02/28/2011
As I’ve said a few times before, I’ve always appreciated hip-hop no matter where it came from. I didn’t care if a nigga was from Iowa- if it rocked, it rocked. That said, there was a particular time where my ears were most partial to what was regarded as the East Coast sound. Unlike these more recent years, New York was breeding great new music on a regular basis. Some of the best from that era weren’t those that made a killing on the charts or radio, but the ones that resonated amongst the underground/street level listeners. When it came to producers that made music more for the late-night mix shows than the regular rotation, few had that corner locked like DJ Premier did.
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DanjLovesTheHipHop, Man Behind The Music, Nuff Respect Due | Tagged: DJ PREMIER | 
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Posted by Danj!
01/28/2011
Since last month, when the trailer for Michael Rapaport‘s “Beats, Rhymes, & Fights” documentary on A Tribe Called Quest was leaked, I’ve been in anticipation for it. I’m still not sure what its fate or release date will be, but the word is that the premiere got quite a reaction last weekend at the Sundance Film Festival. Despite Q-Tip‘s inexplicable and sudden resistance to the whole project, I’m hopin’ it sees a release in some form. I spent almost the entire ’90s as a serious follower of ATCQ, all the way up until their breakup in ’98.
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9 Comments | Best Of..., Classic Material, DanjLovesTheHipHop, Nuff Respect Due | Tagged: ATCQ | Permalink
Posted by Danj!
01/15/2011
“Change is good…”- Buckshot, “Night Riders”
So where was I? Oh yeah, 1995. By the end of that year, the Boot Camp Clik was still on the ball. Black Moon (despite member 5 FT leaving the group in ’94) was still rollin’ and ready to drop new material soon, Smif-n-Wessun‘s Dah Shinin‘ had a strong street-level presence, and Heltah Skeltah and OGC were introduced as the Fab 5 with a single that took off. The Boot Camp had developed a brand, with a distinctive look and their own sound, produced by Mr. Walt and Black Moon DJ Evil Dee, known as Da Beatminerz.
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6 Comments | Clans/Posses/Crews/Cliques, DanjLovesTheHipHop, Nuff Respect Due | Tagged: BLACK MOON, BOOTCAMP, HELTAH SKELTAH, OGC, SMIF-N-WESSUN | Permalink
Posted by Danj!
01/12/2011
“It went down like this- one little nigga snuck through the door/ Peeped the scene, sniped a few then crept through with two more/ Heads was gettin’ Nervous- that’s three now they wanna break north/ Too late- five more tore the door straight the fuck off!”
-Rock from Heltah Skeltah, “Operation Lockdown”
Around this time of year, I don’t know what it is, but my musical preference gets in a grimy mid-’90s hoodie-n-Tims kinda mode (well, either that or love songs, but that’s a story for next month). Something about the winter just brings out that moody shit, I guess. In light of that, I say that to say this: one crew whose music was always winter-appropriate would have to be Brooklyn, NY‘s own Boot Camp Clik. In a 2011 world where niggas are wearin’ Ugg boots and tight jeans, their music and presentation was a polar opposite of what we’ve come to expect as of late. But for a nice portion of the ’90s, the BCC had their own corner in the game. I’ve recently been listening to a great deal of their classic shit, which brings us here today for the first of a two-parter (!) on one of hip-hop’s most underrated units.
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1 Comment | Clans/Posses/Crews/Cliques, Classic Material, DanjLovesTheHipHop, Nuff Respect Due | Tagged: BLACK MOON, BOOTCAMP, HELTAH SKELTAH, OGC, SMIF-N-WESSUN | Permalink
Posted by Danj!
01/04/2011
So… I understand that Lauryn Hill closed out 2010 playing her ol’ crazy-ass reindeer games, eh? I can’t be too surprised though, as she’s seemed to revel in this reputation of constantly being late and putting on lackluster performances, yet still having people pay to see her. If there was ever an artist from the world of hip-hop whose career has become a tragedy over the last ten years, Lauryn is slowly but surely coming for that #1 spot, second only to DMX. It could’ve all been so simple, but she’d rather make it hard.
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15 Comments | 90s Girls, DanjLovesTheHipHop, DanjLovesTheR&B, Nuff Respect Due, SMH | Tagged: FUGEES, LAURYN HILL | Permalink
Posted by Danj!
12/27/2010
Unfortunately, DLT90s returns on a sad note. Yesterday, Mary Christine Brockert, better known as Teena Marie, passed on at the age of 54, after falling asleep on Christmas night and being found by her daughter Alia Rose the following morning.
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6 Comments | DanjLovesThe80sToo, DanjLovesTheR&B, In Memory Of..., Nuff Respect Due | Tagged: R.I.P., TEENA MARIE | Permalink
Posted by Danj!
11/29/2010
Wild but true: some of Mary J. Blige‘s longtime fans would rather see her sad. Not that they wish for her to go back to her life as a depressed star in an abusive relationship with drug and alcohol problems, but the music that came out of that era is among her most memorable. The happy, dancing MJB of recent years just doesn’t seem to strike that same chord that she did in more troubled times. Much like many artists make their best work when they’re new and hungry, some do their best when real life is kickin’ them in the ass. Such was the case with 1994′s My Life.
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6 Comments | Classic Material, DanjLovesTheAlbums, DanjLovesTheR&B, Hip-Hop Soul, Nuff Respect Due | Tagged: 1994, MJB | Permalink
Posted by Danj!
11/15/2010
I might be a lil’ biased here. I’ve been fukkin’ with Kanye West as an artist (or as Kid Cudi would say, “musically”) since the I’m Good mixtape. When he was starting to break out with joints like “Through The Wire” and people were sayin’ he couldn’t rap, I was rockin’ with him. I’ve been readin’ articles on him and his work far back enough to know his seemingly “inflated” ego has actually always been inflated, before there was even a release date on his first album. Of course, none of this makes me special, or has any bearing on what this new album of his sounds like, but it’s safe to say ‘Ye is one of my favorite artists of the last 10 years.
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8 Comments | DanjLovesTheHipHop, DanjSometimesLovesThe2000s, New Sh*t!, Nuff Respect Due | Tagged: 2000s, KANYE | Permalink
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11/09/2010
Today would be the 39th birthday of the big homie Christopher Rios, aka Big Pun. Salute!
I first heard Pun on Funkmaster Flex‘s 60 Minutes of Funk Vol. 1, rhymin’ over the Raekwon “Ice Cream” instrumental with Fat Joe. I didn’t know who that dude was, but the first thing that stood out instantly was his flow. He was barely stoppin’ to take a breath, but the way he put those words together was on point. I’d later hear him on other cuts, like Joe‘s “Firewater” and The Beatnuts‘ “Off The Books”, upping his profile and still with that rapid, accurate rhyme style.
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Posted by Danj!
11/02/2010
With Election Day goin’ on across the country today, I gotta give a shoutout to the homie “Ill” Bill Clinton. A lotta people gave this dude flak when he was the pres. If it wasn’t because he puffed a joint or two in his day, it was because he had Monica Lewinsky puffin’ his joint. Still, his eight years in office was a much more productive and better-run time than the previous 12 years’ worth of Reaganomics, or the following eight years of Dubya.
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Posted by Danj!
