capleton - "tour" (remix) (1994)
look, it's capleton and he's making the sound that busta rhymes imagines he's making when he does the jamaica-fied thing. he's spitting over the "children's story" beat (this is way better than "children's story" though!) with added wild fx at the end of every 4th bar; and capleton ends every line on the snare with his crew shouting along like "come back in jamaica everything inseCURE!/rich a get rich and the poor a get POOR!" (oh no, it's like the dancehall beastie boys!); and there's inserts of dj kool's "hold up, wait a minute" pointlessly after every chorus, as if they had to prove this is a party record! so why is it so good? i don't know at all, it just sounds ridiculously energized, furious, the record i've maybe had the most fun dancing to ever, something that feels special to me when i think of it (even if i first heard it through funkmaster flex). isn't that a good enough reason??
31.8.02
29.8.02
limp bizkit f method man - n2gether now (1999)
thats right i said it!! ninety nine was such a golden twelve months for premier that in between so ghetto and the only mos def track i can still listen to he could give this delicately hardcore beat to a fucking metal band and i'd still love it. its not a hard jam to take apart, the best parts are the descending shaolin flourish and marley marl/early bad boy single random bell squelch thing, but it just has that superb eternal session feel, like a giant lineup of every rapper on the planet could lurk on it for hours and approach the shit from like nine million crazy styles. besides all that it needs to be on the list for historical importance because its 1) premo's only successful summer jam ever and 2) the first ever rap rock track to totally get rid of guitars, which was mindblowingly revolutionary and created the enviroment for the current linkin park remix cd which is the future of pop music
i wish i had more to say on the lyrics though because i cant stand fuckers who skip them to talk about the beat but both mcs are almost see-thru, i bet meth himself forgot that weak verse before he left the booth and f durst tries really hard but his rap voice is toxic like that cleaning fluid in school hallways
of course because hes white and sings in a rock band that isnt british and 'spirally' all the skinny french guys who dig hiphop bugged and said the unexpected collab was because either the $$ was right to stick the l bizkit name on a finished premo meth track or that meth just 'stumbled' inside the studio odb style and dropped shit, but these stupid ass theories are proved wrong by the fact that both fred and meth make premeditated mentions of sunblock!! anyway if you feel guilty listening to a blazingly hot premo track with a shit mc on it then its probably time to reevaluate your stance on gangstarr
thats right i said it!! ninety nine was such a golden twelve months for premier that in between so ghetto and the only mos def track i can still listen to he could give this delicately hardcore beat to a fucking metal band and i'd still love it. its not a hard jam to take apart, the best parts are the descending shaolin flourish and marley marl/early bad boy single random bell squelch thing, but it just has that superb eternal session feel, like a giant lineup of every rapper on the planet could lurk on it for hours and approach the shit from like nine million crazy styles. besides all that it needs to be on the list for historical importance because its 1) premo's only successful summer jam ever and 2) the first ever rap rock track to totally get rid of guitars, which was mindblowingly revolutionary and created the enviroment for the current linkin park remix cd which is the future of pop music
i wish i had more to say on the lyrics though because i cant stand fuckers who skip them to talk about the beat but both mcs are almost see-thru, i bet meth himself forgot that weak verse before he left the booth and f durst tries really hard but his rap voice is toxic like that cleaning fluid in school hallways
of course because hes white and sings in a rock band that isnt british and 'spirally' all the skinny french guys who dig hiphop bugged and said the unexpected collab was because either the $$ was right to stick the l bizkit name on a finished premo meth track or that meth just 'stumbled' inside the studio odb style and dropped shit, but these stupid ass theories are proved wrong by the fact that both fred and meth make premeditated mentions of sunblock!! anyway if you feel guilty listening to a blazingly hot premo track with a shit mc on it then its probably time to reevaluate your stance on gangstarr
swv - "right here" (1993)
when i got the shoot tha pump compilation, "right here" was a half-remembered remnant from totp; i had probably never even considered liking it or disliking it (i suspect even when i was about eleven though i must have noticed the horrible faux-pas of those jockey trousers in the video! swv's image has consistently derailed their career! and i don't just mean one of them looking like a man). anyway, shoot tha pump had this tune by dj mister cee where he opens with a snatch of live biggie repeating over and over "where brooklyn at? where brooklyn at?" and then in come the achingly pretty chords from "right here" (or the track it sampled but i've never heard that) - this is the kind of context head fuck it takes for me to realize i love a record sometimes! (i still love the mister cee song too. its true-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh.)
when i got the shoot tha pump compilation, "right here" was a half-remembered remnant from totp; i had probably never even considered liking it or disliking it (i suspect even when i was about eleven though i must have noticed the horrible faux-pas of those jockey trousers in the video! swv's image has consistently derailed their career! and i don't just mean one of them looking like a man). anyway, shoot tha pump had this tune by dj mister cee where he opens with a snatch of live biggie repeating over and over "where brooklyn at? where brooklyn at?" and then in come the achingly pretty chords from "right here" (or the track it sampled but i've never heard that) - this is the kind of context head fuck it takes for me to realize i love a record sometimes! (i still love the mister cee song too. its true-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh.)
prisoners of technology - "trick of technology" (1998)
there are maybe seven or eight drum'n'bass tracks i really love (all of which apparently fall outside the accepted period of mad jungle creativity!) - i'm picking this because it's the one i still want to hear now. all that's important is the bassline is really, really silly and heavy. comically mosh-heavy and doom-metal-like. and the breaks are so sharp they sound beautiful when you hear it deafeningly loud. at the time, i was hearing this and drums of death by unkle and thinking there was about to be some brilliant "credible" wave of metal-inspired dance music that could've run parallel to non-credible rap-metal, but it was never followed up (unless you count apollo 440).
there are maybe seven or eight drum'n'bass tracks i really love (all of which apparently fall outside the accepted period of mad jungle creativity!) - i'm picking this because it's the one i still want to hear now. all that's important is the bassline is really, really silly and heavy. comically mosh-heavy and doom-metal-like. and the breaks are so sharp they sound beautiful when you hear it deafeningly loud. at the time, i was hearing this and drums of death by unkle and thinking there was about to be some brilliant "credible" wave of metal-inspired dance music that could've run parallel to non-credible rap-metal, but it was never followed up (unless you count apollo 440).
