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Re: fans of underground rap?
wow XCell, good job on finding Getback. I'm going to wait to read you review until after I listen but I did notice the score you gave it.
Artist: Little Brother
Album: Getback
Producers: Hi-Tek; Illmind; Khrysis; Mr. Porter; Nottz; Rashid Hadee; Zo!; 9th Wonder
Release Date: October 23, 2007
An album paints a thousand words (actually it’s 1,045).
Little Brother’s “Getback” is a love album. It’s a love of various things, like living their own life and doing what they do, how they do. They have love for partying and women too. The love for partying and women makes up the greatest portion of this drop.
The album is kind of like “Graduation” by Kanye West, but less about the dreams and more about the partying and women lol. Kanye’s album doesn’t have the lasting value that Kanye’s ego sets out to have, so Getback can outgun it if it lasts. Plenty of the tracks on here go hard fellas. You’re in for a ride for sure. Here are the twists and turns…
Illmind produces “Silence” and it comes in nicely. The beginning is clever and gets the listeners attention. Rapper Big Pooh kills his verse.
“Like most black folk live below the poverty line / and they wonder why the f*** we attracted to crime / got ni**as shootin’ ni**as at the drop of a dime / babies in the street dyin’ way before their time / many single parent mothers packin’ welfare lines”
He expresses his concern for issues that mean something to him rather than what the media may pay attention about. It’s the main point of the song and the track gets a nice thumb up.
Illmind’s second track is “Can’t Win for Losing” and the sample is very nice. This track’s subject matter is what you’ll get throughout the album.
Breakin’ My Heart (9th Wonder) will get you all the other fluff from the rest of the album. It’s still a hell of a ride starting out though. The hook goes real nice, the beat fits the song, the lyrics are on point from all parties including Lil’ Wayne. This has potential to be a radio hit Tay, but Pooh drops the best lines on your *** :P. “I play fair like roller coasters and clowns” … nice Wayne.
The hooks are back at the top of the chain again and a few of them are being reviewed for skit of the year such as this one at the tail end of “Breakin’ My Heart” that is literally priceless.
I never questioned the choice of “Good Clothes” as the single because the song goes hard and is hilarious to that LB degree. This is Illmind’s 3rd beat on the album but he won’t stop by this session until later on. Carnell’s dad returns baby!!!
“After the Party” is beautifully produced by Khrysis and is the sequel to 2006’s “Life of the Party” featuring the lovely Carlitta Durand once again. Here is my little mini-release of the One-Two. This is my favorite song on the album for sure. I can’t get over the beat, and the lyrics are genius to what the story is about. The concept of the sequel really got me giddy and this song delivered all the way.
Song to Download of the Year candidate for sure. Pooh slaughters this one and fully makes up for the debacle on “Life of the Party”.
Mr. Porter’s “Extrahard” is a quick paced jam and you can’t complain about it. Pretty much the same content of “Can’t Win for Losing” though and that’s the one glaring resemblance of Kanye’s approach. I’m still enjoying this CD more so because the lyrics are so much more deep thanks to the gift and skill of Little Brother.
It is time to really ‘get back’ with “Step it Up” that is true in so many aspects. You guys can’t tell me there isn’t that one girl that makes YOU step your game up when you’re with them. Dion provides the well-executed hook and this at this point of the album you notice that Little Brother was definitely writing a love ballad when they did the entire “Getback” joint.
Nottz’ joint is a banger and Darien Brockington grabs the chorus nicely. “Two Step Blues” is one of my favorite songs and it packs a lot of flavor. Between Illmind and Nottz, G-Unit has represented Little Brother very nicely.
Now we get into Illmind’s final track that is out of this world. Phonte’s verse is so easy to relate to and so hot at the same time. The hook is incredible and is definitely and candidate for Hook of the Year. At this point I’m expecting classic status for this album. I have yet to be disappointed and I’m getting so much new tight ish from the group I love, and EXACTLY what THEY love to spit about.
Rashid Hadee’s “Dreams” is one of the best bangers on the album and is up for Beat of the Year. Listen to the end. It’s incredible. The introlude in the song is typical LB and you have to love that act. Little Brother also destroys the beat with absolute microphone control, and it has to be somewhat a poke at Kanye West’s whole album, as this song tops any Kanye song in any aspect that you can throw into a song.
Phonte is jamming on the Zo! Track “When Everything is New”. His voice is superb. The verses by Pooh and Phonte are well done too. Another banger.
This album could possibly win Album of the Year, but we will have to see how that pans out later. It sure as hell is a classic in my mind at this point right now. I will never forget this album, just like I won’t forget The Minstrel Show. I have already remembered the order of songs and I know mentally which song will come on next.
