HipHope.com

We talked about Styles P’s new album coming in may entitled Ghost Dub Dime, now check out the new video That Street life featuring Tyler Woods.  To read about the Styles P Ghost Dub Dime on HipHope.com click here.

Another back in the day crew making a comeback.  Well actually don’t call it a comeback because they’ve been making new music non-stop since the early 90′s.  Cypress Hill, blazed the scene with How I Can Just Kill A Man and Hand On The Pump back in ’91.  Those were Hip Hop anthems and now they are classics.  Here we are 2010 and their 9th studio albums not to mention other projects and solo releases by the members, most notable are Soul Assassins albums.

Rise up has many producers along with main Cypress Hill producer DJ Muggs and rapper B Real we also have Mike Shinoda, Jim Jonsin, Pete Rock, DJ Khalil and others.  Guest appearances by Pitbull, Everlast, Young De, Tom Morello,  Audioslave, Marc Anthony and others.  Cypress always had a rock overtone in their music as well as a dark Hip Hop feel, such a hard combination.  Rhyme styles have been hardcore and this album is no different.  The production on this album is extraordinary no doubt!  Stand out tracks like  It Ain’t Nothing and Pass The Dutch (you know they had to put a weed song in there), this album is a banger.  A nice alternative to the norm of what’s going on in Hip Hop lately.  With Rock tracks, Hip Hop tracks and Hispanic tracks, this album is no doubt worth it.  Let’s give in a good 80% out of 100.

Preview some songs from Rise Up as well as some of their classics…..

As I’m surfing through youtube I came across this song.  I had to share because this song is so Hip Hop and many songs sampled this. Let me know if you remember any of them….

Selectah EJah usually makes the mixes for this site, but has been a bit busy and hasn’t updated the mixes since last year. Wow, what a busy man! But we’re going to do something different, we’re featuring guest DJ’s mixes for the site. First up is DJ Kid Capri with one of his old skool mixtapes, and this is really a tape, you get the break from flipping the tape over and everything. Check this out though, as you realize how creative the producers were back in the day, 90% of the songs were created with a Roland 808. Wow those were the days. So enjoy and here’s the track listing…..

01.Dancing All Night
02.Rockin It
03.Spoonie G Rap
04.Go See the Doctor
05.Latoya
06.Turn it Up
07.Together Forever
08.One Love
09.Cracked Out
10.I Met a Girl
11.Roxxane
12.Problems
13.Fearless 4 Freestyle
14.The Message

Styles P has a lot going on these days.  He has announced he will release a mixtape entitled Ghost Dub Dime with E1 music next month (May 2010).  He also signed to do a fictional novel with Random House called ‘Invincible.’  Not only that but he’s releasing a soundtrack for the book, busy man there!  They’re both due out on June 1st.  Styles P says about the Ghost Dub Dime mixtape, “I am staying in tune with the streets and providing bars that most rappers won’t.”  SP the Ghost is also working on a new solo album as well as an album with the group the Lox.

I know I said it before, but I cannot stress enough, Chicago gals are hot.  Remember us introducing the lovely and spit-fire Tina B from Chi-Town?  Well we couldn’t get enough of her and wanted to share some of her music with you.  Click the link below to check her out on Myspace, her personal website is coming soon.  Her music is raw, mad lyrics from the young lady coming from one of the roughest cities in the world.  Don’t forget the fact that she looks mad good too, what else can we ask for?  Hmmm let’s see, does she watch sports and play video games?  But let’s stay focused, check out some of her music that she bangs out, NICE!  The world needs an MC like Tina B because of all the Nicki Manaj’s out there.  Tina please show them how it’s done star!

Tina’s Myspace

Erykah Badu

Erykah Badu has been Hip Hop’s sweetheart for a very long time.  Her weirdness, beauty and soulful voice is somethingwe couldn’t resist.  But Feb 2008 was a terrible year for Ms Badu.  After not coming out with any new music since Sept 2003, she comes out with the album New Amerykah, Pt. 1: 4th World War.  Until then Badu has been known for many things, making a wack album was not one of them.  But after listening to New Amerykah Pt 1 it was terrible.  Only two good songs on the whole album, not really an album more like an EP.  I was disgusted because I’m the biggest Erykah Badu fan in the world.  I even tried to listen to the album over and over to see if it would grow on me.  Nope!  But now here comes her new album New Amerykah Part Two: Return of the Ankh out March 30th, 2010.  Ahhhh a refreshing Badu is back again with her soulful Hip Hop inspired music.  She’s sounding a little Billie Holiday-ish on the album.  Very very nice!  The first track 20 Feet Tall is like a 3 minute intro to the album.  Window Seat the second track on the album is very soulful almost jazzy.  Agitation I guess is like another intro with some hot instrumentals.  But the banger on this EP is the song Turn Me Away (Get Munny) is crazy!  With Jr Mafia’s Get Money sample with a soulful music and Erykah’s Billie Holiday-sounding self is off the chain.  The next track Gone Baby, Don’t Be Long is another hot Hip Hop inspired soulful Erykah song.   Umm Hmm is another nice Badu track, sounds very Mama’s Gun like.  Love is like a funk track, nothing special, it’s just OK.  You Loving Me (Session) is Eryka’s attempt at comedy I guess, I didn’t find it very funny, I’ll let you hear it for yourself.  Fall In Love (Your Funeral) is another great song by Badu being very honest about falling in love with her.  Another Biggie sample in here, singing “There’s gonna be some slow singing, flower bringing if her burglar alarm starts ringing.”  Yeah no doubt look at Andre and Common!  Incense Feat. Kirsten Agnesta is some soulful bugged out

New Amerykah Part Two: Return of the Ankh

mostly instrumental high Badu song.  Out of My Mind Just In Time is a weird outro that you would expect from Badu.  All in all I give this album like an 85% out of 100.  I would’ve gotten a 95 or 100 if it was a full album.  Almost a classic like Mamas Gun but not enough, get it for only $10.  If you’re in NYC you can probably get it for like $6 or $8 in the village.  Check out her video for Window Seat, the path she walks is the path JFK got shot, the X is where he was shot at. The video was shot Guerrilla style, in one take with no extras.  So the people in the video were just chillin’, LOL!  Damn look at the fat ass on Badu, damn she’s fine than a muh fhuqua!

OK Badu said she was making a statement against “groupthink.”  Groupthink is a way of thinking, those who use the groupthinking ideology try to limit or eliminate conflict from a discussion without properly analyzing the opinions and ideas that were presented over the course of the conversation.  Boy oh boy, there’s going to be some highly mad people behind this video.

Aw shucks!  We got some quotes from some west coast rappers old and new.  Jay Rock came straight to the point when

Cube looks ready for beef!!!

he said Ice Cube needs to name names when he’s talking about the new generation of west coast rappers.  We’re almost sure that Cube was talking about Jay Rock when saying the new gen of west coast rappers don’t respect the old west for paving the way (hey sounds like a Cali version of KRS1).  Ice Cube says, “I ain’t naming names at this time, but I’m adding names.  You let me know if you wanna be on the list.”  He has a new a next album coming out called I Am the West (wow!  Really sounding like a cali KRS1) where I’m sure he’s going to go in on all the new west coast rappers.  Kinda like on his 2008 album Raw Footage where he went off on all youngsters.  But the difference was, he really went in on that album with raw lyrics and everything.  For some reason I think he’s going to do the same with his upcoming album too.  But in response to Jay Rock, Cube says, “With that being said, I understand my last few blogs have been talked about in the streets and all over the internet.  I want to make myself clear to all my fans who think I turned by back on the young rappers out here.  No.  I wish every young MC nothing but success, especially the ones from the New West.  BUT, I have a major problem with any mothaf**ka from ANY COAST dissing the Old West…especially me.  I’M SERVING YOU! Now, I a lot of people want me to name names.  Buy the record.  In stores July 13th.”   Whoo hoo!  OK, can’t wait to hear Cube go off in July, we all know beef brings out the best in old skool rappers.  Think Nas and Jay Z.

