W.O.R.K State Of Mind

Stressed Out

Over the last couple of weeks I have been overly busy. Two weeks ago was one of my busiest and most stressful I've had in my life. Dealing with uni and exam pressure was one thing but juggling multiple tasks and meeting work deadlines are another. The thing is, you have to come through. And I feel like I did. I delivered time and time again, like when Guru raps!

I was working til 10pm or 9pm each night. Other nights I took work home to do. And when the weekend came, I spent nearly all of Saturday night and sunday working on three different things. I handled my biz.

The X.O experience with the Likwit Crew

And to top if off, they had Tha Alcaholiks concert on a Thursday night! Got home at 1.30am. Can't believe on a work night, I was bumping to DJ Ticklez spinning Wu-Tang's Triumph @ Gaelic Club, then the Liks came out and the crowd went bananas. I don't know if I can handle going to concerts on a weeknight, especially when I've had such a busy week. Getting too old for this! I promise I'll stick up some photos.

The concert was good, and true to their name, J-Ro ended the concert in a drunken stupor and was kinda unconscious, and about 20 girls from the audience on the stage. Tash on the other hand, with his raspy distinctive voice was off the heezy.

Kebab Shop conversation @ Thursday 10pm

Before the Lik concerts Nate, Plunk, Kris and I hit up a kebab shop near the Gaelic club for a pre-concert snack. I'm not sure how it started but we started throwing up hip hop questions. My recollection isn't 100% (and it never would be before an ALCAHOLIKS concert and if you were under the influence like everyone else). Peep the following:

Best record label?

DJ Ho: Loud (unanimous nods).

Kris: Rawkus records

Nate: Deathrow. They got Dre, 2pac, Snoop.

Nate: Ruthless (DJ Ho laughs). Def Jam (a few nods).

DJ Ho: Sony!

Nate: BMG! Mushroom! Universal! (Group cracks up laughing)

Best Producer?

DJ Ho - DJ Premier. Dr Dre. Timbaland. Swizz Beats (I think someone mentiond them).

Best Hip hop Beat?

I went for the early answer knockout blow with "Shook Ones" by Mobb Deep. Mutual agreement. That's a mad beat. There were some other good nominations like I got 5 on it by Luniz. If I had my time, I would have also gone for some DJ Premo beats and "Guess Who's Back" by Rakim (I think that's the name of the song).

Best Wu-Tang Member?

The conversation then took a heavy slant towards one of hip-hops all star groups - the Shaolin clan. I let the others have their say, but my man Raekwon wasn't getting his due props. I argued that Raekwon's Only Built for Cuban Linxs was superior to any Ghostface Killah album. However, I hadn't heard Rae's followup effort which apparently flopped and the counterargument was that Ghost had two really bangin' albums. Still I went down fighting!

Rankings (Almost unanimous): Ghostface Killah, Method Man, GZA, ODB, Raekwon.

Biggie or 2pac?

Like I was on autoplay - I quickly said Biggie. Ain't no way 2pac matches his lyrical content. Nate took his time and anwered 2pac. I asked him to justify how 2pac comes close to Biggie. Hit'em UP. Changes. I was like no way, if you look at Biggie's whole body of work (Ready to Die, Life after death) which is still relatively short, its quality over quantity. Biggie out trumps Pac in every way. Lyrical flow, beats, content, etc....

The final question as we walked out the shop......

Should the Source be allowed to re-adjust their rankings for 5 mic albums?


Bit of background. The Source was the hip hop bible. The magazine for hip hop heads. Their reviews were critical and to some extent did influence sales of hip hop albums if you took them seriously. I really didn't but I read them like every one else. They ranked albums out of 5, with a mic for each rating. One mic out 5 meant it was garbage. 3.5 was average, 4 was defintnely worth a listen. 5 mics meant it was an instant classic - one of the greatest of all time.

The thing is, a while ago, The Source went back and readjusted some of their rankings including bumping up Biggie's "Ready To Die" from 4.5 mics to 5. Ready to Die is one of the greatest albums of all time and most hip hop fans would agree. Some would even say that changing the ranking to 5 mics was justified.

However, I believe that you have to judge an album at its time of release. In its context. You have to judge it against whatever is out there and in the past. You can't go back, and say, "hey that WAS a classic". Of course you can do that but to legimately review an album you have to make that call then and there. That is what makes the review good, if it can pick out an instant classic.

A lot of this is irrelevant now since The Source's standards went out the window. The founder ordered that a group which he managed, called Mademen be bumped up from 4 mics to 4.5 mics. Benzino, a rapper in the group also had ownership in the Source. Corruption I tell you. Then they gave Lil Kim 5 mics and The Source became garbage.

I'm out like 5 mic classics,

DJ Ho.