Why Compton Is A 5 Mic Classic

My dude hit me the other day and asked me what I thought about Dre's new album "Compton" and I told him with no hesitation that it's a 5 mic classic and dude damn near lost his mind! It seems that the consensus on the album so far from most folk I chop it up with is that it's a "good" 3 1/2 mic album which I think is absolutely CRAZY but to each his own. So of course my man wanted me to break down how in the world did I think this album is a 5 mic classic. And anybody who knows me knows that I breakdown stuff in ways most folk have never even thought to do and I do it with my eyes closed. So why and how the hell is "Compton" a 5 mic classic? Easy...it just is.

Why Gang Starr's The Ownerz Was SO Dope!

A minute ago my dude Tony came through the crib to interview me for this doc he's shooting and in the middle of the shoot he asked me a question that was totally off topic from what we were talking about. He asked me why don't cats like Gang Starr's "The Ownerz?" And the first thing out my mouth was, "you know what...that's a good damn question!" I think with certain groups we get spoiled because of their greatness and Gang Starr is mos def one of those groups. Because the way I hear cats talking about "The Ownerz" is the same way I hear cats talking about Tribe's "The Love Movement" and the way cats SHOULD be talking about "Beats, Rhymes & Life." Matter of fact, I've heard more folk cop pleas for "Beats, Rhymes & Life" (and boy oh boy do ya'll cop pleas for that jawn "it wasn't THAT bad", "I did like a handful of songs", "I mean...it wasn't completely trash") then they give props to "The Ownerz." And trust me when I tell you that "The Ownerz" deserves a whole lotta props.

Why Did Tribe's Beats, Rhymes & Life Suck?

The other day my dude Sayid got at me after watching the Writer's Bench ep we did on Tribe and asked me why I didn't think "Beats, Rhymes & Life" was a dope album. And to be honest, I have SO many different thoughts and philosophies on why this album was such a letdown that I told him I'd have to write a piece on it vs. trying to explain it through 140 characters on twitter. So here's the breakdown on why "BR&L" was wack so that it can forever and consistently be broke. First up, I don't think folk realize how much stuff changed for Tribe after Midnight Marauders dropped and went platinum. If you look at the time span between the 2 albums, Midnight dropped in November '93 and "BR&L" dropped in July '96 so we're looking at almost a 3 year span between the 2 albums. And in that time, A LOT changed.

What Part Of The Game Is That?!?!?!?! - What The F#*@*!k Are the Sixers Doing?!?!?!?

Aiight, so it's been a week since we traded Michael Carter Williams...our so called point guard of the future and I cant even begin to count how many folk have got at me about why would we trade our best player who's the reigning rookie of the year? Well, everybody needs to just slow down for a sec. See, nowadays everybody is a prisoner of the moment. You gotta have your opinion about what happened at 5pm by 5:02pm to post on your blog or to chop it up about it on your podcast the same day. See, for me I like to take a sec and let things sink in before before I chime in with my two cents. Welp, I've taken my minute and here are my two cents.

What Part of The Game Is That?!?!?!: The Roots' 50 Best Songs...REALLY?!?!?!

Last week while I was over at one of my fave hangouts, okayplayerland and I came across this article from Complex.com about the Root's 50 best songs and since I love The Roots ya'll know I had to check it out. Welp...let's just say whoever wrote this doesn't know a damn thing about the Roots cause there's absolutely no way in hell that any songs off these last 2 Root's albums "Undun" AND "...and Then You Shoot Your Cousin"should be anywhere close to making this list and it was a rack of 'em on here. Plus anybody who has "Clock With No Hands" at #5, not one song from "Illadelph Halflife" in the top 10 and "What They Do" as the best Root's song EVER needs to lose their job not now but right now. So, since reading this utter nonsense, I decided to put together a more accurate list of the top 10 Root's songs coming from an illadelph state of mind.

What Part of The Game Is That?!?!?! - Black Jesus

"Here we go again..." - Chuck D

Aaaaaaaand we're back. I'm really starting to bug out over this crazed obsession everybody from rapers to now cartoonists have for Jesus. I mean, what is it? I mean, I know nowaday niggas LOVE their ciroc, so is it the turning water to wine thing? Or maybe the way cats flock to South Beach in droves, it's the walking on water thing. I don't know what it is but this stuff is getting tiring ya'll. We already went through the Game's hoopla with his album cover for "Jesus Piece" and then we had Mr. Kardashian masterpiece of minimilism "Yeezus." So, I actually thought after those two incidents that I'd have at least another year or two before I had to see more B.S. dealing with Jesus' image but why would I actually think that? Next up we had Ab Soul's mixtape "These Days" where he portrays himself as Jesus on the cover with the cross in the background and now outta left field we got my dude (well, he WAS my dude) Aaron McGruder of Boondocks fame with his new series on tap on Adult Swim called "Black Jesus" which depict Jesus chillin' in South Central in present day. Now, anybody who knows me knows I give EVERYBODY the benefit of the doubt, so at first I'm thinking that money could freak this in a way to show how Jesus' love is needed nowadays in the hood and how cats should get their lives straight...yeah right. Now, why in the world would I think that? Just the hopeful fool in me I guess. I mean, I know cats will dress up like Jesus for album covers and even name their wack albums after him but who REALLY would have the balls to do a series and make a spoof outta Jesus? I mean, who REALLY has the balls to do that?

What Part Of The Game Is That?!?!?!?! - The Draft Lottery

Cleveland gets the #1 pick…AGAIN?!?!? REALLY?!?!?! So, let me get this straight. The Cavs have had the number 1 pick in the NBA draft, 3 of the past four years?!?!?! And ya’ll see absolutely NOTHING wrong with that? Well, it’s obvious to me that the powers that be told Cleveland, “look, Bron is the new poster boy for the NBA, he’s the new Michael Jordan and no offense but we can’t have him here in Cleveland of all freaking places. So, we’re gonna take him to a bigger market, namely Miami where we’ll team him up with Bosh and Wade and get this dynasty thing poppin’ off again like we had it back in the 80’s. But don’t sweat it Dan, we’re gonna break the Cavs off with 3, count ‘em 3 number one draft picks over the next 4 years…you good with that?”

What Part Of The Game Is That?!?!? - Yeezus

As soon as I saw the title, I knew the phone calls, texts, facebook inboxes, tweets, etc. were coming…and they did. See, I’m a Christian and all of my peoples know that. I’ve been called “the down to earth Christian” and “the cool Christian” so whenever ANYBODY body remotely close to the Christian faith does ANYTHING bad or starts some controversy (exp. pastors stealing, lying, cheating, molesting, etc.) I’m usually the first person folk hit. So what was the hoopla this time? Kanye West’s album title “Yeezus.” It feels just like yesterday that I posted how I felt about Game’s album cover for “Jesus Piece” and I kinda feel the same way about Ye this go 'round.

Outkast...The Best Hip Hop Group Ever! (Yeah, I Said It)

Outkast is the best hip hop group EVER…period. And NO ONE can tell me anything different and trust me, I’ve heard ALL of the arguments. Run DMC? I LOVE Run, D and Jay but to be honest, they’ve only had one classic album in my opinion which was their debut. I’ve been in countless arguments with cats who say that “Raising Hell” is a classic but I disagree cause I can name 5 songs off the top of my head that I can’t stand off that album. Run and D are like the Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. of hip hop. They opened the doors for all of us to be able to do our thing in this game, but that doesn’t mean they deserve the best ever title. Wu Tang? The Wu only had one classic album. How cats bring up the Wu is beyond me because how can a group with only one dope album be the best group ever? Tribe Called Quest? I hear this one ALL of the time and I LOVE Tribe, but the best ever? Naw. To be honest, I didn’t even like Tribe when they came out. Cats were dressing weird, talking about El Segundo and wallets…I was confused. Did Tip really leave his wallet in El Segundo or did that mean something else? I’m 37 years old and still don’t know the answer. Of course I loved “Bonita Applebum” and the “Can I Kick it Remix” but it wasn’t until “Low End Theory” dropped that I became a fan. You know, when they started looking…normal. So, with “Low End Theory” and “Midnight Marauders” Tribe has two classic albums under their belt outta the 5 jawns they dropped. So, using the Jay Z’s mathematical equations of rating albums in your discography, 2 outta 5 doesn’t get you the best group ever. The Roots? To me they follow the Tribe lineage. Again, I wasn’t a fan of “Do You Want More” (it was too jazzy and light in the ass for my tastes-dope songs here and there but on a whole I wasn’t feeling it). Now I LOVED “Illadelph Halfilfe” and “Things Fall Apart” but after that the Root’s albums in my opinion went from being great to teetering on good and some of them were just aiight. Yeah, they’re up to their 8th studio album but just because you’re still making albums doesn’t get you the best group ever title. And truth be told, I think there was always some friendly comp between the Roots and Outkast on the low because Quest used to always claim the Roots had the best stage show in hip hop, but about 7 years ago HBO had this live concert series and the Roots and Outkast were on the same bill and ‘Kast ANNIHALATED the Roots! It wasn’t even close about who had the best stage show…

