If this is true it might just kill off, or at least severely cripple, the WG bloggers.

My money's on Wayne's never getting bored with the studio though. If only because I'd have to change my five-year plan if he punked out on me.

Word on the streets is that this is a possibility... I guess this means that he's not dropping the "er" after all?

The typography is alright but I'm not a fan of the pic. I'd prefer something more in the vein of the Stillmatic "flying monkey".

I love race-passing. And class-passing. And really any kind of passing. Because I think that whatever actions or choices "passing" entails by definition help nullify the divisive, ugly classifications of ethnicity, class, gender, etc., that pre-date the passing in question.

Race passing makes me especially happy because, as a one-time anthropology minor, I can tell you beyond a shadow of a doubt that race does not exist outside of abstract conception. There is no biological basis for race and our continued use of it as a species is not only ignorant, prejudiced, detrimental, and corrosive, it's just inaccurate, just wrong. And since all I want is for everyone I know to be right all the time, I thought you should know.

Obviously this isn't just a hip hop thing. Take Ernst Lubitsch films for class, take Sascha Baron Cohen for culture, race, ethnicity, and sexuality; take pretty much any celebrity with a reality show for class; take Cate Blanchet as Bob Dylan for gender. But okay, in hip hop take DJ Drama, Juelz Santana, DJ Kahled, Fat Joe, the list goes on.

So I'll be doing Without Wednesday (in keeping with the alliterative segment theme) to broaden your horizons. Because people think hip hop is a race thing, a social thing, a class thing and the current state of hip hop (hello congress!) leads me to believe that people are forgetting that art is always all of those things and a whole lot more. Whether or not the art is avant guarde, underground, commercially successful, high brow, low brow, or critically hailed.

Here's how it's gonna go down: 1) I start with someone you've maybe never heard of and show you a picture and give you some great mp3s. Then I'll 2) follow up with a person or people who I think was actually greatly influenced by the first person even though everyone on the planet's heard of the second person and not the first (and give you some mp3s to mount my argument). 3,4, 5 and beyond) and finish with a person or people relevant to a discussion of contemporary hip hop that should be obvious enough by the time I'm done that I don't even have to give you mp3s (but I prolly will because we're all about cooperation here at Whatever).

Hopefully the W/oWs will feed off of each other as I do more and more of them. My hope is that they'll build a larger, more expansive, bush-like web of musical evolution through history by intersecting the narrower linear progressions we continue to seek out. I just hope you're prepared to get your shit educated and your mind blown. I'll give you till Wednesday to ready yourselves. Get into some clean underwear while you're at it.

This might be something amazing or it might be really nerdy. Okay. Ready?

There's this Hot Boys song by the name of Blood Thicker (from the seminal 1997 Cash Money Get It How U Live!). The chorus is this darting, fraternal call-and-response chant between Juvenile and Lil Wayne and I listened to this song something like a BAZILLION times trying to figure out where I thought I'd heard this before. It goes like so:

JUVENILE
load it up slide it in cock it back pop it out load it up slide it in yall die

LIL WAYNE
load it up slide it in cock it back pop it out CMB 226 we all ride

And I couldn't place it until I gave up on the hunt and went back to working on final essays. I'd been writing a term paper for an Apache ethnicity/history class on John Ford's 1939 film Stagecoach (Ford's first film in Monument Valley and John Wayne's first time under Ford, it pretty much set the standard for the traditional American film western and made both men synonymous with the American West). Anyway, I was writing this paper while I was discovering/recovering the Hot Boys' discography so I was pretty much on lock-down in my apartment playing Get It How U Live! on my stereo and Stagecoach on my tv, on no sleep, no food and a belly fulla coffee. It was delirious.

And there's scenes with the cavalry because, hello, it's a western.

And if you're in the military, have ever seen a movie about the military, have been to horse races, have seen movies about horse races, or remember the television western Rawhide, or the animated feature film An American Tail Part II: Fievel Goes West, you're probably going to already be familiar with the First Call, used to "sound as a warning that personnel will prepare to assemble for a formation."

