06/28/2010
Aight, so… a year ago, I dissed BET for puttin’ on a half-assed show that was advertised as “a tribute to Michael Jackson“. I’ve prob’ly referred to BET in a shitty light a number of times on other occasions too. But as much as I dis them for their wack shows and their overall lack of givin’-a-shit, I can also admit that they came correct this year. I wasn’t gonna watch the BET Awards, because I usually don’t, but Twitter fukked around and pulled me in. I figured “ay, what the hell- at least if it sucks, me and my Twitter fam will provide quality jokes and observations”. Lo and behold, these niggas put on the best one I’ve seen since ’03. Well I’ll be damned.
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24 Comments | 
DanjSometimesLovesThe2000s, Nuff Respect Due, This Is TV! | Tagged: 2010, BET | 
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06/25/2010
I’ve been ready to do this entry for a good year.
Seeing as how Jay-Z‘s Reasonable Doubt dropped on June 25, 1996, my intention was to do an entry on it last year- 13 years to the day of its release. But that was the same afternoon on which one of the main artists that made me love music in the first place died, and plans got sidetracked. I don’t really do the death anniversary thing like that, so instead, no time like today to drop my one-year-in-the-making retro on one of my favorite albums from the great summer of ’96.
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18 Comments | Classic Material, DanjLovesTheAlbums, DanjLovesTheHipHop, Nuff Respect Due | Tagged: 1996, JAY-Z | Permalink
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06/23/2010
Back in my day, there was one female R&B artist I rocked with heavy- that got-damn Mary J. Blige. There were some others who were good, others who were aight, others whose singles and videos I wasn’t mad at… but I wasn’t bumpin’ all their albums or anything. The chances of me walkin’ down the street (or sittin’ in my room for that matter) with Monica‘s Miss Thang in the headphones were unlikely. But MJB was something different. As I said when I covered the 411 joint about a year ago, she was damn near like a rapper in a singer’s body (but still, she SANG). The beats were hard, the singing was unpolished but strong, and her whole style was naturally hip-hop.
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15 Comments | AllTime8, Classic Material, DanjLovesTheR&B, Hip-Hop Soul, Love Movement | Tagged: MJB, UPTOWN | Permalink
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06/20/2010
“Where the fuck is the Daddy song? Mama get all the songs… ‘Dear Mama’, ‘I’ll Always Love My Mama’, Mama, Mama, Mama… what’s the Daddy song? ‘Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone’!” – Chris Rock
First off, it’s Father’s Day, so big shoutout to the fathers out there… not the niggas who have kids… the fathers. I normally don’t drop entries on Sunday, but I figured I’d do it for this occasion. Earlier this morning, I remembered that Chris Rock joke, and it got me to thinkin’… not only is there not much in the way of “Daddy songs”, but hip-hop particularly don’t give a fukk about a father. There’s a lot of “Mama songs”, but most of the ones about fathers are about how they ain’t shit. From Treach (“never knew my dad, muthafuck the fag”) to Eminem (“if you see my dad/ Tell him that I slit his throat in this dream I had”), rappers and their fathers just don’t seem to click.
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11 Comments | DanjLovesTheHipHop, Just That Sh*t To Make You Laugh | Tagged: LL COOL J, NAS, ROYAL FLUSH, SHAQ, TUPAC, WC & THE MAAD CIRCLE | Permalink
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06/16/2010
OK… before anyone says it… it has nothin’ to do with the fact that this fella is my favorite MC. I was never of the belief that I had to dislike one in order to like the other. I never really got into the taking of sides while that shit was goin’ on, and I don’t even compare them to each other today. I’ve always felt that the only reason people connect them anyway is because they’re both deceased and the rivalry they had when they were alive- the same way people still compare Jay-Z and Nas because they had a feud nine years ago. To me, 2Pac and B.I.G. as two almost completely different things musically, both of which I like for different reasons. They shared some of the same subject matter, but that’s where it stops.
