The musings of a madman...

As promised, we're now to discuss the year 2005. I am back in business, got a car to replace the one Godzilla and Mothra ruined, removed the drivetrain and replaced it all with newer (still mostly stock) stuff. Still working a million hours of overtime for a company that I am increasingly believing hates all of it's employees, but hey. I am still making money to be able to afford music, which means that all is right with the world, if only be means of having at least one constant. 2005 in terms of "my life" was a very short year, mainly because of my pouring on ridiculous hours, only breaking for a trip to Atlanta in May, so there is not a lot to it OTHER than music. For instance, we were now well over 2 years into the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which conspired to drive the prices of gas up, then Katrina happened and gas REALLY went up, not coming back down for 3 more fucking years. This blog being what it is, we speak specifically hip hop music. My faith in that t

I would be lying if I said that I, after 2000 and 2004 was even able to feign excitement about hip hop in the current decade... I would also be lying if I said that I was any less willing to impose my opinion just the same with this, the space that the nice folks over at Google provide me here on blogger. Anything less would be a waste of such, as it would the ownership of this nice comprutah of mines... You know what? I was fucking DRUNK most of 2002. I was making good money, my cash outlay was not necessarily exorbitant, I was newly popular basically out of nowhere and enjoying life in general. Plenty of money to blow on music and car shit, and God knows I did. Did I mention I was intoxicated most of the year? Yeah, Absolut, Yuengling and Jim Beam were good friends of mine all year, so I don't terribly recall a representative most of the shit we did, as much as I do where I did it and who I did it with [pause...] . Lord knows, somehow I am drinking a LOT less these days, but have

The year is 2004, I am working to put my life back together after the run-in from fathers day with Godzilla and Mothra. One consistent remained through all of this, though, has been my music, for better or for worse. Along with weeks, months on end of 10-hour overtime workdays 7 days a week dealing with a hastily thrown-together and ultimately failed system workover, which led to a murder of company profitability for several weeks, which hastened a 2005 company merger, which made shit so unbearable that I left the company in 2006, all I had was music on the in-between. This [particular] blog, though, is not about me or the shit I have been through. We're here to talk about the year 2004 in this thing I love that we call hip hop music. It also stands to explanation that I DO categorize everything that IS hip hop music AS hip hop music, even if it is the shittiest of shit. I refuse subscription to the "hip hop vs rap" argument when the abject comparison is actually "

As previously mentioned, I was reluctant to further my " wayback " series to cover the decade that we are currently in for reasons including the fact that we're still IN the decade and the fact that this decade has caused us to watch the slow and painful death of this artform that I have come to love down through my years. A footnote to this is that I have not done the 80s yet either, but that has more to do with the fact that the decade was EXTRA thin on releases, and a lot of the release dates just can't fucking be found as easily as things released SINCE the advent of the internets... Go figure. Anyway, I had a request or was asked if I would be doing this immediately upon having finished the 90s series by someone who apparently neglected to read that I specifically mentioned that I probably wouldn't. More recently, though, I was specifically REQUESTED to scribe my "top 10 albums from 2000-present," and I arrived home from handling business yesterday

As the two of you well know, I incorporated a post from May and wrote a series of drops this week reporting live from my personal favorite era in hip hop, 1990-1999... I was discussing with The Katie last night whether or not I would continue this into the decade in which we currently live for 4ish more months here and talked myself out of it with "am I really qualified to call it 'wayback' if I am still in the decade I am discussing?" and with that, the idea was put to bed... When I got home, I finished writing the 1994 post, which completed the decade for me, as follows posted in order of POST date, not chronological year, so don't be confrused that they're out of order: 1998 1996 1997 1999 Pause for explanation 1991 1993 1990 1995 1992 and 1994 And there you have it, 10 years summing up hip hop's GOLDEN age. The 70's were infancy, and I was not born until all but 6 months of the decade were passed. The 80's were the formative years, where the su

Holy shit, I have no real recollections of the shit that happened in 1994... Let's see, here. 14 first half of the year, finishing 9th grade, and 15 the second, starting 10th. As I lead into this post, I am almost gearing myself for an uneventful year in hip hop. I guess there is nothing I can do about it but jump on my research and tie it all together, no? January shows us that some of these years like to get off to slow starts. February the Fugees released their album neither of you remembers, "Blunted on Reality." A friend of mine had it, but I did not like it and still don't, I left it back there. March Gangstarr dropped "Hard to Earn," Vanilla Ice with "Mind Blowin'" and Insane Clown Posse had "Ringmaster." Fuck, 3 months into the year and I own ONE album released of four, even as of when I type this... Sad. April delivered MOP's "To the Death," Nas' "Illmatic" and Outkast's "Southernplaya

Yep, 1992... Age 12 for the first half, 13 the next... This year will take me through the second half of 7th grade, through those weird days of early puberty where nothing was quite right, nor would it have been anyway, then still on to 8th grade for the second half. As I write these, I come to realize that I don't think I had much of a childhood, what with having to take on more responsibilities than some of my peers, what with my parents' situation and changing schools and yaddayaddayadda... It actually serves to reason that I am so addicted to music now because it was a constant that I was not able to attain in home life. Anyway, it is now 1992 and I am here to talk about this years hip hop releases... January Lord Finesse came with "Return of the Funky Man," but not before DJ Quik very necessarily opened the year on New Years Day with "Way 2 Fonky." February The Fu Schnickens gave us "FU Take it Personal," an album I WANT to like, what with p

That's right, folks... 1995, I spent the first half of the year in 10th grade and age 15, and the second half 16, gainfully employed at Winn Dixie which would provide me with the sneaker money I had never had and fuel for my addiction to music. Thanks to my exhaustive google, Amazon and Wikipedia abilities, we will now discuss 1995 in hip hop, just as I have 1998 , 1996 , 1997 , 1999 , 1991 , 1993 and 1990 before this... Yes, all seven of those were links, but perhaps both of you have already read those? January saw Smif-N-Wessun's "Dah Shinin'" as well as The Roots release "Do You Want More?!!?" and Too Short's "Cocktails" February gave us DJ Quik GOING IN on MC Eiht for the better part of "Safe & Sound," an album I LOVE by the way. This must have been a West Coast kinda month, as Tha Alkaholiks dropped "Coast to Coast" here too. March E-40 gave us "In a Major Way" and 2Pac with "Me Against the W

You all know the deal, same as I did with 1998 , 1996 , 1997 , 1999 and 1991 before this... Here we are, I am ages 10 and 11, finishing 5th grade the first half of the year and starting the 6th in the second half... Nothing spectacular about the setup. CD's didn't exist to me, even if they did on the other side of town. I still spent LOOOOONG nights up in the bedroom listening to the radio with a 90-minute cassette tape on pause to capture my favorite songs on. I rushed home from the bus to catch the video shows while I did (or didn't) do my homework before my mean-ass sister came home and bogarted the television to watch whatever bullshit she was going to watch. You both know how this works, I will get down to business now... January ... looks like this will be a slow start February - the month without the silent R ... definite slow start! March Kid N Play dropped "Kid N Play's Funhouse" and Hammer put out "Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em"

You both should know how this works by now, I been at it all week... For the uninitiated, I did this with 1998 , 1996 , 1997 , 1999 and 1991 so far. Yes, those are links for you to acclimate yourself if you so choose... I am, hoping that both of you are smart enough to see what year in hip hop we will be discussing today. If not, please look to your top bar of your browser or the beginning of this post, then continue from here. Yes, the year is 1993, I am in a constant state of fucked up haircuts and an incredibly shrinking sense of popularity. I am an 13 year old 8th grader band nerd the first half of the year and a 9th grader TINY fish in a HUGE pond, then a 14 year old 9th grader at the wrong high school the second half... It goes without saying that I will NEED my music for this shit to work without me smoking someone. January gives us "Blue Funk" from Heavy D & The Boyz, and Snow's "12 Inches of Snow," so we will score it that only Heavy D gave us an

In my randomly presented reviews of the years in hip hop, my mind somehow drew me back to 1991... Ages 11 and 12, half the year in 6th grade, the second in 7th -- at a new school, mind you, since we left my pops this year as well... True to how I carried this with 1998 , 1996 , 1997 and 1999 , I decided I wanted to talk about it... No further setup, let's get into this thing. January was a light month, with Gangstarr's "Step Into the Arena," which I am not mad at and MC Breed's "MC Breed & DFC," which I know NOTHING about... Also released was David Blake's (professionally known as "DJ Quik) "Quik is the Name," which I listened to to tune my reinstalled subwoofer before work Wednesday this week. February gave us Another Bad Creation's "Coolin' at the Playground, ya Know," which I liked at the time, and can ONLY explain it off to the fact that I was ELEVEN FUCKING YEARS OLD!!! March gave us only Vanilla Ice'