Mac Dre’s opening gambit is “It’s getting hot up in here, baby.. uhhh, you need to take off all your clothes” through the cipher of one of his countless cartoon personas; though confusingly there is no real clue given as to which character that is. Mac Mall issues a string of word plays and double entendres covering the topics of nuclear weapons, soup coolers, psychiatry, long haul flights and Jamaica. The song rolls on gently, sounding a lot like a sample flip of a Mexican soap opera theme tune that’s been embelished with auditory nerve tingling, trade mark thizzle keyboard sounds and rimshot. The subject matter- felatio and firearms- is an unlikely combination which only adds to the ‘WTF? ‘ effect of the song with its confusing intro and bizzare synth squeals. Heat and Heat is a perfect demonstration of both the bay area’s psychedelic ‘thizz’ sound and Mac Dre’s standing as one of the most comedic rappers ever.

Eazy-E verse , EPMD verses , 9th wonder beat. Three good reasons to be bumping this blend. The rhymes might sound a bit ‘motivational’. The hook “being a gangsta is so sweet” is probably not the most rugged of EMPD’s output (infact it sounds like something a 12 year might have said circa ’96), but shit! those three on an epic sounding chilled 9th wonder instrumental. That’s a recipe for …. well, its a good recipe.

Skewed cloudy easy listening rap and r’n’b mix.

It’s unlikely anyone will ever manage to rhyme about slaughtering crack hookers and spilling a ‘nightmare thiller’ volume of blood whilst sounding as laidback and languid as this. Not even his highness, Slick Rick was as nonchalant about senseless violence. Schoolly D gives the impression he’d probably go and waste everyone in your house -pets included- and maybe even the neighbours, if he thought it might just be a bit of a laugh and on the proviso he could smoke enough PCP to gather the will to stop cruising and step out of his Mercedes. This ’93 track foreshadows all of today’s spacey cloud rap and producers like Clams Casino by way over a decade. Slow as molasses hissing cymbals, insanely deep hypnotic synths and grand canyon drums. The subject matter is all kinds of wrong, but this is some un-matched space age funk.

A lot of people didn’t ‘get’ Company Flow. Their album Funcrusher Plus’ title was a clear statement of their modus operandi: fuckin’ up the fun. This alienated a lot of listeners. Co’ Flow’s ‘sci-fi’ legacy is still becoming apparent in 2012 with the best of indie rappers like Danny Brown, Mr. Muthafuckinexquire and Das Racist messing with El-P beats and verses on their tracks. This one is sparse and at the same time psychedelic. Company Flow managed a style that was hard as hell and funky when a lot of fellow New Yorker’s boom baps had the dark sound but lacked any real ‘head nodding’ swing. Nice rhymes too;.they were some well read, angry, righteous dudes.

There’s probably a lot of unfavourable comparisons made between Mac Miller and Eminem. Other than a chinstrap and a knack for wearing hoodies that clash worse than a gin hang-over (see video); what Mac Miller has is more experimental beats than Eminem. Not so much vocal dexterity here but a crude drawling bounce that lands on groove and delivers dry punchlines. The sea-sick, surf guitar licks, though, are what makes the track a stand out.

We just lost one of the great American artists. Gil Scott’s music is timeless and, sadly, his views seem to only get more relevant. So much joy and pain in his music. This video really captures that physical and emotional landscape. I really hope his final resting is more peaceful than his life here

The Eminem vs Benzino beef boiled from 2002 to 2005. Benzino started it off with “I Don’t Wanna,” and it spiraled into a series of responses and counter responses that included “Pull Your Skirt Up,” “Look Into My Eyes,” “Die Another Day,” and a bunch more from Benzino; and “Bully,” “Nail in the Coffin,” “Like Toy Soliders,” and this song from Eminem, which I think is the best of the bunch. I can only assume that Benzino thought a beef with Eminem would boost his profile. It doesn’t seem like a good to start shit with one of the best battlers ever, and the threats of violence in Benzino’s songs don’t seem legal, let alone advised.

Most of Benzino’s problem seems to be that Eminem is taking attention away from minority rappers. While I understand that, Benzino — co-ownerr of Source Magazine for some time — wasn’t exactly a minor player. And most people in rap respected Eminem for his skills. I do think it’s interesting that there hasn’t really been another big white rapper since Eminem. Any thoughts on why? Who do you think won this?

Eminem: The Sauce (Benzino Diss)

MF Doom, Cee Lo, Danger Mouse… the track’s as good as you expect. Doom remains one of the best rappers in the game –  the rhymes start masterful on this and stay that way. Danger Mouse does it up right with the creeping bass, snares, and piano hits. And Cee Lo croonin on it. Not relevant to this track exactly, but I can’t pass  up this opportunity to mention that I think Cee Lo is one of the best rappers ever and I wish he’d go back to rapping. First time I heard this, Kid Cut Up played it at B-Side. If you like rap music at all, you owe it to yourself to check out his new mixes.

DANGERDOOM: Benzie Box

This is the intro to Donnis’ 2009 mixtape Diary of an ATL Brave. The mix has a few hot tracks, but I love the production and rhymes on this. Signed to Atlantic in 2010, it’ll be interested to see where Donnis’ career goes. On one hand he came up in Atlanta, opened for guys like T.I. and a more recent mixtape was hosted by Clinton Sparks; on the other, Donnis toured with Bruno Mars in 2k10 and makes a reference at the beginning of this 2k9 track to being annoyed at hipster labels.

Donnis: Beginnings