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Check Your Own Videos You'll Always Be Number 2 · Hip-Hop Now Podcast

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Coming up on this week's episode of hip Hop Now podcast. No hip hop
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album or song has charted at number one in twenty twenty three My top five
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of twenty twenty three so far a lot of twenty twenty three and Meek Mel
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has asked his fans if he fell off. I don't know how you want
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me to answer this fan, but the answer is yes. I got a
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couple of thoughts. Let's do it. Welcome to jip Hoop Now Podcast.
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If you're from the future, you know what to do show as out of
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so disrespect to leg like hip hop and said is stay Let's get right into
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the business. What up, y'all? Welcome to another episode of hip Hop
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Now Podcasts, a podcasts designed just for you to get caught up on all
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things hip hop, music and culture that happened throughout the week. Big shout
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out to the supporters, to the producers over at patreon dot com slash your
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Hop Now and if you would like to become a producer and learn what the
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different tiers will get you, visit the link in the description of this episode
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fifty Years of hip Hop. This is kind of a fifty years of hip
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hop kind of show. Tuneteenth in the building. You know what it is
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if you don't go Google do something. Just don't whatever, go learn whatever.
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Man, just don't start no sales, right, I don't want to
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really go buy a TV on a June teenth sale. I know what's going
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to happen, and I'm probably going to do it anyway, but I'm just
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trying to prevent it by saying this. Whatever, how y'all feeling big?
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Shout out to hip hopdx dot com, loll hip hop dot com, the
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sourcemakazine dot com, and a couple of other places where I'm getting some of
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these stories from. Let's get right into the business. No hip hop album
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or song has charted number one on the Billboard Charts in twenty twenty three for
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the first time in thirty years. Let's get the obvious out the way.
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You've heard me said more and on more than one occasion, you've heard me
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say that hip hop is the number one streaming genre of music. So when
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you look at this, you're like, Hahi, not anymore? Well,
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Hahi, twenty twenty three is not over yet. If you read this headline
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and that's not the first thing that stands out to you where you gotta be
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nuts because there isn't a decline from what I could see in the consumption of
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hip hop, from the popularity of hip hop artists. I just think that
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it hasn't been a big project from a big artist yet that will almost command
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that number one slide. Now, it's kind of dope about what we're learning
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here with this metric is that somebody's going to pull the trigger on their release
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in hopes of being the first, right since this was a headline being the
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first to do that. So Jay zad ahead and drop it. I know
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you've been working on it. Go ahead and drop it. You could do
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it. Doctor Drane snoop. If it's what you say it is, I
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hadn't dropped it. Got get it out the way, man, go ahead,
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get it out the way. Kendrick, maybe you did this concept album
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last year, but maybe you got some heat in the chamber and you might
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want to go ahead, man, whatever you gotta do, go ahead and
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do that. Who else, Drake, we know you're not gonna let hip
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hop go by without putting out an album. We just hope it's hip hop,
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that's all. Even though I like I like to singing. Drake,
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Hey, don't judge me, but you know what I mean, Like,
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there's some major artists that haven't dropped. Now we'll say this, it's telling
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from this perspective, there are well, there's a I don't know, I
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don't want to say trend or habit or a thread. Let's say a thread
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and hip hop history, recent hip hop history, where there's always probably since
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the the Ringtone days, right, the Ringtone rappers, you remember them,
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they had the one single that they were out of here. Well, that
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has happened consistently since that time. Right, You may think some of your
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favorite artists are still around, but nobody messing with them beyond the album.
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Cardi B may have figured out the matrix, right, she had her one
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song, she had her one album, and she's kind of been able to
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live off for basically making singles. The album came out like five years ago.
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So looking at the trend of who's hot for the moment, it continues
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to happen. I just always wondered, and that doesn't mean twenty twenty three
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is it fifty years of hip hop? But I always wondered when that trend
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was going to end? When were we gonna either get back to demanding a
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full project from an artist that we can really sink our teeth into and listen
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too. For however, long call it a classic? Whatever? When would
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we require better music? Right? When will we require better performances from some
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of our favorite rappers? See a lot of these ring Tone, fly by
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Night, New Single, Knew It people. They lack substance. They're all
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energy, they're all viral people, they're all trendy people. They lack substance.
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They're not really spitters like that. Some are, but some aren't.