At this point in time I will leave it at that. An album that is flawless with no bad tracks such as this one can prove to be a flaw in my grading formula as Kanye’s album was. None of those songs really had much longevity to them. My newest formula to determine all my awards is much more accurate in addressing what I like and don’t actually like.
I can tell you all this… I’m already hooked… have fun listening fellas. Durham, NC reigns supreme in underground hip-hop again! Oh, and congratulations Rapper Big Pooh. You were better than Phonte Coleman on this album.
- Grade:
- 97% (A+)
- Song to Download:
- Produced by:
- Khrysis
- Produced by:
I would start doing that nomination bullcrap in the blue but I'm going to stop and keep that to myself and surprise yall with a nice little Voting poll to determine the awards (based off my nominations of course).
edit: LOL!! if you put this on iTunes and look at the genre (assuming the tracks are in order) it says "Don't ever say Phonte never did nothing for y'all n***as lol enjoy!"Last edited by sportsdude; 10-13-2007, 02:16 AM.Lux y VeritasComment
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Re: fans of underground rap?
X*Cell, can I post your review at another board. I will of course give you credit and not take it as my on. I just wanted to share. I can post it as an "X*Cell review' or however you like.
Good stuff as always man.Comment
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Re: fans of underground rap?
Here's a compilation I made partly in response to the numerous people who think that hip hop is only about the **** that's played on the radio:
1. Mr.J. Medeiros- Silent Earth
2. Braille- 10 Years
3. M1 feat. Qtip & Cassandra Wilson- Love You Can't Borrow
4. Move.meant- Higher(Breathe)
5. Little Brother- The Way You Do It
6. Heiruspecs- 5ves
7. Sound Providers feat. Grap Lova- Who Am I
8. Jazzy Jeff & J-Live- Practice
9. Blackalicious- Make You Feel That Way
10. K-Os- The Love Song
11. Kidz In The Hall- Wheelz Fall Off
12. Strange Fruit Project- Crush On You
13. The Procussions feat. Talib Kweli- Miss January
14. Nas- Black Zombies
15. Murs- Love & Appreciate
16. Blue Scholars- Freewheelin
17. Brother Ali- Forest Whitaker
Originally posted by BlzerComment
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Re: fans of underground rap?
Little Brother's Getback
Songs I Love
"Breakin My Heart" ft. Lil' Wayne (9th Wonder)
"After the Party" ft. Carlitta Durand (Khrysis)
"That Ain't Love" ft. Jozeemo (Illmind)
"Dreams" (Rashid Hadee)
Songs I Like
"Good Clothes" (Illmind)
"Extrahard" (Mr. Porter)
"Two Step Blues" ft. Darien Brockington (Nottz)
Songs That are Okay
"Sirens" ft. Carlitta Durand (Illmind)
"Step It Up" ft. Dion (Hi-Tek)
"When Everything is New" (Zo!)
Songs I Dislike
"Can't Win For Losing" (Illmind)SAN ANTONIO SPURSComment
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Re: fans of underground rap?
Common & Q-Tip Live in NYC - 10/7/07
I know this is a bit late and all, but I thought it would be pretty interesting to share with you guys some pics and videos in NYC at the Common concert on the 7th.
This is a picture I took from the back seating area of Nokia theater. I don't know if any of you guys have ever been to a concert here, but I have to say that it's probably the best venue I've ever been to. Seating only reaches up to 2,000 max, so if people want to be close to the action, all they have to do is show up at a reasonable time, as it is general admission. No waiting in line for hours on end to get good seats. Just show up a little less than an hour before the show starts and you can be standing where I was with my buddies, about 5 rows from the stage.
That DJ on stage is 88 keys. He's a fairly lesser known producer, but he's still relatively respected amongst the hip hop community, as he produced 3 songs on Mos Def's "Black On Both Sides" and currently has a song on the "Can't Tell Me Nothing" mixtape with Kanye. The thing I liked about 88 keys is he seemed really likable, and played great music. He has a new CD coming out soon, called "The Death of Adam" and it seemed pretty tight. He played his single, called "The Friend Zone" in two different versions: the regular original and what he called "The BET remix" which basically just had a little heavier bass mixed into the regular beat.
Next up on stage was Percee P. Now, I know he's considered by some to be highly influential and a legend in the underground hip hop community, but his live performance, well, sucked. His flow of rapping really fast didn't work to a live audience, as no one really knew any of the songs he was rapping, and no one could hear anything he was saying. It was kind of like watching a guy speak really fast jibberish for 20 or so minutes.
What was pretty cool though, was seeing him walk around the crowd, talking to different people as the concert went on. Even though he sucked live I still respect his recorded work. I bought his mixtape directly out of his own hands.
