The Obama’s and the Carter’s Knowle’s have one of the most fascinating connections I’ve ever seen. They both embody the meaning of family and strength. Salute to President Barack and Jay for doing it how it’s supposed to be done.
Complex caught of with Guru (Hov’s engineer) to discuss some things about the gawd mc that you probably didn’t know. Pretty dope read… article below.
He Watches Every YouTube Rapper
Young Guru: “Jay-Z has probably watched every SMACK DVD, Grind Time battle, freestyle, and every battle that has ever been on YouTube. If you ever battle in any situation that has any remote type of promotion, he’s seen it. He calls me like, ‘Please come watch this battle.’ Jay watches all of them. I mean all of them. Every battle that has ever been on.
“Jay watches these dudes freestyle on YouTube. Like, if you’re a battle MC from Philly, you may not have been in a battle but you just get on YouTube and start rapping, Jay watches those religiously. It’s just the weirdest thing in the world but he really loves it to the point where I’m like, ‘Yo, turn it off.’”
Him and Beyoncé Leave Restaurants Separately
Young Guru: “Jay doesn’t lust for the limelight. He ain’t want all this nonsense of having to leave restaurants at a different time than [Beyoncé] because [the paparazzi] get more money if they snap both of them together. That’s so corny. He just wants to go and eat but he’s gotta think about dumb sh-t like that now. They can’t walk out the restaurant together. How dumb is that? But it’s reality.”
He’s Nice At Basketball
Young Guru: “[When we were recording The Blueprint 3] Kanye was like, ‘I just bought the crib in Hawaii. Come through, I’ll have the cook cook for us and we’ll go run ball before we hit the studio.’ We get up, me and Jay go over there, we eat breakfast, Kanye’s showing us this nice new crib, and then we go out and play ball.
“It wasn’t even like we shut down or rented a whole gym. We just rode around, found an outside court at some kid’s school, and we played ball. The kids looked outside and was like, ‘Oh sh-t that’s Kanye and Jay-Z playing ball on our court.’ We all went out and had a nice little exercise.
“Jay is absolutely nice at ball. He’s got a nice 12-foot jumper. He knows the game. He’s smart about the game. For Kanye and them it’s more exercise; they’re not ballers.
“I came from playing ball; I played ball in high school and college. For me, it’s like I’m super out of shape but I can’t let Kanye and Don C. beat me in basketball. I gotta use what I know to win the game. But that game was more about getting together and brotherhood thing.”
Jay Lets Young Guru Keep All His Music
Young Guru: “That’s part of where my job extends beyond normal engineering because once Jay got comfortable with me, it was more than ‘Record and mix my albums.’ It became ‘Oversee my music.’ That means, I hold it all.
“First of all, Jay doesn’t want any of his music on any other drives but my hard drive. If it leaks, it’s on me. For Jay, it’s safer to have me as his central base versus it being scattered all over the city.
“Whether I mix them or not, I gather all the mixes. If Timbaland’s guy mixed this and Pharrell mixed this, I got all the mixes. I go present all the mixes to our mastering guy. I sit with the mastering guy doing the tweeks and EQing, doing the spacing in-between the records, all of that stuff. And we put the whole album together.
“If CBS is putting ‘Heart of the City’ in the beginning of some cop show, they’ll come to me and be like, ‘Can I get the instrumental TV track?’ because they know I hold everything. If he’s in Rocawear and we need a voice-over, call Guru. It’s those type things.
“That all falls into my responsibility. It’s gone beyond the normal thing. It’s become a gig to take care of Jay-Z’s musical world.”
His Adlibs Are Live
Young Guru: “If you hear Jay-Z say, ‘Guru, tell that girl open that Ace’ or ‘Turn the lights down,’ on a song, he’s really talking [to people in the studio]. Like on Scarface’s ‘Guess Who’s Back,’ when he’s talking in the beginning and he’s like, ‘Gu turn my headphones down, my headphones distorting,’ that’s all real.”
He Does One Take Because He Memorizes His Raps
Young Guru: “Jay memorizes his raps before he gets in the booth. That’s all it is. Too many MCs write their raps in the booth. Jay [doesn’t write his rhymes] down, but he memorizes and says the rap 50,000 times before he even thinks about stepping in the booth.
“By the time he steps in the booth, he’s said it so many times he already memorized the record and he’s been so particular about the bounce and the flow that it’s not hard for him to do it in one take.
“He writes and critiques his records more than any other MC that I’ve ever seen and goes line for line: ‘Is this too complicated or not complicated enough? Am I over-rapping it? Am I not giving them enough tricks?’
“All while we’re out here kicking it, smoking, doing whatever we’re doing, he’s saying to you, ‘This is the record. This is what I’m gonna say Gu,’ and he says it 80,000 times. When he taps you and goes, ‘Yo, I’m ready,’ he’s really ready.
“It saves so much time. It’s about memorizing your raps. I tell everybody, you can write your records at home, you can write your records in a car, you can write your rhymes anywhere. You shouldn’t be spending $150 an hour to be writing a song. The studio is to record music.”
He Occasionally Needs To “Download” His Rhymes
Young Guru: “Jay writes in his head, so we have times where he goes, ‘I need to download.’ He doesn’t call it that, but that’s what I call it. There’s so much stuff in his head that sometimes he just raps to a hi-hat or to a click or to nothing because he’s writing songs and he needs to remember them so he’ll record them. So it’s like, take that out the brain until I need it again. I can put it back in there when I need to say it.
“After we got home from the Watch the Throne tour, Jay was writing and when the New Year started not only did we knock out the song ‘Glory’ for Blue Ivy Carter, but it’s just like, ‘Okay, download. Just put up any beat or give me a click and let me just say these raps so I can just have them. I need to get them out of my mind because I’ve been holding them for two months.’ He does that a lot. He just started going in and it’s like every other day we’d end up with new records.”
He Once Offered Jaz-O A Record Deal
Young Guru: “If you ever notice, when people complain about Jay they never say, ‘He did something to me.’ They always say what he didn’t do for them.
“It’s the Jaz-O thing where it’s like, ‘I brought you into this.’ Jay is like, ‘Yeah, I’m here and you’re here. If you just play your part…’ But it don’t happen like that, it’s the, ‘You’re my son and you’re supposed to…’ But Jay is like, ‘Nah that’s not what happened. Now I’m here and I run all of this.’
“Jay tried to give Jaz a deal. But when he was trying to give him a deal, they were just starting Roc-A-Fella. They gave him a $300,000 deal and Jaz laughed at it. They couldn’t afford to give you a major deal, so Jaz went with a major company. It’s not Jay’s fault.
“Jay is like, ‘We offered you a deal, that’s how much we could afford to give you. $300,000 was a lot for you back then, you didn’t roll with it. You fu-ked up. It’s not my fault. What do you want me to do?’
“No matter what I do it’s not going to be enough. Jaz-O came to Jay and was like, ‘You have to be on my album.’ OK, he gives you a verse, that’s easy. But then you decide to shoot your video on this day and Jay already got something planned. Now Jaz-O is mad at Jay because he didn’t come to the video. And Jay is like, ‘I didn’t do anything to you, it’s what I’m not doing.’”
Young Guru Convinced Jay-Z To Make Blueprint 2 A Double Disc
Young Guru: “It wasn’t the same quality as The Blueprint. If I had not pushed this double album concept and just made it 12 songs, it would’ve been an incredible album. I had 25 records from Jay so I’m like, ‘We gotta do a double album.’
“Jay was like, ‘Nah, I don’t need no double album.’ I’m like, ‘Nah B, all the greats like 2Pac and Biggie did double disks. To put you in that league, [you have to do one.]
“It was a serious campaign. Me and Hip Hop were the ones that were seriously arguing [to do a double disc]. We look at Jay’s career from the outside, so we’re like in order to be on the same level as Big and Pac, [you have to do a double disc]. They both had double albums that were like perfection, especially Big’s.
“When you’re doing a double album, and you really only have 17 songs, you start to do filler records. Then we do songs like ‘As One.’ We should’ve never did that.
“We were close. That was really my fault. Hip Hop had a little bit to do with it too. It was a mistake, you learn from your mistakes. It was my bad. There’s gems on there but it has a lot of filler too.”
He Wanted To Be The President of Def Jam For “The Culture”
Young Guru: “I asked Jay if he really wanted to be the president of Def Jam. I knew him and his personality and I knew that job and what it would take. Do you really want that headache?
“There are certain jobs that I look at like, ‘This is cool but it’s not for me.’ I work close to the sh-t that they do as managers, calling people and booking hotels. I don’t want to do that sh-t. It’s not for me. It’s not my thing to have meetings all day.
