Legacy Track of the Week: Dave East, Styles P - Beloved
“Beloved Styles (Ghost) Beloved East (East), Beloved New York streets where we run around (what up?!)” 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 Honestly Styles just gets better with time and this is my morning alarm clock until further notice!!!! ⏰⏰⏰⏰💨💨💨🔥
Dave East, Styles P - It’s Lit
“Bricks at the Sheridan, pounds at the Aloft, it's fucked up, but Donald Trump is the new Adolf” East does his numbers and weaves in and out of verses with Styles with relative ease.
Dave East, Styles P - Exotic Shit
“You ain't got to see the script, it's a bigger movie than DreamWorks, ****** staying woke but still making their dream work” The Ghost has not come incorrect on any instrumental he’s touched since No Way Out or Money Power Respect. 25 years of greatness.
Dave East, Styles P - Cut From A Different Cloth
“Yeah, more paper than I can count (more), New York get hot, go down south, start with an ounce (we out), cut from a different cloth, it ain't no calmin' me down (no), no need for no introduction cause we the hardest in town” Produced by Vinny Idol the energy is right on this track that’s one of the best on the tape.
Dave East, Styles P - Rare Breed
“Exhale, watch this smoke blow, same place where my ghost goes, know I stay wavy like water, that's the Ghost flow, throw me in the ocean of fire, I could float though, meet me on the edge of the cliff, we could both go” Produced by D Block producer Poobs this is three verses of Styles with East on the hook, and while casting no aspersions on the elite emcee from Harlem the fact remains that Yonkers finest continues to be in a completely different zone.
Anderson .Paak ft Kendrick Lamar - Tints
“Bitch, I'm Kendrick Lamar, respect me from afar, I was made in His image, you call me a god” 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥production from Om’Mas Keith and we need more Anderson .Paak with Kendrick Lamar… this is their third collaboration and this was made for all the Pimps and the Playas driving down Melrose in something vintage, candy painted preferred, this is a vibe I could get used to.
T.I. - Laugh At Em
“Like I'm pimpin in a Kangol and a new Cadillac with some all gold hammer, long as I remember I done ran Atlanta” Produced by Cardiak and Just Blaze this is it’s T.I.P. Pimpin swingin out the gates and this was the right energy to set it off. Ultimately it was these high-tempo records (along with the previously released singles Wraith & Jefe) that were the standouts on the album.
T.I. ft Young Thug - The Weekend
“Ayy (It's goin' down), It's goin' down every weekend, yeah, Malibu, top gone, everything for the weekend” Produced by Swizz Beatz I don’t love this record but I’m not mad at this either. Overall a decent third single.
T.I. ft Victoria Monet - The Amazing Mr. F**k Up
“It's a, amazing all the shit I done, such examples I've been setting for my son, all she did was stay down and have my kid, all the time just to realize I ain't shit” Produced by Eric G this is apparently an apology record to his ex wife Tiny for apparent infidelities, and overall as far as album cuts go this is the best on the tape.
T.I. - Light Day
“No convo, I'm talkin' straight action like the old days, met the forty cal, spin 'em 'round like the O-Jays” Produced by Messiah Harris, the eldest son of TI who scored a nice 10 grand from his pop for his placement on the album. Truthfully this is one of the best album cuts off DIME TRAP, TI’s ceremonial tenth studio album.
T.I. ft Teyana Taylor - You
“Ain't nobody perfect but the Lord, you always quick to point out all my flaws when I was leaving out yours” Another strong album cut off the tape, that overall is somewhat of an underwhelming listen despite a few bright moments.
T.I. ft London Jae - Be There
“When the sun goes down and ain't nobody around, I'ma be there, and when you tryna find forever and you lookin' in the clouds, I'ma be there…” For what it’s worth the last 3 cuts including the outro are some of the best quality on here
Mario - What You Started
“I know it's hard to stand what you don't understand” Full disclosure, Mario just put out his first project in nine years and honestly we could have waited another decade easy, Dancing Shadows is officially his 5th studio album and it’s one of the most disappointing R&B records in recent memory. With that said Mario still has plenty of classics in the catalogue.
Marc E Bassy ft Guapdad 4000 - Simma
“Bouncer's gonna say, ‘Simmer down, simmer’, girls, come get loose; sexuality but thinner, simmer down, simmer, I'ma fuck you right against the wall like a pin-up” Produced by Count Bassy (I’m not sure if there’s any relation or if this is some type of producer alter-ego) and NGXTxNGXT this is easily the standout of the 5 track EP Bassy just released titled Postmodern Depression, that compared to his debut album Gossip Columns hardly compares in terms of quality and potential superstar appeal.
Atmosphere - Stopwatch
“Yes, and I guess, it's just a sign that I'm a pessimist, but life is limited if time is how you measure it, nobody's innocent, let's quit pretending such, just let it finish up so this message can self-destruct” Atmosphere is back for their ninth studio album Mi Vida Local, and if you’ve always been a fan of the combined works of vocalist Slug and producer Ant then you will not be disappointed.
Atmosphere - Graffiti
“You make me wanna understand your graffiti, you're tryna make me feel like somebody needs me” A nice outro to what’s overall a very impressive body of work. Since 1989 the Minnesota Hip Hop duo is still going strong.
Ghostface Killah ft KXNG Crooked, B.E.N.N.Y. the Butcher, 39 Spesh - Buckingham Palace
“Hunnid Gs, bone crusher, I'm like the hood's top celebrity, long dick ya chick like my rap's longevity, colder than a glass of ice cubes, I got 'em all in bad moods, stompin' on shoes, I never lose” Ghostface Killah has just released his official Lost Tapes project and based off the above excerpt alone you can best believe the Ironman delivers. Also s/o B.E.N.N.Y. The Butcher who’s been consistent on all his guest appearances over the last year, and only a tentative s/o to Big Ghost Ltd. who provides a nice instrumental here in spite of the fact that he’s a still a sell out and the quintessential internet troll.
Ghostface Killah ft Snoop Dogg & E 40 - Saigon Velour
“Son I walk down the block like it's '76, Pimp robe, fur hat just to match my kicks, and my chains like 80 pounds of frozen ice, I got four bitches with me, no need to look twice, throw rice at my feet, rose petals, Malaysian salt, I smoked two Cuban cigars and a Newport, an ounce of the blueberry, big bottle of Tito's, count the plaques on the wall like I sang for The Beatles, went from label to label changed my name to Clark Gabel, Tony Starkaroni probably fucked your aunt Mabel, in the stash house owned by El Patrón, big friends in high places, always flying outta zones, big banks in Sweden, vaults in Morocco, but my all time favorite is a Columbian taco” 🔥🔥🔥 now that’s a perfect 16! Honestly, that’s a verse that belongs in a museum, and apparently Big Ghost Ltd. produced this entire album so s/o to his production skills over his gimmicky writing, which interestingly enough once garnered him some internet fame using the likeness of none other than Ghostface Killah himself, so I suppose this is an internet troll success story for whatever it’s worth. [Quick side note, why did Big Ghost produce for Wale after making a name off dissing him for years??? Because that’s what internet trolls do…sell their soul for acceptance… every time.]
Ghostface Killah - Done It Again
“Come on now, we can spend Arabian Nights, I could take you to my mosque and we can pray all night” No it’s not on the level of Raekwon’s Ice Cream or anything like that, but this is cool album cut for the ladies all the same.
Mozzy - One of Mines
“Gangland Landlord is what I solemnly bleed, you need a body barbecued, then you should lock in with me, drop him for cheap, my ahki got a jumper on fleek, you front on these beats, knowing you ain't cut from these streets” Sacramento’s own has officially arrived with his latest solo album (his 23rd based on the Wikipedia count) appropriately titled Gangland Landlord and overall it plays like one of the best West Coast albums of the year. This one’s produced by June who delivers a real smooth instrumental.
Mozzy ft E Mozzy - Dead Homies
“I done put my life on the line for this here, I done lost a hundred my ****** just this year, popped a hundred pills, the pain is still there, shed a hundred tears, the pain is still there” Mozzy is making a better version of the music a lot of other artists try to make and fail miserably, this album came together like a long deserved come up from one of the most celebrated regions in Hip Hop, this is West Coast ‘Gangsta Rap’ in all it’s glory.
Mozzy ft Rexx Life Raj - Keep Me Hustlin
“I'm in your house at 25, sleepin' on the couch, told me get a job, I said I got it figured out, they see me down, ain't no way I let 'em keep me down, look around, things different ma, we peachy now, we eatin' now, this that shit I used to dream about” Produced by Streetrunner and Tarik Azzouz this is a fire instrumental and one of the best moments on the tape.
Mozzy ft Schoolboy Q, Caine - Run It Up
“Baby we can have it all, ayy, put you in them shoes that you like, them Christian Louboutins they drippin' from the walk…’ Produced by James Royo this is a real smooth cut with real single potential thanks to the catchy hook that almost gives me Plies/TPain strip club music type of vibes. I’m here for it.
Mozzy - Walk Up
“Where all them ****** you call your brother now? Ain't none of them ****** gon' hold your mother down” Produced by Jay P Bangz this is more fire off Gangland Landlord and honestly Mozzy is one of the rising stars of 2018, aside from the fact that’s been cooking in Sac Town for over 15 years. Also make sure you don’t miss his 2Pac remake with YG & Ty Dolla $ign right here.
Lil Baby - Close Friends
“We started off as close friends (close friends) somehow you turned into my girlfriend (My girlfriend), we used to tell each other everything (everything), I even went and bought her diamond rings” Atlanta’s own Lil Baby just released a mixtape with College Park artist Gunna entitled Drip Harder, and this low key cut produced by Turbo is one of the highlights.
Lil Baby ft Gunna & Drake - Never Recover
“I bring up money, they change up the topic, I got a 19 and it fold in my pocket, she gave me her number, now I gotta block it, I'm mixin' the dirty bills in with the profit, clean that shit up and I give it right back to him, If I don't fuck with him, then I can't rap with him” That’s definitely a legitimate gun bar from Drizzy but the verse is 🔥🔥🔥 per usual.
Blood Orange ft A$AP Rocky & Project Pat - Chewing Gum
“Tell me what you want from me” A$AP continues to network with all of the UK’s best talent, evident in this record that collaborates with London’s own Blood Orange, aka Dev Hynes and formally known as Lightspeed Champion, whose got production credits with Tinashe, Solange, and others and whose sound was perfect for the vibe on this record. This is one of those surprise records you had no expectations for but turn out to be really really good.
Jay Rock ft Jeremih - Tap Out
“And I'ma give it to her like she want it until she tap out, tap out, tap out” Jay Rock just released not one but two music videos for this radio smash hit, and I’d say this one is the most aesthetically pleasing.