Aw naw, hell naw boy ya’ll done up and done it. It’s like pure poetry. Could have came right from Edgar Allen Poe or Ernest Hemingway. But alas, this gem came from the Nappy Roots. I first heard “Aw Naw” in college during my most formidable years. There was nothing like getting the party started with a little Nappy Roots (and possibly some “No Diggity” or “California Love”, but that’s neither here nor there.)
This hip-hop group from Kentucky is probably best known for their 2002 single “Po’ Folks”. Eight years later and the boys are still kicking with their latest release (and see if you can catch the play on words here) The Pursuit of Nappyness. The entire album includes super funky fresh beats throughout as well as an Outkast-ish style of rapping. The album is a little more club-ish than we here at FreshScouts are used to, but everyone’s got to hit the town for booty scrumpin’ sometimes right?
Check out the video for the single “Ride”:
Buy the album:
LikeIt’s not that I’m a die-hard reggae fan. I’m not. But there’s little question about hip-hop’s roots in Jamaican toasting, and Damian Marley (Bob’s kid) is among the best there is in today’s world of music. Add that to always strong work of Nas—one of rap’s most credible lyricists—and you’re bound to end up with something musically substantial and meaty.
The newest collaboration from Marley and Nas, entitled “Distant Relatives,” is a perfect marriage of reggae and rap. It’s not like a bunch of rap songs with some Sean Paul verse attached to the end, and it’s also not some overly-loose pop reggae track with a name brand hip-hop voice on the intro and outro. It’s a legitimate blend of the two—something both artists took special care to do. They wanted to create something authentic, something believable, and most importantly, something musical.
That’s said knowing full well that much of today’s music is produced for the sole purpose of making record labels money. But the proceeds to this record, centered around themes of a shared African heritage and the love to be shared among mankind, is going to African charities, most likely to build a school. These guys don’t see a dime from this album, which means they put it together simply to create good music and support a good cause. Even if the album sucked, that alone would make it respectable.
But it doesn’t suck. Not at all. The first single, “As We Enter,” is absolutely mixtape-worthy and prepped for serious hip-hop radio play. “Tribal War,” featuring K’naan (another FS favorite) is both haunting and emotional. Joss Stone and Li’l Wayne share the track “My Generation,” which preaches positive activism in the young people of the world.
Look, Nas alone is reason enough to buy an album, but when you’ve got the blood of Bob Marley, a good cause, and music for the love of the music as well, you’re going to get your money’s worth and then some. Even if you hate the record (and we’re guaranteeing that you won’t), the worst-case scenario is that you indirectly helped build a school in Africa. And you’d have to be a cold hearted S-O-B to say no to that.
Check out this trailer for the album, out in stores now!
The Score, without a doubt, is my most favorite hip-hop album of all time. I am aware that it is a bold statement given the incredible selections that are out there. The Score is the first and only compact disc that I completely wore out. Yes, wore out. I played it so much that it stopped working in any device. If you want to verify that fact you can check with my 1996 college roommate who listened right along whether he liked it or not.
Wyclef Jean, Lauryn Hill & Pras
Many people falsely believe that The Score was the first album from the hip-hop trio. Blunted on Reality, released in 1994, was actually their first official release. There is some great material on that album, but The Score is what unleashed The Fugees on the world. Popular covers of “Killing Me Softly” and “No Woman No Cry” served as the fly paper that caught people that might have steered away from music that combined hip-hop, reggae and Caribbean sounds. The Fugees were master wordsmiths that strung together memorable lyrics. Not only did I wear out The Score, but it is also the only album that I know all the lyrics from start to finish.
The saddest thing about writing this post is that I have to use wording that talks about The Fugees in the past tense. The trio had a epic rise to fame that had everyone knocking on their doors. The formula that they used with The Score seemingly set the stage for a career that would churn out dozens of incredible records. But, it seems like anytime you bring together so much talent into one room you are bound to have conflict. Chatter has always pointed to infighting and creative differences within the camp. Fame has a way of doing that I guess. In 2004 the gang reunited for Dave Chappelle’s Block Party. 2005 brought us the single “Take It Easy” that got everyone talking about a comeback. Alas, it seems like a reunion is just as possible as me raising unicorns for profit. Ah, but a boy can dream can’t he?
