Are You a Prisoner Of The Moment? (Breaking down Kdot's Verse)

...No offense to Mr. Kendrick Lamar because this uproar is well needed. 

...No offense to Mr. Kendrick Lamar But this uproar will last only about a week.

I hope it lasts forever but it won't!

Very Soon these idiots will be back to listening to bullshit rap; how many watches I got, how many cars I drive, I woke up in a new Bugatti, blah, blah, blah!

Bullshit rap will prevail and ultimately win because of YOU!... The fans!

It shouldn't take a Kdot verse to open your minds to the ill state of hip hop. This has been going on for what seems like forever and many rappers have been preaching this rhetoric! You all have failed to listen and I believe if Kendrick didn't stir the pot by calling out a select few of rappers names... This message would have been ignored too!

You'll only "took a bite of the fruit" because you'll smelled beef in the air. 

Well!... 

News flash! 

This was not a dis verse people. 

I repeat!!! 

THIS IS NOT A DIS VERSE!

The man is just doing what many have done and what most rappers do which is: 

1. Call for an end to Bullshit, nonsense rap where lyrics override your "swag" 

and 

2. Proclaim his seat on the throne of rap. 

(Thus the Makaveli reference and King of NY bars. He is not dissing NY people but merely saying he thrives to be the best rapper in the world and not just the king of one coast.)

Furthermore, there's a reason why the radio is dominated by non-sensical rap. The reason is you all fall victim to the trickery. Most of you are programmed to like, request, promote and eventually go out and buy what "they" say is "hot".

These are not the ramblings of a "Madd Rapper" but the words of realism by a Angry Fan. 

The God honest truth is if these rappers change their tone and rap what "matters" instead of the Money, Cars, Hoes they would GO BROKE because you'll aren't buying lyricism... You'll are buying into swag, catchy hooks and listening to them rap about the things YOU DON'T HAVE! 

Overall I thank Kdot for another dope verse and a wake-up call to all... Its too bad after a short while you all will hit the snooze button and go right back to sleep. Smfh...

Soooo, do us all a favor and Stop being a Prisoner of The Moment:

PREDICTION: A "MANNING BOWL" IN SEPTEMBER AND FEBRUARY!

PREDICTION: FINALLY!!! A REASON FOR DETROIT TO SMILE...

KEEP SLEEPING...

As NBA training camps are readying and as the free agent class dwindles down ...
The talk of the off season continues to center around:
-Dwight Howard's departure to Houston, as he joins James Harden and company generating title aspirations.
-The Spurs keeping their Western Conference Champion team together for another run at the title while signing FA Marco Belinelli etc.
-The Warriors after an impressive run signing Andre Iguodala.
-The return of a healthy Derrick Rose in Chicago and Westbrook in OKC.
-The Pacers resigning David West, Signing Chris Copeland, trading for Luis Scola, and the impending healthy return of former all star Danny Granger.
-The Nets trading for all star's Pierce and Garnett, signing FA Andre Kirilenko and new coach Jason Kidd.
-The Heat chasing Injury Prone Greg Oden in search of legitimate size up front.
Etc, Etc, Etc!!!

But who's flying under the radar?
Who's being 'slept on'?

My KnicksTape! That' who!

And this fact is A-OK with me!
I would hope they "fly under the radar" all season and eventually shock the world like my New York Football Giants did a la 2007.

I do believe that this has a great chance of happening for many reasons.

Firstly, the Knicks are going to be better than last years team which finished 2nd in the Eastern Conference with 54 wins. (After most analysts predicted we would finish 6th or so). This year we are predicted by most to finish as a 5th seed at best.

How are we better?

Well, let's take a look at the departures of: Chris Copeland, Steve Novak. Jason Kidd and Marcus Camby... And compare those players to the New Arrivals of: Metta World Peace and Andrea Bargnani.

Metta brings an attitude of Grit and Toughness that we lacked last year as Bargnani brings the outside shooting we lost by losing Copeland but in a Veteran's body (that's hoping he stays healthy). The loss of Kidd's presence on court will be replaced by Pablo Prigioni's bigger role on court and Metta's presence in the locker room.

The point is, this years version of the #KnicksTape is extremely better 'on paper' with...
-Tyson Chandler fully healthy (he was not so in the playoffs by any means).
-Amare Stoudemire hopefully staying healthy. When he was, he gave us 13ppg and 5rebs a game in about 20mins of action of the bench.
-JR Smith re-signed to a steal of a contract(approx 6 mil a year for the 6th man of the year) also played on a bum knee all year and coming off of a well needed knee surgery.
-Bargnani spreading the floor while giving Melo more room to operate
-Felton having a year under his belt should give him more insight on how to successfully run this team on a consistent bases.
-Shumpert, after an amazing season coming off of ACL surgery should and will only get better.
-A full season of the energetic Kenyon Martin (also re-signed) brings more toughness on defense and on the glass.

The Knicks finally have balance on both ends of the court.
Defensive minded players at every position:
Guards Prigoni and Shumpert, Forwards Metta and Kenyon and Center Tyson Chandler.
Offensive Fire Power in:
 Guards Felton and Smith, as well as in the Frontcourt with Melo (Last years scoring champ), Bargnani and Stat.

But don't take my word for it... Keep sleeping on these Knickas!

#KnicksTape2014

BATTLE REVIEWS: Arsonal The Rebel VS Aye Verb, Hollow Da Don VS Tsu Surf & DNA VS Chilla Jones

First off...
This review is from MY point of view. Meaning... If you feel differently it is ok with me. There are no right or wrongs in this, only opinions.
Now Lets get to it...

Arsonal Da Rebel (Newark, NJ)  -VS-  Aye Verb (St. Louis, MO):

1st Round on Arsonal...
He starts off with some dope shit, then chokes.. smh
(he plays it off tho) LOL and then goes crazy on Verb...
"....that magnum barrel spin 'round/ hollow tips, 6 rounds/ 
will violate him in 5 seconds like he the nigga trying to inbound>>>" 
Got the crowd going crazy <<<<#bARS
Aye Verb's 1st round is impressive...
He's mos def comfortable at home
Who Won Round 1?: Aye Verb #Verydebatable
Could go either way tho...

Arsonal is on point in Round 2
a barrage of Personal attacks.. the disrespectful Ars is so entertaining and hilarious!
Aye Verb's 2nd...
He says he killed O-Red... #fail! O-Red damn near bodied this man...
beside that, his 2nd was good... he's getting that Home Town love for regular bars though LOL
Who Won Round 2?: Arsonal Da Rebel #NoDebating

Arsonal is on his shit again in Round 3...disrespecting the entire city of St.Louis
Hitman and Yung Ill both take shots from Ars, but the low blow is given to Verb and his Mother> 
"....u was taught to ride a bike by a dyke/
thats the main reason you can't handle bars..."
#SOdisrespectful 
Arsonal went on a Loaded Lux type rant at the end of the round... 
Verb's 3rd trying to go the Loaded Lux route also....
nice try but...
Who Won Round 3?: Arsonal Da Rebel
Close round but Disrespect wins everytime LOL

Overall a very entertaining battle, but what is very telling to me is 2 things:
-Arsonal shows up for away games..
-Verb only shows up for home games..
Therefore Arsonal's Consistency will always make him better than Verb..

Decision: Arsonal Da Rebel 2-1

NOW......

Hollow Da Don (Queens, NY)  -VS-  Tsu Surf (Newark, NJ):

 So far, this has to be the Battle of the Year!
Every round was competitive, both emcees brought out a top notch performance & had the crowd going bananas throughout the battle.


Hollow Da Don rhymed 1st as Round 1 began and immediately went on the attack.
Surfs round 1 was amazing!
His energy level is on a million!
Who won rd. 1?: Tsu Surf #NoDebating
At first sight and more importantly listen... I was thinking: if surf keeps rhyming like this, he can not lose. Hollow's first round would have beaten most battlers easily but he ran into a "Tsunami" here.

Hollow's 2nd round was better than his 1st.
Surfs 2nd wasn't as good as his first but is still dope.
Who Won Round 2?: Hollow Da Don #debatble
Hollow edged this round..
The Chris Webber line and Detroit scheme won me over.
They both had bars and wit but hollow struck the 1st low blow of the battle with that personal attack.

Hollow' 3rd round was as amazing as Surfs 1st round! Wow! I'm impressed. He has gotten better in every round which is extremely hard to do.
Surf's 3rd round is good, but not as good as his prior two. He seems to be on a decline after that sensational 1st. Seems to me these emcees are going in opposite directions with momentum.
Who Won round 3?: Hollow Da Don #NoDebating!
Both emcees are obviously top tier battle rappers and both deserve a spot on Summer Madness 3 (the Wrestlemania event of the URL battle league). But Hollow the Don won this battle by the slightest of margins. 

