ultraclay dot com

Yes, it's Mariah Carey, shut up. You know you remember it.
I only mention it for ODB's rhymes:
"Me and Mariah/ go back like babies and pacifiers/old dirt dog no liar/keep ya fantasy hot like fire!"

All rapped through the sloppy lisp of gold fronts.
Classic odb.

::c::

[Technorati Tags: ultraclay | Hip-Hop | Music | 90s.]

Posted by ultraclay at 4:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | |

This track was scandalous when it was released. Upstart Canibus, who didn't even have an album released, seemingly came out of no where and slammed veteran Rap Star, LL Cool J. Since history is ultimately written by the victor, Canibus' footnote in the annals of Hip-hop ends with him getting crushed by the sleeping giant he awoke.

LL came back hard, proving though "99% of his fans wear high heels," he was still "Bad." He reassured the hiphoperati that, despite having a sitcom and perpetually showing off his pecks, he was capable of putting out a song that was good for more than just dancing with your girl to.

To be fair, LL wasn't just in a sitcom, but had co-starred in a Michael J Fox movie. He really didn't ever wear a shirt and hadn't released a song that wasn't girly in years. Also, the fight did start after LL invited him to co-star on a song and then inserted a verse after his saying that Canibus would never ever be as good as he was.

Continue reading "DITC: 2nd Round KO" »

Posted by ultraclay at 8:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | |

I can't really be consider A+ a one hit wonder, since I don't think any of his songs ever really constituted a hit. When his album came out he was 12. His appeal was that he didn't spend too much time capitalizing on his age. He lyrics were like any other rapper at that time, sans the guns and violence. He also had guest appearances from some of the more prominent names of the time. These days the only people I know who have heard of him are my friends who DJed with me in college. They were working from the same pool of albums as I was, many of them freebies from the record companies who flooded our mailbox with acts they were pushing.

This song was a Hip-hop love song a la "I Used to Lover Her." This was a year or so before Common turned the theme into a franchise. Instead of the music, he was professing his love to his mic. His lyrics weren't bad actually, all things considered (see Puffy's lyrical skills, mentioned earlier), but not incredibly compelling.

What I like about it is the lilting tune looped in the background. I recognize it from somewhere, but can't quite place it. Q-tip does the hook, giving a little hip-hop gravitas to it all. This is before "Vivrant Thing" and Budweiser ads, when Tribe was the epitome of intelligent hip-hop.

::c::

[Technorati Tags: ultraclay | Hip-Hop | Music | 90s.]

Posted by ultraclay at 10:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | |

"I'm gon' make you dance."

Who ever thought a KRS-One song would start like that? More to the point, who ever thought 'The Prophet' would ever do a track with Puffy, who many of us, at the time, could only think of as the Hip-hop anti-christ. It was an obvious radio track for KRS. It had a hot beat but still had all of the self-righteousness brilliance one would expect alternating between the bubble gum clap trap Puff has always been known for:

"Hear the sound of my money machine See the 600 Benz see the chrome rims gleam See the teacher KRS and the Puff Daddy See the young black and famous Rich like Matty With the power and the knowledge at our fingertips With a style make the ladies wanna lick they lips, shake they hips Shake they rumps, bass thump Believin they could fly by the way you jump, player, uhh Hip-Hop mayor, fat rhyme sayer From the Boogie Down to the Himilayas..."

As I said, clap-trap.

Thankfully it was the only track of its kind that I can think of. I'm not sure if the backpacker community would have survived had there been more. Contemplating the juxtaposition of skills and extreme nonsense too much would certainly had caused heads to explode.

Sorry, I can't end this entry without posting a little more of puffy's hackneyed bullshit:

Politic with the teacher (c'mon) as the hits reach ya Puff Daddy and KRS-One, double feature (that's right) Uptown diplomats, watch chips get stacked So-and-so, this and that (uhh) Just 'Show me the money!' Ain't nuttin funny (uh-huh) Have you stuck on stupid broke feelin crummy (ahah) Ain't no time for Girl 6 Cause I got a ten, holdin my stack of big Benz Correographer causin your funky dope maneuver (say what?)

Say what indeed...

[Technorati Tags: ultraclay | Hip-Hop | Music | 90s.]

Posted by ultraclay at 5:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | |

I remember the album, Vendetta, was supposed to be Mic Geronimo's big comeback. Unfortunately, the lead single turned out to be his own Flava in ya Ear remix. DMX came out of nowhere and outshined him on his own track. What I didn't remember was that Jadakiss was on it too. This was back before the Lox album, I think. He took a little while to catch everyone's attention. I remember my friends and I jumping on All for the Love, when their album came out. I wonder if we even noticed that it was the same dude who was on this track.

These days I rarely listen to new music, so I haven't heard much Jadakiss in a while, but I do know that he got pretty damn big since I got out of school. Sadly, I haven't heard anything at all about Mic Geronimo. Just like Craig Mack, no one has heard from him in a long time. According to AllMusic, he's released two albums since, one just this year. I guess there's still a chance he'll blow up. I wouldn't recommend he use too many unknown guest stars this time around.

[Technorati Tags: ultraclay | Hip-Hop | Music | 90s | DMX | Mic Geronimo | Jadakiss.]

Posted by ultraclay at 4:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | |