By shelz.

As you may or may not have noticed, And the Beat Goes On went on a mini strike last week.  There was nothing floating around in the virtual world of freestyles except the endless supply of lyrics appended to “Exhibit C” and “I Wanna Rock.”  Well, except for the few brave souls who ventured out of the box to spread their lyrical skills across “O Lets Do It”” and “Say Something.”  Either way;  567,000 rappers over four beats is just a bit tedious and The Planet is never that desperate for content.  So we gave it a week for these artists to re-group and they have, thankfully.

This week we have some folks you know and some folks that aren’t so familiar.  There are beats from last year and beats from last millennium; a grand mix off all that makes good Hip Hop and artists are starting to raise the bar on creative track selection.  Now whether or not the flows equal the quality of the tracks is up to the listener, but at least you’re not hearing bad lyrics on over used tracks this week.  In other words, all of these songs have their own particular set of redeeming qualities.  Anyway, on with the show.  First up is F&S.

Folk & Stress have been hanging on the fringe of Hip-Hop as their debut LP, “The Box” has been  sitting somewhere collecting dust for the past two years.  Anyway, they’re back with a prelude to the album which, I suppose, means the LP will be liberated shortly.  Here are the brothers (no they’re not brothas, but they are brothers) over Isaac Hayes’ “Hung Up On My Baby” which ya’ll will probably know better as the sample from The Ghetto Boys’ “Mind is Playing Tricks on Me.”

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Next is Bobby Creekwater.  Dude definitely has that dead pan, stoic delivery here that makes the most of his Georgia drawl.  He takes a big stand flucking around with “Elevators,” asks a lot of simple questions with complicated answers and does so without a whole bunch of unnecessary posturing or irritating adlibs.  This is nice.

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Now we have something new from Gorilla Zoe.  Honestly, I’m not sure if this is new or not, but it’s the first time I heard it  Anyway the song is from DJ Bobby Black’s new mixtape, Crack Addiction.  I swear we are overdue for a new Hip-Hop as a drug reference. Even crack users have moved on.  The song is called “Zoe Amazing” and its Zoe over Kanye’s “So Amazing.”  Kanye also has a feature here and I’m thinking this collaboration is a bit of wishful thinking on the DJ’s part.  I’m not sure how I feel about that chorus, but it’s interesting.  Maybe not.

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Moving on, we have TreaZon and his latest mixtape, Breathe Life 2.  Buried down at the bottom of the track list is his take on the “Bonita Applebum” track.  I’ve never heard of this kid before, but he isn’t bad.  Plus, you can’t lose with classic ATCQ.

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Rounding out the audio is Ca$his, another of Eminem’s spitters in waiting (Is Creekwater still down? I don’t keep up with Hip-Hop cliques these days). He’s another emcee who just can’t get over the hump, but he seems to always be around. Here he discusses drugs, paranoia, and fellatio over Biggie’s “Kick in the Door.” Not the most exciting guy in the world, but capable.

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Well there you have it folks, this week in rhyme, stolen beat style. Hopefully, folks will continue to find some new music to latch on to and let the usual suspects fade into the past.  Only time will tell, but I’m not holding my breath. Deuces.

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