Throwback Video of the Day: DMX f/Faith Evans - How's It Goin' Down

One of my favorite songs by one of my favorite rappers off of one of my favorite albums, 1998's It's Dark and Hell is Hot. The classic tale of bagging someone else's girl, having your affair, then realizing what's best and sending her back to her man and kids. It's crazy that DMX's first five albums went number 1 on the charts, he was starring in major motion pictures, and he was pretty much on top of the entertainment industry. Now he's doing reality shows in his spare time. Cocaine is a hell of a drug.....

"Told you from the door, it ain't all about a nut."

Throwback Video of the Day: Clipse f/Kelis & Pharrell - When The Last Time

Today's vid comes from my favorite hip hop duo of all time, the Clipse. Along for the ride is bird ass Kelis and possibly my favorite person in the music business, Skateboard P. This was the duo's highest charting single, peaking at number 19 on the Billboard Hot 100. Can you believe it's been ten years since this came out?! Time really flies. The video ends with a separate scene with 'Virginia' playing.

Once again, this is 2002. Notice my nigga Pharrell was still fresh in clothes that actually fit. True trendsetter.

Throwback Video of the Day: Juvenile - Ha

Starting today, I'll be posting one video a day that people may have forgotten about due to time. It could be something from last year, or something from the 70's, you never know.


I've been listening to old Cash Money (before they became a pop label) shit all day, so it's only right that I give my favorite Cash Money artist of all time the spotlight. Juve kept it real in this video, shot back in 1998 in the middle of the Magnolia Projects in his hometown of New Orleans, LA. It's unique in it's own way because he ends every line in the same way throughout the whole song. My favorite part of the song is the chorus, which is actually a recycled line from his single Solja Rags. Classic down south shit right here.

ALBUM REVIEW: Ab-Soul - Control System

On May 11th Ab-Soul dropped what I believe is by far the best album of 2012, Control System. Even though it's been out some time I still felt like the relaunch of my blog wouldn't be complete without me breaking down this work of art. Soul is apart of the Black Hippy crew which hails out of California. While other members Kendrick Lamar, ScHoolboy Q and Jay Rock have had their share of publicity over the past few years, Soul has been slept on for the most part despite having three critically acclaimed projects over the past few years. The fourth time was a charm for him as this has gotten him the attention that was long overdue. Just as the title states, he discusses many control systems that are all around us. Whether it be the government, standards within society, or systems that we bind ourselves in...he covers it all. It takes a few listens to really soak up and appreciate everything he touches on, but hopefully I can make it a little easier for everyone to understand and enjoy....

1) Soulo Ho3 (Feat. Jhene Aiko)

In the intro which features the vocals of the lovely Jhene Aiko, Soul speaks on being slept on and how he went about changing that out of nowhere. Also spits a couple bars about the Control Systems around us and the death of his girlfriend Alori Joh, which is foreshadowing because those are two topics that he touches on often throughout the album.

2) Track Two

Track Two eh? Wonder why he called it that? He's all over the place on this one, pretty straight forward though. He speaks on his hometown, him being different from most, not having a lot growing up, just everything. Ill production from Tae Beast.

3) Bohemian Grove

This is where the album gets interesting. The Bohemian Grove is actually a campground in Monte Rio, California where some of the richest and most powerful men in the world meet to hang out, and also discuss world issues and plans for the future. But he actually describes some of the finer things of life, and having a good time throughout the song. Except for the chorus (which is really the only time he refers to the song title.), "Mother fuck the government, mother fuck the system, mother fuck you I'm just living how I'm living." He ends the song with a sound clip of men talking (Bohemian Grove members? Not really sure.) about about putting chips into humans that will make them abide to orders, making them chattel (slaves).


4) Terrorist Threats (Feat. Danny Brown)


Powerful song. Soul says that if everyone gets on the same page we'll be able to break the Control Systems around us, specifically all of the bullshit that the government does, in this case. Danny Brown says some ill shit on his verse. If you can deal with his voice, he's nice.


5) Pineal Gland


Switch of pace here. Your pineal gland (3rd eye) is the part of your brain that causes you to dream while you are asleep. The drug that he raps about taking in this song, DMT, activates your 3rd eye and causes you to see some of your dreams while you're still awake. Lots of double meanings throughout the whole track, portraying his usual advanced way with words.


6) Double Standards


Touches on things that we say everyday in society. Men are allowed to have hoes (yes) and it is acceptable, but if a woman were to do the same she'd be looked at as a hoe and talked down on. The story in this song is about a young dude who cheats on his girl with one of her friends after his friends and the girl peer pressured him into it. In the end she takes him back and cuts off her friend. Shit happens every day out here unfortunately.


7) Mixed Emotions


The ode to sipping lean. With promethazine, codeine, and Sprite being the mixed emotions. Nothing too deep here, or special...but still an ill song.

