"We Waiting on a Savior, Maybe Barack"

Four years later, @YoungJeezy is at it again, putting a Hip Hop stamp on another election win for Barack Obama. This time the message is a little different, focusing more on hope rather than a polarizing and uplifting statement like "My president is black!" You could see this coming too with President Obama shouting out Jeezy back in April saying, "In my first term I sang Al Green. In my second term, I'm going with Young Jeezy."

Feel free and check out the newly minted visuals below...

If I were president, I'm not sure if Jeezy would be the wagon I'd want to hitch my Hip Hop fandom to, but the sheer fact he's making an attempt to immerse himself in Hip Hop is good enough for me. Word has it this is going to end up on a new mixtape, but as a stand alone single, it'll still make some noise...#WeDoneItAgain

Young Jeezy - We Done It Again (prod by Cool & Dre and Sap)

Think Twice Moment: "A Parent-ly I'm an Unfit Father"

It's a new day, which means there's probably a new Hip Hop artist you haven't heard of that has released a relevant song that you should now know about. I say you should know about because @mrdontrip is immediately noteworthy because of his cosign from the legendary production duo @COOLANDDRE. With the help of Cool and Dre, the Memphis native signed onto First Family Records/Epidemic Music/Interscope Records with the help of his powerful track below. In case Cool and Dre's cosign isn't enough, the Good Doctor (Dre) went out of his way to mention Don Trip in the same sentence as @JColeNC as far as new artists who he is a fan of. I decided to post a song he wrote before becoming noteworthy called Letter to My Son and for added listen-ability, I chose the remix, which features @ceelogreen on the hook.

Before I get into the particulars of the track, it'd be worthwhile for you to see Don Trip in studio recording the track. I'll always have respect for someone who can go into a studio and knock out an emotional track the way he did below...

Man you want to talk about a raw track. Just listening to it will make any man or woman think twice about the potential collateral damage that having a child could cause. It's sad that nowadays with baby mamas and divorces becoming so frequent that it's common for kids to be used as pawns in disagreements or litigation. This is as real as it gets in depicting the potential pitfalls that go along with the responsibility of parenthood, so anybody who is thinking about being careless about who they hook up with, give the track below a listen...#UseProtectionYall

Don Trip feat Cee-Lo - Letter to My Son (Remix)

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"Hank Gathers I'ma Ball 'Til My Heart Stops"

Even though @NickinMinaj may have the flamboyance and swagger to steal the show when it comes to females in Young Money, @shanell_snl was touted the Young Money Princess far before she ever came along. Seems @liltunechi, @drake and all the folks who rep YMCMB are fully aware that you probably don't know who Shanell is and see that as a problem. The track below should serve as a proper introduction because when Young Money get's together on a lead single, you better believe there will be no half steppin'.

Not only do Drizzy and Weezy contribute verses on the track, but @COOLANDDRE chipped on the production, making it a fully star studded track from front to back. What I like best about it are the samples all over the place. They including Paul Davis's I Go Crazy (background jingles) and most recently Luther Vandross's Closer I Get To You. I love the retro samples, believe it or not I Go Crazy was a top 10 hit back in 1977 and you may remember Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway doing the original version of Closer I Get to You in 1978. That some classic, classic R&B. It doesn't get more timeless than those two slow jams...(Respect the #BMM hashtag)

No word yet on when this will surface on an album or what the title will be, but you can bet it'll get more than a few spins on Top 40 radio with the heavy names on the track. Don't sleep on Shanell man, she's got sort of an angelic Keri Hilson-type powerful voice (exhibit A). The real question should be who is the second best record company in Hip Hop? #Rhetorical

Shanell feat Drake & Lil Wayne - So Good (prod by Cool n Dre)
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"The Best the West Has Ever Seen, No Disrespect to Calvin"

Ever since I first got wind of this new up and coming rapper outta Compton named @kendrick_lamar, I've been patiently waiting for his raw talent to shine through. Just like anything with the mythical D word attached to it, the Look Out For Detox freestyle got everyone's attention, but I wasn't sold yet. Fast forward to his first album, Section 80, which was an indication of great things to come with Hi Power being the clear stand out track and highlight of the album. Still, it was like seeing a seismograph rapidly jump up and down before the earthquake, but when was the ground finally going to open up?

Well, it finally happened when he got together with fellow Compton rapper @thegame on This City, which will appear on Game's upcoming R.E.D. Album. The whole track is just awesome, starting with the hymn laden, angelic beat by @COOLANDDRE that lays the groundwork for Game to stake claim as one of the top 5 rappers of all time ("Game, Biggie, Hov, prolly Pac, Nas, No particular order"). Debatable lyrical hubris aside, the hook is interesting in that it's damn near a whole verse and the only reason you can tell it isn't a verse is because it's repeated word for word more than once. Keeping it 100, the whole track is just one big intro leading up to Kendrick's acapella take off at the 4:27 mark. Ferocious, tenacious, raw, vicious...all applicable adjectives for the fury unleashed by Compton's prince. Press play and follow along kids...

