Rick Ross Verse

Rick Ross’ Trilla debuted at Number 1 on the charts – but when you stack Trilla up against old Ross as well as similar music from his contemporaries, I’m not so sure Trilla holds its own. Now Ross is an important figure in hip hop, not solely because he can move units in the dark days of internet downloads, but also because he revived Florida after Trick Daddy took a nap (with little children?) and even found the talent that is Flo Rida (who has quite possibly conspired with Plies to strip the MI-yAyO of any credibility) Either way…here you have it… Rick Ross vs. Ross, Ross vs. Wayne, Ross vs. Jeezy, Ross vs. the world!

The Boss (ft. T-Pain/Trilla) vs. Boss(ft. Dre of Cool n' Dre/Port of Miami)


While The Boss was released as a single, most likely due to production by JR Rotem and a T-Pain feature, Boss was a completely overlooked track on Port of Miami. Listen to Boss (because not many have) - I always felt like it could be a great summer jam, whereas The Boss is just more of the same. Also, hasn't Ross explored the theme of a Boss' life enough at this point? Or is his next album going to have a song called Da Boss?

On the side: "I'm the biggest boss that you've seen thus far" - Ross. In terms of physical size, probably, but in reality, isn't Birdman probably the biggest boss we've seen thus far? He started an empire out of nothing that has lasted for over 10 years. Also, on Boss, Ross claims "I made a million dollars last year dealing weight." I'm going to have to go ahead and say shenanigans. No platinum rapper is still that heavy in the game. I honestly appreciate more honest lines like "I ain't have to touch a piece of work since 'o4" - Birdman (1st Key/Like Father Like Son). Believable? Who knows, but certainly more reasonable.

More on the side: Do you like DJ shout outs? On the beginning of The Boss you hear a JR before the first verse kicks - does this get you excited? I will say this, hearing DJ Drama yell Gangsta Grillz ya bastards! does - for whatever reason - pump me up, even though it pisses most people off. At this point, I'm pretty lukewarm hearing an MC shout out Just Blaze, but i will say it is baller to have the MC give you the shout out seeing as how bigging up the DJ was the MC's original purpose. As much as a Drama or Just shout out gets you ready for a track, how much does a Khaled We the Best! and Listennnn! make you reevaluate your whole life?

Winner: Boss

While we're on the topic...

DJ Khaled Interlude (Trilla) vs. silence

A whole 1:29 of DJ Khaled incoherent yelling? Who was like, yup, get Khaled, we need him babbling for at least a minute and a half. I will say "Rick Ross is the logo of the hustle" does make me laugh but you still got to take silence over anything DJ Khaled has to yell.


Winner: silence


Luxury Tax (ft. Lil' Wayne, Jeezy, Trick Daddy/Trilla) vs. I'm a G (ft. Lil' Wayne, Brisco/Port of Miami)

I'm a G is a very solid song. Just like Luxury Tax, Wayne spits a decent hook but the difference here is clearly the beat and the supporting casts. J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League made one hell of a beat for Luxury Tax, it reminds me of a more up-tempo December 4th and when Ross goes in it is quite a moment. Additionally, Young Jeezy and Trick Daddy vs. Brisco? Murken' em. Lyrical "gems" of the song:

Make more that the model for the mob,
Need a blowjob my model, get a model for the job.
- Rick Ross

They said I couldn't play football I was too small.
They say I couldn't play basketball I wasn't tall.
They say I couldn't play baseball at all.
And now everyday of my life I ball.
-Wayne

On the side: I just noticed Lil' Wayne references turtle in I'm a G (bulletproof car got me feelin like a turtle). He also references being like a turtle when he sips the purple in Kush (on The Leak), and i'm also pretty sure at one point he says he feels like he's racin a bunch of turtles, and keeps a bandanna on like the ninja turtles - is Weezie secretly obsessed with turtles? Should we call him Weezie F. Turtle? For those keeping score at home -

Wayne's car = Turtle
Wayne sipping purple = Turtle
All Rappers that aren't Wayne = Turtle
Wayne wearing a bandana = Turtle

So therefore (in Wayne's World)...

