The Jack Nimble Monday Mix Part 1 (Spotify)

The Jack Nimble Monday Mix Part 1 (Spotify)

1. You Don't Want It- Cormega
2. Threat- Jay Z
3. Devil's Pie- D'Angelo
4. The Champ- Ghostface Killah
5. Scenester- Cage
6. Riot Akt- Gang Starr
7. Day One- D.I.T.C
8. The Potion- Ludacris
9. Leflaur Leflah Eshkosnka- Heltah Skeltah
10. When The Gun Draws- Pharoahe Monch
11. Trocadero- Marvin (The Martian)
12. Eternalists- Talib Kweli, Hi- Tek (Reflection Eternal)
13. Hollow Bones- Wu-Tang Clan
14. Bury Me A G- Young Jeezy
15. My Uncle- Ill Bill
16. Get Busy- The Roots, Peedi Peedi, Dice Raw)

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Things I've listened to over the last few weeks... Part 2.

I feel I should explain what I've been listening to recently. I don't know why, is it to encourage you to listen to the same thing? Is it to make myself look busy? I don't know. I don't really take much from other rappers these days, not consciously anyway, I used to.

YOUNG CHRIS & DON CANNON/ THE NETWORK MIXTAPE: If you've been a regular on this site for a while you'll know I fucks with Young Chris. To me he's one of the best out there, he really needs an album but this tape is the closest he's come to a complete project so far. A lot of Roots style production leanings and pretty incredible guest rappers including Beanie Sigel, Wale, Freeway, Black Thought, Twista and Rhymefest. The mixtape was online exclusive freeness so if you search it you'll find a link.

JAY-Z/ DEATH OF AUTOTUNE: I know it's just one song and most people are sick of it but it doesn't stop being incredible. I'm not really in that 'Run This Town' place yet, not sure what I was expecting but I'm kinda nonplussed about it.

FREEWAY & JAKE ONE/ BLOGGERS: This Freeway and Jake One album is going to be amazing.

MAVADO/ MR. BROOKS...A BETTER TOMORROW: This album is way more soulful than the first album. It kinda lacks the punch but it makes up for it in some pretty amazing arrangements and concepts.

I'M ABOUT TO PUT THE FOLLOWING ON MY MP3 PLAYER....

CAGE/ DEPART FROM ME: Cage is one of the most underrated of all time, his first album had a big impact on me as a rapper. This album doesn't seem to have done very well for some reason, I might find out when I listen to it. I hope not.

NEWHAM GENERALS/ GENERALLY SPEAKING: I like Newham Generals, they fuck with some unusual production. I'm excited about this album.

FABOLOUS/ LOSO'S WAY: I've never really been a Fab fan but his last album held me down when I was writing 'Devil In The Distance'. During the day we weren't allowed to smoke in the studio so I'd grab the MP3 player, stand around the skreets and invariably end up listening to him. This album sounds a bit forced from what I've heard but it sounds a little less scatter-gun than his preview records so we'll see.

WALE/ BACK TO THE FEATURE: I wasn't sure about Wale for a while, but the more I hear him in context the more I appreciate how much better he is than most of the new generation of rappers. This tape got a lot of love so I need to listen to it.

Cage biopic?

Cage is dropping a greatest hits album on October 7th called The Best and Worst of Cage. We've been waiting for his third album for a couple of years now but there you go. He's one of the few rappers where you actually see the art before you see the image. If you're not yet a fan of Cage's music I advise you seek out his classic debut album Movies For The Blind, I truly can't recommend it enough. His second album works as a redemption for his first album as he'd given up all the crazy drugs he was doing on the first record. They really are special bodies of work. This new compilation looks like it could be a good introduction to Cage as an artist. The reason for this post though was that in the news story where I discovered that Cage was releasing this record there was a rumour that Shia LaBeouf was writing and directing a biopic of Cage's life. Cage's life is pretty incredible. He was born in Germany to American parents. His father's name was Bill Murray (really) and worked in the military police before being dishonourably discharged for selling heroine. They moved back to New York when Cage's father's drug dependency started taking control and Cage (Chris Palko) started to go off the rails. He began experimenting with drugs and getting into all sorts of situations. He explains a lot of it on Hell's Winter. I just love the idea that a rapper not a few thousand people rate as highly as I (and a few people I know) do, could have a film made about his life by the young Indiana Jones/Even Stevens. I'm thinking of pitching my biopic.

The Best And Worst Of Cage

1. Holding A Jar Too
2. Among The Sleep
3. Summer In Hell
4. Stargate
5. Underground Rapstar
6. Escape to 88
7. Suicidal Failure
8. Cop Hell
9. Stoney Lodge
10. Gimmesomedeath
11. Weather People
12. Dust Vs. Ecstacy
13. Agent Orange
14. 54
15. More In Outs
16. Ballad Of Worms
17. Keep The City
18. Too Much
19. Crowd Killer

R.I.P Camu Tao

I just found out that Camu Tao died. He was battling cancer apparently. I honestly didn't know. You find out about my secret underground side now; Camu Tao used to do a lot of work with my second favourite white rapper Cage. They made the above album together 'Nighthawks' he was really nice. I did wonder why it was that he'd fallen off the face of the earth after beating the shit out of Copywrite (not one of my favourite white rappers) a couple of years back and I guess now we know.

HipHopDX.com reports

R.I.P Camu Tao