West Coast rapper Murs, of Living Legends decent, has given himself quite the task for 2010. He had a rough and bitter breakup with the Warner Brothers record label (which lasted all of one album) and believes he has something to prove this year. He’s already put out a couple of tracks, teasing us with this sophomore collab album with 9th Wonder, that’s supposedly coming out sometime this year. Here’s Murs to speak for himself about the year to come.
And here’s one of the tracks that Murs and 9th Wonder leaked called “The Problem Is”.
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In 2001, when J Dilla was venturing away from Detroit Hip Hop trio Slum Village, up and coming spitster eLZhi was gaining some attention from the industry, specifically T3 (one third of Slum Village). He had a couple of tracks floating around with some other artists, but it was eLZhi that got invited to guest star with a couple of verses on some Slum Village hymns. Even though Slum Village never planned on introducing a new member to the group after Dilla left, eLZhi just, kinda, ended up taking the vacant spot, and soared from there.
In 2008, eLZhi came out with his debut album, The Preface, which was produced entirely by another Detroit native, Black Milk. That album, for me at least, easily placed into one of the top spots for album of the year. His wordplay was off the charts, and his pace was in constant attack-mode. Black Milk’s beats only influenced the dopeness of this set of tracks. This following track is off the album and it features another Motor City brethren, Royce Da 5′9″. It’s called “Motown 25″ (and yes, our audio DOES in fact work!).
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Now, I kinda lost track of him for a bit, but at the end of this past year, he dished out this unmixtape called The Leftovers. The same intensity, the same wordplay, and my man-crush developed all over again. If you haven’t caught wind of this dude, here’s The Leftovers UnMixtape, for free to download. Just get it at Elzhi’s website.
And to make the unmixtape that much more enticing, here’s a video from one of the songs called “Deep”. Watch this talent flow like it hasn’t been done before.
Each year The Roots put a picnic in Philly with a whole bunch of artists. Not Drugs’ loyal/#1 fan TShea went last year and said it was down right bananas. The Roots teamed up with Public Enemy to throw down some down right filthy renditions of tracks off of It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. So here’s ? himself tellin us who’s playin this year, and what bonkers collab The Roots have in the works.
I was watching ESPN the other morning, and I saw this.
Number 1, ESPN has no reason to be discussing this.
Number 2, Skip Bayless should never be allowed to even talk about this. Ever.
Number 3, Wale, what are you doing? Please go back to puttin out raw mixtapes and not overproduced/overamped albums.
Number 4, Lil Wayne? Really? Ugh.
But now I’m thinkin…who’s on my list? Well, I’m gonna tell you, but not before I issue an open response to everyone reading now, to also list a top 5 rappers of all-time. Now, some of you who read this aren’t long time fans of hip hop, or just recently got into the game. That’s okay. I still wanna see your list. State your status (your brief history or long time service with the hip hop game) then your list. No judgement, just crtique.
I don’t have much to say, but I don’t have nothing to say. Basically, this post is meant for one purpose and one purpose only…
…to get rid of that annoying music. Newberg gave us a challenge, to post as much as we could in order to rid us, and you, of the music that plagued Not Drugs. And with this post, victory has been taken. Thank you Newberg, with how annoying the song was, is how much we have succeeded.
So in triumph, I give you, well, “Triumph” (performed by the Wu Tang Clan).
Throw up them W’s.
Dwb.
**UPDATE** – Winn beat me to the post that got rid of the song. But still we declare Victory. ODB R.I.P.
Not Drugs makes a point to have fun at all costs. This following post, I wish could be a typical “what’s up in the world of Not Drugs and how can I, the reader, be involved”, but it’s not. But please, continue to follow.
Preemo on the left, Guru on the right.
Guru, half of one of the greatest Hip Hop duos ever, recently went into a coma due to cardiac arrest (he’s 43 years and has never experienced heart problems before). He’s all ready undergone surgery and is said to be stable, yet still in a coma. As a hip hop head, it sucks to hear someone so young, who still is puttin out album after album (as a solo artist), come under such a horrible condition. But it gets worse.
Today, a video was put on the internet by Guru’s nephew, about the truth behind what’s going on with Guru, and his health. There’s nothing sketchy about the reasoning behind what happened to him (at least not yet; no one is disclosing that information), but what’s sketchy is who is declaring what’s happening to Guru while he is in this coma. His family is currently not allowed to see and not allowed to even know what is going on with Guru (they literally know as much as you and I do, reading from the same internet sources you and I read). Watch the video below and tell me this situation isn’t totally fucked up (It’s a 10 minute video, but give the time for this).
Obviously more will leak about this story in the coming days, but right now, how do you not feel for Guru’s family? I hope this gets settled soon. And we should all collectively hope Guru makes it through.
I showed you that three part Doc series about Dilla a day or two ago. It wasn’t off the hook dope, but it was pretty damn cool just to listen to cats like Peanut Butter Wolf, among others, spit about Dilla. I enjoyed it, you enjoyed it, but it wasn’t groundbreaking.
I like groundbreaking.
So we’ll keep with the Dilla theme, but move onto something a lot more Dope.
Love the Tug.
I’ve chatted to you about my buddy The DJ Formerly Known as J-Styles aka DJ Tuggle. His website is to the right, at Strictly Bizness, and he’s been puttin it down over in the midwest (Cleveland, Ohio to be exact), especially as of recent. During the big Dilla month of February, my dude Tuggle joined a list of a select few DJs on Dilla’s born day to host a benefit party for Lupus relief (the disease Dilla died from and that his Ma Dukes is currently suffering from). I couldn’t attend but I heard the party was bonkers. And you know how I heard?? Because he sent me the mix. And you know how you can hear?? By downloading the same mix.