What Part of The Game Is That?!?!?! - Get Off the Bandwagon

The other night while I was watching the Clippers blow out the Heat, I tweeted “I’m messing with this Clippers squad” and my dude Jay got at me and called me “a band wagon jumper.” At first I laughed but then I started thinking, what makes somebody jump on the bandwagon? Then I started thinking about what makes somebody a fan? And is there a difference between a fan and a “die hard fan?” So, I figured I’d throw something together so I can break this down so that it can forever and consistently be broke cause I’ve been in enough debates about cats jumping on and off the bandwagon and who’s a real fan and who isn’t. So in the immortal words of the GREAT Slick Rick…“here we go.” 

What Part of The Game Is That?!?!?! - My Frank Ocean Theory

I like to think of myself as a music fiend. And through my 38 years of living, I truly haven't found myself behind the 8 ball (my saying for not being up on something) too many times. But within the past 2 years, I've felt left out...a lot. Currently, I'm feeling left out of all of this Frank Ocean hoopla cause quite frankly, I just don't get it. I heard songs here and there, I've heard some of his projects and I actually just got finished riding with his debut album "Channel Orange" for the past three days so I coud REALLY give the dude a good quality listen. All in hopes of being one of the "cool kids" that LOVE this dude. But even after having Frank Ocean on repeat for the past 72 hours...I STILL don't get it. I mean dude isn't wack but I swear EVERY artists, blog, website, radio station, DJ, writer, music enthusiest down to the everyday fan SWEARS this dude is the next "one" and I just don't see it. On top of that, I've read things about Frank Ocean that has simply baffled me. And these are things that his FANS have said about him. Not from nonbelievers like me but from the people who I know SWEAR by the man. These people have made statements to me like "I know he's not the best singer"...I'm sorry, what happened? He's not the best singer. See, what part of the game is that?

What Part of the Game Is That: What Happened To The Roots?!?!?!?!?!?

I don't mess with the Roots. Well, let me clarify that, when they first dropped, I didn't mess with them. One of my peoples passed me a copy of their first independent album "Organix" and to be honest, I wasn't feeling it at all. They just weren't hard enough for me, I didn't get the whole live band thing and I felt like the whole jazz thing in hip hop was played out. Even when Tribe and Gangstarr were using jazz samples, I felt like they were just "harder" then what cats like Digable Planets and The Roots were coming with. And not "harder" like "I shoot up the block" hard but more so "harder" drums. When "Do You Want More" their debut on Geffen records dropped, I messed with a handful of songs on it but I didn't hear enough to make me a fan. Then one day while I was in a session with my man Circus he was telling me that The Roots were flipping their whole steelo and they were gonna be coming harder for their next album and that Black Thought was changing his name to the Bad Lieutenant and I was like "yeah, we'll see."

Fast forward a couple of months and I'm opening the mail at WEAA Morgan State's radio station, which USED to be like Christmas everyday for us to see what the labels had sent us and I came across the new Root's 12" with a letter from Geffen attached asking us to vote on what song should be the first single, "Sections" or "Clones." And once I listened to both songs, I saw exactly what my dude Circ was talking about. These weren't the same cats from the first album. It was almost like these cats had heard EVERY complaint that I (and probably a rack of other cats, hence the change) had about them and went back to the lab to fix them. The band who once bragged about "no samples" now had a song sampling Quincy Jone's "Summer in the City" for "Clones" and the beat for "Sections" was also crazy. My vote went to "Sections" but of course I got out voted cause "Clones" ended up being the single but I wasn't mad at it cause after hearing these two jawns I was almost on the edge of being a fan. And when "IladelphHalflife" dropped it was a wrap, I was all in. I remember the Source giving it 4.5 mics and me being pissed cause I KNEW it deserved 5 mics. The album was SO dope that even my NYC peoples who constantly beat me in the head about Philly hip hop being wack were on board with that it. Thought was on his "Bad Lieutenant" jawn and Malik B did his best Phife imitation from being "aiight" on the first album but absolutely KILLING it on the 2nd album. Malik stepped his game up BIG TIME! Matter of fact, Malik's solo jawn "No Great Pretender" is my favorite track on the album. And to be honest, I KNEW they couldn't top "Illadelph" but "Things Fall Apart" damn sure came close to it and not for nuthin' but "You Got Me" is one of my favorite songs EVER!

