i'm still waiting for my copy to come but i wanna sell some more cds for weavah, and shill for the iap store. so, $6.99, pick that up. weavah's actually only on a couple tracks but i've heard the freestyles and he's coming with the same powerful heat that he had on his hometeam album (just marked down at the iap store!). i want to see my man blow up, and he's working like a motherfucker to make that happen, making moves, getting on every mixtape put out in the south in the last six months, recording with t.i., killer mike, alfamega and david banner.

joi ft. bun b and pastor troy - fine-ass nigga
last saturday night in the city, ironing jeans and shirts on carpet on maximum team, barefeet in toothbrushed/armor all'd/waterproofed reeboks, exhausting clubs, and calling a regular girl, works out of her house and lets you leave the money on her kitchen table or whatever, doesn't ask for it up front and won't ask can you give me a tip if i'm really good or whatever whatever, "shit, i'm real busy right now but i can give you my friend's address and i'll tell her you're coming," running down her front lawn to my car, tall beautiful woman, woman, carefully cut blouse and boots, tweed pants, big silver hoops in ears, driving around and negotiating, giving her money up front, parking beside a mr. sub and letting her take it out and get on it so gentle, kitten licks, kneeling in the passenger seat, working harder than any girl should and not just attacking it with teeth through thick strawberry flavored handout condom from the harm reduction clinic while sniffling through nose, brushing her hair back and asking her to let me watch her do it, going deep on it or forming a suction lock and going up and down shaft and making me giggle or say dumb shit or just say fuck! and make her ask "sorry did that hurt!" and just fucking me up with it, feeling me tense up once and saying, "you gotta tell me before okay? just put your hand on me get it off the seat, squeeze my shoulder before or whatever," whatever, man, and instructing me on how to get to her tits up under the shirt, building masterful to climax, at the end cumming awkwardly into my left palm cupped, wiping it down the side of my seat, driving around after and she's talking about "i want to find a good man, metis or white... as long as he doesn't look down on native girls, an educated white guy with curls," playing with my curls up under my hat, "not one of these thugs always going to jail", "what no no i'm a thug though," "i know i know" and putting on brown lipstick in the flipdown mirror and stopped midapplication to ask me "do you like my lipstick?", "yeah," "let me put some on you," "no why you wanna do that," "i just wanna see what you'd look like," and feeling submissive and controlled and turning off my cellphone and feeling like i can't even talk or think, stupid, dropping her off, feeling retarded and in love off a blowjob, pick up a girl off 6th a few hours later to erase the feeling, three a.m. and looking for an alley up past lewvan with her warning me "these white people... they work all the time all the time these guy's picking me up 'oh i just got off work,'" bragging about selling coke and having something under my seat, cum in one of those strawberry freebies, toss it into a snowbank, drop her off.

d4l - do it like me -- "talk slick you gon get ya wig split / them choppa bullets gon hit you quick / SPLACKA SPLACKA duck, trick." highschool talent show shit sounding like all the slow girl songs in the middle of that dem franchize boys cd, on hard, way slow beat, with nothing on top of that bass (filtered by headphones but felt right through brake pedal and frame of car seat) except fat waddling keyboards and fingersnaps. picture them in matching baby blue silk suits, doing carefully choreographed, sliding dances in bright white pointy shoes for the chorus, snapping their fingers along to the snaps on the beat, stepping forward with the spotlight on them to do their solo verses, flowing and playing with the rhymes by singing them out, drawing them out, showing off the internal structure, dancing around the footlights, "it's time... that i shine... it's... d4l... on my grandmama patna, all haters go to... ..." and the rest crowded around, leaning in to answer in unison, leaping back to dance offstage during delicate outro, highfives and hugs backstage.

blue davinci ft. young jeezy and baby d - i'm a boss -- still in love with these tiny, perfect tracks, proving that atlanta is the hardest city in the south again after all of houston stopped making records (except niggas over 40) or got millionaire contracts. slow, tinny beats with celebratory buzzing keyboards and hardest bass ever, reminds you of the first time you ever heard shit like this and the first time you ever heard it played properly, and, for real, coldest rappers down south: jeezy, that unwritten, clever shit, saying his name, coming with so biteable metaphors, "stacks in my pocket lookin like a damn phonebook / i'm lowkey dodgin fed cases but you can look a nigga up in the yellow pages / YEAAAAHHHHH! under brick r us / all i got is my niggas, in the gats we trust," and blue stuck in the middle, outshined by baby d, oomp camp representer, atl almost legend, on the hook and the closeout verse, playing with that accent and rubbery flow and paying close attention to the crunchy lil drumbreaks hidden under the beat especially for him.

Hulio Shallone - "Take Ya Girl"
From Huli's album "It's My Turn" that's dropping this Tuesday, weird smooth quiet storm-sounding sample from some old Michael Jackson song I don't remember the name of, one of the way too many R&Bish tracks on the album (so much so that when he says "I wanna talk to the ladies for a minute" at the beginning of one song towards the end it's kind of insulting). But it has this weird hilarious start-stop chorus where he says "rules...to...stickin'...another...playa's...chick...chick...chick" in his flat raspy voice that sounds sorta like The Game.

Ogun and Ray Lugar - "Bmore"
The inevitable local flip on Ja's NYC anthem that probably every city's got at least one of by now, "I got a hundred bars a hundred hits, nigga I'm from Bmore, Bmore", shouting every other street and neighborhood and crew in the city, Emerson, Biddle, down the hill, Park Heights, fitting in every local reference possible (top 10 things that every Baltimore MC references: The Wire, the Ravens/Ray Lewis, the city's murder rate, Carmelo Anthony, the city's drug trade, rowhouses, B Rich/"Woah Now", the city's STD rate, the Orioles/Cal Ripken, Dru Hill/Sisqo/"Thong Song").

Sonny Brown f/ Mr. Wilson and Mo Gant - "Ride Wit Me"
Sonny from Major League Unlimited (also Mullyman's label), sounding like Snoop, riding a beat by Bmore superproducer Samir with those cheap, dry drums and a synth horn bassline seesawing back and forth between two notes.

In other 410 news, this site has an archive of all of Bmore's own Backland's appearances on 106 & Park's Freestyle Fridays from a couple years ago when he won 7 weeks in a row and retired as a champion.

Labels: Backland, Huli Shallone, Ogun, Ray Lugar, Sonny Brown

Bossman feature in this week's city paper. I had already started to reach out to him for an interview before I knew they were doing one, but I'm gonna try to ask about some things that they didn't touch on anyway, so hopefully that will be happening soon, after my review of Law & Order.

Labels: Baltimore City Paper, Bossman

Government Names is currently being featured over at The Tofu Hut.

