Back in the early-to-mid 90′s, West Coast hip-hop was getting a lot of love. Of course there was Dr. Dre and his seminal classic, “The Chronic”, but there were other artists building their brands and looking towards the future as well. DJ Quik and Snoop Dogg are a couple that come to mind. In the Bay Area, you had Digital Underground, Hammer, Too Short, Rappin’ 4 Tay and Spice-1 holding down the fort. While all of these artists have their own style respectively, not too many of them had a voice as distinct as the emcee whose given name is Earl Stevens. Professionally known as E-40, he has a slew of nicknames and the list continues to grow annually. 40 Water released his “Mr. Flamboyant” EP and “Federal” in 1991 and 1992 respectively, but in ’93 Charlie Hustle dropped “The Mail Man” EP. It would be his last release prior to partnering up with Jive Records, just as Too Short and Spice-1 did before him.

While many emcees both past and present are adamant about how their lyrics are one hundred percent true and are things they’ve done themselves, 40 is quick to point out that he is an entertainer in addition to being an emcee. In a statement that should probably accompany the lion’s share of today’s releases, 40 felt it was necessary to make this point on the introduction: “I’m not just no rapper…I’m a muthafuckin’ entertainer, and the shit I be speakin’ about on tape…is shit that I done heard or seen. If I was really out there doing that ol’ shoot-em-up shit, bang-bang shit…I’d be either dead or in jail somewhere. Po-po stations, player haters and E-40 imitators…y’all need to relax.”

Originally released as a six-track EP, two songs were added to the mix when Jive re-issued it the following year. After the intro, “The Mail Man” gets started with “Neva Broke” and “Bring The Yellow Tape.” The former stresses the point that as long as 40 is able to get his hands on a strap, he’ll never find himself going broke. The musically stripped-down crime story, “Yellow Tape” is a tale of retaliation and revenge with E-40 and his homeboy Herb being the victors.

A sample from The Coup’s “Not Yet Free” provides the title and half of the hook of “Practice Lookin’ Hard”. A quick visit to YouTube and you can see the video which actually features Boots Riley and a young 2Pac. The jazz-funk infused production is mellow and complimented nicely by 40′s verses, as he raps:

“I deep into my shit and it’s straight like that
I be quick to clobber a motherfucker with my Flintstones bat
Nobody likes me on my father’s side of the family
They can’t stand me cause they think that I’m sellin’ that candy
I kid you not, all bullshit to the side I got 20,000 niggas in my organization
Now which one of y’all niggas down to ride I gets juiced off the underground doja
You know that Click shit, that independent shit
It makes me feel like I want to
Got me a baggy full of broccoli and a Crooked Ides 22
I feel crafty, I’m mean muggin but I feel great”
E-40 – Practice Lookin’ Hard

“Where the Party At” features Kaveo, Young Mugzi and The Mossie. If you’ll pardon the pun, it makes for a solid party track. Towards the end, 40 spits a line that he would go on to reprise on a track from Spice-1′s “Amerikkka’s Nightmare” album, as he proclaimed “I got love for D-boyz, ’cause D-boyz got love for me.” The most popular song on this EP was undoubtedly “Captain Save A Hoe”, the term became quite popular and is still part of today’s vernacular. With guest features from his cousin B-Legit, his brother D-Shot and his sister Suga-T, the song can basically be credited to The Click. If the beat sounds familiar to some, it was sampled for UGK’s “Choppin Blades” on their 2001 “Dirty Money” album. All four ride the beat well, but 40 has the most verses on the track and offers this piece of advice to any women out there who want to be “saved”:

“Make that nigga take care your kids
Make that nigga call your kids his
Make that nigga get out there and work
Make his ass buy you a Dooney & Burke
It’s all part of that nigga take care of me
Pussy whipped nigga come save me
Batches out there be on the look out
For Captain Save A Hoe
Cuz he’s savin hoes”
E-40 feat. B-Legit, D-Shot & Suga T – Captain Save A Hoe

The title track is accented by nonstop hi-hats, 808 toms and sporadic trumpets as 40 gets revenge on the ones that killed his homie. It’s a classic case of kill or be killed. Boom, boom, boom, boom-boom on a trick indeed. When Jive reissued the album, they tacked on “Ballin Outta Control” (which was also included on 1998′s “The Element of Surprise”) and a remix of “Captain Save A Hoe.” The bassline was slightly altered and the lyrics were cleaned up.

Back when “The Mail Man” originally dropped, you were likely to hear someone riding around bumping the hell out of it in a Nissan Pathfinder, Volkswagen Jetta or even a Geo Tracker. It has that deep bass that begs to be played at high volume, preferably in a residential area. 40 Water’s tried and true fast-but-enunciated flow is all over this extended play, and while some may argue that his popularity has waned some, he’s still out here doing his thing. He most recently released two albums on the same day, “Revenue Retrievin: Day Shift” and “Revenue Retrievin: Night Shift.” Needless to say, 40′s been consistently dropping jewels for nearly twenty years. With releases like “The Mail Man” and others, E-40 Fonzarelli has earned the right to add another nickname to the list. Legend.

Music Vibes: 8 of 10 Lyric Vibes: 7 of 10 TOTAL Vibes: 7.5 of 10

Originally posted: July 20, 2010
source: www.RapReviews.com

Follow E-40 on Twitter: @e40

This past Thursday, NBA superstar LeBron James finally answered the question that media had been asking for years on end. James chose to leave the harsh winters of his home state of Ohio and the Cleveland Cavaliers organization for the blazing sun, Ferraris and tanned bodies of South Beach and the Miami Heat Basketball Club. For the longest, James said that his decision would largely be based on the best opportunity to win multiple championships, but what about hip-hop? All of the major regions that were interested in LeBron James all have their own hip hop culture and one can’t help but wonder how much of an influence it had on his decision. Let’s examine them.

Cleveland – Almost without any thought, hip-hop legends Bone Thugs-N-Harmony come to mind. They recently released their latest comeback album Uni5: The World’s Enemy, and it didn’t do too well on the charts. Outside of BTNH, the City of Cleveland’s biggest hip-hop stars are Kid Cudi, Ray Cash and the up & coming Chip Tha Ripper. Overall, the State of Ohio has a bubbling underground scene. Columbus-based emcee Debonair even released a tribute song called “LeBron James” which ended up getting a rather large amount of plays on YouTube.

New York/New Jersey – For a long time, the birthplace of hip-hop was considered a frontrunner in the bidding for James’ services, but just as the Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five song goes: “Everything in New York ain’t always what it seems.” Sure the Big Apple has the brightest lights and biggest stages, but perhaps the concrete jungle of the Empire State proved to be a bit more than what LBJ was looking for. With New Jersey, of course there’s LeBron’s strong friendship with Nets minority owner Jay-Z, but maybe James doesn’t get down with legends like Redman and the re-emerging Naughty By Nature or newcomers like Ian Wellz. Then again, perhaps it had something to do with the fact that the Nets only won 12 games this past season.

Chicago – The City of Wind, another city that at one time appeared to be in the running in the LeBron sweepstakes. As expected, Chicago’s biggest hip-hop asset is Kanye West (who just happened to be in attendance at LBJ’s press conference dubbed “The Decision”), but there are other attractive stars in the form of Lupe Fiasco and Common. Lesser known, but still quality acts include Rhymefest and Kidz in the Hall. With all of the talent in the town, one has to wonder why LBJ wouldn’t choose Chicago. Some sources have hinted at a certain person’s so-called legacy and shadow just being too much of a burden for the young star to handle. That certain person–R. Kelly.

Miami – With all due respect to the great E-40, Dade County has been doing its thing in a major way for the past few years. There’s one of the top heavyweights, aka the Teflon Don Rick Ross and also Plies, Trina, Pitbull, Trick Daddy and Brisco. No one (with maybe the exception of Lil Jon) is louder on the mic than Def Jam South head honcho DJ Khaled, and despite attempts by some to eradicate it, T-Pain, his iTunes app and Auto-Tune are still alive. Miami has an exciting underground scene to it as well with artists like Blood Type and SERUM spearheading the movement. It doesn’t hurt that artists from the aforementioned Chicago and New York often come TO Miami to party. People like Diddy and Fat Joe come to mind here.

Basketball aside, perhaps all the glitz and glam of Miami without the cold winters of the northern cities was the reason for the move LBJ made. Maybe it was the lack of a personal income tax that turned out to be the deciding factor. One thing that is for certain, hip-hop is a pretty big deal to LeBron James. He would always make appearances at the biggest shows in Cleveland (usually alongside Jay-Z, but others as well). With the move to Miami…the city is larger, the limelight is stronger and the stage is certainly bigger. Rappers have more than likely started writing their LeBron James punchlines already. Expect to hear an influx of references to the LBJ situation with lines that might mention bringing more heat than Wade, Bosh and James or being a king in Miami like LeBron and so forth.

Things should be quite interesting from here moving forward, but LeBron James craves this type of attention. We’ll have to wait and see what he does with it all.

While many Cavaliers fans feared that their on court leader would bolt for a larger market team (namely the long mentioned New York Knicks or the hated Chicago Bulls), they held on to the hope that since James had chosen such a large stage to make his announcement that he’d be staying in Northeast Ohio for many years to come. The City of Cleveland, long the butt of many jokes that stretch beyond its luck with its professional sports teams, had hoped that for once they would have a minor triumph in a rather lengthy string of disappointments.

Nope.

Instead, Northeastern Ohio sports fans added “The Decision” to the other letdowns in Cleveland sports history. The Drive. The Fumble. The Shot. The Move. All mark a time when Cleveland seemed to be on the cusp of achievement, only to have it all slip away in a painful-yet-familiar twist of fate.

Of course, James’ decision to head to the sunny beaches of Miami brought displeasure to suitors in New Jersey, Chicago and New York as well, but none of those compared to the sting felt by the Cleveland faithful. By the end of Thursday night, a large amount of people felt betrayed by Ohio’s native son. Soon afterward, jerseys and other LeBron James memorabilia burned  all through the streets of Cleveland and other surrounding areas. Police were called in and stood guard to protect the ten-story soon-to-be-taken down Nike billboard that hangs in Downtown Cleveland from any would-be vandals^[1].

Cleveland Cavaliers majority owner Dan Gilbert even fired off (in every sense of the word) an angry letter of his own ^[2], calling James’ actions “heartless and callous” and vowed to Cavaliers fans that the organization would win an NBA championship before James, who he referred to as the “self-named ‘King’.” Some have likened Gilbert’s letter to the rantings of an ex-girlfriend scorned, while others share his sentiment wholeheartedly.

In the court of public opinion, the days following “The Decision” have been filled with various takes on the matter. Some are over it already, some say he has a right to do whatever it is that he wants to for himself and his family. Others are saying that he is in a way kowtowing to the fact that he can’t lead a team to a championship on his own, regardless of the talent surrounding him.

Online merchants have already started selling shirts that read “Quitness”, a far cry from the original “Witness” campaign. Dan Gilbert also owns the life size poster company, Fathead and currently all things James-related have been reduced to a price of $17.41 ^[3]. The significance of the number is that 1741 is the year that Benedict Arnold was born. Needless to say, Gilbert is upset.

There are many who think Wade, Bosh and James were in collusion even before the start of the free agency period, duping all the other teams in the process. In Cleveland, while understandably upset by “The Decision”,  the bigger gripe is how it all played out. By all accounts, a self serving hour and fifteen minutes of rhetoric on national television, accented by what some call a slap in the face and a knife in the back to the Cleveland sports faithful. By not offering any in-depth reasoning for his decision, some may say that James didn’t even wipe the blood from the knife.

Although left for dead, the City of Cleveland is still alive and will make it past this most recent blow to its economy and morale. They always do. Even while the man himself doesn’t agree,  Art Modell ^[4] may no longer be the most despised man in Cleveland. The new holder of that title just made a break for Miami.

References:

^[1] @brucedouglas. (July 8, 2010). brucedouglas | TweetPhoto. In TweetPhoto.com. Retrieved July 9, 2010, from http://tweetphoto.com/31574881.

^[2] Gilbert, D. (July 8, 2010). Cavaliers: Open Letter To Fans from Majority Owner Dan Gilbert. In NBA.com. Retrieved July 9, 2010,from http://www.nba.com/cavaliers/news/gilbert_letter_100708.html.

^[3] undefined. (n.d.). LeBron James – Fathead Search Results. In Fathead.com. Retrieved July 9, 2010, from http://www.fathead.com/search-results/lebron-james/.

^[4] Associated Press Sports Staff. (July 9, 2010). Art Modell expects to keep ‘most hated in Cleveland’ title from LeBron James. In Cleveland.com. Retrieved July 9, 2010, from http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/index.ssf/2010/07/art_modell_expects_to_keep_mos.html.

Nerds the world over have always waited in long lines and camped out to get their hands on the latest products such as the Xbox 360, the iPhone and the recently released iPad. Who says that self proclaimed Fat Boys (like myself) and foodies won’t do the same for the latest in culinary delights?

Okay, perhaps that was a bit much, but as it pertains to fast food, there hasn’t been a sandwich er, uh food item with as much buzz as KFC’s new Double Down in quite a long time. Just a simple search on the internet will bring up pictures and reviews of the new product that has been the topic of much discussion lately.  The majority of the chatter pertains to how unhealthy the sandwich is, but in fact it has less calories and grams of fat than Burger King’s beloved Whopper.

Consisting of two pieces of bacon, two melted slices of Monterey Jack and pepper jack cheese and “Colonel’s Sauce”, the concoction looks like something you would find on the This Is Why You’re Fat website [1] . In fact there is a picture of the sandwich posted there [2] , but  honestly it pales in comparison to some of the other creations found on that site.

Some of the early reviews I’ve seen have touched on the high sodium content and I did taste a bit of the salt, so I can see how that would be a concern for many. Another point that has been made by many is that the sandwich is too hot to handle, but it comes in a wrapper which cautions the would-be consumer about the temperature.  A common sense solution would be to either be careful or allow the sandwich to cool down some before trying to eat it. In my case, I was moving around and trying to get things set up to take the unboxing photos, so by the time I got started, the sandwich had cooled off just a tad.

I was actually hungry when I decided to try this new KFC Double Down, so I took two big bites from the onset. To me, the salty taste was actually overpowered by the cheese and sauce, but it was still certainly there. I set the sandwich down and snapped a few more pictures, trying to make sure I captured as many details as I could. Before I knew it, I had eaten just about all of the sandwich. I sat that last bite down, took a photo of it and sent it on its way into my digestive system.

My initial reaction was that the sandwich wasn’t nearly as large as the promotional photos would want you to believe. A more legitimate concern would have to be the sodium content. I wouldn’t recommend it for everyday eating, but it’s okay to try just to quell a curiosity. If you are a fan of KFC boneless chicken, then you may like the Double Down. If you are against this sandwich and all that it stands for and you wish that its creators were never born…don’t eat it.

[1] http://thisiswhyyourefat.com/

[2] http://thisiswhyyourefat.com/post/167525939/kfc-double-down-sandwich-two-pieces-of-bacon-and

Photos by Emanuel Wallace for Eva Noslen Photography

It appears that the city of Columbus is starting to attract nationally known hip-hop artists with more frequency. In the last quarter of 2009, acts like Jay-Z, Ghostface Killah, Raekwon and Talib Kweli all rocked mics in grand fashion. Within the last month, artists like Chip Tha Ripper, Mickey Factz, Wiz Khalifa and Prince Paul have all made stops in the Capital City. Nowadays, instead of wondering if any big acts will ever roll into town at all, lovers of hip-hop are constantly asking “who’s next?” and mark their calendars accordingly.

On March 5th, with Columbus’ Bar of Modern Art (BoMA) playing host, Jay Electronica made his way into the city, and just like the waters that once flooded the streets of his native New Orleans, he wanted to make sure that everyone in attendance felt his flow. Opening acts for the night included Kim Joyce, Wali “Mr. Nice Guy” Crowder, J. Osceola, L.e, Debonair and The 3rd

As the crowd continued to file in, acts like the Detroit native Kim Joyce and Columbus’ own Mr. Nice Guy treated the audience to healthy doses of R&B and spoken word poetry, respectively. Emerging from the shadows as the Alan Parsons Project’s “Sirius” [the Chicago Bulls player introduction theme] played, J. Osceola and Team Osceola were the first to get a rise out of the crowd.

