Crooked I puts his own slant on "Black and Yellow"

When I first heard "Black and Yellow" by Wiz Khalifa, I really liked the beat and I have to admit, the song is catchy. I just can't get into the whole repetitive thing about it. It doesn't do it for me.

Crooked I, member of the super-group Slaughterhouse that also consists of Joe Budden, Joell Ortiz, and Royce 5'9, has the solution.

In this edition from last week of a short series of freestyles of his called 'Hip Hop Weekly Reloaded,' Crooked I flows over the "Black and Yellow" beat, representing his home of Long Beach, California in place of Khalifa's Pittsburgh:

"This is how we do it in the LBC: packing metal, packing metal, packing metal, acting ghetto."

His lines are also much more personal and possess a greater storytelling quality than the original.

Check it out.

Snowgoons store up for winter with their 4th album

Snowgoons, a group of hip-hop producers from Germany, collaborate with the best underground MCs on each of their albums to create epic soundscapes from their unique place in the world of hip-hop. On Kraftwerk, their fourth that was released on Friday, they don't disappoint.

Often working with members of super-groups such as Ill Bill and Slaine of La Coka Nostra and Outerspace and Reef the Lost Cauze of Army of the Pharaohs, Snowgoons have what you would call an orchestral sound to their beats, layering complex rhythms and not sounding like anything you would hear on the radio. As can be guessed by their name, they don't aim to sound similar to poppy rap beats or imitate any West Coast styles. They put a lot of winter themes to their song and album titles and samples they use, like on the track "Iceman" featuring Cymarshall Law from their album Black Snow.

Although that may make it seem like there's a dark tinge to Snowgoons' music, alongside all of the battle-lyric verses there's a positive vibe laced in, especially in one of the tracks on A Fist in the Thought, "All in Your Mind," with uplifting lyrics from Viro the Virus.

It's the perfect mood-music rap for the winter, with gritty beats; and they talk about snow, of course.

On Kraftwerk, Snowgoons finally work with Boston MC Esoteric, featuring him on the track "Three Bullets." That's not to say they haven't done songs with Boston rappers before. Black Snow featured EDO G and Jaysaun on the track "Raining," with plenty of Beantown shout-outs.

"We Nah Play" has to be my favorite track on the new album, with up-and-coming MC Crooked I, and a little reggae-rap flavor in the beat enhanced by Beenie Man's vocals:

NaS creates playlist for Rolling Stone with "Hip-Hop's Best Lyricists"

Rolling Stone magazine's latest issue features themed playlists from 50 different artists, and they chose NaS to name hip-hop's Top Ten Best Lyricists. 

The list starts off without surprise with Notorious B.I.G. and 2Pac at the first two spots, but some names further down come unexpected. 

"When I said 'hip-hop is dead' a few years ago, I felt we'd gotten away from the great wordplay and storytelling," says Nas. "There's a place for the party shit and a place for the gangster shit. I focus on the guys that are always pushing themselves forward."

Some of those guys are current artists that one wouldn't expect to receive respect from the legendary MC.  He chose a song by Rick Ross and a song by Lil Wayne, each of which resonated with him as they related to certain aspects of his life.

Here's the full list:

1. "My Downfall" - Notorious B.I.G., 1997

The lyrics are about how he's acing the shadows of death, despite all of his success, and he's giving it to you in a way that makes it seem so real.

2. "If My Homie Calls" - 2pac, 1991

He's just saying to his boys that he's going to be a friend no matter how big he gets.

3. "Road To The Riches" - Kool G. Rap & DJ Polo, 1989

The way we're rhyming now? He was already doing it then .

4. "A Bird In The Hand" - Ice Cube, 1991

5. "Paid In Full" - Eric B. & Rakim, 1987

6. "I'm Single" - Lil Wayne, 2010

I'm recently divorced, so I feel what he's saying.

7. "Tears of Joy" - Rick Ross, 2010

Ross is at the pulpit here.

8 "The Moment I Feared" - Slick Rick, 1988

It's cinematic. He's at a hip-hop show and ices this girl who played him, then he's in prison getting violated by some dude. This was unheard of.

