Friday, August 18, 2006
| I don't play no games like I forgot my jersey |
 Texas is the home of the playas and pimps
Trae feat. Paul Wall, Three 6 Mafia, Jayton & Lil' Boss of S.L.A.B. - Cadillac
One of the things Texas hip hop is great for is the posse track. OK, one of the things hip hop is great for is the posse track, but these Texas cuts seem to have their own distinct take on the form that makes a great thing pretty fucking amazing. My theory is that because all the big Texas names are primarily rapping about rather limited, culturally specific subject matter - cars, drank, hometown pride, etc., - they've finessed their flow and their presence as their standout qualities rather than their subject matter. This is hardly an original thought - 7er Heightsy was alluding to much the same thing a few days. So I guess when you get that many rappers all on the one track, and they're all rapping about the same general thing, the only way they can stand out is by dropping mesmerising punch line after punch line. And if you get a whole bunch of H-town rappers on the one track all trying to out-do each other you know it's gotta be fucking gold.
Trae's track isn't quite a posse cut - it's still primarily Trae, and the guests are support players, but nevertheless, y'all need to hear Trae, and as one more blogger who's blogging about how not enough people are blogging about Trae, maybe that will change and y'all will start blogging about Trae. And listening to him, too. This is about cars, so we get everyone dropping great lines about how much they love their Cadillacs, and it's all over this thick grimey bassline that sounds kind of Three 6-ish (they're on here, so it's a distinct possibility that they produced it), and by the time we get those icy synths dripping like candy paint sneaking in when Paul Wall starts rapping, you should be sold. I'll be writing Trae's new record up for Stylus in the coming weeks, so you've got until then to cop that, otherwise you'll just be... well, you'll be missing out, won't you?
Z-Ro feat. Trae, S.L.A.B., Paul Wall, Chalie Boy & Chamillionaire - From The South (Texas Remix)
This also has Trae on it, and a million other great Texas kids, so, yeah, again, it's great. The original was on Z-Ro's Let The Truth Be Told and it's good too, but it doesn't compare at all to the Texas remix, which, so far as I know, is only available on Rapid Ric's Afta Da Relays mixtape. (I got it from The Shrimp sometime last year). This exemplifies what I was saying - it's hard to go ten seconds without someone saying something incredible. Let's start with Paul Wall informing us that he brushes his teeth with Windex and go from there. It's also worth owning solely for the Chamillionaire verse, because, while I'm real pleased that the King Koopa is getting his cash on, there is no way "Ridin' Dirty" or the Ciara collab or anything from The Sound of Revenge compares to verses like these.
Bun-B feat. the H-Town All Starz (Lil' Keke, Slim Thug, Chamillionaire, Paul Wall, Mike Jones, Aztec, Lil' Flip & Z-Ro) - Draped Up (H-Town Mix)
And here again we have another stunning Chamillionaire verse, followed (as everyone's noted) by a Paul Wall verse, something we're incredibly lucky to be hearing on a 2005 track (as everyone's noted). But really, everyone brings it here, from Slim Thug doing his bawss thing to Lil' Flip's melodic flow to Mike Jones being his goofy-ass self and shouting a lot. Even Aztec, Roc-La-Familia's next big thing for about 5 minutes last year sounds good, rapping in Spanish and getting to do a verse alongside some of Houston's finest - nearly all of Houston's finest, actually, which is why this is so enjoyable.
Buy Trae's Restless from Amazon
Buy Rapid Roc & Mr. Rogers' Afta Da Relays mixtape from Mix Unit and Buy Z-Ro's Let The Truth Be Told from Insound
Buy Bun B's Trill from Insound
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Posted by Jonathan
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Friday, August 18, 2006 at 3:58 AM | Permalink
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I'm sure you frequent this blog as much as I do, but there was some fun BBC video footage of Trae, Bun B, Devin the Dude and the Grit Boys over at Houston So Real the other day.
Paul Wall never fails to deliver a great verse. If only we could get him to carry that over into a great solo track at some point...
Posted by
Lady K! : |
8/18/2006 6:23 AM
i'm from houston and i never hear this shit. thanks for being my new supplier!
Posted by
heightsy |
8/18/2006 6:33 AM
hey, no i haven't been round houston so real for a while - thanks for the heads up.
and, re paul wall - i did think The People's Champ was surprisingly good, but that was basically because the best tracks had enough guests that Paul Wall could work on just giving a great verse - as you ay his forte.
and heightsy - you're also from houston? we've got a real h-town contingent on the 7, huh?
Posted by
Jonathan |
8/21/2006 9:53 AM
haha, yeah... 3/7ths of us are native houstonians. And mallory's about to move here too!
And since we're on the subject-- and this always eventually comes up in discussion of houston rappers-- I went to high school with Paul Wall and Chamillionaire! And knew Paul vaguely as a friend of a good friend of mine at the time. Also, Adrian did some promo work a few years back for the color changin' click as well. Yay for living in Htown!
Posted by
Lady K! : |
8/21/2006 10:05 AM
oh word! you've got swisha house connections!
that is beyond amazingly cool. if i ever make it to houston, we've got to party with the city's rap elite.
Posted by
Jonathan |
8/21/2006 11:56 AM
haha, "connections" is such a strong word!
but hell yes. If you come to houston, you're more than welcome to crash at Mallory's and my house (given the ok by mallory, that is), and we'll all go explore Club Ice Age together or something. Or if you come next summer, maybe they'll have another Screwfest or something and we go sizzurp shit up.
Posted by
Lady K! : |
8/21/2006 12:05 PM