L.e performed a handful of songs, including the popular A.U.-produced “Polo On My Body” before relinquishing the stage to Debonair. The “Lebron James” rapper brought a few ladies on the stage with him and his video was projected on the screen for all to see. The 3rd closed out the opening acts and as always, they put together an exceptional set which included “The World” and their popular tune, “Escalade” and guest appearances from Truck North and L.e.

After a few brief announcements and an introduction from J. Rawls, the headliner Jay Electronica made his way to the stage. With a cup of Jack Daniels in his hand. Jay Elect spoke to the crowd about the significance of keeping the name of the late J. Dilla alive and proceeded to share his fifth of Jack Daniels with the crowd.

The New Orleans-born emcee that has lived everywhere from Detroit to Philadelphia to Atlanta to Baltimore performed crowd favorites such as “Exhibit A”, “Dimethyltriptamine”, “My World” [his tribute to Nas], “Eternal Sunshine” and “Bitches & Drugs” among others. The leather aviator cap-wearing emcee also found the time to go off course and lead the crowd in an impromptu singing of the late Rick James classic, “Give It To Me Baby”. For what it’s worth, Electronica seemed to be quite at home as a member of the audience presented him with a bottle of Corona and he referred to them as his “family”.

Without a doubt, the highlight of the night came when Jay Elect went into his insanely popular, Just Blaze-produced, “Exhibit C”. After one highly energized performance, the nomadic rhyme-spitter opted to take the music to the people in the crowd for yet two more spins, for a grand total of three. Each time around Electronica seemed to feed off of the crowd’s energy.

As the concertgoers departed, Jay stayed around, talking with people and posing for photos with anyone who wanted one. For an artist who has been referred to as “more like a myth or urban legend than an actual rapper”, he certainly appears to have the talent, substance and charisma to match and in some cases exceed the hype.

As most of the world is aware of by now, the country of Haiti was the victim of a 7.0 magnitude earthquake back on January 12, 2010. Aid seemed to flood in from all points of the world, as many organizations raised (and continue to raise) funds by way of both new-age methods like donations-by-text and old-school tried and true methods like telethons. Other groups chose to put on charity auctions and benefit concerts,

Here in Columbus, the first “Hope 4 Haiti” benefit concert was held on January 22, 2010 at the King Arts Center. The show was a great success and the monies raised have been utilized in the best manner possible by the American Red Cross.

On Friday, February 26, 2010, another benefit concert was held. This time, the show was dubbed “614 Haiti” and Columbus’ Bar of Modern Art (BoMA) was the venue for the evening. With hosting duties in the hands of Ro Tha Realest, Dommy Styles, Te’Mo and Jayonna Fabro, the audience was treated to a wider spectrum of hip-hop from artists like The 3rd, Searius Add and J. Osceola.

The show opened on a softer note, with songstress Tia Stewart as she belted out her renditions of certified classics like “Killing Me Softly”, “Right Here” and the late Michael Jackson’s “Human Nature” before going into some of her original material. Nes Wordz & Philly P and Joe Dawg Brother followed with exceptional sets as well.

Major Money Moves took to the stage for a set that included their popular “Set The City On Fire”. Ty Wills & 211 Click graced the stage for a lengthy set before making way for J. Osceola & Team Osceola. A few artists from StreetKor Entertainment went through a set before Searius Add & Sinatra performed a handful of their popular songs, including “Wut Dey Know”.

Performances from One Hood and Kim Joyce, who came to the show with her own backup singers, set up the last performance of the night from The 3rd. Decked out in Fresco Goods and full of energy despite being the final act of the night, the crew went through several songs from their recently released “1979″ album including “The World”.

Aside from a few audio mishaps, the event went off without a hitch. Many good people came together for a noble cause, and while the venue wasn’t filled to the rafters (more than likely because of the heavy snowfall that blanketed the city out of nowhere that night), more than enough people showed up hoping to make some sort of difference and have a good time in the process of doing it. Mission accomplished.

Source: Examiner.com

Here are snippets of my contributions to RapReviews.com for the month of February. Feel free to visit the site or subscribe to the newsfeed.

Chris Young the Rapper :: 619 (Mixtape) :: Bananabeat Records
as reviewed by Emanuel Wallace

“The line between mixtapes and albums has gradually blurred over the past few years. Once a promotional item that could only be found on street corners and in barbershops, the mixtape is now a worldwide phenomenon with tons of mixtapes proliferating what many would call an supersaturated hip-hop landscape. Some mixtapes can even purchased at both major online retailers and brick-and-mortar stores. A lot has changed in the past five years or so. With so many artists clamoring for time in the limelight, it puts pressure on folks to have the wittiest rhymes, the hottest beats and top-notch marketing teams at their disposal.Enter Chris Young the Rapper. He was actually introduced to RapReviews readers as YoungOne back in 2005 with his album, “Let Me Live”. The reviewer of that release was quite impressed by the then sixteen year-old emcee’s scope of subject matter and how he utilized his voice. “

http://www.rapreviews.com/archive/2010_02_619mixtape.html

ScholarMan :: Free Spirit of a Troubled Soul :: Soganic Music
as reviewed by Emanuel Wallace

“Although he is known for socially consious and soulful music, Maryland-based artist and producer, ScholarMan, refuses to be boxed in a specific sub-genre of hip-hop. His message and lyrical style has conjured up comparison to the likes of Common, Masta Ace and Chuck D, while his production has been compared to that of Hi-Tek, DJ Premier and the late J Dilla. Pretty good company there, but instead of resting his hat on those laurels, ScholarMan is intent on getting better. Considering himself a student of hip-hop and an advocate of the culture, this emcee shares his beliefs and views through his music. After several local releases, his first international album, “Candy Medicine”, was released in 2007. Due to the response by the fans of that release, SM now religiously drops an album annually. In 2008, he released “Soul Purpose” and 2009 saw “GameShift: The Movement”. This time around the Soganic Music revolutionary is exploring the “Free Spirit of a Troubled Soul”  “

http://www.rapreviews.com/archive/2010_02_freespiritof.html

Nickodemus :: Sun People Remixed :: ESL Music
as reviewed by Emanuel Wallace

“As if I needed another reminder that the summer months are long gone, I looked out my window as the snow from the second blizzard in as many weeks blankets the ground. It’s getting ugly. Luckily, Brooklyn’s own DJ Nickodemus is back with a remix album of his “Sun People” album that promises to “heat up your sound system”, per the press release. The original “Sun People” release was built around the concept of making songs for “people that love the sun, sunshine and brighter days to come”. The press kit goes on to say that the original songs were inspired by “people that Nickodemus has met and places he’s been, along with his collective feelings of optimism”.  “

http://www.rapreviews.com/archive/2010_02_sunpeopleremixed.html

DJ KaySlay :: More Than Just a DJ :: Koch/E1 Music
as reviewed by Emanuel Wallace

“Just like his prior releases, KaySlay shows how much clout he has in the industry by pairing the hottest artists in hip-hop with the dopest producers. This time around, the Drama King enlists the services of artists like Tony Yayo, Papoose, Lloyd Banks, Jim Jones, Yo Gotti, Bun-B, Twista, Cam’ron, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Joell Ortiz, Sheek Louch, Styles P, Rick Ross and many others. The production is handed by The Dream Team, The Alchemist, Ty Fyffe, Amadeus, Street Radio, Arab Music, Tie Stick, GQ Beats, Green Lantern, E-Dubb (not me, btw), and Money Always.”

http://www.rapreviews.com/archive/2010_02_morethanjustadj.html

Here are snippets of my RapReviews write ups from the month of January (and one from December) and links to the articles in their entirety.

December:

James Jr. :: Intent 2 Distribute :: Spin Move Records
as reviewed by Emanuel Wallace

“According to the press kit, James Jr. was raised in a few locations that range from Tacoma to Richmond, Virginia to Clarksdale, Mississippi to Memphis, Tennessee. He was an excellent student in school and even graduated with honors. While he was pursing audio engineering, he came down with a severe case of pneumonia which caused him to leave school and battle the illness for two years. He wound up moving to Florida to make a name for himself. As fate would have it, James Jr. met his would-be future producing partner, Scott Coslett during a vacation in California, and through that association, he would land a deal with Spin Move Records. The culmination of all of the moves and turmoil in James Jr’s life was the release of his debut album, “Intent 2 Distribute”, which was released this past summer.”