You can tell me, or the Tuggle himself (by commenting on his site) about the mix. And if you do like it, I got another Dilla mash-up track he did, as well as a Jay-Z mash-up to go with it.
I’m gonna get straight to the point on this one (for the videos speak far louder than my words).
Stussy, a clothing brand that originated in Orange County, California, hit big with DJs in the 80s. Recently, they decided to produce the 3-part documentary series about Dilla (who flashed the brand when he was at his peak). The company is now owned by Frank Sinatra, Jr., but that’s a whole other article for another time. Let’s get back to the issue at hand.
Rockin' the Stussy Brand.
This half hour doc focuses mainly on how Dilla arrived in L.A., and what he did while he was there. It starts with his first encounter with Madlib, and how they become inseparable. Then it dives into what Dilla did music wise and how he reinvented the game, while at the same time, reinventing himself as a beat-maker. The doc features a handful of rappers that influenced Dilla’s career (Peanut Butter Wolf, J.Rocc, Frank Nitty, and various other DJs), as well as engineers, photographers, and label reps that Dilla worked with.
Even though the doc isn’t award winning quality (and as an aspiring hip hop documentary filmmaker) there are a buncha things I would have fixed to make it more pleasing to watch, but really why I want you to watch it is for what the dudes in the project have to say about Dilla. Seeing as I got real into him right after he passed, I never got to see him talk live or anything. So trying to understand him through his comrades in arms, now, is really the best we have (next to listening to his music, which, even when he was alive, was probably the best way to understand him).
So, now, I’ll stop babbling so you can watch these videos. Here’s the three parts in order. Enjoy my friends.
It’s 6:30am. I awoke to my phone’s buzz. I don’t have to be in work til 11am, and normally I’d roll back other and ignore any advancements my phone makes towards me until I was ready to participate in the day. But I was curious as to what was poppin’ off at such an early hour. So I checked my phone, it’s a text from my boss: “The store’s closed. Have a good snow day.”
Snow Day? Do we have those in the real world?
Three years ago, while I was still an undergrad, the college I attended had it’s first snow day in over 30 years. All buildings closed; no classes, no anything. As a college student, when something like that happens, there’s only one way to cope: hammered. You drink all day while giddy-ing up in the snow, then you take a nap and get a second wind when you arise for part 2. It’s the only way to deal with a shut down of that sort. But is it suitable to relive those times now?
When I was 9, snow days were as close to Heaven as I thought I'd come.
It’s 10am now, and I’ve ate a homemade breakfast and will soon shovel my sidewalk. After that, I may read my book, watch a movie, or write more for you to enjoy on your, possible, snow day. Is this what a snow day has come to? Am I okay with it? We’ll see how this day plans out.
Until I return, watch this video (over and over and over again) of Stephen Curry (from the Golden State Warriors) completely ruin Birdman (aka Chris Anderson of the Denver Nuggets) with this shot that occurred last night.
I’ve been on this cat since my buddy The DJ Formerly Known as J-Styles (aka Tuggle) introduced him to me about 3 years ago. He had this album that had recently come out called Below the Heavens and I just kinda pushed it aside and gave my dude the nod like “Yeah, I’m sure he’s real good.”
But Tuggle stopped me and said, no, listen to him, the kid’s from L.A. but he’s got some spit in him. And the guy on the drums, Exile, is nothing to shake off either. So I listened, and then I listened again, and then I listened again, and in February of 2010, I’m still listening.
"No pun intended to live."
Now I know I’ve talked about this kid before (and I call him kid because he’s not too much older than I am), and I’ve discussed my feelings of him with you in that prior voice, but this is fo’ real for real now. No jokes, all seriousness. But you can smile if you want to. Love the smiles.
Back to the matter at hand, Blu has come out with some solid stuff in the past three years, but I feel like this year might be the year he finally becomes elite. He’s one of my favorite rappers presently, and I’ve passed the word along to everyone I know that listens to not just hip hop, but music, period. I think this is the year where Blu becomes known. You know?
If you checked my top mixtapes of the year, you also saw that he topped that list of mine with his mixtape HerFavoriteColo(u)r. If you haven’t already obtained it, here’s the link. If you have any doubt in what hip hop can do, listen to this. Blues galore and loads of sick flowetry. In no time, you’ll be Doubt-free. Money back, guaranteed (ha!).
Now that we’re all caught up, check this site out that Blu and comrade in arms Mainframe put together:
Take a minute on the site and lemme know when you’re back with me.
You back? Cool. Let us dribble on.
Mainframe’s an out-there kinda dude (him and Blu did an album called Johnson&Jonson that’s worth a listen), so some of the stuff is kinda unique, but it’s all for the better. But Blu doesn’t stop there. Another kid, Fashawn, who I have had a man-crush on for a bit (and who I’ve also mentioned a bunch of times around this block) and Blu have been performing shows together, along with Exile, and throwing down some dirty dimes, my friend. That reeeeeaaal dirt.
An album with Blu, Fashawn, and Exile would be DOOOOOOOPE.
There’s this semi-mix that’s about 35 minutes long (something like 19 tracks put into one long track) that they put out — putting some of Blu’s tracks and some of Fashawn’s tracks together, along with Exile’s production. I’ve heard some of it before, but it’s still a dope 35 minutes of muzak. Get it here, as always, fo’ free — remember, I’ll never ask for money as long as you don’t give me any, deal?
I’ve said a lot. Too much? Never. And just to continue to leave that delicious taste in your mouth, here’s a video for the track “So(ul) Amazing” off of that incredible album Below the Heavens. Pure love. From me to you.
