Network.

I've had no time for this blog...but closing on 10,000 hits. One love people.

Networking, makin' music on my grind, check me & my music out:

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Favorite Joints of '09

Feel free to leave comments on your picks
In no particular order

Favorite Joints of '09

- Deep (Prod. By Black Milk)

Artist: eLZhi

Just a real dope song and production is spot on, eLZhi's lyrics are just sick. The Preface was a great album.



- Rain Drops (feat. Novel)
Artist: Slaughterhouse

The deepest song on their new album, everyone goes hard with the concepts. Plannin' on doin' a review on this to make up for lost time.



- Wu Ohh (New Wu)
[feat. Ghostface Killah & Method Man]
Artist: Raekwon

Crazy debut single off OBFCL2. House of Flying Daggers was the latest leak.



- Auditorium (feat. Slick Rick)
[Prod. By Madlib]
Artist: Mos Def

This and Casa Bey were my favorite songs of The Ecstatic. One of the best albums of the year.




- Beautiful
Artist: Eminem

Favorite song off Relapse, meaningful and passionate with none of that voice accent shit.



- Smile (feat. Twista & Maxwell)
Artist: The Alchemist

Nice underground joint off Chemical Warfare.



That's not everything, but I'll leave it at that so it won't slow down anyone's PC lol.

- Kage

Late Update

So I've taken a hiatus from the blog, but yea, I don't think many people follow the blog for the blog. Anyways, I picked up Relapse, solid, 7.5-8 I'd give it, and took a listen to Chamber Music produced by RZA, which I'm plannin' to review sooner or later. Also took a run thru The Ecstatic, and now I'm dying for some big joints to drop.

I also put up a Last.fm box above my YouTube link that tells what I'm listenin' to since I'm not too consistent with the video of the day anymore.

Peace, will try to post up later.

Making of "We Made You" by Eminem

Shady still got his funny goin' on haha. You can tell he's been at Popsomp Hills tho. Relapse drops 5/19.

Part 1


Part 2

NBA Awards '09

Ok, I know this is a hip-hop blog but basketball is also something I love, especially the NBA. I decided to give out season awards for the '08-'09 season a la The Basketball Jones.

Most Improved Player

Devin Harris, New Jersey Nets. This kid made a huge jump from Dallas to the Atlantic City.
Runner-Up: Danny Granger, Indiana Pacers

Defensive Player of the Year

Dwight Howard, Orlando Magic. Dominating in rebounds and blocks, changes a ton of shots as well.
Runner-Up: Dwyane Wade, Miami Heat

Coach of the Year

Jerry Sloan, Utah Jazz. Has done an amazing job with all those injuries to his star players and it would cap off his HoF selection. I don't care, it should be a lifetime achievement.
Runner-Up: Mike Brown, Cleveland Cavaliers

Sixth Man of the Year

Jason Terry, Dallas Mavericks. As much as I hate on Jet, he averages around 20 ppg off the bench and has become the second option to the German.
Runner-Up: Nate Robinson, New York Knicks

Rookie of the Year

Derrick Rose, Chicago Bulls. A rookie stud, this kid has been a consistent stream of at least 16 ppg, 6ast. He's lead the Bulls from #1 lottery pick to a 7th or 8th spot in the Playoffs, immediate impact.
Runner-Up: O.J. Mayo, Memphis Grizzlies

Executive of the Year

Danny Ferry, Cleveland Cavaliers. Brought in the biggest addition, Mo Williams, a perfect complement to LBJ, and retained Joe Smith later in the season. Some geeat moves to reduce the chance of the King leaving in '10.
Runner-Up: Rex Chapman, Denver Nuggets

M.V.P.

LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers. As much as I want Dwyane Wade for MVP (Heat fan), LeBron deserves the MVP, leading the Cavs to their best season ever being the best player in the L.
Runner-Up: Dwyane Wade
3. Chris Paul
4. Dwight Howard
5. Kobe Bryant

Mar. 26 - R.I.P. Eazy Muthaphukkin' E

Eric 'Eazy-E' Wright, 1963-1995.
Defined leadership, the voice of a generation - Compton & N.W.A. Rest In Peace, Eazy.

Props to 2dopeboyz for the info.

Feb. 15 - Big L Rest In Peace

Yesterday held the 10 year mark of the untimely death of MC Big L. May he R.I.P., I can't believe I forgot.

OG article at okayplayer

Notorious & The Grammy's

So last weekend, I finally got a chance to go see Notorious. Biggie has always been one of my top 5 favorite mc's since I got into hip-hop, and I have seen countless documentaries about the man. Notorious was just a mediocre, glitzed out one. But fuck what I gotta say and check the review at okayplayer, exactly what I thought about the movie. It wasn't necessarily disappointing because I expected most of it commin' in, but it was too hyped.



In other word's, the muafuckas over at the Grammys fucked the best artists over...again. After bein' introduced in '96, the Grammys have fucked up too many hip-hop greats. And to no surprise, Weezy ran over everyone winning every hip-hop category he was in, except for "Best Rap/Sung Collaboration", which went to Estelle & 'Ye. Check out the rest.

