Last night at SOCIAL CLUB, we played with the one and only DJ PREMIER for SebastiAn’s EP release party.
I want to share with you my favourite album of the legend:

DAILY OPERATION, by Gangstarr.

All Preemo’s genius is in these beats.

Guru’s rhymes ain’t bad either, of course!

Peace to the man, and rest in peace to the Guru.
Real honour to rock it the man—

Mehdi.

If you needed another proof that god exists—

This one is dedicated to my people in Tunisia, and the crowds in Egypt and Libya.

SET FREE—

Mehdi.

Is ‘Welcome To The Terrordome’ the best song in the history of rap music?

Yes. It is.

—

—

I got so much trouble on my mind
I refuse to lose
Here’s your ticket
Hear the drummer get wicked
The crew to you to push the back to Black
Attack so I sat and japped
Then slapped the Mac(Intosh)
Now I’m ready to mike it
(You know I like it) huh
Hear my favoritism roll “Oh”
Never be a brother like to go solo
Lazer anastasia maze ya
Ways to blaze your brain and train ya
The way I’m livin’, forgiven’
What I’m givin’ up
X on the flex hit me now
I don’t know about later
As for now I know how to avoid the paranoid
Man I’ve had it up to here
Gear I wear got ‘em goin’ in fear
Rhetoric said
Read just a bit ago
Not quittin’ though
Signed the hard rhymer
Work to keep from gettin’ jerked
Changin’ some ways
To way back in the better days
Raw metaphysically bold
Never followed a code
Still dropped a load
Never question what I am God knows
Cause it’s comin’ from the heart
What I got better get some
(Get on up) hustler of culture
Snakebitten
Been spit in the face
But the rhymes keep fittin’
Respects been givin’ how’s ya livin’
Now I can’t protect a pad off defect
Check the record
An reckon an intentional wreck
Played off as some intellect
Made the call, took the fall
Broke the laws
Not my fault they’re fallin’ off
Known as fair square
Throughout my years
So I growl at the livin’ foul
Black to the bone my home is your home
So welcome to the Terrordome
Subordinate terror
Kickin’ off an era
Cold deliverin’ pain
My 98 was 87 on a record yo
So now I go Bronco

Crucifixion ain’t no fiction
So called chosen frozen
Apology made to who ever pleases
Still they got me like Jesus
I rather sing, bring, think reminisce
‘Bout a brother while I’m in sync
Every brother ain’t a brother cause a color
Just as well could be undercover
Backstabbed, grabbed a flag
From the back of the lab
Told a Rab get off the rag
Sad to say I got sold down the river
Still some quiver when I deliver
Never to say I never know or had a clue
Word was heard, plus hard on the boulevard
Lies, scandalizin’, basin’
Traits of hate who’s celebratin’ wit satan?
I rope a dope the evil with righteous
Bobbin’ and weavin’ and let the good get even
C’mon down
And welcome to the Terrordome.
Caught in the race against time
The pit and the pendulum
Check the rhythm and rhymes
While I’m bendin’ ‘em
Snakes blowin’ up the lines of design
Tryin’ to blind the science I’m snedin’ ‘em
How to fight the power
Cannot run and hide
But it shouldn’t be suicide
In a game a fool without the rules
Got a hell of a nerve to just criticize
Every brother ain’t a brother
Cause a Black hand
Squeezed on Malcom X the man
The shootin’ of Huey Newton
From a hand of a Nigger who pulled the trigger

It’s weak to speak and blame somebody else
When you destroy yourself
First nothing’s worse than a mother’s pain
Of a son slain in Bensonhurst
Can’t wait for the state to decide the fate
So this jam I dedicate
Places with racist faces
Just an example of one of many cases
The Greek weekend speech I speak
From a lesson learned in Virginia (Beach)
I don’t smile in the line of fire
I go wildin’
But it’s on bass and drums even violins
Watcha do gitcha head ready
Instead of gettin’ physically sweaty
When I get mad
I put it down on a pad
Give ya somethin’ that cha never had controllin’
Fear of high rollin’
God bless your soul and keep livin’
Never allowed, kickin’ it loud
Droppin’ a bomb
Brain game intellectual Vietnam
Move as a team
Never move alone
But
Welcome to the Terrordome

This weekend, as I started to read Randall Sullivan’s LABYRINTH on the murders of Big and Pac, I noticed how much MC Eiht and Compton’s Most Wanted’s impact on 90’s California rap has been almost completely dismissed by the rise of Death Row Records. Same goes for King Tee. And if it wasn’t for Ice-T’s “Cop Killer” move, it seems like Ice Cube would’ve remained the only L.A. gangsta rapper with a significant résumé, outside of Suge Knight’s arms reach.

Yet, the STRAIGHT CHECK’N EM album is simply a masterpiece. First single ‘Growing Up In The Hood’, which you might remember from the BOYZ N THE HOOD soundtrack, was as good as anything Dr Dre produced. ‘Gangsta Shot Out’, ‘Raised In Compton’, ‘Can I Kill It’, all these songs are still guaranteed to take you instantly right in the heart of Compton. Production is simple but effective. DJ Mike T is in the right line of Cali gangsta DJ’s (Yella, Total K-Os, Aladdin…). And MC Eiht’s voice and flow is so specific, and his accent is so crip, he’s only been matched by Eazy-E and Snoop Dogg in personifying that West Coast infamous swagger that shocked the world from 1988 to 96.

My favorite track of the record :

DEF WISH   Compton’s Most Wanted

And the hood takes you under,

Mehdi.

   It’s a nice day outside, thought I could do a quick ‘SUPREME PROOF‘ share before turning the MPC on.

   You probably know this 1964 Wendy Rene song already. It’s been featured on numerous Stax compilations (and most notably on Uncle O’s SHAOLIN SOUL), and been notoriously sampled by the RZA in Wu-Tang’s first album.

   Still, it always feels like the first time when you hear the opening organ chords, and Wendy’s voice is immaculate. I read somewhere that she was 16 when she recorded this. How could you sing those lyrics and express those feelings with so much soul when you obviously didn’t even have the time to actually go through that kind of life situations? I guess that’s what they call A GIFT.

  Couple of technical notes:

     -I was never a big reggae fan, but this rhythm reminds me of early Jamaican stuff.

     Busy P, who’s my number one go-to guy when it comes to all things Dancehall related, can maybe enlighten us on this possible paternity between 60′S Memphis 7inches and Lee Perry early productions?

    -Second, and fascinating thing about this song: the chord sequence never change. It is exactly the same from the intro to the outro. One can still appreciate 3 minutes of absolute pleasure, with no breaks, no new change every 8 bars, no drastic drop before the last chorus—

        Peace,

          Mehdi.

         Wendy Rene : After Laughter, Comes Tears.