipse album. Not much different from everything else they put out, but the song does feature some nice strings. I believe this, and the rest of the new album features the whole Re-Up Gang.
Clipse- My Life’s The Shit
This sounds similar to the first, but I have a feeling this one will be more popular just based on the synths inserted in this one.
Clipse- Zen (Itunes Bonus Track)
This song deserves a listen just because of Jay-Z.
Young Jeezy- Put On (Remix Feat. Jay-Z)
Free Single!!! The lyrics are a lot less quality than the beat. But overall, it’s a decent song.
The Streets- The Escapist
I love Kid Cudi.
Chip Tha Ripper- Ask About Me (Feat. Kid Cudi)
A fun kind of B-More version of the Olympic theme.
DJ Soap- Faster, Higher, Stronger (Olympic Anthem)
Another Lollipop remix??? Yes!!!
Lil Wayne- Lollipop (Disco Villans Remix)
A new mixtape from one of my favorite rappers, Mickey Factz.
Mickey Factz- Garbege and GFCnewyork Presents… Vietnam Vol. 2
Another good mixtape by another good up and coming rapper.
Izza Kizza x Nick Catchdubs- Kizzaland
Category: Hip-Hop
Written by lupethefiasco on Monday, 28 of July , 2008 at 8:42 pm
I was just tidying (spelling?) up my Itunes when I stumbled upon an awesome Wale song, simply titled “Strings.” Under the artist it says “Wale Vs. 45 King” so I’m assuming it’s a mash-up. I don’t know why Wale is so tight, but Europe consider yourselves lucky because Wale is teaming up with Lil’ Wayne for what is going to be a phenomenal tour. Enjoy this awesome beat below, plus a few extras because we are SO COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wale v. 45 King- Strings
Wale- Put On Freestyle
Wale- W.A.L.E.F.R.I.E.N.D.S. (M.A.F. Mash-up f. Justice)
Category: Hip-Hop
Written by lupethefiasco on Sunday, 27 of July , 2008 at 9:42 pm
One of my favorite up and coming rappers is a 19 year old rapper named Leif. I’ve inserted a paragraph of a bio of his, from Eye Weekly:
“I really relate to a lot of American booty rap and ghetto tech because I was raised in New York, so my friends were people who wore Timbs, and I used to wear Fubu all the time,” Leif explains. “So music like Debonair Samir and Tittsworth, all that Baltimore hard club with the gunshot samples and the heavy bass, I love that sound. I think it all has a place if you don’t take it so seriously. That’s why I’m really enjoying people like Amanda Blank, Kid Sister and Mapei — these girl rappers who are taking something that is a very male genre really, and they’ve made it so ironic and perfect and theirs.”
I’ve really been getting into the Spank Rock, Amanda Blank genre of music and Leif is another great example. He proves that hip hop can be fun, entertaining, but also beat oriented, which most rappers in this genre fail at. Leif is currently attending Wesleyan, and if he follows in the footsteps of other Wesleyan musicians he’ll be just fine. Look at Santogold and MGMT. He along with Harrison Schaaf are making an EP scheduled to be released in August on Palms Out. If you like his music you can check out his Myspace HERE.
Leif- Timbs (Yea Mann Remix)
Leif- Black Magic (Carli Remix)
Category: Hip-Hop
Written by lupethefiasco on Saturday, 19 of July , 2008 at 11:27 am
One of my favorite young rappers, Charles Hamilton found his way onto the LA Times Calendar Section this morning. There aren’t many young rappers talented enough to achieve this because the spot is generally reserved for more popular artists, but Charles Hamilton deserves it. One of my favorite lines in the article is this: But Hamilton, who loves the color pink and video game character Sonic the Hedgehog, says he doesn’t claim to to any particular genre. “Don’t call me a pianist. Don’t call me a guitarist… a bass player,” Hamilton says. “Call me a musician because I communicate via music. And if there’s a word for somebody that communicates with sound, I’d be that.” I think this describes him perfectly. Anyways you can download his mixtape from his website. If that isn’t enough for you, here is the link to his Myspace.
Category: Hip-Hop
Written by lupethefiasco on Thursday, 17 of July , 2008 at 6:32 pm
The second segment in a two part segment features Rhymefest, Mickey Factz, and edIT. Enjoy!
Mickey Factz- Keys Of Life
Mickey Factz brings us both quantity and quality in the second volume of his series of leaks.
Rhymefest (Feat. Wale)- Ain’t Heard It From Me (Prod. by Scram Jones)
This is a fantastic collaboration, from two of the best young rappers in the game. Rhymefest has always been one of my favorite rappers, and I highly recommend his album from 2006, Blue Collar. He has some fantastic samples in there, one of which is The Strokes’ “Someday.”
edIT- The Game Is Not Over (Feat. J Dilla, Phat Kat & Dabrye)
I had never heard of edIT before I found this song on RCRD LBL, and I really like it.
Category: Hip-Hop
Written by lupethefiasco on Thursday, 17 of July , 2008 at 6:05 pm
There is a buttload of new hip hop, so I’m bringing it to you in two parts. The first part includes T.I. and Wale. What’s included in the second part? Well you’ll just have to come back to find that out. Is anyone else really excited for the new T.I. CD? Well if you are, bad news it just got pushed back to a September release.
T.I.- What Up
GLC- Big Shit Poppin’ (Feat. T.I.)
T.I.- Swang Your Rag
T.I.- Whatever You Like
Wale- Whole Time (Feat. Young Chris)
Category: Hip-Hop
Written by lupethefiasco on Thursday, 17 of July , 2008 at 5:21 pm
Congratulations Kid Cudi, you made me a believer in mixtapes again. For a while I was convinced they were all shit; put together in a few minutes, then repeated so you could be called “The Mixtape King” (thanks Lil Wayne). But Kid Cudi took a different approach to the mixtape and it payed off for him. I consider A Kid Named Cudi to be an album, besides the fact that it doesn’t cost any money. It had the time and effort that would be put into an album, rather than a mixtape. The thing that blows my mind when I listen to it is the fact that he talks about getting high a lot, but he still sounds very intelligent. He keeps the listener entertained even though the vast majority of the tracks say something about weed, or how he isn’t from this planet. The first track is awesome because it features the Dreamworks introduction, and is just sort of funny. But my favorite track has to be “The Prayer.” It samples a Band of Horses song and is absolutely fantastic. I can already see this song being one of my favorites of 2008. I’m not going to include any individual tracks in this post, because you can get them all for free below. I highly recommend this mixtape, it’s fantastic.
Kid Cudi- Plain Pat & Emile Presents a KiD named CuDi (Mixtape)
Category: Hip-Hop
