February 26, 2008 | Tags: none

This is a repost to a blog from November 6, 2007. Gettin' my prophecy on, based on Aliya's news piece yesterday about rumors circulating about a Jay/Nas album. If I see these song titles out there, I want that mufuckin cash, niggas! Got school to pay for. Paypal the young homie; you've got my Gmail address.

"You can't hustle me! You're talking to the ultimate hustler." - Dave Chappelle as Chuck Taylor, in the racial draft

But, as Eskay at NahRight said, this'll probably come out the same day as Detox. "Nevuary 33rd...19...-Never Hate" © Jay, "Money Cash Hoes (Remix)" If you're going to do it, finish it and put it out.

“Black Republican” was dope as hell, but “Success” was a new monster altogether. I don’t know if it’s their previous sampling of each other’s music, running in similar circles (and vaginas), or both of them being from NY, but their chemistry is incredible. It seems like their history as rivals only makes their records more compelling: they may have resolved their differences for the reasoning of making money together, but their competitiveness seems to come from both standard rap face-off fare and from a previous beef. Nas’ former flame was smashed, and Jay lost a battle by blowout. Not only do they have to prove something to fans and hip-hop aficionados: they have something to prove to each other.

So how ill would it be if they joined forces for an EP? It could be released on Def Jam, but pushed the same way that Jay is pushing American Gangster: no overtly commercial singles or T-Pain hooks, but just that real shit. Not a full LP, but a solid six to nine songs that are all bangers from top to bottom, that’ll leave listeners drooling for more but incapable of complaining cuz these fuckers actually sat down and did it. The possibilities! “Dead Presidents 3,” with Jay and Nas both updating their older flows and Nas playing off of the sample that the previous two used. Obligatory song produced by Kanye. A dual reunion with Primo: “NY State Of Mind Pt. 3,” or or “Friend Or Foe ’08,” with them being rival dealers. Maybe even an entire EP produced by Primo? Let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. Detailed songs about their respective wifeys, Beyonce and Kelis. Maybe even a track that has each of them telling their experiences with Carmen Bryant, or some fictional joint about what could’ve happened. Even their braggadocio tracks would be incredible. The song ideas are endless, and with their dual veteran status, they’re more than capable of knocking out concepts. Album title? I’m taking ideas. But offtop, I’m thinking “Success.”

Shawn and Nasir, I want royalties. Paypal the kid.

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the writer and not necessarily those of HipHopDX.com or Cheri Media Group.

Ketchums' Approved Early 2008 Hip-Hop Buys

February 24, 2008 | Tags: none

I've always taken pride in contributing to hip-hop as much as I can. With my gear, vernacular, being a success story while keeping hip-hop as a primary facet of that success instead of a sidenote, and to documenting the culture and music that contributed to my life so much.

But these past two weeks, I've bought more music than I have in a long time. Between buying clean versions of joints for my radio show and copping a few things just because, I can honestly say that I've bought a shitload of tunes recently.

-I repurchased Ghostface Killah's Fishscale, one of my favorite LPs of the past five years. And I bought it from an independent record store, right after selling them a few CDs that I wasn't using. Shout out to Flat, Black & Circular.
-On Fat Beats' site, I copped the digital download of Black Milk's "Sound The Alarm Remix" 12". Clean versions, dirty versions, and instrumentals of the remix feat. Guilty Simpson and Royce Da 5'9", "Shut It Down," and "Home of the Greats."
-iTunes ate a nigga up. Clean versions of Black Milk's original "Sound the Alarm," and three songs from Pharaohe Monch's Desire album, music videos for Kanye's "Flashing Lights" and Jay's "Roc Boys," and clean versions of songs for our Timbaland vs. DJ Premier show yesterday since I didn't have time to edit certain songs on my own. Shout-out to Meka Soul on putting me on to Snoop's "The One and Only."[1]

Buying music just made me think of how crazy times have changed from when I first started. I remember buying 50 Cent's Get Rich Or Die Tryin' as a high schooler was an experience: me and my mans skipped school to cop our reserved copies (word!) up at Sam Goody (word!!!), got in the car to hear the first few songs, and both faked sick so we could skip school to listen to the rest of it. But a few months ago, I decided that I wanted to familiarize myself with Stevie Wonder's catalog: so I downloaded about eight of his albums on a whim, and still haven't gotten the chance to listen to em yet. The pros and cons are obvious - CD & linear notes vs. space-efficient mp3s, guaranteed high-quality audio vs. searching or self-encoding, pride of supporting vs. investing money into a show where they're really see the money.

But I can't front, something felt good about putting money into it. Even if I could use that cash now.

With that said, here's several albums from early '08 that deserve your bread; if you don't already know how/where to cop, drop down and get ya Google on. Not only are there store-bought albums this isn't listing, but this also excludes free downloads from cats like Clipse, G-Unit, Rhymefest and others.

