October 2006 Archives

For being a laid back dude, Snoop is on some crazy shit at airports these days. First, there was the whole brawl jumpoff at the airport in London in May, which got him indefinitely banned from British Airways. Then, there was yet another airport incident last month, when Snoop was trying to board a flight from Orange County to New York with a fucking collapsable baton. And now our boy gets busted in a Burbank airport with a gun and some ‘dro. Motherfucker really can’t catch a break these days...

So the other day I was digging around the internet and I found some pretty crazy shit- a duo of rich Beverly Hills white teenagers that called themselves The Whooliganz. While in the early nineties the group had a reeeeeeal short run in the emcee game, both of them went to enjoy later success doing some other things...

Damn, this week was full of songs droppin’ left and right all over the internet. First up, the subject of the first SOHH Left Coast West Coast Rapper Lookalike Contest: The Game.

His Lloyd Banks diss, “Sound Scan,” dropped sometime in the last couple of days, and I gotta give it up to Jayceon, he got in the G Unit’s ass somethin’ serious. “Before the nigga finished the G-Unit logo, I erased it”??? Damn, some harsh words... but, uh... pretty much true. Whether you like him or not, dude did pretty much dead the whole Gorilla Unit in one fell swoop.

I always knew it was only a matter of time before Lou Ferrigno got in the rap game...

Ready...

Set...

Go.

If you missed the first half of the interview, go back and check out yesterday's blog; there's some game from the man in there that's not to be missed...

But today, here is the conclusion of SOHH Left Coast's interview with a West Coast legend... Ice Mothafuckin' T.

Interview by SOHH Eighty

When I found out that I was getting the chance to interview one of the biggest legends in the rap game, I was hyped, but a little weary... After all, rappers are world-renowned for ego-tripping and shutting down during interviews. But I ended up being surprised; he was humble, charismatic, and enthusiastic. And not surprisingly, after we talked for a little while about his current projects, I found out one of the game’s most outspoken rappers still has a lot to say.

Young bucks, pay attention.... we have a legend in the building.

Everybody talks about supporting artists from their region or coast or state, but why are legitimately DOPE albums from West Coast artists getting routinely slept on? I know the music industry as a whole is in a major slump, and while some of that is due to downloading, file-sharing and all that shit, part of it is also due to rappers releasing half-assed albums that are full of bullshit filler. But then when a West Coast artist comes along and drops a worthwhile album, their shit doesn’t sell.

Alright, Game... Your whole “neglected child who grew up to be a sourpuss and hates the whole world” schtick was kind of amusing for a while. And anybody who starts funk with 50 “Overrated Pop Star Who Raps With His Mouth Shut” Cent instantly gains points in my book (for the slow kids, yes, this means I think 50 Cent sucks). Shit, I was even kinda forward to hearing The Doctor’’s Advocate. But dude, you’ve officially lost it. Case in point:

Alright, I gave everybody a day to catch up, whether it be through Youtube or Tivo or OnDemand or whatever, and now it’s time to talk about the VH1 Hip Hop Honors show. Yeah, it was in NY. Yeah, there were more NY artists honored, but Ice-T is from South Central. There was an Eazy E tribute, Cube was up in there, and my man Ron Mexico hasn’t written up on it as of right now (although that might be different by the time this posts) so we’re takin’ it. Or at least the West Coast-related portion of it.

“This is Dedicated to the niggas that’s been down since day one... Welcome to Death Row.”

How many albums can you name where even the intro was dope? With the opening line segueing into Snoop talking shit (“Oh yeah, P.S.- fuck Mr Rourke & Tatoo, aka Jerry & Eazy. Sincerely yours, these muthafuckin’ nuuuuuuuts!”) over an uptempo, synth-laden beat, Dre let us know from the giddy-yup just what kind of album this was going to be. And within the first 60 seconds of the following track, “Fuck Wit Dre Day,” a classic was born, and gangsta rap was reinvented.

So in a previous blog, I questioned whether or not the new Xzibit album, Full Circle would be anything worth checking out. And anyone who ventures out to buy the album today will quickly discover the answer: hell to the yes.

This weekend I had a couple hours of downtime here and there, and I caught some pretty crazy shit on the cable networks. And even though they used to pump nothing but shitty adult contemporary-type stuff, VH1 seems to be runnin’ shit as far as hip-hop on TV is going these days.

The rumors are all over the net already, and this just came out within the last day or two, but this is the reported track listing for 2Pac's next posthumous album (which is supposedly slated for a November release), Pac’s Life. Don’t know if it’s true or not, but if so, this should be some crazy shit...

When Xzibit's first two LPs came out on Loud Records (in '96 and '98), they sold 200,000 copies. Combined.

Then came Restless, the guest spots, "Pimp My Ride," the commercials and the films, "The Black John McClain" has never looked back. And with the recent success of his new film, "Gridiron Gang," and next week's release of his new album Full Circle, now isn't the time to start.

Interview by SOHH EIGHTY

So Ice Cube’s releasing Laugh Now, Cry Later: O.G. Limited Edition with a special bonus DVD with 60 minutes of extra footage... proving that he can’t release anything these days that isn’t a movie.

It’s been six years since Cube released the War/Peace double disc. In those six years, he’s released such Oscar contenders as “Ghosts Of Mars,” “All About The Benjamins,” “Barbershop(1 and 2)," “Are We There Yet?” and “XXX: State Of The Union.” But does he still need to rap?

So today marks the release of a great hip hop album that a lot of heads have been waiting on -- Heroes In The City Of Dope, a collabo album from Oakland staple Zion I and Living Legends heavy-hitter, The Grouch. But as everyone will soon see, it was well worth the wait...

The definition of a classic hip hop album has never really been outlined; you can’t look in the dictionary for an outline, and the H volume of Encyclopedia Brittanica doesn’t have any section dedicated to listing Hip Hop Classics. But nonetheless, classic albums DO exist, and although there are certain albums that nearly every hip hop fan considers to be classic, for many, the definition of such an album is something that is entirely personal.

It’s been a pretty dull week on the Westside, so there’s not a ton of Random S#!t to talk about, but we got a couple things here...

As far as producers from the bay who are makin’ a name for themselves, Rick Rock’s long since established himself in the rest of the world (anybody remember the "Cosmic Slop Shop" joint he did with Doonie Baby and Big Lurch?), E-A-Ski’s been doin’ his thing on the production tip, and Droop-E has already proven at a young age that he’s going to be a force to be reckoned with. But one cat has been makin’ a lot of noise recently from tracks he crafted for the albums of San Quinn, Keak Da Sneak, and Dem hoodstarz -- and that cat is Traxamillion.

So I just set down the November issue of XXL and... damn. Other than the long awaited and thrice postponed Clipse album, Hell Hath No Fury, getting a XXL rating -- can’t wait to hear that joint; Lord Willin’ was one of the most consistent hip hop albums in the last ten years, and not a whole lot has come close in the years since its release -- everybody’s favorite or least favorite Cali hip hop ego is on the cover, being touted as the “West Coast Savior.” (Shit’s kinda crazy, right? Everybody was beginning to think the members of G-Unit were majority shareholders in XXL...)

There aren’t any major label releases from West Coast artists today, but the indies are having a field day with October 3rd. Three albums from some underground heavy hitters dropped today, and it turns out that all of them are actually worth copping.

When Snoop Dogg asked his fans what they wanted to hear from him on his upcoming album, The Blue Carpet Treatment, the response pointed overwhelmingly in one direction -- everybody wants to hear him on that ol’ gangsta shit. So that’s what he’s giving us.