“Jay said, [he wanted to be the president] because of what that meant for the culture. It was a good look for him. I understand it from the point of ‘I went from being an artist to the president.’ It’s a great stat.”
L.A. Reid Forced Him To Rush Kingdom Come
[Ed. note—According to Guru, Def Jam had no releases in first quarter of 2006, followed by huge push in second quarter. After a number of albums flopped because of illegal downloading, which they refused to aknowledge, the company was in dire shape. Coupled with that was the fact the label no longer had big stars like DMX moving units for them, so the situation worsened.]
Young Guru:“Now, everything rides on this Jay-Z album. Jay goes on a world tour and goes to Africa to do his Water for Life thing. He’s doing all this stuff and L.A. Reid is looking at me, like, ‘We need the Jay album by the end of the year.’
“I’m like, ‘We’re not ready. I have some songs but it’s not done and he’s in Africa.’ They’re like ‘If this sh-t doesn’t come out, people are getting fired. I can’t pay my bills, this record has to come out at this time.’
“I’m begging, ‘Can I please push this back? He’s in Africa’ and they’re like, ‘Alright get on a plane.’ I ended up meeting Jay in Taipei, Taiwan and we didn’t really get to record until we got to Australia. But it’s like, you’re in the middle of a world tour doing soccer arenas that hold 60,000, to 100,000 people.
“He’s doing a show with 70,000 people and then I’m asking him to go to the studio right after that; his voice is gone. We’re in a foreign place trying to catch a vibe so it’s like double work. Not only did you have to memorize and do a two-hour show, now I’m asking you to be creative. This is why you get Kingdom Come.”
He’s Aware of His Inconsistent Albums
Young Guru: “There’s a line on ‘Addicted To The Game’ where Jay says, ‘Sorta like a Rubik’s Cube is/Every albums’ a color/But I fu-k up the other/Color,’ meaning he would put out this incredible album and the next one would be cool. We were kind of going in that pattern for a while.
“You get Hard Knock and then you get Dynasty, which is not Hard Knock but it’s not wack. Then you get a Blueprint which is immaculate, and then a Blueprint 2. Then you come back again with Black Album but then we give you Kingdom Come.. So it’s like, I fu-k up the other color. [Laughs.] That’s what that line means.”
It Was Kanye’s Idea To Do “D.O.A.”
Young Guru: “[While recording Blueprint 3, we were in the studio talking] and that turned out to be a two-hour conversation about what’s going on in hip-hop and what we need to be doing. Soulja Boy’s record was popping at the time. He becomes the antithesis to what we’re talking about, so we’re referencing him. We’re like saying Soulja Boy is wack but we’re like, ‘Jay is 40. This is what’s going on in hip-hop right now. We can’t do this.’
“That’s how ‘D.O.A.’ came about because Kanye was getting on his rant. People think Jay did that, but Kanye was the person that told him to do that. Kanye was like, ‘No, Jay, you’re 40-something, you need to be the anti to all this other sh-t that’s going on. You need to be like, ‘No, fu-k Auto-Tune and all of that.’”
He Purposefully Fell Back On Watch The Throne
Young Guru: “Watch the Throne, that was Jay’s way of going, ‘Here, here’s the whole project for you to do. I’m gonna fall back and just interject my lines and here and there.’ The concept of that album was wholly directed by Kanye. That’s probably the first time that Jay ever did that but it was on purpose.
“Jay has been wanting to put people out, like, ‘Here, I’m giving you your start.’ But he’s not gonna do the groundwork for you, he’s not gonna run around and make the meetings for you. You’re gonna have to do all that yourself.
“Kanye was the first person that took it, ran with it, and it’s outside of Jay. He loves that so it’s a thing of where now we can both share this responsibility of being hot.
“With Watch the Throne, Kanye put his foot in it. He definitely brought a new style, pushed Jay in terms of styling and where they wanted to go. I think he also just hit the nail on the head by accepting tracks from outside producers that he found was hot.
“Between that and the visual presentation—Kanye is super visual, so having the two stages with the things rising up and down and the lights is Kanye’s vision. When it came to the tour, Jay was like, ‘Nah Guru, let they camp do it.’
“I think that’s why Jay allowed him to do that—and it also allows him to fall back a little bit and have a baby. [Laughs.]”