But after that, it was like things REALLY fell apart. None of The Root's releases after "Things Fall Apart" really caught me like that again. Now don't get it twisted, "Phrenology", "The Tipping Point", "Game Theory", "Rising Down" and "How I Got Over" all had some jawns on them that I messed with but I can't honestly say I can take any of those albums, throw them in the CD player and sit back and enjoy them like I did with "Illadelph" and "Things Fall Apart." So what happened? My take on it comes down to two things, #1, being that the main thing that made me fall in love with The Roots in the first place was that "boom bap" sound they added in the mix for "Illadelph" which seemed to disappear after "Things Fall Apart." During those two albums they were using more boom bap oriented producers like Chaos and Kelo while still reaching out to cats like Q Tip, J Dilla and the Beatminerz. (Evil Dee and Walt did remixes for "Proceed" and "Silent Treatment" and can you really get more boom bap then the Beatminerz?) But after "TFA" it's like everything became in house under Quest and when that happened, the sound I loved from the Roots...changed. #2, The Roots change members like it's going out of style. Let's look at how many members have left the crew. (and I'm sure I'm leaving out at least 25 more) Scott Storch (yup, THAT Scott Storch who was their original keyboard player who got replaced by Kamal and who produced their biggest hit "You Got Me"... there goes that outside production again), Leonard Hubbard (their original bass player) Rahzel (their original beat box), Scratch (their beat box who replaced Rahzel), Ben Kenney (their guitar player), Owen Biddle (their bass player who replaced Leonard Hubbard) and most importantly Malik B. Malik and Thought had a chemistry that I messed with big time! Not to mention with "Illadelph" I was feeling ALL of Malik's verses as well as his solo jawns and now that part of the group is gone.

So for me, between their sound changing and most importantly Malik leaving the group, I think that's what sunk the ship called The Roots for me. But don't get it twisted, I'm still a fan. I've supported the group by buying EVERY one of their CD's (and with "TFA" I actually went out and copped all 5 of the different album covers) that have dropped. Yup, I even copped "Undun" AND "And Then You Shoot Your Cousin" so you KNOW I'm a true fan. So with all of that said, I decided to put together a mix of what I like to call "Those Other Albums" which highlights the songs off "those other albums" that I do mess with.

What Part of The Game Is That?!?!?! - Is Nas A Fraud

So, Nas had a ghostwriter for his “Untitled” album huh? I don’t know if I should be relieved (cause the album was so wack) or be disgusted cause we just found out that one of the most revered MC’s EVER needed a ghostwriter. Now since this came out (or at least when I heard about it) yesterday, I’ve seen a RACK of different opinions about it. Some good, some bad and some REALLY bad. My dude Kin got at me this morning on some how do I feel about it and to be honest…hip hop is dead. And trust me, I’m not trying to be dramatic either cause that ain’t me. But IF this is true, this is the final nail in the coffin of hip hop for me. First, let’s look at some of the arguments I’ve been seeing from different folk on twitter. I saw one tweet about how hip hop is the only genre of music where co-writing is frowned upon. My reaction to that is, you’re right. Hip Hop is the only genre like that because to me hip hop WAS a culture. It’s basically how Kris told us on “Hip Hop vs. Rap” “rap is something you do, hip hop is something you live.” So when you’re talking about living something, how can you live something, that’s a lie? I mean, how would you feel if you found out Jay Z never sold drugs and wasn’t from Marcy but was really from Syracuse, went to private school his whole life and got a 1600 on the SAT? Nowadays there aren’t any rules in hip hop, so none of these tight jean fans and Jay Z stans would care but I think die hard hip hop heads would feel some kinda way because we would've been lied to for the past 10+ years. When I found out Prodigy wasn’t from Queensbridge after he’s screamed it at me a million times for the past 15+ years, I felt some kinda way. To my knowledge P, has ONLY said “I’m from Hempstead” one time (on “Party’s Over”) in his hip hop career. EVERYHTING else has been about Queensbridge…and he’s not even from there. Now what sense does that make?

