Tag: Eminem

#RushHourRap – Jay-Z ft. J. Cole – A Star is Born

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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.

#RushHourRap – Busta Rhymes ft. Eminem – Calm Down

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“Calm Down” is a summer 2014 banger from Busta Rhymes and Eminem going HAM over a chaotic sample of House of Pain’s “Jump Around.” What’s wild to think about is how well Em flows over the beat made famous by a guy he *bodied* over a decade before. You may remember back in 2000 House of Pain’s Everlast and Eminem were going back and forth with diss tracks that were legitimately personal and vitriolic. I mean, Em literally threatened to kill him on a track. This is back in the day when rap beefs were no joke and people often wound up getting shot. So I found it interesting Em not only appeared on, but went off on a past enemy’s original track.

But I digress…

“Busta noted that “It started off from just doing a dope, high energy hip-hop record into us respectfully competing and damn near battling each other” and stated that he and Eminem “bring the best out of” each other and praised Eminem as someone who “genuinely still cares about the music.”

True story: Busta Rhymes’ son was actually a couple years behind me in college and it was kind of this known thing around campus so I was always on the lookout hoping for a Busta sighting. I never ran into him, but I’ll never forget one of my professors, whose a white guy in his 70s, posting a picture from graduation with Busta Rhymes in the middle of the quad and it is one of the funniest pics I’ve ever seen. One of the greatest rappers of all time just chilling in the middle of suburbia Connecticut where I used to walk through hungover as all hell hopelessly sipping a Gatorade on my way to class.

Jayson Tatum Has an A++ Nickname for Rookie Payton Pritchard

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Jayson Tatum has already blessed Payton Pritchard with the honor of an official nickname and we’re only four games into the season. Is 8 Mile the most original nickname for a white boy playing ball? No, not really. But Pritchard does have the dark high fade buzz cut so he actually looks pretty similar to B-Rabbit.

Finkle is Einhorn, Einhorn is Finkle!

Plus if the nickname sticks then it’s definitely a future t-shirt we’ll cook up in the lab. More than anything though it gives me an excuse to post the 8 Mile rap battles every time Pritchard has a big game. Again it’s only been 4 games, but it’s looking like Danny may have hit on something here with the rookie PG out of Oregon (8.3 PPG in 22 MPG) so you may be seeing a lot of 8 Mile rap battle videos this season. 3-1-3!

#RushHourRap – Eminem – Music To Be Murdered By – Side B

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Emergency edition of #RushHourRap this morning as Eminem dropped SIXTEEN new songs in the middle of the night! Music To Be Murdered By – Side B is another vehicle for Em, now 48-years-old, to show off his unmatched lyrical prowess and the elite ability to play with flow and cadence all while delivering rapid fire rhymes.

It’s packaged as a continuation of Music To Be Murdered By, which Em dropped back in January pre-pandemic. Marshall’s late career blitz continues as this is his 4th album in the last four years and his 7th in the last 11, which kicked off with Relapse way back in 2009. That came after a five year hiatus following Encore and I remember that felt like the end of Eminem, which is crazy to say 16 years and seven albums later. Em’s work over the past decade has been hit or miss with massive, massive success like Recovery, some well received albums like Marshall Mathers LP 2 that featured some A+ tracks like “Rap God.” Then of course came some misses like Revival and Kamikaze, both of which I enjoy as an Eminem stan (“Lucky You” still BANGS), but were not all that well received critically or commercially. We’ll see how MTBMB – Side B is received by fans and critics, but any time Eminem blesses the eardrums with new music I am all in.

Must Watch SNL Skit: Pete Davidson Raps a “Stan” Remix for Santa Clause

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It’s rare that I deem an SNL skit as must watch these days, but thats exactly what Pete Davidson’s “Stu” sketch is: must watch.