Jay’s Already Working On His Next Album…
Young Guru: “There are maybe four songs so far and most of them are spill over. I don’t wanna say spill-over like they’re throw-aways from Watch The Throne. It’s an incredible beat coming on and Jay being like, ‘No that’s for my album. Hold that one, it’s for me.’ So the ones that were made so far, the beats were made during the Watch The Throne time.
“Now we’re adding on to it, but we haven’t gone back in. We had all this touring stuff. It was the end of the year and we were doing shows. Then the baby came. We literally went in to do the song for Blue Ivy and he hasn’t been back since. He’s definitely enjoying daddy mode right now.”
Sara Blakely is youngest self-made woman on the FORBES Billionaires list. In true Jay-Z fashion, she flipped 5 racks into a billion. “Keep on grindin boy, your life could change in one year.”
This is a dope list so I’ll let XXL takeover below…
Top 100 Monster Quotes of the Internet Era
Rappers say the darndest things. During his brief illustrious career, the legendary MC always spoke freely—laying the foundation for MCs in his wake to speak without filter. ‘Pac may possibly be hip-hop’s first quote monster. His commentary often went “viral,” even in a pre-ditigal age.Rap’s current superstars are no different. 50 Cent, Kanye West and Lil Wayne, just to name a few, have definitely taken a page from ‘Pac’s book and abide by a Notorious B.I.G. lyric in the process. “If I said it, I mean it, bite my tongue for no one,” Big spits on Ready to Die’s “Unbelievable.” But, with the era keeping tabs on celebrities’s every moves, inflammatory words have become the stuff media’s made of. XXLMag.com looks back at the Top 100 Monster Quotes of the Internet era.—XXL Staff
- “Nas ain’t no street nigga. He ain’t been in no streets.”—Young Jeezy, Philadephia 100.3 The Beat (2006)
- “We don’t fu*k with you musically, so we’re not going to provide music for you” —Kid Cudi to Wale, Complex Magazine (2010)
- “fu*k MTV. tell ‘em what the fu*k I said… I lost to Black Eyed Peas last year, man. I’m never comin’ to MTV. Y’all find Britney. Get Britney. Get a real fu*kin’ artist. Get Britney fu*kin’ Spears… Last two years in a row, man. Get off this nigga’s dick, man. I love this nigga, but man, Goddamn, man. Give a nigga a chance, man. Give a black man a chance. I’m trying hard, man. I got the fu*kin’ number one record, man.”—Kanye West, MTV Video Music Awards (2007)
- “fu*k Soulja Boy! Eat a dick! This nigga single-handedly killed hip-hop.” —Ice-T, DJ Cisco’s Urban Legend Mixtape (2008)
- “Real talk the nigga that killed hip-hop for real is Nas, dawg.” —Soulja Boy, Worldstarhiphop.com (2008)
- “Atlanta is not the South, Goddamn it, when you go to Atlanta what does your clock say… Atlanta is East Coast time. You niggas ain’t in the South.”—Pimp C on Russel Simmons, Ozone Magazine (2007)
- “Don’t get on the radio and act like a tough guy or not one that. You acting tough. What do you want us to do? We can’t touch… We can’t be violent or none of that stuff. You a coward.”—Jadakiss, Hot 97 with Styles P talking to Diddy (2005)
- “Like I said, I ain’t even get into any reading. I’d rather let a muthafu*ka write a book on me when I’m said and done, ya dig?”—Lil Wayne, Complex Magazine (2006)
- “I’m definitely trying to get with Cash Money but the Def Jam thing is a question mark right now. I’ve been fixing to get up out of there for a while now because [Island Def Jam CEO] L.A. Reid don’t care about hip-hop. The people up there, they don’t know what they’re doing. When you don’t have a strong leader, where you gonna go? … They don’t care about hip-hop music. You give them a hip-hop record with an R&B singer, you ‘might’ have a chance. They don’t care. You got The Roots, Ghostface, Nas, probably the best hip-hop roster you could imagine and they do nothing. L.A. Reid doesn’t want nothing to do with rappers— it’s nothing personal, I don’t have nothing personal with dude but he makes it known he doesn’t care about hip-hop.”—Shyne, SOHH.com (2010)
- “The rumors are true. He did punch Cam’ron in the face. But he honestly doesn’t want to promote violence. He really feels strong about ending gang violence. He feels like they got kids brainwashed with that bullsh*t movement so he got to show them what it is. He feels like he got to keep it a little street just to get the kids’ ears because they listen to the rah-rah sh*t. So once he gets their ear with the bullsh*t, he’ll get their hearts with the real sh*t.”—Tru Life Statement, XXLMag.com (2007)