"And I wear pendant on my shoulder
Soldier, like a lieutenant, and the coupe tinted
Got pulled over, Johnny always lock a ni**a down
Knowing damn well we don't wanna see the box like Manny Pacquiao
Little ni**a Mayweather size, ride like Pac
In his prime, thug life is now on radar
Til the federal come through and raid ours
Reminiscing when the LA Raiders
Was in my home, snapback fitted on my uncle's dome
And I don't condone d*ckriding, I'm addicted to
Westsiding, living in a city where the skinny ni**as die
And the semi bullets fly, but it turn me to a lion
Trying, and I mean that sh*t
Game came through, put the city on his back
I was in the city with a nigga, had seen that sh*t
"Compton!", a ni**a gotta scream that shit
Never went commercial, Never T.V. screened that sh*t
Can't block or screen that sh*t, now everybody sing that sh*t"
- Kendrick Lamar

Add this one to the growing list of collabs from the consistently dynamic duos of The Game + Cool & Dre. Oh and if you don't have enough incentive to go out and cop The R.E.D. Album, you're haven't been listening. I'm sticking to my album of the year prediction until something better comes out...#TakeItToTheBank

The Game feat Kendrick Lamar - This City (prod by Cool & Dre)
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"Where's All the Girls Too Busy Studyin' to Make the Guest List?"

I'm finding it really hard to disagree with the growing consensus that @thegame sounds best over @COOLANDDRE beats. Sure he had a moment there with the good doctor, but when it comes to longevity and consistency of sound, he just keeps churning out dope music with the help of Marcello and Andre.

And who would have thought he and @drakkardnoir could rip it up with the chemistry they did on Good Girls Go Bad? Not that a feature with either of them would be a challenge to anyone involved, but with two differing styles, they meshed well over the slow, steady, bangin' instrumental. With all thes R&B tracks and cameo hooks Drake has put out of late, it was refreshing to hear him go in and spit a nice verse. Between this leak and Game's other tough new one Martians vs Aliens, The R.E.D. Album is starting to enter the discussion for album of the year. When 5 single worthy tracks have leaked prior to the album's release, it's almost to a point where anything beyond this is icing on the cake. And we still haven't heard a CDQ version of Game's new tracks with @realdjpremier or the other @IMADEITINC track or even the few Dr. Dre produced tracks.

I mean I'm enjoying Watch the Throne and I've got high expectations for Carter IV and Take Care, but 8 months into the year, find me another album that's this stacked front to back...#Crickets

The Game feat Drake - Good Girls Go Bad (prod by Cool & Dre)

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A Mixtape Worth the Price of Admission

The cat is definitely out of the bag on @thegame's latest mixtape release Purp & Patron hosted by @djskee & @funkmasterflex. With now three high profile mixtapes released this year The Red Room in April and Brake Lights in August prior to last week's Purp and Patron, we're still waiting on The R.E.D. album, which has been pushed back more than a few time and is still slated for a 2011 release.

My favorite track on the mixtape was his lengthened out version of @MYFABOLOUSLIFE's Ferrari Lifestyle, where The Game builds off the original freestyle with two verses of his own. Trey Songz is supposed to be on the final final version of the track or part 3 in the track's shelf life if you're keeping score at home. Real laid back joint with the verses providing most of the likability legwork with lines from Fab like..

"I go from 0-60, a couple seconds
she go from sober to tipsy and gettin’ naked"

Or The Game...

"Me, Mr. O 11 New Edition,
I Call it Mike Bibby,
GPS get lost tryna follow me to my crib"

While Fab's verses will always have a higher degree of witty pop culture wordplay, it's hard to compete with The Game's thuggish non-chalance when he spits...

The Game feat Fabolous - Ferrari Lifestyle

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Ad this to the growing list of artists sampling @LAROUXOFFICIAL's For the Kill as @COOLANDDRE gangsta up the sample with some weight on the bass to compliment the piano and harsh percussion. It's a good look and listening to it right now is making me reconsider my opinion of best track on the mixtape...

The Game - The Kill (prod by Cool n Dre)

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My favorites probably won't be the same as yours especially when you check Game's tracks with @liltunechi and @realwizkhalifa. Feel free to check out the full 2 disk mixtape below via datpiff...

Download Mixtape | Free Mixtapes Provided by DatPiff.com

Throwback Thurs: "More Money Means More Dough to Blow"

With Rick Ross's new album Teflon Don coming out in a little less than two weeks and tracks from that album blowing out Gulf of Mexico style (songs don't just leak anymore #ontothenextone), it's only fitting I revisit one of my favorite tracks of his. Sure Hustlin' is going to get all the credit as the "cannonball" single that got his name in the mainstream, but this cut from his debut album Port of Miami released in 2006 is where he exploded to me.

From the looks of the tracklist, it seems like he's trying a new route on his newest album that is geared more towards reeling in some more mainstream success, rather than sticking with the sound that got him to where he's at now characterized by trap anthems like Hustlin', Speedin' and Push It. No production from JR Rotem, DJ Toomp, Cool n Dre and most notably The Runners has me a little worried about the quality of his new album. No disrespect to J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League because he's proven he can bring it on more than a few occasions, but he's done some classic tracks with the aforementioned producers and the lack of their presence on his new music has me skipping lots of Rick Ross material lately. That new single with Ne-Yo was garbage in my opinion and while I do appreciate the Drake collab on the new album along with yet ANOTHER Maybach Music track, it's not looking good.

Now that all that skepticism is outta my system, let's focus on what got Rick here with Blow, where he raps over a boisterous Cool n Dre beat that can be heard for miles with a little bit of volume. These are the types of tracks that make me think of Miami hip hop and the loud organ/synth combination that has dominated that region thanks mostly to @COOLANDDRE and @THERUNNERS. The whiny synthesizers and depth of the bass are the allure to me and it helps too that William Roberts contributes some cohesive, baller status verses in sort of a talk it before you live it sort of way. Now that he's actually living it, it's cool to look back and admire the confidence, while *hoping* for future tracks that get back to this sound.

Hit the recliner and throw it way back on hot as a melonfarmer Thursday...

Rick Ross feat Dre - Blow (prod by Cool n Dre)
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