Filed under: Mixtape, Uncategorized | Tags: all stars vol 1, k1ng eljay, Mixtape, nappy boy, shawnna, t-pain, travis mccoy
Regardless of what you think of HIM personally, he has fun doing music. You can just tell. That's a good look.
K1ng Eljay - Looks like T-Pain’s been making moves quietly, assembling him a squad that could do some considerable damage as far as record sales within the next couple of years. The All-Star Squad (according to T-Pain at least) consists of Young Ca$h, Sophia Fresh, Travis McCoy (of Gym Class Heroes), Tay Dizm, One Chance, and newly recruited female lyrical monster Shawnna.
If you’re thinking that Shawnna’s with DTP, you’d be incorrect. Turns out, something happened and now she’s with the Nappy Boy umbrella. The interesting thing about this mixtape is that on a couple of songs, Shawnna seems to take a couple of really slick shots at her former labelmate/boss with lines like “Yeah, them hatin *ss n*ggas threw a curve ball… but I threw it right back” followed by a laugh that sounds EXTREMELY SIMILAR to the way Ludacris laughed in his song “Everybody With Me” that was on HIS Conjure Cognac mixtape that I actually reviewed earlier.
Not to mention in the intro song she says “Now I’m down with Nappy Boy, nah I ain’t with ‘dude’ and them / Oops, wait a minute, I hope you ain’t offended…”
HMMM… (more…)
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: defying the predictable, Joell Ortiz, k1ng eljay, mixtape review, novel
Dopeness. Nothing else needs to be said.
K1ng Eljay - I love following people with personality on Twitter. I’ve been excited about Joell Ortiz ever since he dropped “The Bodega Chronicles.” I couldn’t understand how come he didn’t have a deal then, then he got one and the more I researched, the more everything began to make sense, and he became a REAL person to me.
The same thing happened for Novel. He’s one of the few people that actually interact with their fans on Twitter. I said something on Twitter that he and Joell Ortiz together reminds me of the quality music that Timbaland and Magoo used to put out, and to my surprise he hits me back:
“Wait i cant retweet that… I aint Magoo LOLOL.”
Caught me completely off-guard, but it was funny. I started following the dude, and I began to like him more as a person. It makes it easier to like someone when their music meshes with their personality. Genuine people make genuine music. That being said.. if you’re in need of a hip-hop fix, I got something for you…
The Good:
In case it wasn’t implied by the post name, Joell Ortiz and Novel have teamed up for a new mixtape, titled “Defying the Predictable.” The two are familiar with working together, and have done so several times in the past. It makes sense for them to collaborate; I only wonder how come it hasn’t happened sooner. (more…)
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: bun b, k1ng eljay, mixtape review, no mixtape
No Mixtape...the mixtape? Anyone else appreciate irony like me???
K1ng Eljay – We all do remember that a review is nothing but a glorified opinion…right? Ok, making sure. On to the review…
Recently, I saw a new track from Bun B on allhiphop.com, so I clicked it automatically. The first thing I hear is Bun saying:
“N*gga called me, talkin’ ‘bout ‘B! What’s the name of the mixtape? When’s it comin’ out?’ I said ‘B***h, this is the mixtape! We goin’ live right now! This track seven!”
You can’t say the UGK Alumni doesn’t have a sense of humor.
I can honestly say that I was not expecting Bun B to drop a mixtape of straight freestyles and album snippets, but because of the fact that there’s no DJ drops, no edits, and it’s just straight Bun B for the entire mixtape…. If you’re a UGK fan, you need this. This will get you excited for the album. Point blank.
The Good:
It’s just Bun. No DJ Drama, no DJ snatch backs halfway through the verses, no cameos. It’s just Bun B wrecking every beat possible…
Except Exhibit C. The beat came on, and Bun cut it off and showed off his sense of humor again (“Nope, it’s time to put this to rest. We gon’ have “Exhibit Triple-F” in a minute..” (more…)
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: gilbert arenas, journal of k1ng eljay, k1ng eljay, NBA, royce da 5'9, washington bullets, Wizards, Youtube
You know what sucks? Getting told by your coach via text message that you might lose $111 Million. THAT. SUCKS.
Quick summary before I O.D. on Agent Zero…
The original story was that a gambling debt spilled over into the locker room and somehow ends with them brandishing guns on each other. Then it came out that Gilbert brought “unloaded” guns into the NBA arena as a “joke” on the guy he was supposedly hounding about paying his debt.
Javaris Crittendon didn’t take the joke very well, he responded “allegedly” by drawing his gun, which was “loaded” and aiming it at Agent Zero…which is another name and/or number for Gilbert’s chances of playing in the NBA for the rest of this season.
To make matters worse, Gilbert doesn’t think he did anything wrong. A night or so later, they were in the warm-up group and Gilbert brandished his finger-guns (GASP) and aimed them at certain teammates, all while the teammates laughed and enjoyed his antics…until Stern fined every single person in that group that acted as if they enjoyed the shootout.
Now Gilbert’s been edited out of the Wizards game-reel that plays before/during games in the Wizards arena (which is basically the whole tape, in my opinion), his likeness has been removed from it as well, and the NBA are trying to convince us that the Wizards care more about their community than they do about disciplining the people in its league that are still carrying habits formed from living in their community.
I think that last statement is false, but enough about the NBA…where caring happens…
Let’s focus on Gilbert for a second. Here’s yet another situation where a smart man makes a dumb decision. In his case, he made REPEAT dumb decisions. In the case of Michael Vick, he made two. He didn’t drop the dogfighting habit, and then he lied about it. In the case of Gilbert Grape, it was just…
Gilbert could take this to the next level though. First, bring back the original name for his team, "The Washington Bullets." Then, maybe star as a young Srt. Johnson in a Halo movie adaptation... maybe?
Ok, honestly… I don’t know what he was thinking. There’s no defense for stupidity in the court of logic.
There’s nothing funny about joking around with guns to me. Maybe to you, but to me, the last time someone did that I almost KILLED them. A friend of mine ran up on me in the dark, put a gun in my chest and said “Break Yo-Self, FOOL!” before breaking out in laughter. He then said he was going to squeeze the trigger because it was unloaded, but thought against it.
To which I reminded him, “Yo, those guns usually keep one in the chamber, don’t they?”
To which he checked it, saw I was right, and said “….Word? I didn’t know that.”
Then I slapped the Clay Aiken demons out of him. If dude had killed me “on accident”, we were going to have some problems.
Well...at least he doesn't have to play in that ugly jersey anymore.
Guns + jokes = not a good idea, unless you’re Royce Da 5′9 on Youtube dissing Benzino (then, it’s encouraged). People shouldn’t underestimate a gun, especially if they’re not an expert with it. I’m not saying Gilbert isn’t an expert with a gun, but accidents happen. Because of his NBA status, he has to make sure to steer clear of things that would tarnish his image and ultimately affect his cash flow.
But that wasn’t his thinking. Seems like Gilbert was too focused on making a joke out of everything to consider he might’ve been thinking foolishly for a minute. The train of thought that leads someone to think/say, “Hey, I’m going to bring GUNS into an NBA arena and no one will ever find out” is just misplaced to begin with.
But even then, it’s not like he snuck them in or anything. Reports say that he supposedly left a SELECTION of guns laid out and invited Javaris to pick one. So this proves to me that Gilbert showed off his weapons to others around him because he was way too comfortable brandishing them, regardless if they were unloaded or not.
…Which proves to me that he thought he wouldn’t get in trouble for doing what he wanted to do.
Which is, essentially, him thinking that he’s bigger than what he really is. Unfortunately for him, that’s not the case.
There is one thing he could do to save this situation though. If he could somehow convince everyone that he did it as a special promotion to bring back the old NBA team name of “The Washington Bullets”, then I feel that he’d be let off clean.
But since we ALL know that’s not going to happen, I guess it’s time for Gilbert to just take his punishment/suspension and learn from the bullet points of this $111 MILLION DOLLAR mistake.
Pun intended.
Here’s to hoping he doesn’t go to jail. They put guys in jail now for shooting themselves in the leg. Arenas essentially just did that to himself with an unloaded gun.
Later.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: jay sean, john mayer, jordin sparks, k$sha, madison square garden, msg, pitbull, taylor swift
If you’re in Indianapolis on January 30th, you should stop by the Arts Garden (Hosted by Blair Karsch) in Downtown Indy for this event!
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: : j.o.k.e, charles hamilton, king eljay, the normalcy project
King Eljay - I’ve rode with him this far, I might as well keep riding, lol.
I’ve been following Charles Hamilton since the drunken freestyle/cipher was featured on allhiphop.com between him, The Game, and Kanye West. For some reason, the cat looked homeless (no offense, but he did) but I was interested.
So you know me… I did my research. Found the November 10th video, and fell in love with homie’s music. To top it off, his favorite game icon is mine too?
WORD??? We Sonic fans???
So then I downloaded a mixtape he did, dropped an opinion piece on it (first ever for hiphopstateofmind.com) and reviewed the mixtape “Sonic the Hamilton” (here) and I basically said that C.H. was nice, but he had to come more and more correct if he’s to be representing the Sonic franchise like that.
Although technically, his CD for Rihanna failed, it still produced some great and interesting songs/instrumentals, and is still worth listening to.
I reps for Sonic. Keep in mind I had a custom Sidekick Slide with Sonic graffiti… It was sick… But enough about me and Sonic.
A whirlwind of things happened next. His blog took off, he began releasing mixtapes as if he breathed them. In no particular order, he formed (and severed) partnerships in the industry, dropped some EPIC freestyles on DJ Green Lantern’s radio show, got featured in XXL, dropped one of the dopest mixtapes EVER (The Pink Lavalamp), and teamed up several times with controversy to get mentioned for all of the wrong reasons, .
Whether it was ciphering with a fan, or getting rocked by an (ex?) girlfriend, or having the right idea with the wrong methods to do it (J. Dilla situation), it got crazy to just BE a Charles Hamilton fan…so I can imagine how insane it became for him to be IN it.
And then when his album was supposed to drop…he disappeared completely. If it wasn’t for random sightings here and there from me and Rhymestyle, we might’ve half thought C.H. was dead… (more…)
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Album Review, birdman, drake, lil wayne, money to blow, pricele$$, priceless
Gasp. He's in front of ANOTHER NEW CAR??? Somebody's got their priorities screwed up...
King Eljay - Birdman has a formula that has worked fairly well for him. He’s stated a long time ago that he’s not a rapper. Yet he continues to put out rap albums that do fairly well for what it’s worth. How does he do it?
Step 1: Production
Whoever produces for his album should be applauded. The production value is sky high, thanks to the team he has set up around him. Usually, each beat appeals to your speakers in some shape or fashion.
Step 2: Features
Birdman has a feature on almost EVERY SINGLE SONG. Whether it’s just for a hook, or if the song has so many features you forget whose song it is (I originally thought “Money To Blow” was Drake’s song, because of the verse, the hook, and the shoutout from Lil Wayne at the end of the verse). Regardless, this is step two. You cannot have a successful Birdman album without this.
Step 3: Rehash
For some reason, Birdman is the only person in America that I know of that can talk about the SAME THING and make the radio play him. He has mastered the art of superficial rap. I never said it was dope, or even good. I just said that he’s mastered it.
You put these three steps together and you have a Birdman album, devoid of any type of hip-hop flair or content. The production makes it tolerable for you to listen to Birdman “rap/talk” over it, and the cameos boosts the album’s appeal to the public heavily. Especially if you’re a Drake/Lil Wayne fan. This is how he’s always done it. This is how he sells records. Don’t expect him to stop anytime soon.
That being said, his last album was better, and this one isn’t that great besides the songs you’ve already heard on the radio. Birdman’s worth to him might be priceless, but to me, I wouldn’t pay 3 dollars to hear him on this CD. Point blank.
~~~
Flow (Album Playability) -> .5 <-
Lyrics -> 0 <-
Originality -> 0 <-
Wildcard -> .5 <-
Sound (Production) -> 1 <-
Bottom Line: —> 2 / 5 <—-
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Album Review, cocky and confident, juvenile
Well...I never said the album was ORIGINAL...
King Eljay – Juvenile returns with his newest solo album since the release of his highly underrated (in my opinion) album “Reality Check” in 2006. The newest release, “Cocky and Confident”, almost seems as a part two to the last album.
