MIX-TAPE-RADIO REVIEWS #1

Artist-Termanology

Title-   If heaven was a mile away

 producer/s- J-Dilla

Am not really a fan of tribute albums made by rappers. Why you may ask. Well taking a cue from history, most tribute albums always come out as half assed attempts to cash in on the post-humous talents of the “insert the name your favourite dead rapper here”. Examples?? Biggie duets!! We all know Diddy needed that paper FAST, I mean gulf streams don’t come cheap nowadays. Next-2Pac, ok lets save that for another review.

   When I first saw this-“yes, it’s a free download so yes-I DOWNLOAD MORE THAN I BUY CDS NOWADAYS-sue me”-I was already beaming from ear to ear-terminology on dilla beats-I mean what could go wrong here. Nothing I guess, well to be honest I really liked the beats here, the beats used on this mix-tape are familiar and tight, so I can’t take away points for that. Now let’s talk about the songs themselves.      

    Starting with OHH, this is really clever-bouncy beat with danzini screaming OHH every bar(a la blackrob’s WOAH). Term took advantage of this and it comes out very very nice-just play this in your jeeps and you would understand what I mean. Next is CIRCULATE. To me this is the best song on the entire mix-tape, the beat can’t be described, it really grabs your attention and holds on to it like a wrestler executing a figure four lock and Term spits a 100 bars too!! SAY IT is a sure hit-we have Joell, Saigon, Sheek, Freeway and Bun B on it and each one doesn’t slack a minute. Weakest link...hmm none here, try elsewhere homey.

        SPAZZ OUT and DOWN WITH THE KING(skit) are two laid back cuts, both come off nicely with no harm done. PAYJAY uses the human nature sample for those that don’t know, it doesn’t really stand out, just a track on the album-don’t get me wrong Big Pooh and them did their thang but it’s just a moderate joint. Same goes for CODE FOR THE ST and WHAT TYPE OF MONEY-dope beats, slightly above rhymes and subject matter. I was really drawn to ENEMIES because it had steele(smif n wessun) on it but steele came through with average rhymes on this phat joint.

HOT 97, MOVIE CLIP and ONLY ONE CAN WIN don’t disappoint but don’t shake your mental foundations either. SHE WANTS A SUPASTAR, uses the same beat from JAYLIB, nicely done, am already accustomed to the beat, am always waiting for Madlib to drop his verse. BOYS ON THE AVE-this is fat, remember the GOBSTOPPER beat from “donuts”-yeah same one, still fresh sound, stale subject matter but the hook is stuck in my brain and overall this is bump-able. Now we have a bonus joint- luckily we close on this very dope song, BARS FOR THE STARS, starring newcomers Skyzoo and Reks and they both KILLED IT. Peep Reks lines...

”...hell’s kitchen, we living in jail cell sentence,

sipping cognaq, till am catching contact

with the furthest galaxy you can name,

am aiming beyond that, this is beyond rap-this is trip taking...”

       In conclusion-I recommend this for die hard-J Dilla fans and non fans alike. But please bear in mind, this is a tribute album so don’t expect any ground breaking songs or what have you. But no matter what you do keep the following tracks in rotation

   Recommended listen- CIRCULATE, OHH, SAY IT,BARS FOR THE STARS

  LYRICS=4/5

 BEATS=5/5

 LONGEVITY=4/5

 FINAL JUDGMENT= Recommended

   CLICK TO DOWNLOAD

Lasers or Losers

yes am str8 jacking that sh*t from lupe!! we are LASERS now no more LOSERS,lol. for those that dont know its' an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. Am gonna try my possible best to relate that to a more generic situation.ok lets go,LASERS are actually packets of photons....Sorry this is kinda hard.ok,you see light is made up of packets of particles with definite energies called PHOTONS.much clearer right?

 so in another way lasers are like concentrated light!!! Using a torch light as an example you notice when you put it on,the light spreads out,as it does that it loses intensity until it finally fades out(try using a torchlight to see an object in the dark 2km away...quite impossible).

   However for LASERS,this photons are continuosly regenerated so intensity remains the same throughout the whole duration(typical example is INFRA RED).Think of those clones in starwars..they keep coming and coming(get your mind out of the gutter!!!)

      Remember am trying not to go really deep into this here so am just touching the fundamentals.So for all y'all out there what category do you belong in?? are you constantly out for self(which is not entirely a bad idea anyway) or out to help others?? Losers are self centred,bigoted,one eyed kings who live in their narrow minded castles like paupers!!!!

