'Jack of Spades' is the best rap song on a film's sountrack. Ever.

The beat.

The lyrics.

The concept.

It was an instant classic.

2011 Collaboration Albums Fall Short

Remember all that madness I was talking months ago, hyping up the recent trend of artists coming together to pool their talents and resources to produce collaborative albums?

Well, simply put, I was wrong about them.

For some odd reason I figured that the union of two separate but very talented musical entities could only result in the highest standard for Hiphop music and lyrics. But I was wrong.

Not only did I see it as an innovative, creative outlet for rappers and Hiphop producers stuck in a genre that is slowly but surely becoming decidedly less creative than its pioneers intended for it to be, but, if done correctly, each project had the serious potential to generate more fans and, perhaps more importantly to the artists themselves, more revenue. But again, I was wrong.

South Bronx Street to Be Named for Big Pun?

Last month fans, friends and family of Big Pun gathered in the South Bronx to bring attention to their efforts to have a neighborhood street renamed in honor of the late great rapper.

If approved by the city, 163rd Street and Rogers Place would consequently become Big Pun Place, territory that is already marked with a giant mural of Pun.

Now, while I can admit that Big Pun is probably one of the single most talented lyricists and rappers that Hiphop has ever come across, I can also admit that I don't think that's a good enough reason to have a street named after him.

This goes beyond the allegations that Pun was a wife beater; allegations levied and later backed up by his widow, Liza Rios, who has shared video footage and other proof of Pun's violence against her.

There are literally tons of Bronx Hiphoppers -- including plenty of pioneers -- who have actually done plenty of good for their communities over the past two decades.

Aside from penning and spitting lyrics in the most complex of rhyme schemes, Pun's next best attributes were all scourges of minority communities worldwide: obesity, misogyny, gun violence, materialism, and [over]use of the "N word," which is doubly offensive considering Pun is not African-American.**

Why not name a street after KRS-One, who continues to exude positivity since his debut in 1986?

What about Kool Herc? After all, he is the DJ largely credited with creating Hiphop, and the building in which he is said to have created Hiphop has been turned into a national landmark. So why not name a street in Soundview after him?

Afrika Bambaataa's 1982 single Planet Rock is still a great musical influence for many Hiphop producers, and he is the founding father of the Universal Zulu Nation, a group that took neighborhood gang members and channeled their negative energy to use it for positive means in the community. This group, through one common cause -- Hiphop -- is thriving and continues to unite DJs, rappers, dancers and artists around the world.

The list of other viable candidates to have Bronx streets named for them is a lengthy one; one that down the road might very well include Big Pun. But right now there are others more deserving of consideration before Pun, and that's no knock on him at all. If we're going to honor Pun, we have to honor everything about him, not just his rhyming abilities.

However, if you disagree, you can sign the petition HERE for the street to be renamed.

** This is not to excuse black rappers using the N word to no end. With that said, in my opinion there is only one ethnic group deserving of using this word, and that is the group of folks who it was originally aimed at. It makes no sense for other ethnic groups to fling this word around casually when the history of that word is not their own. More on this later.

KRS-One: Fresh for 2011, You Suckazzz!

It’s been close to 20 years in the making but last week it was announced that KRS-One has teamed up with Bumpy Knuckles (p/k/a Freddie Foxxx) for Royalty Check, a collaborative album scheduled to be released at the end of this month.

True fans of both artists know that this reunion has been about 20 years in the making since Boogie Down Production’s seminal Sex and Violence album, which featured verses from then-Freddie Foxxx on two of its outstanding tracks. Here’s one of them:

I’ve already discussed at length what a great idea I think it is for so-called old school rappers to pool their talents and resources and go half on an album. KRS must agree with me considering that, if you count this upcoming project, over the past two years he will have dropped five full LPs and one EP created in the same vein:

• Survival Skills (with Buckshot, 2009)
  
• It's ALL Good (with Greenie, 2010)
  
• The Just-Ice & KRS-ONE EP Vol. 1 (2010)
  
• Meta-Historical (with True Master, 2010)
• Godsville (with Showbiz, 2011)
• Royalty Checks (with Bumpy Knuckles, May 2011)

Not included on that list is KRS's solo EP named Back to the L.A.B. (Lyrical Ass Beating), a brief but noteworthy selection of boom bap beats and rhymes released last summer.

