"But beef for what?"

Homeboy Sandman
Peace & Love
Kool Herc: Fertile Crescent

I just can't get enough of Homeboy Sandman these days. On Sunday, he's bringing his talents to the Bean. Can't wait!

Off his most recent album this track, Peace & Love, stands out for so many reasons.

Camay - Homeboy Sandman

One late night at work 3 years ago there were only four people in the building, me, two female co-workers and the night custodian. One of my colleagues came to my classroom and asked if I was planning on leaving any time soon. I told her yes, but that the night custodian was still there. I don't remember her response but I could sense that she was still leery of being there. I didn't understand her hesitance. To me, the night custodian was harmless. Just as I was attempting to make sense of her unease, my other colleague walked into the room and was posed with the same question. Before she could even mention not wanting to be there with just the custodian the second colleague almost finished her sentence. It was like she knew exactly what she was feeling. They shared a giggle and left. I left. It took me a while to understand what they understood.

"YOU THINK HONESTY IS WEIRD YOU SON?!?!

SON, WHERE YOU FROM?!?! - Homeboy Sandman

 I was trying to find lyrics to Eclipsed by Homeboy Sandman but I could find any. I flashed back to one of my earlier rants about rappers not leaving written documentation of their works, if for nothing more than historic and archival purposes.


It was then that I remembered that the song in question did indeed have liner notes! My excitement was dampened when I realized that the PDF that Stones Throw put out with Homeboy Sandman's First of a Living Breed was protected, preventing me from copy and pasting. Grr

Delivery - Public Enemy

As a high schooler Chuck D's voice always struck me as what a mans voice should sound like. Set aside for a minute what he stood for and represented-just his voice. Deep. Rich. Bellowing. Commanding.

Then you have they way he delivered his lyrical content. He made hearing him absolutely unavoidable. You could not casually listen to Public Enemy. The Bomb Squads bassliness force you to bob your head and their samples came at you from all angles. And just when you thought things couldn't get more confusing, in comes the Rhyme Animal to grab you by your neck and spit in your ear.

From there he uses run-up-on-you delivery to drag you from track to track by said jugular. His delivery is like an angry, poetic sports broadcaster. At first his flow may strike you as one dimensional, however that is not completely true. Its true that in him, you can hear elements of MC's that came before him- playing around with intonation, lowering and raising his voice as needed. It also true that many of his contemporaries had left that Melle Mel-ish style behind. I should also note that when P.E. made their debut, Chuck was already older than most his peers entering the game.

I'd be remiss if I neglected to mention the contributions of Flavor Flav. Some may remember him as simply a hype man but if Flav had 7 words to deliver during a song he would spit those individual words with the passsion and intention. No two cents have ever been more impactful.


I decided to go with the the 3rd verse of the 4 verse Rebel Without a Pause from It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold us Back. It captures the essence of all the parties that contribute that epic delivery of Chucks. X's scratching. Bombs Squads terrifying track. Flav's two cents. Perfect.

One of a kind.

Delivery - M.O.P.

"SIMPLY CUZ MY DAUGHTER, HAS THE WORLDS WARMEST SMILE!" - Billy Danz

"IS THIS HIP-HOP?!

HELL NAW THIS IS WAR

I TOLD YOU THAT ON HOW ABOUT SOME HARDCORE!"

(hard to type Mo. P lyrics without all caps )

In the hip-hop dictionary under the word hardcore there should be a photograph of the Mash Out Posse.

I don't mean hardcore in the way the record industry tried to create in the early 2000's when they celebrated and promoted death, violence and black invisibility. I mean hardcore in terms of approach, delivery, and beat selection. 

 Brownsville's most famous duo since the Smith Bros. and Heltah Skeltah have been bringing major heat since How About Some Hardcore. Energy, passion, and commitment to the craft of MC'ing are the hallmarks of Billy Dane and Lil Fame. Whether they are rapping about things they love, instropsection/reflection, or liberating the jewls of flossy rappers, M.O.P. does so with their trademark "A" game.

