4th Of July Weekend

I traveled north a bit for the weekend of the 4th, from Cincy to Cleveland to spend some time with relatives I don't see nearly enough. I loaded up the iPod with a bunch of new music I haven't gotten around to listening to yet, and some oldies, and some old oldies - I'm talking Billie Holiday and Louie Armstrong - you never know what kind of mood you'll be in.

I spent most of my time up there lounging with a beer on the deck or a boat on the lake while the kids played. Music was always playing - the kind that all generations enjoy though. So, of course I enjoyed that too. I thought I'd have more time to listen to some new stuff on the road trip portion, but the wife got a new car with Sirius/XM and wanted to check that out. The service is good, plenty of channels; few, if any commercials; and you almost always have a signal. The Eminem station, Shade45, I could take or leave depending on the specific show, probably. I wasn't overly impressed. The old school station was good for the most part. I got to hear the Kool Moe Dee vs. LL Cool J on-wax battle in order, which is always nice - though they didn't finish it. It also seems to be missing some direction as to what they consider old school. They played the Furious Five and MC Lyte. But, they also played Ice Cube. And not NWA Ice Cube, or even Predator Ice Cube. It was "We Be Clubbin'" Ice Cube. That's pretty recent if you ask me. So, it's more of a overall hip hop hits station than it is an old school station.

I did get to listen to Von Pea's (of Tanya Morgan) new mixtape So Motivational: The Most Skullduggery of Mixtapes, which is dope, complete with a Mike Tyson's Punch Out cover. I can definitely get behind this one. Plus he has a song on it called "Cantstandya" which is a Seinfeld reference that I appreciated. I'm actually listening to Tanya Morgan is a Rap Group now. It's a few years old, and I forgot how great it is. The music is smooth and they did the interludes as references to famous skits on other hip hop abums. If you haven't heard it make sure you find a copy. Tanya Morgan is one of the best groups in hip hop right now. They make my city look good.

Other than Von Pea, I have a few more things to recommend. I'll just list them.

Sha Stimuli - Overtime: My Soul To Keep
MC Esoteric - Fly Casualties
The Roots - How I Got Over (*maybe the best of the year so far)
Packfm - I F*cking Hate Rappers
Theophilus London - I Want You (*be warned that this shit is different. I'm not sure how to describe it, but I like what he's doing. Been listening to this for a while now.)
Fashawn - Ode To Illmatic