So I put this shit together and realized that this was maybe the most poignant example of intertextual incorporation of historical themes that I'd come across in hip hop--since Nas dropped Hip Hop Is Dead the same week I saw The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence for the first time and opened a file for the book I will probably never write because I'll be busy writing other books--because on the one hand the cavalry's all about ridin' out and killin' redskins, but on the other hand the cavalry's also totally The Man in every sense of the west--they had guns but they were by no means the cowboys and, in fact, allusions to generic western motifs and imagery in rap usually aligns the speaker with the Native Americans (even the slang appropriation follows--think cheifin' reefer). Additionally the first call in particular has become weirdly woven into the American consciousness--our advertising, athletics, and pop culture. I

I'm getting too sleepy to wrap up all of this or organize all the relevant information in any coherent way so I'm going to end my first post here at WG by sputtering out and leaving it to the readers to plumb the significance of Cash Money's thematic pathological self-identification with the post-modern anti-heroic figures of revisionist rather than classical westerns.

I tend to be a little behind the times, which I've learned to make peace with, because frankly the times can move a little too fast. But everyone has to discover the hot thing at some point, so this is for the people that, like me, may lag a little.

"Stack My Paper Up" was a hot track on the blog scene earlier this year, but I just got into about a month ago and have still given it precious few spins. But at the bar last night I reminded of how great the sample was, of how badass and inspiring those violins can be and just how perfectly suited they seem to be for the drama of the game:

Born Wit It and B.O.B. - Stack My Paper Up (zShare)

Maths and English is an album that I enjoy every time I give it a listen, but I've given it precious few listens this year. But this video for "Sirens" blew my mind. Earlier this year Jessica claimed that DJ Khaled's "We Takin' Over" video was going to be the video for 2007, as it had it all--Weezy, terrorism, international flavor, etc, etc. It represents something. "Sirens" may be a more depressing beast, but it feels the same way to me--it represents this uniquely English moment that, as a half-Brit, I'm completely charmed and captivated by:

Always when you least expect it.

Can someone point me to the Bad Ass Grasshopper New Years syrup-sipping bash? That's where I want to be.

As I sit here typing this entry I wonder if there shouldn't be some kind of actual launch party to go along with this launch post. In any case, Whatever's Good, our collaborative hip-hop blog, has, well, launched.

Though We The Author's have yet to formulate a true mission statement, our goals are far reaching: we will be bringing the heat with new music, videos, interviews, gossip and hip-hop et cetera, posted every day. We're working to build a community. We're striving for discussion. We live and breathe this stuff and want to share.

So here's to 2008 and Whatever's Good. Let's hope that this year turns out well.

(As an aside, I'll be in Oklahoma City for the holiday, at a decidedly non-hip-hop event: the Flaming Lips. ...If only Weezy was doing a show in the midwest, ah, dreams.)

The first time I saw this video I was confused.

But now I see. If only Busta still spit like this today. I think his game may have fallen off with the dreads, though Dillagence was fire (but then, how couldn't it be with Dilla on the boards?)

For a long while now I have been disappointed with the state of underground hip-hop. Whether it be too serious, too corny or even a little too full of itself I have had to satisfy myself with the mainstream and sometimes the mundane.

That is until a resurgence of simple beats, poppy lyrics and a fantastic party feeling rose to the surface. Names like Spank Rock, Chewy Chocolate Cookies and Simian Mobile Disco were reinventing fun rap. It's sort of a robotic electric boogaloo with a pinch of 8-bit new wave.

Simian Mobile Disco - I Got This Down (zShare)

Attack Decay Sustain Release is the debut album from Simian Mobile Disco and is well worth a listen. It provides a jump start for several emotions, not the least of which is the one that makes you want to get up and dance.

Peaches is by far my favorite female/novelty/half-baked/pornocore/androgynous artist and when you mix in a dash of Tone-Loc, it doesn't get any better.

With the passing of Pimp C recently after a show with Too Short I am all too quickly reminded that if I like a rapper they are either now dead or in jail (or have spent quite a stretch in the clink). Pimp C was a rare bird; whether solo, with UGK or featured on someone else’s track he received constant play with me. It’s fitting then that after serving a couple of years in jail on weapons charges that a few months later Pimp C was found belly up in a hotel room.

