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.
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.
If you’ve been watching the NBA playoffs at all then you’ve been hearing a lot of Big Sean lately as they’ve been using tracks off his new Detroit 2 album over game highlights. (The NBA does this every year and plays one artist ad nauseam, it was Logic last year and it was Kendrick the year before that). D2 is a return to form for Big Sean and it’s peak features a collab with the late Nipsey Hussle on “Deep Reverence.” Not to be a rap hipster, but I wanted to throw it back to 2010 for a minute when Big Sean was ready to blow but still grinding on the mixtape game. The Don Cannon produced “High Rise” is one of the first Big Sean tracks I heard and is still one of my favorites. It just embodies everything about him as Big Sean has always exuded youth, charm, and an effortless cool. Tracks like this remind you what its like to be 20 years old again. Just as he predicted in his music, not long after this Big Sean was Finally Famous.
With last week marking the two year anniversary of Mac Miller’s death I randomly heard one of his best songs on my shuffle: PA Nights. After years spent building buzz through mixtapes and YouTube music videos, Mac dropped his debut album Blue Slide Park in 2011. The album received mixed reviews, but PA Nights was a gem that offered a glimpse into the more insightful tracks he would become known for later.
Music taste is subjective so I understand people that like, love, or loathe Mac, but this was an artist that I listened to a ton in my formative years of college. He also had yet to hit mainstream so it was one of those artists that you feel sort of “in the club” with when they do finally hit it big. Then he released Blue Slide Park when I was living on my own after graduating from college and working a shit job in a state that I’d never spent more than a few hours at a time. I think thats how people form connections with music; some song or album becomes the soundtrack for a moment in your life and the two are forever fused together.
A lot of Blue Slide Park was Mac Miller appeasing the masses with the party music that was expected of him at the time. But it also sounded like a kid just trying to deal with all the changes in his life as a result of growing up.
Mac eventually got away from the frat rap that he became known for on K.I.D.S. and Best Day Ever as he made more experimental and at times depressing works like Watching Movies With the Sound Off and his legitimately soulful Swimming. And if you’re still not feeling misty eyed remembering Mac, his last album Circles was released posthumously by his family along with this note.
I heard “Tie My Hands” for the first time in a minute and it really has aged incredibly well as a biting political commentary. With everything going on in this country right now it feels just as relevant today as it did in 2008 when Weezy released his post-Katrina anthem to New Orleans.
They try to tell me keep my eyes open My whole city under water, some people still floatin’ Then they wonder why black people still voting, Cause your presidents still chokin’
Take away the football team, the basketball team Now all we got is me to represent New Orleans No governor, no help from the mayor Just a steady beatin’ heart, and a wish and a prayer
But the song isn’t meant solely to look back and mourn whats already happened. With the help of Robin Thicke’s silky vocals, Weezy turns it into an optimistic ode; something for people still reeling from a tragedy to look forward to.
And if you come from under the water then there’s fresh air Just breathe baby, gods got a blessing to spare Yes, I know the process has so much stress But its the progress that feels the best Cause I came from the projects straight to success And your next, so try they can’t steal your pride its inside Then find it and keep on grinding Cause in every dark cloud there’s a silver lining
With that we’re left with one of Lil Wayne’s more underrated tracks, which is easy to forget in an album like Tha Carter III that’s littered with monster hits.
Not to sound like an old head, but this song is a classic from back when rap was rap. Even if you don’t know this song, you for sure recognize the beat as it’s been sampled by everyone from J. Cole on The Warmup to Rick Ross on Thug Cry to Big K.R.I.T. on Somedayz to even Tyga on ’09 Until. EVERYONE got on this beat. It was even ranked No. 93 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 100 Greatest Hip Hop Songs of All Time.
“A-Plus’s flip is one of the most infamous ever, looping two different parts of the Cobham song to layer over each other. With the perfect truncation of sound and a little pitch increase, it’s up there with Havoc’s ‘Shook Ones Pt. II’ and RZA’s ‘Verbal Intercourse’ samples as one of the craziest flips of all time.” – TheBoomBox.com
Absolutely bananas.
If you really want to go down the YouTube rabbit hole of music inspiring music, check out this old video of Kanye, Just Blaze, and John Mayer all chopping it up over the 93 ‘Til Infinity beat.
Who do you think we need to feature on Rush Hour Rap? Tweet us @The300sBoston and use the hashtag #RushHourRap to send us what you want to hear in the AM.
A song that dropped back in 2012 and is one I only stumbled onto after it was used on Toucher and Rich as a bed coming back from commercial. Love the old school Mos Def/Talib Kweli sound and style. But this is what I love about hip hop man, this beat just sounded familiar to me so I was trying to track down the sample and it led me to this artist/producer Alien Folk Urban Aire / Kankick, which led me to the original sampling of this Latin jazz artist, Airto. Unreal. Thats exactly why Kanye will forever be one of the best producers to ever lay down a beat. The samples the man was able to repurpose are just absurd.
It would seem like these guys never really popped mainstream, but as we all know you can make a hell of a living as an indie rapper these days. So I may be nearly a decade late on these guys, but better late than never.
The 300s 