So I Smoke A Little Too Much...

I guess that I've finally spent enough time celebrating the birth of Black Jesus---I should now be able to comfortably resume my abnormal blogging routine...

Truthfully, I haven't fucked with my computer much at all since my last post. The holidays have afforded me one of a myriad of excuses I employ to stay forever blunted---and besides that, many of the blogs/sites that I frequent have been posting sporadically (or not at all) for the past couple of weeks. The more diligent bloggers have been presenting their Year End Lists, an idea I entertained briefly, but quickly dismissed as futile. In my somewhat schizophrenic opinion, it's damn near impossible to enumerate the significance of a year's worth of recent music. Music tends to evolve with us over time, therefore its ultimate value can't be readily assessed. Some of the joints I was diggin' in January or February have overstayed their welcome, and now make me want to poke my eyes out with very sharp objects and shit. It's predictable then that some of the stuff I'm listening to in heavy rotation right now will also not withstand the test of time. This is part of why I am enjoying Treat's 1990's retrospective so much (see permanent links section). Yes, it's taking him long as hell to finish posting this series, but once the "recency effect" is controlled for, truly classic material becomes increasingly more evident. I have a feeling that Juelz Santana and Young Jeezy won't be such a hot commodity 15 years from now---but hell---Dionne Warwick's the psychic, not me...

I know---I'm pretty much rambling at this point. However, what is the point of a blog if not to have a forum for your stream of consciousness bullshit? But go ahead and say it anyway---shut up, Scholar...linkage, please:

Can I Bring My Gat? is featuring a producer who is truly deserving of greater recognition in the hip-hop community---J. Rawls. You can download 3 tracks that he produced---one song with J-Live, and two with Lone Catalysts: http://www.abitnice.com/canibringmygat/.

Solesides ("the funk from Quannum") is featuring a link you can follow to download a Skew mix of DJ Shadow tracks. I copped this myself, and it's pretty damn good:
http://www.solesides.com/.

Freemotion's most recent post offered a plethora of worthwhile mp3s. My personal favorite is Blueprint's cut "Half Smokin", but there should be a little something for everybody. Link to your right...

Random thought interlude---Rapidshare fuckin' sucks. Anyone who spends a lot of time downloading music ought to relate. You can only download a limited number of songs within a certain time frame, it frequently errors out or is too busy to work properly, and they've started that annoying pass code bullshit. Some of my favorite blogs are heavily utilizing their services, but I'm hoping this particular trend reverses itself in 2006...

You may want to visit Ear Fuzz to cop Build An Ark's version of "You Gotta Have Freedom". If you're unaware of this project, now isn't the time to be nappin': http://www.earfuzz.com/.

The Smoking Section continues to be an excellent source for downloading music. Amongst other things, they are currently offering all of the yearly "rap up" tracks MC Skillz (aka Mad Skillz) has released so far (2002 until the present):
http://smokingsection.blogspot.com/.

At Think Tank, you can now cop mp3s by Immortal Technique, Blackalicious, Percee P, and Lyrics Born:
http://leafhouse.blogspot.com/.

Not everyone has love for Canadian hip-hop, but that's not really surprising. For the most part, American audiences haven't embraced foreign rap in general, which is sometimes understandable, but often quite limiting. Anyway, Eric's Archives is offering a few mp3s by John Smith, who's a pretty witty (albeit nerdy) lyricist. Click here to expand your musical horizons: http://ericsarchives.blogspot.com/.

Now I finally have an incentive to give up my Barbies and Bratz once and for all---the Ghostface doll is coming soon, children...Wu-Tang is still for the babies:
http://www.nobodysmiling.com/hiphop/news/85553.php.

Last, but not least, I Know You Got Soul is offering links to download some classic jazz and soul material---Randy Weston's Mosaic Select, The Baby Huey Story, and Billie Holiday's Lady in Satin are just a few examples: http://www.yougotsoul.blogspot.com/.

And by the way---Happy New Year's, bitches...