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Best of 2024 So Far · Hip-Hop Now Podcast

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Coming up on this week's episode of hip Hop Now podcast. It is the
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best hip hop projects of twenty twenty four so far. Let's do it.
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Welcome to hip Hop Now, pop Fatness it you from the future. You
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know what you do? Show ass out of my life? So disrespectful leg
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black hip hop is say to today, Let's get right into the business.
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What up, y'all? I am your host, Vegas and this it's hip
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Hop Now podcasting podcast specifically designed to keep you caught up on all things hip
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hop music and culture that happened throughout the week. Big shout out to the
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supporters over at patreon dot com, slash hip Hop Now, the Lincolns in
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the discret of this episode. If you would like to become a supporter of
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input on what content comes to this podcast, hit the link in the description
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of this episode. There's a number of different tiers to help. There's also
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free tears. Shout out to the people at the bottom. If you're watching
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this on video, past and present Patreon supporters, you know they basically got
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it to video form, y'ah. I mean, there was a time where
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people were asking me to do video and I was like, Nah, chill,
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nobody want to do all that work. And here we are on the
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road to five hundred subscribers. I think we're around four thirty something, so
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still got a long ways to go. But honestly, the amount of people
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which is above fifty percent that click play on these videos, that watch these
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videos are not really subscribe. So if you are a fan of what you're
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hearing, and you like what you're hearing, you want to support, hit
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that subscribe button. Trying to get the five hundred and eventually two thousand for
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the uninitiated, Big big, big, big, big shout out to those
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people who have already tuned in. Last week I did a series a best
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of series, three episodes breaking down three top fives that typically I just have
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trouble committing too, but I say, you know what I need to do?
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Less people like Less people like talking about their top five best list and
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that. So I figured it was about time I just officially do some of
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that stuff here and maybe it's something I will revisit annually, you know,
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as a spring into the summer hits. You know, I revisit those and
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if it's changed I'll do another one, but if not, I'll let you
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know on the podcast. So that's top five best albums, top five best
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mcs, and top five feats within hip hop history. They're my lists,
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but definitely share your list because there are a number of people who are in
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the comments sharing their list. Check it out. It was a pretty dope
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time to put that together, and I got a couple of other lists.
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Those were the main lists. We're going to get into the unique list a
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little bit later. I'll do that during the summer. Also, Tale of
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the Tapes Be Back. I did about twelve episodes of that playlist is also
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on the channel, so there's a lot of content for you to just dive
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in and just hear my perspective. Jump in the comments section, give your
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perspective. I read all the comments. I typically reply to them, So
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do that and we'll be good. Now let's get right into the business of
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this. So it is now June of twenty twenty four. If you're watching
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this in June of twenty twenty five, you already know what happened. Get
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your punk casts out of here. You from the future. Okay, you
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already know what happened. But if you are here with me right now?
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In twenty twenty four, June usually says, Okay, what are the best
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hip hop projects of the year so far, So it kind of gives you
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a road map into you know, what could be in my top five or
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what are the best will this list changed dramatically in the second half of the
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year. There's a number of albums that are on the way, particularly this
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year, that we haven't even heard yet, right like Pete Rock and Common
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right nas in Premier from what we heard, you know, a couple other
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roomor joints, and maybe Kendrick Lamar album. So in a lot of ways,
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we got some stuff on the way. What I like to do is
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over the course of the year. Because this is a news podcast, hip
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Hop News, I've incorporated my impression slash kind of quasi reviews into each episode.
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So there are a number of albums on here that I reviewed on the
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podcast throughout this past six months. And then there are a few that I
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didn't review, but I did listen to them. Well, I didn't review
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them on the show, but I listened to my review them in real life
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that didn't appear on the show, but I've listened to them I probably like
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them or whatever, and I feel like it deserves to be the best.
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Now, I'm not gonna say what's my top five of the years so far,
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because honestly, it's just up in the air. For example, there's
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some albums that I've reviewed and I was kind of man on, like,
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you know, it wasn't bad, they were good, but yeah, whatever.
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And you know, at this point in time when you're looking at because
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I'm my cap is like twenty twenty albums, twenty projects, and that's it.
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I'm not gonna have a list that has thirty or forty like I used
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to do back in days. I just would do everything but kind of narrow
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it down to fifteen to twenty for the most part at this point in time,
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and there's just some albums there is like yo, that that's one of
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the best of the year. If we're looking at what's out right now,
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So I'm going to run through it. I'll say a few words here and
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there, depending on the project, to let you know some of the things
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I think about them. But if you are a person who only heard a
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couple of projects or none, and you just want to know what's what's the
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best of the best that's out there so far. This is the podcast for
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you. This is the episode for you. This is happening. What a
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good Maybe seven minutes into the joint, so you can just tell your friends
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or put in a comment section if people don't want to hear that other talking.
