Tag: 20 Years

Ill Na Na: The 20th Anniversary Edition!

On November 19th, 1996, a young, hardcore chick from Brooklyn, who is my all time favorite female MC, released her debut album. 20 years later, the album is still a masterpiece from beginning to end. Banger after banger, hit after hit, there are no misses on this joint right here. Yo, I hate saying “female MC” because their sex shouldn’t be the focus, it’s the skills that matters and this chick right here definitely got the skills on the mic and that’s why she’s my top favorite. When I listen to her, she’s raw, she’s hard, she’s hood wit it, she’s got the balls, the attitude, the style, and sexy all at the same time. Very hard but feminine at the same time. Skin dark like dark chocolate and has a in-your-face style too. The 18 year old was Brooklyn’s own Foxy Brown. 1996 may be the year she released her debut album but it was the year before that when she appeared as a guest on LL Cool J’s remix to the joint “I Shot Ya” and to me she had the best verse. Foxy from the beginning was a beast. She gives me goosebumps when I listen to her. People pin her and Lil’ Kim against each other from the beginning since they both came out probably a week from each other. They may be similar in some ways but Foxy does something to me that Kim doesn’t. Now, “Ill Na Na”, straight banger and I’m not exaggerating. There are absolutely no skips when this joint is on. The album starts off with the “Chicken Coop” intro that’s in true, legendary Trackmasters style. That deep voice that lures you into what’s about to come through your speakers and gives you an introduction of what you’re about to witness, a little history of the team that’s behind Foxy, the label, the year, everything and then finally it’s “Foxy Brownnnnn, the Albummm.” Isaac Hayes makes an appearance at the end of the intro and then there’s the cross fade transition into “(Holy Matrimony) Letter to the Firm.” How ironic because the song samples Isaac Hayes’ “Ike’s Mood, Part 1.” Foxy spits an entire joint dedicated to her The Firm peers, Nas and AZ. Next, it’s “Foxy’s Bells.” Foxy gives you a LL Cool J “Rock the Bells” but on her own twist. She pulled it off in a great way too. Then, we hear the soft sounds of Teddy Riley’s group BLACKstreet on the joint “Get Me Home.” Now I have to clear this up right now. I notice sometimes, here and there, people say it’s “Gotta Get Me Home” when it’s just simply named “Get Me Home”, okay people? A’ight, let’s keep going. This joint was one of the singles off the album. It’s a certified banger and a automatic classic for both Foxy and BLACKstreet. It’s a song to me that never gets old. It’s timeless shit. Chauncey Black was no joke on the vocals and this was around the time when they had new members in the group. Next, “The Promise”, Havoc of Mobb Deep is on this one. This is the Foxy that I love. She brings you that street shit, her stories of being around men who hustle and do street shit and the guy promises her that everything will be straight but in the long run, things will eventually get ugly and of course they do. This part of the album is like a story of a woman whose trapped in a bind. She’s surrounded by these hustlers and she wants to get away. The short interlude “The Set Up”, she wants to leave her man because she believes the relationship isn’t working out but he’s not taking her seriously and then these dudes run up on him who represent for her and protect her by killing him right there on sight. “If I” comes on. It’s a joint that’s the answer to the interlude. She talks about what would happen if she could rewind time back to when life was good. Her life and relationship changes when she starts to blow up and become an artist. Great storytelling. An original purpose in hip hop that I love. “The Chase” is another hard joint about the street life. Running around just trying to survive. “Ill Na Na”, the album title joint, my dude Mef appears on this one. What I love about Mef is that he has a special way of collaborating with people. It’s not just a normal joint featuring Method Man, he actually blends well with other artists by feeling out their vibe and feeding the listeners who he’s vibing with on the track. He’s the perfect collaborator to me. This joint shows love to Foxy about her style and who she is. She almost gives the men a taste of what she likes and what she’s about at the same time giving the ladies some inspiration to be proud of the women they are if they relate to her style and ways. “No One’s” a smooth joint with the smooth sounds of Khadijah Bass. The joint comes from The S.O.S. Band’s “No One’s Gonna Love You.” It works very well over a hip hop track. I honestly don’t think this joint would work with anybody else on the hook and chorus. “Fox Boogie” is hands down my favorite joint on the album just because Kid Capri is on the track. He provides all the flavor and party vibe on the track. This is the joint you put on at parties when everybody come together and have their red cups and everybody is singing along to “Uggggghhhh, na na na naaaaa!” Foxy keeps it strictly Foxy style still. Giving the people who the fuck she is. That cocky rapper joint. Everybody has their cocky tracks and that’s okay. That’s the best part about hip hop: the boldness and rebelliousness. It’s a beautiful thing. The joint transitions into “I’ll Be”, another single released from the album and my boy Jay-Z appears on this one. This is the joint everybody knows when it comes to Foxy Brown. That Rene & Angela sample was genius too. Foxy and Jay have that 90’s Bonnie & Clyde thing going on before he had Beyoncé. The album ends on a continuation of the intro and Isaac Hayes says the last things that he wanted to say before the beat stops. Hands down, this album is my all time favorite when it comes to women in hip hop. Truly a masterpiece. I enjoy it every single time I listen to it. I get this movie in my head of almost a hood version of Romeo & Juliet. I remember posting about this album on it’s 18th and 19th anniversaries too and Foxy showed me love with kisses and heart emojis. She’s truly my heart when it comes to women MC’s. See how I switched it up? But still. I hate the label regardless. It’s safe to end this on a good note. I can finish the movie in my head I have while listening to this album with her video of “Big Bad Mamma” featuring Dru Hill. Stephon Marbury pops up on the sofa across the room from her and goes “Ayo Fox! Why you ain’t at the ball yo!?” It’s the Cinderella story of a hood girl who made it through the shit she been through during “Ill Na Na” and now she’s a survivor. Fox Boogie Brown is definitely bad as hell. Salute to a legend, one of hip hop’s ILLEST women on the M-I-C. Love you Fox! Word, one love.

20 Years Later: The Legacy of 2Pac

It was on September 13th, 1996, when one of hip hop’s very own had passed on. 20 years later, this man’s legacy is still celebrated worldwide through his music, his movies and most importantly his powerful, emotional, strong and revolutionary words and actions. Tupac Amaru Shakur is one of hip hop’s most celebrated artists of all time. His music was not only the truth but he showed sides of himself that was very impactful on fans all over the world. Of course all that revolutionary talk and attitude was put into him by his mother, Afeni Shakur, a woman who was a political activist and a part of the Black Panther Party. The Black Panther Party is a revolutionary black nationalist and social organization that was founded in 1962 and lasted until 1982. Before he was Tupac, he was Lesane Parrish Crooks. The first time people heard Pac on a record was on Digital Underground’s 1991 joint called “Same Song”, from the original movie soundtrack “Nothing But Trouble.” That same year, Pac released his debut album called “2Pacalypse Now.” This album touched heavily on the subject of all the things that were happening here in America. Things like “black on black” crime, teenage pregnancy, racism, and police brutality and one song that talked about one of those subjects was “Brenda Had a Baby.” I never sat down and listened to this album all the way through but I already knew what topics Pac was touching on from reading about the album long time ago. The only Pac album I heard all the way through is “All Eyez On Me”, which was released 20 years ago in February. His next album “Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z…” released in February 1993, spawned the single “I Get Around”, which is one of my all time favorite Pac joints. Of course, any song with a dope beat to me is automatically a good song and it was catchy too. The music video matched with a fun, party vibe with the half naked women by the pool and running backyard and just dancing and having a good time. Another joint from this album “Keep Your Head Up” is another one of my favorites, for the simple fact that Pac said a line in the song that questioned the lack of love for our black women. He rides the beat while making you think when he said “And since we all came from a woman, got our name from a woman and our game from a woman, I wonder why we take from our women, why we rape our women, do we hate our women? I think it’s time to kill for our women, be real to our women.” That line alone is why this joint is one of my favorite Pac joints. To this day, that line is still to be asked because having a conversation with our friends and brothers and cousins, then tend to talk with so much hate and disrespect for black women and it personally pisses me off. People talk about how much they love the real and how real they are themselves but only keeping it REAL ignorant and REAL dumb and stupid. Pac’s next joint “Me Against the World” to me is my favorite album because all three of the singles released are all of my favorite Pac joints as well and if they’re all my favorites then I know for sure that the album is amazing. I need to have a Pac day and just vibe to his shit all day. “All Eyez On Me” has K-Ci and Jojo on the hook to “How Do U Want?”, and that dope ass remixed version to “California Love” featuring Dr. Dre and Roger Troutman, that’s Mr. Computer Love right there. The song wouldn’t be the same without him on it. “The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory” aka “Makaveli” had “Hail Mary and “R U Still Down? (Remember Me)” had “Do For Love” featuring Eric Williams from BLACKstreet, who was a new member at the time. Man, Pac had joints for days that I rocked with heavy but I still have to find some time to go through his entire discography. To me, Pac goes into the same box as KRS-One, Public Enemy, and the X-Clan. They were all on that political/Black Power tip that we need more of in today’s hip hop. Kendrick Lamar could also go into that box, as well as Lupe Fiasco, Mos Def and Talib Kweli aka Black Star, nothing like conscious rap to make you nod your head, think, cry, get angry as you rap along to those deep records and it made you feel proud to be Black too, made you feel unapologetic about being Black. Of course hip hop needs a balance but it’s a little too out of balance nowadays and Pac would be perfect in these days of the Black Lives Matter movement. Let’s put David Banner in that box too. 20 years later, it’s no secret how impactful Pac is to hip hop and on people all over the world. His honesty and empowering but sharp words made people both love him and hate him at the same time. He wasn’t the lyrical and flow kinda dude, he was emotional and powerful, unapologetic and honest. I almost forgot to mention his acting career when he appeared in “Gridlock’d”, “Above the Rim” and one of my all time favorites “Juice” alongside Omar Epps as “Bishop.” Bishop had that same attitude Pac had in his music except Bishop got outta hand with the power of the “juice.” There’s no telling what could happen if Pac was still here today. I would’ve loved for him to be here today. I definitely see him in Kendrick Lamar. Rest in peace Pac. We still riding with you and keeping you in our spirits after 20 years.