Members of The Fugees have done some great stuff on their own as well. Wyclef certainly has been the one that forged ahead and made a name for himself as a solo act. Lauryn dropped the groundbreaking album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, and then pretty much dropped off the face of the earth. The Fugees seem to have a very complicated relationship that is hindering the release of future work. Thankfully what remains uncomplicated is the pure genius of The Score.
KC’s Personal Picks: “FU-GEE-LA”, “How Many Mics” & “Ready or Not”
Check out the action packed video for “Ready or Not”
Listen to the album
Buy the album
It’s not kind to toot horns. We at Fresh Scouts know this. But we at Fresh Scouts also can’t help ourselves.
We nailed the whole B.o.B. thing. (Toot toot!)
There. Now that that’s out of the way, we can move forward with the rest of the article explaining why the whole B.o.B. thing is going so well at the moment. Currently, his first single, “Nothing on You,” is sitting pretty at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 after eleven weeks of rising up the rankings. But eleven weeks puts the debut of that single somewhere at Groundhog Day. We featured it in our Weekly Jukebox just 72 hours after New Years—almost a full month before the song even hit the airwaves.
There we go again. Okay, we’re done tooting this time. Promise. Cross our hearts.
That particular single, which seems to do nothing but get catchier and catchier every time you hear it, melts like a hot fudge sundae on your tongue in the middle of the summer time. It’s got this oldschool vibe to it that makes people just want to jump on the bandwagon. No one blames you guys for loving the song. It’s good. It happens.
But B.o.B. is probably a whole lot more than you realize. He raps (and raps well), but he also produces a lot of his own music and plays multiple instruments. Bobby Ray (B.o.B.’s a.k.a.) has been a mixtape stud for a few years now, and the relationships he’s developed working on those underground projects have put him together with some pretty impressive names for his first major-label album, “Introducing Bobby Ray,” due to release on Tuesday.
Check out this cast of characters: Eminem, Hayley Williams of Paramore, Lupe Fiasco, T.I., and Rivers Cuomo of Weezer (among others). All for a guy that’s got one hit and has never put out his own LP before. That says something about how respected this feller is among musical insiders.
The reason we write about him now is because we heard a second song from him recently, and we probably enjoyed it more than “Nothing on You,” if you can believe that. It’s “Airplanes,” the track featuring the hot lead singer of Paramore, as well as Eminem on the remix. It capitalizes on the hip-pop style the Black Eyed Peas have made work so well, except the rapping is like a bajillion times more reputable.
Other sneak peaks of the album (courtesy of several YouTube pirates) were equally impressive, leading us to believe that the album is going to keep B.o.B. at the top of the Billboard charts for a while. “Airplanes” is going to be a hit. You should believe us. We tend to get these sorts of things right.
Check out “Airplanes Part 2” right here:
And, of course, “Nothing on You” over at Lala:
It wasn’t long ago we featured this silent “K” duo of alternative hip-hop brothers in our Weekly Jukebox. The New Orleans natives employ electronic, alternative and hip-hop to create a steady flow of multiple genres of music in their 2008 release Remind Me In 3 Days. Their most famous single “Bang! Bang!” has been featured on this thing called the radio and also some show called Entourage.
But after picking up their album, I was [not] surprised to find a whole album of catchy tracks not far from the very attractive beats in their first single. Songs like “F!re (Put It in the Air)” and “Cappuccino” take hip-hop, stick it in a blender with guitars, hardcore and awesome and toss out a delicious hip-hop milkshake on the other end. Pretty appetizing? I know.
In a sea of auto-tune and a top 40 that time and time again has followed the same formula, a group like The Knux show that some artists can still hang with the big dogs. They make me believe that it is still possible to make unique beats and create a unique sound without the “help” of Kanye West. Take that Kanye West.
After the two brothers “Krispy” and “Joey” were displaced by Hurricane Katrina, they re-located to Los Angeles where they kicked off their now successful music career. They were quickly invited to pretty much every major U.S. festival including the famous Lollapalooza where they were discovered by the also famous me. And I promise, once you check The Knux out you’ll be hooked on your new favorite hip-hop artists. You can send thank you cards to me. Money is also accepted.
Check out the video for “F!re (Put It in the Air)”:
Listen to the album:
Buy the album:
If you like The Knux, check out k-os!
