Not often do we get to see rappers breaking down each other’s rhymes. So it is a treat to see a lyrical beast such as Talib Kweli deciphering a Jay-Z lyric.
Talib Kweli Breaks Down Jay-Z
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Tag Archives: lyrics
Is Rick Ross Wrong For His Lyric About Women?
How do you feel about RIck Ross’ lyrics about women? Do you feel that his choice of words were offensive?
Things I Love: Day 3 – Big Daddy Kane
Ain’t no half stepping…… Cause I’m the Big Daddy Kane
To me Big Daddy Kane was much more than a rapper. He was a way of life, especially for a young cat like myself growing up in the late 80′s. I was unfortunate or fortunate (depending on when you ask me) to not really have a father in my life to show me the little things a young man should know. So like millions of other young men, I had to make do with what was around me. Of course I had some positive males in arms distance that I could get jewelz from. But young people always look to the screen for individuals to relate to either good or bad. And at the time it was Big Daddy Kane for me. The ninja who put the M in macking because when the others were doing it they was just acting.
Big Daddy Kane personified coolness for me. He made it cool to be a dark-skin brother with the peezy hair. Back in the late 80′s it was all about the light skin dudes with duke in their hair looking like Al B Sure. But Kane was a whole different cat. Not only was he putting time in for the Wesley Snipes of the world, the ladies loved him. I mean dude took naked pictures with Madonna! El Debarge ain’t do that!
I mean what didn’t Big Daddy Kane have?
Style? Yep he had enough to borrow to a generation of rappers. Ask Grand Daddy IU, Biggie and Jay-Z. And I am sure there is a grocery list of rappers named Daddy That or Big This that I am forgetting about.
Jewelz? Did y’all see his Nefertiti head that he would rock? How bout the crown ring? You missed that too? Tsk, tsk.
[ youtube JoiRBs8wCJY]
Lyrics? He could toe-toe with any rapper back then and I am sure he would eat them alive. However no one tested his mettle. They knew. Kane wasn’t Half Stepping.
Dress Code? Kane could rock suits, jeans, velour, leather and still keep it OG. He made it natural, real men have styles in their wardrobe. You shouldn’t get boxed into a single style.
Swagger? I hate using this word now, because lames have made it lame. So you tend to forget the TRUE meaning of swag. But if you want to know what swag was before it went Hollywood, check out Kane. Big Daddy had it.
Stop me at anytime.
Knowledge? It is because of Kane that I began to look outside of Christianity for the answer from the Higher Being. Playboy spit Jewelz all up in his rhymes. Kane had me getting my Knowledge of Self before I got into Malcolm.
So I would like to take this time to toast for Big Daddy Kane. UML’s Unsung hero. Word up. Next time a shorty asks me “Cool, where you get your Cool from?” I will put them up on Big Daddy Kane. So when someone asks them where they got they Cool from, he can say, “I’ma tell you like a Ninja told me!”
Jewelz Of The Day…9/5/2011
How Time Flies…… Danny’s Jukebox
It’s funny how I have close to 200 gb’s of music, but I always seem to listen to the same songs. Either the hot “new” album that gets play for a week or two. Or the staples in my collection that I always fall back on to get my mind right. Well on my way home from the gig my iPod pulled up Blu & Exile’s In Remembrance of Me, and I damn near went there Moguls. Shit got real!
Not sure whether it was the prose or the soundscape, but I was instantly transported to days of long gone. First I went through the feelings of what was going on when I first heard the song back in ’07, but then getting trapped in the lyrics I began to think of high-school sweethearts and friends of yesterday that are long removed from my life for various reasons. Faces that show like fading dreams.
I know right.
The first verse is dedicated to just the average teenage life of a young man filled with dreams and aspirations, but before he knows it he is hit with the responsibility of raising a son. A daunting task I can imagine, but couple that with the fact that you still have growing and learning to attain yourself. The irony of it all. However, the first verse also tackles the fact that to survive for so many young men they may have to resort to things that they know aren’t right, but hey they have to make those ends meet. Blu also weaves in tales of how he thought he knew it all, fuck what his parents were talking about. Rap and basketball was all he needs. That’s it. Does any of this sound familiar to any of you?
The whole song is presented to you as if he was flipping through a yearbook and as pictures popped up, he spoke of the memories attached to them. Puppy love, virginity lost, hoop dreams, losing loved ones and everything else is touched upon, leaving no stone unturned Blu takes you there.
The power of music, I can dig it.
In Remembrance Of Me
It seems like yesterday we was chasing an ice cream truck
Now we hoping that our ice bling plush
Which is kinda crazy right
One minute youre a baby and the next
your sexin without protection
and now your holdin a baby like
damn I was just in your shoes
now your the pop thats adjustin they shoes
teach them to walk straight
cause honestly they got a long way to go
and what you tell ‘em now is all that they know
see I remember when My folks said you’ll know what I mean…
when you get older, I was only a teen
thinking that I was a grown up…PLEASE, I had so much to see
thinking the little that I saw was all the world had to offer to me
at 18 I had it of in the streets without guidance
just the eyes of god watching over me it’s time
I spent hours working 9 to 5s to survive
me and jack up in the shack started hustling sacks
just to eat chips and soda
thinking we finna blow up, once this demo gets done
we gon be streched out riched riding limos and such
boy I ws just a dreamer
rocking shows like we went gold you shoulda seen us
we was full of youth, not yet abused by time
its like I saw the whole world through my rhymes…
its kinda crazy right*How tiiiiime fliiiies*
Chrous – ***The Following is scratched***
[twenty-two years ago to keep it on track] – CL Smooth Sample (T.R.O.Y.)
