Ironic (Recession Music)

This is an extremely short one off Recession Music. Just putting this up to fill space until my microphone comes down, after which the floodgates will be opened with nuff tunes. Brace yuhself. Face out.

DJs singing, palancing etc.

I have no problem with deejays singing. Everybody has to 'eat ah food'...yuh know. Just because they stop some people from eating their food doesn't mean they stop me from getting seconds of mine and it surprisingly doesn't mean that I wouldn't want them to eat. Even if they were pausing my feeding I wouldn't hate on them for eating because I would most likely do the same, but with more class, probably. Ever since I started creating resumes, I quickly learned the value of using one's position and seizing opportunity to gain success as getting that foot in the door can be hard when you have a big shoe size. Plus, 'Palance' is an incredible song that would be a big tune regardless.

What is disturbing to me though is the trendiness and bandwagonistic nature of the phenomenon. Previously, a good song by a dj was seen as a surprise and the more common bad ones were regarded curiously and forgotten with the dj in question playfully regarding the song as a foray and nothing more. Nowadays, these djs, deservedly and otherwise, stand at the forefront of the soca musical landscape, swinging through and beating their chest as entrepeneurs, hustlers and lol bonafide artistes while conveniently forgetting the instantaneous access they have to the finest producers, artiste friends who don't mind performing social fellatio for airplay and well, airplay on their own programmes and the programmes of their dj pardners who could be accused of nepotism if not for the fact that they are usually tone deaf (they may actually like those pieces of mess); bunning down all non-soca local acts basically while playing 'hits' by Soulja Boy? How I miss those times when Chinese Laundry was the only dj with a lame song getting more spins than a bike tyre.

Yeah things change but I eh have no beef with the djs. If I have learned anything from living in a system is that people take advantage of it whenever and wherever loopholes present itself. So I eh vex with them men earning extra money although I do get annoyed with the condescending and scolding tones most take when talking about upcoming artistes and their inability to succeed when they of all people should know how hard it is to penetrate radio since they function as the chastity belt (why do we obsess about radio anyways though). My real beef is with a system so designed that it allows a tone deaf dj with a terrible concept to get airplay and be assimilated into the airwaves like methane from Point Lisas and forge careers on abysmal music with no encouragement or compulsion to improve. In the US there have been examples of similar crossovers like producer Kanye rapping or radio personality Ludacris rapping but they had to either come good in the latter case or get good in the former. Yeah, I'm saddened by a radio system that turns filth into gold through doctored ubiquity; I'm only consoled by the fact that facebook is my radio and the airplay not bad at all. I still like 'Palance' though and I better get my jersey Wednesday or we'll have problems. Face out.

Interesting video: Young Dro - I Don't Know Y'all (feat. Yung L.A.)

This is one of the most creative videos I've seen in a while. Not the subject matter but whatever filter they used to get the visuals to have that effect. It works well with the song too. I'm going to be releasing a vid for every song on Hitchhiker's Guide to Uwi this year so these days I'm trying to watch more vids to get better and more varied inspiration (thanks Juma). Anyway, watch...enjoy. Face out.

Clipse Popular Demand Popeyes feat Cam ron & Pharrell Official Music Video

I don't know eh but to me this is the best rap song I've heard for 2009. I won't say it has the best verses but the vybe of it is nuts. Definitely the most slept on song. Face rate this one. Face out.

Tribute to Zidane - Skeeto

As much as it hurts me to see Zizou putting the hurting on Brazil (it hurt then and still hurts now), this tribute video and song by Skeeto real bad. Check it out quick. Face out.

Top Ten Five Rap Albums of 2009

Merry Christmas people. In case you don't know, this is almost my 100th post on Underground Trini Artiste so thank God for things going so long. As you'd probably know, I was busy for most of this year working on my album Hitchhiker's Guide to Uwi so things have severely slowed down on this side but no worry, we still here and we're going to be pushing throughout next year. And Raining Shots video is out but trust me, there are many more to come. Look out for the video for "Stress" scheduled to drop Ash Wednesday.

Now I've listened to a lot of rap this year and it hasn't been the best of years. I know you cynical guys going to be like how hip hop dead and how dey spoiling de music years now and oh blame it on [insert currently most popular rapper here] but dats not the reason I don't rate this year though. For me the big anticipated albums largely disappointed, so much so that there are two mixtapes on my list of top albums. One of the traits of many good blogs is controversy and I willingly intend to cause it here by saying that this IS the definitive list of top 5 rap albums, I not disclaiming with no "this is my opinion" ish. If you disagree then yuh free to comment and explain yuhself but unless I didn't get a chance to listen something, this is DE LIST homie lol. So in no particular order...

ONLY BUILT FOR CUBAN LINX PT II - RAEKWON


It's a known fact that most sequels suck, especially when they come out over a decade after the original. Not this one though. Far from actually. Featuring a host of old school-sounding, mystical sampling, boom bap beats with mainly Wu-tang alumni tearing them to shreds, this album sounds like a throw-back but in the best way possible. As a matter of fact, this album actually continues the storyline of the first so you can actually listen from the first one straight into this one. How bad is dat?

NO CEILINGS - LIL WAYNE


Yeah yeah, so ah know there is going to be Wayne hate and I admit Weezy has been releasing auto-tune flavoured mess for de longest while but de boy come good here. Some of the most clever, creative and laugh out loud hilarious punchlines for the year all live on this tape and I suggest any of you haters to google the tape and listen first before hating. No ceilings!

ENEMY OF THE STATE - LUPE FIASCO


Yeah ah know, another mixtape? But yuh cyah be so. This year wasn't the best one for rap releases and oh gosh, is Lupe. The highlight is when mih boy spazzes over Lil Wayne's "Fireman" and does to him what he usually does to other rappers. Classic.

ATTENTION DEFICIT - WALE


Normally you won't expect one of the best rap albums of the year to come from a guy who had the lamest verse in the BET Cypher in which there was stiff competition for lameness. However, I must admit the man was killing on the mixtapes a while now and his album is pretty dope. It's definitely different but the punchlines are there, the music is there and the features are almost all on point. Don't sleep on this.

SLAUGHTERHOUSE - SLAUGHTERHOUSE


Now I'll start by saying that this album in my opinion was a big disappointment. Based on the individual work of the four members of this group and the tracks that they released prior to the album dropping, this album should have been at least twice as hard as it was. Nevertheless, the album is still hard and although the concepts and beats weren't what they should have been, the sheer lyrical and mcing skill of these four pull the album through.

And that's it folks. Let me hear what allyuh think. Till next time, Face out!

Recession Music: Number one on Trinidad Tunes

Well Recession Music has been out free on the Internet a while now as a thank you note to all the people who supported the project and enabled me to not only make back my costs but profit as well but more recently, I put it up on Trinidad Tunes. It came out on Trinidad Tunes a little more than a month ago and has since become the number one downloaded album there for the past two weeks with the song "Girls Like Radio" claiming the top downloaded song spot this week so I thank God for that.

With that known and yuh boy dominating Trinidad tunes and all, I want to invite all of you still reluctant folks to vibez the album as it's currently FREE leaving you with no excuse. You can preview the tracks below and download the entire mixtape here. Yeah take it in and you can let me know what you think too.

Also, the video for Raining Shots off my official album "Hitchhiker's Guide To Uwi" (buy it here) is out so you can view that below as well. Face out.