All rappers = Turtle

Winner: Luxury Tax



This Me (Ross/Trilla) vs. I'm Me (Lil' Wayne/The Leak)

DJ Toomp, just like J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League, made a beat that fits Ross perfectly. Now as for Ross, choosing to make a song called This Me when Weezie just made a song called I'm Me is going to draw comparisons. Rap, just barely edging out emo, is clearly the most narcissistic genre of music and how well you brag is a huge factor in how well you rap. Wayne on I'm Me is emotional, creative, funny, and when he states I'm Me, Who are You? he is challenging you to be all you can be like the marines - basically, don't talk about it be about it.

The beat on I'm Me follows a trend Wayne started on Like Father, Like Son - sampling himself. While producers are complaining about the prices of clearing samples, Wayne stepped up and said fuck 'em I'll just sample myself. I told ya rap was the most narcissistic genre of music.

The game fucked up, more fucked up than it's ever been
I'm married to that bitch, call me Kevin Federlan
-Wayne

Winner: I'm Me


Speedin (ft. R. Kelly/Trilla) vs. Go Getta (Jeezy ft. R. Kelly/The Inspiration)



For me, being objective about Young Jeezy is like Jared Fogle being objective about Subway - it's not going to happen. However, for the sake of argument, I will at least try judging the songs on this one criteria - When you hear the song do you feel like 'oh shit, something, i have no idea what, but something big is about to go down'? Speedin? Uh, no. Go Getta? 'Young Jeezy and your boy Kells' ... Yes, very much, yes.

People consider Jeezy and Rick Ross to be in the same vein - mainstream down south coke rappers still strong two albums deep. But no, this is very much a misconception. The best analogies I can draw is what my friend Sam said about the difference between Lost and The Wire and what I said about watching tv.

Sam's analogy: Lost is like a fun meaningless fling, good for an hour once a week, but has no real staying power, whereas The Wire is like a steady meaningful relationship that really matters.

My analogy: Rick Ross is like watching tv and flipping through the channels (a leisure activity) while Young Jeezy is like watching something On Demand (a commitment).

So basically, Rick Ross is a one night stand, Lost, and channel changing while Jeezy is a relationship, The Wire, and On Demand.

Editor's Note: The one exception being that Rick Ross would have to be Season 2 of The Wire because most of Rick Ross (Port of Miami, etc.) and Season 2 of The Wire are mostly about drugs coming in through a port.

Winner: Go Getta



As for the rest of Trilla: Very mediocre. On no song does Trilla come close to classic whereas Port of Miami, to me, flirts with timeless on Everday I'm Hustlin, Push It, AND Blow (my personal favorite Ross song). Trilla is by no means a let down for Rick Ross because honestly, what were you expecting? Even though they aren't classic or even the best mainstream rap songs on the subjects of money, drugs, and narcissism, I'll be bumping Luxury Tax, The Boss, and This Me all summer.

"This Prodigy album is great. Who's this Mobb Deep I keep hearing about?"

In his last column, my esteemed colleague Big Lev discussed the meaninglessness of the term “emo rap.” I happen to disagree with his assessment; perhaps it’s an unnecessary classification, but track-by-track, I feel that there are definitely songs that lyrically emphasize emotion far more than most rap, much of which is blatantly anti-emotional. But I want to discuss another similar point on which he commented only briefly: the goofy fucking description of certain acts as “hipster rap.”

First off, let me say that I don’t even get what a hipster is supposed to be. If it is just someone who stays on the cutting edge of music, than I’m a hipster—but I know I’m not, so that can’t be it. Does the hipster philosophy extend beyond the sphere of music? Is a hipster someone who has reveled for so long in the supposed irony of drinking PBR that they now actually enjoy PBR? To be a hipster, do you have to dress like someone whom no one could ever take seriously? Do you have to jerk off to Pitchfork Media? Do you have to have a shitty, faux-sophisticated, unearned elitist attitude about all of these traits?

