We always got work, so we ain't gotta get work...

The Michael Watts version of Crunk Juice leaked and hoooooooooooooooooooly shit is it hot.

This post has taken me like half an hour to make because every time I hear a new track I decide to YSI it. It's especially dope, because we get to hear cats screwed that Watts wouldn't normally fuck with (Kiss, especially!!!!). There's some old DJ Screw shit with Nas on it that I play from time to time, but Nasty's voice works better with Watts' cleaner sound (and no, I'm not comparing Watts & DJ Screw).

I don't know why this took so long to happen, but I'm really happy right now. A lot of good screw has come my way lately -Gin & Juice, the whole Dirty Money Album, Slow Jamz). It's been a banner week.

Here are five cuts from the album. Enjoy.

Da Blow feat. Gangsta Boo
This gets slowed down to like 50%, and the OG was already pulled, so Boo sounds like James Earl Jones.

Lovers & Friends feat. Ludacris & Usher
Smooth, Watts fucks with it a little too much for me, though.

Contract feat. Trillville, Jazze Pha & Pimpin' Ken
The synths are dynamite.

Real Nigga Roll Call feat. Ice Cube
Interesting.

Grand Finale feat. Nas, Jadakiss, T.I., Bun B & Ice Cube
Standout track right here.


I can't wait to listen to these later tonight.

See You Gotta Work It Out...

No, this was not an excuse for me to google image search Beyonce.


Basically, the Neptunes did two cuts with Ms. Knowles. One (to the best of my knowledge) never ended up on the album; the other got put on the Goldmember soundtrack. My First Time is on the Wifey/Change Clothes/Fuck All Night steez that got a little tired to me. She sounds okay on the track, but you can see why it got left off the album.

Work It Out (from Goldmember) is on that Neptunes jazzy shit, and B does her best Pharrell impression. She can't quite muster the vocal charisma of Skateboard P on those wails (maybe I only think that because I'm a Pharrell groupie), but she ends up transmitting the urgency akin to Crazy in Love. The Neptunes brought some robot funk via live drums and Chad on the sax. Shit's hot.

Beyonce - Work It Out

Beyonce - My First Time

And when I did an iTunes search for Beyonce, this came up as my number one song. It's off some DJ Versatyle mixtape, but it's one of those great screw tracks with the big bass and rolling snares. This is one of the only Lloyd Banks verses I like and the beat is hot (it's different than the OG Storch track).

Beyonce feat. Lloyd Banks - Baby Boy (remix) (Chopped & Screwed)

Word.

Getting high and drunk, we just chasing...

Today feels like the first real Saturday of the summer. It's like 95 out here in the Bay, which means the windows won't go up and YOU need some shit to break necks. I'm here to help.

Chamillionaire feat. Cool & Dre - My Niggas

This is really a Cool & Dre track with a Koopa verse tacked on to the end. This beat is really out of control, and Cool & Dre pull off the producers rapping surprisingly well. This song still belongs to Cham, though. Calculator on the hater, put that hand on the 4.

ESG & Slim Thug feat. Daz - Ride With You

Off of their Boss Hoggs Outlaws joint, this kind of riding song was missing from Already Platinum.

Juelz Santana - There It Go

I copped this from Lemon-Red, and I still haven't reached a verdict on it, but it's one of those songs you need.

De La Soul - A Roller Skating Jam Named Saturday

Nothing else can really see this song.

Hopefully, when I'm leaned later, these four songs will come on and I'll be happy.

Listen to me, I dive into beef...

We've been ready, it's just that our promotion was not.

This is an old freestyle from some DJ Enuff tape. It's also an absolute Dip Set classic. Even though no one will ever touch this beat like Jay did, Cam comes waaaaaaay harder than wackass Charli Baltimore and Ja Rule over that shitty Ashanti remix.

