Let’s be specific (peace Funkmaster Flex), the other day I dropped my 10 most underrated rappers of 2011, so it only made sense to drop my best rapper too. This isn’t an all-time list, it’s current and I could only award this to a rapper who is, well current. Andre 3000, you might be on another level and universally accepted as the greatest rapper living and who am I to disagree? You are, but these once every few years cameos on these bullshit R&B tracks ain’t cutting it.

It ain’t Jay, shame on you for even thinking that. It isn’t his apprentice Mr. Electronica, who by the way he should be dropping his once-a-year track in December to continue giving your iTunes blue balls. His lack of new material and a Saigon(ish) career pattern is not helping matters. I can you assure you it’s nobody who would rock a smedium t-shirt. Nobody that you would consider a hipster or vegan. It isn’t a new radical skater. It isn’t lazy self-absorbed artists who continues to produce lo-fi albums for your listening displeasure.

Who does it leave then? Nas, maybe, but we all know he lost a step or two over the years. Could it be Jada? Sure, Jadakiss is like the New York Jets, he looks great on paper but when it comes down to business he can’t close and I’m still waiting on that great album from him. So the argument could come down to Pusha and the man who I awarded it to. Pusha is just getting better with age, but when you see who is #1 it’s hard to dispute facts.

Maybe 2012 will be different but there isn’t a rapper IMO who has deliverer quality time and time again than this man. I hate the word swag, so I will just say this man’s style is just too damn cool. It sounds effortless like the way DOOM spits, but it’s extremely layered with witty lyricism and tons of rewind material   If the Dos Equis guy was a rapper he’d be this one. –Philaflava

Click to see who is the best rapper of 2011.

Some bonus mp3s courtesy of the great people of Philaflava.

Download Zip File 1

Will Vill – Not a Game ft. Roc Marciano
Wu-Tang Clan – The Black Diamonds (Ghostface, Roc Marciano & Killa Sin)
Random Axe – Chewbacca ft. Roc Marciano
Meyhem Lauren – Crossroads ft. Roc Marciano
Ray West – Move Back ft. Roc Marciano & A.G.
Roc Marciano – Scarface (3:33 Remix)
Sick Team – Lyrical Assassins ft. Roc Marciano
Beneficence – Monetary Policy ft. Roc Marciano
The Planets – Sound Clash ft. Roc Marciano
Arch Druids – Scorched Earth Policy ft. Roc Marciano & Planet Asia
Sean Price – How the Gods Chill (Remix) ft. Roc Marciano & Meyhem Lauren
A.G. – Marcberri

Download Zip File 2

Sketch – Chain Smoking Remix Feat. Roc Marciano and Reef
Roc Marciano – The Prophecy Oxidation Remix
Roc Marciano- Snow Remix Feat. Sean P
Roc Marciano- Slugs Thru Ya Papaya Feat. Killah Priest
Roc Marciano – Scarface
Roc Marciano- My Persona
Roc Marciano- MVG
Pollyn- Cold Sweat Feat. Roc Marciano
MMG – Helpless Dreamer Feat. Roc Marciano, XO and Tranquill
J- Love- Tricks of the Street Feat. G Rap, Cormega and Roc Marciano
Blaq Poet- Bushmaster Remix Feat. Roc Marciano and Wais P

EDIT: here’s a dl link too, until someone complains at least.

DOWNLOAD: Jay Electronica – Act II (rough demo)
 

Maybe my favorite song he’s done since Exhibit C. What’s really encouraging here is that the mp3 came tagged as track 8 of Act 2: Patents of Nobility, so maybe the album/mixtape will actually surface before the tupacalypse consumes us all.

DOWNLOAD: Jay Electronica – Jazzmatazz ft Tone Treasure (R.I.P Guru Sendoff)

Painting by Frank Morrison.

1. So is the OFWGKTA honeymoon over? Maybe not yet but the writing is on the wall. While they’ve become everyone’s favorite internet phenomenon this year; restoring faith in all the aging dinosaurs and helping a legion white angst Gleaming The Cube watching Z-boys get back on their boards with a Terry Kennedy shirt on, the fact remains each passing day Tyler continues to alienate his dollars. Many have compared them to Wu-Tang, though Odd Future is more like a group with a Ghostface, a Rae and a bunch of U-Gods. Prodigy wasn’t this much of a yenta during the trife life days of 4th & B’wy Tyler stays fucking up his Good Charlotte remix money with each his ridiculous diatribe about labels, bloggers, fans, people over the age of 18, people under the age of 18, you name it. Tyler talks so much like a broad he could be a stand-in for The View anytime Joy is sick.

I like Tyler, I have liked most of the OF release too, but it’s painful to see somebody handle success so poorly so fast. Staying true is great. Remaining loyal to friends, fans and your music is inspiring, but he he is slowing going to turn into this years Eli Porter with wit, charisma and Spock ears if he doesn’t pump his brakes. Saying faggot as many times as Vinnie Paz or his infatuation with over-enunciating nigger or constantly reminding us 2DopeBoyz snubbed them isn’t going to take them to the finish line. OF needs Earl to come home quick before the ship sails. Swag out!

2. Now that Devin The Dude has made a decent album since 2007 (Waiting To Inhale) is it cool to replace him with Curren$y?

3. In 2012 I have absolutely no desire to listen to anyone from Hieroglyphics not named Casual. What Cas needs to do is bounce the fuck from that team and link up with the Mob Figaz boys. Imagine a Casual album produced by Jake One, Alchemist, Droop-E, Traxamillion and maybe the SD50′s for old times?

4. Jay-Z’s interviews > Jay-Z’s verses lately

5. The greatest diss this year wasn’t in a form of a record, rather a Tweet. Jay Electronica simply annihilates Puffy with just a few lines of truth. Exposing Puff yet again to the opportunist, back-peddling snake that he is.

For years Jews have played the background while standing on their tippy toes just trying to get a glimpse. The Jewish acceptance in hip-hop has always been matched against ambivalence. Sure, years ago you had The Beasties or 3rd Bass’ MC Serch, but the reality really was being Jewish in hip-hop wasn’t exactly cool. Ras Kass once said on “Uni-4-Orm” “Record industry rule numbers one, two, and three/Jews run it/Niggas run around in it/Believe me” and he couldn’t have been more accurate.

Whether it’s Rick Rubin, Lyor Cohen, Clive Davis, Craig Kallman (Atlantic), Doug Morris (Universal), Steve Rifkin (Loud), Drew “Dru Ha” Friedman (Duckdown) or Dave Geffen, Jews have always controlled the music industry, especially the black music industry.

This has called resentment, anti-semitism and years of unwarranted and in many cases very much warranted hate on the Jewish culture and their involvement in such a prominent black art. Regardless of what you may feel, the times have changed. Jews champion anything that has an ounce of Jewish blood. Lenny Kravitz, Kiss, Jane’s Addiction (Perry Farrel), Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, Barbara Streisand, Burt Bacharach, Billy Joel, Lou Reed and David Lee Roth just to name a few. Jews clutch to everything Jew related, much like most cultures do. It’s not only common, it is to be expected otherwise you’d be a race traitor of the highest caliber.

It’s not much different from when millions of Blacks rallied for Obama with the sole motivation of having one of their own be elected as the most powerful man in the world. Its human nature, but being Jewish I’ve always felt that resistance. I didn’t have the flat top. I was never courageous enough to put lines in my fade (see Yelawolf). I always felt trying too hard meant you’d be ridiculed by fellow whites and barely accepted by blacks. Nobody aspires to be Michael Rapaport or MC Serch ya know? So I just quietly enjoyed hip-hop growing up in the Burbs and the closest thing I got to being accepted into the hip-hop culture was wearing Skidz and owning a boom-box with “King of Rock” blasting out of it, after I quickly ejected my Dead Milkman tape.

Growing up I never identified with Jews. I was raised by them, understood their dunn language and to this day feel the values instilled in me has made me a better person. It has prepared me for the world, for relationships and for business. But I never really identified with the culture. Hebrew school lasted just 2 days. No Bar Mitzvah and I couldn’t honestly tell you the last time I stepped inside Synagogue. The appeal was just not there. You know what was? Hip-hop music.

Jews have always been infatuated with the culture. It doesn’t matter which Jewish figure of our era you think of, they grew with hip-hop. Adam Sandler, Sasha Baron Cohen, Jon Stewart or the entire Judd Apatow posse. A few have even attempted a rap career of their own like MTV’s Simon Rex, Max Kellerman, Adrien Brody, Joaquin Phoenix and even Corey Haim (RIP).

Today more and more Jewish rappers and producers are poppin’ up with every new Tweet, Pitchfork interview or Facebook account. From The Beasties to Blood of Abraham we now have Edan, Asher Roth, Paul Barman, The Alchemist, Mark Ronson, Ill Bill, Remedy, Necro, Scott Storch, J.R. Rotem, Mickey Avalon, El Michels and Canada’s favorite Drake. Okay so the track record isn’t all that impressive but you get the point.

While not nearly synonymous, Judaism and hip-hop are starting to finally sync. It was just a few years ago Jay said “Rich niggas/black Bar Mitzvahs/Mazel Tov, it’s a celebration bitches, L’Chayim.” Shortly after the Black Eyed Peas swagger jacked “L’Chayim” into a #1 song and now you have Drake rockin’ a chai on the cover of magazines.

Today everybody’s new favorite rapper’s rapper, Jay Electronica has become hip-hop’s Rod Carew. The man has all the right co-signs. He already has a few hits under his belt (Exhibit A & C). He has plethora of tracks featuring Dilla beats that didn’t actually go to waste and currently he has one of the best producers in the game by his side. Jay Electronica is no new jack. At age 34 he has not only studied the art, but lived it. He’s authentic through and through. Not only that, he looks the part too. Remember back in school when you were captain you’d pick the guy who looked like he could play? Sometimes it didn’t work out that way, but we’ve all picked a person based on their appearance. Jay has it! Not only does he resemble Keith Thornton, but the dude looks like he can just zone the fuck out. When you look at Termanlogy do you get that vibe? I thought so.

So while everybody is going gaga for the man who rhymes with Hannukah, there is an extra incentive people of the Tribe to give a little more love (see Hot 97’s Rosenberg or Shady’s Paul Rosenberg)to the man who made it a little cooler to spit that Hebrewama shit. Jews haven’t rooted this much for a black person since Nell Carter.

We have been waiting years for a moment like this. We once asked for Eminem and instead we got fucking Matisyahu. Finally our time has come… –Jason Gloss

Vote here

Let’s close up for the weekend with a deceptively smooth banger from Paul Wall’s Heart of a Champion. I say deceptively because while the beat sounds like Christopher Cross orgasming all over the Flying Wasp, the subject matter gets rather heady.

DOWNLOAD: Paul Wall – Live it feat. Raekwon, Jay Electronica and Yelawolf

Props to Comedy Quaddafi from Philaflava forums for the heads up.

Releasing the leftover scraps before the world has barely had a glimpse of the final product is some paradigm shifting shit.

via his twitter.

Blaow. “The Day”

Peace,
Employee

SHOUT: Erb Tumblers