24/01/2009

Hip Hop from...China

Image Credit

Something a bit out of the norm now people. This probably isn't a topic that gets special mentions in hop hop mags all year round...but it caught our (and the NYT's) attention, and most importantly shows the global essence of hip hop (and that's cool).

Chinese hip hop (or "shuochang" as it's called in Chinese) appears to be going though an "underground" struggle to emerge from the darkness. Government censorship, pop stars claiming to be rappers and a desire for free self expression are some of the elements of the Chinese hip hop saga.

It's interesting, and it does remind me of the early days of hip hop in other countries. It is debatable whether the Chinese language works in rapped verses, but everyone has the right to drop rhymes in their own language...(and we've heard all kinds of stuff, from Finnish to Croatian).

Below is the track that kicked off Chinese underground hip hop, "In Beijing" by Yin Ts'ang. A very very simple yet catchy beat with energetic rhymes over it. Unfortunately, no idea about the lyrics, and it's miles away from world class hip hop. Some will hate, some will love...but I definitely can't say it's not a good start...

What next?


14/01/2009

New! CNN feat. Busta Rhymes & Ron Browz "Rotate"


CNN is finally back! Let the record 'Rotate'!

Finally Capone-N-Noreaga have teamed up again and released a joint! Rotate is ok, nothing incredible, but fuelled up in the club with chicks grindin' all over the place, i'm sure it'll sound better! And after a few listens i gotta say the track is growing on me altho busta's verse is pretty disappointing and that autotune is starting to become as annoying as 50 cent chanting G-Uuuuunit every other second...

Anyway, Channel 10, the full length, is dropping around Spring time and CNN have promised it's got that 'Timbs and Hoody' sound throughout!! If it can get anywhere near the quality of The War Report, it's gonna bring New York back on the map, let's just hope it's not just all talk cuz after 9 years wait I'm expecting a lot from the cats who once were T.O.N.Y!

P.S. Can someone please make the Autotune illegal!! Honestly, does everybody have to use it?? I don't wanna sound like a hater and i know these people need to jump on waves to make a little paper but still...if you really love music why not try something different?? Why copy the next man's idea by the masses?? I personally don't get it and it doesn't even sound that great half the time anyway...Like Nas said 'No idea's original, there's nothing new under sun...' (y'all real nas fans know which song i'm talking about)...

Track below

New! Termanology "Circulate (100 Bars)" produced by J Dilla


Term is definitely one of the hottest prospects out at the moment, hands down. He’s been around for a little minute but only recently has he been dropping consistent heaters (including a good first album 'Politics as Usual') and 'Circulate' is the latest in a line of bangers he's released of late. What I love about this track is the vibe of it, mid-to-late 90s feeling both on the musical and lyrical front; at times Term is almost sounding like a hybrid of Common and Big Daddy Kane!!

The beat has got J Dilla written all over it, chilled but bouncy fitting in perfectly with Term's flow who drops 100 bars with no hook...some raw sh*t from the Puerto Rican wonder kid! Check out smart quotables like "Give me any beat, I'm buryin' good bastards/plastic bag rap, and save money on the casket/ Homey, I get shady like Ca$his/ Get them bullets out, Tom Brady-type fashion" and "I'm creepin' thru Zion, floating thru Baghdad/ My shoe's flying at Bush faster than Arabs."

We’re all waiting patiently for his second solo effort…


12/01/2009

The Most Embarassing Hip Hop Songs of All Time (Benzino - Die Another Day)


Who remembers this? Benzino vs Eminem? Like putting Fat Joe against Lil Wayne in a Christmas Pie eating contest, this was over before it started... 

Now why is it one of the most embarrassing songs of all time? Here’s why: First of all, Benzino tried to go deep with this one by putting images of black slavery and lynchings etc. and apparently equating the severity of that situation with what Eminem had said in those shameful leaked tapes from way back. Benzino tried to start a revolution with this one, he was entirely convinced that he could get people to start saying, “Yeah man, F**K Em, Black power…” etc. Except for one thing. He was whack as hell.

