I seen Mase do it, I seen ‘Ye do it ‘X came through, caught lighter fluid Still I came through it; clap for him! But I’m the blueprint, I’m like the map for ’em I dropped another classic, made Puff pass it Nobody could touch Puff back when Puff had it
This is one of my favorite rap songs that for some reason I never hear anyone talking about. “A Star is Born” was on The Blueprint 3, which was released back in 2009, and showcases Jay-Z essentially detailing an oral history of all the biggest players in rap over the years. Jay is able to stuff in references to everyone from Mase to DMX, Puff Daddy, 50, Lil Wayne, Eminem, Kanye, Dre, Mobb Deep, Andre 3000 and a ton more in just two verses. All of those artists, in Jay’s words, have had their moment in the sun, but Jay-Z has remained the one constant.
Not to mention “A Star is Born” was really the coming out party for J. Cole, introducing him to anyone that wasn’t routinely browsing HotNewHipHop.com downloading any mixtape you could get your hands on in college… But I digress. This track came out just a couple of months after J. Cole dropped his classic mixtape The Warm Up so he was ready to blow, even though his own debut album Cole World wouldn’t be released for another two years. J. Cole was actually the first artist signed by Jay-Z to his Roc Nation label so this was quite the way to announce your arrival.
Off “No Ceilings 3,” which dropped in November 2020, Drake and Lil Wayne are back with some old school mixtape flows on BB King Freestyle. It’s no secret, but the sheer output of content from Wayne over the years is mind boggling. I have to admit though, I was texting some friends the other day because I was legitimately appalled at the use of Six Foot Seven Foot in a freaking Burger King commercial. Just when you think Weezy has either sold out, fallen off or stopped giving a shit he comes correct with a verse like this.
I’m proud of me, I don’t know how to be sorry, apologies You fuckin’ with my math, you better know some trigonometry ‘Cause I’ma be bustin’, leave your lima bean at your mama feet I flip the economy like Dominique Dawes They say I’m trippin’, I guess they wishin’ I finally fall
“Dog Days” is a term generally used for summer and I believe (completely assumed with zero context or sources) is a reference to a dog’s preference to just kind of lie there when it gets unbearably hot in the summer; a practice humans enjoy taking on as well. However I feel like that sort of mood applies to the January/February time-frame as well. It’s cold out. You don’t really want to go anywhere. Sometimes there’s a global pandemic you want to avoid. You’re wearing comfy clothes and relaxing on your preferred comfortable chair/couch. It’s just a lazy time of year.
With that said the blog don’t sleep, so Joey B. can’t rest. There’s a number of things worthy of touching on in the sports world and beyond. So let’s do just that, perhaps over a cup of hot cocoa.
Conor McGregor Dominated By Dustin Poirier
There are six COMMON outcomes for an MMA fight. Not total, but common. Each fighter can win by decision, KO/TKO, or submission (3×2=6). Going into last Saturday’s main event I would have said “Poirier-KO/TKO” would have been the fifth most likely outcome, only edging out McGregor by sub. Boy howdy was I wrong. He threw hard calf kicks to McGregor’s lead leg and he threw them often. He was flowing with his boxing and beating McGregor up. The Irishman never looked comfortable and didn’t seem totally sure of himself. This all culminated in a finish in Rd2. A big question before the fight was what Conor McGregor’s next would move be if he lost? Now that we’ve arrived at that scenario the answer is all the more fleeting. Speculators like myself have long said the third Nate Diaz fight would always would be there. I guess it is, but after watching the unsure, rigid version of McGregor we saw last Saturday, it just doesn’t seem as exciting of a prospect. The man himself angled for a third fight with Poirier, and somewhere down the line that has to happen. McGregor dominated the first, Poirier dominated the second. But in the immediate future Poirier gets to call his shot, be it a “money” fight with Nate Diaz or a title fight, for Khabib Nurmagomedov’s presumably vacated belt, against Charles Oliveira. Re-matching a man he just soundly defeated and is 3-3 in his last six MMA fights and 1-1 at 155lbs in the UFC doesn’t make any sense. It is a tricky conundrum indeed at this time to determine a match up could keep McGregor at the top of a PPV card while not finding him the vast underdog.