Baltimore Fresh Fest 2005
This Friday, Jan. 28th
at the Thunderdome
freestyle battle and performances from Comp, Hulio Shallone, Little Clayway, Ray Lugar, and others

Labels: Comp, flyer, Huli Shallone, Little Clayway, Ray Lugar

coming in early march:



chamillionaire and stat quo - big business -- coming in early march. this has been planned for a while but i never expected it to actually drop. cham bringing his businessman android hustling and stat bringing his... i actually forget what he sounds like. he has punchlines, right? and eminem drops, maybe. man, that doesn't sound too enthusiastic but depending on how they do this, it could be hot to hear them going back and forth, forcing each other to step it up.

coming as soon as some business with various labels can be cleared up:



rapid ric/dj l.l. - z-ro's greatest verses: revisted and remixed -- i like the idea of turning ro into the bulletproof legend, the reactionary southside hero ready to slay clowns like michael watts, getting him sold outside houston and building him up as a new southern legend before he starts releasing slow, mumbling rap-a-lot albums once every two years.

e.s.g. - dirty hustle -- songs making me cry at exactly 5:00 am, staying up until i can't get a mcdonald's breakfast before bed, slouched out in dirty 2xl hanes, jeans unbuttoned. turned up all the way on tinny headphones until the higher, trebly parts distort like club soundsystem, bringing out screaming harmonies at the tips and static on the hard syllables. listening and playing some make yourself cry game from when i was a kid. eyes sucking in all that laptop light in dark room. remembering spending dusk with spacey morphine addicts-- which still make me think of some first world war, trenches of france, returning home to fox hunting and big antique glass syringes, some shit like that, but is actually about some skinny brown girl showing me bloodclot darkred craters up and down both her arms: "do you know what that's from?"
"shit, abscesses?"
"no, those are burns."
"fuck!"
"that's why i want to quit. i think it makes my body look ugly. i'm going to start methadone on wednesday. i'm starting at thirty."-- giving me a rundown on everyone in the city's coke ("no, they're bunk! you know how it goes ten twenty thirty... on the rig... well, they're... the top is BUNK... all of that... you're going to... squeeze it out of that one and into another rig..."). impressing her by giving her a ten to buy a pepsi and some licorice on the way there, letting her lace her fingers into mine and lean on my shoulder, hoping she'll give me a heads-up if i'm getting setup to get robbed, shaking a bit off for her to test, i guess, it's all bought and paid for. fuck but i can't even picture her face, just those fucking arms, and shivering visceral twistedupface feeling that gives you. shit fucking bothered me in a way almost nothing can. i've watched girls shooting up coke i bought them, in shitty dope houses with their dad asleep in another room, somewhere, squashing tiny black spiders crossing my forearms. no problem. i worked in a beef plant, surreal assembly line death shit that you are guaranteed to nightmare about for the rest of your life, stood at my station cut around the neck of the cow hanging off a conveyor hook above you, let the head man grab it under the jaw, take your knife and seperate the esophagus from the windpipe, take your rubber band gun, get the tip over the esophagus and drive it up into the cavity, click the trigger to release the elastic and it keeps the guts from sliding down and out, all in a rain of stillbodytemperature blood. that shit was different, though.
all over sweet creamy 2% chocolate milk rich... perfect... hopeful, nasal on the hook... hopeful up and down surface shivering replacing marrowdeep revulsion thoughts...
the whole world is a hustle, home of the brave and free
with penitentiary workers, modern day slavery
what kinda choices they gave me
play ball or stay in school
convicted felons can't get jobs
who in the hell made them rules?
what about basketball bobby, won't make it to the pros
he averaged 24 but his SATs were low
imagine hearin the gun blow, seeing blood all over the bed
see, al had AIDS so he shot hisself in the head
know sometimes we get scared
lookin ahead past the trouble
the world a hustle lord help us through the struggle
BETTER WIPE YA TEARS AWAY BETTER PUT YA FEAR ASIDE
PUT ONE HAND UP IN THE SKY AND LET ME KNOW IF YA DOWN TO RIDE
THIS ONE FOR THOSE DIED AND DIDN'T SURVIVE THROUGH THE STRUGGLE
DON'T MATTER YOUR DAMN COLOR THE WHOLE WORLD'S A DIRTY HUSTLE

homebwoi ft. b.g. - where they at -- sewerdeep bass undetectable on your headphones, with squelching, squeaking electronic croaks and slurps, missile command whistles, collipark music chopper city. between hiccuping, enthusiastic homebwoi verses about niggas better watch it when i'm cockin the chrome / cause i'm clumsy, i'll slip one in ya dome and b.g. menacing on the beat dropout with the beating heart and wheezing gasps, what ya heart beatin fah?? what ya heart beatin fah?? and coming with one of those slow barely rapped verses, looming on the beat with fierce chitchat, you want beef i ain't hard to find i'm everywhere
you don't be where you say you be you never there
you stuntin like you bout it bitchnigga you skeeeed
with the beat turned down, so you can hear the saliva in the corners of his mouth crackling when he opens them, lips smacking together.

geto boys ft. z-ro - when it gets gangsta -- z-ro singalong deepcroon on the hook "when it get gaaangstuhhhh," halftalking in the question, "will these motherfuckers ride or die?" and "bitchnigga you ain't no soldier you gon hide and cry," convenient to add fee on to ghostwriting check. willie d spitting deep about fat dark stormclouds rolling across azerbaijan plains and international currency markets and-- wait, no it's some real listless shit about putting a clip in a bitch as easy as a walk in the park, okay. slow, mumbled face verse fading back into sleepy and clean life of joseph w. mcvey leftover beat, sounding like falling asleep music, falling asleep on sunday afternoon with warm sunshine coming in through the window after a big lunch, thick and dumb and satisfied, the sound of fat flies slapping against hot window in the background.

gucci manne ft. young jeezy and boo - icy -- beautiful scrunchyclickydirty beat sounding like old houston, including fat man bellowing on the hook ALL THESE GIRLS EXCITED OOOH YOU KNOW THEY LIKE I'M SO IIIIICYYYYYY SOOOO IIIIIICYYYYYYY, and funny, triumphant southern rap that's not about southern rap, full of grinning braglines.
jeezy, kinda doing flip, even down to imitation of his incredulous squealing at himself in the background and asking if we got the line: got a house around my neck and my wrist on chill
any given time two fifty in the grill
(A QUARTER MILLION?????)
you better act like you know, man
in my hood they call me jeezy the snowman
(YA GET IT??)
jeezy the snowman! i'm iced out, plus i got snow, man!
gucci, enthusiastic as hell on it, every bar needing an exclamation mark: ahhhhh young gucci manne
don't kiss me baby, you can kiss my chain
ahhhhh you gotta be a dimepiece
just to look at the rocks in my timepiece
uhhhhh i come through in a droptop jag
or a oldschool chevy with the antique tags
my pockets so heavy that i can't walk steady
niggas coppin ice we done done it already
boo, the goofy kid on the closeout, bouncy midwest flow but outbragged by southern flossing, talking about guns and girls.

Brooke Valentine f/ Big Boi and Lil Jon - "Girlfight"
At first I thought it was Ciara going hard for once! More of those wah wah guitars that LJ is using all over the place now, nice thick surging bassline and a very effective delivery of the message that there is about to be a girlfight.

T.I. - "Prayin For Help"
From that 6 track block of plainspoken realness at the beginning of Urban Legend before they get on with the features and club concessions, pretty much my favorite song besides maybe some of the obvious ones, I dunno, maybe it's everyone's favorite, if it's not it should be. When Tip first got locked up and it looked like he'd be gone for a while, Gel & Weave speculated hopefully that it would result in his All Eyez On Me, this is one of the only points where you really get a glimpse of that (and when he invokes All Eyez on "My Life"), and it was supposedly recorded when he was going through that. No running the king of the south shit into the ground, just calm and humble over that beautiful tinkling beat with those amazing parts where the snare drops out at the beginning of the 2nd and 3rd verses and he just rides the kick drum. All that after school special wisdom that I love about Thug Matrimony: "it ain't a way I can help nobody til I save myself/technically I'm still a slave myself/I gotta climb out the grave myself/man I played myself/but when I look at all the mans I touched/I ask how can a man that's done so much/be treated so unjust/cause I'm tryin to inspire the folks/you wanna condemn cause they sell dope/well man show em the ropes/be a father a football coach a role model or a symbol of hope/take another approach/Instead of testifying against em in court/handcuffin em and closin the door so they can be worse than before"

The Firemen - "Smoke Wit Me"
So I'm watching Uncut and ok, it's another west coast party rap video about weed, but wait, holy shit, is that Teck Money from Real World Hawaii? It is! The worst deluded RW wannabe celebrity of them all, parlaying his lame bargain bin reality show antics into a short-lived VJ gig and a small role in Van Wilder, now dude's tryin' to rap! Actually I was kind of impressed by his flow just by virtue of it not resembling his speaking voice in the slightest.

8Ball & MJG f/ Lloyd - "Forever"
Still spinning singles off an album that didn't sell thanks to lames like me who never got around to copping it, Bad Boy South brother Chopper all up in the video, and the kid from the Inc. with the slept on R&B hits doing one of those sung hooks that tries to shoehorn too many syllables in there. The beat sounds pretty much just like "Don't Make", which is cool with me because I love that song, I dunno about anywhere else but it was way bigger than the a-side here, and was sampled for one of the biggest best Baltimore club tracks of '04.

after wayne and sqad up falling out, they dissed bg and wayne on the same track. bg answered back and reaffirmed that wayne was still his boy and if he wanted any of those fake-ass sqad bitches robbed, he could get it done. they both reached out to each other, saying there wasn't any beef and there never was. so, wayne and bg came together in tampa a couple night ago, that's them in the picture up there. wayne brings him out before he does i miss my dawgs, tells reel to take it away and they get teary-eyed. beautiful. wayne maybe getting def jam money and not sleeping on baby's silk sheets anymore, hanging out with bg, buying his own car. now dream about turk getting out (isn't the story that the cop shot the other cop in the back? turk was hiding in a closet with his rig) and somebody getting their money right and paying for a hot boys reunion. (meanwhile at the new no limit: lil romeo holding down c-murder's spot on a tru reunion coming out on koch).

(wayne and baby in goldceilinged bedroom, lying on big, low bed with mink bedspread and dark red silk sheets. baby sprawled with head propped up by giant pillows in matching dark red pillowcases, dressed in matching dark red silk robe, sweet in one hand, stroking wayne, naked and curled up like a sleeping dog, beside him. baby cooing, "why do you want to make your daddy mad?"
"i gotta do my own thing."
"why do you want to hurt your daddy?" birdman ceasing the loving stroke and turning away dramatically. wayne slinks off bed, pulls robe off hook beside the bed, walks toward bedroom doors, which swing open at the hands of caramel puerto rican boys in loin cloths, who wait until wayne has disappeared down the stairs at the end of the hall and then run in to comfort their boss.)

Okay, I've already written about this song a million times, but most of the search engine hits we've been getting about it have been looking for lyrics, so I'm gonna do that for my googling Baltimore brethren, and do you one better with an mp3. These are the realest lyrics you will ever hear on a local radio hit from a 3rd rate city.

Bossman - "Off The Record" lyrics:

off the record...some things I gotta say
off the record
between me and you, though...you know?
off the record...keep it on the low...feel me

a lotta y'all know me from "the land of the oh", the B to the O-S-S
here's a few things that you might not know, I need to get it off my chest
off the record, the past few months has been hectic
tryin' to build this buzz, some things got me stressin'
whole lotta strain came along with this blessin'
tryin' to maintain [?]
baby mama beefin', naggin', screamin'
daughter havin' seizures, can't get the proper treatment
her bullshit insurance is probably the reason
deals, labels talkin', it's only for a single
my niggas thing I'm switchin' the way I do business
had to learn the hard way, don't mix friendship with business
hurt me to my heart, me and Cash split apart
he ain't see the vision, shit, it ain't my fault
and I admit, since he split, things been runnin' smooth
I'll be damned if him and Kid gon' make me choose
shit, both them my dudes, difference is me and Kid made a business move, and that's the principal
I feel invincible when I spit in the booth
my own producer probably questionin' if I'm is the truth
'cause he ain't used to me on songs sangin'
long as the song bangin', then it's all king, then
if y'all would just listen how the flow keep switchin'
that's the main reason why I think I'm so gifted
I get it from my mama, yeah she been through the drama
some things still haunt me that I keep in my closet
that happened to my sister where her baby father dissed her
he don't know he was that close to bein' hit up
but his daughters my nieces, so I keep it on some peace shit
I guess my kindness my weakness
found out who killed my man, damn, it left me speechless
let that be our secret

hook:
off the record
up in the studio gettin' blowed to the truest shit I ever spoke
this is off the record
up in the studio gettin' blowed to the truest shit I ever wrote
so turn off the record

see, everybody flipped when they thought I dissed Kiss
'cause I said his album wack, that's exactly what I meant
but y'all got it backwards, 'cause the fact is
I think Kiss is one of the illest left in the rap biz
ain't no albums been hot since 50 Cent dropped
I can't forget Kanye, oh yeah, his shit was hot
why all these rappers gettin' shot, but ain't sendin' shots back
just talk about it when they raps
I ain't a gangsta, thug or a murderer
nigga, fill me with slugs, I live, nigga, I'ma murder ya
had that ass erased, this game's a disgrace
somebody tell me how the hell we welcome back Mase
and I ain't tryin' to hate, his name leave a sour taste
I seen him as a preacher, switchin' his whole speech up
talkin' bout rap's the devil, we need to speak up
and stand up, don't let it ride, man up
I'm sick til I hurl with this Best of Both Worlds
when this nigga R. Kelly molested little girls
if that was my daughter or your daughter
would you have respect for a molestor from next door?
well treat that shit the same, fuck the money and the fame
don't lay back and accept it
shit I wouldn't be surprised if Big had Pac slain
but that's off the record

hook

I got more to get in if y'all still wanna listen
I feel like the world's one big contradiction
some things in the Bible I can't comprehend it
I ain't dissin' no religion so please don't be offensive
don't make sense to me, they say don't sex before you're married
but when the baby's born say it's meant to be
God created everything, who created slavery?
must've been the devil's work, somebody tell me how God work
he destroyed Earth and left Noah
I wanna know-ah who sexed Noah for me to be here flowin'
it's a proven fact, you tell a story, somebody tell the story, the facts get mismatched
everytime the story reenacts, did you know it's a fact
the blacks' right to vote, it's not a law, it's a act
all this talk about the draft, so wick-wick-wack
how you gon' fight for a country who do shit like that?
that vote scam in Florida disappeared, got overlooked
man, it probably don't even make the history books
they say obey the laws of our land, if God made the man, then man made the law
so when we break laws then we disobey God
shit, fuck naw, that ain't the truth by far
what about war and thou shall not kill
when the people of America do that shit at will?
motherfuck Bush, we should re-elect Bill
believe it or not, slavery exists still
you may not feel how I feel but you gotta respect it
this is the off the record
now the whole world know how the fuck I feel
on and off the record
so turn off the record

