Download: Barrington Levy-Watch Dem (Murderer) (Feat. Snoop Dogg And Mims)
Download: Cypress Hill-Carry Me Away (Feat. Mike Shinoda)
Download: Gentleman – It No Pretty [new album]
Download: Gentleman – Regardless [new album]
Download: Jadakiss-Til It All Falls Down
Download: Laws-Target Practice (Feat. Joe Budden)
Saigon developed a little fame by entrenching himself in the New York underground. Lil Fame developed a following that built the NY underground that Saigon later capitalized off of. Somehow Saigon fell off the rap radar, at least on radars that ZIF respects. Perhaps it was his tenure on HBO’s Entourage or maybe his emotional and fluffy “beef” with Joe Budden, either way, Saigon’s name does not enlist the ooh’s an ah’s from hip hop heads like he did half a decade ago. What I like about this video is the no-nonsense commitment to keeping this video “NY Gully”, nice grainy graphic, with plenty of shots of New York’s primary asset, it’s grand skyline. On a career note, I think Saigon needs to pair up with the likes of Fame and other proven industry rappers, he’s at that re-dip stage of his career. You know, like when you dip a nacho in cheese, and then bite half of it off, chew, and then dip again. Yeah, a half eaten nacho, that sounds about right.
Twitter has become a public social forum for dogging on cats. An abundace of tweets have surfaced this year revealing all sorts of speculative drama. Previous ‘dramasodes’ include the Joe Budden/Tahiry break-up, Rihanna and Chris Brown going back and forth, Asher Roth making racist comments, and now we have Saigon pouring his heart out on Twitter to a video chick. Basically Saigon was on a video shoot with this model called Renee Divine who refused to give him her phone number. Saigon was for lack of a better word, floored. Evidently he was unable to keep his emoticons in his pants and went a little hipster boyfriend steez on the bewildered video damsel on Twitter. Check the excerpt of Saigon with his hand all over his tweet:
Renee Divine: THEN @ THEONLYSAIGON WRITES: “See all this could be avoided if we just spoke on the phone.. 8452901403 … You won… Now call..lol”
Saigon: @ReneeDivine hahaha, thats not my number, I wouldnt give U my number remember…. Thats an office phone, not even a cell dear…
Renee Divine: YUP THATS HIS ######…….O WAIT THERES MORE LMFAO @ THIS LAME THAT OBVIOUSLY CANT TAKE REJECTION………….
Scope the wonderful image thread of Ms Renee Divine below, and you can catch the entire transcript of the twit war between these too right here.
I’m not sure how many people BET expected to tune into this year’s award show, but they were certainly lookin to make bloggers’ heads turn with their three-part “Cyphers” interludes. Considering that BET’s been almost unwatchable since Big Tyga left “Rap City’s Tha Basement” earlier this decade (there’s not a lot of room for credibility when you’re the poor man’s MTV), it’s great to see them extend an olive branch to some people who really deserve it. Beyonce, Lil Wayne, Ne-Yo, and M.I.A. were the “big winners” of the night, but DJ Premier, Mos Def, Black Thought, Eminem, Buckshot, Nipsey Hussle, and Joe Budden actually made the ceremony remarkable.
Granted, I didn’t actually watch the award show (the NBA started tonight; whoever planned that one over at BET should be shot), but this will go down in the memory banks as the one that featured Mos Def, Black Thought, and Eminem going verse for verse. When the Hip Hop nerds have heated arguments in their dorm rooms tomorrow over who came the hardest (pause), I would put my money on the exit polls favoring Slim. Thought, with all his talk of being underrated and unappreciated (he is in Hip Hop and of the three), stole Cypher #3, but if we’re going to be real, Joe Budden ran away with it, overall. Peep the other two Cyphers after the break and tell us who you think spit it best.
If you’ve been hanging around ER wards or perhaps black market opium parlors, you may have crossed paths with Joe Budden recently. His critics would argue that you wouldn’t have noticed him, for he’s a social hermit, a perpetual loser. His recent scuffle with Wu-Tang, specifically Raekwon and Inspectah Deck, has added fervor to the plethora of anti-Budden sentiment that has residualy festered ever since Budden dropped “Pump it Up” in ’03. What can come of all this collective hate?
This latest Budden installment, the “LP” titled Escape Route, recently dropped and screams one word: introspectiveness. My review may startle some of you; the new Joe Budden is more than listen-able, it’s outright good. Perhaps this is a testament to subjective taste rather than artist development, but Budden has never sounded genuine to me, till now. Right off the bat he comes hard on Intro, spitting the following steel bars:
Look psychotic it’s what they call you ignore you going by my logic
That a law will secure you looking through my optics
Lead and steel put pillow in front of me i pop it
Tried to stop it but couldn’t look at my eye sockets
The rest of the album you anticipate him to come across as flaky, failing miserably to represent dirty Jersey with genuine filthiness. Well you’d be wrong, as I was, simply put, Budden is pissed. And you push any man to his limit, regardless of street credibility, that man will crack. When that breaking point occurs, two things can happen. One, the artist self-implodes, spinning into a downward spiral reminiscent of Canibus post LL Cool J beef. Alternatively, they may channel their frustration into their artistic realm, maximizing the god given talent that they do objectively possess, regardless of hate.
