Song of the Day #199

Jay-Z & Kanye West feat. Swizz Beatz- "Welcome to the Jungle" from Watch the Throne

"Black Axl Rose, move halfs and wholes

Come down to the jungle, just ask for Hov

Move blocks and squares, move apples and pears

Work pots and pans, just to cop me some Airs

My uncle died, my daddy did too

Paralyzed by the pain, I can barely move

My nephew gone, my heart is torn

Sometimes I look to the sky, ask why I was born

My faith in God, every day is hard

Every night is worse, that's why I pray so hard

Why I pray so hard, this is crazy God

Just when I thought I had everything, I lost it all

So que sera, get a case of Ciroc

Let it chase the pain, before it goes too far

My dreams is big, reality set in
Let off a clip from a automatic weapon,
Through shots in the door, it died in Vegas
Though it fought so hard, I knew it wouldn't make it
I'm a tortured soul, I live in disguise
Rest in peace to the leader of the Jackson 5
I died in my sleep, I'm still Big Pimpin
I ball at the mall, beginning of the ending
Where the fuck is the sun?
It's been a while, momma, look at ya son
What happened to my smile?
My tears is tatted, my rag in my pocket
I'm just looking for love, I know somebody got it
Champagne for the pain, weed for the low
God damn I'm so high, where the fuck did I go?
I'm losing myself, I'm stuck in the moment
I look in the mirror, my only opponent
Where the fuck is the press? Where the fuck is the Press?
Either they know or don't care I'm fucking depressed
No crying in public, just lying to judges
Risking my life, I'm already dying, so fuck it well"

Song(s) of the Day #192

Jay Z &Kanye West-  "New Day" from Watch the Throne

"(Sun in the sky, you know how I feel)

(Breeze driftin’ on by, you know how I feel)

(Breeze driftin’ on by, you know how I feel)

(It’s a new life for me)

(It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day)

(It’s a new life for me)

(Oooh, oooh)

(And I’m feelin’…)

(Birds flyin’ high, you know how I feel)"

Childish Gambino- "L.E.S." from Camp

"Ooh girl, I wanna know

Are you ready to cry, cause I'm no good, no good

Ooh girl, I wanna try

I'm an awful guy and I'm always away

And I'm tryin' to say

I'mma piece of shit

Believe in this

I'm tellin' you

Cause we barely knew, what we had

I'm not that bad, the fun we had

Ooh"

Song(s) of the Day #186

Can you say Chi-City?

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

KiD CuDi feat. MGMT and Ratatat- "Pursuit of Happiness" from Man on the Moon: The End of Day

Hollywood Undead- "Bottle and a Gun" from Swan Songs

Song of the Day #162

Jay-Z and Kanye West- "Welcome to the Jungle" from Watch The Throne

"[Swizz:]

Welcome to the jungle

Welcome to the jungle well

[x2]

[Kanye West:]

I asked her where she wanna be when she 25.

She turned around and looked at me and she said "alive"

[Swizz:]

Welcome to the jungle, welcome to the jungle well

[Jay-Z:]

Black Axl Rose, move halfs and wholes

Come down to the jungle, just ask for Hov

Move blocks and squares, move apples and pears

Work pots and pans, just to cop me some Airs

My uncle died, my daddy did too

Paralyzed by the pain, I can barely move

My nephew gone, my heart is torn

Sometimes I look to the sky, ask why I was born

My faith in God, every day is hard

Every night is worse, that's why I pray so hard

[Kanye West:]

Why I pray so hard, this is crazy God

Just when I thought I had everything, I lost it all

So que sera, get a case of Ciroc

Let it chase the pain, before it goes too far

[Jay-Z:]

My dreams is big, reality set in

Let off a clip from a automatic weapon,

Through shots in the door, it died in Vegas

Though it fought so hard, I knew it wouldn't make it

I'm a tortured soul, I live in disguise

Rest in peace to the leader of the Jackson 5

I died in my sleep, I'm still Big Pimpin

I ball at the mall, beginning of the ending

Where the fuck is the sun?

It's been a while, momma, look at ya son

What happened to my smile?

My tears is tatted, my rag in my pocket

I'm just looking for love, I know somebody got it

Champagne for the pain, weed for the low

God damn I'm so high, where the fuck did I go?

I'm losing myself, I'm stuck in the moment

I look in the mirror, my only opponent

Where the fuck is the press? Where the fuck is the Press?

Either they know or don't care I'm fucking depressed

No crying in public, just lying to judges

Risking my life, I'm already dying, so fuck it well

[Swizz:]

Welcome to the jungle, welcome to the jungle well

Goddammit!"