Labels: Bossman

CLIPSE - WE GOT IT FOR CHEAP VOL. 1

me and my mama son mookie
carry four-fives and we don't take no dookie
been selling that shit since the sidekick suzuki
fuck my first fiend, name was freebase lucy
sixteen, in trouble some, he was twenty one
hundred dollar kicks, i'm poppin bubble gum
now who the fuck is dumb?
like them talons can't reach ya and eat ya
and turn you to a negative six feet sleeper
so what ya dreamin bout? cut the dreamin out!
fuck from round me if you not what my scheme about
truckloads of coca, hoes in the sauna, me in the toga
king bracelets, rings and chokers
actin like i don't even know ya

that grounded balling from the first album, not even real grimy but just observant and real, i guess, picturing them getting down about how you do, taking pride in walking out in baggy expensive jacket and jeans and shoes still bright and stiff, not walked in yet, a hundred bucks in old twenties and tens you got to see taken out of wallets and pockets, going through the drive-thru for two cheeseburgers, six mcnuggets, mixing hpnotiq with half drank lime crush slurpee, smoking good weed, whatever, first video had pusha-t serving to rollups in front of a 7-11, surrounded by competition. before grindin checks came, pharrell ghostwriting checks, now talking about hundred, two hundred, three hundred thousand dollar cars with same observant realness. and the old focus: not even spitting about the game, really, not talking about moving a commodity like they do down south or the romance of street history like they do in new york, but coming with odes to the shit, poetic shit about how fiends shake and the mother of pearl shine on a pyramid of coke, sounding like they put more up their nose than on the block. gone, mostly, applying same to aspen hotel rooms and rolls-royce hood ornaments and blushing diamonds. and shoring up nasal whines with generic east coast muscle with punchlines. eh.

R.I.P. Rap City: The Bassment

chamillionaire ft. devin the dude - backup plan -- beautiful six minute plus slowjam, cham doing cham, siphoning the creamy princess cuts/candy paint off the top of gangrenous southside (like michael watts just took keke off the southside with major label money and/or the opportunity to work with mike jones and coota bang) and making them sound as smooth and beautiful as the similes and metaphors suggest, not just aspiring to tops dropping in the sc430 but aspiring to personify japanese efficiency and immaculate design against backdrop of pot-holed streets of acres home. he takes out the guns and dirty words and replaces them with emotionless, flawless lyricism, coming robotic in his abstract hustler mode, "see, getting money's like sex and i'm havin a menage-a-g / gold diggers can't eff with me like i'm havin a menage-a-me." and devin doing devin, representing the old guard of southerners acceptable to the sensibilities of the north's intellectual elite, and passing the torch to cham while spitting cute, goofy verse about balls and panties, invoking real hip-hop with scritch-scratch beatboxing.

DNA & Def Jam presents Comp: Bang-A-Rang Gang Mixtape, Vol. 1

Intro
Produced by Stay Getting, "YES YES!! Motherfuckers, YES YESS!! YES YES!! Motherfuckers, YES YESS!! Yo, it's your boy Comp, I know a lot of you wanna know what the name means, well, allow me to break it down, Clever On Many Perspectives, and that's how I'm reppin', OH! Bmore! And I ain't gonna talk you to death, I'll let the motherfuckin' name do the rest"

Strip Down
One of the 2 Track Boyz productions, funny sounding high pitched loop, just one verse and chorus that they stop halfway through and run back a 2nd time.

Ghostface interlude
"bangin' on niggas out this bitch, nah mean, you know how we do, we gon' bang, we ain't bloods, we ain't crips, y'nah mean, we just dipped in all black right now, right now y'all niggas is fuckin' with the Bang-A-Rang Gang, y'nah mean, it's on man, when you hear that you hear nothin' but hammers, man, and ain't no real live 3rd grade shit when I say it like that neither, man, on some Bang-A-Rang shit, man, and we ain't no motherfuckin' gang, man, we the motherfuckin'...we that Tang, nigga, y'nah mean, it's real like that, and this is Ghost, I'm out this bitch, one."

Eye Problem
Weird clicky drums, hostile hook with Track Boyz whispering: "now what the fuck are you lookin' at?", Comp: "what you got, eye problems?"

Beanie Sigel interlude
scratchy voice over the phone, constant voices in the background: "State Property, motherfuckers, I'm chillin' with my man Comp, yeah right, I'm drunk, I don't give a fuck... but Comp don't mean you get shit for free, motherfucker, Philly and Bmore, you motherfuckers, I'm out here with the police, nah mean, I ain't really with the police, but they out here and I'm watchin', they got holsters in they guns n shit, I don't give a fuck about they glocs, cause my man got a mac eleven in the truck, they got 32 in the clip and one in the pipe, for whoever want it. fuck all y'all niggas man, this is Mack Mittens and I'll be out the end of June! you motherfuckin' bitches, the fuck outta here, nigga, Broad Street Bully holla at me, nigga, get your weight up you lil nigga"

Get Ya Mind Right f/ Notorious B.I.G.
I like this beat more every time I hear it, it fits perfectly with the ridiculously awesome Biggie verse, from Aaron Hall's "Why You Tryin' To Play Me", and one of Comp's better verses. it's kind of a shame this isn't for the Biggie duets album.

Get Em f/ Layzie Bone
It sounds like there's 2 or 3 different drum kits going on in this beat that are all slightly out of sync with each other, piccolo snare fills flipping in and out of time with the hi-hats and the booming distant snares.

Harder
uh huh, yeah right, Comp
[vocal sample: harder, harder, hard, hard, harder]
listen...
I was tryin' to make money, now I'm [makin' it]
haters really wanna take it but they [makin' it harder]
(right, yeah, you see where I'm goin' with this one)
I just got in the game and I'm a starter
I'm a rookie playin' with pros, so I'ma play [harder]
(yeah, you got that right, I got to)
jealous ones hate me 'cause I'm [makin' it]
you dudes comin' soft but Comp is [makin' it harder]
I was destined to shine to get where I'm at, with the help of my father
when I pushed, he pushed [harder]
(yeah, for real, man...Pockets, I love you for that, man...listen)
even though I'm on top now I'm [makin' it]
I'm still quick to off ya, stop [makin' it harder]
seperate yourself from controversy, you can learn from Shawn Carter, R. Kelly made it [harder]
you never did drugs til you started [makin' it]
you high on your own supply, now you [makin' it harder]
(you only killin' yourself, man, that's all)
this is textbook and Comp is the author, I can show you a easy way when things get [harder]
(believe it or not, believe it or not, man, c'mon man)
you got a deal but you still not [makin' it]
labels shelf your project, [makin' it harder]
(damn!)
you filled with sin, you cleansed your soul, wack off to them devilish thoughts, always make it [harder]
I'm fakin' 'em, shakin' 'em, bakin', I'm [makin' it]
I'm ten steps ahead of you, [makin' it harder]
(how you gon' catch me when I'm that far, man?)
writin' them rhymes, the music I was [makin' it]
my first CD got outdated, [makin' it harder]
(shit, that was a...that was a classic, man)
some didn't want this to happen, me goin' far with rappin', now I'm laughin'
pocketful of dead guys I don't even know
I secured my family life with a flow
I embarked on tons of cash, which made everybody hate me on the ave., it's so sad
you see the ones that you used to chill wit, and now they wanna kill shit, and you the target
and you're the youngest Def Jam artist, rap style flawless, I'ma eat regardless
they talk sideways, calm your comments
I earn my respect so you pay me homage
like it or love it, love it or not, I now rate for the hood, I can write up a block
so watch and learn, wait ya turn
the game is hard and you ain't half as firm
it's fucked up how things really are
just when shit gets hard somehow it gets [harder]
(it's cool, though...'cause I'm gonna make it, man...by any means necessary...one day or the other...believe it or not...I'm gonna make it...it's just my destiny...Comp)
[harder]
[makin' it harder]

