Buy Film Skool Rejekt's debut album Midnight Movie
If you haven't already had a chance to cop this record, go HERE now and do-so at Amazon.  Since there are so many tracks, they had to split it up into two purchases.  I find that kinda odd that Amazon/iTunes would do that, but Amazon sells it for half of what Itunes does so cop it there.  I'll write a real review of the record when I hit home, but I just wanted to remind ya'll to do so.  While trends seem to be moving towards "hipster" rap, FSR is unabashedly spitting that raw.   You've seen the videos (search "Soundcheck" and "Strength in Numbers" on vimeo.com), and I promise you the album is dopeness.  Cyrus tha Great knows how to make dope beats, period.  The two emcees complement each other perfectly.  I want ya'll to check the Amazon page or Itunes to preview the record.  I guarantee you listening to the beats on their own will make you want to cop and the lyrics are fierce like starving lions.  And oh, "IBM" is the future of rap music, period.  Now back to your regularly scheduled program.

T.I. v. Ludacris on who had the better album this year - Winner: Ludacris - I haven't had a chance to talk about how much I was digging this Ludacris album.  Theater of the Mind features a still-hungry Ludacris (gotta respect dude's passion) and a great diverse cross-section of tracks.  Seriously, if this album was sequenced differently it might have been a terrible listen due to how different tracks are.  A Plies feature track after the numbingly-dope Premo cuts on "MVP" might make my head explode.  However, Ludacris and his team compiled a great potpurri of tracks.  He goes everywhere on this album from the hilarious drunk anthem "One More Drink" to the slept on jammie "Call Up the Homies."  The album really showcases Luda's lyrical dexterity on tracks like "Undisputed" and "Everyone Hates Chris."  Who isn't feeling "What Them Girls Like" in the club either?  (Or in my case, shitty dive bars because that's how Big R rolls in a recession).  Look at the last 4 tracks on this album: "Last of a Dying Breed" with a passionate, yet wyling Wayne verse, "I Do it For Hip-Hop" w/ Jay-Z/Nas (Jay-Z/Nas collabos don't have that "ooh effect" they once had. Still a big deal though)  "MVP", and my favorite track, the 9th Wonder produced "Do the Right Thang."  These songs are for the underground / Hip-Hop heads.  "Do the Right Thang" is "conscious" as any P.E. record, it's just that Ludacris is a complex individual and his album reflects that.  He is partying, being ignorant, making you think, and looking out for the community all on one album.  I don't know any other emcee who can pull off this kind of a diverse album, and Luda seems to do it with ease.

Comparatively, I do think the T.I. album bangs.  But it has no content.  It's just party music for the most part, you don't really see T.I.'s mindset besides a few joints like "No Matter What."  T.I.'s album is an unbelievable Thriller attempt at every track being a single.  When I first heard this album I thought wow, he is going to sell bajillions of records in this terrible economy.  Still, it feels more like "Now that's What I call Music Volume 53" than a cohesive record that Ludacris delivered.  Overall both albums have their merits, but I am messing with Theater of Mind more than Paper Trail.

Kanye v. Lebron on whose ego is way worse - Winner: Lebron James - Kanye's ego is absurd, let's not lie.  "I am the voice of this generation of this decade."  That was vintage, and so was Stephen Colbert describing the album as listening to a Pac-Man machine through a tin can.  However, you can see Kanye's love of this new album as love that people are accepting his experimental projects.  I think 808s and Heartbreak is a cool record, it shows growth and celebrates Kanye as likely the DUDE to bring some fresh energy to Hip-Hop.  That bling bling shit was getting tired and his work on Blueprint really got us back to some good soulful Hip-Hop.  So if he has an ego on this emo record, who cares.  His mom passed and he lost his fiance, he is allowed to be a little obnoxious.  Also an interesting thought I had with a homie of mine was how we thought his next record from Graduation would be some dark-ass sh*t due to his mother's tragic passing.  Instead we have a dark record in a love sense, but I guess it's easier to reflect on the loss of love than the loss of his mother.  Anyway, I'm generally okay with Kanye's ego.  Lebron on the other hand is absurd.  I think his whole courtship with New York is f*cking terrible.

