Legacy Track of the Week: The Dream ft Fabolous - Summer Body
“So shoutout to summer baby, you knew it was coming baby, that ass was always stupid, but now it look dumber baby” The Dream finally got another one, as it has been a minute since we got this level of quality from the Radio Killa himself, accompanied by more fire from Loso and together they got some heat for the summer. Overall The Dream’s discography is nothing short of incredible tho, as truth be told Fast Car & Yamaha are both undefeated in any summer.
Berner & Styles P ft Cozmo - Top Floor
“Why I smoke so much, cause I’m praying that the high don’t stop” I’m going on record, Styles P is in the current Top 10 of all active MCs period, as on the lowest of keys The Ghost has been COOKING the last 12 months and the quality of his verses is truly appreciated, right now Styles should be an inspiration for all the real spitters worldwide.
Berner & Styles P - A Couple
“Look at a Jedi, lighting on a J thinking life should be a wave, but I’d probably miss my red eye” The Ghost 🔥🔥🔥 and salute to Berner who’s quickly one of the most notable businessmen/entrepreneurs in the Hip Hop genre, having already become a millionaire off his various marijuana/edible products along with a battle rap app that seems like a sure thing to take off. Respect Berner’s resume and vision the Bay Area Taylor Gang representative is definitely about his business.
Berner & Styles P - Go On
“If only the weed talk, if only the scale talk, really hope they don’t cause that’s money and jail talk” Once again The Ghost absolutely annihilates this instrumental and Houston legend Scarface does his numbers well.
Berner & Styles P ft Jadakiss & Sheek Louch - Fam 1st
“Back to the studio, maybe cause I’m studious, ya’ll ***** is dubious, yea I light a doobie cause I do be in the spot” And he’s been on the stove and really cookin in that studio, ever since The Lox last album it seemed like The Ghost been trying to murder everything in sight
Berner & Styles P ft Schoolboy Q - Table
“The weed man won't pick up the phone now, and every now and then you duck where you hang out, three homies from your childhood memories timed out, you get ad-dicted to sliding & slapping the five and, the streets was our fathers, needed the Bentley low mileage, couldn't get it in college, we learned, the struggle make me appreciate every dollar I earned, I love to see my mother's face when I tell her to splurge, I did that” Another great cut off the Vibes project and Schoolboy Q definitely shows up and arguably has the best verse on the record.
DJ Khaled ft Pusha T & Jadakiss - Good Man
“Please, Khaled, don't pair me or compare me, unless the said party is a rare breed, the stories I hear, they tend to mirror me, at this point now, rap is only therapy, President Push, I'm more Eric B, I ain't no joke, check out my melody” On what’s an otherwise very lackluster DJ Khaled album (it’s actually a terrible DJ Khaled album) there’s at least a few moments worth mentioning, yet none before these Pusha T verses that puts every other MC on the disc to shame.
DJ Khaled ft Fat Joe & Raekwon - Billy Ocean
“More Billy's, more problems, we got too many ways to solve em, my life is like a movie that made the Oscars, turned a key into a billion dollars, Billy Ocean, Billy Ocean” One of the only other good records off Khaled’s latest album Grateful, this one has Joe & the Chef trade verses over the classic Isley Brothers sample that we’ve all heard many times before. It’s one of the standouts on the tape simply because it’s not mumble rap.
Metro Boomin ft Offset & Drake - No Complaints
“My set takin off, Polo used to be Lacoste water used to be the tap, ***** not the Voss, damn, things changed!” 3 records with Drake’s name on em dropped this past week and none of em are that crazy, where at this point he should really consider not oversaturating himself to the point where nobody really cares when he drops. When Cole or Kendrick drop any official releases it’s like everything stops, yet in comparison when Drake drops a record… that’s like every other week… and in some cases they’re not even worth the download let alone the purchase. This one on the other hand… this one’s cool… this one’s alright
Berner & Styles P - Blue
“Come and get you some, it’s like Juice when Bishop come, make a lil money watch them bitches come” Another solid album cut that finds Berner & Styles trading bars and weaving between the verses in true quintessential LOX form. These type of records were made for the cypher.
Berner & Styles P ft B Real & Cozmo - Rotate
“Said you want juice then visit me at the store now (I got the juice now), I was getting tore down before I tore a tour down… I got the burner let’s be real, I’m with Berner and B Real, 24/7 high is always how a g feel” The Ghost 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Berner & Styles P ft Wiz Khalifa & Ty Dolla $ign - Leave Me Alone
“We gon get stoned, we gon have a blast, we gon light a half, take shrooms and do dabs, fuck about the cash, I just wanna laugh take edibles and TCH pills before the bath, catch me on the float, give a fuck what you talkin bout I’m just tryna smoke” Berner brings his Taylor Gang crew with em and this one is definitely single potential and should come with a dope music video real soon.