Deshaun Watson Officially Wants Out
As reported by Adam Schefter today, Deshaun Watson has officially asked for the fuck out of Houston and the Realm of Littlefinger Jack Easterby. Now, that doesn’t necessarily mean his time in Houston is definitely over, but I can’t be the only one that feels like there is no turning back for the team or the player. This begs the question of what kind of package Houston wants for Watson. A lot of folks on twitter are saying it’s going to take an absolute haul of picks + talent from the trade partner + possibly some extra bodies for cap/contract reasons. That does indeed make sense. But what I don’t think can be overlooked is what Houston is losing here: their starting QB. What that makes me wonder is whether or not the Texans see some value in, or quite possibly were once enamored with pre-draft, a few of the young QBs that have fallen out of favor with their current team. There will be an unprecedented, to say the least, amount of starting/starting caliber QB movement this off-season. It’s not just Deshaun Watson seeking a new home. So rather than just looking at usual suspects when evaluating who may go after Watson, think of teams that may have both an interest in the Clemson product and a player to offer who could possibly take a shot at replacing him: Chicago (Mitch Trubisky), Denver (Drew Lock), New York-B (Sam Darnold), San Francisco (Jimmy Garoppolo), Philadephia (Carson Wentz). You get the idea.
Bradley Beal Becomes First Player To Lose Ten Straight 40-Point Games
What a brutal fucking stat and reality. I’m not the most gigantic hoops fanatic, but I’ve felt for awhile that Bradley Beal was a phenomenal player playing in the wasteland that is D.C. His talent is completey overshadowed by the ineptness of his franchise. Yesterday simply put an exclamation point on the end of that sentence. Ten straight games of scoring an absurd amount of points only to fucking lose. That just has to hurt. And we know it hurts, because it has become one of the internet’s favorite things to get a laugh out of poor Bradley Beal’s body language. Just head in his hands on the bench, thinking “what the fuck did I do to deserve to be here?” This has of course brought on heaps of trade speculation and knowing the Wizards he’ll probably get moved. Let’s hope the man can find some greener pastures. And some happiness.
Nerds On Reddit Defeated And Possibly Ended A Couple Of Hedge Funds In The Name Of GameStop
I don’t know nor care as much about this as I should but I’d be a dick if I didn’t mention it so here we are. Basically, a couple of large hedge funds (boutique investment firms that take big risks HEDGED (wink wink) by betting other money elsewhere in the investment world….or something like that) bet huge money that GameStop’s stock would tank. That makes sense because GameStop is failing and has lost money for something like 12 consecutive quarters. However betting that this will happen actually causes the stock to drop because, stock market. In comes Reddit and the whole crowdfunding thing and “investors” all over started betting ON GameStop, both to be dicks to the Wall Street dicks and also because if they could get the GameStop stock to go up so that THEY’D make money instead of the hedge funds. And Reddit won. One of the hedge funds might even have to close shop which is hilarious. Overall just a chaotic, wacky thing to have happen. Lots of nerds and woke people saying THIS IS WHY THE STOCK MARKET IS BAD. (Calm Down). It’s kind of like playing poker against someone who has no idea what they’re doing. You should be able to wipe them but with ignorance of the game comes their inability to know what a bluff is etc. and they kill you, much to you and your liver’s chagrin.
Drake Pushes Back Album Release Due To Torn ACL
I have no idea why I am so fascinated by this story. There will be no touring for the foreseeable future so it isn’t like Drizzy was smartly avoiding a loss of income. Was he going to celebrate the release of “Certified Lover Boy” on a trampoline? Has having a home gym + quarantine brain actually made him believe he’s a pro-athlete? I’m not sure. I just know that with the fluidity with which music is created and release these days it doesn’t make sense that Wheelchair Jimmy had to delay his album release for a bum knee.
It’s been 10 YEARS since J. Cole dropped his “Friday Night Lights” mixtape. Now if we’re being honest, if we’re in the trust tree together, I’m more of a “The Warm Up” guy, which dropped the year before FNL. Either way, Jermaine has been spitting heat for over a decade and I am now starting to feel old. J. Cole’s mixtapes were A+ chill with a few beers music back in college. This was still in the relatively early days of YouTube, which went live just a little over three years before The Warm Up came out. So yes I was a cheap college kid either ripping mixtapes off DatPiff or cranking the speakers until my walls were shaking blasting YouTube videos three minutes at a time.
