Happy New Year
Happy New Year to our clients and friends!
Last year was great and we're looking forward to having an even better 2011. Stay tuned for exciting new features coming this year!
Blessings and much success,
-Jesse
Rap Rebirth’s Top 10 Hip-Hop Albums of 2010
1. Rick Ross - Teflon Don - An almost flawless album. Great beats, lots of Rozay swagger and excellent guests. No skip tracks. Perfect summer album.
2. Nas & Damian Marley - Distant Relatives - Nas brings his usual lyrical genius and Damian Marley pulls off a nice hybrid of rap and reggae.
3. Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy - The production on this album contends with the great classics of all time. Musically it's a true masterpiece.
4. Lloyd Banks - The Hunger for More 2 - The G-Unit underdog makes a great album with that dark, dense Queens, NY sound.
5. Fashawn - Ode to Illmatic - Fashawn pays tribute to Nas' Illmatic with multis, internal rhymes, and that mid-90s hunger.
6. J Cole - Friday Night Lights - Understated piano on the production and excellent songwriting make a classic J Cole mixtape.
7. Statik Selektah & Termanology - 1982 - Brings back that mid-90s sound. Term is a master lyricist, reminds me of Big L. Statik's beats remind me of DJ Premier.
8. Drake - Thank Me Later - This album grew on me. Drake's producer 40 has a nice smoothed out sound. Drake may not be Ice Cube, but he's true to who he is.
9. Eminem - Recovery - Surprise comeback. Production is a little uneven but Em makes up for it with rapid flow, strong delivery and good lyrics.
10. Lil Wayne - I Am Not a Human Being - Solid album throughout. Good production and Wayne brings his usual wittiness. Nice prelude to Carter IV.
Lyrical Exercise #4
Lil Wayne rapping his own version of Skeelo's "I Wish I Was a Little Bit Taller"
LIL WAYNE
I wish I was a lil bit iller - wish I was a killer
Wish I was guerrilla, Godzilla, Thriller
Wish I had a lil less swag so I could brag
In my Jag, yeea man, laid back in a doorag
Weezy why you do that, maaan who that cool cat
Wish I knew who my pops was, real bad, real bad
Wish I didn't get all these girls off the ransom
Wish I was like LL, girls cuz I'm handsome
Wish I had a grandson named Branson - I dunno
Wish I could flow like a young Mic Geronimo
Wish I wasn't locked in a cage like a gerbil
Wish I had it locked like Kaiser Soze Verbal
Wish that herbal was jus enough to fuk me up
Wish that this sizzurp ain't lovely in a cup
Wish my dick ain't addict like a cancer stick
Have em coming round nonstop like a fiend chick
Wish I knew Guru before the homie passed
Wish that the Zulus had brought in some giraffes
Wish that Nicki and Drake would make a baby
I'd raise him to the best MC that would pay me
Wish I was like Jay-Z, yea an icon
Oh yea, wish I was tall and could ball like Lebron
Lyrical Exercise #3
Gettin my Andre 3000 on...
ANDRE 3000
Notes was strewn across the room, mind open like a womb
I'm in back of ya, lady Dracula, now she's risen out her tomb
Zoom microscopic topic to discuss is love and trust
Met a lady from Atlanta called Ms Santa selling dust
Thunder bolt volts the antidote to the anti dope I bus
With the musk of mammoth tusk rust spaceship doors plus whores I thrust
Trust in G-O-D, only heaven up above me
So it's clouds that wanna hug me, angel shrouds they wanna slug me
Now I'm back down to Earth, Andre this is your self worth
Combined with lines divine make sublime feel like your birth
Lyrical Exercise #2
Cam and MF Doom rapping about roller skating
CAM'RON
Ayo I got my skates strapped, rollerbladin, hate that
Cruising round Harlem, and I don't need no street map
Smile at the pretty mamis, they like "hey hottie"
God on eight wheels, sex appeal, I'm God body
I got the purple ones, pink wheels, bubblegum
Laces made with satin, rule Manhattan, havin fun
I pop a figure eight, they like damn Cam you great
I pop a clip, aim at your lip if you tryna hate
MF DOOM
Got the butter, did I stutter, shutter speed on the camera slow
To catch the blurred motion from this potent roller skating pro
Flow like my raps over Madlib lab tracks
Facts never fiction, your eviction from our skating pack
Cam got the guile, why they call him Giles, flashy styles
Move like magician, Christian, early, surly, extra wild
Yo, oh, ho, you couldn't hold a torch, no
Candle get dismantled, trampled, found fifty leagues below
CAM'RON
Damn DOOM that's super deep, prefer skating to a Jeep
Catch me at the roller rink, mink coat, bringin heat
Baby girl, she likes to roll, shorts hug her ass yo
They way her cheeks pop make me lose my balance - woah
Lyrical Exercise #1
in the style of Nas rapping as a first gen iPod jealous of iPod Touch
NAS
Uh... lord lord Jah... what I'm gonna do...
Uh... shhh... lord lord Jah... hook me up to iTunes...
Hmm, I gave you music, hymns, I'm bout to lose it
Cause my click wheel, grey screen, nah, you never use it
I stay collecting dust, metal plate collecting rust
Headphone jack bust, got that water damage musk
Heard you got new lover, drape her in a plastic cover
Massage her smooth skin like Whoopi and Danny Glover
Old enough to be her mother, but I'm jealous of my own seed
Sexing with boss Jobs now I'm just a plate for weed
Remember my debut in 02, it was beautiful
Camera's flashin, oh the passion, high fashion suitable
For any event, I had to repent, the fame had me buggin
I was losin all my data, my revisions in the dozens
Now you got full color, full motion, spread emotion
Of envy, can't ever be - half of your commotion
An ocean of innovation separate me from you
But I'm the OG, original, and you just version two
September / October Press Round Up
Here're the interviews we did in the last month. Enjoy!
http://cashandcaviar.com/blog/?p=9495
http://www.refinedhype.com/hyped/entry/ghostwriting-interview/
Rap Rebirth Interview with Refined Hype
Check it out!! Big shout out to Nathan over there for making this happen!
http://www.refinedhype.com/hyped/entry/ghostwriting-interview/
The Earth Shattering Genius of Jay Electronica
There's something very special about Jay Electronica. He's that rare one of a kind musician that only comes along once in a decade. What I love about Jay's music is how unique it is. He mixes complex lyricism with pantheistic spirituality and puts it over breathtaking beats. There's also a little social commentary and some classic hip hop bravado. It's the kind of talent that instantly grabs your attention and makes you ask "who the hell is this guy and why haven't I heard about him before." Well you might have heard his latest classic "Exhibit C" (currently getting modest radio play in New York, props to DJ Enuff for that), or maybe you heard his production last year on Nas' song "Queens Get the Money". Check out "The Pledge" where he raps over Jon Brian's score from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, it's outstanding...
Hip-Hop’s Ghostwriters
Interesting article Gelf Magazine did a couple years back on ghostwriting in hip hop
http://www.gelfmagazine.com/archives/hiphops_ghostwriters.php