- 2009 Grammy Awards: Rap
- Past Grammy Awards Best Rap Album Winners

*Some winners may leave yo ass frustrated. Feel free to leave yo thoughts in the comments.

My Picks

Best Rap Album

* American Gangster, Jay-Z
* Tha Carter III, Lil Wayne [Winner]
* The Cool, Lupe Fiasco
* Untitled, Nas [My Pick]
* Paper Trail, T.I.

Best Rap Song

* Lil Wayne - "Lollipop" [Winner]
* Flo Rida (Feat. T-Pain) - "Low"
* "Snoop Dogg - Sexual Eruption"
* T.I. & Jay-Z (Feat. Kanye & Lil Wayne) - "Swagga Like Us"
* Lupe Fiasco (Feat. Matthew Santos) - "Superstar" [My Pick]

Best Rap Performance By A Duo Or Group

* Big Boi (Feat. Raekwon & Andre 3000) - "Royal Flush" [My Pick BY FAR, but Swagga Like Us had mad hype, it was a good track at least]
* Jay-Z & T.I. (Feat. Kanye West & Lil Wayne) - "Swagga Like Us" [Winner]
* Lil Wayne (Feat. Jay-Z) - "Mr. Carter"
* Ludacris (Feat. T.I.) - "Wish You Would"
* Young Jeezy (Feat. Kanye West) - "Put On"

Best Rap/Sung Collaboration

* Estelle (Feat. Kanye West) - "American Boy" [Winner]
* Flo Rida (Feat. T-Pain) - "Low"
* John Legend & Andre 3000 - "Green Light" [My Pick]
* Lil Wayne (Feat. T-Pain) - "Got Money"
* Lupe Fiasco (Feat. Matthew Santos) - "Superstar"

Best Rap Solo Performance

* Jay-Z - "Roc Boys (And The Winner Is)..."
* Lil Wayne - "A Milli" [Winner]
* Lupe Fiasco - "Paris, Tokyo"
* Nas - "N.i.*.*.e.r. (The Slave And The Master)"
* Snoop Dogg - "Sexual Eruption"
[My Pick: Either Nas's "N.I.*.*.E.R." or Lupe's "Paris, Tokyo woulda been cool wit me.]

Golden Age Run In - Da Youngstas

Cam across these dudes yesterday, turns out they went underground after their first album and became a good hit in the hip-hop golden age. Lovin' this joint right here

Update: Jay-Z, Soundtracks, Politics, and more

I haven't posted in a MONTH so far, and feel pretty shitty about it. Anyways, I always update the Daily Hip-Hop Video, so keep a look out for that, cuz Scarface's "My Block" is an amazing ass video. For the most part I haven't been keeping up because of that damn old jail cell establishment we call high school, but the coldest winter break is commin' up soon. Yea that was a pretty cheesy ass reference to 808's, bu big ups to the boys over at 2h2s on their review of it. Personally, I wasn't feelin' the album at all, but that's just me. 2h2s has a pretty well-written review of it. I will probably review Theater of the Mind as well, because I've been listening to it a lot lately and it's damn good so far.

Some other news as well, the cover for the Notorious soundtrack has been released, and is based off one of the three movie poster choices.




One of the tracks off the album has been released, and holy shit does jigga kill that (and hot damn look at beyonce haha). Download at the bottom.














Brooklyn (Go Hard) - Jay-Z (feat. Santogold) [Produced by Kanye West]

Santogold is a great singer too, I really dig DJ Mike Relm's mix at the Youtube Live performance, look it up.

Much love to the legendary NahRight blog.

Daily classic hiphop video

If anyone who pays attention to my blog at the least bit knows i tentatively update my "Daily Classic Hip-Hop Video" located on the right side of the blog everyday so I can hopefully put out some new and classic music to people. If you would like to submit a legit music video to me just email me at

kagegao@gmail.com

Tupac Amaru Shakur (June 16, 1971 — September 13, 1996): 12 Years Ago

Tupac Amaru Shakur (June 16, 1971 — September 13, 1996)
12 years ago, the man who chaged the face of a culture passed away, Tupac Shakur. R.I.P.

"Ambitionz Az A Ridah" by 2Pac

Regrets: Remembering September, 11th

Click to View and Read

On this day, a staggering amount of people gave their lives. Some innocent, some courageous. We mourn them all. We as Americans stand for everything good and righteous about humans. Sometime we can act ignorant, but on Semptember 11th, we all bonded as a nation. We honor the heroes we helped save those fortunate to escape. We mourn sorrowfully to the ones who gave their live to stop the plane. We mourn the innocent lives of the people in the buildings. We even pray for those near the site, who had to witness such a horrific sight.





On another note, respectfully, we look at the release of Jay-Z's 'The Blueprint'. A CD bumped by many trying to take their minds of the situation. The CD sold an amazing 426,000 copies in the opening week even with this tragedy at hand. Even an NY Rapper can help in some way.



I think you should know the tracklist.


Song Cry - Jay-Z


And God Bless.

"To want to forget something is to remember it. - Jin"