The best freestyler on the planet. The 2nd 3rd coming of Rakim. The future of hip-hop. He was anointed as them all, and yet as meteoric as Canibus’ rise was, his fall was just as swift. A mixtape phenom, he went from lacing Tony Touch and DJ Clue to collaborating almost exclusively with Myspace rappers on their latest internet-only projects. His career decisions and ultimate downfall may have been disappointing, but they do nothing to tarnish the heights of his apex. In his prime, Canibus was an undisputed animal on the mic. His scientific style, fueled by a swift delivery, made him the standout on almost any track he appeared on, much to the fascination of both fans and peers. Frequently he’d take over songs, rhyming for twice as long as everyone else with double the ferocity, and listeners loved every bar of it. (more…)
Remember Space Jam? Yes, you do. And before I go any further, yes, this is an article on Steady Bloggin about Space Jam. Because it was an instant classic to the 9 year old me, and the 24 year old me wants to tell you about it.
Well it’s the 15 year anniversary of Space Jam, and Austin Kent over at The Good Point (who, interestingly, I went to University with – shouts to Sam Joynt who I roomed with in third year and also writes for GP) decided it’d be pretty cool to celebrate the occasion by recasting The Monstars in 2011. I agree.
So educated reader, who might already know where this is going, basketball and rap music have gone hand-in-hand for the better half of two decades now. And for someone like me, that’s awesome since basketball and rap have long been interests number 1 and 1A, in no particular order. Naturally, including hip hop in films about basketball made sense, whether culturally within the movie itself, or accompanied by way of the soundtrack. For instance, White Man Can’t Jump had Cypress Hill and Queen Latifah, Hoop Dreams had Ice Cube, Above the Rim with Tupac, He Got Game had an entire soundtrack crafted by Public Enemy, and even a masterpiece like The 6th Man had Doug E. Fresh on a Stevie Wonder remix. But the cream of the crop, my friends, was The Monstars’ anthem known better as Hit’Em High.
Stealing the idea from Austin (it’s hip hop, we steal shit right?) and applying it to what Wikipedia suggests is “generally regarded as the greatest rap collaboration of all-time” (seriously, it says that), I thought it’d be thumbs up to figure out who could represent The Mean Team in the studio in 2011.
Mathematics himself leaked this one via his site http://themathfiles.com/. This was the accompanying description:
TheMathFiles.com is proud to present the long awaited “Made Men†premiere. Originally intended to appear on Wu Massacre alongside “Mirandaâ€, “Dangerous†& “Mef vs. Chef IIâ€, this Mathematics produced track is now the 1st single off his upcoming Made Men LP. Hitting the shelves at the same time will be Love & Loyalty, the debut LP from Math’s artist Eyes Low, who also appears on this track. Prepare for two albums worth of classic Mathematics bangers with plenty of surprises!
Now in all honesty, I didn’t think the track was that great overall. Not terrible, just meh (much like the Wu Massacre itself). The beat is alright but not too exciting, the Rae verse is recycled, Meth is good not great, I don’t know who the 2 other guys are but they failed to make much of an impression. It’s the kind of song that I don’t find offensive by any means, yet don’t see myself playing more than once. BUT…. Cappadonna kills it. Granted I’m a ‘Cappapologist’ and have been for some time, but you gotta give credit where it’s due. His verse on this is great. That’s actually why I’m posting the track at all. That and the graphic they came up with is cool.
The album drops next week and you can pre-order for $10.99 @ Amazon. It won’t be a true album. Not many tracks where all three are together. After a few great tracks, the rest seems pretty thrown together. But I’m sure there will be some greatness on here. As for the video, hot bitches and Ricky Cordero kills it again! –Philaflava
Tracklist:
1. Criminology 2.5 – Raekwon, Ghostface Killah & Method Man
2. Mef vs. Chef 2 – Method Man & Raekwon
3. Ya Moms Skit – Method Man & Raekwon
4. Smooth Sailing Remix – Ghostface Killah, Method Man, Solomon Childs & Streetlife
5. Our Dreams – Raekwon, Ghostface Killah & Method Man
6. Gunshowers – Method Man, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck & Sun God
7. Dangerous – Raekwon, Ghostface Killah & Method Man
8. Pimpin’ Chipp – Ghostface Killah
9. How To Pay Rent Skit feat. Tracy Morgan
10. Miranda – Raekwon, Ghostface Killah & Method Man
11. Youngstown Heist – Ghostface Killah, Trife, Sheek & Bully
12. It’s That Wu Sh*t – Ghostface Killah & Method Man
If I were to ask you “Where’s my killer tape at?†you would undoubtbly know that “Shameek from 212 got bust in his head two times and he was laying there like a new born fucking baby god with all types of fucking blood coming outâ€
Or if in passing I said “torture muthafucker torture†you might inform me that you would indeed “stab my tongue with a rusty screwdriverâ€
Let’s say you were hungry and wanted to get some food that was best described as “some marvelous shit to get your mouth watering†you would know who to see.
How is it that we would all know this?
Well from our number four album Enter the 36 Chambers by The Wu Tang Clan.
Released in 1993 it revolutionized production and offered up a bevy of styles from GZA’s traditional rhythms and cadence to ODB’s madman with a mic style, it was unlike anything that any of us have heard at the time and since then artists have been trying to replicate it with expectedly boring and lackluster results….I’m looking at you white people.
My first experience with the Wu was at the Wiz on Central Avenue in Yonkers. I spent my summers working on a Coors truck and every Tuesday I would go to the Wiz and by all the new releases whether I heard them or not. Towards the end of that summer I bought the cassette single for Protect Ya Neck b/w Method Man. The art work could best be described as non-descript, basically plain white cover with a logo. I never heard them, but I read about them and people suggested I check them out. I went back to my car, at the time a Colt Vista Wagon, aka a piece of American shit that Detroit has become famous for, and played the single for a good 45 minutes before pulling out of the parking lot. It was that good and different. Even U-God came off, which is usually the case when he limited to 8 bars or less.
Needless to say I was stuck. I waited and waited until the album came out that fall. The wait was worth every second. The album dropped and it felt like everything changed, at least it did for me. Production now had to be moody and cinematic, lyrics had to be strong and layered and flows had to be insane. The album feature 3 of the greatest songs in the history of rap (Protect Ya Neck, CREAM, and Can It Be All So Simple) and I guess you can argue for a fourth with Method Man, which for my money was a great song for the 90s but not all time.
Everything about the album (with the exception of the song Tearz) is perfect, even the skits are enjoyable to this day. What other album has had skits that spawned hours of conversations and inside jokery, t-shirts, Youtube clips, etc. There are none.
I can’t believe I considered leaving this album off the list.
I spent a lot of time trying to fill this slot. I was torn between two albums that I absolutely love, Breaking Atoms by Main Source and Whut? Tha Album by Redman, but the more I listened to those albums the less I could justify including them in the top ten-est rap albums of all time based on the criteria laid out in this space two weeks ago. So I pondered, and tried to figure out what I could put in this slot.  I already had every album I wanted to include on this list plotted out and ready to go. Then it hit me I needed to move Ghostface Killah’sIron Man from its previous position which was so high because it was going to be the de facto Wu album to the number 8 slot and move Enter the 36 Chambers into the slot held by Ghostface. After all Enter the 36 Chambers is a monster that has earned its right to represent itself.Â
So here we are at number 8 with what I consider to be the best of the Wu Tang solo records and one of my favorite records of all time. One could argue that any of the first round of Wu Tang solo records could claim a top spot on this list, but you would be wrong. Tical was very good for its time, but Meth’s style on the record has become dated; Liquid Swords aged horribly mostly due to Gza’s anti-personality; and Return to the 36 Chambers while fantastic was just a little too uneven. That leaves Raekwon’s Only Built for Cuban Linx and Ghostface Killah’sIron Man. I feel like you can make an argument for either of these albums being the high point of mid 90s NYC street rap perhaps only being matched by Mobb Deep’sThe Infamous and Hell on Earth, but I can’t give any credence to an album where Havoc is prominently featured on the mic. So I went with my personal favorite of the two. Iron Man.
There is something special about this record, I wouldn’t say it is the high point creatively for Ghostface and the Rza, that would be Supreme Clientele, and it isn’t even the high point for ghost as a lyricist. But there is something about this album that makes me revisit it for weeks at a time. It has a cohesiveness that the others lack, still holds to the signature Wu sound which you could easily argue was the last sound out of New York that really mattered. Sorry Jay-z’sThe Blueprint was cool and all but it was not redefining shit.  Where Supreme Clientele and Bulletproof Wallets highlight the verbal ability of Ghost they are lacking in a constant that tethers you to the music, causing the albums to lose urgency as time goes on. Pretty Toney, while enjoyable was the start of the downfall of Ghost as a creative entity eventually leading horrifically boring projects like Fish scale and More Fish. Sure they had moments but they were few and far between. I think what makes Iron Man so special is the emotional core and the rawness of the sound.  It resonates through time and the music throughout the record is phenomenal, with a perfect mix of Wu Tang battle raps, street revelry and introspective genius that I think I will still be revisiting well into my latter years. Â
Next time you’re in your local Wal-Mart at 3 AM buying Ramen Noodles you might fuck around and see Fesu or Rappin’ 4-Tay, but this lucky fella saw Mr. Smith.
