Now where was I, before I got interrupted… Oh yes, Tricky:

“Stop me talking like a tough guy. Subject matter’s love, subject matter’s love. What would I need another enemy. I know I love you, I can feel you in my energy. I’m too scared to be a gun-totting gangster wanna-be. I’ve got too much love inside of me.”

Courageous, this bit. Very stand up.

I know, it’s not Wednesday. I know, I have been skimpy with the hip hop lyrics this week. I know, I have strayed categorically, thematically, and in terms of genre. What can I say? The whole week, it seems I haven’t been myself. I am not making my own decisions. I have been possessed!

I had no choice. The force was too strong.

But seriously, don’t you think this is a good lead-in for the weekend?

I’m feeling too lazy and don’t care enough to do a web search or check Wikipedia or whatever, but still, I am wondering… what happened to Coolio?

And is this for real?: Cookin’ With Coolio

I felt so deeply about posting Too $hort that I wanted to post TWO videos, but folks are being stingy with the embedding, so here’s the link:

It’s like the very best of Public Access!

“You can sell about two mill’, get hooked with a good deal and start stacking dough. You can get your mobiles, ride twenty inch big wheels and collect some hoes. You can even start eating good and smoking good, but you’re pressing your luck, and you say what?–Somebody went bankrupt! But it wasn’t us.”

I was going to post something completely different, something sensitive and thoughtful, then this song came up in the shuffle. As you can see, I could not resist.

Not to imply that this track is not thoughtful… let’s say it is more instructional than my intended selection. The production demands that you listen, and Ludacris demands that you pay attention.

Plus, it has a good beat and you can dance to it.

“Treat my first like my last, and my last like my first and my thirst is the same as when I came.”

Is it really like that? Really?

Like I said at the start of this week, I am a fan of Jay-Z. He is exceptionally talented and plays with words effortlessly. He stands apart from those of lesser talent who are putting out mediocre music at best. The fact that Jay-Z sells millions of records is not surprising, yet neither is it necessarily a sign that these records represent his best efforts.

I’m going to wrap this up like this: if you really are a cut above the rest, the challenge isn’t to outdo those in your field, the challenge is to outdo yourself, stretch yourself, expand yourself. The album that comes from there, from that state of mind, that is the Jay-Z album that I believe is yet to come, that I can’t wait to hear, that I will recommend to Simone.

Ganbatte kudasai, Jay!

“Nothing is for itself, but each thing partaking of the other is living its greatest possibility, is surpassing itself with vitality and meaning and is part of the making of a great unity. So with the works of the great masters.”

-Robert Henri

8/10/08 - Will that album be Blueprint 3?…

… Then there is American Gangster: the concept album.

The press and the praise, much has been said about this album (read all about it). I respect this unified effort, sold only as a complete album (no iTunes), and find it to be a very good one. The album production is first rate, fairly cohesive, and Jay-Z does come up with some unbelievable rhyme patterns. Yet, I must say, the themes aren’t exactly fresh or coming from a new perspective. Even Jay-Z sounds bored on a couple of songs. The vibrancy, dexterity, and delivery on the title track, that’s where it’s at:

“Prodigal child, y’all not ready for the future. Then I disappear in the Bermuda Triangle. My name will be viewed as such, ‘Here’s to the man that refused to give up.’ I want the sky, nigga.”

More please…