However, among the aforementioned six albums is this month’s Godsville, for which KRS teamed with legendary Bronx beatsmith Showbiz (one half of the classic 90s due Showbiz & A.G.) to create 13 stellar tracks of traditional Hiphop music featuring a rejuvenated-sounding KRS, who reminds listeners that Showbiz is the man responsible for producing his 90s cautionary anthem, Sound of Da Police.

Much like I expect from Royalty Check, Godsville is rife with references to rappers who are watering down real Hiphop music because, as KRS puts it on the song Show Power, “some new jack pushing a new track, I mean his crew’s wack – screw that!”

And, as usual, radio DJs are also in KRS’s crosshairs, reminding them on the same song that “when you was hired you vowed to take the DJ art much higher” but “then you go hired and everything switched/ now the sales department is programming your mix/ they don’t wanna scratch no more, just mix/ they don’t want you to play the raw no more, just mix/ but this can be fixed/ you can grow some balls and tell the PD to his face ‘I quit!’”

Despite the repetition of these lyrical themes from project-to-project, this is what his core fans want to hear from him; it’s also what many non-fans get tired of hearing from him regardless of the accuracy in his message.

Other top songs from Godsville include This Flow, Legendary, Hear Me More, and Another Day (Park Jam Mix), a bonus track that is actually a remix of a song with the same name featured earlier on the album.

Not able to suppress his true battle rapper DNA, in one instance KRS employs what I call the “word association” style of rap in a threatening dig at new, young rappers who are all swag and no substance: “Y’all little rhymes is geegle, 'cause one blast will leave y’all freckle-faced – measles.”

What we love about KRS is that the huge chip on his shoulder that is clearly still growing, keeping KRS just as intolerant of wack MCs and DJs in 2011 as he was in 1986. It is this same consistency in an era of consistently bad Hiphop music that keeps KRS in the conversation of all-time best rappers; it is also this same consistency that has fans more than ready to hear the new album with Bumpy Knuckle.

Bronx Keeps Creating It!

These now classic lyrics first rapped by KRS-One almost a quarter of a century ago have never been more timely.

The Bronx -- also and best known as the birthplace of Hiphop -- in the past few years has made a serious resurgence with new, talented rappers seemingly coming out of nowhere, contributing some high quality beats and rhymes that should not be overlooked.

But while there's enough food in the kitchen for everybody to eat, three Bronx-bred pioneering Hiphoppers in particular want their borough (and the rest of the world) to know that they are still ready, willing and quite able to make the same type of music that once had them at the top of everybody's list of favorite rappers.

A rapper-producer when he first teamed up with AG in 1992, Showbiz put down the mic in 1995 in favor of personifying the Bronx in his music, churning out under appreciated dark and gritty street beats on a regular basis ever since.

So it's only right that he return to the forefront by teaming up with KRS-One for their Godsville album, an outlet that provides each of them a chance to rekindle the flames and chemistry of their past work together as well as create a full length album in the same vein of those collaboration albums that have been finding more and more popularity in and interest from the Hiphop community.

Several songs from the upcoming digital-only release have "leaked" online, providing a glimpse into what to expect from this unlikely duo's album, and so far the results are nothing short of dope.

Check out Improve Myself, which showcases Showbiz's signature steady drums under some muted, regal-sounding horns, all with KRS flowing about the need to stay improving oneself in a variety of ways, but especially when it comes to the music:


And KRS, fresh off last year's release of both an LP and an EP, continues to verbally assault the world and in the process cement his reputation of being the hardest working rapper alive.

But anytime Showbiz's name is mentioned, his main rhyming partner AG is bound to come up in conversation. And this time is no different.

AG has been busy juggling multiple independent musical endeavors, with last year seeing the release of three projects in particular that helped to reestablish him as one of the best, most sincere lyricists that Hiphop has ever had.