It's disrespectful to his teammates, his team, and mostly the fans.  The people in Cleveland saving cash to buy tickets and merchandise with his name probably adore him since he is from Ohio, and hearing him want to go to New York must crush their spirit.  He owes it to the kids not to talk so brazenly about leaving.  Charles Barkley called him out and Lebron's response was "He's Stupid."  Well he maybe stupid, but you are acting like a dick.  I'm a fan of a small-market football team and I don't like seeing teams in big cities steal stars, and I hate to see the athletes disrespect the franchise and city like Lebron is.  Shut up and focus on winning a ring.

Oscars v. Grammys on which has artistic integrity - Winner: Oscars - Lil Wayne got eight grammy nominations for The Carter III.  What the fuck do people look at to nominate Grammy's?  Is it MTV polls?  I thought the Grammys got it right with giving Outkast album of the year of The Love Below / Speakerboxxx, but does Lil Wayne have the BEST album?  I guess if you are looking at beats and popularity, maybe.  That album has like...no content!!  Maybe the people think "Mrs. Officer" is about police brutality and "Lollipop" is a scathing attack on Chinese food poisoning kids.  Grammys in my opinion are a joke, yet I get hyped when crews like The Roots win them.  The Oscars seem to be a real award based on artistic accomplishment.  Daniel Day-Lewis acts like invented the craft and he deserved to win for There Will Be Blood. 

Digital downloads v. CD's - Winner: leaning towards Digital Downloads - I refused to get an ipod car for my whip so I could continue copping CD's.  Well mostly in those days I'd get free music due to my DJ gig, but anyhow, I didn't want to replace the need to buy CD's becuase I did enjoy peeping the art, producers.  Nowadays I live in a city without a car and the last physical CD I purchased was Raphael Saadiq The Way I See It which was just to support what I think the best album of the year is so far.  I ended up losing that CD.  With my Ipod and my laptop comprising most of my listening experience, I really don't think the artwork is worth the extra 5 dollars and hassle to get to a store.  I've talked about before that the future of music is not even in downloads, but probably some sort of streaming where you pay 15 bucks or so a month to listen to whatever you want.  Zune has already started that trend by allowing users to pay 15 bucks a month to download whatever they want.  However, if you cancel your subscription the old songs you bought no longer work.  So while artwork and liner notes are cool and all, but I feel it might not be worth it anymore for casual consumption.

A Mixtape once in a while v. Mixtapes every other week - Winner: A  Mixtape once in a while - This is a reaction to the recent Play Cloths Road Til the Casket Drops Mixtape by the Clipse which is one of my favorite mixtapes, period.  These dudes don't drop mixtapes every week like it seems everyone else is.  I'm a huge fan of quality over quantity which you can tell the Clipse are about too.  They somehow make that coke rap interesting and entertaining.  People jock Weezy for his lines and T.I. for his swag but Pusha T has better one-liners and the "ughhhh" has swag by the pound.  If you haven't checked for the mixtape you need to.

And some Random Ish I wrote:

New Souls of Mischief "Tour Diaries" available at Nah Right.  Good ish!

Peter Rosenberg threw a very dope event with DJ Premier in NYC.  A one on one interview with an audience a la "Insider the Actor's Studio."  Check some clips at Rosenberg Radio.

Freeway has been on a releasing music spree as of late.  He is dropping a track every day in the month of December in what he calls the month of madness.  I am likely going to download all 30 at the end and peep it, but you can check each joint at his website HERE.

Ok I had much more to include on this post including thoughts on 88 Keys, EPMD, Plaxico, and shoe throwing at Bush.  That'll wait until next time.  If you hate large font, let me know in shoutbox.

RIP and REP D. Ellis

Let's settle it back down with some Mayer Hawthorne "Just Ain't Gonna Work Out" [right click, save as] - Stones Throw latest signing is this falsetto machine Mayer Hawthorne.  Who doesn't f*cking love this smooth mellowness?  It sounds like the drums from Slum Village "Fall in Love" is featured on this joint.  It's confusing how a song about a break-up can be so funky. 