What’s a stage with no mic and no voice of a poet? What’s more important, the flower or the soil that grow it? Yeah, it’s cool, but one rule, don’t get caught in the moment
As Ron Burgundy once said, “Drink it in, it always goes down smooth” and thats exactly what this track is: smooth. Benny the Butcher released his new project “Burden of Proof” last month, which HotNewHipHop is calling “one of the best albums of the year.” If you needed any more convincing, the whole album was produced by Hit-Boy, who if you didn’t know has produced some of your favorite songs like Paris by Jay-Z and Kanye, Trophies by Drake, Clique by GOOD Music, Drop the World by Lil Wayne, Sicko Mode by Travis Scott and the list goes on and on. Get your earbuds in and get this album going right now.
Coming straight out of the hip hop hot bed that is Canada, Lou Phelps is back with the debut single off his second album, “Nike Shoe Box,” which shows off a laid back delivery that eases you into his rhymes. That is far from a criticism as Eminem is my No. 1 ranked rapper of all time, but not every song needs to require a dictionary handy with machine gun flows like “Rap God.” And maybe it’s just because the beat reminds me of “High Rise,” but I’m getting a young Big Sean vibe from this.
Phelps is probably the first rapper from Canada since Drake to pop so maybe things are looking up for our overly friendly neighbors to the north.
A little Friday afternoon #RushHourRap bringing you into the weekend even though most of you are probably only commuting from the desk in your bedroom to the couch in your living room. Doesn’t mean we can’t crack a few crafties on a Friday night with some new tunes though.
Jack Harlow blew onto the scene when he dropped Whats Poppin earlier this year with one of the catchiest beats I’ve heard all year. Well now he’s back with Tyler Herro, named after the rookie Miami Heat sniper who you may remember for the assault he committed against my Boston Celtics. The song itself has some sneaky one liners that are super relevant during these UNPRECEDENTED TIMES.
Can’t touch me, I got instincts Locked in the house, but I’m plottin’ things
I came home nice, but I’m goin’ back mean I’m ’bout to globe-trot when they know a vaccine
Is it a little early in his career for Tyler Herro to have a rapper name a song after him? Maybe, but Herro played at Kentucky, where Harlow is actually from so the connection makes sense. Not to mention, Herro has the best drip here. So now he’s got a song to match.
Hopefully Herro’s career goes better after having a rap song named after him than Johnny Manziel’s did once Drake made him a rap anthem with Draft Day.
Introducing the official #RushHourRap playlist curated by The 300s. Dozens of songs compiled from the past 30 years so you can take my obscure music recommendations with you anywhere. Featuring everyone from household names like Eminem and Kanye to lesser known artists, rappers you need to know, and young guys on the come up.
Some of the deeper cuts of #RushHourRap unfortunately did not make the list because Spotify doesn’t exactly have a plethora of obscure mixtapes. So that means you’ll still need to track down hidden gems like Switch by Lupe Fiasco on YouTube.
But if you’re a fan of our morning rap recommendations then make sure you save and share this playlist because it’s a living breathing entity that I’ll be adding to all the time.
On #RushHourRap we try and mix it up with throwback tracks from the big guns as well as some artists you’ve never heard of to give you a stacked playlist.
Meet Henry AZ, the 20-year-old up and coming rapper raised right in our own backyard down Cape Cod. Remember that name because this ain’t just some scrub YouTube rapper, Henry AZ’s signed to Juicy J’s Mo Faces label and already has features from heavy hitters like Wiz Khalifa on his most recent mixtape.
Henry AZ has said some of his inspirations range from Eminem, to Andre 3000, Mac Miller, Drake, and NF; all artists we’ve featured on #RushHourRap over the years so if you like what we put up here, then AZ should slide right in.
Draft day, Johnny Manziel Five years later, how am I the man still? Draft day, A. Wiggins Fuck that other side, bitch we stay winnin’ Aw man, you know I had to do it for you You know I had to do it for you Yeah, suits and ties yelling out, “Pay the guys”
It’s NFL Draft Day baby so what other song could I possibly have gone with today? A little Throwback Thursday Drizzy to go with your morning coffee.
The 300s 