Pimp C's smooth flow instantly caught hold of me the first time I heard him on the Crooked Lettaz track "Get Crunk" The song is a pre-solo career David Banner, Kamikaze and one of the finest verses from Pimp C. After hearing that track I dug up all the old UGK albums discovering each one better than the last. My only regret in loving Pimp C unconditionally is that I will defend the latest albeit sub par UGK release.

Crooked Lettaz ft. Pimp C - Get Crunk (RapidShare)

Just because a rapper is dead does not mean that they get a free pass into my ‘favorites’. (see: Big Pun and Proof). It does however give you a head start in the street cred game against all the other rappers whose empty promises leave me dissatisfied with the current state of rap music.

Peanut Butter Wolf gave hope to all the geeky white guys who liked Rap. Opening our eyes to constant history lessons and Charizma was one of the better teachers. Channeling MC Shan, KRS One, EPMD and Big Daddy Kane made for some great verses and some great beats. Tragically Charizma was gunned down in December of 1993 cutting short a sure promising rap career.

Peanut Butter Wolf & Charizma - Methods - Part 1 & 2 (RapidShare)

I've never been a person much for going to concerts. I like them just fine, but more often than not I find myself feeling a little let-down, even with some of my favorite groups. It's seems rare to find both a great artist and a great performer and the older and broker I get, the more willing I am to stay home, rather than go out and try new things.

Fortunately for me, my college will occasionally bring us free shows and its under this circumstances that I got introduced to Blitz the Ambassador.

Now, I'm going to be upfront--Blitz is solid, lyrically, but he's not amazing. A good, standard underground type guy, as far as a I could tell. But man alive, could he put on a show. He played to a crowd of only about 50 students, but he it was like he was playing to a crowd of thousnads. He put all his energy and heart and skill into and gave me one of the most enjoyable concert experiences I've ever had. At the end of the night everyone (including him) was grinning and dancing and having a great time and, shit, how often do you get to say that about shows?

So, buy the single or not, but if you have a chance, go see him live. As concerts get more bloated and impersonal, as performers get lazier, and as more people show up just to be obnoxious, performers like Blitz will be harder to find. See him while you can.

Rick Ross, check. Sunset, check. Police subplot, double-check.

And we're somewhere in Florida to boot. Say what you want about Rick Ross, but at least he knows what he likes, and he seems unashamed. Oh, and lest we forget that his sins of derivative redundancy are absolved due to such a massive beard.

I go way back with the Analog Brothers. I used to bump this gem, Pimp to Eat in high school when I was something of a Kool Keith fanboy (not that the album isn't deserving of a good spin, but we wore that shit out). If you've never heard this Keith side-project, do yourself a favor and cop it: there's sick flows littering this thing from beginning to end, and even a violently horny Ice-T (under the moniker Ice Oscillator) shows up to give a few speeches on anal sex.

Lately though, this CD has been lost to me. Though it always shows up first when I'm peeping iTunes, I tend to skip over it. Not this weekend, though. I'm going to blast it and you should too. Peep game.

Analog Brothers - Who Wanna Be Down (Rapidshare)

Analog Brothers - Who Wanna Be Down (zShare)

Pitchfork, the Internet's defining hipster voice--at least for music--released their Top 50 Albums of 2007 earlier this week. Though I agree with a lot of their picks in general, the rap albums they deigned to include show how ridiculously out of touch they are with the genre.

All told, Pitchfork selected six rap albums: Dizze Rascal (48, Maths + English), Ghostface (42, The Big Doe Rehab), Wu-Tang Clan (38, 8 Diagrams), Kanye West (18, Graduation), Lil Wayne (16, Da Drought 3) and Jay-Z (13, American Gangster). Can you tell me what's wrong with this list?

1930s gangsters, 70s Motown, 80s DePalma, 90s Shawn Carter-- it'd be a stretch to call Jay-Z a postmodernist, but few MCs exhibit the kind of passion for wrapping themselves in pop culture history that he does.

The sentence "Few MCs exhibit the kind of passion for wrapping themselves in pop culture" does not compute. Has the author of that tidbit of wisdom ever seen a rap video? Sigh.

