New Rap Music

J. Stalin "Don't Talk"

Two guesses as to what this song is about! Just kidding, of course it's about how J. Stalin doesn't talk to police about anything illegal that his friends have taken part in. Ironically, J. Stalin makes a career out of rapping about how he and his friends do tons of stuff that Oakland PD wouldn't be too happy about. I'm certainly not the first person to point this irony out. Maybe that's why Stalin left this off of his latest release, Prenuptial Agreement, which hit stores on Tuesday. Order it here.

That's for all the bastids who say I ignore Livewire too much. I've been listening to the album, and actually like it.

Roach Gigz "Respect It"

Davey Boy Smith of Southern Hospitality fame (if you're looking for someone who stays up on Bay raps from even further away from the Bay than I am, check his blog out. It's dope) dropped this track on the internet earlier this week. It's more or less what you've come to expect from Roach: wacky free-association raps that are really fun to listen to. It almost reminds me of old Redman, how he just lets the words take him on some stoner journey for a few verses, even if he's just talking random nonsense.

UCLA Jerk Kings "iGo iPop"

I thought these guys were a parody of the "genre" (check the comment from "London")! And yet, once you have a friend make a beat on FruityLoops, and you rap a bunch of silly punchlines over it, you are actually making Jerk music, like it or not. Though, hats off for the one line "like Picasso, I'll put your eyes where your mouth is". That actually made me "LOL", but I had been drinking.

The Boy Boy Mess "Take a Flick"

Messy Marv has a number of issues with Twitter (a micro-blogging service you might have heard of) that makes it very difficult to follow him, despite my journalistic obligation to do so. As you can imagine, he's pretty prolific. But, taking a step back, he's pretty fucking great at Twitter. For instance, in the last few days, he released the above song, called E-40 a "fat ass", and released his Online Press Kit, which I've posted below. I learned a few things:

The BoyBoy Young Mess - Electronic Press Kit from Scalen LLC. on Vimeo.

Did you know that Messy Marv started the Scalen Foundation in 2005 to help at-risk youth? Did you know he also doesn't find anything ironic about showing footage of young kids stomping out an SFPD cruiser while talking about the work he does for San Francisco's at risk youth? He never ceases to amaze.