Erykah Badu, New Amerykah, Pt. 1: 4th World War (Feb. 26)
Though production from Madlib, Sa-Ra, ?uestlove and others give some of New Amerykah more of a hip-hop feel than her past efforts, lyrical density, her unmistakable voice and overall eccentricity show that Erykah's just as soulful as she was five years ago.

Pete Rock, NY's Finest (Feb. 26)
Avoiding all the "New York is dead" statements and what not, tracks like "We Roll," "The PJ's," and "Bring Y'all Back" show that Soul Brotha #1's Petestrumentals bang just as hard as they always have, dusty samples and banging bass still intact. If he'd only stop rapping though, damn.

Guilty Simpson, Ode To The Ghetto (Mar. 25)
This isn't just me reppin' for my state, either. Combining Guilty's imposing voice, vicious flow and lyrical calisthenics with my vote for the best-produced album of early '08 (with beats by Black Milk, Madlib, Oh No, Mr. Porter and DJ Babu, you can't lose), this is getting repeated spins.

Fat Ray & Black Milk, The Set Up (Mar. 4)
Keeping it in the Mitten, the homie Black Milk minimizes the soul samples and goes with hard-nosed, drum-heavy backdrops for BR Gunna cohort Fat Ray to spit his equally tough bars. I wished it was longer before (pause) but I figure it's fine the way it is.

eMC, The Show (on iTunes Feb. 26, in stores Mar. 25)
The group of Wordsworth, Masta Ace, Punchline and Stricklin' combine like Voltron to deliver an album that reminds me of what hip-hop was all about - dope beats, dope rhymes, well-executed concepts, and top-to-bottom dopeness. Shout out to Words.

Nicolay & Kay of the Foundation, Time:Line
The production half of Foreign Exchange steps his game up, and the incredibly talented Houston emcee team up for one of the most complete, cohesive albums I've heard in a while. Nicolay, you need to hook me up with the dimepieces you have on your album covers. I'm just sayin'.

Anyway, back to bumpin' this shit on the new Skull Candy joints, courtesy of my mentor @ MSU.

--
[1] Me and dude got our Jay & Nas on and re-squashed the beef this past week. Follow the Leader(s) cr Eric B & Rakim

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the writer and not necessarily those of HipHopDX.com or Cheri Media Group.

College Chronicles: Feb. 17-18, 2008

February 18, 2008 | Tags: none

As y'all may or may not know, I'm a (super) senior at Michigan State University (shout out to Mo Ager, what's good with Jersey?!), and senioritis has been setting in heavy. I haven't been committing the time that I should to ENG 230: Intro to Film. I've been skipping class for no reason, and I've been falling asleep when I am in there. Granted, he doesn't let us use laptops in class, which makes for tough note-taking (I've got an ultraportable, so I take this joint everywhere), but I still don't put forth the time and effort that a college class in a course that I'm not well-versed in would require.

But I have a paper due in that class today (Monday), at 12:40. I went all week/weekend without starting on it - without reading the assignment more than once, without watching the movie, without choosing a topic for the paper. Was too busy preparing for and doing my radio show, interviewing hip-hop legends, puttin' my niggas on, chillin' with my niggas from out of town, spittin' easy game to this chick, dropping the ball on another, and other miscellaneous bullshit. I'm terrified, but I'm so overwhelmed that I just don't know where to start or what to do.

So I Google the movie. My mans had given me links to stream it, but they were taking too long to work, so I bought it through this site zml.com for $5; I cop it via text message, they give me a verification code, and I download it from the site. I watch the movie. Call my homegirl and ask her to call me in an hour to wake me up (it's 3 AM at this point). Surprisingly, despite her usual unwarranted hating, shorty comes through! Unfortunately, she calls me about 10 min. before I was gonna wake up, so I go back to sleep; wake up at 5:15.

What do I do? Read the assignment, pick a scene to analyze, and knock that bitch out. Granted, I didn't use all of the film terms that we've learned in class, but I definitely murk the assignment by analyzing the shot the way I was supposed to; at least a 2.5, if not a 3.0. What's ill is that I finished the paper at 7:37 or so - two hours after I started, and with time to go to all of my other classes!

Fast forward to 2:25.

$5 + Less than three hours of typing = Nothing to a boss.

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the writer and not necessarily those of HipHopDX.com or Cheri Media Group.

Dilla Day '08: Ketchums' Edition

February 10, 2008 | Tags: Dilla, Radio, Jay Dee, IMPACT

As I've mentioned in a previous blog, 2008 has seen me and my homie JYoung The General get a hip-hop show on IMPACT 89 FM in East Lansing, MI. As you'd expect, we've been killin' it week after week with incredible playlists, hilarious banter, hip-hop conversation and great feedback from the listeners. This shit has been the most consistent smile-inducer I've had in a while.

