U-N-I’s A Love Supreme (FREE)

U-N-I

I’ve been digging these U-N-I cats out of Cali for a long minute now [II]. After listening to Thurzday and Y.O.’s music you can readily tell they’re official Hip-Hop purists. But rather than beating you over the head about why they’re so good (well, not too much), they let their music speak for themselves.

You can download their A Love Supreme project with producer Ro Blvd right here (via YoThurz.com). Do yourself a favor and go find their first album, Fried Chicken & Watermelon (2007). Hope they don’t get too mad at me for sharing my favorite track off that project, “The Show 2007,” below. Any group that can point the origin of their name to a Roots song (“UNIverse at War” f/ Common) is good money with me.

Bun B X Top 5 Dead or Alive

RIP Pimp C

“I’m a realist about the world. I don’t sit around wondering too much about too much. I deal with everything how it’s supposed to be dealt with according to my personal spiritual law. I regret that there where things that [Pimp C] couldn’t be apart of as far as his family and his children, but I was very blessed to have not just a good friend but a great business partner as well. But before I had even started the process to working on his album, I had to come to terms with what happened. You know you never get over it.  You learn to move past it but, it doesn’t take more than five or ten steps before you see something that reminds you of him.”—Bun B

That quote from the Southern Rap Impresario didn’t make the cut, so I thought I’d share. Props go to the homie Martin A. Berrios who dropped the “Top 5 Dead or Alive” concept on AHH that plenty people seem to be jocking lately (yes, shots). [Bun B’s Top 5 Dead or Alive via AllHipHop.com]

I got to listen to the final UGK album, 4 Life, a few weeks back and got to chat with Bun B for a bit on the last UGK studio album and on his fav rappers (it’s an interesting list). Oh yeah, Bun B bodied Hov on “Big Pimpin’.” Listen to his verse again before you question the kid.

Bun B on Surviving the Financial Crisis [Global Grind via Nah Right]

Bun B Mad Skip to My Lou got traded… [via Urban Daily]

Never Made Twenty [Noz has got the goods]

The Pimp & The Bun [via Word of South]

Mr. X to the Z

Xzibit was definitely one of the most entertaining and insightful interviews I have had with an artist in a long minute. I remember getting a pair of promo 12″s of “What U See Is What U Get” and being floored after throwing them on my Technics. Loud Records also sent me a copy of the video on a promo VHS tape that was made out of styrofoam—damn, VHS—which I proceeded to show to any and everyone I could.

The production on the track is credited to Jesse West who Hip-Hop heads may know as rapper 3rd Eye. Why am I mentioning this? Because, 3rd was the first guy rapping on Super Cat’s “Dolly My Baby (Remix)” that also happened to feature the Notorious B.I.G. and Puffy kicking his verse with an extreme horrible flow.

The Meaning of the Name

Slang Rap Democracy. It’s a phrase taken from Raekwon’s “Incarcerated Scarfaces.” The song’s home, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… (note the proper spelling, it’s the fact checker in me), is a perfect Hip-Hop album. Being that it was on constant rotation my first year at UVA, like any music rocked heavily during your halcyon days, it holds a special place in my dossier of rap freshness.

Back to the title of this blog; while interviewing the RZA for AllHipHop and asking him for his Top 5 Dead or Alive MCs, he mentioned Raekwon in his list, noting the yin to Ghostface’s yang’s limitless use of slang. “It took years to figure out what Raekwon was saying,” quipped RZA. For real, read the story, when it comes to insight and wisdom the RZA never fails come interview time. So while bumping OB4CL for the hundred thousand trillionth time, the name just seemed perfect. Slang Rap Democracy. It just sounds right, like “Nutmeg” or “Strawberry Kiwi.”