Sunday, April 27, 2008

MISS RAP SUPREME: EPISODE 2


So I missed the end of last week's episode. Like I predicted, Lionezz got booted. But hold up. Khia got caught recycling a rhyme from one of her albums. (Honestly, I don't think Serch really recognized that from one of her CDs. Come on. Really, now. Serch does not own a Khia CD.) While not only a violation, iSerch exposed Khia as a one-hit wonder who couldn't write under pressure. Anyway, Khia gets the boot and Lionezz is reinstated. Khia seems relieved to go. Unfortunately, I don't think they really made her do the walk of shame out of the Fembassy with the official "Step Off" stamp of disapproval. Probably because she might have pulled a boxcutter. While she made for great train-wreck TV, I think she diluted the competition because she wasn't really giving it her all. When you write "My Neck, My Back" you can kind of coast through anything, I guess.

Serch and Yo-Yo make the contestants compete in a tracksuit competition where they have to design their own tracksuit. While entertaining, this doesn't really have much to do with actual mic skills, so it seems kind of trivial.

Back to the music, the ladies are split into teams and have to collaborate to write a sexy club-type track that will be performed in a club. Byata captains a team of Rece, Bree and Chiba. Miss Cherry heads up a squad of Nicky2States, D.A.B., Lionezz and Lady Twist. Miss Cherry drops the ball which is shocking considering I have her in my final four. It seems like Ms. Cherry has lost her arch-rival, so she kind of feels like a Batman with no Joker. She'll pull it together after this. Ms. Cherry's team also seemed a little thrown back by having to perform the "so seductive" song in front of a lesbian audience. Despite this wrench in the works, D.A.B. delivers an impressive performance. On the flip side, Byata's team's choreography kind of broke apart, but the team still pulled off a strong showing. It was kind of like a busted play in football. Byata even flubs her words, but she kept it moving and acted like nothing happened. She's got superstar status.

Byata's team gets the win, but this leads to some friction between her and Chiba for no real reason. Just drama. Drama aside, I feel like the competition is heating up. As Serch always screams "This is not a game" and I think it's becoming quite apparent. While I initially I wasn't sure about this, the competitive angle is starting to run neck and neck with the campy side of this show.

Elimination Round. Topic: what turns you off.

Nicky2States: while usually known as one of the more charismatic characters with a gift for profanity, she spits a tame sixteen about how she can only be herself. Kind of reminiscent of some poetry from the diary of a 14 yr old girl (c) David Cross. While this showed her vulnerable side and impressed Serch, I think she took the easy road on that one. Usually, she reminds me of a female DMX. Not this time.

Lady Twist: The dark horse. Storyteller verse. Pretty much the best of the elimination round. If she doesn't make the final four, I'll be amazed.

Lionezz: While she seems more confident and more "in it to win it" since her resurrection, she needs to step out of battle mode. I feel like the language barrier
keeps her from understanding the context of the rhyme assignments.

Ms. Cherry: Drops the ball AGAIN. She stumbles over her words again. Poor showing from another of my projected final four. I think this will be the wakeup call because she was a hair away from getting the boot.

D.A.B.: Half-whispering her rhymes but then losing her train of thought in the middle. I think being picked last for every challenge may have shook her confidence which is too bad because during the club performance she nailed it.

Ultimately, D.A.B.'s stumble was worse than Miss Cherry's.

The battle continues...

Sunday, April 20, 2008

DJ PREMIER SPEAKS...


Primo. DJ Premier's nickname pretty much sums up the man in two syllables. Is he the greatest producer ever? Possibly. In the top 3 producers ever? Easily.

With that said, I always like to read or find out how artists create their works, what inspires them, how they develop certain pieces, et cetera. (I'm a nerd like that.) A German hip-hop site has an MP3 of DJ Premier talking about the stories behind some of his classics like "Words I Manifest," "Nas Is Like" and others. It really shows the difference between an artist and someone who puts out music. (There is a difference.) Also, there's a bittersweet tale of how he found out about the passing of Big L.

Enjoy.

DJ Premier-14 Deadly Secrets mixed by DJ Derezon & Illfated Tre


Via spinemagazine.com

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

EGO TRIP'S MISS RAP SUPREME SHOW

I'm sure all the cool kids live-blogged ego trip's "Miss Rap Supreme" last night with their fancy cable television, DVRs and such. Well, here at EB headquarters, we're not on the cutting edge. No siree. I had to go to VH1's website to watch it. Anyway, let's get to it.

MC Serch is back again, along with Yo-Yo, to host this show. The preliminary elimination round is done pageant style where they each have to do a sixteen bar verse. From that round here's my take on the contestants in the preliminary round.

-Miss Cherry: From the South. Sixteen bars were okay.

Rece Steele-From the Bronx. Raps in that on-the-corner-cipher style. (See any "Smack" DVD)

-Nicky2States: A little too hardcore with no real direction in her verse. But not really hardcore (like M.O.P.) but just lot of cursing. Has been rapping for a year. That's more than obvious.

-Lionezz: German. Can see language barrier being a problem.

-Fabrisha Dankins: White hipster from Brooklyn (my guess is Williamsburg). Uses a tambourine to keep beat). Also in her verse, she uses "challah" but pronounces the "ch." The "ch" in challah is pronounced "kuh" sound crossed with a coughing up phlegm sound. I know I'm being overly technical but these things matter....like when Greg Nice said "Dizzy Gillespie plays the sax" in "Funky For You." (*sidenote: Being white and choosing Fabrisha Dankins which you know isn't her real name, kind of sounds like nominal blackface. It's like if I was going to law school and changed my Moshe Goldblattstein. I'm just saying)

-Chiba: Pretty good verse. Reminds me of Left Eye. Ironically, she damaged her left eye in a car accident.

-Bree: Feminem. Not quite G-Child but along those lines.

-Hedonis Da Amazon: Gave the verse "handing out free abortions." Gets my vote.

-Robbi: Rhymed like someone reading Dr. Seuss on too much 'tussin.

-Byata: Wait. I think I've heard her before. She was on that Think Differently: Wu-Tang comp a few years back. She's Russian, from Brooklyn and so far, is my pick to win it all.

-Lady Merk The Black Russian: While I don't know if she's an actual black Russian, she is black and does rap in Russian...the entire time. Hopefully, they will pair her up with Byata to do "Ebony & Ivory (Russian Rap Remix)."

-Lady Twist: Has a Twista-like delivery but adds a Bone Thugs style melody. She should make the cut.

-D.A.B: Used to be addicted to heroin and has a trouble past.

-Khia: Thought it was pronounced Kia, like the car. You would think having a hit single (not to be confused with a good song) would eliminate you from the competition but there she is. I hope this doesn't take away from her blogging time.

-Miss CKC: Horrible but funny. But not that funny that you could stomach 12 episodes of her.

The 10 finalists: Ms. Cherry, Rece Steele, Nicky2States, Lionezz, Chiba, Bree, Byata, Lady Twist, D.A.B. and Khia.

My picks: Ms. Cherry, Chiba, Byata and Lady Twist.

Other random notes:

-Nicky2States is not very good. Next to the German chick, who doesn't speak English that well, she's the worst rapper.

-Nicky2States also blessed us with the quote during a drunken game of "Truth Or Dare": "Alcohol makes you let down your prohibitions." It also makes you lose your inner thesaurus.

-Two near-catfights. One due to Ms. Cherry calling out Khia for being a one-hit wonder. The other between D.A.B. and Nicky2States just on out and out bitchery. I have a feeling this may be "Flavor Of Love....of The Mic."

-The German chick will probably be the first one booted due to her lack of knowing the language. Example: "You're the reason I keep it feminine/People don't call you "lady"/They call you an ugly gentleman." Stick to rhyming in German and you'll be huge...in Germany...like Hasselhoff.

As for the episode, the challenge to rap in front of sistas/sisters was interesting. They sent one team to a beauty shop, mostly consisting of older women, in South Central LA and another to a sorority house. The team who got the beauty shop one because Ms. Cherry had the sense to write an empowering hook focused on women, so they connected with their audience. The sorority house team, led by Nicky2States, had no game plan which is probably why they failed...miserably.

In the elimination round, where they had to write about women or the strength of women or something like that, everyone does so-so. Most of them missed the point. Khia continues the beef with Ms. Cherry by glaring at her during her verse about respect. More or less, Lionezz will be the first to go. Her elimination round verse was bad. Plus she stopped right in the middle. (ESL classes. Get your English on.) The cliffhanger ending leaves us wondering who will get the axe. Guess we'll find out next week.

Friday, April 4, 2008

POSSE IN EFFECT

Here's a visual for the audio from on DallasPenn.com. Black Eye Boom Bap Posse Rap Cage Match .

While I can't find all the videos, here's a sampling.

The Juice Crew - The Symphony


Sometimes, I wonder if they should have sued Mario Van Peebles for biting the black cowboy idea he used in Posse. Then again...

EPMD feat. K-Solo and Redman - The Headbanger




What happened in the 90s where every video had to be filmed in an abandoned warehouse/factory, with fire and baseball bats and chains and dogs barking? For the most part, everyone stopped smiling and started scowling.

Craig Mack feat. Notorious B.I.G., Rampage, LL Cool J and Busta Rhymes - Flava In Ya Ear (remix)



Honestly, I can turn it off right after Biggie's verse. I can't imagine anyone thinking "I can top that." This must be like finding out your ex-girlfriend dated Peter North.

Things this video makes me glad about:
-visors going out of style (for the most part)
-no more Puffy dances in videos
-Biggie

Things I don't like:
-LL Cool J's verse. What kind of gobbledygook was that? "Skeevy. Delicious."

De La Soul feat. Q-Tip, Vinia Mojica - A Rollerskating Jam Called Saturday



This is one of those magical songs, like most of The Jackson 5 catalog, where once you hear it, you're in a good mood. Like if you found out your girlfriend used to date Peter North and you heard this song, you'd feel better. This will definitely get played at my wedding. (Not that I'm getting married. But if I do, this is on the playlist)

Bonus: This one didn't make DP's list but it's one of my favorites

Cool Breeze feat. Outkast and Goodie Mob - Watch For The Hook


Dope beat, great rhymes. Plus, it's got a Reservoir Dogs theme to it.