FULL, CDQ, (Previously DJ tagged), CLEAN, Track off upcoming album, Theater Of The Mind *Tibs Fav.™
Had to keep this mega collaboration up top! The tagged version was the feature track the other day and BOBO liberated the no tagged, CDQ (yet still clean) version! I think the song runs a lil’ long but it’s a great one that features awesome verses from Luda and Nas (not really feelin’ Jay’s.. but then again, when am I ever??). Anyway, it’s a MUST-HAVE track that you should get in the highest quality. Down below, another nice 3-man hip hop collaboration with Self Scientific, The Game, & Talib Kweli! Def feelin’ Game & Kweli a lot on this as well as Self Scientific in the middle verse. Also below are trax featuring Ne-Yo, Akon, J. Holiday, One Chance, & MORE, including your daily batch of behind the scenes and interviews in video form. Enjoy!
***Added some Nas performance videos from the event below!***
From Left 2 Right: Sgt. Tibs, stic.man of Dead Prez, & Max G.
Jay Electronica & Max G.
S-Preme & Max G.
Immortal Technique
Rakim
Method Man & Redman
Redman
Mos Def
Nas
A Tribe Called Quest
The 2008 Rock The Bells tour kicked off in Chicago this past Saturday on July 19th with a bevy of artists taking stage at the First Midwest Bank Ampitheatre. Artists and legends like Kidz In The Hall, Jay Electronica, Dead Prez, Immortal Technique, Rakim, De La Soul, Method Man & Redman, and Mos Def, The Pharcyde, Nas, and A Tribe Called Quest provided a concert of live, raw hip hop lasting nearly half a day! All the artists brought their own style and entertainment to the stage so there was never really a time to drift off and take a break. Some notable highlights and characteristics from the performances were the passion and clarity of the messages from Immortal Technique, the high-octane energy Method Man & Redman came with to ignite the crowd to another level (even stage-diving), Mos Def’s incredibly slick acapellas, Nas’ entire set, especially his “One Mic” finale, & finally the best moment for me - The Pharcyde performing one of my all-time favorite jams “Runnin’”, enhanced by the live energy by all four MCs and the live drums and instruments. One critique of ours was that Nas should have closed the concert because his buzz is at the highest with his recent release of Untitled and the hip hop legend had the crowd in the biggest frenzy of the night. No disrespect to A Tribe Called Quest, who were great in their own right as well, but we noticed the crowd was not as into them as they were with Nas. Again, “One Mic” was an excellent closing song to Nas’ set and would have been a perfect cap off for the entire day of real hip hop performances. We would have also liked to see artists like Dead Prez and Kidz In The Hall later on in the bill as the crowd was still filing in well into the early evening. We had a great time chillin’ with our friends, GWHH ‘Return Of The MC’ Contest winner S-Preme, and even some of the artists who were in and out of the SanDisk VIP lounge! Much love to Ronda & SanDisk for the hookups!
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Nas LIVE @ Rock The Bells Chicago (Pt. 1)
(Check for Tibs in the gray Cubs hat snappin’ some pics around 3:45!)
Nas LIVE @ Rock The Bells Chicago (Pt. 2)
(Check for Max G. & Jay Electronica with his cane around 4:30!)
FULL, CDQ, Crooked I over Kanye’s “Stronger” *Tibs Fav.™
Above is Crooked I rippin’ thru the “Stronger” beat like a maniac (in a good way) and he’s got some real dope lines that were inspired by Vibe’s Best Rapper Alive contest, which has made some publicity.. which in turn has inspired Lupe Fiasco 2 speak out against the publicity stunt of a contest with his long post below on his official message boards. Check it out:
“Hey Guys…Much Love to ya’ll…I’m taking this time out to inform you beautiful guy’s and gal’s about a few things that seem out of order and rather odd to me…I pose the question…
Does the media in hip-hop conspire to create controversy and tension in the culture just for the sake of publicity?
Vibe.com recently started a campaign with the intention of crowning one lucky artist from the vast talent pool of hip-hop as “Best Rapper Alive” (FYI the notion of someone being the “best” of something especially in a category as subjective as music is a rather impossible idea to bring to fruition with any credibility. Its based on bias and political maneuvering when in the public realm. I mean in private you simply like what you like as it fits to how you live your life and how you feel at a particular point.)
I do find these rather unfounded events entertaining and even in some instances rather valid when a large amount of research and an unbiased, objective approach is taken using damn near scientific methods to make a list of criteria that tests artists in various formats and divisions to really reach a conclusion that is “This Person Is Based On This List Criteria Is The Best Of Something…” But when these spectacles are done just for the sake of manifesting publicity and controversy at the expense of someone’s physical safety and overall state of mind I find them rather disgusting and an abomination of the lowest caliber.
