Nineteen Ninety Never

One of the reasons I think that The Firm might be one of my all time favorite albums is this song, Phone Tap.

While a lot of rappers like to casually drop rhymes about how they be textin’ they honeys and gettin’ pages from they boyz, The Firm knows that the reality is that anyone can be listening into these conversations.

This track is basically a phone conversation between what sounds like two drug dealers, and the listener is able to hear both their conversation the radio traffic of the  authorities tapping their phones.

With lines like “I hit you right back because the static is thick” they constantly remind you that they’re on cell phones, talk of their kids is interspersed with the chorus letting you know that their phones are tapped. The whole thing sends chills down my spine, and this feeling is reinforced further with foreshadowing when one of the guys on the phones tells the other that it is “all good” but that he shouldn’t use the phone tomorrow.

Truly a track ahead of its time.

The Firm - Phone Tap

Image above from a movie poster for the classic Hackman flick The Conversation. Watch it to see Harrison Ford’s greatest role ever.

You just have to listen to this absolute banger, straight outta the ghettos of Switzerland, from a group of guys calling themselves Subdelux.

Subdelux - Paparazzi (the video for it isn’t too bad either)

Also, just because 199x loves the Disco Villains right now, here’s their little treatment of N*E*R*D’s Rock Star. I thought it went well with the Subdelux track. You know, thematically.

N*E*R*D - Rock Star (Disco Villains)

Subdelux on MySpace

Discovillains on MySpace

(photo courtesy of Ren Bostelaar)

So I checked out the Cadence Weapon show in Toronto last Thursday, and have to say that I’m now a fan. I hadn’t heard anything by him, but he came recommended by the Persian Prince himself so for $12 at Lee’s Palace, how could I go wrong? I couldn’t, and part of the reason was because he reminds me of Tracy Morgan.

While the video for Real Estate is pretty good (thanks to The Tape for the find), the track is actually begging to be put over top of a re-purposed clips from Glengarry Glen Ross. If I had a video editing program, I’d probably do it myself.

But since I don’t, you might as well check out this 40 minute mix of house music “hosted” by Alec Baldwin clips from Glengarry (via the always-entertaining Canuckflack).

Cadence Weapon - Real Estate

Cadence Weapon - House Music

Cadence Weapon - House Music (A1 Bassline Remix)

Anyways, I gotta dedicate this post to my boy Davey Boy Taylor holdin’ down the real estate game, Van-City style.

There’s more of Roland Pemberton (aka Cadence Weapon) on MySpace or his official site.

Man, after that earlier post about White Collar Wu-Tang and now this one, it feels like it is Take Your Rapper To Work Week or something.

According to Wikipedia, Jook music is a “dance-driven genre” that is a mixture of “Bass, House and Hip-Hop.” It comes from Tampa Bay, a town alternately known as Jook City or Trigga City.

Count me in.

Tampa Tony - Can’t Juke Without Me (Tactic Re-edit)

R. Kelly - Hook It Up (UMYO Juke Remix)

One of the best parts about Tampa Tony’s Myspace profile is the number of people stopping by to show him some “luv” and express their support for him while he is in jail.

Tracks courtesy of Palms Out Sounds.

Solid beats and rhymes from NASA and CERN respectively. Nerdcore represent, wha wha!

Did you learn something new?

I’m pretty sure that L’ Empire du Côté Obscur is what the French call the dark side, as in the Dark Side of the Force.

And a track with the same name by french rappers IAM is probably the best french song about Star Wars that you’ll ever hear.

Download

What else would you expect from group whose name apparently means “Invasion From Mars” and whose members have chosen to name themselves after ancient Egyptian pharaohs?