Benz and a Backpack

It’s fitting that this month’s issue of The Source has two alternate covers: one of the three most commercially successful, veteran Wu Tang members (Meth, Ghost, and Rae) and one of up-and-coming RocNation affiliate (and a BenzAndABackpack favorite) J. Cole. Both the Wu Tang trio and Cole were featured on tracks in this week’s Mixtape Monday, but each reps a different corner of the hip hop market. The Wu-Gambinos have had streetwise wordplay and storytelling on lock for more than 15 years (!), while Cole has just recently started to get the shine he deserves for his intelligent lyricism and new-school swag. It’s nice to see The Source dropping dope cover art, especially given a few of last year’s visuals…

Hit the skip for Cole’s alternate cover, plus a compiled list of all the Meth, Ghost, & Rae tracks that have leaked so far!
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One of the things I like most about hip hop right now is that the young guns and veterans alike are chillen on the grind like a rusty gear*. There’s a whole crop of young emcees bringing fresh perspectives to the game, while the mainstays continue to drop hot shit that bucks the traditional career trend of older rhymers (see: to fall off). And the best part about it? There’s room for everyone- young & old, fat & skinny, male & female, East & West, black, white, & everything in between!

This week’s Mixtape Monday features brand new tracks from Slick Rick, Meth, Rae, & Ghostface, XXL Freshmen Jay Rock, J. Cole & Fashawn, the homie XV, and more! Hit the skip for the DL link and a Wu Tang video that’ll bring you straight back to ’93.

*Shouts to the homie Element, who dropped a dope new joint last week.

Jay Rock ft. Ab-Soul – Can I Roll

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Young Chris ft. J. Cole – Still The Hottest

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Freestyle, Wordsmith, & M-Dot – Struggle

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Meth, Ghost & Rae – Miranda

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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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Keep tabs on this album, cause it’s probably going to be crazy. Here’s some info straight from the label (Gold Dust Records):

“As devoted fans clamor and salivate for anything Wu-related, Gold Dust & Nature Sounds are proud to announce the release of Return of the Wu & Friends, produced and compiled by Wu-Tang Clan producer/DJ Mathematics and including some exclusive tracks, lost gems and old time favorites featuring all nine emcees.

The 16 tracks featured on Return of the Wu & Friends were compiled from songs recorded during the group’s critically acclaimed 2000 album The W through 2008, including exclusive tracks like “Steppin 2 Me” featuring GZA, Inspectah Deck and Masta Killa.”

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Here a sneak peak at DJ Mathematics produced Return of the Wu and Friends which is slated to be released on February 16th.

“The  16 tracks featured on Return of the Wu  & Friends were compiled from songs recorded during the group’s  critically acclaimed 2000 album The W through 2008, including exclusive tracks like “Steppin 2 Me” featuring GZA,
Inspectah Deck and Masta Killa. The producer also offers a  slew of new remixes, including “Respect Mine” and “Clap”.  Having  known the Clan since the mid-80s and produced for them since 1996, Mathematics is no stranger to the  group. Starting off as GZA’s DJ  during the emcee’s Cold Chillin’ days, the producer has since gone on to create  a
diverse and memorable production catalog with the group, contributing tracks to The W and 8  Diagrams, as well as Ghostface  Killah’s Supreme Clientele, GZA’s Beneath The Surface, Method Man’s Tical 2000: Judgement Day and
Method Man & Redman’s Blackout!.”

Hit the skip for the download link for “Clap 2010″ which will be on the album featuring Raekwon, Ghostface, Method Man, and U-God.

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Already, twenny ten started with a bang- or, as I like to say, a bong bong! So far:

• The Reflection Eternal mixtape (featuring Jay Elect and J. Cole!),
• Raekwon’s Coke Up In Da Dollar Bill,
• Emilio Rojas’ The Natural,
• Jay Electronica’s Victory, and
• If you didn’t catch it, Mark McGwire admitted to using steroids earlier today…

What’s To Come

It will only get better; with the promise of the new Rae, Ghost, and Meth group/album, the forthcoming Strong Arm Steady album (produced entirely by Madlib), releases from Luda and Lupe, Statik and Black Milk, Random Axe, Redman, and The Roots. Em’s Relapse 2, Nas and Damian Marley’s Distant Relatives, new Kanye, Cudder, and J. Cole. And sheeit, that’s just touching the surface of hip hop!

For our indie heads, you’ve got OKGO, Vampire Weekend (…), Animal Collective (yeaboi!), and the Cold War Kids. But 2010 holds more than just the promise of good music. Next month Vancouver will hold the 21st Winter Olympics, then in May the World Expo will be in Shanghai, and on June 11th the FIFA World Cup will kick off in South Africa.

2010 marks Obama’s second year in office, and with health care tucked securely under his belt still hanging in the balance, we can only hope that there will be the opportunity to tackle other equally pressing issues like unemployment, terrorism, and climate change.

To that end, 2010 holds the promise of the US’s first plug-in electric car (courtesy of Chevrolet, called the Volt and scheduled to drop in November). To charge the Volt, one need only plug it into a standard household outlet and it will be powered for 40 miles (which exceeds the distance of the average American’s daily commute). Beyond that point, minimal gas is used to propel the vehicle 300+ miles!

Big things are already poppin’ in twenny ten, and there is much, much more to come. Hit the skip for 15 brand new tracks from the Wu Tang and Wiz, Strange Fruit Project and Statik, Ryan Leslie and Wale, Bun B and Jump-Off Joey, plus an unreleased Drake verse for his smash hit Successful.

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As many of y’all know, Ghostface, Raekwon and Method Man are set to release a joint album sometime in 2010. I know there are a good number of Wu-junkies out there (myself included) who are damn near pissing themselves over this. Considering Chef’s recent work on OB4CL2, Tical’s efforts on Blackout 2 and Starks’ doing his thing on that R&B album track record of dopeness, this should be something epic.

In anticipation of this massive hip hop event, the three Shaolin representatives need your help in coming up with a group name. Text METHRAEGHOST to 66937 to submit your suggestions. If they pick your name you’ll get a shout in the album’s liner notes (which is a little light to me, I would’ve rather had a chance to burn one with the triumvirate or maybe win a pair of Wu-Tang dunks. Still, one could do worse than a shoutout alongside the friends, family and seemingly endless number of Wu-afiliates.

Leave your suggestions here, but make sure to submit them first lest some shark niggas visit the site.

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Happy Thanksgiving from everybody at Benz and a Backpack! First and foremost we want to thank all our dedicated readers who’ve been with us over the past few months; it’s been real. Second, we want to complement today’s good food and football with some absurdly good music. We got the best of Cormega’s new Born and Raised, brand-spankin-new Souls of Mischief, throwback Nasty Nas and Wu Tang (courtesy of KN), new Kanye-produced Common (with John Legend), Luda, Mobb Deep, an entire album produced by Blu, best of Masta Ace and Edo G’s new Arts and Entertainment, and more. Hit the skip for the good shit that, in conjunction with all the tryptophan, will trigger the perfect post-dinner coma.
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Looking back, this summer was filled with a lot of good music. We counted OB4CLII as a summer release (mostly because it’s so dope that we thought it should go in our Summer Wrap-Up AND our Fall Preview).

10 Best Albums from the Summer of 2009

Honorable Mention: DJ Quik & Kurupt – ‘BlaQKout’
Quick and Kurupt combine adventurous production with east coast lyricism soaked in west coast swag. Kurupt, born in Philly but made famous because of his affiliation with Snoop and Tha Dogg Pount, offsets Quik’s explorative musical selections with consistently. In part an homage to an album by one of the greatest rap duo’s ever (Meth and Red’s Blackout!), Quik and Kurupt shine brilliantly despite having never achieved commercial success equivalent to the quality of their music.
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10. Alchemist – ‘Chemical Warfare’
With a wide array of old school and new age artists, the Alchemist’s second solo album dropped to widespread acclaim. In his own words, Alchemist describes the album title: “But basically, it’s Chemical Warfare because the first album was 1st Infantry and this is a futuristic version. Chemical Warfare is the type of war that isn’t fought with sticks and bats type of shit, where people start dropping. There is a power you don’t see. You don’t know where it is and that’s basically the concept.”
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9. La Coka Nostra – ‘A Brand You Can Trust’
The supergroup La Coka Nostra, comprised of Everlast, Ill Bill, Danny Boy, and Slain, also put out a mixtape called The Audacity of Coke this year, presented by Statik Selektah and DJ Eclipse. There is talk of another mixtape that could drop in the last couple months of 2009.
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8. Wu Tang – ‘Chamber Music’
Except for a few misguided interludes, Chamber Music bumps from top to bottom. With guest spots from Sean Price and Cormega (among others) and production from Lil Fame (of M.O.P.) and RZA, hip hop heads and Wu Tang fans were pleasantly surprised by Chamber Music. For in an in depth look at the album, peep the review.
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7. J Dilla – ‘Jay Stay Paid’
Any hip hop head who’s a fan of Dilla will be a fan of Jay Stay Paid. Produced by Pete Rock and featuring Blu, Havoc, Raekwon, Doom, Diz Gibran, and Dilla’s brother Illa J, Jay Stay Paid is a collection beats previously unreleased or unfinished by Dilla, some off the immortal and elusive 3 Beat Tapes and some from the depths of Dilla’s lab (which Pete Rock got access to thanks to Dilla’s mom, Ma Dukes Yancey). Two tracks in particular, Mythsysizer and KJay and We Out, make this album a must-have.
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6. Mos Def – ‘The Ecstatic’
Brooklyn’s native son put out his fourth solo album this summer to mass consumer delight. With guest spots from Slick Rick and Talib Kweli, The Ecstatic achieved much of its sales success online. More importantly, the production was done largely by Madlib, the famed producer behind Madvillainy and Jaylib: Champion Sound. The Ecstatic reached #9 on the Billboard Top 200 and #2 on the Billboard’s Top Rap Albums.
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