Cudi was speaking to me with “Soundtrack 2 My Life” and I know I’m not alone on that. His lyrics specifically were what caught me. “But they all didn’t see, the little big of sadness of me…. Scotty.” And then the chorus comes in and Scott Mescudi is truly baring his soul. I believe this to be one of the songs that inspired the whole Emo Rap movement in the late 2010’s. Cudi is a legend to all of those young rappers for his personal lyrical content and willingness to peel away the typical rapper braggadocio swagger and instead just be a normal human being who lives with deep rooted issues like the rest of us.
Read moreSEAFOOD SAM "RAMSEY"
Lately I’ve been on the hunt for some good rap music I’ve never heard before. This often means I’m going deep down hip hop rabbit holes on Spotify and YouTube listening to clips of songs and then quickly onto the next. It’s not a fair way to listen to music but this is how we absorb music now. Sure there are the purists out there who claim to only listen to albums but music is in a TikTok state of attention span right now. Kind of sad right? But here’s the way I look at it…. When I actually find a song I’m really vibing too I will bump that song over and over again. And I will share it in my IG stories in hopes that it resonates with you too. I’ve found some dope tracks lately. And one of the freshest tracks I’ve heard is from an emcee named Seafood Sam. I heard his song “Ramsey” off of the Du-Rag album and was hooked. Dope song… Dope emcee… I needed to listen to more of his music.
Read moreMAC MILLER, EARL SWEATSHIRT AND VINCE STAPLES
Mac, Earl, and Vince
In Los Angeles between the years of 2012 - 2014 you had rappers like Mac Miller, Earl Sweatshirt, and Vince Staples linking up in the studio to create magic. The rap music these guys created with each other are timeless hip hop classics. During this era you also had the rise of Odd Future and TDE putting LA hip hop back on the map. In this article I walk through some of my favorite Mac, Earl, and Vince songs that they collaborated on. A trio that I always wished could have formed a supergroup. RIP Mac.
Read moreDANNY BROWN "30"
A story about a recent walk with my baby in his stroller and the songs that came up on my Shopify shuffle while we cruised around. I no longer have hours each day to listen to rap music so I must maximize the time I have. In a one hour stroll I came across some hip hop heaters from Action Bronson, A$AP Rocky, ScHoolboy Q, and Danny Brown so I wanted to touch on each in this story.
Read moreONRA "BYE BYE"
Back in 2018 I first heard the producer named Onra and his style was very unique. He was taking dusty old samples from the 60’s and 70’s and making beats that sounded like they were straight off the Enter the Dragon soundtrack. The vinyl hiss and that throwback sound was right up my alley so I did what I do… I went down the Spotify and YouTube rabbit holes to find what all I had been missing!
Read moreFELT "STICKS AND STONES"
Last week, Felt dropped their surprise album, Felt 4 U on all daily streaming platforms. If you don’t know who Felt is, they’re a duo that consists of two emcees named Slug and Murs. Slug is from Minnesota and Murs is from Cali and their vibe just works over west coast type beats. This is Felt’s 4th album together and their first in 11 years so this drop out of nowhere is big one for underground hip hop fans like myself.
Read moreCOOKIN SOUL - CARIBBEAN BITES
Cookin Soul is a Grammy award winning hip hop producer out of Spain that makes fire instrumentals while producing for the who’s who of rap. He’s made beats for rappers like Curren$y, MF DOOM, Mac Miller, Wiz Khalifa, Nipsey Hussle, YG, Action Bronson, and many more. For me, when I see Cookin Soul’s name on a track, mixtape, or project I don’t even hesitate. I’m all in. His audio visual game is on point too with the trippy effects, sports highlights, video game clips, old school cartoons, and the 80’s and 90’s vibes throughout it all.
Read moreSNOOP DOGG "GZ UP HOES DOWN"
My favorite song of Snoop’s Doggystyle album isn’t one of the mainstream hits. And to even have a favorite song on that album is impossible because it was smash after smash. My favorite song on Doggystyle was only on the OG pressing of the album which I believe was due to Isaac Hayes sample clearance issues?
Read moreMR. M'FN EXQUIRE AND MADLIB "BLACK MIRROR"
People stay sleeping on Mr. Muthaf*ckin’ eXquire and I don’t get why. eX is dope with the bars! And now he is linking up with Madlib on a track? okay…. you have my attention!
Read moreTHE ALCHEMIST - YACHT ROCK 2
Yeah… It’s Monday morning… The weekend is over and now you have to do the whole 9-5 thing again for a few more days before you can lounge again. But while you work you don’t have to be completely robotic nahmean?! Carry some of those weekend vibes into your Monday and you’ll be well on your way to having a great day.