I’d argue Budden kills it and that we should all watch Budden TV for updates about the conclusion of his musical trilogy , The Great Escape drops next year, but that’d fall on deaf ears. But believe this, Budden is not the man he says he is, nor the man many wish to him fail to be. All we can ask from an artist is to leave themselves on a track, the proverbial blood and sweat. That, Budden did, thanks Joey.
Joe Budden – Intro
Joe Budden – No Comment
Joe Budden – Clothes on a Mannequin
Video models walk a fine line with a fat ass and that ain’t easy to do! On the one hand they have to exude sex and erotica, all in a manner that emulates a stripper on a busy night in Atlanta. However, if the video model wants to secure girlfriend status with the celebrity, i.e. Amber Rose/Kanye, she must be careful not to sell herself short. Yes, at the end of the day it’s all about how magnanimous her booty may be, but there needs to be a certain ‘je ne sais quois’ that draws in the masses, and most importantly the rap superstars. In the case of Amber Rose a massive part of her appeal is the fashionista/thirsty/hood/couture mixture she has manifested in her public aesthetics.
In the case of Joe Budden’s recent girlfriend Tahiry, her appeal may be a little more accessible. Graced with one of the largest assess on the planet, Tahiry has been featured in XXL and King Magazine, both photo shoots are somewhat legendary. She broke up with Budden a few days ago, and will most definitely be parlaying that TMZ buzz into a new celebrity beau friend. Her special talent? Making jaws drop and rappers cry. Yo Joey, I guess Slaughterhouse has been a little too encompassing of a project. You went out to play with the piggies even though you had bacon at home. Peep the behind the scenes video below of Tahiry’s King Magazine shoot, and peep more images of this delicacy after the jump.
Between this new single (below) and the capacity for these guys to be sardonic (above), I’m really starting to appreciate Slaughterhouse. Perhaps they’re justifying that whole Supergroup thing.
Back in the ’90s and early ’00s when the economy was booming and the potential for Hip-Hop seemed limitless, every artist and their moms was venturing off as a solo artist. Starting your own label was low-risk and a right of passage for successful acts. However, the decline of records sales in combination with/as a result of the recent recession have created a survival-of-the-fittest-type attitude among artists and record execs, alike. While the labels have responded by becoming stingier with their dough, sticking with established artists to knock out that hit single, solo artists are progressively receding into the comfort of the group setting. From a fan’s point of view, the allure of combining such star power is not unlike your favorite superheroes teaming up when you were a kid. And there are always those peripheral emcees who shine on guest appearances, and this should presumably be their bread and butter. Over the last few years, we have seen the following “super groups” formed:
The latest addition to this list is the crew Gangrene aka Oh No and Alchemist, which makes their grand debut on Al’s newest album Chemical Warfare. On the track “Acts of Violence” (video below), Oh No and Alchemist form like Voltron and incite riots from a news room. Unfortunately, a bunch of the tracks from Chemical Warfare, dropping July 7th, have been previously released in one form or another, but it certainly looks to be a banger.
-Wale & 9th Wonder’s Back to the Feature mixtape dropped, and it features Talib Kweli, Freeway, Black Thought, Young Chris, Joell Ortiz, Bun B, Torae, Joe Budden, and Curren$y. Sounds pretty dope, but I can’t help be feel that Wale is o-ver-rat-ed. Grab it here.
-Not sure what project this is supposed to be off of, but Nas’ newest Swizz Beatz-produced track is kind of nice. This is probably the first Swizz Beatz joint that I’ve ever enjoyed. Still, he’s firmly cemented himself as the 21st Century DJ Clue and needs to shut the fuck up.
-A second track, “Car Service,” has leaked from Wiz Khalifa and Curren$y’s upcoming, collaborative mixtape How Fly. Looking forward to this one.
-Jamie Foxx has a new track out with The-Dream, Kanye, and Drake. Is anyone downloading this track to hear Jamie Foxx? Didn’t think so.
-The Wu continues to make noise, leaking tracks off of their live band-backed Chamber Music. Peep “Kill Too Hard” with Masta Ace, U-God, and Inspectah Deck.
-In case there was any doubt that Slaughterhouse (Royce Da 5’9, Joe Budden, Joell Ortiz, and Crooked I) is going to be raw as shit already, the first leak off of their album features M.O.P. Check it.
