QUARANTINE LISTENING: A VINYL HEAD'S JOURNAL

Ice Cube Kill at Will (1990) Priority Records Dateline: Saturday, April 25, 2020 I’m on my Rick Pitino right now. Straight Outta Compton Ice Cube is not walking through that door. Amerikkka’s Most Wanted Ice Cube’s not walking through that door. Boyz N The Hood Ice Cube’s not walking through that door. And if he does, he’s gonna turn around in make another Are We There Yet? I’m not mad at Cube at all. He's done really well for himself since he left N.W.A.  Which reminds me, I have to remind myself to catch the Big3 games on TV when the season starts.  I really enjoyed Are We There Yet like the next person? Just like I enjoyed Eddie Murphy in Dr. Dolittle and Daddy Day Care. It showed a different layer to them. Granted, I still dig Cube and Eddie when they’re at their edgiest. Now, it’s just a different kind of edge.  Loved Cube in Fist Fight .  I heard Eddie brought his old magic in the Dolemite movie.  I didn't get a chance to see it yet....

Gang Starr Step in the Arena (1990) Chrysalis Records Dateline: Saturday, April 25, 2020 It used to be that MCs flaunted their intelligence on the mic. GURU (Gifted Unlimited Rhymes Universal) KRS (Knowledge Reigns Supreme), Intelligent Hoodlum, Professor Griff. MC’s back then was street but at the same time they was trying to school us on what’s going down, so we can take those tools that they taught us and go out to the world hip. Part of an MC's job was to elevate the masses.  Making sure that you got lifted through their wordplay.  Now, it feels like those days are lost. Hip Hop on the mainstream don’t wanna teach you anything but things on the surface. Shit that’s not even real to an audience that's listening.  Pipe dreams. That goes back to my last entry where the powers that be wants you to be dumb down. It feels like the truth is like catching a bad cold. Instead of holistic healing, you have no problem relying on Tylenol for comfort. I'm gonn...