Mos Def won't be Mos Def next year

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Mos Def has given us notice that he's changing his name in 2012. Unfortunately, his new music will still be known by it's previous name, "wack."

Hip-Hop Greatest Album Cuts Pt. 4

6. "What's the Difference" Dr. Dre The Chronic 2001
Critics of Dr. Dre say his sound is dependent on the contributions of others, like this Mel-Man-assisted track from his 1999 comeback album. But whatever Mr. Young does in the studio, whether its sequencing, tweaking, filtering or straight jacking, it works. Mid-way through his sequel to his best-selling debut, Dre dishes on his personal relationships with The D.O.C., Easy E and presumbably, Ice Cube over a thick bassline and fractured horn hit. After a misstep with The Aftermath compilation, this song helped make the difference for The Doctor.
We're almost done counting down the songs that make good albums great and terrible albums almost listenable.



7. "She Watch Channel Zero" Public Enemy It takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
Back in the days when albums had sides, it was important to sequence songs carefully to prepare the listener for what's next. After the sonic onslaught of this song from "It Takes a Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back," you were prepped for the second set of Public Enemy's greatest work. This little number is an indictment television's influence on society atop a Slayer sample and a James Brown beat.



8. "Children's Story" Black Star Black Star
Heeere we go. One of the many shining moments on the sole Black Star album, Mos Def flips Ricky Walter's script about a kid gone wrong to fit his tale of a rapper gone pop. A rare rap remake that builds on the legacy of the original.



9. "Oodles of O's" De La Soul De La Soul is Dead
De La Soul resurrected themselves with this song's hypnotic bassline, quirky samples and Trugoy's uncoventional flow. "Oodles," introduced "De La Soul is Dead," a record that redefined the Long Island trio's career, signaling the end of the daisy age and the death of innocence.

Bombing The Sound Pt. 2

This is the second installment about first trip to New York on the music industry's dime.
Rawkus, the label that put out Soundbombing 2, put us up in a swank hotel in midtown New York. Since it was my partner Maurice's room and hook-up, I didn't want to rack up charges on his bill, I started to give them my credit card information. The clerk wouldn't take my card and told me there was already an account set up for the room. The name on the card was "Fox Inc." For awhile Maurice and I thought their was some mistake, then we remembered there was some connection between the Fox and Rawkus.

We made good use of Rupert Murdoch's money. We ordered breakfast, lunch and dinner and tipped the staff exuberantly. I remember racking up the long distance calls, calling friends and family, saying stuff like, "Guess where I'm at ..."

But this trip wasn't just about the perks. We were there to see the Soundbombing 2 concert and Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Common, Pharaoh Monche and airbody else from that album were on the bill. But before we could go to the show, Maurice had to make a quick stop that would leave me in a tight spot.

Bombing The Sound

Back when indie rap lable Rawkus was flush with street cred and Fox, Inc. cash, I talked them into flying me to New York for the Soundbombing 2 release party/concert. They booked us on a small plane that left me and my partner DJ Reese shook ones. Our ride back would also be ... problematic.

DJ Reese was on the radio back then and had better connects than I did. While I could only swing airfare from the record company, he had a hotel room and some other perks. But when he said there would be a man with a card with his name on it waiting for us at the airport, I didn't believe him. Sure enough, when we got off the plane, we didn't see the man or the card. Resse made a call (I remember it was from a pay phone. Damn, this is an old story.) and within a few minutes a man with a card appeared and took us to a ... limousine.

Reese and I were like Arnold and Willis Jackson in that ride, rolling the windows up and down, taking pictures and (watch out 'deah now) talking on the car phone. Could it get any better than this?

More about this trip later. Above is some of the footage from the concert, featuring Sadat X and Common doing "1-9-9-9."[