Benz and a Backpack

I am mostly of Irish descent, but I’ve come to discover that Cuban culture, in all its warmth, graciousness, musicality and plain old fun, resonates very strongly with me- kind of like the Tacoma Narrows Bridge and wind but without all the shattering. Clutch, who just spent four months in Cuba and is Cuban through and through- told to me a few weeks ago that B-Real from Cypress Hill was a Cubano, so it was with particular interest that I checked the new single off their forthcoming album Rise Up entitled ‘Armada Latina,’ featuring Pitbull (Cuban) and Marc Anthony (Puerto Rico).

The track caught my ear immediately because the it samples CSNY’s ‘Judy Blue Eyes’ and the drop is drum break is ridiculous. It also struck me that Marc Anthony- who bagged the baddest chick in the game at the height of her popularity in North America- can really, really sing. Production on the track was done by Jim Jonsin (of T.I. and Lil Wayne fame).

Cypress Hill ft. Marc Anthony & Pitbull

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Just for fun…
Joe Budden – Focus

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The Audible Doctor ft. Sene – A Chance To Say

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Hit the skip for the DL link, plus a Mixtape Monday Tape flush with brand new Cole, CuDi, XV, Murs & 9th Wonder, Big Sean, and more!
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Every now and then things happen that remind us of the fragility, preciousness, and complete and utter randomness of our collective life. Recently, two incidents (both involving pedestrians, vehicles, and alcohol) stung people I love so acutely that they’ve been debilitated. It’s the height of irony that someone can serve several years of required military duty in a constantly war-torn nation, and then die when a drunk American driving too fast glances down to change the song on his iPod and forgets to look up because he’s too fucked up.

There are certain truths we all acknowledge: if you work hard in school, you’ll get good grades; if you show love to the people around you, they will undoubtedly show you love back. But many parts of our lives escape our control no matter how hard we try to grasp them. They are dictated either by the coincidental nature of the world or fate, depending on which theory you espouse, and no personal responsibility should be self-imposed by friends and family of victims of senseless tragedy, although it is often unavoidable.

What we can and should impose upon ourselves is an apologetically cliche question that nearly every hip hop artist has had to confront in his or her time: if I die today, tomorrow, or in three weeks, will I be happy with what I’ve done? BIG knew before he was 25 that his trajectory was short, and when the end came he was ready for it. Hip hop was built on the cold, hard foundation of braggadocio, which doesn’t exactly inspire love in opponents, but rather competitiveness, jealousy, and other violence-inducing sentiments. Couple that with the abnormally high presence of guns in poor, urban, largely black communities at the inception of hip hop (gee, I wonder how that happened), and you’ve got yourself a recipe for disaster. It’s no wonder then that death is more than a minor ingredient in the hip hop kitchen.

Hit the skip for 20 of the most recent tracks that you GOTTA have, including Wu Tang’s ‘Early Grave’ and Jay Rock’s ‘Life is a Cycle.’ Other notables: Freeway, Raekwon, & Styles P, Lupe, B.o.B. & Asher Roth, Preemo-produced Evidence, and:

J. Cole – Knock On Wood Freestyle

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Redlight Boogie ft. Sean Price – Heat [prod. Killingskills]

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Two summers ago I was lucky enough to catch the Paid Dues Tour at New York City’s Nokia Theatre in Times Square. I was particularly excited for it because the lineup included a bunch of artists I’d never seen in concert before: Kidz in the Hall, dudes from Boot Camp Clik, Blackalicious, GZA, all culminating in what I hoped would be a satisfying set from the godfather of hip-hop, Rakim.

I remember the show with particular clarity because my boys and I endured an hour-and-a-half-long train ride that should’ve only lasted twenty-five minutes. The stifling June heat had us sweating our shirts out while we were held in station after station by train dispatchers. People in our car were fanning themselves with whatever they had: Yankees and Mets fitteds, celebrity gossip magazines, folded-up copies of the Daily News (with a picture of a smiling Barack Obama- who’d just secured the Democratic Presidential nomination- under a headline that read: ‘HISTORY!’).

Once we pulled into 42^nd Street, we bobbed and weaved through swarms of people in the station and on the fume-filled streets (hustling because we were already way late), and by the time we got to the Nokia Theatre we’d practically melted. Making it through security felt like clouds parting to allow us entrance into a very well air-conditioned heaven.
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Having scored Kill Bill and Ghost Dog and acted in American Gangster and Funny People, it isn’t so much of a stretch to imagine Wu-Tang’s chief, the RZA, continue to insert his tentacles into the film industry. By ‘inserting his tentacles into the film industry,’ I mean to say that RZA will be writing-directing his first feature film called Man With The Iron Fist. The Tarantino protege will be teaming with Eli Roth (of Hostel) for the upcoming flick.

More unexpectedly though is RZA’s recent re-imagination of Emanuel Leutze’s 1851 classic “Washington Crossing the Delaware.” Included in it are the RZA at the helm (naturally) and ODB and the Genius/GZA flanking him on either side. There will be a limited release of the painting in conjunction with WhenArtImitatesLife. As if we didn’t think he was talented already, here are just two more reasons. Hit the skip for the up-close-and-personal view of RZA’s ironic re-do (and, sources say there might be 50 hidden gems within the painting, on of which may or may not be a blunt!).
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No Masta? No GZA?? And no Meth??? No problem.

When the tracklist and album artwork dropped in mid-June, I was more than a little skeptical of how Chamber Music, the sixth studio album from the Wu-Tang Clan, would sound. Most critics proclaimed 8 Diagrams was wack. Even Raekwon the Chef and Ghostface acknowledged that they weren’t comfortable with the way 8 Diagrams came out. To make things worse, there have been rumors that beef wedged itself between parts of the ridiculously talented eight member crew.

But how has beef not been a roadblock already? Meth, GZA, Ghostface, and Raekwon each boast a top-notch album (Blackout! and Tical, Liquid Swords, Fishscale, and OB4CL respectively) that could, depending on who you talk to, put- if not themselves, then- their albums in the Top 5 of all time. Either way, there was the distinct possibility that Chamber Music would flop like Public Enemies (foreal, do not go see it).

To my delight, it didn’t. On the contrary, Chamber Music marks a return to form; strong performances from Inspectah Deck and U-God (whose third and arguably best solo album, Dopium, also just dropped), Raekwon’s guttural- and always New York City- flow, vivid realism and Ghostface’s high-pitched edginess coalesce around RZA’s classic production (which sparked an entire decade of derivative beat making) to create something both unique and yet familiar.

Like Pau Gasol did for the Lakers, the stellar guest spots on Chamber Music push the album to the next level. Cormega and Sean P drop lyrical and funny verses on Radiant Jewels (see Cormega’s “fuck a flow/this is a lyrical aqueduct” and Sean P’s “two shots/gimme the ball back/you got shot/get off my ball sack”), while Havoc, Masta Ace, AZ, Tre Williams, Kool G Rap, Sadat X and M.O.P. also make excellent guest appearances. Despite the album’s serious overtones (again, no Meth) and, at times, tendency towards preaching (there are a few too many RZA spoken interludes), the album is tight. It provides meaty production that showcases and enhances the lyrical prowess of each emcee. Shouts to The Revelations, the studio band from BK that made Chamber Music sound so good.

Sound the Horns – Inspectah Deck, Sadat X and U-God

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Radiant Jewels – RZA, Raekwon, Cormega, and Sean P

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Ill Figures – RZA, Raekwon, M.O.P., Kool G Rap

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And, for kicks, the video for Wu Ooh, off the Chef’s upcoming OB4CLII:

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