Jay-Z jockin’

Jay-Z “Empire State of Mind” [ft. Alicia Keys]

J-Live “Brooklyn Public pt. 1″

I was just listening to Jay-Z’s Blueprint 3 and thought “Empire State of Mind” sounded really familiar. I tracked down this joint from rapping schoolteacher J-Live off his underwhelming Hear After album. It’s not like an instance of beat-jacking by any means but the piano line sounds pretty similar. After the jump, Suckapunk extraordinaire revealed a much more similar beat from a David Banner song that samples a character from The Boondocks. As you might’ve guessed, it’s great.

More car trouble

Did you know there was a mawfuggn Duracell Bunny? WTF?

The saga continues!

The one day that I actually wake up somewhat on-time for work, I get out to my car, turn the ignition, and …… nothing. Battery’s dead. I wake up one of my sisters to come give me a jump. Then realizing that the two of us are both completely retarded and don’t actually know how to go about jump-starting a car (how Michael Scott of me), I have to go back inside and wake the other sister up. Anyway, I ended up having to buy a completely new battery, which sucks because I’m planning to get a new car (I mean, a newer used car) over the summer anyway so it’s such a waste of $100+ (battery + installation).

On the plus side, it did remind me of this J-Live track from 2003, “Car Trouble.”

25 Random Rap-Related Things About Me

Middle school was a confusing time for me

So I guess Examiner is trying not to be a blog. WTF? Anyway, I was advised to alter this and I ended up doing a new list altogether for Examiner that’s just a bit dry. Here’s the original list, in all its idiocy:

1. The first hip-hop record that I knew words to and more or less loved was Puff Daddy & The Family’s No Way Out.

2. And yes, I used to think Puff Daddy was the greatest rapper alive, even though I couldn’t distinguish his voice from that of his protege, Mase.

3. This may come as a shocker, but after that, I start cussing a hell of a lot more.

4. Pootie Tang, the movie based on a recurring skit from The Chris Rock Show, is my favorite movie in the world. Period.

5. After I met The Roots and got drummer/bandleader ?uestlove and frontman/rapper Black Thought to sign my copy of their third album, Illadelph Halflife, I ran through the halls, squealing like a little girl. Literally.

2008 in Review: Albums Good Enough To Buy

It’s about that time. I remember last year, I struggled epicly to listen to a bunch of albums that were supposed to be any good to crank out a definitive “Best of” list that wasn’t at all definitive because I tried jamming like 20 new albums into my brain in the span of a couple weeks and it resulted in me melting my face off. And it wasn’t really worth it because as time went on, I realized I really only held on to a few of those records this next year. So in the interest of conciseness and honesty, I haven’t compiled a Top Ten for either songs or albums. These are merely some great albums from 2008 that I’m confident I’ll be bumping well into 2009. In no particular order, except as I remember them, which I guess is a loose order for how memorable they are. Unveiling after the jump ……