What Part of The Game Is That?!?!?! - You're Playing Yourself

Aiight…let me get this straight. The L.A. Lakers hired Mike D’Antoni OVER Phil Jackson…word?!?!?! First things first, let me put this out there from the door…I’m not a Lakers fan. In fact, I HATE the Lakers. To me, the Lakers are the NBA’s equivalent of Duke basketball...and I have NOTHING but hate for the both of ‘em. So you can only imagine the excitement I felt win I woke up yesterday morning to see that the Laker’s hired Mike D’Antoni and not Phil Jackson, which basically guarantees me (and the fellow Laker/Kobe haters of the world) that there won’t be another NBA championship coming to the Lakers during the rest of the Kobe Bryant era. Why do I hate the Lakers so much you ask?

Well, I fell in love with basketball on Tuesday, June 21, 1988 when the Detroit Pistons lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in game 7 of the NBA Finals. Even though I wasn’t a huge basketball fan before this series, I knew about the Laker’s pedigree and their history of championship banners hanging from the Forum’s rafters but I always was the type of dude who rocked with the underdog. So, of course throughout the series I was rooting for Isiah Thomas and the Bad Boy Pistons. And when they lost that series, I’ll never forget, I walked to my neighborhood sneaker spot in Philly “Sneaky Petes” and copped a Detroit Bad Boys Pistons t shirt and EVERYONE was looking at me like I was buggin’ like “don’t you know they just lost?” Yup, I knew it but it didn’t matter to me. I was rocking with the Pistons and all I cared about was the fall of the mighty Lakers empire.

So that’s where my hatred for the Lakers was birthed from. And it only grew worse once they traded for Kobe in ’96. But more on my hatred for Kobe later, let’s deal with the matter at hand. So, let’s get this straight, they fire Mike Brown after starting the season 1-5. And as soon as my man text me to tell me that, the first thing that popped in my head was racism. Now I know the average Laker fan couldn’t see past the 1-5 record and race was the last thing on their mind but please let me know the last time something like this happened to a white coach. I’ll wait…but I’ll be waiting for a minute for you to tell me cause it’s NEVER happened to a white coach. And I keep hearing rumblings about how Mike Brown wasn’t a good coach. My problem with that statement is what “bad coach” has taken a team to the NBA finals? Cats wanna say stuff like “well, he had LeBron.” Hell, Phil had Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant to bring him ALL of his chips. Mike Brown had LeBron James and a bunch of cats you couldn’t name right now if I paid you. So in Wire terminology Mike Brown damn near won the war of West Baltimore against Marlo, Chris and Snoop with just Bodie and a bunch of corner boys, but he’s not a “good coach?” Really?

So, the Lakers fire a coach who’s taken a team to the NBA Finals and replace him with a coach who’s never been to the NBA Finals instead of hiring a coach who has won 11 NBA championships…makes perfect sense doesn’t it? And the bugged thing I keep hearing about Mike Brown is people saying that he was never the right fit in LA and my question is, and Mike D’Antoni is? Didn’t this dude basically get “Mike Browned” outta New York? Not to mention Mike Woodson inherited damn near the same squad D’Antonio had and went 18-6 with the Knicks after replacing D’Antoni last year and this year they’ve got the best record in the league at 4-0. And again, THIS is the dude you hire?!?!?!? I think D’Antoni is an aiight coach at best and I always thought he should get another shot at possibly being an assistant with a big time squad or another head coaching spot in a smaller market but THIS dude gets one of the most prestigious jobs in all of sports? And all weekend any and every sports network was basically saying that the job was Phil’s to turn down and outta nowhere Mike D’Antoni knocks Phil Jackson, thee PHIL JACKSON out the box…come on, what’s REALLY going on?

To be honest, I think Jim Buss was just messing with Phil Jackson from the get go. I don’t think he ever had plans on really hiring Phil back. I think Buss was on some stuff like let me get Phil all hyped up for the job and then pull the rug from under him and play the mighty Phil Jackson in front of the entire world. I know these two have had a nice ‘lil beef in the past and when Phil was saying he wanted more say in the inner workings of the organization to me what he was REALLY saying was “I don’t wanna listen to this joker over here.” And with Jim Buss’ decision to go with Mike D’Antoni, Phil won’t have to worry about listening to this Buss but on the flip side, unless D’Antoni gets the Lakers to the NBA finals this year, Jim Buss is gonna have to listen to the Laker faithfuls roast him each and every chance they get. I just hope in the long run that playing Phil like that was worth it to Jim cause if not, Jim is gonna have to be on his Big Daddy Kane jawn and “put a quarter in your ass cause you played yourself.”