You Can Do It Nas!

Nas is one of the best lyricists in the game, along with Jay-Z, Biggie, Pac, Eminem and Scarface. A lot of Nas albums from Illmatic to It Was Written to I Am to Stillmatic to God's Son were Nas's dopest albums of all time, they're also my favorite. His last platinum album was Street's Disciple, which is also a musical classic, was his last home run. But when Hip Hop Is Dead came out in 2006, people have been complaining about Nas picking "uninterested" or beats that people are not paying attention to. In other words, fans are saying that he picks wack beats. Hip-hop producer Salaam Remi says Nas is hard to work with and sometimes he's picky over choosing beats. Roc-A-Fella's in-house engineer Young Guru said Nas has dope lyrics but he picks wack beats. Everyone wants the "Illmatic" Nas and the "It Was Written" Nas because the productions of those albums were hard hitting and real dope, even his other platinum albums. Rappers such as Jay-Z, T.I. and Young Jeezy breath producers because they always find that "gold nugget" track when it comes to picking beats from heavy hitting producers and new up-and-coming producers. In order to get fans to listen to your albums, you need dope beats. You need something that people are going to listen to in clubs, streets and something to ride around to, also something for women. The production of a hip-hop album must attract listeners along with the artist.

DOPE LYRICS + DOPE BEATS = A MASTERPIECE AKA ONE HELL OF A ALBUM

DOPE LYRICS + WACK BEATS = A SLUMP (meaning that people are not going to buy your album)

I know Nas can do it. If Jay can do it, he can. He's still one of my favorite MCs. I just hope his collaboration album with Damian Marley will be a home run.

SAMPLE OF THE WEEK: Isaac Hayes - Hung Up On My Baby

What's up Blogheads! It's about that time for SAMPLE OF THE WEEK! Today's sample is Isaac Hayes - Hung Up On My Baby from the 1974 soundtrack of the motion picture film "Tough Guys." The song was sampled by Houston hip-hop group The Geto Boys for their 1991 eerie, scary anthem "Mind Playing Tricks On Me." The Geto Boys sampled this soulful groove to help them talk about bipolar disorder, paranoia, depression and schizophrenia, especially when it comes these type of psychological profiles in the ghetto. Scarface appears on the introduction of the song as if he was telling a story as he says "I sit alone in my four cornered room, staring at candles." Scarface, Wille D and Bushwick Bill want people to understand their stories of what goes on in 5th Ward. Thanks to Isaac Hayes, this soulful song brought the hot 1991 single to life from the dusty crates to the radio. Not only the Geto Boys borrowed this song but several other artists such as the Ghetto Girlz, TLC, Ice Cube, Second II None, Destiny's Child, Lifer's Group and once again, Scarface.

Here is Isaac Hayes "Hung Up On My Baby"

(Warning: While listening to this song, make sure your doors and windows are locked. If a man with a black suit and a cane is standing outside your house, please turn the song off.) LOL Naw im kiddin. Enjoy the song.




Here are the artists that sampled this song:



Destiny's Child ft Wyclef & Pras’s "Illusion"



Geto Boys "Mind Playing Tricks On Me"




Geto Girlz "My Man's Playin Tricks on Me"




Ice Cube "You Know How We Do It"




Lifer's Group’s "Jack U. Back (So You Wanna Be a Gangsta)"



Scarface "Mind Playin Tricks on Me 94"




2nd II None "If You Want It"



TLC "Creep"

MTV's New Logo

FROM



TO



WOWWWWWWWWWW!


After 29 years, MTV has decided to change its look. But not their look, their famous logo. The network has dropped the words "music television" and just left the "M" and the "TV". The MTV logo has also been stretched and has a "clear look" for images to be put in the background.




The reason this decision has been made is because MTV has evolved from showing more music videos into showing more reality shows. Here are the words from MTV's Head of Marketing Tina Exarhos when she was being interviewed in The Hollywood Reporter. "We thought, 'No one is ever going to let us do this.' It's the one thing we've never touched," she said. But with the channel's most recent on-air redesign -- something the network switches up every couple of years -- "now felt like the right time.
It felt like, 'Why have we been so scared when the channel itself has evolved so much over the years?' "

Well I guess the reality shows is the new trend and we might as well follow it or we can just always change the channel.