I'm Tired
Cartoonish vocal sample going "I'm tirrrrrrrrred" for the hook, kinda clunky piano beat by Ray Lugar from the Stay Hi camp, but lyrically I think it's Comp at the best I've heard from him so far, just being honest and real about the shit in his life, no shouting:

verse 1: I'm tired of being at the point in my life where I'm politically correct but I can't get right, listen, I'm in the club on Saturday, the church on Sunday, and hello Monday, it's fucked up, I'm throwin’ my body in hell just for a hard-on, I notice I'm changin' the channel every time God on, I say they frauds but I pull scams, that's my reason for turnin' to MTV Jams, damn, I ain't gonna make it, am I? niggas havin' babies every day by Brenda, and I done went to war a couple times, I remember, just like it was yesterday, way back in the winter, a natural born sinner seekin' God for some help, but I can’t find him when I'm searchin' for myself, but I’m so tired and I'm gettin' more weak, I'm smokin' more weed and I'm catchin' less sleep, but you would never know [I'm tirrred]

verse 2: I'm tryin' to get my mind right, cause I'm not sure I'm ready for this limelight, for real, I'm gettin' lazy like [?], not takin' control of this career opportunity (on some real shit) as well as I should be, I ain't goin' hard at like I could be, honestly I wanna ride around, fuck and watch movies, all day every day like usually, I'm spendin' less time in the studio, spendin' more time in the booty hole of a ho, it's like I took a deal for granted, tryin' to be Michael but I ain't workin' hard as Janet, DJs need drops for they mixtapes, shit I need to come out with a new mixtape, but as long as the shit waits, the more and more my album switch dates, for God sakes, niggas, [I'm tirrred]

verse 3: [I'm tirrred], but I would never doze off, until I'm layin' on that tray with my clothes off, until that time come I gotta stay awake, like the owl on that tree branch by the lake, cause I'm not perfect from a long shot or even a foul line, I'm tired of a [?] bein' trial time, when I'll say one thing and do another, dumb shit like spazz out on my mother like I don't love her, and that's somethin' she'll ever forget, that I can't take back like clothes that don't fit, shit, I gotta live with that like a handicap, I can’t end it and give that back, some things you gotta learn on your own, when you young and hard headed tryin' to be so grown, I feel stressed out, leave me alone, you can hear it by the voice in my tone, [I'm tirrred]

Rep Til I Die f/ Lloyd Banks
Not a real collabo, just the pre-Hunger For More mixtape joint "Gz Up", with one Lloyd verse and then Comp and some Bang-A-Rang dudes coming on verses and their own version of the hook.

In The V.I. (V.I.P.)
This is kind of cod-crunk like what the Federation and them are doing, not really trying to sound like Lil Jon, but doing their own flip on the wilding out in the club shit, the beat's really good, the best of the many Spit-1 productions on here, hope he's holding onto this one for the album.

My Thoughts interlude
"it's your boy, Comp, man, never forget that, make sure you get that album, My Thoughts, y'nah mean, when I release that upon you, My Thoughts comin' real soon, so make sure you check that out, boy from Bmore, you know the fuckin' name"

Comp (What's My Name?
from the Def Jam:P Fight For NY soundtrack, ok song with a "Jigga My Nigga" flip on the hook.

Jim Jones interlude
"Bodymore, Murderland, that's how we say that, Comp? yeah, nigga, ain't nothin' changed, nigga, we down in Bodymore, Murderland, they know how I get down down there, too, nigga, it's capo status, nigga, shouts to my dude Comp, he comin' up in the game, and he bitin' niggas, ya heard? no homo, nigga. we will eat ya food. holla at me."

Harm City freestyle
Over that awesome beat from the Fab/Blaze "Can't Let You Go" rmx, doin' some weird ass creative similes and metaphors: "yeah I know you got cream like a genital boil, rims lookin' like chopped up aluminum foil, that's because you sell the stuff that look like milk when it spoil"

I'm Dancin'
One of a couple of self-produced joints on this, Comp can do beats himself alright but this is just kind of a goofy track overall, fast tempo and silly synth sounds and a funny high voiced flow. Hearing him on stuff like this and the "I'm Tired" beat and you can almost see him being one of those indie rappers that alternates between silly and sincere when he's not in gully shouting mode.

Outro
"ay man, whenever you in Bmore, make sure you slide down Edmonson and Mt. Royal, holla at my man Rome, he got you, Sounds In The Hood, you know where it's at, man, fuck, it's in the hood, stupid nigga...and yo anyway, yo, shoutout to my man Backland, he was in a bad car accident, y'nah mean, he gettin' better, he healin, too, man, yo shoutout to him too, but anyway, this is the outro, now play that shit again"

Run (rmx) f/ Lil Wayne
Last winter on I think another DNA mixtape there was a "Run" remix that was just different freestyles over the beat cobbled together, Raekwon and Weezy and Comp (a different verse from his one on the original), here's that on yousendit. This is pretty much the same thing but with the choruses cut out and both Comp verses and Wayne and no Rae.

Labels: Comp, mixtape/album review, Stay Gettin'

Comp - "It's Official"
One of those nervous violin lines that you seem to hear everywhere lately, like "Still Tippin" or that Alicia Keys song, "come journey through the home of the Ravens / I can show you how my heathens be behavin' / you watch The Wire and you think you know / about that quatro uno oh! no! / and if so and you visited / no show can show you how vivid it is". You can hear it on the front page of his website, but it cuts off after the first verse. The 2nd verse gets into industry shit, meetings with L.A. Reid, taking too long to follow up on the "Run" buzz, actually a lot of stuff we talked about in my interview. I wrote a whole thing about his last mixtape that I've been sitting on for a while, I'll probably finally post that soon.

Hulio Shallone f/ Paula Campbell - "This Body" / Paula Cambell - "Let Me Find Out" (remix)
Hit Em Hard Records / Blackbyrd Music collab, Hulio from west Bmore following up that "This Is My Hood" hit with a decent club jam with Paula and it sounds like one of the producers from her album, kind of weird hook that goes from a bunch of sexy "you gonna like this body" lines and then suddenly turning tough with "don't make me have to hurt somebody". I might've gotten the title wrong but that's alright because I misspelled Hulio's name the first time I posted about him. / One of the better tracks from Who Got Next? with a new beat, open hi-hats and low octave piano switched out for cod Just Blaze beat with cowbells and buzzing synth bass, more Paula getting gully, "let me find out you're the one trying to steal my man, let me find out you're the one that keeps on calling him".