But yesterday was Dilla day. As you should know from this week's DX coverage (peep Aliya's Dilla pieces, they're fucking incredible), this past Thursday would have marked the Detroit superproducer's 34th birthday, and today (Sunday) is the two-year anniversary of his death. My co-host brought the heat with his playlist as usual, but I decided to participate in the "Dilla Day" and dedicated my entire playlist to selections from homie's catalog.

I'm not normally the sentimental type, but putting together this playlist and actually implementing it touched me in a way that music hasn't touched me, frankly, since I first got into this hip-hop back in the late 90s. It goes beyond the fact that James Yancey's music was enjoyable to listen to, and it's more than the crazy collaborators or the undeniable cosigns. The fact that this brotha gave so much of himself to his craft - dude was performing shows in a wheelchair and making beats from his hospital bed, for God's sake - and that I was in the position to help chronicle that legacy as a DJ was fulfilling beyond explanation. And you can call me nutty if you want...but with the ambiance in the studio - whether it was my lady friend coming through at the beginning of the show; letting my mentee give over-the-air PSAs, take pics and soak up game; or my rapper homie Philthy coming through and clownin, it's almost like Dilla's spirit was eminating throughout the room. The Cultural Vibe is always fun, but during last night's show, I felt like I was part of something.

Anyway, here are some pics.

Tee courtesy of Bling47. Irks me how my chain is turned around in EVERY picture, but whatever.

On the mic, guiding listeners through the playlist.

JYoung mans the phones.

Lauryn "La-La" Scott, hip-hop journalism's Unsigned Hype, takes her own glamour shot before locking down camera and PSA duties.

The crew: ROY candidate E. Huffman, Philthy, me, and the corner of JYoung's head fraternize between songs.

Here's the playlist. I'm not J Rocc, HouseShoes or DJ Dez, and I got clean versions of Like Water For Chocolate and Champion Sound too late to properly mix them in, but you can only do so much in an 80-minute set. And after running my playlist by all of my resident Dilla heads, I'm confident I (Jay) DEE-livered. If you need the songs, drop down and get your Google on, or hit me up if you can't find them.

(photo from StonesThrow.com)

1. "Reminisce" // Bilal feat. Mos Def & Common // 1st Born Second
2. "Man's World" // Guilty Simpson // Stones Throw Podcast
3. "Beauty Jackson" // Ghostface Killah // Fishscale
4. "Let's Ride" // Q-Tip // Amplified
5. "Stakes is High" // De La Soul // Stakes is High

"Players" (Instrumental) // Slum Village // Fantastic Vol. II

6. "Keep On" // Dwele feat. Slum Village // Some Kinda...
7. "Show Me What You Got" // Busta Rhymes // Anarchy
8. "Stand To The Side" // Talib Kweli feat. Novel & Vinia Mojica // Quality
9. "Sun In My Face" // J Dilla feat. Blu & Jontel // Jay Love Japan
10. "Fat Cat Song (Remix)" // Slum Village // Fantastic, Vol. 1

"Featuring Phat Kat" (Instrumental) // J Dilla // Welcome 2 Detroit

11. "Nasty Ain't It?" // Phat Kat // Carte Blanche
12. "Aquarius" // Common feat. Bilal // Electric Circus [1]
13. "Runnin" // Pharcyde // Labcabincalifornia
14. "Won't Do" // J. Dilla // The Shining
15. "Cleva" // Erykah Badu // Mama's Gun
16. "Ill Vibe (The Ummah Remix)" // Busta Rhymes feat. Q-Tip // It's A Party 12" [2]

"Waves" + "Donuts (Intro)" + "Donuts (Outro)" // J Dilla // Donuts

17. " Get A Hold" // A Tribe Called Quest // Beats, Rhymes And Life
18. "The Jam" // Mad Skillz // It's Goin Down EP
19. "Climax (Girl Shit)" // Slum Village // Fantastic Vol. II

"Last Donut of the Night" // J Dilla // Donuts

--
*Props to K-Fresh and Stones Throw for the extensive discog.
*Also, props to the peeps on OKP for the Dilla wheelchair pic, the clean versions of the tracks, etc. Can't hyperlink, but it's appreciated.
[1] If you didn't like the album last time you heard it, revisit it and see if you change your mind; I know I did.
[2] Shout-out to 88-Keys for putting me on. Good looks, sir.

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the writer and not necessarily those of HipHopDX.com or Cheri Media Group.

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Speech Is My Hammer...

Shawn? Nasir? Royalties.

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Ketchums' Approved Early 2008 Hip-Hop Buys

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College Chronicles: Feb. 17-18, 2008

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Dilla Day '08: Ketchums' Edition

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