Life is Good: The Review

Ok....for those of you who DO NOT know...Nas is my #1 all-time favorite MC. Well, him and Andre 3000, but I digress. He recently dropped his much-anticipated album "Life is Good."

Indeed, it is. 

In it, he takes his listeners on a journey, delving into his past experiences, most notably his divorce from his wife of four years, Kelis. 

Pictured: The most expensive milkshake ever. 

Throughout the tape, Nas maintains that despite the many hardships he's endured, life is better than it's ever been. This review will be brief. As previously stated, Nas IS my favorite rapper, however I am going to try my best not to compromise my journalistic integrity and let my inner stan get the best of--OMG LET'S FCKIN REVIEW THIS ALBUM RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!11111!!!!11!1

"Life is Good," which many are calling Nas' best album since "Stillmatic," is laden with his signature liquid wordplay. That, plus stellar beats and well-placed features, make it a top contender for best rap album of the year. From the opening song, you immediately realize that Nas is not playing around. "No Introduction" isn't so much an intro as it is a proclamation; it's Nas screaming at the world "YALL STILL SLEEPIN ON ME?" Not anymore they're not, Nas. Not anymore.

I have to give Nas his props, there aren't too many other rappers who would have released such a personal record. In "Bye Baby," he addresses those who criticized his decision to marry Kelis:

And all I seen was suckas, cowards, under they breath/
Saying "why did Nas trust her?"/
But look at yourself, speak louder bro,/
You live with your baby moms and scared to make an honest woman out of her/
And make her your bride, fake bitch you ain’t even alive/
At least I can say I tried, plus enjoyed the ride.

And I know those are the words, because I played that verse back at least 10 times during my first listening. This album is near-perfect, from hard-hitting cuts like "A Queens Story," to the smooth saxophone-driven "Stay," anyone listening to "Life is Good" is in for quite a ride. "Cherry Wine" is the album's high point. The song, which has a circa-1960 sound, features Amy Winehouse and shows Nas expressing his desire to meet a woman just like him who will stand by him through all the craziness that comes with being famous. Winehouse's soulful vocals mesh beautifully with the beat and really set the whole song off.

If I had to say anything negative about this album, it would have to be that a lot of what Nas says will go over the heads of average listeners; granted, this seems to be the case with just about every album he's ever released, so it really comes as no surprise.

All in all, "Life is Good' is the best rap album I have heard in a long time. If you are a fan of hip-hop--I'm talking true, raw hip-hop in its purest form--do yourself a favor and buy it. Word up, ya grandma is gonna
like this one.

"QUEENS GET THE MONEY!!!" 

5/5

Ya know what's coo..?

Chocolate Milk..

Today's Spotlight Artist: Action Bronson

I recently had the good fortune of stumbling upon one of THE best mixtapes I have heard in a while. The whole while I listened, I was blown away by its sheer creativity. With crazy beats and offbeat lyrics,  this tape definitely has my vote for best mixtape of 2012. Who was the artist who dropped this gem, you may ask? None other than this guy

"Nick, that's not a rapper. That's a swagged-out lumberjack. TF are you on?" Well, snarky reader, this man here is Action Bronson; and if you haven't heard of him by now, I'd advise you to do some research on him ASAP. The tape I'm speaking of is entitled Blue Chips, and it dropped a few months back. 

Get it! DO IT NOW!

Guys. I would not steer you wrong. Do yourself a favor and add this baby to your collection. It is one of THE most original and well-put-together mixtapes I have heard in years. One of the main reasons this tape has affected me like it has may be because I was beginning to lose hope for hip-hop as an art form. The industry has become so corrupted by hedonism and materialism, there didn't seem to be much realness left. However, between this mixtape and "Life is Good," my love for rap is now stronger than ever. Bronson may not be famous just yet, but dernit if he keeps puttin out stuff like this I foresee it happening very soon. 

Random Thought (7/22/12)

"I wonder how many turtles have died as a result of small children trying to re-enact Super Mario Bros..?"

Forgot about This one

Found this a few years back. Jant by MF Doom and Danger Mouse (DANGER DOOM) called "Old School" 

Good things come in threes...

The purpose of this post is to inform you all that our third mixtape is currently in the works...
First there was The Validation..

Available here

Then there was T3...

And you can cop that here

Now get ready for RAP SUCKS. Album cover coming soon. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you who have downloaded our tapes and supported us from day one. It really means a lot that something we do for fun has resonated with so many people. You all are the best!! An official release date for RAP SUCKS has yet to be set, but we will most def drop it sometime this upcoming semester. I'll keep you all posted.

Mac & Devin go to High School: The Review

(if you would like to see it before I spoil anything, you can watch it on Youtube here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLmMm7EaAXs )

Mac & Devin Go To High School....wow. Ok, let me start by saying I had every intention of enjoying this movie before it watched it, really I did. But by the end of it I was left with a strange feeling of sadness and agitation. This may be one of the laziest, most rushed, and poorly executed stoner films I've ever seen in my life. Stay with me, you all.

