Sittin' here

I am now blogging over at <a href=http://devilinthedistance.blogspot.com>Devil In The Distance</a>. I haven't really blogged here for a long time. Blogging is hot again so I'm doing it...no I'm joking. I blogged elsewhere. Now I am over at Devil In The Distance.

I am now blogging over at Devil In The Distance. I haven't really blogged here for a long time. Blogging is hot again so I'm doing it...no I'm joking. I blogged elsewhere. Now I am over at Devil In The Distance.

Marvin The Martian has offered fresh perspective on London's current gun crime epidemic which has seen three children under the age of 16 killed in south London in the last three weeks and two more gun related incidents including one fatality in the city over the weekend. In his Blog Marvin touches on his history with guns, what he sees as the biggest problems facing young males in London and responds to the political abuse of this tragic situation.

Click the image to download Marvin The Martian's MySpace only download single 'Go That Far' now. 

Yes I probably owe Bol money for this review. But after reading this pack of lies I knew I had to protect the music buying public!!!

1. Intro- Who the fcuk gives a fcuking fcuk about weed any more? Why doed it need to be legal? Some 1970s arguments based on people getting time for weed. What relevance does that have to do with 2006? Really? Trying to reach the kids through pro-canibus revolution! "Yall were dumb enough the think Method's number's up" First line and he's already bitching about being shit...
2. It Is Me- Scott Storch right? This isn't even that bad. If I was paying for a Storch beat I'd laugh at this piece of shit though. I know everybody was thinking it when they heard it aswell. The whole song is about being an old bitter rapper whose label doesn't give a shit any more. Overall it's one of the better tracks on the album though.
3. Problem- Serious have you heard the last two Eric Sermon albums? I think this beat occurs eight times over the course of the two albums. What is he actually saying on this song? Just referencing himself constantly. Like he's trying to convince himself he used to matter.
4. Somebody Done Fucked Up- "Fcuk that what's hood?" Meth wants to be young so bad! This is a standard Wu-Affiliate beat. Shit sounds like an intro but the intro doesn't stop! STOP INTRO STOP!!!!! Doesn't even switch the percussion on the hook. This shit's a head ache. Laziest form of production. What's he saying? He's saying "Wu Tang" a lot. Oh he hates the critics.... Excellent.
5. Shaolin Soldier Skit- WHAT THE FCUK??? A Socom skit? WHAT THE FCUKING FCUK????
6. Fall Out- By far the album's best track. Hard, rawkus, original, not too-forced, kinda-dark, hype. Hook's strong. Well structured, layered production. Best Method Man track since 'M.E.T.H.O.D Man'
7. Dirty Mef- That beat is a joke. Waiting for something to happen with it. Just a lame keyboard riff. Sounds like that Bobby Digital shit. ODB raps him off the track. There's no reason for Meth to show up on this song. ODB could make any beat sound good though to be honest.
8. 4:20- Is this Meth's attempt at a screw hook? That scratching is as bad as I've heard, wow the timing is attrocious. The beat is horrendous! Those drums sound like metronome. No substance. "My sex aint homo" Congratulations. Streetlife should retire. I don't know what a Carlton Fisk is.
9. Ride- see. 'Never Be The Same Again'- Ghostface Featuring Raekwon and Carl Thomas from 'Bulletproof Wallets' only not good and featuring Ginuwine.
10. The Glide- Quite like this. The way they flipped the ODB vocal's kinda gangster. Raekwon did well. Better then he has been doing. Is that U-God? U-God seems to sound good in small doses. That's La The Darkman right? He's the only 2006 sounding rapper here. Method Man doesn't let the team down. Still obsessed with homosexuality though.
11. Kids Skit- Method Man's a kiddy fiddler?
12. Got To Have It- Memphis Bleek turned this beat down in 2001. Bleek gave the tape to Juelz who thought it was a bit obvious for him. Juelz left it in the waste paper basket at Def Jam. Method Man was waiting for a meeting with LA Reid one day and stumbled across it.
13. Say- I quite like this. Although it's a very obvious bite of 'All Falls Down' by Kanye West and he does bitch like an old loser throughout. It's not too offensive.
14. Ya'Meen- Another one of those great great intros that refuses to develop. Original Jay-Z dig in there. Method Man's averageness pales into comparison when Fat Joe arrives. Wow. Styles P raps them both off the track.
15. Konichiwa Bitches- Are you serious? "Niggas suck" Oh fa sho! "Fuck it I'm salty" Oh fa sho. Sounds like a crappy mixtape track, sounds like the beat was made for the vocals on some Clinton Sparks-ness. "Konichiwa Bitches"??? Just sound like a dick-head. "Uh yeah Konichiwa Method Man"
16. Everything- Lazy chop. You can't get away with that in 2006. That's a great intro. Can't wait for it to develop.... Still waiting... Sounds like an 'Iron Flag' cast off. Gay fcuking chorus... More gay lyrics. Wow.
17. Walk On- 'P.S.A Remix'- Jay-Z produced by Just Blaze. Why did Redman show up? Really? Sounds depressed. Throw a few "Likes" in. Doesn't matter if they're dumb nonsense. Just sounds like bars.
18. Pimpin' Skit- Method Man's a gay pimp?
19. Presedential MC- YES KUNG FU SAMPLES!!!!!!!!! Very '93 sounding. A bit like the "Skunk remix" of 'M.E.T.H.O.D Man'. Boring beat... Method Man didn't even try on that hook. Fcuking hell; Raekwon kills it again. Rza can't rap on his best day. I don't know what kind of day he was having when he kicked that verse. Sounds throwed.
20. 4 Ever- Actually starts quite nicely. That Megan Rochell has some pipes on her. Although she sounds the same on every track. Can anybody say 'All I Need'? Method Man can....

Not very proffessional and not very considerate but there you have it. Method Man's latest effort is nothing short of "Disgrace". After first listen I actually wasn't offended at all, the second listen grated some-what, the third listen got me angry. The above is my fourth listen. I have since listened a fifth time... Please don't put yourself through this album!

New Marvin The Martian single 'I Hate My Job' has just been added to his MySpace. 'I Hate This Job' is out on October 2nd.

Check Marvin's live Medley video directed by Steven Tu on Youtube 'Hoods & Badges Medley'

Another Youtube post (Blogspirit needs to let me post videos!!!!). It's been going through my mind for the last couple of weeks that today would be a good day. Since Ice Cube's been killing it recently. I figure that 'Today Was A Good Day' for him. On top of that it's one of the best summer songs ever and has been in my head for weeks.

I bought Chops's album a couple of years back mainly because of the huge guest features. It was nothing more then a decent effort although you could clearly hear Chops's very serious production skills. I came across some Chops Remixes of Bun-B and UGK songs a few months ago that I was playing out and on my radio show (R.I.P). Watch some videos of Chops remixed Southern bangers. Sometimes he even improves on the original...

I remember when Elliot Wilson hated Bloggers. Seemingly over night his website XXLmag.com has become one of the best Hip-Hop blog centres out there. SOHH.com has it's place for sure, but they'll never be able to compete with XXL's resources.

Amazingly badly researched, ignorant, scary and trez-racist article written by Neil Spencer here, with contributions far more educated and realistic from Patrick Neate who wrote the book 'Notes From A Hip-Hop Planet' Spotted via SpineMagazine.com (because f*** knows I'm not going to The Guardian's website).

This isn't the first time I've been disgusted and horrified by the lack of research at The Guardian. When you read articles like these about a subject that you care about and can claim a reasonable knowledge on, seeing the obvious flaws and lack of research it really makes you wonder what to believe when the "Experts" write about any subject.

"leading one industry insider to remark that 'the record companies have turned themselves into pimps'. Wow. I think Neil may have spent some time writing for The National Enquirer.

"The more sophisticated add that murder and mayhem have always been part of pop's discourse - witness the many old blues songs featuring gunplay or the gore-soaked 'murder ballads' of country and folk.Some hardcore hip hop does fit into this lineage - Eminem's catalogue, for example, includes skilful narratives of life on the wrong side of the tracks" I have never been the man to point out race in Hip-Hop. I don't think I really need to now.

"In recent years other, better informed voices than Cameron have also had 'the courage to speak up' - Trevor Phillips of the Commission for Racial Equality and Lee Jasper, of the National Assembly Against Racism, for example" Hmmm. I wonder what makes Trevor and Lee more "Qualified"? Must be there great knowledge of Hip-Hop and their difficult upbringings?

The 13th installment of the great ATD series of online mixtapes from the great Akira The Don goes live on Monday. The tape will feature guest vocals from the likes of Why Lout?, Face, Bashy and more is set to be Akira's best yet.

 Check Akira's website on Monday to download.

Akira The Don's new mixtape 'ATD12' is now live. Go download and hear his best tape yet! Download here!

I am at heart a huge Cam'ron fan. I like his music on whole. I like the movement he started and all that and I like some of his beat selection. I definitely appreciate his swagger and cockiness. But after 'Purple Haze' and 'What The Game's Been Missing' I've found myself completely disheartened and confused by the whole Dip Set movement. Can they make an album? On my list, 'From Me To U' is the best ever Dip Set album and although it's a decent album it's really not great at all. That's followed by 'Diplomatic Immunity Volume 1' on my list which is very far from great. If I took Juelz's best career songs and made an album it would be classic and the same for Cam. But the same can probably be said for Jadakiss and Styles P. D-Block to me, are becoming the mirror Dip Set. Talented rappers who just "Lose". I don't want to call them "Losers" but I can't get with their excuse making mentality and their blame culture. They're way to insecure for me (not to mention the fact that I really, really don't believe them), I considered Dip Set to be the uptown, classier mixtape kings who had a greater understanding of "Music" and how to make "Music" into a full product. It's looking like I was wrong. Very wrong. Cam's Jay-Z diss was lame, I think in a year's time we'll laugh at how poor it was, the fact that Jay-Z's winning and Cam's losing while Cam keeps trying to throw shots is pathetic right? This is how the bit in the video for 'Takeover' would go "Do not bark up the tree the tree will fall on you". I'm sure that any minute Jay's gonna unleash Tru Life and Nas on Cam and effectively end Cam's career. It's a shame, but his timing is so bad.