Decision: Hollow Da Don Wins 2-1

Now...
Y'all take a look at the battle and Let the debate begin..


Also...

Dna (Queens, NY)  -Vs-  Chilla Jones (Boston, MA)
Dna wins 2-1
Chilla has bars on top of bars but!.. That's all he has. He has no stage presence, no rebuttals, no energy.. Only schemes.
Dna picked him apart in rounds 2 and 3.

See it and Judge it for yourself...

ALBUM REVIEW: YEEZUS - Kanye West and More...

Y do I love the Yeezus album?

Its simple, Kanye is interesting to me;
Musically and Lyrically.

On 1st listen, As the CD began.. I let go a huge UH OH! (As in: "WTF is this?)
The techno sounding beat to "On Sight" sounded weird at 1st (I eventually got used to it). This song is most definitely the weakest song on this 10 track album but I tolerate it because Kanye says enough interesting things for me to do so. U see, I know Kanye is not a wordsmith so I do not criticize him toughly, lyrically.

"Soon as I pull up and park the Benz/
We get this bitch shaking like Parkinson's/
Take my number and lock it in/
Indian hair, no moccasins/
It's too many hoes in this house of sin/
Real nigga back in the house again/
Black Timbs all on your couch again/
Black dick all in your spouse again/
And I know she like chocolate men/
She got more niggas off than Cochran, huh?"

...is all I expect from him and its entertaining.

"Black Skinhead" sounds like a retro tribal song and immediately invokes me to get my boogie on.
"I am God" is simply amazing, simply put. Ye' rides The beat perfectly and does what he does best which is cause an uproar with his far from delicate wordings.

("I just talked to Jesus, he said what up Yeezus/
i said: shit I'm chillin, trynto stack these millions/
i know he the most high...")

"New Slaves" sounds like a upbeat Negro Spiritual. He again shows he isn't scared to talk about this world seen through a black man's eyes regardless of his existence in a high tax bracket.
("Yall throwing contracts at me, yall know a nigga can't read...")

"Hold My liquor" features a hook by Chief Keef who's off beat flow is perfect for this beats deep bass line.
This is a Vintage Kanye track, as is "I'm in it". The former includes a reggae sample that fits the track perfectly.

"Blood on the leaves" perfectly samples Nina Simone's 'Strange Fruit' while "Guilt trip" is enjoyable as well. Another perfect reggae sample and Kid Cudi's singing on the hook makes this song completely dope.

"Send it up" is a party starter and Beenie Man's "Memories" sampled voice makes another reggae inspired appearance. It shows me that Ye' is willing to touch every genre and isn't afraid to let any and everybody into the party like he's the coolest 'bouncer' ever. LOL

"Bound2" is the perfect closing for this CD, another Vintage Kanye performance.


If this is Kanye's 'experimental' album then either he's found a formula that works or he can do no wrong musically (In my eyes). As a rapper myself, I DO NOT see myself rapping on most of these beats. They're too 'left field' for my taste but Yeezy makes it work almost flawlessly.

I would not by any means say this album is better than: "Born Sinner" or "Good Kid, Maad City" because those albums are completely different than Yeezus. J.Cole and Kendrick Lamar are wordsmiths and Kanye isn't. (But don't tell Ye that LOL)
I rate this album, not as just a Hip Hop album but a work of art.

Point is: I love this CD!
When I press play, I do not need the skip button... Only the rewind!
If it wasn't for the techno sounding 'On Sight', I would give this CD a 9.5!!
(Seriously Big Homie! #Insider)

Yeezus Grade = 9/10

Btw:

Nas - Life is Good = 10/10
(I can officially call this a #Classic <Nas at his best>

Wu Tang & D-Block - Wu Block = 8/10
(This flew under the radar last year, all these mc's brought their best rhymes to the table)

J.Cole - Born Sinner = 9/10
(Amazingly Constructed, Dope lyrics. Twice as good as his 1st album)

Kendrick Lamar - Good Kid Maad City= 9.5/10
(Kendrick is the young King of rap right now, this album will be talked about forever)

Wale - The Gifted=7/10
(Wale put together a solid album here but i do utilize the skip button a bunch of times on this)

ALBUM REVIEW: Magna Carta Holy Grail - Jay Z

Jay Z, is the best rapper alive in my opinion so I hold him to unbelievable standards when reviewing his works. One thing I can never do is compare his albums to anyone elses. I only compare Jay Z to Jay Z!