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I haven't really talked about this as much, but and this is no shade,
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but you look at somebody like Scarlet and I'm only looking at her,
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and it might be too late, but I'm only looking at her because she's
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probably one of the late it is, you know, hit big with a
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single or what else she got right for a moment, for a window of
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time. That is all I would see on my Instagram, her parodies of
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her, her hooking up with different artists and talking to them like just a
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campaign to make her in this song. And I guess New York popular based
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off of it. Pull what else is there? Now? She has a
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verse on Swiss beats, hip Hop fifty EP that wasn't bad, like wasn't
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bad, but none of it really made me anticipate an album because she's not
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giving me a vibe that there's anything more than what she presents, which is
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fun, right, don't get me wrong, it gets fun, but it's
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just not enough. And I feel like maybe we hit that wall of certain
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records and certain artists blowing like crazy? Man, do I have to bring
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a boosey Jay? And who cares about Saint Paul's But do you know what
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I'm saying, like, do we do we care beyond the trend before we
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move on to the next thing? And I think I don't know, but
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I think either the well is drying up with those you know, fly by
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Night He's hot now, she's hot now artists, And I don't know if
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older rappers can do anything to help with that, to be honest, because
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it doesn't matter what they put out and you know how great it is or
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how much us older hip hop heads like it, it has to be liked
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by the masses. I just realized something was wrong. Look at this,
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It says check, we're gonna We're gonna update in real time. We're gonna
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update in real time. This should say check check your check your own,
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check your own videos. You'll always be number two. Who knows where that's
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coming from. I mean, if you're on the audio side, you didn't
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even see what I just did. But if you know, you know it
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is what it is. But yeah, I think in general, I think
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it's fine. Hip Hop's not even done yet. Something somebody, something's on
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the horizon. We are at the halfway point of twenty twenty three. The
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birthday of hip hop is about two months away. There's gonna be a lot
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building up to that, and I think the close out of the year there's
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gonna be a lot as well. I don't know what it's going to be,
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but the heavy hitters having dropped music yet, so stay tuned. Meek
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Mill has asked his fans if he fell off, that I ain't gonna front
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y'all. When I read this, I was like, I was thinking two
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things. One is either like wild delusional and doesn't realize how many trolls that
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will invite into his comments, and it could appear as if, yes,
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you fell off, because here's all these trolls confirming it, or that's what
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he wants and he just wants the conversation around him. So when he drops
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his new music and his flames and maybe he feels that kind for that,
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now he'll had this rush of people paying attention to him. I don't know,
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but let's get to the tale of the tape and see what it says.
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This article is on Hip Hop dx dot com. Meek Mill gets hard
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truth from fans after asking if he fell off, and he did this on
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Twitter on Wednesday, June fourteenth, The Philly rapper took to Twitter in order
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to conduct this social social experiment and said, regardless of what fans decided,
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he wouldn't take any answers personally while did come on dog, this is what
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This is what he said, and I quote straight from his Twitter. Meek
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Mill, not Meek Mills. Stop saying that hood who think I fell off
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or don't really think I got it with rapping anymore. I'm for real.
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I need answers and tell the truth. I'm not taking it snoo. I
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need to hear how people think before I do what I do a social experiment.
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Answer. If you a supporter of minds, I'm not asking for confidence,
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tyler, Okay, I take I take a little bit of my jokes
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back. You know, I like I like that. You know, whether
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he takes a person or not, Hey, who knows. But what if
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you as a you know, as a MC or a singer or whatever you're
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you're creating an album. You've been out there for you know, a minute,
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or not been out there, but you've been in shadows for a minute,
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just recording recording, recording, recording, and you're trying to have a
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concept. You're trying to have a specific sound, but you are unsure if
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this group of songs will work, or this group of songs or this other
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or alternative, or just subscribe it altogether. So why not just ask the
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people if you fell off? And for those that say you fell off,
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hopefully they'll say why they think you fell off. And then maybe if you
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see enough of that, you say to yourself, I'm not gonna do that.
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For example, you may feel like a bunch of people may feel like,
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yo, I used to like your projects, but now you have way
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too many features. Okay, well let's take some features off the new album.
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Right, Let's make it just me. Maybe, Yo, I just
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wish you used to spit the way you used to back in the mixtape days.
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Okay, well let's take the majority of songs that kind of give that
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vibe and put that on there, so it could be a social experiment.
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Like he's saying, what do I feel since you asked, I don't feel
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like meet Mill fell off. I do feel like he was hot the battle
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with Drake happened. He looked desperate, he looked corney. As a result,
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his response, which was probably more of what I expected, came out
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too late. After back to back, no one cared after that. Bars
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he went to prison, people felt sorry for him he came out. They
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acted like he was MoMA or somebody like that, which he is not.
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And you know he's been working to get other people justice. And he put
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out a couple of albums. Now, this is the thing. The fan
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perception changed after that battle. As far as him and his music. Most
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people didn't like his music after that battle. Most people really stopped really checking
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for his music after that battle and after prison. But I'm here to tell
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you Meek Mill don't have no whack albums. He just don't. If you
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don't like him anyway like his rhymen style, there's no way I could convince
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you to like any of the albums I think are dope. I think his
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first album was sort of a letdown. I don't think it was whack,
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but it wasn't what I expected it to be. But I think ever since
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then, he's put out good albums, like he just has. It's just
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that I think he did too much outside of the music for people to focus
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on him as a rapper. Now he's kind of more just more or less
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a celebrity, and I guess that's a good thing, right, you still
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get business. But Meek Mill is a rapper. That's why he would ask
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this. So I am somewhat excited that he has a new album coming out
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because, like I said, I don't think he puts out white albums at
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all. Like he hasn't had an album since the first album that I was
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like, I'm good. Like when Meek puts out an album, some joints
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usually satisfied. Man, I'm telling you, he could rap. Drake is
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not better than him. He just it was just perfect timing and it was
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great, and I was surprised. But Meek can rat. I mean he
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could. He's a rapper. He could rap, and he was a battle
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rapper. He could rap. But again, if you know, if you
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don't like anybody yelling though, you know you're not gonna like me. So
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did he fall off? I don't think he fell off. I think it's
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just been dormant. And I don't think he's had a hit that would grab
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everyone's attention, you know, his fans, sure, but not everybody right
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to the point where they're like, yo, I like that Meek Mill record.
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What's the name of the album that hasn't happened? So? And lastly,
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so it is the midway point of twenty twenty three and around this time,
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maybe the last two or three years, I've done like a best of
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the year so far, and in the past I've just gone through a list
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of what albums are the best of the year so far, and some of
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which I've talked, you know, deeply about others. I just mentioned the
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artists in the title. But today I'm gonna hedge my bets a little bit
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and just give you a top five twenty twenty three albums so far, the
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best the top of the top five of them for twenty twenty three so far.
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Now I know what you're saying, Well, I kind of want to
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know what else came out. That's good. Don't worry, I got you
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if you have the Apple Music app, and yes, you can download the
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Apple Music App on Android, no excuses. But in the link of this
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very episode. In the link in the description of this very episode is a
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link to a playlist that is the hit the official Hip Hop Now podcast Best
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of twenty twenty three so far. And what I do with that playlist,
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well, I listened to a number of albums throughout the year, the dope
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joints, the songs of the year, so to speak, and just dope
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tracks across all albums, whether they're my top five or not. I pick
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a song or two and I place it in that playlist and I do that
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all year long. So right now, if you want to rock out for
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June tenth with the best twenty twenty three so far, go to the gym
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and workout whatever whatever you want to do. The playlist is there, put
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it on shuffle and you'll be good. But let's get into what albums I
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think are my top five for twenty twenty three so far. And if you
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have watched me for a short period of time but listen to this podcast for
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a very long time, you know that what I do to determine the best
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of the best is I listened a lot typically before I review it at least
19:37
three times to be sure that I like it, and I don't grade on
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only boom bap, only bars. It's really about having a complete project that
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I can recommend for a number of different reasons, right from beginning to end.
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This project is good. Now, I'm not saying you won't skip things,
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because hey, opinions, all of this is subjective, but nevertheless it
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is a way too, you know, kind of certify why I chose these
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people, and just to just to finish up a little bit before I get
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into my top five, just to say, yo, it's really more so
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about, at least for me, a little bit more about making sure that
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I represent my taste, because my top five in the best way, and
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my taste tends to be varied. But I'm gonna tell you right now,
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this is more varied than I'm used to. And we'll see if they all
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stick around. No order Number one, static selector round trip. Now,
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if you're from the future, gets your ass out here. It's probably been
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out probably twenty twenty four and you're watching this, Okay, But if you
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are in the now right June sixteenth, twenty three, This album last week,
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and when I tell you like I did last week, this is in
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a project for those who want boom bad, those who want hip hop that
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sounds traditional, that I want to hear various artists on different tracks, different
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parents that at first when you read it kind of don't make no sense.
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But then when you hear it, you're like, oh man, this is
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not statis selected did this thing? This is in my top five for sure.
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This is my go to in my rotation when I just want to really
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boom bad head now that might throw a hoodie on a ninety degree weather.
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I don't wear tims, but tims. You know what I'm saying, Like,
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it's it's really a hip hop jack in the truest form from DJ Scratches
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and everything. So that's that one. Next Mickey diamond nobody bleeds like flair
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now shout out to speak your cloud. I saw, you know, I
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saw the host talking about Mickey Diamonds and how dope he is, and I
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was like, all right, well, let me you know what's the best
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of his projects. Gave me a list. I ignored the list, not
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on purpose, but I saw this Rick Flair cover and I saw that this
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was new and this was the latest project. So I was like, you
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know, White, instead of going back, let me just listen to his
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latest project. And when I tell you, I don't know if it's my
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nostalgia for wrestling or just the way the project is put together. Mickey Diamond
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is not He's not like the best rapper ever. He's not the whackest rapper
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ever either. He's just good for what this is. From the skits to
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the beats, it's boom back, it's underground, it's nostalgia. It's a
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dope album covered like it is. It's just a dope vibe and that's what
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kids say. But I know what they mean, right. It's a five.
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So Mickey Diamond, nobody bleeds like fled check that joint out jay Peg
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Mafia and Danny Brown Scaring the Holes Now. On my first listen, I
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was kind of like, kind of, I gotta dig this joint. On
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my second listen, I was like, yeah, no, I'm kind of
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messing with this heavy. My third listen, I'm like, I think this
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is one of my top five of the year. Easy why because it's different,
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It's different. Now, it's not dope just because it's different. It's
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just that it's a different approach to hip hop in a way that's hip hop.
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Right. I'm not gonna take this straight boom back Street to give you
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the music you know, track Street, West Coast Street, whatever you wanna
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call it. I'm not gonna give you what you expect, production wise,
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lyrically, all of it. Right, I'm going to force you to trust
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our vibe. And I know I'm grandstanding like it's the greatest thing ever.
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I'm just saying it's a really good album. But have your expectations in check
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and have no expectations. Just listen. That's what I think it is.
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Two more Sky Sue and the other guys. The mind of a Saint.
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I'm a big Snowfall fan. This was the final season of Snowfall or FX
25:03
maybe somewhere at the halfway point, sky Zoo decided to release this, and
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there was sort of a retelling of the first however many seasons Snowfall had and
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I heard he's coming out with a sequel that's like sums up the final season,
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which is dope. But even if you don't know the show bars and
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you're just listening to the stories. I think you'd like it because I think
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he does an excellent job of, you know, giving off the perception right
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the mind of Franklin Saint, who's the main character in the show. Now,
25:45
I'm not gonna lie. If there was one thing I would say about
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this project that I think he should have thought about, is I know you're
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in the mind of Franklin Saint, but I would have loved to hear the
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mind of other characters played by other rappers. And I'll give you an example.
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Fifty Stingers, the Stingers fifty. Maybe that could be he could be
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a part of the Wolf fifty Stingers fifty fifty. Now I'm going crazy Sticky
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fingers right. His first solo album, The Autobiography of Kurt Jones, Black
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Trash, is a concept album from beginning to end, and there are features
26:32
on that album who played characters within this story. It's so dope. Those
26:38
faces did the same thing. I think with Fabulous on what is It?
26:44
The Wizard of Poetry album, I think where Bad played the character, I
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think it was that one. But nevertheless, that's what I mean, like,
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it's dope that he's doing what he's doing. From his perspective, but
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it's just so you just gotta listen to him tell the story. But it
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would have been even better to have another artists play some of the other characters.
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Maybe not every song, but a couple of them. So still one
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of the best of the year so far. And lastly, Billy Woods and
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Kenny Seagull Maps, Now, this is one of the I'm not gonna front.
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I don't know what this list is gonna look like by the end of
27:30
the year, but this album, along with Kanye's Out on the Kayes,
27:37
I'm really slipping Conway's album What He Won't Do. I think that's what it's
27:44
called you talk about albums. I kind of didn't like. Well, I
27:48
was like men on the first two listens, and now I can't stop listening.
27:57
And the Billy and what's his name, Kenny, I'm just gonna say
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I'm all off today, Kenny Seagull, We're gonna say Kenny Omega, Kenny
28:07
Seagull was I didn't get it at first, and it just sounds like,
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oh, this stating the lyrical, miracle, spiritual, the beat going that
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way, you're flow going that way. It just sounds like a damn train
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wreck until you understand what he's doing and pay attention to the lyrics. Don't
28:27
look for the beat to god the rapper, look for the rapper to God
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beat. Listen to the lyrics only if you can't, and then you'll hear
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the word play. You're here the quotables and the bars. The production isn't
28:45
the greatest to me, but I can't stop listening now. I mentioned two
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albums, and neither have solidified that spot. But so far, that is
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what I think are the top albums, projects, on mixtapes or whatever of
29:02
twenty twenty three. So far, I guarantee you fifty years of hip hop
29:07
somebody, if not all, may not make the lists because you don't know
29:11
what kind of quality of hip hop music is waiting in the wings. What
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are your top five albums of twenty twenty three so far? Leave your comments
29:23
in a comment section below, or you can hit me up on social media
29:27
that's Twitter, TikTok or Instagram. At Vegas World, i ANC and if
29:33
you're watching on YouTube, leave your comments in a comment section below, because
29:37
maybe there's something I haven't heard, Maybe there's an album I left out that
29:41
you think should be there. Lloyd Banks maybe I don't know. Maybe you
29:45
feel that I don't know. You tell me. Also know that this podcast
29:49
is available in audio film wherever you get your podcasts. Be sure to share
29:56
it with people you know enjoy this kind of content. Until next time,
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I'm not a critic. I'm a family Peace m hm