VIDEO: B.o.B. - Autotune

B.o.B. parodies a bunch of things wrong with hip hop these days and humorously references Rick Ross, Lil' Wayne, T-Pain and some others. A little piece of end-year genius. This could be seen as this year's Rap Up if Skillz doesn't end up doing one.

LISTEN: Lil' Wayne & The Roots - A Millie (live)

DOWNLOAD Lil' Wayne & The Roots - A Millie (live) (MP3)

Live in Miami last night. Questlove is doing all those "amillie" parts vocally while drumming. From his Twitter: many things i can do on my day job and 90% of you seen em: talk and jokes while drumming, pick my hair and bandlead, penalize frank or the guilty party and not lose the beat, even blogged and posted on okayplayer.com while drumming
girlfriend once made me a sandwich and i dropped nary a crumb while i played 16th notes
but ladies and gents...a first in my 20 years as a Root....i got stumped, i cannot drum and sing "AMILLIEAMILLEAMMILLIEAMILAMILAMILAMILAMILLIEAMILLIEAMILLEAMMILLIE" at the same time, never in my life have i ever prayed for a moment to pass. i can do 200 crunches w/o bitching even deal w/ moms crying i dont call her enough, but i really thought i couldn't make it through this song without turning purple. much thanks to Weeze for holding us down.

LISTEN: T.I. - Swagger Like Us ft. Kanye West, Jay-Z & Lil' Wayne

DOWNLOAD T.I. - Swagger Like Us ft. Kanye West, Jay-Z & Lil' Wayne (MP3)

An M.I.A. vocal sample cradles four verses by four of the biggest rappers out there. Kanye West put a little, well...a lot of T-Pain on his vocals and surprisingly delivers the strongest verse of the whole track. Lil' Wayne put even more T-Pain on himself. T.I. finally gets a little lyrical again. And I just had to use this picture. Jigga does Jigga but doesn't really deliver any memorable lines IMHO. But I'm always extra hard on the GOAT. If Weezy would've delivered this verse I would've called it his first great verse probably.

LISTEN: B.G. - Ya Heard Me ft. Trey Songz, Lil' Wayne & Juvenile

DOWNLOAD B.G. - Ya Heard Me ft. Trey Songz, Lil' Wayne & Juvenile (MP3)

Produced by Cool & Dre and an official Hot Boys reunion. Juvenile's charisma still runs circles about any of these other cats. I am amusing myself by imagining the hook as "you hurt me", instead of "ya heard me", and the video as a bunch of whiny rappers with frowns and tears (like Lil' Wayne tattoo).

LISTEN: The Game - My Life ft. Lil' Wayne

DOWNLOAD The Game - My Life ft. Lil' Wayne (MP3)

Name dropping John Lennon, The Notorious B.I.G., Kurt Cobain, Eminem, Proof and many more. Dope song. Weezy just does his autotune thing on the hook so no worries about crappy nonsensical verses.

Mp3 via Eskay

LISTEN: Lil' Wayne - Mr. Carter ft. Jay-Z

DOWNLOAD Lil' Wayne - Mr. Carter ft. Jay-Z (MP3)

Leaked off of Lil' Wayne's The Carter III. Jay-Z doesn't necessarily murder Weezy on his own shit. Just Blaze provides the beat.

VIDEO: Lil' Wayne Is An Atrocious Guitar Player

Now, I wasn't expecting much of Lil' Wayne's guitar playing skills, even though Necole Bitchie describes them as "phenomenol guitar skills...He killed it…literally…" and calls Weezy a 'helluva guitar player'. But then I watched the video. My friends, it's like watching a car crash. A car that just drank some lean. Horrendously off key and, well, frankly he only plays two notes back and forth, and neither of them are notes that are actually in the song. Not quite Jimi Hendrix, or even Wyclef Jean, just yet.

NEWS: Lil' Wayne's Tha Carter III Gets Release Date

I still say I'll believe it when I see it. Why do first singles always suck off of major label albums?

Young Money/Cash Money/Universal Motown recording artist Lil Wayne is gearing up to release his highly anticipated album Tha Carter III, the final in the trilogy, on May 13th. [...] Lil' Wayne who was recently named "Man Of The Year" by GQ Magazine (2007) and "Best Rock Star Alive" by Blender Magazine (2008) is truly a force to be reckoned within the music industry and has earned the title of Hip-Hop Heavyweight Champ. LOL @ the spin on that one.

