Death Row and Bad Boy Records ruled the mid-to-late 90s by dropping some of the biggest hip hop records ever. No Limit Records took baton in the late-90s as they were dropping albums every other week. After that, Roc-A-Fella Records was one of the labels that took off. Jay-Z and Kanye West lead the charge for the label by releasing classic after classic. While Jay & Ye got a lot of the attention they ventured to Philadelphia to grab some other talent. Beanie Sigel was the first one and he brought along his State Property crew. Freeway was one of the rappers from the City of Brotherly love to be…
Jay-Z’s Reasonable Doubt Dropped 25 Years Ago Today
Jay-Z is one of the greatest rappers to ever touch the mic. There are many that have him at the top of their all-time list. 25 years ago today, Jay-Z released his Reasonable Doubt album. The platinum selling debut is viewed by many as his best album. Personally, it’s up there with his Black Album and Blueprint joints. Reasonable Doubt had features from the Notorious Big, Mary J. Blige, Foxy Brown, Memphis Bleek and Sauce Money. Dead Presidents was his first single and it sampled Nas the World is Yours track. Of course, this was brought up when they were having beef with each other. The gold-selling single set the…
Jay-Z Released Blueprint 3 10 Years Ago
10 years ago today, Jay-Z dropped his 11th studio album, Blueprint 3. If you’re keeping count, Blueprint 3 was the third album returning from his retirement. Blueprint 3 was also the third and final installment of the Blueprint series. Kanye West, Rihanna, Drake, Jeezy, Alicia Keys, Swizz Beatz, Kid Cudi and a virtually unknown J. Cole appeared on the album. To prepare for the album, Jay-Z released D.O.A (Death of Auto-Tune) late that spring. The response was that he was taking aim at a lot of artists as the track speaks for itself. For me, this is one track that didn’t do nothing for me. The second single, Run this…
Freeway What We Do Featuring Jay-Z and Beanie Sigel
One of the more underrated rappers has always been Freeway. When it came to Roc-A-Fella Records back in the day, Jay Z and Beanie Sigel were the two most talked about names. During that period, Killa Cam came through, but no one hardly ever put Freeway in that category. Despite having dope features, he didn’t get his props until he dropped his debut album. Philadelphia Freeway dropped, and it was a great album. For Throwback Thursday, the featured track is called What We Do. The track features Jay Z and Beanie Sigel, which made for an instant classic status in my eyes. Check out the video below! What did you…
Jay-Z Dropped His Blueprint Album 15 Years Ago
It’s crazy how time flies by with today being the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks that changed America forever. My condolences go out to the ones that lost their lives and the ones affected by such a terrible event. I remember that day like it was yesterday and at that time it just didn’t seem real to me. That very same day I remember picking up the Blueprint album from Jay-Z. The album had so much hype behind it because the rumored diss track towards Nas that was going to be on the album. After it dropped we found out the track was called The Takeover where he…
Watch the Throne by Jay-Z Kanye West Review
First of all I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not a big fan of either of these artists even though I respect what both have done more so, what Jay-Z has done over the years. I’ve often said that Kanye’s albums have declined in quality since his debut of the College Dropout and hit rock bottom with the 808s & Heartbreaks but the My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy album was better but still wasn’t a good album. Now with Jay-Z I loved his Reasonable Doubt debut album along with a couple other albums but I loved the Blueprint and Black albums. Ok with that said let’s get…
Rick Ross Mastermind Turns 10 Year Old
Rick Ross has had an impressive run ever since he entered the rap game. Ross was on the independent scene for a minute and was even signed to Suave House Records. After that didn’t work out, he inked a deal with Slip-N-Slide Records. For those who aren’t familiar with Slip-N-Slide Records, they are the home to Trick Daddy and Trina. In 2006, Rick Ross released his debut album called Port of Miami. Port of Miami featured his smash hit, Hustlin’ and it was arguably the biggest hit of the summer. Two years later, he followed that up with a gold selling album called Trilla. The following year he dropped his…
Kanye West The College Dropout Dropped 20 Years Ago
Kanye West is one of the most controversial musicians of all time. It feels like not a day goes by we don’t see or hear something crazy about Kanye. This is when people started saying we want the old Kanye back. Before all the madness and craziness with him, Kanye worked his way into the good graces of Roc-A-Fella Records. After producing some of Jay-Z’s classic Blueprint album he focused on his solo debut. The College Dropout was the name of his debut album, and it was released 20 years ago today. The College Dropout went on to win several awards for Album of the Year. The album went on…
Silkk the Shocker Made Man Dropped 25 Years Ago
Silkk the Shocker has been the butt of a lot of jokes over the years. Some publications and podcasts and even critics have called him the worst rapper of all-time. It doesn’t matter what you think about him because he sold records. Silkk the Shocker released his solo, debut album back in 1996 and it was called The Shocker. During this time, he was only known as Silkk was also a part of the group TRU. TRU released three albums and that includes the classic double joint True 2 Da Game. Silkk the Shocker was also a part of the 504 Boyz that included Master P, Mystikal, C-Murder and Krazy.…
