So yeah, check out my review of the new Jill Scott cd. Excerpt here, rest at Soulbounce.
Jill Scott’s highly-anticipated 2007 effort, The Real Thing: Words & Sounds Volume 3 continues where Beautifully Human…Vol. 2 left off. Jilly from Philly introduces the opus with “Let It Be”, a track that invites the listener to not dwell on the categorical or status, the unnecessary is unnecessary. “The Real Thing” is an affirmation of what Scott’s fans are aware of, that she’s truly genuine. No falsehoods are needed nor implied.
I believe she’s putting you newbies on notice. “Hate On Me”, the first single that arrived on the internet and radio earlier in the summer. The song is instantly a favorite among bloggers and Myspacers. Reminds me of one blogger who gets his/her fair share of detractors, and she’s as nice and sweet as Jill. Despite the great feats and achievements there will always be crabs waiting to pull you down in the bucket. Jill provides this advice…ignore ‘em, do you.
“Feel free to hate on me!” — Katt Williams (Pimp Chronicles)
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Previously: Jill Scott - “Crown Royal
Yeah so check out my review of Talib Kweli’s Ear Drum that I added to Soulbounce yesterday! I’ll have another Talib drop for you in a minute.
Today is the day. Tuesday August 21st 2007. ONe of the most anticipated hip-hop records drop in stores. Stop reading this right now, run out and purchase Talib Kweli’s Ear Drum right now. If you listen to hip-hop, and it isn’t in your top 5 for albums this year, I would like to know what type of cave you live in. A re-occurring theme in the cd is a criticism that Talib and I’m sure other emcees have heard throughout their careers. You know, when somebody is telling you how to flow. What to say and what not to say. In “Everything Man”, Talib let’s the fans and new listeners know that he can’t please everyone and that’s the curse of all artists. He continues his legendary flow on “NY Weather Report” over another head-nodder with lyrics that explain his journey as the BK emcee. The choir-backed “Hostile Gospel part 1″ is a preacher’s banger where the listener phonetically absorbs 5 minutes of truth. So slap yourself upside the head if you’ve been acting up.
“Say Something” gives you a shot of Blacksmith with Jean Grae. Jean and Talib are ready for all challengers. Just say the word. “Country Cousins” which features UGK and Raheem Devaughn also appears on UGK’s Underground Kingz (August 7th). A smooth track to say the least rounded off by vocalist Raheem Devaughn. I can’t lie, I think of bbq’s. Er, I mean cookouts. “Holy Moly”, Talib is really tugging on the gospel theme. Where “Hostile Gospel” wags the finger at people in general, “Holy Moly” beats up against what we call the wackness. “Eat To Live” gives you an unfortunate situation that we’re all dealing with. Food. The food here in the states is dangerous (E.coli, Mad Cow, Obesity, Diabetes, etc.), and the price of it still rises, and on the other side of the world, they’re starving! What to do? I say all of this while I’m dreaming of McNuggets. When I first heard “In The Mood” it was the version without Kanye. The second time I heard it, Kanye had added a verse and put it on his Can’t Tell Me Nothing Mixtape. Being that an advance copy of Ear Drum hit the streets and the net about a month ago, maybe this combination of both versions is the result. Either way I’m not mad. Hot track.
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Masterpiece Theatre originally appeared on the first copies of Plan B, but Mallz was so unsure of the track, he took it off. S’all good. I put it on this cd. Contingency Plan is a collection of tracks that Mallz aka Mirage created before creating Plan B. Contingency Plan makes a great mixtape or album-before-the-album to get you prepared for the official release of Mallz’s first effort Plan B. It’s a direct chronological wave of an emcees progression from novice to lyrical titan. One of Mallz first recorded lyrical smackdowns includes “The Session pt. 5″ feat. Nemesis. And ends with an alternate version of “Rise” produced by The Harbinger. Contingency Plan culminates with “Masterpiece Theatre” and completes the emcee’s transition. Being that “Masterpiece Theatre” was once on Plan B, it provides the perfect liason. And guess what? It’s Free99! Features include Secret Society and The Audioholics. Witness Mallz growth from the past to the present! And remember, Hip-Hop is best played at its loudest volume possible!
Mallz - Contingency Plan
Starring Tamala Jones, Bokeem Woodbine, Angell Conwell, Lynn Whitfield, Clifton Powell and Chad L. Coleman. Codeblack has really come along as far as quality of films.
The story follows Tamala’s Tory Adams, who is the all-around mom, wife and talented-doctor as she suffers from a psychological addiction to power. She fixes the sick by day as Tory and by night she’s a call girl by the name of Candy whose roll is to fulfill the fantasies of rich men. As she realizes her addiction, she tries to overcome it and is pulled back into the cycle looking for that next fix, that next rush. Miles is a high-profile attorney (Bokeem Woodbine) who dotes over his wife and child (who you never see). Chad’s Darius is a client/victim/side effect of Tory’s obsession and develops a deep lustfilled hatred for Tory. Darius takes these emotions to new levels of stalking, breaking and entering, and escalates in classic criminal fashion.
At the same time, Tory’s friend Cathy Johnson (Angell Conwell) is a former abused-wife of Pinky–I mean, Chauncey (Clifton Powell).
Lynn Whitfield is Tory’s therapist who tries to help Tory overcome her addiction from sexual overpowerment by somewhat similar means. I enjoyed watching this film. There were some extreme moments of displeasure within the plot. Such as why did my future wife and bearer of my churn have to suck Chauncey off before she killed him? She didn’t have to suck Chauncey off at all. Might as well had her bite the man’s jewels off and spit ‘em in his face. It would’ve been just as horrific for me. I despise Lawrence Page for writing that scene into existence. Dr. Page’s seemingly lesbian tendencies for Tory. Stuff like that. But it was cool. Clifton Powell plays that pimp-smack-hoe-cuz-u-aint-nuttin’ roll to perfection.