-After what seems like 2 decades, Chali 2na is getting set to drop his debut solo album. If anything, “When Will I See You Again” has reminded me how dope Elzhi of Slum Village is.
-You can’t sample The Beatles’ “Eleanor Rigby.” Kweli already tried. But J Dilla could interpolate the melody and throw Guilty Simpson on the track. Yeah, that could work…
-I’ve been a bit disappointed by Torae and Marco Polo’s collabo, Double Barrel, but I’m really feeling the last track.
-BONUS: The sample to Jay-Z’s “D.O.A. (Death of Autotune),” produced by No I.D. Ill, but pretty standard issue.
“From the start, even if they don’t see it I play a part/Rather than sell a record, I’d rather do it from the heart.”
-Joe Budden on “Classic”
Dear Joe,
Haters won’t openly admit it, but you have skills. You’ve dropped some insightful lines that made me think and others that made me laugh out loud. But you’ve gotta stop frontin’ like you’ve been a principled underground artist, uncompromising in your creative vision from the get go. It’s like Joe Lieberman endorsing John McCain for president only to pretend like he was down with the Dems all along after the election— You’re not fooling anybody. It just hasn’t been long enough for people to forget “Pump It Up.”
Now, you get nothing but my utmost respect for the rebound that you’ve made since that mediocre anthem briefly put your name in everybody’s mouths. But now you’re in the news (blogs) responding to some silly VIBE “Best Rappers Ever” tournament bracket, and you look foolish. They say any press is good press, but, in this case, you’re giving VIBE an iota of credibility, which takes away your legitimacy as an MC for even giving a fuck. And by talking on Melle Mel and Meth, you’re just alienating your fan base (i.e. underground Hip-Hop heads), which holds these guys in the highest regard. This is VIBE magazine, for fuck’s sake. This is the magazine that couldn’t even step to the frontlines when The Source turned on everything that made them great and handed the reigns over to Benzino. They ranked DMX as the 10th best rapper of all time, and you still flipped. If VIBE is a reliable source for music, then I have a doctorate in glaciology.
In conclusion, I hope that you’ll stick to what you do best— writing rhymes, because I’m sincerely looking forward to that Slaughtahouse album.
Take it light,
Zebra is Food
As far as I can remember, the last time Method Man was in any sort of altercation was in the film The Show, Raekwon was yelling at him for talking too much. Apparently Iron Lung feels Budden has been trying to steal his style since he first hopped onto Def Jam.
??? At first glance I want to say this beef is dumb. I mean, what is the point of a near forty-year old Method Man going after one of the most prominent DIY rappers around? On the other hand, why not. Diss tracks have been some of the most resounding chromosomes in rap music’s blood stream. Aside from the typical you’re gay and I fuck your wife cliches, I’m always intrigued to hear cool ways people find to hurt each others feelings. Pump it up and bring the pain!
Charles Barkley said that a white person being best rapper and a black guy being the best golfer, were certain signs of the apocalypse. However Fall Out Boy teaming with Murs, Joe Budden and 88 Keys may be a signal that it’s time to load your 12-gauge and retreat to the cellar with water and crackers.
On second thought, armageddon probably wont happen just yet, considering that Murs has collaborated with other oddities such as pro-wrestler John Cena, E-40 and even Grover, of Sesame Street-fame. Cop the track here.
As is the case with most artists in the infancy of their craft, Kid Cudi has had a very stressful first 6 months. Fresh in this game, and still riding high off his “hit” single “Day n Nite” which peaked at an Everestesque #27 on the Hot 100, Kid Cudi has decided to “retire.” Yes, I know what you’re thinking. How dare he wet our appetite with such verocity only to retire months later! Ok, maybe you’re not thinking that, we’re certainly not. Here on ZebraisFood we have torn this foo up in the past few months. For one thing, he pulled that ridiculous move at the Reebok party at All Star Weekend, getting tasered and all. Then he had one of his boyfriends jump on our site and straight HATE on one of my posts, see Cudi’s #1 fan and apparently my #1 hater right here .
But seriously, Kid is leaving us, partially because he wants to do this show upcoming on HBO, but most importantly some of his closest friends were telling him the ugly truth. Wale put it best, allow me to show you the clip on Budden TV that was just too much for KC to handle. Peep it: Skip to 4:18 to start hearing the Cudi diss cipher. But the whole video is worth checking out for sure, Joe Budden got jokes son.
When somebody good passes on, it is said that somebody better comes along to take the torch. But sometimes when somebody worthless passes on (Kid C), somebody much, much, much better comes along to turn on the light. On that note, start peeping Wale’s new blog, apparently this viral marketing product hasn’t been blogging! I dig that, too busy making insightful comments about your musical inferiors.
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