8) SOPA (Feat. ScHoolboy Q)

Stop Online Privacy Act is a United States bill that wants to expand U.S. law enforcement ability to watch over online trafficking on copy-written property. Basically, popular hip hop sites such as 2DopeBoyz, Nah Right, and blogs like this wouldn't be allowed to be on the internet. As he does a lot, Soul only references the title in the chorus and focuses on the better facets of life (marijuana, women, fashion) during his verses. ScHoolboy does the same, hits us with solid verses. I like how they split the last verse.

9) Lust Demons (Feat. Jay Rock & BJ The Chicago Kid)

Lust demons are women that Soul lusts over rather than loves or likes. I can feel him on that. Even though we aren't supposed to lust, shit happens. And you gotta differentiate lust and love right from the jump, why not call em lust demons? Damn sure can't be out here calling them angels. Jay Rock, the more quiet member of Black Hippy, drops an ill verse. Discusses crew lovers at the beginning, references Amber Rose...it had to be done.

10) ILLuminate (Feat. Kendrick Lamar)

"We don't just shine, we illuminate the whole show." Classic Jay-Z line from Dead Presidents II. Soul references Jay-Z a couple times in this one, he's stated that Jay is his favorite rapper but he's so confident in himself that one day maybe he could be on his level. Focuses on all of Black Hippy's bright futures, critics, confidence, the whole nine. Kendrick uses an old Dre line in his verse, so he is also speaking of his favorite rapper. 

11) A Rebellion (Feat. Alori Joh)

Definitely the deepest song on the album thus far. It only has a few drawn out lines, but they all hit extremely hard. In the three short verses he questions law enforcement, preachers, and even God. Repeating that he's prolly all alone on each issue. His late girlfriend Alori Joh provides singing vocals on the chorus, as does Soulo. I don't think he's alone on most of the issues it all, it's just that those are things that you aren't really supposed to question. Even though most of us do internally, most people are too scared to voice what they think publicly. "Who's bold enough to rebel?"

12) Showin' Love

Takes a track to shout out all of the niggas who are on the same shit that he's on. Four solid ass verses, shows off the lyrical side a little more on this one than a lot of the tracks. Uses the last verse to take shots at the biggest Control System, the government. "Mother fuck the government, democrats, republicans."

13) Empathy (Feat. Alori Joh & Javonte)

Soulo shows off the singing voice again on this one. Empathy is a person's ability to recognize feelings that are being experienced or expressed by another person. Seems that a song that features the late Alori Joh was actually about her.

14) Nothing's Something

Soul flips Kanye's Addiction and uses the same chorus. Uses a clever play on words for the songs concept. He states "I'm not worried about nothing.", which people would think means that he's not worried, but he uses the literal definition of the sentence. So not being worried about nothing really means he's always worried about something, because nothing is always something.

15) Beautiful Death (Feat. Punch & Astrobot)

"Don't be so afraid to die, cuz we'll never die." What he's getting at in this song is that you die for a good cause you will forever live on through what you did. Questions if anyone is man enough to stand on their own two to fight these control systems (the government) and the bullshit that they get away with every day. He shows that he's willing to die for what he believes in, and while many people say that they will, if it came down to it they wouldn't.

16) The Book of Soul

Man...this shit right here. I don't remember the last time I've heard such emotion in one song. He talks about what he went through as a child. Things such as Stevens Johnson's syndrome and having a rough time in school. Then goes on to talk about his relationship with his late girlfriend Alorhi Joh. A lot of crazy lines in this one. "I guess the Mayans weren't lying, 2012 my world ended." "You used to say that I could see the future, you was wrong cuz you was in it." "As much as I want to cower and bid the mic adieu, and fall off a fucking tower tryna find you." The last one really hits because she actually committed suicide by jumping off of a radio tower in California. Listening to this you can't help but feel for him. But by the way he carries himself you'd never know it, and this is the only song that he has really spoke on any of these things. It's impossible to listen to this for the first time and not run it back.

17) Black Lip Bastard (Remix) (Feat. Kendrick Lamar, ScHoolboy Q, and   

      Jay Rock)

The rest of Black Hippy hops on the first leaked track from this album. This one ads even more evidence to some people's opinions (such as mine) that they're the best group in rap right now.

Control System is a complete hip hop album. It takes you through the highs and lows of life, brings up a bunch of issues of the America that most citizens don't even realize are going on, while still managing to have a bunch of fun party type records. What impresses me the most about Ab-Soul is his word usage, he has a far better vocabulary than most other rappers, especially for a rapper that's only 25. Up until this release he was the one member of Black Hippy that most people hadn't listened to, he's still the only one that doesn't have a Wikipedia page. But after about a month of this being out a lot more people are becoming more familiar with him and checking his older releases that they've slept on. I think this is the clear cut best album of 2012 so far, I'm looking forward to seeing if anyone will be able to top this during the second half of the year.

BEST SONG(S): Terrorist Threats, A Rebellion, The Book of Soul.