Royce Da 5'9 ft. DJ Premier "I Gotta Shake This" - Point blank, my favorite song right now.  Premier recently showed up and mirked the Ludacris joint "MVP", but he totally switches up this bass-heavy medley that picks up speed as Royce continues rappin'.  The violins in the back remind me of the strings on Lil Wayne's "Dr. Carter."  Tracks like this reminds me why I never peep for Royce unless he releases that Royce/Premier collabo LP.   Nas and Royce have both talked about DJ Premier collabo LP's and it seems like Royce is actually working with Preem.  I don't care whose album drops first but I need more of this in my life!!

Enjoy your Sunday peoples.

RIP and REP D. Ellis

Shelly Martinez - Some complain about stupid things about this chick, like her breast implants, or whatever else. Turns out she's just a truly kind person who happens to be a dime piece and involved in the wrestling biz! Best of luck Shelly.

I felt like I had something else to say, but I dunno yo!

Until next time, RIP and REP D Ellis every single day!,

Rilo Duke

Kanye's album will be addictively great:  I find myself humming "Coldest Winter" and "Love Lockdown" more and more.  He was not joking about this album being a pop-one.  Repetitive lyrics over some dope harmonies is the formula for a pop album.  People are on this hype like he will redefine genres with this singing record.  I do like hearing different material from such a talented artist, but I think the blog-hype machine is getting ahead of itself saying he will change music with a themed classic.  I think this will be at the least a fun album, and maybe amazing.  But do people forget history so soon?

What about Andre 3k? - When Andre 3000 told everyone he was singing everyone thought he lost his mind.  Then we heard "Hey Ya" which sounded more like a Dave Matthews Band song than an Outkast one at first.  Then you are like oh sh*t, this is some funky pop to move to.  Has an album had an effect on you like The Love Below since its release?  Andre 3000 even did the love theme albeit in a more linear fashion.  Falling in love in joints like "She Lives in my lap" to fear of commitment on "Dracula's Wedding" to the f*ck it, time to beat it..."Vibrate."  The album is a pure classic from an amazing rapper who decided to sing against the grain.  So when people start having miscarriages due to the massive press from Kanye's album, think back to how right Andre did it.  And oh yeah, Andre is still hungry peep that "Da Art of Storytellin' Pt. 4"

The Roots retire from touring to be the house band on Jimmy Fallon - I'm probably going to Devil's Advocate here and say this is not a big deal.  I'm sure Dave would be furious at this, as he like I think they are the greatest live act in Hip-Hop.  Here's my thing, these guys have been at it for 18 years.  I have done nothing consistently for 18 years beside breathing and school.  And I'm damn sure I don't want to do anymore school while I still sweat breathing.  They are definitely getting older and while Jimmy Fallon sucks balls, it is a steady paycheck.  It makes me shudder to see ?uestlove subject to the same popularity as that bald guy on Letterman.  The Roots are a grammy award winning band and these band leaders on late-night shows supply cheap laughs.  So it goes without saying at the least Jimmy Fallon's show will greatly benefit from having a name like The Roots.  Either way, I respect their decision and thank them for all of their touring efforts.  Hopefully we won't see the last of them album-wise.  And if that's the case maybe we'll finally get that Black Thought solo album!  (Holds breathe for another 18 years...)

Are people still sleeping on Q-Tip? - The Renaissance might be this year's best Hip-Hop album.  It should be making a bigger splash even within the hipster crowd.  I guess people are feeling the new Kid CuDi / Kanye style.  While I think Kid CuDi has a lot of promise and will likely blow after his features on Kanye's latest CD, I don't think it's fair to sleep on the boy Tip.  A legend who delivers...ask how difficult that is to KRS-One, LL Cool J, etc.

