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So youâre telling me that the legendary Run-DMC turntablist, role model and man who actually recorded a âsay no to drugsâ spot was also leading a double life for years as a drugs middleman killed by his childhood friend and godson for cutting them out of a deal? Whoa. Sounds like an episode of The Wire. Reality > fiction, it really IS tricky.
Feb 21, 2024
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The Jay-Z that we now know â the one who makes shady and feeble NFL deals, the one who is essentially a house husband to Beyonceâs breadwinner, the one who looks like Basquiat if he had a 401K â pales in comparison to the Jay-Z that my older brother, older cousin, and I were obsessed with growing up. Shawn Carter was once a force of nature on the mic, and transformative as a rap star. No one knew much about his personal life that wasnât in the music, but they knew he came out with a crew of dogs ready to unleash at a momentâs notice. (This Diary of Jay-Z from MTV is a good example). He was adept at making you feel the snark and the bite in his music, lifestyle, and persona, but also being in control of his behavior and narrative. Thereâs never a time, except when he struggled with a Mannie Fresh beat, where Jay-Z isnât in control while he is rapping; itâs arresting to listen to him jab and swing with his flow and words without ever losing the rap pocket. For example, a song like âStreets Is Watchingâ, when he says âitâs like a full time job not to kill niggasâ, is so raw to me. He truly means that. He wishes he could smoke everyone. It is hard for him to keep control of himself when he wants to lash out. But he has to do it anyway because violence costs too much. For any Black kids in NYC, and especially ones who are outgoing and enjoy the limelight like me, who are trying to make it happen, listen to late 90âs Jay-Z. Itâll make you more focused, stronger (notice how Jay-Z is never focused on women, in fact he rejects them if they annoy him) â and more aware of the possible snakes around you.
Oct 16, 2023
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A Detroit rapper flipping Jim Jones's "How G Is This?" like 20 years after it came out? Wonderful
Jan 26, 2024
Irv Gotti died on Wednesday night at the age of 54, and I immediately knew what my next recommendation was going to be about. What I think about most when I think about Irv is how much he believed in himself, which in turn made him believe in others because he was constantly fighting for others. He was the first person --- not Lyor Cohen --- to truly understand what would make DMX the biggest rapper in New York. "If you look in the hood, there are more people like him, than they are like you", he once told Jay-Z, who didn't understand why he was pushing DMX to the masses. When Murder Inc was at its peak, he understood that Ashanti --- a Black woman from Long Island and one of the sexiest women of all-time --- would be an excellent addition to the radio-friendly and sexy sound that Murder Inc had. He built careers when other execs reached into people's pockets.
A man from Queens, who hustled his way to the top of the music industry, Irv took chances on people, and even though 50 Cent's reign took the torch away from Murder Inc, he deserves all of the love, and recognition possible. An album that he was an executive producer on, DMX's It's Dark and Hell Is Hot contains some of the best rap music ever recorded. Here is a song that Irv produced, "Crime Story." It is easy to see what he saw in DMX.
Feb 7, 2025
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Hey tyler hopefully this doesnât violate some PI.FYI golden rule
But after nearly two years of writing, editing and arguing, my book about the EP is coming out in May and can be preordered here:
https://hozacrecords.com/product/aifl/
The book is about the origins, history and cultural impact of the EP since these little objects first started coming out in the 50s.
Over 50 of my music biz friends then helped me shape the list and review the top 200 ever released, according to us (ha).
For those of you who are into this kind of geekery/snobbery, I canât wait to hear what you think. A labor of love, as all books are! â¤ď¸
Mar 27, 2024
âSongs Of a Lost Worldâ coming to a goth listening station near you Nov 1 đ¤
The fr FW Me Friday the 13th the world was looking for
Sep 14, 2024
I will fail to explain just how much this band meant to me in the 90s.
So I will borrow from AV Club who did a fine job of distilling it:
âUnwound is the best band of the â90s. Not just because of how prolific, consistent, and uncompromising it was, but because of how perfectly Unwound nested in a unique space between some of the most vital forms of music that decade: punk, post-rock, indie rock, post-hardcore, slow-core, and experimental noise. That jumble of subgenres doesnât say much; in fact, it falls far short of what Unwound truly synthesized and stood for. Unwound stood for Unwound. But in a decade where most bands were either stridently earnest or stridently ironic, Unwound wasnât stridently anything. It was only itself. In one sense Unwound was the quietest band of the â90s, skulking around like a nerdy terror cell. In another sense it was the loudest, sculpting raw noise into contorted visions of inner turmoil and frustration.â
R.I.P. Vern Rumsey.
This is their finest song, from their finest album.
I really canât say enough about the sheer bloody minded genius of this group. đ¤
Mar 23, 2024