#when i was so close to finally evolving from the pimp career.....

[mikkouille]

it's dropping thought hours but even tho the website sucks I want my bimbo dot Land account back

[iamspok]

Top 5 Greatest Hip-Hop Albums

In May 2018, I started this article with the intention of finishing it that very same day as a simple ‘top 5′ list, over 6 months and 6 drafts later, I’m finally ready to set out the terms of discussion for not only what I believe are the best albums in hip-hop but how we should measure ‘greatness’ when it comes to the whole genre.

Different genre’s of music demand certain aspects from an artist to reach the top of the pyramid, some of which are almost entirely out of their control. Popularity is not necessarily an indicator of true greatness, although it certainly is a vehicle that an album can ride into the consciousness of new audiences for decades.

The greatest albums require both extremely high levels of style and substance to stand out from the rest and that is shown by the albums that sit at the top of the pile for each genre, including hip-hop.

When I originally started writing this, I wasn’t sure to include albums of significant importance to the genre (Straight Outta’ Compton, The Chronic..) or whether to recognize the early pioneers like Flash or Bambaataa, eventually I decided that to focus on what I believe to be the very best hip-hop has to offer, this is my write-up after all..

I’ve been a huge fan of hip-hop & rap since I was young and the only place to start this list is with what I commonly hear as an answer to the question ‘what is the best hip-hop album of all time?’...

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nas - Illmatic (1994)

Imagine this; you start out your career as an MC and within a few short years, with the release of your debut album, you become one of the most important rappers on the planet and the album is not only talked about as the best rap album of all time, but it’s in the discussion for best album of all time, across any genre.

That is what happened to Nas in 1994 when he released the hardcore hip-hop masterpiece, Illmatic.

Showcasing rhythmic perfection and poetic lyrics from the young rapper paired with beats supplied by some of the best producers on the block such as DJ Premier, Q-Tip & Pete Rock, the album would wrestle the power away from the thriving west coast scene and signal the renaissance of the east coast, with the likes of Wu-Tang Clan & Mobb Deep following shortly after.

‘Halftime’ & ‘N.Y State Of Mind’ both showcase everything that is impactful about hip-hop and are consistently mentioned as two of the classics of the genre, alongside the ever-quotable ‘Life’s A Bitch’, the album would stun audiences upon its release, with many people fascinated with Nas’ multisyllabic rhymes and flawless delivery, but it was also the songs under the hood that keep Illmatic ticking along.

The nostalgic ‘Memory Lane (Sittin’ in da Park)’ showcases Nas’ poetic lyricism, mixing the styles of the old school and new school to create a haunting melody. ‘One Love’ is a storytelling marvel, composing of a series of letters to incarcerated friends, addressing unfaithful girlfriends, emotionally tortured parents and loyalty.

‘It Ain’t Hard To Tell’ wraps up the album up with a stylish, superior form of rap, the new sound of hip-hop was here and Nas will forever be one of the most important figures in the genre, largely thanks to the impact that Illmatic had and still has today.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Run The Jewels - Run The Jewels II (2014)

I could have honestly put any of the three releases by RTJ here. the prodigious duo of Killer Mike & El-P smashed onto the rap scene in mid-2013 with their acclaimed self-titled debut album but it’s with the release of RTJII that they found their true sound.

Militant, raucous and heavily beat-driven (thanks to the production by El-P) you would be forgiven for not being able to name a single album that exploded onto the hip-hop landscape quite like this, picking up many ‘album of year’ accolades in the process including Rolling Stone and Pitchfork.

The natural chemistry between the two artists shines throughout, both of which were at the apex of their prime at the time of recording the album, delivering a powerful mix of hard-nosed disses and sophisticated composition.

Coming in successively at track 2, 3 and 4 on the album ‘Oh My Darling Don’t Cry’, ‘Blockbuster Night, Pt. 1′ & ‘Close Your Eyes (And Count To Fuck)’ are three of the most aggressive and abrasive tracks in hip-hop history, the last of which includes the ever-warring Zack de la Rocha of Rage Against The Machine.

In ‘Lie, Cheat, Steal’ they created their anthem, a song that will forever define this era for the duo and with ‘All Due Respect’ & ‘Early’ they have the help of multiple collaborator BOOTS and pop-punk superstar Travis Scott to add to the variety of tracks on the album, the former being a synth-heavy showcase.