With that said, his new release "Magna Carta Holy Grail", while it has moments of greatness, falls short of what I expect from the self proclaimed "God MC".

I can make a case that this album can be ranked no higher than 8th compared to his prior work.
(Note: Jay Z says himself that he would rank this album 4th behind "Reasonable Doubt", "Blueprint" and "Black Album".)

I say those 3 are most definitely better but also "In My lifetime Vol 1", "Hard Knock life Vol. 2", "American Gangster" and "Blueprint 3" as well, while I put MCHG in the class of "Kingdom Come", and "Vol. 3". I say that because both these projects contain material I feel that are amazing, but also some songs that are sub par; meaning they all lack consistency.
(Ie. On Volume 3: Amazing: Dope Man, NYMP, Do it again, Come and get me, big pimpin. There's been a murder... Very Sub par: things that you do, pop 4 roc, s.carter)

This is no knock on Jay Z as it is common for us as hip hop fans to be tough graders when comparing certified classic material to new releases. I judge Jay on his consistency from track to track because he has such a huge catalog; And because of that we know exactly what we can expect from him. With that I also expect him to evolve in some way(s) which he did as he spoke more in-depth on his 5 percent beliefs. But besides that I heard the same braggadocio Jay-Z, rapping about what he has and what we don't. Maybe I expected the "Watch The Throne" Jay Z, where he opened up and actually rapped about the struggle and how it affects us. Or maybe I'm just tired of all "Money, Cars, Hoes" rap, but that's a different story on its own.

Again, this is MY opinion...
"You feel me? And if you don't like it then fine.." To quote Jay-Z himself. (Streets Is Watching off "In my lifetime Vol. 1")

MCHG has many high points: The opening track "Holy Grail" is an amazing song and the perfect intro to this CD. Track 2: "Picasso Baby" is one of the best songs on this Cd as it reminds me of a vintage Hova. The beat is dope and gets better it switches up toward the end... as he rhymes:
"I never stuck my c*ck into Foxes box but/
damn If I ain't open Pandora's box/
they tried to slander ya man on CNN and FOX...."
(Note: He's debuting the video for "Picasso Baby" on HBO 8/2 at 11pm)

The next song "Tom Ford" is dope as well and is a fan favorite, as it should be. Oceans, Jay Z Blue, FUTW, crown and Heaven round out the Amazing parts of the album.

Now to the sub par:
-"FuckWitMeYouKnowIgotIt" sounds more like Rick Ross' song.
-BBC is a little short of horrible. The beat is corny sounding and the hook is very, very weak.
-Part II (on the run) sounds forced; As if he wanted to squeeze his wife Beyonce on the album somehow, just chose one of her unfinished songs and added his lyrics quickly. LOL I do not enjoy this song 1 bit.
-His flow on LaFamilia is catchy but very awkward sounding. Also the "Lil Wayne dis" he started the song with was very weak as well. Like... C"mon Hova... That was very "Ghoulish" sounding. On BP3 you came at "the necks of your former Roc-A-Fellas signees hard and you come at Lil Wayne so softly? C'mon SUN!
-I can't get into Nickels and Dimes either... Even though lyrically he's bringing it, the beat and hook seems like something I've heard before. (Not my cup of tea)

I will say: "Versus", a interlude of sorts, should have been a full song. He needed that type of energy on this project.
But "Beach is Better" is the worst! It just sounds terrible to me .. Sorry!

Overall I like MCHG but I do skip a bunch of tracks as I play the album, which is something I'm not used to doing while playing Jay Z album through my speakers.


Ones' Rating:
Magna Carta Holy Grail = 7/10

Wondering how i would rate his other Albums?

Reasonable Doubt = 10/10 #Classic
In my Lifetime Vol.1 = 8/10
Vol. 2 ...Hard Knock Life = 9/10
S.Carter Vol.3 = 7/10
Dynasty La Familia = 6/10
Blueprint = 10/10 #Classic
Blueprint 2.1: The Gift & the Curse = 6/10
Kingdom Come = 7/10
Black Album = 10/10 #Classic
American Gangster = 9/10
Blueprint 3 = 8/10