By shelz.

I would like to thank Raheem Devaughn.  He single-handedly saved this column this week.  Don’t get me wrong, there is plenty of Lench Mob style jacking for beats going on out there in Hip Hop land. However, the plural is deceptive as there are only two beats that anyone seems to recognize as worthy.  And I’m over both.  I don’t wanna rock, a stone, a pebble or a boulder at this point.  And exhibits have run the alphabet and are starting to move into numerical designations. 

However, a small handful of artists out there, including Mr. Devaughn, have dropped some lyrics over something besides the usual suspects.  I’m sure many of you, like me, would prefer almost anything else.  So what we have this week is a relative smorgasbord of sounds.  Some are old and some are new. We have rap, R&B and some straddle the line between the two.  But there will be no exhibit rock here today.  You can thank me later.

First up, Fat Joe. He goes in on his ex-broad over Timbo’s “Say Something.”  She broke Mr. Cartagena’s heart and now he’s laid out on the Fendi sofa licking his wounds and re-winding all the great things he did for her in between making big stacks of money of course.  He said he even gave her the last bite of his pizza and from looking at Fat Joe we can assume that’s true love.  That chica doesn’t know what she just gave up.

There’s more Drake than Joe.  There’s more Timbo than Joe.  I don’t really see the point of releasing this, but whatever.  Check him out. Say Somethin’ (Freestyle)

Next is Mr. Devaughn and his remix/remake/cover/interpolation of Tribe’s “Bonita Applebum” from his Mr. February aka March Madness mixtape. Tinkering with a classic on this level is dangerous business, but I really like what Supreme did with this track.  It’s recognizable, but changed enough that it has its own feeling.  The extra layer of synth smoothes it out and grants the track a jazzy mood that the original didn’t have and Devaughn’s delivery of the lyrics is pretty good.  I likes. 04 Bonita Applebum (Produced by Supreme

We’re going to go back to that same tape with Raheem Devaughn declaring his majorness over Pharell’s “I’m Good.”  It’s nice to have him on the hook instead of Mr. Neptune.  However, Phil Aide delivering the bars instead of Pusha T and Malice, not so much.  It’s ambitious for him and he hangs, but you know the comparisons won’t put him on top regardless of where Clipse fans rate this particular song in the VA boy’s catalogue. 02 I’m Good (ft. Phil Ade)

Moving on we have KRS One and Buckshot doing some serious elder statesman justice to Showbiz and AG’s “Soul Clap.” DJ Tony Touch delivered his favorite Shade45 freestyles from the past year via his best of ‘09 mixtape recently and the tape is pretty dope. It’s a shame I had to go that far back, but it’s either this or Ace Hood showing love to Snoop Deville.  And you don’t want that, take my word for it.  24 KRS-One and Buckshot Freestyle

Finally we have some of Wayne’s youngins for your viewing pleasure.  Jae Millz, Tyga and Gudda Gudda take Pac Div’s “Mayor” track hostage and don’t do too bad with it.  Or maybe the beat saves your ears from actually paying attention.  Dunno.  However, somebody tell me what Decaturing a beat means. I’m in the A and don’t even understand.  This is from Millz’ mixtape, The Flood Warning. Enjoy.

In conclusion class, I’m really hoping that we will see a bit more beat diversity in the coming days. It’s all love for Just Blaze and Snoop but I’m sure even they are tired of the repetition. Maybe next week we’ll have a “Pants on the Ground” article.  I feel a flood of remixes coming. Sigh…

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