2010 Are You Ready?

   Alright, so it's the end of 2011 and so much music has and news has come, passed, been forgotten, and driven through the wringer that it's nearly impossible for me to maintain any sort of chronological history or all of the events of this year so I'll just touch on a few in short order.
 
 Fat Joe came with it on a SOLID album that had one of my favorite songs of the year "No Problemz". T.I unfortunately went back to jail but put together a good package to hold us over until he comes back. Also in regard to T.I, he smashed that verse on "Fancy" didn't he?.

WAIT, STOP THE PARTY! Swizz Beatz showed this year why he is "The Monster" by making the hit songs and remixes this year. He produced song's like "Roman's Revenge" for Emenim and Nicki Minaj which by the way was simply animalistic and made "the issue" between Nicki Minaj and Lil' Kim official. You tell me your thoughts on the results of that. While speaking of Monsters, Nicki along with Kanye, Jay Z and Rick Ross transformed into beasts for one of the biggest songs of the year in "Monster". "First things first I'll eat your brain"! Who says that?! Oh yeah the video is below.

While mentioning Kanye, although I would have not liked for him to have apologized to Lucifer himself (George W. Bush) because the prick was unappreciative of the sentiment and as always too arrogant to even want to get Ye's name right, I understood where it was coming from. Also, I would like for Taylor Swift fans and non-fans to quit bitching and tell the girl to do what is proper and cut that man a check for new found popularity. Lastly, I would like to say that this cat has again fouind a way to create great music and be the biggest asshole ever to critics without spelling it out in ABC fashion, hense "Monster"

In other Def Jam stories, again the label whose foundation is Hip Hop lacks promotion of Hip Hop. While Rick Ross had the hottest summer seen by a Def Jam artist since Jay Z which BLAZING hot singles like "BMF" and "MC Hammer" the numbers didn't add up to the expectations. Gold is not the worst but Hip Hop was spoiled with Platinum plus for a few years. Big Boi, Redman and Ghostface who all put forth great works but promotion that is less than what Def Jam is known for doing for their premier Hip Hop Artists. With that being said, that WU Massacre was on fire, you know, grown people's rap. Ludacris made sure that he kept himself and Atlanta noticed by doing what he does best and rhyming.

Luda had some help from Gucci Mane and Waka Flaka who have made a foundation for themselves amist so many negative sentiments from individuals in the Hip Hop commuity. Some who may not have embraced their efforts in the beginning, have embraced their realistic ideals, loyalty to each other, and honesty. It's almost like Soulja Boy who "swagged" his way into another infamous year whether for the good or bad.

In Young Money news outside of Nicki Minaj, Lil' Wayne came home, got right to work and hit the streets with 6"7 which was much needed for him to get back into the swing and for me as I can't listen to anymore Drake songs. Before I'm labled as a hater, let me state that I like the rapper Drake. I just need new material because there has been an oversaturation of the market that I need a brake from right now.

The biggest comeback of the year is obviously Emenim who came back larger than King Kong. Everything that he's touched this year has been spotless and that's good for him. Good to see the asshole back in the race.

Mentions go to 50 and Jadakiss for "Dump", Yelawolf for being just that awkward in perception and that nice on the mic, Joel Ortiz for being that asshole rapper that I miss in Hip Hop, Ice Cube and Rev Run and the gang for bridging the gap on the BET Hip Hop Awards, Lloyd Banks for staying down and shining in a way that I didn't notice before, Dipset for bringing it back together, Bun B for holding up after a great loss and putting in great work w/ Talib Kweli, Talib Kweli and Hi Tek for Another album, Jay Electronica for providing verbal chess matches, The Cool Kids for staying off the beaten path and funky, Cali Swagg District for getting sexy ass grown women up out of their seats and wiggling perfectly, B.O.B for doing exactly what he wants to do and making it work, Dr. Dre for finally moving his finger toward the album release button after another 10 years, and Skillz for another Year End Rap Up which I know is coming, but haven't heard yet. Like I said, I can't remember everything so there may be an update but until then, TELL SOMEBODY and follow me on Twitter at TheMarcusObrien.

Apollo Kid

I have to take the time to put a little light on a MC with enough character to pass around the room twice and still have enough to give plenty of color to the album. He's a member of the Wu who rocked the Wally's, ill robes and a 6 inch high gold eagle arm bracelet. Call him Tony Starks or Ghostface but either way, you'll get the same ill flow and swagger. Who else would do a video eating an ice cream cone? We all know him from the Wu Tang Clan, but I'm thinking about some of the solo efforts he's put forth. I have to say that "Shakey Dog" on the Fishscale album is not only one of my favorite songs on the album, but one of my favorites period. The song is about a robbery set up that didn't go as well as expected. This cat is one of the best story tellers that there is in Hip Hop. Years ago my homeboy and I started calling Ghostface "The Great Describer" because we would listen to him and notice how he could give you a verse and a half simply giving you the set up for the story which includes describing everything and everyone in the room down to the shoelace, and that's what made "Shakey Dog" on Fishscale so hot. By the end of the song, I had to know what happened with the Spanish cat and Ghostface. There's not too many MC's that can keep people's attention with a story anymore, but this guy really does paint pictures with words and has hilarious lines to keep the listener entertained.

