Afternoon Jam Of The Week: Reflection Eternal feat. Bun B. - "Strangers"
Posted by
Rozenswag
on Wednesday, March 24, 2010
AMDAL'ers have been forced to swallow my hip hop video soap-box'ing, and today's no exception. Today's lesson: the feature. There's hardly a jam that goes by that doesn't have a rapper invited onto someone else's track. How hard/lonely can it be to be on a track on your own? I have no idea, but I think in the end, we're all better for it.
A particular interesting aspect of the trend is when features outshine their headliners. We've seen it a thousand times on JOTW (example 456 here). You might be saying, "MLR, Birdman gets shit on all the time, what about the greats?" Glad you asked - check out Eminem crushing Jay Z on "Renegade" (Nas called him out on it during their mid 00's feud on "Ether" at the 3:58 mark). Even Talib Kweli, who I talked up a few weeks ago as one of the greats, gets dethroned here. And badly. Check out a snippet of Bun B's lyrics discussing some pretty AMDAL-relevant stuff below.
Why the government want to keep me in debt for?
They want to keep me in debt for
Look at AIG and the bailouts
Stepping on the fish just so you can just help the whale out
Got its ass out or should I say tail out?
Need another job like a paper or a mail route
Bring the freshness in take the stale out
Make it rain DC and Imma put a pail out
Man imma put a pail out
Know what I'm saying?
I definitely know what you're saying Bun.
Bonus: A fuller breakdown of Bun B's lyrics in the comments
Jay feat. Em - "Renegade"
Nas - "Ether"
Check out more hot cuts after the break, including another group making a comeback and some new AMDAL regulars Making Waves (though not like that crappy Hanover hair salon).
Shawn Chrystopher - "No Snitchin"
"You see me talkin? That's why you listenin'"
New-comer Shawn Chrystopher might as well be my mom. No Mrs. ML (Never took my dad, Dr. MLR's last name) can't rap, but she is pretty mad at me for not listening to her enough on the phone. That, combined with this self help book I'm reading (thanks to a not-subtle enough recommendation from Errik) is making me work harder at listening. So for all those out there reading this - if you catch me not listening, I owe you a buck.
Bonus: The mixtape this is off of is out now and can be downloaded free here
Chip Tha Ripper - "Feel Good"
Chip. Tha. Rip. Another guy who's yet to release a real album, but is slowly and quietly killing it on other peoples' albums and now his own mixtape and accompanying videos. Watch him smoke while driving, drink with white kids and other acts of model behavior above. Mmmmhmm...
Bone Thugs-N-Harmony - "Crossroads (Live at SXSW)"
Bone Thugs has a new video out called "Meet Me In The Sky" and while I recommend you check it out, it's hard to beat "Crossroads." Just be glad they're still around.
Bonus: A computer-speaker rattling live version of "Thuggish Ruggish Bone" (here)
Old School JOTW: Tabi Bonney - "The Pocket"
Circa 2006'ish. Hardly old school but the Shawn Chrystopher video reminded me a lot of this. Plus, Guest shot: A pre-famous sans-dreads Wale at 1:26!
2 comments:
Addendum on Bun B's lyrics:
Bun is an example of the modern (though conflicted) libertarian. See my comments on the story he tells in brackets below:
Gotta let people know from the get-go
Bun B is a product of the ghetto
Good or bad man i just cant let go
Naw I aint a rich man but I'm still set tho
And i'm still on the grind tryin to get dough
Why the government want to keep me in debt for
They want to keep me in debt for
[Bun is making that money on his own. Quit taxing / otherwise holding Bun back so he can stay on his grind!]
Look at AIG and the bailouts
Stepping on the fish just so you can just help the whale out
Got its ass out or should I say tail out?
Need another job like a paper or a mail route
Bring the freshness in take the stale out
Make it rain DC and Imma put a pail out
Man imma put a pail out
Know what I'm saying?
[Like a lot of conservatives that talked a big game but took money when it was offered, a now-struggling (likely due to overly taxed) Bun is going to take the money being offered to him. Hell, why not?]
Cause I'm stuck in the mud like a tractor
I aint gotta lie plus I'm not a good actor
Bullshit laws that they intact to
Keep us locked out the big game in the back brah
I got sacked now I gotta get a sack to
Make ends meet cause the money is a factor
Oh yea the money is a factor
[Feeling the crunch but trying to raise himself up by his bootraps, Mr. B hits the streets, selling "that weight" to make money by any means necessary. Watch out for rollers Bun]
Damn.
[Damn.]
Now I'm back in the block for the hustle
Used to be hot now your boy just just cold
Gotta get my bread up and my muscle
Haters talk down sometimes it's a tussle
But the smoke goin' clear and the dust'll settle
Now it's like Def Jam without Russell
Like Def Jam with no Russell
We're going to be all right though
[Bun describes where we are (or at least I am) all at: at the bottom, but working our way up. H(/W)e'll get there through hard work and self-reliant determination. (Sidenote: Russell = Russell Simmons, father of Diggy Simmons and older brother of "Run" from Run DMC)]
Best JOTW so far
Post a Comment