Confessions is a sad story of addiction and entrapment and is legit. It’s a world that most times aren’t recognized in the mainstream. The acting is really good from established actors. Bookeem Woodbine and Chad L. Coleman show their range by playing roles opposite of those you’ve seen in their most visible films. Confessions is smooth and gruesome at times. And the gruesome points are the ones you weren’t expecting. That just shows that sometimes you have to go to extremes to get out of self-destructive situations. Believe me, you are not ready for how all of this ends. It’s worth you checking out and should be out on DVD very soon.
“One shall stand and one shall fall” — Optimus Prime
Transformers is the best movie I have seen so far this year. Better than the spider, the ogre, and the pirates. Transformers is either a benchmark in our lives or a rite-of-passage in our childhoods. Either way that leaves me with some bias for the film. You can tell in the theatre, it was actually quiet for once. The audience applauded when Optimus Prime’s Peterbilt cab showed for the first time. Fans of the cartoon and the original animated movie will be reciting lines they’ve reworked into this film as if it were for a pop quiz. Such as the line above appears in the animated movie and this one at particularly the same point the deathmatch between Megatron and Prime. I’ve only been a fan of the toys and Generation 1 and 2 cartoons. Anything subsequent didn’t hold up to par. Maybe Beast Wars, but that’s another story. Of course, hollywood will milk this cow until it sours and the ending of the movie definitely left the franchise open for multiple sequels. If you’ve been watching television or reading entertainment news websites, you’ve been noticing the media is talking up Shia LeBouf as that new superstar in the making. The man does his thing on screen.
I read somewhere that GI Joe was used as a basis for the Tyrese Gibson and Josh Duhamel’s characters in the film. I wouldn’t be surprised if in the near future a spin-off GI Joe film will be created with those exact characters. History repeats itself once again. Big ups to Bernie Mac and Anthony Anderson as well. Their rolls had limited lines, but their performance was definitely larger than their lines. I can think of only two other individuals who are as big of Transformers as I…If not bigger. Just Blaze and Conception. Go see the movie! If you’ve seen it. Let me know what you think.
Buy American vehicles people!
Here you are, TI vs. TIP. Perhaps, one of the most anticipated albums of the year (behind Saigon & Papoose). And THAT is where the magic ends. All of the swag in the world needs to culminate onto this album like a spirit bomb and infuse it with so much cool that it needs to overpower the sheer blandness that the circulating singles are radiating. Did TI deliver the swag? Hell to the naw! TI’s biggest and die hard core fanbase comes from his Trap Muzik & Urban Legend days. Was it because his material was fresh? Could be. But I listened to Trap Muzik again on the way to the plantation, and it was nuts. What the hell was I listening to here? It wasn’t even as good as King. And creatively, King wasn’t that good. We all know the leaked version was much better! Still you had to admire TI’s dedication. Was TI actually going to save hip-hop as so he claimed on the Just Blaze-produced “Help Is Coming”? Not with that track…
And it’s evident that his mind is not where Hip-Hop needs to be saved. Anybody who believes that Hip-Hop needs saving is not in sales. It’s in lyrical and creative content. TI once again focuses on how much he can ball on you. None of you will ever make more money than TI because he said so. Also beware what you say because he may hear it and then you’d end up in a compromising situation like Ludacris’ manager Chaka Zulu. The rest of the songs are just rehashes of songs you’ve heard before. What I don’t get is, TI’s superstar status gets him in with the elite but he doesn’t have to go there for collabs. Hov’s been dropping weakness since last year Rick Ross’ “Hustlin’” remix. Busta - why? Eminem - huh? Maybe there’s some chemistry there that I cannot see. Nelly was cool though. Where’s Big Kuntry King? Where’s Young Dro? Where’s ANYBODY from the south?
So as for right now, it seems that TI has peaked out with “What You Know”.
As a fan I have to always question if I’m not letting an artist grow by trying different approaches to music beyond from what they’ve done in the past. Hey I’m okay with changing just make sure that your new ish isn’t garbage. Perhaps not using a played concept would help as well. Since “Big Shit Poppin’”, loyal hip-hop, TI fans have groaned at the lackluster single. “You Know What It Is” only solidified that. Is that a hook on “Da Dopeman”? Did TI heed any of this? Who knows. TI usually takes 2 years between cds. I could’ve waited another year for a better product. Maybe then I would’ve believed that help was coming. The silver lining to the cd is some of the production and the reflective “My Type”. Probably the best and most real song on the entire cd. Keep that on repeat. Favorite tracks: “We Do This”, “Show It To Me” and “My Type”.
If you’re tired of snap music. Or songs that come with their own dances. Or just not trying to do the Heisman on that ho today listen to this head-nodding free mixtape by Cartel of Hoodgrown Records. Cartel produced the entire cd. He’s blogging the whole process of creating and bringing quality music to the masses starting from scratch. Prepare For Glory features artists Brix, Marc Dollarz, G-Kid, Gates, K. Sparks, East Side Hustlas, MA, Tommy Mula, Tina Quallo and the late Stack Bundles. The music is fire if you’re into that east coast, lyric-driven music. And most of us are. My favorites are “Ghetto Child”, “I Remember When”, “Real Talk” and “Certified Hoodstars”. But don’t let that detract you from the other tracks on there. They are just as good. MA even has a video for “What U R”. The future needs to watch out for Cartel. The man has talent and he’s going far. He already has Rawkus watching him. He’s offering Prepare For Glory as a free download on his site, Hoodgrown Records. Or you can download it here below.
Cartel - Prepare For Glory