Now that I got that out the way… Being a lifelong hip-hop enthusiast, I’ve had all kinds of Tupac Shakur convos over the years- before and after he died, pro and con, in real life and online. If nothing else, he’s always been one that gets a strong reaction one way or the other. Rarely have I ever had a convo about him with someone who doesn’t feel some kind of way about his music, or about him as an individual. But at times, the love AND hate he’s gotten have bordered on insane- which is why I can say, ‘Pac is the most overrated and underrated of all-time. Let’s speak on it.
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20 Comments | DanjLovesTheHipHop, In Memory Of..., Nuff Respect Due | Tagged: TUPAC | Permalink
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06/14/2010
About a month or so ago, I happened to be on Youtube and came across an episode of TVOne‘s Unsung, the documentary show about R&B artists of the ’70s and ’80s whose stories have rarely been told. This particular episode featured Zapp, the ’80s funk group headed by Roger Troutman. In addition to noting that my iPod was lacking a lot of their music that I liked, I also had to put them down for a future “90s Loved The 80s” entry, considering how much of their music was sampled during the ’90s.
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8 Comments | DanjLovesThe80sToo, DanjLovesTheHipHop, DanjLovesTheR&B, Nuff Respect Due, Original Flavor, The90sLovedThe80s | Tagged: 80s, 90s, E-40, MC BREED, ROGER TROUTMAN, THE CLICK, TUPAC, ZAPP | Permalink
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06/10/2010
The first time I heard or saw anything about Menace II Society was in the October ’92 issue of The Source, about eight months before it came out. I was interested in seeing it from then on, after reading that it would star Tupac, MC Eiht, and Spice 1 in key roles. Once it came out in May ’93, some things had changed (‘Pac was fired from his role as “O-Dog” and replaced by Larenz Tate, and Spice was replaced by Tyrin Turner in the role of “Caine”), but I was still right there to check it out on its opening weekend.
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14 Comments | Classic Material, DanjLovesTheMovies | Tagged: 1993, HOOD MOVIES, HUGHES BROTHERS, MENACE II SOCIETY | Permalink
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06/07/2010
20 summers ago, there was a new show on TV that I was 10 years old and rollin’ about every Sunday night. While FOX was already catching heat for the content on Married With Children (which only added to its popularity), they apparently felt they could stand it enough to put another wild-ass show on. So they premiered a new sketch comedy show with an ensemble cast, called In Living Color.
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15 Comments | Classic Material, HA!, Just That Sh*t To Make You Laugh, Nuff Respect Due, This Is TV! | Tagged: IN LIVING COLOR, TV | Permalink
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06/01/2010
Doooo youuuu knoooow what todaaay is? It’s my anniversary. Yeaaah. Anniversary.
Lemme tell y’all a lil’ about me. If there’s one thing I love talkin’ about, it’s old music, movies, and TV. Actually that’s three things, but no need to be technical. I’m an admitted nostalgia addict. It’s almost a prerequisite that any future wife and/or ex-wife of mine will have to have this same quality, or shit prob’ly ain’t gonna work. There’ll be no Waka Flocka played at my our reception. Due to this addiction of sorts, and rediscovering my interest in writing over the last two years, I started DanjLovesThe90s one year ago today.
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37 Comments | Classic Material, DanjLovesTheHipHop, DanjLovesTheR&B, Hip-Hop Soul, My Life, New Jack Swing, Random | Tagged: ABOVE THE LAW, AFTER 7, ALEXANDER O'NEAL, ATCQ, BBD, BLACKSTREET, CL SMOOTH, CLIPSE, CNN, CRU, ED O.G., EN VOGUE, FAITH, GANGSTARR, GINUWINE, HOT BOYS, ILL AL SKRATCH, JAY-Z, K-SOLO, KURUPT, M.O.P., MAIN SOURCE, MASTA ACE, METHOD MAN, MOKENSTEF, MONTELL JORDAN, NICE & SMOOTH, PETE ROCK, R. KELLY, RAMPAGE, REDMAN, SILK, SOUL FOR REAL, SOULS OF MISCHIEF, TEVIN CAMPBELL, THREE 6, TONI BRAXTON, TONY! TONI! TONE!, TOTAL, TROOP, YVETTE MICHELLE | Permalink
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