As you can probably tell, I don’t have a very high opinion of hipsters, or at the idea of hipsterism as a meek liberal arts university subculture. To me, they seem like a lame, overcompensating group that is pissed off that this generation doesn’t consider them cool, and they desperately wish that they were born in the beatnik age (that’s right, it’s an age now—Stone Age, Bronze Age, Beatnik Age). I suspect that this is part of the reason that they reject most mainstream rap. In a subversively racist way, they resent the fact that rappers and other black representatives of hip-hop culture truly set the standard for hipness, not them.

But the problem with hipster rap isn’t the fact that hipsters like it; hey, at least they’re getting something right, even if they bring a lame white-boy aesthetic to an image that used to be dangerous and cool. The problem is that hipsters don’t like any other rap besides whatever album ranked highest on their preferred indie rock website’s most recent year-end list.

I mean shit, Mr. So-Called Hipster, I love Clipse too, but really? “Hell Hath No Fury” is your favorite rap album? Oh, you like “3 Feet High and Rising” too? Wow man. You’re deep. What else is in your top ten? Oh, you only own six rap albums? Well, that would explain a lot.

A hipster who likes TV On The Radio could probably tell you three decades of alt-rock history, but the same hipster riding around on his Vespa (okay, now I’m really reaching for stereotypes) bumping “Fishscale” couldn’t tell you a goddamn thing about rap. Hipsters need to learn the basics, the roots; study the variety of production styles and geographic idiosyncrasies; realize that some of the fundamental qualities of the rap they like can make a lot of mainstream rap truly transcendent. Because if there’s one positive thing I can say about hipsters, it’s that they know music, and they listen with a better tuned, more critical ear than any other group of popular music fans. That’s what makes their willful ignorance of hip-hop—as well as the label “hipster rap"—so absurd.

(An aside: is it possible to “bump” anything on a Vespa? Do scooters have sound systems?)

That said, there is one group that I think could legitimately be called hipster rap: The Cool Kids, whom I actually think are pretty good. They deliver all their braggadocio in irony, they sound simultaneously super-dated and cutting edge, they dress like idiots, and Pitchfork has told the hipster community it’s okay to like them. Just make sure you put a Radiohead or Pavement song between each track on your playlist.

Emo Rap? Dont Let Money Change Ya

Hipster and emo rap have always generated a significant amount of backlash from hip hop purists. Just as Common and Talib Kweli don't like being pigeonholed by the term conscious rappers, up-and-comers like Kidz in the Hall and Tanya Morgan don't embrace the label of hipster rap. As far as emo rap, the first groups that come to mind are Atmosphere and Gym Class Heroes, but in actuality, emo rap is a meaningless classification (and Gym Class Heroes aren't even a rap group) - rap, from gangster to hipster, has always been filled with emotional lyrics ranging from self-deprecating (I wish I was a baller) to clumsiness around woman (If I was I would call her).

Rappers, like the rest of us hopeless suckers, have women trouble. Now, theirs generally tends to be because of two pitfalls: the fast life and the money. In the NFL (not for long) city to city life, it is too easy for a rapper to smash in different area codes. In terms of money, shiiiit, whether or not it changes you or just makes you who you really are, suddenly things ain’t what they were.

So for the first installment of Emo Rap: Emotional Subjects in Hip Hop, here are a couple tracks highlighting the issue of money, cause as my man Styles says,

money you the root of evil,
how they print "In God We Trust" knowing what you do to people?

