2007 Rap up

Now a hip-hop tradition (that started in 2002), Skillz drops his end of the year song that gives all of the significant happenings in a well-crafted, humorous, and very entertaining track. This year he goes all-out and even gives us a video.

Official "07 Rap Up" Video


"07 Rap Up" Behind the scenes video


In case you're wondering why a rapper as talented and funny as this isn't a star... This guy is probably responsible for writing hit songs for one of your favorite rappers or favorite club songs. He's a well respected ghost writter (meaning he writes songs for artists for a fee). He even has a song about it that you can listen to here. How else can the guy survive in the game for over ten years and only release one album in 1995?

2007 songs you need to hear

Here are 12 songs from 2007 that need to be heard. Some of these were bigger than others, but the one thing that they all share in common is that at one time or another in 2007 each one of these songs spent time in heavy rotation on my ipod. I didn't include songs that were parts of updates that I did through the year (Amy Macdonald, KT Tunstall, Cormega, Saigon, Vanessa Carlton, etc.), so if you're not up on those yet get familiar and check those out too.

1) "Shining Star" from Abby Dobson's debut cd "Rise Up." This song reminds me of the happy, catchy, upbeat feeling of feeling of Natasha Bedingfield's "These Words" (once the drums kick in). This is a kind of song that will go unnoticed for a year, then a sappy tv show will play it and then everyone will notice it. Well, here's your chance to be ahead of the curve and not have to get turned onto great music from cheezy TV shows. If a sappy TV show has already played it, then I wouldn't know cause I don't watch them... At times I enjoy sappy music, but tv shows is where I draw the line. That is after I stoped watching 90210. I've already said too much... "Will you Find Your Way" is another song on her album that deserves to be heard.


2) "All of the Above" ft. R. Kelly from Beanie Sigel's "The Solution." This is the perfect comeback single. A club banger, w/ a great co-star performance from Kells and Beanie comes with his usual solid lyrics & delivery.


3) "I'm From The Ghetto" (feat. The Game, Jadakiss, Trick Daddy & Dre) from DJ Khaled's "We The Best" cd. Cool & Dre bless DJ Khaled's cd with a banger for a track, Dre provides a catchy hook, and Game steals the show. Anyone who doesn't give Game his props after hearing how he rides this track is just a hater. He runs over one of the greatest living rappers (Jada). This sounds like a single to me, but Fat Joe or Lil' Wayne aren't on it so it was probably doomed from the beginning to be a terror squad single.


4) "The Way I Am" from Ingrid Michaelson's "Girls and Boys" cd. I read that this song is all over the place because it was played on Greg's Anatomy. That follows my whole sappy tv show theory of songs, but I like this song even if Greg's Anatomy fans have been turned onto it. I'd rather that they listen to this then Paris Hilton's cd.


5) My Soul by Graph is a very soul-bearing track where (as the title says) Graph just shares his soul with you. You can get an idea of the sincerity, rhyme patterns, and emotion that Graph is capable of with this track. Any fan of music that wants to hear the real honest and heartfelt capabilities of rap music should listen to this track. This is an example of a rap track that I'd like a rap critic to listen to when they talk about rap just being about guns, drugs, and degrading women.


6) "Only Fooling Myself" from singer/songwriter Kate Voegele's brilliant debut cd "Don't Look Away" is a song that at first made me think that she could be the next Michelle Branch. After listening to her album I feel that she's a better singer and songwriter than Michelle Branch ever was. Any song on the cd could have been a single and none of them sound the same (It's only Life, One Way or Another, Facing Up, Wish You Were, etc.). I'm really looking forward to her next cd. I wish that labels would spend more money introducing beautiful and talented musicians like this than the less talented dancers or karaoke singers that they shove down our throats. Hopefully she'll get her due in 2008. She's going to be playing a musician named Mia for "One Tree Hill." I couldn't tell you if her episode's already aired. If you want to know the reason see #1.


7) Keith Murray's "Nobody Do It Better (ft. Tyrese)" should have been the smash rap hit of the summer. This is ten times better than Jim Jones hit "Ballin'" in every way imaginable (beat, lyrics, vibe, etc.) and seemed to have even more commercial appeal, but for some reason this instant classic joint never caught on with the masses (probably because they didn't pay enough urban radio stations to play it).


8) Masta Ace's "Nostalgia" from Marco Polo's Port Authority is a good remembering the good old days track from one of hip-hop's most underrated living legends.


9) 3rd Coast Anthem from Mojoe's "Classic Ghetto Soul" is the song that made me believe that Mojoe could be the next Outkast. They have swagger, soul, and skills on the mic and this track is a great platform for them to share it with the world. They sound like a mix of Cee-Lo & Outkast. If you're fans of either you might want to check them out.


10) Ne-yo's "Go On Girl" from his "Because of You" album sounds like a man's version of Beyonce's hit song "Irreplaceable" (which Ne-Yo also wrote). He should lose points in my book for recycling some of the same ideas that he used to steal the show in the bridge of the "Back Like That (remix)" with Ghostface & Kanye, but I still found myself listening to this song a lot in 2007. This is the 4th single from his album.