Lil Wayne Tie My Hands Featuring Robin Thicke
Lil Wayne is widely known as one of the greatest rappers to ever touch the mic. We can all agree that his run in the mid-200s was legendary. Lil Wayne has influenced a lot of the newer rappers of this generation. A few days ago, tha Carter III turned 15 years old. Jay-Z, T-Pain, Fabolous, Robin Thicke, Busta Rhymes, Juelz Santana, Babyface, Bobby V, and Kanye West all made appearances. Tha Carter III debuted atop the Billboard charts by selling over a million records in its first week. From the middle of March to the end of September, Lil Wayne released five singles. In total, Tha Carter III has sold…
Nelly Dilemma Featuring Kelly Rowland for Throwback Thursday
In the early-2000s, Nelly was one of the biggest rappers in the world. Even Jay-Z shouted him out on Excuse Me Miss. Jay mentioned that only his crew, Eminem and Nelly were moving units during that time. Nelly released his debut album Country Grammar in 2000. Country Grammar sold over 10 million units off the strength of four singles. Nelly also introduced the world to his St. Lunatics crew. Two years later, Nelly released his second joint titled Nellyville. Nellyville was another strong effort from Nelly. In my opinion, the second one is better than the debut project. The album went on to sell over 7 million copies and he…
AZ Featuring Nas The Essence for Throwback Thursday
AZ is one of the best rappers when it comes to his pen game. AZ first hit the scene with his classic verse from Life’s A Bitch off Illmatic from Nas. About a year and half later, he dropped his debut joint Do or Die. We all consider it a classic and on the album he and Nas reunited for Mo Money, Mo Murder. A couple years later, they formed the Firm with Nature and Foxy Brown to drop an album. While the album had a couple of good joints it was viewed as a disappointed and not living up to the hype. Nas and AZ teamed up a couple…
Nipsey Hussle Victory Lap Dropped 5 Years Ago Today
It’s hard to believe that Nipsey Hussle is no longer with us. Nipsey was shot and killed on March 31. 2019. At the time, he was beginning to ascend into a superstar. The year prior, Nipsey released his only studio album Victory Lap. Victory Lap dropped 5 years ago today and it was an instant success for hip hop heads. The consumers didn’t run out and immediately support the project as it sold 53K the first week. The project was dope, but unfortunately the buyers didn’t pick up on it until he passed away. Victory Lap has gone platinum, but Nipsey Hussle is more than just a rapper. Nip was…
2Pac Strictly 4 My Niggaz Released 30 Years Ago Today
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of hip hop, Billboard just released their 50 greatest rappers of all-time. Many people didn’t like it as expected, but I’m not getting upset over someone’s else’s opinion. Jay-Z and Kendrick Lamar finished as the top-2 MCs ever and Nas, 2Pac and Eminem rounded out the top-5. If you have followed me over the years, you know that 2Pac is my GOAT and Nas is right behind him. Unfortunately, 2Pacalypse Now wasn’t played by me until after his second album. One of my friends introduced me to Pac’s music and instantly became a fan. 30 years ago today Strictly 4 My Niggaz was released. The…
Nelly Ride Wit Me for Throwback Thursday
Welcome to another Thursday as that mean we are closer to the weekend. Once again, it’s time to check out my weekly playlist and featured track. My week started off with the Scrappy/Trillville album and then the new one from Gunna. Quik is the Name from the legendary DJ Quik and then the new mixtape from Jim Jones with DJ Drama. Pac Life from 2Pac, Culture from Migos and the Slim Shady LP was also played. We also had some R&B with the New Life joint from Monica and OnMyRadio by Musiq Soulchild. As always, there were plenty to choose from for my Throwback Thursday joint this week. We are…
Sam Sneed U Better Recognize Featuring Dr. Dre
First off, Happy New Year to everyone out there. Hope you had a wonderful beginning to the new year and nothing but continued blessings throughout it. Welcome to Thursday as that mean we are closer to the weekend. My first playlist of the year started off on the R&B tip. Where I Wanna Be from Donnell Jones, 702’s No Doubt and Unpredictable from Jaime Foxx started things off. The new Nas joint, All Eyez on Me from Pac and the latest Busta Rhymes joint made the playlist. There were a couple others, but that was enough to last me throughout the week. Any of those albums would produce a great…
Young Dro Hear Me Cry for Throwback Thursday
Welcome to another Thursday as that mean we are closer to the weekend. My playlist this week consisted of a few mixtapes. Southern Smoke 16, DJ J-Boogie’s Heavy D tribute and a classic from DJ Cuttnice were all played. The Doctor’s Advocate from Game, G Code from Juvenile and T-Pain’s debut joint also made the list. There are a few that could have been the featured track, but I’ll go in another direction. One of the albums that was played was a personal mixtape I made several years ago. The mixtape featured 50 Cent, Nas, 2Pac, Beanie Sigel and Jay-Z. One artist that also made an appearance on the mixtape…
Ja Rule Pain is Love Released 20 Years Ago Today
Ja Rule hit the hip hop scene in the late 90s when he was featured on Jay-Z’s Hard Knock Life album. Can I Get A… was the single and it was a hot song in 1998. Ja Rule released his debut, Venni Vetti Vecci the following year. The album went debuted #1 and it eventually went platinum. After the success of the debut, Ja Rule dropped his second album the next year. Rule 3:36 was the name and it made Ja Rule a superstar and household. Rule 3:36 also debuted #1 and it went triple platinum. Almost a year later, Ja Rule released his Pain is Love album to the…