Ex Girl to Next Girl - Gang Starr
What separates this song from all other player anthems of moving from one girl to the next is that Guru acknowledges how the troubles of relationships keep him moving on rather than simply lust for the 'nani. Where money comes in? There is the classic girl being after rapper’s loot -

It made me mad to find that she was only after my ends

- to the rare, rapper liking her loot –

She tried to buy me
Even tempt me with the hiney
I fell for a sec cuz the clothes were real fly
I could almost feel i
Would give into her whims
Her thoughts were erratic, sporadic, crazy in nature
I told her hey look I can no longer date ya



Punish Me - Big Pun
Big Pun ain't a player, he just crushes a lot, and in this track he reveals that even he gets crushed every once in awhile. He started out feeling like the luckiest man on earth but then money got in the way. Pun breaks it all down in two lines:

1) Behavin like a money hungry hooker, funny how the money took her
from a average honey to a stunning looker

-and what I personally have always wanted to be able to say to a girl-

2) Girl don't even start again, I beg your pardon
and get your hands off my six button Cardigan

(that and ‘call me so I can get it juicey for ya’…imagine being baller enough to say that and have it work… lollipop best song all time? or just our generation?)

Ms. Fat Booty – Mos Def
Like Pun, Mos tells of a money chasing dime but this time it is the rapper who is begging for her to come back instead of vice versa.

Three months, she call ‘I feel I'm runnin a fever'
Six months, I'm tellin’ her I desperately need her
Nine months, flu-like symptoms when shorty not around
I need more than to knock it down I'm really tryin to lock it down
Midnight we hook up and go at it
Burn is over, let her know, sweetheart I got to have it
She tellin’ me commitment is somethin’ she can't manage
Wake up the next morning, she gone like it was magic

See, even rappers get played.

Tooken Back - Ghostface Killah
When it comes to emotional rappers Ghost just may be the Don. On the theme of wanting to be taken back this song offers three universal and ageless perspectives:

1) guy explains to his psycho girl why she is now his ex

Take you back?
That could never happen, I'm sorry
No disrespect, but you a psycho honey
Got that S.S.I. MONEY and you start actin' funny

2) girl tryin to hold on to her man

Who loves you baby? Nobody like Jacki-O
Cook, clean, break up your weed, and I give you nasty throat
What you actin' for? Get back in the door
Come on, home, where you belong, let's get it on

3) guy loses his girl and begs for her to come back

'Member the first time you made my key
You was drunk, you went behind a tree and pee'd
I miss shit like that
Uh-huh... fuck that, take me back, pretty please, with you on top

The point? We all want to be tooken back at one point or another. I mean, if she cook, clean, break up your weed and gives nasty throat you are going to want that back.

On the side: Possibly best Ghostface line ever -
And when you told me your Merlo need more grapes
I said "Honey, you never had wine before!"


So there you have it, the first installment of emo rap, a meaningless classification.

Chain of the Day

off with his head we takin the hood back

So I Let Her Lick the Rapper

Lollipop is a good meaningless pop song. The problem is that any single released by Lil' Wayne is in no way meaningless. Wayne carries the expectations that come with calling himself the best rapper alive. Now, if Lollipop were recorded by an up-and-coming pop singer it would be a legit funny feel good song. Seeing as that is not the case, you have to look at what Lollipop means for Lil' Wayne: did the pressure and anticipation of a new Wayne single force him to come out of his lane and release a pop song so that his rapper-status couldn't be questioned? Is it Jordan playing baseball - a star taking a chance on a childhood dream? Was Wayne simply having fun and singing on a track like he did on Crazy and Promise on Drought 3?

All I know is it is officially time to worry that the Carter III will not stack up to the first two installments, I Can't Feel My Face will never come out, and Wayne will fade away. On The Leak, Wayne stands up and says I'm me, who are you?

Well Wayne is becoming what he is not - a radio rapper. For the last two years Internet Wayne has been murking radio Wayne - all the mixtapes destroy the random verses Wayne spits on Khaled and R&B singer's shit. Lollipop tells me Wayne ain't afraid to step out of his lane - what worries me is that he might like it enough to stay out of his pocket. The radio turned 50 Cent into Ja Rule - watch Wayne become the new 50. Ain't that a bitch.

I Wanna Speak About a Couple Issues Much Bigger...

Has anyone heard Nas offer a decent explanation as to why he is naming his new album N****r? He is yet to even offer a simple explanation, like to put the issue of race back in people's faces...or to make people uncomfortable. With N****r and Hip Hop is Dead, Nas has seemingly mastered creating album titles that start a discussion he apparently doesn't have much to offer to. That is all fine and well, but doing a little research it seems a little group called Little Brother has dropped some actual knowledge on Nas' behalf.

Little Brother was 2007's hip hop seely posturepedic of rap - they were slept on. The Getback was a dope cd, from the beats to the lyrics to the skits, it was the epitome of consistency. Anyhow, the first song we are going to look at so happens to be the first song on the album, 'Sirens' -

They talk about us, not usin the word n***a
I wanna speak about a couple issues much bigger
Like most black folks live below the poverty line
And they wonder why the FUCK we attracted to crime
-Rapper Big Pooh

Pooh nailed it. Focusing on a word (N-word) is a distraction from focusing on the real problem (poverty leading to crime). Now if you go as far as to ban a word, a new word will simply take its place. Let's focus on eliminating the real issues before we focus on eliminating words.

In verse 2, Phonte speaks on the post-Imus crucifying of rap:

They tryin to blame this rap shit for all of our ills
Like I can stick you up with a mic
Like I can rape you with a verse or use a verb as a knife
Like before Kool Herc, everything was all right
Like y'all wasn't callin black women hoes befo' "Rappers Delight"
-Phonte

If hip hop is a reflection of a culture, than it is a product of something that already exists. Essentially, rap is not responsible for misogyny and violence in America - that shit has existed since the dawn of time. So just like with the misplaced attention paid to Nas' N-word, hip hop is also taking shots that should be directed at all of American/world culture and history - not just hip hop.

I say it don't matter if I work at Mickey D's
I still got a fix for what you got between your knees
-Rapper Big Pooh (Don't Go Breakin' My Heart)

If hip hop didn't exist, guess what? Misogyny, violence, and racism still would. 100.

On the Side: Does Little Brother have the best skits in hip hop? They have Dave Chappelle narrating as Phonte's conscience on The Getback, they have a full song from a made up minstrel show performer named Percy Miracles (which actually is surprisingly good) on The Minstrel Show, and on all their skits they just sound like they are having fun, cause after all the bullshit they've been through they still here baby.

Chain of the Day

and the Holy ghost

Image and Music - Do you have to like both?

A few weeks ago I downloaded the Vampire Weekend album after hearing a song on WERS. I listened to the album a few times and liked it - then I saw them on Letterman, the cover of Spin, and finally on SNL. The group looks like your typical pretentious rich college kids who vacation on long weekends and bicker over which type of cheese to bring to a picnic. Basically, I like their music but hate their image and am wondering whether that matters?

If you like a band's music but probably wouldn't want to be friends with the band in real life, are you still a fan? If yes, is there anything lost in not buying into the whole package - both image and music- or can you simply take what you like and leave what you don't?

Conversely, what about artists whose music and image you love but know that in real life they wouldn't be friends with you? One day back in the school cafeteria my friend asked me what was wrong and I told him that I didn't think Young Jeezy would want to hang out with me. At the time, I was listening to Thug Motivation 101 everyday on my walk to class and every night before I went to bed. Jeezy, known more for his ad-libs than his verses, and his claim to not be a rapper but a motivational speaker, has an uncanny ability to fill me with the desire to seize the day like a kid from Newsies. I basically went through a month of life with Young Jeezy as my imaginary life coach - pretending to hear him yell "ha-ha!" and "let's get it!" after every clever thing I said.

