bigted

Yeah there hasn't been this much excitement on the boards since "Lost & Found" came out, I feel 6 years younger just finding out this great news, lol!

I dig this Game track he did with the old school legends, there should be a remix where Will adds a verse to it, I could picture Fresh Prince lacing this track:

I wouldn't mind hearing a Will/Game track, Game's one of the few mainstream rappers in recent years that I like, he turned out to be one of the realest out there, I wasn't really a fan when he first came out but after he ripped 50 apart on diss tracks and his post G-Unit stuff has been really good I'm now a believer, especially that "LAX" album and the last few mixtapes he's released like "The Red Room", "Brake Lights" and "Purp & Patron", he even shouted Will out along with a bunch of old school rappers on his 2008 single "Game's Pain", he seems to be a student of hip hop history

To sum up how I feel true heads been waiting for a classic album, Will needs to do this one right, especially since it's gonna be his 10th...

Yeah it's exciting that Will's gonna do another album but he's gotta keep them damn gimmick rappers out of it, it's been 6 years since we heard him on a track so there should be few guests on it, unless it's the true artists like I've stated many times already, the only producers I'd want to see besides Jazzy Jeff would be those like Teddy Riley and DJ Premier, and the only rappers on there should be those like LL Cool J and Nas, and the true singers like R. Kelly and Keith Sweat...

I read this on the XXL newsletter I get sent to my email box, this is the best news I've heard in a LONG time, it's time to show all these other rappers who really got the throne in hip hop once again, and like Tim said we better get Jazzy Jeff on there...

It's amazing that Chuck D's 51 years old now but he's still got the energy and hunger that a 21 year old just getting a record deal should have: http://www.publicenemy.com/index.php?page=page3 NOTICE; Chuck D Interview With Tim Einenkel of www.HipHopGods.com and www.RAPstation.com August 01, 2011 TIM EINENKEL: Let’s get right into it. Your latest single/video “NOTICE Know This"…what was the inspiration behind it? Much of the sampling you’ve used throughout your career has been to pay homage to the artists/people who’ve paved the way for you rather than sampling for the sake of sampling. On “NOTICE Know This,” did you choose to sample Otis Redding in response to Kanye and Jay-Z’s “Otis”, where they appear to sample in order just to make a hot beat? CHUCK D: A few things inspired me here Tim. First, my (and also Professor Griff's) 51st birthday. Second, I was inspired by the possible combo of Jay-Z and Kanye West and their use of Otis Redding was great work musically to me and the idea caught my fancy although I was taken a bit aback and thought that the song lyrics didn’t really match the heart of Otis on Try a Little Tenderness. The advantage is that WARNER owns the masters to that STAX/VOLT material from 1961-1968, so you have businessmen that will easily clear access to who they do business with. The average artist will never be able to afford to rhyme on it and it seems uncanny that a handful of lawyers, accountants, and elite execs have control over those classics. We come from the art of mastering samples, and pause tapes…it's so easy to rock one better than the other, so we really can't take credit for what these legends produced, can we? But Jay-Z and Kanye are giants and kings of this thing called RAP and I'm betting that they lead rather than follow, because out-swagging is for kids in the 8th grade…especially in these times. Those guys are a combined 70 plus years and that equals enough wisdom for real people to follow instead of old trickle down tricks... Third, all of this in the shadow of hip hop media ringing the false alarm on Souljah Boy purchasing a $55 million jet....?? Such a stupid put out there rumor in this light. It was no knock on Souljah Boy because that's his fantasy thing....but I attack the laziness of music gossip laden, blogged down, hip hop media where a rumor gets the front page and the truth barely gets a visit. Lastly, this truth was inspired by our 77th tour and visits to Brazil and Chile where the Hip Hop Nations are laden in revolutionary spirit and change. I came back to America and felt addressing this ni-gravity was necessary. TIM EINENKEL: What’s the secret? CHUCK D: The secret is simply traveling the planet for 25 years to 77 countries. For this we have always been able to march to the beat of our own funky drummer so to speak and not be a victim of mere American regional, short minded, mainstreamed opinion, which comes and goes. Our model is consistency in an inconsistent country and thus artform. TIM EINENKEL: How has P.E. stayed together for almost 30 years? Has it be tough to find inspiration to write your music over this long period? CHUCK D: The World is rich with People, Places and Things in that order. EVERY PERSON HAS A STORY. It pays to listen to the planet. Also the past 100 years of recorded music is a tremendous resource for music and lyrical ideas which probably have been heard and seen before… TIM EINENKEL: The source of rap’s creativeness came from social, economic and racial inequalities. Rap is considered the “voice for the voiceless.” During the period you started rapping, it is easy to say where you got your inspiration came from but now rap has become so successful it is hard to tell what’s fantasy and what’s reality. Has rap benefited from it’s own success? CHUCK D: Well let's put it to you this way like I said, I just came from Chile where the Hip Hop Nation there is far removed from USA reality or fantasy. The Hip Hop Nation marched 800,000 people in the streets to protest to the government, bad educational practices. Movements are in step with hip hop or I should say vice versa south of the equator with South America, Africa, Australia and Asia moving closer to Europe and North America in value and productivity. When you say RAP has become so successful are you relating it from?? Jimmy Iovine, Russell and Lyor Cohen or Clive Davis vantage point? Or the total 35 year old Hip Hop Nation which is suddenly affected by large patches of its constituency facing aging with little or no covered healthcare. Flossing is a fantasy. But real hip hop has the ability to reflect reality and dictate a way out of it with forward mindedness. TIM EINENKEL: Is the album a dying form? Seems today, rappers are only concerned with a hot single. CHUCK D: First of all no art has been affected by technology as much as music. It has rode neck and neck with it for a 100 years since the piano sheets. History shouldn't be a mystery especially when its documented so well. As music cats it behooves us to know key facts and dates of significant tech milestones. The album was introduced as a long playing piece of plastic by Columbia in the late 40s, the grooves were micro, thus more songs could be sold. This was great for jazz heads in the 50s and 60s with long sessions. The 45 dominated with R&B at that time as with the giant of Rock and Roll. Radio and retail thrived off the single until 67 with Rock and about 1970 with Soul. The 45 and later 12 inch extended single was the hub of Soul then Disco then RAP. The 80s brought on the vinyl to cassette to CD phase so that major companies could SELL a RAP album. The deals with the CD and retail were stupendous for all of them. Plus there was a demand for more RAP music in the 80s and 90s so it became a album market by default. The internet and the ability for many to create, and distribute songs has returned this to a singles marketplace. The immediacy to spin a topic on a dime and release has again brought the technological relationship into play. Although we will deliver a committed album for our base the fact is that we do one song at a time, truly reflecting what I called RAP in the 80s HipHops C-N-N. TIM EINENKEL: Which album are you most proud of? CHUCK D: Albums are like children you don’t pick them like that. Each of them have presented incredible experiences I would say MUSE SICK N HOUR MESS AGE was very special in its National and International contrast as well as its predictions about the music and record business we are at today, and THERES A POISON GOIN ON - a very BOLD step in to the internet in 1999. TIM EINENKEL: If you stopped rapping today, which song would you want to be known for? Why? CHUCK D: Personally Welcome To The Terrordome, group-wise Fight The Power but in these increasingly Whippings Of Mass Distraction ages…it looks like Don't Believe The Hype is as relevant as ever... TIM EINENKEL: Do you feel the artists who’ve paved the way for these new cats deserve residuals? CHUCK D: Of course but in the areas of increased opportunity diversification, not a money handout. Too bad the record business is just a sham of a shell, because for years I suggested that they use veteran acts to develop their departments who signed young new acts. Similar to coaches in sports, whereas a older head put the younger ones through a training rites of passage. In years past the road was the natural passage, the vet acts headlined and the new ones opened. We had Doug E Fresh and Whodini as our immediate teachers. I had to get anointed through cats like Melle Mel and Kool Moe Dee to get passed. Greed of the industry wiped out this eco-system whereas even 2 weeks ago in Brazil I interviewed Redman and Method Man who took note on the fact that there were so many unproven cats getting first class privilege before they had an album or really moved a consistent crowd. This is why my partner Gary G-Wiz and I started www.HIPHOPGODS.com - it's where CLASSIC RAP lives on in its own right, 15 ears eligibility makes it like the senior circuit in golf. You don't see Jack Nicklaus or Arnold Palmer play these new cats, they keep in their lane. RAP speaking CLASSIC artists are still cutting great music, shooting videos as well as involving and corralling their fan bases in digital social networks now. We wanted to create an internetwork that supports this world and along with RAPstation and SHEmovement (For SISTERS in HIPHOP EVERYWHERE) - the internetwork is gaining great attention as a necessary service. TIM EINENKEL: Is rap a dying art form? Is Hip-Hop a dying culture in America? CHUCK D: RAP as an art form is a vocal on top of musics we've defined already, it's not going anywhere. It's requirements for high art are vocabulary and elocution. Natural things like voice and character figure as well, either you got that or you don't. Superrappers are being developed in other lands, cats that can spit and braid languages with equal aplomb. This cant be achieved lazily. Moving a world crowd requires the effort of making it high art. What Busta Rhymes just did on Chris Brown's record was stunning. Not easy. The world has caught up in RAP and has surpassed the USA because the styles, applications and topics are too similar and comfortable from a mainstream vantage point. The underground currents remain largely ignored and most new approaches follow just what they hear on the radio or music TV. The culture fundamentals have been followed and trained HIP HOP and RAP across the planet thus its participants have excelled and their fan bases moved with necessary excitement to support itself. TIM EINENKEL: Thank you for taking the time Chuck. CHUCK D: Thanks Tim. I can be heard on RAPstation.com on the AndYouDontStop! radio show which is like an NPR, magazine approach for HIPHOP and RAP. It's played on 99.5 WBAI in New York City 75% of the year on Friday night's between 8p-10p. Also my SONGS THAT MEAN SOMETHING segment can be found on RAPstation as well....I play GLOCAL music taking local artists globally and global acts locally LIVE in NYC. - Tim Einenkel for HIPHOPGODS & RAPstation.com

Some 2011 songs I like: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EnfRO52dhI

My favorite song by Shaq who retired from the NBA this summer, he should rap again:

Here's some of that classic '90s hip hop/r&b I've been bumpin:

As far as commercial hip hop is concerned I check for mcs like Game, Wale, and B.O.B., Game dropped another hot mixtape called "Hoodmorning: Candy Caronas", I'm looking forward to the "R.E.D. Album": http://www.livemixtapes.com/player.php?album_id=14333 Like AJ I've been listening to a lot of '90s CDs lately like LL Cool J's "Mr. Smith", Tribe Called Quest's "Low End Theory", MC Hammer "Too Legit To Quit", KRS-ONE's "Return Of The Boom bap" and of course JJFP's "Code Red" Until recently I didn't know that my favorite mc besides FP and LL KRS-ONE put out a new album but he did which is called "Godsville" with Showbiz and I'm getting that in the mail soon from CDUniverse.com, I heard a lot of these tracks off of youtube and I'm really feeling "Improve Myself": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BczYM8jJkGA

Chuck D is the most powerful voice in hip hop and I'm feeling what he's saying here, Jay-Z and Kanye may be popular but you just can't believe the hype

Tyrese "How You Gonna Act Like That?"

Happy Birthday Michael!

great article, it's nothing but real talk, a lot of these young punks like Drake and Lil' Wayne will never get to the respect level that Chuck D and Ice Cube are at, thank god for forums like this that appreciate, i've been working a lot lately but i want to commit more time to make more posts here again, i know it's sad how all these kids who pose as gangsta wannabes make up such a large audience that buys music these days, what they post on hip hop blogs is disgusting, i really believe in my heart that if all the real heads out there support all the good music again that there will be more balance to the game than there is right now but until then like Nas says "Hip Hop is dead", at least on a mainstream level...

hey i didn't forget, enjoy your birthday silver tiger!

"Chosen One" is a great song but it definately woulda sounded better if Jazzy produced it and had Rakim do a verse to it as well 'cause it got that super lyrical vibe to it, "Lost and Found" displays Fresh Prince dominating the mic but some of the production is not up to the par which is the reason what makes his earlier albums like "Code Red" and "Willenium" better to me

"The Rain" is one of the realest songs I've heard in my life, it's a great song to reflect life over, it's helped me out through a lot of things as well, there's no question that Will should do some more music especially since music like this is hard to find these days

Will hasn't really done much over the last few years, by the time "Men In Black 3" comes out it'll be almost 4 years since his last movie, really he's been relaxing with his family and letting the kids take over the spotlight, can't really blame him, I guess he feels he don't have much to prove