Bossman f/ Chinky - "Stay Together"
"Off The Record" is still ruling Baltimore radio and sounds more amazing every time I hear it, but this is starting to bubble as the inevitable next single. Not really one of my favorites off Law & Order (which should be another forthcoming post) but it's an ok love jam. Lilting, ringing guitar part on the verses that reminds me of "I Love You" by Faith Evans, and then a big syrupy string swell under the diva chorus. It's pleasant and it sounds solid enough that if a mainstream artist came out with this it would be huge, but to follow up a record as great and a real as "Off The Record" it's a little underwhelming.

Labels: Bossman, Comp, Huli Shallone, Paula Campbell

Twista ft Faith Evans - "Hope" (remix)
One of the sweet sentimental tracks from towards the end of Kamikaze, now a single for the Coach Carter sdtk but with Cee-Lo's warm pretty hook redone all thin and out of place by Faith. Only other thing different from the original: the line where Twista wishes that "super homie Christopher Reeve could still walk" replaced with a new line about the people that died at E2 (the Chicago club where 21 people got stomped to death).

Amerie - "One Thing"
Rich Harrison showing his Go-Go roots again after the stiff brittle "Soldier" beat, completely bananas flailing drums, loose as fuck, big long bars full of fills tumbling and teetering on the edge of just too much, barely held together by funk guitar stabs, back with his girl Am finally for a follow up to the underrated '02 summer jam "Why Don't We Fall In Love" (which, admit it, "Crazy In Love" was a in some ways inferior rewrite of anyway), her voice still so trebly and piercing but put to perfect use with that chirping hook and that wonderful ridiculous second verse where she says something about ringing bells and then goes "biiiing boooong biiiiing boooong".

Nas - "Getting Married"/Nas ft Quan - "Just A Moment"
Congrats to the Joneses! It almost feels redundant to hear they finally actually had a ceremony after dude spent the last 2 albums calling her wifey. This is far and away my favorite song on Street's Disciple: the weird intro with him doing a call and response of "KISSING" live with that hoarse winded voice he always has outside the booth, "I remember the first time, girl, you and me!", then one of those clean crisp, pretty but not 'lush' beats that everyone hates on him for using but sometimes they just work, rim tapping, slow echoing notes, sounds like a vibraphone. That balance he almost never gets right but does here, between the somber pompous Yoda-like diction and the gruff little flashes of humor, "this ain't no Huxtable kisses and hugs shit", the part at the end where he fakes you out with the cheesy music-as-wife metaphor and then going "siiiiiike". / "Just A Moment", next video and everything, I guess since he coudln't get "Coon Picnic" to fly as a single even with the neutered alternate title "These Are Our Heroes", so now the agenda is hyping this boy Quan he says is the future or whatever. It's an ok track, but I can't listen to it without thinking about how the same sample was flipped ten times better on Freeway/Kanye's "Hear The Song".

NEW BANNER:



HOW THAT SOUTSHIDE DICK UP IN YO MOTHERFUCKIN MOUTH, BITCH?

i ain't got nothin ft. mr. magic and lil boosie --
jamming on fucked up headphones, holding left earpiece up for a few
seconds then setting down once i figure out the next thing i need
to type, going deaf in right ear. plain banner formula, bringing
southern hottest together on snapping bic pens, insane cheap keyboard
leading circle of thundering trunks. banner spitting more hateful
and extreme than the real rappers on the track, mr. magic telling
stories about being cheap and bitches that get insulted when you
ask them to blow your crew, boosie outshining both at the suite
with two freaks, slappin em on they cheeks, hittin em from the
back off a david banner beat.

rep to the death --
"i ain't savin these hoes, leave the preachin to mase / i'm tryna dump
about four or five slugs in ya face / i ain't never had shit, give a
fuck bout a case." banner grimy and unconvincing, once again setting
up hard, outshining verses, various click members coming with guns
and guns and brains on dashboards. throw your sets chorus on regular
banner beat with crunching drums and whistling machines and campfire
singalong guitar strumming.

gangsta walk ft. three six mafia, 8ball and mjg, mr. marcus --
that line-up is something special, banner writing checks and letting
them rap without mentioning the significance of the track, everyone
coming with heat:

dj paul: we started gangsta walkin, nigga, not no mc hammer / this the
real dilly, get ya hyper than hype, no cut or no arm & hammer / slam
a hater to the floor, stomp a mudhole in that hoe / mean as hell on
that liquor, meaner than on that blow / so don't push me motherfucker
push me motherfucker push / i'm affiliated with more terrorists than
g. bush BITCH

juicy j: yeah, they call me the juice from that north north set /
where they rob for the gross and they divvy up the net.

8ball: straight from the mound, boys better not clown / i got 85 niggas
with me representin the town / young pimp, smoke weed, don't snort, might sip
/ fo-fivv with a bunch of hollowtips in the whip
mjg: I'M PIMP TIGHT M J G YOU CAN LOOK AT MY -- RESUME, NEVER BEEN
A TRICK, NEVER EVER PLAY

WHOO KID / 50 CENT - 2050: BEFORE THE MASSACRE

"this ain't that jamaica avenue shit, hand me my cufflinks." after the g-unit album he was still the greatest rapper alive, that real billion dollar flow and all the just-below tricks and talent waiting to bubble up subtly and unexpectedly and with the resources of entire new york empire to call upon, money and history, wipe anyone off the map, industry blacklist and testing hands in studio brawls, and buying out every market, fifty million dollars-- but i still expect him to retreat further and further, rapping in 1988 time machine over alchemist beats or, on the mixtape, who shot ya with beanie kidnap-sodomize raps, get reactionary. but sticking to purring hooks and rapping about how to hustle in the abstract, don't grind/don't shine, and big guns but never too specific, and smooth and perfect and ahistorical. and first offical single, candy shop, biting magic stick hook, robotic on fire beat, painting himself into a dark, dark corner,
you can have it your way, how do you want it?
you gon back that thang up or should i push up on it?
temperature rising, okay let's go to the next level
dancefloor jampacked, hot as a tea kettle
i break down for you now, baby it's simple
if you be a nympho, i'll be a nympho.
bizarre to hear in silky new york accent instead of through dirty platinum or gold and-- shit, as extra illustration of shifted balance of power: 50 and buck on still tippin, 50 ripping off mike jones flow and simplifying the hook to just busting .44s and pimping an unspecified number of hoes, and and 50, yayo and banks on three kings, yayo ripping it in bun b's close-out position (actually, he's outshining on every track he's on here with more of those rough, specific verses about cocaine on the amtrak, hypeman shoutalong energy).

Here's a bit of Rod Lee's "You Big Dummy", which was jacked for "URAQT" on that weak overhyped Piracy Funds Terrorism thing.

