Song of the Day #161

Kanye West feat. Talib Kweli & Common- "Get 'Em High" from The College Dropout

Song of the Day #119

Kanye West feat. Talib Kweli and Common- "Get 'Em High" from The College Dropout

A Day In Music #2

Childish Gamibno- "Bonfire" from Camp

KiD CuDi- "Solo Dolo" from Man on the Moon: The End of Day

Mos Def and Talib Kweli- "Children's Story" from Mos Def & Talib Kweli are Black Star

Say Anything- "Vexed" from In Defense of the Genre

Jimi Hendrix- "All Along The Watchtower" from Electric Ladyland

Taylor Swift- "You're Not Sorry" from Fearless

Drake feat. Chantal Kreviazuk- "Over My Dead Body" from Take Care

Drake feat. Lil Wanye and Andre 3000- "The Real Her" from Take Care

Consequence feat. Kanye West and John Legend- "Whatever U Want"

Simple Plan- "Loser of the Year" from Get Your Heart On!

Kanye West feat. Beyonce, Charles Wilson and Big Sean- "See Me Now" from My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Eminem- "3AM" from Relapse

Linkin Park- "Hands Held High" from Minutes to Midnight

Song of the Day #12.5

Woke up, hopped in the shower, this popped on my shuffle, and I've been listening to it on repeat ever since. The perfect morning song. Upbeat, Talib Kweli raps perfectly, the beat is awesome, and the chorus' words and message are amazing for ANYONES lives. Going good or bad right now, this song could or is for you. (12.5 cause I pre-posted a Song(s) of the Day #12 yesterday cause I'm still bumpin those Drake songs from Take Care)

Talib Kweli- "Get By" from Quality

"[Chorus: Background singers]

This morning, I woke up

Feeling brand new and I jumped up

Feeling my highs, and my lows

In my soul, and my goals

Just to stop smokin, and stop drinkin

And I've been thinkin - I've got my reasons

Just to get (by), just to get (by)

Just to get (by), just to get (by)

[Talib: repeat 2x - with background singers]

Yoyoyo, yo

Some people cry, and some people try

Just to get by, for a piece of the pie

You love to eat and get high

We decieve when we lie, and we keepin it fly

Yoyoyo, yo

When, the people decide, to keep a disguise

Can't see they eyes, see the evil inside

But there's people you find

Strong or feeble in mind, I stay readin' the signs"

This Week In Song #5

This week has definitely been a Kanye West week for me. The College Dropout, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, and Watch the Throne (with Jay-Z) is what I've been playing. Here's the best of the bunch that I've been bumping. Enjoy if you listen to these awesome tracks.

Kanye West ft. GLC and Consequence- "Spaceship" from The College Dropout

Kanye West ft. Jay-Z and J. Ivy- "Never Let Me Down" from The College Dropout

Kanye West ft. Talib Kweli and Common- "Get 'Em High" from The College Dropout

Kanye West ft. Mos Def, Freeway, and The Harlem Boys Choir- "Two Words" from The College Dropout

Kanye West ft. Kid Cudi and Raekwon- "Gorgeous" from My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Kanye West ft. Rihanna, Kid Cudi, Elton John, John Legend, The Dream, Ryan Leslie, Tony Williams, Charlie Wilson, Elly Jackson, Fergie and Alicia Keys- "All of the Lights" from My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Kanye West ft. Jay-Z, Nicki Minaj, Rick Ross and Bon Iver- "Monster" from My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Kanye West ft. Pusha T- "Runaway" from My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Kanye West & Jay-Z ft. Frank Ocean- "No Church in the Wild" from Watch the Throne

Kanye West & Jay-Z- "Niggas in Paris" from Watch the Throne

Kanye West & Jay-Z ft. Otis Redding- "Otis" from Watch the Throne

Kanye West & Jay-Z- "Gotta Have It" from Watch the Throne

This Week In Song #3

Now I haven't really gone through any new albums this week, but sometimes I don't go through them. And like this week, sometimes I just blast one genre. This weeks was, you guessed it rap and hip-hop. But with the exception of Watch the Throne, I was largely stuck in the 2000-2007 years. People write off the 2000s as the start of the decline of hip-hop. I've always highly disagreed with that. If you wade through and push aside the Souja Boy's and the Wiz Khalifa's you can find great songs and albums.

Eminem- The Marshall Mathers LP

Now these are two of the best songs off what I call Eminem's best album. This first song is dark humored rant at women over a catchy beat in "Kill You". Why does is go off on women? Cause he can, and it makes for a damn good open to the album. Then we get the other end of the spectrum with "Kim". If you've heard this song before you know it's the story of a man who has been cheated on (and cheated himself) and he reaches the breaking point in an anger filled rage chronicling the last moments of his wife's life. This song hit's me HARD every time I listen to it, but it's too damn good to just skip over. 

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Jay-Z- The Blueprint

Now I featured "Heart of the City (Ain't No Love)" in last weeks post, but I remember listing off a ton of runner up songs from the album. Well here's two of them and one even includes the man from above, Eminem. The Blueprint, I've always said is Jay's best album. All the tracks are top notch, beasts crisp, and lyrics on point. Fun fact Jay-Z wrote this entire album in 24 hours. If ya'll didn't think he was good, listen to this in his prime Jay-Z. He'll change your mind. Here's "U Don't Know" and "Renegade"

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Lupe Fiasco- Food & Liquor

This is a classic for me, even though it's only 5 years old it's still a damn good listen and gave me hope that new ideas and great lyricists are in this world. Lupe's voice and timing, down to breathing technique is smooth. Not to mention he can spit fire and sounds good doing it. The beats are all nice, and even though it's about my 50th listen to the album it never feels old to me. That's the sign of a good album with retaining value in my book. This is Lupe's freshman album too, last time I was impressed with a rappers first album was Kanye with The College Dropout. Not I featured "Daydreamin'" feat. Jill Scott last week. But please do enjoy "Kick, Push" and "Sunshine" from this great album.

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Talib Kweli- Eardrum

Now Talib you've probably never heard of outside of being on a few guest spots. BUT if you're a hip-hop head like me you know he's one half of Black Star with Mos Def and one of the best rappers in the last ten years. He's a true wordsmith and even his slow raps are usually quick and well done. Now most people would say Talib's best album is Quality from 2002 ("Get By" is an epic song), but Eardum has always been my favorite of his. The lyrics, beats, and multitude of guests make it a great album all around to listen to. The two tracks I've singled out from this album are "In The Mood" feat. Roy Ayers and Kanye West and "Oh My Stars" feat. Musiq Soulchild.

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Kanye West- The College Dropout

Haha you knew it was coming. What's a list of mine without my personal favorite. Mr. Kanye West. And with My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy being like 1 millionth on a notch lower than The College Dropout this is his best album. He came in roaring with "Jesus Walks" and "Through The Wire" and kept the rap with songs like "Spaceship" and "Two Words." The beats are still great to me, though I can see how they could be heard as a bit dated after MBDTF. His rapping is great, this album has his best lyrical content,  and the guests are bountiful (Jay-Z, J. Ivy, Common, GLC, Consequence, Mos Def, Ludcris, Twista, and Jamie Foxx). This is what the mid-2000s hip-hop scene needed and after 2010s MBDTF he's changed the style yet again. Please enjoy "Spaceship" and "Through The Wire" (both mentioned above).