First there was the unexpected Everything's Berri album; then the J Dilla tribute mixtape; and finally, this past December there was the Thriller 2 mixtape with 950Plus, on which AG the soloist teamed up with two fellow Bronx rappers and returned to the form that won listeners over on his debut album more than a decade ago.

And now, as if he hasn't been busy enough, he's back with yet another full length album, Berri TV, due out at some point this month.

(Editor's note: From what I can garner from innumerable listens, the word "berri" is a positive term in AG's parlance. I'm not sure of its derivation or origin, but all indications are that it means something good.)

Here is the album's first single. Enjoy.

All In Together Now: Collabo Albums Thriving

2010 will be remembered for many things. But a lack of collaborative albums between solo rappers and a single producer is definitely not one of them.

Who knew that the phenomenon that was arguably perfected in 2003 and 2004 would continued to thrive six years later with an unusually high number of rappers and producers putting their egos aside to partner for the greater good of Hiphop music?

Aside from resulting in quality music from rappers and producers responsible for molding Hiphop into the pure artform that it is today, these collaborations also give the artists in question a chance to showcase their talents alongside their equally talented peers (something that does not happen as often as it could and should).

For this critic, when it comes to this type of Hiphop album in 2010, it just didn’t get any better than Skyzoo teaming up with !llmind for Live From the Tapedeck, which was released on Duck Down – the pioneering independent label responsible for a plethora of collaboration albums released over the past few years.

Boston area trailblazers Statik Selektah and Termanology took a break from being solo artists to come together to release their 1982 album -- one of the most slept-on underground rap albums of the year -- proving that Statik is one of today's best and most consistent producers in the business.

But late last month west coast mainstays The Alchemist and his rapping counterpart Oh No (and the brother of the legendary Madlib) quietly released Gutter Water, a monster of an album recorded under the name Gangrene that features beats and rhymes credited to both artists, similar in nature to the above referenced Jaylib project.

Released in that same vein, Philadelphia drug rapper Freeway and Jake One -- a prolific producer from Seattle who is responsible for tons of recent underground and mainstream hits – showcased their unlikely partnership in the form of Stimulus Package, 16 banging tracks that featured Free along with Raekwon, Bun B alongside his State Property bretheren.

9^th Wonder and Murs concluded their celebrated series of collaborative albums with ForNever, their fourth album together that didn’t quite measure up to their first three offerings in this format but was still much appreciated from fans of both.

The improbable alliance of KRS-One and Wu-Tang Clan producer True Master provided fans with a bird’s eye view of The T'Cha rhyming over that Shaolin sound, but unfortunately when the two immovable forces collided the result was not as breathtaking as fans might have hoped.

Looking forward to 2011, the popular trend of Hiphop collaboration albums promises to continue in a major way beginning with a joint album from Pete Rock and DJ Premier, who have gone on the record to discuss their upcoming project that will feature 10 tracks – five for each producer with the rapper(s) of the producers’ choice on each song.

Not to be outdone, Def Jam label mates Sheek Louch and Ghostface Killah (who both have albums scheduled to be released later this month) announced a few weeks ago the Wu/Block album, a collaboration of Wu-Tang Clan members and D-Block members uniting to create one album. With the considerable talents of the core members of each collective, the Wu/Block album has the potential to be a masterpiece, but many fear the album will only feature each group’s affiliates instead of highlighting the lyrical talents of Jadakiss alongside the GZA, or any other conceivable combination between the two groups.

Also scheduled to be released in the next year is Monumental, the collaboration between Smif N' Wessun and Pete Rock that has already spawned the underground hit Prevail, featuring Tek and Steele in rare form trading rhymes with Raekwon over a classic horn-driven beat.

And after more than a decade, talks still have not died down of a possible album with NaS on the mic and Premier on the boards, which is arguably more anticipated than Detox.

But until either or both of those albums come out, it is obvious there will not be a shortage of good music to come in the next 12 months. I'm looking forward to it.

Once Followed, Rakim Now Follows the Leader(s)

I hate to question the greats -- especially considering they’re responsible for the past and current soundtracks to my life -- but what has happened to Rakim?

