Random Thought: Pusha T - Alone In Vegas

This is very random, but Pusha T's Alone in Vegas has been coming up on shuffle a lot these past couple of days and I can't get it out of my head. This track was found on both of his 2011 releases Fear of God, and Fear of God II: Let Us Pray. Personally I think it is the best track on both projects, but I didn't realize that until these past couple of days for some reason. It's one of those tracks that you have to listen to a couple of times back to back to really appreciate it. If you really listen to what he's saying, he shows storytelling at it's finest, you can really play the whole scene out in your head. The video for the track is that much better. It's kind of simple, nothing too extraordinary. But at the same time it's deep, fits the song perfectly, and also gives him the chance to stunt a little throughout. Ever since Push stepped into the limelight by launching his solo career he's been ripping everything. Some days I even feel like he may be my favorite rapper.




Don't mind me I'm just rambling, but here's the video to go along with this sleeper.

"The game can't grow by just following the leaders, you gotta be better than the ones who precede ya."

Throwback Video of the Day: Project Pat f/ La Chat & Three 6 Mafia - Chickenhead

The most popular track off of one of my personal favorite rap albums, Mista Don't Play: Everthangs Workin'. I let the whole thing ride earlier and it still hasn't gotten old! Project Pat is still one of my favorite rappers today, you can tell that he actually did the things that he raps about unlike most rappers. Plus I love that 90's Memphis sound that he and Three 6 created back then. Ladies, do all that you can not to fall under this category that they speak of in this song.

ALBUM REVIEW: Frank Ocean - Channel Orange

I've been waiting on this one for well over a year now. Frank Ocean has found himself as the center of attention over the past week or so due to the release of his highly anticipated debut album, as well as other reasons. Regardless of what's going on with him and his world, the music has always been great so I will continue supporting it. With that said, let's break down Channel Orange.

1) Start

Can't really tell what's going on in this one. If I had to guess, Frank was dreaming and his phone woke him up. He then proceeds to hop on the Playstation, you can hear Street Fighter in the background.

2) Thinkin' Bout You

One of two singles we were hit with prior to the release of the album. Great song, we've all been there. He's thinking about this girl (or...) all day and isn't sure if she's feeling the same. The best part is the second verse, it's completely sarcastic. Seems as if he was shot down so he tries to get his face back with smart ass remarks and things he doesn't really mean.

3) Fertilizer

You've got to listen to the CD in order or a lot of it won't make sense, including this track. Fertilizer is pretty much animal manure that is used to grow things, but what Frank is saying in this song is that he's willing to put up with this person's bullshit (manure, fertilzer, get it?) as long as they work out.

4) Sierra Leone

Outstanding plays on words througout this song. Frank goes through the whole process of having a child in under three minutes without using any obvious words to give away what he's talking about until he says 'daughter' once in the last couple of lines. Begins telling us that he's run out of condoms, and he's let loose inside of this young lady. They're broke, they're young, living with their parents, but he won't be a statistic and not be apart of his child's life.

5) Sweet Life

Skateboard P comes through with the assist on production of this track. Frank shows more impressive songwriting with the very first line, he compares this girl (or...) to a song on an album. In most cases the best songs on an album aren't singles, and in a lot of cases the best catches aren't single either. He then starts off the next verse with "The best song wasn't the single, but you couldn't turn your radio down." Basically saying although she (or...) wasn't single, but she was still flirting and showing him attention. He and the girl pop a blue pill (Matrix reference I believe?) which allows them to live in a dream world rather than see the harsh realities of every day life. He uses most of the song to describe this great world that he thinks of, which happens to be the world that this girl actually is used to. He ends the song by taking a sudden turn back to regular life by stating "The neighborhood's going ape shit crazy."

6) Not Just Money

Frank flips to another 'channel' of his life and leads us to a conversation between him and his mother about him going to prom. He's upset because he may not be able to go and it will upset his girl. His mom lectures him on how they're lower class and can't afford everything. She takes a turn at the end by thinking out loud about what they're having for dinner, and instead of going out to eat she remembers there are hot links at home. This reveals that she's saving money in order for Frank to attend the prom. So I look at this channel as an ode to his mother and the sacrifices that she (and a lot of single parents) made for her children.

7) Super Rich Kids (Feat. Earl Sweatshirt)

Frank's fellow Odd Future member Earl hops on this one. Frank takes a completely 360 degree turn from the last track, he puts himself in the position of the typical rich kid. Plenty of money, plenty of drugs, cars, pretty much everything he could want. But his parents are out working to make this money so they're hardly around. So despite all of the money and material things, he is still very unhappy. Earl snaaaaaps on his verse, as expected. At the end of the song Frank can no longer deal with this unhappiness and drunkenly jumps off of a ledge despite his girl's attempts to stop him.

8) Pilot Jones

The very necessary marijuana song that pops up on most albums. He begins the song by breaking up with his girl because he can no longer tolerate her weed habit. He reveals in his next verse that his girl not only has a bad weed habit, she also sells it. She comes home drunk often and he hates dealing with it, but he's becoming addicted to the weed and sex so he puts up with it. In the last verse he finally concedes to her and her habits and decides to stay with her.

9) Crack Rock

Frank puts himself in the place of a man with an addiction to crack cocaine. He's all alone, smoking out of the glass dick (crack pipe) in random abandoned houses, he's messed up his family life, and doing anything to get that fix that he needs. In the end he ends up shooting a crooked cop who fuels the drug trade, and of course search parties are after him. But if it were a random regular man getting shot, would anyone care?