Voice, Flow, Delivery - Brand Nubian

A group is only as good as the sum of it's parts, and Brand Nubian added up nicely together.

Derek (Sadat) X, Lord Jamar, and Grand Puba blended incredibly well together on tracks-each of their styles blending, coming together like a jazz band, each one supporting the other.

Voice

Sadat's voice was very unique. The way he stressed different syllables and went up and down inflecting his voice and tone was quirky and stylistically dope. There were times when was barely even rhyming words. He could go an entire 16 bars with rhyming just a few words, similar in some ways to Masta Killa.

Flow

Lord Jamar was smooth as all hell. His flow was dripping with confidence and attitude. Whether he was talking about beating punks down, or proselytizing 5% teachings, he did so with an ease that allowed the listener to ride with him along with the beat.

Delivery

What Method Man was to the Wu, Grand Puba was to Brand Nu. Charisma, charm, affable, and overall likeability. He had the style and personality to crossover into a more general and diverse group of listeners however that is not an indictment on his skill. He too was effortless with his delivery. He was versatile with his, he could switch-up his pacing, be a "rock-the-party" type of MC, and also manage be substantive

I feel like these days many groups....wait, are there even anymore groups coming out?! As I type this I am realizing what are considered "groups" these days is just a solo artist and his set of weed carriers friends/rappers. In either case the individual pieces sound to similar to who ever the "lead" MC is. What makes a group dope, in addition to complimenting each other, is the uniqueness of the individuals.

Anyway, with Brand Nubian, it just worked. Dope group. 

Check the song below

Vomitspit - Rakim

"It's only one capable, breaks-the unbreakable,
Melodies - unmakable, pattern- unecscapable,
A horn if want the style i posses,
I bless the child, the earth, the gods and bomb the rest,
For those that envy a MC it can be,
Hazardous to your health so be friendly,
A matter of life and death, just like a etch-a-sketch,
Shake 'till your clear, make it disappear, make the next" -
After the ceremony, let the rhyme rest in peace,
If not, my soul’ll release!
The scene is recreated, reincarnated, updated,

I’m glad you made it,
Cuz your about to see a disastrous sight,
A performance never again performed on a mic:
Lyrics of fury! - Rakim, "Lyrics of Fury"

Umm, yeah, Rakim being Rakim! For you young guns, bear in mind that not there was nobody with flow, delivery, and content like this in '88. 

Delivery - "Supa Dupa Flow"?

I was recently reading up on a quarrel between a few MCs about a particular type of "flow". Ludacris took exception to  comments made by Drake and Big Sean regarding usage of something called "Supa Dupa Flow" which Drake and Big Sean implied originated with Sean, however was brought to popularity by Drake. Many contemporary rappers have utilized this type of wordplay and delivery pattern in which they speak on a topic, pause, then use one word that exemplifies what it was that they just said.

"You and all of those white girls-Party of Five" - Drake

"Still air shit out - Drew Brees" - Cam'ron

"So where my dogs at - Randy"- Nicki Minaj

The song itself is cool, I'm just glad Luda used it as a chance to educate them with a History Lesson.

I thought the whole "beef" was silly and did not intend to blog about it because no idea is original. Besides, it is not really a "flow", it's more of a delivery style than anything. A delivery that has become at best, cliche, and at worst lazy and unimaginative.

"...she was teachin me...

" ...By not preachin to me but speakin to me
In a method that was leisurely" - Common Sence

DOOM had a line that went something like, "What happened to the flow that'd helped a brother out?" I can't remember the exact quote but I thought of it the other day while listening to some Whodini with my 5 year old daughter. The reason the line popped into my head is because the lyrics from "One Love" and "Friends" were essential geared to provide a guide book into the do's and don'ts of relationships

"Now I think it's 'bout time, that we break it down
This is all about the love that we lost and found
About the love we missed, and the love we shared
About the love that just up and disappeared
About who was bout real and who was fake
So you can learn  from our mistakes"