If you are still napping, WAKE UP and check the 88 Keys album - The Death of Adam has a solid relationship theme liek Andre 3k and has great guests including Kanye, Bilal, Phonte, Redman, and J'Davey.  When 88 Keys is rappin', it's mad rough-cut, and I enjoy the grimeyness.  The theme is about women and I appreciate how deep he gets.  "Morning Wood" is a fantastic foray into convincing a girl to "help" with that morning situation.  No punches held, and it ends up being a rather funny/dope album which tackles many relationship issues including telling a girl you can't handle round 2.  Definitely worth your cop, so do it!

My favorite rapper in the South is still Ludacris [not considering Andre though!] - Want to ask why?  Who rips DJ Premier tracks like "MVP" like he was an east coast rapper with Southern flair?  Theater of Mind looks like it's going to be mighty ferocious.  He has the Nas/Jigga feature with a few hot club jammies.  While T.I.'s Paper Trail might push more records, I think Luda will have the hotter album.  More Premo, the better.  And if you forgot how nice Luda is, peep his guest verse on "Made You Look" remix where he shines harder than Nas/Jadakiss. 

Another Jedi Mind Tricks album, I'm enamored half the time and completely bored otherwise. Am I growing up? - History of Violence is the latest effort from Vinnie Paz and Stoupe.  The name is very reminiscent of the record that got their name huge, Violent by Design.   I've always stated that JMT is kinda boring when Vinnie is generically shouting out the Kuran, murder, death, hating gay people, intergalactic warfare, the chalice of some sort, etc.  However the group shines so brightly with ominous tracks like "Trail of Lies" where it even sounds like Vinnie is more at home talking about substantive issues.  When he is rapping on songs like "Godflesh" which probably appease JMT fans, I don't know if it sounds forced, but it sounds just repetitive.  All of the features imitate his voice and style too so it's kinda annoying.  Hoarse, angry, and spouting mad references to the coming of gods fighting on horses and similar topics; dudes are good at being discrete with lyrics like a boner in sweatpants.  (Get it?)

It led me to a period of self-reflection.  I think I'm growing past JMT and most underground Hip-Hop.  I'd say in college I was all about hard beats and what I perceived as intellectual lyrics 'cause they weren't about bling and useless ego.  To be honest, I'd prefer to hear Lil Wayne nowadays more than Vinnie Paz.  At least "A Milli" is fun...I think I've grown past a lot of what is considered dope in underground.  I feel like I've learned that just because it's not Soulja Boy and is underground doesn't mean it has real substance.  If I were to analyze and write down a lot of what's considered dope in the underground I'd be left with pages of jibberish.  However, being artistic still has value because I still mess with a lot of Aesop Rock's material.  Shouting out to "celestial beings of Gondor" to represent the real Hip-Hop just don't move me.  I'd rather mess with some hood shit from Clipse because they at least lived that life.   

This made sense...Did you know Coolio had a cameo in the shit-tacular movie Batman and Robin? That's just a crappy match made in heaven.  I thought Coolio was definitely irrelevant 2 years before this movie was even released.  It makes sense that the people behind this terrible movie would assume Coolio would excite Hip-Hop fans, when in reality people would likely go isn't that the dude who did that song that Weird Al remixed and made even better? 

And some life lessons - So it was my birthday which is always a good time.  Another year older you find out more and more what's important in this life.  My favorite part about birthdays is the party.  Sure it's nice to get drinks bought for you, but it's even better to have all the people that matter to you come out to have a good time.  Nothing makes me happier than having all my friends who may not get along or know each other just hang out.  I've had quite a few obstacles this past few months and I look at events like this, where people are kicking it, and kind of see what happiness really is.  Not that money isn't important to pay rent/bills/get food, but I think people tend to think that will fix all of their problems.  I don't think money can buy the happiness of the homies coming together. 

I also got to thinking about what it means to really enjoy life.  Friends of mine and even I get sad over the dumbest things like a relationship not working.  So I ask ya'll when you are feeling down about something trivial about a girl/guy not being into you, remember what you DO have.  If you start taking count of what you have, you will realize the minimal shit doesn't matter.  Looking around and seeing all of my friends makes me realize that f*ck I could be stabbed in the thigh, slapped by an ex, and crapped on by a bird and I still got it good because I got dope people in my life.  That's something I do have and do cherish. I recommend ya'll look for what makes you stoked to wake up.  And focus on that and not the illogical obstacles that come your way.  You'll find yourselves a bit less down on shit, trust. 