Jason Bateman was a pretty good host because nobody plays the straight man in a skit better than him. So as this Santa and the elves sketch kicked off, you’re sitting there wondering what the hell is going on, then the Stan beat kicks in and it’s a wrap. I figured like most skits this would fizzle out in the first 30 seconds. Nope, it seems like Lorne Michaels and company let Pete Davidson just do his thing and we got three legitimately impressive and original verses in the Santa/Stan remix. As Papa Giorgio said, it’s the best musical sketch they’ve had since Lonely Island. The Eminem clip at the end was a nice nod to the original song. Also, shout out to Bowen Yang for his dead on Elton John.

Pete Davidson is such an interesting cast member on SNL because I feel like he rarely gets used in big time spots. He is often relegated to background characters, even if they are laugh out loud funny like his Count Chocula when Dave Chappelle was hosting. He might just be a hard person to write for, which reminds me of an old quote that stuck with me by Jason Segel (Forgetting Sarah Marshall, How I Met Your Mother, Freaks and Geeks):

“When I was like 21 years old and we had just finished a show called Freaks and Geeks, Judd Apatow, who made that show and a bunch of our movies took a bunch of us aside. What he said to me, actually, is, ‘You’re kind of a weird guy. The only way you are going to make it is if you write.”

A lot of these cast members probably just don’t get the prime sketches because it’s hard to write for them, which makes sense when the most famous SNL alum usually either flame out or were outright fired (Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Damon Wayans, Sarah Silverman, Robert Downey Jr etc). Davidson seems to have one foot out the door anyways as he dabbles more with movies written by, ironically enough, the comedy godfather himself Judd Apatow.

A+ sketch by SNL.

#RushHourRap – Lou Phelps – Nike Shoe Box

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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.

Introducing the Official #RushHourRap Playlist

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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.

Just search #RushHourRap on Spotify to add it to your library.

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.

#RushHourRap – Henry AZ – Headphones

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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.

This kid is gonna make some waves.

#RushHourRap – Machine Gun Kelly – Tickets To My Downfall

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Okay soo this isn’t actually a rap album, but as the curator of #RushHourRap it’s my duty to tell you that a pretty well known rapper has pivoted and dropped one of the best punk albums I’ve heard in a long, long time. This is wildly impressive from a rapper that is known by most people as the guy that picked a fight with and got a fiery diss track response from Eminem.

While 2020 continues to be one of the shittiest years on record, MGK is riding a hot streak like no other. Pairing up with arguably the best drummer on the planet in Travis Barker he dropped a legit album in an entirely different genre, performed at the VMAs, oh and he landed Megan Fox too.

Not a bad year for Colson Baker.

You’ve probably at least heard about the music video for “bloody valentine” because it essentially announced his relationship with Megan Fox, who was still married to Brian Austin Green at the time.

But the entire album is awesome and angsty in a way that all your favorite CDs from high school were. I wouldn’t be shocked to hear a few of these on the Top 100 whether it’s concert for aliens, forget me too (ft. Halsey), all i know (ft. Trippie Redd), my ex’s best friend (ft. Blackbear). Point is, the album bangs. Check it out below.

Logic Announces His Retirement Following the Release of His Next Album, “No Pressure”

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My first reaction is it’s hard to take a rapper seriously when they say they’re going to retire. I mean Jay-Z said he was retiring after The Black Album and that was in 2003. He’s since un-retired and released five more albums. Plus artists in general don’t normally have the ability to just walk away from their art. It’s not like a football player who has to retire because his knees are shot. Look at HOV, Eminem, Ice-Cube, Ice T, RZA, E-40, Missy Elliott etc. They’re all north of 45 and still putting out tracks.

However, Logic has been one of the hardest working dudes in the game over the past decade. He’s put out six mixtapes, six full albums, plus the criminally underrated soundtrack to accompany the freaking novel he wrote, Supermarket. Not to mention five headlining tours.

So while I hope this is more like MJ retiring to play baseball and Bobby Tarantino just needs to take a couple years off to get away for a while, but if not I wish him the best because he has given us a TON of music to bump to.

PS – Logic’s farewell album is being produced by No ID and is coming out in less than a week?