9
Curren$y, "Audio Dope 2"
The "somehow the rap game reminds me of the crack game" thing has been a regular theme in hip-hop since Ice-T made it explicit in 1988. Today, up-n-coming New Orleans MC Curren$y makes a strong addition to the canon.
Here's Ice-T:
JET LIFE TO THE NEXT LIFE!!!
Spitta & Wiz Khalifa's MTV First Date should be featured as well: http://www.mtv.com/videos/news/505464/first-date-with-wiz-khalifa-and-curreny.jhtml#id=1627684
Finally: there is a more annoying usage of the dollar sign in a recording artist's name than Ke$ha.
I suppose that "Curren¢y" would have devalued him, somehow, but the misspelling galls me much more than the currency-symbol-for-letter schtick.
(Side note: are there non-American rappers named "£ord Sterling" and "¥oung Tokyo Thug" and "€uropean Welfare State" and what not?)
(Side note to the side note: Yes, I just wasted valuable daylight looking up HTML entity codes for currency symbols so I could post a dorky comment on the Awl, what of it?)
Frank Lucas would like to kindly remind you that the women should be naked whilst working in the processing plant, to discourage theft of any product.
fucking love the steel drum sample. dave, you're the resident expert, other steel drum samples in hip-hop history?
I'm sure there are a bunch of good ones. But this is my favorite. It is one of my favorite beats ever made by anybody. Cadillac Don, "Peanut Butter and Jelly."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1ycRFd3_Gc
Soulja Boy bit it for the much, much more successful, "Crank Dat."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UFIYGkROII.
Don't forget the Shyne/Neptunes classic "Niggas Gonna Die." That's one of my favorite beats of all time, even though the song is, uh, kinda dark:
http://vimeo.com/11947886
Spitta is dope as hell, and Pilot Talk was one of the best hip-hop albums of the year. Can't wait for Pilot Talk 2. JETS.
"I said I'd quit smokin these beats but I relapsed"
Okay, I'm done now.