Link: http://www.rapreviews.com/archive/2009_12_intent2distribute.html

January:

various artists :: Soca Gold 2009 :: VP Records
as reviewed by Emanuel Wallace

“First off, I’d like to offer an apology to the good folks over at VP Records for getting to this compilation so late. I’ve had it in my possession for a good while, but somehow it got pushed to the backburner’s backburner. I realized this about a month ago and decided that when it got cold enough outside, I’d do a write up in hopes that it would bring a bit of warmth to our readers in locations that are brick cold right about now. On a whole, I’m not overly familiar with the soca genre, but I’ve listened to it from time to time. The term “soca” is a shortened form of the term “soul calypso”, which is a form of music that originates in Trinidad and Tobago. In my search for more information, I ended up at the Holy Grail for all things that COULD be true…Wikipedia. I took a look at the section that listed some of the genre’s notable artists and many of them have songs featured on the 2009 edition of “Soca Gold”.”

Link: http://rapreviews.com/archive/2010_01_socagoldcomp.html

Baron Von Alias + Arhat :: GMT+1-Timezones & Loopholes :: BurnBlock Records
as reviewed by Emanuel Wallace

“This time around, Alias aligns himself with his long-time partner in crime, Arhat. The last collaborative effort between these two, “The 13th Hour”, was released in 2007. Keeping with the time element, this release is called “GMT+1-Timezones & Loopholes”. For awhile, GMT was more like WTF to me. I’d see it when registering for a forum or something, but rarely gave a thought to what it actually stood for. As time went on, I just applied my now memorized setting of GMT-5 and kept it moving. Officially, GMT stands for Greenwich Mean Time and is the basis of world time. Baron and many of the guest emcees on the album hail from Newcastle which is in GMT+0. So why name the project “GMT+1″? Well, Arhat is from the Netherlands which is in the GMT+1 zone, but I think the bigger idea was to live in the future.”

Link: http://www.rapreviews.com/archive/2010_01_gmtplusone.html

I also wrote “Back To The Lab” reviews of Boss and Busta Rhymes that have already been posted on here, but I’ll put the links below anyway.

Boss :: Born Gangstaz :: Def Jam West
** RapReviews “Back to the Lab” series **
as reviewed by Emanuel Wallace

“For the record…she doesn’t give a fuck, not a single fuck, not a single solitary fuck. This is the mantra in play for the entirety of the 1993 debut release from Boss, “Born Gangstaz”. For what it’s worth, Boss was actually a duo consisting of Lichelle “Boss” Laws and her DJ partner Irene “Dee” Moore, but much like the currently re-emerging Sade, the group took the name of the premier artist. The story of Boss (the group) is filled with valleys and peaks, and are only slightly eclipsed by the story of Boss (the individual). As a group, trying to secure a deal took Lichelle and Dee from their native Detroit, to New York, back to the D and off to California. “

Links:

http://www.mannywallace.com/2010/01/boss-born-gangstaz/

Busta Rhymes :: E.L.E. (Extinction Level Event) :: Flipmode Records/Elektra Records
** RapReviews “Back to the Lab” series **
as reviewed by Emanuel Wallace

“Remember Y2K? I think most of our readers are old enough to recall the frenzy that most of the world was in at that time. The entire planet seemed to be up in arms about an impending doom that so many had predicted would come down on the world. There were tons of films and television shows that raked in tons of earnings by playing the “world’s gonna end” card, but in the world of music, no one did it better than Busta Rhymes. This may be due to the fact that he had a bit of a head start on everyone else. His solo debut “The Coming” was released in 1996. He then followed with “When Disaster Strikes” in 1997. By the time 1998 began to wind down, the rest of the world had hopped on the train to inevitable demise. “

Links:
http://www.rapreviews.com/archive/BTTL_extinctionlevelevent.html

That’s about all for now. Remember to check out RapReviews.com every Tuesday for the latest  in mainstream, indie and underground hip-hop reviews. To get a daily hip-hop fix you can subscribe to the RapReviews news feed here [link] or follow me on Twitter @MannyWallace [link] and get updates sent directly to your Twitter stream!