Young Jeezy feat. Jay-Z and Fat Joe: Go Crazy Remix
Original version appears on Thug Motivation 101 (Def Jam, 2005)
Lil Kim: Lighters Up
From the forthcoming album The Naked Truth (Atlantic, 2005)
AZ feat. Ghostface and Raekwon: New York
Featured on DJ Kayslay’s NYC Drama Pt. 4. From the forthcoming album A.W.O.L. (Quiet Money/Fastlife, 2005)
All three of these songs have already made the blogosphere rounds so I’m not claiming to have broken any of it. Nonetheless, they provide some good fodder for discussion.
1) The “Go Crazy” remix is easily one of my favorite songs for the summer – those horns and that loop are incredibly soulful and gives the song a musical depth that’s considerably better than a lot of the more crunked out and bounce beats on Jeezy’s CD. Maybe it’s the Jay-Z cameo and how Jeezy references Scarface’s “Guess Who’s Back” on his first verse, but the two songs share a similar emotional tone. It doesn’t hurt that on both too, everyone’s braggin’ about how much weight they used to move. I’m surprised Pusha T didn’t cameo on this too. And yeah, so even if it’s obvious that Jeezy probably ghostwrote Fat Joe’s lines, at least they’re decent lines.
By the way, caught this one off of Spine Magazine.
2) Let’s just ask the obvious: why is Lil Kim trying to sound like Lauryn? I know everyone’s said someone needs to step up and take L-Boogie’s place ever since she went all Tracy Chapman but for a woman who’s clowning Foxy Brown for having a ghostwriter, Kim’s blatant channeling of Lauryn is not exactly a good look even though, all things considered, the bite is pretty good. It’s not the best Lil Kim song you ever heard but it’s not crazy wack either. Scott Storch does a nice job on the track.
Found this via Different Kitchen.
3) How hot is AZ’s forthcoming LP, A.W.O.L. sounding right now? Spine Magazine linked to this burn off of a recent Kayslay tape and sh– is bonkers with the old school loop, air raid sirens and Ghost and Rae on the cameo tip. I’m telling you – AZ rarely gets his due but his last album, Aziatic was one solid listen and totally slept-on by most. If “New York” is any indication (plus all the other recently leaked joints), AZ might have the best album of his career on tap.
chatter