 Lasers are simply......LASERS

   We amplify,we are coherent and directional.We are not self centred,we are not to proud to lend a helping hand(if it's possible) and lastly..we will always radiate like the sun!!!

   MJ said the world wont change until you change the man/woman in the mirror.the same person you see everyday when you take a shower and brush your teeth. 

   I know it's not all peaches and cream but come on..your life could have been WORSE than you think it is.No matter HOW bad you think your situation is..there are a BILLION people worse off than you are so stop BITCHING and MOVE like a LASER

 I can't hear you!!! SCREAM..AM NOT A LOSER..AM A F&*KING LASER

ok enuff,,get back to work before your boss sees you...LOL..but seriously be a LASER for a day and you would enjoy it

F.R.I.E.N.DS,phones and the truth

This exercise just ocurred to me while I was having trouble in getting some sleep few days ago,ever tried  getting in touch with everyone on your contact list? I mean scroll down alphabetically and text or call so and so just to say hi till you get to the letter Z?your answer is as good as mine bro(sis).Its possible but quite ludricous!

  Approximately 20 years ago,I thought my friends in primary school will always be with me till the end of time,that we would always share our goodies doing break,always laugh at the same jokes and never have to go to worry about adult stuff.Dammit janet,I was so wrong.I knew there was something fishy about the whole thing but I was too young and naive to put a finger on it.It was just too good to be true. By the time I was in primary 5,I had new friends,a new crush(ok,maybe 1,2 and a third..lol) and was ready to face a whole new world.

  By the time I got to secondary school,I realised it was a whole new ball game.different rules,same game though but thats a topic for another day.The thing was,and it just didnt occur to me like that lightbulb towering over a generic cartoon drawing,is there a such thing as a limit to  the volume of friends you should have in a life time? its kind of funny because I meet new people everyday I sometimes find it hard to keep up.Now,I tend to classify people into three groups.Family-they will always be there wether you like it or not,Friends-people not related to you but who you like to socialise with,sympathiser,helper and thats about the size of it and lastly People-you may refer them to as acquintances etc,you meet once in a while or have a short stint of  "psuedo" friendship or caramadiere with.

 Ok should I start?I will go with a bar chart type grouping to make it easier to get my drift.Besides those I listed before,there exist another group of circles within inner circles.Am I making any sense at all?ok check this classification,take for instant when I was undergoing my NYSC(National Youth Corp Service) in far away kano(ok,just a lil' upnorth),I formed a circle of friends with a set of UNILAG graduates that flew on the same plane with me(group 1),as we settled into our respective rooms,I immediately formed another tight set comprising of some of the aforementioned 'Lag graduates and some new boys(we actually dominated that room for the rest of the 3 weeks we spent on camp) and according to camp rules we were once again segregated into divisions(a'la military style) and once again formed a new clique.This is a contuinuum that doesnt end(I think it shouldn't anyway unless you are dead) 

 Now you see where am heading,now that I have gotten that out of the way.check this scenario,I got a call from a friend of mine only after I text him saying "you have gone A.W.O.l on your buddy,thats not the way man!",we spoke,all gravy then he related another incident where he was accused by another mutual friend of ours for not keeping in touch,his defense was it was a 2-way thing,the "mutual friend" could have picked up the phone and dialled instead of laying the blame on one side.

 The truth is,I wish I could keep in touch with everyone but its not so possible,even I would be surprised if some pal of mine keeps calling me back to back everyday(helloo!!...now I know how you girls must feel...ring,ring...that bugaboo again,doesnt he get the message..I mean E.T got it and went home,duh!!).The truth is we got issues with school,work,relationship,family and for some it's mental .I gotta admit,I dont expect to find my name on your top call list(the possibility is there but am keeping an opened mind),I dont expect you to think of me all day(for the ladies).From my perspective,I think calling someone out of the blue is the best thing you could do...as long as you dont b*tch about the other not calling you!!!.sometimes,peeps call sjut to apologize for not buzzing sooner and I feel like,that talk is just out of courtesy. My thoughts,I have learnt not to whine anymore.

  I know some reading this would be like who is this self righteous person!! look am not trying to vindicate or justify anything,I myself is guilty on all accounts but that's life and we all have to deal with it in our own unique way.Like I said before on the scrolling contact list thingy,I actually sometimes do that....well just to see the names of people on my phone man..never have the time(to get to the letter Z) or enough credit(am not a miser o,am just prudent) to call everyone but I would surely not forget each and everyone last one of them.

 So once in a while scroll down,look up and smile to your self...oh sugar,wonder what this dude's doing now?.. just a little thought goes a long way.