- I got a message for Sean Penn. Maybe he ain’t see me in Haiti because he was too busy sniffing cocaine. I got a message for Praswell, even though you don’t want to support me. I got love for you, even though you only kicked 8 bars in the Fugees.”—Wyclef Jean, Hot 97′s On the Reggae Tip Concert (2010)
- “I don’t think he the number one MC… in no kind of way. Wayne the best. He do the most and he make the most money. I don’t think no nigga in the business make more money than us. So how could you be the best if you don’t make the best money, the most money? And you don’t do the most. Lyrically, come on, man, be for real, man, can’t nobody fu*k with Wayne.”—Birdman, TropicalTV (2009)
- ”Yo I’m at Rehab (club) in Vegas.. T-Pain is DJ’ing.. Sayin F**k JayZ, he old, blah blah.. guess its backlash from D.O.A,” “So I’m here wit Rihanna, @richyungamerica, & @paulcainsf.. Drinkin some strawberry/daquiri’s.. Not feelin the Tpain JayZ dissing.. Brooklyn!“—Fabolous, Twitter (2009)
- “There’s not another artist in New York City that generates more interest than 50 Cent,” Fif said in the interview. “If we go international, Jay-Z is Beyoncé’s husband. He became more popular and relevant based on the work that Matthew [Knowles] made Beyoncé do.”—50 Cent, BET’s Conversations With 50 Cent (2009)
- “All that f*ggot sh*t you poppin’, them little slurs on Drake and ‘em’s records. And I’ma tell y’all muthafu*kas somethin’, y’all keep lettin’ this nigga get on y’all records and pop sh*t, I’ma start comin’ at y’all little niggas. Smack the sh*t out of Drake bi*ch ass. All y’all niggas. fu*k all y’all.”—Beanie Sigel, Triniiity Media (2010)
- “I didn’t “borrow a page” out of anyone’s book. i’ve been calling my fans barbz way b4 I’ve ever heard any1 called a “monster” its funny how ppl jump to conclusions. Maybe a lil black girl from queens couldn’t think 2 call her fans barbz on her own. Go figure”—Nicki Minaj, Twitter (2010)
- “I finger banged her right there on the couch… She’s like reachin’ in, talkin’ ‘bout, ‘Game, what are you doin’ and all this. So I keep goin’, you know? So, my finger starts to get a little wet, so I keep it up and then I take my hand out. I smell it. And what I gotta say about it is: it smelled pretty good.”—The Game on Vida Guerra, Funk Master Flex’s Radio Show, Hot 97 (2007)
- “I don’t believe that was [Osama] Bin Laden today. I don’t believe it was never him. I think it’s some dude just standing… I’m sorry. I’m from the projects. I know danger. I don’t feel no danger from that sh*t.”—Real Time With Bill Maher (2008)
- “If she had condoms in her house, that would just fu*kin’ throw me off. That’s just tacky.”—will.i.am, Elle Magazine (2011)
- “Oh yeah – tell (Juvenile) to come say that in my face next time he sees me and then your gonna see me with another tattoo tear – boy! Tell him that straight up, don’t even put that in my article, just call him or his manager, or whoever you had to call to get that interview poppin’ off. Call him back and let him know, ‘I told Wayne what you said and he said, when you see him, tell him that and you are gonna be the next tear drop on his face.”—Lil Wayne, Allhiphop.com (2006)
- “Muthafu*kas talking about they’ve got kilos for $17,500. bi*ch, ain’t no kilos for $17,500 up there, and you know what I’m talking about.”—Pimp C, Ozone Magazine (August 2007)
- “No I never look at it. I have a team that operates that sh*t for me. They’ll send me questions, and I answer them. That’s it. I was a prank caller when I was a young kid…I look at the Internet as prank callers. You don’t know who they are. They’re having fun. Actually, I’m not mad at that…You could do some good with the Internet, of course. But it’s, like, a man with horns. Not even a man–a dark force with horns–behind the whole sh*t”—Nas, XXL Magazine (2011)
- “Eh yo, check this out. R.I.P. to Michael Jackson.I’m sad you had to go. Instead of you dying, it should have been Fat Joe…I heard Fat Joe try to say he ain’t get snuffed. Somebody put something in his mouth, my zipper’s stuck…When he on-stage he don’t get a lot of feedback…Even Fat Joe was forced to lean back.”—Papoose, 5th Pro TV (2009)
- “This is crazy man, the wackest rapper [is] Lil B. He’s got to get it. I heard him on [Lil] Wayne’s [mixtape] Sorry 4 the Wait [on 'Grove St. Party (Freestyle)'], and that was it. That was it. I couldn’t[listen to him again], that was it…I never heard really anything else [he's recorded] that I could even [compare it to] to call it wack, but I remember I heard [his verse] and that’s what it was it.”—Game, VladTV (2011)
- “God, no! It was so disgusting to me that people would even link me and him. I grew up watching him. I look at him like a Russell Simmons figure, definitely not as someone I’d be getting it poppin’ with.”—Nicki Minaj, Black Book Magazine (2011)
- “I can’t help but to think that he is not nearly as sincere or genuine as he would like real hip hop heads to think he is because he speaks about me like I am dead. What he is doing is underhanded and disingenuous and whether it is his idea or not, I don’t agree with his tactic and I have something to say about it.”—Canibus, YouTube (2011)
- “See, what happened is Big Pun was surrounded by an enormous amounts of idiots,” he added. “And, sad to say, as big of a genius he was, and beautiful as he was, and I’m not just sayin’ that ’cause he dead, ’cause he was the most loyal, beautiful person… He’s my brother. I worship him to death… But, it’s unfortunate he was surrounded by a bunch of fu*kin’ idiots. Nincompoops.”—Fat Joe, XXLMag.com (2011)
- “How am I suppose to talk when your gonna run this thing in the middle of while I’m talking…. Please don’t let that happen again. Ridiculous.”— Kanye West, Matt Lauer interview on Today Show (2010)
- “How many ugly women selling records? None. Only the pretty ones sell records. Beyonce, Mary J, Keyshia Cole, the ugly ones don’t sell. I aint gon say no names, but they don’t sell records. They just be singing they little hearts out, but they get no sales, cause they ugly.” —Snoop Dogg, BET.com’s Hip-Hop Vs. America Blog (2008)
- “If Kanye West Dosent Acknowledge Me Over Twitter And Work With Me On Music, When i see him im going to fu*k him in the ass”—Lil B, Twitter (2010)
- “When the gangbangers would try to pull it, I was like , “ Yo I will fu*k you up. And if you wanna call your cousin call him. I’ll call me! Ill call me right now. We were shooting tec-9’s when we were babies, so the whole gangsta image, that ain’t nothing.” —Lupe Fiasco, Entertainment Weekly (2008)
- “Where I’m from, you walkin’ down the street like that, you liable to get something happen to you. Yeah, you might as well come out the closet, homeboy.”—Beanie Sigel on Kanye West and Pharrell, YouTube video (2007)
- “I’ve never done a song with Eminem. I sent him a song and he aint do it. I didnt like that but its all good. People be busy and stuff or a.k.a. just scared to get on a song with me.”—Lil Wayne, DJ Semtex’s Radio Show, BBC 1Xtra (2008)
- “Let’s raise the stakes. If Kanye West sells more records than 50 Cent on September 11, I’ll no longer write music.”—50 Cent, Sohh.com Interview (August 2007)
Complete List: Here
When It comes to rap music it doesn’t get any more classic than this. Someone decided to play Horacio and decode the song to find out exactly what day Cube was talking about and he did… theoretically.
CLUE 1:
“went to short dogs house, they was watching Yo MTV Raps”
Yo MTV Raps first aired:
Aug 6th 1988
CLUE 2:
Ice Cube’s single “Today Was A Good Day” released on: Feb 23, 1993
CLUE 3:
”The Lakers beat the Super Sonics”
Dates between Yo MTV Raps air date August 6 1988 and the release of the single February 23, 1993 where the Lakers beat the Super Sonics:
Nov 11 1988 114-103
Nov 30 1988 110-106
Apr 4 1989 115-97
Apr 23 1989 121-117
Jan 17 1990 100-90
Feb 28 1990 112-107
Mar 25 1990 116-94
Apr 17 1990 102-101
Jan 18 1991 105-96
Mar 24 1991 113-96
Apr 21 1991 103-100
Jan 20 1992 116-110
CLUE 4:
Dates of those Laker wins over Super Sonics where it was a clear day with no smog:
Nov 30 1988
Apr 4 1989
Jan 18 1991
Jan 20 1992
CLUE 5:
“Got a beep from Kim and she can fuck all night”
Beepers weren’t adopted by mobile phone companies until the 1990′s. Dates left where mobile beepers were availible to public:
Jan 18 1991
Jan 20 1992
CLUE 6:
Ice Cube starred in the film “Boyz In The Hood” that released late Summer of 1991, but was being filmed mid-late 1990 early 1991 and Ice Cube was busy on set filming the movie Jan 18 1991 too busy to be lounging around the streets with no plans. Ladies and Gentlemen..