Enough Deepak Chopra.  Dave would be pissed because I made this page like a Martha Stewart jump-off.  F*ck it, it's my birthday.

Dave Ellis will live forever, baby.

Although Dave never wrote as much about politics as I did, that didn't mean he wasn't up on it.  I loved talked to Dave about everything from sports to chicks (His hatred of Indian girls still makes all of us laugh to this day.  I hope I had nothing to do with that!) and to politics.  Around September 2005, I remember having a mad long conversation about Hurricane Katrina and what it meant to him as a Black man in America.  Like many of us, he was shocked and appalled at the way the Bush administration and local governments handled the situation.  Dave's view on Katrina and how he felt that not only Bush, but the gov't as a whole showed it did not care about poor minorities, showed me much he cared about his community.  He never articulated that I felt as much on the site, but Dave would talk a lot about wanting to work to better the African-American community after college.  I can only imagine how much pride he is beaming with now that America has elected its first African-American president.

In my own humble opinion, November 4th, 2008 is the biggest moment in American history I've witnessed.  Some will say 9/11 is a more historic date.  We will never forgot those lives lost in 9/11, but that date deeply saddens me and how it was manipulated to foster hatred, divisiveness in this country, and nonsensical wars.  11/04/08 is a day that will live forever in history as one of grandeur, adulation, and as a symbol of a nation turning the page for the better.  That's what make that day so special to me.

Just search on youtube to see how America reacted.  Hundreds of thousands of people running to the streets to celebrate.  I was in Adam's Morgan / U. St area in D.C. and cheered with thousands.  I was hugging complete strangers, waving flags, and singing the national anthem.  The best way I can describe that feeling is it's like finally winning the Super Bowl after 8 painful years, except you are celebrating with the entire nation and world.

I bring Obama up in reference to Dave's Birthday because I undoubtedly think he'd see how this will greatly influence Hip-Hop.  Hip-Hop is such a young culture / form of music and it has not had many groundbreaking historical events to mold it.  It is expression and culture born from oppression that has grown so much you can find any characterization of humanity through the artists who call themselves Hip-Hop.  Certain times promote trends for sure, like the early 90's with gangster rap.  That period reflected the African-American community at the time, as many were upset with police brutality.  It's a young culture that just got injected with an influx of enthusiasm and jubilation, and I am looking forward to the direction I feel Hip-Hop is going to take.  The shift from the Bling Bling era is already apparent.  Back in the early 2000's lyrics were focused on diamonds and fancy things and I feel this theme has subtly shifted to "Swagger."  Swagger is just a hip word for self-confidence and I feel Hip-Hop's proverbial chest will be stuck out even more with pride after the Election.

Barack Obama's victory will usher in I hope, a more collaborative and celebratory phase in Hip-Hop.  Listen to Jay-Z's "History."  That track is beautiful on so many levels and you find other artists already channeling the positive energy of Obama's victory.  We focus on beef and dumb shit like that so much and it's dope to witness artists just come together in happiness on this one.  You forget Jay-Z even had a intense war of words with Nas when you see them campaign together for Obama.  Obama's win is something to cheer and you will hear loud voices of celebration in many albums to come.  Whether it be directly about Obama or not, the doors that seemingly opened for all Americans will definitely open for Hip-Hop as well.

Barack's victory is a resounding example of what can be achieved in this nation no matter the color of your skin.  You don't think this will affect the future Hip-Hop generation? Common has already talked about how his daughter a year ago wanted to be a dancer and now wants to be a politician.  The win gives hope to those who didn't think such a route was even plausible. Hmm making a path when there was no other...kinda sounds like how Hip-Hop was born right? 

So toast your glasses up for America, Hip-Hop, and the boy D. Ellis.

And like Premier said with a little twist, Dave Ellis will live forever, baby!