Now, if Nas decided to take it personally and made a track, the following events may have played out very differently, but you can’t mobilise an army when the General is a washed up has-been. No matter what Benzino tried to say in this track whilst presenting himself as the speaker of every black person, he instead looked like a complete ass-hole who had a personal beef with Slim. And I can’t take the dude seriously when he gave himself like 5 Mics in the Source magazine and didn’t give Eminem his props.

Back to the track itself. The video is filmed in a cheap gym with Benzino lifting 5kgs and getting an erection over the fact he’s on camera again. ‘Subliminal historic black-struggle messages flashing on the screen’ aside, the video has been given tints of blue and red in some parts to make it look expensive...Nice! It obviously doesn’t work. The production was probably done in a few minutes, and the lyrics flow as well as a George Bush speech. The definition of garbage, a classic rags to riches to rags story.

Killer Line:

“You the rap David Duke, the rap Hitler, the culture stealer, ni**ers aint wit ya. I’m the Rap Huey, the rap Malcolm, the rap Martin, don’t worry, I’m a finish what we started.”

The rap Hitler? Did Eminem burn millions of Jews? Man how did I miss that moment of history?

You’re the rap Malcolm? Really Benzino?…were you fu**ing with the Nation of Islam and going out on the streets to fight for your people’s rights? Were you part of the Hip Hop Civil Rights Movement that we all seemed to miss?

He killed himself on that one...


10/01/2009

New! NOTORIOUS Soundtrack soon to be released by Bad Boy

You'll have heard about the recent move premiere, but we now have details on the soundtrack that will follow on Jan 13th.  It will feature unreleased demos and new tracks from Jay-Z, Jadakiss and Christopher Wallace himself...

The Kanye West produced and Jay-Z single, "Brooklyn Go Hard" is already available online (track below) and if it's anything to go by, this soundtrack should blow us away. Jay-Z is tight as always and the obsessive vocal sample (btw, starting to see a bit of a trend here, a milli, swagga like us etc...) on Kanye's beat carries forward another modern Brooklyn anthem.

Full tracklist below, and if you're in the US you can get your hands on this on Jan 13th (lucky people...)

1.  Notorious Thugs (Featuring Bone Thugs N Harmony)
2.  Hypnotize
3.  Notorious (Featuring Lil' Kim and Puff Daddy)
4.  Juicy
5.  Party & Bullsh**
6.  Warning
7.  One More Chance/ Stay With Me Remix
8.  Brooklyn Go Hard (Performed by Jay-Z, Featuring Santogold)
9.  Letter to B.I.G. (Performed by Jadakiss, Featuring Faith Evans)
10. Kick In The Door
11. What's Beef
12. The World Is Filled (Featuring Too Short and Puff Daddy)
13. One More Chance/ The Legacy (Remix)
    (Featuring CJ Wallace and Faith Evans)
14. The Notorious Theme (Composed by Danny Elfman)
15. Microphone Murderer (Demo)
16. Guaranteed Raw (Demo)
17. Love No Ho (Original Demo Version

 

The Most Embarassing Hip Hop Songs of All Time (Scott Storch feat. Nox - You Ain't Built Like That)

TheRapBuzz.com is back! We've had a hardcore chilled out christmas break thinking of ideas for articles for 2009...and sure enough our friend KNL has kicked off an excellent new set, the most embarassing hip hop songs of all time.

We've covered the best of 2008, so it's now time to sit back and have a laugh at some of the most cringe-worthy hip hop we have ever come across...


This is definitely a contender for one of the most embarrassing ass songs I have ever come across!

First of all, what drives a non-rapping producer to jump on the mic and attack one of the dopest producers out there(Timbo)…secondly, why the hell do you make a ‘bordering on the homo’ video with a rapper NO-ONE has heard of and not realise you look like a dick?

My favourite scene has to be Scott Storch and his two street-cred adding chronies on his boat in the Miami Sea…three guys on a boat in the sea, how can you be a "tough" guy rapping on a boat?? The song itself was whack as hell, but I’m sure you could have guessed that, and the beat is one of his throw aways. Damn Scotty, I actually liked you at one point!

Killer Line:“Where’s your Veyron?” Nox at the end of the song, whilst posing in Scott Storch’s famed Bugatti. (Note: Hanging in your friend’s nice car and boasting about it shows you have no money and probably pick up Scotty’s laundry on the weekends.) Ouch...




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