Berner & Styles P - Free
“But you don’t need a plug if you are the plug, lord knows we work hard enough” Ghost 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
DJ Khaled ft Chance the Rapper - I Love You So Much
“Me and daughter taking over, me and my daddy taking over, me and my sister taking over, me and my brother taking over” I don’t really see the appeal of Chance the Rapper and I don’t see how his story inspires anyone in the struggle (he was practically born in the Oval Office and he’s supposed to be representative of the common man in Chicago??? FOH) but all the same I enjoy some of the music and this one’s decent enough… even with the ABC Sesame Street raps… since it’s for the kids we’ll let it slide…
DJ Khaled ft Mavado - Unchanging Love
“I was so confused at a tender age, so caught in a world full of hate, used to make the wrong choices along the way, I know that I gotta make a change” Mavado has some heat to his name which is evident on the last two Khaled albums, in particular with this record which is better than 95% of the rest of the project.
dvsn - Don’t Choose
"Don't choose a club over this tonight, don't choose your friends over this tonight" For those just tuning in, dvsn (pronounced division) is a Canadian R&B duo made up of members Daniel Daley and Nineteen 85, and they’re signed to Drake’s label making them officially a part of the hit making machine over at OVO Records. This one is written by PARTYNEXTDOOR (also on OVO) and is definitely a smooth record that deserves some attention.
Vince Staples - 745
"I'm in that 745, hope I can come scoop you up round 7:45, slide round with my drop top up or down, you down to ride? looked into my eyes and told me ‘Daddy show you right’” Produced by Jimmy Edgar this is officially the only good record off Vince Staples sophomore album Big Fish Theory, where this particular record is smooth but the rest of the album is almost impossible to listen to. Somehow Khaled didn’t have the worst album this past week, and more surprisingly that honor goes to who’s supposedly a “real MC” [and as far as all the hipster journalists that are calling it a perfect album, stop worrying about relationships and get a hold of yourselves]
Bone Thugs N Harmony - Waves
“Let's just sit back and do nothing at all, let's just smoke to the good life, can we sit back and do nothing at all? can we smoke to the good life?” After Bone Thugs released two fire singles (Coming Home & If Heaven Had A Cell Phone) I had high expectations for the new album New Waves, yet unfortunately the album tries way too hard to be pop-infused and ultimately drowns out all the classic qualities of Bone in their essence. In comparison this is one of the highlights of the tape, that simply just lets Bone be Bone without any of the other noise.
Trina ft K Michelle - If It Ain’t Me
“Somebody loves you baby…” Only posting this because it got the video treatment and it’s not completely trash… instead it is what it’s supposed to be.
Ray J & Chris Brown - Come Back
“Let's disappear, yeah, if you don't mind leaving your girlfriends…” CB & Ray J just released a compilation project titled Burn My Name, and although from a personality standpoint I’m not mad at the collaboration, I ultimately had no expectations in regards to the actual music. Nonetheless the tape is exactly what I thought it would be, a bunch of CB throwaways other than the Side Bitch record and this one that’s decent enough.
Meek Mill ft The Dream - Young Black America
“I was on that corner, trying to get my coins up, coppers run up on us and we turn to Jackie Joyner” Over the classic Jay Z instrumental Meek spits his typical Philly motivation raps and it’s cool but doesn’t really make a lasting impact despite the power visuals seen above.
Royce Da 5’9 - C Delores
“For 400 years, profit came before principle. We marched for our right to at Selma, I was there with Dr. King. Music that glorifies and promotes violence with guns, knives, or drugs and that includes all this gangsta rap, that's it. We march again and we're gonna keep on marching” Those are words from C. Delores Tucker, the Civil Rights activist who did march in Selma yet in the name of Dr King tried to come for Hip Hop years later… that in itself even sounds like an oxymoron and it’s truthfully horrifying to hear her calls for censorship, sentiments that are far more damaging than the lyrics she was so offended by. Otherwise this is off the Bar Exam 4 so it’s bars, bars, and more bars… Royce still has one of the best pens in the game.
Royce Da 5’9 ft Westside Gunn & Conway - Gov Ball
“Get you whacked it only cost a band, twenty shots, every bullet in that cartridge land, my shooter been buggin since ***** off'ed his man, lil dirty *****, type to piss and don't wash his hands, pink Bape hoodie, feel like the Harlem Cam” Westside & Conway helps compliment the classic Stylistics sample, used most recently on Ross’s I Think She Like Me
Royce Da 5’9 - Combat
“I found a girl who love me almost as much as Peter Rosenberg loves Kendrick Lamar, I'm just tryna be the one who finally make Rihanna faithful, was I the only one heartbroken when I found out French Montana fucked Sanaa Lathan? and I promise y'all I'm not a hater; I'm just aggravated” Royce rips the DNA instrumental with bar after bar after bar
Royce Da 5’9 ft Nick Grant & Elzhi - Still Waiting
“Jigga was a hustler who later wrote about it on the intro, to In My Lifetime, and you's a customer, not accustomed to how I'm on the cusp of greatness, and at the top of the food chain, I could hump the waitress and, how you do these dishes? I'm truly vicious, I know you wish my life sucked and Death blew me kisses” Another solid record off the Bar Exam 4
No Malice - So Woke
“25 to life for a mere quarter ki, thanks to Tamir, I know what you pigs think of me, silly me, for believing my life mattered, not guilty and that's after we got it on camera” All Facts, murdered a 12 year old boy in broad daylight and still no justice