They were one of the first bands to utilize new VR technology, experimenting with a music video for the astonishing, post-apocalyptic track ‘Crown’ and they gave fans a light-hearted parody remix album named ‘Meow The Jewels’ featuring beats created entirely from cat sounds that was released free for fans.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

GZA - Liquid Swords (1995)

When I was younger, a friend I knew was talking to me about hip-hop, I had just discovered the Wu-Tang Clan and I was excitedly telling everyone I knew about ‘Enter The Wu-Tang’ and she told me that it paled in comparison to the solo album put out by GZA, a member of the influential clan.

I remember thinking that a solo member of the group could never create something as powerful as Wu-Tang’s debut release and I put off listening to it for weeks. To this day, I’ve not had the pleasure of experiencing an album for the first time like I did with Liquid Swords.

Heavily sampling the martial-arts cult classic ‘Shogun Assassin’, the dark atmosphere and outstanding storytelling has ensured that it’s only increased in popularity since it’s release almost 25 years ago, with many fans retrospectively proclaiming it the greatest hip-hop album of all time. 

It’s a testament to Liquid Swords that the Wu-Tang Clan, one of the most well-known, influential groups in rap history featuring the collective talents of RZA, GZA, Ghostface Killah, Method Man, Raekwon & Ol’ Dirty Bastard amongst others, have never managed to create such a memorable and strangely beautiful album. It cements GZA as the band’s greatest pure lyricist.

Proof of its greatness is in the knowledge that this album flows together seamlessly, so much so that it’s hard to pick out individual tracks that stand out, so I won’t. Each track is as important to the feel and story of this magnificently crafted classic.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kendrick Lamar - DAMN. (2017)

If you haven’t already heard, Kendrick Lamar is the new king of hip-hop.

Back in 2009, a supergroup formed under the name ‘Black Hippy’. The band would feature Schoolboy Q, Ab-Soul, Jay Rock and a young Kendrick Lamar. After gaining some attention early on in his career, he eventually outgrew the group and burst onto the west coast scene in late-2012 with his breakout ‘Good Kid, M.A.A.D City’.

‘To Pimp A Butterfly’ & ‘untitled unmastered’ would follow in 2015 and 2016 respectively, catapulting Kendrick to the very top of the rap game. But it was his 2017 masterpiece DAMN that would cement him as the top solo performer in hip-hop.

Featuring soul-baring, furious rhymes that are unrivaled by any modern rappers, the break-neck speed of ‘DNA’ would become the calling card for what would be the breakout moment for the young prodigy, the moment that the doubters finally had to stand up and take notice.

‘ELEMENT’, ‘PRIDE’ & ‘FEAR’ all showcase the swagger and drawl that has become synonymous with Kendrick’s style, but it’s the stand-out ‘FEEL’ that takes the album to the next level. The dynamic and sparse track is stripped down to only the essential beats, displaying Lamar’s evolving complexity in his material. 

There is even room for some notable cameos on a few tracks, with Rihanna featuring on ‘LOYALTY’ and Zacari providing the hook for the excellent ‘LOVE’. U2 even manage to contribute to the album with Bono lending his voice to ‘XXX’.

Still only 31 years old and with a few classics already under his belt, the world awaits the next album from the young king.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A Tribe Called Quest - The Low End Theory (1991)

How can anyone talk about the greatest, without mentioning A Tribe Called Quest?

Initially praised as a quantum leap for rap, the Tribe’s second album The Low End Theory is to hip-hop what Thriller is to pop music or Discovery is to electronic music; forever synonymous with the genre and in the years since it’s release, is seen as a major milestone for the genre.

People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm, the debut album by the group, was ground-breaking in its own right. Giving audiences a glimpse into the sprawling, rhythmic sound that the band would go on to cultivate and along with the unique approach to the mic shown by Q-Tip, they released hit after hit starting with the classic ‘Can I Kick It?’ followed by ‘Luck Of Lucien’, ‘Rhythm’ and ‘Bonita Applebum’. They would follow on with their experimental, jazz-centric style with the second release only a year later.

The major difference between both albums comes down to two things; the emergence of Pfife Dawg and Q-Tip’s peerless production style.

A month after the release of People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm, group member Phife Dawg learned that he was diabetic and almost left the group. After speaking with fellow member Q-Tip, they agreed to increase his participation on their second album and it would lead to a completely new element to the sound that the band were evolving on The Low End Theory.