I thought at one point that is was “Us vs. Them” however much a misconception or an overwhelmingly idiotic notion when you take into accounts the odds that are against “Us”. “They” have superior weaponry, superior discipline, vast amounts of resources and lack morals and ethics to the highest degree. The fight against them in a rational mind seems rather futile but in a mind taught to believe that the “pen is mightier than the sword” and the weapons of the weak can overcome the mighty weapons oppressive when in the hands of the righteously motivated few. And that you had allies in your elders and in the trusted institutions that were set up to safeguard the truth and use it to empower the individuals who were under their charge. Our source of unbiased, uncontaminated truth that was our beacon to the North guiding us in the darkness to freedom and enlightenment.
Faith is ignorance and faith is tested when you become informed and that is what makes you strong. All you have to do to make people weak and keep them weak is to let them have faith, let them be tested by becoming informed and let them even feel that they are becoming stronger but make sure the information they are tested with is tainted and poison. And to make sure they keep taking the weakening poison make it so that they give it to themselves. I ain’t a saint. Never claimed to be. But I did believe in ideals and I believed in “Us”. And I fought for “Us”. I continue to wage war against “Them”. Sacrificing wealth and fame for the sake of the state of mind of “Us”. I started to realize in the course of my career that “Us vs. Them” is now “Us vs. Us”. Our institutions of information are just interested in creating spin, feeding controversy and pumping out useless information in between vibrant ads for things we don’t even need from companies without souls.
Why would you create a forum under the guise of “friendly competition” in which you pit individuals whom have at present or have had in the past friction in the real world in direct competition with each other in a virtual setting that you know will re-ignite feelings of ill will amongst the constituents of these people and quite possibly the individuals themselves???
This is insidious and reckless action. And I will not be apart of it.
So I humbly ask all of my fans and friends to boycott any voting and refrain from any participation whatsoever on my behalf in the Vibe Magazine and Vibe.com “Best Rapper Alive” Tournament.
The love and continued support of my musical career and my endeavors outside of music that you guys give are immensely satisfying accolades in themselves. The shine of any trophy on my mantel pales in comparison to the light that I see in the smiling faces of my fans…
Lu brings up some great points.. in fact all of it I agree with. It’s just a way of stirring up controversy between artists, maybe potentially starting a beef or re-igniting a beef, when it just appeals 2 our natural curiosity of ranking things. In the end, Lu’s right, it doesn’t matter what the list or tournament comes up with, but rather in the end, everyone is privately going 2 be like, nah, that’s not right, Lupe is my favorite, or Nas is my favorite. It reminds me of all those VH1 countdown lists of the 40 greatest feuds, or 100 greatest rock songs - an ultimately pointless, yet appealing way of putting rank 2 a subjective topic, and this subjectivity inspires controversy. Idk, that’s just my .02. Below, a bunch of quick vids for ya including the remaining parts of the interviews with Nas & Common by 2 great interviewers in the industry - Angie Martinez & Tim Westwood. Bout 2 fire those up myself. Enjoy!
Producer: J. Dilla - 1995 Track from album, Labcabincalifronia*Tibs Fav.™
“Can’t keep runnin’ awaaaayyaaayyy…”
Aite, I know this installment of Old School Sundays may not be the rare track the hip hop fans were expecting, but I believe there 2day’s listeners of the new generation of hip hop have not heard of this song - a song that is truly classic! In 1995, the late J. Dilla blessed the 4 MCs from the West Coast called The Pharcyde with an incredible beat that the members killed with a meaningful story, message, and addictive chorus! This is really a track that I put on every now and then still 2day and was inspired 2 post this not only because I’m sure people have not heard this great track, but also because one of my favorite shows, Entourage, featured the track at the end credits of an episode that I re-watched sometime recently. Anyway, all hip hop fans will love this track and even the casual fans will be sure 2 enjoy it. So if u don’t have it in ur collection already, it’s a MUST-DL above! Enjoy!
“It’s Ninteen Ninety-Five..! / And now that I’m older / stress weighs on my shoulders / heavy as boulders / but I told ya’ll / until the day that I die, I still / will be a soldier / that’s all I told ya / and that’s all I showed ya / and all this calamity is rippin’ my sanity / Can it be I’m a celbriityyy?”
- The Pharcyde “Runnin’” (beg. of 3rd verse that always gets me..!)
Ludacris “I Do It For Hip Hop” f/ Jay-Z & Nas (NO TAGS) - MORE