We’ve talked about Luda’s upcoming album Battle of the Sexes before.  As the album comes along he’s trying to recruit some other artists for his upcoming project.  So far sounds like it’s going to bang.  So far he has Nicki Manaj, Lil Kim, Eve and Trina.  But as he tried to enlist Lauryn Hill to make an appearance, she said no.  Luda sounds disappointed as he tells the associated press, “I think Lauryn Hill is like extremely talented and I can say I did try to do that , it just didn’t work itself out.”  Lauryn Hill hasn’t recorded since the 1998 Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.  Oh well I guess she’s just too busy doing other things.

Diddy is slated to perform on American Idol on Weds March 31st 2010.  He’ll be performing a song from his new album Last Train To Paris due June 22nd.  The song he’s performing is Hello Good Morning features TIand his group Diddy’s Dirty Money group.  Should be interesting, so I guess look out for TI to make a guest appearance too.

Pharoahe Monch is teaming up with Duck Down Records to release his next album called WAR (We Are Renegades).  Monch is a veteran MC that has always made good music and keeps it real never making pop songs.  His most famous joint is “Simon Says,”  a song he got sued for using a Godzilla movie sample in.  Monch says about his new partnership, “I’m incredibly excited about my upcoming release W.A.R. (We Are Renegades) and my new partnership between my company W.A.R. Media, LLC, and Duck Down Music. I am working diligently to finish the work for a summer release and I am honored to join forces with the Duck Down family during their 15 year anniversary.” Man doesn’t that sound like the yearbook answer huh?  But any way the new album is going to have featured artists like Vernon Reid, Jean Grey, Styles P and Black Thought.  Sounds like another hot album from Monch, his last album Desire back in 07 was very good, not great though, but a solid album.  We look forward to another solid effort and hopefully more with the line up he has so far.

Whatever you say about Rick Ross, he doesn’t pay his child support, his baby moms is a whore pornstar, you can never say he makes wack music though.  He’s not the best rapper but he always seems to make good songs as a whole.  Remember Every Day I’m Hustling?  Damn that shit was hard!  But now he has this song with John Legend called Sweet Life, sounds pretty cool and laid back.  John Legend lends an R&B hand on the track.  This song is the first single off of his upcoming 4th album, Teflon Don.  No release date but Ross says this will be the album of his career.  Check the song and let me know what you think.  On the real if you see some of his latest pictures, he needs to loose a lot of weight, he really looks like a nasty fat pig lately.

The shortage of women in Hip Hop has been terrible.  There has been a lack of women even wanting to rap, and when you find them, they’re not that good.  Back in Hip Hop’s hey day there female rappers weren’t as prevalent as males, but there seemed to be plenty.  Sha Rock, Pebbley Poo, Lisa Lee, Sequence, MC Lyte, Salt and Peppa, Hurricane G, Roxxane Shante and so on.  Now it seems like there are so few, Nicky Minaj, Lil Kim (who fell off so bad), Trina, Foxy Brown (also fell off), Remy Ma after that, who?  Well this shortage of female rappers has me combing Myspace Music and other sites for some lyrical Queens.  Here I found one that like, Tina, straight from Chicago.  Chicago know for it’s own Hip Hop history so you would imagine some good product comes from there.  Check her Myspace page, listen to her music and read her bio below and let me know what you think.  I think I’ve told you before, I think Chicago women are hot!  I’ve checked out her songs and they sound nice, check for yourself.

Tina’s Myspace

Here’s some great marketing made famous from the independent rapper Ras Kass.  He’s asking fans to donate money so he can release his next album on CD and Vinyl.  The not titled as of yet will have 18 to 20 tracks on a limited edition CD and Vinyl.  There’s also no release date but he’s trying to raise $3800 is supposed to fund the cost of the CD’s and Vinyl.  The studio time was funded by the fans who supported his last album The Quarterly.  Check the site KickStarter.com t0 see the insentives for making donations.  For example if you pledge $15 or more you get a copy of the CD and link on Kass website.  Sounds like a great idea, and it seems like fans have his back.  There’s no official release for his album but it is supposed to drop spring of 2010.  Check for it, Kass is a great lyricist from back in the day.