The ONLY day where:
Yo MTV Raps was on air
It was a clear and smogless day
Beepers were commercially sold
Lakers beat the Super Sonics
and Ice Cube had no events to attend was…
JANUARY 20 1992
National Good Day Day
-Donovan
Stacy Barthe dropped one of the best projects (Sincerely Yours) of last year. This is my favorite song off of the EP… not only is a great musical piece but it hits home for many of us. We all have or know someone who has turned to alcohol at some point in our lives. Too many lives have been ruined by this disease. This type of music that expresses exactly how it feels to want to drink the pain away is needed to remind us that we are not alone.
Stacy Barthe ft. Joi Starr – Drink My Pain Away
He is the main topic on sports stations Monday mornings, he had the highest selling jersey of 2010 (before taking a snap) and he is the most discussed/analyzed player of the NFL season thus far. Tim Tebow is making us all believers one Sunday at a time. Being from Denver, I’ve seen the Tebow fever first hand and trust me; its no joke. Admittedly, I myself was not a believer in the young man until a few weeks ago when he mimicked Elway’s “The Drive” with a one of his own, going 95 yards down the field against Rex Ryan’s defense to win the game. So in honor of the Bronco’s savior hero Tim Tebow and the holidays, I thought it would be a good time to get down on one knee and give thanks…. D-Lop
Skip Bayless – All He Does Is Win (Tim Tebow)
Denver Radio Station – Tebow (Drake’s Headlines Remix)
Over the past year or so Justyn Waves and myself have been piecing together a project. Our aim is to capture the real emotions through music and share the stories of events that take place in our lives. Justyn Waves will produce the entire body of work and I will be only vocalist with the exception of a few features. The 3 songs below are not completely finished and will be mixed and mastered before the project is released. This is a preview of a lot more to come from us. Love.
The artwork for this song has a powerful message behind it. The picture was taken in Jasper, TX after James Byrd, Jr. was dragged by three white men back in 1998. The circles on the road are chalk outlines of his bodily remains. This symbolizes something being broken; whether it be our system, our society or us internally. The song reflects the things in my life that I feel have been broken at one point in time.
Dustin Gibson – Broken (Prod by Justyn Waves)
This song was recorded over a year and a half ago. It was inspired by events that took place in our lives and the aim was to share our story from the eye of the storm.
Dustin Gibson – Everybody Got A Story To Tell (Prod by Justyn Waves)
Almost everyone can relate to the emotion in this song. It tells a story of someone who felt something that wasn’t real and came back to tell the story. Although this is only a snippet, you should be able to follow the vision.
Dustin Gibson – Beautiful Nightmare (Prod by Justyn Waves)
“December 4th a star was born, clap for em. He went from moving that corner to this corner office is so enormous.” That line basically sums up the entire career of Jay-Z. Unlike most any rapper, Jay has successfully transcended generations and somehow has remained relevant through it all. He has done more for hip hop and the culture than anyone ever has. Not only has he built a brand, but he was the first to make the crossover into corporate America. He is no longer a rapper but more of a symbol of success. A black kid from Marcy projects hustled his way out the hood into the music industry and turned that into a half of billion… it’s really the epitome of the American story. So in tribute to the one and only Hovi Hov, we have a few songs and pictures below.
Jay-Z ft. J Cole – A Star Is Born
Shawn Carter was born December 4th
Weighing in at 10 pounds, 8 ounces
He was the last of my 4 children
The only one who didn’t give me any pain when I gave birth to him
And that’s how I knew that he was a special child – Gloria Carter
Just like many of you, I’ve lost loved ones to war and currently have close friends serving in the military. I would like to extend a thank you to every single soldier that has risked or given their life to protect the way we live. Below are a few images from various wars. Some of them are graphic so scroll at your own risk. Also, below is the song where the famous line, “there’s a war going on outside no man is safe from” derives from.
