Aw shit, it’s been awhile since I’ve heard some new Cage. Here is the first video from his new album Depart from Me, directed by Shia LeBouf. Wasn’t this guy supposed to make a biopic about his life?

An hour and some change dedicated to Tupac Amaru Shakur. Nice Rec gives the man his just due on this one. Come quick see…

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I have a question to ask, has Eminem gotten plastic surgery? Look at his face, there is a very fake quality to it now. Peep game:

There is something very unnatural with his face there, nevermind that his face looks like it has been SUPERIMPOSED with another body. Just to prove my point a little further:

I figured that I am not the first person to ponder this question, and sure enough, a simple search returned quite a few responses.  A post from My Arms Fold Back suggests that he now has a chin implant, and nose surgery (funny knob in the middle there). Another website wonders aloud whether he has had multiple face tucks.

Maybe I am need a late pass and y’all noticed that awhile ago. For that matter, what is the consensus of the hip hop community on cosmetic surgery? It SCREAMS low self-esteem, which is the antithesis of the image rappers are trying to present to the public. Why is surgery even necessary when hip hop embraced Big Pun and Biggie with open arms, looks shouldn’t matter.

No, he doesn’t look like Lil’ Kim or Michael Jackson, but he sure do look funny.

Oh well, I’ll end by saying that this is one my favorite music videos so far this year.

Murs’ latest album, Murs for President dropped awhile ago. Judging from the non-existent reception this album got, I am assuming he will be dropped from Warner Bros. sometime in the near future. Murs for President was a trash album, by the way.

This is more for Nice Rec than anyone else, here is the video for Stones Throw signee Mayer Hawthorne’s Just Ain’t Gonna Work Out.

Spotted @ Stones Throw

I made my grand return to New York City this past weekend after 2 years only to come back and find my computer has malware on it. Yes, my friends, my computer has been afflicted with the logon/logoff loop, and none of the suggested remedies have been able to fix it.

I am going to have to format the computer this weekend, but until then I am out of commission. We have Jeromisode #2 still yet to be uploaded, and as well as another bonus of Nice Rec spinning the jams coming, too. And then, of course, the long awaited Tupac Man of the Hour.

But yeah, that is the reason for the delay. Bear with me.

I am only part way through Blame One’s Days Chasing Days and I can tell already-this one is a heater. It’s hard to miss when you have Blu and Exile littered throughout the album.

I am also peeping DJ Stoupe’s Decalogue. Stoupe, aka the Enemy of Mankind aka the beatmaker behind Jedi Mind Tricks, excels at crafting nod your head, rowdy production that makes you feel like punching the person next to you in the face. Fans of JMT are going to be feeling this one. Guest appearances from Vinnie Paz, Saigon, M.O.P. and more.

Here goes one half of the final cover of King Magazing aka the Black Maxim. I subscribed to this magazine when it first came out but then I realized I could probably find the pictures online for free. I liked the magazine-I can’t be mad at any publication that features fine ladies on its cover. Nope, can’t be mad at all.

The cover is of Tahiry, girlfriend of Joe Budden and blossiming internet starlet. We live in different times when a girl can make it big off of her boyfriend’s homemade youtube videos.

Eighty-four episodes in you know the routine, we play the hot jams, we talk a little, you listen. Peep game.

Murs – The Pain

Saigon – My Crew
The Kid Daytona – Lonely f/ Amanda Diva
Bishop Lamont – Friends
Bow Wow – Roc the Mic f/ Jermaine Dupri

Doom – Gazillion Ear
88 Keys – Ho’ is Short for Honey f/ Kid Cudi
Steele (of Smif and Wessun) – Toast to Brooklyn f/ Buckshot
Blu – LoveLine(s),DedicatedToLastFe’vrier

Show Notes

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What’s good?

This weekend went by like a blur. Big shoutout to Slim Wilkins, Sidekick Josh, and Angry Dan for coming through. Let me also give the big fuck you to all three of you because I didn’t get anything I wanted to get done. What did I want to get done?

- Watch season 2.0 of Battlestar Gallactica
- Prepare the next episode of the podcast.

Instead here I am on Monday putting in boku work. Thanks for being assholes, and going hard with me this weekend. Pause.