WORST SONG(S): Mixed Emotions.

FINAL VERDICT: 5/5

NEW MUSIC: M.E.Z. - Hello

M.E.Z. - Hello

A few days ago Charlotte artist M.E.Z. (@ItsM_E_Z) performed this joint for the first time, and if you didn't get a chance to catch it then you really missed out. But no worries, the mp3 version will definitely suffice. Here is Hello, produced by my mans Sauce Fonda (@saucefonda). Hit us up in the comments section or on Twitter (@djayare) and let us know what you think of the track.

"These hater niggas saying all these niggas hating, these basic bitches calling all these bitches basic." -M.E.Z.

VIDEO: Mar Reynolds X Bankroll Bird - Trust Issues (Live)

VIDEO: Mar Reynolds X Bankroll Bird - Trust Issues (Live)

On Sunday June 10th I attended "AMCS Bodega: The Sequel", it was a showcase of a lot of Charlotte's local talent. Whether it being music, art, or clothing..a lot of different talent was brought to light. There is a lot of young talent in Charlotte that doesn't get a lot of attention so shout out to F4mily Matters, Nameus, and everyone else for putting on a very successful event. I had a blast. Here I wanted to show a small clip of the final performance by Bankroll Bird & Mar Reynolds. It's their single "Trust Issues" from their 5 song EP The Unexpected. If you haven't heard it yet I'd definitely recommend you clicking that link and downloading it, for deee freeeee. But anyways here's the performance, excuse my shitty iPhone footage. It's good music so it shouldn't matter.

SONG REVIEW: Frank Ocean - Pyramids

SONG REVIEW: FRANK OCEAN - PYRAMIDS

A couple of days ago on Friday, June 8th, Frank Ocean hit us with the first single, Pyramids, off of his highly anticipated debut album Channel Orange. Male R&B is a dying genre and Frank is one of the few crooners out there that rarely disappoints, so to say I was happy to hear some new music from him would be an understatement. Along with the new track, he also announced that his debut album would be released worldwide on July 17th. Since the release of his debut mixtape Nostalgia, Ultra Frank has been relatively quiet and hasn't released much material since, so to hear that his album would be dropping so soon was definitely refreshing.

The first thing that caught my attention after downloading the song was the fact that it was ten minutes long. Most songs fall in between the four to five minute range so he was definitely taking a step in the dark by releasing such a long song. It's hard to keep listeners attention for four minutes, let alone ten. But in typical Frank Ocean fashion, he doesn't disappoint. Within the ten minutes of the song he tells you multiple sides to the life of a woman by the name of Cleopatra. The most impressive thing about the song to me was all of the double and triple meanings hidden throughout. Cleopatra is most famously known as the last Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt, hence the Pyramid references throughout the song. But the pyramid that he is referring to in MOST of this song is actually a strip club, with actual literal pyramid references in the first two verses. He plays many different roles throughout the song, taking advantage of the long length of the song.

At first Frank is Cleopatra's man, boyfriend, King, whatever you may want to call him...and he finds out that she has been cheating on him with another man. We find that out in the very first line, which actually has a double meaning. "Set the cheetahs (cheaters) on the loose." Throughout the first sequence of the song he talks about how him and his lady and how he can't believe that she has run out on him and what they had. After two verses of describing the situation Frank decides that what she has done was unforgivable and that he must let her go, hence the line "Remove her, send the cheetahs to the tomb."

In the second sequence of the song Frank now portrays the character of Cleopatra in a different light. He now puts himself in the position of a man who has bought the services of Cleopatra for the night. He describes them waking up in a cheap motel room in which she is getting dressed and getting ready to leave for her next job at "the pyramid", another play on words. He gives further proof that the pyramid is indeed a strip club in the lines that state the attire that she is putting on, "Then your panties in the mirror, then your lipstick, then your six inch heels.". This leads to another bridge where all he says is simply "She's working at the Pyramid tonight."

Finally, Frank ends the song with a long segment in which he puts himself in the position of Cleopatra's pimp. He goes on to describe their order of business, the fact that he is in love with her, and also that he is broke and she is actually his only source of income. Throughout the last few verses he talks about them making love in between her encounters with her clients (fucking sick right?). Cleopatra is stripping at the Pyramid for him, selling her body for him, but in return she receives nothing. Eventually at the end of the song Cleopatra realizes the predicament she is in and eventually wants Frank to be one of her clients, rather than her pimp. You see this in the line "But your love ain't free no more.", at the end of his last verse.

Frank's incredible songwriting ability is definitely shown in this one, it's what sets him apart from just about every other R&B singer. He manages to keep you entertained for a whole ten minutes, while describing multiple sides of one big story and using various double meanings along the way. It will take you several listens to figure everything out, but that's the beauty of it. I'm looking forward to Channel Orange dropping on July 17th, as well as his concert in Atlanta on the 22nd. Look forward to more song, album, and mixtape reviews on deejsays in the near future. Until next time.....