Song of the Day

**1/12/10
Run D.M.C. - My Adidas
-------------When the black button-downed garage-band haircut record store cashier guy says "that's a claaaassic!," you can bet your fly kicks you've come across a phat find. Such was the case today when I bought Raising Hell, the Run D.M.C. album that birthed a hip-hop/rock collaboration of epic proportions and basically summarizing the entire musician's rhyming dictionary.

Raising Hell and Run D.M.C. are solely responsible for all of the pre-programmed buzzes, quips and wabbles on the DJ setting of your Casio. The hip-hop group from Hollis, New York, also brought sneakers onto the scene with the eponymous hit "My Adidas."

Joe "Run" Simmons Daryl "D.M.C." McDaniels and Jam Master Jay put a new shine on sneakers with a tribute to the fly kicks:

"My Adidas only bring good news and they are not used as felon shoes."

Run D.M.C. removed their laces from their shoes as a fashion statement based off of the laceless shoes prisoners wore while serving time. Why no laces? So they wouldn't hang themselves.

Ha...hope I didn't scare you with that last bit! But for real - check out Raising Hell to hear the hip-hop legends in old school prime. Now you can wear that Run D.M.C. shirt from Urban Outfitters with more B-Boy cred than one episode of Run's House.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrqJrRvng8w

Song of the Day

**1/5/09

J. Cole - Grown Simba

----------I can appreciate a rapper who doesn't mind making a Walt Disney character roar with the ryhme "I was like a young Simba/couldn't wait to be the King." J. Cole, a rapper from Fayetteville, North Carolina, relocated to the Empire State in 2003, and his rhymes were picked up by Jay Z's label, Roc Nation, in 2008.

J. Cole is a minimalist rapper - the beats and samples aren't dressed up because his words are already fresher than an Armani suit. Hope he looks fly whenever he tours his home state. Get "Grown Simba" from The Warmup Mixtape.

Key Tracks: I Get Up, Lights Please

http://myspace.com/jcole

Band Aids

Just to start off, I'm not one that likes to incorporate personal baggage with them on their musical airplane. But hey - no one's got it all together, and that's as normal as a delicate setting on a washing machine. That's a face of music that not everyone wants to see, but you're grateful it's around whenever things get you down.

Whenever I'm in a funk, I gravitate towards hip hop and rap. It's a genre I can appreciate because what constitutes as an obstacle to me is eons away from the real problems these artists have seen. It is a humbling respect for true struggle that puts my problems in perspective. So here's a random compilation of Band Aids, and if you just take a minute and let it breathe (like K'naan), you create medication out of your own tribulations.

1. Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five - The Message

2. Kanye West - Never Let Me Down

3. Gang Starr - Moment of Truth

4. K'naan - Take a Minute

5. Tupac - Keep Ya Head Up

6. TLC - Waterfalls

7. Lupe Fiasco - Hip Hop Has Saved My Life

Song of the Day

**9/8/09

Common - Go

---------------Motivation. Some find it from within the inspirational writings of incredible (in my case, Gonzo) authors or the shoulder-to-fall-on lyrics of psalms and rappers. Or in this case, it's the thought of another fantastical romp with a sexy someone that keeps Common motivated to keep the love(?) alive and, ahem, active. Just listening to the lyrics smothered against the honey-smooth voice of John Mayer commanding an echoed "Go" is enough to put you in a trance for a bedroom dance. Get "Go" from Common's 2005 album, Be.

Song of the Day

**8/14/09

Tupac Shakur - Keep Ya Head Up

-------------Even one of the most hardened, rough rappers of the nineties still had a soft side when it came to encouraging women to overcome struggle and hold on to hope. "Keep Ya Head Up" is Tupac's way of opening his heart up to all mothers, sisters, and daughters, swaying with gratitude and with a hint of apology for all the men who have given them hard times. This song marked the late Shakur as a conscious and influential rapper of his time, and was covered by Nas at the MTV Rap Memorial in 2005. Get "Keep Ya Head Up" from Shakur's 1993 album, Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlQcJAjYxaI

Song of the Day 12/14/08

**12/14/08

Notorious B.I.G. -Juicy

---------------No other rapper than Notorious B.I.G. could impact the hip hop world the way he did with 1994's Juicy. An unforgiving look into the rags and the unbelievable rise to riches, B.I.G. leaves nothing behind. His slow ryhme rythems command attention and continue to fuel the flame of posthumous recognition. Gunned down at just 24, Notorious B.I.G. continues to influence artists and shut down haters. Get "Juicy" from 1994's Ready to Die.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNFwpYyJRFM&feature=related

Song of the Day

**12/2/08

Lil' Wayne - I'm Me

-----------------What does the greatest swimmer in the 2008 Bejing Olympics listen to right before he takes off in a wave of gold? Why, Weezy of course. Confirmed reports have surfaced that Micheal Phelps, the sultan of the stroke, listens to I'm Me, Lil' Wayne's unabashed ego trip on Tha Carter III. Exuding a confidence reserved only for the greatest players in the game, "I'm Me" defines the ultimate contender, from school swim meets to the Olympic legends. And for an athlete whose Ipod headphones are as part of his uniform as a swim cap and goggles, Phelps could only hear the sounds of victory.

"Yes I am the best/and no I ain't positive I'm definite/I know the game like I'm reffing it"