VIDEO: Lil' Wayne - Lollipop

Lil' Wayne's new single 'Lollipop' is promoted with what may be one of the last big budget videos of the genre, which is fitting since the song itself is a somewhat dated yet fully obvious amalgamation of Mims's 'This Is Why I'm Hot', Ludacris's 'What's Your Fantasy', any first single off of a 50 Cent album, and the ever present vocoder.

VIDEO: Lil' Wayne Performing In NJ

My doubts about Lil' Wayne as a rapper are pretty well documented but I do have to admit he has that Amy Winehouse/Talented Trainwreck going for him. In this video he performs a few of his better known tracks and introduces Jae Millz as a new signing to Young Money.

VIDEO: Behind-The-Scenes Jay Rock's 'All My Life' ft. Lil' Wayne

This is a making of video for Jay Rock's 'All My Life' featuring Lil' Wayne. Off of Jay Rock's upcoming album Follow Me. Probably the dopest beat Weezy has rapped on in quite a while.

NEWS: DJ Khaled Starts New Label

DJ Khaled has announced a new label deal for We The Best Music (I just e-rolled my eyes) with Def Jam. My guess is we'll see some posse cuts with Young Jeezy, Fat Joe, Akon, Lil' Wayne, T.I., T-Pain, Rick Ross and the other usual suspects. Even his press release reads like a bad SNL skit.


"I'm proud to be a member of the Def Jam family," said DJ Khaled. "Def Jam has been and still is one of the most important institutions in hip hop AND music as a whole. I am extremely honored and excited to be a partner with them in We The Best Music. I look forward to creating great music and continuing the success. LA, Shakir and Lenny S are you ready? I am!!! Let’s go!! Caaaaassssshhhhh Flooooowww!!! And remember....We global....global, we're international.....international! We The Best Music/Def Jam....get ready for history!!!"

LISTEN: Rich Boy - Ghetto Rich RMX ft. Nas, Lil' Wayne & John Legend

DOWNLOAD Rich Boy - Ghetto Rich RMX ft. Nas, Lil' Wayne & John Legend (MP3)

Rich Boy managed to enlist a top crooner, a top lyricist and a top...lean appreciator to jump on the 'Ghetto Rich' remix with him. Impressive. Weezy's verse is much better than I expected. John Legend does a great job, and Nas brings heat per usual.

VIDEO: Fat Joe - 300 Brolic

Fat Joe's first video off of Elephant in the Room. More info on the album here. Produced by The Hitmen. Joe had a pretty good flow before he starting jacking Weezy's already. Speaking of Lil' Wayne, you'll hear his voice at the end in the Rik Cordero/Blue Magic jacking part of the video.

NEWS: Lil' Wayne Carring Around 6 Ounches Of Illegal Drugs

Now the border patrol has become the Hip Hop police too?


"Lil Wayne, born Dwayne Carter, Jr., along with 23-year-old Harold Johnson, Jr and 24-year-old Curtis Stewart, were arrested at approximately 11:20 pm MT, at a Border Patrol Checkpoint along Interstate 8 near Dateland, AZ, about one hour east of Yuma. [...] The K-9 Unit found multiple types of drugs, as well as currency, and firearms," DEA spokeswoman Ramona Sanchez told AllHipHop.com. "One of the firearms, a .44 caliber pistol was registered to Mr. Carter. He did have a concealed weapon permit from Florida, but we are investigating whether it violates any Arizona laws." Sanchez added that the K-9 Unit recovered 105 grams of marijuana (3.7 ounces), almost 29 grams of cocaine (1.02 ounces), 41 grams of Ecstasy (1.05 ounces) and $22,000 dollars in cash." (Via AHH)

LISTEN: Cuban Link - You’re Not Hood (DJ Khaled, Rick Ross & Fat Joe Diss)

DOWNLOAD Cuban Link - You’re Not Hood (MP3)

Terror Squad outcast Cuban Link takes on his former mentor Fat Joe as well as inexplicably going for DJ Khaled and Rick Ross. I hear that as a response DJ Khaled is working on a variation on an intro where he screams something about being the best. It's going to have Baby, Jeezy, Rick Ross, Lil' Wayne and T-Pain on it.