Labels: Baltimore club, Rod Lee

lil flip - girls girls girls freestyle -- this is one of the most wonderful things you will ever hear, flip doing that oldschool oldschool flow, goodnatured, smiling in polo and kangol, microphone held motionless and vertical under chin, rapping to a girl in the front row. but actually tearing down lil flex and e.s.g. with inside information about sales and watches, and playing the don't grind/don't shine ideology back at them, and sounding casually convincing with the street stuff, beams and scopes, urns on mantles, talking about a hundred thousand records sold and the cover of murder dog, coming with that syrupy swagger that sounds nothing like hardmouthed, beaten down t.i. responses. "fuck it, it was just freestyle!"

lil flip - juicy freestyle -- more flip on beautful new york beats, and one that sounds sort of like a h-town beat already, soft drums snapping on bass core. hook texasized by, i think, big t, talking about swangin 84s/young thugs/pimped hoes. flip saying, "i'ma show you what it is to be a lyrical nigga" or "the only reason i rap is to get some mils." generic swishahouse dude on filler verse. and flip again with smile/polo/kangol freestyle:

i would chuck the deuce out the roof
he recognized me, he seen them rocks on my tooth
you gots to salute cause i'm a motherfuckin soldier
when i freestyle i never lose my composure
nigga, i blow doja! nigga, the best weed
nigga, my name is wesley
nigga, my trunk crunch hard like nestle
that's a candy bar! harley with the handlebars
lil flip, i rap, make movies, and a star

Here's a great recent interview with two Bmore legends, Rod Lee and Labtekwon, about Baltimore Club music:

pdf version

html version

Labels: Baltimore club, Labtekwon, magazines/newspapers, Rod Lee

paul wall and chamillionaire - here i am / true ft. lil flip / still n love wit my money (listen here) -- despite what cham told me, i think controversy sells is going to turn out a lot hotter than you might expect. even if it is an opportunistic cash-in, this is important and blazing fucking hot. they remake those get ya mind correct beats, tinny and clean and the perfect match for how cham and paul were spitting back then, making your entire world sound tarred and feathered with candy paint and princess cuts. cham sounds like the billion dollar rapper again, riding those beats with triumphant flow, the almighty king koopa, "i officially claim myself the rap king of the south / they say i'm the greatest of all time / and i say WHO? and they say YOU / and i say, nah, give that title to the late and great dj screw." and paul sounding as cold as he'll ever sound, coming with his slow, smirking punchlines about everything that's good in the world.

For the DJ Quik fans: a couple behind the scenes type videos, here and here. (I couldn't get the 2nd one to work on my comp, but the first one has a good amount of footage of dude at the mixing board messing with a kinda ill beat and then an interview.) Also, there's a short interview with him in the current ish of Scratch, but it's all about cooking.

Here's an mp3 of that new Ying Yang Twins "Wait" that I was hyping a minute ago. There doesn't seem to be much else about it on the web yet, though. Is it possible this is getting spins in Baltimore but not in the South?

THE GOVERNMENT NAMES MAGNO INTERVIEW



I don't give a damn, drop a freestyle lecture
Twenty five lighters on my dresser, pull up Kompressor
That be the Benz, if I make money break it down with my friends
Split it with my kin, that's how we stack it
Sittin' sideways, screens watching Judge Hatchet
Surround sound, in the Lac-uh, they say it don't matter
And when she set the gavel, you gon hear my trunk rattle
Hold up, let me switch it back to lyrical
I can't be forgotten like an oldtime spiritual

Number one draft pick off the north side of Houston, ready to follow Chamillionaire, Slim Thug and Mike Jones. He held it down lyrically for the Swishahouse camp after Cham jumped ship, put out a solo underground, Collection Plate, and an underground with Mike Jones, 1st Round Draft Picks, and then he jumped ship himself.


First of all, what's up with the Swishahouse? What caused the fallout with them?

Well, the main reason why I'm not with them anymore is becuase they got mad after I dropped WildLife Mixshow Vol. 1 which is a mixtape under my own label. I felt I was getting put on the backburner, and wasnt at all a priority to the company. Everything was "MIKE JONES, MIKE JONES, MIKE JONES." So whether they hate or be jealous, I got on my own hustle and dropped a mixtape featuring me and my artists. They didnt cut for that, though.

That 1st Round Draftpicks on Swishahouse was a real big album. I know you break it down on The NEWprint, but can you explain what's really good with you and Mike Jones?

Well, being real, we don't speak. We ain't on speaking terms by no means. We haven't spoke since a week after Mixtape Messiah dropped. And that ain't like us, 'cause we used to speak everyday. You know, on some real nigga shit, like, "What go dyne, mayne? What ya got going for the day?" type shit. But after our last conversation, which didn't even end on a bad note, he aint holla'd at me, and I ain't holla'd at him. It's like he just changed on me. He acted like I had somethin to do with Koopa dissing him or something.... He even kinda implied the shit, so I was like, "fuck it."

Northside dudes are known for that wordplay, those crazy punchlines, where does that come from?

Not talking down on my state, or region, but majority of the folk down here not big on hip-hop, as far as lyricism is concerned. They just now getting on it.... Niggas is big on rap.... That's why it's taking me so long to pop. I'm going against the grain. When I first came out, only a selecive few was spitting punchlines and using wordplay but then when I came out, I did it a lot and I got a lot of flack for doing it, 'cause peeps was like, "Awww this nigga think he from New York or somethin'"... but now, two years later, everybody doing it... and thats why I call myself "The NEWprint"...
'cause I'm the new blueprint for Texas rap. I wasnt scared to take that chance, and now look... it's the thing to do.

That's cool. So everybody on the northside isn't jamming Big L in their slabs?

Nah, niggas down here don't even know who he is, mayne. I do, but niggas down here don't....

Alright, speaking of New York, there's been rumors about you getting down with DJ Clue and Desert Storm. Is Desert Storm South for real?

Fa sho, it's real. I'm not on paper with Clue and them yet, but we definitely working together on some stuff. But no matter what I do, I'm WildLife.... I gotta be a boss in whatever I do. I'll never go back to not having control over my career. I paid my dues... but for now, we just working together. Once we see everybody realizing that this is serious, we gon pull a few rabbits out the hat, ya feel me? Oh, and shouts out to DJ Storm, and Millertime, they the heads over Desert Storm South.

I saw you got Stack Bundles on a song. What's the story on that?

Through my dealings with them I got a chance to collaborate with Stack Bundles, and I'm finna have some future collaborations with A-team, Joe Buddens, probably Fabolous, and the rest of the Desert Storm camp. Shouts out to them boys by the way, they all doing they thang up top... --Oh yeah, and shouts out to Pain in Da Ass, my boy who did the intro and outro for The NEWprint. Y'all probably remember him from the skits on the Jay-Z albums, and being in the Roc-a-Fella movies... cool dude....

Are you worried about letting New York control the South? Sometimes it feels like New York is taking over the South rather than the other way around. Is the whole South going to be spitting really generic shit over fake Just Blaze and Kanye beats?

Well, no matter what I do, I'm gonna keep my material just as Southern as it's been while underground. I'm not going to compromise that for nobody. But the beauty of the situation is: Miller or Storm have never asked me sound New York-ish or nothin'. They encourage me to embrace my Southerness.... That's my whole catch right there, the Southern cat with the lyricism of a Northern, or east coast nigga.... Shiiit, from time to time, I take it back to the ole school H-Town rappin' style, just to show niggas that's what I come from.

How did that Swishahouse reunion track come about?

I been wanting to do a track with them dudes. They some Houston legends mayne, fa real. I used to ask Watts about getting them on my stuff, 'cause I wanted them on Collection Plate. But they was going through their beefs, so it never did happen. But, shiiit, this time around, I'm the CEO, so I got at them. I always been cool with them all, 'cause I have that understanding that them boys is the reason my career is so much easier than it could've been.

