Welcome back to Turning the Screw, Rocks Off's weekly rap post. It probably won’t rhyme, at least most of the time. E-mail tips to [email protected]. Thanks, homies.
Single of the Week
Mista Smashsational feat. Buk, "On Patron"
Wire To Wire
BET named Weezy F. Baby named Lyricist of the Year this past weekend. Can’t really argue with that one.
Jay-Z dedicated “99 Problems” to John McCain and (an implied) Sarah Palin at his concert at L.A.'s new Palladium. "Jigga who?" responded McCain and Palin.
Great article from Barry Michael Cooper re hip-hop and politics. Read it. It’ll make you smarter.
Wu-Tang Clan has set the release date of its upcoming documentary Wu: The Story of the Wu-Tang Clan for November 18. We assume it will be replete with implications that Wu-Tang Clan ain’t nuttin’ to fuck wit. By the way, we know we’re in the minority here, but we always thought RZA’s “Grits” (above) was a great song.
Entertainment Weekly has a few excerpts from Eminem’s upcoming book The Way I Am. It’s kind of hard to believe that a guy who owned a pink Alf T-shirt grew up to be one of the best rappers of all time.
In light of the recent political debates, URB’s Brandon Perkins chronicled some of hip-hop’s “most heated discussions.” You should check it out, if for no other reason than for the video of Positive K’s “I Got A Man.”
Anybody who’s been watching Making The Band saw this coming: Aubrey O’Day and D. Woods have been ousted from Danity Kane. We never did care for Aubrey anyway, although we did care for these pictures of her.
Fabolous exhibits groundbreaking creativity on latest album, uses gangster film as inspiration.
L.A. hip-hop guru Jeff Weiss has a ditty of a review of The Kanye’s 808’s and Heartbreak. Jeff also wrote a solid piece for LA Weekly recently addressing the hip-hop plague in L.A. We emailed him to brag about how much better Houston's underground hip-hop scene is; a point he openly conceded by replying with - paraphrasing here - “Yeah right, bitch.”
We reported a few weeks back about a little incident involving Suge Knight and a lady he assaulted. Well, Suge has been out of jail for a while and now no one can seem to find the aforementioned victim. That’s doesn’t seem suspicious at all.
Chicago Bear Brandon Lloyd is going to release a hip-hop album. Fantastic. Athletes always make for great musicians.
Jim Jones does not think Nas is ballin’: “Fuck Nas.”
Pitbull calls Daddy Yankee’s backing of McCain a “publicity stunt.” "Good Taste" and "Common Sense" call both Pitbull and Daddy Yankee dumb shits.
Three Pointers
Strong Arm Steady, Can’t Let It Go
Sapient, Letterhead
Keak Da Sneak, Mike Mosley Presents Keak Da Sneak. - Shea Serrano