11) "Dont Act Like You Dont Know (feat. Freeway)" by Skillz sounds like "How We Do" part 2. (That's Freeway's hip-hop classic from his first album, in case you were wondering.) This track has the same energy and both Freeway & Skillz bless this heater of a track.


12) Lupe Fiasco's "Hip Hop Saved My Life (ft. Nikki Jean)" is one of my favorite story tracks to come out in a while. This is taken from Lupe's instant-classic cd "The Cool." He gives a great tale of how a rapper can come up in today's industry complete w/ the myspace reference, the family member locked up, and a baby-mamma. Lupe crafts the rhyme patterns brilliantly in this track while never taking away from the details of the story. We might now have our modern-day Slick Rick (the respected hip-hop story teller).


2008 should be a great year for music. With new albums coming from Cormega, Natalie Imbruglia, Joe Budden, Mariah, and Saigon's debut cd there's a lot of great music that I'm looking forward to hearing this year...

Happy 2008!

I'm typing this before I go to bed and I was thinking of all of the See's chocolate that I've eaten in the last three weeks and I thought of this cool video from French singer Olivia Ruiz.

Olivia Ruiz - La Femme Chocolat

The animation in this video is a cross between south park and robot chicken (but more cute than crude).

And if there's a See's candy box around and I'm coming please leave me the marzipan...

6 year old Connie Talbot has an amazing God-given voice

This little gap toothed 6 year old has an amazing God-given voice. She's never had singing lessons. Amazing...



Here's her myspace if you want to support her and buy her new cd here.

KT Tunstall

I don't know why I've been in such a rock chick listening mode lately. There are so many quality hip hop releases that have come out recently that I liked (Jay-Z, Freeway, Beanie, Kanye, Cormega, etc.), but I still find myself listening to songs by Amy Macdonald, KT Tunstall, and Kate Voegele the bulk of the time.

Out of those three my favorite albums are the brilliant debut cd's of Amy Macdonald and Kate Voegele, but most of my favorite songs are by KT Tunstall. This woman just has the classic guitar rock chick sound down.

Here are my two favorite KT songs (both from her brilliant "Eye to the Telescope" debut cd).

1) Suddenly I See



2) Other Side of the World



This is one woman that I have to see live one day when she comes to California. Check this great live performance of "Black Horse And The Cherry Tree" (again from her debut album). I'm going to make sure that I see her when she comes to the Bay Area. I look forward to one day seeing her perform "Black Horse And The Cherry Tree," "Hold On," and "Suddenly I See" live.

She really is a one-woman band. Notice how she uses the pedals to record her voice and her playing different instruments. And I've always been impressed by people who can sing and play the guitar well, and this is miles ahead of that. I've never seen a woman with a guitar nail a performance like that. Amazing...



And just to show that she has some heat on her new cd here's her 1st single from her "Dramatic Fantastic" cd.

"Hold On" - This is a great video to bring out the energy of the song. This video shows that KT has a little bit of hip hop in her...

Michael Jackson - Who Is It (IHS mix)

Here's a rare remix that can remind any R&B fan what a talent Michael Jackson was when he was ruling the pop charts.



This song along with other unreleased and rare songs were made available on Michael Jackson's "Ultimate Collection" box set. Amazon has a special where you can get the 4 disc & 1 DVD box set for only $29.99 (w/ free s/h).

Since things are coming full circle and R&B acts are trying to bring that classic MJ sound back (Ne-yo's "Because of You"), it's kinda cool hearing a classic MJ song with a hip hop backdrop.

Cormega - "Who Am I?" IN STORES NOW!

Mega has what most other rappers wish they had. Not the street credibility (he's a street legend in Queens NY), ill lyricism, the ability to fight (he was a boxing champion in jail), or money and girls, but the feeling of being comfortable in his own skin.

In a day where most rappers have to put up fronts to sell records, Mega is himself and his fans and hood love him for it.

One thing that you'll always get with any Cormega release is your moneys worth, but this might be the best package yet. You get a 3 hour 50 minute DVD and a soundtrack for the price of a regular cd ($13.99). The soundtrack is a dope collection of songs by Mega and his peoples in the game (many of who you get to see in the DVD), but the jewel is the DVD. This isn't a typical hip hop dvd where the rapper shows off his guns talks tough and then packages it to make a quick buck. This dvd takes you into the life of Mega (what he's been up to, his mentality of the industry and situations that have happened to him).

You get to hear about his legendary rap battles, his situation with Nas, his shoe collection, his Def Jam situation, his time when he rented buses and took his hood to an amusement park, when he visits patients at a hospital, etc. This isn't a side that many street legends would share with you, but that's what makes him different.

On top of that you can't loose the fact that he's one of the best street poets in the game. You get his seldom-seen music videos that he made that didn't get any play on MTV or BET.

What makes Mega's music stand out from others is that he speaks with such sincerity that you can feel what he's saying even if you haven't been through what he's been through. This DVD isn't any different cause you can feel his pain and sincerity in his voice when he describes what's happened in his life.

To give you an idea of his talent here's a clip of a verse that he dropped at a show at BB Kings in NYC: