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The Sander van Doorn show at Ruby Skye last night was nothing short of spectacular. Will post a full recap and review Sunday night. Lots going on this weekend!

Throwback Thursday: Real Muthaphuckkin G's

What's crackin everyone?? It's throwback Thursday time. You know what that means. Another track to throw us back to a time where music might have been a little more blissful and interesting. Either that or just a track that reminds us of good times. I was listening to some of my 90's rap playlist like I usually do, and I came upon the classic gem by Eazy-E "Real Muthaphuckkin G's". Remember back when Eazy-E and Dr. Dre were beefing in the wake of Dre's creation of Death Row and split up of NWA? Well you should because that's where the song "F*** Wit Dre Day" came from. It had its pretty hilarious video, but I think E came much harder with his response diss "Real Muthaphuckkin G's". What takes me back with this song especially is the accompanying video and just how hard and west coast the beat sounds. Way more hood than Dr. Dre's "Nuthin but a G thang" could have ever been and some hilarious pictures of Dr. Dre exploring his more feminine side. If you don't believe me...take a look for yourself:

This week: Eazy-E "Real Muthaphuckkin G's"



Now that's gangsta! Give this a spin, put your locs on, put your Compton hat on, and drink a 40 of St. Ides and bring it back! RIP Eazy

-M

Forbes' Hip-Hop Cash Kings

oh yes it's that time of year again. Forbes has indeed released their list of the 2010 richest rappers of this past year and since the last time they did their countdown, things seem to have changed. Don't take my word for it though, check out the list here, and down below.

Forbes' "Hip-Hop Cash Kings" 2010

1. Jay-Z - $63 million
2. Sean "Diddy" Combs - $30 million
3. Akon -
4. Lil Wayne - $20 million
5. Dr. Dre - $17 million
6. Ludacris - $16 million
7. Snoop Dogg - $15 million
8. Timbaland - $14 million
9. Pharrell Williams - $13 million
10. Kanye West - $12 million
11. Aubrey "Drake" Graham - $10 million
12. T.I. - $9 million
12. Swizz Beatz - $9 million
14. Eminem - $8 million
14. 50 Cent - $8 million
14. Young Jeezy - $8 million
17. Common - $7 million
18. Soulja Boy - $6 million
18. T-Pain - $6 million
20. Lil Jon - $5 million

It's honestly quite daunting to get into why each rapper is where they are in the list, but there are a few things I want to point out.


-Jay-Z....AGAIN?! I'm not a hater and I don't mind seeing people succeed, but the more this guy tops lists like this the more his ego gets filled and the more people give him pointless kudos. I'm honestly tired of seeing Jay-Z everywhere in the rap world. It's quite depressing if he's the shining star of hip-hop and the richest one to boot.
-Newcomers in the list?!? Young ones at that. I was very surprised to see Soulja Boy and Drake in the top 20 list considering there are still so many veterans out there making way less and other rappers claiming to be richer than they really are. Soulja Boy has been on the grind for a couple of years so I'm not entirely surprised on that one but I'm really surprised on Drake whose album has barely come out and his world tour wouldn't seem so lucrative on the surface. Then again there's the whole Sprite campaign to consider.
-I was really surprised to see how many of the top 10 rappers are rich because of outside business ventures, real estate investments, or companies they have started that have been kept on the hush for the most part. It is true that in this digital age people don't get rich simply off of their record sales and I think the rappers have figured that out before everyone.

That's all for now. Looking at this list gets me inspired to start rapping so I can begin to make millions too. If Soulja Boy can do it...ANYONE CAN!!

Peace for now,
M

#ThrowbackThursday: Rock 'n Roll vs. George W. Bush

Hey what's going on music heads welcome to another posting of the "Throwback Thursday". Ever since I've noticed Throwback Thursday was indeed not my idea, I've realized you can find out everyone else's Throwbacks on this fine Thursday by doing a twitter search for "#throwbackthursday", and see what everyone else is thinking about in musical retrospect. I stumbled upon my idea for this week's throwback because as I was going through some of Eminem's old albums, I came across a song I hadn't heard in quite some time: "Mosh". This song came out and stirred up quite a buzz when it was just before election time in 2004, and actually I haven't really heard it since. It's not the most inspirational and motivating political song in the world, but it kind of became a symbol to youths and the hip-hop community that arguably the most powerful man of rap at the time, Eminem, really did not want George W. Bush re-elected. It has a pretty original concept of a video as well. Check it out if you don't remember:



Remember now? I sure hope so. While this song didn't help to knock Bush out of the campaign run, it made me remember the other movements that were going on in the realm of politics and music at the time. I remember there being a tour rallying in campaign support for John Kerry that included Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, Patti Smith, Jackson Browne, Willie Nelson, Dave Matthews Band, John Mellencamp, The Foo Fighters, Pearl Jam, The Dixie Chicks, and a few other noteworthy names. I think it's pretty much safe to say that at the time, 80% of the music industry was sick of Bush. Except for maybe the country singers like the redneck all-star Toby Keith making songs about freedom and putting his foot up Osama Bin Laden's ass. Now with Eminem, even several rappers showed their militant support for John Kerry. We all know how it ended up though. In the end, Bush won, the liberal side was heartbroken, and many musicians felt their efforts were in vain. I guess it was just an important moment for music because it showed that people were willing to sacrifice their careers by coming out about their political affiliation and were willing to take a stand. I think that's important. We have definitely seen that in the Obama vs. McCain election in 2008. When even rappers make their own political songs ("Black President" by Nas, "My President" by Young Jeezy), it shows some serious support. Welcome to America, where everyone is allowed to speak their mind.

~M