Best Rapper Alive

Kanye West Is The Best Rapper Alive.
As Proof I Offer These Three Songs.

Family Business


I Love this song because anytime I am talking about music at work and any old person casually rights off all of rap music wholesale as all blah blah blah any bland argument you can make I know that they are dead wrong. This song is a lovely ode to Family. Getting Together, Standing Together, All These Things. And Kanye Goes Hard while being incredibly tender.

Addiction


I used to ride my bike up the Sylvan hill towards the Red House to this song. The Beat MMMmmm. Kanye Sounds Great. The Chorus is So Good. And Completely Understandable. That is really important to me. I appreciate crisp annunciation. Im about that. And those BaDaDaDaDDas! Excellent.

Hey Mama


I danced with My Mom at My Wedding to Hey Mama because the first time I heard It I had to pull over my bike because I had got cray teary eyed I let the song finish and then I called My Mom. Nothing makes me love My Mom more than listening to this song. This Song Is Perfect. And the rhyming is perfect and so natural and flawless everything works together. Theres a verse of You Are So Beautiful To Me. And To ride out the song Kanye sings "Mama" a million times and I Love It.

I Rest My Case.
Kanye Is The Best Rapper Alive.

-jv
fan
A Plus1Press Publication

Safe House

I am real excited to see Denzel's new movie Safe House. It comes out February 10. The preview is great. It might be another example of a Kanye song being too effective at making a movie look awesome, Limitless had Power in the preview and it looked like the best thing ever, it was aight. And Green Lantern wasn't Ryan Reynolds' fault. The bad guy in Green Lantern had a huge purple head an enormous purple dome that movie was never gonna be good. And it looks like Denzel is gonna play it all "Im impossibly smarter than you and my swagger is on another level" kinda like Training Day or American Gangster while Ryan seems like hes going to go from bewildered to bad-ass. I am ready for this movie. Check out the preview.

-jv

A Plus1Press Publication

Kanye's Silent Occupation

When Kanye is protesting, he lets Rev Run's brother do his talking for him.



-jv

A Plus1Press Publication

Beef Updates: Taylor vs Kanye and Jonah vs Schu

The Kanye/Taylor Swift saga has been lovingly followed by Plus1Press, and while they've each written and performed songs about how it was a meaningful experience and there's no bad blood, did we really believe? Well, allow me to help you sleep at night. While following Taylor around to write a New Yorker Profile, Lizzie Widdicombe went to the Met's Costume Gala with Swift and witnessed the following incident:


"Swift neared the top of the stairs and froze. She grabbed Erickson's sleeve in a panic: ‘Am I supposed to talk to him or not?” Standing by the door was the rapper Kanye West... Swift hesitated for a second, and then realizing that there was no time to wait for advice, continued walking up the stairs toward West. As she neared the door, he held a hand out, and they exchanged a studiedly casual “down low" high five. When it was over Swift stopped just inside the museum, looking giddy. Erickson let out a breath, and exclaimed "That wasn't bad!" Feeling my eyes on her, Swift didn’t comment on what had just happened. Instead, she said, "I’m so glad I didn’t bring a purse this year! "


High Five! or low five. either way, they coo'.


As for Jonah Hill and Matt Morrison, the beef lives on. Schuester has struck back, saying he'll meet Jonah on Jimmy Fallon and they can settle this. Ew. He did this via a video clip that Jimmy showed. I'd embed it, but it's way lamer than Jonah's real talk, and I'd rather you watch that. I'll let you know when the two come face to face. 

-av

A Plus1Press Publication

#SummerJams

Fuck Watch the Throne.

OK, Just kidding.  It's good and I know you're probably all listening to it.  There are some great tracks (My favorites are "Who Gon Stop Me" and "Why I Love You"), and the production value is outstanding.  Although it's not as good as either Jay or Ye's most recent solo projects.

But there was a rap duet album that dropped earlier this summer with much less masturbatory hype.

Hell: The Sequel is by Eminem and Royce da 5'9," who call themselves Bad Meets Evil.  I have never listened to Royce before this, probably because his name is fucking retarded, but apparently he is an awesome rapper. 