9. "Empire State of Mind" - Jay-Z, 2009

This song is huge. It sounds like Broadway. It's New York's modern anthem.

10. "Queen Bitch" - Lil' Kim, 1996

At the time, females rappers didn't appeal to the street, but Kim came with the vulgarity, sexuality and gangster shit.

The Wu Tang show sold out...that leaves a hole to be filled

I am so crestfallen that the Wu Tang show sold out. I had a feeling that I waited too long to look for tickets this weekend; the floor seats and even all of the balcony seats were taken.

This doesn't mean I'm giving up. I'll be checking on craigslist until the day of the show for any loose tickets.

That leaves a hole to be filled in the shows that I'm going to. I just found out that The Sword, the band that opened for Metallica on the tour for their latest album, is playing on Tremont St. in Boston on Sunday with Karma to Burn, a pretty solid stoner/hard rock band.

And I'll be trying to get to the Disco Biscuits show in January once tickets go on sale.

This is a song by The Sword, featuring howls from my spirit animal, which a Facebook quiz even made official.

Mass. MC/Producer combo bring it back to 1982

Termanology and Statik Selektah, both from Lawrence, MA, released 1982 on 10/22. This track, "Goin' Back," features nice verses from Cassidy and Xzibit and no chorus. It's garnered a good amount of attention for the duo's first official album together, getting airplay on JAMN 94.5 lately.

Termanology first gained himself national attention with his 2006 track "Watch How It Go Down," produced by DJ Premier, which landed him in XXL magazine's "Show & Prove" column, after already being featured in The Source magazine's "Unsigned Hype" column in 2005.

Statik Selektah is a producer who has worked with MC's like Nas, Royce Da 5'9, Mobb Deep, Freddie Gibbs, and KRS-One. His album 100 Proof: The Hangover that came out this year reached number 37 on Billboard's Heatseeker Albums chart.

1982 isn't really a retro sound, the name is just a sign of respect for that famous era of hip-hop. The sound is fresh and the album as a whole seems like something Statik and Term have been waiting a while to finally make happen. This makes them a promising duo, and hopefully they'll keep it coming in the future.

Kno Graveyard f Sheisty Khrist MUSIC VIDEO

The setting is a little gloomy, but it goes with the song, right?

This video for "Graveyard" by Kno off his new album Death is Silent that I reviewed last month came out yesterday. No special effects but it's a perfect fit, focusing on the well-crafted beat and delivery by Kno that has hip-hop fans losing out if he's not on their radar.

Featured on this most hard-hitting track from the album is Sheisty Khrist, who is collaborating with Kno's fellow CunninLynguists member Deacon the Villain for an album to be released 11/30, Niggaz With Latitude.

Dubstep is my cup of tea

Oh, hey.

So if you haven't heard of dubstep yet then now you have, but you'll probably hear about it somewhere else soon, too.

Dubstep is a type of music that is very similar to Drum and Bass, but is largely influenced by the slow dub vibes of reggae music, hence the name. A lot of reggae-rock bands do dub remixes of some of their songs, which slows down the tempo, focuses in on the rhythm, and usually repeats some parts to create an atmosphere.

Originating in England, dubstep appeals to most fans of house music and techno because of the heavy focus on rhythm. It's made using studio equipment, and can even be done by amateurs using computer programs. I'm not familiar with many original dubstep artists, I've heard mostly dubstep remixes of songs, which can be pretty good. The notorious Wu Tang Clan acknowledged the popularity of dubstep earlier this year by releasing Wu Tang Meets the Indie Culture Vol. 2: Enter the Dubstep, full of dubstep remixes of hit Wu Tang joints.

Almost any song you want to find a dubstep remix of can be found on YouTube. On my birthday last week, a friend that I got into dubstep posted a "Happy Birthday" dubstep remix to my Facebook wall and that definitely made the day.

A few days before that, we went on a dubstep excursion, starting with wondering if the music from the Home Alone movie has a dubstep remix, and of course it does. We went on to find everything from James Bond to Power Rangers to Rocko's Modern Life dubstep remixes.

So to commemorate the birthplace of dubstep, here's a remix of "Gimme Shelter" by the Rolling Stones.