Somehow the "postmodern" pop-culture whiz Jay-Z landed three spots ahead of Lil Wayne's double-disc RIAA-defying, genre-redefining masterpiece, Da Drought 3--maybe it was his camel-faced slow flow that did it, but it just doesn't make sense to me; did Pitchfork even listen to American Gangster? Nas murks Jay-Z on it. Listen to the track they did together, it's like comparing night and day. Two lazy, emotionless Jay verses serve as a lead in for Nas, who completely exposes Jigga by simply appearing on the track.

Jay - Z f. Nas - Success (zShare)

Jay - Z f. Nas - Success (RapidShare)

My other beef with the list is that three of the albums were December releases. How are you going to include three fourth quarter albums on a list of six? And how does it make any sense that a list including fan-favorite Kanye doesn't also include the most recent UGK effort? Where's Dillagence? Where's Bayani? Color me confused. Pitchfork may have the hipster market down, but they don't know shit about rap--their picks aren't hip, their completely pop.

But hey, at least they like Weezy better than Ye.

One of my favorite Wu-Tang videos of all time.


There's enough lyrical gems in this bitch to choke a child soldier in Sierra Leone. Marinate on that.

Every time I see a Miami artist (Rick Ross, DJ Khaled, etc.) do a video for a song with a Runners beat, I can't help but feel like I'm observing a higher quality version of Grand Theft Auto. It's like, the kids who were playing it finally grew up and get to act it out.


These guys live strange lives to be sure. Miami rap is weird. Cheers to beards, though. Also, what the fuck is DJ Khaled talking about? I want to meet this guy's ego so bad. I'm sure it will be the most oppressive thing I'll encounter in my life.

Scarface has the slow flow that I love. This is a blessing and a curse: dude's albums are rarely strong from beginning to end, but there's always some gems.

Same goes for his most recent effort, M.A.D.E.. Lots of filler, and a bit of killer. I'd like to share some of it with you now. Check out Git Out My Face, I'm sure it will brighten your Friday, especially if you have to deal with haters all week.

So I'm going to start doing a "Throwback Thursday," (clever, I know), on which I post an old video or song or something from the past. On this, the inaugural Thursday, I present the titular track from Westside Connection's brilliant 1996 album, Bow Down. I can't even count how many times I've listened to this CD.



...It was on permanent rotation for what must have been years. To be enjoyed while drinking a malt beverage from a paper bag.

Pusha, one half of the Cliipse, decided to toss up a little video on the Re-Up Gang blog in response to Lil Wayne's interview in this month's Complex Magazine. After the obligatory self-promotion at the beginning, it's clear that Pusha is mad.




I'm troubled by this because I love Weezy, but I also happen to love Pusha and the Clipse. These are probably the two best lyricists in hip-hop, and it looks like they've got real beef, now. Most beef in rap, however, usually blows over, simply because there's too much money to be made when people work together--and as we all know, controversy drives sales, just ask Kanye and 50 Cent. The most significant part of Pusha's monologue is all of the gun talk. It's a bit frightening, and when coming from his mouth in this context is also a lot realer than rapping about hollowtips. Let's hope that no real shells start flying.

It's no secret: I love Spank Rock. From his high pitched voice to his humpty-esque style, the guy is amazing. He completely reimagined the Miami Bass genre, regionally popular almost 20 years ago, and brought it to an entirely new crowd of ass-shaking hipsters in 2006 - 2007. Last month's EP, Bangers & Cash would definitely have made my top 10 of the year, had it been more than six tracks long.

In any case, there's videos. The newest of which just dropped today, for the song "B.O.O.T.Y." is amazing, and a nice follow-up to the incredibly vulgar, cartoony "Pu$$y". They're both here, but with the caveat that the lyrics are definitely NSFW, and the video for "Pu$$y" is probably not safe anywhere.

I love everything about this. The bass is absolutely overpowering, and combined with Spank's frantic pace, it becomes a total assault on the senses--just listen to the siren cranking in the background. Shit's going down. These songs were designed for only one purpose--Okay, well, maybe two: the dance floor and the strip club. Check out "Pu$$y" below, but be sure to hide the kids.

Gee, I wonder what was on Spank Rock's mind when he put together this little EP. Wowzers. I can't wait for more from him.