FULL DISCLOSURE: I love Rakim. He is single-handedly responsible for incorporating an intricate rhyme style and technique that is still heavily employed today by tons of rappers, both aspiring and accomplished.

Eric B & Rakim’s first three albums were nothing short of brilliance and they stayed blasting in my ears from my Walkman to my CD player and finally, now, my i\Pod. Rakim is truly a living legend, and for that reason alone he will always have my respect.

But it would be completely irresponsible for me to ignore his lackluster contributions to rap music over the past decade, and especially over the last year.

The straw that broke this camel’s back came just about a month ago (in the form of Swizz Beatz’s very unoriginal online weekly series) when I heard King Tut, the new Swizz Beatz song featuring none other than Rakim:

Aside from Swizz bastardizing the instrumental of a brand new (and very dope) N*E*R*D song that hasn’t even had a chance to take on a life of its own, and aside from the fact that Swizz’s rhymes leave much to be desired, we could still rely on Rakim – who was for all intents and purposes in hiding before emerging on this song – to ease the pain brought on by Swizzy’s raps. Right?

Wrong.

Rakim’s signature voice is nearly unrecognizable, making me wonder if someone was pulling a Michael Jackson on the listeners. On top of that, Rakim’s rhyme style hasn’t evolved one bit. It’s still the same monotone, slow and deliberate delivery that paved the way back in the 80s but is now so commonplace that even he sounds weird doing it.

To be considered the greatest at anything requires a deep love and serious commitment to said craft. Michael Jordan is retired from playing basketball but stays involved with the NBA team that he owns. Why can’t Rakim do the Hiphop equivalent? Simple. Because he is not the greatest rapper of all time, for starters.

If he were, he would rap for the love of it and stay in the studio and demand relevance like his one-time counterparts KRS-One (who released two very good albums this year) and Big Daddy Kane, who are both happy and eager to work with up-and-coming as well as established talent.

And now we see that when rappers take a break and try to get back on the mic -- it’s just not that easy. It takes a dedication to the craft to keep rappers effective, and this rhyme in particular but also his album from last year have made it clear that Rakim has lost his love for his one-time masterful craft of emceeing.

For many people Rakim remains the greatest rapper of all time, but if we go by the strict criteria needed to be a candidate for such a lofty title, there is no question Rakim does not deserve that honor, which means, ironically, that out of that very virtue, the sad reality is that Rakim is now following the leaders.

DJ Premier's Latest Hits

Why oh why do people younger than I sleep on DJ Premier?

This guy is a standard-setter, and has been ever since he came on the scene in 1989 with his incredible scratching ability.

It wasn't until a couple of years later that he refined his sound while also redefining what is now that classic New York City Hiphop sound -- boom bap Hiphop music.

Now he has a sound that is both instantly recognizable and while impossible to duplicate.

And after what seemed like a couple of years off from rap to get that money from Christina Aguilera, it seems that Premo is back in a major way in 2008.

In no specific order, here are my favorite DJ Premier-produced joints of 2008 -- thus far:

1) Real N*gga Quote - Rhymefest: Equally as much a political statement as it is an examination of the N word, Premo outdoes himself on this beat with his vintage sound. It's really kind of a throwback when you consider the addition of Malcolm X vocals over the last part of the track. Quotable:

"That's why I say f*ck 'em all
Hillary, Jesse Jack even Brarck is involved
When police beatin' that ass
None of y'all will do a damn thang.
But you can raise $100 million for a campaign?
Homey, ya better explain!
I'm in cell with a n*gga that look like Ving Rhames!"