Juve easily combines his street-savvy punchlines with trunk-rattling production with a Southern swagger that a lot of rappers try to imitate (hi Dorrough, how are you today? Swell…swell…) but they never quite duplicate as well.
As far as hip-hop appeal, there’s not much here. Juve stays in the streets with his lyrics, only taking a hip-hop break on the last track to address his son and to tell him not to be like him. To me, it somewhat contradicts his whole CD because he acts as if the street life is something he enjoys and embraces, but then he tells his son not to use him as an example.
Either way, for some solid RAP music (not hip-hop…rap…there’s a difference) that you can play and vibe to in the vehicle, Juvenile does it again. His street style is still prevalent in today’s music climate, and he does it better than most, so you can expect to hear more of the songs off this album on the radio soon.
For better or for worse, depending on how you look at it. I say ok (this time), but I’m one of the few hip-hop heads that has some type of weird appreciation for regular rap music when I’m in the right mood.
So…Yeah.
Final Rating: —> 3 / 5 <—
Eljay’s Favorites
- “Gotta Get It”
- “It’s All Hood”
- “Everything” f/ Bobby V
Filed under: From A Reliable Hip Hop Source, The Weekly Word, Uncategorized | Tags: : j.o.k.e, alicia keys, empire state of mind, fat joe, frank sinatra, hi-tek, ja rule, Jadakiss, Jay Z, journal of king eljay, new york, swizz beatz, where it started at
(check RhymeStyle’s poll question HERE if you’re interested.
Ok, on to the J.O.K.E….)
King Eljay – I really can’t believe this is an issue. I mean, the more I think about it the more I really can’t believe that people are debating this.
I understand people have to make a debate out of some things, like hoping Jay-Z responds to Beanie (nope), or wanting Young Berg to commit suicide (nope again), or even wanting Chris Brown to never advance in his career because of the teeth marks he left in his last mistake (once again…no dice), and that’s fine. If people aren’t talking about it, then it’s not important, and that should be an indicator for something.
Whatever it is.
But this topic that’s been brought to my attention… literally makes me laugh out loud. People are actually debating and saying that Jay-Z’s “Empire State of Mind” is the NEW New York Anthem, replacing ALL other anthems that have come before it. I’m as unbiased as it gets, and I love when hip-hop even makes strides of becoming timeless but SERIOUSLY, this is where I have to call shenanigans.
Or BS. Whatever it is.
I got my reasons though, so hear me out. Firstly, New York is the birthplace of hip-hop. Because of THIS FACT ALONE, there are ALWAYS New York anthems being put out seasonally. It’s been that way since I first started listening to music. From the Hi-Tek track with Jadakiss and Papoose to the Ja Rule track with Fat Joe and (surprise, surprise) Jadakiss, there’s always tracks like these.
YES. I said it. I like Ja Rule's "New York, New York" anthem (which featured Fat Joe and Jadakiss) better than this song. I like the Hi-Tek track "Where It Started At (New York)" more than all of them.
By the way, I like BOTH of those tracks better than the Jay-Z one.
Secondly, when you make an anthem, I think the person’s character comes into play somewhat. I think of the two people in “Empire State of Mind” and I think of FOOD.
Seriously.
When I think of Jay-Z, I think of Beans, as in Beanie Sigel and how he and Jay fell out. When I think of Alicia Keys, I think of the HomeWrecker burger that Hardees used to have a couple of years back. Ironically, I think she had Swizz Beatz on her- no, I mean, I think IT had Swiss Cheese on it. I could be wrong.
However… I’m actually going to go a different route. If you checked the link up top to hiphopstateofmind.com, you see Rhymestyle posted a question about who had the best anthem or something (complete with nice interactive poll, yay).
Pretty much it asked… was it Jay-Z or Frank Sinatra?
Now personally, I can’t get upset at your decision on what you personally like better. I’m not saying that you’re wrong at all. I’m just saying that as a whole, in order to become an anthem for a city, you have to consider all of the facts and aspects there.
The Big Band and the Sinatra-style of music is pretty much still intact and appeals to a broader sense of people. One of my friends pointed out today in a conversation that it’s survived since the 1920s, and hip-hop hasn’t even been around that long to even compete as far as timelessness. As much as I love hip-hop, I have to agree. Hip-Hop has a long way to go before the term timeless comes into play.