27.8.02
the beatnuts f big punisher and cuban link - 'off the books' (1997)
it seems like every year i rate pun higher on my fav mc list, maybe next august i'll like him even more than biggie and charizma! his fat goodness makes this the best beatnuts single ever though they later tried to outdo it with 'watch out now' by adding like twelve more chords and the all-important middle eight that e crunk always talks about (seriously now dont get it twisted i loved 'watch out now' but it didnt bring heat like 'aiyyo its all love and loves got a thin line and puns got a big nine / respect crime but not when it reflect mine' , maybe they shouldve gotten a verse from jeru) anyway off the books is so good i even like the oft maligned goofy techno remix
it seems like every year i rate pun higher on my fav mc list, maybe next august i'll like him even more than biggie and charizma! his fat goodness makes this the best beatnuts single ever though they later tried to outdo it with 'watch out now' by adding like twelve more chords and the all-important middle eight that e crunk always talks about (seriously now dont get it twisted i loved 'watch out now' but it didnt bring heat like 'aiyyo its all love and loves got a thin line and puns got a big nine / respect crime but not when it reflect mine' , maybe they shouldve gotten a verse from jeru) anyway off the books is so good i even like the oft maligned goofy techno remix
smashmouth - 'walkin on the sun'(1996)
at first i wasnt sure if i wanted to include this because its sort of on a sixties pop tip which would make me like one of those guys who puts indie pop on best singles lists but then i remembered how thrilling and infectious the uncaptureable vocals of the fat guy in ray bans are and his fantastic pseudo brit rap style on the breakdown! luckily for smashmouth about a zillion 00s thirteen year olds are currently being exposed to this thanks to the magic of tv commercials that literally interpret 'ironic' song lyrics (see also 'lust for life' and 'bohemian like you'), which are singlehandedly saving music
at first i wasnt sure if i wanted to include this because its sort of on a sixties pop tip which would make me like one of those guys who puts indie pop on best singles lists but then i remembered how thrilling and infectious the uncaptureable vocals of the fat guy in ray bans are and his fantastic pseudo brit rap style on the breakdown! luckily for smashmouth about a zillion 00s thirteen year olds are currently being exposed to this thanks to the magic of tv commercials that literally interpret 'ironic' song lyrics (see also 'lust for life' and 'bohemian like you'), which are singlehandedly saving music
jeru the damaja - "come clean" (1994)
in the mid-nineties, when dj premier rocked the thoughtful, tastefully arranged classic-sample vibe he went to guru. when he wanted to make hardcore shit for club headz who love to shout along on the dancefloor, it was mop's turn. but when he wanted to drop his weirdest samples and his ugliest drum hits, he hooked up with proto-anti-bling moralist and owner of hiphop's greatest man-beard, jeru. yes, the no-fun stance was irritating even then, like before the commercial-underground divide properly existed! but his voice has always been so forceful that it couldn't stop him from dropping a few classics, especially this tune, where premier lays down the most suggestively dark and awkward loop he has ever dusted off.
i don't even know what instrument it is, i just know it gives the song a weird perspective-fucking cavernous feel; disorienting, but not like in an "are these my hands" way - it's something virtually intangible there in the texture of the sample and jeru's voice and the onyx grab in the chorus (the way premier scratches onyx dude's "uh oh" at the end is so brilliant!). the whole thing sounds way more dangerous and urgent than it probably should given the topic (jeru doesn't think you're real so he's gonna fuck you up! lyrically that is!) and the way jeru is really just having silly fun ("got a freaky, freaky, freaky-freaky flow/control the mic like fidel castro" etc) - the kind of shit you would rhyme over a playful beatnut beat or something, but this is tense as fuck, and maybe it's that conflict which makes it so good!
in the mid-nineties, when dj premier rocked the thoughtful, tastefully arranged classic-sample vibe he went to guru. when he wanted to make hardcore shit for club headz who love to shout along on the dancefloor, it was mop's turn. but when he wanted to drop his weirdest samples and his ugliest drum hits, he hooked up with proto-anti-bling moralist and owner of hiphop's greatest man-beard, jeru. yes, the no-fun stance was irritating even then, like before the commercial-underground divide properly existed! but his voice has always been so forceful that it couldn't stop him from dropping a few classics, especially this tune, where premier lays down the most suggestively dark and awkward loop he has ever dusted off.
i don't even know what instrument it is, i just know it gives the song a weird perspective-fucking cavernous feel; disorienting, but not like in an "are these my hands" way - it's something virtually intangible there in the texture of the sample and jeru's voice and the onyx grab in the chorus (the way premier scratches onyx dude's "uh oh" at the end is so brilliant!). the whole thing sounds way more dangerous and urgent than it probably should given the topic (jeru doesn't think you're real so he's gonna fuck you up! lyrically that is!) and the way jeru is really just having silly fun ("got a freaky, freaky, freaky-freaky flow/control the mic like fidel castro" etc) - the kind of shit you would rhyme over a playful beatnut beat or something, but this is tense as fuck, and maybe it's that conflict which makes it so good!
forty spizzest singles of the nineties
inspired by blazin squad's hot cover of "crossroads" (though of course it should have been "first of da month"!), not to mention 3sl's genuinely awesome soon-to-be-released version of "touch me tease me", it's time to look back on that shit so future boybands know what to download!
inspired by blazin squad's hot cover of "crossroads" (though of course it should have been "first of da month"!), not to mention 3sl's genuinely awesome soon-to-be-released version of "touch me tease me", it's time to look back on that shit so future boybands know what to download!
26.8.02
monica - "all eyez on me"
monica has been through some bad stuff! it's not really reflected on this track though, a very sweet michael jackson re-write where rodney 'darkwave' jerkins works the old disco beat on his super-computer so it comes out heavy p-funk style. the bassline is so nice this could have worked without trying to ape the rest of the original song, but that wouldn't be very jerkins-ish: the dude has always sounded more interested in olde-r'n'b musicality than most of the super-producers (even "what about us" has an excessive number of chords!) which leads to the totally over-the-top middle-eight on this tune. rodney brings the strings, monica brings serious lung workout (her whole vocal performance is super-energetic) - it seems to frame the song differently, cuz when i first heard it i was all about the p-funk robot-monster propulsive beat, but now i'm listening for the barely concealed and vaguely embarrassing melodrama!
monica has been through some bad stuff! it's not really reflected on this track though, a very sweet michael jackson re-write where rodney 'darkwave' jerkins works the old disco beat on his super-computer so it comes out heavy p-funk style. the bassline is so nice this could have worked without trying to ape the rest of the original song, but that wouldn't be very jerkins-ish: the dude has always sounded more interested in olde-r'n'b musicality than most of the super-producers (even "what about us" has an excessive number of chords!) which leads to the totally over-the-top middle-eight on this tune. rodney brings the strings, monica brings serious lung workout (her whole vocal performance is super-energetic) - it seems to frame the song differently, cuz when i first heard it i was all about the p-funk robot-monster propulsive beat, but now i'm listening for the barely concealed and vaguely embarrassing melodrama!
25.8.02
puffy f biggie and busta - victory (nine inch nails remix)
the original is an eternal classic, i always love laying a beat underneath a straight orchestral rip in the style usually only beanie sigel and white djs can get away with, but hearing big's last mtv video verse done over by trent reznor in the now-hot abrasive gothhop style just reminds me how fucking visionary diddy really used to be!! its on some like proto cann ox beat shit but with bks finest instead of those other dudes rhyming, maybe the best collab of the sort until the no doubt outkast remix
the original is an eternal classic, i always love laying a beat underneath a straight orchestral rip in the style usually only beanie sigel and white djs can get away with, but hearing big's last mtv video verse done over by trent reznor in the now-hot abrasive gothhop style just reminds me how fucking visionary diddy really used to be!! its on some like proto cann ox beat shit but with bks finest instead of those other dudes rhyming, maybe the best collab of the sort until the no doubt outkast remix
23.8.02
if dmx really wants to destroy ja rule he should get all these producers for his next cd:
$ rick rubin
$ trackmasters
$ easy mo bee
$ swizz on a tough reggae style
$ adam f
$ d.r. p.eriod or whatever the fuck that 'ante up' nigga calls himself
$ robert "shim"kirkland
$ inspectah deck
$ rik rok and it'd sound just like change the game but faster!!
$ kutmasta kurt
$ whichever of the neptunes was really behind 'grindin', my guess is chad
$ the guy who did this fucking smooth owner of a lonely heart midi
$ any studio cat nursing a beef with irv gotti so strong that irv promised he would never do beats on the same record with him (or alternately anyone with a time machine who can bring back1998 gotti and kill the present one to take his place hongkong style)
$ rick rubin
$ trackmasters
$ easy mo bee
$ swizz on a tough reggae style
$ adam f
$ d.r. p.eriod or whatever the fuck that 'ante up' nigga calls himself
$ robert "shim"kirkland
$ inspectah deck
$ rik rok and it'd sound just like change the game but faster!!
$ kutmasta kurt
$ whichever of the neptunes was really behind 'grindin', my guess is chad
$ the guy who did this fucking smooth owner of a lonely heart midi
$ any studio cat nursing a beef with irv gotti so strong that irv promised he would never do beats on the same record with him (or alternately anyone with a time machine who can bring back1998 gotti and kill the present one to take his place hongkong style)
22.8.02
eve/alicia keys - "gangsta lovin'"
eve knows how to open a song - the first thirty five seconds of "who's that girl" were dangerously giddy, almost too much fun to respond to on the dancefloor (unless you just shrieked and held your hands in the air); the first verse on "let me blow ya mind" was gold, same with "what ya want" from ryde or die vol 1 ("i'm ballin y'all, yes i be appallin y'all/boss type hold it down, wantin all of y'all/callin y'all never chasin me down/three weeks, heartbroken, yes you hatin me now"!).
"gangsta lovin" opens with this warm-glow "real"-r'n'b sound like the beat has been dusted off from a few years ago, before everyone started listening for the gaps. alicia is wailing, maybe to prove this is a duet instead of just a guest spot (evidence of eve/alicia power struggle: eve's verses are shorter than necessary, like she's dropping three guest spots on an alicia keys song!), and i'm expecting this to be a little pre-first-verse semi hook - but listening to the whole thing reveals that hey, this is the chorus! i don't mind that its weak though, because the sound is so pretty and expertly arranged, a deliberately synthetic warm bath which fits when eve's style is becoming even more laid-back. alicia comes with a good hook at the end too with that "it's that gangsta lovin/that's just got me buggin" part (maybe made more catchy by not using it for the first three minutes!); i know it's good now cuz i've been singing it all morning.
eve knows how to open a song - the first thirty five seconds of "who's that girl" were dangerously giddy, almost too much fun to respond to on the dancefloor (unless you just shrieked and held your hands in the air); the first verse on "let me blow ya mind" was gold, same with "what ya want" from ryde or die vol 1 ("i'm ballin y'all, yes i be appallin y'all/boss type hold it down, wantin all of y'all/callin y'all never chasin me down/three weeks, heartbroken, yes you hatin me now"!).
"gangsta lovin" opens with this warm-glow "real"-r'n'b sound like the beat has been dusted off from a few years ago, before everyone started listening for the gaps. alicia is wailing, maybe to prove this is a duet instead of just a guest spot (evidence of eve/alicia power struggle: eve's verses are shorter than necessary, like she's dropping three guest spots on an alicia keys song!), and i'm expecting this to be a little pre-first-verse semi hook - but listening to the whole thing reveals that hey, this is the chorus! i don't mind that its weak though, because the sound is so pretty and expertly arranged, a deliberately synthetic warm bath which fits when eve's style is becoming even more laid-back. alicia comes with a good hook at the end too with that "it's that gangsta lovin/that's just got me buggin" part (maybe made more catchy by not using it for the first three minutes!); i know it's good now cuz i've been singing it all morning.
aaliyah - 'i refuse'
usually whenever babygirl brings the drawn out long/short verse style it sounds like a sophisticated take on quiet kelis but for some reason this reminds me of that one brilliant song on the second funk flex mix where mary j blige freestyles over the "survival of the fittest" beat! i have a suspicion this is because the "rock the boat" guy's production is basically just "no more drama" (only without the eternal shame of tv show theme beatjacking that camron has to carry on his frightening shoulders ha ha)
usually whenever babygirl brings the drawn out long/short verse style it sounds like a sophisticated take on quiet kelis but for some reason this reminds me of that one brilliant song on the second funk flex mix where mary j blige freestyles over the "survival of the fittest" beat! i have a suspicion this is because the "rock the boat" guy's production is basically just "no more drama" (only without the eternal shame of tv show theme beatjacking that camron has to carry on his frightening shoulders ha ha)
18.8.02
romeo - "romeo dun"
look what romeo dun! more people bought this than "james dean"! as has been noted before on spizzazzz, the chorus is sub-richard blackwood and he's barely even a better mc! fuck romeo and fuck t4 for letting him come on to sell his lame product every week for seemingly the past three months.
