15 Jun

Posted at 03:37h in Music, Throwback
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Of all the things Lil’ Kim has done in her iconic 23-year career, nothing stands out quite like “Crush on You.” I want to call it mid-’90s hip-hop excellence or even just hip-hop excellence, but the song is so much more: it is pure musical magic, no genre qualifiers needed.

The song was released this week in 1997 as the second single from Lil’ Kim’s debut album, Hardcore, and is as fresh today as it was back then. The beat, which samples the Jeff Lorber Fusion’s “Rain Dance” — sans horns and with a lot more bass — is one of those that take over your body. It is literally irresistible and you should not trust anyone who hears it and doesn’t move at least a little bit. Also, the bars. THE BARS. God bless Cam’ron because he DID THAT.

Yes, Cam’ron wrote all of Lil’ Cease’s lyrics in what was a subcontract from Mase, who had been tapped to ghostwrite five songs for Lil’ Cease. The official songwriting credits only lists Jeff Lorber, Lil’ Cease and Andreao Heard, but the song’s Wikipedia page lists Lil’ Kim, Biggie, Mase, Cam’ron and Jeff Lorber — no Lil’ Cease, no Andreao Heard.

The song was actually meant for Lil’ Cease, but ended up being a Lil’ Kim song; however, due to an unexpected pregnancy, she was unable to lay down her verses at the time it was being recorded, so the song appears on her album with just Lil’ Cease’s verses and Biggie on the chorus. The video version, however, has Kim on there rapping modified versions of some of Cease’s verses.

Now…the video. THE VIDEO. There are few artists that are as in their bag as Lil’ Kim is in the “Crush on You” video. Rocking colorful wigs and talking all of her shit, Lil’ Kim created a new template for the female rapper that can still be seen today — and I’m not just talking about Nicki.

Like every good rap video from the ’90s, this one also has cameos from a few famous faces, namely Aaliyah, Uncle Luke and Sheek Louch.

This video is history. This song is history. Click play.

14 Jun

Posted at 20:57h in Music
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Nicki Minaj just released “B.E.D” (featuring Ariana Grande), four days after the release of “Rich Sex” (featuring Lil Wayne). Both songs are going to be on Queen, which is set for an August 10 release date. At this point, it feels like Nicki is throwing everything against the wall to see what sticks, and while it is sad to watch, I totally understand. The good news is that she has finally put out songs that are undeniably dope; “Chun Li” and “Barbie Tingz” — the latter of which won’t be included on the Queen tracklist — were decent songs in their own respective rights, but in a Cardi B world, you have to come harder.

“B.E.D,” Nicki’s fourth collaboration with Ariana Grande, is standard fare as far as Minaj-Grande collaborations go (i.e. mid-tempo, sex theme, etc.). Ariana sings about having a “bed with your name on it” and Nicki opens the song with a line about “waiting for you on some thousand-dollar sheets.” The song is about as radio-friendly as radio-friendly gets, and I’m not mad. Check it out below.



“Rich Sex,” as the title indicates, is also about sex, but is way gullier than “B.E.D.” Nicki raps, “If you let that broke nigga fuck, we telling!” on the chorus — women are going to LOVE that one — while Weezy declares, “Pussy smell like money when I’m down there, that some Nic shit.” The song is full of quotables. Towards the end, Nicki laughs in a way that would remind you of “Itty Bitty Piggy.” Oh the nostalgia. Click play.

14 Jun

Posted at 05:40h in Music
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You can’t keep a good Canadian down. King Aubrey just released the album cover for Scorpion, which is set to drop on June 29. He is giving us the signature Drizzy pout and the waves are on swim (that’s why they hate on him). He also dropped the video for “Im Upset,” which is one big Degrassi reunion. I didn’t watch that show, so I’d be lying if I said I cared, but it’s just good to see one of the greatest rappers of all time — I welcome you to fight me — doing his thing again after the harrowing two weeks he has just been through. Watch the video below.

11 Jun

Posted at 05:28h in Celebrity, Music, Viral
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I’m not sure why a couple that is notoriously private and also happens to be the most famous couple in the world would release nearly-naked pictures of themselves in bed, but self-sabotage usually comes to its victims disguised as good ideas.

Shawn Corey Carter and Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter, better known as Jay-Z and Beyoncé, released a risque picture book as one of the merchandise items for their On The Run II tour, and I’d be lying if I said I fully understood why. It feels very stunt-y and very inconsistent with their collective brand, and said brand is so strong that I cannot imagine that this helps in any material way.

There are better shots of them taken by paparazzi hiding in the bushes, and I know they have access to the best of everything, so I want to know why we didn’t get better pics (if they absolutely had to do this). Jay-Z looks like he’s under punishment in the pic below and the whole thing is cringe-inducing. This project did not need to happen. At all.

The pop culture historian in me is gonna assume that this is some sort of nod to John Lennon and Yoko Ono, whose Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins album cover has the couple giving us full frontal nudity (while the back shows their bare asses).

11 Jun

Posted at 03:58h in Music, Throwback
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Saturday, June 9, 2018, marked 20 years since Brandy released what would become her most successful album. Never Say Never was decidedly different from her self-titled debut album because — besides Brandy Norwood herself — there were no carryovers in the songwriting and production department. It would serve as a launchpad for Rodney “Darkchild” Jenkins, who gets a credit on 10 songs on the album and went on to become the writer/producer du jour  for the remainder of the ’90s.