I'll show you how to weigh your work on your way to work
I'll be proud of you like dog that's the way to work

No one can really touch Killa on this, Juelz gives it his best shot, and his verse is definitely hot. Jimmy is another story - he raps like an offbeat Vinnie Paz for a couple of bars, then switches back into the wildly succesfull thug "with the crispy" chain mode.

Cam'ron, Juelz Santana & Jim Jones - Can I Live Freestyle

I feel like I could write about this forever, because I'm obsessed with it. You get a suit and tie, why to do paperwork? Fuck with me dog I'll show you how this paper work. This is another Harlem must-have, and if you weren't up on it, consider yourself educated.

If you need to kill a gram, two, three or a dozen...

Okay, this Koopa tape is pretty sharp, he's really perfecting his flow. His lyricism leaves something to be desired (for me, at least) but he's a good rapper and I like listening to him. He continues the tradition of better rappers rhyming over the filthy beats from The Documentary (Kyleon + Bun's flow over Dreams deserves a post of its own), and comes across well.

Anyway, six months or so ago, Timbaland made a really unbelievable beat. He threw in his OG synthstringthings, a dope drum pattern and his requisite bhangra vocal sample. Shit was hot. He then turned around and gave it to the world's most overrated rapper. Luckily, a couple of other accomplished MCs got their respective hands on it and destroyed it. They made it so you could ride around playing this heat without having to hear Game shout out every rapper ever. These two cuts are now in the untouchable category. I don't even know who came harder (no homo), but it just doesn't matter, because both cuts are 10s.

Chamillionaire feat. Bun B & The Mddlfngz - Deep Off In The Game

Killa Kyleon - Addicted To The Game


Word.

Thugs with the chevys...

Drag-On & Twista - Twisted Heat

This track is a heater. Shit dropped off RR2 (which I thought was underrated) back when Swizz wasn't boring. Dude comes around every four years with the same sounding beats then just plays his style out until people forget about it. Check for Swizzy in 2009. Anyway, Drag didn't quite match Twista with the speed in this song, but it didn't matter because you couldn't matter what Twista was saying. I copped his album Opposite of H20 and it was sort of good. Weed, Hoes, Dough. Niggaz Die 4 Me. Spit These Bars. I dunno if it was worth my $15, but that was back when people bought CDs so I wasn't sweating it.

Anyways, Drag-On would probably be around today if his flow wasn't a direct bite of Cam's. Twisted Heat isn't really a good example, but listen to Weed, Hoes, Dough (which I don't feel like upping). Shit sounds exactly like Cam on this joint.

Cam'ron feat. Noriega - Glory

Enh.

Stop Snitching...

Jim Jones feat. Max B - Gees Up


This is the third single from Harlem: Diary of a Summer which is looking to be a heater.

Gees Up
Baby Girl
Summer with Miami

All three of those songs are top notch Jimmy, and this new shit is hot. I don't know if I'm late and just suck at searching, but the mp3 of this (a snippet is at the end of the Baby Girl video) has been hard to track down (good looks). The beat on this is great, Hey Ma pianos and drums with Jim's baritone sliding over it. You can just see the whip cruising slowly down 145th, not blasting the cut, but people look up from their stoops. If the bitch can't swim she gon' drown. It's summer, and Mr. Jones provides the soundtrack.

After party in the parking lot...

I saw this shit over on OKP and had to put up an mp3.

E-40 - Da Dummy

It sounds like Turf Talk's on the hook but I don't really know. Anyways, this track is shit hot. I think the electric toms have BEEN played since Wait (E-A-Ski's bite for Bang It bothers me every time I hear it), but whatever that burping, moving, panning synth is, it's insane. That makes the track. 40 Water is on the top of his game here, too, chopping and stuttering his way through the beat.