2) On the Rise Again Feat. Haylie Duff - Kool G Rap: No doubt this is an unexpected collaboration, but it works. Classic Premier drums, a sick strings loop, minimal bassline, and ridiculous scratching on the hook with Duff's vocals as the perfect complement. G Rap is still living the fast life, and he kills it with top notch crack raps. Quotable:

"My main alliance was cocaine giants
N*ggas had more material than Lane Bryant's
Had the block flooded with customers and clients
They had the metric system down to a science.
Up and down the strip in the gulliest whips"

3) Criminal Minded 08 -- KRS-One: Starting off with Premier verbally dedicating the track to Scott LaRock followed by the Blast Master singing in the same cadence from the original version of the song, before the first drum hits you already can feel that this one is special. We haven't had a KRS-Premo collabo in years, so I'm glad they didn't half step when recording this. You already knew Premo would hold up his end of the bargain but I wasn't sure if Kris would come with that boom bap rap or that holier than thou mumbo jumbo that alienated much of his original fanbase. Over a crisp, sinister Premier beat, KRS doesn't disappoint, aiming his hatred at the everlasting sucker emcee. Quotable:

"Yo Premier, why these rappers so soft?
Their corny ass raps be making me doze off!
When I spit lyrics, I step farther/step-father, like ya other dad."

4) Just (remix) -- Mark Ronson Feat. Alex Greenwald & Blaq Poet -- I know I sound like a broken record, but this is Premier at his best! A remix of a Radiohead song, and also a remix in the true sense of the term, Premier uses the original song's horns and vocals and adds his boy Blaq Poet (from Queens rap group Screwball) for a ridiculous 16 bars about a guy debating on taking his life. Quotable:

"You can't take it, take a razor and erase it.
On the 15th floor lookin' at the pavement.
Just do it, don't think, go 'head, fly
Might do it on the first try, just die.
Just forget it, you ain't been sh*it your whole life.
Do the world a favor, do it to yourself twice.
Get some pills, a gun, or a sharp knife.
Goddamn, you can't even do this right.
Too much stress, too much pressure.
F*ck the world, the note's on the dresser.
Smack my boss, and kiss the kids.
Let my wife know that she's a cheatin' ass b*tch.
And just take that leap
And hope you make real big mess in the street
As the world goes on not missing a beat
Don't do it to yourself, don't listen to me!"

Here are the rest of my favorite 2008 Premier joints:

Big Shug - Like a Muhf*ckah: Premier experiments with a new, slower style while still maintaining that sound we all know and love him for. Of course, his scratching is ever present on the hook. Shug isn't the best emcee but he puts together a somewhat conceptual song regarding the emphatic street colloquialism, "like a muhf*ckah".

Little Vic - The Exorcist: I know nothing about this rapper except he's decent on this basic Premier beat. But there's something about dude's flow (his lyrics are not spectacular) over this easy-going, bouncy beat. And when you hear Premier cut up a line from an old Lords of the Underground song, you're hooked. This song gets better and better every time I hear it.

Reks - Say Goodbye: This Boston emcee has been doing his thing on the low for the past few years, snagging features with much better rappers and producers than he deserves to be with. And this song is no exception. But as always, Premier brings out the best in his collaborators. And Reks follows suit with bar after bar, steady spitting, going in and out and over and under the beat, owning it. The haunting vocal sample over Premo's drums is the final deal maker.

Ya Dayz R #'D (Remix Feat. Lady of Rage, Freddie FoXXX & Royce Da 5'9): The original was great, but Preem remixes this song something vicious, and then adds real rappers Freddie FoXXX & Royce -- who steals the show with lines like "I let the record do the talking for me like a Preem hook" -- along with Lady of Rage, who always seems to pop up out of nowhere and make a random appearance every few years, like this one. She has good timing to jump on this one.

That White - Fat Joe: I get sad when I think about the direction Fat Joe's career has gone in, knowing he will never make another Jealous Ones Envy, or even another Don Cartagena for that matter. But every now and then he returns to his DITC roots and gives the streets a good, solid banger. Pause. Hot classic Premo as usual, this time with Fat Joe ignorantly praising the Almighty for the existence of cocaine.

My Thoughts - Freddie FoXXX: I'm actually guessing that this is from 2008, but that's when I first got wind of this magnificent beat with cinematic strings and a simple piano. Premier's drums are softer than usual, but very appropriate for this track. And FoXXX talks his usual sh*t, just letting us in on the many tings that go through his head at any given time.

BONUS: Jadakiss - From then Till Now (DJ Premier Scratches) (Produced by The Alchemist