[no time....time...time...time....time for looking back] – Nas Sample (One Love)
[twenty-two years ago to keep it on track] – Cl Smooth Sample (T.R.O.Y)
[Fuck it black...no time....time...time...time....time for looking back] – Nas Sample (One Love)
[But only you saw what took too many time to see] CL Smooth Sample (T.R.O.Y.)*Blu talking in the background*
[Verse 2]
This reminds me of JR.High, when U and I first met
96 was a year that I could never forget
Sunset summer school dance kisses chicken heads
Spreadin rumors blus cheatin on Shameka with anika
We was bad ditchin class,
grass had us all gassed
I never smoked, played ball thought it would make me choke
by the way we lost the championship game by one
Slow fuckin hit a 3 at the buzzer
My heart sunk I started crying, I was tryna be a pro baller
My 1st fuck was that year and still I don’t call her
my own father brought me to her house that weekend
he was cheating so I lost my big V while he was beatin…
in the other room, not yet abused by time,
I saw the whole world through that girls eyes
its kinda crazy though*How Tiiiiime fliiiies*
[Verse 3]
How it flies….
my grandpa died the same year
my mom thought that I was too young to make this song
because I’m only 22, but John Barnes has a long path behind him
I’m walkin in the shoes of a giant
And I was a fan of Jordan way before I knew Bryant
Lost my great grey suit but I was through crying
so I hear tears behind my suit and tie and…
now you can find it through my rhyming
cause my timing has come
and you gon know my whole story by the time I get done
rising like the shining sun
reminding you how we came
we rich now but used to be slaves
we pushing whips now we used to be whipped
rockin chains when we used to be in ‘em
still complaining that we victims of the system
shit is twisted but shit…
we came a long ass way
yet it just feels like one long day
shit amazes me….
Jay-Z – A World With Amnesia
Jay-Z sums up why he likes to big up B.I.G. in songs.
Eminem Murdered You On Your Own Sh&t!!
Seems like Em has a knack for making features his own. No matter how ill you thought your verse was, Eminem will come through and just murk your little 16!! No problem! He proved TI to be his latest victim on “That’s All She Wrote”. And the thing is Tip didn’t come weak, but he was sharing beat with Eminem. What do you expect to happen? I don’t know where Marshall gets his rhyme patterns from, but he should hold a class or two at Michigan!
“Your staring straight into a barrel of hate
Terrible fate,
Not even a slim chance to make a narrow escape
Cupid shot his arrow and missed
Wait Sarah you’re late, your train left.
Mascara and egg smeared on your face
Nights over goodbye, hoe
I thought that I told ya’ the spilled nut aint nothing to cry over
Never shoulda’ came within Range of my Rover
Shoulda’ known I was trouble soon as I rolled up,
Any chick who’s coming up after I blind fold her,
She still comes back to my crib,
Must want me to mess with her mind hold up.
She must’ve took me for some high roller.
But i wont buy her a soda
Unless it’s rock n’ roll cola.
Buy u a bag of fritos I wouldn’t let u eat the fucking chip on my shoulder.
If you was bleach and I was hair I wouldn’t die for ya
tryna pull 5 bucks from me is like tryna pulling 5 molars
you get your eyes swole up i’m on my straight grizzly
so why would I buy you a gay ass teddy you’re already bi-polar” Continue reading
Terrible fate,
Not even a slim chance to make a narrow escape
Cupid shot his arrow and missed
Wait Sarah you’re late, your train left.
Mascara and egg smeared on your face
Nights over goodbye, hoe
I thought that I told ya’ the spilled nut aint nothing to cry over
Never shoulda’ came within Range of my Rover
Shoulda’ known I was trouble soon as I rolled up,
Any chick who’s coming up after I blind fold her,
She still comes back to my crib,
Must want me to mess with her mind hold up.
She must’ve took me for some high roller.
But i wont buy her a soda
Unless it’s rock n’ roll cola.
Buy u a bag of fritos I wouldn’t let u eat the fucking chip on my shoulder.
If you was bleach and I was hair I wouldn’t die for ya
tryna pull 5 bucks from me is like tryna pulling 5 molars
you get your eyes swole up i’m on my straight grizzly
so why would I buy you a gay ass teddy you’re already bi-polar” Continue reading
The Lyric – Black Ice
Lyrical phenom…..
Enjoy,
I.B. Edubl
Lyrics 2 Go…… Wind(terlude)
Every so often a song pops up on your shuffle mix where you can feel what the artist is rapping/signing. Either you have went or are going through the experience that it being shared, you look at the speakers like “I feel your pain.”
Wind (terlude) paints a bleak picture of a dying love that he is going through. He waxes poetic bout how things were good not too long ago, but now he and his fading lover doesn’t even speak on the phone anymore. As you hear the song you can feel his pain and anger, the vibe is painfully obvious. He seems to be trying to hold on to the lover, but as we know love can be like a piece of wet soap. If you hold on too tight it will slip right out of your hands, you have to get your grip just right.
The Lyric – Poems of Struggle & Justice – Dedicated to M.L.King, Jr.
What a day for the inaugural “Lyric” feature. On a day where we celebrate the life of a man who spoke so eloquently in defense of justice. Whose own lyrics have shaped the minds and fabric of America. I invite all that command the gift of verse to read, and share. Continue reading