After 10 Long Years…

“After 10 long years, I think I’ve had it…“—Irene Reid

Was bumping this and that line from the late Irene Reid stood out, for obvious reasons; the aughts are a wrap in about 24 hours. It was a very good year, like Sinatra would say.

Flipped prominently by Kanye West for Lil Kim’s “Came Back for You.”

”]

Bill O’Reilly’s Hip-Hop Feuds

Bill O’Reilly is a donkey. That said, just about anyone going on The O’Reilly Factor is facing a losing battle. Mediaite looked back at eight of O’Reilly’s Hip-Hop targets from the past decade including Snoop Dogg and Ludacris.

The winners, as far as audacity, are by far Dame “You’re Not an Objective Mediator” Dash (who holds his own for the most part) and Cam’Ron “You mad?!?!” Giles (who brings all new levels of obnoxious comedy). Also, Salome Thomas-El lost me when he said “conversating,” which isn’t a word I’ve seen in any dictionary. Just saying.

Hip-Hop is very influential, even to the detriment of highly impressionable kids. But even the most unrighteous Hip-Hop doesn’t have anything on sound parenting. Below, Nas’ “Sly Fox” clip.

Video: Raekwon “Pyrex Vision” (NSFW)

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Shallah @RaekwonIceWater drops the visual for the 55 second goodie from Only Built 4 Cuban Linx II that is “Pyrex Vision.” It was quickly deaded on YouTube due to the naked chicks, but OnSmash comes through in the clutch. Directed by G Visuals.

Tiger Woods would dig this video. Just saying. [Peeped at The Smoking Section]

Quality vs. Quantity: 5 Mic Sales?

The sun will still shine...

The Deputy! over at XXL chastised the loud minority (big on praise, short on album support) of Clipse advocates that didn’t cop Til the Casket Drops its first week out. It got me thinking about my longstanding theory that album sales and classic albums are not mutually exclusive. Read: Your album is so great, no one bought it, or Your sales are spectacular, you’re still a horrible rapper.

So how have “classic albums”—a loaded term on its best day—faired in the sales race? For the sake of saving my time, for this list I used all the albums that received the former gold standard for rap long player excellence, a 5 mic rating in The Source Magazine. Also worth noting is that The Source had a “do-over” moment when they gave some albums 5 mic honors they didn’t originally receive (i.e. The Score originally received only 4 mics).

I then looked up each album on the database provided by the RIAA (those cats that certify record sales and hate mixtapes) to see what is its latest sales award (Gold, Platinum, Platinum+, etc) which is then listed next to the title in parentheses.

Keep in mind that if a label really wants to they can cook the books to keep the sales down (as convenient a reason to tell an artist they haven’t recouped as any). Considering how many people had the vinyl, tape, and CD, there is just no way De La Soul’s 3 Feet High & Rising debut hadn’t moved a milli’s worth of albums before finally being certified Platinum in 2000, 11 years after its initial release.

It’s tough to get a handle on the sales of albums like Boogie Down Productions’ Criminal Minded and Main Source’s Breaking Atoms since their original labels are defunct (B-Boy Records and Wild Pitch, respectively), and were operating under code 4,080 when they were up and running.

After looking over the list below, consider that Vanilla Ice’s To the Extreme is 6x Platinum and MC Hammer’s Please Hammer Don’t Hurt Em is 10x Platinum (aka Diamond).

Also…

•Eminem being absent from this list, besides guest verses, didn’t stop him from being the best selling artist of the decade.

•Being a Hip-Hop martyr scores you plenty of record sales (Notorious BIG & Pac)

•A gang of you probably never even listened to Grip It! On That Other Level, same goes for Stunts, Blunts, and Hip Hop.

•I still feel a ways LL Cool J’s Mama Said Knock You Out isn’t on here.

•Considering Nas’ sales, it was cheaper to keep her. But he’s still Top 5 Dead or Alive.

•OutKast has more than one classic album and UGK gets no respect.

2001 by Dr. Dre (6x Platinum)

All Eyez On Me by 2Pac (9x Platinum)

AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted by Ice Cube (Platinum)

Aquemini by Outkast (2x Platinum)

The Blueprint by Jay-Z (2x Platinum)

Breaking Atoms by Main Source

By All Means Necessary by Boogie Down Productions (Gold)

The Chronic by Dr. Dre (3x Platinum)

Criminal Minded by Boogie Down Productions

Critical Beatdown by Ultramagnetic MCs

De La Soul Is Dead by De La Soul (Gold)

Death Certificate by Ice Cube (Platinum)

The Diary by Scarface (Platinum)

Doggystyle by Snoop Doggy Dogg (4x Platinum)

Edutainment by Boogie Down Productions (Gold)

Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) by Wu-Tang Clan (Platinum)

The Fix by Scarface

The Great Adventures of Slick Rick by Slick Rick (Platinum)

Grip It! On That Other Level by Geto Boys

Illmatic by Nas (Platinum)

The Infamous by Mobb Deep (Gold)

It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back by Public Enemy (Platinum)

Let the Rhythm Hit ‘Em by Eric B. & Rakim (Gold)

Licensed to Ill by The Beastie Boys (8x Platinum)

Life After Death by The Notorious B.I.G. (10x Platinum)

Long Live the Kane by Big Daddy Kane (Gold)

The Low End Theory by A Tribe Called Quest (Platinum)

Me Against the World by 2Pac (2x Platinum)

The Naked Truth by Lil’ Kim

No One Can Do It Better by The D.O.C. (Platinum)

One for All by Brand Nubian

Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… by Raekwon (Gold)

Paid in Full by Eric B. & Rakim (Platinum)

People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm by A Tribe Called Quest (Gold)

Radio by LL Cool J (Platinum)

Raising Hell by Run-D.M.C. (3x Platinum)

Ready to Die by The Notorious B.I.G. (4x Platinum)

Reasonable Doubt by Jay-Z (Platinum)

Run-D.M.C. by Run-D.M.C. (Gold)

The Score by The Fugees (6x Platinum)

Stillmatic by Nas (Platinum)

Straight Out the Jungle by The Jungle Brothers

Straight Outta Compton by N.W.A. (2x Platinum)

Strictly Business by EPMD (Gold)

The Clipse Go Apartment Hunting in NYC

We're not you...

The Clipse recently went apartment hunting in NYC and New York Magazine went along with them. Choice quote from Malice after checking out Spike Lee’s old Fort Greene digs on sale for 2.7 mil:

“My crib bigger than this,” he says, “and you ain’t getting robbed outside.”

Also found this one amusing; check the bold:

Spencer introduces them to another broker and her spiel — “lava-stone countertops, sub-zero refrigerator, and there’s a farmer’s market in the neighborhood twice a week” — has at least Malice, who cooks, engaged.

Ahem, surely the author was referring to food, not that white stuff. Definitely feel a ways that I didn’t get to write this. [Spotted at Vulture Blog]

Below, vid of Clipse on ABC News with Charles Gibson on the intro. Yes, you read that right.

Video: Mos Def “Supermagic”

Guess Black Dante isn’t trying to do have anyone else in his videos. The Ecstatic; it’s been in stores, stop hibernating.

RELATED:

Video: Mos Def “Casa Bay”

Friday The 13th: A Night With The Cool Kids & Mos Def [High Snobiety]

First name Dante, last name Beze.

That is NOT XXL Magazine’s 2010 Freshman List

ya been had...

The Animal NY blog posted an alleged list of the XXL Magazine’s Freshman Class for 2010. [Full Disclosure: I’ve been freelancing for XXL magazine for 7+ years]. Not so fast.

Anyway, on first look the “letterhead” looked mad fraudulent. When I get any official correspondence from XXL it does not look anything like document above. So then I hit up XXL’s Deputy Editor Rob Markman with the link, asking if it was legit. Rob told me he’d hit me back with an official statement in few. He forwarded me the following e-mail which I copied and pasted below.

The above list isn’t bad per se (no Pac Div, though? blasphemy), but it’s a sham. No disrespect to the artists on said list.

Official Statement:
I’m writing from XXL to let you know the email about XXL’s 2010
Freshman Class
is a fake list that did not come from our magazine.

While we are flattered about the enthusiasm and heat The Freshman
Class generates,
this list did not come from XXL and was most likely created and leaked
by someone in hopes of boosting their career.

We are always on the lookout for the most promising artists who do, in
fact, make it into XXL.

The current issue of XXL (our double Dec/Jan 2010 issue with 50 Cent
on the cover) is on stands now.

Vanessa Satten
Editor-in-Chief
XXL Magazine
[REDACTED]
www.XXLMag.com

Video: Raekwon “Surgical Gloves”

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Raekwon. “Surgical Gloves.” Only Built 4 Cuban Linx II. One of 2009’s best.

“Good brush, tough talk, keep it real daddy got them thangos…”

[Peeped at B. Dot’s Spot]

Yo Meth, where my Killer tape at?!

Tiger Woods x The Racial Draft – Chappelle’s Show

Vodpod videos no longer available.

Needless to say Eldrick Tont “Tiger” Woods isn’t feeling very Cablinasian right now. Someone ask Mos Def if Tiger’s draft rights have been rescinded. Long live Chappelle’s Show.

What I do?

Peanuts Charlie Brown Christmas Tree

"Christmas time is here, happiness and cheer..."

I’m not one for “letting all this commercialism ruin my Christmas,” but at only 8 beans today (12/1/09) I might just have to cop this tree. [Spotted at Bargainist]

Also, Charlie Brown is >. That is all.