look what romeo dun! more people bought this than "james dean"! as has been noted before on spizzazzz, the chorus is sub-richard blackwood and he's barely even a better mc! fuck romeo and fuck t4 for letting him come on to sell his lame product every week for seemingly the past three months.
daniel bedingfield - "james dean"
what the fuck is this number @#*& shit?? i hate the british public so much right now. daniel bedingfield is a strange man, but this is an incredible vocal performance! he sings like he can't get enough of himself and he can't let out all the frustrated energy bubbling under the not-very-calm-anyway surface! i want him to fucking kill it on totp just like he did with gotta get thru this.
what the fuck is this number @#*& shit?? i hate the british public so much right now. daniel bedingfield is a strange man, but this is an incredible vocal performance! he sings like he can't get enough of himself and he can't let out all the frustrated energy bubbling under the not-very-calm-anyway surface! i want him to fucking kill it on totp just like he did with gotta get thru this.
hear'say - "lovin is easy"
chic-y guitars; or at the very least beverly knight-y guitars; passable propulsive-beat action. this is a pretty high chart entry considering they have been blacklisted by the entire industry. they probably had to fight like dogs to get any kind of promotion on this! and they have to suffer the ignominy of using the liberty x sleaze-soul formula to get back some sales!
it's not very good though.
chic-y guitars; or at the very least beverly knight-y guitars; passable propulsive-beat action. this is a pretty high chart entry considering they have been blacklisted by the entire industry. they probably had to fight like dogs to get any kind of promotion on this! and they have to suffer the ignominy of using the liberty x sleaze-soul formula to get back some sales!
it's not very good though.
shakira - "underneath your clothes"
hey shakira, underneath my clothes i think you'll find my fist! she's totally been upstaged by vanessa carlton! the middle is just like the middle eight in that aerosmith song where edward furlong is a troubled teen and joe perry almost gets run over by a train during one of his overrated solos. they should have let me drive that train!
hey shakira, underneath my clothes i think you'll find my fist! she's totally been upstaged by vanessa carlton! the middle is just like the middle eight in that aerosmith song where edward furlong is a troubled teen and joe perry almost gets run over by a train during one of his overrated solos. they should have let me drive that train!
p diddy - "i need a girl"
hey puffy, perhaps you also need a punch in the face! i didn't realize until i saw him perform it on totp that the b side of this record is bizzarely the actual usher song, "you don't have to call" - couldn't that just be released separately, considering it's like twelve times as good as this song?? quite frankly though, the dude made a complete fool of himself while performing it.
hey puffy, perhaps you also need a punch in the face! i didn't realize until i saw him perform it on totp that the b side of this record is bizzarely the actual usher song, "you don't have to call" - couldn't that just be released separately, considering it's like twelve times as good as this song?? quite frankly though, the dude made a complete fool of himself while performing it.
snap and someone else - "do you see the light"
i don't remember this song but apparently it's a reworked song from vintage-era snap! motherfuckers should have brought back "rhythm is a dancer" instead. but the vocal (dunno if it's the original snap singer) just did the awesome "whoa-oh" that she does throughout "rhythm is a dancer" so i like this now!
i don't remember this song but apparently it's a reworked song from vintage-era snap! motherfuckers should have brought back "rhythm is a dancer" instead. but the vocal (dunno if it's the original snap singer) just did the awesome "whoa-oh" that she does throughout "rhythm is a dancer" so i like this now!
vanessa carlton - "a thousand miles"
soppy, twee, sugary-sweet fluff that instantly conjures cathartic "i'm a woman now" moments associated with joey from dawson's creek. and it's very good! but note video-makers that i don't need to see her playing piano constantly throught her stupid video to believe its really her playing it!
soppy, twee, sugary-sweet fluff that instantly conjures cathartic "i'm a woman now" moments associated with joey from dawson's creek. and it's very good! but note video-makers that i don't need to see her playing piano constantly throught her stupid video to believe its really her playing it!
mary j blige/ja rule - "rainy dayz"
good to hear you again, ja! the days when mary j was genuinely exciting (circa "real love") are so long ago that i don't really know what to think of her anymore. is it about time i came around again? this record doesn't make a good case - it's not even as good as "rainy dayz" by raekwon, which was the worst song on the cuban linx album! these beats are suspiciously uk-remix blacksmith-like!
good to hear you again, ja! the days when mary j was genuinely exciting (circa "real love") are so long ago that i don't really know what to think of her anymore. is it about time i came around again? this record doesn't make a good case - it's not even as good as "rainy dayz" by raekwon, which was the worst song on the cuban linx album! these beats are suspiciously uk-remix blacksmith-like!
bowling for soup - "girl all the bad guys want"
motherfuckers like this really let themselves down when they do totp and make annoying stupid faces while singing. anyway this is surely the dregs of the fast-decaying pop-punk chart explosion - everything is becoming less catchy, less thrilling, and even more mannered! (why don't i mind that sum41 dude is equally mannered and makes faces which are just as superficially stupid!?)
i may like it in a few weeks though.
motherfuckers like this really let themselves down when they do totp and make annoying stupid faces while singing. anyway this is surely the dregs of the fast-decaying pop-punk chart explosion - everything is becoming less catchy, less thrilling, and even more mannered! (why don't i mind that sum41 dude is equally mannered and makes faces which are just as superficially stupid!?)
i may like it in a few weeks though.
nelly - "hot in herre"
all the urban hitz in a row! ok yes i judged this record too early when i said it was the worst thing ever. nelly sounding like he's crying is obviously a good thing; nelly being utterly unconcerned by the signifiers that tell us this a hiphop record is a good thing (much as i love the signifiers!)(see also: "dilemma" which is seemingly even less concerned!); nelly making every line a catchy hook is a good thing.
the most unlikely grower of the year!
all the urban hitz in a row! ok yes i judged this record too early when i said it was the worst thing ever. nelly sounding like he's crying is obviously a good thing; nelly being utterly unconcerned by the signifiers that tell us this a hiphop record is a good thing (much as i love the signifiers!)(see also: "dilemma" which is seemingly even less concerned!); nelly making every line a catchy hook is a good thing.
the most unlikely grower of the year!
cam'ron - "oh boy"
down eight places, you fucks! actually, it's an incredibly tedious song, but i like it anyway: for the "ain't no stoppin us, guns we got a lot of 'em" line, for the high-pitched bits, for the lazy menace, and especially for cam'ron's strange blankness. i suppose nothing else sticks out enough to make this a classic - julez santana's parts seem to be the most absurdly censored in the history of rap, unless he's just a jerky fucker.
down eight places, you fucks! actually, it's an incredibly tedious song, but i like it anyway: for the "ain't no stoppin us, guns we got a lot of 'em" line, for the high-pitched bits, for the lazy menace, and especially for cam'ron's strange blankness. i suppose nothing else sticks out enough to make this a classic - julez santana's parts seem to be the most absurdly censored in the history of rap, unless he's just a jerky fucker.
atc - "all around the world"
lots of keyboard presets playing the same melody in case we are in any doubt as to how it goes! this is a very poor vocal performance, particularly by euro-dance standards, as they normally draft in some decent talent to be replaced on totp by a precisely 30% more attractive woman!
lots of keyboard presets playing the same melody in case we are in any doubt as to how it goes! this is a very poor vocal performance, particularly by euro-dance standards, as they normally draft in some decent talent to be replaced on totp by a precisely 30% more attractive woman!
status quo - "jam side down"
hey i saw the movie eight legged freaks today - it was very witty; struck a nice balance between horror-comedy; i think they knew not to make the shocks too shocking cuz then it would lose all balance.
what the hell, maybe its records like this that make the uk charts really interesting! don't make me talk about it though. i'm losing the will to carry on.
hey i saw the movie eight legged freaks today - it was very witty; struck a nice balance between horror-comedy; i think they knew not to make the shocks too shocking cuz then it would lose all balance.
what the hell, maybe its records like this that make the uk charts really interesting! don't make me talk about it though. i'm losing the will to carry on.
elvis - "a little less conversation"
any other context than "wooooo elvis" (plus woooo ad campaign), this would be banished to the breezeblock and forgotten about within weeks. you can hardly even hear the dead dude anyway! apparently it was done in like fifteen minutes - well i never, who would have thought you could just slap on some big beat insta-breaks on cubase and make a hit!
any other context than "wooooo elvis" (plus woooo ad campaign), this would be banished to the breezeblock and forgotten about within weeks. you can hardly even hear the dead dude anyway! apparently it was done in like fifteen minutes - well i never, who would have thought you could just slap on some big beat insta-breaks on cubase and make a hit!
b2k - "uh huh"
this is the first time i've heard this properly - i saw the video though; their dancing is like three times more energetic than the beat is! it is passable though. the creepin' b-line is cool. nep-style drum hits are even more tired when they're not used by the neps themselves. too many people are adopting the precise swing on their drum machine breaks.
this is the first time i've heard this properly - i saw the video though; their dancing is like three times more energetic than the beat is! it is passable though. the creepin' b-line is cool. nep-style drum hits are even more tired when they're not used by the neps themselves. too many people are adopting the precise swing on their drum machine breaks.
red hot chili peppers - "by the way"
i still like this! it's a juggernaut of an emotional alt-rock record, it has nice harmonies, it has anthony kiedis' voice which i have a soft spot for, possibly related to youthful exposure to chili peppers cover of "if you want me to stay". give it a chance please!
i still like this! it's a juggernaut of an emotional alt-rock record, it has nice harmonies, it has anthony kiedis' voice which i have a soft spot for, possibly related to youthful exposure to chili peppers cover of "if you want me to stay". give it a chance please!
amillionsons - "misti blu"
wow, records like this normally remain ghettoized on planet giles peterson. i suppose i can understand why it's kind of broken through (number 39 is hardly even mainstream anymore though!) - it's a good pastiche sweet soul record that feels vaguely embarrassiing in an important way. technically the aching "whoa-oh-oh"s of the vocalist are very good. meh!
16.8.02
a skim through this mediocre guardian article and a quick poll amongst spizzazzz contributors (well, two of them) suggests spizzazzz is 70% in favour of this alleged nu drivetime phenomenon currently sweeping the nation's cars. i bet these songs do sound even better at 8 in the morning on fucking virgin radio (which is a point not touched on in this article - songs tailor-made to sound good on am radio) in a traffic jam as well, but i don't even know a single motherfucker who drives!
(the thing last week about music played in shops was really good though, and it reminded me how i once heard tlc's "unpretty" in a clothes shop, which magnified the terribly depressing body-image issues of the song and made me all upset! thanks a lot, tk maxx! [again])
(the thing last week about music played in shops was really good though, and it reminded me how i once heard tlc's "unpretty" in a clothes shop, which magnified the terribly depressing body-image issues of the song and made me all upset! thanks a lot, tk maxx! [again])
12.8.02
truth hurts - "addictive"
am i the only person to remember the bizzare mid-to-late nineties radio practice of editing rap songs to the point where there was hardly any rhyming on them - i'm thinking particularly of jay z's "ain't no nigga" (two big chunks taken out of the first verse with shoddy fucking editing so the whole thing makes zero sense! it goes into the chorus like "no question i got more black chicks--ahhh!"), pras's "ghetto superstar" and "rumble in the jungle" by the fugees. it was presumptious and strange to think a radio audience didn't want to hear an mc drop a whole verse, and probably added to how annoying "ghetto superstar" became since it was almost one long half-arsed chorus.
i suspect this was imparted to radio stations by their listeners, as now we even have the straight version of "oh boy" on daytime radio, and even on r'n'b songs the guest verses (which are sparingly used these days) are longer anyway - like rakim's verse on "addictive", which is not only very, very tight (bodes well for his dre-produced [!!!] album if it ever comes out), it actually makes sense; he's given just enough time to produce something meaty and well-rounded to contribute to the song.
anyway yeah i just heard "addictive" on the radio for the third time today and it's still astonishingly good.
am i the only person to remember the bizzare mid-to-late nineties radio practice of editing rap songs to the point where there was hardly any rhyming on them - i'm thinking particularly of jay z's "ain't no nigga" (two big chunks taken out of the first verse with shoddy fucking editing so the whole thing makes zero sense! it goes into the chorus like "no question i got more black chicks--ahhh!"), pras's "ghetto superstar" and "rumble in the jungle" by the fugees. it was presumptious and strange to think a radio audience didn't want to hear an mc drop a whole verse, and probably added to how annoying "ghetto superstar" became since it was almost one long half-arsed chorus.
i suspect this was imparted to radio stations by their listeners, as now we even have the straight version of "oh boy" on daytime radio, and even on r'n'b songs the guest verses (which are sparingly used these days) are longer anyway - like rakim's verse on "addictive", which is not only very, very tight (bodes well for his dre-produced [!!!] album if it ever comes out), it actually makes sense; he's given just enough time to produce something meaty and well-rounded to contribute to the song.
anyway yeah i just heard "addictive" on the radio for the third time today and it's still astonishingly good.