Does realizing that in real life Jeezy would probably just cast me aside as a fool mean that I shouldn't be a fan? I don't know why but the answer is no. I'm a Jeezy fan despite the fact that I probably wouldn't even get a nod if we were the only two people in the hallway and I was screaming I'm a T-R-A-P-S-T-E-R. Ha-ha!



On the side: Didn't want to bring this into the discussion - but - can you be a fan of someone like Wagner, who was an anti-Semite, Hitler's favorite composer, and a strongly criticized character in Nietzsche's Human, All too Human? Can you take the music and leave the man? I don't know.

Chain of the Day

First chain with facial hair.

On the Side: In Fat Joe's new single he asks "how many fat guys fly like me?" Well Rick Ross is clearly as fly, I'd say even more fly, than Fat Joe. Plus, if Eminem really weighs over 200 lbs now, than he is definitely more fly than Joe but I'd still say less fly than Ross.

TRICK LUV THE KIDS

Alright, the list every one has been waiting for...drum roll please...my top 3 Trick Daddy songs.

3. Take it to the House - The beginning of the whole Slip N Slide movement. Nice use of the "get down" James Brown sample. Only question, did this video come out before or after "Make em say uhhhhh" because they are practically identical, except for the fact that Master P has a tank in his basketball court.

Take it to the House - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPXXjh00XII
Make em say Uh - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jykg9jDI6T8

Best part: when this song came out Trick was definitely hitting Trina while she still had feeling down there.

2. 'Dro in the Wind - Excellent pairing of Trick, Cee-Lo and Big Boi. Good reminiscing joint, Trick talks about back in the day eating sugar water and mayonaise sandwhiches but now it's all good with the top back puffin 'dro in the wind. Best part: Trick says 'Trick loves the kids!' EIGHT TIMES! It is incredible that Trick Daddy never got shit about constantly professing his love for the kids but maybe he is just that baller. I guess Wu-Tang ain't the only ones for the children...(ODB at the Grammy's) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2-5GSjZvW8

1. I'm a Thug: Amazing beat, amazing children sing-a-long chorus (hmm...), and awesome refrain, "baby cause I'm a thug." This song was my ringtone for three years before my phone broke in half. Best part: right before the third chorus Trick yells out "She want a thug!" I don't know, that just always stuck with me.

Sidenote: The titles of Trick's albums are incredible. Thugs R Us and Thug Matrimony: Married to the Streets being my two favorites. I mean, baller move of the week?

Bonus Material: Rick Ross back in the day, shitting on TI and standing up for our boy Trick.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wY2ae_Jxno

Vintage T-Pain?

T-Pain sucks. He is on your radio every hour talking about the same shit. But at times, he can make an average song dope, like he just did with 2 Pistols. When the song came on I turned to my friend Josh and said listen to T-Pain on the hook, it's vintage T-Pain. Josh laughed at me for thinking there was such a thing as vintage T-Pain but later turned off the radio when "Umbrella" came on, reasoning old-school "SOS" Rhianna was way better. After I got home I got to thinking, is there such a thing as vintage T-Pain? Then I figured I should make a list of my favorite T-Pain songs just to prove to myself, and my friend Josh, that yes, T-Pain is awful, but at times he is dare I say ... classic.

Top 5 Songs with T-Pain

5. Shawty - Plies ft. T-Pain

"I exposed her to the real now she hate lames"

The song starts with two chords followed by a smooth "shawty" from our boy Pain - then it happens. World meet Plies, Plies meet world. Plies systematically destroys his verses by detailing how he turns a good girl with a big ass into a bust it baby freak. At first she is hopeless, but Plies, the man of virtue and patience that he is, takes time to train her - now she's suckin him with ice and talking while she take pipe. Impressive to say the least.

