Oh Snap, homies.
And Rae is on board…
Meth vs Chef vs Ghost from Gasface on Vimeo.
And just in case you don’t know what it’s going to sound like…
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Raekwon, Ghostface, Method Man, New Wu
The date is TBA. But, still….iLL.
Dwb.
Can’t wait.
Rising Down was Dope. Capital D.
Black Thought is gonna be singing? Capital D-O-P-E.
And don’t worry, he’ll be rapping too…if the album’s anything like this song.
Check the video “How I Got Over”, that’s coming to you in February of 2010, on the album with the same title as the song.
Dig.
Dwb.
So Lamar Odom, Forward for the Lakers, just married Khloe Kardashian, easily the least attractive of the Kardashian sisters. If you know anything about superstardom and NBA groupies and Los Angeles in general, you know it really shouldn’t be so tough for a guy like Odom to nail a girl who’s truly bangin’. Not to shit on love or anything but come on Lamar! I’d go on with this but my absolute favorite Web Celebrity (Ce-web-rity?) Mr. Chi City has already said it much better than I ever could in the first few minutes of his latest video. Check it out:
And if you think you recognize Mr. Chi City, you probably do from his famous refrigerator video. If you haven’t checked out Chi City Mayne then please do! He knows virtually nothing about filmmaking and yet his unique personality alone makes him one of the most entertaining individuals I’ve ever seen (or not seen in this case since he never shows his face).
I haven’t been sold on this yet.
The new movie about Lebron James’ high school team, called “More Than A Game”, basically follows the starting five — Lebron, Dru Joyce, Romeo Travis, Sian Cotton, and Willie McGee — through the St. Vincent–St. Mary High School Fighting Irish basketball season.
They are said to be the greatest high school team ever. The highlights in the movie are ridiculous, because Lebron is doing things most NBA players in their prime couldn’t do. But I don’t know if this is too much too soon. I’m all about Lebron (believe me, the free agent hype around him after this year has caught me because I would love to see the King in a Brooklyn Nets jersey) but the past two years have been completely centered around Lebron, and this movie just adds to it.
First we had that Spike Lee joint about Kobe Bryant’s game, which I didn’t watch and never really planned on watching, and now we have a theatrical release of Lebron in high school.
I’ve seen the trailer, read about the movie, and don’t really see what the big whoop is about. Watch for yourself and let us know what you think….
Get at me.
DWB.
So a few weeks back some friends showed me this cover of Outkast’s “Hey Ya!”:
Something about this fat, bearded white man with an admittedly beautiful singing voice really sparked my friends’ interest. The guy’s name is Matt Weddle and he’s a part of some band called Obadiah Parker, which I’ve never ever heard of. Sorry Matt, but my reaction was, “Wow, he managed to take that song and make it not fun.”
Today, however, I was doing a daily once-over of my good friend Pete Berg’s extremely delightful video blog PieHeaven.net and found this cover of Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” by a group called Pomplamoose:
Now I’m obviously not going to go so far as to declare this an improvement because, let’s face it, Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” truly was one of “THE BEST VIDEOS OF ALL TIMES!” Regardless though it’s easily an enjoyable new take on a great song and while these two hipsters don’t seem like people I’d really want to have lunch with, I like what they did with the video.
If there has been any talk, recently, where the term “Hip Hop” has been coupled with adjectives like terrible, horrible, disrespectful, etc., give me a few minutes to combat those thoughts with a legally blind, albino, Muslim named Brother Ali.
The Preacher Man
The Minnesota native has been on the grind for a while, putting out his fourth studio album, Us. Two years ago, The Undisputed Truth, was his first album to gain commercial notoriety, and it was also around the same time he had his first headlining tour. I saw him open for Atmosphere the year before, not really knowing who he was, and he blew me away.
He’s got a soulful voice, bellowing from his gut, with soulful words that have probably been buried deep for sometime. This album has a taste of just about everything that today’s hip hop should model themselves after…specifically respect. The album drips with respect for himself, never selling himself (or more so his lyrics) for any means, and for the hip hop culture. The fathers would be proud.
The third track on the album “Crown Jewel” is patented Brother Ali. His voice, almost gospel-like, is like another instrument within the jazzy/funky beat; trumpets blaring, heavy bass-riff, and then Ali’s voice just adds that much more to it. It’s definitely a jam that sits you in a dimly lit jazz lounge, bobbing your head up and down, smiling the entire time. Listen to it and tell me you aren’t there with me:
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But the Brother isn’t all low-key and gloomy like that. The track after the intro, “The Preacher” is very upbeat for a Brother Ali song, and so is “Fresh Air”. It’s a good movin’ song, like when you’re walking, riding, whatever, it moves with you. It has a nice funk feel to it. The beat has a nice Parliment-esque guitar in there, and you can almost hear it in Brother Ali’s flow, that he’s enjoying himself. He’s happy, rapping about his kids, his fans, everything he loves about life.
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And then there’s the song “Breakin Dawn” which almost sounds like there’s a Sitar involved. It’s a real simple beat, but Brother Ali brings back that Gospel-like, deep voice. The gospel undertones in the song aren’t imposing, nor is he pressing anything upon his listeners. Brother Ali (as seen even by his names) is a proud religious man, and this is how he expresses himself. And I love it.
Closed his eyes as he sang every note
the son seems sure of the words that he wrote
stood up cleared his throat grabbed his coat
and in those last moments few words were spoke.
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And Brother Ali closes out the album wonderfully with “Us”, the title track. He brings back the choir from the first track, and just goes with it. The Brother just spits why he’s here, why he’s rapping, and what the game, to his, is all about. A wonderful song to close out a wonder, and refreshing album.
I recommend this album to anyone who thinks hip hop is on it’s last leg. You’ll think twice with some soul from Brother Ali.
Brother Ali "Us"
DWB.
Has anyone else seen this commercial? I mean…I need to go get some Levi’s…right now. Just so I can make my life look like this.
Michael Paulus is easily one of my new favorite artist. I think there certainly something to be said about art that is created in order to challenge one’s mind. Not for cash. Not for a political statement.
Just for the pure enjoyment of attempting to answer the question, “Can I do this?”
Paulus has a great deal of dope art at his website. Dig on it.
Betty Bones.
Furthermore, it’s come to the attention of Not Drugs that a great deal of people are unfamiliar with the term Skrilla. Skrilla is a word that should be used at all times by you and everyone you know. For instance:
“I can’t take Suzy out tonight, my skrilla game is at an all-time low.”
Or.
“If you want some ice cream, go into my purse and get some skrilla for you and your brother.”
Skrilla is money. It is also Not Drugs.
Stay up.
Idiot + Weirdo = Millions
I’m sorry if you’re a fan of Kanyeezy. The beats are hot, but the mind is gone. More than likely, way before the whole Taylor-Swift-VMA-thing.
ALSO, 3 QUICK THINGS YOU PROBABLY DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT JULIAN WILLIAMS:
1. I had no idea they still did the VMAs. At all. I thought that shit was over after my junior year of high school. Who’s an old man? Go ahead. You can say it.
2. I had no idea who Taylor Swift was until her spot was blown up.
3. I had no idea who Lady Gaga was until this video. And from the look of it, neither does she.
Stay up.
Fame Kills from kwest on Vimeo.
Literally can’t get enough of this song. Is indie rock dead…partially, yeah.
But don’t blame Jason Schwartzman.
Perhaps an Everyone Knows Indie Is Dead mixtape?
One.
Not Drugs Presents: TShea Does NYE in NYC from notdrugs on Vimeo.