10.8.02
incomplete history of rap/rock collaboration fun
public enemy + anthrax – “bring the noise”
a long time ago aerosmith and run dmc worked together on a record called "walk this way", and it fucking sucked. it was meant to prove the worlds of rock and rap could combine to create something double-good! but instead anyone with any taste waited until pe and anthrax worked together on their awesome bludgeoning metal version of “bring the noise” to believe this marriage could work. chuck d generously (inexplicably) handed over the second and third verses to anthrax dude who spat it word for word. he sounds pretty good too! "walk this way" is tame and lumbering in comparison - why would run dmc want to rhyme like steven tyler anyway?? you can bet on which of these songs the weirdo from korn was taking notes.
various - judgement night s/t
obviously emilio estevez was paying attention too: just a few years later he personally invented nu metal by forcing lots of ill-matched rappers and rock bands into a cramped studio. together they created a suitably "hard-edged" soundtrack for his flop film judgement night. (if you imagine the soundtrack is telling the story of the film then emilio and his buddies are mudhoney being hounded through decaying urban city-scapes by sir mix-a-lot.)
it actually worked out very well on most of the tracks, particularly cypress hill vs sonic youth ("cypress hill are men, men who get mad baked. so baked they don't even notice when sonic youth put mad art-feedback on the start of their songs" is how jack cable explained the genius of this song) and boo yaa tribe vs faith no more ("chris patton, former lieutenant governer of hong kong and faith no more lead voxacalist, is a man, a white man. boo yaa tribe are big fat men, from samoa. when they're not playing 7-a-side rugby they like to rap, about life in the ghetto and about bustin', bustin' mad gats, mad gats of ghetto justice.......rap justice." ?!). only downer is everlast from house of pain, who gives an early indication that it's not just hiphop he has trouble performing.
blackstreet ft slash + odb - "fix"
collaborations arent required much these days now that we have a super-breed of bands like linkin park to live out these dream match-ups on every song. but still there are oddities like this underrated song from the blackstreet golden age. it's sort of awkward but who wouldn't want to hear slash's guitar bleeding along with teddy riley's crazy mouth-keyboard thing in the same song, at the same time? there's also that loud rocks album but its rubbish.
swizz beats ft. ja rule + metallica - "we did it again"
and that brings it to right now: what the hell is swizz actually doing on this record? i think if anyone actually told me i'd regret asking. i can't believe he could do such an incredible stab at post-blueprint kind of stately soul production on "good times" by styles p (what really makes it special is he takes that style and then sends it into fucking outer space!! with buzzing keyboards and fx washes) but make ja rule and metallica sound so silly and weak on this. a shame because in a lot of ways its getting back to what made judgement night good: ja rule actually tries to fit in instead of pretending like he's rhyming over a rockwilder beat. metallica actually include more than one riff, even if none of them are very good. what a waste when swizz could literally have saved music!
public enemy + anthrax – “bring the noise”
a long time ago aerosmith and run dmc worked together on a record called "walk this way", and it fucking sucked. it was meant to prove the worlds of rock and rap could combine to create something double-good! but instead anyone with any taste waited until pe and anthrax worked together on their awesome bludgeoning metal version of “bring the noise” to believe this marriage could work. chuck d generously (inexplicably) handed over the second and third verses to anthrax dude who spat it word for word. he sounds pretty good too! "walk this way" is tame and lumbering in comparison - why would run dmc want to rhyme like steven tyler anyway?? you can bet on which of these songs the weirdo from korn was taking notes.
various - judgement night s/t
obviously emilio estevez was paying attention too: just a few years later he personally invented nu metal by forcing lots of ill-matched rappers and rock bands into a cramped studio. together they created a suitably "hard-edged" soundtrack for his flop film judgement night. (if you imagine the soundtrack is telling the story of the film then emilio and his buddies are mudhoney being hounded through decaying urban city-scapes by sir mix-a-lot.)
it actually worked out very well on most of the tracks, particularly cypress hill vs sonic youth ("cypress hill are men, men who get mad baked. so baked they don't even notice when sonic youth put mad art-feedback on the start of their songs" is how jack cable explained the genius of this song) and boo yaa tribe vs faith no more ("chris patton, former lieutenant governer of hong kong and faith no more lead voxacalist, is a man, a white man. boo yaa tribe are big fat men, from samoa. when they're not playing 7-a-side rugby they like to rap, about life in the ghetto and about bustin', bustin' mad gats, mad gats of ghetto justice.......rap justice." ?!). only downer is everlast from house of pain, who gives an early indication that it's not just hiphop he has trouble performing.
blackstreet ft slash + odb - "fix"
collaborations arent required much these days now that we have a super-breed of bands like linkin park to live out these dream match-ups on every song. but still there are oddities like this underrated song from the blackstreet golden age. it's sort of awkward but who wouldn't want to hear slash's guitar bleeding along with teddy riley's crazy mouth-keyboard thing in the same song, at the same time? there's also that loud rocks album but its rubbish.
swizz beats ft. ja rule + metallica - "we did it again"
and that brings it to right now: what the hell is swizz actually doing on this record? i think if anyone actually told me i'd regret asking. i can't believe he could do such an incredible stab at post-blueprint kind of stately soul production on "good times" by styles p (what really makes it special is he takes that style and then sends it into fucking outer space!! with buzzing keyboards and fx washes) but make ja rule and metallica sound so silly and weak on this. a shame because in a lot of ways its getting back to what made judgement night good: ja rule actually tries to fit in instead of pretending like he's rhyming over a rockwilder beat. metallica actually include more than one riff, even if none of them are very good. what a waste when swizz could literally have saved music!
9.8.02
irv gotti weighs in on the dmx/ja rule controversy
and what does he have to say? dmx has been shit since he stopped working with irv gotti! and the great depression is the worst album in hiphop history! (i dunno, i didn't bother to hear it after "who we be" was on the radio quite a lot: it always felt like it was going on for eight minutes instead of three, even though the horns were quite good... maybe dmx was too hung up on not being like ja rule - a shame because mary j would kill that chorus.) this news also reminded me to have a listen to irv's inc project, and i can reveal his beats are getting worse with every new record!
and what does he have to say? dmx has been shit since he stopped working with irv gotti! and the great depression is the worst album in hiphop history! (i dunno, i didn't bother to hear it after "who we be" was on the radio quite a lot: it always felt like it was going on for eight minutes instead of three, even though the horns were quite good... maybe dmx was too hung up on not being like ja rule - a shame because mary j would kill that chorus.) this news also reminded me to have a listen to irv's inc project, and i can reveal his beats are getting worse with every new record!