10) Pyramids

The epic ten minute track that had everyone waiting for the album to release. Check out my older review of the track here.

11) Lost

Frank uses even more double meanings throughout the song. He's picked him up a pretty young woman with fake breasts and everything. They're in love but her real purpose is cooking and moving his coke for him. When she's traveling to make transactions no one would ever expect her to be dealing due to how beautiful she is. In a sense he's ruined her life, hence the song title. Due to all of the drugs and what comes along with it they've also lost love.

12) White (Feat. John Mayer)

My favorite musician alive blesses Frank with a one minute interlude which has him playing 'White' which was featured on The Odd Future Tape Vol. 2 on the guitar. Sounds wonderful, but I will say I am a bit disappointed. I was hoping to hear some vocals from him as well.

13) Monks

Storytelling at it's finest. There's tons of references to Buddhism in this song that I can't quite understand, but besides that Frank is performing at a concert with a real ass concert with a live crowd and he meets this young African girl, that just so happens to be a groupie (go figure). He ends up falling for her and wants her to come with him. He compares the media and the lifestyle that he lives to her father (the King of her nation) and his army chasing them down. Basically saying that to be with him she has to be able to deal with this crazy life that he lives and pretty much being on the run at all times.

14) Bad Religion

The song that had everybody guessing. This is the one that sparked reports that Frank may like the same sex, after hearing it you know immediately that the rumors were true. It's an extremely well written song that WOULD hit home for a lot of men, including myself, IF he was actually talking about a woman. He clearly states "I could never make him love me.". So I can understand why the song doesn't sit well with a lot of people, but if you plug yourself into it think about situations you've been in rather than Frank, it makes it a lot easier to enjoy the song. It's crazy how he set it up, he's confessing all of this to a random Indian taxi driver that actually prays for him throughout the song. I believe the song title comes from homosexuality being a sin, hence 'Bad'. I respect him a lot for letting it be known, especially on a platform such as this.

15) Pink Matter (Feat. Andre 3000)

Pink Matter = vagina. That simple. But Frank's all over the place. He sings about the human brain, aliens, and most importantly the pleasure women are able to give him. While the pleasure is great and everything he could ask for, he could not find love with this woman. So in the end it's fun and he enjoyed it whole heartily, but it doesn't matter. Three Stacks doesn't disappoint as usual and tells us about this young lady he's become addicted to and having withdrawals from. Nice play on words with "Well frankly that ocean so muh fuckin' good.." She's wet like an ocean, but he uses Frank's name to say this. Clever.

16) Forrest Gump

The second of two all out homosexual songs on the album. Talks about the man that's been running through his mind, and reveals that he's nervous about letting the public know how he's felt about this one man for some time. Nigga nigga.

17) End

Clever ending. There's a couple having sex in a car with Frank's song Voodoo playing in the background. The girl tells the man that he's special and he wishes that he could see what she does in him. The man then gets up without replying and goes inside the house. Leaves us wondering. This could have been another clue to Frank coming out of the closet. The letter that he posted on Tumblr several days back was actually supposed to be in his album booklet so this may have been his original way of leading up to his announcement that he likes woman, but was in love with a man in the past. We'll probably never know...

OVERALL: All in all this was a great album, start to finish. I had very high expectations and I can say that they were all pretty much met. I liked every song and interlude except for Forrest Gump, was a little too much for me. He lets everyone into his mind and reveals the story of various points throughout his life. Did a great job showing where he's at as an artist and further set himself apart from most songwriters. I do wish that some tracks were longer because the shorter ones are the ones that I really liked, for the most part. I'm not going to front like him coming out didn't throw me off, it took me a day or so to sit back and be an adult and realize that good music is good music. It shouldn't matter to us as listeners how he lives his life. At the same time I can definitely understand why some can't entertain certain parts of the album as much as they may have originally wanted to. At the end of the day, this is a great composition and I'm having a hard time remembering when the last time was that I heard an R&B album this good. I look forward to more music from Frank in future.

BEST SONGS: Pyramids, Pilot Jones, Monks, Bad Religion, Pink Matter.

WORST SONGS: Forrest Gump.

FINAL VERDICT: 4.5/5

Throwback Video of the Day: Method Man & Redman - Da Rockwilder

When I was younger, you couldn't tell me that Red & Meth weren't the realest rappers out. They put out good music, a hilarious ass television show, and my favorite movie of all time. I'm still waiting on that sequel. Here's my favorite video from the duo....

Throwback Video of the Day: Busta Rhymes f/Pharrell & Diddy - Pass The Courvoisier

It's been a minute y'all. My bad for the delay on everything, my shitty laptop only works when it wants too. Fortunately I'll be the proud owner of a MacBook in the next couple of days so I'll be back on here daily.

Now to business, THIS right here! I always liked this video because you can tell that they were honestly having a blast the whole time.  From the bar, to the back alley, to Busta and Puff Daddy whooping everyone's ass in the massage parlor. Busta Rhymes with that drop bruh?! That's when he was at his best. The freshest man in the game for almost two decades now hits us with the perfect hook. My bro Al I and tried Courvoisier for the first time a couple weeks ago, it's cool but I'll still be asking everyone to pass me the Henny.