Nas - Good Mornin (Unreleased)

YEAH DJ ENVY THE PEOPLES CHOICE!!! HAHA. I can’t fuckin' stand when DJ’s yell at the beginning of a track and almost ruin the whole experience. Thankfully Nas is so talented you are able to look past the sometimes annoying DJ. But, this is not a rant against DJ’s because after all DJ’s did come before MC’s back when Hip-Hop was in its early stages in the boroughs of NYC.

The next track I’m bringing is an unreleased Nas project ft. Ron Isley on the chorus. It seems more often than not Nas is telling a story or painting a picture of a sequence of events for the listener. Here are the first nine bars of the first verse that sets the mood and tempo for the rest of the song.

Good morning the same old jerks goin' to work/
Garbage man pick up the dirt, the birds don't chirp/
There's this nice Lady I know, she always speak/
Wit her two children, headed to the school building/
Then rush home and again to lit housin/
And they are puttin' out the new ceilings/
Cuz her shit is leakin'/
Water keep drippin'down, so she beefin'/
Husband keep cheatin', he've been out all-evenin'/

The rhyme scheme is simple but the way that Nas manages to use simple words to make the listener they are really with that woman walking her children to work. It is also a real life situation that is common now days and that is a mother practically raising her children without the help of their father who in this case is cheating.

Good morning, police shifts the hood is on-in'/
So they drive around all-day wit bench warrants/
Eatin donuts and sippin' on coffee/
Ooops!, sudden stops spills on the walkie-talkie/
Damn this nigga is a creep/
Whispers to police at the wino in the middle of the street/
Wit missin' front teeth twist blunts deep in the cut/
It's my nigga so I holler it up, niggaz good morning/

The instrumental, Nas’ flow, and the vocals by Ron Isley make this a track I wish Nas would have put on one of his albums. Either way I’m glad this piece of work got to see the light of day. More Nas songs are sure to be featured in the future.

Last Emperor - Do You Remember?

Last Emperor wrote this song entitled Do You Remember? The track was featured on the And 1 Mixtape Vol. 2 soundtrack as well as the "Hidden Treasures" mixtape.

I heard this song when I was still in grade school. I had bought a pair of And 1 basketball shoes and with the shoes they gave me the video mixtape which featured “Do you remember” in one of the portions of the video. I liked the song so much the first time I heard it I stopped the dribbling I was doing while I was watching the mixtape and just sat down and listened to the entire track.

The acoustic guitar goes along perfectly with the whole theme of the song, it really makes you feel like you are traveling back in time to when you were a kid running around with you friends without a care in the world.

The originality and song concept that Last Emperor comes with is refreshing to listen to in a day where most of the mainstream music is watered down and repetitive.

One day I'll travel from the East to the West/
And tap into the hidden strength that all men possess/
I'll always be young, see a young mind is fresh/
And its clear my memories will one day disappear unless/

Last Emperor is still regarded as one of the most underrated MC's. It is a shame that talent like this can go unnoticed by the public. It shows that no matter how talented you are in the music industry only a select few reap extreme financial benefits. But, music isn't all about money and it is clear to hear when listening to the Last Emperor that money was not the only thing on his mind when writing this song

At times, I feel old like I'm going out of style/
So I turn down the music on my FM dial/
I beg of you to come and listen for a while/
And look at this wonderful world through the eyes of a child/

Taste of What's to Come

For the first post to this…illustrious blog, I would like to describe its background and what it’s all about. Since I have been listening to music the words, rather than the instrumental have always caught my ear. Whether it was the music of my parents such as The Beatles or Bob Dylan up to the music I myself choose to listen to, the way in which people express themselves through lyrics is fascinating to me.

Hip-Hop is what I listened to growing up and it is still the genre of music I find myself listening to most often. The entire Hip-Hop scene appealed to me from the start. The new way DJ’s, B-Boy’s, Graffiti artists, and Rappers had found to express themselves was something I admired in a deep sense of the word.

I myself was born and raised in Chicago and attend College at a Chicago University. Growing up I was always surrounded by different cultures and the ways in which those different cultures expressed themselves.

Living in the city opened my eyes to a means of self-expression that I would have never been privileged to if I had been raised in a more sheltered environment. Hip-Hop was never kept from me and because of that I was able to fully appreciate the skill of those who managed to use music as a way of telling a story whether it was real or fictional. So THANK YOU, Chicago.

This Blog however is not just based purely Hip-Hop lyrics but rather lyrics from all genres of music that paint vivid pictures, stories, and scenarios in the listeners mind. Word play and the level of intricacy that goes into writing complex lyrics will be displayed, dissected, and analyzed for your listening and reading pleasure ha-ha.

Despite the fact I will be making posts involving many different genres, I have to say I cannot stand country music and most of today’s modern music. But, if you are a fan of those types of music possibly reading my posts will lead you on a path toward enlightenment.