I knew this movie was going to disappoint me--my face literally fell--when it opened with a CGI blunt (voiced by Mystikal) screaming at me to roll up or I would not understand/appreciate the film.

"If you haven't figured it out, this is a movie about WEEEEEEEEEEED!!!!"

 In retrospect, maybe I would have enjoyed this movie a lot more had I been under the influence, but I digress. It begins with super-senior and marijuana dealer Mac, (played by Snoop Dogg) making his rounds throughout the campus of N. Hale high school (N. Hale...see what they did there?). First of all, why the filmmakers thought it'd be a good idea to cast damn-near-40-year-old Snoop Dogg as a high-school student in the first place is beyond me; granted, a running joke throughout the film is that he's been enrolled at the school for 15 years, but even so this would mean that he was in 9th grade at 25. Dag Snoop.

"Ya only as old as ya fizzle, muh nizzle." 

But moving on, Mac's character is sadly stereotypical; he's a certified pothead with no foreseeable goals or aspirations, making his living trafficking marijuana to his peers. His clientele includes numerous members of N. Hale's faculty, which consequently has given him the pull to avoid expulsion.

Devin (played by Wiz Khalifa) is your typical nerd. He's nervous, apprehensive, and sexually inexperienced. He's also in the running to be valedictorian of his class. He has a rather attractive, yet controlling girlfriend who is obsessed with both their futures and pretty much tells him what to do. Wiz gives a listless performance throughout pretty much the whole film (even in one particular scene where he motorboats a prostitutes naked breasts), but I'll just assume he was baked the whole film.

He has no idea this movie exists. 

The introduction of Teairra Mari as Ms. Huck, a sexy substitute teacher, finally gives Mac the inspiration to want to graduate high school; in typical Snoop fashion, he tries to put some of his doggy mack mizzle pimpin on the sultry sub, but gets shut down when she tells him she doesn't date students. This rejection raises the question in Mac's mind, "hm...maybe there's more to living than sitting in a classroom where I'm the same age as the teacher." Oh yeah Snoop. Don't graduate high school to get a decent job or, say, avoid being a 40-year-old man hanging with teenagers. Graduate high school so you can get ya some good ole substitute teacher draws. I'm taking notes here, big guy. Anyway, as fate would have it, Mac and Devin are made partners on a chemistry project which, if Devin fails, would cost him his position as valedictorian. This is where the real action of the movie begins.

To make a long story short, Mac gets Devin high, Devin decides that he likes it and, for some inexplicable reason, goes out and tattoos his whole body. One could say that Mac brings out in Devin a sort of assertiveness he didn't have prior (if that's what you want to call losing your virginity in a massage parlor and working up the "courage" to call your girlfriend a b*tch). In the end, they pass their chemistry project and both graduate from N. Hale. Mac hooks up with Ms. Huck, and Devin dumps his girlfriend and goes on to attend Yale.

Where he soon discovers that cocaine is the drug of high society. 

This isn't the worst movie I've ever seen, but it's rife with cliches, stereotypes, and the same stoner jokes I've seen before in much better films (*cough*How High!*cough*). To me, this movie is Snoop and Wiz's attempt to cash in on their popularity; and I can't say that I blame them. If people will pay to see films such as this (and they will), why shouldn't Snoop and Wiz want to cash in on it? In addition to the film's tired premise, a slew of B-List actors make it all the more depressing. Andy Milonakis co-stars as a wheelchair bound nymphomaniac called Knees Down, a character who is as appealing as he sounds.

Pimpin aint easy. 

Mike Epps plays Mr. Armstrong, a professor and one of Mac's customers. With his typical try-too-hard comedic style, Epps manages to deliver more groans than laughs in the movie.

 

"GIRL IF DAT ASS DON'T LOOK LIKE TWO FAT MIDGETS IN A KIDDIE POOL!" 

Now I'm not one to sit and complain about a movie without highlighting its enjoyable moments as well. As bad of a film as this is, there are a few good jokes (like one scene in which Mac, annoyed at Devin's constant pestering to meet up, tells him to meet him later at the corner of "WhyDontcha" and "BlowMe"). I will also say, there is plenty of great new music from both Wiz and Snoop in the movie. This soundtrack will very likely be bumping in my car on many road trips to come (Look up the song "6:30." Nuff said). I fox with the soundtrack HEAVY.

Unfortunately, that is just about all that I can say of this film that is positive. The rest of it is either flat-out bad, or could have been done a lot better. "How High," "Half Baked," "Pineapple Express," THESE are classic stoner movies. "Mac & Devin" looks like something you'd get from a guy selling DVDs in a mall food court. True potheads will likely appreciate this film a lot more than I did, but the sloppy script, lazy acting, and the randomly-appearing screaming CGI blunt make "Mac & Devin" a no-go for me.

2/5.