He's been on record as saying that he likes beats with soulful samples. What I would like to see is an album with production from the RZA, 9th Wonder, Kanye West, Just Blaze, Alchemist, Pete Rock, NO I.D., and see if there could be some type of clearance for a Jay Dee tack in there. I have no idea how much case that would take, but I'm sure that the end result would be BANANNAS! The Apollo Kids album is out now and I hope people support it cause it's good isht. Check out the link to "Shakey Dog" and as always TELL SOMEBODY!

HUNGRY!

Right now, I'm feeling that Joel Ortiz is just one of the illest cats around. Who could have taken arguably the spring and summer's hottest song, Beamer, Benz, or Bentley and stripped it down to the gutter with Nissan, Honda Chevy and make it fly. He spoke on hustler practices and techniques that only people have done it for real would know. Shots out to the Mickey D's Fish and Cheese! If you don't catch on to what I'm talking about listen again, and if you still don't get it, you never will. All year he's killed every remix he's been on and rapping like this is last year living and starving. I miss rappers who sound like their still trying to get it and haven't falling into the "I'm been living in the lap of luxury for years before rappin'" mode. Sometimes it's just refreshing to hear a blue collar rapper. With a new album out, and fire in the streets, much success to Brooklyn's Joel Ortiz. As always, TELL SOMEBODY!

Qualo Feat Psychodrama & Turtle Banxx - Gunshots, Warfare... Revelations

Now We Have A Battle

So, it seems as if the feud may have now become a real battle. After a summer full of accusations of shots on wax and verbal passes in interviews, we now have at least one direct hit fired by Lil Kim and one by Nicki Minaj. This has finally gotten interesting because this seemingly unnecessary squabble finally makes it to wax. If you ask why I say “seemingly unnecessary”, that would be because I truly don’t understand Kim’s animosity toward the newcomer for not paying enough homage to the queen. Everyone born before 1987 is probably aware of whom the Queen Bee is and what impact she made on Hip Hop in terms of female lyricists, style, and sexuality. After Salt-n-Pepa, she took over as being the sexy woman in charge of her destiny but what she added was a passion for high end fashion and downright raunchy topics that we couldn’t get enough of and that is what she is recognized for. I’ve provided a short essay on Lil’ Kim’s pedigree, to illustrate why I don’t understand her beef. Everyone knows who she is and anyone after that is automatically draw comparisons to her so; it is my position that there is no need to require so much praise. Nicki did a photo shoot that was very Lil’ Kim like. Hell, let’s just throw it out there, it had Queen Bee written all over it but it’s obvious that she was giving Kim a nod or maybe I missed something. Sometimes imitation is the greatest form of flattery hence - Biggie Smalls, Foxy Brown, Queen Bee. I don’t see any possible way that she and her people set up a shoot like that and didn’t know that it would draw a comparison or have Kim in mind when doing it. It’s almost like sampling a beat, it was hot so let me rock to it.
With all of the logic and history aside, let’s get down to the battle. Nicki officially fired first with Roman’s Revenge featuring Emenim which was monstrous. The production by Swizz Beatz was huge with lyrics that matched. There were a couple of lines that set the tone for the song and battle. The first was in character talking to herself saying “Nicki she just mad cause you took the spot, Word, that b—ch mad cause I took the spot? Well b—ch if you ain’t sh---in’ then get off the pot”…. and “so f-ck I look like getting back to a has-been, yeah I said it, has-been, hang it up, flat screen. These are pretty ballsy words for a new comer to speak to a veteran, but I’m not sure if tenure really means as much as people make it but I’ll get to that later. With Kim keeping the feud alive this summer and not having put any music out, it seemed as if this was going to be an absolute slaughter. That would not necessarily be the case.
Kim has come back with “Black Friday” which was released on Nicki’s self-claimed “Pink Friday”. I first heard it on Hot 97 New York and I was less than enthusiastic about the response. I felt that if Kim thought that she was sending subliminal messages in various songs, there should have been a tremendous amount of aggression shown because at that point, she had her back on the ropes. If you think of her verses on “Hello Good Morning” with Dirty Money or “Monster” with Kanye West where it’s been said they were meant for the Queen, those were two SERIOUS verses before “Roman’s Revenge” and the interview with Angie Martinez where Nicki compared the battle to “having to beat your children”. Kim’s words seemed to come of nonchalantly instead of fire which I believe that situation calls for. It seemed a bit lackluster but I wanted to hear it again so that I can be fair about things so I found the whole song on the internet. Apparently Hot 97 didn’t play the whole song and yes, it did get better. As the song went on, Queen Kim found her groove that was reminiscent to the old Kim and she took jabs at the youngster about things like being a Lil’ Kim clone and the name Minaj getting her a job. Invalid points like plastic surgery and gaining fame from sexuality were made by Kim but it was still a respectable comeback.
This is where I will go back to not letting tenure cloud my vision on a Hip Hop battles. During the Cannibus vs. LL Cool J, I was so stuck on LL being a legend and one of my favorites of all time that I wouldn’t admit that this was the one time in his career where he had decisively been defeated even though I knew deep down it was true. Alright, that was a bit dramatic and sensitive, but on real isht, Cannibus did rip LL a new one and at this point, round one or three depending on how you look at it victory goes to the challenger. Do I feel that it’s over? No. Do I think that it was total domination? No, but the Queen will have to come a bit stronger to win this one and I’m waiting to see if she will pull it off. As always fell free to comment, and TELL SOMEONE!