I can't bring myself to say that Jay's new "anthem" is better than Frank Sinatra's. At least I can play Frank's version around my nephews and not have to explain what the phrase "Ride her like a bus route" means...
Secondly, if you look at how Big Bang/Sinatra-style music has passed on through the generations, it’s pretty much identical. It’s been a graceful transition. Hip-Hop however hasn’t had that graceful transition. There was a period where rap and hip-hop (arguably) split into two separate entities, rap beefs came into play, originality left the genre altogether for a time, pop began to infect it (but pop infects EVERY genre, so that’s a given) and some people even say it’s dead right now (which is dead wrong, but that’s another J.O.K.E.).
And lastly, and most importantly… rap anthems come a dime a dozen. Congrats to Jay-Z getting his first official #1 hit with the single, but even still I don’t see what sets this apart from other New York anthems.
I’ve said this earlier, but until someone explains to me what about this one makes it stand out from the other two I mentioned above and what makes it stand above Frank Sinatra’s classic song (you know, the one that STILL gets heavy burn after the Yankees win a game in their stadium? The one that doesn’t contain profanity? The one that doesn’t talk about girls being taken advantage of?) , then I’m thinking that overall, to each his own opinion, but no.
But by all means, if you can explain the other side of the coin, please do.
Whatever that is.
Later.
Filed under: Amazing, From A Reliable Hip Hop Source, Mixtape, Oook?, Uncategorized | Tags: enemy of the state, hip hop, Lupe Fiasco, Mixtape
This is beautiful, abstract art. If you look really close at it, and then squint your eyes and then slowly back away...you'd still see the boring artwork. Sarcasm, for the win.
K1ng Eljay – So when I first saw the title, Lupe Fiasco’s “Enemy Of The State” mixtape reminded me of the throwback movie from Will Smith where he ran the entire movie. I mean, he easily ran more than Tom Cruise in War of the Worlds, and that movie has one of the best climactic endings to a movie that I have seen TO THIS DAY.
That being said, just because of the title I had high hopes for this mixtape. Usually I lower my expectations a little to be biased, but in this case I didn’t think I’d have to. It’s Lupe. Fiasco. So it’ll be dope. That was my thinking at least.
The Good:
I was right. It’s not the deepest stuff you’ve heard Lupe spit, but he delivers on some of the most popular beats out right now, and a couple of throwback tracks as well. His wordplay is STILL unmatched as far as his style of flow, and the interludes are kept to a minimal… Which is good. And channeling the movie (kind of), the last half of the mixtape finishes itself off almost flawlessly (R.I.P. Slaughterhouse/Clipse instrumentals). So it doesn’t seem like there’s any problem with this mixtape at all, right?
The Bad:
Wrong… there’s a huge problem with this mixtape. It shouldn’t take you more than about 20 minutes to figure it out. That’s because the mixtape is released with the purpose of being cassette style, and it tops out at about 22 minutes. Yes, it is high quality as far as mixtapes go but…
It’s 22 minutes long.
If anything, it’s more of a tease than a mixtape to me. 7-track EPs average longer than this mixtape. I’m used to mixtapes being chocked full of music. Yes, I’d rather have quality than quantity on any day, but 22 minutes? And 3 or 4 of those minutes are interludes? Yes, the interludes all have purpose, but there’s a strong chance that you won’t listen to those again if you’re in the mood to hear Lupe.
Ever.
…and if I hear one more person go in on that CRAPPY Diddy song, I’m going to slap something. The song’s NOT that good. The instrumental isn’t even all that great. The only redemption is that Lupe kind of redeemed it because I love the story he told with it.
Bottom Line:
Regardless of my minor/major gripes with the tape, “Enemy of the State” is still definitely worth listening to. I’m just glad he’s releasing a part two soon. That way, I can stick them together and make a dope mixtape. But hey, that’s just me complaining about the length again… bottom line, download this. It’s worth it, even if it’s just to hear him kill some instrumentals and to get excited about his next tape, “Friend of the People”…
Which, unfortunately for me, has no neat movie tie-in…crap…