Song of the Day #81

"This beat deserves Hennessey, a bad bitch

And a bag of weed; the Holy Trinity

In the mirror where I see my only enemy

Your life’s cursed, well mine’s an obscenity"

This beat is divine was well.

Kanye West & Jay-Z feat Curtis Mayfield- "The Joy" from Watch the Throne

Song of the Day #72

"What's a God to a non-believer, who don't believe in anything?

Will he make it out alive, alright alright, no church in the wild"

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

A Day In Music #4

Not much listening to music today, but I did drive a bit. And rather than just choose one of these songs as my song of the day I'm doing this. I popped in Kanye West & Jay-Z's Watch the Throne as I ran to get dinner for me and mom. Love the record and love all these songs to death.

Kanye West & Jay-Z feat. Frank Ocean- "No Church In The Wild"

Kanye West & Jay-Z- "Niggas In Paris"

Kanye West & Jay-Z feat. Otis Redding- "Otis"

Kanye West & Jay-Z- "Gotta Have It"

Kanye West & Jay-Z feat Swizz Beatz- "Welcome to the Jungle"

Kanye West & Jay-Z- "Who Gon Stop Me"

Song(s) of the Day #45/46

I was going to post this on Monday night when Chris Jericho made his return to the WWE Raw after a one year absence from the company to take a break and tour with his band Fozzy. Y2J is definitely one of the best wrestlers of all time. In-ring and on the mic he's simply amazing and his match (and whole feud) with Shawn Michaels leading into Wrestlemania 19 may be the best build up to my favorite of all time. Anywho here's his theme song!

WWE Superstar Chris Jericho's Theme Song

"Break the walls downnnnnn

Break down the walls!"

Also the past two days now this song has been rattling through my head. The chorus, sing by Mr. Hudson is simple, but so very effective. Also the verses by Jay-Z and Kanye swapping lines during them sound cool and it's a very nice way to end the main part of the album before the bonus content. It's no surprise ANOTHER Watch the Throne song is here. This album is simply amazing.

Jay-Z & Kanye West- "Why I Love You" from Watch the Throne

"I love you so

But why I love you, I'll never know"

Song of the Day #23

So here it is. Not real explaination other than it's the only song I've listen to more than once today haha. Of course, yet again, it's a song involving Kanye West. It also has Jay-Z and yes it is off of Watch the Throne. "Who Gon Stop Me" is a sick song. The beat is amazing, Kanye's verses are solid and the we have Jay-Z just go off off the final verse in the song in AMAZING fashion. Just a fantastic song all around.

Kanye West & Jay-Z- "Who Gon Stop Me" from Watch the Throne

"Who gon stop me hah? Beat the odds

Beat the Feds, it wouldn’t be wise to bet against the kid

Start me broke, I bet I get rich, nightshift: six to six

Give me one shot, one pot, I’ll show up in all white, Wearin no socks

No ceiling, new coupe, they know I’m a dope boy, they don’t have no proof

I’m 3-steps-removed, I know how to move, it's looking like, I don’t know how to lose

I’m winning again, I’m at the Wynn, I’m at the table, I’m gamblin

Lucky lefty, I expect a seven, I went through hell, I’m expectin heaven

I’m owed, I throwed and I stuck to the G-code

I’m here, oh yeah, I promise I ain’t going nowhere

Okay here, like a hare, like a rabbit, I like karats

I’m allergic to havin bunny ears like broke, like nope

Like ha, I ain’t no joke, I can’t be stopped, like nope, like nope!

Extend the beat Noah, two seats in the 911, no limit on the Black Card

Told y'all I was gonna go H.A.M 'til ocean was my backyard

No lies in my verses, please pardon all the curses

Shit gotta come some way, fuck, when you're growing up worthless

Middle finger to my old life, special shoutout to my old head

If it wasn’t for your advice, a nigga would have been so dead

I'm living life til these niggas kill me, turn this up if these niggas feel me

I’m riding dirty, tryna get filthy, Pablo Picasso, Rothkos, Rilkes

Graduated to the MoMA, and I did all of this without a diploma

Graduated from the corner, y'all can play me for a muthafuckin fool if you wanna

Street-smart and I’m book smart coulda been a chemist cause I cook smart

Only thing that can stop me is me and I’mma stop when the hook start, hold up"