LISTEN: Lil' Wayne - The Leak 2 (Full Mixtape)

DOWNLOAD Lil' Wayne - The Leak 2 (Full Mixtape) (MP3)
Lil' Wayne is single-handedly keeping twelve recording studios in business. After dropping The Leak EP (download here), there's now the bootleg The Leak 2. It's very...Weezy. Lets leave it at that. Tracklist below. In other bizarro news Weezy says he's a writing for Dr. Dre.

Lil' Wayne - The Leak 2
01. I Took Her
02. Poppin For The Paper ft. Cassidy & Sean Paul
03. Brand New
04. When They Come For Me
05. Crack House ft. Fat Joe
06. Do What We Do
07. Gossip
08. Step Back ft. Freeway & Small World
09. Time To Give Me
10. Miami Vice (The Life) f. Currency
11. Money Pussy Weed
12. Rider
13. Need Some Quiet Time
14. I Like It ft. Boo & Mack Maine
15. Trouble
16. One Night Only
17. Ask Them Hoes
18. Money Cars Clothes
19. Some Say
20. We Come About It

LISTEN: Lil' Wayne - The Leak (Full Mixtape)

DOWNLOAD Lil' Wayne - The Leak (MP3)

And when I say full mixtape, I mean all 5 songs that Lil' Wayne included on this mini mixtape of The Carter III turn-downs. At points he sounds like someone impersonating Weezy, at others just like he's upped his purple dosage. Some of these tracks are pretty decent though. Tracklist below.


Tracklist:
1. I’m Me
2. Gossip
3. Kush
4. Love Me Or Hate Me
5. Talkin’ About It

NEWS: Pitchfork Include 4 Hip Hop/Rap Songs In Year's Top 10

After giving T.I. and Clipse some nods, and Justin Timberlake getting song of the year last year for 'My Love', indie-rock media power house continues it's fascination with random Hip Hop songs. Props for picking superior deep cut 'Ignorant Shit' over Rolling Stones's song of the year 'Roc Boys' (which has grown on me, but is still not as good as the former). This year's top 10 features 4 Hip Hop/Rap Songs. Ok, so I'm kind of including M.I.A.'s song 'Paper Planes' in the Hip Hop/Rap category just for having Bun B and Rich Boy on it, and Rihanna's 'Umbrella' for Jay-Z's half-assed intro verse. Check out all Hip Hop/Rap tracks that appear in the top 100 below, and the full list can be read here.

Pitchforks Top 100 Tracks Of 2007
4: M.I.A. - 'Paper Planes (Remix)' ft. Bun B and Rich Boy
5: Rihanna - 'Umbrella' ft. Jay-Z
6: UGK - 'Int'l Players Anthem (I Choose You)' ft. Outkast
10: Jay-Z - 'Ignorant Shit' ft. Beanie Sigel
21: M.I.A. - Boyz
25: Kanye West - Can't Tell Me Nothing
26: Jay-Z - Roc Boys (And the Winner Is...)
27: Lil Mama - Lip Gloss
28: Dizzee Rascal - Pussy'ole (Old Skool)
32: R. Kelly - "I'm a Flirt (remix) ft. T.I. and T-Pain
50: Dude 'N Nem - Watch My Feet
51: Kanye West - Good Life ft T-Pain
56: Aesop Rock - None Shall Pass
59: Lil Wayne - Upgrade U
65: DJ Khaled - We Takin' Over ft. T.I., Akon, Rick Ross, Fat Joe, Birdman & Lil' Wayne
67: Devin the Dude - 'What a Job' ft. Andre 3000 and Snoop Dogg
70: Cassie - Is It You?
78: Amy Winehouse - Tears Dry on Their Own
84: 50 Cent - I Get Money

LISTEN: Birdman - Make Way ft. Fat Joe & Lil' Wayne

DOWNLOAD Birdman - Make Way ft. Fat Joe & Lil' Wayne (MP3)


Though I regret Fat Joe transformation into his the Weezy loving, commercial attempting bling rapper, and 'making it rain' is my pick for most asinine phrase of the year, I still like his voice even when he isn't really saying anything anymore. He guests on Birdman/Baby's 'Make Way' off of 5 Star Stunna which also features Lil' Wayne. Back to back Cash Money posts, what is happening to this blog.