Another list of stuff, this one of stuff I have been listening to:

• Was less excited about the 25 anniversary release of Paul Simon’s Graceland after figuring out that “Obvious Child” was from another album.  Regardless, it is still a masterpiece.  You can listen to it over at spinner.com.
• Also spinning at Spinner are the Features new album, who are playing Rib Fest in North Center (Lincoln/Damen/Irving) this weekend.  Also playing are J. Roddy Watson and the Business and Heartless Bastards.  Anyone else want to go?
• If you haven’t had enough of albums to listen to on Spinner, check out Ganstagrass.  It is exactly what it sounds like, hip hop and bluegrass.
• Love “No Interuption” by Hoodie Allen, but it might just be for when it references the “Ders“.
• Soul-sides.com has a good post about Betty Wright.
• If you’re looking for some cool hip-hop for the summer, check out this older post I stumbled upon.  All it is missing is some Jurassic 5.
• Newest song that I only know about because of a commercial is Hello’s New York Groove (or Ace Frehley’s almost exact cover of it)

NPR has the full album stream of their “Boys and Girls” that is coming out on the 10th. These are not usually up for a very long time, so check it out now before they take it down.

http://www.npr.org/2012/04/01/148918546/first-listen-alabama-shakes-boys-and-girls

So my iPod finally kicked the bucket. It was a slow and painful death, but the good news is,  it’s now reunited with Steve Jobs. #jokes.

Moral of the story, I’ve been using Jeremy’s old iPod since homeboy got an iPhone. We decided, as I’ve told Brian about, to buck the college bro trend of embracing Phish and Grateful Dead. Instead, we’ve been downloading 2Pac, Biggie, Kanye, Snoop Dogg etc.

So the following is a list of my/our favorites. If Neil can make his Twitter bio Kanye lyrics, then I think there’s hope for all of us. I’m going to again plug Rap Genius for lyrics and explanations. BIG reason I got into the genre.  (WordPress won’t let me put all the tunes on, so sorry for YouTube links)

Jay Z & Kanye West: Watch the Throne. N’s in Paris was an instant classic, but most of the other songs are awesome as well.

No Church in the Wild

N’s in Paris – They finally released the performace. Wouldn’t you watch this 8x live?

Otis– Grammy for Best Rap Performance. Yeezy and Hov were absent to recieve it. Classic.

Gotta Have It

New Day– Kanye’s favorite rap he wrote, according to him.

Who Gon Stop Me

HAM Hard As a Motherlover

2Pac. I wondered why I hadn’t heard his songs on the radio or anywhere else before. Probably because half the song would be silent due to the cussing. He respects the ladies, though.

Me Against the World

Life Goes On

Only God Can Judge Me – My favorite beat.

Can’t C Me – You should never put his rhymes with Dre…

All About U– My twitter bio…

F*ck the World

Keep Ya Head Up – 2Pac cares ladies, if don’t nobody else care.

Ghetto Gospel (with Elton John)

Notorious B.I.G. is the latest one, and he only released 2 albums while alive, so there aren’t quite so many favs yet.  His view on the ladies is a little different.

Juicy

The What (with Method Man) – switch video quality to 720p. Got a 6 shooter and a horse named Trigger.

One More Chance – Original version. Skip the first minute.

Big Poppa

I Love the Dough (with Jay-Z) – Jay Z plays Monopoly with real cash.

Yelawolf. Alabama boy just made it big, got himself signed by Shady Records. “Radioactive” is his first album. Good.

Daddy’s Lambo– I admit it sounded dumb at first, but it grew on me.

Everything I Love the Most – Kinda want to learn guitar just for this song

Let’s Roll (with Kid Rock) – The future popular one.

If you made it this far, here’s a reward

Other favs:

Ain’t No Fun-Snoop Doggy Dog. Nate Dogg is the first verse. Don’t think you’ll need any lyric explanation for that one.

Kobe Bryant – Lil Wayne

Finally, on the polar opposite of this is a commercial from 2 weeks ago on APHC. Looks like I know what’s going to replace my iPod.

P.S. Illini Men’s Water Polo is now (in)famous. Visitors are impressed with our bro stories I guess? Feel free to ask me to explain anything.

While I am still trying to decide if the Phantom’s recent discovery of Big Sean’s Dance Ass is either the stupidest song I’ve ever heard or my new favorite, I do know that I am really into Charlie Parr right now.  I first heard two of his songs from a post at Rollo and Grady, and haven’t been able to get the songs out of my head since.  Check out this video: