Albums I listened to this week [10/5/2008]

Tony Touch - The Piece Maker [2000]
Masta Ace - Hits U Missed Volume 4
Heavy D - Blue Funk [1993]
Mr. Criminal - Rise To Power [2008]
Funkmaster Flex - Car Show Tour [2005]
Oddisee - Foot In The Door

Albums I listened to this week [9/28/2008]

RBX - Broken Silence
Pete Rock - NY's Finest [2008]
DJ Smallz - Southern Smoke 29: Vote DJ Smallz [2006]
Cyne - Pretty Dark Things [2008]
Twista - Soft Buck Volume 1
Nappy Roots - The Humdinger [2008]
New Jersey Drive Soundtrack, Vol. 2 [1995]
The Cool Kids - That's Stupid The Mixtape [2008]
Skinny Boys - Weightless [1986]

Albums I listened to this week [9/21/2008]

EPMD - EPMD The Remix Files
(No photo available)


Skillz - I Ain't Mad No More
Tyga - No Introduction [2008]
Shaya - Fallen Awake
W.I.S.E. Guyz - eF yoU eN Kay E [1989]
Trina - Still Da Baddest [2008]
Grave Plott - The Plott Thickens [2008]

Albums I listened to this week [9/14/08]

GZA - Legend Of The Liquid Sword [2002]
Charles Hamilton - Outside Looking
40 Cal - The Yellow Tape [2008]
Scanz - Prelude To A Legacy [2008]
MJG - This Might Be The Day
Juicy J - Chronicles Of The Juice Man [2002]
The Legendary Traxster - The Return Of Gangsta Music [2008]

Albums I listened to since the last posting

Okay...I'm behind. I'm catching up with the bare basics on this post. No time for commentary.

Poor Righteous Teachers - Pure Poverty [1991]

Haystak - Cracks The Safe [2008]

Cunninlynguists - A Piece Of Strange [2006]

Giant Panda - Fly School Reunion [2005]

Eric Roberson - The Vault, Vol. 1.5 [2004]
Plies - The Real Testament [2007]

9th Wonder & Murs - Sweet Lord [2008]

Blac Monks - Secrets Of The Hidden Temple [1994]
Portishead - Third [2008]

Access Immortal - American Me [2007]

Daddy Yankee endorsing McCain

The folks over at Racialicious.com have put together a nice piece about this recent development. I won't repeat what they said. I'll just provide you with a link (click here) and encourage you to read it, and then come back and get my thoughts and share yours.

Now that you've visited the good folks at racialicious and read up on the topic, here are my thoughts.

As I stated in the racialicious comment section:

The Daily Kos has an interesting take on the values issues involved here as well. Apparently, McCain talked up Daddy Yankee’s song “Gasolina” without knowing the sexual theme of the song and the song title.

What will McCain do next? Call on Lil Wayne to perform “Lollipop” as a shout out to the confectioners union? This is truly as bad as Obama accepting an endorsement from Lil Jon while telling the audience of high school kids to get their “skeet skeet” on.

It is obvious that NO ONE in McCain’s inner circle has a clue when it comes to youth oriented cultural issues. Look at the track record: Daddy Yankee, the Britney and Paris Hilton ad, the cluelessness about the internet.

OTHER THOUGHTS

The Double-Standard Part 1
Do we not remember all of the grief that Ludacris (and hip-hop in general) has received in relation to his (and its) relationship with Obama? But a Daddy Yankee endorsement for McCain flies under the radar. Granted, the endorsement did come in the middle of the DNC convention so the media's attention has been elsewhere. But this still reminds me of Bill O'Reilly's complaints about Ludacris and Pepsi while the Osbournes got off without any boycott threats.

Did the McCain camp even bother to look at some Daddy Yankee album covers?
Or maybe look at the names of a few tracks such as "Puerto Rico Mafia," "69," "Strip Tease," "N*gga What What," and "Gata Gangster."

I'm not trying to hate on Daddy Yankee. Maybe none of those songs have anything in them that should concern the McCain camp. Maybe they do and it shouldn't matter. Maybe I'm assuming quite a bit about Daddy Yankee's music (with which I am not extremely familiar) - but then again, these types of assumptions are made about English-speaking Hip-Hop artists all the time.