This is no more prevalent than on the excellent ‘Buggin’ Out’ and lead single ‘Check The Rhime’ and despite initial worries for its critical success, the release of the stand-out ‘Jazz (We’ve Got)’ followed by ‘Scenario’, which is widely considered to be the Tribe’s greatest track and the breakout moment for the career of the young Busta Rhymes.

It’s also the strength of the other songs on the album that resonates with audiences to this day, the Q-Tip led opener ‘Excursions’ sets the pace whilst the exceptional ‘Butter’, ‘Vibes And Stuff’ & ‘Verses Of The Abstract’ feature beats and rhymes that are so well assembled that they could lead any other album, past or present.

[ptsdtrbl1]

10 Most Destructive Person's to American in 8 Decades

The 10 Most Destructive Americans of My 8 Decades

By Frank Hawkins

America has undergone enormous change during the nearly eight decades

of my life. Today, America is a bitterly divided, poorly educated and morally fragile society with so-called mainstream politicians pushing cynical identity politics, socialism and open borders. The president of the United States is threatened with impeachment because the other side doesn’t like him. The once reasonably unbiased American media has evolved into a hysterical left wing mob. How could the stable and reasonably cohesive America of the 1950s have reached this point in just one lifetime? Who are the main culprits? Here’s my list of the 10 most destructive Americans of the last 80 years.

10) Mark Felt – Deputy director of the FBI, aka “Deep Throat” during the Watergate scandal. This was the first public instance of a senior FBI officially directly interfering in America’s political affairs. Forerunner of James Comey, Peter Strzok, Lisa Page and Andrew McCabe.

9) Bill Ayers– Represents the deep and ongoing leftist ideological damage to our education system. An unrepentant American terrorist who evaded punishment, he devoted his career to radicalizing American education and pushing leftist causes. Ghost wrote Obama’s book, “Dreams of My Father.”

8) Teddy Kennedy – Most folks remember Teddy as the guy who left Mary Joe Kopechne to die in his car at Chappaquiddick. The real damage came after he avoided punishment for her death and became a major Democrat force in the US Senate, pushing through transformative liberal policies in health care and education. The real damage was the 1965 Hart-Cellar immigration bill he pushed hard for that changed the quota system to increase the flow of third world people without skills into the US and essentially ended large-scale immigration from Europe.

7) Walter Cronkite – Cronkite was a much beloved network anchor who began the politicalization of America’s news media with his infamous broadcast from Vietnam that described the Tet Offensive as a major victory for the Communists and significantly turned the gullible American public against the Vietnam War. In fact, the Tet offensive was a military disaster for the NVA and Viet Cong, later admitted by North Vietnamese military leaders. Decades later Cronkite admitted he got the story wrong. But it was too late. The damage was done.

6) Bill and Hillary Clinton—It’s difficult to separate Team Clinton. Bill’s presidency was largely benign as he was a relative fiscal conservative who rode the remaining benefits of the Reagan era. But his sexual exploits badly stained the Oval Office and negatively affected America’s perception of the presidency. In exchange for financial support, he facilitated the transfer of sensitive military technology to the Chinese. Hillary, a Saul Alinsky acolyte, is one of the most vicious politicians of my lifetime, covering up Bill’s sexual assaults by harassing and insulting the exploited women and peddling influence around the globe in exchange for funds for the corrupt Clinton Foundation. She signed off on the sale of 20% of the US uranium reserve to the Russians after Bill received a $500,000 speaking fee in Moscow and the foundation (which supported the Clinton’s regal lifestyle) received hundreds of millions of dollars from those who benefited from the deal. Between them, they killed any honor that might have existed in the dark halls of DC.

5) Valerie Jarrett - The Rasputin of the Obama administration. A Red Diaper baby, her father, maternal grandfather and father-in-law (Vernon Jarrett who was a close friend and ally of Obama mentor Frank Marshall Davis) were hardcore Communists under investigation by the U.S. government. She has been in Obama’s ear for his entire political career pushing a strong anti-American, Islamist, anti-Israeli, socialist/communist, cling-to-power agenda.

4) Jimmy Carter - Carter ignited modern day radical Islam by abandoning the Shah and paving the way for Ayatollah Khomeini to take power in Tehran. Iran subsequently became the main state sponsor and promoter of international Islamic terrorism. When Islamists took over our embassy in Tehran, Carter was too weak to effectively respond thus strengthening the rule of the radical Islamic mullahs.

