Bizarre Interview On Global Grind

Royce Da 5'9 And Eminem - Fast Lane

New music from an estranged duo.

Crooked I "2.0 Boys" Verse

Performed at the Nectar Lounge in Seattle, Washington April 3, 2011.

Slaughterhouse: Everybody Down

BOI favorite Slaughterhouse have a series of video "previews" in promotion of their SXSW appearance in Austin, Texas. This one seems oddly like a rap version of Frank Miller's Sin City:

Mac Miller: Frat Boy Rap

There's a whole new crop of rappers, singers and hip-hop acts out there. Alot of them are really damn talented and the presence of them is a blessing. Nevertheless, some appear more genuine than others. Take this video of the 2011 XXL Freshmen Roundtable:

At the end, you can see that Yelawolf is visibly annoyed by being present with a bunch of teenagers. Given his history, it is very understandable. While he has toiled for years, Mac Miller has tumbled out of high school into the rap game while Diggy Simmons, son of Rev. Run of Run DMC, has arrived where he is because of nepotism.

However, a guy like Mac Miller really makes me puzzled. Rappers like Brother Ali of Minneapolis or Sonny Bonoho of Seattle/Tacoma have been grinding for years, and this cat from Pittsburgh puts out a few mixtapes, films some videos and ends up on the cover of XXL and put on a level with a guy like Yelawolf. As Royce da 5'9 said in "Lyrical Murderers," "Imagine a grizzly standing next to a teddy bear."

While Miller has had a premature, lubricated ride to fame, Yelawolf has been grinding for years. He has been homeless and lived on food stamps. He has been assaulted and grown up in the methodone laboratory woods of Alabama. His previous effort at the big time, with the single "Kickin'," didn't go anywhere in 2007. Where was Mac Miller in 2007? A freshman in high school?

I've done some follow ups on Miller and looked up the songs he has available on YouTube. The topics are fairly trite, with beats that are reminiscent of Heiroglyphics and other pot-driven indie rap. With track titles like "Nikes On My Feet," "Senior Skip Day" and "Kool Aid and Frozen Pizza," the guy is not a lyrical genius but apparently knows quite a bit about smoking pot and getting the munchies. Life is tough on the mean streets of Pittsburgh, I guess.

Now, if Mac Miller is reading this, I just have a few recommendations. Take the chance at one of your next mixtapes or even your up and coming records to make a big tribute to those that paved the way. Since you seem to be into party rap, pay tribute to the people who paved the way: Beastie Boys, Digital Underground, De La Soul. Recognize that you have unbelievably blessed and that alot of people have put work in and never gotten as far as you have so quickly. I was 19 once and remember how difficult it is for guys of that age to really see beyond their own experience. Mac Miller would be advised to understand the hardship and pain that alot of us have gone through to get where we're at.

You don't need to have been shot at or lost friends to gang wars or car accidents to be a rapper, but you do need a holistic experience to be more than a passing fad that people enjoyed while puffing herb. If you want cultural resonance, you'll have to have something about you that resonates. Being a full of himself teenaged frat boy rapping about skipping school to buy cookies won't do it.

50 Cent - The Paper (I Get It)

Download it here.

Yelawolf Says "Counting White Rappers Is Like Counting Your Black Friends"

Yelawolf talks getting booed off stage and standing out as a white rapper.

Yelawolf XXL Freestyle

Via Ill Roots:

Eminem, Yelawolf and Slaughterhouse - 2.0 Boys

This is fabulous. Every single member of Slaughterhouse, Eminem and Yelawolf all on one track. Download it here.

Yelawolf - Good To Go

The first video release by "Eminem's replacement" since his signing to Shady Records:

Yelawolf - The Next Great White Hope

Yelawolf just got signed along with the supergroup Slaughterhouse to Shady Records, the label that Eminem started and that launched the career of 50 Cent. The guy is really interesting - half Cherokee and a small town boy from Alabama who once lived in the Bay Area. Slaughterhouse is probably going to be pleasing to hip hop aficionados like yours truly but Yelawolf may actually bring in cross over appeal and wreak in alot of love from white people too scared to touch hip-hop that doesn't look like them.

Besides all that, Yelawolf is mad talented and has paid his dues with mixtapes like Trunk Musik, which is available to download free. His lyrical ability is proved by his ability to spit over the best tracks in hip hop canon, like in this Outkast/Mobb Depp compilation:

Yelawolf OutKast and Mobb Deep Freestyle from I'm Really Popular! on Vimeo.