The song spotlights the concept of a shawty. T-Pain sings, "I'm not your man, you ain't my girl, you my shawty." At first I thought my shawty was the same as my booty call but nah, it's more than that. You care about your shawty, you love to show off your shawty cause she gets you right. As for Pain and Plies they got it right with "Shawty."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pxs5EM3xlus

Afterthought: Saddest part of this song is how hard Plies fell off afterwards. I used to be excited when I heard a song begin with "Hey man, it's your boy Plies homie," now I just laugh.

4. Buy U a Drank - T-Pain ft. Yung Joc

"let's get drunk and forget what we did"

T-Pain loves using lines from hit songs - on the recent 2 Pistols song he sings bout 'throwin some D's on it' in the hook. In Buy U a Drank he perfectly uses walk it out and money in the bank for the hook. As for Yung Joc, his verse is totally blah, but the bass of his voice fits the beat perfectly and when he goes in with "meet me at the bar" it's a legit moment. For me, there are two highlights on the song: first, "we in the bed like ooo, ooo" that shit is catchy. But the best part is easily whoever the hell it is in the background that goes "awwwwww snap."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oy-nqyfR_w4


3. I'm Sprung - T-Pain

Sitting on a roof, rockin shades and dreadlocks, singing about being whipped - this was the world's first sight of T-Pain. Now, for those that don't know:

1.	sprung
	Falling in love with someone to the point that they are constantly on your mind and you cannot live without them...and your everyday is either good or bad, depending on how it went with her.

Why do I like this song? The last two years, anyone who listens to rap radio stations has been bombarded with T-Pain yellin bout how he is the shit. Yet, his first single ever is his most self deprecating and honest. "I'm Sprung" is about what it's like to be in a relationship that controls your every moment for better or worse. Never again will you hear T-Pain talking about the negatives and reality of a relationship.

Think about it this way, a lot of rappers and R&B singers experience sophmore slumps because after the success of their debut they don't want to do anything but but brag and boast - and that is exactly what T-Pain what has done. Yet somehow, T-Pain started a video for a song that may be his most serious by letting Akon make fun of him! Something that will never happen again because fools like T-Pain are too concerned with image to be real or to even simply laugh at themselves.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ichSb-1HSiY

2. Good Life - Kanye West

"Now throw your hands up in the sky"

Hands down the best song on the new Kanye album. From the Toomp beat to the cartoons in the video to chopped and screwed Kanye yellin' "more ass than the models" to T-Pain killing the hook - yeah, I kind of like this song (maybe the only good song on Graduation...sorry). Similar to Pain on "I'm Sprung," T-Pain does have an honest moment in which he admits he hasn't always been this cool - "Now my grandmomma aint the only one callin me baby." Just overall solid song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDxr-eakI6U

Afterthought: Is it just me or have Kanye's albums gotten progressively worse yet have been received as getting progressively better?

1. I'm N Luv with a Stripper - T-Pain ft. Mike Jones

First, the beat: solid acoustic guitar sliding behind a simple synth line.

Second, the concept: amazing. All I have to say: just thinking of T-Pain (and millions around the world) drooling at a strip club cracks me up every time. When I read that the song was based on a true story I just sat back and said classic.

Third, Mike Jones: His verse offers nothing. Again, I feel the same way about the Joc verse on Buy U a Drank as I do about Mike Jones on this one - his voice works perfectly with the beat but he says nothing of substance...or even something clever or funny. But I will say this, when the song came out Mike Jones was still somewhat fresh and new and all he had to do was yell Mike Jones and I'd smile through his whole verse.

Lastly, Pain: Perfect use of the vocoder. For the most part of the song T-Pain's voice sounds like a real human voice, with the exception of when he sings "girrrrl" at the end of the beginning of every verse. After this song, T-Pain started relying too heavily on the vocoder. Secondly, aside from the refrain, the best part of the song is easily when Pain sings "I done got her over to my crib to do that night thing" just as the beat fades out before the hook. Vintage T-Pain? I'd say so.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qs9le1zs0s0