While most Bay artists that have been around through the G-Funk era sounded way hotter 8 years ago, I think E-40 has been solid on the new Rick Rock "Hyphy" sound. Automatic. Gas, Break, Dip, etc. His style matches all these buzzing keys and insane drums well enough that I don't miss the Zoom or Hope I Don't Go Back Fonzarelli that much. I'm not saying he's better now, but I'm certainly not complaining.

I'm doin' real thangs...

This new Frayser Boy album "Me Bein' Me" is serious. The Intro has the sickest whistle since "Wonderful Place", and the production on the rest of the album is the deep shit we've come to expect from DJ Paul & Juicy J - although I swear to god the entire album is in the same key. I've been writing a lot lately and don't feel like writing any more so here some mp3s.

Frayser Boy - Intro (Me Bein' Me)
Frayser Boy - Seen Things feat. Lord Infamous
Frayser Boy - Get Knocked Da Fuck Out

Word.

And I don't know how much attention you're paying to the whole Karl Rove/Leak scandal that's about to go down, but you need to get informed on this.

Not to be outdone...

I was so inspired by the Ryan Adams cover that I thought I'd post my two favorite Dylan covers. Most Dylanologists would take great exception to me not putting in the Jimi Hendrix cover of Along The Watchtower, but whatever. Both these songs are really really really good.

Eddie Vedder - Masters of War

This is unquestionably beautiful. Vedder's voice winds his way through Dylan's lyrics and the background is even more minimal than the original. Fantastic.

Guns & Roses - Knockin' On Heaven's Door

They couldn't have made this song more late 80s. Huge snare. Weird phone dialing interlude. 5 part dubbed harmonies. Guitar slides. Piano riffs. It turned Dylan's funeral opus into a glam rock masterpiece of sorts. But HOLY SHIT! This song was made for Axl Rose to croon. It works so well it should be a crime.

After all...

Everyone needs to head over to Aurgasm and check out the Ryan Adams cover of "Wonderwall."

It's beautiful as fuck.

On and On and On and On and...

Ah, the extended cut. The version that goes on long enough to satisfy the self indulgent producer, just barely pushing the patience of the listener. Here are my five favorite extended versions...

Kelis - Caught Out There (Extended Remix)

This might be one of the better (and most overlooked) beats The Neptunes have ever done. They were on the Timbo dry-big-kick drums way before Scott Storch bit them in every song ever. The bass and guitar in this are ill, and whatever those flying synths are are dope. Plus, nothing is doper than when the beat just cuts out and goes back to the drums and bass. If only Kelis would stop screaming.

Jaylib - Smootherness (Unreleased)

Another delicious beat, courtesy of Dilla, this has plenty of Meth & Redman vocal samples, and goes on juuuust long enough to lull you into Nirvana (stoned, or not). Madlib takes his "I don't feel like rapping on beat so I'm just gonna talk" rhymes one step further. We as a listener are left wondering whether or not he knew his mic was even on, but it works.

Usher - You Make Me Wanna (Extended Version)

Basically the same as the original, except it runs over 5 minutes and has 345897345 beat breakdowns.

The Pharcyde - Runnin' (Jay Dee Extended Mix)

This came off a YO! MTV Raps CD I bought back in like 5th grade. It was my favorite cut off the disc, and it still is. I have no idea what the unextended mix sounds like at all, but I'm pretty sure this is considered a must have for any music fan in general. Plus, who else but the Pharcyde could pull off rapping about fried chicken so well? Well, Field Mob, maybe, but that's about it.

Speaking of Field Mob, maybe some time later I'll put up the version of "All I Know" that has T.I. coming in at the end of the song and rapping another verse. Don't know if that's limited, a CD version or what, but it's a great song.

N*E*R*D - You're A Star (Unreleased)

I'm not a huge fan of this song, but some people love it. Basically, it's an 8 minute version of the jam at the end of "Bobby James". Chad Hugo is reportedly on saxophone, and Pharrell is off-key.

Neptunes Got The Beat That Make Your Booty Go...