Read more2PAC - THE UNRELEASED OG CLASSICS
A list of my favorite unreleased 2Pac songs. Some of these Tupac songs did eventually come out but they were the same as what was on the original Makaveli bootlegs from back in the day. This is for my OG Pac Death Row fans!
Read moreTOO SHORT "I'M A PLAYER"
On October 23rd, 1993 I was in the 8th grade and was 13 years old with nothing but rap music on my mind. Once school ended that afternoon, I grabbed my backpack and walked down and up a huge hill so I could get to the UTC mall in San Diego. Too $hort’s new album dropped that day and I needed to buy the cassette. I had a problem though. I was a tiny white kid and that parental advisory sticker on the album meant I wasn’t old enough to buy it.
Read morePETE ROCK "KOOL JAZZ"
Legendary producer Pete Rock dropped one of the better instrumental songs last year…. Did you miss it?
Read moreA$AP ROCKY AND LANA DEL REY "RIDIN'"
Today I wanted to start my day out with a good beach vibe so I had to pull out a classic. It’s a song that I don’t think was ever officially released so it makes it that much better. Got my main man A$AP Rocky on the swaggy bars and Lana Del Rey on the stoner-type thirsty crooning. You put me out on a beach here in SD with this song playing and I am at peace just watching the waves with the sun hitting me on my beach towel. Hope you guys can find those beach vibes this weekend!
Read moreDOPE WHITE RAPPERS
In the late 90’s I was Just a scrawny young kid trying to find his way in life. Being white, I obviously gravitated towards anybody dope who had the same skin color as me. To be white in hip hop back then was tough unless you were the Beastie Boys, Eminem, or MC Serch. Even for them there were issues to breakthrough. People hated on your skin color regardless of how dope you were. But there were some white emcees on the underground rap scene who broke through. Most of them don’t get the shine they deserve so I’ll try to shed some light on a few of my favorites.
Read moreOUTKAST "13TH FLOOR / GROWING OLD"
While I love Tribe, Wu, Gang Starr, and NWA, in my humble opinion, OutKast is the greatest rap group of all time. I was in junior high school when their debut album Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik came out and it was the video for “Player’s Ball” which was my introduction. I watched it on channel 41 on BET on a sunny weekday afternoon after school. My parents worked at this time so I got to watch Rap City all by lonesome. That meant I was listening to it as loud as I wanted and without looking over my shoulder for my parents who were not feeling my rap love at all.
Read moreERYKAH BADU "DIDN'T CHA KNOW"
Mondays for me mean regrouping from the weekend and getting my head straight for the week ahead. On the music side, I usually listen to something mellow so I can calm my many anxieties. Maybe go on a walk outside to hang with the birds and the bees before I dive into spreadsheets for the day. While I was looking through my Spotify trying to find a vibe for this morning I landed on Miss Erykah Badu who is one of my all-time favorite R&B voices.
Read moreMURS & 9TH WONDER "WALK LIKE A MAN"
Murs & 9th Wonder
I read that 9th thought he actually had 3 beats on DAMN. but then Kendrick ended up stitching the 3 beats together for one long beat to serve as the soundtrack for his storytelling on “DUCKWORTH.”. Had Kendrick done this before in a song? Of course he’s had a beat change but has he done in this way before? I don’t think so. Was he moved by another song when he was in high school as a 16 year old? Was he a fan of Murs back then? Was he into 9th Wonder beats back then? Did Kendrick’s inspiration for “DUCKWORTH.” come from the Murs and 9th song “Walk Like a Man”?
Read moreUGK "ONE DAY"
Regardless of how I found UGK’s Ridin’ Dirty album in 1996, I purchased it on CD and proceeded to go rip off the packaging of the CD so that I can throw the CD in my 6 disc changer in the back of my 1991 Volkswagon Fox. I had a good deck and speakers so when I drove around I could rattle the car with my windows down and let people know what vibe I was on.
Read moreEVIDENCE "UNLEARNING"
The new Evidence track “Unlearning” might have slipped right past you and that’s alright. I completely understand. It’s hard to keep up on new music when there seems to be 7 new songs dropping each day. I try to stay up on all of the new hip hop and rap releases from Action Bronson all the way to Young Nudy but I too miss things. I’m old school boom bap at heart but I don’t discriminate on some of the newer guys. I love the art and culture of it all. I also dig creativity so I love seeing the waves that come in and out of the genre. What I am sure of with all of my listening is that not many songs and albums have much of a shelf life. What’s hot now is forgotten a month from now. That’s why I’m always on the hunt for timeless classics to keep in rotation.
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