Category: #RushHourRap

#RushHourRap – YEEZUS

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Get fired up this morning with Kanye at his most Kanye. Yeezus, as most of Kanye’s albums, was looked at as pretty “out there” by most when it dropped in 2013, but now people look back and say that album was ahead of its time. Same thing happened with 808s & Heartbreak when Kanye basically brought autotune into the mainstream before anyone else. But thats why I love Kanye. He’s the definition of an artist. He’s an absolute fucking maniac, he’s always trying new shit, and he’s usually ahead of the curve with his sound. Yeezus still absolutely bangs.

Not to mention, I saw Kanye on the Yeezus tour in Boston and that concert was completely mental. Who needs Broadway when you get a show like this every couple of years?

#RushHourRap – Mobb Deep

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Shook Ones is a first ballot Hall of Fame rap song.

Now obviously this song came out in 1995, but it had a renaissance when it was the featured instrumental on the final 8 Mile rap battle in 2002. The unforgettable scene where Eminem just rips Papa Doc to shreds over the Mobb Deep beat. That movie was a pre-game go to for me and my roommates back in college. Just have like 6 captain and diets and then see who can rattle off the rap battles the best. Hell, to this day we jokingly ask which one of us is gonna have the 8 Mile rap battle played at our wedding. CUE THE HIGHLIGHTS!

#RushHourRap – Atmosphere – Trying to Find a Balance

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One of my all time favorite artists, these guys have been around for a longgg time, dropping their debut album, Overcast, back in 1997. Since then they’ve released 7 additional albums, plus countless mixtapes and side projects. So there are a ton of tracks to pick from with these guys, but here’s a good intro for the uninitiated; Trying to Find a Balance.

Life, love, stress, and setbacks.

#RushHourRap – KYLE – Remember Me

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If Sammy Adams and Mike Stud embodied the frat rap movement, KYLE is leading the way for the introverted guys who take drama classes and play video games. Seriously. Listen to his first album, Beautiful Loser, and you’ll notice how he works in sound effects from games like Star Fox into his music. This is the next guy to pop as he’s been piling up hits the past couple of years and on “Remember Me?” he collabs with Chance the Rapper for a fire flames track.

KYLE signed with Atlantic Records earlier this year so the big guns are now behind him and he had his first radio hit this summer with iSpy, which was one of the biggest songs of the year. Hell the guy was even on AskGaryVee so he’s far from an unknown, but I feel like most people still aren’t in on him. Load up your iPod kids, KYLE bangs.

#RushHourRap – Kendrick Lamar – m.A.A.d. city

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After a particularly soul crushing edition of Monday morning traffic, #RushHourRap is coming in right around lunch time. So yesterday was the 5 year anniversary of “good kid, m.A.A.d. city” dropping. Not only was it Kendrick Lamar’s coming out party (his second studio album, his first to go Platinum), but it is also one of the best rap albums of the past decade. It was not easy picking just one track from this album, but I had to go with the hard hitting, frenetic, titular “m.A.A.d. city.”

m.A.A.d. city had yuuuge singles including Bitch, Don’t Kill My Vibe, Swimming Pools, Poetic Justice, The Recipe, and the bass monster Backseat Freestyle. All absolute bangers that still kill it today.

I remember seeing Kendrick open for Kanye at TD Garden in Boston back in 2013 just as he was starting to take off. Now the guy is headlining his own shows at the Garden touring for his latest work, DAMN,  what might be my favorite album of the year. Keep killing it k-dot.

#RushHourRap – MF Doom – Accordion

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As the resident white boy from the suburbs who grew up listening to entirely too much rap, part of my role here is to introduce you to different things. Expand your horizons if you will. Aside from the ringtone rap that is all over the radio, lets try something new. Today’s #RushHourRap is one of the most lyrically technical rappers; MF Doom. And while this guy has been around since the late 80s with his first album dropping in 1999, I feel like a lot of you have yet to really dive into his music. Plus how many artists out there today could rap over an accordion?

#RushHourRap: Logic – Alright

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Logic only recently landed in the public eye with his suicide prevention radio hit “1-800-273-8255” that he dropped earlier this year. Before that though he had two excellent albums in Bobby Tarantino (2016) and The Incredible True Story (2015) and before that of course was his fire flames debut studio album, Under Pressure (2014). Off that album is one of his best records to date, “Alright” ft. Big Sean.

If you still aren’t fucking with Logic, get on board now because this guy is going to blow up. Not to mention he just seems like a genuinely down to earth guy. Check out this video of Logic rapping toe to toe with a diehard fan of his on stage, who just also happens to be a parapalegic. Good guy Logic.

#RushHourRap – Childish Gambino – Sweatpants

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Nothing like some heavy ass bass from our boy Donald Glover to get your Monday (Tuesday) morning going after the long weekend.

“Sweatpants” is off of Gambino’s second official album, “Because the Internet,” which came out at the end of 2013. This whole album was another banger coming off the killer “Camp” debut album he dropped in 2011. I wasn’t a huge fan of his latest album “Awaken, My Love!” but I respect the hell out of a guy who’s got to a point in his career where he’s able to take creative chances rather than just rehashing old shit. And Donald Glover hasn’t been exactly subtle in saying that Childish Gambino is more of a side project for him and he doesn’t anticipate making many more albums, so enjoy him while he’s here folks.

#RushHourRap – J. Cole – Grown Simba

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Couldn’t think of anything better than some J. Cole to start the day as he’ll be playing at the Garden Friday night, which is his first show in Boston since his Dollar and a Dream Tour back in 2013. That was an unreal show at the Paradise as he only announced the venue and released tickets on the day of the show. Luckily I happened to live 2 blocks from where he was playing so I snagged tickets for ONE DOLLAR each. A man of the people indeed. So lets throw it back with some olddd Jermaine off the Warm Up mixtape.

I never change, I’m like a corpse in a coffin, six feet shit’s deep
I was low just a dolla and some hope fixed me
Cause I was broke plus the weed that I would smoke would make it worser
Lord, please let my problems disappear like Ron Mercer
I’m a star, Converses
Conversin’ with them girls with them curves like cursive
They open like curtains because my shit is unheard of
Like curses on the radio
Same bitches used to play me though

#RushHourRap – Kanye West Pt. 2

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In what many described as the first ever crowdsourced album because of Kanye’s multiple tweaks to the album AFTER it had already been released, 2016’s The Life of Pablo is another hit in Yeezy’s catalogue. It was also the first album ever to go Platinum entirely from streams. As most of his recent albums have been, they definitely take a couple listens through to understand, but as he did with 808s and Heartbreak, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, and Yeezus, Kanye is ahead of the game — wacky song titles and all.