New Bay Raps and Some Other Stuff

(Props to Juice Mannen Hugo for the heads up on this one)

Hey look everyone, it is a new solo song from the long-lost Mob Figaz member, Rydah J. Klyde. Apart from a handful of features, Rydah has been M.I.A. since his last solo album in 2009, which is approximately 56 years in internet time. That last full-length from Rydah, the excellent Rated R, saw him working out his demons over melancholy beats, but this new song hints at a new, bleaker, angrier, more violent direction for the former Fly Gangsta. His cadence has changed considerably with this song as well, with Rydah slurring his way through the second verse and an overall sense of doom in his voice.
Regardless, this is a good song and much appreciated from longtime Rydah fans such as myself who still believe he is quite talented and have been fiending for some new music from him.
The video ends by stating "Rydah J. Klyde as Klyde Fisher Coming Jan. 2013." Yeah right. Here is a quick rundown of his "coming soon" projects that have failed to surface:

It's almost like some sort of weird performance art on his behalf at this point: announcing a new album "coming soon" every few months complete with the cover art, but never actually releasing any music. How avant-garde!

J. Stalin ft. Cl'Cliff "I Been Selling Coke"


Hi J. Stalin please rap on beats like this from now on, just trust me on this one. Your friend, Thomas

To be honest I was not really expecting much from I Pledge Allegiance to the Wire 2, but am pleasantly surprised. Each of the Livewire members have not released any music that has really blown me away in this past year largely because each member has found their comfort zone (EX: J. Stalin acting like a poor man's Ginuwine) and not worked much outside of that zone. Allegiance sees each member coming together to tackle beats that are much more different and interesting than they would normally choose and the results are more or less positive.
This is the first Livewire compilation since early 2011's M.A.F.I.A., which felt more like a Shady Nate album with a healthy amount of features. This album feels like a J. Stalin album with a lot of guest appearaces, which makes a little more sense considering he is supposed to be the head of the "label."
As with any rap group ever the individual members have all embarked on solo careers of varying degrees of success, so naturally the group projects are never going to be as prominent as they were back  in '09.

I found this picture when I googled "Livewire" and it is really sad to look at

Philthy Rich, J. Stalin, Shady Nate, Lil Blood & Stevie Joe "Fab 5"



My reaction to the above song: UGGGHHHH *throws chair across room and punches wall* and when Shady Nate's verse breaks into double-time *transforms into the hulk and smashes through my apartment wall*

This song was supposed to be the title track for Livewire's Fab Five album, but considering it has been up for pre-order for over a year, that album is probably not going to come out. Looking at youtube now, apparently this song was leaked early last year, but this is the first time I am hearing it and causing such destruction to my place of residence.

Ya Boy ft. J. Stalin "I'm Trappin'"



Much like previous Livewire compilations such as Livewire Radio and Livewire Empire there are quite a few features and solo tracks from non-Livewire members, but they are good songs for the most part and bring more musical diversity to the mix.

My biggest gripe with this album is that there are way too many remixes on here along with a 2Pac "remix" track, where J. Stalin raps after an old 2Pac verse. I understand the argument that this is just "paying tribute" to him, but seriously just give it a rest people, dead rappers' verses being recycled without their permission is bootsy as fuck.

"Wow what a charming and hilarious podcast about a topic relevant to my interests!" 
-Every attractive woman

SIDE NOTE #1: The 100 Grand on My Wrist Podcast has been added to iTunes. Subscribe, rate, and comment please. Many more exciting episodes to come in the near future.

SIDE NOTE #2: I recommend everyone check out this article titled "Is It OK for White Music Critics to Like Violent Rap?" It is very interesting and raises a lot of good points. I really have never thought much about the fact that I am white and most rappers I listen to are black and continue to not think about it, either because I am too dim or because rap is just the music I have been listening to since I was 9 years old. I'm still positive that anyone can enjoy rap music about shooting people's faces off without there being some sort of weird ulterior motive, but it's still worth thinking about.
It seems like there is a growing backlash on the internet of people calling out writers for not knowing enough about rap music to write about it. I have mixed feelings about this, because I like to make fun of "effing hipsters" as much as the next guy and especially when they write clueless things about rap music, but at the same time I'm kind of worried that we are breeding this internet community where everything written about rap is over-judged and only a small number of writers have a "pass" to write about the genre. Basically it would suck if good writers who enjoys rap music ended up being shamed out of the genre because of nerds calling them out for not owning Three 6 Mafia's discography or whatever.

Just something not really important for you to consider in your free time.

Have a nice day.