Never Say Never produced two No. 1 singles and sold over 16 million copies worldwide. If you asked me  what my favorite cut on the album was at the time of its release, I would’ve probably said “U Don’t Know Me (Like U Used To),” but at this moment, I’m going to have to go with “Angel in Disguise.”

Even though it was a single, it never actually got a video, so enjoy the audio below.

07 Jun

Posted at 18:59h in Music, Throwback
2 Likes

Prince Rogers Nelson would have been 60 years old today, so it’s only right that today’s Throwback Thursday would be dedicated to the Purple One. Below are six of my favorite Prince songs, one for each decade.


“Diamons & Pearls”


“Purple Rain”


“I Wanna Be Your Lover”


“The Most Beautiful Girl in the World”


“The Beautiful Ones”


“Little Red Corvette”

RIP to da god!

07 Jun

Posted at 02:32h in Celebrity, Music, Politics, Race
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So…Kanye West had a listening party for his new album, Ye, last week in Wyoming. To no surprise, it was attended by a lot of celebrities, including Chris Rock, Nas, T.I., Teyana Taylor, Desiigner and Lil Yachty. Reviews of the album have been mixed, but I’m not concerned about any of that because I decided that I’m gonna pass on all Kanye music till further notice.

I think it’s worth noting that I started writing this post at least 5 days ago and kept abandoning it because Kanye stresses me out. To some extent, I think he intends to have this effect on people.

While I wasn’t surprised to see all those famous faces at the listening party, I was a little disappointed in every single one of them, especially Chris Rock and Nas. Most of the other black celebrities there were younger and would probably yield a net gain from being associated with Kanye, so I get it. It’s like working at a 9-5 where you have to suck up to an annoying boss to get promoted. We’ve all done it.

T.I. is not a young celebrity, but he’s also not someone I consider to be particularly smart, so he gets a pass too.

I am more concerned with Chris Rock and Nas, and how their their public support — these niggas flew to freaking WYOMING — for Kanye West goes directly against their years of pro-black messaging. Chris Rock routinely quips about race and racism in his standup performances, and even made a documentary about the adverse effects of Eurocentric beauty standards on black women. Nas has spit all manner of pro-black bars for years — I’m only a casual Nas fan and so many lines come to mind. How do they reconcile this with shmoozing up to a guy who says slavery is a choice? Make it make sense. No Mo’Nique.

I’m not naive, and I understand that problematic faves do exist. I have been unable to quit Chick-fil-A after all these years even though I know better; it’s a shame that well-prepared chicken is my Achilles’ heel, but this is my black-ass truth. I have, however, canceled Papa John’s since John Schnatter (its founder and largest shareholder) never gives us a chance to forget or even ignore the fact that he’s a trash human being with lots of shitty views. The key difference between Papa John’s and Chick-fil-A is that while both are controlled by people with harmful views, one is a little less shameless about it and never skips an opportunity to share; he has more “strikes,” if you will.

It is impossible to be absolute when it comes to canceling problematic people and things, so if you’re a pragmatist like myself, you probably have your own method for determining who and what you boycott. My method is strike-based, and strikes can be voided with good deeds or, if I like your product enough, a public apology or even a semi-retraction (followed by years of no new incidents). Of course, not all strikes are created equal and are each as dependent on the offense as they are the offender. In other words, Katy Perry would be canceled forever if she ever wore blackface, but Beyoncé gets a pass for being black (and for being Beyoncé).

Justin Bieber is definitely on camera saying the n-word, but he has apologized and there have been no new incidents of racist behavior (to my knowledge, at least), so he’s in the clear in my book. Kanye Omari West, on the other hand, has run out of strikes with me. And based on my observations, he has run out of strikes with most reasonable people.

From Confederate-flag-branded apparel to mindless support for Trump to talking shit about Obama to saying slavery is a choice, he has officially done too much. It is difficult to let go of an artist whose music was the soundtrack of very crucial years in my life, but I am left with no choice. Does this mean I will never listen to his music ever again? I hope not, but I can’t say. All I know is that he’s getting a kick out of trolling the very people who made him a star — the very people who stood by him when white people were trying to get him the fuck outta here — and giving credence to a lot of dangerous sentiments against those people, and I can’t support that in good faith.

PS: I understand that Kanye is mentally ill and should be treated with the requisite amount of compassion, but I think it would be unfair to all those suffering from mental illness to blame all of his behavior on that. Mental illness doesn’t make you a black Republican overnight.

04 Jun

Posted at 08:54h in Music
2 Likes

As far as summer records go, they don’t get much better than KYLE’s “Playinwitme” (featuring Kehlani). It’s a piano-driven song (a la “iSpy”) with a sweet melody, a dope beat, and catchy lyrics that many will find irresistible. So far, the song hasn’t charted on the Billboard Hot 100 (a whole two months after its release), but I’m going to chalk that up to KYLE’s relatively low profile and inadequate promo on his label’s part.

“Playinwitme” is the second single from KYLE’s debut studio album, Light of Mine, which was released a little over two weeks ago. Watch the video below.