Usher - I Heard A Rumor (snippet)

I don't know whether this track is supposed to be from Confessions, or Usher's upcoming album. All I know is that Usher does his best MJ impression, and The Neptunes show us why THEY should produce MJ's next album.

Everytime they do a cut with Usher, it turns out pretty damn well. U Don't Have To Call. I Don't Know. Sweet Lies. Wifey. Yes, I'm naming songs you don't have on purpose. While it can't compare to their catalogue with JT (and the JT vs. Usher argument deserves its own post later down the line), their new soul influences are working better for R&B (Vanessa Marquez) than rap (Beanie Sigel).

Usher should be given a little more respect than he gets in some circles. He can sing, dance and entertain. Hell, his concert was one of the better concerts I've been to. While I'm NOT comparing him to MJ, he is filling the entertainer void once inhabited by the once-King of Pop.

Chained Down.

Rio Rocket Valledor over at That Good Good was (un)kind enough to tap me for the chain letter music thing.

Holla.


Total number of books I've owned: Damn, I'm guessing like 500ish. That's a lot for an 18 year old, but my reading game is ill. Never thought I'd ever type that. Moving on...
The last book I bought: Blink, by Malcolm Gladwell. Eye opening.
The last book I read: Blue Blood, by Edward Conlon. Memoirs of an NYPD detective. Absolutely fascinating.
Five books that mean a lot to me (in no particular order):
1. The Golden Compass, by Philip Pullman - really got me into reading.
2. Native Son, by Richard Wright. This and the work we did around it in school was eye-opening.
3. Dress Your Family in Corduroy & Denim, by David Sedaris. Hilarious.
4. Devil In The White City, by Erik Larson, non-fiction about a serial killer in Chicago during the World's Fair.
5. Harry The Dirty Dog. When you were a little kid, absolutely NOTHING could fuck with this book.

Number of Films I own on DVD and video
Five? Maybe. I never buy movies.
Last Film I Bought
Pulp Fiction. It's sort of a must-have.
The Last Film I Watched
Se7en. Fucking crazy.
Five Films That I Watch A Lot
Traffic
Good Will Hunting
The Sting
Pulp Fiction
Dodgeball
If I could be any character in a movie
George Jung in Blow. That part where he walks through the airport in the white suit is so bad ass. And I'd get a really cool gun.

Total Volume of Music on My Computer
27.54 GB. Not bad.
Last CD I Bought.
I have the new Slim Thug on pre-order. I'm counting that.
Song Currently Playing
Mike Jones feat. Slim Thug & Paul Wall - Still Tippin' (Diplo Remix)
Five Songs I Listen To A Lot
Jim Jones feat. Juelz Santana & Cam'ron - Crunk Muzik. You could try and make a better song than this but I doubt it would happen. The beat matches their swagger impeccably. Christ.
Foreign Exchange - All That You Are (Nicolay Remix) - This joint is so happy. I fell asleep with this beat on repeat.
Devin The Dude - To The X-Treme. When I'm faded, there is no better song. Ever.
Justin Timberlake feat. Clipse - Like I Love You. This song is sooooooo overlooked. Neptunes guitarfunk beat + JT's best MJ impression + Push & Mal = One of the dopest songs of the past 10 years.
Jaylib - The Heist. This beat is straight gutter. We need a remix with Styles and 1998 DMX in the worst way.


I'll tap some more people later.

EDIT: I select Binkle to kick things off.

Where Your Cup of Drank At?

Over the last six months, Bun B. has gotten a TON of much deserved exposure. At the same time, he's at the weakest point in his career. He's been mailing in verses where he rhymes about the same thing (his cadillac, his drank, his woodgrain) and while it's FAR from wack, he hasn't put in the shit we're used to.

At the same time, with all the Slim Thug hype - the new album might be the best of the year so far - we're left to wonder what happened to ESG. Since Slim appeared on his album, it would have been nice to get an ESG appearance on AP.

Regardless.