Finally, Q-Tip came out.
Q-Tip's performance was everything you'd expect from him: lots of energy, lots of singing. He performed just about every classic song you can think of, to "Can I Kick It" to "Bonita Applebum" to some of his new **** of the latest album. The best part of Q-Tip being on stage was when Phife Dawg came out for a song:
Sorry I couldn't get a better picture of PD, but I was so into the song that I only took one picture. *shrug*
Common finally comes out:
Seeing Common live is a pretty awesome experience. It's not just some rapper coming out performing a random assortment of his best songs and calling it a day. Everything in this performance had a theme, whether it be unity, respect, love, etc. When the theme would change, Common would completely leave and change outfits. In between songs he'd rap or talk off the top about social issues that everyone could relate to.
Oh, and his rapping was stellar too.
I was a bit disappointed in the fact that Common's songs were fairly limited to cater to the ladies, though. No "The 6th Sense" AT ALL.
The best part of the entire show though, was when KRS-One came out with Q-Tip for a freestyle session! The whole crowd went absolutely insane, because none of us knew KRS would be thereQ=! I have the video in its entirety, but my network is slow uploading stuf so it's probably going to be a little while until I edit that it. While you're waiting, check out these pics I took of them on stage:
KRS makes his appearance. Notice the crowd's excitement:
Common and KRS:
I can't believe we were this close. Yes, he climbed into the crowd at one point:
Well, that's pretty much it. All in all I had an amazing time, probably the greatest concert I've ever been due to the fact that we were so close to the action. If you guys ever get the chance to see Common live, definately check it out.
Oh, and the video will be uploaded as soon as I can get it uploaded. I know y'all are waiting for that freestlye, haha.Comment
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Re: fans of underground rap?
This is The Growth EP by 8Bit Cynics, a local hip hop group from Lawton, Oklahoma. They've been having some success touring and they released this cd last night at a show here in town. They have agreed to put on an IVAW (look in sig for explanation; not going to discuss anymore than that on this site) benefit concert on Veterans Day here in Lawton. I'm pretty excited about it. I like the song "Time" a lot; tell me what you guys think.http://www.mediafire.com/?djk4m3vbwtbTime
http://www.mediafire.com/?2cq9bmki0ny Mid Twenties
http://www.mediafire.com/?82x9lbkjvxw The Notorious Van B-Boys
http://www.mediafire.com/?2y2m90vtmfz Free, Right?
http://www.mediafire.com/?fefvtybjzum For the Music
http://www.mediafire.com/?cgk20ztxmww RevelationBack in the NCAA saddle after 17 years.Comment
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Re: fans of underground rap?
CpMax,
Good Post. I saw Common and Q-Tip at HOB in Orlando, and your comments on Common were right on. I posted some comments damn near exactly like yours regarding Common "catering" to the ladies. In the Orlando show, he didn't do Resurrection, Soul By the Pound, Communism, or 6th Sense. I was a tad bit disappointed by that, but a good show nonetheless.
BTW, I saw Ghostface Killa and Witchdoctor this week (Thursday) at Univ of Central Florida for the Adult Swim Tour. I'm a huge Ghostfan, but the concert was so-so. Reminded me of a typical mid 90's concert with too many people on stage. Weird thing though...He didn't do Apollo Kids or Nutmeg! Come to think of it, he didn't do anything of Ironman at all."I've Altered The Deal..."Comment
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Re: fans of underground rap?
QUICK GRADES
"Broken Safety 2" - 40 Cal.
75% | C
"Border Blockerz Pt. 1" - Pumpkinhead
B-
"S. Carter 2" - Jay-Z
78% | C+
There is no reason whatsoever to check out "Broken Safety 2" unless you like the complete crap that Dipset puts out. Border Blockerz I could only get in bootleg format, and it's nothing that special. I don't really like Pumpkinhead. S. Carter 2 is not underground obviously, but it's interesting to check out, considering it was very unpersonal (does Jay-Z even know THIS is out?) and I didn't enjoy it.SAN ANTONIO SPURSComment
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Re: fans of underground rap?
CP, great write up nice pics.
My brother's sister went to that show and when I was asking her about it she told me "some guy named Pressy P opened". I went nuts and started giving her his history. lol. I think I'm one of the few that had a conversation with him but got away without buying a CD. The first time, anyway. lolxbl gamertag: jiggidyjames72Comment
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Re: fans of underground rap?
I actually got a response from SoulStice on myspace after sending him a little note saying how I thought his album was incredible. That was pretty cool in my opinion.
Dead Letter Perfect might be my favorite album of all-time OVER Atmosphere's You Can't Imagine How Much Fun We're Having.
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