The main reasons for my current Dip Set disgust are the 'Touch It Or Not/ Wet Wipes' videos and the Killa Season movie trailor

Damn, Plan-B's website's finally been fixed up. It's one of the most impressive artist or band websites I've ever seen. Wow. What a concept. Check it www.Time4PlanB.co.uk . If you don't know about Plan-B he's pretty much going to be all that people are talking about at South By South West this year. Damn I wish I was going now. I'll be there next year though. If you're in town check out the Artrocker event which I am told has a sick billing.

Akira The Don dropped his new mixtape a few minutes ago on his site. It's got some sick verses and songs from Akira, Narstie, Solo, Bashy and JTWR as well as a Why Lout? Drop that's pretty nice. You know Akira always drops the serious mixtapes, this is his 11th 'ATD: The Hundredth Monkey', the buzz that his tapes got brought about a deal with Interscope Records which will release his debut L.P.

Go to his site to download the tape!
 

It's 2:03AM. I didn't want to be up at this time. I really want my bed. But I was kept up by the prospect of watching a film called 'On The Line' which is if you don't already know, a film starring N*Sync's Lance Bass and the one with the beard and the face (see. The ugly one *No Homo* <- Sick of it! Genuinely!). I mean, I love watching a crappy movie. They're a million times better then average movies. But this one. Wooooo! Every five minutes I was laughing at the ridiculousness. It even had some decent actors in it, Ben Stiller's dad, Flex Washington's girlfriend in 'One On One' and the whiney guy from that sitcom about the radio station (it's 2:07AM now. Fcuk Google!). What can you really say though about a film with three montages? THREE? Hahaha, oh lord by the time the third one rolled around I was laughing so hard. Where was Justin? Hahaha, somebody's management is a little too clever! If you get the chance to see this film I beg you. Do it. Right now, I honestly think I could watch it again!

Lance Bass is the best actor of all time bar none. His ability to look in the wrong direction with absolutely no emotion throughout the film really stood out. I was not a fan of N*Sync before this film. They were never that big over here, so they didn't get the chance to over-saturate the way I imagine they must have in the States. So maybe this isn't as funny to you as it is to me. But to me, this is classic material! Expecially considering the fact that I spent the first thirty minutes calling it "A Backstreet Boys movie". The ending clips of Justin and the other member (are their four?) doing a "Gay hairdresser" skit take away from the film's merits somewhat. But the random placings of a lip synching Al Green here and there make up for this confusing addition. The whole film was rounded off neatly with a rap by one of the film's cast (playing the roll that was obviously written for JT) over a silly techno version of an Al Green classic (I know what song it is. 2:15AM now! Fcuk it some more!). One of the worst films I've ever seen.

**Morning after addition** It is now 1:35PM on Saturday morning and I've had a little more time to digest the film, I have remembered some things that I didn't remember last night. The first was that "The Ugly One" was in a band (oh yes!) who perform covers at a local "Open Mike" (yes "Mike"). When Lance Bass has a confidence crisis about some jiggery pokery or other (Ugly) announces that he's written and recorded one of his own songs (as opposed to a cover) but is affraid to play it. Late on in the film, Ugly is visited by some famous rock star, I think his name was "The Nick" who offers him a recording contract with his label after an unnamed person sends him the demo tape. "The Nick" turns up at open Mike's to see him perform this song (oh what a song it turned out to be!) which wasn't cheesy and was highly believable.

Some things that I still don't understand but have sketchy memories of are a girl who gets kicked in the face by Ugly and somehow falls in love with him. An old school friend of Lance Bass who was in some way affiliated with the kicked in the face girl, he wants revenge for Lance's popularity in school or some such garbage. Oh and some GENIUS product placement from our friends Reebok.

Watch the video to 'What You Know About That' and tell me T.I's not the king of the south!

Akira The Don's put up a special Valentines Day E.P of love songs cut from his forthcoming debut album for free on his website. I haven't listened yet, but I'm looking forward to it. Download 'Five and a half songs about love' here.

*Note... I like the way Akira's putting that Interscope logo on his artwork now. Haha, that would make me feel good.