Beats, Rhymes & Life: The 20th Anniversary Edition!

On this day 20 years ago, my all time favorite hip hop group, A Tribe Called Quest released their fourth album called “Beats, Rhymes, & Life.” I personally feel like this album is more toned down compared to their work before this one and Consequence, Q-Tip’s cousin, is all over the album. When I first sat down and went through the songs, listening to the album, it was a little annoying because I was so used to just Q-Tip and Phife Dawg doing their usual back and forth, yin and yang kinda thing they got going on but after a while it was no problem. Consequence had to grow on me for a while and he’s definitely no slouch on the mic. “Phony Rappers”, the opening track has a beat that’s hard but the instruments behind it makes it sounds so smooth at the same time. This is a joint about phony rappers who are not who they say or pretend to be, “Get a Hold”, the second joint, is another banger that you just put on while you sit in a room with your homies and pass around a spliff and just nod or good for riding out, “Motivators” is an uplifting joint about staying positive and forgetting about the haters, “Jam” is a joint with a name that fits and has some great blues and jazz sounds behind it, “Crew” sounds kinda Neo-Soul-ish. It’s that kinda shit that sounds like a Erykah Badu, a D’Angelo, The Roots, Mos Def or Jill Scott joint. “The Pressure” is my personal favorite joint on the album because of Ali Shaheed’s dope cuts and scratches on the beat that sounds like a perfect ode to the group while cutting and scratching a few of their classic hits. The song also talks about the pressures of being in the music industry. “1nce Again” is my second favorite joint on the album because of the beat and Tammy Lucas’ smooth voice on the chorus. She’s the same girl who sang on her own version of Heavy D’s 1992 classic “Is It Good to You” and it can be heard on the “JUICE” soundtrack to the movie starring Omar Epps and the late great 2Pac. “Mind Power” is a joint that’s okay. It’s not a joint I would put on first but it’s cool, “The Hop” is another Neo-Soul sound influenced joint. It’s also my third favorite joint on the album because of the beat; Hey! I love a dope ass beat to nod at and it’s what keeps me listening. “Keeping It Moving” is another okay joint to me, I’m not that crazy about it so the title fits but let’s keep it moving. “Baby Phife’s Return”, yoooo Phife spits in his regular way, he uses his Trinidadian accent when he gets into the track, very bold and very representative of being the kid from Queens who loves hip hop. You can hear it in his voice. Damn, I miss him so much. Word. “Separate/Together” is a very short track but it’s dope as hell and my fourth favorite. The bridge is extra catchy too. “We got ta do our due, let’s separate together, got ta move on through, let’s separate together….” Then, “What Really Goes On” has a beat that goes “We got dat bump-da bump-da bum bum bump!” The hardest joint on the album. Sounds like Mobb Deep could have been on this joint too. “Word Play” is another smooth smoke a joint kinda joint too. It’s the smoothest joint on the album with a hard bass that kicks in for a second and it sounds almost hypnotizing. The album finishes with “Stressed Out”, a hard joint with the smooth vocals of Faith Evans. This joint wouldn’t be the same without Faith and the remix is even harder with Raphael Saadiq. BANANAS! 20 years later I just wish my boy Phife was here to see this album make 20. This is hip hop that will never get old. Happy 20th to “Beats, Rhymes & Life”, rest in beats to Malik “Phife Dawg” Taylor and thank you Tribe for changing my life. Word. One love.