More importantly, this is the best thing Eminem has done since 2002.  His past few solo albums haven't been nearly as good as the pantheon records that he was dropping when we were teenagers.  The Slim Shady LP was a game-changer and The Marshall Mathers LP and The Eminem Show are two of the best rap records ever released.  Remember that Eminem?  With the scathing lyrics, mind-blowing flow, and complete irreverence for social taboos?  He's back:



That's some classic Em right there.  Who else would rap about having anal sex with Nicki Minaj?  Yes, apologies to the ladies, but Slim Shady is still as misogynistic as ever and there are numerous rhymes about domestic violence.  I feel like I'm in 7th grade listening to my portable CD player with big, shitty headphones.  There are some more mature tracks on the album, where they talk about the growing gap between the rich and poor...but I'm also totally feeling this song about taking lots and lots of drugs:



Anyway, now that Lil Wayne and Drake have announced that they too will be doing a duet album, it seems like this trend of rap cross-breeding will continue to produce sexy new sounds.  I'm totally OK with it.

-DMc, West Coast Correspondent

The OTIS video explained

When Jay-Z and Kanye met up to discuss the OTIS video, it went like this:

Jay-Z: I think we should get a flag.
Kanye: Lets get the biggest flag ever and wear white shirts. Maybe sometimes I'll wear red pants.
Jay-Z: I think Aziz Ansari is funny.
Kanye: Lets get Aziz and put him in a blue suit. But not let him talk. He'll be like our bitch.
Jay-Z: Lets make the car a Maybach.
Kanye: Lets start the video with us cutting a Maybach apart and then driving around a cool Thunderdome version of a Maybach.
Jay-Z: Lets get Beyonce , my wife, in it.
Kanye: Lets get four white girls and put them in green in the backseat.
Jay-Z:   ...
Kanye: And the best part will be when I say "I write my curses in cursive."
Jay-Z: You get me.
Secret bff handshake

Or something like that. 


-V
A Plus1Press Publication

Slam Poetry

Does anyone know who this is? I think you all should,, and if you don't, you should find out because he is powerful and he is moving and he does it all by speaking words.

I love slam poetry. I don't think a post has ever been made about it, but I think it's long overdue.
I could give you a good definition from an on-line dictionary, or I could give you mine, so I'll give you a combination:

Slam poetry is a genre of poetry deriving from a mixture of spoken word and theatre where the poem is read with the intent of being spoken. The feelings, emotions, and all other aspects are intended to be understood through hearing. It is a poem with or without a central beat, and it usually covers topics having to do with race, politics, current events, and gender or economic injustices.

Basically, it's that happy medium for everyone {who loves poetry but isn't used to rap yet} to find because then they will get used to rap AND still love poetry. And love slam poetry, win-win-win!

Kanye West???

Robert Frost!!!<3<3<3

                                


At least, that's what happened to me

So, I've compiled for all y'all my favorites over the two years that I've explored slam poetry. Feel free to comment with slams that you find or whatnot, I love hearing new things.


PS, you might notice that half of them are from a man named Anis Mojgani.

That is simply because Anis Mojgani (the lovely man above at the top) is undisputedly one of the best slam poets of our generations. So, yeah.

So, without further ado, go crazy-

Anis Mojgani:
the branches are full and these orchards are heavy

direct orders, here am i, shake the dust

For Those Who Can Still Ride An AIrplane For The First Time

George Watsky(Emerson Alum):
S is for Lisp

Lost Count: A Love Story:
Lost Count: A Love Story

Saul Williams:
Coded Language

Ernest Cline:
Dance Monkeys Dance

Listen and let your mind run wild.

< ! 3jb

Geek Rappers

As fans of music, television, comedy, and general 'geekiness' I feel that all of our palettes are broad enough that I can put this out there for all to love. I have assembled a few artists that if you don't know, then you should.

Donald Glover (member of derrick comedy and cast member of the show community) has a rapping alias known as Childish Gambino. If I could oversimplify his style and flow is to simply say that he makes songs using indie beats (adele and sleigh bells to name 2 off of the top of my head) to make amazing songs. Check out his new single off of his latest EP called Freaks and Geeks.


[its not the official music video b/c I wasn't able to embed the video file :-(]

The next one on my list who fits into this new category is Nyle. I have been a fan of this guy for a few years ever since I heard his remake of Lil Wayne's Let the Beat Build. Born in Philadelphia and schooled at NYU this guy is paying his dues on the underground for notoriety and respect and he has the chops to back it up. He has a couple of mixtapes available for free at his website and I suggest that if you like any of the following songs you should definitely download his mix tapes.


(As an incredible side note; the above video was shot entirely in 1 take by 1 camera man and the audio was recorded live. Amazing.)




The last rapper/hip-hopper I'll mention is a man by the name of Reggie Watts. To simply put it; awesome! He is literally a 1 man band with only a weird voice-distorter-machine-thingy and his own vocal chords and this guy is starting to get some real notice as of late. He has been a fairly regular act on Conan since he has switched to TBS but if you haven't seen him before check out this performance from the Conan O'Brien show and his uber famous single "Fuck Shit Stack" below.






Conclusion

I believe that the above artists are at the forefront of the next generation of hip-hop, R&B, rap and as well as comedy. Childish Gambino has some of the freshest beats I have heard in a while and the fact that the beats are all sampled from Indie bands is pretty amazing; plus his lyrics are incredibly fun/filthy which is a lovely reminder of B.I.G. Nyle is a smart young man trying to find his own voice in hip-hop and at the same time, I believe, he is helping others in the rap arena realize that they don't have to impersonate another mainstream voice in order to sound dope as all hell. Plus his lyrics are incredibly refreshing in a rap community mired in the dissolution that bigger cars and more chris brown-esque acts is what hip-hop needs. Reggie Watts is simply incredible and so fun to watch perform and the fact that he hasn't been scooped up by a Kanye West or even Andre 3000 to help make original and amazing beats is beyond me.

Peace & Love,
- sf

Katy Perry Rocks Right Now and Pop Makes a Comeback

Not that I lost any faith in pop music but driving two hours a day to the same Rhianna and Pitbull songs does make you go a little crazy sometimes. I have been known to hate on Katy Perry-MAINLY because that song California Girls is pure awfulness.

1) The Beach Boys already made a song about California girls and it was way better
2) Aqua and the band that sang I'm Blue Dab a Dee in the 90's don't make music like that or at all anymore. For a reason.
3) Don't be a bad ass and come out saying how you kiss girls and then turn around and pull some bubble gum pop bullshit that Britney put on "Baby One More Time.." as a filler. If I wanted to listen to that I'd just pull up Soda Pop and be done with it.

Besides that one slip up though I do love most of Katy Perry's songs. They don't sound like Lady Gaga, Rhianna, or Britney and she's slightly more bad ass without being crazy in general, crazy because Chris Brown beat you up, or crazy because everyone in the media follows you around and sometimes you shave your head and beat cars up with umbrellas.

Her new single E.T. is pretty great. It sounds like that T.A.T.U song that came out back in the day except instead about lesbians its about Aliens. Entertainment weekly wants us to believe that it wouldn't have been a single if not for Kanye's verses on it BUT I come to Katy's defense in this one. The song is awesome and so is the video. She has a way of making her music sounds more complex than typical female pop singers even if it is about doing it with your alien boyfriend. Of course Kanye jumped on this track! You think he's gonna miss an opportunity to rap about having sex with someone not human? No chance! Kanye definitely makes the song more awesome because I mean. He's Kanye. But we all knew that. Katy holds her own in this one though and I think that even without Kanye this song would rock.

Check it out and see what you think

jmn

ps. everyone should definitely check out Britney's new cd. I think it's super fun.

green&yellowgreen&yellowgreen&yellowgree&yellow

Wiz Khalifa's Black and Yellow is good.
Weezy's is better.


Also

 



adorable.
-jv

LOL means kanye is joking

Kanye tweeted this, plus an "LOL" which erryone deleted before they wrote an article about it making it one of the most forgotten and important LOLs in 2011, after his new song with Jay-Z got bumped from the top of the itunes best seller list by Britney's new song.I appreciated when Kanye interrupted Taylor Swift on MTV, Beyonce's video is one of the best of all time, also it was the best part of the awards show and its great that he is joking about it now. Kanye is the only rock star left.

Also whys it gotta hurt so bad when a limb falls asleep then wakes back up?

Also did erryone hear about the fox that shot the hunter? thumbs are totes overrated.
-jv

Runaway(s)

I was en route put up a link to Kanye's Runaway
and the internet reminded me about Del Shannon's Runaway,
if you don't have 34 minutes to watch Kanye's Runaway
you should at least watch the Ballin' Ballet Dance Scene
I love Kanye.
-jv