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Because we're about to get into it. Let's go. First up,
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Mac Homie, rich Ass Haitian. I'm not gonna lie. I'm not the
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biggest Mac Homie fan, but I do like when he embraces it, embraces
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not like he's never done it, but he presents and embraces his Haitian heritage
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to a tea combined with the way he rhymes type of stuff he wraps about
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along with that Haitian flavor, I kind of dig it. So I think
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that's one of the best albums to share album I just review Not That Long
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Ago Rhapsody. Please don't cry. Like I said in my review, it's
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a very good album. I feel like the production is on point, I
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feel like the concept is on point. There's a few songs here and there
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I don't really mess with. But I will say this, this definitely won't
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make my top five because it's just not an album that has a lot of
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replay value for me personally, But there are a lot of people who connect
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with the messages within this album and in her journey that will really really vibe
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with this, and maybe they don't even mess with half of the other stuff
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about the name. So this is probably like they're number one on Top five.
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But as far as production and bars and how it's put together, it's
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a good album, one of the best of the year, but it's definitely
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gonna not gonna make my top five because it don't have any real staining power,
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unlike her other album, Eve, which was one of my top five
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of the year when that when that dropped. So slum Village fun this is
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in the best of the year because it is just that it is literally a
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different vibe. It's it's a familiar slum village sound, and I'm talking about
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even back to the Dylla days. The sound is familiar, the rhymen schemes
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are familiar, and the music itself it's just so different from everything else that's
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out all the time, like whether it's underground its boom back to death with
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the same kind of drum less beats or whatever, or it's like, you
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know, trap or whatever. It is right in the pocket of something different
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and I like it. Rascas, RJ Pain and Havoc, Gutter, Havoc
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on the beats if you just if you want bars, you want boom Back,
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you want methad Man with another stellar feature. Gutter is what you should
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listen to is very dope project. One of the best of the years so
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far. Roome Streets and Wavy Buck fifty EPs. A couple of EPs on
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this list, Rome Streets. I like this better than the last thing he
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dropped. I think for a nice quick EP, a little boom bap,
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a little you know, gangst the rap or whatever you mean, whatever you
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want to call it, hardcore hip hop. He got you Hit Boy and
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Alchemist, Theodore and Andre ep. This was a three song EP, and
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when I tell you, it was on repeat for me when it came out,
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Like literally, I kept playing this joint over and over and over again.
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I wouldn't mind a full project from them. I know Hip Boy and
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Alchemists work with big hit together on an album. That's not what I'm talking
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about. I'm talking about. Give us an EP that a little bit longer,
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you know what I'm saying. Seven joints. You know that'd be cool.
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I don't even care if you take these three and the other one they
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did prior to this and just add a few to it. I'm good with
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that. But let's come on, let's get a full project for these two
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sounds dope speaking of Alchemists. Alchemists and oh No, Gang Green. The
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name of the project heads out, wind Tails, you Lose. This is
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taking you back to the production that most expect from Alchemists, and it's a
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pretty dope album. It's a solid album, so you should definitely check that
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out. Also, when we got here, let's move a little quicker.
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Apathy, Connecticut Casual, Chapter two. I don't think I've ever heard a
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whack album from Apathy. I'm not lying. It's a very dope album,
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and I think in a lot of ways it will wind up being slept On
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at the end of the year. But if you're here with me right now,
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it's not slept on. Go press play. J Cole. J Cole
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might delete later up before he apologized, the weakest thing on this project was
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the seven minute dis record towards Kendrick. It really was beyond that. Everything
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else. I thought it was fired, so I can't, even though I
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didn't like him quit in the battle and ultimately we like how it turned out,
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you know, with him out out of it. I can't take nothing
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away from what this project sound like to me prior to the apology. The
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apology should I shouldn't change my opinion or Mike delete later because he did.
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He apologized to Kendrick and took that song off. But I will say it's
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kind of difficult to hear some of that. I'm number one goat talk,
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you know when you go back and listen, because you're kind of like,
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are you You didn't want to smoke? So you you not? The Big
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three is just the big he we're talking about k Dot, next up Benny
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the Butcher. Everybody can't go Look, I was disappointed in this project,
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but I didn't feel like it was white. I just felt like it would
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be better and now and it's just no shade. But it's just the truth.
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I thought Conway's album was gonna be better, and I feel like,
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Nope, I like this Benny project better and I've been listening to it more
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and more because he's one of my favorites and it's not as bad as I
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thought. It was. It's just that it wasn't what I anticipated, which
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was a much better album. But it's still a good album, still one
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of the best of the year. Earth Gang and Spillage Village Robophobia, which
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is it's labeled as hip hop and I get it today there's a certain style
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that's now labeled as hip hop that comes very close to straight up singing.
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If you ask me, I like Earth Gang. I've liked them since their
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debut when it was rapping a little bit more. They could rap, they
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could do the sing songy thing, So it's a vibe. It's some variety
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for your listening experience. Next up, Master Ace and Marco Polo Richmond Richmond
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Hill. I really love the first project they did, or the project prior
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to this called Brooklyn's I think a Brooklyn Story or something like that, and
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this is more like a sequel. This project has a lot of skits,
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just like the last one, which I don't necessarily care for. But when
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you get into the music, the songs master Ace and Marco Polo, they
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just don't miss. So if you like those two guys, you like Marco
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Polo beats, you like master Ace, who's still in the pocket he don't
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get enough flowers for being a cat who was down with the Juice Crew,
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and he does not sounddated when he's rapping. He's continued to be consistent and
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put out great music, and this is another example of that I'm doing.
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I'm doing pretty good on time i Am God and Klep, though Bloodstained swayed
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too. Now. This one the first volume of or the first project for
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these two. I thought the bars and the music didn't necessarily mesh as much
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as I kind of thought it would. But I think with this one,
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they made it happen. They made it work. Whatever it was that wasn't
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connected with me on the first version of this project, this one connected with
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me big time because I was like, Yo, these beats fit the bars
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are crazy, Like I Am God is crazy with the bars. If you
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haven't heard of him from Sha Towns from Chicago, check him out. Next
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up an album that I wasn't excited for. It. I didn't expect too
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much from it, but when I heard it, I was like, this
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is way better than I anticipated. And that's tylib quality and Mad Lives Liberation
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too. This album is what the Black the Black Star. I was gonna
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say every black version of hip hop ever, But boy, what the Black
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Star album should have sounded like? Excuse me, not the original. I'm
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talking about the one that came out with not that long ago, with most
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Death or Yasin bay rhymen in the most disinterested tone I've ever heard in my
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life, which is tough to dingam on pause because everybody likes all these other
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disinterested rappers. But I mean it's Most Death. Man. He gave us
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music where he was a little bit more vibrant, so it's tough to listen
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to him rap like that. But on this particular project, Man Lives beats
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your own point. I love the concept. This is a conscious album,
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so there's a lot of conscious themes within the skits, within the songs,
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and it's dope and right now, if you ask me, incredibly criminally slept
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on. So if you like Tyler and Kwali, or if you like this
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music, not the man, We're not talking about social media and all that
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stuff. But if you just like the music he's put out, and you
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like mad Lib and the type of production he's capable of, you'll like this
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album. A few more to go, the dog pound we all we got.
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When I tell you this album dropped the first single, Smoke Up.
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I think that's the name of it. I was like, ooh, I'm
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feeling this, but I had I had no reason to believe that the rest
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of the album will be that good. This is on deth Row Records,
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that Snoop dogg owns Now And when I tell you, this is pure West
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Coast, it's fun, it's perfect for the summertime. It's it's a it
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thumps, it's a it's smooth, it's it's everything. And then it ends
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with almost like a stranded on death Row if you remember from the chronic uh
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posse cut and when I say, I don't know if it's a verse of
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the year, but it is so good to hit the Lady of Rage over
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a premier beat. All of them killed it. RBX surprisingly to me because
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he was I wasn't the biggest fan of RBX also did a dope job on
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that. But the standout is Lady of Rage starting it off like she she
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killed it. Man. But this this album, telling y'all man it it
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might it might creep into my top five because when it dropped, and even
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now you know it dropped because it dropped not that long ago. From the
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recording of this podcast, all I kept doing was re repeat. It was
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just like perfect for the weather at least out here on the East Coast,
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like settling in to warmer temperatures in summertime, coming up like it's hot,
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and had that album drop, it just felt perfect, you know, a
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little bit of nostalgia and that if you a fan of West Coast hip hop,
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that West Coast sounds so Ransom and Harry Fraud lavish misery. This is
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just bars. I think. I don't usually like Harry Fraud's production. Well,
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let me say, I don't say. I won't say like or dislike.
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It's not that I dislike it. It just doesn't really do anything for
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me. But I think these particular beats mixed with Ransom's bar work and hooks
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and these songs and this is another EP I think it just works out like
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perfectly. And as soon as I heard it, I was like, yep,
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if if nothing else bumps it out of my top five, it will
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probably be there at the end of the day or at the end of the
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year. Dave East and scram Jones for the Love Listen. I could tell
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y'all straight up, it's gonna be hard to bump this one out of my
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top five, you know why, because it's so different from what even Dave
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East usually does that I think that's why I like it more. It's a
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better use of his talents than him to constantly drop the same kind of joints.
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Like he put out a new project not that long ago, and I
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think it was dope. I think it was cool, but I think for
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the love with scram Jones, it's better. It has a nineties sitcom,
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black sitcom aesthetic, mainly Martin and like Living Single and even got a song
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called Living Single and it's all about relationships, but not in a real sappy
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way, and a lot of the production samples a lot of familiar melodies and
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sounds that you know again, like sampling the Living Single intro. You know
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for a song, it's just dope and it's perfect. And to me,
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if you're like me, the type to not want to like, if your
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top five it is all the same style of rap, then I don't know
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if you would like this because you may be looking for the same kind of
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sound and this is far from it. But if you're a person who you
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know you like your boom back. You like your hardcore hip hop, but
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you also like a little variety. This is like the perfect palette cleansing between
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listening to Ransom Bars and like what I was saying about I Am God,
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even though I Am God's second project probably has more of a smooth feel then
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usually then typical from him, but this is right in the pocket. So
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for the Love Davies, Graham Jones, and two more to round off the
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best of twenty twenty four so far, and that is Shayde no Wa Is
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the Color of Chocolate, Volume one, an EP telling y'all this came out
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early in twenty twenty four and I haven't stopped listening to it, Like I
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just repeated over and over and over and over again. I know she got
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an album on the way, or at least a part of volume two,
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and I'm ready because at this point I feel like with Shae Noir, excuse
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me, when she first dropped, I wasn't the biggest fan, and I
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think because I couldn't find anything unique about her or unique about the production,
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and it just didn't. I just didn't gravitate towards it. And then she
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had one EP a couple of years ago where I was like, yeah,
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this is what I'm talking about. And for those who do own know she's
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also a producer, and since then she hasn't disappointed yet. And I hate
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to put the two against each other, but I feel like the way I
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felt about Rhapsody as an MC, her newest album kind of brought me down
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and pay Shane noware is rising on my list, So that's that, excuse
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me. And lastly, Huss Kingpin and nine Wonder super Gold. I said,
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you know, you could probably go through that list that I just said,
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and said, well, he said a couple joints that's in his top
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five so far. This one, I ain't even gonna hold you. This
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one is in my top five until something knocks it out, and it's gonna
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be tough to do that because I'm not the biggest fan of Hus Kingpin.
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I think he's hit or miss sometimes. I feel like sometimes he's on autopilot
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the way he raps as far as his flow and subject matter. And I
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feel like this project with nine Wonder, because of the different looks and sound,
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it brought out more from him lyrically or it just matched with his flow
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and what he talks about perfectly. Compared to what he's done in the past.
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So there you have it. Those I think are the best albums and
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EPs of twenty twenty four so far, what I typically do for those who
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like it. There is a playlist in the link of this descriptions on Apple
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Music. It's called hip Hop Now Podcast Best of twenty twenty four so Far.
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Does feature music from albums that are not necessarily within this list, but
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the songs are featured on the playlist, so the playlist is extensive. I've
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been curating it since January, and I'll continue to add songs as I come
25:15
across Dope hip hop throughout the rest of the year. It's available obviously on
25:22
iOS devices if you got an iPhone or iPad or Mac, but also if
25:26
you have an Android, Apple Music is also available. I believe there's a
25:30
free version, so you could still listen to the playlist. You might have
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to listen to ads here and there, but you know what's thirty seconds or
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whatever. Man I look up in the sky for thirty seconds then get back.
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But you could just listen to this joint his shuffle whatever you want and
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check out some of the best songs. Maybe you'll find some of the music
25:51
you like in there. You know, maybe listening to that playlist, you'll
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definitely get an example of every album I talk about because one song from each
26:02
album I mentioned is featured on that playlist. So shout out to everybody watching,
26:10
follow me on social media by tag on every social media page. It's
26:15
at Vegas World i NC. Please know that not only is this an audio
26:19
podcast for which you can subscribe and review if you're listening on Apple podcast,
26:26
but also available right here on YouTube. We're trying to get the five hundred
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subscribers. So if you like what you saw, you know what I'm saying,
26:33
hit that subscribe button, hit the like button on the episode. Comment
26:37
what are your best albums? Even give us five or ten best albums of
26:44
beginning so far. Leave it in the comment section below. Maybe maybe there's
26:49
a project Jay you heard that you think I should check out because it wasn't
26:52
mentioned, Leave that in a comment section below. But most importantly, when
27:00
you watch this podcast and if you like it, share what other people who
27:03
love hip hop and are curious about what's hot and what's out and what's what,
27:07
because that is the whole purpose of his content. Until next time,
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y'all, I'm not a critic, I'm a fan. Peace