Talk about a story. Snoop Dogg sits down with Sway for nearly half an hour and about 15 minutes in talks about his friendship with Biggie, which precursors details I had never known about his conflict with 2Pac that went unresolved prior to 'Pac's untimely death. 2Pac was upset that Snoop was showing love to Biggie and Snoop recounts the flight he took with Pac, Suge Knight, and Death Row to Vegas that fateful week. Snoop says Pac ignored him and was worried Pac and the Death Row crew might do something to him... so he went to sleep holding a knife! Wow. Fortunately, Snoop got the reassurance from his mother Afeni that Pac loved him. Hear Snoop tell it at the 20 minute mark and if you got time, sit down and listen to the whole interview.
Happy Mother's Day everyone! Time with the fam is lovely today and I'll count my blessings for days like these. Days like these though don't have to be once every May. It's one of many days we could show love and special attention to our moms! I gotta send a personal shoutout to Mama Tibs (she checks GWHH daily!) — thank you for everything :)
And of course, for all us hip hop fans it's only fitting to drop a trio of mama-dedicated hip hop tracks, both old classics and new, for Old School Sundays. Up above: ...you already know. 2Pac paved ways with "Dear Mama". Down below: Kanye West's emotional performance of "Hey Mama" at the 2008 Grammys (still get chills from his delivery and the simple aesthetics of the visuals). Also, a new classic: Chance The Rapper's "Hey Ma". I have a feeling this won't be the only year we talk about Chance's ode, that he released for Mother's Day last year. We'll be talking about "Hey Ma", and for that matter, Chance for years to come.
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Kanye West "Hey Mama" @ 2008 Grammys
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Chance The Rapper "Hey Ma" f/ Lili K & Peter CottonTale (2012)
Off the upcoming soundtrack to Django Unchained, this collab features old/unreleased vocals from 2Pac & James Brown. It sounds like a mash-up, albeit a pretty good one.
In a special year-end issue of RollingStone, the iconic magazine ranks the 50 greatest hip hop songs of all time, while commemorating the list with four appropriately powerful covers featuring Eminem, Biggie, Jay-Z, & 2Pac.
As for the list, well, I first off don't get too caught up in rankings or lists. They're fun, especially when you're searching for that suggestion or opinion, but just don't take it too seriously. RollingStone's top 10 is a clear ode to the first big hip hop songs, which I was happy to see. Each of the 50 songs can be viewed online here and it's a fun read for more than just to see what song is where. There is a cool anecdote per song, like that of "Lose Yourself" below.
Eminem's biggest-ever hit plays like Rocky condensed into a five-minute song. It helped that in telling the story of Rabbit – the trailer-dwelling aspiring rapper he played in 8 Mile – Eminem was more or less telling his own, sidestepping demented clowning and pure rage in favor of tough, realist rhymes about overcoming very long odds. Em cut the song during a brief break from filming. "He came in and laid down all three verses in one take," recalled engineer Steven King. "Jaws dropped – we were like, 'Oh, my God!' This story had been building up in him."
Wow. One take?! That made me like my #1 song even more (which I previously thought impossible).
1. Winged
2. Django (Main Theme) - Luis Bacalov, Rocky Roberts
3. The Braying Mule - Ennio Morricone
4. In That Case, Django, After You...
5. Lo Chiamavano King (His Name Is King) - Luis Bacalov, Edda Dell'orso
6. Freedom - Anthony Hamilton & Elayna Boynton
7. Five-Thousand-Dollar Nigga's And Gummy Mouth Bitches
8. La Corsa (2nd Version) - Luis Bacalov
9. Sneaky Schultz and the Demise of Sharp
10. I Got a Name - Jim Croce
11. I Giorni Dell'ira - Riz Ortolani
12. 100 Black Coffins - Rick Ross
13. Nicaragua - Jerry Goldsmith featuring Pat Metheny
14. Hildi's Hot Box
15. Sister Sara's Theme - Ennio Morricone
16. Ancora Qui - Ennio Morricone and Elsa
17. Unchained (The Payback/Untouchable) - James Brown and 2Pac
18. Who Did That To You? - John Legend
19. Too Old to Die Young - Brother Edge
20. Stephen The Poker Player
21. Un Monumento - Ennio Morricone
22. Six Shots Two Guns
23. Trinity (Titoli) - Annibale E i Cantori Moderni
Look out for the new movie written and directed by Quentin Tarentino this Christmas: Django Unchained - the premise surrounding a slave turned bounty hunter out to rescue his wife from a Mississippi plantation. As you'd expect with Tarentino, an all-star cast follows, including Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz (he better play the evil plantation owner), Leonardio DiCaprio (he's famous), Kerry Washington, and Samuel L. Jackson !!!!!!! (his name should permanently have exclaimation marks attached at the end).
As you can also see above, the soundtrack will have a tracklist littered with some big names in urban music, featuring a mix of James Brown's "The Payback" and 2Pac's "Untouchable" and new music from Rick Ross and John Legend.