Daddy Yankee's Sales
Will this do anything to Daddy Yankee sales? I seriously doubt it would improve them. But how would Hip-Hop fans feel if a credible rapper broke ranks and said something positive about McCain or negative about Obama. Oh, wait! Didn't 50 Cent do just that? He initially backed Hillary and then switched to Obama (when it was obvious that Obama had a shot to actually win). Did 50's flip-flop support matter in terms of votes? Probably not (thank goodness). Did his lack of initial support hurt his sales? Who knows. For what it's worth, G-Unit's album Terminate On Sight hasn't gone gold yet (according to info that I could find). But that's probably unrelated to 50's political views.

As for Daddy Yankee, I'm just not connected enough to Latino/a politics or the reggaeton fanbase to know if this matters. I think most Hip-Hop acts would be labeled as "sellouts" and their sales would plummet among a core portion of their audience. (However, Eazy-E never still seemed to be somewhat respected despite his support for a Republican president back in the day.) Feel free to share your thoughts on this in the comments section if you have any insight.

The Double Standard Part 2
McCain's camp loves to paint Barack Obama as this celebrity. (Since when has that been automatically a negative. And wasn't Ronald Reagan a celebrity?) After doing so, he then snatches up Daddy Yankee as an endorsement. I have no problem with getting celebrity endorsements. I do have a problem with political hypocrisy of the "I want to make celebrity a bad word, but here's a celebrity who likes me" variety. Don't knock Barack's celebrity and then try to play catchup in the celebrity game. It's lame.

Will it lead to votes?
This falls under my "who knows" theme. Daddy Yankee does appeal to a certain demographic that could prove to be important in swing states like Colorado and Florida.

All I know is that Daddy Yankee's name is out there.
Some of the comments over at Racialicious made it abundantly clear that Daddy Yankee is the likely big winner in all of this. My guess is that his record sales won't be hurt too much. If anything, there are now people who know about him that had absolutely no clue who he was. I promise you that there are large villages and small towns in this country where you can survey the residents and NO ONE would know who the hell Daddy Yankee is. That might change slightly.

UPDATE (8/29/08): Remember my statement above: "I think most Hip-Hop acts would be labeled as "sellouts" and their sales would plummet among a core portion of their audience." Fat Joe has apparently called Daddy Yankee a sellout. (Click here for more info.)

Albums I listened to this week [8/3/08]

Zion I - Street Legends [2007]
Street Legends is a "greatest hits" mixtape from Oakland, California duo Zion I. Guest artists include Grouch, Mac Dre, San Quinn, Turf Talk, Casual, Aceyalone, Pep Love and Talib Kweli. I was already familiar with some of the tracks, such as "The Bay [Remix Version]" and "Bird's Eye View." With 25 tracks, this mixtape gave me the opportunity to examine more of their work.

Highlights:
- "The Bay [Remix Version]" (featuring Clyde Carson, San Quinn, Turf Talk, Casual)
- "Hit 'Em" (featuring Grouch, Mistah Fab)
- "Bird's Eye View"
- "Lose Your Head"
- "Heaven's Gate"
- "For My Peoples"
- "Speakers"
- "Oxygen"
- "Critical" (featuring Planet Asia)
- "Bring It Back" (featuring Traxamillion)
=========================
Rock (of Heltah Skeltah) - Shell Shock
Heltah Skeltah was one of the most potent groups within the Boot Camp Click crew that seemed to be at its strongest in the mid to late 1990s. Fellow crew members included Black Moon and the Originoo Gunn Clappaz.

Since that time, the two members of Heltah Skeltah (Rock (a/k/a/ the Rockness Monsta) and Ruck (a/k/a Sean Price a/k/a Sean P) have created solid solo projects. I'm definitely looking forward to the release of their next group album, D.I.R.T. This Rock solo album, which is 21 songs long, will definitely hold me over until the group album drops.

Rock provides some of the typical Heltah Skeltah style: humorous while being hard. In "Flytime" he states: "Too hard for the smart n*gg*s / Too smart for the hard n*gg*s / So by thirteen, I'm 5 percentin' with god n*gg*s / By fifteen ... Decepticon n*gg* / Just tryin' to figure out where I belong n*gg*..."

