Album Review - Nas - Life is Good

One of the most anticipated albums of 2012 is without a doubt the return of Nasty Nas. For whatever reason, there is more want for this album than a long time for Nas. Maybe it's my generation holding on and hoping one of our legends can drop a classic that will 'save hip hop'. Maybe it was the return of good Nas on the street singles "Nasty" and "The Don" which whet our appetites for one of the

Album Review- Maybach Music Group - Self Made Vol. 2

Rick Ross is one of the hottest artists in the game now and of course when you're on top you have to establish your own label and last year, Ross officially did that last year with Self- Made Volume 1. On it he officially introduced Meek Mill, added Wale into the fold and also featured Miami artist Pill as well. A new year and some slight changes have been made, Meek has an album coming up and

New Music from Mainstream (sort of) artists

So if you don't know by now, Mysonne is one of the few gangster rappers I can still stand to listen to. Now his full mixtapes get repetitive for me but he can give me some good music in short bursts. Now he is releasing some new West Coast inspired Pac music freestyles and 'I Get Around" was cool, but this "Ambitionz Az a Rider" freestyle verse is straight murder.











Mysonne has good

Nas is back

Right now I want to talk about the enigma of hip-hop Nas. Well the original enigman, because while he has many many fans, there are those of us who feel as though he is very uneven and erratic as an artist. This is a guy who could easily have been the best but a couple of missteps have made him more of a top five of all time, yet he is still a huge question mark. About 2 years ago he made some

Album Review- Nicki Minaj- Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded

The most impressive artist on Young Money/Cash Money is Nicki Minaj by far. Very attractive and off-beat yet still skillful, she has been intriguing since she first came out looking like Lil Kim on her first infamous promo poster. Years later, her style has switched up, she has become more popular, doing songs with Madonna and everyone else, because I mean when Madge is calling you and including

My Top 20 favorite Rap albums Ever

So I know that lists always generate discussion, and while I'm not about to put down a concrete definition behind this one, it is what I feel are 20 hot rap albums and I would love to see some top 5's or 10's from you the readers and we can talk about this, so without too much let's jump right in.

20. The War Report- Capone-n-Noreaga

The War Report is a hood grimey NY trenches classic banger

if Nas was a 90's baby

A Message from NC-17



Hip Hop isn’t dead, it’s just outgrown the crib rap purist
wanted to chain it to. Rap music is our music. It’s the struggle of the Black
American, the rise to fame, or the play by play of the parties thrown. Brothers
and Sisters gave way to Niggas and Bitches. Fight to power gave way to Tear Da
Club Up. It’s evolved but it’s not that different from where it started. Rap

Top 55 of all time? - The Final Chapter

So now we have my top ten and actually this section is probably anti-climactic when compared to the previous sets of ten. I know there have been some shocks and surprises along the way and I will have taken bumps and bruises and my share of criticism but every list is like this. Here we go, the final top 10:

10. Kanye West - Now I hate Kanye's personality and his outward arrogance. However, I

Kool G Rap & Nas "Holla Back" - The Protoype?

I've done a pair of pretty thorough posts on the many, variant tracks left off the commercial release of Kool G Rap's Giancana Story on Koch Records, here and here. But, you know, there's always another little piece of the puzzle to be found. And today's bone fragment that I've linked to the giant, Tyrannosaurus skeleton (really, Giancana Story's a great album if you gather up all the pieces besides what you just get on the 2003 CD) is a neat white label 12" featuring an alternate version of "Holla Back" featuring Nas.

Now, before you cut me off and tell me you already know about the "Holla Back" version with Nas, allow me to point out that this is another version featuring just Nas. Now, I've already talked about the more well-known, unreleased version of "Holla Back" and how it differed from the one on the final Koch album. Here's the break-down of those two versions:

11) "Holla Back" with Nas, Nawz & AZ - Yeah, this was featured on the album. But the leaked version had Nas kicking the first verse instead of Tito of BGF. Nas seriously came off with one of his tightest, illest verses, too ("Throw niggas off yachts, hold niggas with shots, my bitches ran 'cause I'm stupid - I put the shit on digital cam. Light up an ounce, let my bitches watch it on television, hella relentless. Fifty a pop, sell it like Menace. When I sleep, all I see is a white skeleton image. It's telling me something... I opened up Shakespeare's tomb, stole his remains, grinded his bones and got in the game"); so it's a real loss. This version was only featured on the leak. The Koch version also remixed the beat adding a few extra samples and bits. None of it makes up for the loss of Nas.

But there's also this white label 12", which features its own, unique version of "Holla Back." The main difference? No AZ or Nawz, and no Tito either. This is strictly a duet, making it a more fitting follow-up to "Fast Life," going right from Nas's killer verse to G Rap's. Now I'm not mad at the other guest verses (especially AZ's) so it's not a "yay! they're gone" situation; but it does turn a sort of awkward posse cut that takes too long to get to G Rap's part into a concise heater with just the two greatest verses from any version of the song.

But that's not the only difference. Where the original version and the Koch version feature someone (I think Nawz?) doing a spoken intro starting out, "yo, it's 2G" etc, this one has its a different intro. This version starts with Nas explaining how Kool G Rap inspired him. Then G Rap gets on to tell us to check out these tracks, and then we're right into Nas's verse. I actually think maybe this intro was recorded specifically for the 12" (which also furthers my suspicion that this white label was a promo release from Rawkus and not a bootleg), but it is blended into the song.