Before the links and videos an update about the podcast: Episode 84 will be out Wednesday or Thursday. Next week we will have a bonus episode with Jerome playing the selections (Jeromisode #2). Before taking a week off and finally knocking out that Tupac episode.

Without further ado:

Here goes a previously unreleased tape of Biggie’s last party before he died. From all accounts, it looks like heads were getting down. Spotted at Nah Right.

- Did I ever tell you that I love this woman?

For everyone dropping her down a notch because her pics are photoshopped… I am willing to look past a little cellulite. Reggie Bush, I applaud you.

- Prodigy sounds like an idiot 95% of the time, but manages to say something thought provoking the other 5%. His latest blog post is in that 95%.

A snippet:

LISTEN UP, FUCK THE TIGHT EUROPEAN CUT (THEY SELL THAT SAME EXACT OUTFIT IN A XXL OR XXXL), FUCK MASSA, FUCK A BLACKBALL AND A BLACKLIST, FUCK GUCCI, FUCK “SWAGGER,” FUCK ALL YOU SAFE FLAMINGO ASS NIGGAS THAT’S SCARED TO ROCK THE BOAT AND FUCK THAT BOAT TOO. I’LL FLIP THAT BITCH OVER.

Yes, he writes in all caps.

- Max B (formerly of Dipset) sucks as a rapper and will probably go to jail for a very very long time. Still, the dude manages to be entertaining in interviews, and for that reason he gets mention on this blog. Here he is talking on Jim Jones, coming at him about his Christmas album amongst other things (I peeped it, it sucked).

- Ignorance aside, let’s end with a little education from the man known as Chuck D.

I was over my friend Keeb$ house today and he was telling me all about Eminem’s new song about college.

Eminem. Ha!

No, that song on the radio about college is by a young man named Asher Roth (click here for video). While I think “I Love College” is as cheesy as you can get-the Weezer sample, the stereotypical college references, not to mention the predictable crowd chant at the end, I never said I didn’t like cheesy. I nodded my head for a nice while to this song.

I am the champion, of the beer pong.
Allen Iver-son, Hakeem Olaju-won.

But does that make him a dope rapper?

In order to make a clear and concise judgment, one must listen to his other material. 2008′s Greenhouse Effect mixtape was a good start, especially with the head-nodder “Cannon” at the helm.

I think a good majority of the people knocking Asher right now are the same people that knocked Eminem when he debuted over a decade ago. Sure, the two do share the same vocal tones, but that is where the comparisons stop, Asher’s flow is much more simplified and the subject matter, although lighter, is totally different. After all, didn’t Eminem fail the ninth grade three times?

The question is: Will Asher be able to transcend the Eminem comparisons? I think he will. First and foremost, no matter what the rap community has to say on the matter, he has crossover appeal. People who would otherwise never listen to hip hop will listen to Asher because they identify with him. I can picture myself right now at a “douchey” top-40 bar in the southside and everyone yelling “Freshmen… freshmen… do something crazy!” at the top of their lungs.

Secondly, I look to the experiences of a rapper who faced a similar predicament when first starting out as a major label artist:  this man is known as Shyne.

It was easy to take one listen to Shyne when he first came out and laugh. “Wait, this guy sounds exactly like Biggie, AND he is on Bad Boy?” A couple of lyrically murdered tracks and successful singles later, Shyne’s talent has shown through and nowadays the comparisons to Biggie are far and few between. For Guerilla Black however, that is a totally different story.

Asher has a whole song, “As I ‘Em” which addresses the comparisons. Apparently he spits his heart out on it. I, for one can’t wait.

Asleep in the Bread Aisle drops April 21st.

Tracklisting (check the illroots link below for some more previewable songs off the album):

01. Lark On My Go-Cart
02. Blunt Cruisin’
03. I Love College
04. Bad Day ft. Jazze Pha
05. Be By Myself ft. Cee-Lo
06. Sour Patch Kids
07. She Don’t Want A Man
08. As I Em ft. Chester French
09. His Dream ft. Miguel
10. Ladida
11. Leo The Lion
12. Fallin
13. Nothing You Can’t Do

Via Illroots