"Because once upon a time there was a yesterday" - Quasimoto

"Today is the shadow of tomorrow
Today is the present future of yesterday
Yesterday is the shadow of today
The darkness of the past is yesterday" - Quasimoto

Not much to post lyric-wise in regards to the new year. Instead of posting Skills' annual New Year "Rap-up" I figured I'd try to freak it a little differently.

I am not big on resolutions in terms of specific goals, but I do have a few guiding principles I would like to live under.  In general I want to be more nimble, in thought and in physical frame.

"Its not a trick, nigga, it's a trap

Survival of the fit, is what they aiming at

And niggas aint fit, fat as hell!

Fat in mind, body fat as well" - Lupe Fiasco

Life has been seeming to go by so fast lately and I want to be swifter to get with it, in all ways. This made me think of three hip-hop related things.

I thought of somehting Big Pun said as an ad-lib during the chorus on "It's So Hard" from Yeeeeah Baby. 

"I just lost 100 pounds. I'm tryin to live, I ain't going nowhere."

Granted I am not dealing with morbid obesity as did Pun however, it does not take long, and life moves fast.

While I don't believe in hard and fast goals, I am however at the point where I am sick of having this conversation with myself and am in a no excuses mode. The alternative is not an option.

Which made me think of "Plan B" by Tanya Morgan.

Later, my mind went on to the reality of the Universe. Eb and flow, negative and positive balance. But mostly living for the now, in this moment. Which then brought me to two songs, "Shadows of Tomorrow" by Madvillain featuring Quasimoto and Madlib and Regrets by Jay-Z.

Music has always guided the way for me. This year will be no different

Vomitspit - Ghostface Killah

"Supercalifragalisticexpialidocious
Dociousaliexpifragalisticcalisuper
Cancun, catch me in the room, eatin grouper"

The Arsonist bragging about his social awkwardness, again,  "...catch me in the corner not speakin!"

7 MCs - J.Cole

"I take 7 MCs put 'em in a line

Add 7 more brothers who think they can rhyme

Well, it'll take 7 more before I go for mine
And that's 21 MCs ate up at the same time" Rakim

I've written before about my love for lines about eating MCs. Figured I'd start a series of posts that are dedicated to heartwarming comfort of the "rapper-as-food" motif. 

It only makes sense to name it after a line from the guy who I used in the main pic for my blog.

J. Cole gets the first "7 MCs" post. 

"Fuck with a nikka get 4 times 2!"

Jermain getting his point across via a multiplication problem and clever usage of a homophone.

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

Memorable Christmas gift

My most memorable hip-hop related gift was not an actual present, but a stocking stuffer.

There was the year I finally got an official Triple F.A.T. Goose coat. (with the fur on the hood!)

 


Which also happened to be the same year I got a a pair of Adidas Pro Shells.

But neither of these really did it for me the way music did. Besides, nobody tried to rob me for my music on December 26th as they had for the above garments!

It was 1997, my first year in middle school. All I wanted was the new Just-Ice tape, Kool & Deadly

It was not his best work, and in fact this tape only had one song that I really banged, but that wasn't why I liked it so much. It was the fact that my mom would actually cop a tape that look like that, and would stuff it in my stocking no less! To this day I love giving her a hard time about buying me offensive music at age 11. She gets defensive and into denial mode when I bring it up.


Happy Holidays.