This Week In Song #7

This week in song is going to be an album review. Cause I've fallen back into listening to one particular thing for days upon days. The last time I wrote a real album review was last year for Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (My top album of 2010, 5/5, highly innovative, epic new sounding beats, amazing guests, rapping on point. Just everything perfect.). People say that mainstream modern rap and hip-hop is bad, unworthy, and will never live up to the 90s and early 2000s rap. To an extent they could be right. Rap in the 90s was new, fresh, and the in thing. Now it seems that everyone and their mothers are doing raps, rhymes, and the like in all genres of music. And when an artist does release a hip-hop album it's cliche, generic sounding, and just all around bad. People also have different tastes in their listening of rap music. The lyrics and delivery in a song could be sub-par or even just terrible, but a great beat can make the song great. It's also true for the flip-side, the most lyrically minded technical rapper can have the shittiest beat and it ruin the song. It all depends on musical tastes in the end when you listen to this genre. Sure people say that Eminem, Rick Ross, Lil Wanye and the like are the top tier of mainstream rap. Sure album sales and popularity-wise. But when it comes to lyrics, guests, and beats, it doesn't get better than production and rapping by Kanye West and Jay-Z. Kanye has always had the knack for sliding the "sex, cars, hoes" aspect of rap into his songs so that it doesn't make it seem like it's the focal point. All while keeping the almost "conscious" and controversial side of his lyrics intact. Not to mention his production, always amazing. IMO the innovator of sampling songs to put over beats, he can always find a way to make a beat sound smooth and awesome. Jay-Z has been a juggernaut in this genre since the mid-90s. He worked during Notorious BIG/Tupac era, and he is one of the rappers, that kept the genre "alive" in the early 2000s when it was hard to find ANYTHING worthwhile. Jay has the "east coast swag" as you could call it. His production is always good, and his rapping is so fine tuned it's amazing to listen to him on tracks. One of those people who has truly perfected their craft. 

Now after this long winded intro, that possibly sounded like I was dick-riding Kanye and Jay haha, we can get to why I love this album. Simple answer, this is like MBDTF Part 2. Well that's the review. Just kidding. Right out of the gate with "No Church In The Wild", it's a one, two, three punch of a slowed down beat and solid Kanye/Jay verses with a powerful chorus sung by Frank Ocean. I'll say this now so I son't have to repeat it throughout all this, but I love all the beats on this album. So if you don't see mention it for a particular song, don't fret, I still enjoyed it. Right into what I call the "All of the Lights" of Watch the Throne. A grandiose song, filled with big sounds and a big voice in Beyonce. It took me like 10 listens to get into this song, but it finally came around to me. Now is where, for me, the meat of the album starts. Great rapping, great lyrics, great beats and just a great 15 minutes of listening when we hit "Niggas in Paris", "Otis", "Gotta Have It", "New Day", and "That's My Bitch". The beat for "Gotta Have It" may still be my favorite beat on this album. We also get a glimpse of real soulful beats and lyrics (which we'll still encounter later) with "New Day." This area of the album is what you'll listen A LOT to when you first get it. At least that's what I did. Now we onto the end section of the album. The lyrics in all these songs are real. You can hear and feel the pain and emotion in the lyrics. Whether it's with a souped up "Welcome to the Jungle" beat with Swizz Beatz in the background or it's amazingly sung chorus in "Murder to Excellence", you're going to find an emotional edge. The lyrics are real too, it's not fake, it's from the heart, real experiences, and things they went through in life. I love it when rappers keep quality and technique with realness. "Welcome to the Jungle", "Who Gon Stop Me", "Murder to Excellence", "Made in America", and "Why I Love You" is this third level of this album and the prefect way to end it. Now I could go on and keep praising this album with it's bonus tracks, but i'll stop it here, with the main album. I will say though that "Illest Motherfucker Alive" and "Primetime" are amazing tracks and I'm glad they made it to even the bonus tracks of the deluxe edition. All in all this is a damn good album. As if you couldn't tell from the constant praise throughout. If I have to say one more thing though I'll say this. When I'm listening to album, whether it's the 1st or 50th time, when it doesn't feel like I'm wasting time, or checking track times, and just enjoying the music, then it's going to be an album I adore. First listen through, I was pissed when it ended, I wanted more. I love this album and it'll probably end up album of the year for me. Get this, you can hate (or whatever) modern rap and hip-hop all you want. But this is another one of the albums done right.

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I've also included the album art for this by Riccardo Tisci. Loved all the album art and styles Kanye put out with MBDTF and I'm glad he has this artistic sight. I like all these pictures and have even contemplated getting a tattoo of the angel in the last picture (My personal favorite). If you enjoy art, you may enjoy these that were included with the album.