Young Berg Takes Another L

Wow. Props to Zack Lee over at The Exactly for posting this one. Apparently Young Berg has gone even further out of his way to look like an ass. If you're not sure who he is (and that's not at all surprising) he was featured on Ray Jay's hit "Sexy Can I" last year and he had a song called Sexy Lady that got burn in some clubs for a while. He got his transformers chain stolen while at a club last year. Subsequently his chain popped up on youtube videos as it took a cross-country road trip without him.
As the video shows, Young Berg was in Miami recently and took a drunken ride on a scooter. He crashed with a passenger riding on the back and police picked him up. He tries over and over in the video to explain to the officers that he's an artist (and therefore immune to laws that govern the general public). Then when his manager tries to come and get Berg's chain before he's shipped off to county, he hits a cop and runs away. This stuff is just ridiculous. This type of thing is the reason many of us would gladly welcome an end to the overblown, oversaturated hip hop era we're currently in.
Pardon my dangling participle.

FRESH NEW MUSIC!

I downloaded this mixtape a couple hours ago (thanks to The Exactly) and I've been bumping it without pause. It's a GREAT mix of some super hype joints that up and coming artists (and some of your favorite vets) have put out this year. There's a super strong roster on this one that includes Wale, Johnson & Johnson, Jay-Z, 88 Keys, Talib Kweli, The Cool Kids, Outkast, Kid Cudi, Murs, 9th Wonder, Dead Prez, N.E.R.D., Kanye, Lupe Fiasco, Common, Q-Tip, Alchemist, and more.
Can you believe that?!
That's hype.
Here's the link.
CLICK TO DOWNLOAD

Kanye Conference Call to Def Jam

I heard a large percentage of Kanye's album yesterday. My impression of what I heard was that he's moving away from the sound he's developed and fostered over the years. His new sound is heavily influenced by a classic rock sound. It's a Phil Collins type of vibe that isn't hip hop in spite of the autotune/delay/distortion that has (although not native to hip hop) saturated the hip hop world. Again, I say that sound is not hip hop. Yes, Kanye West is a rapper and hip hop producer, but much of the new sound is not in a hip hop style. Of course, he's still Kanye, so he hasn't completely flipped the script.
I'm also not saying that I dislike most of what I heard. Overall it wasn't bad. I just think it's ridiculous that hip hop fans who hated on the smooth rock sound of years past will be all over this album and talk about how revolutionary it is and how dope the new sound is. If I did half the beats Ye did on this new album and sent them to a hip hop label, they'd laugh me out the door. But we can be sure he'll receive acclaim from many in the biz. That's the way it goes. Love to Kanye. I still think he made a humongous impact in the world of hip hop. His albums are new classics. He had every would-be producer trying to duplicate his soul sampled sound. His Glow In the Dark tour was phenomenal. So props to him.
Click here to hear Kanye's conference call to Def Jam. It's an interesting behind the scenes look. Props to the Exactly for the link.