-well words can't describe how frustrating it's been that fresh prince hasn't been on the mic for more than 6 years now but like jim mentioned the state of music frustrates him just like it frustrates all of us, however if he really loves music as much as he claimed he did when he released lost and found he should just release something anyway for the true heads like us and say the hell with all the other idiots out there that don't appreciate real music, the fact that there's been so much advances in technology he could use to his advantage by putting out songs on youtube and why can't he create a quality official website, there's so much that he could do but he's been dropping the ball, like the rest of us i'm hoping and praying that his music career still has more to come and really i'm at a loss of words for what's left to be said since it seems like a broken record at this point

Out of all the issues going on right now these conservatives look foolish going after one of the realest artists out there

White House poetry night is one of those ceremonial events that you never hear about unless there's a controversy. Or a fake controversy. But today's conservative kerfuffle over a White House invitation for Common—a socially conscious, mainstream hip hop artist and sometime actor (most recently in Tina Fey's "Date Night")—is interesting, since the faux outrage targets an artist who actually embodies many values of his critics. In a different universe, where conservative culture warriors listened to music before demonizing it, Common would perform at pro-life rallies. Take his famous duet with The Fugees' Lauryn Hill, Retrospect for Life, which strongly questions abortion. "Musta really thought I was God to take the life of my son," he raps, "from now on, I'm using self-control, instead of birth control, because $315 ain't worth your soul." The last line, comparing the cost of an abortion to the value of life, is a repeating hook. Common also uses the song to dialogue with his unborn child, saying "Knowing you the best part of life, do I have the right to take yours?" and lamenting the thought of turning his "woman's womb into a tomb." Common's musical messages are not predominantly conservative. Among rappers who have achieved commercial success, however, he is known as one of the most conscious and positive artists. Not to be harsh, but if anything, he is considered soft —certainly not a violent or "gangsta" rapper who would be a political liability in a reality-based universe. I mean, the guy raps about his daughter's favorite movies—"My daughter found Nemo, I found the new primo"—and jokes about stuff white people like—"While white folks focus on dogs and yoga, my people on the low end trying to ball and get over." Those lines are from "The People," which was named one of top 30 "best songs of 2007" by Rolling Stone. The track's music video shows Common rapping with a baby in his arms. Come on. "He is within the genre of hip hop and rap in what's known as a conscious rapper." -White House Press Secretary Jay Carney explains Common to reporters Huffington Post''s Jason Linkins shows how desperately conservate went digging in the crates, and came up with an old poem challenging police authority and a song questioning the murder conviction of a member of the Black Liberation Army. (Like "Hurricane," but more controversial.) This thin case bubbled up from the conservative website Daily Caller to a Palin tweet—yes, the media still covers those—and then, on Wednesday, to ABC News' Senior White House Correspondent, Jake Tapper. He could not get administration officials to comment on the "issue." In fact, on Tuesday, before covering the Common outrage, Tapper joked on Twitter about the premise of holding the White House accountable for views of invited entertainers. Pointing to Steve Martin, who was invited along with Common to poetry night, Tapper cracked that in the movie "The Jerk," Martin "juggled kittens. IS THIS WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE STANDS FOR?!?!" Indeed. In his coverage on Wednesday, Tapper did add some musical context: Common ... is not known as a gangsta rapper, or particularly hard core, having appeared on the UPN series “Girlfriends,” the Tina Fey-Steve Carrell vehicle “Date Night,” and starred in the Queen Latifah romantic comedy “Just Wright.” He’s appeared in ads for The Gap and PETA... One JET profile called Common a “conscious rapper,” since his work of late has avoided the 50 Cent mold and focused instead on subjects like fatherhood, personal growth, and the African-American community. (emphasis added). Sometimes even fatherhood and anti-abortion songs aren't enough. The last GOP Chairman said the party needed a "hip hop makeover"—but clearly that was far too ambitious. They need to start with some headphones. Update: At the White House press briefing on Wednesday, reporters dutifully kept this story alive, which prompted the most memorable line to date from White House Press Secretary Jay Carney. "He is within the genre of hip hop and rap... what's known as a conscious rapper," Carney explained. His pushback also alluded to how hard critics strained to make Common seem menacing. "While the president doesn't support the kind of lyrics raised here," Carney said, "we do think some of the reports distort what Mr. Lynn stands for more broadly in order to stoke controversy." (Editor's note: AllHipHop.com doesn't consider Common a soft rapper. Just recall his legendary rap battle with Ice Cube and Westside Connection.) Ari Melber is the Net movement correspondent for The Nation magazine, the oldest political weekly in America, a writer for The Nation's blog. For more in Melber, click here.