And this 12" has some nice bonuses as well. It features three freestyles which decidedly don't sound like radio or mixtape rips. The sound is clean and professional and I'm guessing they were recorded for this 12". Two feature Ma Barker (natch) and one features him going over the "It's a Demo" instrumental. All three are pretty nice - G Rap kills it on all of them. My favorite is the one titled simply "Unreleased."

Then, the B-side features the Jagged Edge song "Ride On," which features Kool G Rap. Produced by The Trackmasterz, it features them singing over pretty much the same instrumental The Arsonists used for "Venom," so it's pretty hot. Like the more official 12" Rawkus put out of this song, it features Clean, Dirty and Instrumental versions. But only the other, separate "Ride On" 12" has the acapella.

All in all, this is a pretty sweet 12" with a lot of value, considering it has "Ride On" and the three exclusive freestyles. And for me, this is probably the ideal version of "Holla Back" with just the absolute tightest verses on it. But even if you decide you'd rather have the version with the extra AZ and Nawz verses on it (I can't imagine anyone deciding they'd rather have the Koch version which excises one of Nas's illest appearances), this is still an interesting historical artifact. If you see it, pick it up.

As Is Hip Hop Awards- Album of the Year

I was very disappointed overall with the albums released this year in rap music. They didn't have a great amount of depth to them and too many people have the same concepts- "I get Money", "I ball", and "I'm a Boss", to be taken seriously. However, when it came down to picking the top 5, I did waffle a bit with the order a couple of times. Two of the top five actually came out at the end of 2009

Album Review- Nas and Damien Marley- Distant Relatives

Nas is one of the more star-crossed artists in hip-hop. Almost everyone agrees he is a great MC, by that same token damn near everyone has said Fuck Nas at some point, artists and fans alike. Artists because of his opinions, and fans because of his inconsistency. In the face of his last major label release, "Untitled" or "Nigger" as it is really called, the commercial failure it was, seemed to

The Top albums of the decade

So i am officially back from my winter sabbatical and i really didn't realize that this was the end of the decade until people started trotting out accolades for it. It got me to thinking, especially when you talk about the best albums of the past 10 years. I found that it wasn't even hard to come up with an initial list and no it doesn't include Lil Wayne. In fact, it doesn't even have an album

Spike vs Tyler

Now the funniest part about this entire debate is how old it is. There has been a growing group of people (like myself) who are not fans of Tyler Perry's work for various reasons. Now let me be honest I only have liked X and He Got Game from Spike Lee so it's not like I am a big fan of his either. Beyond understanding his point I empathize with him and his anger.You see the first thing people say

Posse Songs used to be Hot

Now I actually have a cd of "Posse Cuts", songs where you have a group of people who aren't in a group on the same song. What has gotten me upset you might say? For one this new song from Drake, Wayne, Kanye and Eminem is a pure disappointment. Take a listen for yourself.This might not be here for long, but what I get is a jumble of mess. There is no big theme to the song or point to it, just

Guest Blog- Taylor Swift killed Rap music

Once again the big homey NC-17 is here to say the things you don't want anyone to know you think and to basically piss you off with something sort of like the truth.As I search best buy for Taylor Swift’s Fearless CD, I walk through the Rap aisle. Maybe I’ll buy Fab’s Loso’s Way CD… nah that 12 dollars can go towards a bottle of Ciroc. Oooo look its Maino’s CD, I like Maino… not enough to spend

High Expectations

There are some people in this world for whom the normal is unacceptable. IN Sports it's no longer enough for Kobe or Lebron to get to the playoffs, they are expected to compete for and win the title every year. Alex Rodriguez cannot just hit .320 and knock in 120 runs, he needs to carry the team to the World Series. Same goes for Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, and Brett Favre. In hip-hop, Jay-z and

Guest Blog- Jay-Z is a Hater

This is a blog by my man NC-17. Catch him on his Myspace page right here.JAY-Z IS A HATERFist let me start by saying JAY Z is the greatest Rapper Ever, better than Pac, Big, Nas, and Em… Now for the blasphemy – JAY Z IS A FUCKING HATERShawn Carter is the biggest hater in rap and has been since 1998, Ask Murder Mase.CHECK YOUR OWN VIDEO YOU’LL ALWAYS BE NUMBER 2:When B.I.G was alive Jay was nice,

Album Review- Rick Ross- Deeper than Rap

Before I start this let me say I hate Rick Ross. I am serious, I think the guy is lame and that he is just another "image" creation by the machine who doesn't have much merit when it comes musically. I know I'm a special sort, who actually wants to hear something different from an artist by the time the third album comes around, sue me. However I am forced to give Ross some credit for what he has

Whats in a name?

One of the possible details that can be overlooked when albums an album is thought of, recorded, and released is the title. Some of them make a stir and are intentional like last year when Nas decided to title his disc "Nigger". Unfortunately it never came to fruition due to label and retail bureaucracy and we were left with:It's funny, a close associate of mine was joking with me about who

It's Alive!!!

The biggest phrase of the past few years has been Hip-Hop is dead. Let me tell you, it ain't. It may not live in the mainstream as much as it should, but it's still around and today it popped up in a big way for me. I might try to find a way to post some music so you can hear it, but I don't like having my posts removed when I share something.First Ima say CNN, that's Capone-n-Noreaga must be