7.8.02
obie trice - "rap name"
you may have heard the first line of this one already - "obie trice, real name, no gimmicks" - and immediately it's very, very exciting to hear what actually folllows from that little clip that's probably still playing on a radio nearby right this second. its em's production, which means a) its stuffed with little keyboard/sampler tinkerings that make little difference to how your body or mind responds to the beat, and b) it has that really bad hi hat sound he used on too much of the eminem show! still, the main hook is good, maybe because it's already so familiar, and obie is at least better than any of d12. he already sounds like he's trying to put across his rhymes to a global audience instead of just headz or his friends - maybe some mcs automatically do this from day one. (or perhaps it's because he has the biggest pop star in the world singing the chorus.)
i'm not always sure its a good thing, particularly if the audience doesn't turn out as large after all, or if there's a sense of pandering to taste - for some reason i almost wish a lot of the time that producers would make music with popular trends in mind (you know, like umm "dirty pop"), but with mcs it can lead to a smaller-every-day bag of references and phrases and delivery styles that get tired a lot quicker, with no sense of the individual history thing which can increase interest so much and actually make you want to follow what the mc will put out next.
you may have heard the first line of this one already - "obie trice, real name, no gimmicks" - and immediately it's very, very exciting to hear what actually folllows from that little clip that's probably still playing on a radio nearby right this second. its em's production, which means a) its stuffed with little keyboard/sampler tinkerings that make little difference to how your body or mind responds to the beat, and b) it has that really bad hi hat sound he used on too much of the eminem show! still, the main hook is good, maybe because it's already so familiar, and obie is at least better than any of d12. he already sounds like he's trying to put across his rhymes to a global audience instead of just headz or his friends - maybe some mcs automatically do this from day one. (or perhaps it's because he has the biggest pop star in the world singing the chorus.)
i'm not always sure its a good thing, particularly if the audience doesn't turn out as large after all, or if there's a sense of pandering to taste - for some reason i almost wish a lot of the time that producers would make music with popular trends in mind (you know, like umm "dirty pop"), but with mcs it can lead to a smaller-every-day bag of references and phrases and delivery styles that get tired a lot quicker, with no sense of the individual history thing which can increase interest so much and actually make you want to follow what the mc will put out next.
5.8.02
darius #1!
i was going to say darius' song was the best thing to come from the whole popidolstars industry, but then i remembered slinkiest-song-of-2001 "thinking it over" by liberty x, which is a million times better but only got to about number ten. its hard to be reasonable about popidolstars when you can see it monopolizing the number one for an infinite length of time, and when most of the time the records are so worthless it leaves a void where all the fun chart discussion should be. it makes it a lot tougher to like any record that is associated with this evil - but really "colourblind" is ok, deserved of the top 30, pushed to number one by people eager to complete that romantic-narrative happy ending obligation thing (or the same as how you'd buy your significant other/friend/relative's single if it was in woolworths? ok yes, that's quite condescending). i've probably gone on about it before.
diddy p's "i need a girl" tries to do plaintative and direct heartbroken-thug like ll cool j does it but it ends up sounding creepy. the most interesting thing about diddy p records is what kind of cadence he's going to try to deflect the hatas - obviously insecure about his rhyming ability (with good reason sometimes), he seems to have opted to change his voice and occasionally his whole flow on every album - on this he's drawling slightly, which only adds to the impression given by the lyrics that he is speaking down the phone to j-lo while masturbating. it's a shame because i thought his original style was effective (especially on "benjamins" - surely testament to the power of hiphop that puffy and the lox - who are technically some of the worst rappers to blow up in the past ten years - could make one of my favourite songs).
i think i prefer bad boy productions from 97 as well: the dudes used to to have an uncanny ability to pick perfect samples whether they were well known or obscure, and expertly beef them up to fill dancefloors (the way they made old sounds so pristine and all-encompassing is as good as anything anyone has done with a sampler), but eventually people were like, "that shit is too easy" (coinciding with puffy's shitty second album and the rise of keyboards in rap), so puffy had to go as far as changing his name to re-establish some credibility. this has led to the use of outside producers, most of them unsuitable for his ever-changing-but-always-dumb flow. i hope whoever did the production on "i need a girl" also did "rock the boat" by aaliyah, because they're very similar. usher's chorus is quite nice.
"black suits comin' (nod ya head)" is embarrassing on the first ten or twelve listens... ok, it will always be embarrassing. "angry" will smith is the worst idea since ashley started singing in the record shop and will was like, "hey ashley you should start a popular singing career and i'll be your manager!". great days. what the hell happened to tattiana ali? i still like "black suits comin'" because most songs that have hard rock guitars and rapping on them are good, and cringing embarrassment is as likely to keep me listening as anything else.
"boys" is good too: that plinky-plonky melody is irresistable, as is britney's slowly-disappearing-from-her-own-records trick. how long can it be before she's releasing funk instrumentals with a solitary filtered grunt in the fade-out to keep fans happy?
i was going to say darius' song was the best thing to come from the whole popidolstars industry, but then i remembered slinkiest-song-of-2001 "thinking it over" by liberty x, which is a million times better but only got to about number ten. its hard to be reasonable about popidolstars when you can see it monopolizing the number one for an infinite length of time, and when most of the time the records are so worthless it leaves a void where all the fun chart discussion should be. it makes it a lot tougher to like any record that is associated with this evil - but really "colourblind" is ok, deserved of the top 30, pushed to number one by people eager to complete that romantic-narrative happy ending obligation thing (or the same as how you'd buy your significant other/friend/relative's single if it was in woolworths? ok yes, that's quite condescending). i've probably gone on about it before.
diddy p's "i need a girl" tries to do plaintative and direct heartbroken-thug like ll cool j does it but it ends up sounding creepy. the most interesting thing about diddy p records is what kind of cadence he's going to try to deflect the hatas - obviously insecure about his rhyming ability (with good reason sometimes), he seems to have opted to change his voice and occasionally his whole flow on every album - on this he's drawling slightly, which only adds to the impression given by the lyrics that he is speaking down the phone to j-lo while masturbating. it's a shame because i thought his original style was effective (especially on "benjamins" - surely testament to the power of hiphop that puffy and the lox - who are technically some of the worst rappers to blow up in the past ten years - could make one of my favourite songs).
i think i prefer bad boy productions from 97 as well: the dudes used to to have an uncanny ability to pick perfect samples whether they were well known or obscure, and expertly beef them up to fill dancefloors (the way they made old sounds so pristine and all-encompassing is as good as anything anyone has done with a sampler), but eventually people were like, "that shit is too easy" (coinciding with puffy's shitty second album and the rise of keyboards in rap), so puffy had to go as far as changing his name to re-establish some credibility. this has led to the use of outside producers, most of them unsuitable for his ever-changing-but-always-dumb flow. i hope whoever did the production on "i need a girl" also did "rock the boat" by aaliyah, because they're very similar. usher's chorus is quite nice.