Are all of them still rapping or were you pulling dudes out of retirement?

They all doing they thang still, though. Lil Mario got Street Fame Pt. 4 coming out ... Big Tiger working on an album ... Lestor Roy stay dropping new shit under his Wreckin Da Scene imprint ... A.D. droppin Home Field Advantage-- I'm on that by the way, knock it off--... Big Pic got the Flow General out, and droppin a greatest hits soon, and the rest that I didn't get a chance to get at, like Blyncyde, and Archie Lee, they still doing they thing too.

You had a lot of trouble getting The NEWprint out. Is it getting harder to put out and sell undergrounds in Houston?

Nah, it's not so much as hard, it's just them damn pressing plants be having so much work, and they don't know when to say, "Man, we're overloaded, we aint gon be able to take your project because we are so far behind"... Nah, they just take your shit, lie to ya saying that it's gonna be ready in two weeks, and dont have it ready 'til six weeks later... hoe-ass niggas.... That shit be having me agg....

What else is coming out on Wildlife Records?

Well, we have a long lineup of things dropping. Next up is NEWprint 1.7: The Deleted Files.

What's that going to be?

A compilation of songs that didnt make the first NEWprint due to lack of CD space, and of course, new freshly laid songs, flows. It's gon be thoed. Also we're getting ready to drop Building Of An Empire, which is our group CD.

Who's in the group?

Our group is, me, my older brother/co-CEO Deetha Savor, Slugga, and Young Twinn. We all have our own style, so it's gonna be fun dropping that. ... I'm gonna be dropping MAGNOmixes:Best of '03/'04 in a lil too... it's already done. Shouts out to DJ Luis the Sole-choppa... he screwed and chopped it.... Also, I'ma be dropping The Collection Plate 2: The Building Fund later on this year, also. Plus, in the midst of those all flow projects, we'll be dropping mixtapes, so we just working. ... Now, that's the releases as far as WildLife is concerned.... Me, personally, I have a few projects in the wings with various artists and DJs. I have a project coming out with Tite da D3 Nutt, from T-Town Music, coming out soon. Also, I'm in talks with DJ Bull about doing a project with one of the Freestyle Kings... me and DJ Statik talkin bout doing a PayDay 2-- he's also mixing NEWprint 1.7-- plus, I'ma be doing a mixtape with DJ Storm from Desert Storm South-- he got some I'm on already, so check them out, they in stores--... and last, but not least, The Rookie of the Year is still coming soon. That's gon be the album, all original beats. That's gonna drop on a major more than likely, but if not, hey, we ain't trippin', we grindin'. So, I been busy, and I'ma be busy all '05. But hey, being busy is a blessing.

That's real, man. You got any shoutouts?

Well, I wanna give a shout to Deetha, Slugga, and Young Twinn... we fam for real.... Plus, I want everybody to check out wildliferecords.com, you can order the Wildlife releases from there and also check out desertstormsouth.com, it's finna be off the chain in there. If you aint got The NEWprint go knock that off, it pretty much explains what I got going on in my life. The NEWprint 1.7 will be out in a matter of weeks, so be on the look out for that. Shouts out to all the fans, DJs, and patnas off the block that supported me from day one, and even if they just started supportin two weeks ago, fuck it, long as ya down! I appreciate erbody. Holla at me at magno_music@yahoo.com, any time... and yes I do get back to everybody. Holla back, MAGNO YA HEARD!

Gov't Names most talked about list, 2004

Each number stands for the # of posts that mention them, including passing mentions and nicknames, etc.

Lil Flip - 51
T.I. - 49
Jay-Z - 43
Kanye West - 34
Lil Jon - 32
Nas - 31
Jadakiss - 27
Cam'ron - 23
Paul Wall - 22
Twista/Ludacris - 21
Chamillionaire/Lil Wayne/Comp - 20
The Game/50 Cent/Bun B - 19
Biggie/Pac/Juvenile/Eminem - 18
Mike Jones/Bossman/Lloyd Banks/Jazze Pha - 17
Mannie Fresh/Pharrell or Neptunes/Fabolous - 16
P. Diddy - 15
Slim Thug/Just Blaze/Young Buck/B.G. - 14

partners-n-crime - talk that shit now -- here's that unlv diss i mentioned before, talking mostly about n.o. rap history, a general lack of realness, and some left condoms in your baby seat shit.

well, if i never knew a clucker, now i know one
got a couple of grams, tec-9-- you wanna score one?
niggas always tryna diss, but you know you lookin pissed
you done made my hit list, you baboon-lookin bitch
never take shit from a busta, never take shit from a clucker
you tried to diss my click? (you a stupid motherfucker!)
went on to bite my style, give us a towel
make my uncle know that you dropped a diss but it's too late
you shouldn't put out another tape
you say you fucked my boy, ol lady?
then i find out much later that she had your baby
now i know it may seem a lil crazy
but is that really his baby?

akon - ghetto remix ft. z-ro and bun b -- original with sighing background and singing about on the corner with the toolie on the waistline / just got up out the bing doin state time / teethmarks on my back from the k9 / dark memories of when there was no sunshine in sad, beautiful voice, delicately tinted with accent like bbc world service johannesburg correspondent through shortwave radio static. and biggie/pac remix with everyday struggle/smile verses overlayed. and taken down south in search for the most heartbreaking verses ever, a) throwback z-ro verse from look what you did to me title track, that old doubletime flow, spitting that introspective d-boy shit, "all alone in my own zone with no friends / so i chose to make friends with drugs," riding the beat six years ago, and, b) bun b from one day, pitched up slightly to hit the right tempo, the old instrumental still slightly audible under the remix, always recite and tingle along to: my brother beeeen in the pennn for damn neeear teeen, but now it look like when he come out man i'm goin in," tickling down the base of your skull.

the game - the documentary

[i'm running] with 99 miles left
on the avis rent-a-car blowin horns like miles davis
at the pearly gates, god let me in
give me a room by aaliyah's with espn
i know i got more sins than two lesbians
been back and forth across the border like mexicans
but [i'm running] like new york pedestrians
trying not to scuff my nike air checks again
it's funny how niggas be the best of friends
and fall out of a pussy and wanna dead they men
one of my niggas in the grave, the other one in the pen
she fuckin my enemies inside my homeboy's benz
now she beggin god's mercy cause she ain't listen to nas
and never heard about ike with the iverson jersey
he got a cousin named jason that rock the gary payton
now the same triflin bitch is a h.i.v. patient
true story

problem: new york gatekeepers buying out the west coast early, before any offensive elements can enter their market, working with a kid with bullet in his heart, a tongue ring and a tattoo of eazy-e, carefully buying into and creating the new strain of twee west coast nostalgia bullshit. but. but.
but it's one of those bright blank stares g-unit albums, cover art hallucinatory supervivid mix of weekday afternoon fox batman cartoon or dark sci-fi anime and airbrushed fantasy art on side panel of 1983 chevy van, crystal clear million dollar beats, no guests, made to tap into alternate history nostalgias about disappearing the last five years and thugs still having to sing love songs-- actually, filtering everything necessary through their formula. it works better than anything else, it's all heat, all these tracks you heard snippets of for the last two months with whoo kid gunshots over, game spitting amazing 50/banks-writtens over amazing beats, everything sounding lubricated and precisely weighted, perfect.

Things groupies say