Cypress Hill - Dr. Greenthumb (1998)

I saw a gardening truck down the street from me today with "Greenthumb" pasted on the side and it reminded me of this classic track.

You can probably guess that Cypress Hill aren't rapping about gardening and you can also probably guess what they are rapping about, but regardless this song is brilliant. Classic Cypress Hill bouncy Muggs beat, classic Cypress Hill infectious hook, classic good fun Cypress Hill verses...it's just classic Cypress Hill from their underrated album Cypress Hill IV.

That's six times I've written Cypress Hill now. Seven.

Happy Sunday.

Nas - It Ain't Hard To Tell (1994)

Today I'm revisiting Nas' masterpiece debut Illmatic before I go to a showing of the movie about its creation "Time Is Illmatic".

In truth I could have picked any track off the album - every one is a 10/10 stone cold classic - but I've gone for the final track because I want to delve highlight Nas' performance a little bit.

The beat features a sample flip of Michael Jackson's Human Nature, but producer Large Professor does such a great job that while it has a familiar sound and nostalgic vibe, it also completely has its own identity. This probably makes the track the most accessible on the whole album, but don't think for a second that means that the lyrics are watered down.

Arguably this song features Nas' most technically impressive performance on Illmatic and even his while career. The way he flips multi-syllable rhyme patterns with a non-stop ridiculously smooth flow is incredible. It's this kind of rhyming that you imagine Big L, Eminem and the like took a lot of inspiration from.  The second verse is a particular standout:

The buddha monk's in your trunk, turn the bass up
Not stories by Aesop, place your loot up, parties I shoot up
Nas, I analyze, drop a jew-el, inhale from the L
School a fool well, you feel it like braille
It ain't hard to tell, I kick a skill like Shaquille holds a pill
Vocabulary spills I'm Ill
plus Matic, I freak beats slam it like Iron Shiek
Jam like a tech with correct techniques
So analyze me, surprise me, but can't magmatize me
Scannin while you're plannin ways to sabotage me
I leave em froze like her-on in your nose
Nas'll rock well, it ain't hard to tell

The song is all about a young and hungry Nas desperate to show the world that he's the best to ever do it. One of my favourite lines in the history of hip hop makes a pretty strong case as Nas brags that he will not only stare Medusa right in the face, he'll turn the tables and get her stoned.


I drink Moet with Medusa, give her shotguns in hell
From the spliff that I lift and inhale, it ain't hard to tell

After dropping this kind of debut, it's hard to argue with Nas' position as one of the greatest.

Dead Prez - Propaganda (2000)

When Dead Prez released their debut album Let's Get Free in 2000 they drew a lot of comparisons with Public Enemy for their politically charged lyrics and hard hitting instrumentals.  On the opening track of the album they refer to themselves as "Somewhere in between N.W.A. and P.E." which sums them up pretty well.  Sadly their career path wasn't quite as big of either of those groups, but for a short while at the turn of the millennium they introduced their ideals to a whole new generation of Hip Hop listeners with a string of singles unlike anything else on MTV at the time and in my opinion dropped a certified classic of an album.

One of the strongest cuts on the album is the bonus track Propaganda which was track 44 on the CD, following on from about 30 tracks of silence after the end of the main album.  The instrumental is a lot more peaceful than most on here, but the lyrics are anything but subdued.  The opening lines really set the tone for the rest of the verses:

You can't fool all the people all of the time
But if you fool the right ones then the rest will fall behind

M1 and Sticman ask their listeners to wake up and really think about what information they're being spoon fed by the government and the media rather than just believe everything that they're told as the truth.  They never get too far into weird conspiracy theories but they really do make you think.  It's a song that didn't get much recognition on release but it's well worth revisiting 14 years later as it's still as relevant today.

P.S. Listen to the album if you haven't already!

Public Enemy - Night of the Living Baseheads (1988)

This classic anti-crack anthem off Public Enemy's world renowned second album "It Takes A Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back" is our track for the day.  Using the double meaning of Base/Bass as a base (sorry) for the song is a great touch.

Fittingly the beat absolutely booms out of your speakers with one of the best instrumentals on the album as Chuck D lays down three witty verses that carry a serious message about the problems that crack was causing in the community at that time.

In some of the hardest hitting lines, Chuck relays an anecdote about a former rapper who steals everything from a man living out of a car in order to fund his habit

My man Daddy-O once said to me
He knew a brother who stayed all day in his jeep
And at night he went to sleep
And in the mornin' all he had was the sneakers on his feet
The culprit used to jam and rock the mike, yo
He stripped the jeep to fill his pipe
And wander around to find a place
Where they rocked to a different kind of...BASS

PE really were revolutionaries in socially conscious Hip Hop and given they were one of the biggest acts in the 80s it's great that they used their stage to say something worthwhile.  We can see their influence today as some of the biggest artists like Kendrick Lamar and Macklemore use their platform to tackle substance abuse amongst other issues.

Michael Jackson feat. Notorious B.I.G. - This Time Around (1995)

Bit of a treat for you today as two of the greatest of all time hook up for a collaboration on MJ's half Greatest Hits, half new music album from 1995, HIStory.

While it won't make many best MJ songs lists that's more a testament to the strength of his catalogue than a diss to this song. The production sounds a bit like something off Dangerous and would work perfectly well as a solo song, but then Big comes along at the end with a smooth as butter verse to cap things off.

Rest in peace to two of the best to ever do it. Happy Sunday.

The Roots - Can't Stop This (2006)

I was listening to Dilla's Donuts today and thought I might share something off that, but to be honest I feel that it's much better enjoyed in a full sitting rather than in bits and pieces.  So instead here's a classic number off The Roots' 2006 album Game Theory.

Released six months after J Dilla's untimely death, the crew decided to use the closing track of the album to pay tribute to the legendary producer.  Over one of Jay Dee's most beautiful 'Donuts', Black Thought raps his ass off in a way that I'm sure Dilla would have been proud of.

After the beat breaks down the song closes with a stream of people paying their own tributes as the song fades out.

An amazing song off a superb album.

RZA - Tragedy (1997)

Despite being the leader of the Wu-Tang Clan and having handled all the production duties on the unmatched sequence of classic albums between '93 and '97, The RZA hadn't taken centre stage as a solo artist until this video.   He'd always shone on group songs as well as features (4th Chamber a particular standout) with one of the most unique voices in hip hop so he had a lot to live up to.

Luckily with Tragedy he totally delivered with some of the best verses of his career over a stunning oriental beat and a haunting rendition of a Eurythmics classic for the hook.  The opening lines of the first verse are a great example of that iconic Wu-Tang style that made them such a force in Hip Hop:

Yo, yo, assassination, vaccination, poor education
Infatuation with Satan with global nataion taxation
Fiberoptic microscopic biological germ
Mad Cow burger on the market, Captain of your starship

The song really set down a marker for 1997 and whet the appetite of the masses for the Clan's second album Wu-Tang Forever that would be released a few months later.

The video was something special in itself and if you watch it back now, you can see how much it influenced The Man With The Iron Fists - the movie that he directed 15 years later.