Mobb Deep – Survival of the Fittest
In the past few months, I’ve attempted to decrease the amount of rap I consume in my musical diet. During my quest, I’ve stumbled upon some fresh voices in the world of R&B. You may recognize most of the women on this list from previous postings. Although they have all made an impact, I however do not consider them mainstream quite yet. I feel as though all of these women will become major artists one day and will have long successful careers. With that being said, let’s get into it.
Bridget Kelly | Roc Nation
Last year, @JustynWaves and myself attended Jay-Z’s BP3 concert. We were in the process of pretending like we were from New York (everyone else was too… I think) when Bridget hit the stage to perform “Empire State of Mind” with Hov. At the time we had no idea who she was but google solved that and ever since she’s kept a spot in my itunes. She’s currently working with producers such as Frank Ocean, The-Dream and Ne-Yo to complete here debut album on Roc Nation.
Jhené Aiko | Unsigned
My first time hearing Jhené was on her song “July” after Drake added a couple verses. Her voice is very distinctive yet familiar. One of the qualities that attracts me to her music the most is her ability to compliment hip-hop acts. She has collabed with the likes of Kendrick Lamar, H.O.P.E., Drake, Kanye and more. Hopefully we’ll be getting an album soon but until then, I suggest you download, drag, drop and play Sailing Soul(s) if you haven’t already.
K Michelle | Jive
I can’t lie… I almost fainted when K Michelle walked out at the BET Music Matters show last year in Boulder. Her as… nah, I’m here to focus on the music so if you want to know whats what, I suggest you google her and flip through some images. K Michelle is not only easy on the eyes but on the ears as well. I honestly believe she is amongst the upper echelon of talent in the industry. Her live show proves that the voice you hear on wax is really her and not simulated through programs and effects. One attribute that separates her from the majority of her peers is honesty. You can feel the passion in her voice and it carries through each bar (pun intended because I believe she was drinking Hen at the show… no slander though).
K Michelle – Where They Do That At
Kay Cola | Unsigned
If you’re a fan of our blog then you definitely know who Kay Cola is. Last week, she wrote a guest blog for us and let the readers in on some of her thoughts outside of music. I would have to say she is one of easiest (not like that) artists we’ve worked with so far. Her ‘down to earth’ spirit can be felt through her music. It’s hard to pinpoint what type of artist she is due to her diversity. Unlike your typical songstress, Kay Cola can write, rap and sing; something that is hard to find nowadays. Her last project, Love & Music is a testament to what you just read.
Miranda Brooke | Island Def Jam
Keyshia Cole isn’t the only redbone with red hair on the block anymore. I haven’t heard much but judging by what I have listened to, Miranda possesses all the traits of a star. Her look, voice and musical talent will someday take her to the top. I’m one of the newest members of the Miranda Brooke fan club so I don’t know too much about her right now. Hopefully we can catch up with her for a blog or interview to change that. (I know… shameless plug) Until then, you can rock out to her first hit below.
Stacy Barthe | Unsigned
Stacy Barthe ft. Joi Starr – Drink My Pain Away
Stacy Barthe… first of all I have to thank @JustynWaves for putting me on to her. Her last project, Sincerely Yours is by far my favorite tape of the year. You don’t get very many artists like Stacy anymore that you actually feel a connection when they sing. The realness in her music is that of which I regard with the up most respect. I hope she continues to make dope music and keep my itunes on play.
You know what’s cray? After learning that ‘cray’ really stands for ‘Kray’ all I can say is… that shit cray!
The origin of the word ‘cray’ from the N*ggas in Paris single is not actually the shortened form of crazy, nor is it cray. It’s actually ‘Kray’ and it’s in reference to the schizophrenic Kray twins, Ronald and Reginald Kray. The Kray twins were the crime lords of London in the 50s and 60s. The police failed to locate them on several occasions, which is where the line ‘…ball so hard, muf*ckas wanna find me…that sh*t kray’ comes from.
Find more about the Kray twins here.
This is an ode to all the heauxs that are somewhere, “Smoking dope, on their iphone. Selling dope, straight off their iphone.” May you all become the 90210 girl that Wale rapped about on his first album.
Mike Posner – Drug Dealer Girl
No caption necessary...
Ab-Soul - Control System