"black suits comin' (nod ya head)" is embarrassing on the first ten or twelve listens... ok, it will always be embarrassing. "angry" will smith is the worst idea since ashley started singing in the record shop and will was like, "hey ashley you should start a popular singing career and i'll be your manager!". great days. what the hell happened to tattiana ali? i still like "black suits comin'" because most songs that have hard rock guitars and rapping on them are good, and cringing embarrassment is as likely to keep me listening as anything else.
"boys" is good too: that plinky-plonky melody is irresistable, as is britney's slowly-disappearing-from-her-own-records trick. how long can it be before she's releasing funk instrumentals with a solitary filtered grunt in the fade-out to keep fans happy?
sugababes - "round, round"
the kind of beat that sucks up everything in its path and makes it all xxxtra-dull. i'm thinking this is meant to be sugababes' sultry/sulky take on the "get the party started" vibe, but no matter how many little permutations and glitchy flourishes are added, it comes out kind of soggy and sluggish, even the torch-song middle eight diversion! (i'm picking up a hint of desperation as well, which makes me less likely to be charitable). maybe it's this set of textures - i find it tiring because no hook can really break out and hit hard and actually compel me to listen to the whole thing again.
it's quite possible the chorus is fine, but fucking hell, what sort of arrangement is this? regardless of genre-specific production, they need to listen to sticky or someone expertly arrange loads of weirdo sounds into four minutes of dancefloor gold. i'm particularly incensed by the unnecessarily real-sounding guitar - they're only using it for some pointless mid-range fill, it might as well be a really cool electroclash synth noise! in fact it would have been a good idea if sugababes had done something sounding exactly like that "missy queen's gonna die" song.
the kind of beat that sucks up everything in its path and makes it all xxxtra-dull. i'm thinking this is meant to be sugababes' sultry/sulky take on the "get the party started" vibe, but no matter how many little permutations and glitchy flourishes are added, it comes out kind of soggy and sluggish, even the torch-song middle eight diversion! (i'm picking up a hint of desperation as well, which makes me less likely to be charitable). maybe it's this set of textures - i find it tiring because no hook can really break out and hit hard and actually compel me to listen to the whole thing again.
it's quite possible the chorus is fine, but fucking hell, what sort of arrangement is this? regardless of genre-specific production, they need to listen to sticky or someone expertly arrange loads of weirdo sounds into four minutes of dancefloor gold. i'm particularly incensed by the unnecessarily real-sounding guitar - they're only using it for some pointless mid-range fill, it might as well be a really cool electroclash synth noise! in fact it would have been a good idea if sugababes had done something sounding exactly like that "missy queen's gonna die" song.
2.8.02
darius - "colourblind"
hey, darius wrote this! and i am honestly glad he did because it reveals an endearing belief in proper pop - proper in this case meaning a halfway point between pwl 80s gloss and... uncle kracker. chorus must be exactly one third more tuneful than the verse; transition between verse and chorus must be so smooth that it will eventually sound forced; middle-eight must perfectly set up double-powered, cathartic final chorus with a couple more layers of vocal. it works out quite well, even though darius is clearly fighting himself to sound less like an unfashionable white-soul hack (this will probably be number one on sunday - could it be people have missed this kind of schmaltzy voice??).
hey, darius wrote this! and i am honestly glad he did because it reveals an endearing belief in proper pop - proper in this case meaning a halfway point between pwl 80s gloss and... uncle kracker. chorus must be exactly one third more tuneful than the verse; transition between verse and chorus must be so smooth that it will eventually sound forced; middle-eight must perfectly set up double-powered, cathartic final chorus with a couple more layers of vocal. it works out quite well, even though darius is clearly fighting himself to sound less like an unfashionable white-soul hack (this will probably be number one on sunday - could it be people have missed this kind of schmaltzy voice??).
i told you ja rule was ripping dmx! since nas vs. jay z proved that rappers could say outrageously horrible things about each other but not get shot, the floodgates have opened - every petty-ass falling out is portrayed like it could be the end of rap. thus dmx wakes up one morning and realizes cats have bitten his sometimes-brilliant style (even though any head knows dmx stole it from k solo!). the only person who considers this news is dmx himself, the poor tyke, but perhaps the main reason for his forthcoming ja rule dis is this bizzare pride and prejudice-like misunderstanding:
"we in the club in l.a. one night, he got his people, i got my people, we at two different sides of the club. me, out of respect — that's my n---a — i take two people with me to get through the crowd. i take a bottle of liquor over there, have a couple of drinks with my n---a, 'cause that's how i am. two weeks later we happened to be in the same club. same circumstances. some kid walks over to me and says, 'ja says he's over there.' i'm like, 'alright, is he gonna come over?' 'nah, he said come over there.' get the f--- out of here, man. i already extended my hand once. give me the same courtesy. you can't do the same as me? i sent him right back over there. you think [ja] would come over there after all of that. nothin'! i'm like, 'f--- you!' "
....
"we in the club in l.a. one night, he got his people, i got my people, we at two different sides of the club. me, out of respect — that's my n---a — i take two people with me to get through the crowd. i take a bottle of liquor over there, have a couple of drinks with my n---a, 'cause that's how i am. two weeks later we happened to be in the same club. same circumstances. some kid walks over to me and says, 'ja says he's over there.' i'm like, 'alright, is he gonna come over?' 'nah, he said come over there.' get the f--- out of here, man. i already extended my hand once. give me the same courtesy. you can't do the same as me? i sent him right back over there. you think [ja] would come over there after all of that. nothin'! i'm like, 'f--- you!' "
....
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