This is one of those songs that EVERYONE likes once they hear it. You have to. All three rappers come clean as fuck, it's about getting throwed and riding around in cadillacs, and there's a two minute guitar solo. Shit is untouchable. If this doesn't make you want to get high and drive around with the windows down there's something wrong with you.

ESG feat. Bun B. & Slim Thug - In My Cadillac




Oh and I saw this on niketalk, it was worth putting up here.
Killa will be in jail for like 12 hours, but regardless...

Is it them blings that make them watch us?

Clipse feat. Ab-Liva & Sandman - Zen

So the snippet got leaked like 5 months ago, and I played the shit out of it.

30 seconds has never been reheard more.

I don't want to ruin anything, but if Pusha & Malicious bring it like this on their album, HHNF will be a classic.

These dudes are gonna be running things.

There's really nothing insightful for me to type about this.

It's straight heat.

Bruise Crews Who Do Something To Us...

BIG meets Frank Sinatra

Juicy - New York, New York
Everyday Struggle - A Day In The Life of a Fool
Nasty Boy - For Every Man There's A Woman
Come On - My Way of Life
Interlude - The World We Know (Over & Over)
Dead Wrong - In My Room (Nancy Sinatra)
Let's Get In On (feat. 2Pac) - Rain In My Heart
Hypnotize - Little Green Apples
Interlude
10 Crack Commandments - Fools Rush In
Runnin/Victory 2004 - A Long Night
Unfoolish (feat. Ashanti) - Out Beyond The Window


This is phenomenal.



If I get around to it, I'll up some shit for whoever (if anyone) reads this.

I'm the shit, bitch, I need toilet paper.

In my hood they call me Jeezy the snowman.
Get it, get it, Jeezy the snowman?

I'm iced out plus I got snow, man.


This might be one of my favorite songs of 2005.

Gucci Mane & Young Jeezy - So Icey


It's summer, which means I'm allowed to listen to this shit. I don't think anyone who likes this song really even likes it for the rapping. I mean, some people will try to tell you Jeezy is nice, but he doesn't even come that clean on this song.

This shit is good because it doesn't give a fuck what you think about it. So Icey has decided to have fun and ride slow and flash its jewelry.
Who doesn't like this shit?

Hit you with a full clip...

http://www.chuckmak.com/premier/


Oooooh lord.

The new Chamillionaire & Lil' Flip song sucks.

Produced by Scott Storch.

Just a heads up.

The Rocket Knickerbockers when you strut down the block

Slim Thug feat. Pharrell - Dedicate (2005)


This is a nice track. Slim's at his best with the Neptunes when they drop that retrospective shit (This Is My Life). He doesn't have to fuck with his flow very much on this track.

It seems weird to say he's fallen off before his first album, but I think it's true. I like him still, but Swisha House Slim Thug was on a whole different tip.

Slim Thug - When A Woman's Fed Up Flow (Back Then)


I pour codeine on my queen and get ready to lean. This is the rhyming shit we needed on AP. It's a cool album, and I'm sure I'll bump it, especially when I cop the screwed retail. But DAMN, where's the grimey guest cut by Magno and why is the Bun track so weak?

I can't say I'm dissapointed, but my jaw hasn't dropped either.

Can I Get A G Clap?

I don't think anyone can really see Dip Set at all right now.
s30.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2RA9KRQZUE56E2CXUYT2OW48Q3

Jim Jones - Baby Girl

This track has been out for a minute, but the video just dropped and the no dj version has been hard to come by. It's not really what you'd expect from a Jimmy single, but it works. It bangs, and it' s syrupy guitar and low end bass mesh nicely with Capo's stunted mishmash of a flow. While cuts like End of the Road allow Jimmy to be outshined by more ablemouthed lyricists, the beat on Baby Girl lets his charisma take over.

His album will be hot. Juelz's will be hot. More than Music will be hot.

Chea.