3) Lyndon Johnson – Johnson turned the Vietnam conflict into a major war for America. It could have ended early if he had listened to the generals instead of automaker Robert McNamara. The ultimate result was: 1) 58,000 American military deaths and collaterally tens of thousands of American lives damaged; and 2) a war that badly divided America and created left wing groups that evaded the draft and eventually gained control of our education system. Even worse, his so-called War on Poverty led to the destruction of American black families with a significant escalation of welfare and policies designed to keep poor families dependent on the government (and voting Democrat) for their well-being. He deliberately created a racial holocaust that is still burning today. A strong case could be made for putting him at the top of this list.

2) Barack Hussein Obama - Obama set up America for a final defeat and stealth conversion from a free market society to socialism/communism. As we get deeper into the Trump presidency, we learn more each day about how Obama politicized and compromised key government agencies, most prominently the FBI, the CIA and the IRS, thus thoroughly shaking the public’s confidence in the federal government to be fair and unbiased in its activities. He significantly set back race and other relations between Americans by stoking black grievances and pushing radical identity politics. Obama’s open support for the Iranian mullahs and his apologetic “lead from behind” foreign policy seriously weakened America abroad. His blatant attempt to interfere in Israel’s election trying to unseat Netanyahu is one of the most shameful things ever done by an American president.

1) John Kerry – Some readers will likely say Kerry does not deserve to be number one on this list. I have him here because I regard him as the most despicable American who ever lived. After his three faked Purple Hearts during his cowardly service in Vietnam, he was able to leave the US Navy early. As a reserve naval officer and in clear violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, he traveled to Paris and met privately with the NVA and the Viet Cong. He returned to the United States parroting the Soviet party line about the war and testified before Congress comparing American soldiers to the hordes of Genghis Khan. It was a clear case of treason, giving aid and comfort to the enemy in a time of war. We got a second bite of the bitter Kerry apple when as Obama’s secretary of state, he fell into bed with the Iranian (“Death to America”) mullahs giving them the ultimate green light to develop nuclear weapons along with billions of dollars that further supported their terrorist activities. Only the heroic Swift Vets saved us from a Manchurian Candidate Kerry presidency. Ultimately we got Obama.

Dishonorable Mentions! (Just missed the list)

John Brennan –Obama’s CIA director who once voted for Communist Gus Hall for president. A key member of the Deep State who severely politicized the CIA. Called President Trump treasonous for meeting with the president of Russia.

Jane Fonda – movie actress who made the infamous trip to Vietnam during the war in support of the Communists. She represents hard left Hollywood that has done so much damage to our culture.

Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin – Both revered entertainers helped usher in the prevailing drug culture. Joplin personally suffered the consequences. Karma’s a bitch.

Robert Johnson /BET – Helped popularize ho’s, bitches and pimps while making millions on great hits such as “Jigga my Nigga”, “Big Pimpin’”, “Niggas in Paris” and “Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z.” Many scholars within the African American community maintain that BET perpetuates and justifies racism by adopting the stereotypes held about African Americans, affecting the psyche of young viewers through the bombardment of negative images of African Americans. Who can disagree?

Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, Jr./The New York Times – Once the gold standard of American journalism, the paper always had a liberal tilt and occasionally made bad mistakes. As the years have gone along, the paper has slid further and further left and today is virtually the primary propaganda arm of the increasingly radical Democrat Party. Still retains influence in Washington and New York.

George Soros – Jewish former Nazi collaborator in his native Hungary who as a self-made billionaire has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into left wing groups and causes. The damage he has caused is difficult to measure, but it’s certainly large. He has funded much of the effort to kill the Trump presidency.

Frank Marshall Davis - Anti-white, black Bolshevik, card-carrying Soviet agent. Probable birth father and admitted primary mentor of young Barak Hussein Obama.

Frank Hawkins is a former US Army intelligence officer, Associated Press foreign correspondent, international businessman, senior newspaper company executive, founder and owner of several marketing companies and published novelist. He is currently retired in North Carolina. fhawk852@gmail.com

Editor's note: the original version of this piece misspelled the names of Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin, and also implied that Hendrix was a drug addict, which the coroner's autopsy after his death clearly stated was not the case. AT regrets these errors.