A Week In Hip Hop
Earlier in the week I watched this interview courtesy of Hot 97 of Kendrick Lamar, the great one. It did nothing besides make me name him the great one. This dude has it all sorted, he understands the power he holds with his words, he understands the importance of his musical creations and he simply keeps it G. Other people do this music thing really, really, really well, but no one really does it as well as K dotatopholous. So shout out to Kendrick.
Lamar's big bruv Jay Rock released the video to his SmokeyGotBeatz produced jam which follows a similar trend to the Lamar interview. They just keep it real and it showcases how TDE are taking over - they have every base, every alley way, every angle covered so you can't escape that Compton cul de sac. Jay Rock is equal with Freddie Gibbs in the gangsta rap stakes, yeah YG might have a say in it, some might make a case for some of the East Coast cats - Bobby Smurda or anyone from Chicago but when it comes to making hardcore gangsta not giving a fuck music, Jay Rock and Gibbs win. Of course SmokeyGotBeatz is from Auckland, which just makes me marvel at the joys of the world.
For the record, expect Jay Rock to drop his album next up. This is based on no inside information at all just me irrationally spitting my thoughts. Kendrick Lamar is ready to go, you can feel it and TDE have shown that their masters at this releasing music game. I sense the vibes, I sense an absolutely fire bombing Jay Rock album along with the funkiest funk served up by the master himself.
I'm gonna keep it West West yo because fellow blood and West Coast thuggish ruggish guy Suge Knight has been a bit of a nuisance - when is he not? I was gonna dedicate a whole write up to Suge, but I'll slip it in here. While Dr Dre and Snoop moved on to bigger and better things in nearly every year since they left Deathrow Records, Suge has slipped in to this messy wee world he lives in and out of prison. I dunno, on the one hand I'm grateful because Suge gave us music that blew us all away, so you want the best for him. But on the other hand, every story you hear from the Deathrow days is crazy ruthless (punz) and then you have the dramas that followed in the aftermath (punz) of many of his top artists getting the fuck out of Deathrow. For all his flaws, I like Suge so I just wish he would lay low ... and watch everyone else enjoy the success and joys that come with being great? Ah, this is complicated.
Well this is awesome....