Guest appearances by: Buckshot, Sean Price, Rustee Juxx, 5 FT and more.

Highlights:
- "Flytime"
- "300 B.C." (featuring Buckshot, 5 FT, Klust-Stone)
- "Attempted Murder" (over the beat from Snoop Dogg's "Murder Was The Case [Remix]")
- "Me 2 N*gg*" (over the beat from 50 Cent's "I Get Money")
- "F*ck Dat Rapper" (featuring Sean Price)
- "Rockzilla" (over the beat from Pharoahe Monch's "Simon Says")
- "Doofis" (featuring Lidu Rock, Supreme, Rockabye)
- "NY Gritty"
- "Mag Force Zoo" (featuring Pressha Dinero, Verbal Kent, Munchdawg)
=================================
Curren$y - Super Tecmo Bowl

I didn't know much about Curren$y before listening to his latest mixtape. he hails from New Orleans and has done a significant amount of work with Lil Wayne (such as "Where Da Cash At," "You Nasty," and "Grown Man.")

Super Tecmo Bowl comes off as a "Jackin' For Beats" style mixtape. More than half of the mixtape's sixteen tracks lift beats from other artists. Specifically, he jacks:

- "Lapdance" by N.E.R.D.
- "Definition Of A Thug N*gg*" by 2Pac
- "Lookin At The Front Door" by Main Source
- "You Came Up" by Big Punisher
- "Selfish" by Slum Village
- "Whoa" by Black Rob
- "It's Mine" by Mobb Deep
- "They Say" by Common
- "Fakin' The Funk" by Main Source
- "A Milli" by Lil Wayne

Even though most of the "jacked" beats come from the east, midwest or west, the tracks still come across with a Southern vibe. Of course, every recent hip-hop mixtape in the world includes rhymes over either 50 Cent's "I Get Money" or Lil Wayne's "A Milli." Here, Curren$y chooses the latter.

Highlights:
- "Tecmo Flow"
- "Jets"
- "Bad B*tch*s And Vodka"
- "Whoa"
- "Plane Hater" (featuring Young Roddy)
- "They Don't Know"
- "A Milli [In & Out]"
=================================
Twista - Runnin Off At Da Mouth [1992]
This was released back when Twista was known as "Tung Twista." Vocally, Twista circa 1992 sounds very much like Twista circa 2008, but with a bit of reggae flare. Lyrically, it's a whole different ball game. This album doesn't focus on guns, women and weed. Instead, the album focuses primarily on braggadocious boasts about the greatness of Twista's rap skills. Sonically, the beats sound like generic beats from early 1990's hip-hop.

Highlights:
- "Snap Happy"
- "Mista Tung Twista"
=============================
K-Dee - *ss, Gas Or Cash [No One Rides For Free] [1994]

In the midst of much of the mid-90's gangsta rap, K-Dee released this extremely laid back album that included appearances by Bootsy Collins, Morris Day and Ice Cube. In case the album title didn't make it apparent, much of this album deals with humorous topics. For example, "Into You" follows K-Dee as he tries to seduce his best friend's mother.

Highlights:
- "Hittin' Corners"
- "The Freshest MC In The World"
- "Into You"
- "Ain't Nothin' Poppin'"
===========================
Big Noyd - Illustrious [2008]
For the most part, Illustrious presents tales of street life. Big Noyd repeatedly talks about his guns and money. These general themes are apparent in the song titles alone: "Snitches," "Ghetto," and "Money Talk." The album includes guest appearances by Joell Ortiz and 40 Glocc.

The highlight of the album was "So Much Trouble," which sounds like it could have been a hit radio single. The hook, sung by Serani, sounds slightly similar to an Akon chorus.



Highlights:
- "So Much Trouble"
- "Money Talk"
- "Things Done Changed"
- "Ghetto" (featuring Joell Ortiz)
- "It's A Wrap" (featuring Ric Rude)
- "Trying To Make It Out" (featuring 40 Glocc and Bam, and sampling the beat from Let's Straighten It Out)