cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/20031449

I have the unpopular opinion that aside from a couple specific songs I've been lukewarm to every LL Cool J album later than Radio (which was such a banger), but this is so eyebrow-raisingly off the path of what I tend to expect from LL Cool J that I had to post here.

I literally came blind to this new album, and just before hitting play I thought - well unfortunately I can predict I'm not going to get any hard social commentary like from dead prez or etc...

30 secs later it felt like that thought had personally offended him. Track 1 no less.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/20031755

My personal entry point to LL Cool J - and I think best song on his best album.

There's a remix that actually has bells, but I thought I should go with the one most will have heard.

Come on now, many....Innervisions like Stevie

Rock in my pocket like Gibraltar,
Chop it up, 
Lookin’ like Siesta Key. 
White like it show up at the altar,
Don’t be gettin’ messy with the recipe. 
Is it Fini in the bag, is it Kanye? 
Shit can turn a long night into a long day. 
Pressin’ on the gas ‘til the car shake,
120 on the dash, went the wrong way. 
Time is a flat circle,
I’m doin’ donuts. 
I was 13 & I blinked, now I’m grown up. 
Never asked me what I think,
I don’t know enough. 
I say if we link,
Then we link,
You ain’t showin’ up. 
What you runnin’ from?
I be in a rented 911 on the 101,
780 credit,
I could get it if I wanted one. 
I would rather bet it on my head,
& watch it double up,
Bitch you a runner up. 

Heavy is the weight on my chest,
I can bench it. 
Heavy is the weight of the world, 
I could squat that. 
Heavy is the weight of the crown, 
The attention,
Hear you talkin’ like a heavyweight, 
But you not that. 
(Don King couldn’t even make a dollar off you)
(Heard you talkin’ like a heavyweight but you not that)

Set and I’m ready from the rip,
Yeah I’m starter status. 
Prezi on my wrist,
No that’s not a patek. 
She gon’ let me hit,
Yeah that’s automatic. 
Solid 7 on my hip and she not dramatic,
The 9 and 10’s they get problematic.
She take the key and wreck the Benz,
Always causin’ havoc,
Yeah,
I try to tell them this is not a habit,
I tell my therapist I’m not an addict.
This shit ain’t easy as it look,
You can’t read me like a book. 
You can’t treat me like a rook,
Man they wash, yeah they washed up. 
Season with the cook,
They don’t see what all it took,
Only thing I still regret,
I should’ve got Breezy on that hook. 
(Aw yeah)
Big mistakes,
Yeah I made ‘em in abundance,
Bad breaks by the case, by the hundreds. 
Say that as I’m breaking down the blow,
Like it’s fun dip. 
All that rocky fuckin’ up my nose,
Like I’m Lundgren. 

Heavy is the weight on my chest,
I can bench it. 
Heavy is the weight of the world, 
I could squat that. 
Heavy is the weight of the crown, 
The attention,
Hear you talkin’ like a heavyweight, 
But you not that. 
(Don King couldn’t even make a dollar off you)
(Heard you talkin’ like a heavyweight but you not that)

On Doechii's 2024 release, the Tampa-born rapper showcases the blend of clever rhymes with deep, philosophical musings that have punctuated early releases like 2020's Oh the Places You'll Go mixtape and 2022's she / her / black bitch EP. Lead cut "STANKA POOH" finds the Top Dawg Entertainment artist wrestling with her artistic mortality and role as a Black woman in music. She raps: "Let's start the story backwards/I'm dead, she's dead, just another Black Lives Mattered/And if I die today I die a bastard/TikTok rapper, part-time YouTube actor."

Obviously, Doechii aims to be bigger than viral clips and TV shows so small they can fit on your computer screen. On Alligator Bites Never Heal, Doechii asserts herself as one of rap's most impressive bar-for-bar MCs. "DENIAL IS A RIVER" is a classic narrative cut in the style of Slick Rick's "Children's Story," while "NISSAN ALTIMA" is an electro-rap thriller designed to keep the dance floor hot and heart rates up. She sums it up simply enough when she raps: "All beef gets smoked/l'm a real fly bitch, you in coach."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5URefVYaJrA

This fuckin' wacky video was shot in Kiev.

I absolutely love this song, especially for Kendrick Lamar's verse breakdown here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQkurC7jWoM

Waviest beat of the summer

As we know Dela had copyright issues with their first album using uncleared samples. In 1988 Stetsasonic, on this track, where reasoning about their use of sampling, although they where one of the first groups that included a live band. They where also one of the first Hiphop acts to fuse Jazz with Hiphop. Big hit back in the day, played it on repeat.

The whole albun is great, this track special to me. Rest well Trugoy the dove, may you fly your wings in heaven.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/19444083

If someone asked me what the theme song was for 2020 as I watched videos day after day of cops abusing protesters and bystanders, this is undoubtedly the only choice. Came up on shuffle last night and immediately took me back.

I've seen some memes and references to it, but what is actually going ob here? Is there proof?